RKTURN OF THE DRAT. 
 
THK 
 
 THREE 
 
 OF 
 
 AUSTRALIA: 
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES, VICTORIA, 
 SOUTH AUSTRALIA; 
 
 THEIR PASTURES, COPPER MINES, & GOLD FIELDS, 
 
 BY 
 
 SAMUEL SIDNEY, 
 
 Al'THOK OF 'THK AUSTRALIAN HAND KOOK, KTC 
 
 a-. 
 
 WITH N U ISI K U U S U N (J RAVINGS. 
 
 SEt'ONiJ EDITION, IIEVISKD 15V THK AUTHOR. 
 
 LONDON: INGRAM, COOKE, AND CO 
 
 MDCCCLIJI. 
 
DLL- 10.2. 
 
 HENRY MORSE STEPHEN* 
 
PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 SINCE the 1st September, 1852, an edition of 5,000 copies of 
 " The Three Colonies of Australia" has been exhausted. In this 
 Second Edition I have made material alterations and additions. 
 The work is now divided into two parts the first Historical, the 
 second Descriptive. I have in preparation, as a sequel, another 
 volume of less bulk, which will be a Practical Hand-Book to the 
 South Sea Colonies, including Australia, Van Diemen's Land, 
 and New Zealand. 
 
 The Historical section contains, in twenty chapters of 240 
 pages, a sketch of the discovery and foundation of the Three 
 Colonies, and the principal political and social events in their 
 respective careers, between the landing of the first fleet in Port 
 Jackson and the opening of the gold mines at Mount Alexander. 
 In the preparation of the first seven chapters (83 pages), I had, 
 in addition to the oral information of old colonists and valuable 
 MSS., the assistance of the works of Collins, Wentworth, &c. 
 The remaining thirteen chapters, which include the administra- 
 tions of Governors Bourke, Gipps, and Fitzroy, in New South Wales 
 the Land Question Emigration Transportation the Consti- 
 tutional Contests of the first Australian Representative Council, 
 and the whole History of the Colonisation of South Australia, are in 
 the strictest sense of the term original. The materials were diffused 
 through the votes and proceedings of the Legislative Assembly, 
 English Blue Books, files of colonial newspapers, and other sources 
 still more obscure and difficult of access. Whatever, therefore, 
 be the demerits of this part of my work, it is the History of the 
 Leading Political and Social Events of a period never before chroni- 
 cled by any writer on Australia a period to which Australian 
 colonists look back with as much interest as we do in England to 
 the struggles for the Reform Bill or for the repeal of the Corn 
 Laws. In this Second Edition I have rewritten and condensed 
 the pages devoted to the all-important Land Question, and 
 devoted an additional forty pages to the Administration of 
 Governor Fitzroy and the Colonial Policy of Earl Grey ; and I 
 have endeavoured to throw new light on the government of Sir 
 
 3 146 i 9 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 George Gipps, by giving a chapter of political poems from a 
 Sydney newspaper, the " Atlas," which will bear comparison with 
 English compositions of the same kind from the days of the 
 " Anti-Jacobin" to the days of " Punch." 
 
 The Descriptive section has been rendered more complete 
 by the addition of a tabular view of the counties, towns, moun- 
 tains, and rivers of New South Wales and Victoria, extracted, 
 by permission, from Sir Thomas Mitchell's " Manual of Austral- 
 asian Geography," and by accounts of journeys to and from 
 the various gold-fields, which I have in great part abridged 
 from the able reports made by special correspondents of the 
 Sydney papers. 
 
 As I have throughout the following pages expressed my 
 opinions on colonial questions and colonial statesmen with a 
 freedom which my friends may call bold and my opponents 
 audacious, I may perhaps, without incurring the charge of 
 egotism, state what have been my opportunities for acquiring 
 correct information on colonial subjects. 
 
 In 1844 my brother, with whom I had previously kept up a 
 close correspondence, returned from Australia, where he had 
 passed six years, engaged in pastoral pursuits. He arrived in 
 England in the midst of the furious contest, described in Chapter 
 XI. of this book, between Governor Gipps and the squatters. 
 In the cause of the squatters he enlisted me; and when the 
 Pastoral Question came to be discussed in Parliament, we con- 
 tributed several letters criticising the pastoral regulations which 
 the government proposed to adopt, to which some of the leading 
 London journals gave a prominent place. 
 
 Up to that time I had been a disciple of the Wakefield system 
 of colonisation Land Monopoly. It was, however, only neces- 
 sary to investigate with a practical man the practical effects of 
 this untenable system in order to become irresistibly convinced of 
 its fallacy. In 1847-8 I wrote for my brother, who was a close 
 observer but no writer, a thin duodecimo, " A Voice from the 
 Far Interior of Australia, by a Bushman." 
 
 In 1848 we sent forth the first edition of " The Australian 
 Hand-Book." Shortly after its publication I had the pleasure 
 to read an extract, quoted from the volume, in " Blackwood's 
 Magazine," by the then anonymous author of " The Caxtons," 
 who was pleased to describe the " Hand-Book" as " admirable 
 for wisdom and compactness." 
 
 From attacking Wakefield's colonial land monopoly in print, 
 I ventured, on every fitting opportunity, to attack it in public 
 at meetings held to promote colonisation. At a meeting in 1848, 
 
 / 
 
PREFACE. iii 
 
 presided over by Earl Harrowby, I warned the promoters that 
 the land monopoly was the great bar to the popularity of Aus- 
 tralia among the working classes. At that period opposition to i 
 the Wakefield system was considered wild and democratic; and 
 the line I took up excluded me from any part in the Colonisation '' 
 Society of Charing Cross, which, in spite of a great array of 
 noble names, never obtained the confidence of the working classes, 
 but after a brief existence, died of inanition. In the same year 
 my brother and I commenced our " Emigrants' Journal," with 
 the view of affording " plain, practical advice to intending 
 emigrants." In 1848, before the fifth number was published, 
 my brother returned to Australia. 
 
 While conducting the " Emigrants' Journal" 1 acquired a vast 
 mass of information on colonial subjects. I was brought into 
 daily contact with colonists of all classes, as well as with emigrants, 
 and in the course of twelve months I answered more than one 
 thousand practical questions on emigration and colonisation. 
 
 It was during the progress of this Journal that my attention 
 was called to the singular coincidence between the views at 
 which I had slowly arrived on colonial matters, and the evidence 
 given by Mrs. Chisholm before a Committee of the House of Lords 
 on Colonisation. On this evidence I wrote an article,* which 
 led to my making the acquaintance and acquiring the friendship 
 of Captain and Mrs. Chisholm, to whom I am indebted for a 
 great and rapid advance in what I may call my colonial educa- 
 tion. In the second monthly series of my " Emigrants' Journal,'* 
 in the following year, I may be permitted to say I communicated 
 to my countrymen a valuable contribution in placing before them 
 the first published account of the work done by Caroline Chisholm. 
 This Memoir subsequently formed the staple of all the biographies 
 of that lady which have appeared, including one in " Chambers' 
 Journal," and a paper I had the pleasure of contributing to 
 " Household Words," entitled " Better Ties than Red Tape Ties." 
 
 In January, 1850, I published " A Letter to the Right 
 Honourable Sidney Herbert," on the need of protection for 
 female emigrants, and the necessity for a more careful selection 
 of surgeons in emigrant ships, illustrating my arguments with 
 evidence from Blue Books. Subsequent events proved the 
 reasonableness of my warnings in a very flagrant manner. 
 
 On April 17th of the same year a great meeting took place 
 
 at St. Martin's Hall to launch the last, the most improved plan 
 
 for colonising Canterbury, in New Zealand, under the Wakefield 
 
 system, which had so signally failed in South Australia and three 
 
 * No. 8, Sidney's "Emigrants' Journal.'* 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 other New Zealand colonies. Having during the three preceding 
 years been engaged almost alone in dissecting and exposing this 
 antipodean form of protection and monopoly, I travelled all night 
 from Lincoln, in order to meet the colonising protectionists face 
 to face. I found a platform crowded with Bishops and dignitaries 
 of the Church, Peers, Members of Parliament ; in the body of the 
 room some two thousand Clergymen, many Members of the two 
 Universities, and elegantly-dressed ladies. Except a small group 
 at the end of the room, all seemed firm believers in Gibbon 
 Wakefield and model High Church colonisation. I had not had 
 time to obtain the company of a single friend ; but when the 
 Bishop of Norwich, Dr. Hinde, ventured to point to Adelaide, 
 Wellington, and Nelson as instances of colonies where " the Wake- 
 field system" had been tried with eminent success, and when Lord 
 Lyttleton, before putting the resolution, invited " the questions 
 or observations of any gentleman," I found courage to rise, and 
 to tell intending colonists that ruin had fallen on all who colonised 
 on the principles embodied in the bishop's resolution, to bid them 
 refer to parliamentary documents for details of the sufferings of 
 South Australian and New Zealand land purchasers, and to say 
 "I wish you intending colonists to understand that this Canterbury 
 Colony is founded on the principle of creating artificial advantages 
 for those who work with their head and not with their hand that 
 there is no instance of a colonist in any country employing his 
 capital in agriculture as proposed at Canterbury, and obtaining 
 either low-priced labour, or fair profit on his investment while 
 in pastoral pursuits the purchase of land is unnecessary, and 
 concentration impossible ;" and I concluded by observing " If the 
 colonisers wanted to have the best bone and sinew of the country, 
 they must not adopt an exclusive system, under which no man 
 wjth less than 500 could become the purchaser of fifty acres, for 
 that, according to my experience, the best emigrants were men with 
 large families and very moderate means, who could till land with 
 their own hands to a profit, but were not willing to emigrate to 
 become mere hewers of wood and drawers of water." 
 
 It would be difficult to give any idea of the effect produced 
 by the incontrovertible facts and figures of my unexpected 
 opposition. The Bishop of Oxford made a most brilliant and 
 amusing reply, in which rhetoric supplied the place of facts and 
 arguments ; Mr. Adderley, an amiable enthusiast pretended to 
 believe that I was recommending the wild, free grants of Swan 
 River, or the churchless, school-less colonisation of New South 
 Wales. But not one of the whole array of model colonisers 
 was able to answer my simple question, " How are Canterbury 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 colonists to earn a living and obtain a return for capital invested 
 after the rate of 3 an acre ? Not by agriculture, for colonial \ 
 experience proves that except to the peasant proprietor agricul- 
 ture will not pay. If pastoral pursuits are relied upon, no land 
 will be purchased by sane men, and the assumed advantages of 
 concentration, with the funds for churches, bishoprics, schools 
 and libraries, can never be realised." 
 
 The part I took on this occasion exposed me, as I expected it 
 would, to a good deal of petty persecution from the New Zealand 
 clique to an attack from the " Spectator," and other organs 
 of Mr. Wakefield's last bubble ; but it secured me, I rejoice to 
 add, the warm thanks of several intending colonists, and the 
 friendship of some men whose friendship is worth deserving. 
 
 My worst forebodings have long since been confirmed by the 
 letters of unfortunate Canterbury colonists. They find all the 
 money spent on agriculture wasted, but have good hopes from 
 pastoral pursuits on the fine grassy plains, which they once 
 dreamed of converting into Lothian or Norfolk farms. 
 
 My next exertions in the cause of colonisation were devoted to 
 the assistance of my friends, Captain and Mrs. Chisholm, in their 
 labours to establish Family Colonisation. In this occupation I 
 was enabled to extend still further my knowledge of Australia, 
 and of the emigrating classes. 
 
 Thus, I claim the merit, if merit there be, of having written a 
 Hand-Book of Emigration in a style before unknown, but since 
 popular and common, viz., a style plain and practical, candid as 
 to the defects of the colony, and explicit as to the hardships 
 of the colonist ;* of having, during a series of years, criticised, 
 exposed, and successfully attacked the fallacies and frauds of 
 the Wakefield system all the time unsupported by the press, 
 and opposed by the powerful and unscrupulous vested interests 
 of colonising companies since insolvent and defunct ; of having 
 saved a considerable number of most respectable persons from 
 losing their money, their time, their health, and their hopes, in 
 the Canterbury colony ; of having done my utmost to make , 
 public and popular those common sense principles of self-sup- 
 porting Family Colonisation, and to carry out those essential 
 reforms in the shipping department of emigration to which my 
 excellent friends, Captain and Mrs. Chisholm, have devoted six 
 active years of their lives. 
 
 In conclusion I take leave to state, as misrepresentations 
 
 * All Hand-Books of Emigration, previous to 1848, whether of Australia. 
 New Zealand, or America, were mere puffs, written in the spirit of a recruiting 
 crimp. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 have been circulated on the subject, that except by the profits of 
 my books and literary contributions, I have never derived any 
 benefit, either directly or indirectly, from my share in emigration 
 agitation. My "Emigrants' Journal" barely paid its necessary 
 expenses. My pamphlets were, as pamphlets always are, a 
 source of expense. From my " Hand-Book" and miscellaneous 
 contributions, I of course derived considerable advantage ; but 
 it has been from hard work of another kind that I have been able 
 to earn that moderate income which renders me independent of 
 colonising companies and patronising shipowners, and indifferent 
 to those official attractions to which so many who take part in 
 colonial questions early succumb, and which has enabled me to 
 wait for the success that sooner or later crowns the reputation 
 of those who struggle for truth and justice. 
 
 S. S. 
 
 , 1st June, 1853. 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PACK 
 RETURN OF THE DRAY .... Frontispiece 
 
 Grey-headed Vampire . . . . . . .19 
 
 Monument to La Perouse . . . . . .26 
 
 Newcastle. From a Sketch by J. A. Jackson, Esq. . . .37 
 
 Portrait of Captain Flinders . . . . . .44 
 
 Merino Ram ......... 54 
 
 Native Dog, or Dingoe ....... 63 
 
 Bathurst Plains in 1852 ....... 66 
 
 Duck-billed Platypus, or Paradox . . . . . .69 
 
 City of Sydney Ill 
 
 Portrait of Mrs. Chishohn . . . . . . . ]34 
 
 Bushing it ......... 150 
 
 A Wool Store at Melbourne ....... 199 
 
 The Antipodes Islands. From a Sketch by J. A. Jackson, Esq. . . 199 
 
 Gum Trees near Melbourne ....... 202 
 
 Bunynong Hill, near Ballarat ...... 207 
 
 Adelaide, from the Hills . . . . . . , 214 
 
 Branding Cattle at Illawara. From a Sketch, by Arthur Westmacott, Esq. 249 
 Bronze-winged Pigeon ....... 270 
 
 Portrait of Dr. Leichardt . . . . . . .271 
 
 Blacks under Gunyah ....... 274 
 
 Gold-washing at Ballarat ....... 280 
 
 Lyre Bird .282 
 
 Megapodius, or Mound-building Bird . 291 
 
 Cascade at Greenhill Creek, South Adelaide . . . 292 
 
 Banded Myrmicobius, or Ant-eater .... . 293 
 
 Portrait of Edward Hargreaves ... 324 
 
 Gold Diggings at Ophir ... . . 326 
 
Vlll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Issuing Licences ........ 329 
 
 Mr. Hardy, the First Government Commissioner .... 331 
 
 Dodging the Commissioner ....... 333 
 
 A Nugget of Gold . . . . . . . .336 
 
 Gold Washing ........ 343 
 
 Straw-necked Ibis ........ 348 
 
 Gold Escort ......... 350 
 
 Laughing Jackass ...... . 352 
 
 Children Cradling ........ 354 
 
 The Post Office, Sofala, Turon River . . 357 
 
 A Shepherd's Hut . . . . . . . .366 
 
 Grass Trees ......... 370 
 
 Opossum . ....... 374 
 
 Gold Diggers at Dinner ....... 377 
 
 The Emu ....... .380 
 
 Removing Goods ........ 389 
 
 Gold-seekers' Graves on the Turon . 392 
 
PART I. 
 
 HISTORICAL. 
 
'TEE 
 
 THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 AUSTRALIA FROM 1520 TO 1770. 
 
 AUSTRALIA New South Wales Botany Bay. These are the 
 names under which, within the memory of men of middle age, a 
 great island-continent at the antipodes has been explored, settled, and 
 advanced from the condition of a mere gaol, or sink, on which our sur- 
 plus felonry was poured a sheep-walk tended by nomadic burglars 
 to be the wealthiest offset of the British crown a land of promise for 
 the adventurous a home of peace and independence for the indus- 
 trious an El Dorado and an Arcadia combined, where the hardest and 
 and the easiest best-paid employments are to be found ; where every 
 striving man who rears a race of industrious children may sit under 
 the shadow of his own vine and his own fig-tree not without work, 
 but with little care living on his own land, looking down the valleys 
 to his herds, and towards the hills to his flocks, amid the humming of 
 bees which know no winter. 
 
 Under the genial variations of the climate of Australia all the pro- 
 ductions of southern and temperate latitudes flourish the palm and 
 the oak, the potato and the yam, the orange and the apple, wheat 
 and Indian corn. Over her boundless pastures millions of sheep wander 
 sheep of " noble race," whose feet, according to the Spanish proverb, 
 " turn all the earth they touch to gold ; " cattle by tens of thousands, 
 that may compare with the best of Durham, or Hereford, or Devon ; 
 and horses as swift and untiring as ever bounded over the stony 
 deserts of Arabia. In her mountain ridges and river beds gold is 
 gathered in greater profusion than Cortes or Pizarro dreamed gathered 
 without shedding one drop of blood. Peaceful seas surround safe 
 harbours give access to this goodly land, which may be traversed 
 inland for hundreds of miles on foot or horseback. No ravenous 
 
12 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 wild beasts threaten or affright the timid. The aborigines are few, and 
 quick to learn .Js omission. ^ >: : 
 
 The hard 'wOrk of colonisation has been done ; the road has been 
 smoothed, 4nd'r^<J&Te&dy;;; yet is there ample verge and room enough 
 for millions" to' follow in tlie traoli of the thousands who have conquered 
 and subdued the earth, and planted and reared, not only corn and 
 cattle, but an English race, imbued with English traditions, taught by 
 English literature, enjoying English institutions, and practising English 
 love of order and obedience to law while cherishing the firmest attach- 
 ment to liberty. 
 
 With these elements of social and political prosperity, only needing 
 for full development a tide of population which this country can well 
 spare, it cannot be doubted that a very few years will transform what 
 our fathers considered the meanest, into the greatest of Britain's 
 dependencies ; and that, at a period when Continental Europe seems 
 retrograding into deeper than medieval darkness and despotism ; side 
 by side in friendly rivalry with the great American republic, we 
 shall realise the threat of the baffled statesman (when the rising 
 liberties of Spain were crushed under the armies of the soon-to-be- 
 exiled Bourbon), and " call a new world into existence to redress the 
 balance of the old"* a new field for the employment of able-bodied 
 industry, which, overflowing from the crowded competition of Europe, 
 may there help on the march of unrestricted commerce by digging 
 capital out of the soil, or, at less exercise of strength, produce choice 
 raw material for the triumphs of machinery. 
 
 For some fifteen years armies of emigrants have annually proceeded 
 in greater or less numbers to the Australian colonies, yet it is but 
 recently, that the general public have cared to inquire more than how 
 bread was to be earned or how capital invested. Late discoveries have 
 invested these dependencies with new importance in the eyes of all 
 who follow with interest the progress of the Anglo-Saxon race. The 
 time seems propitious for attempting not only to describe the features, 
 the resources, and the prospects of these colonies, but to trace the 
 series of political, social, and commercial events by which an insig- 
 nificant penal settlement in the most distant quarter of the globe, 
 supported at great cost by the parent state, has given birth to a cluster 
 of prosperous self-supporting colonies, largely contributing, directly 
 find indirectly, to the imperial revenues, by the production of wool 
 and gold, by the consumption of British manufactures, and by the 
 employment of any amount of labour that can be landed on their shores. 
 
 * George Canning. 
 
THE DERIVATION OF THE NAME ''AUSTRALIA." 13 
 
 The name " Australia," now universally adopted to designate the 
 whole island-continent, was suggested by the gallant, unfortunate, and 
 ill-requited Flinders, in his " Account of a Voyage of Discovery to 
 Terra Australis," a work from which almost all writers on Australian 
 geography have copied their outlines of the progress of discovery, pre- 
 vious to the voyage of Captain Cook. 
 
 The Dutch, who first explored the whole northern coast, called it 
 New Holland in their own language. Captain Cook, after sailing round 
 the south-eastern coast, gave it the name of New South Wales, from a 
 supposed resemblance to that part of Great Britain, and by that name 
 the whole island was known in English works until other settlements 
 were formed. But colloquially, until very recently, Botany Bay, the 
 first landing-place of Captain Cook, was vulgarly and popularly the 
 designation given to Australia, although no settlement was ever formed 
 there ; and it remains to this day a swampy suburb, about an hour's 
 ride from Sydney, from which part of the water for the supply of that 
 city is obtained, and where idlers resort, to drink, smoke, and play 
 quoits. 
 
 Port Phillip, the name first given to the great bay on which are the 
 ports of Geelong and Melbourne,* after Captain Phillip, first governor 
 of New South Wales, has been applied to the whole province; and 
 although, by the act of Parliament which created it a separate colony, 
 the name of Victoria has been affixed to this region, it will be long 
 before the old inhabitants will remember or consent to give any other 
 name than Port Phillip to the district which Sir Thomas Mitchell 
 endeavoured, not without reason, to designate as Australia Felix. 
 
 The act of Parliament that created the third colony fixed upon it 
 the vague name of South Australia. 
 
 Official and parliamentary documents have superseded the original 
 name of Swan River by Western Australia. Van Diemen's Land 
 retains its old Dutch name, although also occasionally more conveniently 
 known as Tasmania. 
 
 Dutch, Spanish, and English have succeeded in affixing nominal 
 marks of their discoveries on Australia, which is almost the last country 
 peopled by an European race ; but the French, in spite of efforts of 
 great pains and cost, have been generally superseded, although at one 
 time they had appropriated all the discoveries of Matthew Flinders. 
 
 The earliest authentic records of the discovery of any part of 
 Australia are Spanish. The traces supposed to be found by some 
 
 * Melbourne stands on the Yarra Yarra River, navigable by steamers of two hundred tons, 
 Larger vessels lie off its mouth, in Hobson'e Bay, 
 
14 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 geographers in ancient charts of " Jave le Grand," and in a map 
 attached to certain editions of Marco Polo's travels, are too obscure to 
 deserve serious consideration. 
 
 That Chinese navigators knew of the existence of Northern Australia 
 at a very remote period, is more than probable, looking at the 
 unchanging habits of that people. They have formed a settlement on 
 the Island of Timor, distant only 250 miles from Cape York, and are 
 in the habit of resorting to the coast near the abandoned settlement of 
 Port Essington, to collect a Chinese dainty, the trepang or sea slug. 
 
 Between 1520 and 1600 the Spaniards, in the course of their voy- 
 ages from their South American possessions, discovered several islands 
 of the Australian group ; and in 1605 Pedro Fernandez de Quiros and 
 Luis Vaez de Torres made a voyage of discovery in two ships. After 
 finding land, which they named Terra del Esperito Santo, now known 
 as the New Hebrides, the ships parted company in a gale of wind. 
 Torres, the second in command, coasted along New Guinea, and sailed 
 through the dangerous straits which are still the dread of the mariner 
 in stormy seasons, and still bear his name. He passed two months in 
 this difficult navigation, mistaking the portions of the coast of Australia 
 which he sighted for islands. Of this voyage he transmitted a full 
 account in a letter to the King of Spain ; but, in accordance with the 
 jealous policy of the age, the record was suppressed, and the existence 
 of Torres Straits remained unknown until they were re-discovered by 
 Captain Cook in 1770. 
 
 During our war with Spain we captured Manilla by storm, and 
 in the archives of that city Mr. Alexander Dalrymple, the historiographer 
 of the British Admiralty, discovered a copy of the letter to the King 
 of Spain, which had been deposited there by Torres. Dalrymple, 
 with that right feeling which should inspire all men of science, did 
 justice to the discoverer by inscribing on the official maps issued from 
 his department, against the intricate passage between Australia and New 
 Guinea, " Torres Straits." 
 
 About the same time that Quiros and Torres were pursuing their 
 investigation, the Dutch, then in the height of their maritime power, 
 were prosecuting voyages of discovery in the Indian and Pacific 
 Oceans. 
 
 From the instructions prepared for the guidance of Abel Janz 
 Tasman previous to his voyages in 1642 and 1644 (instructions which 
 were signed by the Governor-General Antonio Yan Diemen, and foul- 
 members of the council, at Batavia), in which the previous discoveries 
 of the Dutch in New Guinea and the "Great South Land" were 
 
DISCOVERED BY SPANIARDS AND DUTCH, 15 
 
 recited, it appears that a Dutch yacht, on a voyage of discovery in 
 1605-6, discovered the " South Land," mistaking it for the west side 
 of New Guinea; that a second expedition, in 1617, met with no 
 success ; and that, in 1623, a third, consisting of the yachts Pera and 
 Arnhem, was despatched from Amboyna, by which were discovered "the 
 great islands of Arnhem and Spult," being, in fact, the north of 
 Australia, which still bears the name of Arnhem's Land. Other 
 records show that, up to 1626, the Dutch had, either accidentally or 
 by voyages of exploration, discovered and given names to about half 
 the coast of Australia. 
 
 Many of these names are preserved to this day, for we have not 
 a passion for re-naming after the standard of our own language. 
 
 The Gulf of Carpentaria is still called after General Peter Car- 
 penter, who explored it. At that period military titles were indifferently 
 applied to commanders at sea as on land ; and captains of ships then^ 
 as at present in the Russian navy, wore spurs. The names of Arnhem, 
 Tasman, De Witt, Endrachts, and Edel, cover the whole of the coast of 
 Northern Australia as far as Sharks' Bay. 
 
 It is curious that none of these explorations led to any permanent 
 settlement; and that in this instance, as in many others in America, 
 at the Cape, and in India England has reaped the fruits of Dutch 
 industry and enterprise. That industrious people have scarcely been 
 more fortunate than the indolent, anti-commercial Spaniard. The 
 Dutch, of all their rich colonial possessions, retain only Java, and the 
 Spaniards Cuba. The two new gold-fields discovered by Dutch 
 and Spaniards, Australia and California, have fallen into the hands of 
 an English-speaking race. 
 
 Of Tasman's voyage no account has ever been published. There 
 was found on one of the islands forming the roadstead called Dirk 
 Hartog's roadstead, at the entrance of Shark's Bay, in 1697, and after- 
 wards again in 1801, a pewter plate, attached to a decayed log half 
 sunk in earth, which bore two inscriptions in Dutch, of different dates, 
 of which the following are translations : 
 
 " 1616. On the 25th October the ship Endracht, of Amsterdam, arrived here ; 
 first merchant, Gilles Miebais Van Luck ; Captain Dirk Hartog, of Amsterdam. 
 She sailed on the 27th of the same month for Bantam. Supercargo, Janstins; 
 chief pilot, Peter Ecores Van Due. Year 1616." 
 
 The second inscription was 
 
 " 1697. On the 4th February the ship Geelvink, of Amsterdam, arrived here ; 
 Wilhelem de Flaming, captain-commandante ; John Bremen, of Copenhagen^ 
 assistant ; Michel Bloem Van Estoght, assistant. The dogger Nyptaught, 
 
16 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Captain Gerril Coldart, of Amsterdam ; Theodore Hermans, of the same place, 
 assistant ; first pilot, Gerritzen, of Bremen. 
 
 "The galley Nel Wesetje, Cornelius de Plaming, of Vielandt, commander; 
 Coert Gerritzen, of Bremen, pilot. Our fleet sails hence, leaving the southern 
 territories for Batavia." 
 
 In 1642 Tasman discovered and sailed along the coast of the 
 Island of Van Diemen's Land, supposing it to be part of the " South 
 Land." 
 
 In successive investigations by Captain Marrion, of the French 
 navy, in 1772 ; by Captain Tobias, of the British service, in 1773 ; by 
 Captain Cook, in 1777 ; and by the French Eear- Admiral D'Entrecas- 
 teaux, the coast line to the south and east was further explored ; but 
 the insularity of Yan Diemen's Land, the harbour of Port Jackson, 
 and the Rivers Hunter, Brisbane, and Yarra, all destined to be the 
 outlets to important districts in future colonies, remained undiscovered. 
 
 The many hundred leagues of coast so frequently visited by the 
 Dutch, had afforded no encouragement for the plantation of settlements 
 similar to those which they had founded with such brilliant results in 
 the Indian Seas. 
 
 The Commander Carstens, sent by the Dutch East India Company 
 to explore New Holland, describes it as " barren coasts, shallow water, 
 islands thinly peopled by cruel, poor, and brutal natives, and of very 
 little use to the company." Tasman' s Land was pronounced to be the 
 abode of "howling evil spirits." In these discouraging reports all 
 mariners, until the time of Captain Cook, agreed ; which is not extra- 
 ordinary, considering that, after the time of Columbus, maritime dis- 
 coverers sought lands in which either gold was to be had for gathering, 
 or where rich tropical fruits abounded in pleasant arbours. 
 
 In New Holland the natives were hostile and miserably poor, in the 
 lowest state of human existence. They built no huts, wore no orna- 
 ments of gold or precious stones, cultivated no ground. Their barren, 
 unfruitful coast, afforded no indigenous fruits for barter ; neither the 
 yam, the cocoa, nor the pineapple, the lemon, the citron, the gourd, nor 
 indeed any other fruit grateful to European taste. 
 
 As the Spaniards were the first, so the British were 'the last, and 
 (in their first attempts) the least successful; in exploring the coast of 
 Australia. 
 
 William Dampier, one of the boldest and most scientific navigators 
 of his age, author of a " Yoyage Round the World," from which Defoe 
 drew many hints, visited New Holland three times on the first occasion 
 with his companions the buccaneers j again as pilot of H. M. S. Roebuck 
 
DAMPIER CAPTAIN COOK. 17 
 
 when he spent about five weeks in ranging off and on the coast of New 
 South Wales, a length of about 300 leagues ; on the third occasion he 
 passed through Torres Straits as pilot to Captain Woodes Rogers, in 
 1710, when he explored Sharks' Bay, the coasts of New Guinea, New 
 Britain, and New Zealand. 
 
 In July, 17C9, Captain James Cook, after having observed the 
 transit of Yenus at Otaheite (or Tahiti), and cruised for a month among 
 the other Society Islands, sailed southwards in search of the continent 
 Terra Australia Incognita, which geographers for a preceding century 
 had calculated must exist somewhere thereabouts, as a counterpoise to 
 the great tract of land in the northern hemisphere. 
 
 In this search he first visited the Islands of New Zealand, which 
 had been previously discovered by Tasman in 1662; he spent six 
 months in investigating them, and ascertained that they consisted of 
 two large islands. 
 
 Leaving New Zealand, and sailing westward, he sighted New 
 Holland on the llth of April, 1770, and on the 27th anchored in the 
 roadstead to which he afterwards gave the name of Botany Bay. On 
 the following day he landed, with Mr. (afterwards Sir Joseph) Banks, 
 President of the Royal Society, Dr. Solander, and a party of seamen. 
 They were all charmed with the bright verdure of the scene, in which 
 all natural objects the kangaroo bounding through the open forest, 
 the evergreen eucalypti, the grass-trees, the birds were unlike anything 
 they had ever seen before in the course of their voyages in various 
 quarters of the globe. 
 
 After exploring the country for several days, during which a 
 favourable estimate was formed of the capabilities of the district for 
 supporting a colony,* and vainly endeavouring to open a communication 
 with natives, through Tupia, a South-sea Islander, Cook sailed to the 
 northward, passing without visiting the opening into Port Jackson : 
 taking it for a mere boat harbour, he gave it the name of the look-out 
 seamen who announced the indentation in the dark, lofty, basaltic cliffs 
 which open a passage into that noble harbour. 
 
 On the 17th of May, Cook anchored in a bay to which he "gave the 
 name of Moreton Bay ; and, at a place where the land was not at that 
 time visible, some on board, ha.ving observed that the sea looked 
 paler than usual, were of opinion that the bottom of the bay opened 
 
 * The author of the narrative of Cook's first voyage says : "It was oft account of the great 
 quantity of plants which Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander collected in this place that Lieutenant 
 Cook was induced to give it the name of Botany Bay. In cultivating the ground there would e 
 no obstacle from the trees, which are tall, straight, and without underwood, and stand a sufficient 
 distance from each other." 
 
18 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 into a river ;" but Cook came to a contrary conclusion ; it was not 
 until 1823 that the navigable River Brisbane, which gives access to a 
 fine pastoral country, was discovered. 
 
 Leaving Moreton Bay, Cook ran down the coast as far as Cape 
 York, taking possession in the usual form wherever he landed. After- 
 wards passing between New Guinea and Australia, he proved, as Torres 
 had before him, that they were distinct islands. 
 
 Cook landed altogether five times on this coast first at Botany 
 Bay, on the 28th of April, 1770 ; secondly on the 22nd of May, when 
 he shot a kind of bustard weighing 17 Ibs., and named the landing- 
 place Bustard Bay; the third time on the 30th of May, at a spot 
 which, from the absence of water, he named Thirsty Sound. The 
 fourth time was on the 18th of June, 1770 (seven days after his vessel, 
 the Endeavour, had struck upon a coral rock), at Endeavour River, 
 where they refitted. It was during his stay at Endeavour River that 
 one of his crew came running to the boat declaring that he had seen the 
 devil, " as large as a one-gallon keg, with horns and wings, yet he 
 crept so slowly I might have touched him if I had not been afeared." 
 This " devil" was a grey-headed vampyre. (See Engraving on next 
 page.) 
 
 On the 21st of August of the same year, having passed and named a 
 point on the mainland " Cape York," Cook anchored, landed for the fifth 
 time on an island which lies in lat. 10 30' S., and having ascertained 
 that he had discovered, by ascending a hill from whence he had a clear 
 view of forty miles, an open passage to the Indian Seas, before re- 
 embarking took possession in the following words : 
 
 " As I am now about to quit the eastern coast of New Holland, 
 which I have coasted from lat. 38 to this place, and which I am con- 
 fident no European has ever seen before, I once more hoist English 
 colours ; and, though I have already taken possession of several parts, 
 I now take possession of the whole of the eastern coast, by the. name 
 of New South Wales (from its great similarity to that part of the 
 principality), in the right of my sovereign, George the Third, King of 
 Great Britain." 
 
 His men fired three volleys of firearms, which were answered by 
 the same number from the guns of the ship, and by three cheers 
 from the main shrouds, and, then re-embarking, he named the spot 
 Possession Island. 
 
 These explorations of Cook completed the circuit of the island 
 commenced and prosecuted from the beginning of the seventeenth 
 century by the Spanish and Dutch, with the exception of the coast 
 
CAPTAIN COOK. 
 
 19 
 
 GKEY-IIEADED VAMPTRE. 
 
 opposite Yan Diemen's Land, which was reserved for the enterprise of 
 Flinders and Bass. 
 
 In his exploration of Australia, Cook's usual sagacity and good 
 fortune seem to have failed him, although his contributions to our 
 knowledge of an important navigation were of the most valuable 
 character. He selected Botany Bay, a dangerous harbour, which must 
 remain for many years an undrained swamp. He passed without 
 examination Port Jackson, the site of Sydney ; Moreton Bay, with its 
 navigable river ; and, concluding that Van Diemen's Land was part of 
 the Island of Australia, and the dividing straits a deep bay, lost the 
 opportunity of investigating the great bay of Port Phillip, on the 
 shores of which the most flourishing colony in the British dominions is 
 now rising. In God's good providence the discovery was reserved 
 for a fitting time. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ORIGIN OF TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 r I ^HE accumulation of criminals in our gaols at the close of the 
 -*- American war became an embarrassing question for the county 
 magistrates and the government. Projects for the renewal of trans- 
 portation, and its effect on criminals, became a subject of discussion 
 among statesmen and philanthropists. 
 
 Banishment, from a very early period, was an ordinary punishment, 
 which permitted the sentenced to proceed to any country he pleased. 
 Thus, in Shakspere's " Richard II. : 
 
 " we banish you our territories! 
 You, cousin Hereford, upon pain of death, 
 Till twice five summers have enriched our fields, 
 Shall not regreet our fair domains, 
 But tread the stranger paths of banishment. 
 Norfolk, for thee remains a heavier doom! 
 ***** 
 
 The hopeless word of never to return 
 Breathe I against thee, upon pain of life. 
 
 Even at the present day it is common, in Guernsey and Jersey, to 
 " banish a criminal to England ;" that is to say, to land him at 
 Southampton, and then leave him free to go where he will so long as 
 he does not revisit the Channel Islands. 
 
 The first legislative trace of the punishment of transportation is 
 to be found in the 39th of Elizabeth, c. 4, authorising the banishment 
 of rogues and vagabonds. This act James the First converted into an 
 instrument of transportation to America, in a letter written in 1619, 
 addressed to the council of the colony of Yirginia, commanding them "to 
 send a hundred dissolute persons to Yirginia, that the Knight-Marshal 
 would deliver to them for that purpose." These being the very class 
 of persons against whose introduction the celebrated hero of Virginia, 
 Captain John Smith, had specially protested. In the same year, as a 
 kind of counterpoise to these dissolute persons, the Company sent 
 ninety agreeable girls, young and incorrupt ; and again, in 1621, sixty 
 more, " maids of virtuous education, young, and handsome." The 
 first lot of females brought 120 Ibs. of tobacco each, and the second, 
 150 Ibs. each. 
 
WHITE SLAVERY IN JAMES THE SECOND'S REIGN. 21 
 
 The first distinct notice of transportation is to be found in the 
 18th of Charles II., c. 3, which gives the judges power, at their 
 discretion, to execute, or transport for life, the moss-troopers of Cum- 
 berland or Northumberland. The punishment was inflicted very 
 frequently, in an illegal manner, up to the reign of George the First, 
 when its operation was extended and legalised. 
 
 Defoe, who always drew the outlines of his stories from actual life, 
 no doubt gives a true picture of the life led by the eonvicts in the 
 American plantations in his " History of Moll Flanders." 
 
 During the reign of James the Second, transportation, or rather 
 reduction to slavery, was a favourite, and to certain parties a profitable, 
 punishment. 
 
 Dr. Lingard quotes a petition setting forth that seventy persons, 
 apprehended on account of the Salisbury rising of Penruddock and 
 Grove, had, after a year's imprisonment, been sold at Barbadoes for 
 1,550 Ibs. of sugar a-piece, more or less, according to their working 
 faculties. Among them were divines, officers, and gentlemen, who 
 were represented as " grinding at the mills, attending at the furnaces, 
 and digging in that scorching island, whipped at whipping-posts, and 
 sleeping in sties worse than hogs in England." * 
 
 After Argyle's defeat the planters were on the alert to obtain white 
 slaves, and were successful, Some of the common prisoners, and others, 
 who were Highlanders, were by the Privy Council delivered to Mr. 
 George Scott, of Petlockey, and other planters in New Jersey, Jamaica, 
 After Monmouth's rebellion, Lord Sunderland wrote from "Winser, 
 Sept. 14th, 1685, to Judge Jeffries/' to acquaint him from the king 
 that, of such persons as the judge should think qualified for trans- 
 portation, the following individuals were to be furnished with these 
 numbers : Sir Philip Howard to have 200 (convicts) ; Sir Richard 
 White, 200; Sir William Booth, 100; Mr. Kendal, 100; Mr. Nipho, 
 100 ; Sir William Stapleton, 100 ; Sir Christopher Musgrave, 100 ; 
 a merchant, w r hose name Lord Sunderland did not know, 100. Thus 
 it was proposed to give away 1,000. The King directed Chief Justice 
 Jeffries to give orders for delivering the said numbers " to the above 
 persons respectively, to be forthwith transported to some of his Majesty's 
 southern plantations, viz., Jamaica, Barbadoes, or any of the Leeward 
 Islands in America, to be kept there for the space of ten years before 
 they have their liberty. In the end, eight hundred and forty-nine of 
 Monmouth's followers, all from the west, were sold." f Macaulay's 
 account of the traffic between the maids of honour and the relatives of 
 
 * Lingard, xi. 143. f Roberts " Duke of Monmouth," vol. ii. p. 248. 
 
22 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 prisoners will be in the recollection of all our readers, as well as the 
 question of who was the Mr. Penn who acted as broker. 
 
 But the following Bristol legend of an incident in the life of Jeffries 
 proves that he did not permit aldermen to follow the example of the 
 maids of honour : " On his return from Taunton, where his mornings 
 were passed in sentencing to hanging and burning, and his evenings 
 with a congenial soul, Colonel Kirk, in drinking, he stopped at Bristol. 
 Now, the mayor, aldermen, and justices of Bristol had been used to 
 transport convicted criminals to the American plantations, and sell them 
 by way of trade ; and finding the commodity turn to good account, 
 they contrived a way to make it more plentiful. Their legal convicts 
 were but few, and the exportation inconsiderable : when, therefore, any 
 petty rogues and pilferers were brought before them in a judicial 
 capacity, they were sure to be terribly threatened with hanging, and 
 they had some diligent officers attending, who could advise the 
 ignorant, intimidated creatures to pray for transportation, as the only 
 way to save their lives ; and in general, by some means or other, the 
 advice was followed : then, without any more form, each alderman in 
 turn took one, and sold him for his own benefit ; sometimes there even 
 arose warm disputes among them about the next turn. This trade 
 had been carried on unnoticed many years, when it came to the know- 
 ledge of the Lord Chief Justice, who, finding upon inquiry that the 
 mayor was equally involved with the rest of his brethren in this 
 outrageous practice, made him descend from the bench where he was 
 sitting, and stand at the bar in his scarlet and furs, and plead like 
 any common criminal." 
 
 This system, and the demand for labour, led to frequent cases of 
 kidnapping of the poor and friendless, and of parties who had made 
 themselves obnoxious to powerful and unscrupulous individuals. 
 Thus debtors disencumbered themselves of their creditors, wives of 
 their husbands, and guardians of their wards. Even in vengeance the 
 commercial spirit of Britain was displayed : while the Italian stabbed 
 or poisoned his enemy, the Englishman sold him for a soldier, a sailor, 
 or a slave. 
 
 Before the commencement of the American war of independence, 
 the introduction of the more docile and laborious negro had rendered 
 the American planters hostile to the importation of white convicts. 
 The war put a stop to the traffic in white flesh, and crowded our gaols. 
 At the same period the prison labours of Howard commenced. In his 
 vocation he personally examined every place of imprisonment. He 
 found the convicted prisoner, money in his purse, revelling in 
 
PRISON LABOURS OF HOWARD. 23 
 
 debauchery, while the untried poor man was half starved, lodged on 
 damp stones, exposed, from unglazed windows, to every blast, and 
 crowded promiscuously with the vilest of mankind in deep dungeons, 
 where fever and foul pestilence ever smouldered. Sometimes a black 
 assize swept away prisoners, gaolers, and even judges. The barbarity 
 of the system may be appreciated from the circumstance that Howard 
 considered he had achieved a great triumph, when he at length obtained 
 an order for a daily allowance of a penny loaf and small piece of cheese 
 for each untried prisoner. 
 
 Howard was anxious to establish reformatory prisons or peniten- 
 tiaries, but his humane schemes met with little favour. With the 
 experience we have since had, we cannot imagine that he could have 
 had any success, except in establishing a clean and wholesome system 
 of management. 
 
 The country was no more prepared then than it is at present, to 
 permit desperate ruffians to be unloosed to renew their crimes on the 
 expiration of their terms of imprisonment. But no one then contemplated 
 the construction of prisons like Reading, as costly and comfortable 
 palaces, in which the hard-labour test would consist in composing moral 
 essays, and collating texts of Scripture.* 
 
 The annual accumulation of roguery was to be got rid of ! That 
 was the problem ; and, so long as it was solved, few cared how. Hang- 
 ing had been stretched to its utmost limits ; transportation had been 
 checked by the revolt of a country which decided to employ no slaves 
 who had not at least 25 per cent, of black blood in their veins, and to 
 receive no rogues except those who had escaped unconvicted. 
 
 Under these difficult circumstances, a proposition for "shovelling" 
 out our criminals on the shores of the antipodes, recently re-discovered 
 by Cook, was eagerly entertained. There it was presumed, on very 
 insufficient grounds, the place of punishment could be rendered self- 
 supporting ; at any rate, the prisoners would cease to be a nuisance to 
 the life and property of this country. Howard opposed the project, 
 but his opposition was fortunately unheeded, although founded on very 
 sufficient grounds. 
 
 When we now examine the population, the wealth, the commerce, 
 the sources of annually increasing power and prosperity of the Aus- 
 tralian colonies, and the undeniable elements of empire which they 
 enjoy, it is scarcely possible to believe that the first settlement was 
 formed with the overflowings of our gaols and the sweepings of our 
 streets ; that, for a long series of years, its very existence was dependent 
 
 * Reading Gaol, Berks. 
 
24 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 on supplies of food, which the famine resulting from a month's delay 
 of a store- ship would have rendered useless, and on grants of money, 
 voted at a time when votes, except on the grand field-days of con- 
 tending parties, were passed undiscussed in Parliament and unreported 
 in newspapers. 
 
 At this day, when care for the health, education, and religious 
 instruction of criminals is carried to an extent which shows, in painful 
 relief, the neglect our peasantry endure, it is with amazement and 
 horror that we look back on the cool, careless indifference with which 
 the ministers of George the Third, in 1797, set about founding a penal 
 settlement at the opposite side of the world. 
 
 Captain Cook and his companions had passed a few days on the 
 intended site of the proposed penal colony, and had found a small river, 
 a profusion of curious plants, and an indifferent harbour. They had not 
 seen any plains of pasture fit to feed live stock ; they had found no 
 large edible animals, such as deer, or buffaloes, or pigs. They had no 
 means of ascertaining whether the soil was capable of carrying crops for 
 the support of a considerable population ; and the nearest land at which 
 live stock and dry stores could be procured was the Cape of Good Hope, 
 a colony in the possession of the Dutch. 
 
 As little judgment, as little forethought, as little common humanity, 
 was displayed in selecting the colonists as the colony. The first detach- 
 ment consisted of the first governor, Captain Arthur Phillip, R.N., with 
 a guard of marines, viz., a major- commandant, twelve subalterns, and 
 twenty-four non-commissioned officers, one hundred and sixty-eight rank 
 and file, with forty women, their wives. These were the unconvicted 
 section of the intended colony. The prisoners were six hundred men, 
 and two hundred and fifty women, the latter being not only the most 
 abandoned of their sex, but many of them aged, infirm, and even idiotic. 
 This fearful disproportion of sexes was maintained, and even increased, 
 until the proportion of men to women was as six to one, and the results 
 became too horrible to be here recorded. 
 
 This "goodly company" was embarked in a frigate, the Sirius, an 
 armed tender, three store-ships, and six transports, under the command 
 of Captain Hunter. At the last moment, by an afterthought, one chap- 
 lain was sent on board. There was no schoolmaster, no superintendent, 
 or gaolers, or overseers, except marines with muskets loaded in case of 
 revolt. No agriculturist was sent to teach the highwaymen and pick- 
 pockets to plough, and delve, and sow. No system of discipline was 
 planned, nothing beyond mere coercion was attempted. Even the 
 supply of mechanics required for erecting the needful houses and 
 
DISCOVERY OF PORT JACKSON. 25 
 
 stores was left a matter of chance, dependent on the trades of the 
 six hundred felons ; and, as it turned out, there were not half a dozen 
 carpenters, only one bricklayer, and not one mechanic in the whole 
 settlement capable of erecting a corn-mill. 
 
 The "first fleet" sailed on the 13th May, 1787, and, after a voyage 
 of eight months, during which they touched at the Cape de Yerd Islands, 
 Rio de Janeiro, and the Cape of Good Hope, being everywhere received 
 with the greatest attention and courtesy, anchored in Botany Bay on 
 the 20th January, 1788. 
 
 Within four-and-twenty hours after landing, Governor Phillip 
 ascertained that Botany Bay was quite unsuitable for the site of a 
 colony, that a sufficient quantity of cultivable agricultural land, and of 
 fresh water, were wanting ; and that the harbour was unsafe for ships 
 of burden. Without disembarking his charge, he set out with a party 
 of three boats, to explore the coast to the northward, and particularly 
 Broken Bay, an inlet favourably mentioned by Captain Cook, distant 
 about eighteen miles from Botany Bay ; but, as he sailed along the 
 barrier of cliffs which line the shore, he decided to examine the narrow 
 cleft which Cook had named Port Jackson. 
 
 The day was mild and serene. The expedition sailed along the 
 coast near enough to see, and hear the wild cries of, the astonished 
 natives, who followed them as far as the rugged nature of the land 
 would permit. As they approached Port Jackson, the coast wore such 
 an appearance that Captain Phillip fully expected to find Captain 
 Cook's unfavourable impressions realised ; but he was destined to be 
 most agreeably disappointed. 
 
 The first tack carried the expedition out of the long heavy swell of 
 the Pacific Ocean into the smooth water of a canal protected by two 
 projecting " heads ; " and soon they came within sight of a vast land- 
 locked lake, stretching as far as the eye could reach, dotted with small 
 islands, whose shores sloped, forest-covered, down to the water's edge. 
 Black swans and other rare water-birds fluttered up as the white 
 strangers sailed on, charmed with a scene in which every feature was 
 beautiful, yet strange. They had discovered one of the finest harbours 
 in the world. Coasting round the shores of this great natural basin, 
 Governor Phillip determined to plant his eolony on a promontory 
 where a small clear stream trickled into the salt water. After three 
 days spent in exploration, he returned to Botany Bay. 
 
 On the morning of the 25th January, as they were working out, 
 the English fleet were astonished by seeing two strange ships of war 
 sailing into the bay. These were the Boussole and Astrolabe, the 
 
 \ c 
 
26 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 French expedition of discovery under the command of M. de la Perouse, 
 which had left France in 1785. La Perouse "had sailed into Botany Bay 
 by Captain Cook's chart, which lay before him on the binnacle. Having 
 heard at Kamtschatka of the intended settlement, he had expected to 
 have found a town built and market established." Thus it was pro- 
 bably but by a few days that the honour of discovering Port Jackson 
 fell to England. The French squadron remained until the 10th March 
 to refresh and refit, and, then departing, were never heard of more, 
 until, in 1826, Mr. Dillon discovered at the Manicola Islands traces of 
 arms and ornaments which proved their mournful fate shipwrecked, 
 and murdered by savages. 
 
 A monument has been erected to the memory of La Perouse and 
 his crew in Botany Bay. 
 
 MONUMENT TO LA PEBOUSE. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 GOVERNOR PHILLIP TO GOVERNOR KING. 
 1788 TO 1806. 
 
 ON the 26th January the English fleet, having been brought round, 
 anchored in deep water close along the shore of Sydney Cove, so 
 called after Lord Sydney, one of the lords of the Admiralty. A formal 
 disembarkation took place a detachment of marines and blue jackets 
 leaping from their boats into the shades of a primaeval forest. After 
 hoisting British colours " near where the colonnade in Bridge-street 
 now stands," the proclamation and commission constituting the colony 
 were read, a salute of small arms was fired, and the career of the 
 province of New South Wales commenced. The whole party landed 
 amounted to one thousand and thirty souls, who encamped under tents, 
 and under and within hollow trees, " in a country resembling the more 
 woody parts of a deer park in England." Such were the accidents of 
 the foundation, and such the founders, of our colonial empire in 
 Australia. 
 
 No sooner had the convict colonists been disembarked, and the 
 erection of the necessary buildings commenced, than the want of a 
 sufficient body of artificers was experienced. The ships furnished 
 sixteen, and the prisoners twelve, carpenters ; and by a piece of unex- 
 pected good fortune, which caused much rejoicing, " an experienced 
 bricklayer was discovered among the convicts. He was at once placed 
 at the head of a party of labourers, with orders to construct a number 
 of brick huts : in the meantime the governor occupied a tent." 
 
 This first example is a fair specimen of the manner in which the 
 penal discipline in the colony was conducted for a long series of years. 
 A useful man was placed in authority, and allowed a variety of indul- 
 gences, quite irrespective of his moral qualities. The greatest ruffians 
 became overseers, and occupied places of trust. Men of no use mere 
 drudges were treated worse than beasts of burden. 
 
 In the month of May the entire live stock of the colony, public and 
 private, consisted of 2 bulls, 5 cows, 1 horse, 3 mares, 3 colts, 29 
 sheep, 19 goats, 74 pigs, 5 rabbits, 18 turkeys, 29 geese, 35 ducks ; 
 
 c 2 
 
28 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 210 fowls. The cattle were of the Cape breed, humpy on the shoulders, 
 and long-horned a fact which it afterwards became of consequence to 
 remember. In the ensuing month it is recorded as a public calamity 
 that two bulls and four cows wandered away from the pickpocket 
 herdsman who had them in charge, and were lost in the woods. In 
 the sequel it was shown that the cattle were better colonists than their 
 owners. 
 
 The entrance to Port Jackson, as already partly described, is 
 through projecting capes, or two heads, which conceal and shelter the 
 far extent of the harbour. A channel, about two miles in breadth, 
 opens a land-locked harbour, about fifteen miles in length, of irregular 
 form, the shores jagged with inlets, coves, and creeks, which, when the 
 first adventurers landed, were covered to the water's edge with the 
 finest timber. At the western extremity a current of fresh water 
 mingling with the sea tide gave signs of the winding Paramatta River, 
 navigable for vessels of small burden for eighteen miles. 
 
 The settlement was planted on the banks of an inlet or " cove," 
 about half a mile in length, and a quarter in breadth, which received a 
 considerable stream of fresh water at the upper end. 
 
 The native blacks, who then swarmed along the whole coast from 
 Botany Bay, and far beyond in either direction, came to meet the white 
 strangers naked, armed with the shield, the spear, and the boomerang, 
 which the settlers at first took for a wooden sword. 
 
 From the circumstance of the aborigines not being subject to the 
 authority of any sort of government except that of the strongest man, 
 from the imperfection of their arms, and their mental incapacity for 
 combination, their communications and skirmishes with the white 
 intruders do not occupy that place in the history of the colony which 
 is filled by the Bed Indian tribes in the history of North America, or 
 the semi-civilised Peruvians and Mexicans in that of Spanish South 
 America. 
 
 On the 7th February, 1788, the king's commission for the govern- 
 ment of the " territory of New South Wales and its dependencies" \vas 
 read. By this instrument the colony was declared " to extend from the 
 northern extremity of the coast called Cape York, in the latitude of 
 10 37', to the southern extremity of South Cape, in the latitude of 
 43 39', including all adjacent islands within those latitudes, and 
 inland to the westward as far as the 135th degree of east longitude." 
 At the same time were read the letters patent issued under the 27th 
 George III., cap. 56, for establishing courts of civil and criminal 
 judicature in the colony. Under these the governor or, in his absence, 
 
FOUNDATION OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 29 
 
 the lieutenant-governor was authorised, whenever, and only when, he 
 saw fit, to summon a court of criminal jurisdiction, which was to be a 
 court of record, and to consist of the judge-advocate, and six such officers 
 of the sea or land service as the governor should nominate by presents 
 under hand and seal. This court was empowered to inquire into and 
 punish all crimes of whatever nature ; the punishment to be inflicted 
 according to the laws of England, as nearly as might be, considering 
 and allowing for the circumstances and situations of the settlement 
 and its inhabitants ; the charge to be reduced to writing ; witnesses 
 to be examined upon oath ; the sentence of the court to be determined 
 by the opinion of the majority ; but the punishment not to be inflicted 
 unless five members of the court concurred, until the king's pleasure 
 should be known ; the provost-marshal to cause the judgment under 
 the governor's warrant. 
 
 In this court the judge-advocate was president (there was no pro- 
 vision that he should be a man of legal education) ; he was also to 
 frame and exhibit the charge against the prisoner, to have a vote in the 
 court, and to be sworn like members of it. The military officers were 
 to appear in the insignia of duty sash and sword ; they had the right 
 to examine witnesses as well as the judge-advocate ; he alone centred in 
 his person the offices of prosecutor, judge, and jury. 
 
 There was also a civil court, consisting of the judge-advocate and 
 two inhabitants of the settlement, who were to be appointed by the 
 governor, " empowered to decide, in a summary manner, all pleas of 
 lands, houses, debts, contracts, and all personal pleas, with authority to 
 summon parties, upon complaint being made, to examine the matter of 
 such complaint by the oath of witnesses, and to issue warrants of 
 execution under the hand and seal of the judge-advocate." From this 
 court an appeal might be made to the governor, and from him (where 
 the property exceeded the value of three hundred pounds) to the king 
 in council. To this court was likewise given authority to grant probates 
 of wills, and administration of the personal estates of intestate persons 
 dying within the settlement. 
 
 A vice-admiralty court was also established for the trial of offences 
 committed on the high seas. The governor was captain-general and 
 vice-admiral, with authority to hold general courts-martial, to confirm 
 and set aside sentences. 
 
 Powers equal to those of the first governor of New South Wales, if 
 held, have never been exercised by any other official in the British 
 dominions. He could sentence to five hundred lashes, fine five hundred 
 pounds, regulate customs and trade, fix prices and wages, remit capital 
 
30 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 as well as other sentences, bestow grants of land, and create a monopoly 
 of any article of necessity. All the labour in the colony was at his 
 disposal ; all the land, all the stores, all the places of honour and profit ; 
 and virtually all the justice, as the case of Governor Bligh afterwards 
 proved. The governor's subjects consisted of his subordinates, officers 
 for, as captain-general, the commandant of the troops was under his 
 orders of the few who resorted to New South Wales to trade (whose 
 profits were at his disposal), and the convicts outcasts without civil 
 rights. The distance from England, the few means of communication, 
 the indifference of the English public to the fate of the inhabitants of 
 a penal or any other colony, rendered the governor, so far as the 
 control of law extended, actually irresponsible. As there was no law, 
 so there was no publicity and no public opinion to restrain the exercise 
 of the despotism which was the only possible government in such a 
 penal settlement. 
 
 The chief officers were naval and military, of the old school ; not 
 the school of Cook and Keppel, Nelson and Collingwood, Wolfe and 
 Cornwallis, but of that school which, by its tyranny, its abuse of power, 
 its neglect of common honesty, of common decency, and common 
 humanity in the treatment, the wages, the clothing, and the food of 
 sailors, created the alarming mutinies of Portsmouth and the Nore.* 
 
 The powers vested in the governor were exercised without the 
 restraining influence of council or law adviser until 1822. f 
 
 Amazement and horror overcome us when we look back on the early 
 days of New South Wales. Under the absolute government described, 
 the settlers were crowded together on a narrow space a promontory 
 cleared of a dense forest. The soil was a barren sand ; every yard 
 required for cultivation had to be gained by removing enormous trees 
 of a hardness that tried the temper of the best axes, wielded in skilled 
 hands. On one side was an unknown shore and a shipless sea ; on the 
 other, an apparently limitless country, inhabited by savages, in which 
 not a step could be taken without danger of being totally lost ; a 
 country which produced no wild fruit or root fit for the sustenance of 
 man ; and, with the exception of a wandering kangaroo, or a shy, swift 
 emu, no game of any size fit for food. 
 
 The want of enterprise which marked the early career of the 
 colonists, and left them so long in ignorance of the rich districts on 
 which, after a long interval, the colony became self-supporting, cannot 
 but be attributed to the form of government and to the moral blight 
 
 * Portsmouth, May ; the Nore, June, 1797. 
 f The Charter of Justice was not formally promulgated until the 17th May, 1824. 
 
FEARFUL CONDITION OF THE INFANT COLONY. 31 
 
 caused by the composition of the society. The mass of the community 
 were slaves slaves without the contented spirit of negroes or Russian 
 serfs, for they had been born in a free country, and could not learn to 
 submit and be happy, even if, in the matter of food and lodging, they 
 had been well provided, instead of being burned with heat, perished with 
 cold, and always half starved. They were slaves, too, labouring hard, 
 but scarcely producing anything. 
 
 The long voyage was a bad preparation for useful labour. The 
 convicts were heaped on board ship without selection, the vilest and 
 most venial criminals chained together. No classification of degrees of 
 crime, or for the purposes of useful labour, was attempted. The over- 
 seers were prisoners selected by favouritism, or for their bodily strength ; 
 and the work was divided between personal service on the officers, 
 handicraft, and mere drudgery. 
 
 One chaplain of the Church of England enjoyed a salary for preach- 
 ing occasionally to an ignorant uninstructed multitude, of whom one- 
 third were Irish Roman Catholics, transported for political or agrarian 
 offences. Religious teaching, the bedside prayer, the solemn call to 
 repentance, were seldom heard in that miserable Gomorrah. 
 
 Far from all civilising, humanising influences, in such society the 
 finest natures became brutalised into tyrants, while the criminals under 
 their command dragged on a miserable existence or rebelled with all the 
 dogged ruffianism of despair. Although the chief records of the early 
 days of the colony are drawn from the writings and reports of officials, 
 who were naturally inclined to put the best face on a system of which 
 they were the paid instruments, and whose eyes, ears, consciences were 
 seared by constant contact with misery and tyranny, yet there is 
 more than enough testimony of the cruel and stupid despotism which 
 prevailed. 
 
 We learn from the journals of Howard, and the reports of the par- 
 liamentary inquiries instituted through his influence, how frightful were 
 the abuses practised on tried and untried prisoners at the close of the 
 eighteenth century in England, where the gaols were visited by 
 numerous individuals of various ranks, where the common-law rights of 
 the subject had been established, where what was considered in those 
 clays a free press flourished, where, from Sabbath to Sabbath, Christian 
 ministers assembled and led Christian congregations to prayer and 
 praise, where a parliament held its sittings whose orators made Europe 
 resound with their denunciations of tyranny, and where laws were 
 administered by incorruptible, independent judges. We may more 
 easily imagine how in New South Wales, where there was no law but 
 
32 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 the law of the lash, tyranny became chronic, and cruelty spread through 
 the whole body corporate of the colony. 
 
 A singular succession of serious, pitiable, ludicrous, and disgraceful 
 incidents, mark the history of the settlement, from the day of proclaim- 
 ing the king's commission to the end of the year 1800, which has been 
 minutely recorded by Collins. At one time " a person named Smith, 
 on his way to India, professing some knowledge of agriculture," is 
 engaged by the government, and created a peace-officer at Rosehill, the 
 site of the future town of Paramatta, the said Smith being apparently 
 the only freeman with any claims to the kind of knowledge on which 
 the subsistence of the colony was likely to depend. At another time 
 one Bryant, a Devonshire prisoner, employed in his calling of a fisher- 
 man, is detected in secreting and selling large quantities of fish, and is 
 severely punished ; but, " being too useful a person to part with, and 
 send to the Brick Cart," he is retained to fish for the settlement. This 
 man afterwards escaped with his family and a party of other prisoners 
 in an open boat to the Island of Timor ; he was there captured by a 
 mari-of-war, and carried to Batavia, where he died. His wife was con- 
 veyed to England, tried, and confined in Newgate until the term of her 
 original sentence expired. 
 
 Then we find convicts, " when little more than two years had 
 elapsed," claiming their discharge on the ground that the time of their 
 sentence had expired, which was possible, as it would date from the day 
 of their sentences. When, in answer to these claims, inquiries are made 
 for the documents containing the particulars, "it is found that they 
 have been left in England, and that, therefore, it is impossible to affirm 
 or deny the claims." Consequently, the prisoners are told they must 
 wait for an answer to a despatch to be sent by the first opportunity to 
 England, a period of two or three years. One of the prisoners, not 
 very well pleased with the prospect of such delay, expresses himself 
 disrespectfully of the lieutenant-governor in the presence of the 
 governor. Thereupon he is seized, tried by a criminal court, found 
 guilty, and sentenced to receive six hundred lashes, and wear irons for 
 the space of six months. About the same time a soldier having been 
 found guilty of a horrible criminal assault on a female child, his sen- 
 tence is commuted to banishment for life to the auxiliary agricultural 
 settlement of Norfolk Island. 
 
 These are but a few gems of the judicial system by which New 
 South Wales was ruled for nearly the first quarter of a century of its 
 existence. 
 
 In 1790, the third year of colonisation, four ships arrived filled 
 
ARRIVAL OF CONVICTS DEATHS AT SEA FAMINE. 3-5 
 
 with convicts, of whom the greater number were in a dying state : two 
 hundred and sixty-one had died at sea ; two hundred were brought on 
 shore in the last stage of exhaustion, from scurvy, dysentery, fever, 
 bad food, and foul air. In order to save the parties in charge trouble, 
 the men had been chained together in rows, and confined below nearly 
 throughout the voyage. On board one of the ships, the Neptune, several of 
 the prisoners had died in irons ; their companions concealed their deaths 
 in order to share the extra allowance of provisions, and so slight was the 
 supervision, that the horrible fact was not discovered until betrayed by 
 the offensiveness of putrefaction. 
 
 Many years elapsed before a system was adopted by which the 
 preservation of the health of prisoners and troops became the interest as 
 well as the duty of the surgeon in charge. At that time the more and 
 the sooner prisoners died the more profitable the transaction was to the 
 contractor ; so they commonly died like rotten sheep. 
 
 Those were the days in which transportation really was a punish- 
 ment almost as terrible as death. New South Wales was then an awful 
 over-sea gaol, offering no prospect of advancement or liberation ; 
 where the will of a prisoner-turnkey was law, where death was the 
 punishment of the most trifling crimes, and a reproachful look was 
 punished with the lash. 
 
 A few days before the four ships landed one thousand male and 
 two hundred arid fifty female convicts, the arrival of one store- 
 ship, the Justinian, saved the whole colony from perishing of 
 famine. The Guardian, laden with a great supply of provisions, stores, 
 and live stock, under the command of Riou, " the gallant good Riou," 
 of Campbell's " Battle of Copenhagen," had struck on an iceberg, and, 
 after almost all the cargo had been thrown overboard, was with difficulty 
 carried into the Cape of Good Hope. For weeks before the arrival 
 of the Justinian, the whole settlement had been put on short allowance, 
 The governor, says Collins, had thrown his store, 300 Ibs. of flour, 
 into the common stock. The weekly allowance of each prisoner had 
 been reduced to 2 Ibs. of salt pork, 2| Ibs. of flour, and 2 Ibs. of rice. 
 " Labour stood suspended for want of energy to proceed ; the coun- 
 tenances of the people plainly bespoke the hardships they underwent." 
 " Garden-robbing became prevalent ; the most severe measures were 
 employed to repress the crime caused by, and yet increasing, the effects 
 of the scarcity, but in vain. A man caught by the clergyman stealing 
 potatoes was sentenced to three hundred lashes, to have his rations of 
 flour stopped for six months, and to be chained for that period to two 
 others caught robbing the governor's garden ; but this and" many similar 
 
34 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 punishments produced no more effect than the clemency of the governor, 
 who remitted three hundred out of four hundred lashes to which one 
 man was sentenced. The proverb that "hunger will break through 
 stone walls/' was exemplified night and day. 
 
 " So great was the villany of the people, or the necessity of the times, 
 that a prisoner lying at the hospital from the effects of punishment, part 
 of which he had received, contrived to get his irons off one leg, and in 
 that state was caught robbing a farm ;" but the historian reports that at 
 Rosehill, where they had vegetables in abundance, no thefts were 
 committed. 
 
 The Justinian, which brought relief from this state of destitution, 
 was driven off Sydney Heads when within hail : it was for some hours 
 doubtful whether she would not strike and become a total wreck on the 
 reefs of Broken Bay. Had that event occurred, and the twelve hundred 
 and fifty additional convicts safely made the port, death by starvation, 
 or in a struggle for food, must have been the fate of the whole 
 settlement. 
 
 Could it be wondered if, under such a system of despotism, without 
 discipline in the colony, and in the face of such neglect at home, 
 the descendants of these men had grown fiercely disloyal and anti- 
 British ? But yet it is not so. The Australians are a loyal, order- 
 loving, law-obeying race, as they have recently proved more than once. 
 Even gold-digging has not corrupted their honest hearts. 
 
 It was not until five years after Governor Phillip's landing that a 
 temporary church was erected, and divine service performed on the 
 25th August, 1793. 
 
 The founders of New England themselves tyrannical and intolerant, 
 although flying from tyranny and intolerance did not let a week 
 elapse without making permanent arrangements for religious worship 
 and education, whjph endure to this day, and have spread their human- 
 ising influences all over the wide empire of the American republic. 
 In New South Wales, " under the rule of a sovereign which some, 
 disparaging the present, are accustomed to glorify as the reign of a 
 specially Christian king, the penalties of lash, the pillory, the gallows, 
 were administered as freely as teaching and preaching were neglected. 
 
 It sounds strangely in this age to hear that " the clergyman com- 
 plaining of non-attendance at divine service," which was generally 
 performed in the open air, alike unsheltered from wind and rain, as 
 from the fervour of the summer's sun, "it was ordered that three 
 pounds of flour should be deducted from the ration of each overseer, 
 and two pounds from each labouring convict who should not attend 
 
FORMATION OF THE NEW SOUTH WALES CORPS. 35 
 
 prayers once on each Sunday, unless some reasonable excuse for 
 absence should be assigned." 
 
 In 1791 (April) we find Mr. Schaffer, a German, arriving from Eng- 
 land as a superintendent of convicts ; but on discovery that as he spoke 
 no English he was unable to discharge his duties, he retired, and accepted 
 a grant of land of 140 acres at Kosehill. One cannot help feeling 
 curious to know under whose patronage and for what services a German, 
 not speaking' English, was sent as superintendent of convicts at the 
 antipodes. Is it possible that Miss Eurney's friend, Madame Schwel- 
 lenberg, could have had anything to do with this little appointment ? 
 
 At the same time James Ruse received a grant of a similar quantity 
 of land as a reward for being the first settler who declared he was able 
 to support himself on a farm he had occupied fifteen months, and to 
 dispense with an allowance from the government stores. 
 
 These incidents, with the arrival, in two detachments, of a regiment 
 raised for the purpose of serving in the colony, under the title of the 
 New South Wales Corps, are the most remarkable events during 1 the 
 latter years of the reign of Governor Phillip, who resigned his office 
 to Lieutenant-Governor Grose,* and returned to England on the llth 
 December, 1792. 
 
 At that date there were sixty-seven settlers, holding under grant 
 three thousand four hundred and seventy acres, of which four hundred 
 and seventeen acres were in cultivation, and a hundred more cleared. 
 We have no means of ascertaining where all these grants were situated, 
 but the greater part is now occupied as building land, and was miserably 
 barren for agricultural purposes, although covered with gigantic gum- 
 trees. 
 
 This summary of the cultivation by free or freedmen settlers is 
 interesting, because it marks the first step towards rendering the colony 
 self-supporting. These settlers were, if they required, victualled and 
 clothed from the public store for eighteen months from the time of their 
 going on their grants, furnished with tools and implements of husbandry, 
 grain to sow their grounds, such stock as could be spared from the 
 public, and, at the discretion of the governor, the use of as many con- 
 victs as they would undertake to clothe, feed, and employ. Every free 
 or freed man had a hut erected on his farm at public expense. 
 
 On ground of ordinary fertility, with settlers of average industry, 
 these terms would have insured early independence ; but the greater 
 part of the district was and is as barren as the sea-shore, and the majority 
 of the settlers who were not idle were perfectly ignorant of agricul- 
 
 * Major Grose was a son of the celebrated antiquary. 
 
36 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 ture. The difficulties of cutting down and removing the forest were so 
 great that, without the use of compulsory convict labour for a quarter 
 of a century, the Sydney district never could have been cleared. 
 
 During this period the government was obliged to carry on culti- 
 vation as well as it could on public account, although with indifferent 
 success. A principle as old as the first step the first tribes made toward 
 civilisation which, however, many statesmen and economists even now 
 appear not to understand was forcibly illustrated in the answer of a 
 settler, reproached with not having worked so well for the joint-stock 
 account as he did on his own grant of land " We are working for 
 ourselves now." 
 
 The following were the prices of agricultural stock and produce at 
 the close of 1792 : Flour, 9d. per Ib. ; potatoes, 3d. per Ib. ; sheep 
 (the Cape breed), 10 10s. each ; milk goats, 8 8s. ; breeding sows, 
 7 7s. to 10 10s. ; laying fowls, 10s. ; tea, 8s. to 16s. per Ib. ; sugar, 
 Is. 6d. per Ib. ; spirits, 12s. to 20s. per gallon ; porter, Is. per quart. 
 
 At these famine prices the mortality among the convict population 
 was fearful. Between the 1st January and the 31st December, 1792, 
 there died two persons of the civil department, six soldiers, four hundred 
 and eighteen male convicts, eighteen female convicts, and seventy-nine 
 children. 
 
 Governor Phillip took with him to England two of the aborigines, 
 with whom, throughout the period of his government, he had endea- 
 voured to promote a good understanding a task involving great diffi- 
 culties, arising from the brutality of the convicts and the untameable 
 nature of the savages. The tribes that swarmed round Port Jackson 
 and Botany Bay have, with one exception, all died out ; the character 
 and customs of those who survive in less settled districts remain 
 unchanged, or at any rate not more changed than the fox chained in 
 a courtyard, or a pheasant reared in an aviary. 
 
 In September, 1795, Governor Hunter arrived, superseded Lieu- 
 tenant- Governor Grose, and remained the usual term of five years. 
 His difficulties were less formidable than those of Governor Phillip, 
 which were not extravagantly rewarded by a retiring pension of 500. 
 His office was no sinecure. He had had a large body of convict 
 colonists under his command who would not work, who would drink, 
 and who were therefore dependent for subsistence on supplies imported 
 from England and India. By every ship that left the harbour there 
 was an attempt, generally successful, to escape, on the part of convicts ; 
 fifty were taken from one ship at a time " when the loss of the labour 
 of one man was important." It was no wonder that all who could, 
 
PREVALENCE OF DRUNKENNESS RATIONS. 
 
 37 
 
 endeavoured to fly from a colony where the population was annually 
 put on short allowance of food, and very often in danger of actual 
 starvation. 
 
 At this period, and for more than twenty years, spirits were the 
 ordinary currency of the colony. Almost all extra work was paid for 
 in spirits, and it was thought quite proper to stimulate the diligence 
 of prisoners, in unloading a vessel laden with government stores, by 
 giving half a pint of spirits to each. Among free and bond, drunken- 
 ness was a prevailing vice. The tyranny of the prisoner-overseers was 
 so great that the best-inclined convicts were goaded to recklessness and 
 crime. Criminal assaults on women were so common that " the poor 
 unfortunate victims were designated by a title expressive of the insults 
 they had received." 
 
 The whole population, on the arrival of Captain Hunter, with the 
 exception of one hundred and seventy-nine, were dependent on the 
 public stores for rations, many of the exceptions being reputed thieves, 
 presumed to subsist on plunder from stores and gardens. 
 
 The most favourable feature of this epoch was the extension of 
 cultivation by settlers along the rich alluvial land on the banks of the 
 River Hawkesbury, one of the first districts which seemed to yield a 
 fair return to industry. 
 
 NEWCASTLE. FKOM A SK.ETCH BY J. A.. JACKSON, ESQ. 
 
38 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Among the events of this five years may be noted the use of a 
 printing-press, the discovery of the lost herd of cattle, and the founda- 
 tion of a settlement, called Newcastle, on the Coal or Hunter's River. 
 
 A printing-press had been sent out with the first fleet, but no 
 printers. All public and private announcements were made in manu- 
 script, or by the bellman, until Governor Hunter discovered a printer 
 among his convict subjects, and established a government gazette. In 
 this age of newspapers, it seems incredible that a number of officers and 
 gentlemen should have been satisfied for so many years without some- 
 thing in the shape of a newspaper ; but the colony was divided into 
 slavedrivers and slaves, who were equally content to spend their time in 
 feeding pigs and getting drunk. 
 
 The reports of the natives led the governor to send out as scouts 
 men employed as hunters, to collect fresh provisions for public use ; 
 and they discovered, feeding on rich pastures on the other side of the 
 River Nepean, still known as Cow Pastures, a herd of sixty cattle, the 
 produce of the five cows and two bulls lost in 1788. 
 
 To realise this sight, so pleasant to the eyes of men condemned to 
 perpetual rations of salt meat, rarely varied by fresh pork, the governor 
 himself set out on an expedition, and tracked and viewed the herd with 
 great delight. An old bull, fiercely and obstinately charging, was 
 slaughtered in self-defence ; he proved to be of the humpy-shouldered 
 Cape breed of the lost stock, which left no doubt of the identity of 
 the herd, and dispelled the notion of indigenous cattle. The party 
 made a delicious meal, and a few pounds were carried back thirty- 
 eight miles, over a rough road, to Paramatta, the rest being left to 
 the native dogs and hawks, with deep regret, " as meat, fresh or 
 salt, had long been a rarity with the poor sick in the hospital." Many 
 an Australian within the last ten years, galloping through Cow 
 Pastures to purchase the finest cattle at 2 a head to boil down 
 for tallow, has been reminded of the time when a bit of bull beef, 
 that a well-bred dog would now reject, was a luxury to a governor 
 and his suite ! 
 
 These wild cattle were preserved, and increased greatly, dividing 
 into "mobs," each under the charge of a victorious bull, until the 
 general increase of stock diminished their value. Many were consumed 
 by surrounding small settlers, and the rest, being fierce and a nuisance, 
 were destroyed by order of the government, when beef ceased to be a 
 luxury. 
 
 About the time these wild herds were discovered, three miserable 
 cows of the Indian breed sold for 189, and two years afterwards two 
 
ERECTION OF THE FIRST SCHOOL AND CHURCH. 39 
 
 colonial ships were employed eight months in bringing 51 cows, 3 bulls, 
 and 90 sheep from the Cape, at a cost exceeding the highest price ever 
 paid for the finest short-horns. 
 
 Governor Hunter, with the best intentions and an excusable igno- 
 rance of the laws of political economy, more than once endeavoured to 
 fix the wages of labour, by a convention of employers, and mutual 
 agreement not to outbid each other. Harvest wages were settled at 
 1 Os. a day ; but we find, from frequent proclamations, that the rule of 
 supply and demand prevailed, and labourers when much needed 
 obtained " exorbitant terms," although a reward and indemnity were 
 offered to informers. 
 
 At this period officers were allowed the use of ten prisoners for 
 agricultural and three for domestic services, and so on in a diminishing 
 scale to every description of settler down to the emancipist, who was 
 allowed the use of one prisoner to assist in tilling his grant. All these 
 servants were fed and clothed by the crown. 
 
 In 1797 the first school building was erected for the benefit of three 
 hundred children, and the chaplain, the Eev. Mr. Johnson, began to 
 catechise them after the service on each Sunday. 
 
 That instruction was much needed among all classes there can be 
 no doubt ; for on one occasion the sails of the public mill, by which the 
 corn of the settlers was gratuitously ground, were stolen in the absence 
 of the miller. On another, with a superstition worthy of the middle 
 ages, the authorities compelled a soldier suspected of murdering his 
 comrade to handle the dead body, in order to see whether it would 
 bleed, and so accuse him. 
 
 In 1798 a great Irish expedition in search of China took place. 
 We laugh at it, yet it was not more foolish than many expeditions and 
 theories patronised in the nineteenth century. It is also memorable for 
 the foundation of the first brick church, built on the model of the 
 stables of a citizen's mansion, with clock-tower. 
 
 A return made in this year shows 6,270 acres in crop with wheat or 
 maize, a much larger quantity of arable land in proportion to the popu- 
 lation than is now cultivated in any of the Australian colonies. Among 
 the more industrious settlers, George Barrington, the celebrated pick- 
 pocket, figures as the owner of twenty acres of wheat, thirteen sheep, 
 fifty-five goats, and two mares. He was a constable. 
 
 In the following year the colony was again threatened with famine, 
 partly owing to the deficiency of live stock, and partly to the incurable 
 barrenness of the Sydney district. 
 
 In 1800 Captain Hunter was superseded by Captain King. 
 
40 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Under Governor King the Female Orphan School was founded, and 
 the first issue of copper coin took place. The Sydney Gazette and New 
 South Wales Advertiser, the first Australian paper, was founded by a 
 prisoner, George Howe, and published by authority in 1803. An 
 insurrection of prisoners, two hundred and fifty strong, armed with 
 muskets, broke out at Castlehill, on the 4th March, 1804, and was 
 defeated in fifteen minutes by Major Johnstone, of the New South 
 Wales Corps, with twenty-four men. Sixty-seven insurgents fell on 
 the field ; ten were tried and five hung. 
 
 A penal settlement was formed in Van Diemen's Land by Captain 
 Collins. In the first instance he proceeded to Port Phillip, hut unfortu- 
 nately landed on the eastern arm, where there was a deficiency of water ; 
 and being, as most military men are, a bad colonist, he abandoned it 
 and proceeded to the Derwent. Had he made his way to the Yarra 
 Yarra River the probability is that Sydney would have become the second 
 settlement ; and, with the profusion of white slave labour then 
 available applied on the fine agricultural land of Port Phillip, by 
 this time a population of several millions would have been established 
 there. 
 
 1806 was signalised by the great flood on the River Ha wkesbury, on 
 the banks of which the principal grain cultivation of the colony was 
 carried on. The Hawkesbury, in ordinary periods, winds in a strangely 
 tortuous course through a deep valley, between the precipitous banks 
 above which, on the occurrence of heavy rains, it rises as much as thirty 
 feet in a very few hours. These floods are not periodical. Until 1806 
 none of importance had occurred, and people had settled down on the 
 rich " interval'* land, the deposit of former overflowings. Crops, houses, 
 and many colonists, were all swept away in one night. Famine was 
 the immediate result. The two-pound loaf rose to 5s. ; wheat fetched 
 80s. a bushel, and every vegetable in proportion. A serious flood had 
 occurred in 1801, but this far exceeded it. It is difficult to teach 
 caution in such matters. 
 
 This great flood on the Hawkesbury caused eventually a complete 
 rearrangement of the cultivation and occupation of that district. 
 
 Calamities, according to popular prejudice, seldom come single. It 
 was certainly the casein New South Wales in 1806, for the clock-tower 
 fell, and Governor Bligh arrived. Captain King resigned his command 
 on the 13th of March. 
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF PRISONERS. 
 
 On the Hawkesbury and its tributaries the first successful agricultural 
 
RECOLLECTIONS OF PRISONERS. 41 
 
 colonists were planted, and there dwelt, in 1845, a few representatives 
 of the first fleeters. These settlers, whose recollections* do not exactly 
 tally with, although they confirm, the history transmitted to us by 
 Collins, are all in comfortable circumstances some positively wealthy. 
 Among the last was Mr. Smith, who always spoke his mind to high 
 and low. He had been free almost ever since he arrived in the colony, 
 and had never been " in trouble." 
 
 " He was an old man, with a large-featured, handsome, military sort 
 of face, of a red-brown complexion, shaved clean. His dress consisted 
 of a red flannel shirt, with a black bandana, tied sailor-fashion, exposing 
 his strong neck, and a pair of fustian trousers. Out of compliment to 
 the lady he once put on a blue coat with gilt buttons, but, being evidently 
 uncomfortable, consented to take it off again. He refused to see the 
 lady until he learned that it was ' the Mrs. Chisholm ;' being usually 
 rough to those he did not respect." 
 
 A Dr. , who had the reputation among the prisoner population 
 
 of never having spared any man in his anger, or any woman in his lust, 
 during the old flogging days, met Mr. Smith, face to face, coming out 
 of the bank in Sydney ; and holding out his hand said, " Come, shake 
 hands, Mr. Smith, and let bygones be bygones : I am glad to see you 
 looking so well." Smith, putting his hands behind him, answered, (t I 
 suppose, because I have got a velvet waistcoat, and money in the bank, 
 
 you want to shake hands ; but no ! Dr. r it would take a second 
 
 resurrection to save such as thee." The doctor slunk away. 
 
 Mr. Joseph Smith. 
 
 " MACDONALD'S RIVER, COUNTY OP HUNTER, 3rd Oct., 1845 
 
 " I- arrived in the colony fifty-six years since; it was Governor Phillip's time, 
 and I was fourteen years old ; there were only eight houses in the colony then. I 
 know that myself and eighteen others laid in a hollow tree for seventeen weeks, 
 and cooked out of a kettle with a wooden bottom : we used to stick it in a hole 
 in the ground, and make a fire round it. I was seven years in service (bond), and 
 then started working for a living wherever I could get it. There was plenty of 
 hardship then: I have often taken grass, and pounded it, and made soup from a 
 native dog. I would eat anything then. For seventeen weeks I had only five 
 ounces of flour a day. We never got a full ration except when the ship was in 
 harbour. The motto was 'Kill them, or work them, their provision will be in store.' 
 Many a time have I been yoked like a bullock with twenty or thirty others to drag 
 along timber. About eight hundred died in six months at a place called Toon- 
 gabbie, or Constitution-hill. I knew a man so weak, he was thrown into the 
 
 * Extracted from the MSS., Voluntary Statements of the People of New South Wales, collected 
 by Mrs. Chisholm. 
 
42 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 grave, when he said, 'Don't cover me up; I'm not dead ; for God's sake don't 
 
 cover me up!' The overseer answered, 'D your eyes, you'll die to-night, 
 
 and we shall have the trouble to come back again ! ' The man recovered ; his 
 name is James Glasshouse, and he is now alive at Richmond. 
 
 "They used to have a large hole for the dead; once a day men were sent down 
 to collect the corpses of prisoners, and throw them in without any ceremony or 
 service. The native dogs used to come down at night and fight and howl in packs, 
 gnawing the poor dead bodies. 
 
 " The governor would order the lash at the rate of five hundred, six hundred, 
 or eight hundred; and if the men could have stood it they would have had more. 
 I knew a man hung there and then for stealing a few biscuits, and another for 
 stealing a duck frock.* A man was condemned no time take him to the tree, 
 and hang him. The overseers were allowed to flog the men in the fields. Often 
 have men been taken from the gang, had fifty, and sent back to work. Any man 
 would have committed murder for a month's provisions : I would have committed 
 three (murders) for a week's provisions ! I was chained seven weeks on my back 
 
 for being out getting greens, wild herbs. The Rev. used to come it tightly 
 
 to force some confession. Men were obliged to tell lies to prevent their bowels 
 from being cut out by the lash. 
 
 " Old (an overseer) killed three men in a fortnight at the saw by over- 
 work. We used to be taken in large parties to raise a tree ; when the body or 
 
 the tree was raised, he (old ) would call some of the men away then more ; 
 
 the men were bent double they could not bear it they fell the tree on one or 
 two, killed on the spot. 'Take him away; put him in the ground!' There was 
 no more about it. 
 
 " After seven years I got my liberty, and then started working about for a 
 living where I could get it. I stowed myself away on board the Barrington, bound 
 for Norfolk Island, with eighteen others; it was not a penal settlement then. 
 Governor King was there. I had food plenty. I was overseer of the governor's 
 garden. Afterwards I went to live with old D'Arcy Wentworth,f and a better 
 master never lived in the world. Little Billy, J the great lawyer, has often been 
 carried in my arms. 
 
 " Old D'Arcy wanted me to take charge of Home-Bush property, but I took 
 to the river (Hawkesbury), worked up and down till I saved money to buy old 
 Brown's farm at Pitt Town. No man worked harder than I have done. I have 
 by me about one thousand pounds ready cash. I have given that farm of forty 
 acres to my son Joseph, and three other farms, and about five hundred head of 
 cattle; and about the same to my other son. I have also got 80 acres 30 acres, 
 
 * J. Bennet, a youth 17 years of age, was convicted and immediately executed for stealing to 
 the value of 5s. out of a tent Collins, p. 27, History of New South Wales. 
 
 t He came out as a political exile for having been concerned in Irish treason, and was appointed 
 surgeon to the Norfolk Island settlement. He took an active part in the Bligh rebellion. Was 
 afterwards a magistrate. A man of great ability and eloquence, but by no means popular, being 
 of the old fierce republican school of politics of the last generation. 
 
 $ William D'Arcy Wentworth, barrister-at-law, author of a description of New South Wales, 
 published in 1819 a work, or rather large pamphlet, chiefly political, written with great power and 
 eloquence, which first called the attention of the reading public to the resources of New South 
 Wales. The emancipation of New South Wales is in a great degree due to Mr, Wentworth's 
 exertions. 
 
 The Goodwood Park of New South Wales, where races ranking colonially with our Ascot are 
 held annually, abaut eight miles from Sydney. 
 
FAMINE AND FLOGGING. 43 
 
 50, 75, beside my house, and some fine cattle. We are never without a chest ot 
 tea in the house; we use two in the year. 1 have paid 40 for a chest of tea in 
 this colony. Tea is a great comfort." 
 
 Mrs. Smith's Statement. 
 
 " I have seen Dr. take a woman who was in the family way, with a rope 
 
 round her, and duck her in the water at Queen's-wharf. The laws were bad 
 then. If a gentleman wanted a man's wife, he would send the husband to Norfolk 
 Island. I have seen a man flogged for pulling six turnips instead of five. One 
 
 wa s overseer, the biggest villain that ever lived delighted in torment. He 
 
 used to walk up and down and rub his hands when the blood ran. When he 
 walked out, the flogger walked behind him. He died a miserable death maggots 
 ate him up ; not a man could be found to bury him. I have seen six men executed 
 for stealing 21 Ibs. of flour. I have seen a man struck when at work with a hand- 
 spike, and killed on the spot. I have seen men in tears round Governor , 
 
 begging for food. He would mock them with ' Yes, yes, gentlemen ; I'll make 
 you comfortable; give you a nightcap and a pair of stockings !' " 
 
 Mrs. Smith was blind: she acted as she spoke, and wept on recalling the 
 horrors of her early life. The house was large, and crowded with furniture. 
 Smith presented Mrs. C. with a pistol as a souvenir, which he pulled out of his 
 belt, saying, " You may depend on it ! " 
 
 Henry Hale. 
 
 WELL'S CREEK, HAWKESBURT RIVER, th Oct., 1845. 
 
 " I arrived in the third fleet on the 16th of October, 1791 ; it was on a Sunday 
 we landed. The ship's name was Barrington, Captain Marsh. I was sent to 
 Toongabbie. For nine months there I was on five ounces of flour a day when 
 weighed out, barely four ; served daily. In those days we were yoked to draw 
 timber, twenty-five in gang. The sticks were six feet long ; six men abreast. 
 We held the stick behind us, and'dragged with our hands. One man came ashore 
 in the Pitt ; his name was Dixon ; he was a guardsman. He was put to the drag; 
 it soon did for him. He began on a Thursday and died on the Saturday, as he 
 was dragging a load down Constitution-hill. There were thirteen hundred died 
 there in six months. Men used to carry trees on their shoulders. How they used 
 to die! The men were weak dreadfully weak for want of food. A man named 
 Gibraltar was hung for stealing a loaf out of the governor's kitchen. He got down 
 the chimney, stole the loaf, had a trial, and was hung the next day at sunrise. 
 At this time a full ration was allowed to the governor's dog. This was Governor 
 
 . I have seen seventy men flogged at night twenty-five lashes each. On 
 
 Sunday evening they used to read the laws. If any man was found out of camp 
 he got twenty-five. The women used to be punished with iron collars. In 
 Governor King's time they used to douse them overboard. They killed one. 
 Dr. was a great tyrant. Mine is a life grant from Governor Bourke four- 
 teen acres. I grow tobacco, wheat, and corn; just enough to make a living." 
 
 D 2 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE DISCOVERIES OF FLINDERS AND BASS. 
 
 FROM these doleful chronicles of irresponsible tyranny, of crime, 
 and famine, it is a relief to turn and contemplate the heroism of 
 the two men to whose ill-rewarded enterprise the most brilliant dis- 
 coveries on the Australian coasts are due. 
 
 In 1795 Captain Hunter, who had commanded the " First Fleet," 
 was sent out again to supersede Governor Phillip. Among the gentle- 
 men under his command were Matthew Flinders, midshipman ; and 
 George Bass, surgeon. Flinders was born at Donington, in Lincoln- 
 shire. He was a descendant of the Flemish colonists, introduced by 
 Henry VII., who first taught the English how to turn desolate, heron- 
 haunted swamps into rich pastures. From his earliest years he displayed 
 an adventurous and investigating spirit. It is among the traditions of 
 his family, that on the day he was promoted from petticoats to 
 
THE BOAT VOYAGE. 45 
 
 " buttoned clothes," after being lost for hours, he was found in the 
 middle of one of the sea marshes, his pockets stuffed with pebbles 
 tracing the runlets of water, " wanting to know where they came from." 
 Being desirous of entering the navy, he taught himself navigation from 
 " Euclid" and Eobertson's "Elements," without the aid of a master. 
 In 1793, at the age of sixteen, he presented himself as a volunteer on 
 board the Scipio, Captain (afterwards Admiral) Pasley, by whom he 
 was placed on the quarter-deck, and at the instance of that commander 
 joined the Providence, Captain Bligh (afterwards so infamous), engaged 
 to carry bread-fruit trees to the West Indies. In this voyage he was 
 entrusted with the charge of the chronometer, and took his first lesson in 
 the construction of charts. 
 
 On his return in the latter part of 1793, he joined the Bellerophon, 
 seventy-four, bearing the broad pendant of Sir Thomas Pasley, to 
 whom he acted as aide-de-camp in Lord Howe's memorable victory of 
 the 1st June, 1794. An account of this action, with diagrams of the 
 position of the two fleets at three several periods of the day, drawn up 
 by Flinders with neatness, clearness, and minuteness, for which all his 
 MSS. are remarkable, are still in the possession of his surviving 
 daughter. From the Bellerophon he followed one of his officers, who 
 took the command of the Reliance, ordered to convey Governor Hunter 
 to New South Wales, and met in George Bass a kindred spirit. 
 
 When they arrived in the colony, seven years after the axes of 
 the " First Fleet " rang in the forests of Sydney Cove, little had been 
 done to work out in detail the investigations made previous to the 
 landing in Botany Bay. " Jervis Bay, indicated, but not named, by 
 him, had been entered by Lieutenant Bowen, and Port Stephen had 
 been examined ; but the intermediate portions of the coast, both north 
 and south, were little further known than from Captain Cook's general 
 chart ; and none of the more distant openings, marked but not ex- 
 plored by that celebrated navigator, had been seen." 
 
 The feelings of the colonists seem to have been expressed in a 
 touch of nature which escapes Collins in a note to his heavy, grandilo- 
 quent History of New South Wales : 
 
 " In many of these arms of Port Jackson, when sitting with my com- 
 panions at my ease in a boat, I have been struck with horror at the 
 bare idea of being lost in them, as, from the great similarity of one 
 cove to another, the recollection would he bewildered in attempting 
 to determine any relative situation. Insanity would accelerate the 
 miserable end that must ensue." 
 
 Within a month after their arrival in Port Jackson, in 1795, Bass 
 
46 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA* 
 
 and Flinders set out in a little boat, eight feet long, appropriately 
 called the Tom Thumb, with a crew of one boy, proceeded round 
 to Botany Bay, and, ascending George's River, explored its course 
 twenty miles further than the survey had been carried by Captain 
 Hunter.* 
 
 On their return, a voyage to Norfolk Island interrupted further 
 proceedings until March, 1796, when they set out again in the Tom 
 Thumb to explore a large river, said to fall into the sea some miles 
 south of Botany Bay. They were absent eight days, explored Port 
 Hacking in the course of their expedition, experienced great danger 
 from the sea, and on land from the savage tribes : as when " on a 
 dark night, steering along an unknown shore, guided by the sound of 
 the sea breaking against overhanging cliffs, without knowing where 
 they should find shelter, Mr. Bass kept the sheet of the sail in his 
 hand, drawing a few inches occasionally, when he saw a particularly 
 heavy sea following, I (Flinders) was steering with an oar, and it 
 required the utmost exertion and care to prevent broaching to; a 
 single wrong movement would have sent us to the bottom. The boy 
 baled out the water which, in spite of every care, the sea threw 
 upon us." On another occasion, when their little boat was tossed upside 
 down on the shore, saved from utter destruction by its lightness 
 their muskets rusted and their powder wet Flinders amused the semi- 
 hostile savages who surrounded them by clipping their beards, while 
 Bass dried the powder, and obtained some much-needed fresh water. 
 
 In December, 1797, during the absence of Flinders, who had been 
 despatched to Norfolk Island, Bass obtained leave to make an expedi- 
 tion to the southward, for which he was provided by the governor with 
 a whale-boat, six seamen from the ships, and six weeks' provisions. 
 With the assistance of occasional supplies of petrels, fish, seals' flesh, a 
 few geese and black swans, and by abstinence, he managed to prolong 
 his absence eleven weeks ; and in a boisterous climate, with an open 
 boat, in spite of foul winds, he explored six hundred miles of coast, 
 discovered Western Port and the fine district now known as Port 
 Phillip, and satisfied himself that Van Diemen's Land was separated 
 from New South Wales by the straits that now bear his name. 
 
 Bass, having returned on the 24th March, in September following 
 he sailed with Flinders, whom Governor Hunter had placed in command 
 of the Norfolk, a colonial-built sloop of twenty-five tons, for the purpose 
 of penetrating beyond Furneaux Islands, and, should a strait be found, 
 
 * The MS. Journal of this Expedition is in the possession of Mrs. Petrie, the daughter of 
 Captain Flinders. 
 
FIRST VOYAGE ROUND VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. 47 
 
 passing through it and returning by the south of Van Diemen's Land. 
 With a crew of eight men they went through the straits, and returned 
 to Port Jackson in three months and two days, during which part of 
 the coast of Van Diemen's Land, including Port Dalrymple and the 
 River Tamar, was explored, and such information gained as led to 
 founding a settlement there in 1803-1804. 
 
 From this time we hear no more of Bass. We cannot learn that, 
 beyond inscribing his name on the straits between Port Phillip and 
 Van Diemen's Land, he received either reward or honour. He left 
 Sydney for England in 1802 as mate of a trading-vessel, and there we 
 lose all trace of him. Flinders, in his great work, when describing the 
 explorations made by his gallant and well-loved comrade, speaks of 
 him as no more. 
 
 Flinders obtained the rank of lieutenant, and sailed again in 1799, 
 in the same small vessel, on a short voyage to explore the coast to the 
 north of Port Jackson, which he examined minutely as far as 25. He 
 says, " Of the assistance of my able friend Bass I was deprived, he 
 having quitted the station to return to England." 
 
 On Lieutenant Flinders's return to England, in the latter end of 
 1800, the charts of the new discoveries, which Mr. Arrowsmith pro- 
 nounced the most perfect that had come before- him, were published, 
 and a plan proposed to Sir Joseph Banks for completing the investiga- 
 tion of the coasts of Terra Australis was approved by him and Earl 
 Spencer, the First Lord of the Admiralty. 
 
 In February, 1801, Flinders was promoted to the rank of commander, 
 and appointed to the Investigator sloop. A proof of the popularity of 
 his character and the adventurous spirit of the British sailor was given, 
 when eleven men being required to complete his crew, out of three 
 hundred seamen on board the Vice- Admiral's ship Zealand, two- hun- 
 dred and fifty volunteered. 
 
 On July 18th he sailed from Spithead, furnished with a passport 
 from the French Government, which was granted after precedents of 
 similar protection afforded to Admiral La Perouse, and to Captain 
 Cook, by the respective authorities in England and France. 
 
 In consequence of this passport, Flinders received directions from 
 the Admiralty " to act in all respects towards French vessels as if the 
 two countries were not at war." 
 
 So miserably slow was the progress of the first Australian colony 
 that at this period, thirteen years after its foundation, it was found 
 necessary to take a supply of salt meat for eighteen months, and to 
 have a general supply of provisions for twelve months more, to be sent 
 
48 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 after the departure of the Investigator, and lodged in storehouse > s at 
 Port Jackson for the sole use of the Investigator. 
 
 Among the gentlemen who accompanied the expedition was William 
 Westall, landscape-painter. 
 
 A passport was also applied for by the French, and granted by the 
 English Government, to Captain Baudin, who was said to be going 
 round the world on a voyage of discovery. 
 
 In November, 1801, Captain Flinders sighted the coast of Australia, 
 and proceeded to examine the coast line hitherto unexplored. In the 
 course of his investigations he discovered and surveyed King George's 
 Sound, on which the settlement of Swan River, or Western Australia, 
 was planted in 1829 ; Port Lincoln, where Sir J. Franklin, a kindred 
 spirit, who was one of the midshipmen in the Investigator, erected a 
 monument to his old commander ; Kangaroo Island, Spencer's Gulf, 
 and the coast line of the country which, principally from his report, 
 was selected for the operations of the South Australian colonists ; and 
 sailed into and surveyed Port Phillip, which had been discovered ten 
 weeks previously by a government schooner, the Lady Nelson, from 
 Port Jackson. Western Port, a bay in the district of Port Phillip, had 
 previously been discovered by Bass in his whale-boat. 
 
 In April, 1802, immediately after discovering and surveying Spen- 
 cer's Gulf, Port Lincoln, and Kangaroo Island, Captain Flinders fell in 
 with Captain Baudin and his ship La Geographe,* which apparently, 
 instead of sailing round the world, had sailed direct for Australia ; but, 
 instead of pursuing further discoveries from the point where the English 
 navigators had ended, they repaired to Van Diemen's Land, following 
 the track of their countryman, Admiral D'Entrecasteaux, and there 
 remained many months, thus losing the opportunity of discovering 
 and taking possession (which was the secret object of their voyage) of 
 more than one site for a colony ; just as La Perouse a very different man 
 from Baudin lost by a few days the chance of discovering Port Jackson. 
 
 * "The situation oi the Investigator when I hove to for the purpose of speaking Captain 
 Baudin was 35 40' south and 138 58' east. At the above situation, the discoveries by Captain 
 Baudin upon the south coast have their termination to the west, as mine in the Investigator have 
 to the eastward ; yet Monsieur Peron, naturalist to the French expedition, has laid a claim for his 
 nation to the discovery of all parts between Western Port, in Bass's Straits, and Nuyts' Archipe- 
 lago ; and this part of New South Wales is called Terre Napoleon ; my Kangaroo Island, which 
 they openly adopted in the expedition, has been converted into L'Isle Decres; Spencer's Gulf is 
 named Golfe Bonaparte; the Gulf of St. Vincent, Golfe Josephine; and so on along the whole 
 coast to Cape Nuyts, not even the smallest island being without some similar stamp of French 
 discovery." Monsieur Freycinet, First-lieutenant of the Geographe, said at the house of Governor 
 King, at Port Jackson, to Flinders, " ' Captain, if we had not been kept so long picking up shells 
 and catching butterflies at Van Diemen's Land, you would not have discovered the south coast 
 before us.' I believe M. Peron wrote from overruling authority, and that it smote him to the 
 beart." Flinders? Voyage to Terra Australis. 
 
FLINDERS WRECKED IN TORRES STRAITS. 49 
 
 From Port Phillip Bay Flinders returned to Sydney, where he 
 arrived the 9th of May, 1802. He sailed again the 22nd of July, and, 
 steering north, surveyed the great Barrier Reef, and made the route 
 clear and safe for future navigators through the Torres Straits and 
 round the shores of the great Gulf of Carpentaria, and only ceased his 
 labours on finding his ship " quite rotten." After refreshing at the 
 Island of Timor, he returned to Port Jackson on the 9th of June, 1803, 
 having lost many of his best men. 
 
 No suitable ship to complete his survey was to be found in Port 
 Jackson, He therefore embarked in the Porpoise store-ship, " in order 
 to lay his charts and journals before the Admiralty, and obtain, if 
 possible, a ship to complete the examination of Terra Australis." 
 
 The Porpoise was accompanied by two trading vessels, the Cato 
 and the Bridgwater. In passing through Torres Straits on the night 
 of the 17th of August, 1804, the Porpoise struck on a coral reef, and 
 " took a fearful heel over on her larboard beam-ends. The Bridgwater 
 was on the point of following, but, the Cato giving way, the former, 
 grazing, escaped, while the latter struck and went over two cables' 
 length from the Porpoise." The coward captain of the Bridgwater, one 
 Palmer, having escaped, sailed away, in spite of the remonstrances of 
 his mate, without making an effort to aid his companions.* 
 
 Flinders took the command, safely landed the crew of the two ves- 
 sels on a sand-bank, of which a narrow space was clear at high water 
 collected stores, erected tents, formed an encampment, and established 
 a disciplined order of proceedings. The reef was a mere patch of sand, 
 about three hundred yards long and one hundred broad, on which not 
 a blade of vegetation was growing. 
 
 * Mr. Williams, the third mate of the Bridgewater, kept a journal, from which the following 
 particulars of this unparalleled piece of cowardice on the part of Captain Palmer are taken. After 
 describing the situation of the Porpoise, he says : " Though the noise of the surf was so tremendous, 
 the voice of the unfortunate Captain Flinders was heard, by the fifth officer, to say, ' For God's 
 sake, Captain Palmer, assist me!' I now volunteered my services to proceed in the cutter if 
 Captain Palmer would consent, to the aid of the Porpoise : he did consent, but, while getting 
 
 ready, he changed his mind The boat was promised in the morning, for which I had 
 
 every refreshment that could be procured for the relief of my unfortunate companions. We 
 again stood off : at 7 A.M., from the mast-head, we saw the reef off the two ships, and to leeward of 
 them a sand-bank We all rejoiced in the prospect of affording assistance to our com- 
 panions ; but the captain ordered the ship to be put on the other tack, and, sailing away, left them 
 to their fate ! I was sent on shore at Tellicherry with the account of the loss of the Cato and 
 Porpoise. In giving this account, I did, for the first time, disobey orders, and gave a contrary 
 account ; for I was convinced that the crews of those ships were on the reef, and that the account 
 of their loss was given by Captain Palmer to excuse his conduct. I wrote out the account and 
 left it behind, after having related it as differently as possible. This caused many words, and 
 ended in my leaving the ship, forfeiting my wages and part of my clothes." So far young 
 Williams : Palmer and his ship were afterwards lost at sea In fact, they were never afterwards 
 heard of; Williams, by his honourable quarrel with his captain, escaped this singularly retri- 
 butive fate. 
 
50 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 It was determined that two decked boats, capable of conveying all 
 but one boat's crew, should be built from the materials of the wreck, 
 and that the largest cutter should be repaired and despatched, under the 
 charge of Captain Flinders, to Port Jackson, a voyage of 750 miles. 
 
 On the 26th of August, a Friday, the cutter was launched, named 
 the Hope, and pushed off " amidst the cheers and good wishes of those 
 for whom we were going to seek relief. An ensign with the union 
 downwards had hitherto been kept hoisted as a signal to Captain 
 Palmer of our distress ; but, in this moment of enthusiasm, a seaman 
 quitted the crowd, and, having obtained permission, ran to the flag- 
 staff, hauled aown the ensign, and rehoisted it with the union in 
 the upper canton. This symbolical contempt for the Bridgwater, 
 and of confidence in the success of our voyage, I did not see without 
 lively emotion." 
 
 Flinders safely reached Port Jackson on the 6th of September. 
 He returned in the only vessel he could obtain for his purpose a 
 small leaky schooner, the Cumberland, of twenty-nine tons burden 
 accompanied by two trading vessels, on the 6th of October ; and was 
 received by his crew with frantic cheers of joy, although his brother, 
 Lieutenant Flinders, after hearing that the rescue-ships were in sight, 
 " calmly continued his calculations on lunar observations until they 
 came to anchor." 
 
 In his absence the sailors had planted the reef with pumpkins, 
 oats, and maize, which were sprouting above the sand flourishingly ; 
 and Flinders expresses his regret that he had not " palm cocoa-nuts to 
 plant, of which he thought ten thousand might be usefully set in these 
 seas, as warning-marks, and food for shipwrecked mariners, as they will 
 flourish within the spray of the sea." 
 
 It is evident that Matthew Flinders in this, as in many other 
 instances, displayed the stuff of which a colonial governor should be 
 made. There have been very few among Australian rulers who would 
 have thought of the cocoa-nuts, especially at such a moment : still less 
 would they have inspired their men with the same spirit. 
 
 In the miserable Cumberland, Flinders, intent on laying the result 
 of his researches before the Admiralty, set out on a voyage of sixteen 
 thousand miles to England. Every man of his crew, except his clerk, 
 volunteered to share the danger and accompany him ; but the leaky 
 state of his craft compelled him soon to seek shelter at the nearest port, 
 and he put into the Mauritius, relying- upon his passport. This would 
 have been a sufficient protection had the government of the island been 
 in the hands of a gentleman and man of honour ; but the governor 
 
FLINDERS' RETURN TO ENGLAND, AND DEATH. 51 
 
 was one De Caen, a low, malignant, envious, insolent wretch, who, 
 to the infinite disgust of many of his countrymen and companions in 
 arms, availed himself of the misfortune which had thrown Flinders 
 into his power to vent his spite on a nation he detested. 
 
 De Caen seized the Cumberland, took possession of the charts, 
 journals, and log-books, and detained Captain Flinders for six years, 
 during which period, in spite of the representations of the French 
 Admiral Linois, and of many of the most respectable colonists, he 
 treated him with every kind of cruelty and indignity ; and, after 
 evading repeated orders for his release, dismissed him as uncere- 
 moniously as he had seized him, detaining, however one log-book, 
 which Flinders was never able to recover. In the meantime appeared 
 an account of Captain Baudin's voyages the Captain Baudin who had 
 received at Port Jackson every kind of attention and information. In 
 this work, accompanied by an atlas, the discoveries of Flinders and 
 Bass were appropriated wholesale, and renamed. 
 
 Baudin had made about fifty leagues of discovery, and claimed nine 
 hundred leagues, part of which had been surveyed by the Dutch a 
 century before his time. 
 
 Flinders reached England in 1810, broken in health, but his spirit 
 of duty unimpaired. Under the regulations of the service the time he 
 had passed in unjust imprisonment could not count in his professional 
 employment. At length he petitioned the Prince Regent for promo- 
 tion, as an act of grace ; but his prayer was refused, and neither his 
 widow nor his daughter were able to obtain the pension to which his 
 eminent services formed so strong a claim. 
 
 Flinders devoted the last days of his broken health and spirits to 
 preparing his book and maps for the press an admirable work, which 
 has been the foundation of every subsequent exploration and colonisa- 
 tion in Australia, and died on the 14th of July, 1814, on the very day 
 his " Account of a Yoyage to Terra Australis" was published. 
 
 Of Flinders' noble fellow-labourer in the cause of discovery George 
 Bass we were unable to find any published memorials, but while the 
 first edition of this work was passing through the hands of the reader 
 for the press, a native of Lincoln, he wrote to a relative and obtained 
 the following interesting particulars : 
 
 " The mother of Mr. George Bass lived with them (the Calder 
 family) fourteen years, and died with them. Her son and only child, 
 George Bass, was born at As worthy, near Sleaford, where his father 
 had a farm, and died when he was a boy, The widow and son after- 
 wards went to reside at Boston. From his boyhoood he showed a 
 
52 THE THREE COLONIES -OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 strong inclination for a seafaring life, to which his widowed mother 
 was much opposed. He was apprenticed to Mr. Francis, a surgeon at 
 Boston ; and at the end of his apprenticeship walked the hospitals and 
 took his diploma with honour. But his inclination for the sea being 
 unsubdued, according to a promise she made, she yielded to his wish, 
 and sank a considerable sum in fitting him out and buying a share in a 
 ship, which was totally lost. She was a fine, noble-minded woman, of 
 no ordinary intellect. Her son wrote her long- letters containing full 
 accounts of his discoveries. These came into the possession of Miss 
 Calder on the death of Mrs. Bass. A short time ago she thought to 
 take a peep at the letters, went to the old box, but they were gone. 
 The last time his mother heard of Bass he was in the straits of China. 
 She expected him many years, thinking that he might be taken 
 prisoner ; but at last gave up all hopes, concluding that he had been 
 wrecked and drowned. He had only been married three months when 
 he sailed away never to return. His widow is dead." 
 
 We have devoted thus much space to an imperfect record of the 
 labours of Flinders and Bass, as an act of justice towards two men 
 whose labours profit, but whose merits are scarcely known to thousands 
 of Australian colonists. In their silent paths they were both heroes ; 
 who ventured and endured shipwreck, thirst, famine, the attacks of 
 black barbarians, and displayed not less humanity than courage and 
 sagacity while pursuing discoveries of the highest possible importance 
 to their country, with faint and distant hopes of any reward other than 
 that inherent feeling which supports unknown or neglected genius and 
 heroism the consciousness of power rightly exercised, of the " talent" 
 put out to interest tenfold a hundredfold. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 GOVERNOR BLIGH. 
 
 1806 TO 1809. 
 
 BLIGH appears to have received his appointment as 
 Governor of .New South Wales as a reward for his gallant conduct 
 in successfully conducting an open boat, with eighteen companions in 
 misfortune, scantily provided with food and water, 3,618 miles, to the 
 
BLIGH OF THE BOUNTY. 53 
 
 Island of Timor, without the loss of a single man, after being cast adrift 
 by the mutineers of the Bounty. No man could be more unfit for such 
 an office. But governors are appointed for the oddest reasons : some- 
 times because they are distinguished soldiers or sailors : sometimes 
 because they have written a timely book or pamphlet ; often because 
 they are related to some great personage, and, being in debt, want 
 an opportunity for saving money. But no matter for what cause, or 
 by what influence a governor is appointed, the most important quality 
 of all, -the temper of the candidate, is seldom taken into account ; 
 and yet in the governor of a colony no talents can compensate for a 
 violent or spiteful temper. 
 
 Bligh had a very difficult task to perform. Almost the only uncon- 
 victed colonists were the military and civil officers, and their relatives, 
 who formed a sort of Venetian oligarchy of government and trade, 
 and who, beside enjoying the lion's share of grants of land and use of 
 labour, had been accustomed to divide with previous governors, at a 
 price arbitrarily imposed upon the importers, the cargoes of vessels 
 as they arrived, and enjoy the profits derived from distributing articles 
 in demand among the unprivileged settlers at a monopoly tariff. 
 Spirits formed a principal part of these cargoes, and it became the 
 interest of every civil and military officer in the colony that the 
 settlers, free and bond, should drink as much spirits as possible. Bligh 
 brought out instructions to put down this traffic, and hence his imme- 
 diate unpopularity. But he was a specimen of the naval captain now 
 happily nearly extinct violent in temper, coarse in language, hating 
 the military, despising the civilians. To those of the humblest class 
 who cringed before him he could be generous of public land and public 
 money ; but to those who dared resist, or even question his authority, 
 he was implacable. 
 
 At an earlier period in the career of the colony no one would have 
 ventured to question his acts, however tyrannical ; but in 1806 the 
 character of the settlement was slowly changing. A few respectable 
 free settlers had arrived under Governor King-. They found profitable 
 employment in growing produce for the use of the government by the 
 help of convicts, whom the government also fed and clothed a very 
 safe speculation. All the officials were, as already observed, more or 
 less engaged in barter ; but some of the New South Wales Corps had 
 quitted the military service, in order to betake themselves exclusively 
 to agriculture and commerce. Among these was John M' Arthur, for- 
 merly a lieutenant in that regiment, a man of far-seeing views, great 
 energy, great intelligence, and indomitable courage. 
 
54: THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 M'Arthur observed the improvement produced by the climate of 
 New South Wales in the texture of the hairy Indian sheep, and appre- 
 ciated the value of the district called the Cow Pastures, on which the 
 produce of the lost herd of cattle were found feeding. In 1793 he 
 purchased eight fine-wooled sheep which had been sent out by the 
 Dutch Government to the Cape, and re-exported to Sydney as the 
 Dutch farmers preferred their own fat-tailed breed. His purchase sub- 
 jected him to much ridicule among his brother colonists, who thought 
 it more profitable to grow wheat or pigs for sale at the commissariat 
 stores. 
 
 In 1803, in consequence of grievances of which he had to complain 
 at the hands of the colonial authorities, M'Arthur visited England, and 
 there not only obtained permission to purchase a few pure Spanish 
 merinos from the flock of George III., at a time when the exportation 
 
 MEUINO RAM. 
 
 of the merino from Spain was a capital crime, and the breed was only 
 to be procured by royal favour, but produced such an effect on the 
 Privy Council, before whom he was examined on his wool projects, 
 that he carried out to the colony on his return an order for a grant of 
 ten thousand acres. This grant he selected on the banks of the Cow- 
 pasture Eiver, for he appreciated the discrimination of the lost herd 
 which had there fattened and increased while the colonists starved. 
 This spot has since become famous as " Camden," where the first pure 
 
M'ARTHUR AND THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 55 
 
 merinos were bred and the first vineyards planted in New South Wales. 
 To Camden, perhaps, future generations of grateful Australians will 
 make pilgrimages. For not greater services the Greeks made of Jason 
 a demi-god. No doubt the Golden Fleece was shorn from a merino ram. 
 
 Soon after Bligh landed, Captain King introduced him to M'Arthur, 
 who invited the new governor to visit Camden and inspect his flocks, the 
 result of the crosses from the King's merinos. The answer was a refusal 
 in the language of the forecastle, expressive of Bligh's contempt for all 
 such occupations. This was characteristic of the man. When the mother 
 and uncle of young Hey wood (a boy midshipman on board the Bounty, 
 who received a free pardon and afterwards rose to distinction in the 
 navy) entreated his aid in obtaining mercy for one whose only crime 
 had been not forcing his way through and springing into the overladen 
 boat, he answered in a few lines : " I very much regret that so much 
 baseness formed the character of a young man I had a real regard for, 
 and I hope to hear that his friends can bear his loss without much 
 concern." 
 
 It would be unnecessary to dwell upon Bligh's numerous acts of 
 cruelty and tyranny, were it not that his government was one of the 
 great epochs in the history of New South Wales. The results of his 
 despotism turned the attention of the English public to the resources 
 of the colony, and the defeat of his crowning act of oppression enabled 
 M'Arthur to change the destinies of Australia, and make it, instead of 
 a mere gaol, the finest emigration field in the world. 
 
 A little anecdote related by Wentworth, culled from hundreds float- 
 ing in the colony at that period (1816), illustrates a form of government 
 and a state of society strangely at variance with our notions of the rights 
 of Englishmen. Governor Bligh, having heard from his cowkeeper that 
 the servant of an officer of the staff had made some impertinent remarks 
 because disappointed of the customary supply of milk for his master, on 
 the following morning sent for the dissatisfied delinquent. Wondering 
 and trembling, he was ushered into the presence of his excellency, was 
 received with a condescending smile, and told that, as the chief constable's 
 house was on his way home, the governor had merely sent for him to 
 save a dragoon the trouble of going there with a letter. The poor 
 fellow, his mind relieved, respectfully received the missive, delivered it, 
 was immediately tied to the triangles, and rewarded with twenty-five 
 lashes from the cat-o' -nine-tails. 
 
 After a career of two years, during which the person and property 
 of every class of the community were at the mercy of his temper for the 
 day, Governor Bligh proceeded with arbitrary illegality to summon, 
 
56 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA* 
 
 arrest, and try Mr. M'Arthur, on a frivolous charge of infringing the 
 customs laws, hatched up for the purpose of wreaking his long- 
 smouldering spite. 
 
 M' Arthur having refused to notice an illegal summons, the Advocate- 
 General Atkins arrested him, lodged him in prison, and proceeded to 
 try him in a court over which he himself presided, with the assistance 
 of six officers of the New South Wales Corps. This Atkins had been 
 appointed by private interest in England, had no knowledge of law, 
 and was described in a private despatch to the Secretary of State as 
 " accustomed to inebriety, the ridicule of the community, pronouncing 
 sentences of death in moments of intoxication, his knowledge of law 
 insignificant, subject to private inclination." 
 
 To supply his deficiency of legal knowledge he took for his councillor 
 and secretary a convict attorney of the name of Crossley, transported 
 for forgery. 
 
 With the help of this miscreant Atkins prepared a monster indict- 
 ment, charging M' Arthur with a series of offences from contempt of 
 court up to high treason. M* Arthur protested against being tried by a 
 man who was at once judge, juror, and prosecutor, beside having a 
 private quarrel of some years' standing with the prisoner. The judge- 
 advocate refused to receive the protest, and actually threatened to 
 commit him for words spoken in his own defence. Fortunately for the 
 fate of the colony, the six officers, who, with the advocate-general, formed 
 the court, sided with the prisoner. They admitted him to bail, and 
 repeatedly, in the most respectful terms, addressed the governor, praying 
 him to supersede Atkins and appoint an impartial advocate-general. 
 Bligh refused ; perhaps he had no power to adopt that step ; but he 
 could have put an end to proceedings, which ought never to have been 
 commenced, by entering a nolle prosequi. But it was his object to crush 
 M* Arthur, so he persisted ; and when he found the six officers of the 
 New South Wales Corps equally firm in protecting him, he proposed to 
 arrest and imprison the six officers on a charge of high treason. At 
 this stage of the proceedings the patience of the colony was exhausted. 
 On the 26th of January, 1806, Major Johnstone, lieutenant-governor, 
 commanding the New South Wales Corps, who had been prevented by 
 severe illness from attending to the repeated summonses of the governor, 
 rode into town. He was surrounded by his friends and brother officers, 
 who represented to him the madly tyrannous course which the governor 
 was bent upon pursuing, and urged him to place the governor under 
 arrest. 
 
 In order to support him in taking this extreme step, the following 
 
REVOLT OF THE TROOPS. 57 
 
 memorial was signed by every respectable settler then in the town of 
 Sydney : 
 
 " SIR, The present alarming state of the colony, in which every man's 
 property, liberty, and life are endangered, induces us most earnestly to implore 
 you instantly to place Governor Bligh under arrest, and to assume the command 
 of the colony. We pledge ourselves, at a moment of less agitation, to come 
 forward to support the measure with our fortunes and our lives." 
 
 Immediately after the presentation of this address, the drums of the 
 New South Wales Regiment beat to arms, the troops formed in the 
 barrack square, and then marched, with Major Johnstone at their head 
 bayonets fixed, colours flying, and band playing toward Government 
 House, which they surrounded. Mrs. Putland (afterwards married to 
 General O'Connell, commander of the forces in New South Wales), the 
 widowed daughter of the governor, courageously endeavoured to resist 
 the entrance of the insurgent officers through the Government gate : 
 failing in that, she tried to conceal her father under a bed, whence, after 
 an anxious search, he was dragged, and conducted, without personal 
 injury, to the presence of Major Johnstone, who immediately placed him 
 in custody, and assumed the command of the colony. Thus ended the 
 first act cf this bloodless revolution the 1688 of New South Wales. 
 Had Bligh succeeded in his conspiracy to ruin M 'Arthur, the progress 
 of the colony would have been retarded for years. Up to 1845, wool 
 of the breed introduced and improved by the persevering experience of 
 M'Arthur formed the only certain staple export of Australia. Without 
 fine-woolled sheep Australia must have remained dependent for subsist- 
 ence on the commissariat expenditure, and would, perhaps, in a fit of 
 economy, have been abandoned, in favour of some penitentiary plan or 
 island prison nearer home. 
 
 Cowardice has been imputed to Bligh for concealing himself, but 
 without reason. He was neither king nor even commander to awe the 
 troops with his presence ; and any man may be excused for flying from 
 an infuriated regiment ; above all a man like Bligh, conscious that there 
 was scarcely an individual in the assemblage which surrounded Govern- 
 ment House whom he had not injured or insulted. 
 
 Major Johnstone transmitted to the Secretary of State a full account 
 of the events which had forced upon him the government of the colony. 
 Lieutenant- Governor Foveaux, arriving from England ignorant of the 
 insurrection, superseded Major Johnstone, and was himself superseded by 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Paterson, who arrived from Yan Diemen's Land 
 on the 1st July, 1809; by him Governor Bligh's arrest was continued 
 until the 4th February, when the colonel agreed to put him in possession 
 
58 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 of his ship, the Porpoise, on condition that he should embark on the 
 20th, and proceed to England without touching at any part of the 
 territory of New South Wales, and not return until he should have 
 received the instructions of his Majesty's ministers. Eeleased from 
 arrest, Bligh treated engagements entered into under duress as void, 
 and lingered on the coast for some time, in hopes of provoking a 
 movement in his favour. He afterwards repaired to Yan Diemen's 
 Land, where he was at first treated with much attention, but, on 
 communications arriving from the lieutenant-governor at Sydney, was 
 constrained to remain on board his ship. 
 
 It is easy to imagine the sensation created in the king's cabinet when 
 they learned that the gaol colony of Botany Bay had imitated our 
 forefathers of 1688, and, after sending a tyrant unscathed packing, 
 had continued the government of the colony with a new governor and 
 new officials, without bloodshed or plunder. Vigorous measures were 
 decided on, and an able man was selected to execute them. 
 
 Lachlan Macquarie was appointed governor, and sent out with 
 instructions to reinstate Captain Bligh in that office, and, after the 
 expiration of twenty-four hours, to resume his own authority to 
 declare void all appointments, grants of land, and processes of law 
 which had taken place between the arrest of Governor Bligh and his 
 own arrival ; and further, to send home Major Johnstone in close arrest, 
 to be tried for his rebellion. At the same time the 73rd, Colonel Mac- 
 quarie's own regiment, was sent out to relieve the New South Wales 
 Corps, which was disbanded, the privates being, however, permitted to 
 volunteer into the 73rd. These orders were obeyed. 
 
 Major Johnstone was tried at Chelsea Hospital on the llth May, 
 1811, found guilty 5th June, and sentenced to be cashiered. His 
 conduct was clearly illegal and revolutionary, but it saved the colony. 
 He made that a peaceable revolution which would otherwise have flamed 
 into a wild riot, how ending, with the fearful materials present there, it 
 is impossible to foretel. Major Johnstone returned to the colony, and 
 lived many years on his farm at Annandale, near Bathurst district, 
 much respected. We have not been able to learn whether the signers 
 of the memorial ever attempted to compensate him for the ruin of his 
 own professional prospects. The gratitude of a mob, well dressed or 
 ill dressed, is as vain a thing as the gratitude of a prince. 
 
 Bligh* became an admiral, but was never again called into active 
 
 ' Bligh asked Flinders to dedicate his "Terra Australis" to him,butFlinders,-whohad formed 
 a most unfavourable opinion of his character while serving under him in the Reliance, politely 
 declined. 
 
MACQUARIE. 59 
 
 service. The slight sentence passed upon Johnstone was a stigma he 
 carried to his grave. He died in 1817. 
 
 Since the time of Bligh there have been colonial governors as violent 
 in temper, as tyrannical in disposition, but their powers have been 
 limited not only by law, but by public opinion, the influence of a free 
 .press, and the effects of a ready communication with Europe. 
 
 Without a free press or a public to restrain him, out of sight and 
 h caring of a British Parliament, had Bligh confined his tyrannies to the 
 humbler classes he might have lived honoured and prosperous, while his 
 victims sank brokenhearted, or died under the lash, as hundreds have on 
 the shores of Port Jackson and Paramatta ; but he ventured to attack 
 a gentleman the comrade of soldiers a man of courage, eloquence, and 
 determination and the unjust governor fell. 
 
 CHAPTEK YI. 
 GOVERNOR MACQUARIE. 
 1809 TO 1821. 
 
 COLONEL MACQUAEIE directed the government of New South 
 V_y Wales for twelve years the longest period that any governor 
 has enjoyed that office. He exercised a pure despotism, but it was 
 neither a stupid nor a brutal despotism, according to the light of the 
 day. 
 
 The following extract from his first despatch not unfairly describes 
 the state of the colony on his arrival : 
 
 "I found the colony barely emerging from infantine imbecility, 
 suffering from various privations and disabilities ; the country impene- 
 trable beyond forty miles from Sydney ; agriculture in a yet languishing 
 state, commerce in its early dawn, revenue unknown ; threatened with 
 famine, distracted by faction ; the public buildings in a state of dilapi- 
 dation, the few roads and bridges almost impassable ; the population in 
 general depressed by poverty ; no credit, public or private ; the morals 
 of the great mass of the population in the lowest state of debasement, 
 and religious worship almost totally neglected." 
 
 He was the first man of decided talent appointed to office in 
 
 E 2 
 
60 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Australia. He was distinguished by his self-reliance and constant 
 energetic action. If the comparison had not been vulgarised, one 
 might liken him, comparing small with great, to Napoleon. His was 
 the same order of mind views narrow but clear essentially a mate- 
 rialist in politics. In New South Wales wealth was the visible sign of 
 success, and Macquarie rewarded success wherever he found it. He 
 made roads, erected public buildings, and again and again traversed the 
 whole length and breadth of the colony, following closely in the foot- 
 steps of new explorers, distributing grants to skilful settlers, planning 
 townships, and pardoning industrious prisoners. His activity was 
 untiring, his vai ity boundless. He seldom condescended to ask advice, 
 and, when he did, generally followed his own opinion. With charming 
 naivete he observes, in answer to a despatch from the Secretary of State, 
 informing him that it was not the intention of the Government to appoint 
 a council to assist the governor, as had been recommended : " I enter- 
 tain a fond hope that such an institution will never be extended to this 
 colony." 
 
 Even the recommendations of Secretaries of State he disregarded ; 
 and, as he was successful, he was permitted to pursue his own course. 
 He infused his own active spirit into the settlers, and under its influence 
 the material progress of the colony was extraordinary. Higher praise 
 his administration scarcely deserves. The moral, not to say the religious, 
 tone of the settlement owes little to his eare. One instance will suffice. 
 He requested, in one of his despatches, that as many men convicts as 
 possible should be transported, as they were useful for labour, but as 
 few women, as they were costly and troublesome ; thus losing sight 
 altogether of the inevitable demoralisation which must be the result of 
 a community of men. 
 
 Macquarie has been much attacked for saying "that the colony 
 consisted of those who had been transported, and those who ought to 
 have been ;" and " that it was a colony for convicts, and free colonists 
 had no business there : " but there was truth at the bottom of both 
 these rude speeches. He looked upon New South Wales as a place 
 where convicts were sent to be subsisted at the least possible expense, 
 and certainly neither he nor any one else at that tune foresaw a period 
 when it would cease to be a convict colony. His strong common sense 
 told him that the cheapest way of ruling his felon subjects was to make 
 them wealthy and respectable. Under his predecessors the idea had 
 grown up that convicts were sent over to be the slaves of the free 
 settlers. Governor Macquarie would perhaps have had no objection to 
 that arrangement on moral grounds, had it been possible ; but it was 
 
A CONVICT MAGISTRATE. 61 
 
 not, as the free settlers of free descent were too few in number, too 
 indolent in character. He therefore took up the opposite ground that 
 the colony and all its emoluments and honours were for the benefit of 
 those prisoners who were industrious, prosperous, and free from legal 
 criminality. 
 
 The first individual selected for favour was a Scotchman, Andrew 
 Thompson, transported at sixteen years of age, probably for some 
 trifling offence. He had not only attained wealth and developed new 
 sources of commerce for the colony, by building coasting vessels, by 
 establishing saltworks and other useful enterprises, but had distinguished 
 himself by his humanity and general good conduct. For instance, in 
 the Sydney Gazette of the llth May, 1806, we find Thompson permitted 
 to purchase brewing utensils from the government stores, at the usual 
 advance of fifty per cent, on the invoice price, with the privilege of 
 brewing beer, in consideration of his useful and humane conduct in 
 saving the lives and much of the property of sufferers by repeated floods 
 of the Hawkesbury, as well as of his general demeanour. 
 
 Macquarie, within two months after his arrival, created Thompson a 
 magistrate, and repeatedly invited him and other emancipists of similar 
 success and conduct to dine at Government House, in spite of the re- 
 monstrances of the free inhabitants, of the officers of the 43rd Kegiment, 
 which succeeded the 73rd, and of hints from the Colonial Office. No 
 doubt in New South Wales many a prisoner was induced to persevere 
 in sober industry by the sight of an ex-prisoner and publican riding in 
 his carriage to dine at Government House ; but in England the effect 
 could scarcely have been beneficial as a restraint on idle apprentices 
 and incipient pickpockets. Such reports interleaved in the Newgate 
 Calendar, and other light reading of the felonry of Britain, must have 
 tended to diminish the vague horrors that previously hung round 
 Botany Bay. 
 
 Governor Macquarie commenced by employing the convict labourers 
 not required by settlers in making roads, and erecting and repairing 
 public buildings. On the first harvest after his arrival, to the horror 
 of the martinets, he permitted the privates of the 73rd Regiment to 
 hire themselves out as reapers, to be paid in grain or money, the price 
 of wheat at that time being 1 3s. 6d. a bushel. At the same time 
 lie patronised amusements which the high prices of provisions did not 
 prevent the wealthier classes from establishing. The New South Wales 
 Gazette of October contains an account of three days' racing, conducted 
 in Newmarket style, followed by an ordinary and two balls, the prin- 
 cipal prize, a lady's cup, being " presented to the winner by Mrs. 
 
62 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Macquarie." The whole proceedings are related in a style which 
 would leave nothing to be desired in the Little Pedlington Gazette. 
 For instance : " The subscribers' ball, on Tuesday and Thursday night, 
 was honoured with the presence of his excellency the governor and 
 his lady, his honour the lieutenant-governor and lady, the judge- 
 advocate and lady, the magistrates and other officers, civil and military, 
 and all the beauty and fashion of the colony. The business of the 
 meeting could not fail of diffusing a glow of satisfaction the cele- 
 bration of the first liberal amusement instituted in the colony in the 
 presence of its patron and founder." A supper followed the ball : 
 " After the cloth was removed the rosy deity asserted his pre-eminence, 
 and, with the zealous aid of Momus and Apollo, chased pale Cynthia 
 down into the Western World ; the blazing orb of day announced his 
 near approach, and the god of the chariot reluctantly forsook his 
 company : Bacchus drooped his head, Momus could no longer animate. 
 The Ions vivants, no longer relishing the tired deities, left them to 
 themselves!" 
 
 In the first year of his government, Macquarie undertook a tour 
 through all the known districts of the colony, and continued the prac- 
 tice annually during his reign. On his return, by a general order, he 
 censured the settlers for the little attention they had paid to domestic 
 comfort or good farming, in buildings for the residence of themselves 
 and shelter of their cattle ; offered cattle, sheep, and goats from the 
 government herds, to be paid for in grain, with eighteen months' 
 credit ; and announced that he had marked out for settlement the five 
 new townships of Richmond, Pitt, Wilberforce, and Castlereagh, out of 
 reach of floods of the Hawkesbury and Nepean, in which grants would 
 be awarded to deserving applicants, on condition that they erected 
 dwellings according to plans supplied, and other measures of a similar 
 practical character. 
 
 In the December of the same year, the first brick church, St. 
 Philip's, was consecrated (on Christmas-day) by the Heverend Samuel 
 Marsden, a name from that time forward constantly occupying a 
 conspicuous place in the annals of the colony, as clergyman, magistrate, 
 landowner, and stockbreeder. For instance, his next appearance in 
 the Sydney Gazette is, in conjunction with two other gentlemen, 
 advertising a reward of one pound sterling, or a gallon of spirits, for 
 every skin of a native dog, an animal which was then, and has been 
 ever since, the scourge of flockowners. 
 
 In 1812 a Committee of the House of Commons, appointed to 
 inquire into the state of the colony of New South Wales, after 
 
THE POPULATION. 
 
 63 
 
 examining a number of witnesses, including the ex-Governors King and 
 Bligh, printed a report, from which it appears that the population 
 amounted to 10,454, distributed in the following proportions : The 
 Sydney district, 6,158 ; Paramatta, 1,807 ; Hawkesbury, 2,389 ; New- 
 castle, 100 : of these, 5,513 were men, and 2,200 women ; military, 
 1,100 ; of the remainder, one-fourth to one-fifth was actually bond ; 
 the rest being free, or freed by servitude or pardon. In addition, 1,321 
 were living in Van Diemen's Land, and 177 in Norfolk Island, but 
 orders had been sent out to compel the voluntary settlers, who had 
 adhered to that island after the government establishment had been 
 removed, to withdraw. 
 
 The settlements of New South Wales were bounded on the west by 
 the Blue Mountains, "beyond which no one has been able to penetrate 
 the country ; some have with difficulty been as far as one hundred 
 miles from the coast, but beyond sixty miles it appears to be nowhere 
 practicable for agricultural purposes ; beyond Port Stephen and Port 
 Jervis these settlements will not be capable of extension ; of the land 
 within the boundaries, one half is absolutely barren." The ground in 
 actual cultivation was 21,000 acres, and 74,000 were held in pasture. 
 The stock, in the hands chiefly of the settlers, was considerable, but 
 it was still necessary to continue the importation of salt provisions. 
 
64 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 The currency of the colony was in government paper and copper 
 money, but barter was the principal medium of sale ; and wheat and 
 cattle had been recognised by the court of justice as legal tenders in 
 payment of debts. 
 
 The exportations of the colony consisted principally of whale oil, 
 seal skins, coals, and wool. The iron ore, of which there was abun- 
 dance, had not been worked. The trade in skins and coal was limited 
 by the monopoly of the East India Company. Sheep were not suffi- 
 ciently numerous to make wool an article of large exportation. The 
 culture of hemp had been less attended to than might have been 
 expected. An illegal trade in sandal-wood had at times been carried 
 on with the South Sea Islands and China. Mercantile speculation had 
 been discouraged by impolitic regulations. 
 
 For many years a maximum price was imposed by the governor 
 upon all imported merchandise, often too low to afford a fair profit to 
 the trader; at this price the whole cargo was distributed amongst the 
 civil and military officers of the settlement, who alone had liberty to 
 purchase ; and articles of the first necessity were afterwards retailed by 
 them, at an enormous profit, to the poorer settlers. The imposition of a 
 maximum price on imported articles, and on the price of grain and 
 butcher's meat, had been discontinued, and the attempt to limit the 
 price of labour had failed. The trade in spirits Was reported as a 
 great difficulty. 
 
 The defects of the system of criminal jurisdiction by court-martial, 
 and civil jurisdiction without legal assistance or juries, are described ; 
 and the report states, -that the governor, uncontrolled by any council, 
 had power to pardon all offences, except treason and murder ; to im- 
 pose customs duties, to grant lands, and to issue colonial regulations ; 
 and for the breach of these regulations to inflict a punishment of 500 
 lashes and a fine of 100. 
 
 The committee recommended that a council should be given to the 
 governor. With regard to grants of land, they reported that, according 
 to evidence, a retiring governor had granted 1,000 acres to his suc- 
 cessor, who had returned the compliment by a similar grant immediately 
 after being installed in office. 
 
 Free settlers latterly had not been permitted to emigrate to New 
 South Wales without giving proof that they were possessed of a certain 
 capital. On their arrival they usually received a grant of land in 
 proportion to their means. 
 
 On the arrival of Governor Bligh, two-thirds of the children 
 annually born in the colony were illegitimate. 
 
THE FIRST JUDGE AND PAID MAGISTRATES APPOINTED. 65 
 
 This report, which also entered at considerable length into the 
 treatment of convicts, directed a little of public attention to the anti- 
 podean colony, and the result was to induce the Government to 
 appoint a judge, with two magistrates chosen in rotation, who composed 
 a supreme court in civil and criminal cases ; and in Van Diemen's 
 Land, as well as New South Wales, a fifty-pound civil court, with 
 appeal, was formed, with the judge-advocate as sole judge. 
 
 This was the first step toward meliorating the absolute despotism 
 under which the free settlers had hitherto lived. Measures were also 
 taken for removing the restrictions on commerce with Yan Diemen's 
 Land, and abolishing trade monopolies : but Governor Macquarie's pro- 
 tests against the interference or assistance of a council prevailed, and he 
 was enabled to pursue his plans with that concentrated vigour which is 
 the one advantage of an enlightened despotism. 
 
 To enumerate all the public works which, with no mean amount of 
 skill and at great cost to the parent country, Governor Macquarie 
 executed, would be neither useful nor amusing. It is sufficient to 
 state, that, while he erected many substantial if not elegant buildings 
 in the town of Sydney, he took care, by well-devised roads, to render 
 available all the cultivable land and pastures to be found within as 
 much of the territory as had been explored. The settlers imbibed 
 his spirit of progress, and imitated his energy; flocks and herds 
 increased to a great extent, although the sheep were for the greater 
 part of an inferior breed, a mixture of the hairy Bengal and heavy- 
 tailed Cape, whose wool was worthless for export. But M' Arthur, 
 whose efforts had been neglected and repressed by previous governors, 
 was steadily pursuing his great idea of naturalising the " noble race," 
 or Spanish merino, on the plains of Australia. In December, 1812, the 
 Sydney Gazette reports that ten rams of the merino breed, lately sold 
 by auction from the flocks of John M f Arthur, Esq., produced upwards 
 of 200 guineas ; and that " several coats made entirely of the wool 
 of New South Wales are now in this country, and are of most excellent 
 quality." In 1852 a whole fleet of ships were required to convey the 
 wool of Australia to the manufacturers of Yorkshire. 
 
 In 1813 occurred one of those droughts, the one drawback on what 
 would otherwise be a course of unvarying prosperity, which are 
 periodical in Australia. On this occasion it was not only the crops that 
 suffered ; the numerous flocks and herds were unable to find sufficient 
 pasturage on plains which, when first discovered, were overspread with 
 luxuriant herbage many feet in height. Necessity forced upon the 
 colonists the idea of again searching for a passage across the Blue 
 
66 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Mountains. The attempt had been unsuccessfully made by several 
 early colonists ; amongst others, by the brave Surgeon Bass. 
 
 The last and successful effort was made by three gentlemen whose 
 names are still well known in the colony William Wentworth, son of 
 the D'Arcy Wentworth who took an active part in the deposition of 
 Governor Bligh, one of the earliest free colonists, himself destined in 
 various ways to occupy a distinguished place in the annals of the 
 colony ; Lieutenant Lawson, afterwards one of the greatest land and 
 stock owners ; and Gregory Blaxland, one of the first members of the 
 Legislative Council of New South Wales. 
 
 With incredible toil and hardships, they effected a passage across a 
 chain of mountains clothed with dense timber and brushwood, and inter- 
 sected by a succession of ravines, which presented extraordinary diffi- 
 culties, not so much from their height as from their precipitous character. 
 At the foot of the opposite side of the mountains, an easy journey led to 
 
 
 BATHCKST PLAINS IN 1852. 
 
 Bathurst Plains, the finest pasture country the colonists had yet seen, far 
 exceeding even the famous Cow Pastures on the Nepean. It is to this 
 country, the discovery of Messrs. Wentworth and Lawson, that the 
 gold-diggers are now streaming in thousands, but not clambering up 
 
MACQUARIE'S JOURNEY. 67 
 
 precipices, sliding down ravines, and cutting paths through impenetrable 
 brushwood, like the early pioneers ; but easily travelling, and grumbling 
 as they go, at the ill-kept condition of a macadamised road which has 
 been conducted with admirable engineering skill in a series of ascend- 
 ing and descending gradients, over which even loaded drays can travel 
 with ease. 
 
 Within fifteen months from the discovery of the first pass over the 
 Blue Mountains, Governor Macquarie caused a practicable road to be 
 made. He never lost any time in planning and executing such works. 
 Some governors would have occupied as much time in preparing a 
 despatch as he did in completing the work. Many settlers, without 
 waiting for the road, contrived to transfer portions of their live stock 
 to the new pastoral El Dorado. In April, 1815, the governor himself, 
 with Mrs. Macquarie, accompanied by his principal officers and Mr. 
 Lewin, painter and naturalist, set out on a progress to view what he 
 called " his last conquest." 
 
 The results of this progress, made two months before the battle of 
 Waterloo, are recorded in the following extracts from a " General Order :" 
 certainly one of the most curious documents of the kind ever published. 
 
 MACQUARIE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE BLUE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 "The commencement of the ascent from Emu Plains, through 
 a very handsome open forest of lofty trees for twelve miles, was much 
 more practicable and easy than was expected. At a further distance 
 of four miles a sudden change is perceived in the appearance of the 
 timber and quality of the soil, the former becoming stunted, and the 
 latter barren and rocky. Here the country became altogether moun- 
 tainous and extremely rugged. From henceforward to the twenty- 
 sixth mile is a succession of steep and rugged hills, some so abrupt as 
 to deny a passage altogether ; but at this place an extensive plain is 
 arrived at, which constitutes the summit of the western mountains, and 
 from thence a most extensive and beautiful prospect presents itself on 
 all sides to the eye. On the south-west side of this table land [query, 
 King's Table Land ?] the mountain terminates in an abrupt precipice of 
 immense depth. At the bottom [the governor does not mention how 
 they got to the bottom] is seen an immense glen, twenty-four miles in 
 length, terminating as abruptly as the others, bounded on the further 
 side by mountains of great magnitude, to which the governor gave 
 the name of Prince Eegent's Glen. Proceeding hence to the thirty- 
 third mile, on the top of a hill, an opening presents itself on the south- 
 
I 
 
 $8 THE THEEE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 west side of the glen, from whence a view is obtained of mountains 
 rising beyond mountains with stupendous masses of rock in the fore- 
 ground, in a circular or amphitheatrical form. The road continues 
 from hence, for the space of seventeen miles, on the ridge of the moun- 
 tain which forms one side of Prince Regent's Glen, and there suddenly 
 terminates in a perpendicular precipice of 676 feet. Down this Mr. 
 Cox had constructed a road to which the governor gave the name of 
 Cox's Pass, and to the ridge, Mount York.* On descending the pass, 
 the first pasture land and soil fit for cultivation appeared, watered by 
 two rivulets running east and west, and joining, forming Cox's River, 
 which takes its course through Prince Regent's Glen, and empties itself 
 into the River Nepean. Three miles hence the expedition of Messrs. 
 Blaxland, Wentworth, and Lawson, terminated. A range of very lofty 
 hills and narrow valleys, alternately, form the part of the country from 
 Cox's River for a distance of sixteen miles, until Fish River is reached. 
 
 " Passing on, the country continues hilly, but affords good pasturage, 
 gradually improving to Sidmouth Valley, distant eight miles from the 
 pass of Fish River. The land level, and the first met, unencumbered 
 with timber, forms a valley north-west and south-east between hills of 
 easy ascent, thinly covered with timber. Leaving the valley, the 
 country again becomes hilly; thirteen miles brought the party to 
 Campbell River, where an extensive view opened of gently rising hills 
 and fertile plains. In the pool of Campbell's River, that very curious 
 animal the paradox, or water-mole, was seen in great numbers. f The 
 Fish River, which forms a junction with the Campbell River a few 
 miles to the northward, has two fertile plains named O 1 Council's and 
 Macquarie's Plains. Seven miles from the bridge over Campbell River, 
 Bathurst Plains open to the view, presenting a rich part of champaign 
 country of eleven miles in length, bounded on both sides by very 
 beautiful hills thinly wooded. The Macquarie River, which is formed 
 by a junction of the Campbell and Five Rivers, takes a winding course 
 through the plains, which can easily be traced from the highlands by 
 the verdure of the trees on the banks, which are the only trees through- 
 out the extent of the plains. The level and clean surface (marked in 
 plough ridges) gives them very much the appearance of lands in a 
 state of cultivation." 
 
 On the south bank of the Macquarie, the governor encamped for a 
 week, occupying his time in making excursions in different directions 
 
 * Mount York Road has since been abandoned in favour of an easy descent by Mount Victoria 
 executed by Sir Thomas Mitchell. 
 
 f It is now extinct in that part of the colony. 
 
MACQUARIE'S "DISCOVERY." 
 
 69 
 
 THE DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS Oil PARADOX. 
 
 through the country on both sides the river; and on Sunday, 7th May, 
 1815, fixed on a site suitable for the erection of a town at some future 
 period, to which he gave the name of Bathurst." 
 
 This discovery, made by the courageous perseverance of the three 
 gentlemen before named, rendered available by the wise energy of 
 Macquarie, and -profitable by the fine-woolled sheep of M'Arthur, 
 assured the future fortunes of the Three Colonies of Australia, and 
 laid the foundation of an empire on the sweepings of our gaols. 
 
 Macquarie was vain, hopeful, ambitious, and not unjustly proud of 
 what, in his despatches to Earl Bathurst, he called "his discovery;" 
 but his utmost expectation only extended to supporting a considerable 
 but isolated population by pastoral and agricultural pursuits. He 
 expressly stated, in his curious general order, that "The difficulties 
 which present themselves in the journey from hence [Sydney] are 
 certainly great and inevitable ; those persons who may be inclined to 
 become permanent settlers will probably content themselves with 
 visiting the capital rarely, and of course will have them seldom to 
 encounter." And under this impression the grants of land were made 
 chiefly in large blocks of several thousand acres. 
 
 What would have been his pride and admiration could he have 
 
70 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 foreseen that, within a few miles of the plains of pasture land which 
 have realised to the first settlers hundreds of thousands of pounds in 
 wool, gold lay in heaps for gathering ; and that within the lifetime of 
 "VVentworth, the explorer, an unbroken army of gold adventurers would 
 crowd the highway from Sidney to the " City of the Plains," and in 
 one year double the exports and the consuming powers of the colony. 
 
 The road to Bathurst Plains, executed in an incredibly short period, 
 under the direction of Governor Macquarie, was materially improved 
 by succeeding governors, and especially by the surveyor-general, Sir 
 Thomas Mitchell, the Cook of Australian inland discovery. Sir Thomas 
 Mitchell effected works second only in importance and merit of 
 design and execution to the Siraplon Pass over the Alps. It is un- 
 fortunate that he was not permitted to carry out other public works 
 which he suggested at a period when the barracks and gaols were filled 
 with idle convicts. The road by Mount York was so steep that bullock 
 drivers were in the habit of cutting down and attaching part of a tree to 
 their drays, by way of substitute for a drag. Sir Thomas filled up an inter- 
 vening valley by cutting down part of the summit of Mount Victoria. 
 
 Under Macquarie, in addition to the Bathurst, the Argyle district, 
 one of the best agricultural and pastoral districts on the road, of which 
 Goulburn is the centre, was discovered ; as also Port Macquarie, after- 
 wards a penal settlement, at the mouth of the River Hastings, leading 
 to a fertile district, as yet, in consequence of the price of land and 
 labour, unoccupied to its full extent. Mr. Oxley, the surveyor- 
 general, traced the Rivers Lachlan and Macquarie to the west of the 
 Blue Mountains, where they disappear in a swamp in dry seasons, and 
 in seasons of extraordinary rain form an inland sea. Macquarie also 
 formed one penal settlement on the fertile soil of Emu Plains, and 
 another in the coal district at the mouth of the River Hunter, not 
 improperly named Newcastle. He also materially improved the aspect 
 of Sydney by laying it out on a new plan, and gave encouragement to 
 every useful enterprise. He was wise enough to see the importance of, 
 and did his best to create, a class of small farmers, who, tilling the 
 ground with their own hands, would be independent of hired labour, 
 and assist in protecting the colony against the effects of a dearth of 
 corn. With this view, he gave grants of thirty acres each to eman- 
 cipated convicts. Unfortunately, he did not accompany this wise 
 measure with an importation of female population. 
 
 Among the gossiping libels against the yeomanry class current 
 among the squatocracy is a statement that Macquarie's settlers sold all 
 their farms for rum. This statement was investigated by Mrs. Chis- 
 
THE RUM HOSPITAL. 71 
 
 holm, who found a great number of the settlers in the Hawkesbury 
 voting for members of council on their original grants. That under 
 the horrid single-man system many should have flown to rum for con- 
 solation, is not extraordinary. The old saw says 
 
 " Without a wife, 
 " A farmer's is a dreary life." 
 
 Very little could be expected from a population of which not one in 
 five could obtain an honest helpmate, and which knew little of clergy- 
 men except as sellers of rum and dispensers of lashes. Even in the 
 mother country, the duty of educating the masses had hardly begun to 
 make way ; thus it was only the inoculation of whatever good there 
 was in the colony, and the facility of getting an honest living, that 
 prevented the colonists of Macquarie's time from becoming a nation of 
 bucaneers. 
 
 The ignorant and the vicious were turned loose in New South 
 Wales with the lash and the gallows for those who were found out, 
 but with independence for those who were industrious. The result 
 showed how human nature can run clear where not pressed down by 
 poverty or compressed in towns. 
 
 The Kum Hospital was a specimen of the tone of morality during 
 the early years of New South Wales. It was built by three gentlemen, 
 under a contract with the governor, which gave them a monopoly of 
 the sale and importation of rum for a certain number of years. The 
 workmen were, as much as possible, paid in rum, and public-houses 
 were multiplied to an extent exceeding the proportion in the lowest and 
 poorest haunts of Great Britain. 
 
 Many individuals, profiting by the enormous government expen- 
 diture, became wealthy ; and all the sober, and many who were not 
 sober, of the free or freed population were prosperous. It became 
 manifestly better policy to live by work or trade than by robbery. 
 
 Of churches there were two, and these barely filled ; of the few 
 clergymen the majority were occupied as magistrates, in awarding lashes 
 to refractory servants, in farming, in breeding stock, and dealing in 
 anything that would bring a profit. When New South Wales was 
 considered worthy of an archdeacon, one honourable exception, the 
 much-loved Parson Cowper,* was passed over and neglected, according 
 to the rule of the duy, in favour of an ex-wine-merchnnt. 
 
 The Eoman Catholics, amounting to some thousands, were not 
 
 * A son of the Rev. Mr. Cowper is one of the most respectable and influential men in the 
 colony, and a valuable member of the Legislative Council. 
 
72 THE THREE COLONIES OP AUSTRALIA. 
 
 allowed to have the comfort of a priest of their own religion. Con- 
 sidering that the Roman Catholic cannot, like the Protestant, retire 
 to any solitude and there relieve his mind by prayer and confession to 
 God that he deems the intervention of the priest, especially on his 
 deathbed, essential to his salvation it is not extraordinary that the 
 Irish part of the prisoner-population should have been turbulent and 
 desperate; they felt themselves condemned to misery in this world, 
 and perdition in the next dying " unhousel'd, unannointed, unanel'd." 
 The tone of society in the towns was horrible: no educated or 
 honourable class; no church worthy of the name; no schools except 
 for the wealthy, and these chiefly taught by convicts ; slave-masters 
 who sold rum ; slaves who drank it ; an autocrat surrounded by 
 parasites, whose fortune he could make by a stroke of his pen. Except 
 military honour, and the virtue cherished by a few who lived apart, 
 there was as little virtue and honour as freedom in this wretched, 
 prosperous colony. 
 
 From the foundation of New South Wales to the end of Governor 
 Macquarie's administration, about 400,000 acres of land were granted 
 to private individuals. Of these, in course of time, many town lots 
 have become of enormous value, as likewise some of the country land ; 
 but much was barren, and not worth cultivation when better land was 
 rendered accessible by roads. 
 
 In 1817, the first judge, Mr. Field, arrived; a branch of the Bible 
 Society was established -, and a Roman Catholic priest, Father O'Flynn, 
 landed and spent some time in the colony, but, not having been duly 
 authorised by the home government, he was compelled to return. 
 Bigotry was in full bloom before Christianity had taken root. 
 
 In 1819 arrived a commissioner of inquiry, John Thomas Bigge, 
 Esq., and his secretary, Thomas Hobbs Scott, Esq. He remained until 
 February, 1821, having collected a body of evidence, which was after- 
 wards printed for the use of the House of Commons. It contains 
 many curious stories. The publication of this report had a considerable 
 effect in directing the attention of the British public to the resources 
 of Australia, and eventually caused the influx of a superior class of 
 emigrants. But it was not until Governor Darling's time that the 
 demand for convict labourers, on terms then in force, began to exceed 
 the supply. Colonists, chiefly the Scotchmen, discovered the advantage 
 of agricultural pursuits in a colony in which, with a grant of land, they 
 became entitled to rations for twelve months for themselves and their 
 wives, and convict labourers at the rate of one for each thirty acres, 
 
GOVERNOR BRISBANE. 73 
 
 who were also rationed by the government for the space of eighteen 
 months. The inquiry by Mr. Commissioner Bigge was partly owing 
 to the representations made, in a work published by Mr. William 
 Wentworth, during a visit paid to England for the purpose of being 
 called to the bar. 
 
 Among other subjects that came under the notice of the commissioner 
 was the ecclesiastical government of New South Wales. The report of 
 Mr. Bigge recommended the appointment of an archdeacon. Mr. Scott, 
 the secretary, lost no time in taking orders, and in 1825 reappeared in 
 the colony as Archdeacon Scott. 
 
 In the year that the royal commissioner quitted the colony a Wesleyai* 
 chapel was opened, and the foundation stone of a Roman Catholic 
 cathedral was laid by the governor at the request of Father Therry 
 good Father Therry who shared with Parson Cowper the honour, the 
 respect, the affection of the poorer colonists, and of the outcast prisoner 
 population, whom they so faithfully tended, and the persecution of their 
 spiritual superiors. 
 
 In 1822 Oovernor Macquarie embarked for England, after a longer 
 and more successful administration than any governor in the Australian 
 colonies has hitherto enjoyed. He found New South Wales a gaol, 
 and left it a colony ; he found Sydney a village, and left it a city ; he 
 found a population of idle prisoners, paupers, and paid officials, and 
 left a large free community, thriving on the produce of flocks and the 
 labour of convicts. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GOVERNOR BRISBANE AND GOVERNOR DARLING. 
 1821 TO 1831. 
 
 MACQUARIE was succeeded by Sir Thomas Brisbane, whose term 
 of office, undistinguished by remarkable actions on his part, 
 was full of events of importance to a colony which was fast acquiring a 
 population that could no longer be controlled by a purely military 
 despotism. From the day of Macquarie's departure a struggle com- 
 menced between the people and the government which was carried on 
 up to the present year, when the Duke of Newcastle conceded to the 
 Australians full powers of self-government and self-taxation. 
 
 Under any circumstances Sir Thomas Brisbane's task would have 
 been difficult. The fortunes made in the colony had attracted a class 
 
 F 
 
74 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 of emigrants not prepared to submit to the despotic system which the 
 prisoner part of the population could not, and the officials and 
 settlers living on government patronage were not inclined to resist. 
 Succeeding to the absolute powers of Macquarie, in 1824, three years 
 after landing, the Legislative, or rather Executive Council, against 
 the check of which his imperious predecessor had protested, was estab- 
 blished. The first chief-justice, the first attorney-general, a solicitor- 
 general, who was also a commissioner of the Court of Requests, a 
 master in chancery, and colonial treasurer, arrived in the colony. 
 Trial by jury took place in the first Court of Quarter Sessions ; liberty 
 of the press was conceded ; and the Australian, the first colonial news- 
 paper independent of government aid, was published by Mr. Went- 
 worth and Dr. Wardell, and followed by two other journals. 
 
 While on this side of the globe we were declaiming and subscribing 
 for the liberties of Greeks, Spaniards, and South Americans, at the 
 antipodes our countrymen were struggling for trial by jury and 
 " unlicensed printing." 
 
 Commercial liberty yet remained to be gained. The East India 
 Company claimed the monopoly of trading in the Indian seas, and 
 repeatedly asserted their right by confiscating vessels loaded with 
 produce for Port Jackson. In 1824 the captain of a man-of-war 
 actually seized the ship Almorah, with a valuable cargo of tea and rice, 
 at anchor in Sydney Cove, and sent her as a prize to Calcutta in charge 
 of his lieutenant . 
 
 Major-General Sir Thomas Brisbane, K.C.B., had acquired a high 
 reputation as a soldier in the Peninsula, and as a man of science. The 
 first observatory in Australia was erected under his auspices. But his 
 government, which only lasted four years, was unpopular, and the 
 political concessions made rendered further concessions inevitable. To 
 this fire was added the fuel of grievances which went home to the 
 pockets of almost all the settlers and traders, and an insult which 
 deeply offended a powerful, united, and intelligent religious community 
 the Scotch Presbyterians. 
 
 The Presbyterians applied in 1823 for assistance to build a Pres- 
 byterian church in Sydney, and referred pointedly to the support 
 afforded the " Roman Catholics." The tone of the application appears 
 not to have pleased either Sir Thomas or his secretary, and he 
 returned a bitter reply, of which the following is the concluding para- 
 graph. The style is eminently characteristic of colonial secretaries and 
 governors : 
 
 " When, therefore, the Presbyterians of the colony shall have 
 
GOVERNOR BRISBANE AND THE PRESBYTERIANS. 75 
 
 advanced by private donations in the erection of a temple worthy of 
 religion; when in the choice of their teachers they shall have dis- 
 covered a judgment equal to that which has presided at the selection 
 of the Roman Catholic clergymen ; when they shall have practised 
 what they propose, * To instruct the people to fear God and honour 
 the King ;' when, by endeavouring to 'keep the unity of the spirit in 
 the bond of peace' in a a colony requiring it more than all others, they 
 shall have shown through their lives the influence of the holy religion 
 they profess, then assuredly will the colonial executive step forward to 
 extend its countenance and support to those who are following the 
 Presbyterian creed." 
 
 The governor, it is said, acted under the advice of his secretary, a 
 gentleman of the old Tory school. The Scotch gentlemen applied to 
 the home government, when the governor received a severe reprimand, 
 and the Presbyterians the aid they required. 
 
 Sir Thomas Brisbane's financial measures were equally unfortunate, 
 yet there is no reason to question the purity of his motives. 
 
 It had been usual under previous governors to purchase the surplus 
 grain from farmers at the current price of the day. The colonial 
 government was almost the only purchaser, and to government the 
 corn-growers looked for a certain share of their profits. Among the 
 smaller settlers, the only cash they received in the course of the year was 
 from the commissariat. This was the latter phase of a system which 
 began with rationing the whole community, and gave liberty to 
 prisoners who undertook to support themselves, which, in its second 
 stage, willingly provided a free and emancipated settler with land and 
 prisoner labour, and purchased the produce of land so tilled, to feed the 
 prisoners whom the settlers could not employ. 
 
 Sir Thomas Brisbane, who arrived with Commissioner Bigge's 
 report hanging over him, adopted the ordinary contract system, and 
 invited tenders for the quantity required at the lowest price. The small 
 farmers, unused to calculate the effects of open competition, rushed 
 forward to the stores with such eagerness, that wheat fell from 10s. and 
 7s. 6d. a bushel to 3s. 9d. Abstractedly Sir Thomas Brisbane was right, 
 practically he was wrong ; so serious a change required care and time. 
 
 About the same time the governor established a colonial currency 
 which raised the pound sterling twenty-five per cent., and proceeded to 
 pay government debts in colonial money to parties who had contracted 
 debts in sterling currency; a revival of the system of depreciating 
 the circulating medium obsolete in England, but still practised by 
 continental monarchs. 
 
 F 2 
 
7(5 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 The colonists, seeing the price at which wheat was transferred to 
 the government stores, took it for granted that the harvest had been 
 redundant, proceeded to feed pigs, and otherwise expended the unsold 
 proceeds of their harvest. As the season advanced it was discovered 
 that the harvest, so far from being plentiful, was deficient. Wheat rose 
 to 1 4s. a bushel. Those who had sold cheap had to buy at a high 
 price. The tampering with the currency added to the severity of the 
 crisis. A great flood swept away the finest crops on the Hawkesbury. 
 A famine followed: the government, by proclamation, required that 
 cabbage-stalks should not be rooted up. A large body of small farmers 
 became so insolvent that their farms were sold to pay their debts, and 
 passed into the hands of money-lenders and grogshop-keepers. 
 
 The discontent of the colonists reacted on the home government, 
 and Sir Thomas Brisbane was recalled on the 1st December, 1825. 
 
 Four very important discoveries were made during his administra- 
 tion. In 1823, the Maneroo Plains, situated between two and three 
 thousand feet above the level of the sea, separated from Twofold Bay 
 by a lofty range of mountains, over which there is now a dray-track, 
 were explored by Captain Currie, R.N., who named them Brisbane 
 Downs, but they have since reverted to their native name. In the 
 same year, Mr. Oxley, the surveyor-general, by order of Sir T. Brisbane, 
 explored Moreton Bay, and discovered the navigable River Brisbane, 
 leading to the fine semi-tropical country now fully occupied by squatters, 
 but capable of supporting a large agricultural population. 
 
 In the following year Messrs. Ho veil and Hume made their over- 
 land journey to Port Phillip ; and in 1825, Mr. Allan Cunningham, 
 one of the most enterprising and accomplished of Australian explorers, 
 discovered Pandora's Pass, a cleft than which the Alps offer nothing 
 more wild, more imposing, or more picturesque, affording the only 
 practicable road from the Upper Hunter to the pastoral uplands of 
 Liverpool Plains. 
 
 Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Darling, K.C.B., succeeded Governor 
 Brisbane ; the colony, during an interregnum of eighteen days, having 
 been in the hands of Colonel (afterwards General) Stewart, of Bathurst, 
 an honour which formed one of the boasts of the gallant officer and 
 standing jokes of the district for the remainder of his life. 
 
 GOVERNOR DARLING. 
 
 Sir Ralph Darling arrived in December, 1825 ; his administration 
 lasted six years, and was singularly and deservedly unpopular. He 
 
GOVERNOR DARLING. 77 
 
 was a man of forms and precedents, of the true red-tape school neat, 
 exact, punctual, industrious, arbitrary, spiteful, commonplace. He 
 laboured hard to reduce into order the confusion he found in the 
 public offices of the colony,, and substituted a system which became 
 quite as corrupt and more dilatory. It was like changing from the 
 court of a Turkish cadi to the Court of Chancery. He obstinately 
 evaded the control intended to be imposed upon him by the secret 
 official and nominee council, and perpetrated one act of tyranny which 
 has no parallel in English history since the time of Charles I. and the 
 Star Chamber, The red-tape tendencies of Governor Darling were 
 shown in his management of the waste lands of the colony. 
 
 THE AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY. 
 
 New South Wales, in common with South American mines, Greek 
 and Spanish loans, and a crowd of other bubble speculations, which 
 seem to be decennially necessary to the commercial existence of English- 
 men, became, in the last year of Governor Brisbane's official reign, the 
 subject of the operations of a great company, incorporated by charter 
 and by act of Parliament, with a directorate including the best men of 
 the city of London, a capital of a million pounds, a grant of a million 
 acres, and various other privileges and pre-emptions, of which a mono- 
 poly of the working and sale of coal eventually proved the most profit- 
 able to the shareholders and offensive to the colonists. Under Governor 
 Darling, the agents of this Australian Agricultural Company selected, 
 took possession, and commenced operations on their grant. 
 
 A retrospect of the plans and prospects of this company in 1825 
 will perhaps afford the best landmark of the progress of the colony from 
 the time when the whole community depended for salvation from famine 
 on one ship, and that ship driven by adverse gales out of Sydney Heads 
 away to sea* 
 
 The directors of the Australian Agricultural Company, in their 
 original prospectus, represent New South Wales as well calculated for 
 the growth of " timber, wheat, tobacco, hemp, flax, and fruits, amongst 
 which are the olive, grape, fig, mulberry, guava, almond, peach, citron, 
 and orange." They derived their information chiefly from the reports 
 of Mr. Commissioner Bigge ; and from the same source rested great 
 hopes of profit 
 
 " 1st) On the growth of fine merino wool* 
 
 " 2n<%, From the breeding of cattle and other live stock, and the 
 raising corn, tobacco, &c., for the supply of persons resident in the 
 colony. 
 
78 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 " Srdly, From the production, at a more distant time, of wine, olive 
 oil, hemp, flax, silk, opium, &c., as articles of export to Great Britain. 
 " Ithly, From a progressive advance in the value of land, as it becomes 
 improved ; and by an increased population." 
 
 The grant of land was made on the ground that the colony would 
 derive advantage from the importation of so large a capital, invested in 
 cattle, horses, and sheep of the Cheviot breeds ; in the cultivation of 
 the produce of southern Europe ; and that the mother country would 
 be saved the cost of maintaining a certain number of convicts. 
 
 At that period it was still so much an object with the government 
 to relieve itself of the cost of the maintenance of criminals, that it was 
 agreed that the company should be relieved of quit rent, on condition 
 of their employing a certain number of prisoners. But from the period 
 of the grant to the Australian Agricultural Company, the value of convict 
 labour rose so rapidly, that they never were able to obtain the stipu- 
 lated number of servants. In 1830 we find the editor of the Sydney 
 Monitor proposing that convicts should be sold on arrival to the highest 
 bidder, and anticipating that they would realise, in lots of two hundred, 
 100 a year each for five or ten years ! 
 
 In the course of the correspondence with this company, the Secre- 
 tary of State for the Colonies announced that in future, " instead of 
 giving grants of land free, lands were to be put up to sale, according 
 to a valuation of the surveyor-general, similar, in many respects, to the 
 system adopted in the United States of America." 
 
 This plan had been suggested by Mr. Commissioner Bigge, with 
 a price of 10s. an acre for lands near towns, and 5s. an zicre in the 
 country. 
 
 Unfortunately the example of the Australian Company infected 
 many members of Parliament and other persons of influence, who 
 hastened to obtain grants which cost the minister nothing, and appeared 
 to the granters of immense value a delusion on both sides. The 
 precedent became most embarrassing to the government, while many 
 of the huge blocks were of very little money value to the absentees, 
 and of great disadvantage to the colony. 
 
 As to the Australian Agricultural Company, their proceedings 
 created, in the then state of the colony, a financial revolution. They 
 sent out from England, according to the custom of joint stock compa- 
 nies, a numerous staff of officers, with cargoes of implements and 
 breeding stock on a most costly scale ; and purchased ewes and heifers 
 in the colony so largely, that prices were raised nearly two hundred per 
 cent. " The company with a long pocket" was a popular toast at 
 
THE AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY. 79 
 
 colonial dinners, and sellers were never wanting as long as they had any 
 money to invest. 
 
 A reaction followed, as it always does follow, extravagant expec- 
 tations of pecuniary profit. Nevertheless the colony derived advantage 
 from the introduction of the company's capital and superior stock in 
 sheep, horses, and cattle. The grand ideas of vineyards, olive oil, 
 opium, silkworm cultivation, and orange groves, which formed applauded 
 passages in speeches in the House of Commons and the court-room of 
 the company, were never extended beyond the resident manager's 
 gardens. 
 
 Unfortunately the beneficial influences were neutralised by a further 
 grant, which not only handed over the large tract of coal seams which 
 had been unprofitably worked by the government, but actually created 
 a monopoly which precluded the colonists from working, on any terms, 
 any coal which might happen to be found under their estates. 
 
 These doings seem monstrous now. At that period they were 
 ordinary transactions, in which honourable men and liberal politicians 
 took a share without shame. In the same perverse spirit the authori- 
 ties and merchants at Sydney, up to 1826, compelled every ship to 
 enter and break bulk at Sydney before calling at the ports of Yan 
 Diemen's Land. In 1825 monopoly was as much an article of faith 
 with statesmen as free trade in 1852. 
 
 Under Governor Darling emigration from England of persons of 
 moderate capital increased. But a vicious system was estab- 
 lished in the surveyor's office, for the benefit of favoured or feeing 
 parties, by which surveys of waste land were kept secret from the 
 uninitiated. In 1830 the author of "A Letter of Advice to Emigrants" 
 recommends " every settler to bring out an order from the Secretary of 
 State to be allowed to inspect charts and maps in the surveyor's office;" 
 and adds, " from being* denied such inspection, emigrants wander 
 about the interior of the colony at great expense, but to little purpose." 
 Reform makes slow progress in the Colonial Office. If we are to believe 
 the boasts of an Hibernian-German captain who, in 1848, visited Port 
 Phillip, even in that year there existed secret choice reserves near the 
 town of Melbourne, which, by the " open sesame " of his letter from Earl 
 Grey, after being long retained, were handed over to a German colony. 
 
 Darling ruled the convicts with a rod of iron. The times of the 
 " first fleeters," with floggers, and short allowances of food, were revived. 
 A penal settlement was formed at Moreton Bay ; and there, it is com- 
 monly affirmed, the prisoners were so badly treated that they committed 
 murder in order to be sent for trial to Sydney. County magistrates 
 
80 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 were permitted to award any number of lashes for insolence, idleness, 
 or other indefinite offences. As it was not lawful for a man to flog- his 
 own assigned servants, he exchanged compliments with a neighbour. 
 Considering the class of persons who were then frequently selected for 
 magistrates in the colonies, it may easily be conceived to what brutal 
 excesses such irresponsible authority led. 
 
 But year by year the civilising elements of society made way. At 
 one time, in 1826, we find a dispensary opened : in the following year 
 a great public meeting is held, with the sheriff in the chair, to petition 
 the King and both Houses of Parliament for the civil rights of trial by 
 jury, and a House of Assembly; and the next year a general post-office 
 throughout the colony, and an Australian jockey club, are established. 
 The editor of a newspaper is found guilty of libel, and two gentlemen 
 fight a bloodless duel. A dispensary, a post-office, an action for libel, 
 and a duel ! the banes and antidotes of civilised society. 
 
 The two last years of Governor Darling present events and con- 
 trasts still more remarkable. 
 
 A Legislative Council, being a step in advance of the Executive 
 Council established by the charter of 1824, held its first meeting in 1829. 
 This was the check against which Governor Macquarie so earnestly 
 and naively protested. The council consisted of Archdeacon (the late 
 Bishop) Broughton, who superseded Mr. Scott, the Commander of the 
 Forces, the Chief Justice, Attorney-General, and Colonial Treasure*, 
 Alexander M'Cleay, afterwards (at eighty years of age) the first speaker 
 of the first Australian Legislative Assembly, and four members selected 
 by the governor. 
 
 The proceedings of this council were secret, under an oath admi- 
 nistered to that intent ; and the governor had an absolute veto. The 
 majority were officials, totally unacquainted with the colony; and, 
 looking at the minority in which the nominees of the government were 
 constantly found in the subsequent open Legislative Assembly, it is not 
 extraordinary that this council gave no satisfaction to the colony. It 
 must, however, be confessed, that in 1829 New South Wales did not 
 possess the materials for representative institutions. 
 
 The first act of the council was to establish trial by jury in civil 
 cases. 
 
 In the following year, on the 31st March, 1831, the first steam-boat 
 in Australia was launched ; two other steam-boats came into use within 
 a few months. Close upon the steam-boat followed Dr. Lang, from 
 Scotland, the first Australian agitator, a Presbyterian O'Connell, who, 
 after professing and printing every shade of political opinions, has 
 
CASE OF SUDDS AND THOMPSON. 81 
 
 recently avowed his preference for a republic, and his hopes that he 
 " shall yet see the British flag trailed in the dust." 
 Decidedly, in 1831, Australia was making progress. 
 
 The history of General Darling's administration reads more like 
 that of one of Napoleon's pro-consuls than that of an Englishman 
 reigning over Englishmen. 
 
 The case of Sudds and Thompson is an instance which stands out 
 in the history of the colony as a sort of landmark indicating the termi- 
 nation of the Algerine system of government, and affording a singular 
 example of the state of society in which such an outrage on law, jus- 
 tice, and constitutional rights could be not only done, but defended. 
 The story is worth relating, if only to show what deeds could be 
 perpetrated in the same age by the same race that expended millions 
 in redeeming negro slaves and attempting to convert aboriginal 
 cannibals. 
 
 Sudds and Thompson were two private soldiers in the 57th Regi- 
 ment, doing duty in New South Wales in 1825, the second year of Sir 
 Ralph Darling's reign. Thompson was a well-behaved man, who had 
 saved some money ; Sudds was a loose character. They both wished 
 to remain in the colony. In New South Wales these two soldiers saw 
 men who had arrived as convicts settled on snug farms, established in 
 good shops, or become even wealthy merchants and steckowners. As 
 to procure their discharge was out of the question, Sudds, the scamp, 
 suggested to Thompson that they should qualify themselves for the 
 good fortune of convicts, and procure their discharge by becoming 
 felons. Accordingly they went together to the shop of a Sydney 
 tradesman, and openly stole a piece of cloth were, as they intended, 
 caught, tried, convicted, and sentenced to be transported to one of the 
 auxiliary penal settlements for seven years. In the course of the 
 trial the object of the crime was clearly elicited. It became evident 
 that the discipline of the troops required to keep guard over the 
 large convict population would be seriously endangered if the com- 
 mission of a crime enabled a soldier to obtain the superior food, 
 condition, and prospects enjoyed by a criminal. Accordingly, Sir 
 Ralph Darling issued an order under which the two soldiers, who 
 had been tried and convicted, were taken from the hands of the 
 civil power, and condemned to work in chains on the roads of the 
 colony for the full term of their sentence, after which they were to 
 return to service in the ranks. On an appointed day the garrison of 
 Sydney were assembled and formed in a hollow square. The culprits 
 
82 THE THREE COLONIES OF ArSTRALIA. 
 
 were brought out, their uniforms stripped off and replaced by the 
 convict dress ; iron-spiked collars and heavy chains, made expressly for 
 the purpose by order of the governor, were rivetted to their necks and 
 legs, and then they were drummed out of the regiment, and marched 
 back to gaol to the tune of " The Rogue's March." Sudds, who was in 
 bad health at the time of his sentence (from an affection of the liver), 
 overcome with shame, grief, and disappointment oppressed by his 
 chains, and exhausted by the heat of the sun on the day of the 
 exposure in the barrack-square died in a few days. Thompson 
 became insane. 
 
 A great outcry was raised in the colony : the opposition paper 
 attacked, the official paper defended, the conduct of the governor. The 
 colony became divided into two parties. Until the end of his admi- 
 nistration, Sir Ralph Darling, whose whole system was a compound 
 of military despotism and bureaucracy, was pertinaciously worried by 
 a section which included some of the best and some of the worst men 
 in the colony. Combining together for the extension of the liberties 
 of the colony, they found in the Sudds and Thompson case " the ines- 
 timable benefit of a grievance." 
 
 It would be unjust to consider Sir Ralph Darling's sentence by the 
 light of public opinion in England. He was governor of a colony in 
 which more than half the community were slaves and criminals ; he had 
 to punish and to arrest the progress of a dangerous crime ; but he fell 
 into the error of exercising, by ex post facto decree, as the representative 
 of the sovereign, powers which no sovereign has exercised since the 
 time of Henry YIIL, and violated one of the cardinal principles of the 
 British constitution, by rejudging and aggravating the punishment of 
 men who had already been judged. At the present day it is, as we 
 before observed, only as an historical landmark that we recal attention 
 to this transaction, which can never be repeated in British dominions. 
 
 During General Darling's government further successful explora- 
 tions of the interior were made, both by private individuals and 
 officials. Among the latter were Major (now Sir Thomas) Mitchell, 
 Mr. Allan Cunningham, Mr. Oxley, and Captain Sturt, the most for- 
 tunate of all. In his second expedition, in 1829, Captain Sturt 
 embarked with a party in a boat on the Morrumbidgee (which receives 
 the waters of the Macquarie, the Lachlan, and Darling), until he came 
 to its junction with the Murray, an apparently noble stream. Pursuing 
 his voyage, in spite of many impediments, hardships, and dangers, from 
 rocks, snags, sandbanks, and hostile savages, he reached the Lake 
 Alexandrina, and discovered the future province of South Australia. This 
 
RESIGNATION OF GENERAL DARLING. 83 
 
 lake is a shallow sheet of water, sixty miles in length and forty miles 
 in breadth, which interposes between the sea and the river, thus 
 presenting an impassable obstacle to ocean communication. The hopes 
 excited by the discovery of this picturesque river have hitherto not 
 been realised. Although broad, deep, and bordered by rich land for 
 many score miles, the perpetual recurrence of shallows limits the 
 draught of water to two feet, at which depth steamers cannot be pro- 
 fitably navigated. Captain Sturt, having made this important discovery, 
 returned by reascending the river. In consideration of these and other 
 services rendered to South Australia, the new Legislative Council of 
 that colony have recently voted to Captain Sturt, who has unfor- 
 tunately become blind, a pension of 500 an act of liberality for 
 which no precedent is to be found in the proceedings of the other 
 settlements. 
 
 In October, 1831, General Darling resigned his government, and 
 after an interregnum of two months, filled by Colonel Lindsay, was 
 succeeded by General Sir Eichard Bourke. 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 GOVERNOR BOURKE. 
 1831 TO 1838. 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL SIR RICHARD BOURKE, K.C.B., became 
 Governor of New South Wales in December, 1831, and retired 
 in November, 1837. He was, without question, the ablest man who had 
 as yet occupied that office ; equal in zeal, energy, and plain common 
 sense to Macquarie ; superior in the liberality, humanity, and statesman- 
 like far-sightedness of his views. With wise self-reliance he resisted 
 the blandishments of the official clique who have been the curse of all 
 our colonies, and the opposition of the faction of white slave-drivers, 
 who looked upon the colony as a farm to be administered for their sole 
 benefit. He had courage, too, of a rare quality, for he dared to differ 
 from his chief, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, on a vital point 
 of administration. His recorded objections to the Wakefield land system 
 are remarkable for their prophetic wisdom. Sir Richard was, and his 
 memory still is, deservedly popular among the humble, or the wealthy sons 
 of the once humble settlers a rare merit, and not a qualification for 
 favour at the Colonial Office. The six years of his reign were crowded 
 
84 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 with measures and events of the utmost importance in the history of 
 New South Wales. 
 
 1. The discussions of the Legislative Council became public, and the 
 financial estimates were regularly submitted and discussed. 
 
 2. The Church and School Corporation (which had become a gross 
 job) was abolished, and religious equality established by an act of the 
 Legislative Council. 
 
 3. An attempt was made to introduce the Irish national school 
 system (which the bigots defeated). 
 
 4. Free grants of land were abolished, and sale by auction at a 
 minimum price of 5s. substituted. 
 
 5. The despatch was received from Lord Glenelg, and steps were 
 adopted which, in 1840, finally abolished transportation to New South 
 Wales. 
 
 6. The squatting system was legalised and systematised on a plan 
 which has since produced nearly 60,000 per annum. 
 
 7. Rules for regulating the number of convict servants to which each 
 settler should be entitled (without favour), and the number of lashes 
 which should be inflicted on a convict servant by a single magistrate, 
 were framed and promulgated. 
 
 8. Port Phillip was peopled by settlers from Yan Diemen's Land, 
 and South Australia by colonists from England. 
 
 The powers of the executive council imposed on the Governor of 
 New South Wales in the last year of Sir Thomas Brisbane's administra- 
 tion were, under Sir Ralph Darling, almost nominal. Not only were 
 its deliberations secret and its dissent powerless, but Governor Darling 
 illegally and systematically exercised authority in the only matter 
 entrusted to the council the distribution of the revenues. Towards 
 the close of his administration he introduced a bill indemnifying him- 
 self, and legalising his illegal assumptions. Sir Richard Bourke, on the 
 contrary, earnestly co-operated in raising the character of the council, 
 treated the non-official members with the utmost respect, and endea- 
 voured to give the council, as far as possible, the tone and functions of 
 a representative assembly ; a course directly the reverse of his successor, 
 Sir George Gipps. Both were able,, but the one was a frank and 
 generous, the other an astute and jealous man. It is very much to be 
 regretted that Governor Bourke had not been permitted to govern 
 with as little interference from Secretaries of State as Governor Mac- 
 quarie, and to remain long enough to initiate the partly elective council 
 which fell into the unhappy hands of his successor. 
 
GOVERNOR BOURKE. LAND SALES. 85 
 
 THE LAWS OP LAND TENURE. 
 
 First in importance among the legislative changes effected by Sir 
 Richard Bourke's government, must be ranked the " Order in Council," 
 subsequently embodied in an act of parliament, by which sales by 
 auction, at a minimum upset price of 5s. per acre, superseded free 
 grants of land ; and the act of the Colonial Legislative Council, by 
 which pastoral occupations of the vast territories beyond the surveyed 
 limits of the colony (colonially, the Bush) were legalised, placed under 
 the control of special commissioners, and charged with a rent in the 
 shape of a licence-fee and a poll-tax. 
 
 From these two sources (the sale of land and pastoral or squatting 
 rents) a fund has been derived, which, during the last twenty years, has 
 conveyed to Australia more than one hundred thousand free emigrants, 
 selected from the poorest labourers of the United Kingdom. The intro- 
 duction of these labouring emigrants rendered the abolition, first of the 
 assignment system, and finally of transportation, possible. 
 
 Here it may be convenient to review the various "land-laws" 
 which had prevailed in the colony up to the time when those changes 
 were introduced, which occupied so important a place in colonial 
 discussions during the government of Sir Richard Bourke and his 
 successor. 
 
 From the foundation of the colony in 1788 to 1824, regulations 
 for the disposal of land were left entirely in the hands of the governor. 
 From time to time the home Government exercised the right of bestow- 
 ing grants upon such persons as were willing to proceed to the colony 
 to occupy them. Up to 1818 free passages, as well as grants of land, 
 were offered to such free emigrants as were willing to proceed to the 
 colony, with rations for two years. 
 
 Thus, John M'Arthur, in 1804, after reporting the result of his 
 experiments for naturalising the merino in New South Wales before 
 the Privy Council, received a grant of fifty thousand acres, to be selected 
 with the permission of the governor, in any part of the unoccupied 
 territory. 
 
 So, too, as long as the settlement depended for subsistence on 
 imported provisions, lands were bestowed on any man, bond or free, 
 who would undertake to support himself after the expiration of the first 
 year of occupation of his farm. With each grant a certain number of 
 convicts were allowed as labourers for every eighty acres, who, as well 
 as the settler and his wife, were rationed for a limited period by the local 
 government, thus receiving from the government stores, beef, mutton, 
 
86 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 and flour of the same quality as that which they themselves had the 
 profit of selling to the commissariat. 
 
 Up to the time of Governor Darling the produce of the colony was 
 so uncertain, and the means of profitably employing the prisoners so 
 limited, that every means was adopted to induce settlers to relieve the 
 Government of the care and cost of convicts for whom there was no 
 work. 
 
 In Macquav^- -'s time the settler usually obtained, in addition to a 
 supply of farm labourers, the use of a " clearing-gang," which cut down, 
 burned, rolled, and cleared the huge trees from great tracts that no one 
 would have attempted to cultivate without such assistance. 
 
 Under these rude means, up to 1820, the last year of Macquarie's 
 government, 400,000 acres passed into the hands of private individuals. 
 Brisbane granted 180,000 acres at a yearly quit rent of 2s. per 100 
 acres, and 573,000 at 15s. annual quit rent per 100 acres ; he also sold 
 between December, 1824, and May, 1825, 369,050 acres at 5s. an acre, 
 giving a long credit, with a quit rent of 2s. per 100 acres in addition. 
 In 1828, under Darling, the total number of acres alienated amounted 
 to 2,906,346. But this acreage cannot, for any useful purpose, be com- 
 pared with that of cultivated Europe ; large patches and vast continuous 
 tracts are so barren or so thickly timbered as to be of no more value 
 than those Connemara estates offered for sale at 5s. an acre, and dear 
 at the money. 
 
 It must also be noted that these quit rents were scarcely ever col- 
 lected, but allowed to run in arrear until, under the government of Sir 
 George Gipps, they exceeded in amount the value of the whole fee- 
 simple of many estates, and became the source of a very formidable 
 grievance. 
 
 Under Governors Brisbane, Darling, and the first years of Bourke's 
 government, L was usual to make grants to colonists in proportion 
 to the amount of capital they imported in cash or implements of 
 husbandry. 
 
 In 1822 Commissioner Bigge recommended that sales of land con- 
 tiguous to grants issued in consideration of capital imported into the 
 colony, should be made at the -i-ate of 10s. an acre for land in very 
 favourable situations, and 5s. an acre in more remote situations. But 
 this suggestion remained a dead letter. 
 
 In 1825 Lord Bathurst, as already stated, announced to the 
 Australian Agricultural Company, but did not carry out his deter- 
 mination, that instead of free grants as theretofore, land in New South 
 Wales would be " put up to sale according to a system similar in many 
 
LAND SALES. 87 
 
 respects to that adopted in the United States of America." In 
 1824 the Secretary of State for the Colonies issued regulations for 
 the disposal of land in New South Wales, of which the following is an 
 abstract : 
 
 t( 1. A division of the whole territory into counties, hundreds, and 
 parishes, is in progress. When that division shall be completed, each 
 parish will comprise an area of 25 square miles. A valuation will be 
 made of the lands throughout the colony, and an av .3age price will be 
 struck for each parish. 
 
 "2. All the lands in the colony not hitherto granted, and not 
 appropriated for public purposes, will be put up for sale at the average 
 price thus fixed. 
 
 " 3. All persons proposing to purchase lands must transmit a 
 written application to the governor, in a certain prescribed form, which 
 will be delivered at the surveyor-general's office to all parties applying, 
 on payment of a fee of two shillings and sixpence. 
 
 " 4. The purchase -money must be made by four quarterly instal- 
 ments. A discount of 10 per cent, will be allowed for ready money 
 payments. 
 
 " 5. The largest quantity of land which will be sold to any indi- 
 vidual, 89,600 acres. The land will generally be put up in lots of 
 three square miles or 1,920 acres. 
 
 " 6. Any purchaser who, within ten years of his purchase, shall by 
 the employment and maintenance of convicts have relieved the public 
 from a charge equal to ten times the purchase-money, will have the- 
 money returned, but without interest. Each conv^t employed for 
 twelve months will be computed as 16 saved to the public." 
 
 Persons desirous of becoming grantees without purchase might 
 obtain land on satisfying the governor that they had the power and 
 intention of expending in the cultivation of the land a capital equal to 
 half the estimated value of it. 
 
 On grants of not less than 320 acres, and not more than 2,560 acres, 
 subject to a quit rent of 5 per cent, per annum on the estimated value, 
 redeemable within the first twenty-five years at twenty years' purchase, 
 with a credit for one-fifth part of the sums the grantee might have saved 
 by employing convicts. No quit rent was required for the first seven 
 years, but the grantee was subject to forfeiture of his grant if unable, 
 to prove to the satisfaction of the surveyor-general that he had expended 
 a capital equal to one-half its value. 
 
 Detailed regulations like those above quoted as to expenditure of 
 capital can never be enforced. In practice, quit rents fell in arrear 
 
88 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 and could not be recovered. Thousands of acres granted were barren 
 and utterly valueless. 
 
 In September, 1826, Sir Ralph Darling created a land board, com- 
 posed of the Colonial Secretary, the Civil Engineer, and the Auditor- 
 general of accounts, which issued the following set of regulations worthy, 
 for their thorough absurdity and impracticability, of their bureaucratic 
 descendants, the South Australian commissioners, and the New Zealand 
 Company. 
 
 Persons desirous of obtaining land were (1) to apply to the colonial 
 secretary for a form to be filled up and submitted to the governor, 
 who (2), if satisfied of the character and respectability of the appli- 
 cant, directed the colonial secretary to supply him with a letter (3) to 
 the land board, in order that they might carefully investigate the stock 
 articles of husbandry, &c., and cash, forming part of his capital. On the 
 land board reporting (4) to the governor satisfactorily as to capital, 
 the governor furnished the applicant (5) with a letter to the surveyor- 
 general, who (6) was to give him authority to proceed in search of land! 
 When he had made his selection he had to apprise the surveyor- 
 general (7), who twice a month was to report (8) to the governor such 
 applications ; and, if approved (9) by the governor, the applicant received 
 written authority (10) to take possession of the land until his Majesty's 
 pleasure should be known, or the grant made out. Terms as to quit rents 
 the same as the first set of regulations viz., 5s. per cent, after seven 
 years ; grants to be in square miles ; one square mile, 640 acres, for each 
 500 of capital, to the extent of four square miles. 
 
 Land selected for purchase, not granted, to be valued by the 
 commissioners, put up for sale, and sold by sealed tender, not under a 
 price fixed by commissioners. Personal residence, or residence of a 
 free man as servant or deputy, required on purchases and grants. 
 
 These regulations of Sir Ralph Darling were marked by every 
 official vice unnecessary forms, expense, and uncertainty, inquisitorial 
 investigation, bribery and corruption among the subordinates in the 
 various offices; in fact, everything that could be done, was done to 
 disgust decent, unpolished, unlearned settlers. They were adopted by 
 the Colonial Office in 1827, and had the effect of rendering the business 
 of obtaining and granting land one series of jobs. The home govern- 
 ment always reserved to itself the right of making grants, and exercised 
 it in a most baneful manner. 
 
 One effect, unintentional on the part of the authors of these cumbrous 
 arrangements for obtaining grants of land, was to encourage unlicensed 
 squatting in districts unsurveyed, and at that period allowed to remain 
 
LAND GRANTS. 
 
 in " healthy neglect." So the live stock increased in spite of the forms 
 of the " land board." 
 
 An impartial retrospect of the granting; system,, before it was 
 systematised and encumbered with regulations, leads to the conclusion 
 that with a just and intelligent governor, it was the best that could be 
 devised for such a colony. 
 
 The attraction of a free passage, with free grants of land and the use 
 of convict labour which were offered up to 1818, did secure a certain 
 number of respectable colonists. The free grant of land made to emi- 
 grants, in proportion to their capital, and to prisoners who had served 
 their term, during the governments of Macquarie and Brisbane, between 
 1788 and 1825, with the aid of convict labour, did colonise and 
 cultivate the country. For instance, in 1821, the great road across the 
 Blue Mountain to Bathurst was executed, and rendered practicable for 
 wheeled vehicles. In 1822 the Hunter River District was a wilderness ; 
 in 1827, for a distance of 150 miles along the river, half a million 
 acres had been surveyed, granted, or sold to settlers whose capital was 
 estimated at from four to five hundred thousand pounds, and whose 
 stock included 25,000 horned cattle, and 80,000 fine-woolled sheep. 
 All the improvements, buildings, fences, and cultivation were effected 
 by assigned servants, whom the government fed and clothed for 
 the first eighteen months of their servitude. Nothing but convict 
 labour could have done so much in public and private works in five 
 years. 
 
 Considering the slight offences for which the majority of the 
 prisoner population of New South Wales had been transported, between 
 1788 and 1825, there can be no doubt that had the free grants of land 
 system been accompanied by measures for classifying, teaching, and 
 Christianising the convicts, and for providing, from the destitute parts 
 of the United Kingdom, such an emigration of women as would have 
 equalised the sexes, the character of the colony would have been 
 materially changed, and a population provided well calculated to amal- 
 gamate with and rise to the level of free emigrants, when the time came 
 for abolishing transportation, and giving up the land which convicts 
 had pioneered to the use of a free population. 
 
 But as it is difficult to obtain a succession of governors, able and 
 honest enough to bear the responsibility of granting land when it comes 
 to be of value, it is to be regretted that, when it was no longer considered 
 necessary to bribe prisoners to honesty and industry by the prizes in 
 the shape of a farm of wild land, we did not imitate the simple system 
 by which, during half a century, the vast territories of the United States 
 
 G 
 
90 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 have been colonised, cities founded, harbours constructed, canals cut, 
 and railroads made. 
 
 Under this system the territories for sale are surveyed in advance, 
 and laid out in lots of eighty acres and upwards, at a fixed price of a 
 dollar an acre ; a mapr containing the land for sale is open to every 
 intending purchaser; there are no reserves except for special stated 
 public purposes; parties settling beyond the bounds of surveyed 
 land do so at their own risk, and have no power to inflict on the parent 
 state heavy expenses in armies or officials. They are expected to 
 govern and protect themselves, and to retire or purchase when the 
 government surveyor makes his appearance. No doubt the American 
 system has its defects, but, taken as a whole, it is the best which has 
 ever been devised for employing a large emigrant population, and 
 conquering and subduing the earth, at the least possible public 
 expense. 
 
 It is possible that something like it might have eventually been 
 transplanted to Australia, but a series of accidents threw that island- 
 continent entirely into the hands of a clique of political land-jobbers. 
 
 In 1829 the colony of Swan River was founded on principles, under 
 circumstances, and in a situation which ensured failure. 
 
 Mr. Peel, a gentleman who had influence with government, combined 
 with Sydney merchants to found a colony in some other part of Aus- 
 tralia. The merchants found the money, Mr. Peel the influence. The 
 large fortunes which had been realised by colonists in New South 
 Wales led the colonisers to believe that the same might be realised in a 
 new colony, without the disadvantage of a convict population. 
 
 Swan River, on the north-western coast of Australia, was the site 
 chosen. Sailors who had visited the shores gave the favourable reports, 
 as sailors always do of any safe harbour where they find wood and 
 water enough for their ship's crew. Geographical reasons led the 
 adventurers to expect a temperate climate ; further precise investigations 
 as to the quality of the soil, extent of pastures, and character of the 
 aborigines, were considered unnecessary. 
 
 The government, in total ignorance of the simplest principles of 
 colonisation, did its part by bestowing a million acres on the founder, 
 and to every other colonist acres in proportion to his capital in cash, 
 live stock, implements, or the number of labourers whose passage he 
 paid. 
 
 In great haste ships were freighted, and loaded with fine gentlemen 
 and ladies, farmers and labourers, blood-horses, short-horned cattle, 
 merino rams, carriages of fashionable build, and agricultural implements 
 
SWAN RIVER SETTLEMENT. 91 
 
 enough for one of the best farmed English counties. Those who had 
 little money made use of their credit to obtain consignments which 
 would entitle them to land. Not one of them doubted that the wild 
 land in an unknown country would soon be as valuable as in Bedford- 
 shire, or, at any rate, as on the banks of the River Hunter in New 
 South Wales, and that the labourers would labour as contentedly for 
 the same wages abroad as at home. 
 
 The first fleet of Western Australian colonists arrived to find the 
 country not only unsurveyed, but unexplored. They were disembarked 
 on a narrow slip of beach, bordered by thickets filled with hostile 
 savages, who speared men and their cattle on every opportunity. A fine 
 stud of thorough-bred horses perished for want of fresh water ; whole 
 cargoes of furniture and agricultural implements rolled on the beach 
 without being unpacked. The labourers repudiated their home engage- 
 ments, and obtained exorbitant wages. When the country was further 
 explored, the quantity of available land turned out to be extremely 
 limited ; the live stock was rapidly consumed for food, while the remote- 
 ness of Swan River from the old colony rendered importations of any 
 kind difficult, expensive, and uncertain. The sheep turned out to 
 pasture repeatedly died, poisoned by a plant which, up to this day, the 
 colonists have been unable to discover and extirpate. 
 
 In a word, planted in a remote district, far from other ports and 
 out of the track of commerce, with very little land available for agricul- 
 tural or pastoral purposes what little there was of the one monopolised 
 by a few hands, much of the other poisonous ; with colonists, both high 
 and low, the most unfitted by previous education for a rude, self- 
 dependent life, without leaders or servants of colonial experience, with- 
 out forced labour the Swan River settlement failed miserably. This 
 failure would have been confined to the fortunes of the first colonists, 
 however bad the system of colonisation, had there been, as in the other 
 settled districts of Australia, vast plains of sound pasture on which pure- 
 bred merinoes could have fed and multiplied ; or coal, or copper, or gold 
 to be had for digging ; but there was nothing, and is nothing up to the 
 present hour, beyond the bare means of sustenance ; thus, without a 
 single staple export, Swan River, in spite of a series of systems of 
 colonisation, has never been able to rise from the condition of an 
 eleemosynary dependency, supported by the bounty of the parent 
 state. With the failure of Swan River the system of free grants of 
 land ended in Australia. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE WAKEFIELD SYSTEM. 
 
 E apparently digressive sketch of the colonisation of Western 
 Australia and its lamentable results is rendered necessary by the 
 fact, that on the failure of Western Australia a new theory of coloni- 
 sation was floated into public notice and incorporated in our colonial 
 legislation and administration. 
 
 It was in 1829 that a sensation was produced in the literary and poli- 
 tical world of London by the appearance of a little book entitled " A 
 Letter from Sydney," the principal town of Australasia (edited by Robert 
 Gouger), which was soon known to be the production of Mr. Edward 
 Gibbon Wakefield. Out of this book grew the " High-Priced Land 
 System of the Three Colonies" the monopoly of wild lands at a 
 nominal rent, which the squatters now enjoy the colonisation of South 
 Australia and New Zealand some good, and a world of misery, ruin, 
 social and political estrangement, of which we have not yet seen the 
 end. 
 
 This " Letter from Sydney," by far the most brilliant of the many 
 works on colonisation by the same author, is now out of print. It 
 contains so clear a statement of the origin, merits, and objects of a 
 theory which was at one time accepted, supported, and acted on by 
 almost every statesman, political economist, and journalist of eminence, 
 that the following abstract of its contents will not be out of place. 
 
 The writer represents himself to be an English gentleman of large 
 fortune and refined tastes, who has emigrated under the idea that an 
 estate of twenty thousand acres in Australia would procure the same 
 comforts, income, and consideration that an estate of a thousand acres 
 would in England. He says " I have got 20,000 acres for a mere 
 trifle, and I imagined that a domain of that extent would be very 
 valuable. In this I was wholly mistaken. As my estate cost next to 
 nothing, so it is worth next to nothing. The trees on my property, 
 if growing in any part of England, would be worth at least 150,000. 
 The best thing that could happen to me would be the annihilation of 
 all this natural produce; but the cost of destroying it would be at 
 least 15,000." He then goes on to enumerate mines of iron and 
 coal which would make him "a peer in England/' but which are 
 
THE WAKEFIELD SYSTEM. 93 
 
 valueless for want of labour or roads. " I did not, you know, intend 
 to become a farmer. Having fortune enough for all my wants, I pro- 
 posed to get a large domain, to build a good house, to keep enough 
 land in my own hands for pleasure grounds, park, and game preserves, 
 and to let the rest, after erecting farmhouses in suitable spots. My 
 mansions, park, preserves, and tenants, were all a mere dream. There 
 is no such class as a tenantry in this country, where every man who 
 has capital to cultivate a farm can have one of his own." He then 
 graphically describes the miseries of a solitary life to a man accustomed 
 to the elegant luxuries of civilised life. His " own man " leaves him, 
 and invests his savings in a small farm. He imports labourers and 
 mechanics from England, and they leave him without repaying the 
 cost of their passage. He observes to a friend, " Were you a broken 
 farmer, or a poor lieutenant, I should say, come here by all means ; you 
 cannot be placed more unhappily than at present, and you may gain by 
 the change. But I am advising a man of independent fortune, who 
 prefers his library even to the beauties of nature, and to whom in- 
 tellectual society is necessary for his peace of mind. I thought at one 
 time of establishing a dairy ; but my cows were as wild as hyaenas, and 
 almost as wicked. I had no dairy woman, no churns, no anything that 
 was wanted ; and, above all, I wanted industry, skill, economy, and taste, 
 for any such pursuits, or, at least, a drudge of a wife to supply those 
 wants." He then paints an amusing although exaggerated picture of 
 the want of intellectual society in a colonial town. 
 
 Having come to the conclusion that the colony would fall into 
 total barbarism whenever the abolition of the convict assignment system 
 should leave the colonists dependent on free labour, he proceeds to 
 state the cause of these miseries 
 
 " Tons et origo malorurti." 
 
 The whole evil, according to this unfortunate gentleman, of fortune 
 without " industry, skill, economy, or taste for agricultural or pastoral 
 pursuits/' lies in cheap land, which produces dear labour, by drawing 
 labourers into landowners, by promoting dispersion by deterring men 
 from renting land, as they prefer freehold. Dear labour obstructs improve- 
 ments in agriculture, in public works, in arts, in science. There being 
 no tenants and few servants, there is no easy, refined, intellectual class : 
 mere mechanics, labourers, and even common farmers and poor lieu- 
 tenants, such in fact as suffer privations in lands where labour is cheap, 
 are the only persons who enjoy colonial life. With cheap land and dear 
 labour, colonists could get the advantage of the presence of such emi- 
 grants as the letter- writer. 
 
94 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 The remedy propounded in 1829, (repeated with equal confidence 
 in 1849,) is to make land so dear that labourers shall not be able to 
 obtain posession of land " too soon" to affix to all colonial land what 
 Mr. Wakefield calls in another work a "hired labour price." And 
 further, that the money for which the land sold should be devoted to 
 the importation of the redundant labour of the mother country an 
 importation which he advises should be conducted with a view to the 
 greatest benefit of the capitalist, that is to say, it should consist en- 
 tirely of young married couples under five-and-twenty years of age, 
 unencumbered by children or parents. " Family Colonisation" had no 
 charms for Gibbon "VVakefield. 
 
 Thus supplied with ample cargoes of healthy young labourers of 
 both sexes, debarred by a sufficient price from becoming freeholders, 
 the writer of the letter from Sydney " promises that the capitalists shall 
 find ample profitable employment for their capital, shall concentrate 
 population, carry on model farming, cultivate art and science." 
 
 But he anticipates one important question which he answers thus : 
 
 " It becomes clear that the object we have in view may be attained 
 by fixing some considerable price on waste land. Still, how is the 
 proper price to be ascertained ? Frankly, I confess I do not know. 
 I believe that it could be determined only by experience." This was 
 in 1829. Twenty years later, in 1849, after having experimented on 
 New South Wales, and on three colonies in New Zealand, and provided 
 for all his relations in snug colonial berths, he says, " It is here that I 
 have been frequently and tauntingly required to mention what I deem 
 the sufficient price ; but I have hitherto avoided falling into the trap 
 which that demand upon me really is. I could do that certainly for 
 some colony with which I am particularly well acquainted, but I should 
 do so doubtingly and with hesitation, for the elements of calculation 
 are so many and so complicated, in their various relations to each other, 
 that in depending on them exclusively there would be liability to error." 
 
 We may observe that this caution in naming price only extended to 
 books and pamphlets, as Mr. Wakefield never hesitated to assure those 
 who bought lots of land in his model colonies that they would enjoy 
 all the advantages it was presumed a sufficient price would confer. 
 Therefore, of course, the colonising purchasers, seeing Mr. Wakefield 
 in constant communication with the managers of each colony, took it 
 for granted that 12s. in South Australia, or 20s. at Wellington, New 
 Zealand, or 30s. at Nelson, and 3 at Canterbury, according to the 
 colony, was the " sufficient price." 
 
 At the period when this theory, in every respect so plausible, was 
 
THE WAKEFIELD SYSTEM* 95 
 
 propounded, there were no adverse critics except mere colonists, and 
 they were silenced with a jest, or a sneer at their selfish jealousy. And 
 it is not extraordinary, for seldom has a chapter of political economy 
 been clothed in language of such eloquence as adorned and enlivened 
 the pages of the " Letter" from Sydney. It 1 contains passages (the 
 picture of the Italian girl the journey from Alexandria to Genoa) so 
 beautiful, so warm, so real, that one cannot help regretting, for the 
 sake of his own happiness and reputation, as well as of his numerous 
 colonising victims, that Gibbon Wakefield had not devoted himself to 
 writing novels and travels, instead of puffs, paragraphs, articles, pam- 
 phlets, and books in praise of joint stock and lottery colonisation. 
 
 But Mr. Wakefield had to assist him in propagating his tenets not 
 only the charm of " style," but of personal fascination, with a more than 
 Protean adaptativeness, which rendered him the friend and bosom 
 adviser of Eepublicans and Radicals, Whig and Conservative Peers, 
 Low Church and High Church Bishops. Five secretaries of state for 
 the colonies Lords Glenelg and Stanley, Monteagle, Aberdeen, and 
 Grey have been more or less his pupils; the influence of his writings 
 even quotations from them are to be found in their despatches ; while 
 so late as 1850, he led, or rather sent captive, to Canterbury, New 
 Zealand, a crowd of educated victims. 
 
 Energetic, tenacious, indefatigable, unscrupulous, with a wonderful 
 talent for literary agitation, for simultaneously feeding a hundred 
 journalists with the same idea arid the same illustrations in varying 
 language, for filling eloquent, but indolent, orators with telling speeches ; 
 at one time he had rallied round him nearly every rising man of political 
 aspirations, and secured the support of nearly every economical writer 
 of any celebrity. He has shaken a ministry, founded and distributed 
 the patronage of at least two colonies, and left the seeds, after nearly 
 exciting open rebellion in a third. 
 
 But one hard unvarying undercurrent of fact destroyed the edifice 
 of fame and fortune which seemed rising under the influence of 
 Gibbon Wakefield, with his troops of friends, his fiery orators, his city 
 bankers, his well-descended nobles, his bishops of all hues Whig, 
 Tory, and Trimmer Hinde, Exeter, and Oxford. The results of 
 his theory, his best arranged plans, were , invariably disastrous. His 
 disciples only continued his disciples as long as they sat at the desk 
 critical, speculated within reach of Threadneedle-street, or reclined on 
 the soft benches of the Houses of Parliament. No sooner did the 
 colonisers become colonists than they renounced him and all his 
 works. 
 
96 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 We are willing to admit Gibbon Wakefield's first experiment in 
 colonisation was perfectly legitimate, although the manner in which 
 he hunted down all who ventured to question his views was as inex- 
 cusable as the recklessness with which he sacrificed established colonies 
 in order to prop up his model speculation. For like the Bourbons, he 
 forgets nothing and learns nothing j fiercely implacable, he has neither 
 candour, nor truth, nor humility. In 1849, in order to float off his 
 Canterbury colonisation scheme, he published " The Art of Colonisa- 
 tion," a volume of 500 pages, which, as regards the land question, is 
 merely an amplification, in a diffuse style, with the same arguments 
 and even the same illustrations, of the theories so fervidly propounded 
 in 1829. Not a sentence, not a word, does the book contain of Mr. 
 Wakefield's twenty years' experience, during which he had directed 
 the colonisation, with successive variations in detail, but always on 
 the " sufficient price," or " hired labour price" system, of four colonies 
 South Australia, Wellington, Nelson, New Plymouth, beside planning 
 half a dozen others. Not a hint that the " Wakefield theory" had, in 
 every colony in which it had been attempted, ruined all those who put 
 faith in it, and been acknowledged to be absurd and impracticable by 
 the intimate friends and brothers of the theorist. 
 
 In New South Wales the year 1830 was marked by a cliange from 
 the complicated system of sales at quit rents and free grants to uniform 
 system of sale by auction at 5s. an acre, w T hich, in effect, except for 
 choice lots, was a fixed price of 5s. an acre, for practically there was 
 no competition. Whether this change was brought about by the venti- 
 lation of Mr. Wakefield's theories, it is impossible to say. 
 
 The announcement of land for sale by auction at the minimum 
 upset price of 5s. an acre soon brought money into the government 
 chest. Those who had occupied land of a superior quality near their 
 grants purchased their occupations; others rounded off their grants, 
 and took in slices of land for the sake of uniformity, for a natural 
 boundary for pasture, or for access to water; others, who had not 
 had either influence or patience, or time to wade through the dreary 
 forms of Governor Darling's land board, indulged in freehold .as soon 
 as it became a mere matter of money. This was especially the case 
 with a considerable section of the emancipist population. 
 
 Governor Bourke had distributed a number of ten-acre grants on 
 the alluvial flats of rivers among poor prisoners of good conduct before 
 the sales by auction were sanctioned. 
 
THE WAKEFIELD SYSTEM. 97 
 
 During the years between 1831 and 1836, great encouragement to 
 purchase land was held out by the facility for obtaining the labour 
 of prisoners without favour on fixed terms ; by the large purchases of 
 produce by the commissariat ; and the activity with which the governor 
 prosecuted road-making wherever land was settled. The result was 
 a rapid and annual accession of funds to the colonial Treasury. 
 
 The news of the avidity with which both colonists and absentees 
 purchased wild land, which the government imagined it had been 
 giving away for nothing, or for a nominal price, ever since the founda- 
 tion of the colony, appears to have inflamed the imagination of the 
 colonial department of Downing-street ; and very soon the Colonial 
 Office began to think and act as if it had discovered an exhaustless 
 treasure, which could be sold in any quantity and at any price they 
 chose to fix. Just as in 1845, when all the British public was mad on 
 railways, there were parties who believed that because one or two lines 
 paid 10 per cent., all lines would pay 10 per cent., and therefore 
 wished government to buy up and complete the whole net-works of 
 iron roads, and pay off the national debt with the profits. 
 
 In like manner, in the course of a few years after the publication of 
 Mr. Wakefield's theories, the whole colonial possessions of Great 
 Britain were surveyed, on maps only, priced, and offered for sale at 
 sums per acre in which intrinsic value formed no element of the 
 calculation. 
 
 The one part of the Wakefield theory for which the author deserved 
 credit, was the application of part of the purchase money of land to the 
 introduction of free emigrants in equal numbers of both sexes. Thus, 
 preparation was made for substituting free for convict labour. 
 
 The first five years of land sales at 5s. an acre, including the 
 acreage sold by Governors Brisbane and Darling, and paid for in those 
 years, amounted to 176,435, of which the last year amounted to 
 89,380. During the same period 31,028 only was expended in 
 introducing 3,079 emigrants. 
 
 But in 1835 two events occurred which materially affected the 
 colonising fortunes of Australia. A party of stockowners from the 
 Island of Yan Diemen's Land, in which the accessible pastures had been 
 nearly all appropriated, crossed Bass's Straits, and established them- 
 selves on the shores of Port Phillip Bay, on the River Yarra Yarra ; 
 about the same time squatters, pushing on westward over the plains 
 of Maneroo, gradually extended their pastures overland, while whalers 
 settled at Portland Bay in the same district. And before the government 
 of New South Wales, within which this territory was included under 
 
98 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Governor Phillip's commission, acknowledged the existence of the 
 settlement of Port Phillip, many thousand sheep and cattle were feeding 
 over the finest plains that had yet been discovered in the vicinity of a 
 natural port. These " unauthorised squatters," as they were called in 
 a despatch, poured into the new land with such rapidity that the home 
 government was very unwillingly obliged to sanction the measures for 
 their recognition and settlement which had been taken by Governor 
 Bourke. 
 
 At the same time that the Tasmanians were swarming across Bass's 
 Straits, and the pastors of New South Wales were marching overland 
 with their flocks to this and other new lands of promise, in England 
 a commission had been issued, an act of Parliament obtained, and a 
 charter granted for colonising South Australia (the unexplored tract of 
 land, traversed by a river which the adventurous Sturt had descended 
 and ascended in 1829, and named South Australia), on the " sufficient 
 price" principle propounded by Gibbon Wakefield in his " Letter from 
 Sydney." 
 
 The history of the origin, rise, progress, fall, and revival of South 
 Australia, will be found duly chronicled in the chapter devoted to that 
 province. We refer to it here in order to show how the speculations of 
 the South Australian colonisers affected the progress of New South 
 Wales and Port Phillip. 
 
 Their scheme was floated on the success of New South Wales and 
 the failure of Swan River. 
 
 Give us, they said to the legislature and the stock-jobbing public, 
 the territory we mark on the map ; the right of imposing a " sufficient 
 price" on the land, and of applying it to the importation of labour ; 
 and we will render labour cheap by the exclusion of labourers from 
 the possession of land, concentrate society, introduce agriculture as 
 scientific as that of Great Britain, in addition to the productions of 
 Spain and Italy, reap all the profits that have been reaped in New 
 South Wales and Yan Diemen'sLand, without the taint of convict labour, 
 or " the dispersion of the semi-barbarous squatter ;" and we will pro- 
 duce a state of society so prosperous and so charming, that the neigh- 
 bouring cheap-priced convict colonies shall hasten to follow our 
 example. 
 
 As they desired so it was granted to them ; and under " South 
 Australia" we shall tell how bands of youths and maidens, and old men 
 who had not gained wisdom with their grey hairs, went singing in 
 triumph to sit down in a sandy plain and spend two years in gambling 
 for town lots and village lots, with their own and with borrowed paper 
 
THE WAKEFIELD SYSTEM. 99 
 
 money ; and how they sank into a slough of despondency, and were 
 only saved by resorting to the people and pursuits they had been taught 
 to despise. 
 
 But the South Australian interest an interest much more successful 
 in its parliamentary tactics than in its colonising operations in the course 
 of a few years succeeded in raising the price of land successively from 
 5s. to a minimum of 12s. and 20s. ; in inoculating the Colonial Office 
 with their own notions as to the value of wild land and the injurious 
 effects of dispersion ; and in suddenly, without due preparation, abolishing 
 the assignment system, which supplied the greater part of the pastoral 
 and agricultural labour in the colony. 
 
 So early as 1834 the Earl of Aberdeen, then Secretary of State for 
 the Colonies, appears, from a despatch addressed to Governor Bourke 
 on the subject of the vast extensions of the pastoral interest in every 
 accessible direction, but especially toward the unexplored Port Phillip 
 district, to have embraced Mr. Wakefield's doctrine as to the banefulness 
 of dispersion. Both the theorist and the statesman were applying the 
 rules of an agricultural to a pastoral state of society. They were looking 1 
 to the condition of the Lothians, when they should have been studying 
 the history of the Patriarchs. And although the squatting system was 
 then in its infancy and not one-third of the territory was then explored 
 that has since been occupied, Lord Aberdeen expressed a strong opinion 
 " that it was not desirable to allow the population to become more 
 scattered than it then was." 
 
 In 1836 a committee of the House of Commons, appointed under 
 the influence of Mr. Wakefield's parliamentary disciples, made a report 
 in favour of that gentleman's principles of colonisation, after hearing 
 evidence which consisted almost entirely of witnesses interested in the 
 South Australian speculation, and which did not include a single 
 colonist from New South Wales. After this report, Lord Glenelg, then 
 Colonial Secretary, authorised the Governor of New South Wales to 
 raise the price of land to 12s. if he thought fit. 
 
 The replies of Sir Kichard Bourke on the two questions of " disper- 
 sion" and price of land, place him in the first rank of colonising statesmen ; 
 they display a degree of foresight which we can now duly appreciate : 
 
 " Admitting," he said in answer to Lord Aberdeen, " as every 
 reasonable person must, that a certain degree of concentration 
 is necessary for the advancement of wealth and civilisation, and 
 that it enables government to become at once more efficient and 
 more economical, I cannot avoid perceiving the peculiarities which 
 in this colony render it impolitic, and even impossible, to restrain dis- 
 
100 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 persion within limits that would be expedient elsewhere. The wool of 
 New South Wales forms at present its chief wealth. The proprietors 
 of thousands of acres find it necessary, equally with the poorer settlers 
 to send large flocks beyond the boundaries of location, to preserve them 
 in health throughout the year. The colonists must otherwise restrain 
 the increase, or endeavour to raise artificial food for their stock. Whilst 
 nature presents all around an unlimited supply of wholesome pasture, 
 either course would seem a perverse rejection of the bounty of Provi- 
 dence. Independently of these powerful reasons for allowing dispersion 
 it is not to be disguised that government is unable to prevent it. * 
 The question I beg* leave to submit is simply this : How may govern- 
 ment turn to the best advantage a state of things which it cannot 
 wholly interdict ? It may be found practicable, by means of the sale 
 of land in situations peculiarly advantageous, however distant from 
 other locations, by establishing townships and ports, and facilitating 
 the intercourse between remote and more settled districts of this 
 vast territory, to provide centres of civilisation and government, and 
 thus gradually extend the power of social order to the most distant 
 parts of the wilderness." 
 
 In answer to the suggestion for raising the price of land, made at the 
 instance of Colonel Torrens, chairman of the South Australian specula- 
 tion, who found st semi-barbarous" Port Phillip a serious rival to his model 
 colony : 
 
 " Whatever minimum is fixed, there will be found instances in which 
 land acquired at that price without opposition will prove a cheap bargain ; 
 but such is not often the case. Land even of very inferior quality, 
 happening to possess a peculiar value to the individual purchasing in 
 consequence of its proximity to his other property, finds a sale solely on 
 that account, cannot be considered as cheaply obtained, even at the 
 minimum price. The cases in which land is sold without opposition, 
 from ignorance of its marketable value on the part of the public, or 
 from the secret agreement or friendly forbearance of those otherwise 
 interested in bidding against each other, must diminish yet more and 
 more as the colony advances in wealth and population ; nor are such 
 accidents, even if they were more numerous, deserving of much con- 
 sideration. It is upon general tendencies and results that all questions 
 of public policy are to be decided. 
 
 " The lands now in the market form a surplus, in many cases a 
 refuse, consisting of lands which in past years were not saleable at any 
 price, and were not sought after even as free grants. 
 
 " By deciding to dispose of them at 5s. an acre, it by no means 
 
ORIGIN OF THE PASTORAL SYSTEM., 101 
 
 follows that they will be sold at a higher rate. The result may be to 
 retain them for an indefinite time unsold, a result inoro \certaiii }r/ eon-r 
 sequence of the alternative at the settler's command of wandering over 
 the vast tracts of the interior. A facility for acquiring land at a low 
 price is the safest check to this practice. The wealthiest colonists are 
 continually balancing between the opposite motives presented by the 
 cheapness of (then) unauthorised occupation on the one hand, and the 
 desire of adding to their permanent property on the other. The influ- 
 ence of the latter motive must be weakened in proportion to the 
 augmentation of the upset price. 
 
 " It is possible that the augmentation of the minimum price would 
 have the injurious effect of checking the immigration of persons possessed 
 of small capital, desirous of establishing themselves upon land of their 
 own" 
 
 "We shall hereafter show that all Sir Richard Bourke's predictions 
 were realised. To this hour, in the midst of settled districts, large 
 tracts of land remain the haunt of wild dogs and vermin, which are no 
 more likely to be worth 1 an acre in twenty years to come than they 
 were twenty years ago, unless they turn out to be gold fields. 
 
 Parallel with the new arrangement, which enabled every man with 
 money to buy a farm, and filled the colonial treasury to overflowing, 
 the pastoral system, which, at the least possible expenditure for labour, 
 raised a vast exportable produce in wool, was extending itself both 
 east and west, daily discovering new pastures, and driving the 
 emu, the kangaroo, and the aborigine before armies of soft-fleeced 
 merinoes. 
 
 In the early days of the colony, landowners grazed near their grants 
 without paying anything for what in fact was valueless except to them. 
 As the population of Sydney increased a charge of 2s. 6d. per 100 acres 
 was imposed on wild lands, conveniently situated for pasture. 
 
 No instance occurred of refusing- this privilege at this rent on un- 
 occupied land until the time of Governor Darling, who refused to permit 
 the editor of a paper which had ridiculed his government to rent 
 additional land for his increasing herds. 
 
 Beyond the boundaries of settlement colonially "the bush" no 
 rent was charged, and until Governor Bourke took the matter in hand, 
 club-law prevailed. It was not unusual for a great squatter to drive a 
 small one out of a district of peculiar richness in grass or water by 
 what was called " eating him out;" that is to say, sending such a flock as 
 would, in four-and-twenty hours, devour every blade within many miles 
 of the small settler's hut, until Sir Richard Bourke, to a certain extent, 
 
102 . THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 'extended Ihe operation of the law beyond the boundary. He seems to 
 haVs'b.pen he;on)y governor, with the exception of Macquarie, thoroughly 
 impressed with' the necessity of encouraging and protecting against the 
 prejudices of the great settlers a class of agricultural yeomanry. It 
 was the policy of Sir George Gipps, acting under his instructions, to 
 throw every impediment in the way of freehold farms for those who, 
 not rich enough to become great flockowners, were not willing to become 
 mere shepherds. Governor Bourke saw through the selfishness of the 
 colonial monopolists, in the shape of great flockholders, who, forgetting 
 their own or their fathers' original insignificance, grudged every acre 
 and every head of stock that fell to the share of hardworking men ; he 
 was not led away by a cry against the frugal peasantry, who fed small 
 flocks or a few cattle on wild land. He observes, in a despatch of 
 18th December, 1835 : 
 
 " Another cause to which Judge Burton attributes the prevalence 
 of crime in this colony, is the occupation of waste lands by improper 
 persons. The persons to whom Mr. Burton alludes, familiarly called 
 ' squatters,'* are the objectsof great animosity on the part of the wealthier 
 settlers. It must be confessed they are only following in the steps of 
 all the most influential and unexceptionable colonists, whose sheep and 
 cattle stations are everywhere to be found side by side with the ob- 
 noxious squatter, and held by no better title. * * * I trust I shall 
 be able to devise some measure that may moderate the evil complained 
 of, without putting a weapon into the hands of selfishness and oppression. 
 * * *." And again, in September, 1836 : 
 
 " There is a natural disposition on the part of the wealthy stock- 
 holders to exaggerate the offences of the poorer classes of intruders upon 
 crown lands, and an equal unwillingness to suit themselves to such 
 restraints as are essential to the due and impartial regulation of this 
 species of occupancy. Of the former disposition I have had ample proof 
 in the result of an inquiry lately instituted as to the number of ticket-of- 
 leave holders in unauthorised occupation of crown land. The dishonest 
 practices of this class of persons in such occupation had been represented 
 as one of the principal evils which required a remedy. I have, however, 
 discovered from the returns of the magistrates, which I called for, that 
 not more than twenty to thirty ticket- of-leave holders occupy crown 
 lands throughout the whole colony, and of these a great proportion are 
 reported to be particularly honest and industrious." 
 
 Out of this despatch grew the pastoral or crown land rents, which 
 
 * The great flockowners had not at that time appropriated the term squatter to themselves, 
 &s they did soon afterwards. Before Bourke's time they chiefly fed their flocks on grants. 
 
CROWN-LAND RENTS. 103 
 
 produced, the year before the gold discovery, upwards of forty thousand 
 a year, and which although less equitably worked than Sir Richard 
 Bourke intended, or would have permitted had he remained long enough 
 to adapt the details to the circumstances of the colony had, doubtless, 
 a great effect in stimulating the growth of the pastoral resources of 
 Australia. 
 
 Sir Richard Bourke divided the wild land or bush, beyond the 
 boundaries of the settled districts, into " squatting districts," each under 
 the charge of a " Commissioner of Crown Lands." An annual licensing 
 fee was charged to each squatter for his occupation, and a poll-tax on 
 his stock. Advantages of pre-emption were, by custom, conceded to the 
 discoverers of new pastures. In arranging this system, it seems Sir 
 Richard Bourke did not expect to obtain a greater revenue than would 
 defray the expenses of the machinery which superseded club law by 
 magistrates and police. 
 
 Thus it will be observed that under Governor Bourke, the means of 
 obtaining either the absolute possession of land in fee-simple, or the use 
 for pastoral purposes, were systematised and simplified. It ceased to be 
 a matter of favour, of complicated form, or of bribery to subordinates ; 
 and what was still more important, and directly reverse to the policy of 
 his successor, the administration was conducted on the principle that 
 the possession of land could not be made too easy to those who were 
 disposed to occupy or cultivate it. 
 
 Sir Richard believed that he was best serving the interest of his 
 sovereign by promoting the prosperity of colonists of all classes, by 
 permitting them to follow their pursuits in their own way, so long as 
 they did not injure each other. He did not think a few acres, more or 
 less, were of the least consequence to the crown ; he thought capital 
 would be better employed in the hands of the colonists than in the 
 treasury of the colony ; therefore he never attempted like his successor 
 to extract the uttermost farthing by haggling at land sales, or dreamed 
 of treating worthless, limitless forests as if they were plantations of 
 English oaks, or of laying claim to such waifs as " Australian guano." 
 In fact he believed that he was serving the crown by administering the 
 colony for the benefit of the colonists ; he did not pretend, like Cyrus, 
 to force upon them a garment they did not like, or to teach them how 
 to transact their own business. 
 
 But while these reforms were being so wisely carried out, and cul- 
 tivation among small proprietors and sheep-feeding among the rich was 
 daily adding wealth and stability to the colony, the Home Government, 
 worked upon by the parliamentary evidence, the literary agitation, and 
 
104 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 the so far successful speculations of the South Australian interest, became 
 inoculated with most extravagant ideas of the value of wild lands, and 
 of the necessity of asserting, with the utmost rigour, the rights of the 
 crown to everything worth or supposed to be worth a shilling. There 
 were many excuses for an infatuation which has since cost colonists dear 
 in Australia, New Zealand, and Natal, and induced this country to make 
 expensive wars on the Maories and Boers, besides keeping up expensive 
 colonising establishments at such wretched outposts as the Falkland 
 Islands.* 
 
 In the new colonies of South Australia and Port Phillip, enormous 
 prices were given by infatuated speculators for town and country lots, 
 and for a time enormous profits, or apparent profits, were realised. A land 
 mania very soon infected New South Wales. This mania was supported 
 by an influx of emigrants from England, with capital and without experi- 
 ence. Into the details of this mania we shall enter more precisely in a 
 future chapter. It is enough for our present information to observe 
 that after a time all ranks and ages were carried away by the infatuation. 
 Everything rose in price ; the colonial treasury was overflowing with 
 the produce of land sales. These funds the governor placed with the 
 banks. The banks, over supplied with capital, extended their accommo- 
 dation, and credit became almost unlimited. Imports rose enormously. 
 To those who did not look below the surface, there were all the outward 
 and visible signs of prosperity produced by the change from grants to 
 sales. In 1837, the last year of Sir Richard Bourke's government, the 
 land sales produced upwards of 120,000. 
 
 It was about this time that we see a sign of the fatal idea of the 
 intrinsic value of wild land which had begun to make way in the Colonial 
 Office, in the refusal of the Secretary of State for the Colonies to permit 
 a meritorious pilot, who had rendered essential services, to be rewarded 
 according to colonial custom by a grant of fifty acres. The secretary, Lord 
 Stanley, saw no reason for so bestowing her Majesty's land, the said 
 land being worth nothing to the state, although much to the pilot. 
 From that time forward rigid adherence to a theory substituted ingrati- 
 tude, or money payments, for the previous convenient payment of fifty- 
 acre grants. 
 
 * By valuing wild land at a farming price, it became easy to put a Governor on the estimates 
 instead of a lieutenant with a file of marines. 
 
CHAPTER X> 
 
 CONVICT LABOUR. 
 
 DURING the six years, between 1831 and 1837, that Sir Richard 
 Bourke had the government of New South Wales, convicts were 
 introduced at the rate of about three thousand a year, while the number 
 of free emigrants for that period, including those introduced at the 
 expense of the land fund, did not exceed fifteen thousand. The pro- 
 portion of the sexes throughout the colony was about thirty women to 
 every hundred men. 
 
 During the government of Brisbane and Darling, able-bodied con- 
 victs had ceased to be an expense to the government; they were 
 eagerly sought as mechanics, labourers, and shepherds, and their dis- 
 tribution became an important part of government patronage. A man 
 on good terms with the powers in office might not only farm, build a 
 house, furnish it, manufacture carts and agricultural implements, and 
 carry on any mechanical trade with workmen to whom he had not 
 to pay any wages except such presents as it pleased him to make to 
 stimulate their vigilance. The proprietor of a newspaper, who had 
 criticised some act of Sir Ralph Darling's government, was punished by 
 the recal to government service of the prisoner compositors he employed. 
 
 One of the early acts of Sir Richard Bourke was to arrange a set of 
 rules, on which, without favour, and according to priority of application 
 and extent of occupation, employers were to be entitled to the use of 
 prisoner servants. 
 
 In 1831, Sir Richard Bourke introduced and passed an act, by 
 which the number of lashes to be inflicted on summary conviction by 
 a single magistrate were limited to fifty* The moral condition of 
 the employing classes in the colony at that period may be imagined 
 from the fact, that for this measure, of justice and mercy, the governor 
 was assailed with a loud cry of pro-flogging indignation, and from that 
 time forward was subjected to a factious opposition and a series of 
 annoyances from the Plutocracy of the colony, which eventually led 
 to his resignation. Foremost among his assailants was a Scotchman, of 
 the name of Mudie, who had had the misfortune to take up his abode 
 in New South Wales a few years too late, instead of proceeding to 
 Louisiana or Cuba, where his little peculiarities might have had full 
 scope, without impertinent interference from governors or newspapers. 
 
 H 
 
106 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Facts which came out in the course of the trial of six servants of 
 this Mudie, who were all hanged for an attempt to shoot his overseer, 
 induced Sir Richard Bourke to strike him out of the commission of 
 the peace. Thereupon this white slave-driver became a grievance- 
 monger, and wrote a book, in which, with perfect unconsciousness, he 
 painted his own picture in such colours as to more than justify his 
 erasure from the roll of magistrates. The curious and instructive part 
 of the business was, that Mudie actually succeeded in obtaining a long 
 string of testimonials in favour of his virtue and humanity from parties, 
 some of whom were highly respectable. 
 
 Yet the following extract unconsciously conveys the severest satire 
 on the man and the state of society : 
 
 "A young fellow who had just become free, and had got himself established 
 on thirty acres of land, with a few pigs, &c., set off to the factory (female convict 
 barrack), in search of a wife. On his way he had to pass the estate of Mudie. 
 In conversation with the wife of the porter he mentioned the object of his journey. 
 The porter's wife advised him to pay his addresses to one of her master's convict 
 female servants, whom she recommended as being both sober and industrious, 
 whereby he would at once gain a good wife, and spare himself an additional 
 journey of 140 miles. 
 
 " The young woman was sent for and consented at once. No wonder that a 
 woman would accept marriage in preference to slavery with a Mudie. The white 
 slave-driver author then gives the following dialogue as taking place between 
 himself and the young couple : 
 
 " Marianne 'I hope your honour will allow me to get married.' 
 
 " His Honour' Married ! To whom ?' 
 
 " Marianne (rather embarrassed) ' To a young man, your honour.' 
 
 " His Honour ' To a young man ! What is he ?' 
 
 " Marianne (her embarrassment increasing) ' I really don't know.' 
 
 * ' His Honour ' What is his name ? Where does he live ? ' 
 
 " Marianne' I don't know. To tell your honour the truth, I never saw him 
 until just now. Mrs. Parsons sent for me to speak to him ; we agreed to be mar- 
 ried, if your honour will give us leave. It is a good chance for me.' 
 
 " His Honour ' Send the young man here.' 
 
 " Enter CCELEBS. 
 
 "His Honour 'Well, young man, I am told you wish to marry Marianne, one 
 of my convict servants. Have you observed the condition the young woman is 
 in ?' (Marianne being ' in the way that ladies wish to be,' &c.) 
 
 " Calebs (grinning, as we may imagine Mudie if some one had offered him 
 the chance of an heiress, old, ugly, ill-tempered, with a hundred thousand pounds) 
 ' Why, your honour, as to that, in a country like this, where women are scarce, 
 a man shouldn't be too greedy. I'm told the woman is very sober, and that's the 
 main chance with me. If I go to the factory, why I might get one in the same 
 way without knowing it, and that might be the cause of words hereafter ; and she 
 might be a drunken vagabond besides. As to the piccaninny, if it should happen 
 to be a boy it would soon be useful, and do to look after the pigs.' " 
 
ABOLITION OF CONVICT ASSIGNMENT. 107 
 
 The American slave-owners are very indignant at the picture of 
 Legree, painted by their own countrywoman. If they will only take 
 the trouble to search the convict annals of New South Wales, Simon 
 Legree will appear mild beside some convict masters. 
 
 In 1836-7 a committee of the House of Commons sat on the subject 
 of transportation, at the instigation of Mr. Gibbon Wakefield. The 
 object of the promoters was to put a stop to the source which supplied 
 New South Wales with cheap slave-labour, in competition with the 
 hired labour of the South Australian speculation. 
 
 Thus, although the subject well deserved investigation, the pro- 
 moters were dishonest, the evidence was cooked, the conclusions were 
 foregone, and the results, although eventually most advantageous to 
 Australia, retarded criminal reform, and created vices worse than those 
 which it was intended to eradicate. Van Diemen's Land was sacrificed, 
 and turned into one vast overflowing- cesspool of crime. 
 
 The government was not to be blamed for the series of mistakes 
 committed on the subject of transportation. After fifty years' indif- 
 ference they were forced by active public opinion to do something ; 
 they were pressed upon by a number of excellent men, like Archbishop 
 Whateley and Mr. C. Buller, who had been overpowered by a " case" 
 got up in a manner then new to the House of Commons, but now per- 
 fectly understood. A change that should have been gradual, and 
 accompanied by the foundation of a new colony, was made abruptly, 
 at an enormous pecuniary loss and moral gain to New South Wales, 
 but to the ruin, social and financial, of Van Diemen's Land, on which 
 alone was poured the felonry previously distributed over New South 
 Wales. 
 
 Governor Bourke was directed to discontinue assignment by a 
 despatch from Lord Glenelg, dated 26th May, 1837, which took effect 
 in 1810. In answer to that despatch, Sir Richard Bourke observes, 
 with his usual good sense, " If the abolition of the assignment system 
 be resolved on, it should without doubt be gradual, as the sudden 
 interruption of the accustomed supply of labour would produce much 
 distress." The system was suddenly discontinued under Sir George 
 Gipps, and succeeded by the horrible gang system. 
 
 BOUBKE r S CHURCH AND SCHOOL ACT. 
 
 The " Church and School Incorporation," under which one -seventh 
 of the crown lands was devoted to the support of episcopalian churches 
 and schools, had not worked well, and in 1833 it was dissolved by an 
 
 ii 2 
 
108 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 order of the king in council. The expenses of management had been 
 large, the receipts small, and the results, in the extension of religion 
 and education, insignificant. 
 
 In the same year Sir Richard Bourke addressed a despatch, dated 
 30th September, in which he propounded principles of religious equality 
 which had a very important influence on the: religious and educational 
 institutions of the colony, and displayed principles much in advance of 
 the traditions of the colonial government. 
 
 After stating that the followers of the Church of England were 
 most numerous ; that one fifth of the population was Eoman Catholic ; 
 that the members of the Church of Scotland were less numerous, but 
 among the most respectable, consisting almost entirely of free emigrants ; 
 that the annual charge for the Church of England amounted to 
 11,542 10s. ; for the Church of Scotland to 600 ; and for Roman 
 Catholic chaplains and chapels to 1,500 ; while Protestant dissenters 
 of several denominations, who had formed congregations, " received no 
 support from government beyond some small grants of land for sites of 
 chapels ;" that the Church of England possessed seven churches of stone 
 or brick in or within forty miles of Sydney, two in more remote dis- 
 tricts, and several less permanent buildings in various places ; the 
 Church of Scotland one respectable building in Sydney, and three 
 temporary buildings in country districts, the one church having been 
 built by subscription, aided by a loan from government of 520 ; the 
 Roman Catholics one handsome church, towards which the government 
 had, at various times, granted sums amounting to 1,200; that the 
 chaplains of the Church of England were provided with glebes of forty 
 acres each, and with houses or lodging-money ; that the magnitude of 
 the sums annually granted to the Church of England in New South 
 Wales were a subject of general complaint, and had been the origin of 
 a public meeting and petition numerously signed, praying for a reduc- 
 tion; Governor Bourke proceeded to observe, that "in a new country 
 to which persons of all religious persuasions are invited to resort, it will 
 be impossible to establish a dominant and endowed church without 
 much hostility, and great improbability of its becoming permanent ; 
 if, on the contrary, support were given, as required, to every one of the 
 three grand divisions of Christians indifferently, and the management 
 of the temporalities of their churches left to themselves, the public 
 treasury might in time be relieved of a considerable charge, and, what 
 is of more importance, the people would become more attached to their 
 respective churches, and be more willing to listen to the voice of their 
 respective pastors." 
 
109 
 
 He then proceeded to sketch out the plan afterwards carried out by 
 the act which will presently be quoted, and recommended that New 
 South Wales should be created into a separate diocese, instead of being 
 included in that of Bengal. 
 
 From the same despatch it appears that the schools which had been 
 established under the Church and School Corporation consisted of a 
 male orphan school, in which 133 boys were boarded and taught at an 
 annual expense of 1,300, and a female orphan school, in which 174 
 girls cost 1,500 annually, exclusive of supplies from lands cultivated 
 for the use of the schools. 
 
 At Paramatta there was a boarding-school for the wealthier classes, 
 who paid 28 each for boarders, amd 10 for day-scholars the head 
 master, a clergyman, receiving 100 a year and the rent of a house. 
 
 There were thirty-five primary schools in various parts of the colony 
 in which 1,248 children were taught, at an expense of 2,756. In all 
 these schools the Catechism of the Church of England was part of the 
 instruction. 
 
 The Church of Scotland had received a loan of 3,500 toward the 
 erection of the Scotch college founded by Dr. Lang; and 800 had 
 been granted to the Roman Catholic schools. 
 
 The governor stated that the disproportionate assistance for educa- 
 tion was a subject of very general complaint; and expressed an opinion 
 "that schools on the Irish system, in which Christians of all creeds 
 are received, where approved extracts from Scripture are read, but no 
 religious instuction is given by the master or mistress, such being im- 
 parted one day in the week by ministers of different religions attending 
 at the school to instruct their respective flocks, would be most suitable to 
 the condition of the colony. It would be necessary that the government 
 took the lead in their institution, erecting school-houses, appointing well- 
 qualified teachers at liberal salaries." In like manner infant schools 
 should be established in the towns. And he adds: li I may without fear 
 of contradiction assert, that in no part of the world is the general educa- 
 tion of the people a more sacred or necessary duty of the government than 
 in New South Wales" The home Colonial Office have never taken 
 any pains to perform this duty. 
 
 In 1836 the Legislative Council passed an act, under which, when- 
 ever 300 had been raised by private contributions toward the building 
 of a church or chapel, the governor, with the advice of his Executive 
 Council, might issue from the colonial treasury, in aid of the subscribers, 
 any sum not exceeding 1,000. 
 
 And for minister of church or chapel with 100 adult attendants, 
 
110 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 100 per annum. If 200 adults, 150 per annum. If 500 adults, 
 200 per annum. Under special circumstances the governor and 
 council could grant a salary of 100 per annum where the congregation 
 amounted to less than 100. Where there was no place of worship, 
 100 might be granted from the colonial treasury if 50 a year were 
 raised by private contributions. Under this act 3,000 a year was 
 divided between the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, and 
 the Church of Rome, and recently the Wesleyan Methodists shared part 
 of the grant. 
 
 In his attempt to introduce an improved system of education Sir 
 Richard Bourke was defeated by religious jealousies, but the despatches 
 and Act quoted will remain monuments of his patriotism and states- 
 manship. 
 
 In December, 1837, Sir Richard Bourke retired deeply regretted 
 by all the colony, except a small section of prison-flogging magistrates 
 and officials of the true colonial school. New South Wales had attained 
 the highest state of prosperity ; Port Jackson was crowded with shipping 
 bringing free labourers and capitalists, the banks overflowing with 
 money, and the whole population full of the happiest excitement. 
 
 The discussions of the Council, although still secret and irresponsible, 
 had assumed a real character, and prepared the way for representative 
 institutions. Restrictions placed upon the summary conviction of 
 prisoners by magistrates, and preparations for the abolition of the 
 assignment system, concurrently with the introduction of free emigrants 
 by funds derived from the sale of lands, had laid the foundation of a 
 free colony. The colonisation of Port Phillip and South Australia 
 by emigrants of a superior class had done much towards directing the 
 attention of this country to an island which had previously been only 
 considered a receptacle for criminals, while the discovery of vast tracts 
 of fine land in the interior, with an overland communication between 
 the three districts, and the establishment of the squatting system on a 
 legal basis, greatly stimulated the increase of live stock, the growth of 
 wool, and the general value of colonial exports. The Australians 
 began to think they could walk alone without the aid of convict-labour, 
 and the money of the commissariat. 
 
' pf" 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 SIR GEORGE GIPPS. 
 1838 TO 1846. 
 
 SIR RICHARD BOURKE was succeeded by Sir George Gipps, who 
 was sworn in on the 2nd February, 1838; the government, 
 during an interregnum of ten weeks, having been administered by the 
 Lieutenant-governor, Colonel Snodgrass. 
 
 Sir George Gipps, who was a captain in the Royal Engineer Corps, 
 owed his appointment entirely to the talent he had displayed while 
 acting as secretary to the commission issued for inquiring into the 
 grievances of rebellious Canada. During his residence in that colony 
 he had devised and published a plan for educating colonists to 
 the use of representative institutions by "district councils" for the 
 administration of local affairs. It was an ingenious theory, but, as we 
 shall hereafter show, no more suited for the state of society in pastoral 
 Australia than an American river steamboat for crossing the Atlantic. 
 Nevertheless, the forcing this district council scheme on the unwilling 
 colonists was the one great idea of Sir George Gipps's colonial career, 
 to which he sacrificed them and himself. 
 
 He was a man of abilities far above the average ; an eloquent speaker, 
 a nervous writer ; with industry, energy, and a specia^ aptitude for the 
 details of administrative business ; but haughty and narrow-minded ; 
 impenetrable to reasoning which did not square with his preconceived 
 views ; filled with inordinate ideas of his own importance as " the 
 representative of majesty ;" with a violent, temper, which in dealing with 
 the colonists he took little pains to control, although his communica- 
 tions with the Colonial Office displayed a pliability almost amounting 
 to subservience. He claimed to receive the deference due to a viceroy, 
 and at the same time to exercise the duties of an English prime minister. 
 With sharp and ready tongue he introduced and pressed legislative 
 measures for carrying into effect theories most distasteful and unsuit- 
 able to his colonial " subjects ;" but opposition, or even that fair 
 criticism and discussion which a British premier would expect and even 
 invite, he treated as personal insult to his authority ; almost as high 
 treason. 
 
112 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 The period of his accession to power was in every respect most 
 inopportune. Backed by a Secretary of State as fiery and obstinate as 
 himself, with the sanction of a House of Commons utterly ignorant of 
 the condition of Australia, Sir George Gipps came determined to govern 
 on high prerogative principles, at a time when the colony had advanced 
 from the Algerine rule of Phillip and Darling, to enjoy the externals of 
 a free state. A Legislative Council no longer secret, although not 
 elective, had superseded the irresponsible decrees of the governor. 
 Courts regularly constituted, with juries in political cases, had taken the 
 place of courts martial. The press was free ; the liberty of assembling 
 to discuss political questions had been sanctioned and exercised. A 
 rapid, enormous immigration from the mother country swelled the ranks 
 of the thousands who, however descended, were born free ; and, under 
 the guidance of the burning eloquence of a native-born Australian, 
 claimed to exercise those rights of representation and self-taxation 
 which they had forfeited by becoming colonists. 
 
 The history of this long contest would fill a volume ; but the time 
 has not yet come for writing at full length the details of the struggles 
 in which the liberties of Australia were born* That must await the 
 growth of a colonial public. It is, however, not venturing too much to 
 assert that if ever which Heaven forbid ! Australia should rise up 
 and violently sever her connection with the British crown, the origin of 
 so dire a calamity may be distinctly traced back to the period when, 
 with the high approval of the home authorities, and of politicians of all 
 colours, Sir George Gipps coerced and insulted the colonists of 
 Australia, forcing, with threats and blows, legislative shoes, modelled 
 in Downing-street, upon their unwilling feet. 
 
 Yet Sir George Gipps was not without noble as well as brilliant 
 qualities. His hands were clean. He took no share in the jobs of the 
 servile crew whom he used and despised. But he was intoxicated by 
 the greatness thrust upon him. At one stride he passed from a subor- 
 dinate military rank to the government of a great province of wealthy 
 and discontented men; having in his hands authority which could 
 make or mar a whole class or a whole district. In a different sphere, 
 and subdued by the even competition of English parliamentary life, he 
 might have done himself honour and the state service. 
 
 In the temper of the governor and the governed, questions of 
 difference were not long in arising. 
 
 Under Sir Richard Bourke the Legislative Council, although com- 
 posed of salaried officials and an equal number of the colonists nominated 
 by the governor, had nurtured enough of the spirit of independence to 
 
SIR GEORGE GIPPS. 113 
 
 occasionally dissent from the views of the home government or its 
 representative. But Governor Bourke took a colonial view of colonial 
 subjects; he did not hesitate to dissent from the views of a Secretary of 
 State ; he treated the opinions of his council with deliberate considera- 
 tion and respect, even where he came to a contrary conclusion. Sir 
 George Gipps adopted an opposite course. Nothing could equal the 
 contempt with which he treated colonial opinions, except the zeal with 
 which he echoed and carried out the instructions issued by the 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 The following were among the more prominent political questions 
 which formed the subject of contention and agitation on the part of the 
 colonists against the governor : 
 
 1st. The appropriation of the revenue of the colony. 
 
 2nd. The extent to which the colonists were taxed for gaols, police, 
 &c., rendered necessary by the transportation system. 
 
 3rd. The manner in which the home government exercised the 
 patronage of the crown, passing over colonial claims, and appointing 
 unfit persons, at high salaries paid by the colonists. 
 
 4th. The price of land, and the arbitrary manner in which it was 
 raised, lowered, and raised again, at the will of the governor. 
 
 These four grievances were discussed in one or more distinct cases. 
 On each the governor took up the position of "high prerogative" in 
 the most offensive manner, ^and found his policy approved by the home 
 government. 
 
 It is very odd that, whether Whigs or Tories hold office, the most 
 obnoxious regulations issued, the most discreditable rights of patronage 
 exercised, have been defended under the plea of asserting " the sacred 
 rights of the crown" in the colonies. Thus ignorant bushmen were 
 taught, when a few acres of waste land were not granted, as the Legis- 
 lative Council prayed, to the worthy captain who had saved a ship- 
 wrecked crew; or when a worn-out attorney was sent out to fill a 
 useless office at an extravagant salary, that the ungracious refusal and 
 disgraceful job were both the effect of the " Queen's Prerogative." 
 
 Such are the modes in which Downing-street, before the days of 
 unrestricted political competition, used to drag the sacred name of the 
 sovereign through the dirt. 
 
 No sooner had Sir George Gipps commenced his government than 
 he became involved in discussions involving very important principles, 
 which were carried on with such feeble means of attack as the colonists 
 possessed, until, in 1842, an act of the Imperial Parliament bestowed, 
 
114 THK THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 upon New South Wales a Legislative Council, which consisted of 
 twenty-four elective members, and twelve who held their seats either 
 in an official capacity or on the recommendation of the governor. The 
 opening of the Colonial Parliament took place on August 3rd, 1843, 
 and in his " speech from the throne," Sir George Gipps described the 
 Council as " composed of three elements or three different classes of 
 persons the representatives of the people the official servants of her 
 Majesty, and of gentlemen of independence the unofficial nominees 
 of the crown." 
 
 The nominees were soon taught that so far from being independent, 
 they were expected to follow the lead of the governor without discus- 
 sion or hesitation. 
 
 The questions which had already occupied the attention of the 
 colonial press and the nominee council, afforded ample employment for 
 the elective chamber ; among the first and most important of these was 
 
 THE REVENUE. 
 
 The revenue dispute commenced in 1832, when Lord Goderich, 
 then Secretary of State for the Colonies, directed Sir Richard Bourke 
 to submit annually to the Legislative Council an estimate of the expen- 
 diture proposed to be charged on the colonial revenues. This estimate, 
 if passed by the Council, was to be embodied in an ordinance, and 
 forwarded to the home government for his Majesty's approval. If 
 rejected, the majority were to be requested to furnish their estimate, 
 and the two were to be forwarded for " his Majesty's approval." With 
 this illusory control, the non-official but nominee members and the 
 colonists were obliged to be content. It was not of much use to object 
 to an estimate that had to travel round the world ; and although the 
 non-official councillors sometimes protested against any particularly 
 scandalous job, their protests were received, and laid up with other 
 dusty papers, 
 
 At the period to which we are alluding-, the administrative powers 
 of the governor had been so clipped, without addition to the legislative 
 powers of the colonies, that he could scarcely erect a pair of stocks 
 without first reporting to Downing-street, with plan and estimate. No 
 wonder that almost all the non-official party in the colony were 
 republicans. 
 
 In 1835 the expense of maintaining the police establishment and 
 gaols was made a colonial charge. Every non-official and two official 
 members of the council protested against this heavy burden, on the 
 ground that these expenses were largely increased by the presence of 
 
THE REVENUE GRIEVANCE. 115 
 
 all the transported felonry of Great Britain, either as prisoners or freed- 
 men. To this it was answered, that the colony had had the benefit of 
 their work. However, as a per contra, the surplus of the fund derived 
 from the sale or lease of crown land was allowed to be taken to assist 
 the colonial revenues, after defraying the expenses of emigration. The 
 terms of this arrangement or contract, as the colonists assert, are to be 
 found in despatches with enclosures from Mr. Spring Rice, and from 
 Lord Glenelg, dated respectively 15th November, 1834, and 10th July, 
 1835. It is not now worth while to quote or discuss them. The truth 
 seems to be, that, while the returns from the land revenue were trifling, 
 the officers of the crown did not care to have the spending of them, 
 having admitted that it was "just and reasonable that the revenues 
 should be applied wholly and exclusively for the benefit of the colony." 
 But, when the land revenues rose to hundreds of thousands of pounds 
 annually, the question assumed a different aspect in the eyes of a young 
 but accomplished bureaucrat like Sir George Gipps. 
 
 Sir Richard Bourke, after receiving the despatches in question, 
 believed that the Legislative Council had the complete control of the 
 land revenue. He seems to have been always anxious to extend the 
 legislative powers of the colonies. 
 
 Sir George Gipps commenced what may be called, to use a slang 
 term of modern polities, his reactionary course of policy, by repudiating 
 the assumed contract in the extract from a despatch, dated November, 
 1838, which alone affords a complete key to the favour in which he was 
 held at the Colonial Office, and the detestation in which he was held in 
 the colony : 
 
 "It is asserted in the colony that the right to appropriate this 
 revenue was conceded to the governor and council by a despatch, &c., 
 
 and that this right was recognised by Sir Richard Bourke 
 
 Notwithstanding the strength of these expressions, I must say that I very 
 much doubt whether, by the Treasury letter of the 24th September, 
 1834, it was intended to give up unreservedly, and for ever, the right 
 to select the objects on which the crown revenue (viz., from colonial 
 land) should be expended ; and I therefore, whenever occasion required, 
 maintained, during the last session of the council, that the crown has 
 still power to do so feeling that, if wrong in this opinion, I could easily 
 set myself right with the council ; but, if I committed an error the other 
 way, I might involve myself in difficulties from which there would be no 
 escape." And he proceeds with great ingenuity to " get up a case" to 
 enable the Colonial Office at home to shear the colonists of the trifling 
 powers recently conceded to them. 
 
116 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 This was a very pretty quarrel to begin with, and the governor lost 
 no opportunity of improving it. 
 
 Whether the contract existed or not, it is quite clear that the 
 powers claimed and exercised by the governor and the colonial 
 secretary, in the much-abused name of the sovereign, amounted 
 to revolting despotism under a caricature of free discussion. The 
 colonists were expected to defray the cost of their own govern- 
 ment, with all the addition of police and gaol expenses incident to a 
 periodical inoculation of British-grown felonry, while, with the sham of 
 a Legislative Council and financial discussions, all sources of revenue, 
 except additional taxation, were removed from their control. As to 
 the crown or waste lands the price, the management the expenditure 
 of the funds arising from them in emigration were settled by English 
 commissioners; the surplus was appropriated by the crown. The 
 custom-house tariff and the rules for levying it were settled, and 
 the officers appointed, by the English custom-house. As to the 
 funds raised by local taxation, the Colonial Secretary, in the name 
 of the crown, created offices, fixed fines, salaries, and appointed 
 officers, without the slightest .regard, to the wants or wishes of the 
 colonists. 
 
 The grievance with respect to the appropriation of the land reve- 
 nues became more unbearable inconsequence of the orders and acts of 
 the home government in respect to the land question, which were in 
 direct opposition to the feelings and interests of the colonists. 
 
 It was with the representative members of the Legislative Council, 
 while the colony was in a state of insolvency, that Governor Gipps's 
 battles commenced, and were carried on with an acerbity on both sides 
 which did not breed a rebellion, because the materials in the shape 
 of coercive powers had not been conceded to the governor. The new 
 council lost no time in investigating the grievances of the colony, and 
 soon collected a most formidable list, although the most oppressed class 
 of all, the small settlers, were entirely unrepresented. 
 
 The revenues, the price of crown lands, the assessments on the 
 pastoral proprietors, the abuses in the exercise of crown patronage, 
 successively attracted the attention of the opposition, vigorously led by 
 William Wentworth, a gentleman of brilliant talents and great oratorical 
 powers, whose influence was to a certain extent unfortunately impaired 
 by a violent temper and want of tact, the result of a provincial educa- 
 tion among men vastly his inferiors in intellect, and long exclusion from 
 a legitimate exercise of his powers. 
 
 Without the evidence printed by these Legislative Councils of 
 
THE REGISTRAR'S FRAUDS. 117 
 
 New South Wales, it would be impossible to credit that a government 
 at home, professed to be formed on " reform" and " retrenchment," could 
 have perpetrated and maintained powers so oppressive and jobs so cor- 
 rupt. But jobbery and despotism seem incident to all corporate bodies 
 which have the control of sea-divided territories. It was impossible to 
 imagine anything worse than the administration of the Colonial Office, 
 until the New Zealand Company, composed of colonial reformers, 
 showed in. perfection what a colonising Robert Macaire could do with a 
 large capital, a directorate of credulous capitalists, and an array of still 
 more credulous colonists. 
 
 The following cases, gathered from the reports of the committees of 
 the Legislative Council appointed to inquire into certain gross cases of 
 embezzlement and mismanagement, afford examples of the " patronage 
 grievance," of the sort of persons selected for colonial office, the 
 nature of the powers they assumed On the strength of holding a home 
 instead of a colonial appointment, and the manner in which they per- 
 formed their duties. 
 
 THE REGISTRAR. 
 
 In 1841 the Registrar of the Supreme Court became a defaulter ; in 
 the following year he took the benefit of the Insolvent Act, and eventu- 
 ally paid a dividend of sixpence in the pound. The committee which 
 investigated his case, with the view of obtaining redress from the home 
 government for the sufferers by the malversation of their appointed, 
 reported, that the first registrar, Colonel Mills, was a decayed gentleman, 
 with no knowledge of business, and who, therefore, left what there was 
 to be done to other officers. On his death the governor and council 
 recommended that the office, in the then state of the colony not needed, 
 should be abolished ; but, before receiving or without attending to this 
 
 recommendation, the defaulter in question, Mr. M , was appointed. 
 
 His antecedents were not more encouraging than those of Colonel Mills. 
 In 1811 he had executed a deed of assignment of all his property for 
 the benefit of his creditors ; and in 1823, after returning from an eight 
 years' residence on the Continent, had taken the benefit of the Insolvent 
 Act; in 1828 had been appointed Chief Justice of Nova Scotia, and 
 had been permitted to exchange the appointment for that of Regis- 
 trar of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, with the duty of 
 collecting the effects of intestates, and, according to his own account, 
 the privilege of investing the money for his own benefit pending its 
 distribution. 
 
 On arrival at the colony Mr. M took up a high position. That 
 
118 THE THIIEE COLONIES OP AUSTRALIA. 
 
 part of his duty which related to registering deeds of grants of crown 
 land he entirely neglected and suffered to fall into an arrear, which 
 eventually involved great numbers of the humbler class in litigation 
 and ruin. But the collection of the estates of intestates he entered on 
 as zealously as any wrecker on the spoils of storms. The presence of 
 near relatives was no protection for the moneys of the deceased : in 
 defiance of son, brother, or father, the registrar grasped all the estate, 
 invested it in his own name for his own benefit, and from 1828 to 
 1838 kept neither day-book, cash-book, nor ledger, but one account at 
 his banker's, rendered no statement for audit to any one, and paid over 
 what balance, if any, to the next of kin of intestates when and how he 
 pleased. 
 
 In 1838 the judges made rules of court requiring the registrar to 
 pass his accounts and pay the balance into the savings' bank. The 
 great man remonstrated against these rules in a most indignant tone, 
 " as threatening to take from him a source of legitimate income, on the 
 faith of which he immigrated to the colony," and intimated that, " unless 
 he was permitted to retain and make use of the money himself, he 
 would use no exertions to obtain it." 
 
 At this audit he reported himself to be in possession of 1,980 
 17s O^d., but the court, after argument, found 3,085 18s. 2d. due, 
 compelled him to pay it into court, and, in spite of violent resistance, in 
 which he was supported by one of the official legal advisers of the 
 governor, had a set of rules of court sanctioned by the governor in 
 council, under which the registrar was bound to account regularly and 
 pay in the proceeds of every intestate estate within a certain fixed time 
 (three months from the period of the intestacy) ; the injured registrar 
 all the time protesting that " the judges were reflecting on his honour 
 by calling for accounts, and depriving him of the legitimate profits to be 
 derived from the employment of other men's money, which had induced 
 him to settle in the colony." The judges being firm, and supported by 
 the council, the registrar then resorted to fraud, and in the course of 
 two years became possessed of 9,000. When no longer able to conceal 
 his appropriations, he announced his insolvency in a debonnair yet 
 dignified manner a condescending, much-injured style which could 
 only come from a colonial official. The sufferers by this embezzlement 
 petitioned for compensation from the home government. The corre- 
 spondence with the appropriator is extremely rich and racy. Throughout 
 he appears to consider himself deeply injured. The home government 
 rejected the prayers of the petitioners. 
 
THE LUNATIC ASYLUM. 119 
 
 THE PROTHONOTARY. 
 
 The next case is illustrative of the confidence with which colonial 
 secretaries set aside colonial recommendations ; the avidity with which 
 they embrace opportunities of patronage ; the indifference with which 
 they increase salaries; and the admirable skill with which certain 
 governors imbibe the principles of the chiefs. 
 
 The judge, Chief Justice Dowling, finding it needful to recommend 
 that certain offices included in the charter of justice should be filled 
 up, and especially that of prothonotary, at a salary of 800 per annum, 
 for which he recommends one Mr. John Grover, late chief clerk, " who, 
 from his long services, indefatigable industry, and experience, is 
 admirably qualified for the office," Governor Gipps, the late captain of 
 engineers, enters into a correspondence, as was his custom, with the 
 judges, in which he instructs them how to manage the business of their 
 courts, and save 50 a year. The judges demur, and show the governor 
 that he knows nothing about the matter. 
 
 The question is referred to the Colonial Secretary, Lord Stanley, 
 who settles the question in King Stork fashion, without a moment's 
 loss of time. He does not appoint the gentleman recommended by the 
 judges. In other respects he follows out their recommendations, but 
 sends out two new officers, one at 1,000 a year, and the other at 850 ; 
 and creating a third appointment, at 650, to be filled up by the 
 governor ; thus at a blow saddling the colony with -increased salaries 
 to the extent of 400 a year, on the ground that in England com- 
 petent persons could not be induced to accept these offices for less. 
 An early act of one of these gentlemen was to set the local legislature 
 at defiance on a matter of salary ; the other was a worn-out, ruined 
 attorney. 
 
 We have only to imagine, in order to understand colonial feeling on 
 these subjects, the case of the town council of Liverpool applying to the 
 Home Office for a stipendiary magistrate, stating their willingness to pay 
 a salary of 800, and suggesting a particularly well-qualified gentleman 
 to fill it, and their having a total stranger thrust upon them, with 
 orders to pay him 200 more than they had offered. It seems the rulo 
 with all officials appointed from England to treat with the greatest 
 contempt the colonists who pay them. 
 
 THE LUNATIC ASYLUM. 
 
 An inquiry into the management of the Colonial Lunatic Asylum 
 brought out facts equally characteristic of the independence and irre- 
 
120 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 sponsibility of all officials, up to the time that the elected members of 
 the Legislative Council began to exercise their privilege of inquiry. 
 In 1846, a select committee of the Legislative Council investigated 
 the condition of Tarban Creek, the only lunatic asylum in New 
 South Wales. In the course of this inquiry it appeared that the head 
 keeper and his wife, the matron, in consequence of having received 
 their appointment direct from the Secretary of /State, habitually 
 resisted all attempts to control, or even investigate the performance of 
 their duties, by the visiting magistrates or colonially-appointed physician. 
 Lunatics are sufficiently neglected and abused even to this hour in 
 England, but it is only in a colony that a sort of turnkey for lunatics 
 would presume to set the dignity of his office against both magistrates 
 and medical men. 
 
 The visiting magistrate " had occasion to refer to the governor for 
 definite instructions in consequence of the superintendent considering 
 that he was interfering." He states, " My authority is repudiated by 
 Mr. Digby ; he says I have no right to interfere. Although he gives 
 me every information in his power, he does so in courtesy, protesting 
 against my right to interfere." 
 
 The committee found " no books or registers such as ought to be 
 kept in a public establishment ; no record of cases ; no written 
 statement of the appearance of any patient at the time of his admis- 
 sion, or of the progress of the disease, or of the treatment, medical and 
 moral." They report that 
 
 " The medical officer is not in his proper position." According to 
 evidence, " he gets all his information from me [the keeper] as to 
 the particulars of the case and form of insanity." The keeper 
 stated, that in going round with the doctor, if he suggests any altera- 
 tion in their moral treatment, and it appears to him [the keeper] an 
 improvement, he acts upon it ; but if he does riot approve of it he 
 does not yield to him. " For instance, he might recommend that 
 restraint should be taken off a patient, but if, from a better know- 
 ledge of the party, he might not deem it advisable, he should refuse 
 to do so." 
 
 We quote this passage because it so perfectly illustrates the manner 
 in which colonists and colonial interests are treated. 
 
 It is quite evident that the merits of this worthy officer of the order 
 of the strait-jacket were not duly acknowledged. He ought to have 
 been a colonial governor or a colonial secretary. Colonists are treated 
 like the Tarban Creek lunatics : they do not know what is good for 
 them neither do their representatives. The governor is the man ; he 
 
THE LAND QUESTION. 121 
 
 is responsible to no one ; and although the Legislative Council, liko 
 the doctor, may recommend removing' restraint, he knows better. We 
 have not space to go into the jail cases, where the governor provided 
 himself with coachman, footman, gardener, and a crew of boatmen, out 
 of the criminals sentenced to imprisonment for colonial offences, and 
 the convicts of Hyde Park Barracks were left under charge of a convict 
 turnkey, who let them out to rob at so much a night, with pistols hired 
 at ten shillings for each case. 
 
 With these examples we leave the subject of official responsibility, 
 and return to the two great questions which agitated the colony 
 during the whole administration of Sir George Gipps, and which still 
 continue to excite the interest and apprehension of all who look 
 ahead " The Land/' and " Emigration." 
 
 THE LAND QUESTION. 
 
 The question of the terms on which the waste lands of the 
 colony were to be sold, and, until sold, occupied by flock-owners and 
 stock-owners, formed the subject of the most bitter contest between 
 Governor Gipps and the colonists. To the colonists the question was 
 one of existence ; it involved not only the liberties so dear to every 
 English-speaking race, but the means of existence. 
 
 Just before the departure of Sir Richard Bourke, the pastoral 
 proprietors of New South Wales, as well as all the merchants, capital- 
 ists, and every one else possessed of money or credit, were seized with a 
 land mania, which can be compared to nothing less than the share and 
 stock-jobbing manias which, from the period of the Mississippi scheme 
 down to the last rage for railway scrip, have, from time to time, carried 
 bankruptcy, ruin, and roguery through the length and breadth of the 
 infatuated nation. 
 
 The disease arose in South Australia in the manner which will be 
 found described in the chapter devoted to the foundation of that colony, 
 and it received a great stimulus from the foundation of Port Phillip, 
 where a considerable extent of picturesque, and more than ordinarily 
 fertile land, easy of access from the port, became the object of com- 
 petition among English colonists with more money than colonial 
 experience. 
 
 Mr. Gibbon Wakefield's theories seemed to receive, in one impor- 
 tant respect, confirmation from the large sums paid into the colonial trea- 
 suries by colonists bidding one against another for land at government 
 auctions. These large funds were placed in the colonial banks. The 
 banks, in order to employ the government deposits, gave unusual 
 
 I 
 
122 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 accommodation to their customers, until, moving in a circle of fallacies, 
 the whole colony dreamed of growing rich by selling to each other 
 land which produced nothing. 
 
 The series of Secretaries of State for the Colonies, Lords Aberdeen, 
 Glenelg, Normanby, and John Russell, who succeeded each other in 
 rapid succession up to 1842, and Lord Stanley, who held office until 
 1845, seem all to have taken the promised results of the Wakefield 
 theory for granted assumed that it was the duty of the government 
 to obtain the highest price for crown lands that a high price of land 
 would keep down wages, and check dispersion ; and to this notion their 
 successor, Lord Grey, adhered, in face of an unbroken line of colonial 
 evidence of the most practical character. 
 
 Thus, in August, 1838, Lord Glenelg instructed Sir George Gipps 
 to substitute 12s. for 5s. an acre as the upset price of ordinary land, 
 adding, " If you should observe that the extension of the population 
 should still proceed with a rapidity beyond what is desirable, and that 
 the want of labour still continues to be seriously felt, you will take 
 measures for checking the sale of land even at 12s." 
 
 It would be an insult to the powerful understanding of Sir George 
 Gipps to doubt that he was as well aware of the fallacy of this idea as 
 his predecessor, but he came out with the fixed principle of earning the 
 approbation of his official chiefs by zealously and actively carrying out 
 their desires and orders. As he once answered a colonial remonstrant, 
 " I was sent here to carry out the Wakefield system of land sales, and 
 whether it suits the colony or not, it must be done." 
 
 Animated by this spirit he adopted two measures which soon trans- 
 ferred the greater part of the ready money of the colonists, new and old, 
 into the colonial treasury. He limited the quantity of land offered for 
 sale so as to raise the competition between new arrivals to the highest 
 pitch, and he successively raised the upset price to the last sum given 
 by the last land-lunatic under the excitement of an auction. 
 
 Thus, at a land auction on the 10th June, 1840, at Port Phillip, 
 the price was run up by emulation and competition to such a height, 
 that shipmates of Richard Howitt, with a capital among them of 20,000, 
 only ventured to invest 600. Land was sold at 30 and 40 acre, 
 which, for years afterwards, remained in a state of nature. 
 
 In the New South Wales district Sir George Gipps offered and sold 
 land at lllawarra at 12s. and 1 an acre; when raised to 10 an 
 acre it remained unsold ; it was then reduced to 1, and, being worth- 
 less refuse, still remained unsold. In a second and third district, 
 the upset price was raised to 10 in one instance, and 100 in another, 
 
THE LAND QUESTION. 123 
 
 and afterwards reduced to 2 an acre. And all this was done repeatedly 
 against the advice of the official surveyors, on the principle that it 
 was the duty of the governor to wring the uttermost farthing from the 
 settler. 
 
 The land mania was followed by a crash of universal insolvency. 
 Land became unsaleable ; live stock fell to nominal prices ; and the 
 importers of British and foreign luxuries had nothing better to offer 
 their creditors than the dishonoured bills of their customers. 
 
 It was in 1841, in the commencement of this crisis of insolvency, 
 that the British Parliament, in utter ignorance of colonial affairs, 
 under the influence of a band of stock-jobbing theorists, attempted to 
 prop up the insolvent colony of South Australia by an act which 
 fixed the minimum price of land in Australia at 1 an acre. 
 
 In 1843, when the elective Legislative Council commenced its 
 labours, the dissatisfaction of the colonists with the fixed minimum price 
 of 1 an acre had become universal. 
 
 The wealthy parties who had expected their free grants, and their 
 purchases at five shillings an acre, to be augmented in value by the 
 increased price, were disappointed the speculators who, following the 
 example of the South Australians, had purchased large estates in the hope 
 of realising large profits, by laying out paper towns and villages, were 
 either insolvent or encumbered with tracts of useless waste land, 
 unsaleable and unprofitable the small settlers were deeply discon- 
 tented with the impediments thrown in the way of purchasing small 
 farms in good agricultural districts while the great pastoral proprietors, 
 or squatters, who were many of them also landowners in the settled 
 districts, were worried (no other word will express the policy of Sir 
 George Gripps) by taxes, regulations, and restrictions imposed, repealed, 
 and reimposed in a most arbitrary manner, with a view of compelling 
 the purchase of their occupations at the ruinous price of 1 an acre. 
 
 Live stock became absolutely valueless ; cattle were allowed to rove 
 wild, unbranded on the hills ; and sheep which had cost 30s. a piece 
 were unsaleable at Is. 6d., until it occurred to an ingenious gentleman 
 to boil them down for tallow, by which the minimum price was raised 
 to 3s. Land sales had ceased; the fund, which had previously 
 imported labouring emigrants to take the place of convicts, was 
 exhausted. The pastoral interest, whose fortunes had already been 
 seriously injured by the depreciation of their stock, determined to resist 
 the governor in his attempt to regulate their taxation, and to virtually 
 confiscate their property on the fiat of himself and his irresponsible 
 representatives, the Crown Commissioners. 
 
 I 2 
 
124 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 In the same year Lord Stanley's despatch, accompanying the act of 
 Parliament which gave legislative fixity to the land system, arrived in 
 the colony, and damped the expectations of those who had hoped that the 
 failure of the I an acre panacea for promoting concentration, regulating 
 wages, and encouraging cultivation, would induce the home government 
 to consult a little more the wishes and interests of actual colonists. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the first of six committees of the 
 Legislative Council which have examined and reported on this ques- 
 tion viz., two committees in 1843, one in 1844, one in 1845, and 
 two in 1847 was appointed, held its sittings, examined witnesses, and 
 made its report. 
 
 The committee of 1843 on "the crown land sales" examined, 
 amongst others, the surveyor-general, Sir Thomas Mitchell, one of the 
 M< Arthurs, and several landed and pastoral proprietors. They reported 
 that " the act of Parliament under their consideration cannot but be 
 injurious in its operation that it is calculated to prevent emigration 
 (of small capitalists), to withdraw capital, and to prevent the permanent 
 occupancy of the soil." 
 
 In the same year the select committee on immigration also reported 
 by its chairman, Dr. Nicholson (since elected speaker of the Council, 
 and knighted), " that the measure of her Majesty's government for 
 raising the upset price of land from 5s. to 12s., and subsequently to 
 20s. an acre, had completely annihilated the land fund, which, in six 
 years previous to the change, had produced one million sterling ;" and 
 they recommended, in a series of resolutions, one for "rescinding 
 the present land regulations and effecting a return of the old system of 
 sales ly auction, at an upset rate not exceeding 5s. an acre for pastoral 
 land." 
 
 In 1844 a "select committee on grievances connected with land in 
 the colony " examined twenty-six witnesses, and received answers to a 
 printed circular of questions from one hundred and twenty-two justices 
 of the peace. The attention of the committee was directed, among 
 other subjects, to the minimum price of land, and to the attempts to 
 harass the squatter, not being a purchaser of land, by rendering his 
 tenure of crown lands as uncertain and onerous as possible. 
 
 All the witnesses who were asked the question (except Mr. Deas 
 Thompson, the Colonial Secretary, who declined, on the ground of his 
 official character, to give an answer), and all the replies to the circulars, 
 except three, expressed decided opinions against the measure which 
 raised the minimum price of crown land from 5s. to 1 ; all justly 
 taking it for granted that at 1 an acre the purchase of pastoral lands 
 
THE LAND QUESTION. 125 
 
 was impossible, claimed fixity of tenure by lease, and right of pre- 
 emption for the squatter. The latter was the grand point with the 
 squatters ; that gained, their interest in the land question, except in 
 promoting sales to create an emigration fund, ceased. 
 
 The opinions of the three dissentients from the report of the com- 
 mittee exhibit very exactly the feelings of the small class, resident 
 chiefly in Port Phillip and South Australia, who advocate the high 
 price of land. 
 
 These three gentlemen are John Leslie Foster, of Leslie Park, 
 Melbourne Peter M< Arthur, of Arthurton, Melbourne John Moore 
 Airey, of Geelong. 
 
 Mr. Foster* says, very candidly, " I look on the price of one pound as 
 not too much for agricultural land, and as a prohibition on the purchase 
 of mere pastoral land. Being loth a landowner and a settler, I would 
 in both characters regret to see any reduction in the price, as it would 
 not only reduce the value of my (purchased) land, but, by rendering it 
 easier for others to purchase my (rented*) runs, would diminish the per- 
 manent interest I now hold in them." * 
 
 Mr. Moore thought " the country destined, from its physical charac- 
 ter, to become an aristocratic one ;" that " the class of emigrants really 
 beneficial to the country, English country gentlemen with some property, 
 but with large families and limited means, would not be deterred by 
 1 an acre ; that a class of small but independent farmers will never be 
 generally adapted to the country ; that it will eventually fall into the 
 hands of a landed aristocracy, who, possessing the frontages to water 
 convenient to the residence of tenants, will possess capital sufficient to 
 guard them against the vicissitudes of the seasons, as well as means to 
 cultivate the interior to advantage." 
 
 Mr. Peter M' Arthur (no relation to " the M* Arthur," of Camden) 
 " arrived in the colony in 1834, specially introduced to the favour and 
 protection of the governor by the Secretary of State." He recommends 
 that " the governor shall have the power to grant twelve thousand eight 
 hundred acres to respectable parties of station and education, and capital, 
 and of habits worthy of being imitated by the humbler class ;" one 
 thousand acres to be purchased at 1 an acre, payable by instalments in 
 ten years ; the remaining eleven thousand eight hundred to be held on 
 a perpetual quit rent of 12 per annum. 
 
 These three gentlemen evidently considered that imperial and 
 colonial interests were bound up in the encouragement of their class, in 
 
 * Mr. Foster has recently been appointed Colonial Secretary of Victoria. 
 
126 THE THREE COLONIES OP AUSTRALIA. 
 
 the protection of their interests, and the keeping down of aspiring 
 yeomanry. 
 
 The report of the committee on crown land grievances was the 
 foundation of a fierce agitation on the part of the pastoral interests for 
 the suppression of the obnoxious regulations as to the pastoral occupa- 
 tions, and for fixity of tenure. In this agitation, which was also directed 
 against the 1 acre minimum, the whole colony joined. Public meetings 
 were held in every part of New South Wales ; petitions and memorials 
 addressed to the home government were signed, sent to England, and 
 placed in the hands of political men of influence ; and influential organs 
 of the English press were enlisted in defence of the great pastoral interest. 
 
 In the same year the whole Council adopted resolutions condemning 
 the high price of land in the terms suggested by the committee. 
 
 In 1845 a fourth select committee reported against the 1 an acre 
 Act, supporting their opinions with a great body of facts and statistics, 
 and concluded by observing, that " the practical evils resulting from the 
 augmentation of the upset price of land had already been fully developed 
 in the Eeport on Immigration and the Eeport on Waste Lands in 
 1843, and in the Land Grievance Report of 1844, and in the opinions 
 of your honourable Council, distinctly pronounced on the same 
 subject, in the resolutions of the whole Council of the 17th Sep- 
 tember, 1844." 
 
 To complete the history of the land question we will add, that in 
 1 847, under the administration of Sir George Gipps's successor, a select 
 committee on immigration, of which Mr. Cowper was chairman, reported 
 " the disastrous results and impolicy of the high upset price;" and also 
 that a select committee, presided over by Mr. Eobert Lowe (now so 
 well known in England), made an elaborate report against the high 
 upset price of land, to which we shall have occasion to allude more 
 minutely in describing the compromise effected between the government 
 and the squatters under the government of Sir Charles Fitzroy. 
 
 But Governor Gipps stood firm ; determined to make war on the 
 squatters, determined to maintain the obnoxious 1 an acre, and to 
 carry out the spirit of the act which imposed it, by throwing, as he was 
 instructed, all possible obstacles in the way of men of small capital 
 investing their savings in land ; and he was supported by the British 
 Colonial Office. 
 
 For while the governor was courageously attacking the most wealthy 
 and powerful body in the colony, he took no pains to foster that class 
 of yeomanry which were the object of Sir Richard Bourke's peculiar 
 care. He divided the land into large lots ; discouraged small holdings, 
 
EMIGRATION. 127 
 
 whether of land or stock ; and treated emigrants as merchandise or live 
 stock consigned for the benefit of the purchasers of land. 
 
 It certainly was most unfortunate for the colony that the initiation 
 of a representative government, the substitution of free emigrant for 
 prisoner labour, and the attempt to establish local self-government, 
 should have fallen under the direction of one who, with great talents, 
 was obstinately determined not to learn anything from experience, and 
 not to permit any measure of reform he did not originate. His want 
 of pliability was strikingly displayed in the conduct of emigration. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 EMIGRATION. 
 
 WHEN grants of land ceased altogether, and were superseded by 
 sales, the character of emigration to Australia, and even the 
 motives which directed it, were materially changed. To Australia, pre- 
 vious to 1831, the same class of persons proceeded in small numbers, 
 who by thousands have resorted, during the last ten years, to Canada, 
 and, above all, to the western states of America families with capital 
 varying from fifty to five hundred pounds, intent on living on land of 
 their own. 
 
 The distance, and the then little known capabilities, of Australia, 
 would, twenty years ago, have made it, under any circumstances, a 
 difficult task to direct towards its shores a similar stream of colonists ; 
 but the new system of so raising the price and the quantity of land sold, 
 so as to discourage the purchases of all but the wealthy, and of devoting 
 the proceeds to the importation of able-bodied labourers for their use, 
 altered the whole character of the free colonisation. The new system 
 was not without merits as a temporary expedient for supplying, as 
 rapidly as possible, the demand for shepherd servants, occasioned by the 
 abolition of the assignment system, peopling the shores of the newly- 
 settled districts in Port Phillip and South Australia. But as a per- 
 manent measure the moral and social defects were, and are, very serious. 
 
 By the emigration land fund system the parent state is relieved 
 of a certain amount of (surplus?) labour without expense, and the 
 colonies are supplied with the same, in proportion to the amount 
 received for the purchase or rent of land. According to the principles 
 of the system, those who are rich enough to purchase or rent land (the 
 
128 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 minimum of rent Toeing 4,000 sheep) have a right to dictate what 
 manner of labour shall be supplied for the money. The sort of 
 labourers who suit the employers of labour are not often those who 
 would contribute most to the intelligence and education of a colony. 
 For a long series of years the Australian flockowners' beau-ideal of an 
 emigrant was an able-bodied single man from an agricultural county 
 humble, ignorant, and strong. 
 
 The South Australian commissioners exhibited one halfpennyworth 
 of sense, amid gallons of nonsense and jobbery, by introducing the system 
 of pairs of both sexes. This was the one good feature in their system. 
 
 The Australian squatters, and all persons more or less in communi- 
 cation with, and able to influence, the home government, like our own 
 agricultural and the American manufacturing interest, held two very 
 strong opinions first, that their pursuit was the only calling of any 
 consequence to the State ; and, secondly, that it could not be protected 
 too much. They always wanted labour, and it could not be too cheap. 
 
 We find them constantly desiring to bring down wages to a level 
 which, if reached, would have very soon put a stop to all emigration, 
 for it would have been lower than in England, and that was not worth 
 crossing the sea to earn. We find them constantly desiring to dictate 
 what class of labourers they would have, and that class specially in 
 reference to sheep. We find them depreciating, not untruthfully 
 perhaps, but untruly, the character of the Australian soil and of the 
 Australian agricultural settlers. To them the Alpha and Omega of 
 the Australian colonies was breed sheep, to grow wool and tallow. 
 
 Even when claiming a return to a low price of land, many desired 
 to keep up the size of lots, so as to exclude small farmers from freehold. 
 
 The result we now see. For fifteen years the agents of the colony 
 and the emigration commissioners have been recruiting and sending 
 out emigrant recruits. Their most successful operations have been 
 conducted in times of distress in the home labour market. The fund 
 in the early period of the system down to 1839, when all the colonists 
 were madly engaged in nodding at the government continental land 
 sales, was sufficient to pay the passages out of fifty thousand emigrants. 
 For a time the market was apparently glutted, but the increase of stock, 
 and the judicious measures introduced by Caroline Chisholm, soon 
 absorbed them. Soon arose an increased demand for labour. The 
 land fund was dried up ; sales at 1 an acre were few and far between, 
 except in the copper-mining colony of South Australia ; but by degrees 
 he rents from pastoral occupations of crown lands became so large that 
 security was found for an emigration debt, to which was added, from 
 
EMIGRATION. 129 
 
 time to time, the produce of town and suburban lots, and, as the popu- 
 lation increased, occasionally of choice rural land. But it occurred 
 more than once that when labour was needed in the colony there were 
 no funds, and, when funds were forwarded to England, that the com- 
 missioners found a difficulty in collecting suitable emigrants. 
 
 Indeed, until the discovery of the gold-fields, very few, except the 
 utterly destitute among the labouring classes, turned their attention to 
 Australia. 
 
 Committees on emigration were appointed by the Legislative 
 Council in 1839, when the bounty system was in operation, in 1842, 
 in 1843, and in 1845 ; and in 1843 and 1844 committees on the " dis- 
 tressed labourers" of Sydney collected important evidence bearing on 
 the same subject. It is worthy of remark that in these, as in com- 
 mittees appointed by the British Parliament, witnesses have seldom been 
 called from among the respectable mechanics and labourers who are 
 most interested in emigration, and best acquainted with the emigrating 
 classes. 
 
 The committee of 1839 reported that emigrants were being intro- 
 duced at the rate of 12,500 souls a year, at a cost of about 17 per 
 adult, expressed a decided preference for bounty over government 
 emigrants, and recommended a loan to be raised on the security of the 
 land fund, and devoted to emigration a bounty at 19 a head for adults 
 only, excluding children, and very humbly prayed that the crown would 
 devote the land fund, which they calculated at not less than 150,000 
 a year, to emigration purposes. It is curious to remark that the com- 
 mittee object to the introduction of emigrants over forty years of age. 
 The government emigration agent had invited emigrants of fifty years 
 of age. The gold discoveries have recently enlightened the pastoral 
 interests to the value of parents of even sixty years of age. 
 
 In 1842 the committee repeat their preference for the bounty 
 system, announcing that in the preceding twelve months 23,000 emi- 
 grants had been introduced, and the cessation of emigration, in conse- 
 quence of the falling off of the land fund, to an extent unexpected by 
 the home government. They gently hint at the propriety of a reduc- 
 tion of the price of land to five shillings an acre. The tone of the 
 document is that of a respectable nominee council. 
 
 The committee of 1843 represented the wealthy squatting class, 
 and the majority took an entirely colonial and pastoral view of the 
 labour question. They wanted shepherds as quickly and as cheaply as 
 possible, and nothing else. No seven-shilling a week farmer no 
 cottage-destroying landlord no unlimited- time-of-labour manufacturer 
 
130 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 no woman-employing coal-worker, could have taken a narrower view 
 of the question. 
 
 There is unfortunately in all of us a germ of selfishness which, 
 when unchecked by public opinion or political opposition, is apt to 
 grow into injustice and tyranny. In private life the squatters were 
 excellent, generous, hospitable men ; but one large proportion consisted 
 of old colonists accustomed to convict servants, who cost nothing 
 beyond their board and lodging, and another of young bachelors of 
 capital, who arrived in the colony to make a fortune, intent on returning 
 to the old country as soon as it was made. The one despised, and the 
 other were indifferent to the opinions of the working classes. Both 
 dreamed of naturalising in Australia the miserable wages of the southern 
 counties of England and the Highland counties of Scotland. 
 
 To resist the aggressions of Sir George G-ipps on the pastoral 
 interest the squatters had formed themselves into a protective association, 
 and by an easy process the association, founded to resist unjust confis- 
 cation and taxation, branched off into a combination for permanently 
 lowering the wages of the colony. At the head of this association was 
 the late Mr. Benjamin Boyd. Mr. Boyd arrived with the express 
 purpose of making investments at the time (1841) that the colony was 
 in a general state of insolvency, or, as he expressed it, " in a jam." A 
 yacht of the Royal Squadron, an apparently unlimited capital, an 
 imposing personal appearance, fluent oratory, aristocratic connexions, 
 and a fair share of commercial acuteness, acquired on the Stock 
 Exchange, at once and deservedly placed him at the head of the squat- 
 ocracy. His aim was the possession of a million sheep. He was the 
 chief of the hundred thousand sheepmen, with whom he combined to 
 obtain fixity of tenure for their sheep pastures, to put down small 
 settlers, and to reduce wages. 
 
 At the period we are describing, from 1841 to 1844, the colonial 
 labour market presented the most curious contradictions. The bounty 
 agents were pouring in a crowd of most unsuitable persons, who, once 
 landed, were soon left to shift for themselves. Among the merchants 
 of the town of Sydney distress prevailed in consequence of the cessation 
 of building and other works, the wages of mechanics were depressed to 
 a rate before unknown, and newly-arrived immigrants were astonished 
 at the low rate of pay for town labour, so different to the flaming repre- 
 sentations of the crimps by whom they had been collected. But in the 
 country districts, and especially in the bush, where sheep and cattle 
 were breeding, while their proprietors were going through the insolvent 
 process, wages were maintained; and the anomaly was presented of 
 
EMIGRATION. 131 
 
 large bodies of men being employed at the expense of government, at 
 high wages, at public works, on a sham labour test, while flocks were 
 wanting shepherds in the interior. Several causes supported this 
 anomaly : 1st, There was no government machinery for distributing 
 newly-arrived emigrants ; 2ndly, The preference of the squatters for 
 single men left families on the hands of the government ; 3rdly, The 
 Squatters' Club were not sorry to see the government embarrassed by 
 the presence of a large body of unemployed labourers in Sydney ; 4thly, 
 The dishonest conduct of certain masters in withholding or unfairly 
 deducting wages promised had given the bush a bad name ; 5thly, 
 Many of the emigrants were of a class who, having left parish aid behind, 
 liked to keep close to government rations and wages. All were 
 engaged, as far as their short-sighted views would permit, in killing the 
 golden goose of colonisation. 
 
 Mr. Boyd's evidence before the immigration committee of 1843 
 affords, when read with the notes we can supply, a fair specimen of the 
 haughty, gentlemanly, selfish class he represented. He had then been 
 eighteen months in the colony, and was employing two hundred shep- 
 herds and stockmen, besides artificers. He was building a town and 
 port at Twofold Bay ; had two steam-boats, and a schooner yacht, the 
 Wanderer. He had devised a wild scheme of saving labour, by putting 
 three thousand sheep, instead of eight hundred, under the charge of 
 one shepherd, on horseback. 
 
 Mr. Boyd despaired of the prosperity of the colony " unless the 
 wages of a shepherd could be brought to 10 a year, or about 3s. lOd. a 
 week, with meat and flour, without tea and sugar." The two last had 
 been previously universally allowed ; but he expressed his intention of 
 doing away with them, " being of very questionable utility and neces- 
 sity, although such is the waste and extravagance here that 8 Ibs of tea 
 and 90 Ibs. of sugar are consumed per head." He states, further, that 
 he " had no difficulty in engaging shepherds at 10 with these rations, 
 but much difficulty in getting men engaged at these low wages for- 
 warded to stations, as they were generally picked up on the road." 
 " Any money advanced towards travelling expenses was usually spent 
 in public-houses;" and it is his decided opinion that "more than 10 
 a year only does harm to shepherds, by sending them to public-houses." 
 
 Mr. Boyd also mentioned how he had kindly given a free passage 
 to Twofold Bay, distant 600 miles from Sydney, to one hundred 
 labourers out of employ. He did not mention that, on their arriving 
 there, those who refused to accept 10 wages were refused a passage 
 back for less than 5 j and that, while a few strong men walked back 
 
132 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 over the mountains, those who remained created such a feeling in the 
 country that Mr. Boyd could not venture to visit his stations until the 
 time of the year when the police magistrate, with a guard of policemen, 
 took his annual round. 
 
 Fortunately all squatters were not like the Boyd clan, and the pro- 
 ductiveness of the land defeated the combination. Had it been other- 
 wise, a very few years would have produced a servile war of men against 
 masters. From the Boyd clan proceeded stories founded on fact, and 
 dressed to suit a purpose, about allotments of land sold for quarts of rum, 
 champagne drunk in buckets by shearers and shepherds, who insisted 
 on having pickles with their [measley ?] pork. 
 
 Another order of men, chiefly permanent colonists, residing on their 
 own property, were represented by Mr. Charles Campbell as employing 
 from fifty to sixty shepherds and watchmen. " He had been obliged 
 by the pressure of the times, to reduce his old servants to 18 for 
 shepherds and 16 for watchmen, and had not found them so reluctant 
 to accept the reduction as he expected. He would hardly like to see 
 wages lower." He thought a great oversight had been committed by 
 settlers in neglecting to form villages on their estates. He says, " Many 
 of those who now complain of want of employment in Sidney might 
 have been comfortably settled up the country in small villages, contain- 
 ing from ten to twelve men, heads of families, in various callings. In 
 the present state of things we employ, at sheepshearing and reaping, 
 men who wander through the country, from one place to another, in 
 quest of occasional employment. Many of these are handy, clever 
 fellows, but unmarried, and of irregular and dissolute habits. All these 
 men earn is frequently spent in the first public-houses they come to 
 after leaving the station where they have been employed. If, instead 
 of employing men of this class, the flockmasters and landowners had 
 invited married emigrants to settle in small villages, by allowing them 
 land at a low rent, and not attempting to monopolise their labour, per- 
 mitting them to choose their own employer in the neighbourhood, we 
 should have our reaping, mowing, and shearing done at a cheaper rate ; 
 and the emigrants, by means of the money made during the busy season, 
 added to their earnings, would maintain their families well, and their 
 children, from not being scattered, might have opportunities of learning 
 to read and write, and of receiving religious instruction. Many wouU 
 in a few years become small farmers first as tenants, then as land- 
 holders, and in either capacity would increase the demand for labour." 
 
 This was sound sense in Charles Campbell, as contrasted with the 
 selfishness of Benjamin Boyd ; but although Mr. Campbell's views were 
 
EMIGRATION. 133 
 
 afterwards enforced and illustrated with a large collection of facts 
 gathered by the one great colonial reformer produced by Australia, yet 
 1851 found the pastoral interests as ill provided with permanent labour 
 as 1843. The selfish maxims of Mr. Boyd's Bent Street Club prevailed 
 after the ruin and death of the founder. The successful efforts to 
 retain good land as sheep walks only, to encourage the growth of sheep 
 and discourage the rearing of children, found Australia, when the golden 
 revolution broke out, largely dependent on wandering shepherds, bound 
 by no ties, either moral or local, social or domestic, to the district or 
 the land of which they had no share. Even at this hour short-sighted 
 successors to the Boyd policy are attempting to forge legal bonds to 
 retain the unwilling services of cheap shepherds, hired in Europe any- 
 thing rather than give up a share in the land monopoly, although it is 
 melting from their grasp. 
 
 But while the governor, backed by the Colonial Office, was deep in 
 the contest which killed him and deceived thousands while the bounty 
 crimps were pouring in their miscellaneous collections to work or 
 saunter, or, if women, walk the streets while the squatters, losing 
 sight of the just half of their claim, were factiously obstructing all 
 government, and ready to ruin the bodies and souls of shepherds to 
 save wool an individual appeared, unencumbered with colonising 
 theories, undebased by any mercenary objects, laborious in collecting 
 facts, diffident in expressing new opinions, prepared to learn, willing to 
 teach, and anxious to be useful to all conditions of men. This indi- 
 vidualCaroline Chisholm the greatest, the only practical reformer 
 and worker in colonisation of the age, who will be remembered and 
 blessed by thousands following their flocks and cultivating their farms 
 in Australia, when the names of the land-jobbers and charlatans of the 
 " sufficient-price school," the " Protectionists of colonial capital," are 
 forgotten. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CAROLINE CHISHOLM. 
 
 MRS. CAROLINE CHISHOLM arrived in Sydney in 1839, with 
 her children and husband, Captain Archibald Chisholm, of the 
 Madras army, who had been making a tour of the Australian colonies 
 during a limited sick leave. On returning to India he decided to leave 
 his family in New South Wales. 
 
 Soon after their arrival, during the first crash of insolvency of 1839, 
 some Highland emigrants, who spoke no English and had large families, 
 found difficulty in obtaining employment. A little money lent them 
 by Captain Chisholm to purchase tools, and a little useful advice, set 
 them up as wood-cutters, and they prospered ; while assisting his coun- 
 trymen, having seen the neglected state of the bounty emigrants, he 
 pointed them out to his wife as fit objects for her charitable zeal and 
 energy. There is a wonderful freemasonry among the poor by degrees 
 Mrs. Chisholm's rooms were crowded by emigrants seeking advice. But 
 it was 'the unprotected position of female and often friendless emigrants 
 that awakened her warmest sympathies. She commenced her work, in 
 the literal sense of the term, by at the same time gathering information 
 and acquiring the confidence of the working classes. 
 
 Mrs. Chisholm found young women who had emigrated nominally 
 under the care of friends, but really under that of strangers, at the 
 instigation of the bounty agent, without home, some lodged in tents 
 with companions of indifferent character, others wandering friendless 
 through the streets of Sydney. Many of them having been collected 
 in rural districts, knew more of cows and pigs than housework, and if 
 engaged in town, soon lost their situations, and were superseded by more 
 accomplished servants from ships which arrived daily. Some of these 
 poor creatures slept in retired nooks out in the public gardens and in 
 the rocks, rather than face the contamination of the streets. The total 
 number of respectable females unemployed in Sydney at one time in 
 1840-1 amounted to six hundred. 
 
 There were other and more serious evils attendant on emigration, 
 as then conducted, than the condition of the emigrants on landing. A 
 considerable number of females of notoriously bad character were sent 
 out in the bounty ships for whom bounty was never claimed. The 
 
CAROLINE CHISHOLM. 135 
 
 Emigration Board sat in Sydney merely to apportion the bounty ; the 
 utmost punishment they could inflict was to stop the passage-money 
 due to the agents. So long as the emigrants were delivered in good 
 health, and within the standard, there was neither tribunal nor even 
 organised opinion which could be brought to bear on any of the parties 
 connected with the mercantile transaction. If duly invoiced, the bill 
 for the live lumber was paid, while damaged goods were rejected. In 
 some ships the emigrants were deprived of their fair share of provisions, 
 insulted and assaulted by the crew, even by the officers, and otherwise 
 abused. In others unrestrained intercourse took place between the 
 officers, the crew, and the female passengers. In more than one instance 
 the captain or surgeon selected pretty emigrants for companions during 
 the voyage, and during their stay in Sydney. 
 
 On arrival in harbour, not only were single gentlemen allowed to 
 choose housekeepers on board, but notorious brothel-keepers regularly 
 visited the emigrant-ships. The captain and surgeon could not know 
 them, and had no power to impede them if they did. There was no 
 government officer on board to superintend the contracts or protect 
 the emigrants ; and thus, while women fell into the hands of seducers 
 and harlots, there were a certain number of keen hands, with whom few 
 in the colony would deal without a lawyer, who skimmed the cream of the 
 labour from the ship on terms of very sharp practice. All these things 
 oozed out in England among the emigrating classes, and made, and 
 continued to make, long after they were to a great extent remedied, 
 emigration very unpopular ; but no one cared, or dared to take up the 
 obnoxious and ungenteel position of the emigrants' friend in Sydney. 
 The colonists had not then learned that the cheapest and most powerful 
 mode of colonising is to make the working colonists content. 
 
 Mrs. Chisholm had courage and foresight. She began by appealing 
 to the press and to private individuals on behalf of the poor destitute 
 girl immigrants. At first she met with much discouragement, a few 
 civil speeches no assistance. 
 
 The most imperious section of the employer class saw no advantage 
 from the protection of the employed. The officials foresaw more work, 
 some supervision, and no increase of pay. The Roman Catholics, as 
 soon as they found it was to be a universal, or, to use the Irish term, a 
 " godless " scheme of practical philanthropy, and not sectarian and pro- 
 selytising, opposed it vehemently. A dignitary of that church wrote 
 a letter to a newspaper, in which he termed Mrs. Chisholm a lady 
 labouring under amiable delusions. At the same time the Protestants 
 raised the cry of " No Popery !" 
 
136 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 But she pressed on her plan of a "Home/' and when almost 
 defeated was nerved to determination by the sight of a Highland 
 beauty, "poor Flora" whom she had last known a happy, hopeful 
 girl drunken, despairing, contemplating, and hastening to commit, 
 suicide. 
 
 Mrs. Chisholm offered to devote her time gratuitously to a " Home 
 of Protection," and to endeavour to procure situations for the emigrant 
 girls, unengaged and out of place, in the country an offer which was 
 eventually accepted, after "she had given an undertaking not to 
 put the government to any expense." On obtaining this concession 
 she issued the following circular, which will give an example of that 
 practical business talent to which she owes her success, not less than 
 to her genuine philanthropy : 
 
 " JAMIESON-STREET, SYDNEY, October 21st, 1841. 
 
 " Sir, I am endeavouring to establish a ' Home for Female Immigrants,' 
 and have little doubt but funds will soon be raised to enable me to accomplish 
 this; and, as my first object is to facilitate their obtaining employment in the 
 country, I shall feel obliged if you will favour my intention (should you approve 
 of the same) by giving me the information I require regarding your district; and 
 any suggestion you may think useful will be considered a favour. 
 
 " 1st. Whether girls who at home have merely been accustomed to milk cows, 
 wash, and the common household work about a farm, would readily get places? 
 at what wages? and how many do you think would in the course of the next two 
 years be required? 
 
 " 2nd. Good servants, such as housemaids and cooks, the rate of wages? and 
 the probable number required for the same period ? 
 
 " 3rd. Married couples with small families, say two or three children, ditto. 
 
 " 4th. Could employment and protection be found for boys and girls from 
 seven to fourteen years of age? 
 
 " 5th. Have you had opportunities of observing if the young women can save 
 any part of their wages ? for they are generally of opinion that nothing can be 
 saved in the country, every article of wearing apparel being so much dearer 
 than in town. 
 
 " 6th. What would be the cheapest and best way of conveying the young 
 women to your district? 
 
 " I have to observe that the servants will be classed according to their quali- 
 fications, and distributed fairly, so that those who are absent will have an equal 
 chance of getting a good servant with those who are present. Subscribers of 
 1 will have servants selected and sent to them without any trouble; it will, 
 however, be necessary that an order should be sent to cover the expense of 
 their conveyance. 
 
 " I require by donations to raise what will furnish a house ; and by 
 subscriptions I expect to support the institution. I am of opinion that 
 when families in the interior can get servants sent them, we shall not hear 
 of young women suffering distress and losing character for want of a situation. 
 
CAROLINE CHISIIOLM. 137 
 
 I shall feel obliged if you will favour me with a reply by the 10th of November 
 next. 
 
 " I have taken the liberty to annex a subscription list, and I shall feel obliged 
 if you would leave it in the hands of some person to receive subscriptions, and 
 acquaint me with the name, that it may appear in the papers." 
 
 It was in reply to one of these circulars that the Rev. Henry 
 Styles, of Windsor, the chaplain to the Bishop of Australia, an honest 
 opponent, wrote : " I fully appreciate the zeal and charity in your 
 endeavours to establish the ' Home for Female Emigrants/ My only 
 reason for declining to co-operate in a design which at first sight 
 appears so entirely laudable is, that it is natural to suppose that an 
 institution established by a lady who is a devoted member of the 
 Catholic Church, which renders allegiance to Rome, should prove 
 rather an instrument for augmenting the numbers of that communion, 
 than merely what its name imports a home for all destitute female 
 emigrants, without respect to their religious professions. The result 
 would be, that the immigrants in your * Home' would be advised, re- 
 strained, and protected by the clergy of the Church of Rome." After 
 thus expressing himself, the reverend gentlemen replied minutely to 
 every question in the circular. 
 
 Mrs. Chisholm's answer to this plain and proper letter produced a 
 second letter from Mr. Styles, in which he said, " Your frank and 
 straightforward avowal of the objects you aim at, and the means you 
 will use for their attainment, disarm suspicion. The assurance in your 
 note that you will not be led by the agents of any ecclesiastical party, 
 but that you will pursue steadily the good of the whole of the emigrants 
 who may come under your care, referring in matters of religion to their 
 respective clergy and teachers, induces me to offer you very cordially 
 whatever support I am able to afford. I beg to enclose 2 as a 
 donation." 
 
 Eleven years have elapsed since this correspondence took place. 
 Proselytism and propagandism are not to be done in a corner. For 
 every day during that period Mrs. Chisholm has almost lived in public, 
 yet no case of misuse of her influence has ever been brought against her. 
 
 The government building appropriated to the " Home " consisted 
 of a low wooden barrack fourteen feet square. Mrs. Chisholm found it 
 needful, for the protection of the characters of the girls, k> sleep on tht 
 premises. A store-room seven feet square, without a fire-place, and in- 
 fested with rats, was cleared out for her accommodation. There she 
 dwelt, eating, drinking, and sleeping, dependent on the kindness of a 
 prisoner employed in the adjoining government printing-office for a 
 
138 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 kettle of hot water for tea, her only luxury ; and there she laid the 
 foundation of a system to which thousands owe their happiness in this 
 world and the world to come saved from temptation to vice, and put 
 on the road to industrious independence; a system which, if fairly 
 carried out, would save and civilise a great empire from the pollution 
 of nomadic money-earning and unsocial profusion from the rule of a 
 plutocracy and the horrors of a servile war. 
 
 Following the example of our greatest philosophers in every branch 
 of science, Mrs. Chisholm was careful and eager to collect facts, but 
 slow to publish grave conclusions. If she claimed publicity it was not 
 to propound a complicated theory, but to attack some flagrant abuse. 
 
 The first party of girls collected within the " Home" amounted 
 to ninety, whom Mrs. Chisholm protected from open insult, covert 
 seduction, and the evil influence of black sheep, inevitably admitted 
 at times, while seeking to obtain them employment. The difficulties 
 were great, the annoyances most wearying. The girls were many of 
 them ignorant and awkward, others too pretty, and others again too 
 proud and idle to work ; but Mrs. Chisholm never gave them up while 
 there was hope and a good heart. 
 
 She says in her first pamphlet " If I had entered the office expect- 
 ing grateful thanks from all, I should have seen in a week my folly ; 
 but, having a very fair knowledge of human nature, I was aware that 
 to be able to do a good I must be prepared to encounter certain dis- 
 agreeables. I did not start expecting to please all, but intending to be 
 just and fair towards all/' 
 
 As for the mistresses, she told them in print probably the first time 
 so wholesome a truth had been so plainly stated that " the assignment 
 system of convict servants had spoiled them a little ; it will take some 
 time to teach them," she observes, " that they have lost a little power, 
 or, in fact, that they must bear and forbear;" "an English servant 
 would not like the ration and lock-up system, and would expect 
 domestic comforts not common in Sydney ;" " many of the mistresses 
 are apt to take the law into their own hands." 
 
 These statements were unpleasant to make and unpopular ; but they 
 worked a cure, which if not effected would have damaged the character 
 of the colony in the home country. 
 
 The general public, as distinguished from the official class, when 
 they understood the nature of the plans Mrs. Chisholm was engaged 
 upon, responded very liberally to her appeal for assistance. But before 
 they gained confidence in her plans the " Home" became crowded with 
 a number of girls more fit for rough country work than town service. 
 
CAROLINE CHISHOLM. 139 
 
 There was no machinery extant for distributing them, so Mrs. Chisholm 
 determined to avail herself of the information supplied in answers to 
 her circulars, and to send them into the country. The first dray that 
 came to the door was sent away empty : frightened with foolish 
 'board-ship stories of blacks and bushrangers, not one girl would go. 
 A second attempt, the first failure having been kept a secret, was 
 successful. Mrs. Chisholm, at her own risk and expense, took a party 
 up the Hunter River district by steam-boat. The enterprise was 
 considered so Quixotish by her friends that, as she sat on deck in the 
 centre of her troop of girls, no one of her acquaintance dared to 
 expose himself to the ridicule of owning acquaintance by offering any 
 refreshment. 
 
 The plan succeeded ; the girls were well placed in the families of 
 often humble but always respectable married people, and competent 
 committees were t induced to undertake the charge of " Branch Homes " 
 in the interior. The bush journeys were repeated with parties of young 
 women, varing from sixteen to thirty, who were conveyed to Campbell 
 Town, Maitland, Liverpool, Paramatta, Cross Roads, and Port Mac- 
 quarie Yass, Gundegai, Murrumbidgee, Goulburn, and Bathurst 
 where she went from farm to farm, scrutinising the characters of the 
 residents before she trusted them with " her children." 
 
 The settlers came forward nobly, and supplied provisions, horses, 
 and drays ; the inns universally refused payment for Mrs. Chisholm's 
 personal accommodation ; and the coaches, a most costly conveyance in 
 Australia, carried her sick women and children free. Mr. William 
 Bradley, a gentleman born in the colony, a member of the Legislative 
 Council, gave an unlimited credit to draw for anything for the use of 
 the emigrants of which she was not obliged to avail herself, so liberally 
 did the colonists of the interior come forward. 
 
 Yery soon the fathers, brothers, sons, and husbands claimed the 
 same care, and asked to be permitted to form part of her parties. Her 
 journeys became longer and her armies larger : 147 souls left Sydney, 
 which increased on the road to 240, in one party, in drays and on foot, 
 Mrs. Chisholm leading the way on horseback. She established a 
 registry-office for servants, where names could be inscribed and agree- 
 ments effected on fair terms gratuitously : she drew up and printed a 
 fair agreement, of which the master took one, the servant one, and one 
 was filed. The result of this registration was to extinguish litigation 
 as far as regards servants engaged at the " Home." Out of many 
 thousands only two were litigated. Yet in the course of her experience, 
 before she stirred in the matter, and for want of agreements and speedy 
 
 j 2 
 
140 THE THREE COLONIES OP AUSTRALIA. 
 
 justice, fifty-one cases occurred up to 1843 of wages unjustly detained 
 or taxed. For the first time the emigrant found a " friend." 
 
 The abuse of power by captains, and the immorality of the inferior 
 sort of surgeons, at that time engaged in the Australian trade, were 
 checked by a prosecution which she compelled the governor to institute 
 against parties who Irad driven a girl mad by their violence. 
 
 When Sir George Gipps, hesitating, said, as officials will say, " A 
 government prosecution is a very serious matter," she answered, " I am 
 ready to prosecute : / have the necessary evidence ; and if it be a risk 
 whether I or these men shall go to prison, I am ready to stand the 
 risk." That trial established a precedent and checked the abuse. 
 
 By the end of 1842 Mrs. Chisholm had succeeded in placing com- 
 fortably two thousand emigrants of both sexes, and then, when slowly 
 recovering from the effects of a serious illness brought on by her 
 exertions, she published the remarkable report to which we have before 
 alluded.* 
 
 It is a collection of notes and memoranda, interspersed with pithy 
 remarks and pathetic and comic sketches from real life a valuable con- 
 tribution to the art of colonisation, and a literary curiosity. It was an 
 outspoken book ; it did not mince matters as, for instance, in the fol- 
 lowing passage, which went far to kill the bounty system, and so, although 
 people were shocked, the evil was abated : " One girl, long known at 
 Liverpool as the Countess, arrived per ship ; the last time I saw her was 
 on a Sunday ; she had evidently started in the morning, with an inten- 
 tion to look interesting at either St. James's or St. Mary's, for her book 
 was in her hand ; but she had taken a glass by the way, and was so far 
 aware of her state that she retired to the domain. I saw her fall twice. 
 Now people express their astonishment ' that English girls are not sent 
 out/ We will suppose that some Liverpool families are meditating this 
 step, and, in their anxiety to obtain all information, they learn that the 
 Countess is missing has left for Australia (by a bounty ship). They 
 condemn all for one they shrink with horror from sending their 
 daughters where the Countess is received they are strangers to all on 
 board, therefore all suffer for one. I wish particularly to call attention 
 to the injustice done to girls of good character by a case of association, 
 and not a solitary one like the one I have stated. Again, in Sydney, 
 the character of the Countess is known in less than two hours, arid the 
 girls of good character in the same ship suffer." 
 
 In this " Countess" story was the germ of one great feature of 
 
 * " Female Emigration considered in a Brief Account of the Sydney Emigrants' Home. By the 
 Secretary. Sydney : James Tegg, 1842." 
 
THE DO-XOTHINGS SHAM GOVERNESSES. 141 
 
 Mrs. Chisholm's Family Colonisation- Society protection for single 
 girls. 
 
 In the same effective manner the letter exposes all the tricks 
 practised on the Bounty Board and on the government agents. The 
 following illustrates a class still plentiful : 
 
 "One girl, having health and strength, had refused five situations; at last I 
 thought I had suited her. She was to live in a settler's family, and teach five 
 children to read and write: she was not required to wash the children; but, as 
 the good and thrifty woman kept no servants, she was to wash her own clothes 
 (or pay for the same out of her wages), make her own bed, and clean her own 
 room : the good woman also said, she would teach her anything she knew, but ask 
 her to do nothing. I thought there could be no objection to this; but when I told 
 her that once a week she must scour her own room (the best in the house) when 
 I said this she burst into a passionate flood of tears ; the degradation was more 
 than she could bear. I thought it then my duty to refuse her the benefit of the 
 Home. In less than three months from this this victim of false pride was living 
 
 with ; anything rather than work. I have since regretted that I did not 
 
 give her one more trial." 
 
 " The ' Do-nothings.' This name will surprise some and offend others, but in 
 the end will do good; and I really do not know any one useful thing they can do. 
 
 E was entered as a governess; I was glad of this, for I had then, as I have 
 
 now, several applications for governesses, in the country: she was a pretty girl 
 too; and I know when pretty girls have no money no friends Sydney is a very 
 bad place. There is nothing so unpleasant as to question a young lady as to her 
 competency. She could teach music, French, drawing, &c. &c. ; she was satisfied 
 with the salary, and her testimonials were first-rate. 'You say you can teach 
 music?' 'Yes ma'am.' 'You thoroughly understand it ?' 'Most certainly.' 
 ' One of your pupils is nine years of age ; how long do you think it will take 
 her to get through Cramer's Instruction Book?' A pause. 'Perhaps you 
 have not seen it ?' 'No, ma'am, but I was very quick myself I have a good 
 ear for music.' ' "What book did you study from ?' ' I learnt singing and 
 music at the same time.' 'Tell me the name of the first piece you played? 
 ' Cherry ripe.' ' The second ? ' ' Home sweet home.' ' The third ? ' 
 ' We're a' noddin.' I said no more about music. I gave her a sum in addition ; 
 and she made sixteen pounds five, eighteen pounds four. Now this girl I after- 
 wards ascertained, at home, had lived in a family as nursemaid, and washed the 
 clothes of five children every week: but she was a pretty girl something of a 
 favourite at sea. The captain was very anxious about her; had taken her in 
 his own boat, to the North-shore, to try and get her a good place ; he devoted 
 seven hours to this work of charity. Nor did his zeal rest here the following 
 day he took her to Paramatta ; they returned to the ship, and this girl was 
 kept four days in it, after the other girls left. When he called at my office he 
 was astonished, horrified, that I knew the detail ; said Sydney was a scandalising 
 place ; that his feelings were those of a father. However, I received the girl 
 the same evening, and removed her the following day very far from his parental 
 influence." 
 
 "But for another specimen; and really, out of fifty, I am at a loss how 
 
142 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 to select; but I will give . She was another of the would-be governesses; 
 
 but her views were more humble for the nursery. Now, she could neither read, 
 write, nor spell, correctly. 'Can you wash your own clothes?" 'Never did 
 such a thing in my life.' 'Can you make a dress?' 'No.' 'Cook?' 'No.' 
 'What can you do?' 'Why, ma'am, I could look after servants; I could direct 
 them; I should make an excellent housekeeper.' 'You are certain?' 'Yes, or 
 I would not say so.' ' Do you know the quantity of the different ingredients 
 wanted for a beef-steak pie for that dish and a rice pudding for this?' ' Oh, 
 no, ma'am, that's not what I mean; I'd see that the servants did it.' 'But there 
 might be great waste, and you not know it; besides all, or nearly all, the servants 
 sent to this colony require teaching.' Nothing but my faith in Providence that 
 there must be a place for everybody enabled me to bear with this infliction ; and 
 yet, if I turned them out, I knew their fate. But it was trying to my patience 
 every morning to be up and breakfasted, and in my office first. I never had but 
 one in the Home of this class that fairly made her own bed ; they would smooth 
 them over and, night after night, get into them." 
 
 The following is in a more serious strain : 
 
 " I may here remark, that in going my evening rounds in the rear of the 
 establishment I never met with any impertinence. And after I had been three 
 months or so in office, on going out, I saw a large party of men at the corner of 
 the Domain-gate, evidently trying to conceal two girls: I knew one of them, 
 the other was a stranger. ' Have you any relations in the colony ? ' ' No.' 
 ' Then come with me.' She was a young girl, not more than fifteen ; she refused, 
 and went into the Domain. I sent the other into the Home, and followed her; 
 in a few minutes she returned with me, and I found myself suddenly surrounded 
 by men, I felt, I must acknowledge, in that lonely place, very uncomfortable, 
 but my fears were groundless; they came to apologise, to express their regret 
 at the great annoyance they had given me, and promised me never again to 
 go near the place. 'We never knew you until to-night; we thought you were 
 well paid for looking after the emigrant girls ; but when we saw you follow the 
 strip of a girl and we have been talking to this man, and he says you don't 
 get a penny, and that all you do is for the girls' good, we do say, that that man 
 is not a man who gives you trouble; good night, ma'am/ I never saw but one 
 of these men afterwards, and he came on a mission of mercy, to tell me of a 
 girl that he thought would be advised, and kept from ruin ; he was in terror 
 lest he should be found out. 'I should be jeered at, past bearing; but some- 
 how it lay on my mind I ought to tell you.' This girl is now well married ; 
 and she may thank this poor man that she, under Providence, escaped the pit 
 dug for her." 
 
 Tliis strange little book concludes with the following recom- 
 mendation : 
 
 " I am now going to give advice, and am really at a loss how and where to 
 begin. *Tis a delicate an ungracious task ; this I know from experience. 
 
 Perhaps the very thing I am going to advise, has determined to do; and if 
 
 this is the case, I dread the perverseness of human nature: for I have more 
 
HINTS ON EMIGRANT HOMES. 143 
 
 than once heard a person say, 'Now I meant to do the very thing you tell me; but 
 if I do it now it will look like taking your advice and to be advised by a lady! 
 Pshaw! nonsense the idea is ridiculous, and I won't do it.' Now an ' I won't* 
 from a gentleman is just as troublesome a thing to manage as an 'I will ' from a 
 lady how must I proceed? By the bye, I recollect having read that enlightened 
 men of all ages have looked upon advisers as friends, and have said that ' shreds 
 of knowledge may be picked up from ploughboys, and patches from old women 
 are worth preserving :' this encourages me to begin ; and as this is a very cere- 
 monious colony, where a breach of etiquette would be a serious offence, I will 
 commence with his excellency the governor I therefore, with every feeling of 
 respect, beg to suggest to his excellency the governor, that he should promise 
 protection and shelter to all female emigrants sent to this colony, until situations 
 are provided for them. I also most earnestly entreat and implore that no more 
 engagements may be allowed on board ship. As soon as an emigrant ship 
 arrives, the board should assemble, and the emigrants be fairly drafted to the 
 district Homes, giving a fair and proportionate share to Sydney. The gentle- 
 man whose duty it is to draft the emigrants according to orders received must 
 have the confidence of the people ; he must be a person of honourable integrity, 
 and alike proof against a lady's entreaties and a gentleman's censure. Those 
 emigrants that are intended for Port Macquarie, Moreton Bay, Maitland, 
 Wollongong, Manning Elver, &c., should be received per steamers and small 
 crafts from the ship. Those intended for Sydney, Liverpool, Campbell 
 Town, Goulburn, Bathurst, &c., should be sent to the place intended for their 
 reception, and I hope Grose's Farm will be appropriated for this purpose: 
 this would be very convenient for drays. I also beg to curtail the privileges 
 of the board: they must not be allowed to salect servants for themselves or their 
 friends, even though they chance to be members of the Bent-street club.* 
 All who want servants must go to the Registry-office for them ; let all have a 
 fair chance: this appendage to the agent's office I hope your excellency will 
 sanction. The district Homes cannot be kept open without one, and I do hope 
 your excellency will give them all the aid in your power. Any government 
 buildings that are unoccupied cannot be better employed; and I also hope 
 you will lend tents freely. I think you must acknowledge that I have not asked for 
 half what your excellency expected: my moderation will, I hope, induce you to 
 grant all." 
 
 " I now beg to call the attention of the gentlemen of the interior to the neces- 
 sity of establishing Homes. The expense of a Home in the country is very 
 trifling: if there should be no government buildings available, a few tents, and 
 a small cottage will suffice. Food is cheap and plentiful a sack of flour from 
 one, a bag of potatoes from another, a basket of cabbages, and a few pumpkins, 
 go a great way, and all would help the Home a few sheep too, a welcome gift ; 
 and what gentleman is there that would not give one or two in the year? The 
 amount of the ten days' rations you could fairly claim. Sending the emigrants 
 up in large numbers would make conveyance cheap : you would establish such 
 rules as met the wants of your district. A Home well looked after will be a 
 saving to you of time, trouble, and expense. You become familiar with the people ; 
 you know their characters ; you can influence them for their good. If a man 
 forfeits his word, and flies from his agreement, his conduct is reported to the 
 
 * Mr. Benjamin Boyd's Club of Squatters the aristocracy of wool. 
 
144 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 committee ; his character is known in the district. I see no other plan by which 
 you can get a fair supply of servants : if you go on in the old way, you must 
 take what the people of Sydney refuse. Wealthy men can afford to spend their 
 time in Sydney; and before you can hear, in the country, of a ship's arrival in 
 Sydney, the single men, the shepherds you want, will be on their way to J. B.'s or 
 members of council." 
 
 The appendix contains answers to a circular from ten magistrates 
 and clergymen, stating that " not one of the girls sent through Mrs. 
 Chisholm's name had lost character as regarded honesty and morality ;" 
 and a letter to the " Sydney Immigration Board," with hints not without 
 value, even in 1853. 
 
 " The present mode of selecting emigrants must be faulty, as it 
 allows so many bad bargains to creep in. I have heard that this evil 
 is to be remedied by getting the parochial clergy of England to select 
 emigrants for you. The idea amuses me, that you should suppose you 
 can get people to do for you what you ought to do for yourselves" 
 " There are poor rates in the mother country, and to suppose that the 
 clergy and magistrates will send you their best, and keep their worst, is 
 to give them credit for an extraordinary share of kindness." And again, 
 after some comic pictures of pauper hard-bargains, who were " too 
 sick to work, but not sick enough for the hospital," she says referring 
 to the fall in wages that took place betweeen the time when the crimps 
 published their glowing placards, and the arrival of the ship in the 
 colony : 
 
 " From the opening of the office I had the confidence of the emi- 
 grants.* In a short time they requested me to fix the wages they 
 should accept. Disappointed, as many of them were, in their expecta- 
 ations, they never doubted my endeavours to serve them. 
 
 " Feeling the responsibility and confidence, I exerted myself to 
 obtain, as far as was possible, an accurate knowledge of what rate of 
 wages the flockmasters could pay their shepherds. 
 
 " I first inquired of the wealthy men whose flocks cover the moun- 
 tains, and whose cattle crowd the valleys. They agreed on 15 and 
 16 per annum as the most that could be paid. These gentlemen said 
 they acted on principle, and did not care for the money. 
 
 " I then inquired of those respectable, but less wealthy settlers who 
 have one sheep and one cattle station, and live retired at a convenient 
 distance from both. They thought from 18 to 20 a year ; the latter 
 doubtful. I went lastly to the third class, who, having two stations, 
 
 * This is the secret of successful colonisation which none of our squatter and capitalist or 
 church colonising societies have yet learned S. S. 
 
SETTLEMENT OF POOR MEN ON LAND. 145 
 
 instead of employing servants only, live always at one or the other 
 farm their own farms, in fact. These could afford to pay 20 never 
 wanted, or wished, to see wages less. 
 
 " There is nothing, perhaps, that injures a colony more than giving 
 the working population a bad character. Respectable people of capital 
 get alarmed : yet many charges have been brought against servants 
 which I consider unjust." 
 
 This plain speaking and unusual style of colonial publication hard 
 truths without acidity did its work. A considerable reform was 
 introduced. Government protection was granted to friendless young 
 women ; an agent appointed to superintend and witness the agreements 
 with men on board ship ; and the colonial press, when furnished with 
 the materials, did good service to emigration reform. The whole cost 
 to government of the guarding and distribution of the emigrants was 
 little more than 100. The other expenses were borne by Mrs. Chisholm 
 and the friends whom her honest, clear-sighted policy had made among 
 persons of all politics and various religious views. 
 
 In 1 843, before a committee of the Legislative Council, which was 
 appointed to consider the condition of the " distressed labourers," and 
 especially of three hundred parties with large families whom, in the 
 depressed condition of the colony, the settlers could not afford to engage, 
 Mrs. Chisholm took another step forward. She proposed, and entered 
 into, the details of a plan which, at a very trifling expense, would have 
 placed these three hundred families in a self-supporting position on land, 
 instead of continuing to receive 3s. a day for nominal labour on govern- 
 ment works. 
 
 Sir George Gipps's instructions precluded him from granting or 
 leasing of crown land for this valuable, or any other purpose, except 
 feeding sheep. As he expressed it, " he was sent out to carry out the 
 Wakefield system," and could turn neither to the right nor to the left, 
 Nevertheless, on private property, on clearing leases, Mrs. Chisholm 
 succeeded in placing some families of mechanics. 
 
 In the course of her examination it appears that the government had 
 then expended 2,500 in casual relief. For 1,000 she considered the 
 whole distress could be extinguished, and the people not only removed, 
 but placed where they could do some good for themselves. " The 
 distress will increase unless proper measures are taken, but if they are 
 promptly taken it will not be very serious." There are several 
 " trades mentioned in the list that .are not required ; for instance, I 
 have only had two applications for shoemakers ; for tailors four. The 
 number stated to be unemployed is forty-seven. About twenty months 
 
146 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 ago forty tailors came to me out of employ. The flockmasters refused 
 to take them as shepherds. With a great deal of trouble I scattered 
 them through different parts of the country as domestic servants, and 
 in other capacities ; and it is remarkable that nearly all thus scattered 
 have been able to find work at their own trade. With respect to 
 tradesmen and labourers with large families, there is no way in which 
 they could provide for their families so well as on a piece of land. 
 
 " My first arrangement would be to select from fifty families one 
 who was a good judge of land, and one of the women, as women would 
 require to know what kind of a place they were going to, whether the 
 children would be comfortable, &c. I should also require two or three 
 good bush hands [prisoners] from Hyde Park Barracks. With these, 
 as soon as arrived on land, I would set to work to clear half an acre, in 
 order that the people might see what could be done in a given time. 
 There must be some tents provided until more substantial buildings 
 could be erected. One allotment must be set apart as a family allot- 
 ment, to be first cleared and cultivated, to supply food for the whole 
 community. Then the land must be divided and apportioned to the 
 different families. A schoolmaster will go with the party, to have land 
 rent free. The parents of the children have agreed to pay for the 
 education of their children, the terms settled by me. One day's labour 
 per quarter for each child, and for the whole family 1 cwt. of potatoes 
 and one bushel of wheat. 
 
 " I have worked this plan on a small scale for the last three years, 
 where there has been a large family. The eldest girl has, in some 
 instances, gone to service, and given up a portion of her earnings to 
 support them. Upwards of one hundred small settlers have thus 
 received assistance from their relatives. Many have half or a third 
 share in a dray. 
 
 " I should advise limiting these people to twenty acres, with a lease 
 of not less than ten or fifteen years. On a less term the tenant works 
 for the proprietor. . . . The plan is before you to accept or reject. 
 All I ask is that, if you approve it, you will let me work it out my own 
 way. Appoint the government emigration agent treasurer, and two 
 gentlemen to examine and control the expenditure. You will bear in 
 mind, in forming an opinion of my statements, that mine is not a plan 
 of to-day. The working it out will be attended with much trouble 
 and responsibility to me ; at the same time I am certain the people will 
 work with me. The distress will be removed, and those persons who 
 are now suffering in Sydney will, if my plan is carried out, within three 
 years, become the employers of labour." 
 
PLAN REJECTED DISTRESS IN SYDNEY. 147 
 
 At this last sentence one of the committee allowed his fears of the 
 bugaboo ever present to the imagination of the Australian capitalist 
 to escape him, a terror carefully nourished by the Colonial Office, and 
 guarded against with endless folds of red tape of the true Wakefield 
 hue. He exclaimed, " I am afraid we should find that these people, 
 becoming employers of labour, would do us mischief! " 
 
 Not a word, not a thought of the benefit conferred upon three 
 hundred destitute families, converted from costly paupers to independent 
 peasant proprietors, but only terror lest they should become so well off 
 as to give wages at 20 a year instead of 16. 
 
 Mrs. Chisholm answered, "I do not think so, but rather that you 
 would be able to obtain in the children of these people brought up in 
 sober, industrious, and frugal habits, a most valuable description of 
 labourers ; this class of persons prefer sending their children at a certain 
 age (and for a limited period) into service with respectable families." 
 
 Mrs. Chisholm's plan was rejected, and she was left to work it out as 
 well as she could with private assistance on the land of a speculator ; 
 and to go on laboriously registering agreements and distributing emi- 
 grants from farm to farm, as we shall presently describe. 
 
 The committee in their report recorded " their grateful sense of the 
 valuable services of a lady to whose benevolent exertions on behalf of 
 the unemployed, as well as of free emigrants of the humbler classes 
 generally, this colony is under the highest obligations, Mrs. Chisholm, 
 whose name is so well known for her disinterested and untiring 
 exertions." 
 
 The chairman of the committee was Dr. Lang. 
 
 In August, 1844, the distress amongst the labourers and mechanics 
 of Sydney had not ceased. A committee was reappointed to consider 
 it. There was a great clamour in favour of undertaking bridges, 
 roads, and other public works, with public money. The mob and 
 officials were favourable to the scheme. The government emigration 
 agent was examined before this committee. " His knowledge," he 
 states, " of the emigrants who arrived in past years was merely 
 general, of the present year tolerably accurate ;" " had no knowledge 
 of the number of destitute families then in Sydney ;" had no detailed 
 information, but thought a certain detailed statement delivered in by a 
 former witness exaggerated. This was a gentleman paid for his services, 
 who, according to colonial custom, considered it his duty to perform his 
 strictly office duties, and think and know no more, a very natural 
 view, considering the ill reward that any zeal obtains, except zeal for 
 the views of the Colonial Secretary of State. 
 
148 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Mrs. Chisholm, being called before this committee, produced a 
 complete statistical statement, exhibiting the numbers, ages, sexes, 
 characters, and trades of the unemployed (in all 2,034 souls), the 
 number of weeks and average number per man they had been unem- 
 ployed. These tables show some curious particulars: 59 carpenters 
 and 25 joiners, 10 butlers and 10 coachmen and grooms, 15 cabinet- 
 makers, 26 brickmakers, 10 quarrymen and 19 bricklayers, 2 surgeons, 
 2 hairdressers, and 1 tailor ; 244 farm labourers in all 572. " The 
 large number of children made it difficult to provide for many of these 
 families." * * "The system of relieving distress has now been 
 in operation for a year ; we have been consuming capital, we can only 
 remove distress by producing it." " Last year I settled some families 
 on land, and, considering the many difficulties thrown in my way, they 
 have succeeded remarkably well on private land. I wished to try the 
 system of leasing, in order to see whether the people were industrious, 
 and could subsist on land ; and I have satisfied myself that, although 
 any gentleman would lose a large fortune if he were to commence as a 
 farmer, where the family are all workers an industrious man cannot do 
 better than get on land. The great difficulty with me has been that I 
 have never had an opportunity of putting a sufficient number of people 
 together ; and where they are only a few they have no team, no set of 
 tools, and there is a constant struggle ; yet they do succeed." 
 
 Now, this in a few words is the true art of colonisation. Locate 
 poor men on waste land in England or Ireland and they sink under the 
 multiplicity of money payments or debts, having to compete with a 
 fund of cheap labour, and inferior land against superior land and 
 skilled cultivation. Locate the same men in a colony, and they rise 
 buoyed up by a surrounding dear labour market, which enables them 
 to barter their chief possession, labour, for seeds, tools, stock, or what- 
 ever they may need ; a virgin soil, and the absence of money payments 
 for rent or taxes, and of competition of agricultural skill, compensating 
 for the want of capital and rural experience. Thus, a day's labour 
 from time to time with a neighbouring farmer will buy a yoke of bul- 
 locks, a dray, a quarter of wheat or maize, and assist both. In England 
 and Ireland a poor man clings to land in hopes of making more than 
 bare wages by extra toil ; in a colony a man desires land to keep his 
 family together, even at some sacrifice of money wages. In old coun- 
 tries the little freehold must be divided with sons and sons-in-law ; in 
 a colony the full-fledged brood can always, if idle " protective" laws do 
 not impede, go further afield, and find a new site for a nest. So 
 argued in other words Mrs. Chisholm ; and many a flockowner, now 
 
ANNOYANCES AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 149 
 
 contemplating his flocks spreading wildly imshepherded over his run, 
 and the deserted huts of his single men shepherds on their way to the 
 diggings, wishes he had followed Mrs. Chisholm's advice, and encouraged 
 children as well as sheep. 
 
 Not being able to induce the governor and the influential colonists 
 to go heartily into her land-colonising plans, Mrs. Chisholm continued 
 to employ herself in dispersing the people through the interior, and in 
 teaching the government and the colonists, by example, how the colonial 
 part of colonisation should be conducted. She worked hard for six 
 years, warmly supported by some of the first among the colonists, the 
 Wentworths, M'Arthurs, Bradleys, Fitzgeralds, Suttors, and Dr. 
 Nicholson, the present speaker of the Legislative Council, and by 
 the unanimous confidence of the working classes, but subject to much 
 obstruction and annoyance in official quarters. 
 
 Sir George Gipps, who was capable of noble sentiments when his 
 evil temper or home instructions did not override them, took a public 
 opportunity of expressing his sense of the merit and utility of her plans 
 saying, " I think it right to make this public acknowledgment, having 
 formerly thrown cold water upon them." 
 
 A characteristic anecdote is circulated in the colony in reference 
 to the privilege of franking letters, which Sir George had given to Mrs. 
 Chisholm. A few days after the permission had been granted, the 
 governor sent for her in a great hurry. She found him much excited, 
 and the table covered with her own letters. " Mrs. Chisholm," he ex- 
 claimed, " when I gave you the privilege of franking, I presumed you 
 would address yourself to the magistrates, the clergy, and the principal 
 settlers ; but who, pray, are these John Yarleys and Dick Hogans, and 
 other people, of whom I have never heard since I have been in the 
 colony ? " 
 
 " If," replied Mrs. Chisholm, " I had required to know the opinions 
 of those respectable gentlemen on the subject of the demand for labour, 
 and the rate of wages they could afford, I need not have written ; I 
 can turn to half a dozen blue books and find there ' shepherds always 
 wanting, and wages always too high ;' besides, to have answered me 
 they must have gone to their overseers, and then answered me vaguely. 
 I want to know, as nearly as possible, what number of labourers each 
 district can absorb, and of what class and what wages. If your excel- 
 lency will wait until I get my answers, you will admit that I have 
 applied to men humble but intelligent, and able to afford exactly the 
 information I require." 
 
 Sir George Gipps was satisfied with the explanation, and still more 
 
150 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OP AUSTRALIA. 
 
 with the replies of the bush settlers ; so the sub-officials were on this 
 occasion discomfited. 
 
 By Mrs. Chisholm's exertions, applied to the elastic resources of 
 Australia, before 1845 the distress of 2,000 souls was so far removed 
 that some parties were ready in a few years to assert, forgetting that a 
 detailed list was on record, that it had never existed ; and in 1845, as 
 Mrs. Chisholm, in her evidence before the committee of 1844, prophesied, 
 the demand for labour was more vigorous than ever, and has never since 
 been checked, even for a moment ; on the contrary, the supply has 
 always been under the demand, both in quantity and quality. 
 
 It was while making forced marches at the head of armies of 
 emigrants, as far as 300 miles into the far interior, sometimes sleeping 
 at the stations of wealthy settlers, sometimes in the huts of poor 
 emigrants or prisoners ; sometimes camping out in the bush, teaching 
 the timid, awkward peasantry of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Pro- 
 testants and Roman Catholics, Orangemen and Repealers, how to 
 "bush it;" comforting the women, nursing the children, putting down 
 any discontented or forward spirits among the men ; now taking a few 
 
 BUSHING IT. 
 
VOLUNTARY STATEMENTS OF THE PEOPLE OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 151 
 
 weary children into her covered tandem-cart ; now mounting on horse- 
 back and galloping over a short cut through the hills to meet her 
 weary caravan, with supper foraged from the hospitable settlers ; it 
 was in the midst of marshes in which she managed the discipline, the 
 route, the commissariat, the hospital, and the billetting, all herself, 
 with such aides-de-camp as each army happened to furnish, that she 
 commenced another great work subsidiary to colonisation, the " Volun- 
 tary Statements of the People of New South Wales," for the use of the 
 home country. These were statements in answer to the series of 
 printed questions, taken down in the words of the informant, of which 
 we shall give some examples at the end of this chapter. 
 
 They were written down in all manner of dwellings, but chiefly 
 among the humbler ; in cottages and bark huts ; on the roadside ; on 
 the top of a hat ; in the field, on a plough ; in the forest, on the first 
 log of a frugal bush servant's first freehold. 
 
 There were nearly eight hundred of these statements from natives 
 of almost every county of the United Kingdom, from emigrants, from 
 " old hands," and from ticket-of-leave men. 
 
 These records proved incontestably that Australia was a country in 
 which any industrious man could thrive ; that there was ample verge 
 and room enough for millions ; that land which squatters then and now 
 assert to be only fit for sheep pasture would support yeomanry in 
 comfort and independence. They laid bare much injustice, exhibited 
 in a striking manner the demand and necessity for an increased female 
 population, and presented a more perfect, truthful, and valuable picture 
 of bush life, painted by servants and settlers, than had ever been drawn 
 in travellers' tales or parliamentary blue books. 
 
 It was in consequence of the habit of collecting these statements 
 that Mrs. Chisholm was able to tell the committee of the House of 
 Lords in 1847 : " I never returned from a journey to the interior 
 without gaining information which would enable me to provide for a 
 second number ; and it was frequently unnecessary to go into a district 
 more than once ; then I knew the character of the people and the sort of 
 servants that would suit them, and it enabled me to advise people when 
 they called at my residence to say, ' You go to such a place and I can 
 guarantee you employment.' My first object was always to get one 
 female emigrant placed: having succeeded in getting one female 
 servant in a neighbourhood, I would leave the feeling to spread among 
 this class. These girls eventually married best, for the parents were 
 thankful if their son married her. 
 
 " One of the most serious impediments to transacting business of 
 
152 THE THREE COLONIES OP AUSTRALIA. 
 
 hiring servants in the country were the applications for wives. Shep- 
 herds left their sheep and would come for miles for this purpose, with 
 their certificates of good character, and of money deposited in the 
 savings banks, and list of their stock, and even bank notes. I had 
 more than forty applications of this kind in two years. One man, 
 according to a note in my register-book, who came down to Sydney 
 for a wife, was very anxious to know ' when we should have a new 
 governor who would attend to matters of consequence like that/' 
 
 The governor took a different view of the subject, for when, in the 
 early days of the " Home Protection," it was suggested to him that 
 many of the forlorn girls if sent into the interior would marry well, 
 "His excellency drew himself up to his full height, and exclaimed 
 indignantly, ' What, Mrs. Chisholm ! is it my business to find wives for 
 bush servants ? ' " He might have done worse. 
 
 In 1845 Mrs. Chisholm was examined before a committee of the 
 Legislative Council, on the best means of promoting emigration, the 
 whole distress having been absorbed, and the demand for labour being 
 urgent. She then produced a few of the " Voluntary Statements." 
 
 In the same year she published a " Prospectus of a Work to be 
 entitled ' Voluntary Information from the People of New South Wales, 
 respecting the Social Condition of the Middle and Working Classes in 
 the Colony/ with the view of furnishing the labourer, the mechanic, and 
 the capitalist with trustworthy information, and pointing out obstruc- 
 tions to immigration that ought to be eradicated." She writes : 
 
 " Few persons, if any, are more intimately acquainted with the 
 actual condition of the working classes than I am. Silence, therefore, 
 would be culpable. The servant in Sydney, the shepherd, and the 
 small settler in the bush are known to me ; I have visited their homes 
 and witnessed their trials and deprivations ; I have the satisfaction of 
 laying before the public proofs of their importance as a body and their 
 merits as individuals : their virtues far exceed their failings their 
 language may be rude, but their hearts are kind and true. To improve 
 the condition of these people is my object ; to break up the bachelor 
 stations my design ; happy homes my reward. To supply flockmastera 
 with shepherds is a good work : to supply those shepherds with wives 
 a better. To give the shepherd a good wife is to make a gloomy, 
 miserable hut a cheerful, contended home ; to introduce married families 
 into the interior is to make squatters' stations fit abodes for Christian 
 men. 
 
 " If I meet with the co-operation I expect, it is my intention to 
 submit to her Majesty's commissioners of emigration a plan for female 
 
MRS. CHISHOLM'S DEPARTURE FROM THE COLONY. 153 
 
 emigration, which will secure the young women the protection which 
 they so essentially require on the passage and on their arrival. If 
 protection is extended to the helpless if Britain's moral banner is to 
 be unfurled in the far interior civilisation and religion will advance 
 until the spires of the churches guide the traveller from hamlet to 
 hamlet, and shepherds' huts become the homes of happy, virtuous men 
 and women, ******* 
 
 "I feel that a judicious circulation of these statements will promote 
 the best interests in the colony. Personal interest in the labour market 
 I have none. I hope to enjoy the proud satisfaction of laying before 
 the British public several thousand proofs of the good character and 
 persevering energy of her Majesty's subjects in New South Wales." 
 
 In the following year, 1846, Mrs. Chisholm left the colony with her 
 family for England, charged with the following missions from the 
 humbler classes : 
 
 Firstly, From a number of freed prisoners, who had been promised 
 by the government that if well conducted their wives and children 
 should be sent to join them. This promise had been forgotten. A 
 return made to the Legislative Council showed that these claimants 
 numbered several hundreds. 
 
 Secondly, From successful emigrants, who desired to pay the pas- 
 sages of their wives, parents, and other near relatives. 
 
 Thirdly, From parents who, to comply with the regulations of the 
 emigration commissioners, had left young children beyond the standard 
 number to the care of poor relatives or the parish. 
 
 In the first and last cases, armed with the facts and proofs necessary, 
 without which she never makes a claim, Mrs. Chisholm succeeded. 
 The other formed the foundation of the Family Colonisation Loan 
 Society. 
 
 Before Mrs. Chisholm sailed for England a committee, which 
 included eight members of the Legislative Council, magistrates, land- 
 holders, and others of all shades of opinion, raised a subscription for a 
 testimonial to that lady, and presented an address, in which they said : 
 
 " We beg to offer you, on the occasion of your departure from this 
 colony, the expression of our thanks for your active and zealous exer- 
 tions on behalf of the emigrant population during the last seven years. 
 In establishing emigrants' homes, in establishing great numbers of the 
 emigrant population in the interior as servants and occupiers of small 
 farms, your exertions have proved of signal advantage to the com- 
 munity. In the large collection of * statistical facts ' and ' voluntary 
 information,' derived from the labouring classes, you have accumulated 
 
 K 
 
154 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 materials for establishing the great advantages which New South Wales 
 possesses as a favourable field for the emigration of British settlers/' 
 
 In the course of her reply, Mrs. Chisholm suid : "It is my inten- 
 tion, if supported by your co-operation, to attempt more than I have 
 hitherto performed." 
 
 During- the six years and eight months which she spent in 
 Australia, Mrs. Chisholm, without wealth or rank, or any support 
 except what her earnest philanthropy gradually acquired, provided for 
 eleven thousand souls. 
 
 Yet since her sojourn in England she has redeemed her pledge, 
 and done much more. With less than two thousand pounds, between 
 1850 and 1852, she personally sent out more than one thousand 
 emigrants of the best class, and has advised, corresponded with, or 
 otherwise assisted tens of thousands. 
 
 We have devoted thus much space to the colonising career of 
 Mrs. Chisholm, because with her exertions the colonisation of the 
 interior commenced. Before her time, emigrants were merely tumbled 
 out on the shores, like so much live stock, to find their own way to 
 market to service, marriage, sin, or death. 
 
 Mrs. Chisholm first taught the Australian squatters that property 
 had its duties as well as its rights. She tapped the springs of spon- 
 taneous self-supporting emigration, and showed how closely the exten- 
 sion of national power was connected with the social and domestic 
 virtues inseparable from family colonisation. 
 
 TO MRS. CHISHOLM. 
 FROM THE "SPECTATOR," SYDSTEY, 28TH FEBRUARY, 1846. 
 
 THE guardian angel of her helpless sex, 
 Whom no fatigue could daunt, no crosses vex; 
 With manly reason and with spirit pure, 
 Crown'd with the blessings of the grateful poor, 
 For them with unrepining love she bore 
 The boarded cottage and the earthen floor, 
 The sultry day in tedious labour spent, 
 The endless tale of whining discontent: 
 Bore noonday's burning sun and midnight's chill. 
 The scanty meal, the journey lengthening still ; 
 Lavished her scanty store on their distress, 
 And sought no other guerdon than success. 
 Say ye who hold the balance and the sword, 
 Into your lap the wealth of nations poured, 
 
RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 155 
 
 What have ye done with all your hireling brood, 
 Compared with her the generous and the good? 
 Much ye receive and little ye dispense, 
 Your alms are paltry, and your debts immense. 
 Your toil's reluctant freely hers is given ; 
 You toil for earth, she labours still for Heaven. 
 
 B 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 ESIDE the questions involved in the price of land, the tenure and tax 
 on pastures, the abolition of assignment of prisoners, and cessation 
 of transportation on all of which the governor and his chiefs were at 
 issue with the colonists, from the day of the opening of the Legislative 
 Council, when the word "humble" was struck out of the motion for an 
 address in answer to the governor's speech certain constitutional 
 questions of great importance were at issue between Sir George Gipps 
 and the Legislative Council. 
 
 The Colonial Parliament was justly incensed at finding that the new 
 constitution gave them nothing more than the liberty of talking and 
 taxing themselves. Three schedules appropriated upwards of 80,000 
 to the payment of officials, over whose appointment, from the colonial 
 secretary down to the prothonotary, they had no sort of control. 
 The council attempted to regulate the distribution of the funds secured 
 by the schedules, by taking from those who did nothing to give to those 
 who worked hard. The governor successfully resisted the attempt, 
 and in other words told them, as Lord Ellenborough told Hone, " to 
 protest and go about their business." Whereupon the Colonial Parliament 
 being unable to cut down the sinecure salaries included in the schedules, 
 retaliated by refusing to vote the estimates for the sums required 
 over and above the estimates. The governor responded by cutting 
 down that part of the public service which was most needed by the 
 colonists. For instance, he retained the Prothonotary and Master in 
 Equity, and closed the office of Registrar of Deeds, who regulated all 
 the titles and mortgages in the colony. From that time forward the 
 struggle between the governor and that part of the council which was 
 not official, became relentless. Evil breeds evil so in proportion as 
 Sir George Gipps was despotic and insolent, the opposition became 
 virulent and factious. Between both it was war to the knife* 
 
 K 2 
 
156 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 A great battle was fought upon the " District Councils." The idea 
 of district councils made Sir George Gipps Governor of New South 
 Wales. He had had influence enough to have the scheme embodied in 
 the Act of Parliament (5 and 6 Viet. cap. 79, sect. 47), which gave 
 the colony representative institutions. The theory was plausible : it 
 might have suited Canada, it may suit England. It met the high 
 approval of Lords Stanley and John Russell. To this day Earl Grey 
 believes it failed through the spiteful obstinacy of the colonists. Sir 
 George Gipps, during the few years of his administration, postponed 
 measures for establishing schools, for repairing and constructing roads, 
 and other practical works of the utmost importance to the colony, at first 
 in order that "his district councils" might reap a harvest of glory, and 
 afterwards to spite the scoundrels for rejecting so admirable an insti- 
 tution. And so it was admirable on paper, but perfectly impracticable 
 in a pastoral colony. Had any other than himself originated it, the 
 governor would have seen its fallacy in a month, and dissected it in a 
 masterly despatch. 
 
 According to Sir George's plan the inhabitants of each district were 
 empowered to elect, and if they neglected to elect, the governor had 
 power to appoint a council, which should decide on the sum required 
 for a year for the district. Half such sum was to be contributed from 
 the colonial treasury, and the other half to be levied on the property in 
 the district. If no local treasurer was elected, the colonial treasurer 
 could issue his warrant, and sell up as much of the property of the district 
 as would raise the requisite sum. But the scheme would not work. 
 
 In the first place, there was no population sufficiently dense to work 
 such a system, there were very few electors, and no councillors ; in 
 the second place, there was no ready money to pay the taxes. 
 
 In a pastoral colony like Australia wages are high, consumption is 
 large, and by taxes on consumption, levied at the ports, a considerable 
 revenue may be raised, but by direct taxation very little. The colonists 
 have, or rather had for it is impossible to say what changes a gold 
 currency may effect sheep and cattle, which they exchanged, in meat, 
 wool, and tallow, for what they needed in tea, sugar, tobacco, and 
 clothing, but very little money. 
 
 When Sir George Gipps attempted to introduce his district councils 
 he found the colonists unprepared to travel for miles to elect a councillor, 
 or pay five or ten pounds per annum for roads over which they never 
 travelled, and bridges a hundred miles from their farms, and indignant 
 at suddenly finding their property at the mercy of the colonial treasurer, 
 the irresponsible officer of the governor. The colonists determined to 
 
FAILURE OF DISTRICT COUNCILS. 157 
 
 resist the district council scheme. The governor was determined to 
 enforce it. It was his darling child; he had conceived it while looking 
 out from his study on the dense population of a different state of 
 society, and he was not the man to be beaten by circumstances. Like 
 the Abbe" Sieyes, and other celebrated manufacturers of constitutions 
 and governing machines, he was blind and deaf to all facts which 
 militated against his theories, prepared that everybody should 
 suffer so long as he maintained his character as a legislator. Thus he 
 answered a deputation of the Legislative Council, and other influential 
 colonists, who waited on him to point out the practical difficulties in 
 the way of executing his district council scheme : " Whether it ruins 
 the colony or not, an Act of Parliament must and shall be carried out." 
 
 On this question the battle began. The inhabitants, except in one 
 district, neglected to elect committees. The governor appointed them. 
 Then came the question of levying, after assessing, a rate. A flaw 
 was discovered in the Act of Parliament. It was decided that the word 
 " levy" did not empower the council to distrain. The governor 
 applied to the Legislative Council for an Act to amend the flaw. The 
 Legislative Council refused to help him. He was thrown back on the 
 powers vested in the colonial treasurer ; the " Algerine clause," as it 
 was called in the colony, he threatened, but he dared not put in force. 
 The struggle was carried on for years. The governor was supported 
 by the approval of the home authorities; but the passive resistance of 
 the colonists was too much for him. At length, in 1846, Earl Grey 
 called for a report from the principal officials, including Mr. Deas 
 Thomson, the colonial secretary for New South Wales, and Mr. Latrobe, 
 the lieutenant-governor of Port Phillip, and they reported in a manner 
 which effectually, and for ever, shelved Sir George Gipps' district councils. 
 
 In 1844, before the district councils had been shelved, a select 
 committee of the Legislative Council investigated " grievances uncon- 
 nected with land," and drew up a report, which was a kind of Australian 
 declaration of rights. 
 
 These grievances, of which the following is a summary, remained 
 unredressed until the advent of Sir John Pakington and the Duke of 
 Newcastle to the Colonial Office opened up "unrestricted competition" 
 in colonial concessions. 
 
 The colonists' committee complained of " being saddled with taxation 
 for a civil list which they were not empowered to discuss, to the extent 
 of 81,000." By the Act of 1850 this civil list was increased. 
 
 Of the total failure of the " District Councils, which created muni- 
 cipalities where the sparse population render popular election and local 
 
158 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 taxation impossible, and which placed in' the hands of the governors 
 the nomination of an officer with powers of taxation." 
 
 Of the want of a "responsible government," the governor being, 
 in fact, merely a subordinate officer of the Colonial Secretary of State 
 for the time being ; and the governor's official advisers in a position 
 which made them practically as independent of the Legislative Council 
 as if they had been merely his private friends. Thus, so long as the 
 governor and his official advisers satisfied the home authorities, the 
 colonists were without remedy for any illegality committed by the 
 colonial government, however flagrant. As an instance of the working 
 of the system, the report cites 127,000 applied to various illegal (not 
 fraudulent) purposes by the governor in the course of seven years ; 
 " and a sum of 30,743 15s., which was not only expended by his 
 excellency without any authority of the Legislative Council, but applied, 
 by the governor's mere fiat, to the payment of debentures and other 
 purposes to which the ordinary revenue was not applicable by law." 
 
 They further protested against the expense in police, gaols, and 
 judicial expenditure inflicted upon the colonists in consequence of New 
 South Wales being made a receptacle for the felons of England, after it 
 had ceased to derive the profits of their labour on the assignment 
 system ; and of the violation of the [alleged] compact by which the 
 surplus land revenues and other casual revenues of the crown had been 
 ceded to the colonial treasuries. Under this head the committee claimed 
 a large sum 831,742 3s. 7d., and for the future an annual payment 
 towards police, gaols, and courts of assize of 74,195 6s. 8d. 
 
 And finally, they requested that persons having claims of any 
 description against the local government should, by special Act of 
 Parliament, be enabled to sue a public officer as nominal defendant, and 
 that the judges of the Supreme Court should be placed in the same 
 position as to tenure of office and security of salary as the judges of 
 the mother country, and no longer be liable to be suspended by the 
 fiat and removed by the report of the governor. 
 
 But it would be impossible within any reasonable space to detail 
 the series of overt acts which characterised the sedition-breeding policy 
 of Sir George Gipps. 
 
 Nominally, a portion of the land revenue was set apart for the 
 benefit of the aborigines ; but when application was made for curing a 
 native of a dangerous infectious skin disease, the governor " had no 
 funds for such a purpose/' and poor Jemmy Nyrang was pushed out 
 of the government hospital. 
 
 Session after session it was a game at cross purposes and crooked 
 
CONTEST BETWEEN THE GOVERNOR AND THE COLONISTS. 159 
 
 answers between the representatives of the colonists, the governor, and 
 his patrons in Downing-street. 
 
 For- instance, the colonists proposed to reduce the salaries of certain 
 colonial custom-house officers; in the next session of the British 
 Parliament, it is presumed at the instigation of Governor Gipps, the 
 British Colonial Secretary passed a special Act, taking that department 
 from the control of the newly-created colonial Parliament. The 
 colonists proposed to spend 9,000 of their own money in building a 
 lighthouse in Bass's Straits ; they were informed that they must first 
 consult the home government on its situation a matter of two years' 
 delay. The colonists passed an Act, establishing mortgage and register for 
 mortgages on wool ; the Colonial Secretary of State, without consulting 
 the colonists, disallowed the Act, as " repugnant to the laws of England." 
 See p. 164. But after long delay and great loss of property, the home 
 government was obliged to yield and sanction a measure indispensable 
 in a pastoral country. The colonists examined and unanimously protested 
 against the land system established by the Imperial Parliament, arid still 
 more unanimously against the ordinances affecting pastoral occupation. 
 Lord Stanley, without regarding petitions which, as Sir George Gipps 
 admitted, expressed the almost unanimous opinions of the colonists, 
 hastened to pen in a despatch " his determination to uphold the land 
 system, and his perfect approval of the arbitrary powers exercised by 
 the governor against the squatting interest." A bill was introduced 
 into the British Parliament for establishing the new system of pastoral 
 occupation the ex-governor was consulted the Legislative Council 
 were left in ignorance of the provisions of the bill. 
 
 In fact, the records of the Legislative Council are largely occupied 
 with discussions between the governor and the elected members on 
 every possible subject, the governor constantly adopting a line of 
 defiance, always treating the opposition as if it were rebellion. On 
 the one side were the colonists, on the other the governor, backed by 
 the home government, concentrating in his own person all power and 
 patronage, supported by the official members, and the nominees, who 
 were plainly instructed that, unless prepared to support the governor, 
 " right or wrong " (if a governor could be wrong), they must resign. 
 
 The ability and integrity of the colonial secretaries of state during 
 the administration of Sir George Gipps, and of Sir George himself, 
 are indisputable ; but they obstinately insisted on knowing whether 
 shoes fitted or not better than the people who wore them, and insisted 
 too, that they should wear them, whether they pinched or not. For- 
 tunately the prosperity of the colony did not entirely depend on the 
 
160 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 crotchets of a colonial minister, or of a governor, although both could, 
 and did, seriously retard its progress. 
 
 But while the Legislative Council were contesting, inch by inch, 
 the " elementary rights of Englishmen," the grass was growing, the 
 sheep were breeding, the stockmen were exploring new pastures, and 
 the frugal industry of settlers was replacing and increasing the capital 
 lost by wild speculations. And in 1845-6, Sir George Gipps was 
 able to announce that the revenue exceeded the expenditure, and the 
 exports the imports, while the glut of labour which followed his arrival 
 had been succeeded by a demand which the squatters termed a dearth. 
 
 In July, 1846, Sir George Gipps retired from the government of 
 New South Wales, and embarked for England, worn out in body and 
 mind by the excitement of perpetual contests with colonists as unscru- 
 pulous in their attacks as he was obstinate and haughty in maintaining 
 his opinions and position. It was a war to the knife on both sides. 
 The last measure he presented to the Legislative Council (a bill to 
 renew the border police) was rejected, and an address voted, by a large 
 majority, after two nights' debate, which was virtually a vote of censure 
 on his government, after which the council adjourned itself for a month. 
 
 During an administration of eight years, distinguished by unusual 
 official and literary aptitude, Sir George Gipps succeeded in earning the 
 warm approbation of the Downing-street chiefs, and the detestation of 
 the members of every colonial class and interest, except his immediate 
 dependents. The squatocracy, the mercantile, and the settler class were 
 equally opposed to him. Yet even with the same political and econo- 
 mical views, erroneous and baneful as many of them were, with much 
 less talent, but with a more conciliatory temper, he might have been a 
 happy, a popular, and a really useful governor. The value, as well as the 
 popularity, of a colonial governor depends more on the manner in which 
 he conciliates and advises the people under his charge, than on the man- 
 ner in which he pens a despatch or delivers a speech from the vice-throne. 
 
 We have dwelt on Sir George's unhappy career unhappy for 
 himself and for the colony under his charge to show what manner of 
 policy was approved and rewarded by the Colonial Office of Lord 
 Stanley and Earl Grey, and why discontent has been chronic in New 
 South Wales for so many years. 
 
 Had he been a man of less mark, or a governor of less power, his 
 faults and foibles should have been buried with him ; but unfortunately 
 they form an important part of the history of the colony he misgoverned. 
 We may yet have to reap a bitter harvest from the seeds he sowed. 
 Imperfectly as our task has been performed, we have said enough to 
 
SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 161 
 
 show that his administration must always be considered one of the 
 most important epochs in the history of Australia. 
 
 The permanent infliction of the 1 an acre monopoly the consequent 
 triumph of the great pastoral over the freehold interest the development 
 of the wonderful pastoral resources of Australia the abolition of assign- 
 ment and transportation of criminals the rise of a free population the 
 introduction of the elective element into the legislature the com- 
 mencement of a legitimate parliamentary struggle for the establishment 
 of responsible government, and a crowd of events of great local but 
 minor national importance, all these date back to the period during 
 which Sir George Gipps " reigned and governed too," contesting every 
 possible question with the Legislative Council, with the judges, with 
 the crown land commissioners, with the clergy of all denominations, 
 with squatters, with settlers, with every colonist who dared to have 
 any other opinion than the opinion of the Governor. 
 
 A 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SONGS OF THE SQUATTERS. 
 
 MONG the "signs of the times" during Sir George Gipps' govern- 
 ment, we notice a decided progress in the literature of the colony : 
 verse as well as prose of no mean order was called into existence by the 
 fierce contest between the colonists and their governor. We give a few 
 extracts from the colonial newspaper of 1845. They may be received 
 as evidence of some value by those who do not care to dive into any of 
 the reports we have quoted on important but not very amusing questions. 
 
 THE BUSHMAN'S COMPLAINT. 
 
 THE commissioner bet me a pony I won 
 
 So he cut off exactly two-thirds of my run ; 
 
 For he said I was making a fortune too fast, 
 
 And profit gained slower the longer would last. 
 
 He remark'd, as devouring my mutton he sat, 
 
 That I suffer'd my sheep to grow sadly too fat ; 
 
 That they wasted the waste land, did prerogative brown 
 
 And rebelliously nibbled the droits of the crown ; 
 
 That the creek that divided my station in two 
 Show'd nature design'd that two fees should be due. 
 Mr. Riddel assured me 'twas paid but for show, 
 But he kept it and spent it, that's all that I know. 
 
162 THE THREE COLONIES OP AUSTRALIA. 
 
 The commissioner fined me because I forgot 
 
 To return an old ewe that was ill of the rot; 
 
 And a poor, wry-neck'd lamb that we kept for a pet, 
 
 And he said it was treason such things to forget. 
 
 The commissioner pounded my cattle, because 
 
 They had mumbled the scrub with their famishing jaws 
 
 On the part of the run he had taken away, 
 
 And he sold them by auction the cost to defray. 
 
 The Border police were out all the day, 
 To look for some thieves who had ransack'd my dray ; 
 But the thieves they continued in quiet and peace, 
 For they robb'd it themselves, had the Border police. 
 
 When the white thieves were gone next the black thieves appear'J, 
 
 My shepherds they waddied, my cattle they spear'd ; 
 
 But for fear of my license I said not a word ; 
 
 For I knew it was gone if the government heard . 
 
 The commissioner's bosom with anger was fill'd 
 
 Against me because my poor shepherd was kill'd ; 
 
 So he straight took away the last third of my run, 
 
 And got it transferr'd to the name of his son. 
 
 The cattle that had not been sold at the pound, 
 He took with the run at five shillings all round, 
 And the sheep the blacks left me at sixpence a head, 
 And a very good price the commissioner said. 
 
 The governor told me I justly was served ; 
 That commissioners never from duty had swerved ; 
 But that if I'd apply for any more land, 
 For one pound an acre he'd plenty on hand. 
 
 TITYRE TU PATUL^E, &c. 
 An Australian Version. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 Mivins, a Port Phillipian squatter, has been bought out of his run. On his road, 
 Avith his sheep, looking for a new station, he meets Timmins, an old " lag," 
 who, by " tipping " the Clerks at the Crown Land Office, has had his run kept 
 out of the government sales. 
 
 MIVINS. WHILE, Timmins, you recline at ease, 
 Under the shade of these gum trees, 
 Whistling such ditties, gay and flat, 
 As "Nix my Dolly" and "Bound my Hat," 
 We, with all manner of vexations, 
 Are forced to look out for new stations ; 
 I have been put to total rout, 
 
 A d d new chum has bought me out! 
 
 While you sit there, you happy sticker, 
 And smoke your pipe and drink your liquor. 
 
SONGS OF THE SQUATTERS. ; 
 
 TIMMINS. A real gentleman, and no mistake, 
 
 Has done the business, Mivins, for my sake; 
 I tip him very regular, you must know 
 A brace of lambs I send, or else a ewe; 
 And thus you see it comes about, 
 That I have not been purchased out. 
 
 MIVINS. I do not envy you, but wonder how, 
 
 Or why, they have got up this blessed row ; 
 The ewes and lambs I am too weak to drive, 
 And fear I'll bring off very few alive; 
 , The weakest lambs I put upon the dray, 
 But still I save but few alas the day ! 
 A score of them are dead in yonder spot, 
 The very finest too of all the lot. 
 The overseer, I recollect, fortold 
 That. all this run of ours would soon be sold; 
 
 Such croaking prophecies I sent to h ; 
 
 But, Timmins, tell us something of this swell. 
 
 TIMMINS. The city they call Sydney, I once thought 
 
 Was like this town of Melbourne, where we brought 
 Our wedders oft for sale; so ewes to lambs 
 Resemblance show, and cubs are like their dams: 
 But Sydney does this town of ours surpass, 
 As does the tall white gum the burnt up grass. 
 
 MIVINS. What was it brought you up to Sydney, pray? 
 
 TIMMINS. To get my freedom, which, with some delay, 
 I did obtain at last ; but while away 
 I saw the swell I mentioned: and I tell you 
 There are no flies about him, my good fellow; 
 And when I asked him if I were secure 
 My run should not be purchased, " To be sure," 
 Says he: "Don't be in such a fright; 
 You pay the tip, and I'll make it all right." 
 
 MIVINS. A fortunate old chap you surely are ; 
 
 For though the run may seem a little bare, 
 And dotted over here and there with rock, 
 Yet still it is sufficient for your stock ; 
 And by the river is so well protected, 
 There is no danger of its being infected. 
 But some of us must go to Portland Bay, 
 Others to Gipps's land or Goulburn way; 
 Or else to South Australia and the plains 
 North of the Pyrenees and Grampians. 
 I wonder if I ever shall again 
 Behold the spot which once was my domain ; 
 The door against the Bushman never shut, 
 And the bark covering of my humble hut. 
 Some half-pay officer will reap my corn, 
 Some sailor shear my flocks may I be shorn, 
 
164 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 If I had thought it would have reach'd this pass, 
 If ever I'd have been the infernal ass 
 To build a wool-shed, or to put a rod 
 Of fencing up, or turn a single sod. 
 TIMMINS. At any rate you'll spend the night with me, 
 And have a bit of damper and some tea ; 
 And now I see it's getting rather late, 
 So we'll go in and finish the debate. 
 
 " THE ASSYEIAN CAME DOWN LIKE THE WOLF ON THE FOLD ' 
 
 THE commissioner '11 come with his wolves to my fold, 
 And order my station and sheep to be sold ; 
 For of New Kegulations I can't pay the fee, 
 So my fold must go into Gipps' treasury. 
 With their white silky fleeces, my ewes will be seen 
 Disporting at eve with their lambs on the green' 
 Next morning all dusty, and panting, and hot, 
 Ewes, wethers, and lambs will be off to the pot ; 
 For the gov'nor 'ill issue his new regulations, 
 That all must pay twice, or p'raps thrice, for their stations ; 
 And the purse of the squatter the treas'ry must fill, 
 Just as much and as oft as the gov'nor shall will. 
 "And there be my wheat to be reap'd by the blacks, 
 Because I can not pay the governor's tax. 
 And the huts will be silent, their occupants gone, 
 The yards all unswept, and the squatter undone. 
 ***** 
 And the wealth of Australia, wool, commerce, and ships, 
 Will be melted like wax at the breath of a Gipps. 
 
 LORD STANLEY AND MB. CARDWELL. 
 
 Scene, the Colonial Office. Lord STANLEY discovered reading the advertise mm t 
 of the Times, when enters Mr. CARDWELL. 
 
 THE WOOL LIEN. 
 
 LORD STANLEY. STOP, Mr. Cardwell, you have doubtless heard 
 That New South Wales has got a Constitution : 
 Such an assembly, I should think, was never 
 Seen since the time of Romulus all thieves 
 Several who have not yet received their pardons ; 
 And Stephen says they voted it a breach 
 Of privilege, to pick a member's pocket 
 While in debate engaged. 'Tis sad to think 
 The spurious liberalism of the age 
 Should give such rascals power. 
 
 MR. CARDWELL. Sad, indeed! 
 
 LORD STANLEY. Well, Sir, these rascals have presumed to make 
 A law about their filthy sheep and cattle, 
 For which we've written them a sharp despatch, 
 
SONGS OF THE SQUATTERS. 105 
 
 Whereon I would interrogate you briefly. 
 
 Tell me, then, 
 
 If any difference exist in law 
 
 Betwixt the pledge of personal estate and alienation? 
 MR. CARDWELL. Very great, my lord: 
 
 If personal estate or goods be sold, 
 
 Possession ought to follow the transaction ; 
 
 Or, if the seller still do keep the goods, 
 
 It is so Turyne's case says a badge of fraud: 
 
 But if the property be only pledged, 
 
 Possession in the pawner does not give 
 
 The slightest badge of fraud. Tis true, if bankrupt 
 
 The mortgagor become, his assignees 
 
 Will have a preference o'er the mortgagee, 
 
 Because the property does still remain 
 
 Within the order and disposing power 
 
 Of him they represent. 
 LORD STANLEY (rising sternly'). Sir, I intended 
 
 To have promoted you to mighty honour; 
 
 But finding you so grossly ignorant 
 
 Of the first axioms of the legal science, 
 
 I do repent me of my former purpose. 
 
 Sir, had you been a lawyer, you'd have known 
 
 That mortgages of personal estate 
 
 Are held by English law in perfect hate ; 
 
 For law, indeed, we do not greatly care, 
 
 Save that injustice must not be too bare. 
 
 Away, young man, and seek your special pleader ; 
 
 If you talk thus, you'll never be a leader. 
 
 THE "DEVIL AND THE GOVERNOR." 
 
 A FRAGMENT. 
 
 THE DEVIL. I'VE come, my dear soul, for an hour or two, 
 
 On passing events to chat with you ; 
 
 To render you thanks for the mischief you're brewing 
 
 For the state you oppress, and the men you're undoing. 
 
 And also to offer excuse my freedom 
 
 A few words of advice where you seem to need 'em. 
 
 | The Governor, after some parley, excuses himself from offering hospitality on 
 the grounds of the lateness of the hour, and that he does not himself drink 
 " g r g j " to which answers the 
 DEVIL. * * Such is the general spread of sobriety, 
 
 They've got up in hell a Temperance Society ; 
 
 Now I make it a rule, though some trouble it brings, 
 
 To patronise all those sort of things. 
 
 A sober sinner is not the less 
 
 A sinner for want of drunkenness ; 
 
45 THE -THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 And they wrong me who say I'm fond of riot, 
 I like those crimes best that are done in quiet. 
 ******* 
 
 GOVERNOR. Your advice, your advice, 'twere a shame to lose it, 
 Though I need not take it unless I choose it. 
 
 DEVIL. I grant you the praise you've fairly won 
 
 By the deeds you do and the deeds you've done; 
 I know that no causes corrupt the mind 
 Like the chains by which tyrants have crushed mankind; 
 ' That the blighting touch of a despot's rod 
 Kills in man's spirit the breath of God ; 
 That the cherishing light of the holy skies, 
 Falls barren and vain upon servile eyes ; 
 That the weeds of evil will thrive there best 
 Where the fair shoots of nature are clipped and dressed: 
 And under those climes where the poisonous brood 
 Of error is nursed by servitude. 
 When most I am bent on man's undoing, 
 The tyrant assists my work of ruin: 
 In New South Wales, as I plainly see, 
 You're carving out plentiful jobs for me. 
 But forgive me for hinting your zeal is such, 
 That I'm only afraid you'll do too much. 
 I know this well: to subject mankind 
 You must tickle before you attempt to bind ; 
 Nor lay on his shoulders the yoke, until 
 Through his passions you've first enslaved his will. 
 You're too violent far you rush too madly 
 At your favourite ends, and spoil them sadly. 
 Already I warn you, the system totters 
 They're a set of hornets these unruly squatters ; 
 Especially when you would grasp their cash. 
 Excuse me, George, but I think you're rash. 
 
 GOVERNOR. Kash! d n it! rash! 
 
 DEVIL. Don't fly in a passion, 
 
 In the higher circles 'tis not the fashion. 
 GOVERNOR. Would you have me forego the rights of the Crown, 
 
 To be laughed at all over the factious town? 
 
 I'll teach these squatters to pay their rent ; 
 
 I don't care a rush for their discontent! 
 
 They've abused me in print, they've made orations, 
 
 They've their papers and Pastoral Associations ; 
 
 They've gone to the length of caricaturing, 
 
 But I'll show them the evil is past their curing. 
 
 DEVIL. Come, come, be cool, or your aim you'll miss, 
 
 Your temper's too hot for work like this. 
 'Twere a pity to peril this rich possession 
 By foolish rashness or indiscretion. 
 
SONGS OF THE SQUATTERS. 
 
 167 
 
 Wentworth and Windeyer are troublesome chaps, 
 And the Council's a thorn in your side, perhaps ; 
 But let them grumble and growl their fill, 
 You know very well their power is nil. 
 Look at the schedules by which, 'tis clear, 
 You handle a monstrous sum each year; 
 Look at the patronage thrown in your gift; 
 To give your backers a solid lift. 
 Look at the power you have to draw 
 On Downing-street when you want a new law; 
 Look at the lands that are unlocated, 
 Where droits of the crown are so nicely created ; 
 Then calmly proceed. ***** 
 Subdue by degrees, and slowly oppress, 
 Or I tell you you'll get yourself into a mess. 
 While people petition they'll find it a sell, 
 But don't push them too hard they might rebel. 
 GOVERNOR. Rebel! Ha! ha! you're surely in joke; 
 Rebellion here a mere puff of smoke 
 A handful of troops would put them down, 
 And the higher classes would join the crown. 
 DEVIL. It might be so ; but just mark, my friend, 
 
 Who'll come to be losers in the end ? 
 No doubt ther'd be fun well worth enjoying, 
 
 Burning, and plundering, and destroying j 
 
 Fighting for towns not worth disputing ; 
 
 Skirmishing, robbing, and rifle-shooting 
 From bushes and trees, and rock for barriers ; 
 
 Murdering of postboys and plundering of carriers 
 
 Storming of camps by midnight entries, 
 
 Driving off horses and popping off sentries ; 
 
 Seizures of stock for purposes royal ; 
 
 Pressing of men to make them loyal. 
 
 Some heroes might fall in that petty strife, 
 
 Whom bondage had taught a contempt for life ; 
 
 Some patriots leading in civil storms, 
 
 Might dangle on gibbets their martyr forms ; 
 
 Or exiled afar, to return no more, 
 
 Might bury their bones on a foreign shore, 
 
 Proscribed by the tyrants they dared to brave, 
 
 And mocked by the people they sought to save. 
 
 But not in vain would they bear and bleed ; 
 
 This land would have gained what most they need ; 
 
 John Bull from his drowsy indifference waking, 
 
 Would give you small despots a terrible sbaking; 
 
 You'd be robbed of your berth and your reputation, 
 
 For causing your masters so much vexation.* 
 
 * The author of this fierce poetical summary of Australian wrongs was a young gentleman 
 born and bred in the colony. We give it, therefore, nearly at length, not only as evidence of 
 colonial feeling, but of colonial talent. 
 
168 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 SIR GEORGE AND THE GIBBET. 
 ON THE GOVERNOR'S BEING PRESENT AT A REHEARSAL OF THE NEW DROP AT 
 
 WOOLLOMOOLOO GAOL, FEB. 3, 1845. 
 
 PERVADING Gipps ! whose penetrating soul 
 The least o'erlooks, the mightiest can control ; 
 Now drowning towns, now decimating quills, 
 Now taxing provinces, now taxing bills ; 
 Or when thy jaded spirit seeks for ease, 
 And e'en misgovernment has ceased to please, 
 Just acting o'er to dissipate thy gloom, 
 The dread rehearsal of a felon's doom I 
 
 THE GUNDAGAI FLOOD. 
 
 In 1844 the colony was visited by severe floods. The water was from four to 
 five feet deep in the township of Gundagai, which had been laid out and sold 
 in building lots by the government sometime previously. The Commis- 
 sioner of Crown Lands, in the district, addressed a letter to the Colonial 
 Secretary, Mr. Deas Thomson, suggesting that, " in consequence of 
 the late floods, it would be highly essential to the future welfare of the 
 township of Gundagai to have part of the township laid out on the south bank 
 of the Murrumbidgee River, on moderately high ground, well adapted for 
 building, giving the parties who have now allotments in the recently-flooded 
 land others on the high land." The suggestion of the Crown Commissioner 
 as to laying out allotments was adopted ; but in conveying this information 
 Mr. Thomson adds : " His Excellency further directs me to inform you that 
 he cannot sanction the proposed exchange of the flooded allotments, a* he 
 considers that what a man buys he buys for better or worse" * 
 
 YE watermen of Gundagai 
 Who're grounded in the mud, 
 Whose huts, not quite triumphantly, 
 Have battled with the flood ; 
 Your new allotments haste to buy, 
 And pay for, ere you go, 
 For the old ones are all gone 
 To the settlements below. 
 
 New Holland lacks much water 
 Her flocks and herds to keep ; 
 Your streets are little rivulets, 
 Your homes are in the deep. 
 With punts, canoes, and jolly boats, 
 From hut to hut ye go ; 
 As ye swim with the stream 
 To the settlements below. 
 * In consequence of this decision, a hundred 
 
 Your wives and children's drowning cries 
 
 Shall rise in every shower ; 
 
 They swam their last at Gundagai, 
 
 In that ill-omened hour ; 
 
 And as the auction-hammer fell 
 
 To " gone," why 'twas a " go :" 
 
 For you float in your boats 
 
 O'er the settlements below. 
 
 Then Gundagai, then Gundagai, 
 Be liberal with your purse, 
 Again your town allotments buy 
 " For better and for worse ;" 
 And if, as further still you wend, 
 To lands still worse you go, 
 Gipps will still stand your friend 
 In the settlements below, 
 people were drowned in this same township in 1S5J. 
 
CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 SIR CHARLES FITZROY. 
 
 1846 TO 1850. 
 
 SIR CHARLES FITZROY, a younger son of the Grafton family, 
 and a brother-in-law of the Duke of Richmond, who had previously 
 been Lieutenant-Governor of Prince Edward's Island, and Governor of 
 Antigua, in the West Indies, succeeded Sir George Gipps in August, 
 1846 ; Sir Charles M. O'Connell, Commander of the Forces in New 
 South Wales, having administered the colony during the intermediate 
 space of a month. 
 
 Sir Charles Fitzroy, who has retained the office with increased 
 dignity as Governor- General, under the Australian Reform Bill, is in 
 every respect the reverse of Sir George Gipps. His talents are not 
 above mediocrity, and his manners are conciliatory. On colonial politics 
 he has no opinions and no prejudices ; apparently his chief object has 
 been to lead an easy life. It is said that on landing he exclaimed 
 " I cannot conceive how Sir George Gipps could permit himself to 
 be bored by anything in this delicious climate." Sir Charles is in 
 fact an eminent example of how far good temper and the impartiality 
 of indifference, in the absence of higher qualities, may make a very 
 respectable colonial governor. By placing himself unreservedly in 
 the hands of men of colonial experience by yielding every point 
 left to his own discretion by the home government to the wishes of the 
 majority of the Legislative Council and in fact by never taking the 
 trouble to have any opinion on any colonial subject, has glided over 
 difficulties on which men of more intellect and obstinacy would have 
 made shipwreck. And perhaps, after all, the sporting, four-in-hand 
 driving, ball-giving governor, 
 
 "A dandy of sixty, who bows with a grace," 
 
 and leaves the political part of his work to his secretaries and law 
 advisers, is the best governor for Australia, until some nobleman or 
 great commoner can be found of common sense and conciliatory man- 
 ners, not only able to initiate the business of colonial government with 
 advantage to the dependency and the parent state, but to teach the 
 rising generation of Australia by example, that without a taste for art, 
 
170 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 science, and refined intellectual amusements, the most fashionable tailor, 
 the most correct equipage, the most beautiful horses, the most stately 
 mansion, and the most varied wine-cellar, will not make a gentleman, 
 as colonial plutocrats often fancy. 
 
 The Earl of Derby (then Lord Stanley) had held the seals of the 
 Colonial Office during nearly the whole period of Sir George Gipps's 
 government, and heartily sustained him in all his needless and despotic 
 assertions of royal prerogative. He had earned, too, considerable 
 personal unpopularity by disallowing several important acts of the 
 Legislative Council, by the exercise of his patronage in an arbitrary 
 manner in favour of very improper objects, and by a general course of 
 conduct both negligent and defiant. In 1845 Lord Stanley resigned, 
 and was succeeded by the Right Hon. William Gladstone, who retired 
 with Sir Robert Peel's government in June, 1846. 
 
 THE ANTI-CONVICT CONTEST. 
 
 Transportation to New South Wales had been discontinued in 1840, 
 in consequence of the report of a committee of the House of Commons 
 made in 1838. The class of convicts who had previously been dis- 
 tributed over New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land as assigned 
 servants, following agricultural and pastoral occupations, were all 
 poured into the island of Van Diemen's Land, and there massed into 
 what were called probation gangs. Without separate cells or trust- 
 worthy gaolers, they festered into the foulest community that ever 
 poisoned the population of a civilised state. 
 
 The gentlemen of the House of Commons who forced the sudden 
 abolition of the assignment system on the government, were the cat's- 
 paws of certain South Australian and New Zealand land-jobbers. By 
 a coup de main they compelled the government to do that in a day 
 which required the preparation of years. For the consequent mistakes 
 and failures which occurred between 1840 and 1845 the Colonial Office 
 is scarcely answerable. The experiment was new ; it was suddenly 
 forced upon them by a powerful political combination, and at that 
 period the means of obtaining authentic information from the colonies 
 were few and far between. 
 
 In 1845 Mr. Secretary Gladstone's attention was directed to two 
 serious facts in regard to convictism. On the one hand the gang and 
 probation system in Van Diemen's Land had produced a state of crime 
 and danger fatal to the progress of the whole colony, which could no 
 longer remain unnoticed. On the other, on the rich pastoral plains of 
 
THE SQUATTERS' ASSOCIATION. 171 
 
 the Port Phillip district the increase of flocks and herds had been so 
 rapid as to place the proprietary of squatting runs in great difficul- 
 ties for want of labourers ; and they had consequently formed an 
 association, made a subscription, and imported about two thousand 
 expirees and ticket-of-leave holders from Van Diemen, to supply their 
 urgent demand for pastoral servants. With a view of controlling these 
 whitewashed criminals, the Legislature of New South Wales (which 
 until 1850 extended over Port Phillip) proposed to subject the Van 
 Diemonian importations to a system of registration and surveillance 
 similar to that to which the ticket-of-leave men were subjected who 
 had originally been sentenced to New South Wales. 
 
 The home government declined to sanction a colonial legislative 
 act, which would have made such a registration legal.* 
 
 But although pastoral proprietors, anxious to preserve and multiply 
 their fleecy treasures, were willing to accept the services of convicts, 
 just as some of them had endeavoured to introduce Feejee cannibals, 
 by a new slave trade, and Pagan Chinese, there was a large free popu- 
 lation in the towns of Australia which was satisfied to depend on free 
 emigrants for the supply of labour, and determined to resist the return 
 to convictism. With the educated and wealthy opponents of white 
 slavery were banded the labouring classes, who naturally were just as 
 anxious to keep wages up as their employers were to keep them 
 down. 
 
 It was then in the commencement of a contest between that portion 
 of the population resident in towns or engaged in agriculture, which, 
 on moral and political grounds, objected to the renewal of transporta- 
 tion, backed by the labouring classes, who were equally averse to the 
 reduction of wages and to the vexatious police regulations incident to 
 the system of prisoner labour which affected all labouring men, and the 
 squatters, to whom cheap and obedient labour was essential if they were 
 to retain their wealthy and dominant position while the respective 
 parties had scarcely marshalled their forces, that a despatch arrived 
 from Mr. Gladstone, in which he requested the governor " to submit to 
 the consideration of the council whether they would not accept, in part 
 supply of the labour market, a renewal of a modified system of trans- 
 portation." Mr. Gladstone had already determined to discontinue 
 transportation to Yan Diemen's Land for two years, pending the 
 arrangement of a better system ; and also to found, on northern 
 Australia, a new penal settlement. 
 
 * One of the first acts of the Legislative Assemblies created by the Australian Reform Bill of 
 1850, was to pass similar acts levelled against Van Diemonian expirees. 
 
 L 2 
 
172 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 On the 13th of October a committee of the Legislative Council was 
 appointed, on the motion of Mr. Went worth, which contained, of ten 
 members, five squatters and two colonial officials. 
 
 The first act of this committee was to meet and decide that it was 
 not expedient at that late period of the session to take any evidence as 
 to the question in Mr. Gladstone's letter " Whether a modified and 
 carefully-regulated introduction of convict labourers will be in accord- 
 ance with the general sense of the colony." Accordingly they confined 
 their labours to inquiring from the employers of labour whether they 
 would like a renewal of transportation that is to say, cheap labour 
 they were unanimously answered in the affirmative, provided the trans- 
 portation was accompanied with certain precautions which they 
 mentioned and inquiring from the police magistrates in what manner 
 and on what terms such transportation ought to be renewed. Although 
 while the committee was sitting, a number of petitions against the 
 renewal of transportation were presented, no witnesses holding the 
 opinions of the petitioners were examined. 
 
 Among other witnesses called was Captain J. Innes, stipendiary 
 magistrate at the convict barracks, and superintendent of irongangs, 
 a gentleman whose office and position alike secured him from any senti- 
 mental terror of convictism, and induced him to acquiesce as much as 
 possible in the views of those home authorities from whom he received 
 his appointment. But Captain Innes only ventured to propose, as the 
 terms on which the colony should consent to receive a limited number 
 of prisoners, " that the colonial government should have the power of 
 settling the rules for the management and discipline of the prisoners;" 
 " that the home government should pay half the police, and gaol, and 
 administration of justice expenditure, the cost of the penal establish- 
 ments in the colony, and send out one male and one female immigrant 
 for each prisoner and all the female convicts, so as to keep a parity of 
 sexes." 
 
 From the same evidence we learn that at that period (1846) there 
 were about fifteen hundred old convicts " the very worst class of men 
 imaginable " still remaining in the gangs and gaols ; and that in the 
 colony there were 13,400 ticket-of-leave holders. The committee 
 reported, too late for the council to take their recommendations into con- 
 sideration, to the following effect : 
 
 They commence by observing that 
 
 "They are sufficiently cognizant of the state of public feeling among their 
 fellow-colonists to be satisfied that if the proposed renewal of transportation were 
 any longer practically and substantially an open question ; if it rested on the 
 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. 173 
 
 colonists themselves to decide whether the deportation of convicts to this hemi- 
 sphere should cease or continue whether they should at once and for ever free 
 themselves and their posterity from the further taint of the convict system, doubt- 
 less a large majority, especially of the operative classes, would give the proposal 
 for renewed transportation an unhesitating veto ; nor do your committee feel by 
 any means certain that the decision of the majority of the upper and middle classes 
 of society would now also be in accordance with the report of the General Griev- 
 ance Committee of 1844, 'that the moral and social influences of the convict 
 system, the contamination and the vice which are inseparable from it, are evils 
 for which no mere pecuniary benefits could serve as a counterpoise ;' and if the 
 Secretary of State be prepared to discontinue the transportation of the convicts of 
 the British empire to all of the Australian colonies, and thus practically as well as 
 nominally free this continent from their presence, such a course would be more 
 generally 'conducive to the interests, and agreeable to the inclinations of those 
 whom it will ultimately concern.' Seeing, however, that in the view of your 
 committee, transportation is no longer an open question that transportation is 
 still to go on to Van Diemen's Land seeing, moreover, that a new penal settle- 
 ment is immediately to be formed on the very northern boundary of the colony 
 that thus this colony, already inundated on the south with the outpourings of 
 the probation system in Van Diemen's Land, the most demoralising that ever 
 was invented, is soon to have poured upon it from the north the exiles of the 
 mother country, as well as the expirees from that colony ; and that to augment 
 the volume of this double stream of felonry, a system of conditional pardons, 
 confining the holders of them practically to the Australian colonies, has been 
 resorted to, with the effect of relieving the British treasury from the cost of main- 
 taining this class of criminals in reality, auhough free men in name : seeing this, 
 your committee consider the question narrowed down to whether transportation 
 should exist in the indirect and polluted shape which it has already assumed ; 
 whether, in short, we are to have this double tide of moral contamination flowing 
 upon us without restraint or check ; or whether, along with whatever compensation 
 transportation can be surrounded, we are to have the additional advantage of 
 modifying and regulating its introduction into the colony by the knowledge which 
 fifty years' experience of its working has given us, which will at all events enable 
 us to combine with the greatest possible good derivable from it, the least possible 
 admixture of evil." 
 
 The committee, after arguing in a very forcible manner against 
 anything in the nature of probation gangs or other aggregation of 
 criminals, " whether for the execution of public works generally, or 
 making and repair of roads," proceed to report 
 
 " As a mere choice of evils, which, whatever may be the general desire, this 
 community has no power to escape from, we are willing to submit to a renewal of 
 transportation upon the following terms, and upon no other : 
 
 " 1st. That no alteration shall be made in the Constitutional Act, 5 and 6 Viet, 
 c. 76, except with the view to the extension of the elective principle. 
 
 " 2nd. That the transportation of male convicts be accompanied, as a simul- 
 taneous measure, with the importation of an equal number of females, to consist 
 
174 THE THREE COLONIES OP AUSTRALIA. 
 
 of female convicts as far as they exist, and the balance to be made up of female 
 immigrants. 
 
 "3rd. That, as a further simultaneous measure, such. transportation be accom- 
 panied with an equal importation of free immigrants, as nearly as possible in equal 
 proportions as to sexes. 
 
 "4th. That the wives and families of all convicts receiving permanent or 
 temporary indulgences should be brought out, and count as part of this free 
 immigration. 
 
 " 5th. That no fewer than five thousand male convicts be annually deported. 
 
 " 6th. That the ironed or road gangs of criminals under colonial sentence, 
 and the convict establishments of Norfolk Island and Cockatoo Islands should be 
 maintained as heretofore at the cost of the British treasury. 
 
 " 7th. That two-thirds of the expense of police, gaols, and the criminal adminis- 
 tration of justice be paid by the home government ; but that on the relinquishment 
 of the land fund and all other revenues or droits of the crown to the appropria- 
 tion of the governor and Legislative Council, the whole of this branch of convict 
 expenditure be assumed by the colony, with a view to aid the British government 
 in defraying the cost of the free emigration stipulated for in the second and third 
 conditions. 
 
 " 8th. That in order to insure due permanency and efficiency in the regulations 
 to be provided for the government and discipline of convicts, the sole power of 
 making such regulations be vested in the governor and Legislative Council, saving 
 entire the royal prerogative of mercy. 
 
 " The description of convicts the colony should agree to receive on the above 
 conditions are 
 
 " 1st. Young delinquents who have committed first offences to be sent after 
 little or no probation. 
 
 " 2nd. Convicts who have committed grave offences, after a probation, under 
 the separate system, considered adequate to the crime. 
 
 " 3rd. Convicts at the commencement of their sentences who have committed 
 various crimes. 
 
 " 4th. Convicts with tickets of leave (if any) from Van Diemen's Land. 
 
 " The committee recommend that 
 
 "The two first classes receive tickets of leave entitling the holders to dwell 
 in some particular district, altogether excluding them from towns. 
 
 " The third class to be assigned in the nineteen counties in which pastoral 
 pursuits were most followed and the squatting districts, to parties into whose 
 character rigid inquiry had been made." 
 
 The committee express a preference for assignment over probation 
 for the second class. 
 
 With respect to the Yan Diemonian ticket-of-leave men, the com- 
 mittee state that they would rather not receive them at all, but that a 
 system of granting conditional pardons very indiscriminately having been 
 very extensively practised, they would prefer receiving men subject to 
 registry muster and the surveillance of the police, to receiving them 
 without any restraint at all. 
 
EARL GREY. 175 
 
 In another part of their report the committee observe, " The secret 
 to disarm transportation of its evil influences is to increase the free 
 population," that it may always maintain a decided ascendancy, and to 
 keep up the equality of the sexes, that the colony may never more be 
 subjected to the horrors of a populus mrorum" 
 
 It seems that at that period the males of the colony were 114,000 to 
 74,000 females. 
 
 The committee conclude with an eloquent peroration, no doubt the 
 work of their accomplished chairman, on the beneficial results to be 
 anticipated from their recommendations. 
 
 This report having been issued too late to be discussed by the 
 Legislative Council, was forwarded by the government to the Colonial 
 Office, and fell into the hands of Mr. Gladstone's successor, Earl 
 Grey. 
 
 EARL GREY. 
 
 Sir Charles Fitzroy, warned by the error of Governor Gipps, in his 
 first address to the Legislative Council, assured them that he should 
 defer any legislative action on his own part until he made such a stay 
 and such investigations as were " necessary to acquire personal expe- 
 rience upon several momentous questions upon which it would be 
 presumptuous to offer any opinion at so early a period of our inter- 
 course ; " and he added : " 1 take this opportunity of publicly 
 declaring, in perfect sincerity, that I have assumed the responsible trust 
 with which our Sovereign has honoured me, unfettered by any precon- 
 ceived opinions on every subject affecting the interests of any class o 
 her Majesty's subjects in this territory." 
 
 Among the important subjects affected by this timely and sagacious 
 declaration stood foremost the renewal of transportation; the upset 
 price of crown lands ; the terms on which those lands were to be 
 temporarily occupied by pastoral proprietors ; the control and appro- 
 priation of the colonial revenues ; and the establishment of steam 
 communication. 
 
 On all these and many other colonial subjects, as we learn from a 
 work recently published by the noble earl, Lord Grey had fully made 
 up his mind, with that instinctive intuition peculiar to those who are 
 " swaddled, and rocked, and dandled into legislators." 
 
 And here we must pause in tracing the progress of the transporta- 
 tion question to describe the minister who has had so large a share in 
 alienating the affections of the Australian colonists from the mother 
 
176 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 country, and in elevating into patriots of the hour those unprincipled 
 agitators who found, to their infinite satisfaction, in the anti-transpor- 
 tation cry the means of preaching sedition. 
 
 Lord Grey, as Lord Howick in the House of Commons, early 
 became a convert to the brilliant plausibilities of Gibbon Wake- 
 field's land theory. He took an active part in the South Australian 
 Committee of 1841, and in 1845 he vehemently supported the attack 
 made in Committee arid in Parliament on Lord Stanley and Sir 
 Robert Peel's government by the New Zealand Company, and had a 
 large share in securing to that corporation a renewed lease of the 
 powers they exercised so injuriously to the interests of their share- 
 holders and their colonists. 
 
 On his accession to the Colonial Office his first step was to break up 
 the colony contemplated by Mr. Gladstone in Northern Australia. 
 
 In reply to Sir Charles Fitzroy, Earl Grey declined to accede to any 
 of the conditions suggested by the Transportation Committee, except 
 that which stipulated for the emigration at the expense of the mother 
 country of a number of free emigrants equal in number to the convicts 
 sent ; but he suspended any action until the decision of the Legislative 
 Council should be pronounced. 
 
 In the meantime the Legislative Council, in the session of 1847, 
 had considered Mr. Went worth's report and rejected it. 
 
 In the same year Earl Grey wrote to the Governor of Tan Diemen's 
 Land, Sir William Denison, "that it was not the intention of her 
 Majesty's government that transportation to Yan Diemen's Land should 
 be resumed at the expiration of the two years for which it has already 
 been decided that it should be discontinued." The Governor, Sir 
 William Denison, took the sentence in its literal sense, and announced 
 the good news in terms which caused general rejoicing. But although 
 it appeared in the sequel that Earl Grey had never meant to discontinue 
 transportation, but only to have convicts on the shores of Yan Diemen's 
 Land as exiles that is to say, convicted emigrants or ticket-of-leave 
 men, instead of concentrating crime in probation gangs, he took no 
 measures to disabuse, to correct the mistaken reading of the governor, 
 until the time came when transportation was openly renewed. In 
 actual fact, although the number of criminals sent to Yan Diemen's 
 Land was diminished, transportation never was discontinued during the 
 proposed two years, but prisoners who had passed through a course of 
 penal discipline in English gaols were landed and almost immediately 
 set at liberty, either as exiles or " ticket-of-leavers," to the extent of 
 3,154 between 1846 and 1848. 
 
ANTI-CONVICT CONTEST. 177 
 
 The despatch from Sir William Denison, informing the Colonial 
 Office that he had announced the abolition of transportation to Van 
 Diemen's Land, and that to revive it in any form would be a breach of 
 faith, was received at the Colonial Office on the 5th February, 1848. 
 The receipt was acknowledged by Earl Grey, by a despatch on the 27th 
 April, 1848, in which, without reprimanding the governor for the since- 
 alleged misconstruction of the despatch, which seemed to announce 
 that transportation was to be discontinued, he thanked the governor 
 for his valuable information, and, without preamble, announced that 
 prisoners would be sent out with tickets of leave. From that period, 
 without interruption up to the present time, the free colonists of Yan 
 Diemen's Land have never ceased to agitate and protest against the 
 system, with such unanimity that at the first general election under the 
 new constitution no single member was returned who did not pledge 
 himself to resist to the uttermost the continuance of transportation ; 
 and this in the face of opposition from candidates who were supported 
 by all the influence of a government expending upwards of 100,000 a 
 year. 
 
 It is quite true, as Earl Grey states in the apology for the failure of his 
 colonial policy, which he has lately addressed to the (colonial) ignorance 
 of the British public, that there were gentlemen in Yan Diemen's Land 
 who, sharing the patronage of the government, openly approved of this 
 wholesale transportation. It is extraordinary, with so large a government 
 expenditure among a community so limited, its supporters were not more 
 numerous, and it is equally true that there were always employers to be 
 found willing to engage the cheap labour provided by ships laden with 
 " ticket-of-leavers." But cheap labour will always find customers, 
 whatever the quality or morality. The pest and crime-breeding cottages 
 of Dorsetshire, denounced by the Rev. Sidney Godolphin Osborne 
 the seven-shilling-a-week life, with a workhouse burial, as the goal of 
 Wiltshire labourers the employment of women in mines, and the 
 unlimited hours of labour in factories, have, in turn, met with apolo- 
 gists as well as supporters. So in Yan Diemen's Land, those who 
 fertilised their lands or derived wealth from the moral cesspool 
 approved it, and not unwillingly saw it overflow the neighbouring 
 colony. 
 
 A key to the unpopularity which in Australia attended Earl 
 Grey's administration of the Colonial Office, may be found in the com- 
 munications which passed between certain elective members of the 
 Legislative Council of New South Wales, who were chosen a correspond- 
 ing committee, and the parliamentary agent or representative of the 
 
173 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 colony, the Hon. Francis Scott, M.P., from which we shall presently 
 make some extracts. 
 
 But as regards transportation, in 1848, the Legislative Council 
 received some accession of strength from the squatter party; the 
 colony was in straits from the cessation of immigration, which had 
 fallen from some six thousand in 1842 to barely three thousand two 
 hundred during the whole five years of 1843, 1844, 1845, 1846, and 
 1847, and ventured to pass a resolution assenting to a proposition 
 made by Earl Grey, by which he undertook to forward a certain 
 number of criminals who had passed through a course of discipline in 
 British penitentiaries, to be landed with tickets of leave ; and further 
 to accompany their immigration with that of an equal number of 
 free emigrants to be sent, not at the cost of the Colonial Land Fund, 
 but of the British Exchequer. 
 
 The passing of this resolution was the signal for the organisation of 
 a fierce agitation against the renewal of transportation, which was kept 
 alive by the arrival from time to time of small bands of felons under 
 the new name of exiles. 
 
 Sir Charles Fitzroy's despatch, enclosing Mr. Wentworth's resolution 
 in favour of the renewal of transportation, reached England in August, 
 1848. 
 
 The financial state of the country deterred the English government 
 from proposing the vote needful for defraying the expenses of the free 
 emigrants promised to the colony, in consideration of their receiving 
 convicts. Had the compromise been strictly fulfilled by Earl Grey, and 
 accompanied by such measures as would have prevented the convicts 
 from remaining in towns to compete with free labourers, it is possible 
 that convictism might have been endured for some years longer ; at any 
 rate until the discovery of gold rendered transportation to Australia 
 absurd as a punishment. But Earl Grey, in a defiance of public 
 opinion in the colonies, as exhibited in a crowd of petitions, resolutions, 
 and reports of public meetings forwarded to him, as well as in the 
 universal tone of the colonial newspapers, adopted that part of the 
 bargain which suited the mother country, and neglected to fulfil the 
 colonial conditions on which the concession was made. He decided 
 to send out prisoners but no free emigrants revoked the order iu 
 council of 1840, by which New South Wales had ceased to be a place 
 for the reception of convicts and commenced to send out the pets of 
 Pentonville and Parkhurst. 
 
 The publication of this despatch in the colony was received with 
 one universal outburst of indignation. A passage at the conclusion of 
 
THE CONVICT CONTEST. 179 
 
 the communication, in which Sir C. Fitzroy was told that " if the 
 Legislative Council should object to receive convicts without free immi- 
 gration at the expense of the home government according to the 
 stipulation of the compromise, the transmission of convicts would be 
 stopped, and application made to parliament for the means of fulfilling the 
 originaj promise," was considered as approaching insult, because it was 
 evident that -during at least nearly twelve months between the penning of 
 that despatch to the receipt of an answer, transportation must flow on. 
 From that time compromise was impossible ; the breach of faith became 
 a potent rhetorical weapon in the hands of political agitators. The 
 excitement and fury of all parties was such, that it only needed the 
 presence of an obstinate and haughty governor to provoke a rebellious 
 outburst. Fortunately Governor Fitzroy preferred a pleasant day on 
 the race- course to any assertion of vice-royal attributes. 
 
 In 1849, the Hashemy convict-ship arrived in Sydney harbour. At 
 one of the largest public meetings ever held in that city, speeches of 
 the most violent character were delivered, and resolutions passed, calling 
 upon the governor to send back the cargo of England's crimes to 
 England. At the same time certain of the great flockowners the 
 political Btickinghams and Newdegates of the colony eagerly engaged 
 the ticket-of-leave men, tamed somewhat by penitentiary discipline, 
 and all unencumbered by wives and families, at lower wages, in pre- 
 ference to a thousand free emigrants, consisting of men, women, and 
 children, who arrived at the same time. 
 
 In the latter end of 1848 the results of distress in England and famine 
 in Ireland were felt in Australia in the shape of an inflowing of free 
 emigrants more numerous than had been received since the frantic 
 mania of 1841 ; and this was increased to such an extent in 1849, that 
 little short of thirteen thousand labouring people were landed in 
 Sydney, and an equal number at Port Phillip. An addition of many 
 thousand free emigrants to the population could not fail to produce 
 an effect on the anti-transportation feelings of the colony. It is self- 
 evident that when emigrants begin to flock freely into a colony, the 
 period for employing convict labour has passed. 
 
 In 1849, the Legislative Council answered Earl Grey's extraordinary 
 reading of the compromise offered him in 1848, by voting an address to 
 the Queen in which they protested against the adoption of any measure 
 by which the colony would be degraded into a penal settlement, " and 
 entreated her Majesty to revoke the order in Council by which New 
 South Wales had been again made a place to which British offenders 
 may be transported." That in this address they only echoed the 
 
180 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 feelings of the great majority of the colonists was proved in the 
 next election, when gentlemen with the highest claims to the honours 
 of Legislation were rejected on the one ground of having supported the 
 transportation compromise. 
 
 Earl Grey, in his recent apology for his colonial policy, treats this 
 absolute reversal of the compromise previously offered as something 
 marvellously inconsistent, if not unprincipled: his own "error of 
 judgment" in sending the poison without the antidote, he treats very 
 lightly. 
 
 But Earl Grey writes like a man whose political position and still 
 more his tone of mind remove him altogether from those influences which 
 affect popular assemblies. During his official career he had no con- 
 stituents; no equal cared, no subordinate dared, to controvert his fixed 
 ideas on all colonial subjects ; and when colonists ventured in deputa- 
 tion to urge unpleasant arguments, we have ourselves witnessed with 
 what impassive, incredulous sternness he bowed them out ! 
 
 Earl Grey takes some pains to marshal the respective elements of the 
 pro and anti-transportation parties; he performs his task in a manner 
 which reminds one of the instruction for a brief given, according to 
 an old circuit story, by an attorney to his new clerk "our client, 
 the plaintiff, is a most respectable baker, the defendant is a rascally 
 cheesemonger." 
 
 And so Earl Grey declares, that the " minority in favour of the 
 renewal of transportation included no small proportion of the most intel- 
 ligent and enterprising members of society," whilst the majority against 
 included not only those "who sincerely entertained the repugnance they 
 professed on moral grounds, but a great number of the labouring classes 
 who were influenced by jealousy of the competition of convicts, and a 
 fear that their coming might lead to a reduction of the extravagant 
 wages they had been in the habit of obtaining. Others, again, for 
 personal or electioneering objects, thought it their interest to excite 
 popular passions. The anti-transportation party in the interval 
 since the subject was previously considered in the Legislative Council 
 gained the ascendancy, assisted in no small degree by the diminished 
 urgency of the demand for labour, in consequence of the large free 
 emigration." * 
 
 It is worthy of note that the dearth of labour which had prevailed 
 in previous years, was owing entirely to Earl Grey's refusal to adopt 
 the measures pressed upon him by " the most intelligent and enter- 
 
 * Colonial Policy, by Earl Grey, vol. 2, p. 47. 
 
A PARALLEL FOR EARL GREY. 181 
 
 prising colonists," and that the supply of labour was due, not to his com- 
 missioners, but to the English distress and Irish famine. But in order 
 that those not conversant with colonial affairs may not be imposed upon 
 by the strenuous efforts of Lord Grey to extenuate a course of policy 
 which, if pardonable in a novice, is quite unpardonable in a statesman, 
 we venture on the following parallel passage from English History : 
 
 An administration, of which Earl Grey formed one, offered to com- 
 promise the corn-law question by offering an 8s. duty. That offer was 
 rejected by the agricultural interest in 1842 ; while in 1848 nothing 
 less than the total and immediate abolition would satisfy those who 
 would once willingly have accepted the 8s. compromise, those who in 1842 
 had rejected it disdainfully would have been only too willing to accept 
 it. In the same way the party who carried the repeal of the corn laws, 
 was composed of some who sincerely approved of it on moral and poli- 
 tical grounds, others who were chiefly moved by the prospect of increased 
 trade, and others who saw in the movement personal and political advan- 
 tages and the way to the enjoyment of extravagant official salaries.* 
 
 It would be difficult to find two passages in cotemporary history 
 more alike. When Earl Grey reads colonial events with such singular 
 one-sidedness, it is not surprising that he did not observe that the party 
 in favour of the renewal of transportation was composed of those whose 
 income would be increased by hundreds and thousands per annum by a 
 reduction of the price of labour to 16 per annum who would never 
 be brought in contact with the convict element who could afford free 
 butlers and ladies' maids whose sons would not associate and whose 
 daughters would not be entrapped into marriage with Pentonville exiles 
 or ticket-of-leavers. 
 
 The obnoxious order in council making New South Wales a penal 
 colony was, after a brief contest, withdrawn, but the seed of agitation 
 had been sown, the anti-transportation league, embracing all the Austra- 
 lian colonies and Yan Diemen's Land, had been organised. The gold 
 discoveries proved to every one, except to the son and heir of the great 
 man who carried the Keform Bill, that transportation was not only 
 odious to the colonists but absurd as a punishment. Within the 
 present year it has been abolished by the Duke of Newcastle. But 
 Earl Grey, like his countryman, the gallant Whittington, still fights 
 upon his stumps, and endeavours to perpetuate the bitter dislike with 
 which his official career was regarded in the colonies, by proclaiming 
 
 * We do not consider that the secretaries of state are by any means extravagantly paid, but it 
 is very likely that a colonist might. And we do not agree -with Earl Grey that the wages of colonial 
 labourers are to be measured by a Northumberland standard, for what is extravagant in England 
 is moderate in a new country. 
 
182 THE 1 THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 that as regards Yan Diemen's Land he would not, had he continued in 
 power, have yielded to either gold or agitation ; nay, more, that he 
 would have created the Moreton Bay district into a separate colony 
 for the express purpose of enabling the squatters whom his land policy 
 has fixed in possession of that fine country to the exclusion of yeomanry 
 to accept the convicts whom the colonists on the whole line of coast 
 eastward have agreed in rejecting. 
 
 Such are the leading facts of the Anti-Transportation Question, one 
 of several which formed the subjects of bitter contest between the 
 colonists and Earl Grey during the administration of Governor Fitzroy. 
 Of the seeds of distrust, almost of sedition, then sown, we fear we 
 have not yet seen the full fruit. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PARLIAMENTARY AGENT. 
 
 WE are enabled to obtain a good idea of the state of public 
 opinion on all the important points which formed the subject of 
 discussion between the Colonial Office and the colonists during- Sir 
 Charles Fitzroy's administration, by turning to the correspondence 
 which took place between a committee of the Legislative Council, named 
 as the Corresponding Committee, over which the Speaker of the Council 
 presided, and Mr. Francis Scott, M.P. 
 
 So early as 1844 the Legislative Council, in the height of their 
 contest with the Governor and Colonial Secretary of State on " the 
 grievances connected with crown lands," turned their attention to the 
 propriety of securing the services, as paid agent, of some member of the 
 British Parliament, who would fill for New South Wales the post 
 occupied by Edmund Burke, as representative of the State of New 
 York, before the breaking out of the War of Independence. 
 
 With this view the late Mr. Benjamin Boyd, who was urging with 
 indefatigable energy and zeal the cause of his brother squatters in 
 England, selected the Hon. Francis Scott, M.P., brother of Lord 
 Polwarth, a barrister, a director of the South-Western Railway, a 
 Conservative of very decided Protestant and Protectionist views, 
 with a good political connection among his party, and industrious 
 business habits. But when the scheme was laid before Lord Stanley, 
 
CORRESPONDENCE WITH PARLIAMENTARY AGENT. 183 
 
 the Colonial Minister, he declined to give it his sanction unless the 
 Council would consent that one-third of the Committee of Correspond- 
 ence should consist of nominee members that is to say, in the same 
 proportion as the council. To this the elective councillors would by no 
 means agree, and the official appointment of Mr. Scott, and his salary, 
 remained in abeyance, with many other questions of greater importance ; 
 but in the meantime Mr. Scott exerted himself with considerable 
 success to oppose the bill prepared by Lord Stanley, on the information 
 of Sir George Gipps, for settling the tenure of pastoral lands, and 
 entered into a correspondence, from which we make the following 
 extracts. 
 
 In a letter addressed by Mr. F. Scott to the Speaker of the 
 Legislative Council, dated 30th June, 1846, he refers to "the small 
 amount of attention which colonial questions command in parliament," 
 and adds te two more examples to one given in a previous letter," in the 
 fact that twice the House of Commons had been counted out when he had 
 motions standing for considering the subject of emigration. So that 
 at that time it was impossible to find forty members willing to listen to 
 Mr. Scott, on a question vitally affecting an important colony. 
 
 He then goes on to state that he had ascertained that the bill for the 
 regulation of waste lands of Australia, laid on the table of the House 
 of Lords by Lord Lyttleton, the under- secretary of the recently- 
 appointed secretary, Mr. Gladstone, was substantially the same as one 
 which had been printed the previous session, laid on the table of the 
 House of Commons, and sent out to the colonies. He observes " After a 
 year's deliberation, after ascertaining the opinions of the colonists to 
 be opposed to the measure, it is a matter of deep regret that the 
 government should introduce the same bill to settle a question of vital 
 importance, which it leaves more unsettled than ever." Then he adds 
 these remarkable words coming from a Conservative of the old school : 
 " I am not aware that the opinions of any one in this country con- 
 nected with New South Wales, or of any one in the colony except his 
 Excellency Sir George Gipps, were either ascertained or asked for. 
 So that it would appear that the transmission of a bill by the govern- 
 ment in this country for the consideration of a colony with a Legislative 
 Council as a deliberative assembly, is little more than its transmission to 
 the colony for the signature of the colonial governor without the 
 council. The bill seems to be framed rather in accordance with the 
 observations of the land and emigration commissioners *han with a view 
 to the interests of the Australian public." 
 
 - The principle of the bill protested against was to maintain the high 
 
184 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 price of land, and to retain the land until sold in the hands of the crown, 
 to be rented to tenants at will, or on short leases, as in Turkey and 
 Egypt, on such terms as would have left the fortune of every pastoral 
 proprietor in the hands of the governor or his subordinates. 
 
 Eventually Mr. Scott was able to organise an opposition among the 
 aristocratic and wealthy relatives of the squatters the Elliots, the 
 Trevylyans, the Edens more formidable than had been anticipated. 
 Among the other questions he was instructed to urge was the con- 
 cession of the control of the casual revenues of the colony claimed by 
 the council and refused by Sir George Gipps ; and assistance for estab- 
 lishing steam communication a subject which had occupied the council 
 since 1845. 
 
 Earl Grey commenced auspiciously by ceding the point as to the 
 casual revenues. On the land question he adhered to the opinions of 
 his preceptor in the art of colonisation, Gibbon Wakefield, and addressed 
 a despatch to Sir Charles Fitzroy, containing a report prepared by his 
 obedient, sympathising subordinates, the Colonial Land and Emigration 
 Commissioners, the tenor of which may be gathered from the colonial 
 documents we are about to quote. 
 
 In July, 1847, Sir Charles Nicholson, as chairman of the committee 
 of correspondence, addressed a letter to Mr. Scott, in which, after 
 recapitulating the circumstances under which the correspondence had 
 commenced in 1845, and the discussion with Lord Stanley ; the passing 
 of a bill in September, 1846, for appointing Mr. Scott agent for three 
 years at a salary of 500 a year ; the reservation of that bill " for the 
 signification of her Majesty's pleasure," "in consequence of the terms of 
 Lord Stanley's despatch ;" the absolute refusal of the council to submit 
 to the " unconstitutional" terms suggested by Lord Grey as to the 
 composition of the committee ; the passing of a vote for 1,000 toward 
 two years' salary of the agent ; and acknowledging the receipt of several 
 letters, including the one already quoted, Sir Charles Nicholson 
 proceeds to observe that " the provisions of the Australian Land Bill" 
 introduced by Lord Stanley in July 18, 1845, "were framed in 
 utter disregard of the repeatedly-expressed opinions and votes of this 
 council. The vesting the executive with enormous and all but uncon- 
 trolled powers, in order to carry out its provisions ; the reservation to 
 the crown of the right of sole appropriation of the revenue derivable 
 from the waste lands, and the continuance of the high upset price, are 
 the most prominent, though not the only objections which characterise 
 Lord Stanley's bill." He continues : " Many of the objections 
 urged against the bill brought in by Lord Stanley, apply with equal 
 
EARL GREY'S UNCHANGING POLICY. 185 
 
 force to that of Earl Grey < The most prominent of the evils with 
 which this measure is defaced is the continuance of the hiah upset mice 
 of land:" 
 
 As we have before observed, Lord Grey was early a convert to the 
 "sufficient price theory." In 1841, when, by the influence of the 
 South Australian and New Zealand speculators, the committee on South 
 Australian Insolvency reported on permanently fixing the price of 
 land by Act of Parliament at 1 an acre, they came to this conclu- 
 sion, without examining any colonial evidence, on the strength of a case 
 carefully and ingeniously prepared and filled up by the evidence of the 
 two principal witnesses, Mr. Gibbon Wakefield and Colonel Torrens. 
 In that committee Lord Grey, then Lord Howick, proposed, although he 
 did not succeed in carrying, a resolution to the effect that the price of 
 land in Australia should never be less than 2 an acre, and that it 
 should be from time to time increased in price until the want of labour, 
 and the high price of labour then experienced, should be diminished. 
 
 It is quite clear that at that time he believed the price of land 
 regulated the price of labour ; and, considering the influences brought 
 to bear upon them, he might fairly be excused for so believing. But 
 in the five years which had elapsed since 1841, although a series 
 of reports to which we have already referred in Chapter XI. from 
 the Legislative Council, supported by a mass of evidence, had dis- 
 proved the advantages anticipated, it seems that Earl Grey had either 
 never read or totally disregarded the colonial authorities, and steadfastly 
 adhered to his first impressions ; for in Nov., 1846, he had addressed a 
 despatch to Sir Charles Fitzroy, in which, " in justification of the policy 
 pursued by Parliament in prohibiting the sale below its present price," 
 he " recalled to recollection the grounds upon which that policy was 
 originally adopted, and so far he considered that it ought to be chiefly 
 adhered to. And he referred to the despatches of Lord Ripon," where the 
 expediency of abolishing the system of free grants, and substituting 
 one of sales by auction, at a uniform price, is stated, and the example 
 afforded by the failure of Swan River is cited. 
 
 It would not now answer any useful purpose to quote this despatch 
 at any length, especially as the contents may be gathered from the 
 criticisms contained in the letter from which we are quoting. 
 
 The speaker observes, first, "That neither the council nor the 
 colony have ever proposed to revert to the new grant system. 
 Secondly, that Lord Ripon's system was 5s. an acre and not 1 ; that 
 1 an acre had only produced 57,104, while the low upset price had 
 produced 680,000. Thirdly, that sales at 5s. an acre had abated the 
 
 M 
 
186 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 evil of free grants. Fourthly, that the answer to Earl Grey's argu- 
 ment, ' that value will be eventually given to the land by the application 
 of the proceeds of sales to emigration,' is, that purchasers cannot be 
 found at the price. Fifthly, that the idea of concentrating- population by 
 affixing a high upset price is signally defeated in the practical working 
 of the system ; for as all persons settling can only afford to settle as 
 graziers, they migrate to distant parts of the interior colony. Thus 
 the system increases dispersion." 
 
 But these arguments produced no effect on the impassive and perfectly 
 self-contented mind of Earl Grey ; nor did a more elaborate report 
 made in the same year, to which we shall presently advert ; for we find 
 in 1853, that, in exact imitation of Gibbon Wakefield in 1850, Earl 
 Grey published his " Colonial Policy/' and there, in the very words of 
 his despatch of 1846, urged the same arguments on the land question, 
 with the same example of Swan Elver, without appearing conscious of the 
 contradicting facts above quoted, which had been so repeatedly pressed 
 upon his attention. 
 
 In the same letter it is announced that in 1846 the Legislative 
 Council had agreed to make a contribution of 6,000 a year for three 
 years toward promoting steam navigation, or about one-third of the 
 estimated cost. The gold discoveries of 1851 found the colony no 
 further advanced toward steam communication than 1846. 
 
 In a second letter, dated the 1st October, 1847, we find the 
 following passage : " Intelligence has reached the colony indirectly 
 through various channels, that Earl Grey has under consideration the 
 establishment of constitutions for the Australian colonies upon a new 
 scheme, allied to that framed for New Zealand. The mere suggestion 
 of any such constitution, in which district councils appear to be the 
 predominant element) being fastened upon us has excited general 
 dismay. Should our apprehensions prove well founded in this matter, 
 it will afford another and striking instance of the injustice of which we 
 have not unfrequently to complain, of being made the subject of great 
 and important changes through the medium of Parliament without any 
 reference to ourselves, or any consultation with those best qualified 
 to form an accurate judgment of our social and political wants." 
 
 From these extracts it will be seen that the first intimation of the 
 accession of Earl Grey to office was accompanied with ample cause for 
 distrust, which he lost no time in improving and justifying. 
 
 When the colonists learned the terms on which the contest between 
 the pastoral interest and the Colonial Office had been settled, they saw 
 at once that the interest of all those who were not squatters with four 
 
LAND ORDERS. 187 
 
 thousand sheep had been sacrificed; and that to maintain a high 
 price of land on sale, land on lease had been handed over in per- 
 petuity. 
 
 Many of those who had supported the squatters so long as Sir 
 George Gipps attempted to confiscate their property, and had encouraged 
 them to resist a system of taxation based on royal prerogative, similar 
 to that which Hampden died resisting, now saw that the compromise 
 sacrificed everything to the pastoral interest, and seriously checked the 
 extension of that class of yeoman freeholders on whom the coloni- 
 sation of the colony chiefly depended for without farms there would 
 be few wives and children in the bush. 
 
 Among these was Mr. Robert Lowe, who, as chairman of the 
 committee appointed " to consider the minimum upset price of land," 
 drew up a report, in which, on the evidence of all the most distin- 
 guished men in the colony, the whole legislation of the mother country 
 on the subject of land was shown to be opposed to the feelings, to the 
 needs of the colonies, and, in fact, to the colonisation of such a country 
 as Australia. 
 
 In the same year Mr. Lowe issued a small pamphlet, entitled "Address 
 to the colonists of New South Wales, on the proposed Land Orders," 
 which shortly and clearly explained the defects of the compromise with 
 the squatters. He observes : 
 
 "The position of the squatter has always varied with the price of land. 
 Precarious when land is low, more assured when it is high, and little short of 
 freehold, when the sale of land is, as now, virtually prohibited. Up to the year 
 1841, when the price of land was raised from five shillings to twelve shillings per 
 acre, the squatters looked upon themselves, and were regarded by the community 
 as merely temporary occupants, depasturing the land till it was wanted for sale 
 as persons who might soon, and must eventually, be removed, to make way for 
 the proprietor in fee-simple. The Act of Parliament which passed in 1842, for 
 raising the minimum price of land to 1 an acre, was not intended to have any 
 effect on the position of the squatter ; it was intended, as Lord Grey tells us, to 
 prevent jobbing to concentrate the population to bring out immigrants by 
 raising a large land fund, and by means of such immigrants to raise the value of 
 land. Instead of preventing jobbing, it has sacrificed almost the whole territory 
 to one vast job. Instead of concentration, it has given us dispersion ; it has 
 destroyed the land fund which it was intended to raise, stopped the immigration 
 it was intended to promote, and annihilated the value of land it was intended to 
 enhance. 
 
 " The squatters, considering that they held the land till it was required for 
 purchase, and that the purchase had been made by Parliament impossible, began 
 to look upon their runs as their own. They began to sprout from tenants-at- 
 will into freeholders. Sir George Gipps saw the danger, but instead of meeting 
 it by a reduction of the minimum price of land, which would at once have 
 
 M 2 
 
188 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 extinguished these aspiring hopes, he sought, by showing them the precarious 
 nuture of their tenure, by exacting arbitrary tribute, more objectionable in its 
 nature than in its amount, and by withholding from them all the machinery of 
 government, for the use of which they were taxed, to check this encroaching 
 spirit. This injudicious harshness had precisely the contrary effect. It united 
 in favour of the squatters all the liberal and constitutional men in the community. 
 Advantage was taken of this indignation to divert public attention from the real 
 cause of the evil the high price of land which alone had made the squatting 
 question of importance, and to fix it on the plausible palliation of leases and 
 pre-emption. 
 
 "It is needless to dwell upon the vacillating and contradictory schemes of the 
 home and local government during the years 1845 and 1846, in which they seem 
 to have considered every expedient for settling the question, except the only 
 effectual one, the reduction of the price of land. At last the Act 9 and 10 Vic- 
 toria, chap. 104, was passed. By this Act, Parliament delegated the powers 
 which it withheld from the Legislative Council of New South Wales, to the Privy 
 Council of England. The Privy Council has transmitted a set of proposed rules 
 to the colony, not for the purpose of obtaining the opinion of the colonists, (for 
 what right have they to an opinion about their own affairs ?) but to prepare the 
 local government for the exercise of the powers which the Privy Council the 
 delegate of Parliament has delegated to it. These rules are in substance that 
 the governor shall divide the lands of the colony into three districts, to be called 
 the "settled," "intermediate," and "unsettled." The settled lands are to be 
 sold by auction at 1 an acre, upset price, and the unsold parts are to be leased 
 for not more than one year, by auction. In the unsettled lands, every holder of a 
 licence is entitled to demand a lease for fourteen years. His rent is to be 2 10s. 
 for every thousand sheep or 640 cattle which the run will carry. During the 
 fourteen years nobody else can buy the run, but the' lessee can buy any portion, 
 not less than 160 acres, at l an acre, without competition. At the end of the 
 lease, the lessee is entitled to a renewal for another fourteen years, unless at least 
 one-fourth of the run be sold at auction, when the upset price will consist of 1 
 an acre, and the value of the improvements. In the intermediate districts the 
 lease is to be for eight years only, and the land is liable to be sold at the end of 
 every year. 
 
 ******* 
 
 " Once grant these leases, and beyond the settled districts there will be no 
 land to be sold the lessees will have a right to hold their lands until some one 
 will give 1 an acre for them. 
 
 " These leases cannot be sold, mortgaged, or sublet. Be the capabilities of these 
 lands what they may, they are to be a sheep walk for ever. The home govern- 
 ment which raised the price of land to enforce concentration, is now in the sequel 
 of its policy compelling dispersion. 
 
 " The squatter may make sure of his run at the end of his lease by buying up, 
 in the exercise of his pre-emptive right, all the water and all the water frontage; 
 thus rendering the run valueless to any one except himself. 
 
 "The price he is to pay for these privileges is, counting three sheep to an acre, 
 one-fifth of a penny per acre. Thus does a government which is so niggard of its 
 land that it will not part with the fee-simple of the most barren rock for less than 
 1 an acre, while that 1 an acre law remains in force, alienate millions of acres 
 
THE COMPROMISE WITH THE SQUATTERS. 189 
 
 at one- tenth of the rent which it received on its free grants. The system devised 
 for the preservation of the waste lands will end in their confiscation. 
 
 " Deal liberally with the squatters give them the most ample compensation 
 give them the land for nothing till it is wanted for purchase comply with all 
 their reasonable, nay more, with many of their unreasonable demands their 
 present views have been forced upon them by the folly of the home government 
 not originated by themselves ; they are a great and growing interest, producing 
 the main export of the colony, respectable for their numbers, their intelligence, 
 and their wealth. But we ought never to forget, that if we give over to them their 
 territory, we are giying away what is not our own we are trustees for posterity. 
 
 ******** 
 
 " Our obvious duty therefore is, to press upon the home government the repeal 
 of the 1 an acre Act, and the Act under which these orders were made not 
 because the first has dispersed our population, driven away capital and checked 
 emigration, but because this Act, in addition to these minor grievances, is about 
 to wrench from us for ever the possession of our own territory, and give it over to 
 men who have no right to it whatever, and who will neither develop its resources 
 nor enable others to do so." 
 
 This protest, supported as it was by the public opinion of the great 
 majority of the colonists, had no effect on the official or home govern- 
 ment. Earl Grey assigned to the three Land and Emigration Com- 
 missioners the task of replying to the report of a committee which had 
 embodied the opinions of a large body of experienced and intelligent 
 colonists, and these three young gentlemen, whose lives had been passed 
 in the study and practice of official routine, "looking out on St. James's 
 Park, settled to the entire satisfaction of themselves and their chief, 
 and in direct contradiction to the opinions of the Colonial Legislative 
 Council, how land was to be sold and grazed at the antipodes." 
 
 This was adding insult to injury. In 1848 a committee of the 
 House of Lords on colonisation examined a number of Australian 
 colonists. With one exception, a gentleman engaged in promoting a 
 new land speculation in Western Australia, all the witnesses agreed 
 on the impolicy of the land system which had been fastened on the 
 Australian colonies. 
 
 For instance, Lieutenent-Colonel Sir Thomas Mitchell, surveyor 
 general and member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, thus 
 describes the course imposed on a colonist desirous of purchasing land : 
 
 "The intending purchaser must notify and describe to the government the 
 land he wishes to purchase. Then no matter in what part of the very extensive 
 colony it may be, the land must be measured and described, and a report made 
 upon it to the local government. After this selection has received the governor's 
 sanction, which takes time, the land is put up and advertised three months for 
 sale by public auction, so that a party who may have taken the trouble to seek 
 out a suitable portion of land, has to wait a long time before it can be advertised 
 
190 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 for sale, and then three months after such advertising he has to run the risk, at 
 the end of that time which he has lost, of seeing another person purchase the land 
 which he may have taken the trouble to seek out and select. 
 During the time of Sir George Gipps the maximum price of the last sale was 
 ordered to be the minimum price of the next sale that operated to stop that kind 
 of colonisation altogether." 
 
 He also says in reference to the " ordinances *' we have quoted 
 
 " The squatters have been clamorous to obtain some title to possession ; a 
 great concession has recently been made, and according to orders in council 
 recently sent out, they are to have leases of runs for fourteen years. The colonists 
 in general seem to consider a fourteen years' lease with power to renew almost as 
 good as fee-simple." 
 
 Before the same committee Mr. William Bradley, a native Australian 
 member of the Legislative Council, a landed proprietor, a magistrate, 
 and holder of a run of three hundred thousand acres ; Captain Coghill, 
 member of the Legislative Council, and a proprietor of thirty thousand 
 acres of freehold ; and Mr. W. Yerner, late Chief Commissioner of 
 the Insolvent Court, and a settler in Port Phillip, gave strong evidence 
 to the same effect. 
 
 While Mrs. Chisholm said " The most important thing to be done, 
 would be to get a survey of land, laying out farms, varying from thirty 
 acres to one hundred acres. That land would be purchased by small 
 capitalists, who are now in the labour market, and only want an 
 opportunity to purchase land. There is very little encouragement 
 given to agriculture ; there is a difficulty in getting land. If families 
 are to be provided for, it is necessary that agricultural farms should be 
 throwr. open to them, by making it easy for the poor man, when he 
 has saved his money, to purchase a farm without loss of time." 
 
 But, as in 1848 the Squattocracy had obtained all and more than 
 they had ever hoped to obtain; as Earl Grey, who never changes his 
 mind, was at the head of the Colonial-office ; as emigration was rendered 
 brisk by the distress at home ; no change was made toward multiplying 
 freeholders in Australia. 
 
 Mrs. Chisholm also suggested that as a means of enabling labouring 
 men to invest in land, and inducing them to save, land notes or tickets 
 should be issued of the value of five pounds each and upwards, which 
 should pass current in the purchase of government land, so that frugal 
 families might find a safe substitute for the savings bank. 
 
 Subsequent events have doubly proved the soundness of the 
 principles of those who opposed the government land system. 
 
 The good land of Australia lies in patches, " oases " in deserts fit 
 
BESULTS OF SQUATTING LEASES. 191 
 
 only for pasture. The high-priced symmetrical system, condemned by 
 Sir Thomas Mitchell, doomed many districts to sheep, where villages 
 and agriculture would have been found of great value not only 
 in extending population and civilisation but in providing food for the 
 gold diggers. 
 
 The result of the policy inaugurated by Lord Stanley, carried out 
 and still approved by Earl Grey, was to make the humbler class of the 
 Australian population as loose as possible on the land, vagrants instead 
 of settlers. The condition of the country would have been infinitely 
 less critical, if for the Jast ten years the successful emigrants had been 
 encouraged to settle as much as possible on land instead of investing 
 their savings, if not in drink, in stock, or in tours on the coast. 
 Freeholds, easily obtained, would have stimulated marriage, and those 
 who resorted to gold hunting would have returned successful or unsuc- 
 cessful to their homesteads. 
 
 Another result pregnant with evil looms in the future. The best 
 land for settlement and cultivation in the neighbourhood of a gold-field 
 may be held on lease by a squatter, who having held it for a nominal rent 
 during the lease may claim to purchase it in a block at a price which, 
 considering the enhanced value, will be nominal ! It will not be surprising 
 if the men enriched by gold-digging, who saw themselves before the 
 golden age of Australia excluded from freehold by .squatters, runs, and 
 the 1 an acre lots, grow rather discontented, when under the new 
 order of things they again meet their old friend the squatter still 
 in the character of a monopolist, with power to buy for 1 land worth 
 ten which he has held on lease for a rent of one-fifth of a penny, when 
 it was well worth in 100 acre lots 5s. or 10s. an acre. 
 
 But these are questions we must leave the colonists and their 
 Parliaments to settle. Fortunately, we have not Earl Grey at the 
 Colonial-office to fan up the flames of insurrection ; for we learn from his 
 apology for his " Colonial Policy," that in 1832 the universal evidence of 
 the colonists against his land system had not shaken his original con- 
 victions; he considered " that the working of the Act (of 1842), far from 
 showing that there was anything erroneous in the views of those by 
 whom it was recommended and passed, seems to have proved the sound- 
 ness of the principles on which it was founded. At the same time, 
 some improvements in its detail were suggested by experience." And 
 he proceeds to quote the Act of 1846, and the orders in council, which 
 we have dissected, as specimens of "improvements in detail."* A 
 
 * Vol. I., p. 314, Earl Grey's Colonial Policy. 
 
102 THE THREE COLONIES OP AUSTRALIA. 
 
 little further on he says, " those who contended that instead of adopting 
 the squatting ordinances the minimum price of land ought to have been 
 reduced, asserted, that by the regulations the squatters were virtually 
 put in possession of land which could never be resumed if wanted. 
 Experience has, however, demonstrated that there was no ground for 
 such an apprehension. Already in Victoria above 20,000 has been 
 laid out by one individual, in purchasing the fee-simple of land 
 which had been occupied as a run by another person." Earl Grey's 
 illustration is most unfortunate, but characteristic of the careless 
 manner in which he collects the few "facts" with which he embellishes 
 his narrative. In the case cited no lease had been granted to the 
 occupier of the run, no lease could be granted, inasmuch as it 
 was within the settled district of Melbourne. Leases are for 8 years 
 and for 14 years, and no lease granted under the ordinances has 
 yet run out. The purchase in question consisted of land, which from 
 its quali ty and situation, if put up for auction in convenient lots even at 
 an upset of one shilling- an acre, would have fetched more than the 
 sum paid under the special survey system, in one block, viz., 20,000 
 for 20,000 acres without competition. This purchase gave the purchaser 
 the right of pre-emption and of pasturage over three times as much 
 more land, which was worth to rent altogether at that time one thou- 
 sand pounds a year. 
 
 Earl Grey says (vol i. page 317), " there can be no doubt that by 
 reducing the price as much as would be necessary to meet the views of 
 the chief opponents of the present system, a powerful impulse would be 
 given to the spirit of land jobbing." 
 
 For our own parts we cannot conceive any system more calculated 
 to promote land-jobbing than that which retains good agricultural 
 land as sheep walks, until such time as the spread of population raises 
 the demand high enough to tempt a capitalist speculator who lays out 
 twenty thousand pounds in order to make sixty, by retailing to actual 
 cultivators, without adding a shilling to the value of the land, by roads, 
 buildings or fences. 
 
 And that is the system Earl Grey approved and maintained in office, 
 and still approves in his unwilling retirement. 
 
 We have deemed it right to give the history of the land question at 
 great length, with full quotations from colonial evidence on the subject, 
 because its past and proximate effects on the condition of the colo- 
 nists, and their relations with the parent state, fill a place in colonial 
 annals not less important than the anti-corn law struggle in the political 
 
THE NEW CONSTITUTION, 193 
 
 history of Great Britain and because, too, Earl Grey has ventured, 
 in his published defence of his policy, on a misrepresentation and 
 suppression of the facts of the case, which may mislead those who 
 are not prepared for the drudgery of searching for colonial truth in 
 blue-books, despatches, and files of colonial debates. 
 
 THE NEW CONSTITUTION. 
 
 While the transportation question was unsettled and the land 
 question in hot dispute, a third question, that of a new constitution, 
 with extended powers, from time to time occupied the attention of the 
 politicians of the three colonies. South Australia looked forward 
 anxiously to the enjoyment of representative institutions having, up to 
 1850 been ruled by a governor with an official and nominee council. 
 Port Phillip desired separation from New South Wales, and a represen- 
 tative legislature of its own. The distance of Melbourne from Sydney 
 was so great that it was found impossible, in a limited and dispersed 
 population, to find gentlemen able and willing to abandon their pursuits 
 and property to pass the legislative sessions in so distant a city as 
 Sydney. 
 
 In New South Wales it was confidently expected that the new 
 constitution would bestow rights similar to those enjoyed by the 
 Canadians that is to say, an executive responsible to the Legislative 
 Council, with full control over their revenues and the disposal of the 
 waste lands. 
 
 In 1847 Earl Grey prepared a scheme by which the district 
 councils, which were held throughout the colony in equal hatred and 
 contempt, were- to form electoral colleges, and by double election return 
 a representative assembly, while a second superior chamber was to be 
 composed of nominees. 
 
 The publication in the colony of the despatch containing a sketch 
 of this scheme, which looked in print like a chapter out of " Telemachus," 
 was followed by such a manifestation of opposition, and by petitions so 
 numerously signed, requesting that no change should be made in the 
 constitution without the colonists being first permitted to express their 
 opinion upon it, that the colonial minister withdrew his project. 
 
 In 1849 a committee of the Board of Trade, to whom Earl Grey 
 entrusted the task, prepared a report suggesting a form of constitution 
 to be bestowed on the three colonies. A bill for carrying into effect 
 this report was introduced into, but not carried through the British 
 Parliament. Under this bill the three colonies would have had the power 
 of settling the land, and several other questions, by a sort of congress. 
 
104 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 In the meantime the Report was sent out to the colonies. In Port 
 Phillip and South Australia the concession of representative institutions 
 was considered so great a boon that the other parts of the scheme were 
 not too closely criticised. In Port Phillip especially, where an ancient 
 contest had been carried on to obtain separation from New South 
 Wales, the new constitution was received with the utmost enthusiasm. 
 In New South Wales, where a representative council had existed 
 for several years, the sections of the report which gave the most satis- 
 faction were those which appeared to give control over the expenditure of 
 the land revenues, and the power of fixing the price of land. 
 
 In the session of 1850 a bill became law, of which the following is 
 an abstract : 
 
 13 and 14 Viet. cap. 59 An Act for the better Government of her Majesty's 
 Australian Colonies. 
 
 1, after reciting the previous acts for the government of the Australian 
 governments, enacts that the district of Port Phillip shall form a separate colony, to 
 be henceforth known as the colony of Victoria. After the separation ( 2), in the 
 colony of New South Wales the Legislative Council is to consist of such a number 
 of members as the Governor and Council shall determine, of which one-third is 
 to be appointed by her Majesty, and the remaining two- thirds to be elected by the 
 inhabitants of the colony; and the Governor arid Council are to establish the 
 electoral districts and polling-places, issue the necessary writs for the elections, 
 and make regulations for taking the polls and deciding on the validity of the 
 returns. 4 provides that every natural-born or naturalised subject of her 
 Majesty, of the age of 21, possessing a freehold estate within the district of 100 
 clear value above all incumbrances or charges on it, for at least six months before 
 the date of the writ or the last registration, if a registration has been established, 
 or occupying a dwelling-house for six months of the clear annual value of 10, 
 or holding a licence to depasture lands within the district, or holding a leasehold 
 estate in the district of the yearly value of 10 of which the lease has not less 
 than three years to run, and on which in all cases the rates and taxes due to 
 within three months of such election or registration have been paid, and is not 
 attainted of treason, felony, &c., is to be entitled to vote at the election of a 
 member of the Legislative Council. 
 
 Power is given ( 11) to the Governor and Legislative Council to alter the 
 districts, and to increase the number of members, but in the case of an increase a 
 number equal to one-third of the whole is to be appointed by her Majesty. 
 
 The Governor and Legislative Council ( 14), when thus constituted, are 
 authorised to make laws within the said colony, and to appropriate the whole of 
 the revenues arising from taxes, duties, rates, &c., provided such are not repugnant 
 to the laws of England ; but they are not to interfere with the lands belonging to the 
 crown, nor with the revenues arising therefrom, nor shall it be lawful to appropriate 
 any sums of money to the public service, unless the Governor have first recom- 
 mended to the Council to make such provision for the specific public service towards 
 which such money is to be appropriated, nor shall any money be issued except 
 under the order of the Governor directed to the treasurer ; and the revenues ( 1 5) 
 
THE NEW CONSTITUTION. 
 
 195 
 
 are to be charged with the costs and charges for the collection and management 
 of the same, subject to such regulations and audits as may be directed by the 
 Treasury Board of England. Out of the revenues ( 17) are to be paid the sums 
 for judicial, official, and religious services, enumerated in schedules A, B, C, and 
 D; these sums, however, may be altered by the Governor and Legislative 
 Council ( 18), subject to the consent of her Majesty. 
 
 By 22 power is continued to district councils to make by-laws, subject to 
 the approval of the Governor, who is to appoint the districts, fix the number and 
 qualification of councillors, and the time and manner of election, nominate the 
 first councillors, make regulations for their going out of office, and to define their 
 powers ; but the Governor and Legislative Councils ( 24) may regulate the tolls, 
 rates, and assessments in such districts, and may also regulate the constitution and 
 duties of the district councillors, and the number and boundaries of the districts. 
 
 27 empowers the Governor and Council to levy customs on goods imported, 
 but no duty to be imposed on any article from one country that is not alike 
 imposed on the same article from other countries. No duties, however ( 31), 
 are to be levied on articles imported for the supply of her Majesty's land or sea 
 forces, nor may they grant any exemption, or impose any duty at variance with 
 any treaty concluded by her Majesty with any foreign power. 
 
 By 32 power is given to the Governor and Legislative Council, subject to 
 the assent of her Majesty, to alter the provisions of this act as to the election of 
 members of the Legislative Councils, and the qualification of members and 
 electors ; or to establish, instead of the Legislative Council, a Council and a 
 House of Representatives or other Legislative Houses, and to vest in the same 
 the powers of the Legislative Council. 
 
 The other clauses extend to all the other colonies in Australia, namely, 
 Victoria, Van Diemen's Land, South Australia, and Western Australia, the 
 same rights as are given to New South Wales, with power to extend them to new 
 colonies ; they also enable the boundaries to be altered, and provide a new 
 Supreme Court at Victoria. The act is to commence within six weeks after a 
 copy has been received by each Governor respectively. 
 
 Schedules referred to in the foregoing act. New South Wales is marked A, 
 Victoria B, Van Diemen's Land C, and South Australia D. 
 
 Governor 
 
 Chief Justice 
 
 Two Puisne Judges .... 
 
 Attorney and Solicitor General, Crown 
 Solicitor, and expenses of the admi- 
 nistration of justice 
 
 A. B. C. D. 
 
 5,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 
 
 2,000 1,500 1,500 1,000 
 
 3,000 1,200 
 
 19,000 5,000 13,300 5,000 
 
 Colonial Secretary, and his Department 
 Colonial Treasurer, and his Department 
 Auditor-General, and his Department 
 Clerk and expenses of Executive Council 
 
 Pensions 
 
 Public Worship 
 
 6,500 
 
 2,000 
 
 2,800 
 
 2,000 
 
 4,000 
 
 1,500 
 
 1,800 
 
 1,500 
 
 3,000 
 
 1,100 
 
 1,600 
 
 1,000 
 
 500 
 
 400 
 
 700 
 
 500 
 
 2,500 
 
 500 
 
 2,000 
 
 
 
 28,000 
 
 6,000 
 
 15,000 
 
 
 
 53,500 20,200 41,900 13,000 
 
196 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 In the new province of Victoria, and in South Australia, the new 
 law was received, as was to be expected, with universal satisfaction. 
 They had obtained at least as much as they expected ; but when 
 the colonists of New South Wales found that the clauses as to land and 
 revenue for which they were most anxious had been excised, their 
 universal discontent was embodied in the following remonstrance, and 
 passed as almost their last act by the expiring Legislative Council. 
 The hand of the author, William Wentworth, fiercely eloquent, is visible 
 in every line : 
 
 " We, the Legislative Council of New South Wales, in council assembled, feel it 
 a solemn duty which we owe to ourselves, our constituents, and our posterity, before 
 we give place to the new legislature established by the 13 and 14 Viet., cap. 59, 
 to record our deep disappointment and dissatisfaction at the constitution conferred 
 by that act on the colony we represent. After the reiterated reports, resolutions, 
 addresses, and petitions, which have proceeded from us during the whole course of out- 
 legislative career, against the schedules appended to the 5 and 6 Viet., cap. 76, and the 
 appropriations of our ordinary revenue therein made, by the sole authority of Parlia- 
 ment against the administration of our waste lands, and our territorial revenue thence 
 arising against the withholding of the customs department from our control against 
 the dispensation of the patronage of the colony by or at the nomination of the minister 
 for the colonies and against the veto reserved and exercised by the same minister, in the 
 name of the crown, in all matters of local legislation ; we feel that we had a right to 
 expect that these undoubted grievances would have been redressed by the 13 and 
 14 Viet,, cap. 59; or else that power to redress them would have been conferred 
 on the constituent bodies thereby created, with the avowed intention of establish- 
 ing an authority more competent than Parliament itself to frame suitable consti- 
 tutions for the whole group of the Australian colonies. These our reasonable 
 expectations have been utterly frustrated. The schedules, instead of being 
 abolished, have been increased. The powers of altering the appropriations in 
 these schedules, conferred on the colonial legislature by this new enactment, 
 limited as these powers are, have been, in effect, nullified by the subsequent 
 instructions of the colonial minister. The exploded fallacies of the Wakefield 
 theory are still clung to; the pernicious Land Sales Act (5 and 6 Viet., cap. 36) is 
 still maintained in all its integrity; and thousands of our fellow-countrymen (in 
 consequence of the undue price put by that mischievous and impolitic enactment 
 upon - our waste lands, in defiance of the precedents of the United States, of 
 Canada, and the other North American colonies, and even of the neighbouring 
 colony of the Cape of Good Hope) are annually diverted from our shores, and 
 thus forced against their will to seek a home for themselves and their children in 
 the backwoods of America. Nor is this all. Our territorial revenue,, diminished 
 as it is by this insane policy, is in a great measure confined to the introduction 
 among us of people unsuited to our wants, in many instances the outpourings of 
 the poorhouses and unions of the United Kingdom; instead of being applied, as it 
 ought to be, in directing to our colony a stream of vigorous and efficient labour, 
 calculated to elevate the character of our industrial population. The bestowal of 
 offices among us, with but partial exceptions, is still exercised by or at the 
 nomination of the colonial minister, and without reference to the just and para- 
 
REMONSTRANCE OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. 197 
 
 mount claims of the colonists, as if the colony itself were but the fief of that 
 minister. The salaries of the officers of the customs and all other departments of 
 government mentioned in the schedules are placed beyond our control; and the 
 only result of this new enactment, ushered as it was into Parliament by the Prime 
 Minister himself with so much parade, and under the pretence of conferring upon 
 us enlarged powers of self-government, and treating us, at last, as an integral 
 portion of the British empire, is, that all the material powers exercised for 
 centuries by the House of Commons are still withheld from us. That our loyalty 
 and our desire for the maintenance of proper order are so far distrusted that we 
 are not permitted to vote our own civil list, lest it might prove inadequate to the 
 necessities of the public service. That our waste lands, and our territorial revenue, 
 for which her Majesty is but a trustee, instead of being spontaneously surrendered 
 as an equivalent for such civil list, is still reserved, to our great detriment, to 
 swell the patronage and power of the ministers of the crown. 
 
 " Thus circumstanced, we feel that on the eve of this council's dissolution, and 
 as the closing act of our legislative existence, no other course is open to us but 
 to enter on our journals our solemn declaration, protest, and remonstrance, as 
 well against the Act of Parliament itself (13 and 14 Viet., cap. 59) as against the 
 instruction of the minister by which the small power of retrenchment that act 
 confers on the colonial legislature has been thus overridden ; and to bequeath 
 the redress of the grievances, which we have been unable to effect by constitu- 
 tional means, to the Legislative Council by which we are about to be succeeded." 
 
 It would be easy to prove to those who were unacquainted with 
 the political history of New South Wales that these grievances are for 
 the most part imaginary ; for in theory the colonists have almost all the 
 rights claimed, and against granting them those they have not there are 
 plausible theoretical objections. 
 
 For instance they have nearly the same control in theory over the 
 customs department that we have ; but as the officers are appointed in 
 England by a board distant sixteen thousand miles, and paid out 
 of a fund over which the colonists have no control, it may easily be 
 imagined that they find it difficult to regulate the due execution of the 
 duties of a department which has been almost too powerful for the 
 merchants of London with all their parliamentary influence close at 
 hand. It is true that here the salaries and cost of collection are 
 deducted from the gross revenues, and so far the Australian rule follows 
 the bad British precedent ; but here the ministers who refuse to redress 
 an administrative grievance may be turned out of office there the 
 advisers of the governor are irremovable. 
 
 So too there are theoretical reasons for making the salaries of the 
 principal officers permanent, but the colonists remonstrating had in 
 their view instances in which they had been compelled to pay Masters 
 in Equity and prothonotaries, thrust upon them against their will. 
 
 There is no question that to confine patronage to colonists would 
 
198 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 be to shut out much talent and learning from the colony ; but the 
 remonstrants were thinking of a whole line of incapables and insolvents 
 who had been provided for by the British minister at the expense of the , 
 colony. 
 
 Again, it is desirable that in certain cases the imperial government 
 should have the power of vetoing colonial legislation ; but the remon- 
 strants were thinking of instances then recent in which that power 
 had been exercised in a most injurious manner, as for instance, in the 
 " Wool Lien Act." 
 
 We need not pursue further the particulars of a contest which has 
 died away, not without leaving some ill-healed scars, under the con- 
 ciliating policy of Earl Grey's successors and the hilarious prosperity of 
 the gold discoveries. 
 
 We have mentioned enough to prove that the discontents of the 
 colonists of New South Wales were not excited by imaginary causes, 
 but had their source in real and chiefly in taxing grievances the sort of 
 grievance, next to an interference with his personal liberty, which 
 troubles the Englishman most acutely. 
 
 It is quite certain that the colonists were not always in the right ; 
 sometimes in their contests with the Colonial Office they were very 
 much in the wrong, -just as we in England are subject to political and 
 commercial aberrations ; but in order to form anything like an apology 
 for Earl Grey's unpopularity in Australia we must assume that he was 
 infallible that he knew better than any colonist what was good for 
 the colony ; and that therefore he was justified in ruling a transmarine 
 dependency, peopled by an English race, on principles that no minister 
 dare apply to Yorkshire or Lancashire. 
 
 In the midst of the first session of the new Colonial Parliaments, 
 all political contests, internal and external, were cast into the shade by 
 the gold discoveries : land question, convict question, taxation question, 
 all were absorbed by the digging up of gold, over which flocks and 
 herds had long been carelessly driven. The year 1850 found New 
 South Wales with 200,000 free people, an export of 2,899,600, an 
 import of 2,078,300, and 7,000,000 sheep a surplus revenue and 
 an annual demand for labour nominal freedom of self-government, 
 actual restriction from legislation on every vital interest. Who can say 
 in what condition, social and political, 1860 will find the felon colony 
 of 1788 ? 
 

 
VICTORIA. 
 
 199 
 
 
 THE ANTIPODES ISLANDS (FROM A SKETCH BY J. A. JACKSON, ESQ.) 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 VICTORIA, OR PORT PHILLIP. 
 1835 TO 1850. 
 
 IN the year 1834 Victoria, or Port Phillip, was a desert, barely known 
 to Europeans except by the reports of wandering shore parties of 
 whalers and sealers. In the year 1852 nearly two hundred thousand 
 inhabitants, six millions of fine-woolled sheep, a city furnished with 
 many of the luxuries if not the comforts of civilised life, two thriving 
 ports crowded with ships, steam-boats, and coasters, farms, gardens, and 
 vineyards, attested the colonising vigour of the English race, the advan- 
 tages of its soil and climate, and, not least, of administrative and legis- 
 lative neglect ; for Port Phillip attained all its solid prosperity without 
 the aid of colonising companies or acts of Parliament, or governors or 
 regiments, or any of the complicated machinery with which sham colonies 
 are bolstered up, and real colonies are so often encumbered. 
 
200 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 A small band of experienced colonists, a succession of flocks and 
 herds from the opposite coast, a magistrate, a few policemen and 
 customs officers, then a sort of deputy -governor under the modest name 
 
 of superintendent these were found sufficient for building up the most 
 
 flourishing dependency of the British crown, without calling on the 
 home country for a single shilling. 
 
 The history of Port Phillip is singularly barren of incident, and 
 may be comprised in a very few pages, while volumes might be filled 
 with the moving accidents which have chequered the career of colonies 
 which have not attained, and are not likely to attain, one-tenth of its 
 wealth and importance as a field for British labour and capital. 
 
 In 1798, Bass, in the course of his whale-boat expedition, visited 
 Western Port, one of the harbours of Yictoria. In 1802 Flinders 
 sailed into Port Phillip Bay, having been preceded ten weeks previously 
 by Lieutenant John Murray, of the Lady Nelson. 
 
 In 1803 Lieutenant Governor Collins, who held the office of judge- 
 advocate under Governor Phillip in the first colony, and on his return to 
 England in 1796 had published an "Account of New South Wales," was 
 sent out with H. M. ships Calcutta and Ocean with detachments of royal 
 marines, a number of free settlers, and several hundred prisoners to 
 found a settlement at Port Phillip, where, having sailed on April 27th, 
 he arrived October 3rd. The expedition disembarked on the southern 
 shore of the bay, where the beach was unfavourable for landing, and 
 there was no fresh water. It is evident, from a narrative published by 
 one of the party,* that from the first Colonel Collins f had no earnest 
 desire to form a settlement at Port Phillip : he had heard glowing 
 accounts of the beauty and fertility of the opposite shores of Yan 
 Diemen's Land, and, after a very cursory survey, he decided on remov- 
 ing thither. In the course of a walk round the bay, undertaken by 
 the officers of the ship, they found " on the eastern shore, twenty- 
 eight miles from the entrance, a stream of water emptying itself into 
 the port." " The bed of the stream is covered with folicacious mica, 
 which our people first conceived to be gold-dust." At the present day 
 we cannot be so sure that it was mica. According to an account given 
 in a Tasmanian almanack, which does not agree with that of Lieutenant 
 
 * Lieutenant Tuckey's Voyage in H. M. S. Calcutta, to found a Settlement in Bass's Straits. 
 1803-4." 
 
 t Colonel David Collins was the grandson of Arthur Collins, author of the Peerage of England, 
 which was afterwards continued by Sir Egerton Brydges. He was a Lieutenant of Marines in the 
 Southampton frigate in 1772, when Matilda, Queen of Denmark, took refuge on board. He 
 afterwards fought at the battle of Bunker's Hill, under his father, General Collins : he died in Van 
 Diemen's Land. 
 
PORT PHILLIP. 201 
 
 Tuckey, the expedition remained at Port Phillip from 3rd Oct. to 
 30th January. If that were so, it is difficult to understand how the 
 great natural advantages of Port Phillip could have escaped the 
 observation of two ships' crews. 
 
 During their encampment on the shores of Port Phillip three of 
 the convicts escaped into the interior : one of them was William Buckley, 
 a native of Macclesfield, who had been a grenadier, served under the 
 Duke of York in Flanders, and had been transported for striking his 
 superior officer. 
 
 Previous to the arrival of Collins, Mr. Charles Grimes, the surveyor- 
 general of the colony, had completed the marine survey of Flinders by 
 making an outline of the harbour, where he reported the existence of 
 the river now known as the Yarra Yarra, or " ever-flowing water." 
 
 In 1824 Messrs. Hume and Hovell, two stockowners of New South 
 Wales, made an expedition to explore new pastures, and, travelling 
 from near Lake George four hundred miles, in the course of which they 
 traversed the flanks of the Australian Alps, and crossed three rivers, 
 which they named the Hume, the Ovens, and the Goulburn, emerged 
 on shores which they imagined to be those of Western Port ; but there 
 is now little doubt that they had really reached the western arm of 
 Port Phillip Bay, near the site of the port of Geelong. In looking at 
 a map of the Melbourne district a spot will be found marked Mount 
 Disappointment, about thirty miles from Melbourne. It was this hill 
 that the weary travellers climbed, calculating that from its summit they 
 would hehold the sea. They were right in the direction, and a long 
 line of coast and a stretch of the finest sheep plains lay in a line before 
 them ; but, unfortunately, lofty broad-boled trees hid everything from 
 their longing eyes, and they descended sad and disheartened. 
 
 It would seem as if there had been a spell over this fortunate land 
 which guarded its wealth from the discovery of a series of explorers, 
 from Cook to Hovell and Hume. 
 
 Mr. Hovell was afterwards employed by the government to form a 
 settlement at Western Port, which, however, was soon abandoned ; 
 and the fine pastoral country traversed in the course of his journey with 
 Mr. Hume excited little attention, in consequence of the discovery, 
 about the same time, of Brisbane Downs, better known as Maneroo, 
 which were more accessible from the previously-occupied districts. 
 
 In 1834 Messrs. Henty, engaged in the whaling trade at Launceston 
 in Van Diemen's Land, formed a branch establishment at Portland 
 Bay, and soon afterwards imported a few sheep and cattle to feed on the 
 splendid pastures which there, unlike the other districts of Australia, 
 
 N 
 
202 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 GUM TREKS NEAK MELBOURNE. 
 
 carpetted the shores almost to the water's edge ; and in the same year 
 other floekowners from Yan Diemen's Land crossed the straits to Port 
 Phillip. 
 
 Already the Tasmanians had found the pastures of their island, 
 covered as the greater portion of it is by inaccessible mountains and 
 forests of gigantic timber, too limited for the annual increase of their 
 flocks. The reports of the pastoral resources of the opposite shore 
 became a constant subject for discussion; and in April, 1835, a party of 
 settlers formed themselves into an association,* for the purpose of taking 
 possession of an estate in Port Phillip ; but before they could execute 
 their project Mr. John Batman, a blacksmith, born in New South 
 Wales, but then visiting Van Diemen's Land, secretly set sail from 
 Launceston, accompanied by a party of tame blacks from the neigh- 
 bourhood of Sydney, landed in the middle of May, and, through his 
 native interpreter, entered into an arrangement with the Port Phillip 
 aborigines for the purchase of some of their land ; returned to Van 
 Diemen's Land, and, again crossing the straits with a store of goods, 
 induced the savages to put their marks to a deed prepared by a 
 Tasmanian lawyer, which purported to transfer a large tract of land, 
 altogether about half a million acres, in consideration of certain blankets 
 and tomahawks. This transaction, like all similar purchases from 
 hunting tribes, was mere child's play. The aborigines of Australia 
 have no idea of cultivation, and consequently no idea of possession of 
 land or anything else. They accepted Batman's blankets, tobacco, 
 
 * The association consisted of Messrs. S. and N. Jackson, Fawkner, Marr, Evans, and Lancy. 
 
FAWKNER SITS DOWN ON THE YARRA. 
 
 203 
 
 flour, tomahawks, &c., and only understood that by that payment he 
 became their ally. 
 
 Batman selected the site of his future manor-house at Indented 
 Head. Thence he soon beheld the approach of the ships of the Associa- 
 tion whom, by his rapid proceedings, he had forestalled in the honour 
 of founding the future Victoria. 
 
 It is said, we know not with what truth, that he mounted his horse, 
 and, galloping down to the beach, warned them off his estate. Perhaps, 
 in 1950, a young Victorian painter may assemble crowds in the 
 Melbourne National Gallery, to see " Batman warning the intruders 
 from Port Phillip Bay." 
 
 Some of the party, awed by his legal threats, retired inland, and 
 set their flocks to feed on land they eventually acquired. Mr. John 
 Pascoe Fawkner, a name still well known in Victoria, with more 
 obstinacy and good fortune, took up a position on the northern 
 banks of the Yarra, overlooking the spot where a natural ledge divided 
 the salt tide from the fresh river at the ebb, above a natural basin, 
 which has since, by the aid of masonry, been converted into a port 
 for the city of Melbourne, open to vessels and steamers of two hundred 
 tons. 
 
 Batman had previously addressed a letter to Colonel Arthur, the 
 Governor of Van Diemen's Land, in which he informed him of his 
 proceedings ; described the country he had explored in glowing but 
 not exaggerated terms ; and requested the support of his excellency 
 in his schemes of colonisation, and for the civilisation of the natives. 
 Colonel Arthur transmitted copies of Batman's letter, and all the 
 documents connected with his alleged purchase from the natives, to the 
 Colonial Office ; expressed his decided opinion that the settlement of 
 Port Phillip would form a useful outlet for the settlers of Van Diemen's 
 Land ; and that Mr. Batman, " whose conduct had been marked by 
 humanity as well as enterprise/' was deserving of a grant of land, 
 although his purchase, as he had already informed him, was clearly 
 illegal. 
 
 Lord Aberdeen, and his successor, Lord Glenelg, followed the 
 unfortunate course which has almost invariably been adopted by our 
 colonial ministers. They began by saying no, and in a very short 
 period were obliged to say yes to acknowledge a fact ! 
 
 Lord Aberdeen in December, 1834, and Lord Glenelg in July, 
 1835, wrote elaborate despatches, the one against the occupation of 
 Twofold Bay, the outlet to Brisbane Downs, or Maneroo, as it is 
 now called, on the borders of Port Phillip, as recommended by Sir 
 
 N 2 
 
204? THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Richard Bourke, and the other against the occupation of Port Phillip, 
 as recommended by Colonel Arthur, objecting to measures "the 
 consequence of which would be to spread over a still further extent of 
 country a population which it was the object of the land regulations 
 to concentrate," and declining, on the ground of "expense to the 
 mother country, and danger to the natives and settlers," to sanction 
 the proceedings of Batman and his associates. 
 
 But before the despatches were unsealed the thing was done. 
 Mother Partington's mop was not more powerful to stop the Atlantic 
 than paper proclamations to arrest the march of Australian settlers 
 with sheep and lambs in sight of " fresh fields and pastures new." 
 
 On the one hand, shepherds and stockmen were spreading overland, 
 following their flock from pasture to pasture toward Port Phillip ; on 
 the other, a Port Phillip fever seized the Tasmanians, and they crowded 
 across the straits like the patriarchs of old, with tents and all their 
 woolly possessions. 
 
 " We went down/' says a lady, who was then a little child, " to see 
 the six adventurers embark for Port Phillip, with the same feeling as 
 if it had been Cortez or Pizarro ; but very soon there was the 
 same universal rush for Port Phillip that there is now for the gold- 
 diggings." 
 
 It was while one of these early parties was landing from boats near 
 the future site of Melbourne that they saw, amid a tribe of natives 
 sitting under a tree, with all the arms and tokens of a chief, a man of 
 large limbs and gigantic stature, lighter-coloured than his companions, 
 as well as could be distinguished through tan, paint, and dirt. He 
 stared hard at the strangers, and seemed muttering to himself ; then, 
 rising, he approached, and addressed them in a strange jargon, in which 
 a few words of English were distinguishable. It was Buckley, one of 
 the convicts who had escaped from the party of Colonel Collins, and, 
 after thirty-two years' sojourning with the aborigines, again found 
 himself among his countrymen. 
 
 He had forgotten his native tongue, and had assumed all the habits 
 of his savage companions, among whom he was a chief by virtue of his 
 superior stature and strength.* He at once joined the colonists, 
 gradually re-acquired the English tongue, and exercised very useful 
 influence over his late subjects. Colonel Arthur, the Governor of 
 Van Diemen's Land, granted him a free pardon, and, as it was dis- 
 agreeable to him to remain in the scene of his savage life, he became a 
 constable in Van Diemen's Land. 
 
 * Buckley was six feet seven inches in height. 
 
SIR THOMAS MITCHELL'S EXPLORATIONS. 205 
 
 But either some original infirmity or long absence from civilised 
 social life had impaired his intellect, and he rarely and unwillingly 
 conversed on the events of his extraordinary career. There is reason 
 to believe that he and his tribe never wandered more than forty miles 
 inland from the shores of the bay. 
 
 When, in June, 1836, a magistrate, Mr. Stewart, despatched by 
 Sir Richard Bourke, arrived to assert her Majesty's rights, and 
 to announce the invalidity of all purchases from the aborigines, he 
 found the country already occupied, and the work of colonisation 
 steadily proceeding. Nearly two hundred men had arrived from Yan 
 Diemen's Land, and were settled around the estuary of Port Phillip ; 
 35,000 sheep, under the charge of strong armed parties, with a number 
 of horned cattle and horses, were spread for many miles over the site 
 of the present Ballarat gold-fields, each party seeking to appropriate 
 as large a run as possible. 
 
 Until very recently, on the station of Messrs. Jackson, at Saltwater 
 River, was to be seen one of the great bells, mounted on a lofty frame, 
 which used to be rung from station to station to summon assistance 
 when an attack from the blacks was anticipated. 
 
 In the same year Sir Thomas Mitchell re-explored and surveyed 
 the overland route from Xew South Wales, part of which had been 
 traversed by Messrs. Hovell and Hume, and described the fine plains of 
 Victoria, to which he gave the name of Australia Felix " the better to 
 distinguish it from the parched deserts of the interior country, where 
 we had wandered so unprofitably and so long."* He then discovered 
 and named Mount Byng, the hill since become world-famous as Mount 
 Alexander. 
 
 The publication of this report in the colonial and English papers, 
 and afterwards of Sir T. Mitchell's travels, fanned up the flame of the 
 Port Phillip fever, and very soon, along the overland route, pool after 
 pool was drunk dry by the thousands of stock marching on to the 
 promised land. 
 
 In April, 1837, Sir Richard Bourke visited the new colony, and 
 gave directions for laying out the town of Melbourne on two hills, 
 East and West Hill, sloping down to the banks of the River Yarra. 
 In June the first land sale took place, and speculation commenced, 
 and did not cease until it ended in wide-spread insolvency in 1841 
 and 1842. 
 
 The steady course of depending on their increase of flocks and herds 
 was abandoned ; all but a few went into town speculations and country 
 
 * Mitchell's Australia Felix J' 
 
THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 lots ; village sites were laid out in all directions, some of which remain 
 projects or miserable hamlets to this hour. Emigrants crowded in from 
 all parts of Great Britain. At Hobson's Bay, the entrance to the Yarra, 
 more than one hundred three-masted ships were to be seen at anchor 
 at one time. Labour rose to an enormous price ; brickmakers earned 
 8s. a day ; the common four-pound loaf was sold for 3s. 6d. ; and mere 
 huts were let at the rate of 100 a year. Meantime, fortunately, the 
 living pastoral treasures of Australia came pouring in, and increased and 
 multiplied on the fine downs and grass-covered hills, while some wise, 
 hard-working settlers devoted themselves to agriculture. 
 
 During this period the Port Phillip district was nominally under 
 the government of the central authority at Sydney, but in reality the 
 people governed themselves, with the help of a magistrate and a few 
 policemen, while a neighbouring colony of the same date was enjoying 
 all the costly magnificence of elaborate government machinery. 
 
 In 1839 C. J. La Trobe, Esq., the present governor, was appointed 
 superintendent of Port Phillip district, with an authority little 
 more than nominal, as the surveys, post-office, customs, &c., were 
 managed by subordinates responsible to the chief departments at 
 Sydney ; and even up to 1839 the sales of rural land took place at 
 Sydney. 
 
 The centralisation of authority in a distant city, having different 
 interests, and the appropriation of funds derived from Port Phillip 
 land sales to emigration into Sydney district, were long subjects of 
 grievance on which, as they have been redressed, it is not necessary 
 to dwell. 
 
 When representative institutions were conceded to New South 
 Wales, six representatives were apportioned to the Port Phillip district ; 
 but it was soon found impossible to find that number of colonists able 
 and willing to live for six months of the year six hundred miles away 
 from their estates ; and for several sessions before 1850 the Port 
 Phillippians virtually declined to elect representatives. 
 
 In 1842 Melbourne obtained a municipal corporation, under 5 and 
 6 Victoria, c. 76. Victoria has, however, never been a penal colony, 
 although long and still suffering from the overflowings of the felonry 
 of Van Diemen's Land. 
 
 It would not serve any useful purpose to record the struggles of 
 Port Phillip to obtain an independent existence as a separate colony, 
 now that the question has been finally settled. 
 
 The general quality of the soil in Port Phillip has given the settlers 
 an advantage over land purchasers in less fertile districts of Australia, 
 
BUNYNONG HILL. 
 
 207 
 
 and the absence of an expensive local government has enabled the 
 colonists to escape a local debt like that which so long weighed down 
 South Australia. 
 
 In fact the brief history of Port Phillip proves how much more 
 safely, successfully, and inexpensively colonies may be planted by 
 colonists than by enthusiastic amateurs and speculating companies. 
 
 In 1852 the assembling of the first Legislative Council of Victoria 
 marked the commencement of a new era of independence and prosperity, 
 crowned by the golden discoveries at Ballarat and Mount Alexander. 
 
 
 BUNYNONG HILL, NEAR BALLARAT. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 
 
 1835 TO 1851. 
 
 LORD ALVANLEY, stopping at a country inn, met Beau Brum- 
 mel's valet descending the stairs with an armful of crumpled 
 clean cravats. " Pray," he inquired, " what are those ?" " These, my 
 lord," replied the valet, " are my master's failures." When the Beau 
 emigrated to Calais, amongst other creditors, he owed an enormous bill 
 to his laundress. 
 
 South Australia was the first, as Canterbury, in New Zealand, was 
 the last, of Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield's colonising failures failures 
 which have been tried at the expense of every class of capitalist. But, 
 his credit being now exhausted, it seems as if he would end his days 
 without a good fit, thus, sharing the fate of other unfortunate philoso- 
 phers and financiers, like Law, Owen, Cabet, and Louis Blanc, with this 
 difference, that those gentlemen all sacrificed something to their theories 
 they lost fortune, or character, or country ; but Mr. Wakefield, while 
 his disciples have suffered in purse and in person, has contrived to patch 
 up a character originally much damaged, and build a living, if not a 
 fortune, out of a series of bubbles. 
 
 In 1829 Mr. Wakefield's charming little book, which was analysed 
 in Chapter IX., with its really ingenious theory and really desirable 
 aims good wages, large profits, and complete civilisation took the 
 active world by storm ; and no sooner was the serious business of carrying 
 the Reform Bill completed, than a society was formed for carrying it 
 into practical effect. 
 
 The extraordinary success with which this theory was received at 
 home, although opposed by every intelligent colonist, may be traced to 
 the skilful manner in which it combined the interests and conciliated 
 the prejudices of the legislative and middle as well as the executive class. 
 The capitalist for the first time saw himself painted as an injured victim, 
 and presented with a new field for ample profits ; the ratepayer was 
 charmed at the idea of getting rid of an unlimited number of paupers ; 
 the educated gentleman hoped to live on his 20,000 with all the state, 
 dignity, and luxury, physical and intellectual, that a landed estate of 
 100,000 confers in England or Scotland. The adventurous of the 
 
SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 209 
 
 middle class dwelt on the charms of distinction which would be open to 
 them in a new colony ; while to ardent politicians and essayists, who in 
 1830 were for the most part deeply dissatisfied with all our ancient 
 institutions, the idea of becoming founders and modellers of a model 
 commonwealth was truly delightful. Even the government was eventu- 
 ally conciliated by the prospect of additional patronage which a new 
 colony presented. 
 
 In 1831 Major Bacon, a fellow-soldier in the Spanish Legion with 
 Colonel Wakefield, brother to the theorist, appears to have opened 
 negotiations at the Colonial Office, then under Lord Goderich, for 
 establishing a chartered colony in some part of Australia ; and in 1832 
 these negotiations had so far progressed that a provisional committee of 
 the South Australian Land Company had been formed, with Colonel 
 Torrens, then one of the proprietors of the Globe newspaper, as its 
 chairman, with a proposed capital of 50,000. 
 
 In a letter dated 9th July, 1832, Colonel Torrens transmitted a 
 draft of the charter suggested by his committee, and drawn under the 
 ' instructions of Mr. Wakefield. On perusing this draft Lord Goderich 
 curtly closed the negotiation, on the ground that " it would virtually 
 transfer to the company the sovereignty of a vast unexplored territory ; 
 that it would encroach upon the limits of the existing colonies of New 
 South Wales and Western Australia ; that the charter would invest the 
 company, with powers of legislation, of erecting courts, of appointing 
 judges, of raising and commanding militia ; that all the powers of the 
 company, involving in their practical effects the sovereign dominion of 
 the whole territory, would be transferred to a popular assembly, 
 which would be to erect within the British monarchy a government 
 purely republican ; and that the company would be receivers of large 
 sums of money, for the due application of which they do not propose to 
 give any specific security/' 
 
 When the promoters offered to modify their plan they were 
 informed, "that the views entertained by the proposed company are not 
 sufficiently precise and determined to lead his lordship to apprehend that 
 any advantage will arise from continuing a correspondence that has for 
 some time been going on." 
 
 In 1833 another association was formed, and the chairman, W. W. 
 Whitmore, Esq., M.P., opened negotiations with the present Earl of 
 Derby, then Under Secretary for the Colonies. He proposed to found 
 a colony on the site where it was eventually planted, to sell land at 5s. 
 an acre (" this will ensure the concentration of settlers in proportion to 
 the price at which land is sold"), and devote the proceeds to the 
 
210 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 veyance of young pauper labourers of both sexes in equal numbers. 
 The company to have a million acres at 5s. an acre. " On this land they 
 will perform" such works as they may deem expedient, with a view to 
 attract population thereto, while government will sell in an entirely 
 unimproved state the land not purchased by the company to any 
 individuals desirous of purchasing it." 
 
 This association, which contemplated fame and patronage rather 
 than profit, included George Grote, the eminent historian of Greece ; 
 William Hutt, afterwards Governor of Western Australia; Henry 
 Bulwer, since an Ambassador and K.C.B. ; Colonel Torrens ; H. G. 
 Ward, since Governor of the Ionian Islands and K.C.B. ; J. A. Roebuck ; 
 Sir William Molesworth; Benjamin Hawes, since Colonial Under Secre- 
 tary ; and Edward Strutt, since Chief Commissioner of Railways. 
 
 This negotiation also failed. Mr. Gibbon Wakefield's charter was 
 not approved. 
 
 While approving of the plan of colonisation suggested as regarded 
 the disposal of land, Mr. Secretary Stanley insisted that the govern- 
 ment of the colony should be left in the hands of the crown until such 
 tune as it was able to govern itself.* 
 
 After receiving this communication the South Australian Association 
 decided to continue their operations for the purpose of forming a crown 
 colony, provided that, by Act of Parliament, provision were made for 
 the permanent establishment of the mode of disposing of waste land, and 
 of the purchase-money of such land, devised by Mr. Gibbon Wakefield. 
 
 Before the negotiation concluded Mr. Stanley resigned. Mr. 
 Spring Rice (now Lord Monteagle) became Secretary for the Colonies. 
 Under his administration an act was passed, in the session of 1834, 
 substantially embodying the terms agreed upon with Mr. Stanley, by 
 which the present province of South Australia was established, the 
 minimum price of land fixed at 12s. an acre, and the business of 
 colonisation was placed in the hands of a body of commissioners. 
 
 Lord Aberdeen having become Secretary for the Colonies, eight 
 'Commissioners were selected from the members of the South Australian 
 : - Association, and gazetted May, 1835, Colonel Torrens being appointed 
 chairman, because, as he stated in his letter of application, he had 
 " more knowledge of the object and principles of the proposed colony 
 than any of the other gentlemen willing to act." 
 
 It is important to note that, although the Colonial Office refused to 
 permit the foundation of a chartered colony, in which the government 
 
 * Letter from John Lefevre, Es<j., to W. W. Wfcitraore, Esq., ^I.P., dated Downing-street , 
 rch, 183 4. 
 
APPOINTMENT OF GOVERNOR HINDMARSH. 211 
 
 and responsibility would have been in the hands of the colonisers, from 
 first to last the personal friends and pupils of Mr.Wakefield had the sole 
 control of every arrangement and the selection of every officer, and that 
 every step was taken under the advice of Mr. Gibbon Wakefield, who was 
 a constant attendant at the rooms of the association in the Adelphi. 
 
 The commissioners first offered the post of governor to the present 
 distinguished General (then Colonel) Charles James Napier; but on 
 being refused a small body of troops as police, and power to draw on 
 the British government for money in case of need, he declined the 
 dangerous honour, observing, with wise prescience, " While sufficient 
 security exists for the supply of labour in the colony, and even forces 
 that supply, there does not appear to be any security that the supply 
 of capital will be sufficient to employ that labour." Thus South 
 Australia lost an active governor, and India obtained a great general. 
 Of two governors subsequently appointed, one was compelled to over- 
 draw 400,000, and the next obtained a company of soldiers in lieu of 
 an expensive police. The commissioners then selected as governor 
 Captain Hindmarsh, R.N., a distinguished naval-officer, now Sir John 
 Hindmarsh, Governor of Heligoland, and Colonel Light as chief officer 
 of the survey department ; Mr. Fisher, as resident commissioner ; Mr. 
 Robert Gouger, the editor of the " Letter from Sydney" and secretary of 
 the South Australian Association, as colonial secretary in all seventeen 
 appointments, including two attorneys, and an unsuccessful merchant, 
 " who had been found useful to the commission in selling land and raising 
 money." The parties selected seem to have been studiously chosen for 
 their innocence of all colonial, official, and agricultural experience. 
 
 While the political steps for founding the model colony were pro- 
 gressing, means for agitating the public mind in favour of emigration, 
 on the new principle, to the unknown territory selected by the South 
 Australian Association had not been neglected. 
 
 The theory propounded in the " Letter from Sydney" had been 
 repeated and enlarged upon in a work called " England and America," 
 and in a multitude of pamphlets, reviews in newspapers, speeches, and 
 lectures. The active world began to believe that a political philoso- 
 pher's stone had been discovered. 
 
 A newspaper, the South Australian Gazette, was published in 
 London, with the view of being transplanted to the new colony as soon 
 as a hut could be found for its reception ; while the most influential 
 daily and weekly organs re-echoed the statements and conclusions 
 which received the admiring assent of all parties. Anything in the 
 shape of opposition, or even doubtful criticism, from persons of colonial 
 
212 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 experience, was greeted with the utmost degree of scorn and contempt. 
 They were hissed down, unheard, as the most stupid or jealously envious 
 of mortals. The friends of Mr. Wakefield's theory had, from the first 
 taken it for granted that nothing but the basest motives could induce 
 any one to hesitate in accepting their panacea for colonial ills, and they 
 had the same advantage in attacking the Colonial Office that a quack 
 like Morison or Holloway has in ridiculing a venerable, high-charging, 
 pill-and-potion, bleed-and-blister practitioner of the old bag- wig school. 
 A small book, published in 1834, entitled " The New British Pro- 
 vince of South Australia, with an account of the Principles, Objects, 
 Plan, and Prospects of the colony," one of scores of the same tendency 
 which appeared about the same time, is a favourable and temperate 
 specimen and the ingenious literary agitation which Mr. Wakefield 
 perfected, if he did not invent. This work, adorned with maps, a pic- 
 ture of a bay, with palm trees and an emu, commences with an extract 
 from one of Archbishop Whately's speeches, which now sounds exces- 
 sively absurd, but which was then received with enthusiasm : 
 
 "A colony so founded would fairly represent English society: every new 
 comer would have his own class to fall into, and to whatever class he belonged 
 he would find its relation to the others, and the support derived from the others 
 much the same as in the parent country. There would be little more revolting 
 to the feelings of an emigrant than if he had merely shifted his residence from 
 Sussex to Cumberland or Devonshire." 
 
 And then, after devoting many pages to disparaging all other 
 colonies and systems of colonisation, and promising a supply of labour 
 and a state of refinement equal to that of an old colony, a considerable 
 space is devoted to a description of the proposed country, particularly 
 " Kangaroo Island," and its resources, with a list of probable exports. 
 Seldom have more errors been propagated in so few pages, in so formal, 
 so positive, and so pompous a manner. Out of five pages of tabulated 
 exports only one, " wool," has been obtained, and that, not as promised, 
 in greater, but in less quantities than in the older colonies. The means 
 of communication promised by the seacoast, the Lake Alexandria, and 
 the River Murray, remain unused to this hour, and Kangaroo Island is 
 still a solitary waste. 
 
 A day in Adelaide at any time, from the founding of the city down 
 to the time when the last ship left the port, would show how absurdly 
 the following premises have been falsified : 
 
 " The price of land will take out the labourers free of cost to their employer, 
 and will enable him to retain their services. It will be the first colony combining 
 plenty of labour and plenty of land." " The large produce of industry, divided in 
 
THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN COMPANY. 213 
 
 the shape of high profits and high wages, will not only make living high, but 
 will cause the interest of money to be high, and will thus enable persons owning, 
 money, without engaging in any work, to obtain much larger and more effective 
 incomes than their property ."yields in England ; and will furnish a demand for such 
 persons as surveyors, architects, engineers, clerks, teachers, lawyers, and clergymen." 
 
 These were the inducements held out with eminent success to tempt 
 men most unfit for the toil of early colonisation to emigrate to a colony 
 which was to be founded, not by slow degrees, but complete. The 
 land was to be sold in England, at such a fixed price as would, by pre- 
 venting labourers from becoming landowners " too soon," preserve a 
 " hired labour price," and secure high profits on good wages. The pro- 
 ceeds of the land sold were to be applied to supplying labourers with free 
 passages, and thus a complete section of all the ranks and classes com- 
 posing the parent state was to be transplanted, full grown, to the antipodes. 
 
 In the commencement the commissioners found difficulty in selling 
 the quantity of land and raising a sufficient amount of the loan of 
 200,000, at 10 per cent., authorised by the government. But 
 eventually these difficulties were overcome by the active assistance of 
 Mr. Gr. F. Angas, and Mr. John Wright, the once eminent and after- 
 wards notorious banker of Covent Garden. 
 
 Mr. Angas resigned his post as commissioner, and formed the South 
 Australian Company, which commenced operations by purchasing a large 
 quantity of land from the commissioners with certain special privileges. 
 A sum of 30,000 completed the preliminary financial operations, and 
 the first part of the colonising career of South Australia commenced. 
 
 The South Australian Company, which had obtained special 
 privileges in consideration of their large and early purchase, lost no 
 time in sending out a pioneer expedition, with emigrants and officers, 
 to make preparations for carrying on every kind of pursuit considered 
 likely to be profitable in a colony farming, sheep-feeding, banking, 
 building, and whaling. We may mention here that after an experience of 
 eleven years the company have found reason to subside into the humble 
 but more profitable position of absentee landholders and land jobbers. 
 
 Colonel Light was despatched by the commissioners in March, 1836, 
 and a surveying staff and a few emigrants ; and when he arrived at the 
 appointed rendezvous in Nepean Bay, on the 19th August, he found 
 three vessels of the South Australian Company, which had brought a 
 body of emigrants who were settled on Kangaroo Island ; and in 
 November the Africaine arrived with the colonial secretary, a banking 
 association, and a newspaper. 
 
 In July Captain Hindmarsh, the governor, sailed in the Buffalo, a 
 vessel of war, with a number of emigrants. 
 
214 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 All this was done before the commissioners had received any report 
 as to the suitability of the district selected for supporting emigrants. 
 Kangaroo Island, which had figured largely in prospectuses and 
 speeches, was found to be unfit for colonisation, after time and money 
 had been wasted by emigrants and the company in building and clearing. 
 Colonel Light landed in the Gulf of St. Vincent, and after a survey 
 fixed upon the site of the present city of Adelaide for the capital, and 
 the present Port Adelaide for its harbour. It was then a narrow, rather 
 shallow creek, about as wide as the Thames at Richmond, leading out of 
 St. Vincent's .Gulf. The landing was in a mangrove swamp, seven 
 miles from the intended capital. Wharves, deep dredging, a solid road, 
 and other improvements have now transformed the mangrove creek into 
 a good harbour, not inconveniently distant from the capital, to which 
 it will be soon united by a railway. 
 
 Governor Hindmarsh arrived on 28th of December, 1836, read his 
 commission under a gum tree, in presence of about two hundred emi- 
 grants and officials ; and then, looking round, felt extremely dissatisfied 
 with the selection made by the resident commissioner and the surveyor- 
 general. That he should have been dissatisfied with a selection which 
 placed the capital in a picturesque but hot valley far from a port, and 
 without the use of a navigable river, and that he should as a sailor have 
 been forcibly impressed with the fearful cost of landing and conveying 
 cargoes to the interior from such a harbour, is not extraordinary ; 
 nevertheless experience has proved that the site was as good as any 
 that could have been chosen, and art has corrected the defects of nature. 
 Governor Hindmarsh attempted to change the site of Adelaide. 
 Differences of a serious character arose between him and the resident 
 commissioner : the colony became divided into two parties, one of which 
 supported the governor and the other the resident commissioner. Both 
 parties were greatly to blame. Lord Glenelg settled the question by. 
 acceding to the request of the commissioners and recalling Captain 
 Hindmarsh. In the sequel the site of the capital to which Captain 
 Hindmarsh had objected was retained, and almost all the officials, from 
 whom he had experienced most vexatious and insolent opposition, were 
 found either incompetent or corrupt, and dismissed by his successor.* 
 To replace Captain Hindmarsh the commissioners recommended 
 and secured the appointment of Lieutenant-Colonel George Gawler. 
 
 * The most serious evils that befel the South Australian colonists arose from the precipitancy 
 with which emigrants were sent out, before the surveyor-general had reported whether the 
 country was fit for settlement, and before any preparation had been made, by roads, wharves, 
 barracks, conveyances, surveys, and importation of live stock, for employing or feeding emigrants, 
 But it seems part of the system to care rather for producing a sensation of doing business in 
 
I: *, 
 
THE PIG-IN-A-POKE SYSTEM. 215 
 
 At the same time that Colonel Gawler was appointed governor he was 
 also made resident commissioner vice Mr. Fisher, dismissed and thus 
 united in his own person all the administrative powers of the colony. 
 
 In order to obtain money to commence operations, before the colony 
 had been surveyed or even settled, the commissioners issued "pre- 
 liminary orders," as a bonus to the first purchasers and colonists, at 
 72 12s. each, which entitled the purchaser to select, in a rotation 
 settled by lottery, 120 acres of country land, and one acre in the 
 intended capital of the intended colony. This capital city, before 
 discovery or survey, was settled by the commissioners to consist of 1,200 
 acres, or nearly nine square miles a space sufficient to accommodate 
 the population of Westminster. As soon as the capital, Adelaide, had 
 been selected and mapped, the holders of preliminary orders, forming 
 the first body of colonists, selected their sections, and the whole surplus 
 was put up for auction to the colonists, " as a reward for their enter- 
 prise," and sold at an average rate of 2 per acre. Thus, more than 
 ten times the space that has ever been required was turned into and 
 perpetually dedicated to building land. From that moment the great 
 object of the first colonists became to puff, magnify, and sell to future 
 colonists their building land in Adelaide. No crop was so profitable 
 as land left in a state of nature, but called and sold for a street. 
 
 The first operation having been performed, by which the future site 
 of what was intended to be a great city had been transferred into the 
 hands of a few persons, chiefly consisting of the friends of the commis- 
 sioners and the officials of the South Australian Company, the next 
 was to sell as much land as possible in England, by giving English 
 purchasers a decided advantage over those who, nevertheless intending 
 to emigrate, declined to buy a pig in a poke. 
 
 Accordingly land orders were issued at 80 each, which entitled 
 the holder to select eighty acres of country land in the order dictated 
 by the date of payment. Thus, when any particularly desirable plot 
 of land was brought into the market, a speculation arose to discover and 
 purchase the oldest " order" in the colony. A class of Adelaide brokers 
 
 England than for the welfare of the emigrants. The same error was committed at Wellington, 
 in New Zealand, where, with a shipload of colonists going they knew not where, Colonel Wakefield 
 was obliged to settle at Wellington a fine harbour shut out by inaccessible mountains from 
 the adjoining country. Even expensive military roads have not yet opened out land enough to 
 feed the town population ; and two secondary settlements at Wanganui, distant 100 miles, and New 
 Plymouth were formed in order to obtain the quantity of land sold in England. On a second occasion 
 Nelson was chosen without proper survey, where, in order to find land enough, two thousand 
 colonists are obliged to spread over 150 miles of coast. Even in founding Canterbury, Mr. Wake- 
 field had influence enough to persuade the directors to send out, at an enormous useless extra 
 expense, a fleet of four large ships half filled, to the great inconvenience of the first colonists, in 
 order to make a seisatiou in the English newspapers. The expedient failed. 
 
216 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 arose who dealt in and professed to put a value on these " scrip," 
 according to their respective dates. Sometimes an emigrant who had 
 been months in the colony would be superseded by the holder of the 
 land order of an absentee sent at the latest moment by ship letter. It 
 was a foreshadowing of the railway stagging of 1846, and a revival of 
 the famous days of the South Sea Bubble. On one occasion the 
 supposed discovery of a lead mine, under an eighty-acre section, sent 
 up the earliest-dated order to a premium of 500. After all there 
 was no lead mine ; but the lucky purchaser, being in command of the 
 market made use of a later order, and reserved his 500 prize for 
 future use. 
 
 After five days of the week had been consumed by those who pur- 
 chased " land orders" in England in selecting the best sections, on the 
 sixth the colonising emigrant who had preferred seeing before investing, 
 or the frugal labourer who had saved enough to work for himself on his 
 own land, was allowed to take his pick of the refuse. Such parties were 
 required to send in a sealed tender. A person tendering for several 
 adjoining sections had the preference over a person tendering for a 
 single section. Thus, in every way, the cultivating colonist was 
 discouraged, and land-jobbing speculation invited. 
 
 That no element of confusion might be wanting in the land arrange- 
 ments of the model colony, the commissioners devised, and Mr. Wake- 
 field approved, the " special survey system," which enabled them to 
 raise large sums of money, by offering special privileges to capitalists ; 
 and it proved most effective in England. Under this system a capitalist 
 was entitled to have 15,000 acres surveyed in any part of the province, 
 on condition that he purchased not less than 4,000 acres at 1 an acre. 
 In South Australia, as in New South Wales, there is a great scarcity of 
 water, and good cultivable land lies only in patches surrounded by 
 other land which is, at best, only fit for pasture. By judicious manage- 
 ment the purchaser of a special survey could command all the water, 
 and all the pastoral advantages of 15,000 acres, by purchasing 4,000 ; 
 the remainder, 11,000 acres, being useless to any one else, fell naturally 
 in his occupation, at an average of 5s. 4d. an acre. To increase the 
 mischief, purchasers of special surveys were permitted to establish 
 secondary towns, in addition to Adelaide, which was twenty times too 
 large for the population ; while the staff of surveyors were continually 
 interrupted in their regular work, to the great injury of cultivating 
 emigrants, in order to make these special surveys, at an expense often 
 exceeding the total value of the purchase-money. 
 
 In a very short time all the good land in the neighbourhood of 
 
COLONEL GAWLEE. 217 
 
 Adelaide was monopolised by the absentee capitalists and proprietors 
 of the South Australian Company. 
 
 In a word, the whole system discouraged the proper pursuits of 
 colonists, and propagated a spirit of land-jobbing, which, by its apparent 
 profits, very soon infected the neighbouring colonies, and bewildered 
 and deceived the merchants, the legislature, and the colonial department 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 At an epoch in the existence of an infant state, when the first 
 settlers ought to consist of a few gardeners, a few shepherds, a few 
 farmers, and a few mechanics, with half a dozen men of superior attain- 
 ments and energy, and plenty of sheep and cattle, and when a village 
 with a wharf was all the town needed, South Australia had nine square 
 miles of building land, a bank, two newspapers, and a population of 
 speculative gentlemen. In England, paragraphs carefully culled from 
 South Australian land sellers' newspapers were circulated as accompani- 
 ments to flaming advertisements in the English press, with the lectures 
 and speeches of well-paid agents of the South Australian interest, com- 
 bined to raise the colonising speculations and movements to fever pitch 
 about the time that Colonel Gawler anchored in St. Yincent's Gulf. 
 
 CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 COLONEL GAWLER'S GOVERNMENT. 
 
 1838 TO 1841. 
 
 /COLONEL GAWLER arrived in South Australia on the 13th 
 V^ October, 1838, and was recalled in May, 1841. Under his 
 administration the colony attained the highest state of external pros- 
 perity ; the population quadrupled, the port was filled with ships 
 bringing imports and emigrants ; public buildings, shops, mansions, 
 and paved roads were constructed on land which four years previously 
 had been desert ; wharves and warehouses on a swampy creek, which 
 was converted into a convenient port ; ornamental gardens were laid out, 
 farms were cultivated, live stock was imported by thousands, the interior 
 explored, and the whole colony rendered more familiarly and favourably 
 known to the intellectual portion of the British community than any 
 other colony ; and under Colonel Gawler the land sales ceased, capital 
 and labour emigrated, insolvency was universal, and the colony, loaded 
 with public and private debt, collapsed more rapidly than it had risen. 
 
 o 
 
218 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 The powerful party whose pecuniary interests and personal pride, 
 as colonising philosophers, are alike concerned in upholding the system 
 on which South Australia was founded, have long been in the habit of 
 attributing the rise of that colony to the merits of their system, and 
 its fall to the extravagance of Colonel Crawler; and they have passed 
 uncontradicted, because actual colonists are ill represented in Parlia- 
 ment and the press, and it has not been worth the while of the public 
 to dive into blue books or examine colonial evidence for the truth.* 
 
 A very slight examination of the history of South Australia will 
 show that it was what is called the extravagance of Colonel Gawler 
 w T hich caused those sales of land, that export of emigrants, that specula- 
 tion in building lots and houses which was supposed to be prosperity. If 
 a million sterling had been at the disposal of the governor at the time 
 when, to speak commercially, the colonial government stopped payment, 
 the mania for land-buying might have been continued some time longer, 
 but it must have stopped sooner or later, just as the railway-scrip mania 
 came to an end, because the purchasers and sellers were producing 
 nothing ; and no amount of imported population and capital could 
 have made the colony produce enough to pay for its consumption until 
 time had been given to raise some staple article saleable in a foreign 
 market. Wool cannot be produced, like calico or cloth, by steam 
 power ; for agricultural produce there was no foreign demand worth 
 mentioning; the existence of mineral wealth was not suspected. 
 When Colonel Gawler resigned his office into the hands of his successor, 
 South Australia was in debt about 400,000, on account of the colonial 
 government ; the private debts of the colonists to English merchants 
 were at least as much more. The utmost extent of excess in Colonel 
 Gawler' s expenditure was 20,000, or five per cent, on the expenses. 
 
 It always takes a considerable time to inoculate the English people 
 with new ideas. About the time that Captain Hindmarsh was recalled 
 and Colonel Gawler sailed, the fruits of skilful agitation began to be 
 reaped by the South Australian Commissioners. No unfavourable 
 accounts of the new colony were allowed to appear in any organ of 
 influence ; flourishing reports of the beauty, the fertility, and the com- 
 mercial importance of the new city were industriously circulated. 
 Colonel Torrens, in lectures he condescended to deliver, stated and 
 believed that the situation of the city of Adelaide would give it the 
 same importance with respect to the valley of the Murray that New 
 Orleans held with respect to the valley of the Mississippi : the Murray, 
 
 * This, true when written, has ceased to be true in 1853, since the failure of Canterbury colony 
 a failure predicted by the author. 
 
COLONEL GAWLER DECEIVED BY THE COMMISSIONERS. 219 
 
 which in 1851 had not yet been navigated by anything beyond a whale- 
 boat, and which a range of lofty mountains divides from Adelaide ! An 
 influential agent in the South Australian interest not only produced a 
 magnificently-coloured plan of the new city, divided into streets and 
 squares, but, by a further stroke of imagination, anchored a 400 ton 
 ship in the Torrens, opposite Government House the River Torrens 
 being a chain of pools in which the most desperate suicide would ordi- 
 narily have difficulty in drowning himself, and across which a child may 
 generally step dryshod ! 
 
 Thus land was sold, and emigrants were shipped off before the 
 commissioners had time to receive further accounts from their new and 
 trusted governor and commissioner. 
 
 Colonel Gawler being an amiable, enthusiastic, simple-minded, yet 
 ambitious man, was dazzled with the idea of becoming the founder of a 
 great, civilised, self-supporting community. He accepted the theories of 
 Mr. Wakefield as solemn, immutable truths, and the calculations of the 
 commissioners as the emanations of the highest financial ability. 
 Confiding in the private assurances of the commissioners, he was most 
 bitterly and cruelly deceived. 
 
 Under the original plan of the colony the commissioners had calcu- 
 lated that an annual sum of 10,000, over and above any revenue to 
 be derived from customs or local taxation, would be sufficient to defray 
 all the govermental expenses of South Australia. This calculation was 
 founded on what they hoped to be able to raise, and not on the neces- 
 sities of the case. In order to make it fit they fixed on an arbitrary 
 number of officials at arbitrary salaries. 
 
 The statements made in a despatch written by Colonel Gawler, 
 immediately after his arrival, show that if he had been less zealous to 
 carry out the views of the commissioners and more cautious about his 
 own personal interests, he would have at once brought the progress of 
 colonisation to a stand- still, strictly followed his written instructions, 
 and retired with his private fortune uninjured, to his own profession. 
 
 He found the treasury empty the accounts in confusion. Twelve 
 thousand pounds, being two thousand pounds more than the whole 
 amount authorised to be drawn for in England in the year, had been 
 drawn in the first six months ; a large expense was required for the 
 support of emigrants sick of fever and dysentery ; provisions, wages, 
 and house rent were enormously high ; custom-houses, police-stations, 
 a gaol, and offices for transaction of public business were urgently 
 required ; a police establishment, at colonial wages, in the absence of a 
 military force, was indispensable ; the commissioners in their calcula- 
 
 o 2 
 
220 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 tions had omitted to provide for a postmaster, a sheriff, or a gaoler for 
 letters, debtors, or criminals ; the surveys were seriously in arrear ; the 
 head of the staff and all his attendants had resigned ; the late resident 
 commissioner and accountant-general, the colonial treasurer, and several 
 other officers were found insubordinate, irregular in their accounts, and 
 grossly inefficient; it was necessary to supersede two of them per- 
 emptorily almost immediately ; all officials were dissatisfied with low 
 salaries in the face of the high prices of provisions, house rent, &c. ; 
 Governor Gawler himself, with Mrs. Gawler, his children, private 
 secretary, and servants, was compelled to occupy a small hut, and 
 expend 1,800 a year whilst receiving a salary of 800. With this 
 imperfect machinery, and an empty treasury, a population of some four 
 or five thousand souls, partly encamped on the site of the city 
 of Adelaide, and partly dispersed in pastoral pursuits over a tract 
 of country one hundred miles long by forty miles broad, instead 
 of being, according to the theories of the commissioners, concentrated 
 on ten square miles, engaged in reproducing English agriculture, had 
 to be governed, customs dues and debts had to be levied, criminals 
 imprisoned, and aborigines repressed. 
 
 As to the prospects of the colony, and character of pursuits of the 
 colonists, the inspector of the Australasian Bank at Sydney wrote to his 
 Directors in October, 1818, about the time Governor Gawler landed : 
 
 " I venture to express my fears that the price received for the sale of land 
 will be found insufficient to pay for the transplantation and government of emi- 
 grants ; and, unless funds be provided by the British government, it will be 
 impossible to provide for the administration of police and law. There appears 
 also to have been a great want of experience and decision in directing the 
 energies of the colonists to that source from which alone they can hope to rise to 
 wealth or prevent themselves from sinking into poverty, until an article of export 
 be produced in considerable quantity ; as otherwise the funds of the colonists 
 must be expended in paying for articles of import and luxuries considered as 
 necessaries of life. Wool is the only article of export that can be produced, and 
 on this subject the colonists seem as supine as they have been eager to purchase 
 town allotments and build houses, giving the place what seems to me a false 
 appearance of commercial prosperity. Had it been left to me I should have 
 delayed establishing a branch bank until I could be sure there were at least 
 100,000 sheep in the settlement, and that provision was made for the efficient 
 administration of the law."* 
 
 The new governor, full of colonising enthusiasm and innocent of 
 colonial or commercial experience, was dazzled and deceived by the 
 building activity which had excited the serious apprehensions of the 
 experienced bank manager. He found a. large body of educated, 
 
 * Report of House of Commons on South Australia, 1841, p. 146. 
 
THE STREET MANUFACTURE IN ADELAIDE. 221 
 
 apparently intelligent men, who had encamped on the site of the city 
 of Adelaide, all hopeful, active, speculating, dealing with each other 
 and with each party of newly-arrived emigrants, full of magnificent 
 plans for every sort of investment, in markets, warehouses, arcades, 
 ship-building, and whaling. A bit of painted board nailed to a tree 
 created a Wakefield, a Torrens, an Angas, or Whit-more street. All the 
 notabilities of the South Australian interest were thus immortalised. 
 Each speculator, having so large a space to deal with, endeavoured to 
 draw the tide of trade or fashion into his own locality, and thus, instead 
 of one compact village, as near as possible to the port, tents, wooden 
 huts, pise huts, wooden houses imported from England, shops of slabs, 
 brick, and stone, and elegant cottages of gentility, surrounded by iron 
 rails, were scattered over a vast park of 1,130 acres. 
 
 Those who had not been able to secure town lots at prices to their 
 mind proceeded into the suburbs, where at one time, with the aid of 
 surveyors' pegged lines, not less than thirty villages were founded, for 
 sale to those who could not afford to give the city price ; others were 
 building mansions, laying out pleasure grounds, and even contemplating 
 deer parks. The climate was delightful, the valley of the Torrens fertile ; 
 and emigrants of capital poured in, burning to commence realising th 
 golden dreams they had enjoyed during a three months' voyage. 
 
 Colonel Crawler was carried away by the stream. The very con 
 fusion in which he found public business, the inefficiency of all the 
 officers selected by the commissioners, the backward state of the 
 surveys, were to a certain extent an encouragement ; because he 
 sanguinely contemplated that, if so much had been done under no 
 system, or the worst possible system of administration when no accounts 
 were kept when the governor and the resident commissioner held rival 
 public meetings, and the colonial secretary and colonial treasurer fought 
 in the streets, how much more might be done under an orderly, 
 regular government, such as he lost no time in establishing. 
 
 He proceeded to supersede the incompetent officials, to bring all the 
 government business into a regular form, to press on the surveys, and 
 to make proper arrangements for the reception of the emigrants into 
 barracks, and the numerous sick of ship -fever and dysentery into 
 an hospital. In order to obtain a revenue from customs dues, to keep 
 down illicit distillation, and protect the public from criminals, it was 
 necessary, as Colonel Napier had foreseen, to raise a police. As 
 labourers were worth from 10s. to 15s. a day, and indifferent horses 
 cost 50 each, this was an expensive affair ; but, by giving a tasteful 
 uniform, and making the appointment rather honourable, he succeeded 
 
222 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 iii obtaining a highly respectable body of men, including some poor 
 gentlemen, at 5s. a day. 
 
 The port on Colonel Gawler's arrival was a narrow swamp, through 
 which, for seven miles, emigrants dragged their luggage and merchan- 
 dise. Under Ms arrangements a road was constructed, and wharves 
 and warehouses erected. He built a government-house of no extrava- 
 gant pretensions, but which, nevertheless, cost, from the price of labour 
 and materials, 20,000 ; and he also built custom-houses, police- 
 stations, and other public buildings, which were indispensable for trans- 
 acting public business. He expended a large sum in protecting 
 and endeavouring to civilise the aborigines. He contributed to two 
 expeditions which were unsuccessfully made by Mr. Eyre in search of 
 tracts of fertile country. To every charitable claim his purse was 
 open ; while his hospitalities were on a liberal scale. 
 
 The result of his measures was to give an extraordinary impetus to 
 the apparent prosperity of the colony. The brilliant reports of public 
 and private buildings in progress, building land sold at 500 and even 
 1,000 an acre, of balls, fetes, pic-nics, horticultural shows, dexterously 
 reproduced in England, tempted men of fortune to emigrate, capitalists 
 to invest, and merchants and manufacturers to forward goods of all 
 kinds on credit. Port Adelaide was crowded with shipping, which 
 discharged living and dead cargoes, and departed in ballast. When 
 14,000 colonists had arrived, in the fourth year after the foundation, 
 scarcely a vestige of an export had been produced. The land sales 
 and the custom-house receipts rose to enormous amounts. 
 
 In the midst of a career of infatuation, by which some half dozen 
 money lenders realised fortunes, and hundreds were entirely ruined, 
 there were men of considerable fortune who endeavoured to realise the 
 Utopia they had been taught to dream in England, and introduce the 
 comforts and the scientific cultivation of an English country gentleman, 
 as sketched in Mr. Wakefield's letter from Sydney. These gentlemen 
 purchased what in English eyes appeared considerable tracts of land ; 
 loaded ships with furniture, with curious, useless agricultural imple- 
 ments, with live stock of choice breeds ; brought domestic servants, 
 labourers, and even tenants, and landed intent on making, according to 
 the cant cry of the hour, the " desert blossom like the rose." 
 
 The example of one gentleman, whose name it would be cruel to 
 mention, will exemplify the case of scores of his class, although less 
 wealthy, who sank and died without notice in other colonies, or in 
 
 England. Mr. B possessed an English estate which brought him in 
 
 about 1,000 a year : fascinated by Mr. Gibbon Wakefield's writings, 
 
TWO COLONISTS A CONTRAST. 223 
 
 he sold his estate, and landed in South Australia with an extensive land 
 order, built a house of no great size or comfort at a vast expense, 
 fenced in a farm, and began to cultivate ; but the cheap labour promised 
 in the commissioners' pamphlets was no more forthcoming than the 
 roads. He soon found that he was sowing shillings to reap halfpence. 
 After spending a great deal of capital he gave up farming in disgust, 
 and went to live in Adelaide : there, thrown constantly among the 
 company of speculators, having a considerable balance at his banker's, 
 he was inclined to do as everybody did, and speculate. He lost every- 
 thing, at middle age returned home with his family penniless, and, 
 after living a few years dependent on the bounty of his relations, died 
 broken-hearted, a victim of the " sufficient price" delusion. 
 
 Among the successful there were scarcely any of the head-working, 
 white-handed class, but a number of hard-working, frugal men, who, 
 landing without a penny, accumulated enough by labour to purchase a 
 good eighty-acre section, and there, by growing vegetables and wheat, 
 rearing pigs and poultry, with the help of their wives and families, 
 throve steadily, and made money, in spite of the system which was 
 intended to retain them for an indefinite time as labourers at some 
 three shillings a day. These people often derived considerable advan- 
 tage from sections of land adjoining their own being the property of 
 absentees. On these sections they were able to pasture their live 
 stock without expense. Where labourers could not afford to buy a 
 whole section they clubbed together and divided one ; for free men will 
 have land whenever agriculture is the only manufacture, and no protec- 
 tive laws can prevent them. It was these cottier farmers and a few 
 sheep squatters who saved the colony from being totally abandoned 
 when the inevitable crisis came. 
 
 A Scotch gentleman of ancient lineage and no fortune, in every 
 respect the converse of Mr. B., afforded an instance of what may be 
 done in a colony by industrious hard work, with the help of a large 
 family, without that capital which, according to theorists, it is indis- 
 pensable that a landowner should possess. He arrived in the colony 
 very early, the owner of a single eighty-acre section, with twelve 
 children, one half of whom were stout, well-grown lads and lasses : his 
 whole property consisted of a little furniture, a few Highland imple- 
 ments, a gun or two, a very little ready money, and several barrels of 
 oatmeal and biscuit. His section had been selected for him previous to 
 his arrival. It lay on the other side of a steep range of hills, over 
 which no road had then been made, ten miles from the town. He lost 
 no time and spent no money in refreshing or relaxing in Adelaide ; he 
 
224 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 found out a fellow-countryman who lent him a team of oxen, dragged 
 his goods over the hills to his land, and encamped the first night on the 
 ground, under a few blankets and canvass spread on the brush. The 
 next and successive days the family worked at cutting trees ; there was 
 timber plenty for building a house. This house, situated on the slope 
 of a hill, consisted of one long, low, wooden room, surrounded by a dry 
 ditch to drain off the rain, and divided into partitions by blankets. 
 The river lay below : any water needed was fetched in a bucket by one 
 of the young ladies. A garden, in which all manner of vegetables, 
 including tobacco and water melons, soon grew, was laid out almost as 
 soon as the house; an early investment was made in poultry, they 
 requiring no other food than the grasshoppers and grass-seeds on the 
 waste land round. Until the poultry gave a crop of eggs and chickens 
 the guns of the lads supplied plenty of quail, ducks, and parrots. In 
 due time a crop of maize, of wheat, and of oats was got in. Before the 
 barrels of oatmeal were exhausted, eggs, chickens, potatoes, kale, and 
 maize afforded ample sustenance, and something to send to market. 
 Labour cost nothing, fuel nothing, rent nothing, keeping up appear- 
 ances nothing ; no one dressed on week days in broadcloth, except the 
 head of the house. First a few goats, and then a cow, eventually a fair 
 herd of stock, were accumulated. Butter and vegetables found their 
 way to Adelaide ; and, while the kid-glove gentry were ruining 1 them- 
 selves, the bare-legged boys of the Highland gentleman were indepen- 
 dent, if not rich. The daughters, who were pretty, proud, and useful, 
 have married well. In another generation families like this will be 
 among the wealthiest in the colony. 
 
 Now, it is certain that every shilling taken from industrious settlers 
 like this Scotch family, under pretence of supplying labour, was money 
 very unprofitably invested, as it would have fructified more rapidly in 
 their own hard hands. 
 
 A lady, who landed at Port Adelaide a few months after the 
 .governor, in a MS. letter describes the then " dreary appearance of the 
 shores ; the anchoring of the ship in a narrow creek, w r here, as far as 
 the eye could reach, a mangrove swamp extended ; disembarking from 
 a small boat into the arms of long shoremen upon a damp mudbank, 
 under a persecuting assault of musquitoes." On this mudbank lay 
 heaps of goods of all descriptions, half covered with sand and saturated 
 with salt water, broken chests of tea and barrels of flour, cases of hard- 
 ware, furniture of all kinds, pianos and empty plate-chests, ploughs and 
 thrashing-machines. A little further, at the commencement of the 
 " muddy track which led to Adelaide, bullock-drays stood ready to hire 
 
GOVERNOR GAWLER'S COURT. 225 
 
 for conveying our baggage. The lowest charge for a load was 10. 
 All along the side of the track were strewn baggage and broken 
 conveyances, abandoned in despair by their owners. We stopped at a 
 small public-house to get a little refreshment. For a cup of tea, with 
 brown sugar, bread, and oily butter full of insects, we paid 4s. 6d. each. 
 The butter seemed spread with a thumb." 
 
 " Our troubles partly vanished when we reached the beautiful site 
 of Adelaide, where it almost seemed as if a large party of ladies and 
 gentlemen playing at gipsying had encamped. This was the third 
 removal of some who had pitched tents on Kangaroo Island, then built 
 huts in Holdfast Bay, and finally took up their abode in the city of 
 Adelaide. Several times, before the small, bright green, highly orna- 
 mented wooden summer house which had been engaged for us, our 
 carriage had like to have been upset over stumps and logs. Every one 
 we met seemed in the highest spirits ; and it was more like a walk 
 in Kensington Gardens than in a colony scarcely two years old." 
 
 This bit of contemporary description affords a key to much that is 
 singular and contradictory in the early accounts of the foundation of 
 South Australia. Nat Lee, the mad poet, sings 
 
 " There is a joy in madness none but madmen know." 
 
 and there was a charm about the gipsy encampment of Adelaide, with 
 its wild speculation, perpetual excitement, liberal hospitality and charity, 
 constant succession of new faces, splendid luxuries, and curious shifts, 
 to which the survivors look back with the feelings of a mariner to the 
 months he spent with jolly companions on a desert island, with plenty of 
 turtles and plenty of rum puncheons the difference being, that in the one 
 case the shipwreck preceded, and in the other followed, the jollification. 
 Governor Gawler held a little court, which was graced by the 
 magnificent uniforms of the officers of the volunteer corps, a corps which 
 consisted of some two dozen officers, from a cornet to a brigade-major, 
 and four or five privates. There were courtiers, too, and ladies in 
 plumes and great airs ; there were fashionables, and exclusives held to 
 be the creme de la creme; there was an aristocracy composed of the 
 principal officials ; there were balls given, to be invited to which great 
 manoeuvres were practised. It was a life like that of one of the little 
 gambling courts and watering-places of Germany, with more heartiness, 
 in consequence of the constant arrival of friends and victims from Eng- 
 land. The town lots of Adelaide formed the great rouge-et-noir table. 
 The climate rendered out-of-door life delightful, the imaginary streets 
 swarmed with well-dressed crowds ; so much really good society, so many 
 
226 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 fashionable men, had never before been found in a colony ; every one 
 fancied himself the hero of a great enterprise, and enjoyed all the plea- 
 sures of gambling, while dreaming that he was helping to found an empire. 
 
 In the morning the men dashed about on horses, in dog-carts, 
 barouches, and four-in-hands, which cost fabulous sums, in search of 
 eligible sections and sites for villages. In the evenings grand dinners 
 were given in tents and huts, where champagne, hock, burgundy, and 
 every luxury that could be preserved in a tin case abounded ; fashion- 
 able dance music and the songs of Kossini and Donizetti resounded from 
 the cottages of the "great world ;" and at cock-crow beaux in beards 
 and white waistcoats, " half savage, half soft," might be met picking 
 their way, in the thinnest, shiniest boots, through the dust or mud of a 
 projected crescent or arcade. There was scandal written and spoken ; 
 political intrigue ; a court party and an opposition, with each a news- 
 paper ; and everybody flattered everybody else that building, dining, 
 dancing, drinking, writing, and speechifying, "was doing the heroic 
 work of colonisation." 
 
 Young men of spirit were not satisfied to retire into the bush and 
 look after a flock of silly sheep while it was possible to buy a section of 
 land at 1 an acre, give it a fine name as a village site, sell the same 
 thing at 10 an acre, for a bill the bank would discount, and live in 
 style at the Southern Cross Hotel ; for when a man had made such a 
 speculation he could not, and did not, do less than invite a party of 
 new-made friends to celebrate his good fortune by a dinner, a ball, or a 
 pic-nic, with a few cases of champagne imported by the merchant on credit. 
 
 At this period a romantic air was infused into the simplest transac- 
 tions. For instance, in the old colony exploring expeditions had been 
 undertaken either by a government surveyor, who marched out from 
 some remote station without any special demonstration, or by a squatter 
 who, with a friend or two, a stockman, and perhaps a couple of black 
 boys, all on horseback, set out as quickly as possible to find new pastures 
 for his stock. In South Australia they managed things very differently. 
 Mr. Y. Eyre having undertaken to explore the interior of the province, 
 on the day appointed for his setting out a grand entertainment was 
 given, over which the governor presided. At the close of an affecting 
 speech a band of young ladies clothed in white garments marched up 
 the room, and presented, amid the cheers of the men and the sobs of 
 the women, a banner which they worked, to be planted on the limits of 
 his proposed discovery. 
 
 Mr. Eyre's journey, and a second expedition, proved the hopeless 
 barrenness of a great part of the province. He afterwards became 
 
THE OVERLANDERS. 227 
 
 lieutenant-governor of the small settlement of Nelson, in New Zealand. 
 It is rather curious that two gallant but unsuccessful exploring 
 expeditions, that of Mr. Eyre and that of Lieutenant (now Sir George) 
 Grey, should have led to the appointment of two governors. 
 
 During the administration of Colonel Crawler important assistance 
 was afforded to the colonists by the arrival of the overlanders, who, led 
 by love of adventure and hope of gain, found their way from the bush 
 of New South Wales and Port Phillip, across inhospitable deserts, over 
 precipitous hills, through dense forests, rivers, and swamps, and, in 
 spite of tribes of fiercely hostile savages, brought flocks of sheep and 
 " mobs " of cattle and horses to the South Australians, at a time when 
 butchers' meat was rising to famine price, when a good pair of bullocks 
 could earn 60 a week in working from the port to the city, and horses 
 which had arrived from Van Diemen's Land, after a long voyage of 
 alternate calms and adverse winds, mere skeletons covered with sores, 
 were sold as a favour at 100 each. 
 
 The overlanders saved the colony from total abandonment during 
 the first crash of insolvency. The strength of Australia is in her 
 pastures : sheep to the Australian, before the discovery of copper and 
 gold, were what the pine-tree was to the Highland laird, who on his 
 death-bed said to his son, " Jock, be aye putting in a tree : it will be 
 growing while ye are sleeping." The natural pastures and the climate 
 grow the wool, and men, women, or children can be shepherds who 
 have neither strength to fell timber, nor power or skill to plough, to 
 sow, or to thrash. Besides, a pack of wool is always worth cash, while 
 a bushel of wheat in Australia may be worth 10s. one year and nothing 
 the next ; in the worst of times ewes go on breeding and increasing, and 
 wethers boil down for tallow, while a field allowed to go out of cultiva- 
 tion under an Australian climate, after devouring all the capital spent 
 on reclamation, very soon becomes as much waste as before the plough 
 turned the first furrow. The overlanders who brought these invaluable 
 animals were many of them men of education : the enormous profits 
 reaped by the first parties, in spite of the loss of both men and beasts 
 by drought and skirmishes with the blacks, made the overland route a 
 favourite adventure with the young bushmen. They brought with 
 them, as well as live stock, " old hands," who taught the cockneys how 
 to fell a tree and make a fence, and sometimes gave the Gawler police a 
 good deal of trouble. 
 
 The gentlemen overlanders affected a banditti style of hair and 
 costume. They rode blood, or half-bred Arab horses, wore broad- 
 brimmed sombreros trimmed with fur and eagle plumes, scarlet flannel 
 
228 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 shirts, broad belts filled with pistols, knives, and tomahawks, tremendous 
 beards, and moustachios. They generally encamped and let their stock 
 refresh about 100 miles from Adelaide, and then rode on to strike a 
 bargain with their anxious customers. Before the journey became a 
 matter of course, the arrival of a band of these brown, bearded, banditti- 
 looking gentlemen created quite a sensation something like the arrival 
 of a party of successful buccaneers in a quiet seaport, with a cargo to 
 sell, in old Dampier'a time. 
 
 In a few days the stock was sold ; the overland garments were 
 exchanged for the most picturesque and fashionable costume which the 
 best Hindley-street tailor " from Bond-street " could supply ; and then, 
 with hair combed, brushed, oiled, and gracefully arranged after Raphael 
 or Vandyke, the overlander proceeded to spend freely the money he had 
 so hardly gained, and, as one of the lions of the place, to cast into the 
 shade the pert, smooth, political economists and model colonists fresh 
 from the Adelphi. 
 
 New arrivals from England, fortunate enough to be admitted to the 
 delightful evening parties given by a lady of the " highest ton," the 
 leader of the Adelaidean fashion, were astonished when, to fill up basso 
 in an Italian piece, she called on a huge man with brown hands, brown 
 face, and a flowing beard, magnificently attired, in whom they recog- 
 nised the individual they had met the day before in a torn flannel 
 jersey, with a short black pipe in his mouth. 
 
 The overlanders included every rank, from the emancipist to the 
 first-class Oxford man. By the end of 1840 they had introduced nearly 
 50,000 sheep into the colony, and taught the wiser colonists the neces- 
 sity of looking to pastoral pursuits for the safe investment of capital. 
 
 The trade of turning wild land worth a few shillings an acre into 
 building sections, to be sold at from four or five pounds to one thousand 
 pounds an acre, by the simple expedient of a few pegs and a coloured 
 plan, was too good to be monopolised by South Australia. The 
 government and private speculators followed the ingenious example in 
 New South Wales and Port Phillip ; while in England a dozen foolish 
 or fraudulent schemes were started, under the patronage of names as 
 respectable as those who patronised the South American mines of 1824, 
 and the railway delusion of 1845, for colonising New Zealand, the 
 Chatham Islands, New Caledonia, the Falkland Islands, and other 
 countries having the inestimable advantage of being very distant and 
 almost unknown ; all to be divided into " town, suburban, and country 
 lots/' to be sold in England at a " sufficient price." 
 
 The competition of these new bubbles, home and colonial, diverted 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 229 
 
 the attention of intending colonists from South Australia, where the 
 high price of town lots left but small margin for profits or premiums. 
 Besides, in those epochs of speculative frenzy which periodically recur 
 in England and Scotland, unknown schemes have a certain advantage. 
 About the end of the second year of Colonel Gawler's administration, 
 the resources of South Australia as an investment for capital were 
 partly known, while, as nothing was known about the resources of New 
 Zealand, not even whether there was any available land there at all, it 
 became an excellent and fashionable subject for speculation. 
 
 Colonel Gawler piteously complains in some of his despatches of 
 the misrepresentations of rival colonists, and of parties who, after a very 
 partial inspection of the port and coast, had departed, exclaiming, 
 " All is barren !" But the fact was, that the capitalists who had landed 
 found no advantageous opening for the investment of capital ; town lots 
 had been driven up to an enormous premium ; the cultivation of land 
 did not pay, and has never paid the employer of labour on a large scale 
 in any new country. Wool-growing and other pastoral pursuits were J 
 more profitable in Port Phillip and the new districts of New South 
 Wales ; besides, under the puffing forcing system, enough land, sup- 
 posing it all fertile, had been sold to support a population of 200,000. 
 The population of the colony was 15,000, of which 8,000 were settled 
 in Adelaide, gambling with each other. As for the labourers, they 
 were partly employed in waiting and working for the white-handed 
 emigrants who had come out under Mr. Wakefield's advice ({ to labour 
 with their heads, not with their hands/' and who, therefore, required 
 more work done for them than old-fashioned colonists, who w r ere not 
 ashamed to mend their own tools or carry their own packages, and 
 partly in executing works for the government and for the South 
 Australian Company. A considerable number were in the hospital, and 
 others were working at such sham labour tests as drawing fallen timber 
 from the park, to be used for fuel in the government offices. 
 
 It had been found impracticable then, as in all subsequent attempts, 
 to carry out the scheme of obtaining recruits for free passages " exclu- 
 sively of young married couples not exceeding twenty-four years of age." 
 The labouring classes have their feelings and affections as keenly in 
 regard to family ties as their superiors in fortune and education ; they 
 are not to be draughted out, as the Wakefield theory proposes, like sheep 
 or cattle ; and the parties charged with supplying the quota of labourers 
 required for the ships, so recklessly despatched to South Australia, com- 
 pleted the number by a per centage who from age, feebleness, or unfit- 
 ness for colonial labour, became almost immediately chargeable on the 
 
230 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 government. All who were shipped, if able to work, claimed under 
 their shipping order a minimum of 5s. a day. 
 
 When more houses had been built than could be let when the 
 capital, of which a large portion was exported for the importation of 
 labour which it was impossible to employ profitably, began to grow 
 scarce the price of land orders fell, and the rate of wages. Then 
 the frugal labourers began to retire from service, to settle down on pur- 
 chased sections, and combine to purchase and divide sections of 80 acres, 
 to the extreme disgust of the hired-labour and sufficient-price theorists. 
 
 In England the large draughts of the governor, in conjunction with 
 the falling off of land sales, had driven the commissioners to endeavour 
 without success to negotiate the remainder of the loan authorised by 
 their two acts of Parliament, and then to apply for assistance to the 
 Treasury, which was in the first instance granted to a limited extent. 
 
 In the colony Colonel Gawler was travelling on a declivity, and 
 could not arrest his course. When he found the commissioners could 
 no longer' meet his bills he drew upon the Treasury for the expenses of 
 government. The first bills were met ; but eventually a series of 
 draughts, to the amount of 69,000, were dishonoured. 
 
 The commissioners, who had been perfectly content with Colonel 
 Gawler, as long as the public continued to purchase land, fell upon 
 him like a herd upon a stricken deer, repudiated acts to which they had 
 given tacit approval, and tried to throw the failure due to their absurd 
 plan and improvident conduct on " the governor's extravagance." He 
 was recalled abruptly, and left to hear of the dishonour of his bills by a 
 circuitous private source. The commissioners themselves were soon 
 after ignominiously dismissed. 
 
 When the news of the dishonour of the governor's bills reached 
 the colony the bubble burst ; land became immediately unsaleable ; an 
 insolvency all but universal followed, from which the banks, from early 
 private intelligence, were able to protect themselves. The chief suf- 
 ferers were English merchants, shippers, and manufacturers. The 
 colonial speculators had long been trading on fictitious capital. A 
 certain number of colonists of fortune were reduced to absolute beggary. 
 A rapid re-emigration of capital and labour took place. Many labourers 
 were thrown on the government for support. The price of food, rent, 
 and wages fell rapidly. Adelaide became almost a deserted village. 
 The only persons busy were officials whom the commissioners had for- 
 gotten to appoint, viz., the sheriff and his officers, engaged in pursuing 
 beggared debtors, and the Judge of the Insolvent Court, by whom they 
 were rapidly whitewashed. 
 
GOVERNOR GREY. 231 
 
 Colonel Crawler retired, after having sacrificed a considerable private 
 fortune to his faith in an impracticable system, and became the scape- 
 goat for the criminal absurdities of the colonising theorists in London. 
 But his hospitality, his charity, his truthfulness, his genuine kindness of 
 heart, rendered him respected and beloved in South Australia, especially 
 among the humbler classes, or those who were humble in his time. 
 
 He was succeeded by Captain (now Sir George) Grey, who, hap- 
 pening to be in London at the time Colonel Gawler was recalled, and 
 able to afford the Colonial Office some information about this pantomime 
 colony, received and accepted the ungrateful office of governor. 
 
 From that day it has been the endeavour of the theorists and their 
 orators to charge to the extravagance of the ruined ex- governor the 
 inevitable result of an attempt to plant a colony without the prepara- 
 tions dictated by common prudence to regulate the flow of capital and 
 labour and to raise revenue and profits from the application of capital 
 and labour to unproductive works. The commissioners sent ship-loads 
 of colonists, where, had they been wise, they would have sent sheep. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 GOVERNOR GREY. 
 1841 TO 1844. 
 
 WHEN Colonel Gawler retired, land became unsaleable, emigrants 
 ceased to arrive, and of those who were in the colony a large 
 per centage re-emigrated to colonies where there were more cattle 
 and fewer town lots. The population of Adelaide diminished in twelve 
 months to the extent of four thousand souls. The price of everything 
 fell fifty per cent. ; whole streets of Messrs. Gouger's and Stephens's 
 cottages stood empty ; the South Australian merchants who had paid 
 their English creditors in the Insolvent Court, ceased to be trusted 
 with speculative shipments ; the police horses were turned to graze upon 
 the beautiful gardens constructed by Colonel Gawler on the banks of 
 the Torrens ; Government House, late the scene of vice-royal entertain- 
 ments, was closed ; the little world of Adelaide recovered its senses and 
 lost some of its conceit ; and the sober and industrious were able to 
 survey and take stock of the true position of the colony. 
 
 The raw materials of colonisation had been provided, a road had 
 been constructed from the port, others toward the interior had bee 
 
232 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 marked out and made practicable. Land suitable for cultivation had 
 been discovered, surveyed, and handed over to land purchasers, who 
 had now no temptation to stay in town, if they meant to remain in the 
 colony ; labourers were willing to take reasonable wages, or ready to 
 set to work for themselves with hearty good will ; and, what was most 
 satisfactory of all, live stock by importation, by overland, and by natural 
 increase, afforded an ample supply of meat at reasonable prices, with a 
 certain and increasing quantity of wool and tallow for exportation. 
 Impoverished gentry were now happy to fall back, from imported fresh 
 salmon, or ducks and green peas in tin cases, at fifty per cent, above 
 the Piccadilly tariff, upon native poultry, at almost nominal prices. 
 During the land mania geese imported from Yan Diemen's land sold at 
 12s. 6d. each, fowls, 5s. a head, and everything else in proportion. In 
 1842 country people used to drive a cart filled with live poultry, fowls, 
 ducks, geese, turkeys, in fair condition, covered over with a sheet, and 
 sell the whole lot at from fourteen to sixteen shillings. 
 
 Under the bountiful, genial climate of South Australia actual want 
 was unknown, and -industry produced immediate results. 
 
 Governor Grey's task was easy. The famine or speculative prices 
 of labour and provisions had fallen to reasonable rates, the emigration 
 of paupers had ceased, and with the immigration the cost of maintaining 
 the infirm, the sick, and the lazy. The unhired were set to work at 
 such bare wages as induced them to seek private employers as soon as 
 possible ; the surveys were carried on steadily without pressure, and 
 without exorbitant expenses for stores and hire of drays ; and the police 
 expenses were partly snperseded by the arrival of a company of soldiers 
 granted to Governor Grey, although indignantly refused to Sir Charles 
 Napier. With these reductions of expenditure, and power to draw 
 upon the home government for a limited sum, Governor Grey was still 
 unable, in homely phrase, to make both ends meet; but the colony 
 survived and vegetated in a sort of obscurity, which contrasted painfully 
 with the brilliancy of its early, brief, blooming, hothouse career. 
 
 In the mean tune the model colonists were not idle in England. 
 On the 7th July, 1840, the colonisation commissioners for South 
 Australia brought under the notice of the Colonial Secretary (Lord J. 
 Kusscll) the embarrassed state of the finances of the colony ; and in 
 August they reported that the revenue of the colony did not much 
 exceed 20,000 per annum, and the current expenditure had risen to 
 140,000. Under these circumstances the Secretary of State, by letter 
 dated oth November, 1840, undertook to guarantee a loan of 120,000 to 
 be raised by the commissioners ; but negotiations to raise this loan failed. 
 
CASE COOKED FOR THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 233 
 
 Iii the same year the original commissioners were dismissed. 
 
 In February, 1841, a select committee of the House of Commons 
 was appointed to consider the South Australian acts, and the actual 
 condition of the colony of South Australia. The inquiry lasted until 
 the 10th June. A long array of witnesses were called on behalf of the 
 Colonial Office and the South Australian interest. Personal and docu- 
 mentary evidence proved in the clearest manner that the Colonial Office 
 had given every reasonable assistance to the commissioners, and were 
 in no manner responsible for the blunders of the commissioners or the 
 commissioners' agents. The South Australian interest, including non- 
 resident purchasers of vast tracts of land, and Mr. Gibbon Wakefield 
 and his disciples, were examined at great length, but not a single repre- 
 sentative or settler from any of the colonies whose interests were likely 
 to be affected by the decisions of the committee was called. 
 
 The case for South Australia was " got up and worked," in railway 
 phrase, by Mr. Wakefield and Colonel Torrens, and all the colonial 
 evidence was made to Jit their peculiar views. 
 
 The committee made two reports. In the first, on the 9th March, 
 1840, they state, "that at the present moment the sales by the 
 colonisation commissioners of land in the colony are suspended ; 
 emigration has ceased since the month of August ; the bills drawn by 
 the governor have been protested, the estimated amount of such bills 
 already due and in progress is 97,000, the amount due to parties in 
 England for services performed is 56,000 ; the debt from the revenue 
 to the emigration fund is 56,000 ; making a total deficiency of 
 about 210,000." 
 
 In the second report they enter into the history of the colony in 
 detail, in the course of which they say: "With regard to Colonel 
 Gawler, it is impossible to doubt that when he entered on the duties of 
 his office they were in a state of the greatest confusion, and that the 
 difficulties he had to contend with were most embarrassing ; that shortly 
 after his arrival in the colony he represented these circumstances, and 
 gave the commissioners reason to expect a considerable excess of 
 expenditure above what had been provided ; that among those witnesses 
 who have most decidedly pronounced his expenditure excessive, none 
 have been able to point out any specific items which could have been 
 reduced without great public inconvenience, while the chief item of 
 expenditure, incurred on account of the government house and public 
 offices, was one that the late board had authorised/' 
 
 ******* 
 
 "The commissioners had originally set apart a sum of 10,000 
 
 p 
 
234 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 annually, over and above the revenue, out of which they intended that 
 all the ordinary expenditure should be defrayed. It is now calculated 
 that after spending the ivliole local revenue, and providing othencise for 
 the charge of surveys, which has hitherto been defrayed by drafts upon 
 the commissioners, and icithout making any allowance for public works, 
 there will still remain to be provided for an annual dejicit of about 
 40,000." 
 
 But the committee, as experience has since proved, were more correct 
 in their statement of facts than fortunate and sagacious in proposing a 
 remedy. Having unsuspectingly received all Mr. Gibbon Wakefield's 
 assumptions and assertions as incontrovertible economical truths, they 
 proceeded to recommend by resolutions, amongst other things, that 
 all land be sold by auction at a minimum upset price, except special 
 surveys of 20,000 acres ; that " the minimum price of land in South 
 Australia may safely be raised above the present amount of 1 an acre ; 
 and that in fixing such amount it is desirable to keep in view the prin- 
 ciple of maintaining such an amount as may tend to remedy the evils 
 arising out of a too great facility of obtaining landed property, and a 
 consequently disproportionate supply of labour and exorbitant rate of 
 wages." 
 
 At that time the committee were firmly convinced that they could 
 regulate the rate of wages by the price of land ; and Lord Howick, 
 since Colonial Secretary as Earl Grey, then a pupil of Mr. Wakefield, 
 moved as an amendment to the above-quoted resolution, " That one 
 minimum price for land in all the Australian colonies ought to be esta- 
 blished, and that this price ought not to be lower than 2 per acre, and 
 that it ought to be progressively increased until it is found that the 
 great scarcity of labour now complained of in these colonies no longer 
 exists." 
 
 The fallacy of these assumptions has now been rendered as patent 
 as another favourite assumption of the same period that the price of 
 corn in England regulated the rate of wages. 
 
 Ten years' experience have proved that the highest rate of wages 
 may exist in the face of a price of land so high as to exclude all but a 
 very small number of purchasers ; and in that ten years the home 
 government, in the face of a ruinous rate of wages, have been unable, 
 although willing, to raise the price of land in Australia. The sale of 
 land has ceased, except in the immediate neighbourhood of towns, in 
 choice situations, and where mines were supposed to exist. 
 
 But in 1841 colonial opinions were treated with contempt. As in 
 1847 grave commercial men like Mr. Morrison, deceived by imaginary 
 
THE DEBT OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 235 
 
 dividends, believed that government could buy up and work all the 
 railways of Great Britain at a profit, so Lord Stanley and Lord Grey, 
 dazzled by the land purchases of mad speculators in New South Wales, 
 Port Phillip, and South Australia, fancied that the government had 
 an inexhaustible treasure for emigration and patronage in the waste 
 lands of every colony in the British dominions, from the Sugar Loaf 
 Hills of New Zealand to the wild wintry moors of the Falkland Islands. 
 Two acts brought in and carried by Lord Stanley, the Colonial 
 Secretary, in the session of 1842, embodied the recommendations of the 
 committee, and arranged for the future government of South Australia. 
 By one a minimum price of 1 an acre, with sale by auction, except 
 in the case of special surveys of 20,000 acres, was imposed on all the 
 Australian colonies, including Yan Diemen's Land. It is this act 
 against which the colonists, who were never consulted, have not ceased 
 to protest. By the other act South Australia was transferred from the 
 management of commissioners to the Colonial Office, and its debts were 
 arranged in the following manner : The whole debt amounted to 
 405,433 ; of this, 155,000, which had been granted by Parliament 
 in 1841 for passing exigencies, was made a free gift ; 45,936, of 
 which 17,646 had been incurred by Governor Grey in maintaining 
 unemployed emigrants, was to be paid by the Treasury ; and the 
 remainder was converted into debentures, partly guaranteed by the 
 government and partly charged on the colonial revenues. 
 
 It may be convenient to state here that renewed sales of land, 
 after the discovery of copper mines, paid off the greater part of these 
 debts, with interest, between 1845 and 1849, with the exception of the 
 155,000. About 50,000 still remains due. 
 
 On the passing of this act South Australia sank into obscurity, and 
 in spite of the vigorous efforts of the South Australian Company, which 
 found itself in possession of large tracts of land that could neither be 
 sold nor let to rent-paying tenants, ceased to attract the attention of 
 emigrants. 
 
 Great bankers and capitalists who had been induced to purchase 
 lots of land wrote them out in their books as value nil. So late as 
 1850 there were parties in the city of London who had forgotten that 
 they held some thousand acres in South Australia until reminded by an 
 application to purchase from returned colonists. In very rare cases has 
 the investment in rural land at 1 an acre turned out profitable. 
 
 Dover, the quietest and least enterprising of towns, contributed by 
 public subscription in 1837-8 one emigrant to South Australia. The 
 fortunate man no sooner arrived, with nothing to lose, than, carried away 
 
 p 2 
 
236 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 by enthusiasm and the persuasions of the Colonial Secretary, Gouger, 
 he became the purchaser of a thousand acres of land, and boldly drew 
 upon two of the gentlemen who had charitably sent him out, advising 
 them of the favour he had done them, and promising to remit in due 
 course the title-deeds. The good Doverians, on the arrival of the 
 tremendous bill, held a consultation, learned the total ruin that would 
 fall on the drawer if it were returned protested, wishing, too, not to 
 have the one Dover emigrant disgraced, and perhaps a little dazzled by 
 the brilliant reports of fortunes daily realised in Australian land, made 
 a round robin of 100 apiece, met the bill, in due course received the 
 grant, and from that time forward never heard a word of the emigrant 
 or the land. 
 
 The following figures will show the results of this self-supporting, 
 sufficient-price colony : 
 
 REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. 
 
 S. d. 
 In 1840, Government Expenditure, 169,966; Revenue, 30,199 11 1 
 
 1841, do. 104,471 do. 26,720 15 11 
 
 1842, do. 54,444 do. 22,074 4 6 
 
 1843, do. 29,842 do. 24,142 1 2 
 
 STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF SEVEN YEARS OF THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN COMMISSION. 
 
 South Australian Act, 4 and 5 Wm. IV., cap. 95, Royal Assent . . 1834 
 
 Commissioners Gazetted 5th May, 1835 
 
 Colonel Light and Surveying Staff March, 1836 
 
 Governor Hindmarsh and first party of Emigrants sailed . . 30th July, 1836 
 
 Governor Gawler 1838 
 
 Area of Adelaide, 4^ miles N.E. to S.W., 4 miles N.W. to S.E., 700 acres, 
 
 432 acres. Population 8,000 1839 
 
 Port opened 17th May, 1840 
 
 Governor Gawler recalled .......... 1841 
 
 Emigrants 
 Acres. s. d. Landed. 
 
 1835 Land sold 58,995 at 35,417 50 
 
 1836 1,680 1,378 00 . . 941 
 
 1837 3,120 3,140 00 . . 1,279 
 
 1838 37,960 37,960 00 . . 1,938 
 
 1839 48,336 48,336 00 . . 5,797 
 
 1840 7,040 7,040 00 . . 5,025 
 
 1841 160 160 
 
 157,291 133,431 5 15,030 
 
 Shipping 1839 190; Ships tonnage, 40,000. 
 
RESULTS OP THE SUFFICIENT-PRICE SPECULATION. 237 
 
 ACRES IN CULTIVATION. 
 
 Year. 
 1840 . 
 1841 
 
 No. of Proprietors. 
 
 Acres. 
 . 2,503 
 . 6,722 
 
 1842 . 
 1843 . 
 
 . 873 
 . 1,300 
 
 
 
 . 19,790 
 . 28,690 
 
 In 1844 the sheep in South Australia were about . . . 409,000 
 
 Cattle 30,000 
 
 Horses . . 2,000 
 
 In 1840, writs from South Australian sheriff's office . . . 154 
 
 1844, only 10 
 
 1842, fiats of insolvency 37 
 
 1844 10 
 
 Thus it appears that, between 1837 and 1840, 15,000 inhabitants,, 
 who were importing provisions at the rate of 200,000 per annum, 
 only cultivated 2,000 acres ; but in three years after they had aban- 
 doned land-gambling, and lost all credit in the English market, they 
 had 28,000 acres in cultivation, of which 23,000 were in wheat, and 
 the number of landed proprietors had nearly doubled. But the result 
 of this industry proved that, although much misery would have been 
 saved the colony had agriculture occupied the colonists instead of land- 
 gambling, still that agriculture could not be carried on with a profit 
 with hired labour in the colony, for in 1843-4 wheat fell to 3s. 6d. 
 and even 2s. 6d. a bushel, with wages at least 3s. a day ; while Yan 
 Diemen's Land, with better soil and climate for wheat growing, and 
 cheaper labour, could not afford to grow wheat for less than 4s. or 5s. 
 a bushel. In fact, the South Australians found themselves in posses- 
 sion of 200,000 bushels of wheat which was absolutely unsaleable, 
 although of admirable quality ; and in June, 1845, after exporting 
 200,000 bushels, chiefly sold at a loss, a surplus of 156,000 bushels 
 remained. 
 
 Of wool there were only 5,000 bales to export in 1843. Port 
 Phillip, colonised with sheep and shepherds at the time that model 
 colonists were forwarded to Port Adelaide in thousands, exported 9,000 
 bales in 1841 ; and in 1843 enjoyed exports to the amount of 307,000, 
 without a shilling of debt, against South Australian exports of 46,000, 
 and 400,000 debt. 
 
 In 1843 the results of the monstrous system on which South 
 Australia was colonised began to disappear. The ruined capitalists 
 were forgotten, so too were the debts due to the home government 
 and home creditors. Those who had been able to weather the storm of 
 insolvency and keep a few sheep had retired towards the interior : there 
 
238 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 dispersed, they were able to live cheaply, to carry on their business 
 with little hired labour, and to look forward with confidence to annual 
 income from the clip of wool, and annual increase of wealth by the 
 natural increase of their flocks. 
 
 Thus, in 1843, South Australia, formed with so much prepara- 
 tion, the subject of so much printing, colonised by a superior class, 
 forced forward by an enormous expenditure of public and private capital, 
 instead of presenting a picture of a contented population, divided 
 into capitalists and labourers engaged in scientific agriculture, owed all 
 its exports to dispersion after the manner of neighbouring colonies, 
 whose " barbarous manners " had been so much contemned, and pre- 
 sented a picture of cottier farmers, vegetating in obscurity, content to 
 live with few comforts, without rent or taxes. Some squatted on 
 land the property of absentees, many more as tenants not paying 
 any rent, whom the landlords were glad to retain in order to keep their 
 land in condition. The tenants of the South Australian Company were 
 in this state. 
 
 Looking back at the condition of South Australia after it had ceased 
 to attract the importation of capital, there can be no doubt that if it 
 had been as far from the old ports of the colonies as Swan River, and 
 out of reach of the expeditions of overlanders, it would have sunk even 
 to a lower ebb than Western Australia. 
 
 When land-jobbing had been exhausted, and all the schemes hatched 
 in England for employing capital had been tried and found wanting, 
 an accident revealed to the colonists the existence of a treasure which 
 even the sanguine and poetical promoters of the colony had never 
 suspected or suggested. They had placed coals, marble, slate, and 
 precious stones among the probable exports ; but copper and lead had 
 not entered into their calculations. 
 
 In 1841 a little lead ore was discovered and sent to England. In 
 1843 Mr. Button, the brother of a gentleman of some means, but 
 who had himself been compelled by the general depression to accept 
 the situation of sheep overseer, accidentally discovered, and, in partner- 
 ship with Captain Bagot, became the purchaser of, the eighty-acre section 
 which included the Kapunda mine. Other mines were subsequently 
 discovered, to which, wherever of any importance, a description will be 
 given in the chapter devoted to the present resources of the colony ; 
 but the great event, the turning-point of the fortunes of South 
 Australia, was the discovery of the Burra Burra mine, which has alone 
 furnished for the last five years more than four-fifths of South 
 Australian exports. 
 
DISCOVERY OF THE BURBA BURRA. 239 
 
 The discovery of the Kapunda set all the colony hunting for 
 mineral outcrops ; the residue of the land-jobbers took up the geologist's 
 hammer ; but by a singular fortune, the investigations of Mr. Mengs, a 
 practised geologist, were fruitless, while a mine of wealth was turned 
 up by the wheel of a bullock-dray. 
 
 In 1845 the existence of a remarkable and promising outcrop on 
 the Burra hills became well known in the colony : rumours on the 
 subject had been afloat in 1840. In order to secure the whole district 
 without the unlimited competition, application was made to the 
 governor for a special survey of 20,000 acres. At the same time a 
 party of speculators arrived from Sydney, intent on securing the great 
 prize if possible. The survey was ordered ; a day and hour was fixed 
 for the payment of the 20,000 ; the governor decided not to 
 accept bills of the local bank, or anything but cash. Cash in 1845 
 was a very scarce commodity in Adelaide, although corn was plentiful, 
 and pride as rampant, and with as little reason, as in any decayed 
 watering-place in England. The retailers, and all not within a certain 
 indescribable line, were dubbed the snobs; the officials and self- 
 elected aristocracy the nobs. 
 
 To raise the 20,000, a union between the nobs and snobs became 
 indispensable ; but even that was not enough, for there was scarcely so 
 much gold in the possession of all the colonists, and the Sydney speculators 
 were waiting ready to bear off the prize. On the last day for payment 
 a hunt for gold was commenced by half a dozen men of good credit. 
 Cash-boxes in hand, they traversed the streets and suburbs of Adelaide, 
 offering with ample security a handsome premium for sovereigns. On 
 that day many secret hoards were dug out; husbands learned that 
 prudent wives had unknown stores, and old women were even tempted 
 to draw their 1 and 2 from the recesses of old stockings. Almost at 
 the last minute the money was collected, counted, and paid, and the 
 richest copper-mine in the world rewarded the long suffering of the 
 South Australians, and awakened all their old gambling spirit. The 
 purchase effected, the class spirit which forms so absurd an element in 
 the English character, broke out, and a division of the 20,000 acres 
 was decided on. The toss-up of a coin gave the "snobs" the first 
 choice ; they took 10,000 acres, to which they gave a native name, the 
 Burra Burra. The nobs named their 10,000 acres the Princess Royal. 
 The outcroppings on the hills of the Princess Royal were magnificent ; 
 nevertheless in 1850 their 50 scrip was not saleable at 12. The 
 history of this mine is the history of the commercial progress of South 
 Australia. Farms, land sales ; emigration, wharves, warehouses, pro- 
 
240 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 jected railways, imports, rents, wages, have all rested on the yield of 
 the Burra Burra. 
 
 The government was vested in the governor and commander-in- 
 chief, assisted by an executive and legislative council, composed of the 
 governor, the colonial secretary, the advocate-general, the surveyor- 
 general, and the assistant commissioner, to whom were subsequently 
 added four nominees from among the non-official colonists. 
 
 Of the progress of South Australia since the discovery of mines and 
 the dissolution of the South Australian Commission, the following 
 figures will afford some idea : 
 
 The exports of the year ending April, 1850, amounted to 
 453,668 12s. Of this sum 11,212 was in wheat, 20,279 in flour, 
 63,729 in copper in ingots, 211,361 in copper ore, 8,188 in tallow, 
 and 113,259 in wool. 
 
 The imports for the same period were 887,423, part of the excess 
 arising from imports of railway and mining machinery, and other produc- 
 tive investments. In the same year 64,728| acres were in cultivation 
 wheat, 41,807 acres ; potatoes, 1,780 ; gardens, 1,370 ; vineyards, 282 ; 
 hay, 13,000. 
 
 The population was 63,900, of which 7,000 were Germans. 
 
 Live Stock : Cattle, 100,000 ; sheep, 1,200,000 ; horses, 6,000.* 
 
 * We give the statistics of 1850, because since that period the colony has been disturbed by 
 temporary emigration to the gold mines of New South Wales and Victoria. 
 
PART II. 
 
 DESCftlPTIYE. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 A GLANCE AT THE EXTENT, FORM, SOIL, CLIMATE, RIVERS, AND PRODUCTIONS 
 OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 AUSTRALIA is the largest island in the world, so large that it is 
 more correctly described as an island-continent, situated between 
 the 10th and 45th degrees of south latitude, and the 112th and 154th 
 degrees of longitude east from Greenwich. It may be said to be 
 nearly three thousand miles from west to east, and two thousand miles 
 from north to south, of a nearly square form, were it not for the deep 
 indentation formed by the great Gulf of Carpenteria. But this super- 
 ficial extent, which is sometimes compared with that of other continents, 
 affords no true index to the area really available, or ever likely to be 
 available, for colonisation. A great portion of the interior is more 
 hopelessly barren and impassable than the deserts of Africa, being in 
 dry weather a hollow basin of sand, in rainy seasons a vast shallow 
 inland sea, alternately and rapidly swelled by tropical torrents, and 
 dried up by the tropical sun. 
 
 Comparisons are frequently instituted between the relative areas 
 and populations of Europe and Australia ; but nothing can be more 
 fallacious or dishonest. 
 
 The resources of Australia have been as yet barely discovered ; a 
 century of active colonisation can scarcely develop them to their fullest 
 extent. Even without the appliances of science and combined labour a 
 vast population may be subsisted in comfort ; but, without some change 
 more extensive and material than it is possible to foresee, there can be 
 no such dense multitudes concentrated in Australia as are found in the 
 more civilised states of Europe, and as may be found at some future 
 period in North America. The absence of great rivers and the means 
 of forming inland water communication, and the quality of a great 
 proportion of the soil, settle this point. 
 
 The surface of this island is depressed in the centre, bounded by 
 an almost continuous range of hills and plateaux, which, varying in 
 height from one to six thousand feet above the level of the sea, in some 
 places approach the coast and present lofty, inaccessible cliffs to the 
 ocean as, for instance, the heads of Port Jackson and in others tend 
 toward the interior of the country, at a distance of from twenty to eighty 
 
244 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 miles ; but these elevations being all of an undulating, not a precipitous 
 character, no part of the country can be considered strictly alpine. 
 
 The features on the exterior and interior of this range of hills differ 
 so much as to present the results of climates usually found much further 
 apart, especially on the eastern coast, where between the mountains and 
 the sea as, for instance, at Illawarra, Port Macquarie, and Moreton 
 Bay the vegetation partakes to a great extent of a tropical character ; 
 and on the rich debris washed down from the hills we find forests of 
 towering palms and various species of gum-trees (Eucalypti)) the surface 
 of the ground beneath clothed with dense and impervious underwood, 
 composed of dwarf trees, shrubs, and tree-ferns, festooned with creepers 
 and parasitic plants, from the size of a convolvulus and vine to the cable 
 of a man-of-war. These dense forests, through which exploring travel- 
 lers have been obliged to cut their way inland at the rate of not more 
 than a mile or two a day, are interspersed with open glades or meadow 
 reaches, admirably adapted for pasturing cattle, to which the colonists 
 have given the name of apple-tree flats, from the fancied resemblance 
 between the apple-trees of Europe and those (Angophorce) with which 
 these glades are thinly dotted. 
 
 Within the ranges, on the other hand, are found immense open 
 downs and grassy plains, divided by rocky and round-backed ranges of 
 hills, and interspersed by open forest without undergrowth and detached 
 belts of gum trees (Eucalypti acacice), presenting a park-like appearance, 
 which, advancing towards the interior, are succeeded either by marshes, 
 or sandy and stony deserts, perfectly sterile and uninhabitable, except 
 by a few reptiles, and birds which prey upon them. 
 
 The rivers of Australia are few in number, and insignificant in a 
 navigable point of view. The one series, rising from the seaside of the 
 mountain range, flow deviously until they reach the coast, seldom afford- 
 ing a navigable stream more than twenty miles inland, usually rushing 
 down with such rapidity during the rainy season as to fill up their sea- 
 mouths with a bar which excludes all except boats of slight draught of 
 water. The other series, falling toward the interior, are lost in quick- 
 sands, marshes, or shallow lakes, after a course varying from a score to 
 many hundred miles of zigzag current, now flowing with a full, deep 
 stream, and then suddenly diminishing to a depth of a few inches, or 
 even totally and suddenly disappearing. 
 
 The Dutch colonists in South Africa have terms by which they 
 express the exact value of flowing water, whether perpetual or inter- 
 mittent, whether a mere rivulet or a deep stream; but there are no 
 words invented in the English language which convey a correct idea of 
 
RIVERS AND POOLS. 245 
 
 Australian waters. The two terms most in use are creek and river, 
 the former being an arm or branch of the latter. But an Australian 
 river, even when marked by an imposing coloured line on a map, giving 
 according to proportion an .idea of a Rhine, a Danube, or a Thames, is 
 generally a chain of pools, varying in dimension from a few yards to a 
 league in diameter, which are, with a few grand exceptions, according 
 to their respective depth and proximity to mountains, reduced to an 
 absolute or comparative state of mud in dry seasons, or united into a 
 deep, still stream, or roaring torrent, after a few hours of tropical 
 rain. 
 
 The brother of the writer rode down, on an exploring expedition 
 during a season of drought, with a fellow-squatter, in search of fresh 
 pastures, and discovered a river, flowing bank high, as broad as the 
 Thames at Richmond, winding along plains which, as far as the eye 
 could reach, were covered with rich grass higher than the necks of their 
 horses. As they rode along, ground pigeons, grass parroquets, and 
 quails rose up in thousands ; and from time to time flocks of emus 
 thundered past, while kangaroos bounded swiftly away, and from the 
 river rose clouds of waterfowl. There seemed game enough to feed an 
 army, and grass enough for tens of thousands of live stock. Yet he 
 lived to see within a few years the grassy plain burned to a sandy 
 desert, and the great river shrink to a chain of shallow pools, in which 
 it was difficult to find water enough for a hundred oxen. 
 
 The deep pools, called colonially " waterholes," and the winding 
 course pursued by all the Australian rivers, economise the supply during 
 the long droughts, and at the same time distribute it over a considerable 
 part of the country. Thus the Hawkesbury, one of the earliest rivers 
 navigated by the settlers, is not more than thirty-five miles in a direct 
 line from Windsor, where it is navigable to Broken Bay, and where it 
 flows into the sea ; but its tortuous route is one hundred and forty 
 miles, and higher up its windings are still more remarkably circuitous. 
 The Murray, the greatest river of Australia, rising on the western flank 
 of the Australian alps, after a course of fourteen hundred miles, in which 
 it receives the waters of the Ovens, the Darling, and the Murrumbidgee, 
 by which name it is known for part of its course, ends in the broad 
 shallow lake of Alexandrina, in South Australia. 
 
 Until the later explorations of Mitchell and Leichardt hopes were 
 confidently entertained of discovering an inland sea, and a great 
 navigable river, flowing to the northward; but these hopes are now 
 no longer entertained, and it is certain that on land conveyance the 
 chief Australian communications must depend. 
 
246 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 A great diversity of climate prevails in Australia, varying with the 
 latitude and the height from the sea. Van Diemen's Land, with its 
 more isolated and more southern position, enjoys more rain and the 
 irrigation of many streams. In certain districts of Australia, especially 
 between the 25th and 35th degrees of latitude, the thermometer fre- 
 quently rises to 110, 120, and even 130, in the shade, while hot 
 winds sweep over the country from the sterile, burning plains of the 
 interior. This great heat is unaccompanied by night-dews ; and 
 droughts of many months' duration occur at uncertain intervals, and are 
 of uncertain extent, during which rivers and waterholes are dried up. 
 The settlers, who have not yet imitated the costly construction of tanks 
 and aqueducts, or even the more simple and successful contrivances 
 adopted in peninsular India and in Asia Minor for collecting and 
 husbanding rain and spring-water, suffer dreadful straits. The pastures 
 become parched deserts the sheep eat the grass to the roots the 
 waterholes are poisoned by the bodies of cattle suffocated in sloughs 
 when struggling for drink, and thousands of stock of all kinds perish 
 either before moving or while on the road to districts which the drought 
 has not affected. It is during these droughts that almost all the great 
 discoveries of new pastures have been made by enterprising stockowners 
 and their servants. 
 
 But after a time which no man, white or native, can calculate 
 rains fall in torrents, grass springs up abundantly, " and the plains, on 
 which but lately not a blade of herbage was to be seen, and over which 
 the stillness of desolation reigned, become green with luxuriant vegeta- 
 tion." The rivers and creeks fill with marvellous rapidity ; a roaring 
 flood rushes down the lately dry bed of a stream, overflows the banks, 
 and carries all that impedes its progress in white foam before it. On 
 such occasions the Hawkesbury has risen, between precipitous cliffs, 
 ninety-five feet in a few hours. In 1851, in the Maneroo district, the 
 sites of townships recently laid out for sale by the government surveyor 
 were converted into deep lakes, and a whole camp of aborigines were 
 drowned. 
 
 The ravages of the drought and flood are quickly replaced in a 
 climate so favourable to the increase of live stock, and in a very short 
 time the losses and the dangers are forgotten. These afflictions were 
 of a more serious character in the early years of the first colony, when 
 but a comparatively limited part had been explored. At present plenty 
 in one colony or one district counterbalances the droughts or floods of 
 another. 
 
 At a height of two or three thousand feet above the level of the sea 
 
SOIL OF AUSTRALIA. 247 
 
 a temperate and even cold region is to be found, where the vegetables, 
 fruits, and grain of northern Europe nourish, and the settler or traveller 
 finds the necessity of warm clothing, and the comfort of blazing fires. 
 
 But despite all the varieties of temperature found in Australia, the 
 climate is, with the exception of the burning plains of the interior, 
 congenial to Europeans. Even the tropical regions of the coast are 
 free from those fevers w r hich decimate white men visiting the Indian 
 seas and the African coast. 
 
 The soil of Australia varies even more than its climate. Of the whole 
 extent a very large proportion is hopelessly barren, but still enough 
 remains capable of supporting a very numerous, and in some districts a 
 dense population. There are no data for calculating with such a degree 
 of accuracy as would be useful the proportions of available land in the 
 occupied districts. It will be safe to assume that only two-thirds of the 
 land worth occupying is, or ever will be, fit for pastoral purposes, and 
 can no more be profitably cultivated than the limestone hills and moors 
 of Wales, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Gloucestershire, or the Highlands 
 of Scotland. 
 
 Of land fit for agricultural purposes, and sufficiently clear of trees 
 to be put under plough at a reasonable expenditure of labour, there is 
 enough to support a population to be counted by millions, but con- 
 tinually intersected by barren ranges and forests of scrub, which can 
 never be of any value except for firewood. 
 
 On the coast to the northward, between Port Macquarie and 
 Moreton Bay, are vast tracts of well-watered land, on which the soil is 
 excellently adapted for various crops, but so covered with heavy timber 
 that nothing less than the old system of convict-clearing gangs, or of 
 free grants to clearing parties, will bring them into cultivation in this 
 generation, although well placed for water conveyance to the seaport 
 towns. On the other hand, in Port Phillip there are plains on which 
 the plough might be driven for one hundred miles in a straight line, 
 turning up a furrow of rich mould along the whole tract ; and the other 
 two colonies can present similar instances, although not to the same 
 extent, or so near the seacoast. 
 
 The soil of Australia presents as many anomalies as its configuration 
 and its animal and vegetable productions. 
 
 In other parts of the world the most fertile tracts are generally 
 found near the mouths of rivers ; in Australia the greatest fertility 
 usually commences where the navigation ceases. In Europe the valleys 
 will generally be found full of rich soil ; in Australia some of the 
 richest mould is to be found on the tops of hills. The low hills formed 
 
248 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 on the banks of rivers above the navigable waters are often unequalled 
 in richness, while the valleys are composed of a soft clay, producing a 
 rich coarse herbage, very fit for pasturing horned cattle, but unsuitable 
 for cultivation. 
 
 The neighbourhood of the first settlement, west and south-west of 
 Sydney, is chiefly composed of sandstone and unproductive clays. The 
 first good land was found in patches on the Biver Hawkesbury ; and on 
 the alluvial flats formed by the overflowing fresh-water rivers the richest 
 cultivable land is to be found. Works for draining or irrigating can 
 only be attempted where damming a valley or draining a high-lying 
 marsh can produce a great effect at a moderate expense. For half a 
 century the progress of colonisation in Australia has rested on its pastoral 
 resources, which are of the very first order, as regards soil, climate, and 
 arrangement of territory. 
 
 From the level of the sea to the summit of the highest mountains 
 pastures are to be found extending for hundreds of miles, now undu- 
 lating smoothly and almost imperceptibly, then extending in broad, flat 
 plains, or over a succession of round-backed hills, broken with rocky 
 ranges, and ending in deep gullies. Over these the flockmaster may, if 
 needful, drive his flock for days, nay, for weeks, without meeting any 
 serious interruption to his progress, or without failure of the pasture 
 on which sheep thrive. 
 
 The districts which, from their dampness and rankness of the vege- 
 tation, would be unsuitable for sheep, are available for cattle, which in 
 certain regions, in default of grass, find good feed on the tender branches 
 of a species of primrose. 
 
 Agriculture has hitherto been but rudely pursued in Australia, with 
 rare exceptions. To gentlemen of capital it is not, and is not likely to 
 become, a profitable pursuit ; for this reason, a prejudice against the 
 agricultural capabilities of the colonies has been entertained and sedu- 
 lously encouraged among the pastoral interest, who, dreading the pros- 
 pect of a class of yeomanry which might encroach on their sheep-walks, 
 can with difficulty be induced to admit that there is any fertile soil to 
 be found a prejudice which must always be taken into consideration 
 in estimating the value of colonial evidence on such subjects. It is quite 
 certain that ignorant cultivators have successfully cropped farms on the 
 Hawkesbury, the Hunter, the Macquarie, year after year, without 
 manure, and without any sensible diminution in the returns. As to 
 quality of grain, the wheat imported into this country from South 
 Australia, Port Phillip, and Van Diemen's Land, has been pronounced 
 equal to any ever exhibited in Mark-lane for weight, size, and flavour. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 A GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH AND TABULAR VIEW OF EASTERN AUSTRALIA. 
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES and the new province of Yictoria have so 
 recently been divided, and are geographically so completely 
 united, that it is difficult to describe the principal rivers or mountains 
 of the one without referring to the other. The reader must therefore 
 study the colonial divisions of Eastern Australia with a map. 
 
 Sir Thomas Mitchell, as Survey or- General, was in 1827 entrusted 
 with the task of surveying and dividing that district into counties, and 
 the laying out of towns, roads, and reserves for public purposes. In 
 this work, now complete, he has been zealously engaged for twenty-six 
 years. He has cut all the passes that lead through mountains to the 
 interior country, planned two hundred towns and villages, and reported 
 (without success) in favour of several roads and public works, which 
 would have conferred the utmost benefit on the colony. 
 
 The following sketch is taken by permission of the author from a 
 manual of Australasian Geography, prepared by Sir Thomas Mitchell 
 for the use of colonial schools. 
 
 New South Wales is divided into sixty-seven counties formerly into 
 ninety but twenty-three have been cut off by the act which erected 
 Australia Felix, under the name of Yictoria, into a separate colony. 
 
 " The nineteen counties," frequently referred to in colonial docu- 
 ments, are those which were first proclaimed by "Letters Patent." 
 The principal rivers falling to the eastern coast are the Shoalhaven (on 
 which the township of Braidwood stands), the Hawkesbury (on which 
 there are the townships of Penrith, Castlereagh, Richmond, Windsor, 
 and Pitt Town, all in the county of Cumberland, and Emu and Wilber- 
 force, in the county of Cook), and the Hunter. The Hunter receives 
 from the south the waters of the River Wollombi ; from the north the 
 rivers Page, Paterson, and Williams ; its most western source is the 
 Goulburn. The following townships are on the northern tributaries of 
 the Hunter : Muscle Brook, on the northern branch of the Hunter ; 
 Murrumndi, on the Page ; Dulwich, on Glendon Brook ; Paterson, on 
 the navigable branch of that name ; and Clarence Town, at the head of 
 
 the navigation of the William. 
 
 Q 
 
250 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA, 
 
 LIST OF THE NINETEEN COUNTIES OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 
 
 (BEING THOSE FIRST PROCLAIMED,) 
 WITH THE AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY'S GRANT. 
 
 Counties. 
 
 Provincial 
 and 
 other Towns. 
 
 Mountains. 
 
 Rivers. 
 
 Contents 
 in 
 Square 
 Miles. 
 
 1. CUMBERLAND . . 
 
 Sydney (City) 
 
 
 Hawkesbury 
 
 1445 
 
 
 Paramatta 
 
 
 Nepean 
 
 
 
 Windsor 
 
 
 George's 
 
 
 
 Richmond 
 
 
 Paramatta 
 
 
 
 Liverpool 
 
 
 South Creek 
 
 
 
 Campbelltown 
 
 
 
 
 
 Castlereagh 
 
 
 
 
 
 Appin 
 
 
 
 
 
 St. Leonards 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pitt Town 
 
 
 
 
 
 Penrith 
 
 
 
 
 
 Longbottom 
 
 
 
 
 2. CAMDEN . . . 
 
 Berrhna 
 
 Kenbla 
 
 Shoalhaven 
 
 2188 
 
 
 Kiama 
 
 Keera 
 
 Wingecarrabee 
 
 
 
 Wollongong 
 
 Mittagong 
 
 Wollondilly 
 
 
 
 Wilton 
 
 Jellore 
 
 Nattai 
 
 
 
 Picton 
 
 Pianeng 
 
 Warragamba 
 
 
 
 Camden 
 
 Nundialla 
 
 Nepean 
 
 
 
 Murrarnba, &c. 
 
 Corrimal 
 
 Bar go 
 
 
 
 
 Razorback, or Mount 
 
 Kangaroo 
 
 
 
 
 Hymettus 
 
 Cataract 
 
 
 
 
 
 Paddy's River 
 
 
 3. ST. VINCENT . . 
 
 Braidwood 
 
 Budawang 
 
 Shoalhaven 
 
 2667 
 
 
 Broulce 
 
 Currocbilly 
 
 Deua 
 
 
 
 Kioloa 
 
 Cooyoyo 
 
 Moruya 
 
 
 
 Ulladulla 
 Huskisson 
 
 Diddel, or Pigeonhouse 
 Jillimatong 
 
 Clyde 
 Endrick 
 
 
 4. NORTHUMBERLAND 
 
 Newcastle 
 
 Noura 
 Meruben 
 
 Mongatfow 
 Hunter 
 
 2342 
 
 
 East and West 
 
 Calore 
 
 Wollombi 
 
 
 
 MaiUund 
 
 Yango 
 
 Macdonald 
 
 
 
 Greta 
 Wollombl 
 
 Werong 
 Finch 
 
 Hawkesbury 
 
 
 
 Gosford 
 
 Collabeen or Corraban 
 
 
 
 5. DURHAM .... 
 
 Singleton 
 Paterson 
 
 Sugarloaf, &c. 
 Mount Royal 
 
 Hunter 
 
 2117 
 
 
 Seaham 
 
 Hudson's Peak 
 
 Paterson 
 
 
 
 Clarence Town 
 
 Carrow 
 
 Williams 
 
 
 
 Dungog 
 
 Cabre-bald 
 
 Allyn 
 
 
 
 Leamington 
 
 Pyraman 
 
 
 
 
 Merton 
 
 William 
 
 
 
 
 Muscle Brook 
 
 Allyn 
 
 
 
 
 Aberdeen 
 
 
 
 
 6. HUNTER .... 
 
 Jerry's Plains 
 
 Monundilla 
 
 Hunter 
 
 2056 
 
 
 St. Albans 
 
 Nnllo 
 
 Goulburn 
 
 
 
 
 Coricudgy 
 
 Wollombi 
 
 
 
 
 
 Capertee 
 
 
 
 
 
 Colo 
 
 
 7. COOK 
 
 Hartley 
 Emu 
 Bowenfells 
 
 The Blue Mountains. 
 Clarence 
 Hay 
 
 Macdonald 
 Nepean 
 Warragamba 
 Cox's 
 
 2665 
 
 
 Rydal E. 
 
 York 
 
 Capertee 
 
 
 
 
 Walker 
 
 Colo 
 
 
 
 
 King George's Mount 
 
 
 
 
 
 M unt Tom ah 
 
 
 
 
 
 Honeysuckle Hill 
 
 
 
LIST OF COUNTIES. 
 
 251 
 
 Counties. 
 
 Provincial 
 and 
 other Towns. 
 
 Mountains. 
 
 Rivers. 
 
 Contents 
 in 
 Square 
 Miles. 
 
 8. WESTMORLAND 
 
 O'Connell Plains 
 
 Murruin 
 
 Campbell's 
 
 1592 
 
 
 
 Collong 
 
 Fish 
 
 
 
 
 Stromlo 
 
 Cox's 
 
 
 
 
 Blaxland 
 
 Wollondilly 
 
 
 
 
 Square Rock 
 
 Kowmung 
 
 
 
 
 The Peaks 
 
 
 
 9. ABGYLE .... 
 
 Goulburn 
 
 Marulan 
 
 Shoalhaven 
 
 1951 
 
 
 Marulan 
 
 Towrang 
 
 Wollondilly 
 
 
 
 Bungonia 
 
 Mount Macalister 
 
 Boro 
 
 
 
 
 Mount Hobbs 
 
 Cockbundoon 
 
 
 
 
 Mount Filton 
 
 
 
 
 
 Wayo 
 
 
 
 10. MUBBAY .... 
 
 Yass, S. 
 Queanbeyan 
 
 Allianoyonyiga 
 The Gourock Range 
 Bywong 
 
 Shoalhaven 
 Queanbeyan 
 
 2248 
 
 
 Bungendore 
 
 Talyrang Peak 
 
 Yass 
 
 
 
 Larbert 
 
 Cowangerong 
 Wollowolar 
 
 Murrumbidgee 
 Boro Creek 
 
 
 
 
 Ellendon 
 
 Molongolo 
 
 
 
 
 Yarrow Pic 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tinderry Mounts, or the 
 
 
 
 
 
 Twins 
 
 
 
 11 KING 
 
 Gunning 
 
 Bowning Hill 
 
 Boorowa 
 
 1781 
 
 
 Yass, N. 
 
 Mundonen 
 
 Narrawa, or 
 
 
 
 
 Dixon's 
 
 Lachlan 
 
 
 
 
 Chaton 
 
 Crookwell 
 
 
 
 
 Cullarin 
 
 Yass 
 
 
 
 
 Darling 
 
 
 
 12. GEOEGIANA , . . 
 
 Buckburridgee 
 
 Lawson 
 
 Crookwell 
 
 1924 
 
 
 Cook's Vale 
 
 
 Lachlan 
 
 
 
 
 
 Abercrombie 
 
 
 
 
 
 Campbell 
 
 
 
 
 
 Isabella 
 
 
 13. BATHUBST . . . 
 
 Bathurst 
 
 Evernden 
 
 Macquarie 
 
 1860 
 
 
 Blaney 
 
 Three Brothers 
 
 Belubula 
 
 
 
 Carcoar 
 
 Lachlan 
 
 Lachlan 
 
 
 
 
 The Canobolas 
 
 
 
 14. ROXBUEGH . . . 
 
 Kelso 
 
 Durambang 
 
 Macquarie 
 
 1519 
 
 
 Rylstone 
 
 Mount Ovens 
 
 Fish River 
 
 
 
 Rydal, W. 
 
 Blackman's 
 
 Cudgegong 
 
 
 
 
 Crown 
 
 Turon 
 
 
 
 
 Honeysuckle Hill 
 
 
 
 
 
 Marsden, or Clandulla 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tayan Pic 
 
 
 
 15. PHILLIP .... 
 
 Cooyal 
 
 Rumker's Pic 
 
 Cudgegong 
 
 1618 
 
 
 
 Brace, or Tongongwell 
 
 Goulburu 
 
 
 
 
 Cox's Crown 
 
 
 
 
 
 Willworril 
 
 
 
 
 
 Nullo Mountains 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pomany 
 
 
 
 16. BBISBANE . . . 
 
 Scone 
 
 The Liverpool Range 
 
 Hunter 
 
 2344 
 
 
 Murrurundi 
 
 Temi-Tinagroo 
 
 Page 
 
 
 
 Merriwa 
 
 Towarri-TereU 
 
 Isis 
 
 
 
 Ailsa 
 
 Murulla 
 
 Dart Brook 
 
 
 
 
 Warandie 
 
 Goulburn 
 
 
 
 
 
 Krui 
 
 
 17. BLIGH . . 
 
 Casilis 
 
 Macarthur (a. Moan) 
 
 Mummurra 
 
 1683 
 
 
 
 Die'iard 
 
 Krui 
 
 
 
 
 Wingeworra 
 
 Goulburn 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cudgegong 
 
 
 
 
 
 Macquarie 
 
 
 
 
 
 Erskine, or Tal- 
 
 
 
 
 
 bragar 
 
 
 
 
 
 Coolaburragundy 
 
 
 18. WELLINGTON . . 
 
 Wellington 
 
 Canobolas 
 
 Cudgegong 
 
 1656 
 
 
 Mudgee 
 
 Guannahill 
 
 Macquarie 
 
 
 
 Orange 
 
 Bocoble 
 
 Bell, Turon . 
 
 
 
 
 Galwadyer 
 
 Pyramul 
 
 
 
 
 
 Meroo 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Q 2 
 
252 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OP AUSTRALIA. 
 
 
 Provincial 
 
 
 
 Contents 
 
 in 
 
 Counties. 
 
 and 
 other Towns. 
 
 Mountains. 
 
 Rivers. 
 
 in 
 
 Sqiiare 
 Miles. 
 
 19. GLOUCESTER . . 
 
 Raymond Ter- 
 
 
 Williams 
 
 2930 
 
 
 race 
 
 
 Karuah 
 
 
 
 Stroud 
 
 
 Macleans 
 
 
 
 
 
 Manning 
 
 
 
 
 
 Gloucester 
 
 
 
 
 
 Barrington 
 
 
 
 
 
 Myall 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chichester 
 
 
 20. MACQUARIE . . 
 
 Port Macquarie 
 Wingham 
 Kempsey 
 
 Kippara 
 Sea View 
 Cockamerico 
 
 Manning 
 Hastings 
 Wilson 
 
 2000 
 
 
 Marraville 
 
 Brokenbago 
 
 M'Leay 
 
 
 
 
 Cago 
 
 Lansdowne 
 
 
 
 
 Tinebang 
 
 Maria's River 
 
 
 
 
 Culapatamba 
 
 
 
 
 
 Idalkangara 
 
 
 
 
 
 Arakoon 
 
 
 
 LIST OF NORTHERN COUNTIES. 
 
 Counties. 
 
 Provincial 
 and 
 other Towns. 
 
 Mountains. 
 
 Rivers. 
 
 Contents 
 in 
 Square 
 Miles. 
 
 1. STANLEY .... 
 
 Brisbane 
 
 Flinders' Peak 
 
 Brisbane 
 
 1724 
 
 
 Ipswich 
 
 Goolman 
 
 Stanley 
 
 
 
 
 Cotton 
 
 Logan 
 
 
 
 
 Gravatt 
 
 Bremer 
 
 
 
 
 Petrie 
 
 Caboolture 
 
 
 
 
 Sampson 
 
 Pine 
 
 
 
 
 Vane 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tempest 
 
 
 
 2. CANNING. . . . 
 
 Toorbul 
 
 Glass Houses 
 
 Brisbane 
 
 1575 
 
 
 
 Mount Brisbane 
 
 Stanley 
 
 
 
 
 Lister Peak 
 
 Caboolture 
 
 
 
 
 
 Moroochydore 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mooloolah 
 
 
 3. MARCH .... 
 
 Maryborough 
 
 
 Mary 
 
 1925 
 
 
 
 
 Wide Bay River 
 
 
 4. LENNOX .... 
 
 
 Boorgoone 
 
 Moroochydore 
 
 2300 
 
 
 
 Seven Hills 
 
 
 
 5. FrrzRoY . . . 
 
 
 
 Dawson 
 
 2225 
 
 
 
 
 Yarook or Stuart 
 
 
 6. CAVENDISH . . . 
 
 
 
 Brisbane 
 
 2081 
 
 7. AUBIGNT. . . . 
 
 Drayton 
 
 
 Condamine 
 
 
 8. CHURCHILL . . . 
 
 
 Flinders' Peak 
 
 Brisbane 
 
 1174 
 
 
 
 Mitchell 
 
 Bremer 
 
 
 
 
 Cordeaux 
 
 
 
 
 
 Frayer 
 
 
 
 
 
 Forbes 
 
 
 
 
 
 Edwards 
 
 
 
 
 
 Goolman 
 
 
 
 
 
 Paget 
 
 
 
 
 
 Wilson's Peak 
 
 
 
 
 
 French 
 
 
 
 9. MERIVALE . . . 
 
 Warwick 
 
 Mitchell 
 
 Condamine 
 
 
 
 
 Cordeaux 
 
 
 
 
 
 Wilson's Peak 
 
 
 
 
 
 Leslie 
 
 
 
LIST OF COUNTIES. 
 
 253 
 
 Counties. 
 
 Provincial 
 and 
 other Towns. 
 
 Mountains. 
 
 Rivers. 
 
 Contents 
 in 
 Square 
 Miles. 
 
 10. BENTINCK . . . 
 
 
 
 Macintyre Brook 
 
 
 11. BULLER .... 
 
 
 Wilson's Peak 
 
 Clarence 
 
 2345 
 
 
 
 Leslie 
 
 Richmond 
 
 
 
 
 Clunie 
 
 Cataract 
 
 
 
 
 Barnay 
 
 
 
 
 
 Lindsay 
 
 
 
 12. WABD .... 
 
 
 Flinders' Peak 
 
 Logan 
 
 1686 
 
 
 
 Kent's Peak 
 
 Albert 
 
 
 
 
 French 
 
 Teviot Brook 
 
 
 
 
 Greville 
 
 Barrow 
 
 
 
 
 Wilson's Peak 
 
 Perry 
 
 
 
 
 Barnay 
 
 
 
 
 
 Lindsay 
 
 
 
 
 
 Knapp's Peak 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ginbrokin 
 
 
 
 
 
 Gippo 
 
 
 
 
 
 Wangalpong 
 
 
 
 
 
 Clunie 
 
 
 
 1 3 Rous 
 
 
 Warning 
 
 Richmond 
 
 1772 
 
 
 
 Gippo 
 
 Tweed 
 
 
 
 
 
 Brunswick 
 
 
 14. RICHMOND . . . 
 
 
 Double Duke 
 
 Richmond 
 
 1435 
 
 15. DRAKE .... 
 
 
 Capoombeta 
 
 Clarence 
 
 1220 
 
 
 
 Ben Lomond 
 
 Mitchell 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cataract 
 
 
 16. CLIVE .... 
 
 
 Capoombeta 
 
 
 
 
 
 Joublee 
 
 
 
 17. GOUGH .... 
 
 
 Capoombeta 
 
 Severn 
 
 
 
 
 Joublee 
 
 Macintyre 
 
 
 
 
 Ben Lomond 
 
 
 
 18. HARDINGE . . . 
 
 
 
 Bundarra 
 
 
 
 
 
 Rocky 
 
 
 19. GRESIIAM . . . 
 
 
 Ben Lomond 
 
 Mitchell 
 
 1695 
 
 
 
 Chandlers Peak 
 
 Boyd 
 
 
 20. RALEIGH . . . 
 
 
 Camelback 
 
 Mitchell 
 
 1780 
 
 
 
 Amindrus 
 
 Boyd 
 
 
 
 
 
 Clarence 
 
 
 
 
 
 Oraia 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bellingen 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cold Stream 
 
 
 21. CLARENCE . . . 
 
 Grafton 
 
 Whoman, or Peaked Hill 
 
 South Boyd 
 Clarence 
 
 1215 
 
 
 
 of Captain Cook 
 
 Orara 
 
 
 
 
 Elanie 
 
 Cold Stream 
 
 
 
 
 Double Duke 
 
 Woolii Woolii 
 
 
 
 
 
 Landon 
 
 
 22. DUDLEY .... 
 
 
 Imbo Peak 
 
 Macleay 
 
 2075 
 
 
 
 Yarrahapinni 
 
 Nambucca 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bellingen 
 
 
 
 
 
 Odalbenee 
 
 
 
 
 
 Dyke 
 
 
 23. SANDON . . 
 
 XTPiifl'il^ 
 
 Ben Lomond 
 
 Macleay 
 
 1740 
 
 
 
 Chandler's Peak 
 
 Dyke 
 
 
 
 
 Duval's Mount 
 
 Apsley 
 
 
 
 
 Black Note 
 
 
 
 24. VERNON . . . 
 
 
 Kipparah 
 
 Macleay 
 
 
 
 
 Black Note 
 
 Aglqr 
 
 
 25. INGLIS .... 
 
 Tamworth 
 
 Purrenbydcn 
 Danglemuh 
 Gulligal 
 
 Peel 
 Cockburn 
 Macdonald 
 
 
 
 
 Ballemballa 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mooiiboy 
 
 
 
 26. DARLING . . . 
 
 
 
 Namoi 
 
 
 
 
 
 Manila 
 
 
 
 
 
 Macdonald 
 
 
 27. POTTING E a . . 
 
 
 Benelong 
 
 Conadilly 
 
 
 
 
 
 Namoi 
 
 
254 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Contents 
 
 
 Provincial 
 
 
 
 in 
 
 Counties. 
 
 and 
 
 Mountains. 
 
 Rivers. 
 
 Square 
 
 
 other Towns. 
 
 
 
 Miles. 
 
 28. BUCKLAND . . 
 
 
 Moan 
 
 Peel 
 
 1484 
 
 
 
 Terell 
 
 Conadilly 
 
 
 
 
 Towari 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tingaroo 
 
 
 
 
 
 Turi 
 
 
 
 
 
 Temi 
 
 
 
 29. PARRY .... 
 
 Taraworth 
 
 Hanging Rock 
 
 Peel 
 
 1240 
 
 
 
 Muc 
 
 Cockburn 
 
 
 
 
 Royime 
 
 
 
 30. HA WES .... 
 
 
 Werekimbe 
 
 Hastings 
 
 1450 
 
 
 
 Hanging Rock 
 
 Barnard 
 
 
 
 
 Muc 
 
 Manning 
 
 
 
 
 Royime 
 
 Wargo 
 
 
 
 
 Sea View 
 
 
 
 
 
 Basaltic Rock 
 
 
 
 
 
 Woolumbland 
 
 
 
 
 
 Currakabah 
 
 
 
 COUNTIES SOUTH AND WEST OF THE MIDDLE DISTRICT. 
 
 
 Provincial 
 
 
 
 Contents 
 . 
 
 Counties. 
 
 and 
 
 Mountains. 
 
 Rivers. 
 
 in 
 
 
 other Towns. 
 
 
 
 Squnre 
 Miles 
 
 1. NAPIEB .... 
 
 
 Gotta Rocks 
 
 Castlereagh 
 
 
 2. GOWEN .... 
 
 
 Warrabangle Range 
 
 Coolaburragumly 
 
 
 
 
 Moorogan 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bengal 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bourgen [Pic. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Toondooran, or Vernon's 
 
 
 
 3. LINCOLN .... 
 
 Dubbo 
 
 
 Macquarie 
 
 
 
 
 
 Erskine, or Tal- 
 
 
 
 
 
 bragar 
 
 
 4. GORDON .... 
 
 Kurea 
 
 Harvey's Range 
 
 Macquarie 
 
 
 
 
 Three Brothers 
 
 Bell 
 
 
 
 
 Arthur 
 
 Little 
 
 
 
 
 Coutombals 
 
 Bogan 
 
 
 5. ASHBURNHAM . . 
 
 
 Nangar 
 
 Lachlan 
 
 
 
 
 Canobolas 
 
 Belubula 
 
 
 
 
 Marga 
 
 
 
 6. MOXTEAGLE . . 
 
 Mulyan 
 
 Martdadgery 
 Wid.lin 
 
 Lachlan 
 
 
 
 
 Congo 
 
 Boorawa 
 
 
 
 
 Mannar 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jimalong 
 
 
 
 7. HARDEN .... 
 
 Binalong 
 Murringo 
 
 Bundango 
 Congo 
 
 Murrutnb'dgee 
 Yass 
 
 
 
 Bookham 
 
 
 Boorowa 
 
 
 
 Bowning 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jugion 
 
 
 
 
 8. CLARENDON . . 
 9. WYNYARD . . . 
 10. GOULBURN . . . 
 
 Gundagai 
 Wogga Wogga 
 Gundagai 
 Wogga Wogga 
 Albury 
 
 Tarcatta 
 
 Murrumbidgee 
 
 Murrnmbidgee 
 Tumut 
 Murray 
 
 
 11. BUCCLEUCH . . . 
 
 Tumut 
 
 Talbingo 
 
 Tumut 
 
 1350 
 
 
 
 Bogong 
 Majongbury 
 
 Goodradighee 
 Goubaragandra 
 
 
 12. COWLEY .... 
 
 
 Junil 
 Murray 
 
 Murrumbidgee 
 Goodradigbee 
 
 1300 
 
 
 
 Gentry Box 
 Clear 
 
 Murrumbidgee 
 Cotter 
 
 
 
 
 Tonnant 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pabral 
 
 
 
 
 Snowy 
 
 
 
LIST OF COUNTIES. 
 
 255 
 
 
 Provincial 
 
 
 
 Contents 
 
 Counties. 
 
 and 
 other Towns. 
 
 Mountains. 
 
 Rivers. 
 
 in 
 Square 
 Miles. 
 
 j 
 13. BERESFOED . . . 
 
 Cooraa 
 
 The Brothers 
 
 Murrumbidgee 
 
 1770 
 
 
 Banyan 
 
 Coolringdong 
 The Peak 
 
 Bredbo 
 Bigbadja 
 
 
 
 
 One Tree Hill 
 
 Umaralla 
 
 
 
 
 Blue Pak 
 
 Kybeyan 
 
 
 
 
 Cooma Hill 
 
 Queanbeyan 
 
 
 
 
 Bigbadja Hill 
 
 
 
 14. DAMPIER . . . 
 
 
 Dromedary 
 
 Shoalhaven 
 
 1700 
 
 
 
 Mumbulla 
 
 Moruya 
 
 
 
 
 Bigbadja Hill 
 
 Dry 
 
 
 
 
 Ajimgagua 
 
 Deua 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bermaguee 
 
 
 15. AUCKLAND . . . 
 
 Eden 
 
 Mumbulla 
 
 Broga 
 
 1920 
 
 
 Boyd 
 
 Nimmitabil 
 
 Bemboka 
 
 
 
 
 Wolumla Peak 
 
 Rega 
 
 
 
 
 Imlay 
 
 Towamba 
 
 
 
 
 
 Panbula 
 
 
 
 
 
 Genoa 
 
 
 16. WELLESLEY . . 
 
 Bombalo 
 
 One Tree Hill 
 
 Snowy 
 
 1700 
 
 
 
 Mount Cooper 
 
 M'Laughlin 
 
 
 
 
 The Telegraph 
 
 Delegete 
 
 
 , 
 
 
 Bell's Peak 
 
 Little Plain 
 
 
 
 
 Bungees Peak 
 
 Coolumboca 
 
 
 
 
 Bare Hill 
 
 Bombalo 
 
 
 
 
 Coolangubra 
 
 
 
 17. WALLACE . . . 
 
 
 Table Top 
 
 Snowy 
 
 1970 
 
 
 
 Bull's Peak 
 
 Encumbene 
 
 
 
 
 Ram's Head 
 
 Crackenbac 
 
 
 
 
 Snowy 
 
 Jacobs, or Ton- 
 
 
 
 
 Mowamba 
 
 garoo 
 
 
 
 
 Wul wye 
 
 Gungarlan 
 
 
 
 
 Jinny Brother 
 
 Moyangul 
 
 
 
 
 The Peak 
 
 Ingegoodbee 
 
 
 
 
 Bald Hill 
 
 
 
 
 
 Gygederick Hill 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bobundara Hill 
 
 
 
 
 
 Round Mountain 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Pilot 
 
 
 
 VICTORIA, OR PORT PHILLIP DISTRICT. 
 
 
 Provincial 
 
 
 
 Contents 
 
 in 
 
 Counties. 
 
 and 
 other Towns. 
 
 Mountains. 
 
 Rivers. 
 
 in 
 
 Square 
 Miles. 
 
 1. FOLLETT .... 
 
 
 
 Glenelg 
 
 1010 
 
 2. NOUJIANBT . . . 
 
 Portland 
 
 Napier 
 
 Glenelg 
 
 1920 
 
 
 The Grange 
 
 Eeles 
 Eckersley 
 
 Wannon 
 Grange Burn 
 
 
 
 
 Kincaid 
 
 Stokes 
 
 
 
 
 Richmond Hill 
 
 Crawford 
 
 
 
 
 
 Eumaralla 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fitz Roy 
 
 
 
 
 
 Surrey 
 
 
 3. DTJXDAS .... 
 
 The Grange 
 
 Dundas Group 
 Bainbrigge 
 
 Glenelg 
 Wannon 
 
 2000 
 
 
 
 Abrupt 
 
 Grange Burn 
 
 
 
 
 Sturgeon 
 
 Korite Rivulet 
 
 
 
 
 The Grampians 
 
 
 
 4. VlLLIERS . . . 
 
 Belfast 
 
 Rouse 
 
 Hopkins 
 
 1660 
 
 
 Warnambool 
 
 The Grampians 
 
 Merri 
 
 
 
 
 Sturgeon 
 
 Enmaralla 
 
 
 
 
 
 Moyn 
 
 
 
 
 
 Shaw 
 
 
256 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Counties. 
 
 Provincial 
 and 
 other Towns. 
 
 Mountains. 
 
 Rivers. 
 
 Contents' 
 in 
 Square 
 Miles. 
 
 6. RIPON .... 
 
 
 The Grampians 
 
 Hopkins 
 
 1825 
 
 
 
 The Pyrenees 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mo ant Sturgeon 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mount Abrupt 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mount Cole 
 
 
 
 
 
 D ihcorumbeet 
 
 
 
 
 
 Misery 
 
 
 
 6. IlAMPDEN . . . 
 
 
 Sh; dwell 
 
 Hopkins 
 
 1420 
 
 
 
 Clerke 
 
 
 
 
 
 Noorat 
 
 
 
 
 
 Warnambool 
 
 
 
 7. IlETTE'BURY . . 
 
 
 
 Hopkins 
 
 1160 
 
 8 POL WORTH . . 
 
 
 St. George 
 
 Barwon 
 
 1276 
 
 
 
 Meuron 
 
 
 
 
 
 Langdale Pike 
 
 
 
 9. GRENVILLE . . . 
 
 
 Gellibrand 
 
 Yarrowee 
 
 1470 
 
 
 
 Hesse 
 
 Woody Yalock 
 
 
 
 
 
 Barwon 
 
 
 10. TALBOT .... 
 
 
 Buninyon 
 
 Yarrowee 
 
 1194 
 
 
 
 
 Werribee 
 
 
 
 
 
 Loddon 
 
 
 
 
 
 Colliban 
 
 
 11. DALHOUSIE . . . 
 
 Mitchell Town 
 
 Macedon 
 
 Goulburn 
 
 1185 
 
 
 Seymour 
 
 
 Campaspie 
 
 
 
 
 
 Colliban 
 
 
 12. BOURKE .... 
 
 Melbourne 
 
 Macedon 
 
 Werribee 
 
 1530 
 
 
 Williams Town 
 
 Wilson 
 
 Macedon 
 
 
 
 "VVarringal 
 
 Blackwood 
 
 Saltwater 
 
 
 
 St. Kilda 
 
 Holden 
 
 Plenty 
 
 
 
 Bulla Bulla 
 
 
 Yarra Yarra 
 
 
 13. GRANT .... 
 
 Geelong 
 
 Station Peak, or Any- 
 aghe Yowang 
 
 Barwon 
 Moorabool 
 
 1440 
 
 
 
 Colite 
 
 Werribee 
 
 
 
 
 
 Yarrowee 
 
 
 
 
 
 Little 
 
 
 U. ANGLESEY . . . 
 
 Seymour 
 
 Trawoul 
 
 Goulburn 
 
 1780 
 
 
 
 Torbreck 
 
 Devil's 
 
 
 
 
 Mowende 
 
 
 
 15. EVELYN .... 
 
 
 Peak Hill 
 
 Yarra Yarra 
 
 1030 
 
 
 
 Mowende 
 
 Plenty 
 
 
 
 
 Tingalaragin 
 
 
 
 
 
 Kiddell 
 
 
 
 
 
 Steel's Hill 
 
 
 
 16. MORNIN'GTON . . 
 
 
 Paradise Hill 
 
 
 1194 
 
 
 
 Arthur's Hill 
 
 
 
 
 
 Martha 
 
 
 
 17 BASS 
 
 
 lloddle 
 
 Franklin 
 
 
 
 
 Wilson 
 
 
 
 18. DOURO .... 
 
 Alberton 
 
 Tom's Cap 
 
 Albert 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tara Rivulet 
 
 
 19. HADDINGTON . . 
 
 
 Baw Bav 
 
 Tarngill 
 
 
 
 
 Useful 
 
 M'Alister 
 
 
 
 
 
 Thompson 
 
 
 20. BRUCE .... 
 
 
 Wellington 
 
 Mitchell 
 
 
 
 
 Kent 
 
 Avon 
 
 
 
 
 Valencia 
 
 M'Alister 
 
 
 
 
 M-Mellan 
 
 Tarngill 
 
 
 
 
 Ben Croachan 
 
 
 
 21. ABINGER . . . 
 
 
 Tanbo 
 
 Tanbo 
 
 
 
 
 Hopeless 
 
 Nicholson 
 
 
 
 
 Fainting Range 
 
 
 
 22. COMBERMERE . . 
 
 
 Cobboras 
 
 Native Dog 
 
 
 
 
 Delegete Hill 
 
 Tornginbooke 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jingaiula,orDeduc 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bendoc 
 
 
 
 
 
 Snowy 
 
 
 23. HOWE .... 
 
 
 Gen^a Peak 
 
 Inge' goodbee 
 Genoa 
 
 
 
 
 Canawurra 
 
 
 
PORT JACKSON THE SYDNEY DISTRICT. 257 
 
 Port Jackson is the fittest centre from which to take a survey 
 of the settled and inhabitable districts in Australia, being not only 
 the finest harbour and the port of the greatest Australian city, but 
 the inlet and outlet for commerce, having settled on its shores the 
 wealthiest and most dense population in the whole island. 
 
 The usual course to Sydney for sailing-vessels is through Bass's 
 Straits ; and in fair weather, with a favourable wind, ships frequently 
 pass sufficiently near the shores to afford an agreeable but very tanta- 
 lising view of the scenery. 
 
 "The shore is bold and picturesque, and the country behind, 
 gradually rising higher and higher into swelling hills of moderate 
 elevation, to the utmost distance the eye can reach, is covered with 
 wide-branching, evergreen forest trees and close brushwood, exhi- 
 biting a prospect of never-failing foliage, although sadly monotonous 
 and dull in tone compared with the luxuriant summer foliage of 
 Europe. Grey rocks at intervals project among these endless forests, 
 while here and there some gigantic tree, scorched dead by the summer 
 fires, uplifts its blasted branches above the green saplings around." * 
 
 Approaching Port Jackson, the coast line consists of cliffs of a 
 reddish hue. Where the land can be seen, shrubs and trees of strange 
 foliage are found nourishing on a white, sandy, barren soil, destitute of 
 herbage. 
 
 The entrance to the port is marked by the north and south heads, 
 about three quarters of a mile apart. On the southern head a stone 
 lighthouse, bearing the often-repeated name of Macquarie, affords a 
 revolving flame at night and a white landmark by day to the great 
 ships from distant quarters of the globe, and to the crowd of large- 
 sailed coasters which ply between innumerable coast villages and 
 Sydney. 
 
 Steering westerly, the great harbour, like a landlocked lake, pro- 
 tected by the curving projecting heads from the roll of the Pacific 
 storms, opens out until lost in the distance, where it joins the 
 Paramatta River. The banks on either hand, varying from two to five 
 miles in breadth, are sometimes steep and sometimes sloping, but 
 repeatedly indented by coves and bays, which, fringed with green 
 shrubs down to the white sandy water-margin, when bathed in golden 
 sunlight, present dainty retreats as brilliant as Danby's Enchanted 
 Island. 
 
 On one of the first and most romantic coves stands Yaucluse, the 
 marine villa of William Went worth. 
 
 * Cunningham. 
 
258 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Five miles from the heads, on " Sydney Cove," is the city of Sydney, 
 the head-quarters of the Governor-General, the residence and epis- 
 copal city of the Bishop of Australia, and the greatest wool port in the 
 world. The still waters, alive with steamers passing and repassing, 
 with ships of English and American flags, and a crowd of small craft, 
 yachts, and pleasure-boats, betoken the approach to a centre of busy 
 commerce, even before the church spires show themselves against the 
 sky. In this city, which has been too often described to need any 
 detailed account here, every comfort and every luxury of Europe is to 
 be obtained that can be purchased with money. 
 
 The entrance to Port Jackson is so safe and easy that the American 
 surveying ships ran in at night without a pilot ; and when the inhabi- 
 tants rose in the morning they found themselves under the guns of a 
 frigate carrying the stripes and stars. 
 
 Vessels of considerable burden can unload alongside the quays. 
 
 Sydney Cove is formed by two small promontories, between which 
 the rivulet flows which induced Governor Phillip to choose this site for 
 his settlement, as it possessed a safe harbour, wood and water, three 
 essential points, although not alone sufficient to support a flourishing 
 colony. The first harbour is of little value, unless it is the outlet to a 
 country capable of producing some exports. 
 
 Tanks were cut for storing the water of the fresh-water stream 
 during the summer ; but the increase of the town having rendered this 
 supply insufficient, water was brought from Botany Bay; and recently 
 further extensive works have been executed, by which an aqueduct is 
 brought from Cook's River, where a dam has been built to exclude the 
 salt water. 
 
 Along the hollow formed by the two promontories or ridges, where 
 the native track through the woods formerly led down to the water's 
 edge, George-street extends, and holds in the colonial metropolis 
 the relative ranks of the Strand and Regent-street. There, until 
 recently, stately plate-glass shops were to be found side by side with 
 wooden huts. 
 
 The harbour of Port Jackson affords an almost unlimited line of 
 deep water, along which, when needed by the extension of commerce, 
 quays and Avarehouses may be erected at a very trifling expense. Many 
 of the coves in Port Jackson are even now as much in a state of nature 
 as when Captain Phillip first discovered it. As a central point for the 
 commerce of the Australian seas, it is not probable that it can ever be 
 superseded as a maritime station, even by other colonies planted in a 
 more fertile situation, although it may be asserted that, with rare 
 
CUMBERLAND AND CAMDEN COUNTIES. 259 
 
 exceptions, the land for a hundred miles round Sydney is a sandy desert. 
 But roads, railroads, and steamers will afford Sydney the advantages 
 of the produce of districts which have no such harbour as Port Jackson. 
 
 Cumberland and Camden were the two counties first settled. Cum- 
 berland is the most densely-populated district in Australia, and has the 
 poorest soil ; a belt of land parallel to the sea, from twenty to forty 
 miles in breadth, is either light sand dotted with picturesque, unpro- 
 fitable scrub, or a stiff clay or ironstone, thickly covered with hard-wood 
 timber and underwood. After passing this belt, to which the colonists 
 confined themselves for more than ten years, with a few spirited excep- 
 tions, the soil improves a little ; that is to say, narrow tracks of a rich 
 alluvial character are found on the banks of the rivers, but the greater 
 proportion consists of forest on a poor impenetrable soil, which defies 
 the perseverance of the most skilled agriculturist. The deeper you go 
 the worse it is. 
 
 Camden has a moderate extent of cultivable land, including the 
 singular district of Illawarra, which is at once one of the most beautiful 
 and fertile spots in the world, in regard both to the luxuriance and 
 variety of its vegetable productions. The pastures of Camden are 
 extensive, and were considered important until the discovery of the 
 western and southern plains. 
 
 The dryness of the counties of Camden and Cumberland, in which, 
 in the course of the year, nearly as much rain falls as in the counties of 
 Essex and Sussex, is greatly owing to the stiff clay of which the soil 
 is chiefly composed, through which the rain cannot easily filter, or from 
 which springs can with difficulty burst forth. Boring, on the artesian 
 plan, has been recently adopted with success. 
 
 To describe in detail the character of each county and each dis- 
 trict would be a difficult and wearisome task. Many, after being 
 charmed with the exquisitely picturesque appearance of Port Jackson 
 and Sydney, on a very cursory inspection of the surrounding country, 
 come to the conclusion that the whole province of New South Wales is 
 a barren desert only fit for feeding sheep a conclusion which is not 
 more correct than to judge of the agricultural capabilities of England 
 by Dartmoor, or of France by the " Landes." 
 
 Within the Sydney district are the towns of Paramatta, Windsor, 
 and Liverpool ; but, in consequence of the dispersion incident to the 
 pastoral pursuits which have hitherto formed the chief employment of 
 Australia, there are really no towns in the European sense of the word, 
 with the exception of the three capitals, Sydney, Melbourne, and 
 Adelaide, and Greelong in Victoria, which, being the port to a rich 
 
260 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 district is likely to rival Melbourne. The other towns with imposing 
 names are mere villages, with a gaol ; a magistrate's office, some stores, 
 and a great many public-houses. 
 
 Taking Sydney as the starting point, we propose to survey the 
 general features of the settled and pastoral districts, proceeding first 
 towards the north, and returning to Port Jackson, travelling along the 
 coast to the other two colonies. 
 
 The three great colonies of New South Wales, Yictoria (late Port 
 Phillip), and South Australia, occupy a continuous coast line, extending 
 from Wide Bay, in New South Wales, to Cape Adieu, in South 
 Australia. With the exception of the small and unsuccessful colony of 
 Western Australia, or Swan River, the remaining coast line of this 
 island-continent is unsettled, and only inhabited by wandering savages 
 or stray parties of whalers and sealers. Attempts have been made 
 more than once to form settlements in Northern Australia, but they 
 have been abandoned, and will not probably be renewed until the older 
 colonists find the need of further extensions inland, or some coal stations 
 are established for the numerous steamers which are now plying between 
 England and the gold regions. 
 
 The three colonies are only divided by imaginary lines, so easy are 
 the means of inland intercommunication. Overland journeys have 
 been executed between all by parties driving great herds over an 
 imtracked country. 
 
 The principal ports to the north of Port Jackson are Broken Bay, 
 the mouth of the River Hawkesbury, up which vessels of one hundred 
 tons can proceed for four miles beyond the town of Windsor, which is 
 one hundred and forty miles by the river, and about forty miles in a 
 direct line from the coast. Broken Bay is not a safe harbour, being much 
 exposed to the east and south-east as well as the north-west winds. 
 
 Port Hunter is the mouth of the Hunter River, which receives the 
 waters of the Rivers Williams and Paterson.* It is navigable for about 
 thirty-five miles by waterway, and twenty-five miles in a direct line 
 from the coast. This stream was formerly called the Coal River. On 
 the bay sheltered by Nobby Island stands Newcastle, a town which owes 
 its name and importance to the coal-fields by which it is surrounded, 
 and has recently been made the see of a bishoprick, extending to the 
 extreme northern district of the colony. Forty miles up the river 
 are East and West Maitland, and four miles nearer the sea Morpeth, 
 the port of the Hunter River Company. A regular steam-boat traffic 
 
 * So named after Colonel Paterson, for a short time Lieutenant-Governor ; one of the earliest 
 colonists who devoted himself to botany, and introduced the first orange trees in 1791. 
 
HUNTER RIVER AND MAITLAND. 261 
 
 in all the produce of the Hunter River district is carried on between 
 Morpeth, Newcastle, and Sydney, from which they are distant about 
 eighty miles, the cheapness of steam communication having led to the 
 abandonment of the road formed at immense cost by convict labour 
 over the monutainous barren country inland between Sydney and the 
 Hunter River. 
 
 Hunter River is subject to droughts, but otherwise one of the 
 oldest and finest agricultural districts. Yine cultivation is carried on 
 there successfully, on a large scale. Its tributaries, the Williams and 
 Paterson Rivers, are both navigable for a greater distance than the 
 Hunter, the Williams uniting at twenty miles and the Paterson at 
 thirty-five miles from Newcastle. They give access to districts which 
 are cooler and better supplied with rain than the Hunter. 
 
 Maitland owes its double name to the government having laid out 
 East Maitland during the land-buying mania, three miles up the river, 
 at a point too shallow for steam-boats to approach ; on which speculators 
 laid out West Maitland. 
 
 The country round is flat, sometimes flooded, and produces fine 
 crops of wheat and Indian corn. Along the Paterson the country is 
 undulating and fertile, surrounded by hills which attract rain, and 
 render it better adapted for cattle than sheep. Tobacco cultivation has 
 been successfully pursued : thriving farms occupy the banks of the 
 rivers, which fetch a good price, either to sell or rent. Kangaroos, 
 plentiful a few years ago, are becoming scarce ; but wild ducks may be 
 shot on the river, and good fish caught. 
 
 In April the winter sets in and continues until September, with 
 nights cold enough to make a fire pleasant, and sharp frost at daybreak. 
 In October the summer commences, and the wheat harvest in 
 November. Then in the Hunter district the hot winds commence, blow 
 for three days, and not unfrequently blight wheat just coming into ear : 
 these hot winds are usually succeeded by a sharp southerly gale, accompa- 
 nied by rain, which soon makes everything not actually blighted look 
 green again. This more particularly refers to the Paterson. At Segenhoe, 
 one of the most beautiful estates in New South Wales, which extends 
 in romantic park-like scenery for six miles along the River Hunter, in 
 the county of Brisbane, three years have sometimes elapsed before the 
 fall of rain. 
 
 The Hunter River may be considered a favourable specimen of an 
 accessible and long-settled district. The river is now not only the 
 means of communication by the sea for the produce of its immediate 
 territory, but also for all the wool and all the supplies interchanged 
 
262 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 by the great squatting district of New England and Liverpool Plains, 
 to which access is obtained by a deep cleft through a spur of the Aus- 
 tralian cordilleras, called the Liverpool Eange, which bounds the 
 Liverpool Plains in a northerly direction. A great and increasing 
 steam communication exists between Sydney and Hunter River. 
 
 Port Stephens is a large estuary fifteen miles in length and con- 
 tracted to about a mile in breadth in the centre, into which the rivers 
 Karuah and Myall flow. The Karuah is navigable for twelve miles 
 only for small craft to Booral, a village built by the Australian Agricul- 
 tural Company. The valley of the Karuah, in the county of Gloucester, 
 is chiefly in the possession of the Australian Agricultural Company, and 
 pronounced by Count Strzelecki to be one of the finest agricultural 
 districts in the colony. 
 
 On this estate some of the rarest birds of Australia are found. The 
 wonga wonga pigeon (Leucosarcia picatd) is a large bird, with white 
 flesh, excellent eating, with handsome black-patched plumage, which 
 spends most of its time upon the ground, " feeding upon the seeds of 
 stones of the fallen fruits of the towering trees under whose shade it 
 dwells, seldom exposing itself to the rays of the sun, or seeking the 
 open parts of the forest, whence when disturbed it rises with a loud 
 fluttering, like a pheasant. Its flight is not of long duration, being 
 merely employed to remove it to a sufficient distance to avoid detection 
 by again descending to the ground or mounting the branch of a tree. 
 It is a species which bears confinement well." The accompanying 
 
 WONGA WONGA PIGEON. 
 
PORT STEPHENS. 263 
 
 engraving, as well as all our illustrations from natural history, are copied 
 by permission from Mr. Gould's splendid work on Australia. In Port 
 Stephens harbour, at certain times of the year, the aborigines may be 
 seen fishing and disporting in their canoes. Their habits are as unci- 
 vilised as when their ancestors were seen by Cook and Dampier, but 
 quite harmless. 
 
 The park-like scenery, the neatness of the cottages provided by the 
 company for their servants, the richness of the vegetation, and the 
 fertility of gardens full of the choicest fruits and flowers, render this one 
 of the counties which the traveller who can afford the time should 
 visit, as it affords a pleasing contrast to the dry, barren country round 
 Sydney, in the county of Cumberland. 
 
 From Booral the Australian Company have an overland communica- 
 tion with their stations on Liverpool Plains, but they ship most of their 
 wool at the Hunter, 
 
 In the orchards of the Australian Agricultural Company at Port 
 Stephens, Count Strzelecki mentions that he saw an example of the 
 extensive range which the beautiful climate of New South Wales 
 embraces in its isothermal lines the English oak flourishing by the side 
 of the banana, which again was surrounded by vines, lemons, and 
 orange-trees of luxurious growth. " To the southward of Port 
 Stephens are a series of thriving farms spreading along the Goulburn, 
 Pages, Hunter, Paterson, and Williams Rivers, which comprise an 
 agricultural district of 2,000 square miles in extent. The excellent 
 harbour of Newcastle, good water and tolerable roads, a coal-mine, a 
 soil well adapted for wheat, barley, turnips, the vine, and European 
 fruits, and a situation most favourable to the application of irriga- 
 tion, render this district one of the richest and most important in the 
 colony." 
 
 Captain Stokes, in " The Yoyage of the Beagle," says : " A change 
 took place in the features of this portion of the eastern coast: a 
 number of conical hills, from four to six hundred feet in height, pre- 
 sented themselves. Two very remarkable headlands, Wacaba and 
 Tomare, constitute the entrance points of Port Stephens. The sea 
 face of Tomare is a high line of cliffs. 
 
 " On the side of a hill, two miles and a half within the narrowest 
 part of the harbour, is Tahlee, the residence of the superintendent. It 
 stands on the crest of a steep grassy slope, over which are scattered 
 numerous small bushy lemon- trees, the deep verdure of their foliage 
 interspersed with golden fruit, contrasting charmingly with the light 
 green carpet from which they spring. At the foot of this declivity a 
 
264 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 screen of trees, rising to a considerable height, almost shuts out the 
 view of the water, though breaks here and there allow small patches to 
 to be seen. 
 
 " I ascended to Booral, twelve miles up the River Karuah, where 
 all goods are landed for the company's stations. The treasurer resides 
 there in a charming cottage, almost covered with roses and honey- 
 suckles. About two miles within the entrance the river winds between 
 high and steep banks, densely covered with creepers, acacias, and other 
 vegetation of a tropical character, hanging in festoons, the ends floating 
 in the water. 
 
 " We were as much delighted as surprised with the richness of the 
 vegetation, when compared with its dry, parched appearance at Sydney 
 another of the striking characteristics of Australia." 
 
 The next harbour after leaving Port Stephens is Port Macquarie, 
 which is the outlet of the Rivers Hastings and Wilson. 
 
 Port Macquarie is a bar harbour, into which vessels drawing more 
 than nine feet water cannot safely enter, but there is a good anchorage 
 outside. The River Hastings cannot be ascended for more than ten 
 miles by vessels of any burden ; but from the mountains where it rises 
 it flows in a full although not deep stream for fifty miles, traversing an 
 undulating district, chiefly open forest. 
 
 Port Macquarie was first founded as a penal settlement. It is the 
 commencement of a fertile semi-tropical district, extending to Moreton 
 Bay. The township has gradually decayed since/ the penal settlement 
 was discontinued. 
 
 The following striking picture is from the work of a gentleman who 
 was the first to draw public attention to this fine district* : 
 
 " On entering the surf of the bar of Port Macquarie, immediately 
 beyond the last breaker, the mirror-like surface of the river extends in 
 a long reach, whilst on the left dark serpentine rocks protect the 
 smooth round eminence, covered with green sward, and crowned by a 
 signal-post, fire-beacon, and windmill. A little further on is the town, 
 built on a gentle rise, the tall, square church tower rising conspicuously 
 in the highest part. A grove of magnificent trees encircles the port, 
 whilst, turning to the west and north-west, appears a wide extent of 
 forest country, the windings of the valley among the mountain ranges 
 through which the River Wilson flows ; Mount Caoulapatamba being 
 sufficiently near to enable one to distinguish every tree on its grassy 
 declivities/' 
 
 The soil of the country in the county of Cumberland round Sydney 
 
 * Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay, first explored and surveyed by Clement Hodgkinson. 
 
PORT MACQUARIE SHOAL BAY. 265 
 
 appears barren, the vegetation harsh and dismal, but " on the coast of 
 Port Macquarie dense thickets of cabbage-palms and myrtle-trees extend 
 down the rocky declivities, even within reach of the spray, and every 
 unwooded patch is covered with grass, while the lofty forest rising 
 luxuriantly close to the sea presents a striking contrast to the stunted 
 Banksia thickets and desiccated scrubs on the sandstone round Sydney. 
 The mountains approaching near the coast collect vapours from the sea, 
 and cause frequent rains ; in summer heavy thunderstorms mitigate the 
 heat." 
 
 The River Hastings was discovered by Mr. Oxley, a late surveyor- 
 general, on the report of two shipwrecked mariners whom he rescued on 
 the coast. 
 
 It has been calculated that there are twelve million fertile acres 
 well watered by small streams. The dividing range of mountains 
 rises upwards of six thousand feet ; on the other side lies New 
 England a range of table land, where a temperate climate prevails, 
 where potatoes and gooseberries are raised in perfection, and the 
 settlers retain the rosy bloom of England, one of the finest sheep 
 districts in the colony. A road has been made across the mountains for 
 bringing down wool to Port Macquarie. 
 
 Shoal Bay, the next harbour, is the embouchure of the River Clarence, 
 navigable for steamers for more than fifty miles, flowing through a 
 rich, fertile, and hot country, the reverse of the New England climate : 
 large boats have ascended as far as ninety miles. It was surveyed 
 and made public in 1839 by a private expedition under the charge of 
 S. Perry, Esq. The average width of this river is from 450 to 600 
 yards, with a depth of from six to twenty feet water, the banks from 
 ten to twenty-five feet above high-water mark. About twenty miles 
 from the mouth is an island fifteen miles long, and from three to four 
 miles broad ; a range of hills rises in the centre. It is occupied as a 
 cattle station, and partly for agricultural purposes, by the occupant, who 
 holds it under a squatting licence. 
 
 Grafton is the township of the Clarence district, situated fifty miles 
 from the mouth of the river. The finest land for arable purposes is found 
 on the river banks, about thirty miles from Grafton, where the valley 
 is wider, and the country consists of a scrub, easily cleared. The 
 climate, too hot for growing wheat or raising sheep, suits cattle and 
 maize. The sheep stations are being gradually discontinued. But 
 although the land is admirably fertile on the banks of the river, at 
 the distance of a few miles it is barren, with few patches of good soil. 
 The next river to the Clarence is the Richmond, which waters an 
 
 R 
 
266 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 infinitely finer cattle country, better supplied with rich pasture. The 
 heads of the Richmond are about fifty miles from the Clarence River. 
 The mouth is obstructed by a bar, dangerous for vessels drawing more 
 than one hundred tons. After crossing the bar, the river is deep, 
 winding in a narrow channel. This is one of the districts from which 
 Sydney draws its chief supply of cedar. 
 
 It is right to mention that the plains lying between the Clarence 
 and Richmond River, forty miles north of Shoal Bay, and as far 
 north as Wide Bay, are all taken up and stocked under squatting 
 licences. The soil is rich and the water advantages superior, but the 
 climate more hot and less healthy than the plains on the other side of 
 the range. 
 
 The next port, and centre and site of the capital of all this district, 
 is Moreton Bay, into which flows the Brisbane River, discovered by 
 Mr. Oxley, on an exploring expedition, in December, 1823. He 
 reported that " when examining Moreton Bay we had the satisfaction 
 to find the tide sweeping up a considerable inlet between the first 
 mangrove island and the mainland. A few hours ended our anxiety : 
 the water became perfectly fresh, and no diminution had taken place in 
 the size of the river after passing Sea Reach. The scenery was peculiarly 
 beautiful ; the country along the banks alternately hilly and level, but 
 not flooded ; the soil of the finest description of good brush land, on 
 which grew timber of great magnitude, some of a description quite 
 unknown to us, amongst others a magnificent species of pine.* Up to 
 this point the river was navigable for vessels not drawing more than 
 sixteen feet of water. The tide rose about five feet, being the same as 
 at the entrance. We proceeded about thirty miles further, no dimi- 
 nution having taken place in either the depth or the breadth of the 
 river, except in one place, for the extent of thirty yards, where a ridge 
 of detached rocks extended across the river, not having more than 
 twelve feet upon them at high water. From this period to Termination 
 Hill the river continued nearly of uniform size. The tide ascends daily 
 fifty miles up the mouth of the Brisbane. The country on either side 
 is of very superior description, and equally well adapted for cultivation 
 or grazing." 
 
 On Mr. Oxley's report, which further explorations have proved to 
 be in no degree exaggerated, a penal settlement was founded at 
 Brisbane, and among other experiments for employing the prisoners, 
 sugar was cultivated, until a flood swept the machinery away. There is 
 no doubt that the climate and soil of the Moreton Bay district, by 
 
 * The pine forests mark the commencement and the boundaries of intertropical Australia. 
 
MORETON BAY. 267 
 
 which it is better known than by its parliamentary title, county of 
 Stanley, would produce sugar and cotton ; but that those crops would 
 be remunerative to capitalists at the present or probable price of labour 
 in Australia is more than doubtful. Whether any tropical cultivation 
 could be successfully carried on by families of small freeholders 
 remains yet to be tried. At some future period when New South 
 Wales has the power of promoting colonisation without consulting 
 Downing-street, perhaps families of Germans, of the class that have at 
 times settled in Brazil, may be induced to try the experiment. 
 
 Moreton Bay is forty-five miles in length, and twenty in breadth, 
 enclosed between the two islands of Stradbroke and Maitland. This 
 harbour is rendered unsafe by numerous shoals and narrrow winding 
 passages. 
 
 Moreton Bay Island is nineteen miles in length, and four and a 
 half in breadth. It consists of a series of sandhills one of which is 
 nine hundred feet in height, quite barren in an agricultural point of 
 view, but producing a cypress which is a good furniture wood. 
 
 The river Brisbane flows into the bay about the middle of its 
 western side, with a bar on which there are not more than eleven feet of 
 water at flood-tide. Large vessels have to anchor about five miles off? 
 under the shelter of one of the islands. 
 
 The towns of Brisbane, north and south, are fourteen miles from the 
 mouth of the river, and thirty-five miles from Ipswich, on the River 
 Bremer, an inland port for shipping wool from the Moreton Bay district. 
 
 Steam communication is maintained between Brisbane and Ipswich, 
 and between Moreton Bay and Sydney. 
 
 From Moreton Bay a considerable trade is carried on with Sydney, 
 and other less-favoured settlements, especially in the Moreton Bay pine 
 (Auracaria Cunningliami\ which is of the same quality as the Norfolk 
 Island pine, as well as wool and tallow, the staples of the country. 
 
 In the bay and on the coast the aborigines eagerly pursue the 
 dugong, a species of small whale, generally known to the colonists as 
 the sea-pig. The head of the dugong is small in proportion to his 
 body, and is most singularly shaped. The upper lip is very thick, and 
 flattened at the extremity. It is to this queer looking snout, we presume, 
 that the animal is indebted for the swinish cognomen by which it is 
 ordinarily known. The dugong has a thick smooth skin, with a few 
 hairs scattered over its surface. Its colour is bluish on the back, with 
 a white breast and belly. In size the full-grown male has never, we 
 believe, been found more than eighteen or twenty feet long ; but those 
 commonly taken are much less than this. 
 
268 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 The food of the dugong consists chiefly of marine vegetables, which 
 it finds at the bottom of inlets, in comparatively shallow water, where 
 it is easily captured. Its flesh resembles good beef, and is much 
 esteemed. The oil obtained from its fat is peculiarly clear and limpid, 
 and is free from any disagreeable smell, such as most animal oils are 
 accompanied with. It has not yet been produced in sufficient quantities 
 to acquire a recognised market value. 
 
 The blacks devour the carcase roasted, after expressing the oil for 
 sale to the colonists. A perfumer in Sydney tried to convert this oil 
 into a new mixture for the hair : unfortunately, an experiment upon 
 himself and his wife produced baldness instead of luxuriance, yet its 
 appearance is as fine as sperm. 
 
 Behind Moreton Bay, on the other side the mountain range, forming 
 a district of high tableland and cool temperature, are the Darling 
 Downs, a magnificent sheep country, which is also accessible from the 
 Clarence River. 
 
 The climate of the Moreton Bay district, like nearly all the district 
 north of Port Macquarie, is too hot for wheat, which grows luxuriantly, 
 but is subject to blight : for sheep and cattle there is no finer country, 
 and maize and all semi-tropical productions grow in perfection. Grapes 
 ripen, but are too subject to frosts to make good wine. 
 
 A very short distance from the town of Brisbane the clearings end 
 and the forest commences ; now green trees, then pine, then open plains, 
 and well-watered valleys. 
 
 The rainy season of this intertropical region has been graphically 
 described by Mr. Mossman : " Masses of dense scud rise up from the 
 Pacific Ocean towards the interior, until they are checked by the 
 southerly wind blowing over the higher, colder New England country 
 (on the other side of the mountain ranges), and packed into a uniform 
 mass shrouding the heavens ; a stifling sultriness succeeds, the lightning 
 bursts forth from the lurid gloom, flash succeeds with fearful rapidity 
 now forked from the zenith, anon like a chain around the verge of the 
 horizon, while the crash of thunder resounds. The floodgates of the 
 black canopy are opened the rain descends in torrents with a loud 
 pattering soon the narrow tributaries of the river are swollen, some 
 rising as much as fifty feet in twelve hours the surrounding plains are 
 deluged. In the five months of rain the earth becomes saturated, the 
 forests drip continually, while the nearly vertical sun creates a warm, 
 humid, unhealthy atmosphere." Ophthalmia and general debility follow 
 this kind of weather; but the author of the passage just quoted considers 
 that if Indian bungalows were erected by the settlers, instead of naked 
 
WIDE BAY THE BUNYA-3UNYA. 269 
 
 English cottages, many of the ill effects of the rainy season would be 
 avoided. 
 
 In the Moreton Bay district may be found many establishments 
 containing all the luxuries of Europe elegant houses, gardens, libraries, 
 music, pictures, and wives in Parisian bonnets. 
 
 Wide Bay, beyond Moreton Bay, and the boundary of the county of 
 Stanley, is the last port of the colony of New South Wales : it receives 
 the waters of the Mary Fitzroy River. The land is undulating, well 
 timbered, covered with good grass, and suited for horned stock. Within 
 the last five years a considerable number of stations have been formed 
 there, and the country taken up in cattle runs for more than two hundred 
 miles in the interior. In the 27th parallel of the Wide Bay District 
 grows the bunya-bunya tree, a species of pine, often from seventeen to 
 twenty feet in circumference, and upwards of one hundred feet in 
 height, which once in three years yields a harvest of cones about a 
 foot long and three quarters in diameter, containing seeds or kernels, 
 which the natives from the most distant regions triennially journey to 
 collect, roast, and eat, afterwards enjoying the relaxation of a little 
 fighting. 
 
 Orders have been issued by the colonial government that no stations 
 be planted and no stock run in this bunya-bunya country, which occu- 
 pies a space of about fifty miles in length by ten in breadth. It will be 
 difficult to enforce this order. 
 
 Dr. Leichardt, one of the scientific travellers who has, we fear, like 
 Cunningham, Gilbert, and Kennedy, fallen a victim to his adventurous 
 courage in an attempt to penetrate overland to Swan River, passed some 
 time in the Moreton Bay district, preparing himself for the successful 
 journey he afterwards made overland, in 1844, to Port Essington, in 
 Northern Australia. In a letter addressed to Professor Owen, which is 
 quoted in that eminent physiologist's " Report on the Extinct Mammals 
 of Australia," read at the annual meeting of the British Association, 
 July, 1845, and which accompanied a box of fossil bones from Darling 
 Downs, he describes his life in terms which sound sadly and strangely 
 affecting, now that, after succeeding in his first, he has perished in his 
 second enterprise : 
 
 " Living here as the bird lives who flies from tree to tree living on 
 the kindness of a friend fond of my science, or on the hospitality of the 
 settler and squatter with a little mare I travelled more than 2,500 
 miles, zigzag, from Newcastle to Wide Bay, being often my own groom, 
 cook, washerwoman, geologist, and botanist at the same time ; and I 
 delighted in this life. When next you hear of me, it will be either that 
 
270 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 I am lost and dead, or that I have succeeded in penetrating through the 
 interior to Port Essington." 
 
 Leichardt set out on this expedition, and left Jimba, the last station 
 on the Darling Downs, 30th September, 1844, and reached Port 
 Essington in December of the same year. The privations he endured 
 were terrible. Mr. Gilbert, a naturalist in the employment of Mr. 
 Gould, fell a sacrifice to the savages. More than once the bronze- 
 winged pigeon, flying to water, saved them from dying of thirst. 
 
 BRONZE-WINGED PIGEON. 
 
 To the parties engaged in this expedition the Legislative Council 
 voted 1,000, and 1,500 was raised by private subscription for the same 
 purpose. Of these two sums, 1,450 were presented to Dr. Leichardt. 
 He lost no time in preparing a second expedition, for the purpose of 
 " exploring the interior of Australia, the extent of Sturt's desert, and 
 the character of the western and north-western coast, and to observe 
 he gradual change in vegetation and animal life from one side of the 
 continent to the other." This expedition set out in December, 1846, 
 and was expected to occupy not less than two years and a half in 
 reaching Swan River. The following is the last letter ever received 
 from him, addressed to a friend in Sydney : 
 
 " I take the last opportunity of giving you an account of my progress. For 
 eleven days we travelled from Mr. Birell's station, on the Condamine, to Mr. 
 Macpherson's, on the Fitzroy Downs. Though the country was occasionally very 
 difficult, yet everything went on well. My mules are in excellent order, my 
 companions in excellent spirits. Three of my cattle are footsore, but I shall kill 
 one of them to-night to lay in our necessary stock of dried beef. 
 
DR. LEICHARDT. 
 
 271 
 
 DR. LEICHARDT. 
 
 " The Fitzroy Downs, over which we travelled or about twenty-two miles 
 from east to west, is indeed a splendid region, and Sir Thomas Mitchell has not 
 exaggerated their beauty in his account. The soil is pebbly and sound, richly 
 grassed, and, to judge from the myall, of most fattening quality. I came right 
 on Mount Abundance, and passed over a gap of it with my whole train. My lati- 
 tude agreed well with Mitchell's. I fear that the absence of water on Fitzroy 
 Downs will render this fine country to a great degree unavailable. I observe the 
 thermometer daily at 6 A.M. and P.M., which are the only convenient hours. I 
 have tried the wet thermometer, but I am afraid my observations will be very 
 deficient. I shall, however, improve on them as I proceed. The only serious 
 accident that has happened was the loss of a spade ; but we are fortunate enough 
 to make it up on this station, where the superintendent is going to spare us one 
 of his. 
 
 " Though the days are still very hot, the beautiful clear nights are cool, and 
 benumb the musquitoes, which have ceased to trouble us. Myriads of flies are 
 the only annoyance we have. 
 
272 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 " Seeing how much I have been favoured in my present progress, I am full of 
 hope that our Almighty Protector will allow me to bring my darling scheme to a 
 successful termination. Your most sincere friend, 
 
 "LUDWIG LEICHARDT. 
 
 MB. MACPHERSON'S STATION, COGOON, April 3, 1848." 
 
 There is now little doubt that the brave Leichardt was murdered by 
 savages shortly after leaving Cogoon. 
 
 It would be impossible in any reasonable space to convey a correct 
 idea of the physical character of a country like Melbourne, Port Jackson, 
 and Wide Bay, which extends over more than eight hundred miles of 
 coast range alone.* But the distinctive features of this north-eastern 
 coast, as far as Moreton Bay, have been very clearly summed up by Mr. 
 Clement Hodgkinson, in his before-quoted work : 
 
 " First. Its geological formation, which, instead of being sandstone, 
 which so generally predominates on the Hunter, consists of rocks of 
 primitive or transition origin, such as granite, trap, ancient limestone, 
 slates, &c., all which in Australia furnish, by their decomposition, a much 
 more fertile surface than sandstone. 
 
 " Secondly. The mountainous nature of the country, the great 
 altitude of the mountains exceeding six thousand feet above the level of 
 the sea, and their proximity to the coast. 
 
 " Thirdly. The abundance of water and the proximity of navigable 
 rivers. From Moreton Bay to Macquarie, in 270 miles of coast, there 
 are nine rivers with bar harbours, which can be entered by coasting 
 vessels and small steamers, viz., the Brisbane, Tweed, Richmond, 
 Clarence, Bellergen, Macleary, Hastings, Camden Haven, and the 
 Manning. 
 
 " Lastly. The fitness of the rich alluvial soil, which extends in con- 
 tinuous narrow borders of brush land along these rivers, for tropical 
 cultivation (if labour could be applied at not too great a cost at clearing 
 away the brush)." 
 
 Thus it will be observed that the north and north-eastern track of 
 New South Wales, lying between the mountains and the sea, is exempt 
 from the aridity which characterises a large portion of Australia. 
 
 Retracing our steps, we will now take a glance at what may be called 
 the transrnontane regions, lying parallel to the coast district just 
 described, separated by the dividing range of the Blue Mountains, or, 
 as it has been lately termed, the Australian Cordilleras. 
 
 Passing the dividing range which separates the hot lower countries 
 watered by the Brisbane and the Clarence, we reach Darling Downs 
 
 * Port Albury, recently discovered near Cape York, on Albury Island, affords u good and ready 
 anchorage and easy access to vessels to or from Torres Straits or Sydney. 
 
FITZROY DOWNS TO PANDORA'S PASS. 273 
 
 (discovered by Allan Cunningham, the king's botanist, in 1830, when 
 he travelled from Sydney to Moreton Bay by land), which are watered 
 by the river of the same name. These downs are part of a system of 
 high table lands continued toward the north, where the boundaries are 
 indefinite, by the Fitzroy Downs, discovered by Sir Thomas Mitchell 
 in 1846, and toward the south by the New England district. There a 
 rapid descent changes the climate from snow and hail to the hot country 
 of the Peel, Page, and the Liverpool Plains, bounded on the south by 
 the great dividing or Liverpool Kange, through which Pandora's Pass 
 gives exit to the Hunter River ; and thus with intervals of mountain 
 range or desert, a series of pastoral plains run parallel with the interior 
 of the mountain range which encircles the eastern coast of Australia, 
 including the Groulburn, Bathurst district, the Maneroo or Brisbane 
 Downs, and the Murray district, which flow into, if we may use the 
 term, the province of Victoria. And in this series of pastoral plains 
 the climate is considerably modified by their altitude above the sea. It 
 was these plains, where fine-woolled sheep increase and multiply at the 
 least possible expense, which first gave exports and wealth to Australia. 
 Before the shepherd and his flock the savage and the emu gradually 
 disappear. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 JOURNEY FROM PORT JACKSON TO PORT PHILLIP. 
 
 IN traversing the coast from Port Jackson to Port Phillip there is a 
 singular absence of good harbours. The first. Botany Bay, fourteen 
 miles from Port Jackson, receives the waters of the George River, on 
 which the township of Liverpool was planted by Macquarie, but has 
 not flourished ; and the Cook's River which has been dammed, for the 
 purpose of affording a supply of fresh water to Sydney. Botany Bay 
 is unsheltered, and offers indifferent accommodation for small vessels. 
 A brass plate on the cliffs marks the spot where Captain Cook first 
 landed ; and the stranger may drink from the well of fresh water opened 
 by that illustrious navigator. 
 
 Between Botany Bay and Shoalhaven is Illawarra, also known as 
 the Five Islands, one of the most fertile and wildly beautiful districts 
 in the world, which, from the peculiarity of its situation, bounded by 
 the sea for eighteen miles, running north and south, and by a mountain 
 chain which encircles about 150,000 acres, unites the peculiarities of 
 
274 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 both temperate and tropical climates, a sort of Norway or Switzerland, 
 rocks, lakes, fat alluvial valleys, under a southern sun, tempered by 
 breezes from the sea. We descend from the landward side by crossing 
 a range of hills 1,500 feet in height, so precipitous that it is difficult 
 for a horseman to ride down, and, without dismounting, impossible for a 
 loaded dray to descend. 
 
 The communication with Sydney, which Illawarra supplies with large 
 quantities of fruit, vegetables, and agricultural produce, is chiefly carried 
 on by coasters from the small harbour of Wollongong, a favourite resort 
 for invalids. Here is a celebrated show-garden, where may be seen 
 fruits and English watercress, tropical oranges, pomegranates, nectarines, 
 and bananas, and avenues covered with grape-bearing vines of all 
 colours. Here is^Illawarra Lake, too, than which it is scarcely possible 
 to conceive anything more picturesquely beautiful, environed by rocks 
 and tropical vegetation, peopled with bright-coloured birds.* 
 
 At Illawarra the palm and the tree-fern flourish, and from land as 
 fertile, and cultivation as careful, as that of Devonshire, a short walk 
 may bring you to a camp of aborigines sheltering from the warm rain 
 
 BLACKS UNDER GUNVAH. 
 
 * A beautiful and accurate view of this lake was given in Prout's Australian Panorama. 
 
RAILWAY TO JERVIS BAY. 275 
 
 beneath their gunyah, the nearest approach to a hut which these poor 
 creatures have contrived. 
 
 Jervis Bay in the county of St. Vincent where the township of South 
 Huskisson has been founded is eighty miles from Sydney, with an 
 entrance two miles wide, and an inner harbour three leagues in length, 
 safe for ships of the heaviest burden, with access to ample supplies of 
 wood and water, and presents a total change of climate. Unfortunately, 
 this fine port is surrounded by a hopelessly barren country. It has 
 been suggested by Mr. Ralfe, an experienced Australian surveyor, 
 that Jervis Bay should become the terminus of a railway from the 
 Bathurst district. A railway for wool and tallow would be a very 
 doubtful speculation ; but recent events have laid the foundation for 
 more important exports and imports. Perhaps by following the course 
 of streams it would be possible to find workable gradients for a tramway 
 on the Welsh coal-mining or American plan. 
 
 The next ports, Ulladulla and Bateman's Bay, the outlet of the Clyde 
 River, are only accessible for coasters ; but the latter has recently come 
 into notice from the discovery of the gold-diggings, distant only thirty 
 miles : that thirty miles being over a country of so difficult a character 
 that a party with loaded packhorses were three days in crossing it. 
 
 The last harbour in the New South Wales district is Twofold Bay, 
 240 miles from Sydney, on which two townships have been founded, 
 Eden by the government, and Boyd Town by the late Benjamin Boyd, 
 with the funds of a Scotch company which he represented. Eden has 
 never been anything better than a government project at the expense 
 of a few foolish land speculators. Boyd Town enjoyed a brief period 
 of factitious prosperity, when the steamers, whalers, and yacht of the 
 founder lay in harbour. It was at Boyd Town he appeared with almost 
 viceroyal state, when laying the first stone of the never lighted light- 
 house ; and it was there that he landed the island cannibals whom he 
 had purchased from their savage conquerors, with the view of reducing 
 wages by introducing slavery into Australia, rather than encourage 
 shepherd families upon his boundless sheep-runs. 
 
 The steep range of hills which separates Twofold Bay from the vast 
 squatting district of Maneroo has hitherto, in spite of a road constructed 
 at much expense by Mr. Boyd, to a great degree neutralised its advan- 
 tageous position as the only harbour for large ships on a long line of 
 coast. It is still used as a station for shore whalers being almost the 
 only station for that purpose in the colony. There has been a great 
 falling off in the whaling operations of the Sydney merchants. 
 
 The Australian whalers are for the most part from 200 to 300 tons 
 
27G THE THREE COLONIES OP AUSTRALIA. 
 
 burden. All on board, from the captain downwards, are paid by a 
 share of the oil procured, which share is called, in whalemen's parlance, 
 a " lay," and is proportioned of course to the rank and ability of the 
 man. There is one feature of this trade in the Pacific which is not 
 
 generally known the intercourse of those who follow it with the tribes 
 
 of Polynesia. Whaling captains generally seek some of the islands for 
 the purpose of procuring supplies of provisions, or of repairing slight 
 damages sustained at sea ; because, in the first place, they can obtain 
 provisions there at infinitely less cost than in any of the colonial ports ; 
 and, in the second place, they find it easier to keep their men together. 
 Supplies arc frequently procured in boats, without bringing the vessel 
 to an anchor. These supplies, consisting of pigs and fowls, with yams, 
 cocoanuts, bread-fruit, and other productions of a similar nature, are 
 procured by barter : calicoes, hardware, common trinkets, and other 
 matters likely to be prized by the untutored islanders being carried for 
 that purpose. These articles are technically known as " trade." All 
 the precautions which the captains can take are insufficient to prevent 
 occasional desertion ; and extraordinarily numerous as are the islands 
 of the Pacific, there is scarcely one of them which has not one or more 
 runaway sailors domesticated among the people who inhabit it.* 
 
 VICTORIA. 
 
 From Twofold Bay, passing Cape Howe, which receives the point 
 of the imaginary line dividing the provinces of New South Wales and 
 Victoria, no harbour presents itself until we reach Corner Inlet, within 
 which is Alberton, on the River Albert, the capital of the fine district 
 of Gipps's Land; unfortunately it is obstructed by a bar. Then follows 
 Western Port, discovered by George Bass in his whale-boat, a port formed 
 by two islands, Port Phillip, Port Fairy and Portland Bay. Leaving 
 Western Port, we enter the now world-famous Port Phillip, an inland 
 sea, which receives the ships whose cargoes or passengers are destined 
 for the towns of Melbourne and Geelong. 
 
 The entrance to Port Phillip Bay is little more than one mile and 
 a half across. On the one hand Point JSTepean, a low sandy promon- 
 tory, like a rabbit-warren without rabbits, at the base of the cape : 
 beyond rises for a thousand feet Arthur's Seat, a woody range of hills, 
 precipitous towards the sea, with barely room for a road between its foot 
 and the flood-tide. In the distance, on the same margin, Mount Eliza, a 
 
 * The runaway sailors and escaped convicts dwelling in the islands of the Pacific have 
 been estimated at many thousands, but great numbers have been attracted from their retreats by 
 the Californian and Australian gold diggings. 
 
PORT PHILLIP BAY. 277 
 
 range of hills, with extensive outline, mark the bounds of Port Phillip Bay. 
 On the other side the lowlands of Indented Head and Shortland Bluff 
 present a dull scene, sprinkled with funereal shiak or " she oak trees." 
 
 The rush of waters through the narrow canal into this Great Lake, 
 nearly fifty miles in length by twenty-five in breadth, which forms Port 
 Phillip, in certain states of the wind and tide, creates a foaming-, stormy 
 whirl of water not a little alarming to the inexperienced landsman. 
 Within the bay the waters calm down, and a beautiful and picturesque 
 scene is unrolled. 
 
 At Port Phillip Bay the great dividing range which runs parallel 
 at varying distances with the coast from Wide Bay, penetrating New 
 South Wales under various names (the Blue Mountains near Sydney, 
 the Australian Alps in Gipps's Land), seems to sink into the sea across 
 Bass's Straits, where its course is marked by a chain of islands, and 
 reappears with the same character in Van Diemen's Land. 
 
 Thus it is that, sailing up the bay, the scenery changes : the rugged 
 cliffs and alpine ranges of the east coast give way to undulating grassy 
 plains, sprinkled with picturesque hills. The western arm of Port Phillip, 
 extending about twenty miles, opens the course to Geelong. In sailing 
 up the bay the hills around Geelong appear, covered with cultivation. 
 
 Ships of burden for Melbourne cast anchor in Hobson's Bay, at the 
 mouth of the River Yarra, off Williams Town, which is built on a flat 
 promontory, with three sides to the water. Williams Town was laid out 
 by Sir Richard Bourke as the seaport of Port Phillip, for which the 
 situation affords advantages ; but the want of good drinking water has 
 hitherto hindered it from making any progress since the years of the 
 mania when town lots were sold there at a great price. It contains the 
 harbour-master's residence, two or three public-houses, a few butcher's 
 shops, a clergyman's house, and a small temporary church. An aqueduct 
 or water-pipes would soon make Williams Town an important place. 
 
 The shores of the Yarra are so even with Hobson's Bay that from 
 the anchorage the entrance can scarcely be distinguished. 
 
 From Hobson's Bay, taking a boat for a mile, a walk or ride of a 
 mile and a half will bring the traveller to Melbourne ; but by the winding- 
 channel of the river, which is just wide and deep enough to admit the 
 steamers which ply constantly from Sydney and Geelong, the distance 
 is seven miles. 
 
 " Passing the junction of the Maryburrong, or Salt-water River, on 
 the bank of which are beautiful villa sites, the Melbourne race-course, 
 and several establishments for boiling down sheep and cattle into tallow, 
 which give out a most villanous odour, the city, of which only an 
 
278 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 indistinct glimpse was to be observed from the bay, comes in view ; 
 the cathedral, a heavy building, without a tower or a steeple ; and the 
 government offices, built of stone, without ornament, on the highest 
 point of the hill." The voyage ends in a sort of pool where steamers 
 can find room to turn round and take up a berth alongside the quay. 
 A breakwater has been erected on the foundation of a natural ledge of 
 rocks which effectually divides the fresh water from the salt. 
 
 Melbourne occupies two sides of a valley, East Hill and West Hill, 
 of very fertile soil. Inferior in port accommodation and in picturesque 
 beauty to Sydney, it has the advantage of being in the midst of pro- 
 ductive corn-fields, gardens, vineyards, and pastures. 
 
 The principal street is a mile long, crossed at right angles by other 
 streets of half that length : a macadamised causeway runs down the 
 middle, leaving a strip on each side to be converted into mud in the 
 rainy season. The footpaths for the most part are of gravel, with kerb- 
 stones. So far there is an improvement. Some years ago a traveller was 
 shocked the day after his arrival by seeing among the announcements in 
 a local paper, "Another Child drowned in the Streets of Melbourne." 
 
 The buildings present the irregularity incident to all colonial towns ; 
 occasionally great gaps of building land were to be found representing 
 investments made eight or ten years ago by absentee speculators. But 
 the gold revolution has covered every vacant space with weather-board 
 huts and tents. The chief lion [work of Melbourne is a stone bridge 
 across the Yarra, of the same size and proportions as the centre arch of 
 London-bridge, which cost an enormous sum. 
 
 The population was about twenty thousand in 1851 ; what it is at 
 present it is impossible to say. It is to be feared that houses will 
 be built more rapidly than the present streets will be drained and 
 rendered wholesome. The lower part of Melbourne is subject to sudden 
 floods from the falling of rains and melting of snow in the range of hills 
 in which the Yarra takes its rise. An Australian flood^is " short, sharp, 
 and decisive." 
 
 From the summit of either East or "West Hill, by which the valley 
 of Melbourne is formed, may be seen Mount Macedon, the crowning 
 mountain of a range of the same name thirty-five miles from the city, 
 three thousand feet in height, covered with open forests, and the richest 
 vegetation of Australia. Thence may be viewed the richest mountain 
 in the world, the Mount Byng of its discoverer Mitchell, the Mount 
 Alexander in gold-digging records. To the north of Mount Alexander 
 is Mount Hope, from the summit of which the weary eyes of Mitchell 
 were gladdened by aU the sylvan pastoral glories of " Australia Felix." 
 
MOUNT MACEDON. 279 
 
 Fifty-four miles from Melbourne, by sea or land, with access by 
 steamers several times in the day, is Geelong, the western arm of Port 
 Phillip, which " opens on the larboard hand of a vessel immediately 
 upon clearing the shoals at the entrance of the Great Lake, standing 
 between the miniature Bay of Corio with its picturesque green hills 
 and sheltered water, and the River Barwon, which flows into the Lake 
 Connemarra." 
 
 The situation, in the centre of one of the best grazing and agricul- 
 tural districts, near a gold-field, will probably render it an important 
 town. A bar at the mouth of the harbour at present restricts the entry 
 of vessels drawing more than ten feet water ; but this, it is thought, 
 may be removed by dredging. Should this be the case, the province 
 of Victoria will enjoy the advantage of two excellent available ports, 
 and have two great towns. In the other provinces there seems no 
 probability of any rival competing with Sydney or Port Adelaide. 
 
 Forty miles from Geelong the Buninyong range forms part of the 
 second series of mountains, after the termination of the Australian Alps. 
 At Ballarat, one of the spurs of Buninyong, in the midst of plains of 
 unequalled fertility, the first gold-field in Yictoria was worked. 
 
 In proceeding along the coast to the point where an imaginary line 
 divides Victoria from South Australia, the whole coast line of the former 
 being about 600 miles, the most important harbour is found in Portland 
 Bay, 255 miles from Melbourne. Three streams, none of them navi- 
 gable, fall into this bay, which is little better than a roadstead, and very 
 dangerous when the south-easterly gales, which prevail during the 
 summer months, are blowing. The government has been compelled to 
 pay one pound a ton more chartering for vessels to Portland Bay than 
 to Hobson's Bay. The north shore is low ; the western rises in bold 
 cliffs, upwards of 150 feet. 
 
 It was at Portland Bay that one of the earliest settlements was 
 formed by one of Messrs. Henty's whaling parties, on which the land 
 explorers came, to their great surprise, after many weeks' journey 
 through an unknown, uninhabited country. 
 
 The Portland Bay district receives streams from the Grampians, a 
 range running to the northward, of which Mount William, the extreme 
 eastern point, is 4,500 feet in height. Mitchell ascended Mount 
 Abrupt, on the south-eastern extremity of the Grampian range, and 
 beheld from the edge of an almost perpendicular precipice, 1,700 feet 
 in height, vast open plains, bordered with forests and studded with 
 lakes. " Certainly a land more favourable could not be found. Flocks 
 might be turned out upon its hills, or the plough at once set agoing 
 
280 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 
 GOLD-WASHING AT BALLARAT. 
 
 upon its plains. No primeval forests require to be first rooted out 
 here, although there is as much timber as could be needed for utility 
 or ornament." Australia Felix is one of the few regions in which the 
 sanguine expectations of the discoverers have been realised. 
 
 It will be found on examining a map of the province of Victoria 
 and of the Melbourne district and a most excellent one has been pub- 
 lished by Mr. Ham, of Melbourne that it has three natural divisions. 
 The central division, including Australia Felix and Mount Alexander, 
 finds its natural port and capital in Melbourne. The western division, 
 including Portland Bay, for want of a better harbour, finds its outlet 
 chiefly at Geelong. The eastern division, including Gipps's Land, finds 
 partly an outlet at Western Port ; but Gipps's Land must export and 
 import through Alberton. 
 
 Victoria has many streams and rivulets, mentioned in our table of the 
 counties at page 255, but no rivers navigable in the European sense of 
 the term. 
 
 Gipps's Land was discovered by Count Strzelecki, C.B., who 
 
GIPPS'S LAND. 281 
 
 is equally eminent as a scientific traveller and philanthropist. The 
 honour has been claimed for a Mr. Macmillan, who communicated his 
 discovery to his employers some months before the count published his 
 report. This is probable. Stockmen have been the first explorers 
 of most of the finest pasture districts of Australia; but it is contrary 
 to the custom and interest of squatters to make such discoveries public. 
 In the count's report to Sir George Gipps he says : " Seventeen 
 miles S.S.E. from Lake Omeo, a beautiful stream, the first of the 
 eastern waters, soon assumed the breadth of a river, and appeared to be 
 a guide into a country hitherto unoccupied by white men. A hilly 
 country closes the valley, narrows the river banks, and brings the 
 explorer across the mountain ridges to an elevation whence there is a 
 view of the sea on the distant horizon; to the south-east an undulating 
 country, with mountain ridges to the north-east. Approaching or 
 receding from the river, according to the windings of its bordering 
 hills, the descent into a noble forest is effected. A series of rich pas- 
 ture valleys, prairies, and open forests are intersected and studded 
 with rivers, lakes, and wooded hills ; the pastures opening out and 
 sloping towards the sea." Strzelecki describes Gipps's Land, viewed 
 from Mount Gisborne, as resembling a semi-lunar amphitheatre, walled 
 from north-east to south-west by lofty picturesque mountain scenery, 
 and sloping towards the south-east down to the sea. 
 
 In 1840 Strzelecki was engaged for twenty-six days in cutting his 
 way through the scrub-covered ranges between Gipps's Land and Western 
 Port, was obliged to abandon his packhorses, and he and his party did 
 not escape without imminent danger both from famine and exhaustion. 
 
 In 1844 Mr. Hawdon, with a party of twelve able-bodied men, 
 including black native police, was instructed by the government to open 
 up a practicable route for cattle from Western Port to Gipps's Land. 
 He has published a very interesting account of his expedition, with 
 some spirited illustrations. He was engaged thirty days in the task, 
 and he, too, very nearly perished in the scrub ; yet he considered him- 
 self well repaid for the famine and fatigue he had endured " by the sight 
 of the fine plains Barney's Plains of the map beyond the Glengarry." 
 The good country lies upwards of fifty miles from the government 
 township of Victoria founded on the Albert River. 
 
 It is the opinion of Mr. Hawdon that the greater part of the scrub 
 country through which he travelled would be capable of cultivation if 
 cleared. This scrubby tract is nowhere found in Victoria except 
 between Gipps's Land and Western Port. 
 
 It was while performing this journey that he had an opportunity of 
 
282 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 closely examining the shy and curious lyre bird (Menura superba), 
 which is peculiar to Australia, and only found on the south-eastern 
 
 LTllE B1KD. 
 
 coast. The settlers sometimes called it a pheasant, but it is in reality one 
 of the thrush family. 
 
 " I was awakened," writes Mr. Hawdon, " at sunrise by the singing 
 of numerous pheasants. These are the mocking-birds of Australia, 
 imitating all sounds that are heard in the bush in great perfection ; they 
 are about the size of a small fowl, of a dirty brown colour, approaching 
 to black in some parts ; their greatest attraction consists in the graceful 
 tail of the cock bird, which is something like a lyre. But little is known 
 of their habits, for it is seldom they are found near the dwellings of 
 civilised man. 
 
 " Hearing one scratching in the scrub close to the dray, I crawled 
 out, gun in hand, intending to provide a fresh meal for breakfast. The 
 
THE MOCKING BIRDS OP AUSTRALIA. 283 
 
 sun having just risen, inclined it to commence its morning song ; but 
 the natural note (bleu bleu) was almost lost among the multitude of imita- 
 tive sounds through which it ran croaking like a crow, then screaming 
 like a cockatoo, chattering like a parrot, and howling like the native dog 
 until a stranger might have fancied that he was in the midst of them 
 all. Creeping cautiously round a point of scrub, I came in view of a large 
 cock bird, strutting round in a circle, scratching up the leaves and 
 mould with his formidable claws, while feeding upon a small leech which 
 is the torment of travellers, and spreading open his beauteous tail to catch 
 the rays of the sun as it broke through the dense forest. As I raised 
 my gun a piece went off within six feet of me : it was one of the black 
 police who had blown the bird's head off that had been amusing me for 
 more than an hour." 
 
 These birds when disturbed never rise high, but run off into the 
 densest scrub, scarcely allowing a sportsman time to raise his piece be- 
 fore they are out of his reach. Even the aborigines, who are so skilful 
 in creeping up to game of all kinds, seldom kill more than three brace 
 in a day. Their song is not often heard during rain, or when the sun 
 is obscured. " The nest is about three feet in circumference, and one 
 foot deep, having an orifice on one side : they lay but one egg, of slate 
 colour with black spots. The female is a very unattractive bird, having 
 but a poor tail, nothing like the male." 
 
 Gipps's Land, with its boundary of snow-capped precipitous moun- 
 tains, its fine plains, many lakes, and temperate climate, may be con- 
 sidered as one of the several contrasts of soil, climate, and vegetation, 
 of which Darling Downs, Moreton Bay, Illawarra, and Bathurst, each 
 afford different examples. 
 
 CHAPTER XXY. 
 
 SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 
 
 River Glenelg, flowing into the sea, marks the natural boundary 
 -- between the province of Victoria and that of South Australia, 
 thence embracing a seaboard of about fifteen hundred miles, into which 
 no river navigable by vessels of burden flows, and only two ports have 
 as yet been found capable of safely accommodating ships of burden. 
 As a compensation, inland journeys may be performed with little 
 obstruction, on horseback or by drays, for hundreds of miles. 
 
 The first important indentation in to the line of the coast is Encounter 
 
 s 2 
 
284 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Bay ; but there are coasting ports at Rivoli Bay and Guichen Bay, at 
 which wool has been shipped. Hopes were once confidently entertained 
 of finding an entrance from the sea to the River Murray, but it has 
 unfortunately proved that this, the noblest stream in Australia, ends in 
 the Lake Alexandrina, and is divided from the ocean by a barrier of land 
 and a surf-beaten sea margin. 
 
 Cape Jervis forms the apex of the county of Hindmarsh, which is 
 for the most part occupied by industrious settlers, although the pro- 
 montory itself is rather barren, and only known for its shore whale 
 fishery. On rounding this cape, Kingscote Harbour and Nepean Bay 
 appear on the opposite shores of Kangaroo Island excellent harbours, 
 and one of them well supplied with water. Unfortunately they lead to 
 nothing. The buildings erected by the South Australian Company in 
 1837 were permitted to fall into decay. Recently a few stock stations 
 have been taken up on the island, and about one hundred persons are 
 resident there. 
 
 The kangaroos and the emus, so numerous in Flinders' time, have 
 disappeared ; and the large white eagles that stooped upon his men, 
 mistaking them for kangaroos, have become rare. 
 
 Entering St. Vincent's Gulf, and passing Holdfast Bay, where 
 Governor Hindmarsh disembarked, and Mrs. Hindmarsh's piano was 
 floated ashore through the surf for it is no harbour at all, but a 
 dangerous open roadstead passing a number of seaside villages, Port 
 Adelaide is reached. By dint of dredging, and with the advantage of 
 quays, this has become a safe and convenient harbour ; and, with the 
 aid of the intended railroad, will afford the city of Adelaide nearly as 
 much convenience as if it had been planted on a navigable river, or on 
 a deep harbour ; that was impossible, since no site exists in South 
 Australia combining a good harbour, agricultural land, and fresh water. 
 No other port presents itself in St. Vincent's Gulf, unless we except 
 Port Wakefield, to which vessels from Swansea with cargoes of coal for 
 smelting copper have recently been consigned. It has been proposed 
 to construct a tramway between this port and the Burra Burra mines, 
 and an attempt would have been made to execute this project if the 
 gold diggings had not temporarily withdrawn all English speculation 
 from South Australia. 
 
 The whole sea face of York Peninsula and Spencer's Gulf is 
 unfavourable to the formation of a port and town, until we arrive at 
 Port Lincoln, on the western arm of Spencer's Gulf, where a natural 
 harbour could receive the largest squadron that ever went to sea a 
 landlocked estuary, protected at its mouth by Boston Island, with three 
 
PORT LINCOLN OBELISK TO FLINDERS. 285 
 
 arms or bays, Spalding Cove, Port Lincoln proper, and Boston Bay. But 
 these harbours, viewed with so much admiration by seamen, are silent; 
 no busy population labours on the shores, a few scattered flocks and 
 herds are all that the mainland supports ; and the allotments, which 
 were competed for so eagerly in the years of land, mania, are left to 
 nature and a few wandering cattle. 
 
 On entering Port Lincoln, a white obelisk, on the summit of a hill, 
 may be seen, which bears the following inscription by Sir John and 
 Lady Franklin : 
 
 THIS PLACE, 
 
 FROM WHICH THE GULP AND ITS SHORES WERE FIRST SURVEYED, 
 ON 26 FEB., 1802, BY 
 
 MATTHEW FLINDERS, R.N., 
 
 COMMANDER OP H.M.S. "INVESTIGATOR," 
 AND THE DISCOVERER OF THE COUNTRY NOW CALLED 
 
 SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 
 
 WAS, ON 12 JANUARY, 1841, WITH THE SANCTION OP 
 
 LIEUT.-COL. GAWLER, K.H., 
 
 THEN GOVERNOR OF THE COUNTRY, 
 SET APART FOR, AND IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE GOVERNMENT OF 
 
 CAPTAIN G. GREY, 
 
 ADORNED WITH, THIS MONUMENT, 
 
 TO THE PERPETUAL MEMORY OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS NAVIGATOR, 
 HIS HONOURED COMMANDER,* 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN FRANKLIN, CAPTAIN, R.N., K.C.H., R.R., 
 
 LIEUT.-GOVERNOR OF VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. 
 
 To pursue the coast line of the province of Victoria to 132 of E. 
 longitude, where it ends in a desert, would be useless, as no rivers or 
 harbours break the line of this almost uninhabited coast. 
 
 Equally absurd would it be to state as South Australian advocates 
 who do not know the value of truth frequently do that South Australia 
 contains an area of 300,000 square miles, or nearly twenty millions of 
 acres, without adding that a very large proportion of this vast space is 
 occupied by stony deserts and lakes of mud. Nevertheless, enough of 
 land remains admirably fertile and well watered to support a large 
 population, much larger than is likely to occupy it for a long series of 
 years. In the most inhospitable regions, copper, lead, silver, and 
 iron have been found ; and there is no reason to doubt that gold will 
 eventually be discovered. 
 
 The district in a north-westerly direction, between Port Lincoln 
 and Streaky Bay, has been but imperfectly explored, and, with the 
 
 * Sir John Franklin served under Flinders in the Terra Australis Voyage of Discovery, 
 
286 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 exception of a few detached squatters' stations, settlement has not 
 extended beyond the peninsula formed between the River Murray and 
 St. Vincent's Gulf, the furthest inland township being founded by the 
 Burra Burra mine, ninety miles from the capital. 
 
 South Australia is intersected by three mountain ranges, Mount 
 Lofty, Mount Barker, and Wakefield. 
 
 The Mount Lofty range runs from north-west, and after attaining a 
 height of about 2,000 feet, twelve miles east of Adelaide, falls to the 
 south-west, terminating in low cliffs on the seashore near Ockaparinga. 
 
 From these hills Adelaide, in the valley of the Torrens, presents a 
 singular scene a green oasis in the midst of a bed of sand, running 
 like a riband along the sea by which it has been upheaved. 
 
 Capital farms occupy the foot of Mount Lofty, with a sure market 
 in Adelaide. A steep road leads across the hills or mountains ; on the 
 other side rich but not extensive valleys are found ; in one of these, 
 twenty-four miles from Adelaide, is Hansdorf, one of three German 
 settlements to which South Australia owes much in vine culture and 
 sheep management. Beyond, parallel with Mount Lofty, is the Mount 
 Barker range, the summit being 800 feet above the level of the sur- 
 rounding country, which is about 1,600 feet above the level of the sea. 
 The summit forms table-land, on which there are some good cattle and 
 sheep stations. This is the range which divides the waters that flow 
 on the one side into the Murray and Lake Alexandrina, and on the 
 other into Spencer's Gulf. 
 
 To the north of Adelaide a long tract of level, well- watered country 
 extends, which, at about one hundred miles' distance, opens into a series 
 of high, open downs. 
 
 The River Torrens, which formed so prominent a feature in early 
 puffs and pictures of the colony, is not a river at all, but, like many of 
 the misnamed rivers of Australia, simply a watercourse, which during 
 the rainy ^eason rushes along furiously, ending in a marsh ; but when 
 the rains cease, the "river" becomes a mere chain of pools, unreplenished 
 with mountain springs, which shrink daily with the heat, like a farm- 
 yard rain-filled pond, such as are common on the wolds of Lincolnshire. 
 Colonel Light saw the Torrens when full of water, and that and the 
 beauty of the valley decided his choice. Fortunately water is to be 
 obtained in Adelaide, by sinking wells, at a very moderate expense ; 
 and the same advantage is found on farms, and in the slopes of the 
 neighbouring hills. But in this instance of the Torrens, as in many 
 others, the injudicious puffs of speculators reacted and threw undeserved 
 discredit on the solid advantages of a very fine colony. 
 
THE RIVERS MURRUMBIDGEE AND MURRAY, 287 
 
 The one great river of Australia is the Murray, which, rising in the 
 Australian Alps, where its sources were discovered by Count Strzelecki 
 near Mount Kosciusko, in Victoria, receives the waters of the Murrum- 
 bidgee, the Lachlan, and the Darling, and presents, at certain times of 
 the year, so full and flowing a stream that the early colonists expected 
 to draw down its waters the commerce of the squatting districts of Yass 
 and Albury, in New South Wales ; for they calculated that the cheap- 
 ness of an unbroken water communication would draw away the dray 
 traffic, which was then, and is now, carried to Sydney. But the uncer- 
 tain supply of water, and the obstacles arising from rocks and snags, 
 have hitherto defeated this project. 
 
 The Murrumbidgee rises in the dividing range of mountains in the 
 Maneroo district, two hundred and fifty miles S.W. of the city of 
 Sydney, then flows onwards for five hundred miles, until it unites with 
 the Lachlan at a point where the brave Sturt took a boat and descended 
 to the sea in thirty-six days, when he discovered South Australia, return- 
 ing in forty days thus earning the title of the father of South Australia. 
 
 The early course of the Murrumbidgee is between hills steeply 
 sloping, covered with herbage and creeping vines, down to the water's 
 edge. " As I sat in a boat," writes a lady to the author, " I could see 
 above me small, very small cattle, in single file now lost in the foliage, 
 now reappearing, as by zigzag well-worn paths they descended to the 
 water to drink. So lofty and steep were the cliffs that I fancied they 
 would fall down upon me. At length they made their appearance at 
 the edge of the stream, drinking beneath bowers of overhanging creepers 
 a huge bull and a mob of portly cows." 
 
 The space encircled between this river and the Murray (the Murray 
 was formerly named the Hume by its discoverers, Hovel and Hume) 
 is one of the fine squatting grounds of New South Wales. Higher up 
 the stream the hills disappear, and long alluvial flats succeed. The 
 Murrumbidgee spreads and loses some of its waters in the marshes of 
 the Lachlan. 
 
 It is the peculiar character of the Murray, the Darling, and the Mur- 
 rumbidgee, that after receiving the waters of the Maranoa, the Balorme, 
 the Grwydir, the Namoi, the Castlereagh, the Macquarie, and the Bogan, 
 they flow hundreds of miles without receiving any tributaries. 
 
 The navigation of the River Murray has been the subject of a com- 
 mission appointed by Sir Henry Young, the present Governor of South 
 Australia ; and, although the financial calculations of the commission 
 have been questioned by a committee of the South Australian Legisla- 
 tive Council, it is presumed their facts may be relied on. They are 
 
288 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 quoted from the abstract of a gentleman (Mr. White) who was endea- 
 vouring to obtain steamers to open the navigation of this river : - 
 
 " In August, 1850, the Legislative Council of that province voted '4,000 
 to be equally divided between the two first iron steamers of not less than forty- 
 horse power, and not exceeding two feet draught of water when loaded, that 
 shall successfully navigate the waters of the River Murray from the Goolwa to the 
 junction of the Darling, computed to be about five hundred and fifty-one miles.' 
 
 " 1st. The natural seamouth of the Murray cannot be entered, owing to the 
 great surf that is constantly breaking on the Encounter Bay coast, and conse- 
 quently any vessels intended to navigate the river would have to be constructed 
 on the shores of the Lake Alexandrina. 
 
 " 2nd. This lake, into which the river empties itself previous to its passage to 
 the sea, is about thirty miles long by ten broad, and from six to eighteen fathoms 
 deep, and fresh water is found about the middle. 
 
 " 3rd. The river preserves an uniform width of about three hundred yards to 
 the junction of the Darling, which latter river is about one hundred yards wide, 
 and the width of the Murray is not materially altered onwards to the junction cf 
 the Murrumbidgee and the Lachlan. The soundings that have been made from 
 the Lake to the Darling, in the months of September and October, give an average 
 depth of two fathoms, or rather, this may be said to be the shallowest. 
 
 "The Murray is subject, like all the other streams in the country, to annual 
 floods. It begins to rise towards the end of June, and continues rising until the 
 end of January, generally from ten to twelve feet. 
 
 " The only impediments that occur are in the shape of snags or fallen trees, 
 which in some places would have to be removed ; but for this the assistance of the 
 natives could be obtained, and up to the junction of the Darling they present no 
 serious obstacle. This point being the limit of the province, the river beyond has 
 not been surveyed; but from those who have descended it so far as the town of 
 Albury (a distance of only three hundred and sixty miles from Sydney) it has 
 been ascertained that, before steam-vessels of the smallest size could navigate it, 
 the snags would have to be removed, though a canoe, drawing eleven inches of 
 water, went the entire distance at a time when the river was lower than has been 
 known within the memory of the 'white man.' From a point in the channel 
 of the Goolwa, which is a stream issuing from the lake, and also one of the 
 mouths of the Murray, it is proposed to lay down a railroad of seven miles in 
 length to a point in Encounter Bay where a safe anchorage may be effected. 
 In the event of any unforeseen difficulties occurring in the construction of Port 
 Elliot, it would be necessary to make a road from Morundee to the city of 
 Adelaide (a distance of about sixty miles), which road would pass through some 
 of the richest districts of South Australia. 
 
 " With reference to the country of the Lower Murray, the estimate of the 
 traffic is about 2,000 tons annually, made up of ores from the mines, green, dairy, 
 and other produce. 
 
 " On either side of the river to the Darling there are extensive cattle-runs, 
 all of which are taken up. 
 
 " Proceeding up the river from this point, we enter upon the province of 
 Victoria, and the extensive sheep-runs of the Lachlan, the Lower Darling, and 
 the Murrumbidgee, which in June, I860, according to the New South Wales 
 
STEAM TRAFFIC ON THE MURRAY. 289 
 
 statistical and other authentic accounts, were stocked by 1,155,774 sheep, 306,861 
 horned cattle, 10,093 horses, and 1,872 pigs. There is in Australia an annual 
 increase of 40 per cent, on sheep, and 25 per cent, on cattle. According to the 
 commissioners' report, the increase by the close of 1852, allowing for sales, &c., 
 will have amounted to, say, 2,500,000 sheep, 500,000 cattle, the former yielding 
 about 3,384 tons wool, washed and unwashed; and if a quarter of the annual 
 increase were boiled down, say 250,000 sheep, averaging 28 Ibs. tallow, 3,125 tons; 
 and 31,000 cattle, averaging 154 Ibs. tallow, 2,130 tons. Total annual freights, 
 8,603 tons, independent of hides, skins, and other matters, at present thrown aside 
 on account of the great cost of transport. 
 
 " For return cargo it is estimated that no less than 5,000 rations would offer, 
 say 1,450 tons, with at least an equal quantity of slops, iron, paling, and other 
 goods, say 2,900 tons. The produce from those remote districts is at present con- 
 veyed to Melbourne and Geelong in bullock-drays, travelling about ten miles a 
 day, occupying many weeks in its transit to the port." 
 
 In our opinion speculations involving so trifling an amount of capital 
 as a couple of small iron steam-boats should be undertaken and managed 
 by colonists or the provincial government, and would be, if worth 
 doing at all. 
 
 The navigation of the Murray is an enterprise, if feasible, within 
 the means of a party of colonists, although the clearing of the river is a 
 national and provincial work, to which this country might be called 
 upon to contribute ; but the less absentees have to do with small colonial 
 speculations the better for their finances and the credit of the colony. 
 
 In the Murray scrub a beautiful but barren belt of shrubs and 
 plants from fifteen to twenty miles in breadth, which runs parallel to 
 the river for many miles between Lake Alexandrina and the Great 
 Bend in lat. 34 S. a great number of the rare birds and animals 
 of Australia are to be seen; amongst others, the leipoa, or mound- 
 building bird, improperly named by the colonists the wild turkey, is 
 found in great numbers ; and the satin, or bower bird, which builds a 
 bower for its mate so curiously arched and adorned with shells and 
 shining stones, that when Mr. Gould first discovered one he took it for 
 the playground of some aboriginal child. The leipoa, which w r as first 
 brought before the attention of the scientific w r orld by Mr. Gould, realises 
 the ancient fable of the ostrich, and buries its eggs, to be hatched by the 
 fermentation of a mound of decomposed leaves and earth. 
 
 Mr. Gould observes in his great work, from which all our objects 
 of natural history have been, by permission, copied : 
 
 "This family of birds (Tallegalla, Leipoa, and Megapodius) forms 
 part of a great family of birds inhabiting Australia, New Guinea, the 
 Celebes, and the Philippine Islands, whose habits and economy differ 
 from those of every other group of birds which now exists upon the 
 
290 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 surface of our globe. In their structure they are most nearly allied to 
 the Galllnacece, while in some of their actions and in their mode of 
 flight they much resemble the Rallidce : the small size of their brain, 
 coupled with the extraordinary means employed for the incubation of 
 their eggs, indicates an extremely low degree of organisation. 
 Three species inhabiting Australia, viz., Leipoa ocellatta, Tallegalla, 
 and Megapodius tumulus, although referable to distinct genera, have 
 many habits in common, particularly in their mode of incubation, each 
 and all depositing their eggs in mounds of earth and leaves, which, 
 becoming heated either by fermentation of the vegetable matter, or by 
 the sun's rays, form a kind of natural hatching apparatus, from which 
 the young at length emerge, fully feathered, capable of sustaining life 
 by their own unaided efforts. 
 
 The male bird of the leipoa (according to a letter to Mr. Gould 
 from Sir George Grey, the present Governor of New Zealand) weighs 
 about four pounds and a half ; they never fly if they can help it, and 
 roost on trees at night. The mounds are from twelve to thirteen feet 
 in circumference at the base, and from two to three feet in height. To 
 construct the mound a nearly circular hole of about eighteen inches in 
 diameter is scratched in the ground to the depth of seven or eight 
 inches, and filled with dead leaves, dead grass, and similar materials ; 
 over this layer a mound of sand, mixed with dry grass, &c., is thrown ; 
 and, finally, the whole assumes the form of a dome. When an egg is 
 to be deposited, the top is laid open, and a hole scraped in the centre 
 to within two or three inches of the bottom of the layer of dead leaves ; 
 the egg is placed in the sand just at the edge of the hole, in a vertical 
 position, with the smaller end downwards ; the sand is then thrown in 
 again until the mound assumes its original form. " Egg after egg is 
 thus deposited up to eight, arranged on the same plane in a circle, with 
 a few inches of sand between each. The cock assists the hen in opening 
 and covering up the mound. The native name on the Murray Eiver is 
 
 marrah-ko; in Western Australia the name of the bird is ngow 
 
 ngoweer, meaning a tuft of feathers." 
 
 The Megapodius, of which we give an engraving, was found by Mr. 
 John M'Gillivray, during a survey of Endeavour Straits, to construct a 
 much larger mound, 24 feet in its utmost height, and 150 feet in 
 circumference at the base. 
 
 South Australia has been divided into counties, which are more 
 recognised as distinctive boundaries than in the other colonies, were 
 the first colonisation was effected by sheep. 
 
 These counties are eleven in number, viz. 1. Adelaide ; 2. Hind- 
 
SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 
 
 291 
 
 MEGAPODIUS, OR MOUND-BUILDING BIRD. 
 
 marsh; 3. Gawler ; 4. Light; 5. Sturt; 6. Eyre; 7. Stanley; 8. Flin- 
 ders; 9. Russell; 10. Robe; 11. Grey. 
 
 The county of Adelaide is that in which cultivation is most exten- 
 sively carried on, the other districts being chiefly occupied for grazing, 
 as the difficulty of getting crops to market prevents sellers from raising 
 more than for their own consumption. But in every favourable situa- 
 tion vineyards are making great progress. 
 
 Port Adelaide has a population of 2,000, who find occupation in the 
 extensive movements of a large export and import trade. The primi- 
 tive appearance of the Mangrove Creek, through which the disconsolate 
 first colonists waded, has disappeared. 
 
 A road of seven miles, through sterile, sandy ground, leads to the 
 city, which is traversed by conveyances of all kinds, from the heavy 
 dray to the omnibus and smart dog-cart. Crossing the Torrens by a 
 wooden bridge, one of four which is occasionally swept away by the 
 torrents, after performing a sinecure duty for many months, the city of 
 Adelaide appears in the midst of trees, often full of most rare and 
 curious birds, which migrate periodically from the colder to the hotter 
 climates, in a warm, pretty, and dusty valley. Adelaide, although very 
 unlike a city according to European notions, presents a much more 
 pleasing appearance than Melbourne, which is crowded into a narrow 
 valley, without squares, park, or boulevard. In the park lands 
 surrounding and intersecting the straggling streets of the former, which 
 are as picturesque as Wiesbaden or Cheltenham, although less finished, 
 
292 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Colonel Gawler encouraged the blacks to camp by frequent feasts of 
 flour and mutton, aud there strangers had an opportunity of seeing, 
 sometimes to their amusement, oftener to their surprise, their peculiar 
 customs, habits and sports. Many pretty cottages are to be found in 
 ,the suburbs, as neat and highly finished as in England. 
 
 South Adelaide is considered the commercial quarter of the town, 
 and contains the principal streets, one of which is 130 feet wide, and 
 Government House, which stands in the centre of a domain of ten acres. 
 
 Hindley-street is the Regent-street of Adelaide, and has the distinc- 
 tion of being paved. For want of this luxury of civilisation, coupled with 
 the nature of the soil, Adelaide is terribly afflicted with dust, at all times 
 a nuisance, which is indeed common to all Australian towns. Sydney 
 has at certain times of the year its brickfielders. In addition to the park 
 lands, which occupy a breadth of half a mile round the two divisions of the 
 city, a cemetery and a racecourse are among its out-of-door ornaments. 
 
 In the surrounding suburbs many pretty villages have been founded, 
 both inland and on the shore. The system of selling land regularly 
 in eighty -acre lots has, in some degree, neutralised the disadvantage of 
 the large absentee proprietorships and the special surveys, which have 
 monopolised so much of the limited extent of agricultural land. 
 
 There is one point in which the South Australians possess an 
 unquestionable superiority over the other two colonies, and that is 
 their local literature. With the exception of the Sydney Morniny 
 Herald, which is the Times of the southern hemisphere, the news- 
 papers and periodicals are very superior in style of getting up and in 
 matter to those of New South Wales and Port Phillip. This superiority 
 is especially marked in the South Australian almanacs, which contain a 
 fund of useful information on the statistics, the agriculture, the horti- 
 culture, and the mining progress of that colony. 
 
 Before the check occasioned by the gold discoveries, sheep stations 
 had been formed as far north as Mount Brown, toward the Darling, 
 near the eastern boundary. The whole of York Peninsula had been 
 occupied, and, in the country westward of Spencer's Gulf, flockmasters 
 had penetrated to Anxious Bay, on the Australian Bight ; and townships 
 had been founded at Rivoli Bay, in the county of Grey, and Guichen 
 Bay, in the county of Robe, whence a coasting trade had been opened. 
 
 Ever since 1843 South Australia has been a corn -exporting 
 country, although with great fluctuations : in that year 38,480 bushels 
 were exported; in the following year the quantity increased to 132,000 
 bushels ; but the low price, 2s. 9d. a bushel, reduced the cultivation by 
 ten thousand acres. In 1845 the price continued low, and cultivation 
 

SHEEP STATIONS. 
 
 293 
 
 was further reduced ; but high prices at the end of the year increased 
 cultivation to 36,000 acres in 1847. And thus, according to price, 
 cultivation ebbed and flowed, constantly making more progress as small 
 settlers became landholders, and became more steady. As a general 
 rule it may be asserted that miners are situated in barren districts, and 
 obliged to draw their grain and vegetables from some considerable 
 distance. The system of eighty-acre lots enables colonists of the culti- 
 vating class to plant themselves upon land at the most convenient 
 distance for supplying the mines. These same cottage farmers also 
 derived great advantage from contracts for conveying ore from the 
 mine to the port, and coals and wood to the smelting establishments, in 
 their bullock-drays. 
 
 In 1850 the whole original scheme of the colony had disappeared : 
 cultivation was entirely in the hands of the working classes ; the capi- 
 talists and educated were engaged either as squatters, in commerce, or 
 in mining speculations. The remains of the old ideas were only to be 
 found in a little grandiloquent speechmaking, and, better still, in some 
 very beautiful gardens. There were a few fortunate purchasers of town 
 lots in the main streets who made and retained very handsome fortunes. 
 
 BONDED MtEMtCOBlUS, OR ANT-EATEft 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 MINES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 
 
 UP to 1850 South Australia was considered the mineral district, par 
 excellence, of Australia. In the old colony of New South Wales 
 indications of copper mines had been discovered many years previously, 
 but the reservation of minerals by the crown prevented purchasers and 
 grantees from pursuing discoveries which might only lead to the dis- 
 turbance of their freeholds by some stranger under official patronage. 
 The South Australian colonists had influence enough in the home 
 Parliament to obtain a concession of the " rights of the crown." The 
 discovery of the Burra Burra gave a vivid impulse to mineral exploration, 
 and in 1850 not less than thirty-nine South Australian mining adven- 
 tures were before the colonial and British public, in various stages of 
 progress, most of which depended on English capital for their working. 
 Nearly all, according to the reports of the promoters, " only needed the 
 expenditure of a little more capital to become most flourishing invest- 
 ments." Not one, with the exception of the Burra Burra, had ever paid 
 a public dividend ; and when the gold discoveries brought them all to a 
 stand-still by the abstraction of labour, several " most respectable 
 colonists" were engaged in preferring new schemes for the benefit of 
 English capitalists. At that time the following mines, in addition to 
 nearly sixty other schemes which had never gone beyond a prospectus, 
 were in the market at a discount. 
 
 The Wheal Gawler silver lead was the first mine discovered in the 
 province ; opened in 1841 ; abandoned, and re-opened by a company 
 without success ; nevertheless the directors in 1850 boasted their good 
 prospects. The Adelaide Mining Company, near Montacute, " with a 
 capital of 1,000 ; the Australian Mining Company, with an English 
 capital of 400,000, and a special survey of Reedy Creek, forty-six 
 miles from Adelaide, other lots at Tungkillo and at Kapunda " founded 
 in 1845 the outlay has been enormous no dividends ; the Barossa 
 Mining Company, with a capital of 30,000, formed in England, with 
 a view of prosecuting mineral explorations on the property of G. T. 
 Angas, Esq. ; the Glen Ormond, another English company, with a 
 capital of 30,000, founded in 1845 ; the Port Lincoln, with a capital 
 of 10,000 ; the Mount Remarkable, with a capital of 25,000 in 
 1846 ; the North Kapunda, a capital of 22,200, in 1846 ; the Paringa, 
 
THE MINES. 295 
 
 capital 20,000, in 1845 ; the Port Lincoln, capital 4,000, in 1848 ; 
 the Princess Eoyal, capital 20,000, in 1845 : this was the unlucky 
 half of the Burra. 
 
 There were two gold companies established in 1846, the workings 
 of one of which were suspended in 1850, " pending an anticipated sale 
 of the sett in England." 
 
 Two conclusions may be drawn from an examination of the reports 
 of these mines first, that South Australia is extremely rich in minerals ; 
 and secondly, that parties who do not understand mining should be 
 cautious in taking the advice of South Australian friends as to mining 
 investments. 
 
 In Cornwall there are always a number of mines manufactured for 
 the benefit of green strangers. It was the same in South Australia. 
 For this reason the gold crisis, which destroyed the fictitious credit and 
 bubble mining adventures of South Australia, will in the end do good, 
 by directing the attention of the South Australians to labor instead of 
 puffery for the development of the true wealth of their noble province. 
 
 THE BURRA BURRA. 
 
 The following statement of the results of the Burra Burra mine will 
 show that the South Australians have some reasonable excuse for the 
 gambling mining spirit with which they are afflicted, and which 
 succeeded to the town-lot roulette of 1839-40 : 
 
 The Burra proprietary divided their purchase into 2,464 shares of 
 5 each, with liberty to increase their capital to 20,000, which they 
 have since done. 
 
 In the first year, from 29th September, 1845, to 29th September, 
 1846, at a cost of 16,624, they raised 7,200 tons of ore. As the depth 
 of the workings increased a great improvement in the quality of the ore 
 took place ; instead of the blue carbonate, the red oxide, malachite, and 
 the richest description of ore became predominant. The highest price 
 realised for the first 800 tons was 31 9s., and the lowest 10 16s. per 
 ten. At a considerable distance from the principal workings eighty 
 tons of blue and green carbonate of copper were raised in the month of 
 March, 1847. 
 
 In the months of June and July, 1847> the first and second dividends 
 of fifty shillings each per share were paid to the shareholders. These 
 dividends were paid out of the net proceeds of 2,959 tons of ore, 
 amounting to 35,678, out of which also were paid the expenses of the 
 association, including the cost of producing the 2,959 tons of ore, 
 amounting to 15,926, leaving an undivided balance of 7,584. During 
 
296 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 the six months ending 30th September, 1847, 7,264 tons were raised 
 within that period of a superior quality. During the six months ending 
 the 31st March, 1848, 6,068 tons were raised. The large raising of 
 the whole year, amounting to 13,533 tons, was produced from within 
 the limits of the twenty-fathom level. All the ore discovered below 
 that to the thirty fathoms was left for future raising, there being plenty 
 of good ore-ground above the twenty-fathom level to employ the miners 
 for some time to come. 
 
 The wages and cost of working the mine, including timber, fixed 
 machinery, tools, &c., amounted to 74,030, and the cartage of the ore 
 to 44,803. 
 
 In this year 83,106 was realised, out of which the expenses of 
 working the mine and carting the ore were paid, but three further 
 dividends were declared. By March, 1848, the original 5 shares had 
 advanced up to 150 ; a sixth and seventh dividend of 10 each, in 
 June and September, raised the prices to 200 and 210 for cash. A 
 fall afterwards took place in consequence of the depreciation of the 
 value of copper in Europe. But an important discovery was made of a 
 valuable lode in the thirty-fathom level leading from Kingston to 
 Graham's shaft. The lode was cut four fathoms below the water level, 
 was solid, and from ten to eleven feet wide, composed of a compact 
 green carbonate or malachite, producing upwards of 40 per cent, of 
 copper. The lode was described as clearly defined, in easy working 
 order, and dipping well into the mine. 
 
 In the half year ending the 30th September, 1848, 10,163 tons 
 were raised, making a sum total for the ore raised during the first three 
 years' working of the mine of 33,386 tons, equal to upwards of 10,000 
 tons of fine copper ore (at 70 per ton), 700,000. The cost of the 
 mine for the year ending the 30th of September, 1848, was 81,491 ; 
 of the cartage of ore, 31,445. 
 
 In the latter part of 1848 the miners struck for higher wages. The 
 workings of the mine were suspended from November until February, 
 1849. In March the miners resumed work. 
 
 Further important discoveries were made one of a lode in the 
 thirty-fathom level, south-west from Graham's shaft, consisting of red 
 oxide and malachite in great abundance ; and the other of a lode two 
 fathoms wide, yielding malachite of high produce. Only two pitches 
 were set on these lodes, and twelve men produced in the first week 
 eighty tons of the richest ores. 
 
 On the 5th of September, 1849, an eighth dividend of 5 per share 
 was declared. In the year 1850 the 10 quarterly dividends were 
 
THE MINES. 297' 
 
 regularly paid. Two steam-engines of thirty-five horse power each, one 
 for crushing the ore and the other for drawing from the shafts, arrived ; 
 and the directors ordered seventy fathoms of fifteen-inch pumps to 
 replace the eleven-inch lifts then in work, and a pumping-engine of 
 three-hundred-horse power. 
 
 The quantity of ore raised in the year ending September, 1850, was 
 18,692 tons. Since that period the returns have experienced a check 
 from the emigration to the gold-diggings, and shares have fluctuated 
 in value, but of the ultimate value of this property there can be no 
 question. 
 
 SUMMARY OP WORKINGS AND PROFITS. 
 
 The workings of the mines at the close of the year 1850 consisted 
 of the following shafts, winzes and levels viz., 45 whim shafts, of an 
 aggregate depth of 812 fathoms; seven trial shafts, of an aggregate 
 depth of 34 fathoms ; 35 winzes and ladder roads, of an aggregate 
 depth of 270 fathoms ; 3,876 fathoms of levels, equal in length to four 
 and one-third British miles. The whole of the transactions of the com- 
 pany, from its formation to the 29th September, 1849, embracing four 
 years and a half, were, in the year 1850, finally balanced, and the profits 
 during that period were found to amount to 229,535, of which 
 221,760 were divided among the shareholders in twelve dividends, the 
 twelfth dividend of 10 having been paid on the 1st September, 1850. 
 The ore raised during this period was 37,736 tons, at a cost of 
 309,825 3s. 6d., or 8 4s. 3d. per ton, and produced in the province, 
 free of freight and charges, 536,486 13s. 4d., or 14 4s. 4d. per ton, 
 leaving a profit of 226,661 6s. 10d., or 6 Os. Id. per ton. During 
 the year 1850, the company, however, incurred the following ex- 
 penses : 
 
 
 s. d. 
 
 Wages 
 
 . 72,715 9 10 
 
 Stores, candles, timber 
 
 . 20,006 19 9 
 
 Horses and fodder . 
 
 3,074 18 7 
 
 Machinery 
 
 5,096 7 6 
 
 Buildings at the Burra 
 
 13,043 13 4 
 
 Cartage of copper 
 
 2,394 16 6 
 
 Cartage of ore 
 
 14,344 1 
 
 Purchases of land 
 
 15,458 5 3 
 
 Making, with other expenses, a sum total of 169,611 2s. 5d. After 
 deducting these expenses from the estimated value of ore on hand, the 
 directors notified that 52,000 was applicable to dividends, and a 10 
 dividend was accordingly paid in December, 1850, and in March, 
 
 T 
 
298 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 A DRIVE TO THE BURRA BURRA. 
 
 The Burra Burra Mine is distant about a hundred miles from Adelaide, and 
 reached by a road which, although low and dusty, is good in the summer months. 
 The transit was recently performed by the mail, an open four-horse omnibus, at a 
 charge of l, in fifteen hours' travelling, halting for the night on the road. " A 
 party is frequent! v conveyed to the Burra in a spring cart, driven tandem fashion, 
 and supplied with fresh horses from the stations along the road, belonging to Mr. 
 Chambers. A trip of this sort, to and from the Burra mine, costs about 12 or 
 13. The road from Adelaide to Gawler Town traverses a flat open country 
 along the coast line of St. Vincent's Gulf. On each side of the road the country 
 is subdivided into small farms reaching on one side to the gulf, and on the other 
 extending to the long range of hills which intersects the province of South Aus- 
 tralia. The country in February last presented a brown parched appearance 
 owing to a long and unprecedented drought. Very few objects of interest are 
 met on the road, being limited to the teams of the German farmers, and the 
 bullock drays, laden with bars of refined copper, en route from the smelting works 
 to Adelaide. At Gawler Town a rapidly improving township there are two 
 large inns with excellent accommodation. About thirty miles from Gawler Town 
 you reach the Kapunda, the property of Captain Bagot, M.L.C., and some pro- 
 prietors in England. The North Kapunda and the South Kapunda mines adjoin 
 the Kapunda. They are mineral sections of land which were purchased in the 
 expectation of their containing a continuation of the rich lodes found in the 
 Kapunda; but although much had in 1851 been done with the scrip of the North 
 Kapunda and South Kapunda Companies, but little profit or success had attended 
 the working of the mines themselves. The road from the Kapunda passes through 
 an undulating park-like country and an extensive plain, across which, in the dis- 
 tance, the mirage is often plainly distinguishable. About eight miles before 
 arriving at the Burra the country becomes remarkably barren and hilly, and the 
 eye is at once attracted by the peculiar appearance of ridges which run north and 
 south along the ground at what seem to be regular intervals of distance, suggesting 
 the natural inference of lodes of some kind or other. This inference is fortified 
 by the multitudinous out-croppings of lime and other descriptions of stone which 
 appear at the base and along the brow of the hills. As you approach towards the 
 Burra, a tall white chimney, rising from the summit of one of the hills before you, 
 announces that the mine is not far off, and then your eye fixes upon a congeries 
 of bald rounded hills towards the north, looking like so many tents crowded 
 together upon raised ground. 
 
 " The Burra Hotel, situated at the commencement of the Burra Burra town- 
 ship, is a fine spacious stone building, furnishing every accommodation to visitors, 
 and unsurpassed by any house of the kind, either in the province or New South 
 Wales. The township of Kooringa is well laid out, comprising several very hand- 
 some stone buildings, and contained, in 1851, a population of 5,000 inhabitants. 
 Five years ago the whole of this place was a barren wilderness: now stores, and 
 shops, and offices line the High-street. Several ministers of religion are located 
 here. Excellent accommodation is afforded to the wives and families of miners, 
 and workmen belonging to the smelting-works, in several well laid out squares of 
 comfortable cottages, chiefly built of stone, and let at low rents. The whole 
 of the township is the freehold of the Burra Company, who have let some 
 
THE BURBA MINES. 299 
 
 of the properties such, for instance, as the Burra Hotel, on long improving 
 leases. 
 
 " Leaving the Burra Hotel, you pass down the High-street, and proceed along 
 a road, which on one side winds round the base of a large hill, and on the other 
 side is skirted by a creek that exhibits a very singular coup (fosil. Along the 
 channel of the creek runs a thin stream of water, and on each bank is a line of 
 little detached cottages or sheds, each of which has been excavated out of the 
 sides of the creek, and faced with weather boards. The inside of each house has 
 a fire-place and a chimney or flue, which, making its exit out of the surface 
 ground, is then capped, either by a small beer barrel or mound of earth with a 
 hole in the centre, as a substitute for the ordinary chimney-pot. In these strange 
 dwelling-places, which take up two miles of the creek on each side, the great bulk 
 of the miners and their families reside, being permitted by the Burra Company to 
 do so rent free.* A busy hum pervades the creek swarms of children are at 
 every door here and there a knot of gossips is collected and every now and then 
 the scene is diversified by the chatter of a tame magpie, the barking of quarrel- 
 some curs, the grunting of swine, the neighing of horses stabled alongside the huts, 
 or the fluttering of red shirts and other apparel drying in the open air. Two 
 minutes' walk brings you to the mine. Turning from the creek, and looking towards 
 the low but gently-rising ground that lies between three hills, you observe an 
 area of from eighty to one hundred acres, crowded with stone buildings, covered 
 shafts leading under ground, machinery and engine works, engine-houses, store- 
 houses, tanks, and dams of water, innumerable sheds of all sizes, and countless 
 piles of copper ore of various assorted qualities, in different stages of dressing, 
 lying almost in every direction. If you arrive after six in the evening expecting 
 to find all quiet and the business of the day over, great will be your surprise at 
 the bustling animated appearance of the place. The first striking object is the 
 gigantic white chimney towering from the summit of the middle hill, and carrying 
 the smoke from the different engine-flues which run under the surface of the 
 ground towards the middle hill. At the summit of this same hill, also, you observe 
 a large well-finished stone warehouse, used as a powder magazine. The eye is 
 next caught by a fine lofty stone building, situate about the centre of the ground 
 the three-storied pumping engine-house, with the great beam in front, steadily 
 woi'king up and down. Ascending the road, you pass the weigh-bridge, and an 
 extensive square of stone-built offices and stores adjoining a spacious yard, enclosed 
 by a stone wall. These premises are used as depots for building timber, iron, work- 
 men's tools, and various engineering stores. In the back ground, on the brow of 
 the hill, is a row of well-built stone cottages two of them the residences of Captain 
 Roach and another mine captain, and the third comprising the consultation 
 room, the changing rooms, and the office of the company's accountant and his 
 clerk. 
 
 " On the right of these cottages is another similar range, the residences of the 
 other captains of the mine and their families. Still further to the right is a pretty 
 detached cottage, occupied by Dr. Chambers, the principal surgeon at the mine. 
 On the brow of the right hill is a long line of stabling and sheds for carts, with 
 adjoining yards and barns. The stalls are roomy, floored with small stones, and 
 capable of receiving upwards of one hundred horses. Near the stabling is a sub- 
 
 * Since this description was written a flood has destroyed these dwellings, drowning some of 
 
 kthe inhabitants. 
 " 
 
300 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA, 
 
 stantial and capacious shed, used as a timber-store and saw-pit, and close by a 
 similar one was in the course of erection for the further accommodation of the 
 carpenters. About eleven whims were at work at the shafts. Most of these 
 whims, as well as the great pumping engine, are at work day and night, which 
 accounts for the busy scene presented to the eye, although long past six o'qlock. 
 The whims are situate each of them close to a shaft which communicates with one 
 or other of the different levels under ground. Connected with the pumping engine 
 shaft is a series of long wooden spouting, elevated upon and supported by stands. 
 The spouts which receive the water drawn up from the mine run backward in 
 several directions, and feed various tanks, and dams, and other places, where the 
 operations of cleansing and dressing the ore are carried on. The refuse water is 
 conducted to the head of the Burra Creek, down which it makes its way for seven 
 miles, reaching the Princess Royal Mine, and ultimately running into th Murray 
 flats. Near each shaft where the whim is at work are ranges of sheds, in which 
 parties of men and boys are busily engaged in crushing and reducing lumps of 
 ore from one size to another, and so facilitating the washing and separation of the 
 copper ore from the earth and foreign matter with which it is mixed. 
 
 " There are other sheds set apart for tanks and various contrivances, by which 
 parties of men and boys wash and sift the copper ore, until prepared for sampling. 
 Collected near the sheds are numberless square and oblong heaps of ore, about six 
 feet long, four feet broad, and two to three feet deep. These heaps are composed 
 of copper ore of various qualities, and in different stages of dressing. When it is 
 remembered, that in addition to the large heaps of ore which cover the ground 
 near these sheds, and near the dams and tanks for washing, there are innumerable 
 piles of ore ready for the samplers and smelters, gathered together in every avail- 
 able quarter of this eighty-acre area, some faint idea may be formed of the enor- 
 mous masses of mineral wealth thus collected at the Burra. A pleasing aspect is 
 imparted to them by the rich deep blue of the carbonate, and by the greenish hues 
 which characterise the malachite ove, affording a striking contrast to the sombre 
 appearance of the red oxide. The offices of the clerk of the works, and of the 
 assayers, and of the samplers, form another range of buildings. The workshops 
 of the engineers and the different mechanics engaged on the ground are of course 
 pretty numerous, but still each place is so situate, and all the works are proceeding 
 in such a manner, as to impress even a superficial spectator with the conviction 
 that the most thorough order and method is the principle of the establishment 
 throughout. A stone engine-house has been completed, and fitted up with an 
 engine of forty-five horse power, from the Perran Foundry, Cornwall, intended 
 for crushing the ore, and so dispensing with a large amount of expensive manual 
 labour. A stamping machine, for extracting the leavings from the refuse copper 
 ore which has hitherto been thrown on one side, is also very near completion. 
 Workmen were also engaged upon a new engine-house, in which a winding-engine 
 of thirty-five horse power, already at the mine, is to be placed. When the deeper 
 levels of the mine are reached, this winding-engine will be connected with the 
 ropes and iron buckets now worked by the horse-Whims, and thus save a large 
 expenditure, Avhich is now necessary at the several shafts. Of the extent of the 
 operations going on at the surface of the mine, some notion may be obtained from 
 the number of men who are employed by the Burra Company at surface work. 
 Most of the buildings and engineering works are erected by contract, and, reckon- 
 ing exclusively of the men working for the contractors, and also of the officers of 
 
THE BURRA BURRA MINES. 301 
 
 the mine, 383 men and 111 boys are employed by the Burra Company as ore 
 dressers, and labourers, and similar descriptions of surface work ; 27 men are 
 employed as carters and stablemen, and 85 men as carpenters, masons, smiths, 
 painters, plasterers, engineers, and boiler-makerstotal, 600." 
 
 SMELTING WORKS. 
 
 The copper ore raised in the South Australian mines has been prin- 
 cipally sent to Swansea. As there is a considerable demand for copper 
 in India and China, it became an object to refine the ore in South 
 Australia. With this view an immense capital has been sunk in estab- 
 lishing several copper-smelting companies, but hitherto with moderate 
 success, in consequence of the scarcity of fuel. Coal has not yet been 
 discovered, therefore the smelters were dependent on wood or imported 
 coal. According to experience in Norway, a large forest is soon con- 
 sumed by the demands of a smelting establishment. The most exten- 
 sive smelting works, late the property of Messrs. Schneider, have 
 unfortunately been planted close to the Burra mine, where wood is 
 scarce, and where four tons of coal must be carted up for every ton of 
 ore. The proper site would have been at or near a port. 
 
 The necessity of transporting coal imported from England, or from 
 the Newcastle of New South Wales, has called into use Port Wakefield, 
 a creek at the head of St. Vincent's Gulf, forming the embouchure of 
 the River Wakefield. The intervening country between the Burra and 
 Port Wakefield, a distance of about thirty miles, is composed partly of 
 undulating hills and partly over flat land well adapted for heavy carriage. 
 No doubt had the smelting works continued in full operation, a tramway 
 would have been attempted over this line. 
 
 Mining, agriculture, and pastoral pursuits have been the principal 
 investments of the South Australian colonists. The number of sheep 
 grazing was about one-sixth of that of the Port Phillip district. Fat 
 cattle are driven over from Portland Bay to Rivoli Bay for South 
 Australian consumption. 
 
 South Australia is at present under a cloud, but the depression can 
 only be temporary. A genial sun, a fertile soil, a healthy climate, with 
 sheep, cattle, English colonists, and a Burra Burra mine, cannot but 
 produce good fruits, although the dreams of empire of newly-fledged 
 legislators may scarcely be realised. 
 
CHAPTER XXVH. 
 
 RELIGION, EDUCATION, LAW. 
 
 provisions made for the promotion of religion and education are 
 JL nearly the same in New South Wales and Victoria, having been 
 finally settled before the two provinces were divided. In South Australia 
 the system of the old colony seems to have been taken as a model. In 
 all three colonies the law is, with a few local exceptions, the same. 
 
 We have already mentioned the circumstances under which a bishop 
 was appointed in New South Wales. By the munificence of Miss Burdett 
 Coutts a bishopric was endowed in South Australia; this led to the 
 appointment of a bishop of Melbourne, and perhaps to the creation of 
 the second bishopric in New South Wales, the diocese of Newcastle, 
 which extends to the northward, the residence being at Morpeth. 
 
 The assistance afforded to the building of churches and the support 
 of religious ministers in New South Wales and Port Phillip is at present 
 regulated by the act passed by Sir Richard Bourke, described at 
 page 109. 
 
 By an act of the Legislative Council of South Australia, passed 3rd 
 of August, 1847, for promoting the building of Christian churches and 
 chapels, public money was issued, under the sanction of the governor 
 and Executive Council, in proportion to the amount of private contri- 
 butions ; the grants in aid of building to range from 50 to 150, and 
 toward the stipends of clergy and ministers from 50 to 200 a year. 
 One-fourth of the sittings in places of worship so assisted must be 
 free. 
 
 The Congregationalists and Baptists have always refused to receive 
 aid from the state ; and there exists in the three colonies, especially in 
 South Australia, a party opposed to all state assistance to religion. In 
 our opinion, although religion and education may be sustained in towns 
 with a large floating population by the voluntary system, the inhabitants 
 of the interior, without government assistance, will remain to a great 
 extent in a state of practical heathendom altogether, without the 
 advantage of religious rites and ordinances. The state of life in the 
 bush is, or ought to be, patriarchal : churches are an impossibility : 
 every father must be the pastor of his family. To establish the volun- 
 tary system is to decree that the long lines of rivers shall never be 
 visited by a minister of religion. 
 
RELIGION AND EDUCATION. 303 
 
 Tt is a pity that a few thousands cannot be tithed from the vast 
 sums spent on hopeless missions to the heathen for the support of 
 itinerant missionaries to our emigrant countrymen : missionaries who 
 would not disdain to be also schoolmasters. The collection of bibles in 
 many languages in the Great Exhibition was a fine, an impressive sight ; 
 but still it is to be regretted that men of piety, rank, wealth, and 
 influence, do not pursue rather the positive <ind possible than the 
 impossible, and begin by taking care that every child in the bush of 
 Australia shall have and know how to read a bible before sending 
 missionaries to perish in Patagonia, or attempting an impossible 
 Church of England Utopia in Canterbury, New Zealand. 
 
 The following are the numbers of the various religious denomina- 
 tions in New South Wales : Church of England, 93,137 ; Church 
 of Scotland, 18,156 ; Wesleyan Methodists, 10,000 ; other Protestants, 
 6,472 ; Eoman Catholics, 56,899 ; Jews, 979 ; Mahomedans and 
 Pagans, 852 ; other persuasions, 740. The churches which receive 
 State support are the English, the Scotch, the Wesleyan, and the 
 Romish. The respective amounts paid for the year 1850 were as 
 follows : The diocese of Sydney, 12,015 17s. 4d. ; the diocese of 
 Newcastle, 4,028 7s. lOd. ; the Presbyterian Church, 3,378 Is. Id. ; 
 the Wesleyan Church, 850 ; and the Roman Catholic Church, 
 8,159 Os. 9d, ; in all about 30,000. In South Australia the places 
 of worship of the Church of England are seventeen ; of the Roman 
 Catholics, six ; Church of Scotland, seven ; Methodists, twelve (having 
 1,300 Sunday-school scholars) ; Congregationalists, nine ; Baptists, 
 three or four. The Germans have six pastors, and five places where 
 they meet for worship. 
 
 Up to 1836 education was as much neglected in Australia as in 
 England, until Lord Brougham commenced the agitation compromised 
 by the establishment of the miscalled national schools. A large propor- 
 tion of the colonial population consisted of adult convicts, who arrived 
 as ignorant as vicious. 
 
 We have already described in Chapter X. how Sir Richard 
 Bourke carried through the Legislative Council, at the time that the 
 church and school lands were surrendered, a measure for founding- 
 schools throughout the colony, on the plan of Lord Stanley's (now Earl 
 of Derby) Irish national school system. But the opposition on the 
 part of the late Bishop of Australia was so hot and effective that the 
 local act remained a dead letter, and the moderate per centage of 
 education afforded to the working classes was distributed through 
 denominational or sectarian schools, aided by colonial funds. The result 
 
304 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 was, that many country districts were left without schools, whilst two 
 or three were established to educate forty or fifty scholars. At Camden 
 there were three schools, none of which had more than twenty scholars. 
 In 1844 a committee of the Legislative Council, appointed to 
 investigate the subject of colonial education, of which Robert Lowe, 
 Esq., was chairman, reported strongly in favour of the Irish national 
 system, observing : 
 
 "There are about 25,676 children between the ages of four and fourteen 
 years: of these only 7,642 receive instruction in public schools, and 4,865 in 
 private ones, leaving about 13,000 who, as far as the committee can learn, receive 
 no education at all. The expense of education is about 1 a head. This deficient 
 education is partly attributable to the ignorance, dissolute habits, and avarice of 
 too many parents, and partly to the want of good schoolmasters and school- 
 books, but a far greater proportion of the evil has arisen from the strictly deno- 
 minational character of the public schools. 
 
 "The very essence of a denominational system is to leave the majority 
 uneducated, in order thoroughly to imbue the minority with peculiar tenets. The 
 natural result is, that where one school is founded two will arise, not because they 
 are wanted, but because it is feared that proselytes will be made. It is a system 
 impossible to be carried out in a thinly-inhabited country, and, being exclusively 
 in the hands of the clergy, it places the state in the awkward dilemma of either 
 supplying money, whose expenditure it is not permitted to regulate, or of inter- 
 fering between the clergy and their superiors." 
 
 The committee further recommended the formation of a board, to 
 be appointed by the governor, consisting of persons favourable to the 
 plan, and possessing the confidence of the different denominations, 
 " with a salaried secretary." 
 
 The Lord Bishop of Australia and the Roman Catholic Archbishop 
 were both examined before this committee ; both were strongly opposed 
 to the Irish system of educating different denominations in one school, 
 and expressed their adherence to the denominational system. The 
 Bishop of Australia would countenance no schools in which the dogmas 
 of the Church of England were not taught ; the Roman Catholic Arch- 
 bishop, in like manner, insisted on having exclusive Roman Catholic 
 schools for the members of his church.* They were both excellent, 
 charitable, and pious men ; but either was evidently prepared, if .he had 
 
 *The two following instances will shoAv how far sectarian zeal will carry excellent and 
 educated men. There is not in all Australia a more pious and actively charitable man than the 
 Rev. Robert Allwood A remarkable instance of his benevolence is mentioned in Mrs. Chisholm's 
 report of the " Emigrants' Home " in 1844. Mr. Allwood says, " I could not sanction any system 
 in which the Church of England catechism was not taught." Q. " In thinly -peopled districts> 
 where it is impossible to find schoolmasters for each denomination, and where some concession is 
 necessary to each, in order to get education for all, do you not think the Scriptures might be read 
 by all Protestants, the Roman Catholic children being exempted, this education being supplemented 
 by Sunday-schools?" "I would not approve of it." On tne other hand, the Roman Catholic 
 
EDUCATION. 305 
 
 the power, to enforce the dogmatic teaching of his own church in all 
 the schools, and to leave those who did not agree with it without any 
 teaching, moral or educational. They were not satisfied with a com- 
 promise system, by which the duties of truth, chastity, honesty, charity, 
 forgiveness of enemies, and thankfulness to God, should be inculcated, 
 with reading, writing, and arithmetic, unless the questions of the number 
 of sacraments and the right line of apostolic succession were also 
 expounded according to the views of each ; and sooner than either 
 would give way, they were content to leave infant minds to gather all 
 their learning from the blasphemy of the streets. 
 
 The vigorous opposition of these two prelates, and others of their 
 mind, aided by many who, really worshipping nothing, except what the 
 Americans rather profanely call the " Almighty Dollar," yet loved a 
 party cry, temporarily suspended the carrying out of the recommenda- 
 tions of this report. 
 
 But the Stanley National system of instruction is the only system 
 possible in a colony where the divers religions were so evenly balanced, 
 and made and is making progress. In the principal towns where 
 denominational schools were in existence in 1844 they are still main- 
 tained, but in new districts Lord Stanley's system is introduced. 
 
 In pursuance of the recommendations of Mr. Lowe's committee, a 
 board has been formed on the principle of the Irish Board of Education ; 
 and a normal school for training teachers on the Irish system has been 
 established. 
 
 Throughout the " Three Colonies" great anxiety prevails among all 
 classes for the extension of education, and a willingness to bear taxation 
 for that purpose. 
 
 The normal school of Sydney affords one of the many comical 
 anecdotes afloat illustrating the mode in which officials in England 
 attend to colonial affairs. 
 
 In consequence of the suggestion of Mr. Lowe's committee, after 
 the heat of the educational question had toned down, application was 
 made to the Colonial Office for a master acquainted with the Irish 
 school system, and capable of taking charge of a normal school for the 
 instruction of masters in that system. For nearly four years the 
 Colonial Office slept on the application : at the end of that time, by 
 
 Archbishop Folding considered " religious and moral instruction in a very low state in England,'' 
 which may, perhaps, be true; but in another part of his evidence, which is too long to quote, he 
 leaves it to be inferred that the state of education at Rome, as regards the humblest classes, is in 
 a most satisfactory state, that a large proportion of the public revenues is given to education," 
 and that " the Papal government is extremely anxious that all should have the means of education ." 
 Archbishop Folding must have examined the English in courts and alleys, and looked at the Romans 
 through the windows of a cardinal's carnage. 
 
306 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 some chance, the " order for a schoolmaster" turned up. Earl Grey, it 
 is presumed after some inquiries, selected a Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson 
 received a letter desiring him to call on Earl Grey, in Downing-street. 
 He went, was congratulated, favoured with a little of the good advice 
 of which great men keep a stock for the benefit of the small, and then 
 handed over to Mr. Benjamin Hawes, the late Under-Secretary for the 
 Colonies, who in due course handed him over to Mr. Gairdner, the 
 chief clerk, who transferred him to a stylish young gentleman, name 
 unknown, who stood with his back to the fire, a pot of stout in his 
 right hand, and delivered himself something in the following strain : 
 " Well, you're appointed to this berth in Australia ? Consider yourself 
 lucky ; you'll make your fortune. Now, these colonial fellows are in 
 a deuce of a hurry, so you must lose no time. Let me see the shipping 
 list. Ah ! here's a ship sails on Friday for Adelaide. This is Monday 
 you must go on Friday your passage will be paid, and all right." 
 
 Mr. Wilson remonstrated on the shortness of the time, but it was of 
 no use: the colonists were in a "deuce of a hurry." He suggested 
 that Adelaide was a considerable distance from Sydney. The objection 
 was pooh-poohed knowledge of colonial geography is not an indis- 
 pensable qualification for colonial office. Poor Mr. Wilson was hurried 
 off by the ship to Adelaide. Arrived there, he had to wait nearly a 
 month for a conveyance to Sydney. Arrived in Sydney, and installed 
 in his office, he was questioned as to the latest improvements in the 
 Irish national system. He knew nothing about it, had never heard of 
 it, had never seen any of the books ; he had been master of an excellent 
 Church of England school. So, after four years' delay, in desperate 
 haste, the Colonial Office had sent off the wrong man, to the wrong 
 place ! 
 
 In justice to Mr. Wilson it is right to add, that, being a clever and 
 conscientious man, he applied himself to the study of the Irish school- 
 books, and has performed the duties of his office with credit to himself 
 and advantage to the colony. 
 
 In South Australia, by an act of the Legislative Council, passed in 
 August, 1847, the governor is authorised to appoint a board of educa- 
 tion, who shall have power, under his sanction, to make regulations for 
 giving effect to the ordinance. No aid to be given to schoolhouses. 
 The salaries issued to teachers will be in proportion to the children 
 taught, not less than twenty, between six and sixteen years of age, 
 20 being the lowest and 40 the highest sum. The governor to 
 appoint visitors and inspectors. The reports to be laid before the 
 Legislative Council, and one public examination to take place yearly. 
 
EDUCATION. 307 
 
 The boards, previous to the introduction of an elective Legislative 
 Council, consisted of the judge of the Supreme Court, the advocate- 
 general, the colonial chaplain, a dissenting minister, and a layman. 
 
 The University of Sydney, established by an Act of the Legislative 
 Council, was opened in October, 1852, on the following scale and 
 plan : A fee of two pounds must be paid on matriculation, and two 
 guineas for each course of lectures. All students matriculated the first 
 year, were required to attend the lectures on classics and mathematics, 
 and to be attired in academical costume. Six scholarships, of 50 a 
 year each, tenable for three years, have been established. 
 
 The candidates for matriculation in October, 1852, were examined 
 in Mathematics : in the ordinary rules of Arithmetic, vulgar and decimal 
 Fractions ; the first four rules of Algebra, and the first book of Euclid. 
 In Classics : in the sixth book of Homer's Iliad ; the first book of 
 Xenophon's Anabasis ; the first book of Virgil's J^neid ; the Bellum 
 Catilinarum of Sallust ; and in the History and Geography connected 
 with those portions of those works. In the same session the Principal 
 lectured to the Upper Divison on Thucydides, Bk. 1 ; Sophocles, Anti- 
 gone : Sallust, Bell. Jug. ; Horace, Epistles. To the Lower Division, on 
 Xen. Anabasis, Bk. 1 ; Horn. Iliad, Bk. 1 ; Cicero de Senectute ; Yirg. 
 ^Eneid, Bk. 6. The Professor of Mathematics lectured on Euclid, first 
 four Books ; Arithmetic, and Algebra. Lectures were also delivered 
 daily on Chemistry, Natural and Experimental Philosophy, by a third 
 professor. 
 
 The following are the subjects on which the candidates for scholar- 
 ship were examined : Mathematics : Arithmetic and Algebra, as far 
 as Quadratic Equations inclusive ; first four books of Euclid ; the 
 popular Elements of Statics and Dynamics. Classics Greek : The 
 Medea of Euripides ; Xenophon's Anabasis. Latin : First six books 
 of Virgil's JEneid ; Cicero de Amicitia ; Roman Antiquities ; Transla- 
 tions from English into Latin ; Questions in Ancient History connected 
 with the foregoing works. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that no provision has hitherto been made 
 for founding professorial chairs of English Literature, Modern History, 
 and Moral Philosophy. Some such counteracting influences are needed 
 in a country where at present public libraries are unknown, literary 
 influences do not exist, and wealth and official rank are the only 
 recognised distinctions. 
 
 The Supreme Court of New South Wales consists of a chief and two 
 puisne judges, who exercise the powers of the three Courts of Queen's 
 
308 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer at Westminster, and have 
 criminal jurisdiction. They go on circuit twice a year to Bathurst, 
 Goulburn, Maitland, and Brisbane. 
 
 In common law the "new rules" of pleading are in force. 
 
 One judge sits in equity (by delegation) with the powers of a vice- 
 chancellor, and there is an appeal from his decision to the Supreme 
 Court. 
 
 The proceedings are by bill and answer. The equity rules of 1841 
 are in force ; but in 1849 a reform was introduced, by which the pro- 
 ceedings for obtaining a rule nisi in a common law court, by affidavit, 
 and a defence by affidavit, were, in a variety of instances, substituted for 
 the tedious complication of the old chancery system. 
 
 The Supreme Court also exercises, in the person of one of the judges 
 appointed for the purpose, those functions as regards the validity of 
 testamentary dispositions, letters of administration, &c., which in Eng- 
 land are performed by the Ecclesiastical Courts ; but no court exists for 
 deciding on questions of divorce, alimony, &c. 
 
 The Master in Equity presides over an Admiralty Court. 
 
 The Supreme Court exercises jurisdiction in bankruptcy and insol- 
 vency. One of the judges presides, exercising powers similar to the 
 commissioners in England, with an appeal to the Supreme Court. 
 
 Estates of insolvents are vested in official assignees. 
 
 A person can be made a bankrupt or insolvent either by petition of 
 creditors or by his own petition. 
 
 A Court of Conscience, presided over by a single commissioner, who 
 decides, not according to law or evidence, but according " to equity 
 and good conscience," like the courts which have been superseded in 
 England by our County Courts,, is held for the metropolitan county of 
 Cumberland in Sydney, and one for the metropolitan county of Bourke 
 in Melbourne, which has jurisdiction up to 30. 
 
 The magistrates, paid and unpaid, in the other districts have juris- 
 diction up to 10 absolutely, and up to 30 by mutual consent in cases 
 of simple debt, but not in actions for damages or disputed rights to 
 land, &c. 
 
 Under the enactments of the "Masters and Servants Act," two 
 magistrates can decide on disputes as to wages and service : they can 
 commit a servant refusing to perform his written agreement, and levy a 
 distress on the property of a master or his agent if wages are unpaid ; 
 and, by a recent law, this power extends to contracts made in 
 England. 
 
 The division of barrister and attorney is maintained in the colonies. 
 
LAW. 309 
 
 English barristers and Scotch advocates are admitted at once to 
 practise. 
 
 The judges appoint a board of examiners, and admit any man of 
 good character to practise as a barrister, after passing an examination 
 in classics, mathematics, and law. 
 
 Attorneys and writers to the signet are admitted to practise of course. 
 
 Persons who have served their articles and not passed in England 
 may be admitted in the colony. The result is, that parties who have 
 been or would have been rejected in England, in consequence of tainted 
 character, are able to practise in New South Wales. 
 
 Three important law reforms are due to the exertions of Robert 
 Lowe, Esq., now member for Kidderminster, during the time he was a 
 member of the Legislative Council, and practised at the bar in Sydney : 
 
 1. The substitution in 1849, in the Colonial Equity Court, of the 
 common law proceedings on application for a rule nisi instead of the 
 tedious delays of bill and answer. 
 
 2. The abolition of imprisonment for debt on final process. In 
 Australia to commit a man to prison virtually amounted to destroying 
 all his property. 
 
 3. Arrangements for admitting gentlemen to the bar without pro- 
 ceeding to England, provided they are able to pass an examination in 
 classics, mathematics, and law, before examiners appointed by the 
 judges. The sons of Australian gentlemen, for want of friends accus- 
 tomed to the state of society in the universities, are usually ruined. 
 
 In South Australia there is a Supreme Court, composed of one judge, 
 who also presides in the Yice-Admiralty Court, a commissioner in the 
 Insolvent Court, and three police magistrates. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 STATISTICS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 WE are in possession of very exact statistics of New South Wales ; 
 but in Victoria, in consequence of the confusion into which 
 every public department has been thrown by the revolution in ordinary 
 colonial pursuits, and the enormous influx of population, it has been 
 impossible to prepare the same accurate collection of statistical facts. 
 The same causes have depressed South Australia. 
 
 It is sufficient to observe, that all the natural productions enume- 
 rated in the statistical account of New South Wales, may be grown or 
 manufactured in the other two colonies, the soil and climate being 
 essentially the same. 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 By the census taken on the 1st March, 1851, the population con- 
 sisted of 108,691 males and 81,260 females, making a total of 189,951. 
 The increase to the 31st December, 1851, had been 9,043 males and 
 5,243 females. The increase in the males, arose from immigration, 
 5,799 ; from births, 3,244. In the females, from immigration, 2,091 ; 
 from births, 3,152. The decrease to the 31st December was 4,702 
 males and 2,367 females. The decrease in the males arose from deaths, 
 1,344 ; departure from the colony, 3,358 ; and in the females from 
 deaths, 823 ; and from departures, 1,544. The total increase was 
 14,286 ; the total decrease, 7,069, leaving the nett increase, during the 
 three quarters of the year, 7,217 viz., by births, 4,229 ; by immigra- 
 tion, 2,968 the increase by births being a fraction more than 2 per 
 cent., and by immigration about 1J per cent. The number of marriages 
 in the year 1851 was 1,915, and they were solemnised as follows : 
 Church of England, 765 ; Church of Scotland, 426 ; Wesleyan, 100 ; 
 Independents, 8; Baptists, 4; Church of Rome, 605; Jews' Syna- 
 gogue, 7. Since the year 1837 the returns show, almost without 
 exception, an increase in the births and a decrease in the deaths over 
 and above the proportionate increase of population. 
 
 IMMIGRATION. 
 
 The total number of immigrants introduced at the public expense 
 was, in 1832, 792 ; in 1833, 1,253 ; in 1834, 484 ; in 1835, 545 ; in 
 
STATISTICS OP NEW SOUTH WALES. 311 
 
 1836, 808; in 1837, 2,664; in 1838, 6,102; in 1839, 7,852; in 1840, 
 5,216 ; in 1841, 12,188 ; in 1842, 5,071 ; in 1843, nil ; in 1844, 2,726 ; 
 in 1845, 497; in 1846, nil; in 1847, nil; in 1848, 4,376; in 1849, 
 8,309 ; in 1850, 4,078 ; in 1851, 1,846 making a total number of 
 immigrants, introduced during the twenty years at the public expense, 
 of 64,807 ; consisting of 21,653 male and 25,595 female adults, and 
 17,559 children under fourteen years of age. The total cost to the 
 colony for this immigration was 1,134,511 15s. 6d. In 1832 the 
 cost per head was 6 13s. 8d. ; in 1833, 10 16s. lOd. ; in 1834, 
 10 9s. 7d. ; in 1835, 18 Os. 9d. ; in 1836, 16 4s. 6d. ; in 1837, 
 17 13s. lOd. ; in 1838, 16 18s. lid. ; in 1839, 18 17s. 6d. ; in 
 1840, 22 12s. 5d. ; in 1841, 17 Os. 2d. ; in 1842, 16 9s. \ in 
 1844, 16 9s. 9d.; in 1845, 19 4s. 2d. The averages for the 
 remaining years are not given, but they have been about 15 per head. 
 The whole of this expenditure has been borne out of the territorial 
 revenue of the colony, although it has at times been found necessary to 
 anticipate that revenue by borrowing upon its security. The debentures 
 issued by the Government for this purpose amount in all to 336,800 ; 
 and the nett proceeds realised by the sale of these debentures is 338,286 
 15s. Id. The amount of debentures which has been paid off was 
 149,700 ; and the amount outstanding on the 31st of December, 1851, 
 187,100. The interest paid on debentures has been 33,786 14s. Id. 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 In the year 1840 there were in the colony 159 schools, with 4,639 
 male and 3,935 female scholars total, 8,574. In 1841, 192 schools, 
 with 4,935 male and 4,124 female scholars total, 9,059. In 1842, 
 232 schools, with 5,698 male and 4,635 female scholars total, 10,333. 
 In 1843, 279 schools, with 6,286 male and 5,103 female scholars total, 
 11,389. In 1844, 313 schools, with 6,814 male and 5,776 female 
 scholars total, 12,590. In 1845, 327 schools, with 7,813 male, and 
 6,641 female scholars total, 14,454. In 1846, 338 schools, with 
 8,613 male and 7,650 female scholars total, 16,263. In 1847, 376 
 schools, with 9,848 male and 8,752 female scholars total, 18,600. In 
 1848, 382 schools, with 10,267 male and 8,722 female scholars total, 
 18,989. In 1849, 444 schools, with 10,721 male and 9,250 female 
 scholars total, 19,971. In 1850, 493 schools, with 11,214 male and 
 10,170 female scholars total, 21,384. In 1851, 423 schools, with 
 11,118 male and 10,002 female scholars total, 21,120. The schools 
 in the year 1851 consisted of the Protestant and Roman Catholic 
 orphan schools, with 345 scholars, maintained by Government at an 
 
>]0 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 rxpense of />,212 3s. lid. ; the Church of England denominational' 
 schools, with 4,998 scholars, receiving 5,321 5s. 3d. from Government, 
 and paying 2,324 2s. 7d. by voluntary contributions ; the Wesleyan 
 schools, with 891 scholars, receiving 588 9s. 2d. from the Govern- 
 ment, and 665 11s. 2d. from voluntary contributions; the Koman 
 Catholic schools, with 3,310 scholars, receiving 2,576 15s. 4d. from 
 the Government, and 985 17s. Id. from voluntary contributions; the 
 National schools, containing 2,861 scholars, receiving from Government 
 6,766 10s. 3d., and 1,179 17s. 3Jd, from voluntary contributions ; 
 private schools, consisting of 227 in number, containing 6,721 scholars. 
 
 LUNACY. 
 
 The next chapter in the colonial statistics is a very painful one 
 one, we fear, that is scarcely equalled in its mournful details by the 
 experience of any other British colony. It is a return of the lunatics 
 in the colony. The first establishment mentioned is that at Tarban 
 Creek. During the year 1851, 50 male and 35 female lunatics were 
 received into the asylum ; 18 males and 14 females were cured, 9 males 
 and 18 females improved, 14 males and 4 females died. On the 31st 
 of December, 1851, there remained in the asylum, 42 males and 24 
 females, supposed to be curable ; 25 males and 27 females supposed to 
 be incurable. Total in the asylum, 118. In the establishment at 
 Paramatta for free lunatics there were admitted in the year, 8 males 
 and 17 females ; there were cured, 3 males and 3 females. On the 
 3lst of December, 1851, there remained in the establishment, 5 males 
 and 6 females supposed to be curable, and 51 males and 50 females 
 -upposed to be incurable. Total in the establishment, 112. In the 
 Convict, Lunatic, and Invalid Establishment at Paramatta (the 
 invalids being for the most part helpless and imbecile), there were 
 lunatics males 5, females 2, supposed to be curable ; males 95 ? females 
 20, supposed to be incurable. Total, 122. The total number of 
 lunatics in the asylums of the colony is 352, or about one in every 
 550 persons. 
 
 CRIMINALS. 
 
 The return of the convictions in the colonial courts of the colony is 
 one of a much more agreeable nature. In the year 1839, the convic- 
 tions for felony were 741 ; in 1840, 652 ; in 1841, 563, in 1842, 
 542 ; in 1843, 523; in 1844, 488 ; in 1845, 442; in 1846, 463; in 
 347, 396 ; in 1848, 360 ; in 1849, 437 ; in 1850, 451 ; in 1851, 
 641. The convictions for misdemeanour in 1839, were 125 ; in 1840, 
 
STATISTICS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 313 
 
 149 ; in 1841, 78 ; in 1842, 94 ; in 1843, 76 ; in 1844, 78 ; in 1845, 
 78 ; in 1846, 115 ; in 1847, 85 ; in 1848, 85 ; in 1849, 97 ; in 1850, 
 104 ; in 1851, 113. 
 
 Thus the total convictions in 1839, were 866, while in 1851, with 
 a population nearly double, they were reduced to 574. The capital 
 executions were in the same manner reduced from 22 in 1839 to 2 in 
 1851. 
 
 SQUATTING STATISTICS. 
 
 The order in council, dated 9th March, 1847, came into operation 
 on the 7th of October that year ; under which the lands of the colony 
 were divided into three classes the settled, the intermediate, and the 
 unsettled districts. The settled districts in the colony of New South 
 Wales comprise the whole of the nineteen counties, the counties of 
 Stanley and Macquarie, the towns in the country districts with the lands 
 immediately adjacent, all the land within three miles of the sea, and 
 the lands at the head and along the banks of some principal rivers. 
 
 The intermediate districts in New South Wales comprehend the county 
 of Auckland, Gipps' Land, and some other partially settled districts. 
 
 The unsettled districts comprise all the remaining lands of the colony. 
 
 In the unsettled districts occupation leases are given for fourteen 
 years with the right to cultivate for the consumption of the establish- 
 ment of the lessee, and no further : the amount of rent being ten pounds 
 per annum for the estimated capability of the run to carry 4,000 sheep or 
 an equivalent number of cattle; the capability of the run to be determined 
 by two valuers, one appointed by the commissioner of the district, and 
 one by the occupier. During the lease the land can be sold to only 
 the occupant. The lease may be renewed for the whole run if no por- 
 tion is sold, or for any portion of the run, provided that one-fourth of 
 the whole remains unsold. 
 
 In the leases there are reservations for public purposes, and condi- 
 tions for the payment of rent, &c., punishable by the forfeiture of the 
 run in case of non-observance. 
 
 In the intermediate districts, the leases are confined to eight years, 
 it being, however, a condition that at the end of every successive year 
 from the date of the lease, the governor may, by giving sixty days' 
 previous notice, offer for sale the whole or any part of the lands on the 
 said run. 
 
 In the settled districts the leases are given from year to year only. 
 
 This, then, is the position, politically speaking, in which the pastoral 
 districts now stand ; under the constitutional act of 1850 the popula- 
 
 tr 
 
,314 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 tion outside the boundaries were allowed the elective franchise. At 
 present, however, the squatting districts have been erected, under certain 
 combinations, into electoral districts, and exercise very considerable 
 influence in the legislature of the country. 
 
 In the year 1810, twenty-two years after the establishment of the 
 country, the sheep of the colony were 25,888 head, and the cattle 12,442. 
 In the year 1821, the number of sheep had increased to 119,777 ; in 
 1828, it was 503,691 ; in 1834, it reached one million ; in 1843, the 
 number of sheep was 3,4^2,539 ; in 1844,3,743,732 ; in 1845, 4,409,504 ; 
 in 1846, 4,909,819 ; in 1847, 5,673,266 ; in 1848, 6,530,542 ; in 1849, 
 6,784,494; in 1850,7,092,200; in 1851, 7,396,895. In 1837, the 
 export of wool was 4,273,715 Ibs. ; in 1840, it was 7,668,960 Ibs. ; in 
 1845, it was 10,522,921 Ibs. ; in 1850, it was 14,270,632 Ibs. ; in 1851, 
 it was 15,268,473 Ibs. 
 
 By the authorised returns for the year 1851, the number of sheep 
 within the settled districts was 2,263,386, beyond the settled districts 
 it was 5,133,509. The proportion of cattle and other live stock be-* 
 tween the two classes is very nearly the same. 
 
 The returns of the number of horses, horned cattle, and pigs are 
 as follows : 
 
 Horses. Horned Cattle. 
 
 1843 . 58,739 
 
 1844 . 64,093 
 
 1845 . 73,014 
 
 1846 . 76,726 
 
 1847 . 91,118 
 
 1848 . 97,400 
 
 1849 . 105,126 
 
 1850 . 111,458 
 
 1851 . 116,397 
 
 850,160 . 54,607 
 
 971,559 . 52,196 
 
 1,116,420 . 56,022 
 
 1,140,297 . 39,723 
 
 1,270,706 . 57,395 
 
 1,366,164 . 65,216 
 
 1,463,651 . 52,902 
 
 1,374,768 . 52,371 
 
 1,375,257 . 65,510 
 
 In the year 1851, the number of horses within the settled districts 
 was 81,083 ; horned cattle, 451,263 ; pigs, 59,439. Beyond this set* 
 tied districts there were horses, 35,214 ; horned cattle, 923,994 ; pigs, 
 6,081. 
 
 In the year 1843, the export of tallow was 4,660 cwt. ; in 1844, 
 48,029 cwt.; in 1845, 64,440 cwt.; in 1846, 18,117 cwt. ; in 1847, 
 58,478 cwt. ; in 1848, 71,304 cwt. ; in 1849, 84,454 cwt. ; in 1850, 
 128,090 cwt. ; in 1851, 86,460 cwt. ; in the year 1850, the estimated 
 value of the export of tallow was 167,858. In the year 1850, 190,791 
 yards of woollen cloth were manufactured in the colony. 
 
 During the year 1851, the exports derived from pastoral pursuits 
 in this colony exceeded 1,000,000. The live stock of the colony in 
 proportion to the whole adult and infant population of the colony 
 
STATISTICS OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 315 
 
 (197,168) is as follows: To every individual 37 sheep, six and a half 
 horned cattle, two-thirds of a horse, and one third of a pig. 
 
 It is probable that the community of New South Wales is, in pro- 
 portion to the number of its population, the largest meat-consuming 
 one in the world ; certainly it is the largest consuming community of 
 beef and mutton, as there is little fish, and scarcely any game. 
 
 The pastoral pursuits of the colony afford an export very nearly 
 amounting to 6 per head for every man, woman, or child in the colony. 
 
 'AGRICULTURE. 
 
 Let us first 'compare the operations of the last two years: 
 
 LAND IN CULTIVATION.. 
 
 1850. 1851 
 
 Wheat, acres . 70,720 , 82,110 , 11,390 Inc. 
 
 Maize, . 23,170 . 25,017 . 1,847 
 
 Barley, , 7,576 . 6,725 , 851 Dec. 
 
 Oats, . 2,717 . 2,470 . 247 
 
 Rye, , 293 . 245 . 48 
 
 Millet, ,/ . 42 . 54 . 12 Inc. 
 
 Potatoes,,, . 4,236 . 4,079 . 157 Dec. 
 
 Tobacco ,; . 510 . 731 . 221 Inc. 
 
 Sown for hay . 35,383 . 30,626 . 4,757 Dec. 
 
 Totals . 144,647 152,057 7,410 Inc. 
 
 Notwithstanding the gold- excitement year, agricultural operations 
 in the main staples of subsistence considerably increased on the pre- 
 vious year. The breadth of land under cultivation for wheat shows 
 an increase exceeding sixteen per cent. ; for maize, about eight per 
 cent. ; for tobacco, more than forty-three per cent. ; while the total 
 under cultivation shows an increase of more than five per cent. 
 
 We have next to compare the quantities of 
 
 
 1850 
 
 1851 
 
 
 Wheat, bush. 
 
 921,582 
 
 . 1,407,465 
 
 . 485,883 Inc. 
 
 Maize, 
 
 457,102 
 
 717,053 
 
 . 259,951 
 
 Barley, 
 
 124,625 
 
 133,944 
 
 9,319 
 
 Oats, 
 
 53,313 
 
 49,069 
 
 4,244 Dec. 
 
 Potatoes, tons 
 
 9,400 
 
 13,644 
 
 4,244 Inc. 
 
 Tobacco, cwts. . 
 
 4,923 
 
 12,530 
 
 7,607 
 
 Hay, tons . 
 
 44,762 
 
 36,605 
 
 8,157 Dec. 
 
 Of wheat an increase approaching 500,000 bushels, or upwards of 
 fifty per cent. ; of maize, nearly 260,000 bushels, or about fifty-seven 
 per cent. ; of barley, more than 9,000 bushels, or upwards of seven 
 per cent. ; of potatoes, more than 4,000 tons, or forty-five per cent. ; and 
 
 u 2 
 
316 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 of tobacco, 7,600 cwt., or the immense ratio of one hundred and forty-five 
 per cent. On the other hand, oats and hay show a falling off; the former 
 to the extent of more than 4,000 bushels, or about eight per cent.; the 
 latter to the extent of 8,000 tons, or about eighteen per cent. 
 We subjoin a statement of the average 
 
 PRODUCE PER ACRE. 
 
 1850. 1851. 
 
 Wheat, bushels ..... 13'0 . 17'1 
 
 Maize, 19-7 . 28'7 
 
 Barley 16-4 . 19'9 
 
 Oats, 19-6 . 199 
 
 Potatoes, tons 2 2 . 3 '3 
 
 Tobacco, cwts 9'7 . 17-1 
 
 Hay, tons 1'3 . 1'2 
 
 With the exception of hay, an increase in every article. 
 The Grape. In 1848, 508 acres of vineyard produced 33,915 
 gallons wine ; brandy, 751. In 1850, 1,069} acres, 111,085 gallons 
 wine ; 1,985 gallons brandy. In 1851, 1,060 acres, 84,843 gallons 
 wine ; 1,641 gallons brandy. 
 
 The wine imported in 1851 amounted to 273,856, the export of 
 colonial wine, 3,000 gallons. 
 
 MANUFACTURES. 
 
 The manufactures of the colony are at present very limited ; and 
 they have in fact in some branches considerably diminished of late 
 years. Three years after the foundation of the colony, brickmaking 
 commenced ; and the first brick building built of colonial bricks was 
 erected in 1791. In 1805 the first sailing vessel was built ; in 1815, 
 the first steam-engine was worked in the colony. In 1820, colonial 
 tobacco was first manufactured, and colonial spirits first distilled; and 
 in 1831 the first colonial steam-boat was launched. 
 
 Distillers. There were two distilleries established in the year 1837, 
 and these have remained in full work, except at short intervals, up to 
 the present time. Under the old system of very high duties on foreign 
 spirits, these distilleries made large profits ; but even these were insuf- 
 ficient to satisfy the proprietors, and illicit distillation took place to a 
 considerable extent in 1846 .; however, more stringent regulations for 
 the inspection of distilleries were enacted, and the duty on foreign rum 
 was reduced from 7s. 6d. to 3s. <6d. The profits of the distillers then 
 began to fall off, and the largest of them was compelled to shut up, but 
 it has recently been again set to work by a sugar-refinfng company, and 
 the two distilleries are now turning out from 7,000 to 10,000 gallons 
 
STATISTICS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 317 
 
 weekly. Nearly the whole of the spirits distilled in this colony are 
 manufactured from sugar and molasses. In addition to these distilleries 
 there is one extensive rectifying and compounding establishment ; and 
 in former years there were three or four. In the year 1837 there were 
 seven breweries three in Sydney, two in Parramatta, one in Windsor, 
 and one in Maitland. In 1844 there were twelve ; in 1845 there were 
 fifteen ; in 1846, sixteen ; in 1847, fifteen ; in 1848, twelve ; in 1849 
 twenty-one ; in 1850, nineteen ; and in 1851, seventeen. 
 
 Beer. The beer brewed at these breweries is drank to a very con- 
 siderable extent in the colony by the humbler classes, but a very large 
 portion of it is an unwholesome beverage, being adulterated with many 
 deleterious articles. Medical men have attributed death in many 
 instances to the excessive use of this drink. The two largest breweries 
 in the colony are in Sydney ; and as they are carried on by men of 
 respectability and large capital, the profits are large. The quantity of 
 beer consumed in the colony is very great, as in addition to the home- 
 made, the importation of the article in 1851 amounted to 57,000. 
 The colonial beer is very inferior to the British, and is sold at less than 
 half the price. It is probable, however, that a better article will soon be 
 produced to supply the deficiency of English beer which frequently exists. 
 One of the Sydney brewers has lately succeeded in producing a beer 
 which successfully competed with the English beverage for some months. 
 
 Sugar. There are two sugar-refining companies in the colony, one 
 of which has been established ten years, the other four. The Australasan 
 Sugar Refining Company carries on a very large trade, supplying not 
 only nearly the whole of the home consumption, but also the wants of 
 the neighbouring colonies. The raw sugar is procured for the most 
 part from Manilla, and the trade to that settlement is much encouraged 
 by these establishments. The prices charged by the company for its 
 sugar in ordinary times are about 45s. per cwt. for loaf, and 34s. per 
 cwt. for crystallised. The quantity of refined sugar manufactured in 
 1847 was 39,600 cwt. ; in 1848, 26,000 cwt. ; in 1849, 35,000 cwt. ; 
 in 1850, 51,000 cwt. ; and in 1851, 74,000 cwt. 
 
 Soap and Candles. There are twelve soap and candle manufacturers 
 in the colony, and they produce a considerable quantity of both articles 
 both for home consumption and for exportation. With the exception 
 of sperm candles, indeed, the whole colony is supplied by the home 
 manufactories. The colonial soap has of late years nearly superseded 
 the English article, which used to be imported in large quantities. The 
 soap made in the colony is preferred for use, while it is produced at a 
 cost of about 3d. per pound. The quantity of soap manufactured in 
 
318 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 1847 was 19,925 cwt. ; in 1848, 18,900 cwt. ; in 1849, 24,623 cwt. ; 
 in 1850, 25,986 cwt. ; in 1851, 33,065 cwt. 
 
 Tobacco. There are at present only six manufactories of tobacco in 
 
 the colony, but in 1849 there were fifteen ; and in 1850, fourteen. 
 These, however, were on a small scale, and the quantity manufactured 
 was but small. Many samples of tobacco grown and manufactured in 
 the colony have been pronounced by competent judges equal to 
 Virginian ; but a very considerable prejudice exists against it. The 
 reduction of the duties on foreign tobacco in the last session of the 
 Council will probably retard the progress of the production and 
 manufacture of this article ; but with an abundance of labour there is no 
 question that this branch of industry will be again profitably resorted to. 
 The quantity of tobacco manufactured in 1847 was 1,321 cwt. ; in 1848, 
 714 cwt.; in 1849, 2,758 cwt. ; in 1850, 3,833 cwt. ; in 1851, 4,841 cwt. 
 
 Cloth. There are five woollen cloth manufactories in the colony, 
 the largest of which is the Messrs. Byrnes', at Paramatta. This 
 establishment is very extensive, and is conducted by its enterprising 
 proprietors on the true British principle. There was also a large 
 manufactory at Maitland, but the works have been interfered with by 
 a serious fire, which took place there some time back, and this accounts 
 for the falling off in the production last year. The cloth principally 
 manufactured in the colony is tweeds, and the quality has been much 
 improved in the last few years. The quantity of cloth and tweeds 
 manufactured in the colony in 1847 was 175,088 yards; in 1848, 
 164,749 yards; in 1849, 180,197 yards; in 1850, 190,791 yards; 
 in 1851, 114,394 yards. 
 
 In addition to the larger factories thus enumerated, there are 
 two hat manufactories, fifty-five tanneries, nine salting and meat- 
 preserving establishments, four potteries, two copper smelting estab- 
 lishments, and fifteen iron and brass foundries. The export of 
 unmanufactured leather is very considerable, amounting in 1851 to 
 562,215 Ibs., valued at 11,665. The consumption of colonial leather in 
 the colony is also very large, both for shoes and boots, and for coach- 
 building and harness. The other establishments we have enumerated 
 are chiefly employed in supplying the colonial consumption. The 
 lighter handicrafts in a small way are pursued with great avidity 
 and considerable skill in the towns of the colony, especially in 
 Sydney. There are plenty of expert jewellers ; and the articles of 
 colonial workmanship, manufactured from colonial gold and colonial 
 gems, would, in many instances, do credit to London establishments. 
 Furniture, and some of the larger articles of cabinet ware, are also 
 
, STATISTICS OF NEW SOUTH WALES* 319 
 
 manufactured with much taste in the colony. Many of the woods 
 of the colony are peculiarly appropriate to this trade, which, we 
 have no doubt, will one day assume a very considerable importance. 
 There are also one or two small cutlery establishments ; but though 
 very good knives and scissors, and even surgical instruments, have 
 been made in the colony, they are principally employed in repairing 
 such instruments, 
 
 SHIP BUILDING. 
 
 Ship building has been engaged in to a very considerable extent, 
 and the colonial vessels for the most part, as models of soundness and 
 durability, are highly creditable to the colony. There is an abundance 
 of excellent timber suited for every department of ship building. 
 
 In 1840, the vessels built in the colony were 17 ; tonnage, 1,196. 
 In 1841, 33; tonnage, 2,037; In 1842, 25; tonnage, 1,297. In 
 1843, 41 ; tonnage, 1,231. In 1844, 15 ; tonnage, 498. In 1845, 
 15; tonnage, 931. In 1846, 27; tonnage, 1,013. In 1847, 33; 
 tonnage, 2,122. In 1848, 26 ; tonnage, 1,281. In 1849, 35 ; tonnage, 
 1,720. In 1850, 36 ; tonnage 1,605. In 1851, 24 ; tonnage 939. 
 
 TIMBER. 
 
 In 1837 the import was in value 4,303; in 1838, 3,347; in 
 1839, 8,260; in 1840, 15,254; in 1841, 13,192; in 1842, 
 11,559; in 1843, 3,457; in 1844, 1,553; in 1845, 6,235 ; in 
 1846, 4,051 ; in 1847, 4,426; in 1848, 1,765 ; in 1849, 1,891 ; 
 in 1850, 2,159 ; in 1851, 3,721. The export has been, in 1837, 
 14,562 ; in 1838, 6,444 ; in 1839, 8,815 ; in 1840, 21,750 ; in 
 1841, 7,004; in 1842, 5,806; in 1843, 9,534; in 1844, 7,989; 
 in 1845, 7,319; in 1846, 7,060; in 1847, 7,158; in 1848, 
 5,591 ; in 1849, 12,988 ; in 1850, 17,138 ; in 1851, 17,462. 
 
 THE FISHERIES. 
 
 The return of the export of all the produce of the fisheries of the 
 colony, shows a very great decrease in late years. The value of the 
 oil exported in 1837 was 183,122 ; in 1838, 197,644 ; in 1839, 
 172,315 ; in 1840, 224,144 ; in 1841, 127,470 ; in 1842, 77,012 ; 
 in 1843, 72,877 ; in 1844, 52,665 ; in 1845, 95,674 ; in 1846, 
 68,936 ; in 1847, 79,298 ; in 1848, 68,969 ; in 1849, 44,993 ; 
 In 1850, 28,999; in 1851, 25,877. 
 
 AUCTION SALES AND DUTIES. 
 
 The return on auction sales and duties is more satisfactory. In 
 
300 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 1S40 the sales were 1,035,196 5s., and the duty was 15,527 18s. 
 lOd. ; in 1841 the duty was 12,811 Os. Id. ; in 1842, 8,900 8s. 2d. ; 
 in 1843, 5,865 15s. 5d. ; from which it sank down by 1847 to 4,834 6s. 
 After that year the auction duties were taken off articles of colonial 
 pro-lure, and the sales in 1848 were 649,815 16s. 8d., duties, 3,249 
 Is. 7d. ; in 1849, sales 545,797 10s., duties, 2,728 18s. 9d. ; in 
 1850, sales 1,143,649 3s. 4d., duties 5,718 4s. lid. ; in 1851, sales 
 467,575, duties 2,337 17s. 6d. 
 
 SALE OF CROWN LANDS. 
 
 The sale of Crown lands is also a return of interest, as it is now 
 separated from the Port Phillip sales. In 1837, the amount sold wa* 
 116,474 18s, 5d. ; in 1838, 79,130 6s. lOd. ; in 1839, 92,968 
 Is. 9d. ; in 1840, 97,498 10s. lid. ; in 1841, 19,235 15s. 7d. ; in 
 1842, 11,844 17s. 8d. ; in 1843, 5,311 2s. ; in 1844, 6,745 
 1 4s. 8d. ; in 1845, 11,563 13s. lOd. ; in 1846, 11,249 19s. 3d. ; in 
 
 1847, 2,929 19s. 2d. ; in 1848, 7,624 6s. 6d. ; in 1849, 20,113 
 12s. 3d. ; in 1850, 33, 757 6s. lid. ; in 1851, 64,425 17s. 6d. In 
 the last three years, at least one-third of the amount went to the 
 credit of the general revenue, being the produce of the sale of the land 
 on the site of the Circular Quay and old Military Barracks. 
 
 COIN IN THE COLONY. 
 
 The next return is of coin in the colony, contained in the military 
 chest, and in the banks ; and in 1845, when the amount was greatest, 
 it was 855,166; in 1846, 827,306; in 1847, 634,186; in 
 
 1848, 633,803; in 1849, 643,458; in 1850, 670,852; in 1851, 
 540,766. 
 
 GENERAL REVENUE. 
 
 The amount of the general revenue collected in the year 1851 was 
 277,728 18s. Id. ; the territorial revenue was 204,508 7s. 2d. ; the 
 Church and School Estates fund, 4,460 18s. 9d. ; being a total revenue 
 of 486,698 4s. 
 
 The total expenditure of the general revenue was 290,361 6s. 3d. ; 
 of the territorial, 153,747 3s. 7d. ; total, 444,108 9s. lOd. 
 
 THE POST-OFFICE. 
 
 The Post-office return is very interesting. In the year 1849, the 
 year before the Uniform Postage Act came into operation, the number 
 of post-offices in the colony was 88 ; the number of persons employed, 
 U5; the number of miles travelled by the mails, 586,675 ; the number 
 
STATISTICS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 321 
 
 of ship letters, 178,533 ; inland letters, 383,353 ; town letters, 
 47,135; ship newspapers, 277,787; inland, 457,197; total letters, 
 609,201 ; newspapers, 734,984 ; income, 15,462 9s. lOcl. ; expenditure, 
 13,751 7s. lid. In 1850, when the new Act came into force, the 
 number of post-offices was increased to 96, and in 1851 to 101; the 
 number of persons employed, to 123 ; in 1851, to 137 ; the number of 
 miles travelled, to 686,614 ; and in 1851, to 751,154 ; the number of 
 ship letters, not affected by the new Act, to 179,406 ; and in 1851, to 
 202,480 ; the number of inland letters, from 383,353 to 592,026 ; 
 and in 1851, to 694,356; the number of town letters, to 70,877; 
 and in 1851, to 78,482 ; the number of inland newspapers in the first 
 year rather decreased, as there was a postage charge of one penny 
 made upon them for the first time. The total number of letters in 
 
 1850 was 842,309; and in 1851, 975,318. The income in 1850 was 
 reduced from 15,462 9s. lOd. to 13,646 5s. 9d., while the expendi- 
 ture was increased from 13,651 7s. lid. to 15,732 11s. 4d. ; but in 
 
 1851 the revenue had increased to 18,252 Is. lid., while the 
 expenditure was 16,324 13s. 4d. 
 
 IMPORTS AND EXPORTS. 
 
 The value of the total imports and exports of the colony of New 
 South Wales, in each of the last eight years, was in round numbers as 
 follows : 
 
 Imports. Exports. 
 
 1844 . . 780,200 . . 871,300 
 
 1845 . . 985,600 . . 1,022,400 
 
 1846 . . 1,315,000 . . 1,056,300 
 
 1847 . . 1,544,300 . . 1,201,500 
 
 1848 . . 1,182,900 . . 1,155,000 
 
 1849 . . 1,313,600 . . 1,135,900 
 
 1850 . . 1,333,400 . . 1,357,800 
 
 1851 . 1,563,900 . . 1,796,900 
 
 The imports of last year exceeded those of the previous year by 
 230,500, or rather more than seventeen per cent. ; while the exports 
 show the far larger increase of 439,100, or thirty-two per cent. So 
 that in the first year of our gold discovery, the increase of our exports 
 was nearly double that of our imports. 
 
 Comparing the figures of 1851 with those of 1844, it will be seen 
 that during the last seven years both the imports and exports had rather 
 more than doubled themselves. 
 
 Last year the exports exceeded the imports by 233,000, or about 
 15 per cent. It should not be overlooked, however, that the exports 
 
322 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 of 1851 include colonial gold to the amount of 468,336, being the 
 produce of about six months' digging. 
 
 The ratios per head of the population, at each of the last two 
 censuses, were about as follows : 
 
 Imports per head. Exports per head. 
 
 1846 . . 810 . . 617 
 
 1851 . .87 . . 912 
 
 It thus appears that while the ratio of imports shows a diminution 
 of three shillings per head, that of exports shows an increase of 2 15s. ; 
 and that while in 1846 the imports exceeded the exports by 1 13s. 
 per head, in 1851 the exports exceeded the imports by 1 5s. 
 
 TAXES AND CUSTOMS DUES. 
 
 The revenue of the colony of New South Wales is derived from 
 customs dues and the proceeds of pastoral licences, an assessment on live 
 stock, and the licences issued to gold diggers and the sale of land. 
 
 An inclination was at one time prevalent among influential members 
 of the Legislative Council to establish a protective tariff, if the power of 
 so doing should be conceded by the Imperial Parliament ; but more 
 sound financial ideas have recently prevailed, and in 1852 the new 
 Legislative Council established a tariff of great simplicity and liberality, 
 while the auction duties have been abolished, as also all port and 
 harbour dues. In fact, Sydney offers an example of a great free-trade 
 port. 
 
 The duties now charged on goods imported to New South Wales 
 are solely as follows : Ale and beer in wood, Id. per g'allon ; ale and 
 beer in bottle, 3d. per gallon ; coffee, chocolate, and cocoa, ^d. per Ib. ; 
 currants, raisins, and other dried fruits, ^d. per Ib. ; brandy, proof 
 strength, 6s. per gallon ; gin, ditto, 6s. per gallon ; rum, and all other 
 spirits, 4s. per gallon ; perfumed spirits, of whatever strength, 4s. per 
 gallon ; all spirits, liqueurs, cordials, brandied fruits, or strong waters, 
 6s. per gallon ; refined sugar, 3s. 4d. per cwt. ; unrefined ditto, 2s. 6d. 
 per cwt. ; molasses, Is. 8d. per cwt. ; tea, l^d. per Ib. ; manufactured 
 tobacco, other than cigars and snuffs, Is. 6d. until the 31st day of 
 December, 1853, and thereafter, Is. ; unmanufactured tobacco, Is; per Ib. 
 until 31st December, 1853, and thereafter 8d. per Ib. ; cigars and 
 snuffs, 2s. per Ib. ; wine, Is. per gallon. 
 
 The eminent simplicity of this tariff has created the highest satisfac- 
 tion throughout the colony. The duties on spirits and tobacco, being 
 articles of luxury and the use of which, indeed, a wise policy would be 
 as far as prudent to resist can be no burden on any one. 
 
STATISTICS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 323 
 
 The duty on tea and sugar is one which will so equally and 
 universally affect all classes, that no injustice can be inflicted by it ; and 
 if it cause a fractional advance in the price of these articles to the 
 consumer, the absence of taxation on all other articles will enable him 
 to procure those articles at a proportionably cheaper rate. As long as 
 money must be raised by taxation for revenue purposes, the one 
 great principle to be observed is to make that taxation bear equally on 
 all, and it is wise therefore to confine duties to those articles only 
 which are of very general consumption. 
 
 It is confidently anticipated that this alteration of the tariff will 
 have a most beneficial effect, both as regards the amount of revenue 
 collected, and the encouragement it will give to trade. Concurrently 
 with the passing of this act, all port and harbour dues, and all auction 
 duties, were repealed; and it may perhaps be said, that New South 
 Wales affords the first example of a great commercial community 
 abandoning almost without exception the legislative restrictions by 
 which trade has hitherto been governed, 
 
 PORT PHILLIP. 
 
 The statistics of Port Phillip have not been prepared this year. 
 
 In 1851 the population of Melbourne was 23,000, of which 12,000 
 were males. This population has been increased to something approach- 
 ing 60,000, dwelling in huts and tents. 
 
 The population of 1851 was divided as to religion into 10,000 
 Church of England, 3,000 Presbyterians, 1,600 Wesleyans, 1,500 other 
 Protestants, 5,500 Roman Catholics, 233 Jews. 
 
 The Quarter's Revenue for the quarter ending 30th September, 
 1852, showed an increase of four hundred thousand pounds over the 
 same quarter in 1851. Every item of the revenue depending on con- 
 sumption shows an increase, the post-office only being stationary. The 
 gold licences produced 109,000, but considering that at least 60,000 
 diggers were at work, this item ought to have amounted to 270,000. 
 
 The Live Stock were by the last returns : Sheep, 6,033,000 ; 
 Cattle, 346,562 ; Horses, 16,734. 
 
KDWARD HAKGREAYES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 IN the month of April, 1851, New South Wales and Port Phillip 
 were enjoying an unexampled condition of financial and commercial 
 prosperity ; the demand for labour was steadily increasing, and in the 
 elder colony several manufactures and copper-mines were affording 
 new investments for colonial capital. The leading colonial journal was 
 amusing its readers with calculations of the period when all the 
 pastoral land of the colony would be overstocked with sheep and cattle. 
 The politicians had their grievances to discuss, among which was the 
 long delay in establishing a steam post. 
 
 In the midst of this satisfactory state of affairs, "through the 
 
THE GOLD DISCOVERIES. 325 
 
 Exchange of Sydney a horrid rumour ran " that a great gold-field had 
 been found near Bathurst. Yery soon small " nuggets " the word is 
 Californian arrived in the city, and were handed about as curiosities. 
 Thereupon a few score pedestrians, chiefly of the humblest class, set 
 out to walk to Bathurst, 140 miles. 
 
 By the 2nd May there was no longer any doubt about the diggings ; 
 crowds of all ranks streamed across the Blue Mountains ; the governor's 
 proclamation gave official currency to the dazzling fact ; the gold fever 
 commenced. 
 
 When whispers and rumours had grown into a great fact, every 
 body wondered that the discovery had not been made before, as it had 
 been so often prophesied by various individuals, none of whom seem to 
 have had, like Mr. Hargreaves, sufficient confidence in their own judg- 
 ment to travel to the district, and put a spade into the ground. 
 
 The history of the gold discoveries in Australia lies in a very short 
 compass, but is worth telling. It illustrates many curious things. 
 
 The first written reference to the existence of gold in Australia is 
 to be found in a despatch (not published at the time) addressed by Sir 
 George Gipps, 2nd of September, 1840, to the Secretary of State 
 for the Colonies, in which he encloses a report from Count Strzelecki, 
 mentioning under gold " an auriferous sulphuret of iron, partly decom- 
 posed, yielding a very small quantity of gold, although not enough 
 to repay extraction," which he found in the Yale of'Clwdd. It was 
 known to a few that an old shepherd of the name of Macgregor was 
 in the habit of annually selling small parcels of gold to jewellers ; but 
 those who watched him could discover nothing, and the common belief 
 was that he sold the produce of robberies which had been melted up to 
 destroy suspicion. The Rev. D. Mackenzie, in his " Gold-digger," 
 states that this old man has recently acknowledged that he obtained his 
 gold from a place called Mitchell's Creek, beyond Wellington Yalley, 
 about 200 miles west of Sydney. 
 
 The Rev. W. B. Clarke, one of the colonial chaplains, and a 
 geologist of considerable acquirements, in 1846, privately, but 
 unsuccessfully, directed the attention of some of his brother colonists, 
 among others of Mr. Manning to the gold-bearing regions of Bathurst. 
 While in England Sir Roderick Murchison read a paper before 
 the Royal Geographical Society, in 1844, compared the eastern 
 chain of Australia to the Ural Mountains. In 1846, a year before 
 the Californian discovery, he addressed the Royal Geological Society of 
 Cornwall, recommending unemployed Cornish tin-miners to emigrate to 
 New South Wales, and dig for gold in the debris and drift of what he 
 
DISCOVERY OF BATHURST GOLD FIELDS. 327 
 
 termed the " Australian Cordillera," in which he had recently heard 
 that gold had been discovered in small quantities, and in which he 
 anticipated, from the similarity with the Ural Mountains, that it would 
 certainly be found in abundance. 
 
 After these opinions had been made public, persons resident in 
 Sydney and Adelaide sought for and found specimens of gold, which 
 they transmitted to Sir Roderick, who thereupon wrote to Earl Grey, the 
 minister for the colonies, in November, 1848, stating the grounds for his 
 confident expectation that gold would be found in large quantities, and 
 suggesting precautionary measures. Earl Grey never answered this 
 letter, and neither took measures nor sent out private instructions to 
 prepare the governor for the realisation of the predictions of the man 
 of science. As he afterwards explained, he thought it better that the 
 people should stick to wool-growing. 
 
 The first printed notice by Mr. Clarke appeared in the Sydney 
 Morning Herald in 1847, in which, following in Sir Roderick Murchisons 
 footsteps, he compared Australia with the Ural. 
 
 In 1848 a Mr. Smith, engaged in iron-works near Berrima,* waited 
 upon Mr. Deas Thomson, the colonial secretary, produced a lump of 
 gold imbedded in quartz, which he said he had found, and offered, on 
 receipt of 800, to discover the locality. On reference to the governor, 
 a verbal answer was returned that, if Mr. Smith chose to trust to the 
 liberality of the government, he might rely on being rewarded in pro- 
 portion to the value of the alleged discovery. The government suspected 
 that the lump of gold came from California, "and were afraid of agitating 
 the public mind by ordering geological investigations." Nothing more 
 has been heard of Mr. Smith. 
 
 On the 3rd of April, 1851, Mr. Edward Hargreaves addressed a 
 letter to the colonial secretary, after several interviews, in which he said 
 that if the government would award him 500 as a compensation, 
 he would , point out localities where gold was to be found, and leave it 
 to the generosity of the government to make him an additional reward 
 commensurate with the benefit likely to accrue to the government. 
 
 It seems that Mr. Hargreaves, while in California, was struck with 
 the similarity between the richest diggings of that country and a district 
 in the Bathurst country which he had travelled over fifteen years pre- 
 viously ; and on his return to Sydney made an exploring expedition of 
 two months, which realised his expectations. 
 
 The same answer was returned to Mr. Hargreaves as to Mr. Smith. 
 He was satisfied, and on the 30th April wrote, naming Lewis Ponds 
 
 * Berrima, In the county of Camden, eighty-one miles from Sydney. 
 
328 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 and Summerhill Creeks, and Macquarie River, in the district of Bathurst 
 and Wellington, as the districts where gold would be found. 
 
 A copy of this letter was, by the governor's directions, forwarded to 
 the colonial geologist, Mr. Stutchbury, with whom Mr. Hargreaves was 
 put in communication. 
 
 Messrs. Hargreaves and Stutchbury set out on their journey. On 
 the 8th of May, a Mr. Green, a crown commissioner, wrote in great 
 alarm from Bathurst that "a Mr. Hargreaves has been employing 
 people to dig for gold on the Summerhill Creek, who have found 
 several ounces;" and suggested "that some stringent measure be 
 adopted to prevent the labouring classes from leaving their employ- 
 ments to search on the crown lands." On the 13th of May Mr. Green 
 writes again, in still more alarm: "A piece of gold valued at 30 had 
 been brought in, and that he feared that any future regulations would 
 be set at defiance." 
 
 Having frequently in the course of this work had occasion to stig- 
 matise the mistakes and misdeeds of the local colonial government, it is 
 only common justice to say that the line of conduct adopted by Sir 
 Charles Fitzroy and his council on the occurrence of the gold crisis 
 reflects upon them the highest credit. 
 
 A few dates will show how rapidly gold-gathering grew into an 
 important pursuit, stimulating agriculture, and overshadowing the 
 pastoral interest. 
 
 May 14th. Mr. Stutchbury reported that he " had seen sufficient to 
 prove the existence of grain gold." 
 
 19th. " That many persons with merely a tin dish have obtained one 
 or two ounces a day. Four hundred persons at work, occupying about 
 a mile of the Summerhill Creek, fear that great confusion will arise in 
 consequence of people setting up claims." 
 
 22nd. A proclamation was issued declaring the rights of the crown 
 to gold found in its natural place of deposit within the territory of New 
 South Wales. 
 
 23rd. John Richard Hardy, Esq.. chief magistrate of Paramatta, 
 was appointed the first gold commissioner, with instructions to organise 
 a mounted police of ten men ; to issue licences to gold diggers, at the 
 rate of 30s. a month ; to receive in payment gold obtained by amalga- 
 mation at 2 8s. per ounce, and at 3 4s. per ounce for gold obtained 
 by washing. And, to preserve the peace and put down outrage and 
 violence, he was further instructed to co-operate with the local police, 
 and to swear in special constables from the licensed diggers. 
 
 25th. Mr. Stutchbury reported that gold diggers had increased to 
 
FIRST GOLD COMMISSIONER APPOINTED. 
 
 329 
 
 ISSUING LICENCES. 
 
 one thousand ; that lumps had been found varying in weight from one 
 ounce to four pounds ; that the larger pieces were generally got out of 
 fissures in the rock, " clay slate," which forms the bed of the river, 
 dipped to the north-east at various angles, the fissile edges presenting 
 jagged edges, which had opened under the influence of the atmosphere, 
 " the smaller grain gold being procured by washing the alluvial soil 
 resting upon and filling in the clewage joints of the slate;" that "gold 
 was also found in the planks of the ranges, proving that it had originated 
 in the mountains." 
 
 He observes : " The workings at present are conducted in the most 
 wasteful manner, from the cupidity and ignorance of the people, which 
 cannot be remedied until some officer is appointed acquainted with the 
 proper mode of working, with power to enforce it. The best thing that 
 could happen would be a severe flood, which would fill the diggings, 
 and oblige them to begin, de novo, under proper restrictions." 
 
 Such is the constant hankering of government officials to teach and 
 regulate commercial enterprise. 
 
 v 
 
330 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Mr. Stutchbury further reported that gold had been found in Argyle, 
 on the Abercrombie Kiver, in the creeks running north and south of the 
 Canobolas Mountains, such as Oakey Creek, the whole length of the 
 Macquarie from Bathurst to Wellington. 
 
 About this time a considerable number of respectable persons were 
 seized with terror, lest the whole framework of society should become 
 disorganised, and anarchy and violence become chronic. 
 
 When the existence of gold was first ascertained, there were flock- 
 owners who disapproved of the course pursued by the governor in 
 raising gold-digging to the condition of a regular industrial pursuit, and 
 recommended " that martial law should be proclaimed, and all gold- 
 digging peremptorily prohibited, in order that the ordinary industrial 
 pursuits of the country should not be interfered icith ;" that is to say, 
 some of the same order who have always patronised vagabond bachelor 
 shepherds, and opposed the establishment of wives, families, and small 
 farms in the interior, were ready to risk a civil war rather than endanger 
 their wool crops. 
 
 But, fortunately, the governor had no taste for spilling the blood of 
 his countrymen in a " futile attempt to stop the influx of the tide." 
 
 Provincial Inspector Scott, of the police, reports from Bathurst that 
 the distance thence to Summerhill Creek is forty miles, over a clear and 
 denned but mountainous road, fit for the passage of drays : 
 
 " Thought that the deposits of the creek would be exhausted soon 
 that any mechanics in full work would commit an act of insanity to 
 resign their situations in search of gold ; that on Sabbath all parties 
 left off work, and the Rev. Mr. Chapman, a Wesleyan minister, preached 
 to a large congregation. Further, Mr. Scott anticipated difficulty in 
 preserving the peace, unless prompt and energetic measures were 
 adopted viz., to swear in all respectable persons as special constables, 
 and permit them to be armed ; to grant licences to other classes (not 
 respectable), and take their arms away to be locked up in Bathurst Court- 
 house." 
 
 From the letters of the provincial inspector of the same date, report- 
 ing the preparations he had made to assist the gold commissioner, in 
 case of the anticipated resistance, it is evident that no ordinary degree 
 of alarm was generally experienced. 
 
 But, fortunately, the colonists of Australia proved themselves more 
 orderly and sensible than the police and other timid individuals had 
 imagined ; and in Mr. Hardy, the first gold commissioner, the governor 
 had selected a man of judgment, temper, and cool courage, who was 
 determined to let the industrious miners have fair play, and equally 
 
THE GOLD COMMISSIONER. 
 
 331 
 
 determined to enforce his lawful authority. His reports are all models 
 of strong common sense. 
 
 MR. HARDY, THE FIRST GOVERNMENT COMMISSIONER. 
 
 For instance, when called before the Executive Council to be 
 informed of his appointment, he states, " that he does not consider that 
 he should have any difficulty in enforcing an observance of any reason- 
 able regulations, if twelve mounted men on whom he could depend were 
 attached to him, all being soldiers who have but a short time longer to 
 serve to entitle them to claim their discharge with pensions." He does 
 not desire to associate civilians with soldiers. His confidence was not 
 misplaced. 
 
 June 2nd. Mr, Hardy arrived on Summerhill with eight extra 
 
 v 2 
 
.'132 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 police, lent by Major Went worth ; found not the least desire to resist 
 the government regulations, and did not keep the extra force on the 
 ground half an hour. An arrangement to intercept all new arrivals, by 
 sending them to an unoccupied ground, prevented confusion. 
 
 On June 8th, four hundred and forty-six licences had been issued ; 
 to two or three hundred new arrivals he had given a few days to pay ; 
 quiet and good order prevailed : " in one instance alone was there an 
 inclination to disregard my decision. A tall, strong man, a butcher at 
 Bathurst, who had been in the habit of beginning to work wherever he 
 saw promises of lumps of gold, trusting to his strength to keep down 
 opposition, began to work on another man's opening. I told him to 
 desist ; but as soon as I turned my back, he began again saying he 
 would work where he liked in spite of any one. I turned back imme- 
 diately, and as I went up to him he dropped his pick and snatched up 
 a spade as if to strike at me. I instantly collared him, put him in 
 handcuffs, and marched him off the ground, declaring my intention of 
 sending him to Bathurst gaol. I sent up to my camp, with orders for 
 a policeman to get ready to take him in, and continued my walk. On 
 my return, in about an hour, the man was very penitent, begged to be 
 let off, which I did : he has been working quietly ever since, and the 
 neighbourhood has been relieved of a very unpleasant man. I have 
 mentioned this to show how easily such a population may be managed. 
 There is no occasion for any increase of force here." 
 
 There is no doubt that if convicts from Van Diemen's Land could 
 have been kept out of the gold-fields, there never would have been any 
 dangerous disturbances. 
 
 June 9. The government geologist reported the existence of gold in 
 the Turon, and other branches of the River Macquarie ; and Mr. Hardy, 
 anxious that there should be no great accumulation of diggers, posted 
 up notices of the new discoveries. 
 
 For this measure, as tending to stimulate gold-digging, for giving 
 time to new arrivals to pay for their licences, and for not swearing in 
 special constables, he was called to account by the Executive Council. 
 
 The advantage of dispersing the daily-arriving armies of diggers, 
 by giving them actual intelligence instead of mere rumours for a guide, 
 would seem obvious to any one except those Mother Partingtons of 
 legislation who still hoped to mop back the tide which had set in from 
 other employments towards the gold-field. 
 
 June 11. Mr. Hardy writes: "All anxiety as to the payment of 
 the licence fee is at end. I give parties who profess themselves unable 
 to pay at the onset a few days. But it is well understood, and invariably 
 
DODGING THE COMMISSIONER. 
 
 333 
 
 acted on, that no man works more than a few days without a licence ; 
 and it is partly from this known circumstance that so many leave after 
 a week's fruitless labour. This is, after all, of a good tendency. 
 Universally successful diggers would leave the colony in a bad position. 
 The return to their former employments adds greatly to the general 
 benefit, 
 
 " With respect to special constables I do not think I need be under 
 any apprehension of any opposition to the payment of licences. It was 
 necessary on two occasions to break the cradles, and march the owners 
 off the ground, not on account of any refusal to pay the licence fee, but 
 because the parties had worked the four or five days I had given them 
 to determine whether they were able to pay or not, and still professed 
 their inability to pay, and refused to take up their cradles and remove. 
 In such cases, and indeed in all cases, instant and determined actionis 
 
 
 DODGING TIIE OOSEttISSION T !'.R. 
 
 necessary, and disregard of possible consequences the safest policy. Some 
 days ago several persons were working on Mr. Lane's land, and on the 
 application of Mr. Rudder, who was in charge of the ground, I ordered 
 them off. Half an hour after I found one set of men still at work, and, 
 although alone, and two miles away from my men, I did not hesitate to 
 kick the cradle into the stream, and take the owner a prisoner into the 
 
334 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 town. If I had thought it necessary to call upon Mr. Rudder and those 
 who were with him, instead of acting as I did, I should not have suc- 
 ceeded Letter I probably should not have succeeded at all ; and the 
 probability is, that on the many occasions when I am necessarily alone, 
 and in remote places, I might meet with defiance, as one who could do 
 nothing unless his police were with him. I can rely on myself; I have 
 the most perfect reliance on the men, one and all, that the government 
 has given me ; but I could never rely on special constables, however 
 respectable : the more respectable the more unfit under the peculiar 
 circumstances" 
 
 The same good sense and firmness characterise Mr. Hardy's answer 
 to the deputation of diggers who came up to present a petition and 
 some resolutions for the reduction of the licence fee from thirty shillings 
 a month to seven shillings and sixpence : " I informed the deputation 
 that I should advise the government not to lower the licence fee, and I 
 informed them of my reasons for so doing, as follows : It was well 
 ascertained that about eight hundred persons earned on an average 1 
 per diem ; that about six or seven hundred earned from three to four 
 or five shillings a day ; that about three hundred earned nothing; that 
 the first-mentioned eight hundred were able, industrious, and persevering 
 men, working in the numerous favourable localities on the creek ; that 
 the second six or seven hundred were men who worked some time less 
 than a week without judgment, and who had not the energy, strength, 
 and bodily powers to be successful ; that the last-mentioned three hun- 
 dred were men who did not work at all, but, after looking about for a 
 day or two, went off in disgust ; consequently, that to the eight hun- 
 dred successful diggers the thirty-shilling fee was positively nothing, 
 seeing that any man could live well on nine shillings a week ; that the 
 remainder the partially and totally unsuccessful would be much better 
 employed in their past avocations. That the government had to con- 
 sider the general interests of the community, and not those of the diggers 
 alone, and that those general interests would not be advanced by 
 encouraging all the labouring hands of the colony to be employed in 
 gold- digging." 
 
 In July the rush to the diggings had somewhat moderated, when the 
 discovery of a hundredweight of gold revived and stimulated the excite- 
 ment to a degree which affected all classes of society ; and, after that 
 discovery, crowds of gentlemen repaired to the diggings. This great 
 prize having been raised by a gentleman (Dr. Kerr) who had not taken 
 out a licence, the gold commissioner, in the exercise of his duty, seized 
 it, in order to assert the rights of the crown. By an equitable arrange- 
 
THE HUNDREDWEIGHT OF GOLD. 335 
 
 merit it was afterwards given up, a precedent having thus been established, 
 on payment of a royalty of ten per cent. 
 
 " In the first week of July an educated aboriginal, formerly attached 
 to the Wellington mission, and who has been in the service of W. J. Kerr, 
 Esq., of Wallawa, about seven years, returned home to his employer with 
 the intelligence that he had discovered a large mass of gold amongst a 
 heap of quartz upon the run whilst tending his sheep. He had amused 
 himself by exploring the country adjacent to his employer's land, and his 
 attention was first called to the lucky spot by observing a speck of some 
 glittering yellow substance upon the surface of a block of the quartz, 
 upon which he applied his tomahawk, and broke off a portion. At that 
 moment the splendid prize stood revealed to his sight. His first care 
 was to start off home and disclose his discovery to his master, to whom 
 he presented whatever gold might be procured from it. As may be 
 supposed, little time was lost by the worthy doctor. Quick as horse- 
 flesh would carry him he was on the ground, and in a very short period 
 the three blocks of quartz, containing the hundredweight of gold, were 
 released from the bed where, charged with unknown wealth, they had 
 rested perhaps for thousands of years, awaiting the hand of civilised man 
 to disturb them. 
 
 " The largest of the blocks was about a foot in diameter, and weighed 
 75 Ibs. gross. Out of this piece 60 Ibs. of pure gold were taken. Before 
 separation it was beautifully encased in quartz. The other two were 
 something smaller. The auriferous mass weighed as nearly as could be 
 guessed from two to three hundredweight. Not being able to move it 
 conveniently, Dr. Kerr broke the pieces into small fragments, and herein 
 committed a very grand error. As specimens the glittering blocks would 
 have been invaluable. Nothing yet known of would have borne com- 
 parison, or, if any, the comparison would have been in our favour. From 
 the description given by him, as seen in their original state, the world 
 has seen nothing like them yet. 
 
 " The heaviest of the two large pieces presented an appearance not 
 unlike a honeycomb or sponge, and consisted of particles of a crystalline 
 form, as did nearly the whole of the gold. The second larger piece was 
 smoother, and the particles more condensed, and seemed as if it had been 
 acted upon by water. The remainder was broken into lumps of from 
 two to three pounds and downwards, and were remarkably free from 
 quartz or earthy matter. 
 
 " In the place where this mass of treasure was found, quartz blocks 
 formed an isolated heap, and were distant about one hundred yards from 
 a quartz vein which stretches up the ridge from the Meroo Creek. The 
 
336 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 locality is the commencement of an undulating tableland, very fertile, 
 and is contiguous to a never-failing supply of water in the above-named 
 creek. It is distant about fifty-three miles from Bathurst, eighteen from 
 Mudgee, thirty from Wellington, and eighteen to the nearest point of 
 the Macquaric river, and is within about eight miles of Dr. Kerr's head 
 station. The neighbouring country has been pretty well explored since 
 the discovery, but, with the exception of dust, no further indication has 
 been found. 
 
 " In return for his very valuable services, Dr. Kerr has presented 
 the black fellow and his brother with two flocks of sheep, two saddle 
 horses, and a quantity of rations, and supplied them with a team of 
 bullocks to plough some land in which they are about to sow a crop of 
 maize and potatoes. One of the brothers, mounted on a serviceable 
 roadster, accompanied the party into town, and appeared not a little 
 proud of his share in the transaction." 
 
 Dr. Kerr, the fortunate finder of this lump of gold, is mentioned in 
 one of the Voluntary Statements from which we have several times 
 quoted as an excellent, kind master. His brother-in-law, Mr. Suttor, of 
 Brucedale, is a son of the introducer of orange-groves, also one of the 
 most deservedly popular men in the colony. 
 
 A NUGGET OF GOLD 
 
 Dr. Kerr's great prize revived the " sacred rage for gold" among the 
 whole population, and Sydney seemed about to be deserted. New dis- 
 coveries in various directions were made. 
 
 The Bathurst district consists of elevated table-land, intersected by 
 barren ridges, watered by a series of Australian rivers flowing from the 
 Canobolas Mountains, most of which have been found to be auriferous. 
 
BATHURST. 337 
 
 The journey to Bathurst was easily performed by mail-coach or on 
 horseback. Arrived at Bathurst, the explorer found himself in the 
 midst of a rich pastoral and agricultural district, in which every fertile 
 valley had a small colony of settlers, ready to supply flour, meat, milk, 
 and butter, at reasonable charges. 
 
 The gold-diggers, instead of settling in a wilderness infested by 
 grizzly bears and savage Indians, like California, found themselves in a 
 district where a market was only needed to call into cultivation thou- 
 sands of acres of capital land at Frederick's Yalley, a gold placer of 
 extraordinary richness, belonging to Mr. Wentworth ; at Summer- 
 hill Farms, at King's Plains, Pretty Plains, Emu Swamp, and the 
 Cornish Settlement, where the crops in the severest droughts never 
 failed. 
 
 The Summerhill diggings, which are now nearly exhausted, and the 
 style of life which prevails throughout the interior of Australia, are well 
 depicted in the following sketch by a correspondent of the Sydney 
 Morning Herald : 
 
 " Monday, June 2. In the morning the ice was thick upon the 
 water in the dishes outside, and the ground covered with hoar frost, as 
 it always is here in fine weather at this season ; hot days and frosty 
 nights. 
 
 " To an unscientific eye the gold country (Bathurst district) consists 
 of a mass, not of ranges, but apparently of points of ranges, thrown 
 together without any regular arrangement, but dovetailing into one 
 another like the teeth of two saws placed close together, face to face ; 
 these teeth again being cut into smaller pieces by narrow precipitous 
 gullies, many of them nearly as deep as the main creek itself. Small 
 creeks twist and twine down these narrow gullies, which have a sudden 
 bend every half-dozen yards, into the Summerhill or main creek, which 
 twists and twines like the others, but on a larger scale. The banks of 
 the gullies are precipitous on both sides, but in the main creek there 
 are alternate bluffs and low points, the teeth of the saw sloping gently 
 down, diminishing in height as they do in width, till they come to a 
 point overhung on the opposite side by a high bluff or precipice, which 
 forms the inside of the nick of the opposite saw ; and, as we stood upon 
 the edge of the cliff, we looked down nearly two hundred feet over and 
 along each side of the opposite point, dotted with tents and gunyas of 
 bark or branches, each with its fire in front, sending the blue smoke up 
 into the clear frosty morning air ; some under the noble swamp oaks at 
 the water's edge, others behind and under the box and gum trees which 
 towered one above another till the rising branch was merged in the 
 
338 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 main ridge behind. The point was occupied by about fifteen parties 
 cutting straight into the hill ; and, as we looked down upon their busy 
 movements, digging, carrying earth, and working the cradles at the 
 edge of the water, with the noise of the pick, the sound of voices, and 
 the washing of the shingle in the iron boxes of the cradles, I could 
 scarcely believe that two months ago this was a quiet secluded gully in 
 a far-out cattle-run, where a solitary stockkeeper or black fellow on the 
 hunt were all that ever broke the solitude of nature. On saying so to 
 Scotch Harry, he said that he had stock-kept there for nearly twenty 
 years, and when he came there were flocks of kangaroos ; these were 
 driven off by the cattle, and now they were as completely driven off by 
 the gold-diggers, l Little enough the first occupiers thought of gold,' 
 I remarked. ( Yes,' answered Scotch Harry, ( and it would be well for 
 some of these fellows if they thought as little;' and he told us of two 
 who had gone mad already one a shepherd, in the neighbourhood, 
 found a piece while poking about his run, and came to him making a 
 great mystery about the place, till he could find no more, when he took 
 him to it, but it was a chance piece, and not accompanied by five or six 
 more, as is usually the case; the fellow, however, was not satisfied, and 
 continued searching about, till, from excitement and anxiety, he went 
 mad ; the other was a man who, after starving for two days, found 5 Ibs. 
 weight, fainted repeatedly, and is now in confinement. Kerr said that 
 two months ago hardly a traveller passed his house in a week, now they 
 were in crowds every hour ; his children never thought there were so 
 many people in the world before, and wondered what it all meant ; he 
 could hardly believe it himself. We did not find our dray, but heard 
 of it close at hand, and sat down to look about us. Drays and parties 
 of men were arriving every few minutes, many of whom gave a cheer as 
 if they saw fortune in their hand when they looked down upon the 
 workers in the bed of the creek below ; some were putting up tents and 
 gunyas, and some working, but all busy and all in good humour, barring 
 the men who were constantly leaving, and looked sufficiently disgusted. 
 We were a good deal puzzled how to get our baggage carried to Messrs. 
 Roach and Barrington's, as it would take us at least two days to carry 
 seven hundredweight over two miles of such ridges, or down the bed 
 of the creek, cut up as it is in every direction ; but, just as the last rays 
 of the sun were leaving the top of the ridge, a party of nine native 
 warriors, in their new government blankets, painted and armed with 
 spears and boomerangs, came winding down the bank. As they passed 
 through our camp, I asked the foremost if they would carry our bag- 
 gage, to which they at once agreed, and camped with us. 
 
SUMMERHILL CREEK. 339' 
 
 " We were all astir at daylight, and found the water frozen in the 
 bucket, and the top of our blankets quite wet within the tent. The 
 loads were adjusted, and the blacks, with the two men, started under 
 the guidance of the company, and returned about noon by a short cut, 
 we remaining to erect the tent. On loading them again, one fellow 
 complained that a pot of beef hurt his head, so I gave him a roll of 
 brown paper, but soon found my mistake, as not a man would move 
 without the same, so that when I came to the last there was not a 
 scrap left ; he had only bedding to carry, and I explained to him that 
 no pad was necessary, but he drew himself up and asked if I thought 
 him a fool ; ' Another one black fellow hab it/ He was evidently in 
 earnest, and would have left his load there and then, had I not clapped 
 a calling-card on his shaggy bullet head, and he went off quite proud ; 
 we gave them one shilling each and their rations, which is high pay for 
 a black. Many return at once, without giving it one minute's trial. 
 I saw one party arrive, six respectable looking hardworking men, all 
 well provided with tools, clothes, and provisions. As I stood con- 
 versing with one of them, who was putting his things together to 
 move to their tent, a parcel unrolled, and a Bible and Prayer-book fell 
 out. He looked up, and said they should not forget these even for 
 gold, to which I assented, with the remark that men would get none 
 the less gold for minding them/' 
 
 The Turon, which, like many Australian names, was scarcely known 
 beyond its immediate neighbourhood before the gold discoveries, rises 
 in the county of Roxburgh, near Cullen Cullen, and flows, like the 
 Summerhill Creek, into the Macquarie. On its banks Sofala has been 
 founded. Here it was that the art of cradling gold and washing gold 
 was learned by thousands who have since removed to Mount Alexander 
 and other districts. 
 
 The gold-fields of the Turon include river-bed claims and dry 
 diggings. 
 
 In the river-bed claims it is the object to clear a deep hole of water, 
 and then wash the mud and sand which have been carried there in the 
 course of ages ; partly washed to the hand of the miner by the torrents 
 of nature. " In dry diggings" the earth after being raised must be 
 carefully broken up and washed. 
 
 Fortunate diggers come from time to time upon lumps or " nug- 
 gets" of various sizes, which once excited great attention and curious 
 comparison between those found in quartz, in clay, in alluvial mould ; 
 but now in the auction-rooms of Sydney and Melbourne they excite no 
 more attention, unless of rare beauty, than so much copper or lead. 
 
340 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 The immediate result of the rush to the Bathurst gold-fields was to 
 supply the district wiih labour at reasonable rates. A traveller observes : 
 " We were much struck by the difference between their ideas of the 
 mines and those of men at a greater distance. To the latter the gold 
 country is a place with pieces of gold ready to be picked up without 
 trouble, and they start off, trusting to find food somehow, and quarters 
 somewhere, as they have done hitherto in the bush ; but to these men 
 here it is an open box forest, with severe frosts every night, sleet 
 and snow for weeks at a time, without any accommodations whatever, 
 or rations, unless paid for in hard money, at three times the usual 
 price : if they turn out, they exchange their comfortable warm hut and 
 regular meals for cold and hunger at once, so that there is no room for 
 the imagination to work. And though they all intend to give it 
 a trial when they get their discharge, and their wages to fit them out, 
 they expressed the greatest astonishment at the folly of the men they 
 saw passing every day, totally unprovided : they looked upon them as 
 literally mad." 
 
 It would fill a volume, which we may at some future time be tempted 
 to write, to follow the history of the New South Wales Gold Fields, 
 with all the curious attendant anecdotes. At present we cannot do 
 better than avail ourselves of the report made to a Sydney paper by an 
 eye-witness in the autumn of 1852 : 
 
 The time which has elapsed since Mr. Hargreaves announced that extensive 
 auriferous regions existed in the colony has done much less towards the develop- 
 ment of the hidden golden treasures of this province of the island than was at 
 first anticipated. In fact, during the last twelve months, since the attractions of 
 Mount Alexander began to tell on the mining population engaged at our diggings, 
 we have made but little progress. With one or two exceptions, our present 
 supplies of gold are derived from the very same localities whence they were 
 received last year, the only difference being, that they are in diminished quantity. 
 The only diggings opened up since that time which have materially affected the 
 increase in our production of gold are those of Tambaroura and the Hanging 
 Rock. Even these were known before that period, although their richness was 
 not established. In July, 1851, parties were at work in the vicinity of the Bald 
 Hill, and a short time after at the Dirt Holes ; and about the same time gold had 
 been found, although in small quantities, near the present diggings on the Peel. 
 During the last twelve months, the Turon and the Braidwood diggings have 
 retrogressed, partly in consequence of the incessant rains impeding as they do 
 mining operations in the beds of creeks and rivers, but chiefly on account of the 
 migration of the population to the Victoria gold-fields. 
 
 The attractions of other gold-fields have drawn away the great body of adven- 
 turers those who had no other motive to attach them to the gold-fields here than 
 desire of gain. The large proportion of gold-diggers left are persons who have 
 got a permanent interest in the country inhabitants of the small inland towns 
 
DRY DIGGINGS. 341 
 
 where their families are resident, or settlers on farms in which all their property 
 is invested. These persons distributed over the face of the country, of course 
 find it more profitable and convenient to devote their spare time to working at 
 diggings in the vicinity of their dwellings, and consequently are ever on the 
 search for gold near home. There is hardly a shepherd's hut in the interior, where 
 there is the slightest probability that the precious metal may be found, which does 
 not boast of a cradle and other mining implements, devoted to use whenever 
 opportunity offers. 
 
 The first locality which claims attention is Ophir, the parent diggings of the 
 colony. Ophir may be regarded as belonging to what may be termed the Canobolas 
 gold-field. This mountain, which is nearly a mile in height above the level of the 
 sea, and is composed chiefly of trap rock, is the centre whence a considerable 
 number of streams, including the Summerhill Creek, take their rise, and flowing 
 through a country composed chiefly of schists and quartzites, are more or less 
 auriferous. Gold has been found throughout the length of the Summerhill Creek, 
 from its source at the Canobolas to its junction with the Macquarie, but most 
 abundantly at Ophir, and Frederick's Valley, where the Wentworth diggings are 
 situated. The gold is chiefly of a nuggetty description, and has been found in 
 lumps of three or four pounds in weight. At the Wentworth diggings, very fine 
 gold has been obtained in considerable quantities. The country about Ophir is 
 very broken and rugged, and the deposit of gold lies, for the most part, in the bed 
 of the creek, as the banks are too steep to allow of extensive dry or bank diggings. 
 Towards the Macquarie the banks of the creek become still more rocky and 
 abrupt, and there is not much likelihood of any extensive deposit of gold having 
 been formed. The bed of the creek at Ophir has never been sufficiently dry to 
 allow of its being profitably worked since the first rains after the opening up of the 
 diggings on Fitzroy Bar. The population has never been veiy great since that 
 period, and at present does not number over two or three hundred. The earnings 
 at these diggings average from 10s. to 60s. per diem, and in a few cases much 
 more. There are many parties at work in the vicinity of the Canobolas, and on 
 creeks flowing from it. At the Tea Tree Creek and Brown's Creek, profitable 
 diggings have been opened, and the earnings are from 10s. to 20s. a day, but the 
 number of persons engaged at these places is not large. The whole of the region 
 surrounding this mountain, which is situated some forty or fifty miles to the west- 
 ward of Bathurst, may be regarded as a gold-field comparatively unexplored, 
 which when the return wave of population and enterprise shall have set in to the 
 gold-fields of this colony, will occupy no insignificant position. 
 
 The Turon still claims the first position among the gold-fields of the colony in 
 point of richness and extent. Sofala, the township which has been formed at the 
 richest locality on the Turon, is distant about twenty-five miles north from 
 Bathurst. Fifteen miles above Sofala remunerative diggings were opened at what 
 is called the Gulf, and thence to the junction of the river with the Macquarie, a 
 distance of nearly forty miles, digging operations having been carried on with 
 more or less success. The geological formation of the country is of schist, inter- 
 sected by quartz veins of various thickness, but there are many other rocks present 
 at different portions of the river. The mountains are lofty, but with rounded 
 gummits and gently sloping bases, and the river flows for the greater part through 
 a narrow valley between the ranges. The banks and slopes on the river side are 
 seldom abrupt, and dry diggings consequently abound. The gold procured on the 
 
342 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 river itself is chiefly dust, generally of a very fine description, but coarse gold has 
 been obtained in various places, and is abundant in the creeks and ravines open- 
 ing into the river. Lumps weighing as much as seven pounds have been found 
 The yield of gold on the Turon has been in many instances most extraordinary, 
 In several cases, from eighty to 100 oz. a day have been obtained by parties of 
 three or four for days together; in numerous instances from twenty to fifty ounces 
 a day have been procured, and from five to fifteen ounces were at one time a common 
 yield. The gold has been obtained in equal quantities in the bed of the river, 
 and on the banks and slopes in its vicinity. In the former case the greatest depth 
 to which it is necessary to go for the gold is from four to ten or twelve feet, but 
 the continual presence of water has rendered it generally a matter of difficulty, and 
 often of impossibility to get at the auriferous deposits. In the dry diggings the 
 depth of the claims varies from the surface to forty or fifty feet, and the largest 
 deposits of gold are got in the pockets and crevices of the bed rock. In the river 
 diggings the useless surfac > soil is wholly removed, but in the dry diggings 
 when a shaft has been sunk . the ground on the level of the gold deposit is tun- 
 nelled. The dry diggings o > banks of the Turon are considered by many to he 
 comparatively exhausted, but this is by no means the case in the opinion of more 
 competent judges. Recently rich dry diggings have been discovered on the slope 
 of the hill leading to the township of Sofala, and not more than a pistol shot 
 distance from the town. This ground has been constantly traversed by eager 
 miners for many months, and is proved to abound in deposits of precious metal, 
 which hundreds have left its vicinity to seek for at distant localities. The mining 
 population of the Turon numbered at one time certainly not less than 10,000, but 
 at present (September, 1852,) the number of persons engaged in digging on the 
 Turon and its tributaries does not exceed 1,200. The average yield at these 
 diggings, is from 15s. to 3 or 4 a day, but the instances are numerous in which 
 large sums are earned in a very short period. The labour required is great, 
 whether in the bed or the dry diggings, as in the former the water has constantly 
 to be contended with, and in the latter, the conglomerate soil which has to be 
 wrought through is almost as hard as rock. Many of these tributaries, Big 
 Oakey and Little Oakey Creek especially, have yielded a large amount of gold. 
 On the tableland, where their source is, parties have been at work for months, 
 making large earnings; and more extensive research would, undoubtedly, develop 
 many rich deposits at this place. Along the Bathurst-road gold has been found, 
 and at Wyagden Hill, midway between that town and the Turon, operations on a 
 large scale have been begun. 
 
 The Braidwood diggings next-claim attention. They are confined chiefly to 
 Major's and Bell's Creeks, which flow over the tableland, above the valley of 
 Araluen. They are not more than ten or twelve miles distant from the town of 
 Braidwood. What is peculiar in these diggings is the fact that they are situated 
 to the eastwards of the dividing range of mountains. These creeks before named 
 join the river Moruya, which flows into the sea at Short Maven, on the east coast, 
 between Bateman's Bay and Twofold Bay. Major's Creek and its tributary 
 Bell's Creek have amply repaid those engaged in mining operations on them. 
 The country is not of so mountainous a description as at the Turon. Slate and 
 quartz abound in the vicinity, but the bed-rock is granite, and the gold has been 
 found chiefly in what is regarded as decomposed granite. The prosperity of these 
 diggings has been seriously retarded by the incessant rains which have fallen 
 
BRAIDWOOD. 
 
 343 
 
 during the last several months, and the population has almost deserted them. At 
 one time there must have been nearly 2,000 persons on Major's and Bell's Creeks 
 and at Araluen; but at present there are not, at most, more than 500. The 
 average earnings at these diggings approximate to those at the Turon, and, as at 
 the latter place, many instances of surprising good fortune have occurred. At 
 Mungarlow, some fifteen or twenty miles from Major's Creek, remunerative 
 diggings have been opened, and several nuggets have been found weighing up to 
 eight or ten ounces. At the Braidwood diggings the gold is generally fine, and it 
 is reckoned to be very pure. Dry diggings have been opened on Major's Creek, 
 in which many parties are procuring four or five ounces of gold a day. 
 
 About thirty miles north of the Turon are the Meroo diggings. The Meroo is 
 a river somewhat resembling the Turon in its general features, and in its banks 
 and bars large deposits of gold have been found. The geological character of the 
 country is similar to that of the Turon. The diggings already opened here extend 
 several miles along the river. The yield of gold is generally large, and the gold 
 itself coarse, with occasional large nuggets. Several points on the Meroo have 
 turned out uncommonly rich. The golden reputation of the Meroo itself, how- 
 ever, is small in comparison to that of one of its tributary creeks, the Louisa, on 
 
 GOLD WASHING. 
 
 whose banks such extraordinary masses of the precious metal have been found, 
 and where the great nugget vein lies. The country about the Louisa is generally 
 of a flat description, and the declivities of the creeks are mild. Mr. Green, 
 assistant commissioner, in a report on the Western Gold Fields, has expressed 
 his opinion that the auriferous ground available for dry diggings at this creek 
 extends for several miles to Campbell's Creek, and that on the tableland, of which 
 
344 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 this forms a portion, 40,000 or 50,000 miners could find profitable employment. 
 Considering that this table land includes the rich diggings at the Long Creek, the 
 Dirt Holes, the Tambaroura and other creeks, we do not think that it is any exag- 
 geration of the truth. At the Louisa beautiful specimens of gold in the matrix 
 are constantly procured, and nearly all the gold obtained here is coarse and not 
 waterworn. Nuggets of large size have been discovered. The hundredweight 
 every one is familiar with. Brenan's twenty-seven pound lump was found at the 
 Louisa, as was also the largest waterworn nugget yet obtained, weighing 1 57 
 ounces, besides numerous other nuggets of less size, which it would be tedious to 
 enumerate. The heavy rains have greatly interfered with all the diggings from 
 the Meroo to the Turon, putting a stop to further operations, and compelling the 
 miners to seek other places. This has been the case at Long Creek, the Devil's 
 Hole, Pyramul Creek, Nuggetty Gully, Married Man's Creek, the Dirt Holes, &c. 
 The gold at these places is coarse, and the earnings are in many cases very large. 
 Generally speaking a man may make certain of securing 20s. a day if the weather 
 is favourable and he sticks to his work. The number of diggers on the Meroo, the 
 Louisa, and the other places just named, may be put down at 1,500. 
 
 Between the Turon and the Pyramul, and parallel to both, lies the Tambar- 
 oura Creek, which disembogues itself into the Macquarie several miles below the 
 junction of the Turon. This place has lately taken an important position among 
 the diggings for richness and extent, and bids fair to retain it. The diggings are 
 situated chiefly on tableland, and the yield of gold, when the weather allows of 
 operations being carried on, is very large. Many of the claims yield from two to 
 twelve ounces a day. The gold is coarse, and lies at various depths from the 
 surface. At Golden Gully, and at the Bald Hill also, the diggings are very prolific, 
 and to all appearance an extensive region teeming with golden wealth lies around. 
 Although mining operations are very much impeded by the frequent rains, which 
 convert the tableland into a swamp, yet it is feared that in dry seasons these 
 diggings will be unworkable for want of water. The number of miners at work 
 at the Tambaroura and the vicinity is probably about 1,000. 
 
 The Hanging Rock may be regarded as among the number of those gold 
 fields whose richness has been established. It is situated at the River Peel in 
 New England. The Oakenville, Hurdle, and Oakey Creeks, flowing into the 
 Peel, have been found to be rich in auriferous deposits, and a large tract of country 
 in the vicinity presents the same indications. The number of diggers at the 
 Hanging Rock is about 200, who are doing exceedingly well. As much as twenty 
 ounces per diem have been obtained here, and dry diggings have been discovered 
 which promise to be exceedingly rich. Although the richness of the Hanging 
 Rock diggings has been established, the extent and probable productiveness are 
 still matter of doubt 
 
 These northern diggings are fifty miles from the Page River; the nearest road 
 by Aberdeen, between Muswell Brook and Scone. From Goonoo Goonoo, the 
 head station of the Australian Agricultural Company is about twenty-seven 
 miles. The whole of the country is extremely hilly, and in wet weather the 
 numerous creeks present an impassable barrier to the traveller. 
 
 The direct approach to the Hanging Rock is over a series of most difficult 
 precipitous ascents, but there is a bridle path. The Hanging Rock is a prodigious 
 mountain, the sides of which are overhung with huge masses of rock, which seem 
 on the point of being precipitated into the yawning gullies beneath. The herbage 
 
THE PEEL RIVER. 345 
 
 is scant, affording but a bare subsistence for tbe horses and cattle. Descending 
 over the ridge which shadows what is called the Rock, you arrive at the " Hanging 
 Rock Creek," and the " Swamp Diggings." All these are liable to interruption 
 in the wet season. 
 
 The bed of the creek is composed of a very compact mass, interspersed with 
 quartz. The banks are chiefly a black, thick loam, intermixed with red, ferru- 
 ginous clay. The richest claims are where the quartz ridges dip down into the 
 creek. 
 
 The Dry Diggings are in one of many deep gullies which prevail in this 
 region. 
 
 Oakenville Creek is in this (the rainy) season a narrow, rapid rush of water 
 down the bed of a deep, precipitous, rocky gully. 
 
 The Peel River Diggings. The Peel River diggings are divided into two 
 classes. The field on the western side of the river belongs to the Australian 
 Agricultural Company, whose stations extend seventy or eighty miles along the 
 banks of this stream. The gold-field is situated about five miles from Hanging 
 Rock, and was discovered in March, 1853. The company, in the first instance, 
 endeavoured to raise a revenue by issuing licences, but as only thirty-six were 
 taken, while more than one hundred and fifty were at work, the deputy-governor 
 adopted means for driving off all trespassers, and at length succeeded. The gold 
 is found on the banks of the river in thick ferruginous clay ; in some instances 
 nuggets are found clinging to the roots of the grass. The greatest wealth is sup- 
 posed to exist in the quartz ridges. The reporter found several lumps the size of 
 a duck's egg, thickly speckled with gold. 
 
 The river diggings on the crown side are principally three spots : Golden 
 Point, Blackfellow's Gully, and Bold Ridge. 
 
 Of the remaining gold-fields, which are so only by anticipation, their riches 
 not having been developed, and but little being known of their extent, the Aber- 
 crombie is one of the longest known, and probably one of the most important. 
 Gold has been found in considerable quantities, not only in the river itself at the 
 Sounding Rock, or Tarshish diggings, but also on its tributary creeks, the Tuena, 
 Mulgunnia, Copperhannia, and Mountain Run. The Abercrombie lies some 
 forty miles to the southward of Bathurst, and forms the upper portion of the 
 Lachlan River. Dry diggings abound on some of the creeks the Tuena especially 
 and large earnings have been made here. The gold is coarse. The field may 
 be regarded as unexplored, as there are not more than 200 persons at work 
 on it. 
 
 North of the Abercrombie lie the diggings at Campbell's River called Havi- 
 lah, and those on the Gilmandyke and Davis Creeks, its tributaries. Gold was 
 found at Havilah shortly after the discovery of the Turon diggings; but as the 
 yield was small, the latter soon drew away the enterprising pioneers at Campbell's 
 River. The gold procured was very fine, but no locality has yet been discovered 
 where the deposits are so plentiful as to entitle these diggings to consideration. 
 On the Gilmandyke and Davis Creeks coarse gold is obtained, and there are 
 promising indications of future richness. Perhaps about 100 miners are engaged 
 at these diggings, who are making fair earnings. 
 
 There is about the same number of persons engaged in digging on Winburn- 
 dale Creek, which rises on the tableland a few miles to the northward of Bathurst, 
 and, flowing in a north-west direction, falls into the Macquarie several miles above 
 
 w 
 
346 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 the junction of the Turon. No very sanguine anticipations are entertained as to 
 the productiveness of these diggings, where, however, fair wages are made by the 
 few persons engaged at them. It is far otherwise, however, with the regions 
 adjacent to the Macquarie River. Gold has for a long time been found on this 
 river, but the diggings hitherto opened have been isolated. Late researches, 
 however, have brought to light auriferous deposits, where the depth of washing- 
 soil is ten and even fifteen feet, and these extend for miles along the banks of the 
 river. The capabilities of such a gold-field may be guessed at where the supply 
 promises to be almost inexhaustible. Only in dry weather, however, can these be 
 turned to account, as the river is a large and important stream during the greater 
 part of the year, and from the prevalence of water the claims cannot be worked. 
 The Macquarie receives the tributary waters of the Winburndale, the Turon, 
 Summerhill, Tambaroura, Pyramul, &c., all auriferous streams. 
 
 An extensive gold-field has been discovered at the Billabong range, which 
 lies nearly a hundred miles to the west of Bathurst, between the waters of the 
 Lachlan and Bogan. Schists and quartz are the constituent rocks, and specimens 
 of gold in the matrix have been found. At the Snowy Mountains, to the south- 
 ward, where many of the great streams of the colony, the Murrumbidgee, Murray, 
 Snowy River, &c., take their rise, the researches of the Rev. W. B. Clarke, who 
 was specially appointed by the Government to survey this district, have disclosed 
 an extensive tract of auriferous country, and several localities which promise to 
 be highly productive. The severity of the weather in these Alpine regions will, 
 however, preclude mining operations being carried on for several months in the 
 year. Over both these extensive portions of country the utmost done in gold- 
 digging are isolated efforts of a few prospecting parties, who are merely testing 
 the capabilities of the country. In these alone a vast field for enterprise lies open 
 to the world. 
 
 The last-discovered diggings in this colony, which have excited the most 
 sanguine expectations of their future productions, are Bingara, situated on the 
 Courangoura Creek, which joins the Gwydir, seventy miles to the north-west of 
 Tarn worth. The diggers who first discovered the treasures of this locality made 
 extraordinary gains in a short time, and the gold appeared to lie in such abundance 
 on all sides, as to be inexhaustible. The gold obtained has consisted chiefly of 
 nuggets and coarse grain, very little worn. Nuggets weighing fourteen and six- 
 teen ounces have been obtained. Upon the intelligence of the success of these 
 diggings a large number of persons started for them, and at present we dare say 
 there are 300 on the ground. The diggings at present opened are situated on 
 tableland, and it is feared that there will not be a sufficiency of water even in 
 moderately dry seasons. The usual characteristics of "a gold region, slate and 
 quartz, abound ; and a large extent of country in the vicinity has the same external 
 appearance as that at the diggings at the Courangoura Creek. The country 
 is very level, resembling the gold-fields of Victoria, and the samples of precious 
 metal obtained resemble those of Mount Alexander in the coarseness of the grains 
 and their rich appearance. At various places, between the Hanging Rock and 
 Bingara, gold has been found in some instances lying on the surface of the 
 ground. The distance of this gold-field from Maitland is upwards of 200 miles 
 in a north by west direction. A considerable quantity of gold has been received 
 from it, and at present there is a large quantity in the hands of the miners. 
 
 According to the estimated number of diggers which we have stated as 
 
BINGARA. 347 
 
 engaged in each locality, the total number at the places particularised is about 
 6,000. As there are numerous creeks and gullies throughout the country where 
 miners are at work, but which are either too unimportant to be named such as 
 the Jew's Creek, the Crudine, &c. or are altogether unknown, a considerable 
 addition must be made to this number. If we add 2,000 more to the 6,000, it will 
 include all these detached miners, and any possible deficiency in our estimate of 
 the number of diggers at the established gold-fields. The total number of persons 
 engaged in gold-digging in this colony will then be about 8,000. 
 
 Hitherto a pick and shovel and a cradle, with probably the addition of a 
 crowbar and pump, have constituted a miner's outfit. At the diggings of Victoria, 
 indeed, thousands of the more successful miners never use a cradle, the richness 
 of their claims in large gold preventing the necessity; but at the Turon and other 
 places, the fineness of the gold dust, and the manner in which it is diffused 
 throughout the soil, have necessitated the utmost skill and care in cradling. 
 Lately, however, companies have been formed in this colony for the more effectual 
 development of the wealth of the gold-fields. About half-a-dozen of these 
 companies have commenced operations. The Great Nugget Vein Company are 
 setting up expensive machinery on the banks of the Louisa for crushing the 
 auriferous quartz of their claim at that locality. The Turon Golden Ridge Quartz 
 Crushing Company are making active preparations for developing the richness of 
 an auriferous quartz vein on the Lower Turon, which promises the most splendid 
 results. The Messrs. Samuel are proceeding with their exertions to drain the 
 waterhole at Ophir. The Australian Mutual and the British Australian Gold 
 Mining Companies have combined operations, for the purpose of working the 
 alluvial claims on the Turon. They have secured ground at Lucky Point, and 
 have made considerable progress towards developing the golden deposits of an 
 island in the bed of the Turon contiguous to Erskine Point. 
 
 Gold has been found throughout more than eight degrees of latitude, from 
 Bingara at the north to the ranges near Cape Otway, in Victoria. There is good 
 reason for believing that it exists throughout twelve degrees, as samples of the 
 precious metal were found by the late Mr. Roderick Mitchell, son of the surveyor- 
 general, as far north as Mount Abundance at the Fitzroy Downs. The eastern- 
 most diggings in Australia yet discovered are those at the Hanging Rock, about 
 the 151 of E. long. A gold-field has been discovered in South Australia, in 
 about the 139 longitude, twelve degrees to the westward; but whether gold will 
 be found throughout the intervening country it is impossible to say. It has 
 certainly been found as far westward, in Victoria, as the 143rd meridian, and 
 at Mount Cole and Mount William. 
 
 On Thursday, 2nd September, I joined a gentleman of Murrurundi, whose 
 business required his attention here, and travelled over the almost trackless ranges 
 to the Isis, one of the rivulets which runs into the Hunter. Towards evening we 
 reached the hospitable abode of a venerable Highlander, who here, high above all 
 other human habitations, at the foot of the Liverpool range, aided by his stalwart 
 sons, tends his numerous and thriving flocks. 
 
 The next morning they directed our steps to a remarkable cave, the front 
 apartment of which is adorned with stalactites, in the form of pillars and 
 curtains. The entrance being turned upwards, is altogether hidden from most 
 passers by; but when a descent has been accomplished over the broken rocks, the 
 main arch of the cavern has a fine appearance. To this cave the worthy and 
 
 w 2 
 
348 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIAi 
 
 patriotic Highlander has given the name ' Uamh Garrie,' Garry's Cave, from its 
 resemblance to a cave of that name in the Highlands of Scotland. 
 
 There is a larger cave lower down the stream, which we had not time to visit, 
 but which some travellers have said will surely become an object of great interest, 
 as soon as better modes of travelling are afforded to the inhabitants of our towns 
 and cities. 
 
 On leaving the Isis, we ascended the Liverpool Eange crossing, at various 
 elevations, on both sides of the range, tablelands of the most promising soil ; 
 where several thousands of agriculturalists are likely to find a highly remunerative 
 field for their industry and skill as soon as markets for the gold-finding population 
 of the neighbourhood, and means of transit to distant towns, make their settle- 
 ment practicable. In the afternoon, soon after crossing the Peel, we came in 
 sight of the perpendicular facing of rock which gives a peculiar appearance 
 and a name to this mountain. The ascent to this flat, near the summit, is a steep 
 one of at least three miles ; did we not see the tracks, we could not believe it 
 possible for drays to be brought up it by any means. As the golden creek runs 
 in all directions from the top, and the precious metal is found at all heights, there 
 is no regular camp of tents here as at the Turon and other places; the people are 
 thinly scattered over a wide space, and hidden from one another by the ridges. 
 Never, perhaps, did men pursue their daily toil in such delightful and beautiful 
 workshops as these ravines, where the dark foliage of the oak, the rugged and 
 fantastic piles of rock, and the numerous cascades, combine to form pleasant 
 pictures. Among the diggers it is easy to discover many a thorough gentleman, 
 and many a worthy farmer, artisan, and sailor. 
 
 STRAW-NECKED IBIS. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 GOLD FIELDS OF VICTORIA. 
 
 f ITHE opening up of the gold fields of Victoria followed quick, 
 -JL and soon eclipsed the river claims and dry diggings of the older 
 colony. 
 
 Gold was sold in small quantities to a jeweller of the name of 
 Brentano, in 1848, which was found on the banks of the river Loddon, 
 at the foot of the Climes Hill, which is supposed to be of volcanic 
 origin, and rises from a plane. 
 
 In August, 1851, after a reward had been offered for the discovery 
 of gold in the Port Phillip district, the diggings were opened at the 
 Climes, whence a piece of two pounds of fine grain gold was sold. 
 Afterwards they were successfully opened at Buninyong, a deep gorge 
 formed by the bed of Anderson's Creek, in the heart of stringy bark 
 ranges. 
 
 The weather was unfavourable, and the first attempt to levy 
 licence fees at the Climes created discontent. A different spirit 
 from that at the Turon was displayed ; the people struck their tents 
 and retreated further into the ranges ; this led to the discovery of 
 Ballarat. 
 
 The commissioner having acted with great discretion, taken pains to 
 conciliate, and applied his mechanical talent to constructing a better 
 cradle, an improved feeling was created. 
 
 In September the returns were better more nuggets one man 
 getting eight ounces in a week. Success soon brought two hundred 
 up ; and, the weather clearing, gold gathering became one of the trades 
 of Victoria, and licence fees, being found a protection, were paid 
 willingly. Diggers combined to preserve order, held meetings, and 
 settled all disputed points. 
 
 At Clunes the rock was mined at Ballarat the soil only was 
 washed. 
 
 In October the government escort was established, and large returns 
 were raised daily. By the middle of the month ten thousand men were 
 at work with 1,200 to 1,300 cradles at Ballarat. The estimated daily 
 earnings were 10,000, very unequally distributed. 
 
350 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 
 GOLD ESCORT. 
 
 In the same month a public meeting of the Ballarat diggers was 
 held, to adopt measures for securing a supply of water during the coming 
 dry season, and a subscription of one shilling a head was commenced 
 for the purpose of damming up the waters of the creek ; the commis- 
 sioner of crown lands was elected treasurer, and any surplus was to go 
 towards an hospital for the sick diggers. 
 
 In September the gold was found in such quantities round Mount 
 Alexander, the Mount Byng of Mitchell, as to attract large numbers from 
 Ballarat. At Mount Alexander gold was taken up with pocket-knives 
 from soil a few inches below the surface in such profusion, that one man 
 filled a quart pot with small nuggets in the course of the day. A rush 
 took place from all the other diggings to the last-found region, and in a 
 very few days there were eight thousand at work. 
 
 In November three tons of gold lay at the commissioner's tent at 
 Forest Creek waiting for an escort, and not less than twenty-five 
 thousand persons were working at the spot. 
 
 On December 1st government issued a notice raising the licence fee 
 
DRIVE FROM MELBOURNE TO BALLARAT. 351 
 
 to 3 a month ; but this move met so much resistance that it was 
 almost immediately rescinded. 
 
 The dry weather setting in, the diggers in the course of January 
 were reduced to 10,000 persons. 
 
 In January the new Legislative Council came to a series of resolu- 
 tions adverse to the licensing system, and suggesting an export duty. 
 
 In the same month a working man found at the Forest Creek 
 diggings the largest lump of solid gold yet discovered, weighing 27 Ibs. 
 8 oz., perfectly pure, free from quartz or other impurity, which he sold 
 to a Melbourne dealer. 
 
 In May, 1852, the numbers at Mount Alexander were estimated at 
 from thirty to forty thousand souls. 
 
 Since that period the gold-fields round Mount Ballarat have been 
 almost deserted, except by residents in the locality. 
 
 A TANDEM DRIVE FROM MELBOURNE TO BALLARAT, IN 1851. 
 
 lt Having cleared the city we overtook the golden army of bullock- 
 drays moving northward, surrounded by companies of men and lads : 
 occasionally a female is seen. Four bulldogs pull one carriage, a great 
 dog in the shafts of another, and a man pushing behind at a load of 
 near five hundredweight. 
 
 "Presently the splendid panorama opened to view an extensive sweep 
 of plains, encircled by mountain ranges in the remote distance. Far as 
 the eye can reach, the pilgrimage, its line moving along the undulations, 
 now hid, now rising into view English and Germans, Irish and Scotch, 
 Tasmanians. 
 
 " Sixteen drays at Yuille's Ford, and nearly two hundred people. 
 It is nearly impassable, from the fresh current of yesterday's rain. But 
 the men, tailing on to the ropes by dozens, pull both the horses and carts 
 through. Some there are pulling, some cooking their midday meals, 
 some unloading the drays, some moving off the ground. Over the ford 
 the road is delightful, the scenery charming, the land more broken, and 
 timbered like a park. Ladidak comes in view, a beautiful ravine 
 formed by the convergence of several hills, at the base of which the 
 river so winds that it must be crossed thrice. 
 
 " Where formerly was silence, only broken by the voice of the bell- 
 bird, now bullock-drays, bullocks, and bullock-drivers, are shouting, 
 roaring, and swearing up the hill, or descending splashing through the 
 once clear stream. On, on until the expanse of Bacchus Marsh opens, 
 until lately a favourite meet of our hounds. 
 
 " A camp of tents has been formed by those who think it discreet to 
 
.352 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 put off the crossing struggle until their beasts have had the benefit of a 
 night's rest ; loud is the ringing of bullock-bells ; meanwhile an 
 impromptu bridge of a tree has been thrown across the river, and men 
 are crossing and recrossing like a stream of ants. A dray deep in the 
 stream makes a complete capsize before it can be hauled through. 
 
 . " Our tandem dog-cart dashes through gallantly, we reach the 
 Pentland Hills, where another encampment has been formed in the long 
 ravine ; we trot on slowly, the moon bright, the sky cloudless, a sharp 
 frost nips the uplands, the campers eating, drinking, and smoking ; 
 architects, jewellers, chemists, booksellers, tinker, tailor, and sailor, all 
 cold but cheerful. At the next station we halt and enjoy our friend's 
 fire and supper. 
 
 " The next morning broke bright and fresh ; the ground was white 
 with frost ; at daylight the train of pilgrims were crossing the plain 
 the Germans with wheelbarrows led the way. At Ballan we find the 
 inn eaten out. A horse passes at speed bearing on his back two horse- 
 men. We meet sulky parties of the unsuccessful returning, and see 
 signs in small excavations of prospecting parties. The forest grows 
 
 LAUGHING JACKASS. 
 
 denser ; toward evening we reach the hospitable roof-tree of Lai Lai, 
 where at daybreak all the laughing jackasses of the country seemed to 
 have established a representative assembly. Ha, ha, ha ! ho, ho, ho ! 
 1m, hu, hu ! ring forth in every variety of key innumerous. 
 
TANDEM DRIVE TO BALLARAT. 353 
 
 " The cavalcade in motion splashes through the broad river, where 
 one driver, in his shirt, without breeches, walks beside and urges on his 
 horses, fearful of his dray sticking on the way. Our next point is Warren 
 Neep, where we refresh with a draught from the delicious mineral spring. 
 Two miles from Warren Neep the hills begin gradually to slope toward 
 Ballarat. The forest trees are loftier and denser, but the surface soil is 
 not so richly grassed. The road emerges on to a rich bottom of con- 
 siderable extent, and the hill to the left extends upwards in such a 
 gentle slope as to diminish the appearance of its height. Within a 
 mile and a half of Golden Point the tents begin to peer through the 
 trees. The Black Hill rises precipitously on the right from a creek 
 that washes its base, and through its thick forest covering the road is 
 visible down which the carriers are conveying their earth. 
 
 " The bank of the creek is lined with cradles, and the washers are in 
 full operation. Round the base of the mountain, on the further side, 
 at right angles with this creek, the River Lee flows ; and for half a mile 
 along its bank the cradles are at work. We descend, leave the road, 
 cross the bottom, spring over a dam, and are among the workmen. 
 ' Rock, rock, rock ! swish, swash, swish !' such the universal sound. 
 
 " The cradle is placed lengthwise with the water. The cradleman, 
 holding the handle in his left hand, with a stick or scraper to break 
 the lumps of earth or stir up the contents, keeps the cradle constantly 
 going. The waterman, standing at the head of the cradle with a ladle 
 of any kind, keeps baling water continuously into it. A third man 
 washes carefully into a large tin dish the deposit that has fallen through 
 the sieves of the cradle on to the boards beneath, carries it into the 
 stream, where he stands knee-deep, and, tilting the dish up under the 
 water, and shaking its contents, the precious metal falls to the bottom, 
 while the earth and sand are washed out by the water. 
 
 " After long washing the glittering dust is seen along the bottom 
 edges of the dish. This residuum is carefully washed into a pannikin, 
 dried over the fire, and bottled or packed for exportation. Meanwhile 
 the 'cradleman' and 'waterman' examine the quartz stones in the 
 upper sieve for quartz gold. Occasionally some are found with pieces 
 of quartz adhering, the rest are thrown aside. The cradle filled, the 
 men are at work again, and the rocking recommences. On the top of 
 the hill the diggers are hard at work ; the carriers descend the steep 
 side, dragging a loaded sled filled with the gold-impregnated earth, 
 some with tin vessels on their heads, others with bags on their backs. 
 The earth thrown down, they reascend the toilsome way ; and this is 
 the process ' from morn till dewy eve.' 
 
354 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 " Returning to the road, the outer encampment this side of Golden 
 Point became visible. A sound is heard like the continuous beat of a 
 thousand muffled drums, or the rushing of a mighty waterfall. As we 
 issue from the trees the cause is beheld. From the margin of the forest a 
 broad swamp spreads, through which the Lee runs. Over against you 
 the broad shoulder of a bold hill is pushed out to meet its attacking 
 waters, and round its base run the swamp waters, uniting with the 
 river. Along this the cradles are ranged for about half a mile, on both 
 sides of the creek and down the river, forming the letter T with the 
 ends upturned. They are crowded so closely together as barely to 
 permit being worked, in some places in triple file. At this distance 
 you see some of the excavations, and the carriers swarming up and down 
 hill with all sorts of vessels, from the bag to the wheelbarrow. The 
 enormous ant-hive swarms like a railway cutting, where the crown of a 
 hill is carried down to fill a valley. 
 
 CHILDREN CRADLING. 
 
 " Higher up the hill's crest, along its sides, and stretching down to 
 the swamp far away to the right and left, are the tents, thickly clustered 
 and pitched, and, far beyond, the lofty white-barked trees form a back- 
 ground. This is Ballarat ! 
 
 " Crossing the swamp, we reach the commissioner's tent, where he is 
 
DIGGING IN EARNEST. 355 
 
 trying a depredator, who, for want of a lock-up, has been tied to a tree 
 all through the hard night's frost. 
 
 " Troops of horses, drays, carts, and gigs, with their owners, are all 
 around. Squatter, merchant, farmer, shopkeeper, labourer, shepherd, 
 artisan, law, physic, and divinity, all are here. * * * 
 
 You meet men you have not seen for years, but they recognise you 
 first, for even your most intimate friends are scarcely to be known in 
 the disguise of costume, beard, and dirt. * * * 
 
 'Welcome to Golden Point!' 'Ah, old friend! hardly knew you. 
 How are you getting on ?' 'Did nothing for a week ; tried six holes 
 and found no gold. My party, disheartened, left me. I formed another 
 party ; sank eighteen feet until we came to the quartz, and dug through 
 it, and now I have reached the blue clay. It is a capital hole ; come 
 and see it.' 
 
 " Imagine a gigantic honeycomb, in which the cells are eight feet 
 wide and from six to twenty-five feet deep, with the partitions propor- 
 tionately thin, and to follow a friend to find a hole in the very midst is 
 dangerous work 
 
 ' Lightly tread, 'tis hollowed ground.' 
 
 " The miners move nimbly about, with barrow, pick, and bag, 
 swarming along the narrow ledges, while below others are picking, 
 shovelling, and heating the stove. 
 
 " ' No danger, sir ; our bank is supported by quartz. We've got to 
 the gold at last. Made an ounce yesterday. There was a man killed 
 yesterday three holes off; the bank fell down on him as he was squat- 
 ting down this way, picking under the bank, and squeezed him together. 
 His mate had his head cut, and was covered up to the throat.' 
 
 " Down the shady excuse for a ladder, half the way, then a jump, 
 and the bottom of the capital hole is gained. Nearly four feet of red 
 sand formed the upper layer, next a strata of pipeclay, below which lie 
 the quartz boulders ; then a formation of quartz pebbles, with sand 
 impregnated with iron ; this penetrated, the bluish marl is reached in 
 which the vein of gold is found. 
 
 " Down among the men washing there is nothing to be observed. 
 The work is earnest no time for talk. 
 
 " The commissioner has a busy time issuing licences. His tent has 
 the mounted police on one side, and the native police on the other. 
 The black fellows are busy tailoring ; one on the broad of his jback, in 
 the sun, with his eyes shut, chanting a monotonous aboriginal ditty. 
 
 " Three men are waiting their turn with the commissioner. 
 
3,56 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 " * I say, Bill, this here's rayther respectable okipashun that cove 
 with the specs is a first-class swell in Melbourne, and there's a lot in 
 the same party with him. The greatest nobs are all the same as uz 
 
 snobs ! I saw Mr, from the Barwon here this morning : he found 
 
 his shepherd in a hole getting gold, an* no mistake ! He comes with 
 his brother to have a turn with the rest; but when he saw him he 
 looked non-plushed, and said to himself, " Well, I can't go down to 
 this," and I believe the fool started back ; but come, it's our turn 
 now.' 
 
 " The evening shadows fall, the gun from the commissioner's tent is 
 fired the signal for digging to cease ; the fires blaze up, the men gather 
 round them for their evening meal, their smoke floats over the trees as 
 over a city, the sounds of labour are hushed, but are succeeded by loud 
 voices and ringing laughter, mingled with the bells of the browsing 
 oxen, and the dogs baying more loudly as the darkness grows more dark. 
 A party of gamblers are staking each a pinch of gold-dust on the turn 
 of a copper. The native police, lithe and graceful as kang-aroo-dogs, 
 {ire enjoying a round of sham combat ; one black fellow attacks with a 
 frying-pan ; the other pretends to shoot him with his knife : a painter 
 might study their attitudes. Hark ! to the sax-horns from the Black 
 Hill floating to us across the valley ; close at hand the sweet melody of 
 the Grerman hymn in chorus rises ; and then down from toward the river 
 comes the roaring chorus of a sailor's song. The space and distance 
 mellow in one harmonious whole all the sounds ; and as we retreat they 
 fall upon one wearied with hard labour, like the rich hum of an English 
 meadow in harvest time. 
 
 " A flash ! a bang ! another ! now platoon-firing : become infectious, 
 the sounds of war mingle with and overpower the music. 
 
 " The warm day terminated in a bitter cold night, and a storm of 
 snow and hail ushered in Sunday for we are 1,200 feet above the sea. 
 On the Sabbath digging and washing gold cease ; but the axe and the 
 hammer ring continually, and the crash of falling timber booms over the 
 hills. The miners, with what few wives are there, are building huts, 
 mending tents, gathering firewood, and washing out their mud-stained 
 garments. 
 
 " The men soon assume a clean and more civilised costume, form 
 groups, compare notes, make calls. The unsuccessful wander off into 
 remote spots, prospecting. Some start for the post-office. The tide of 
 emigrants flows in, and men who never before dwelt out of reach of an 
 inn and a waiter have to learn now to camp under a tree and cook a 
 chop without a frying-pan." 
 

 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 THE DIARIES OF DIGGERS. 
 
 THE disappointments in California had rendered the English public 
 cautious, but the arrival in the port of London of actual cargoes of 
 gold, and letters from colonists enriched by digging, presently brought 
 the emigrating public to fever heat, and thousands of all classes and ages 
 betook themselves to Australia, and a large re-emigration took place from 
 South Australia and New South Wales. From the correspondence and 
 journals of these adventurers some of them experienced colonists we 
 condense accounts of what they saw, omitting much of what they 
 thought, hoped, feared, and ejaculated. 
 
 PASSAGE. 
 
 " In the first place, take your own passage or berth for yourself : 
 trust not to any one, not even a brother, for it. Second, make the 
 bargain that no one is to be in the same berth with you (that is, if you 
 go in the second cabin or intermediate.) Bring on board a small barrel 
 for holding water (not a tin can, on any account), a camp stool for sitting 
 on, a lock and key for your berth door, and a determination to make a 
 companion of no one all the voyage, and only seek a speaking friend 
 after you have been three weeks at sea. It is also indispensably neces- 
 sary that every article you possess, except the wearing apparel on your 
 person, be locked in your trunks and the keys in your pocket. 
 
 " In the accounts of the voyages to Australia you will notice that 
 much is said about the great heat ; but, as far as my experience goes, 
 too little is said about the extreme cold weather which is experienced 
 after rounding the Cape of Good Hope. It is necessary, therefore, to 
 have a suit of very warm clothing, no matter how coarse it is, but warm 
 it must be. If you were not teetotalers, I should also advise you to 
 bring with you two bottles of brandy and the same quantity of whiskey, 
 but that as your taste inclines. * * * 
 
 PORT PHILLIP. 
 
 "The headlands of Port Phillip were reached and entered, the 
 anchor was thrown overboard, and our vessel from Liverpool, with 175 
 passengers, had completed the voyage from England to Australia in 
 eighty-two days. * * * * * 
 
LANDING AT PORT PHILLIP. 359 
 
 <( We thought then our troubles were over, but not so. Well, the 
 anchor is dropped ; and the captain, who has been up all night, hoarse 
 with bawling and swearing, goes down below to sleep. You go below 
 also to get breakfast, and find that the steward does not consider himself 
 bound to serve the passengers with clean cups any longer. On being 
 remonstrated with, his answer will probably be, ' You may go to the 
 devil/ Well, it is no use kicking against the pricks ; therefore help 
 yourself, and go to the cookhouse for hot water, and get everything 
 requisite for breakfast. The talk then begins in the forenoon after all 
 the beauties of the bay have been pointed out over and over again, until 
 you are absolutely sick of them the cry then is, ' Where is the pilot ? ' 
 The answer from some one is, * Oh, all those ships are to go up the bay 
 before us, and we must wait our turn. It may be a week before we get 
 up yet.' Day draws on, but no pilot. Next morning no pilot ; still 
 dirty plates, and the steward grown more insolent. In the afternoon 
 the pilot comes on board. He says, ' The wind is against us, we may 
 lie here a week.' All next day the wind is against us, but the follow- 
 ing day a breeze springs up, the sails are spread out to the breeze, a 
 man is placed in the chains to heave the lead, and off we go. In the 
 afternoon we reach Hobson's Bay, still a part of Port Phillip, but a 
 different creek. Well, the anchor is again dropped, the pilot leaves the 
 ship, and another is added to the 150 ships at anchor in the bay. We 
 are still eight miles from Melbourne, which lies on the Yarra Yarra. 
 The cry then is, 'When shall we get ashore?' * Oh,' replies one, 
 ' the inspector must come on board first, and the captain must go on 
 shore to deliver up his papers, and a lighter or steamer must be engaged 
 to take us up.' Well, in two days no steamer or lighter appeared : 
 
 and Mr. W and I went off' with a steamer that was plying about 
 
 among the shipping, and paid 5s. each for a sail of eight miles. We 
 reached Melbourne. We asked where a house was to be had. The 
 reply was, ' There are no houses to let in Melbourne/ Lodgings we 
 could have got at 2 each a week, but that we did not want. All that 
 day we walked through the town searching for a house, but found none. 
 We returned to the ship, and paid 7s. each for another sail. We came 
 on shore next day for 2s. 6d., walked all day, and again failed in our 
 object ; but that night we stayed in an inn on shore, and next morning 
 we had the pleasure of securing a wooden erection, miscalled a house, 
 of two rooms, at the moderate rent of 1 per week. Joyfully we 
 returned to the ship, expecting that a lighter would be alongside to 
 take our luggage and our wives to the house we had rented ; but, alas 
 for the courtesy and attention of our captain ! no such comfort awaited 
 
36<> THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 us. ' It will be here to-morrow/ was his reply when asked about it. 
 To-morrow came, but no lighter. Passengers got savage ; some swore ; 
 some urged that a deputation should be sent to the agent of the ship, 
 and to the magistrates of Melbourne. This course was adopted ; two 
 gentlemen were deputed to go. They went. The agent told them he 
 knew nothing about it, and that they had better get on shore with their 
 luggage as best they could. The magistrates said, * Make your case 
 known to a respectable solicitor, and we will hear it.' Thus were we 
 pushed about from one to another. One man took his luggage ashore 
 in a boat, at his own cost, at an expense of 9 sterling. Had I fol- 
 lowed his example it would have cost me as much. I went to the 
 captain ; he assured me the lighter would come in a few days, and, being 
 
 sick of the ship, Mary and I, along with a Mrs. W- and her 
 
 daughter, bolted from the ship, and left our luggage to the care of 
 Providence. We slept two nights in an inn. Mr. W 's luggage 
 came at the expiry of that period in a lighter, and we then got his 
 boxes into one of the wooden houses previously taken. There we lived 
 for a fortnight. None of my luggage came ashore all that time. I was 
 in the same position as the rest of the passengers, and after waiting and 
 wearying our hopes almost out, we got everything safe and sound out 
 of the lighter on the 1st of November. That, however, was but one- 
 half of my troubles. Melbourne was flooded with young men seeking 
 situations, which were not to be had." 
 
 After several unsuccessful applications for employment, and some 
 other mishaps, the writer continues 
 
 " Sad, dejected, and weary, we reached Mr. W 's house, where 
 
 we slept all night. Next day I got up my luggage and took one of 
 
 P 's rooms, dressed myself in my best, went to the Argus office, 
 
 quite in a state of desperation, and was civilly received, and offered at 
 once a situation at 208 per annum," 
 
 LANDING. 
 
 "MELBOURNE, Nov. 4, 1852. 
 
 " Here am I at this moment seated on a trunk, with my writing- 
 desk opened on the top of another trunk, and a blazing wood fire on 
 the hearth, with the lamp that served us on the voyage lighted beside 
 me. My wife is seated on my carpet bag, stuffed with dirty clothes, 
 busily engaged in mending stockings, which yesterday she washed and 
 dried at the front of the house. The floor is covered with canvass ; the 
 walls are of wood, through which the light shines when the lamp is 
 extinguished, and the roof is also covered with pieces of wood instead 
 of good blue slates. Our mattresses, which served us on the ship 
 
THE DIGGERS IN MELBOURNE. 361 
 
 good hair ones are spread out in one corner of the room. In another 
 is a load of wood, for which I paid this day the sum of 1 5s., and my 
 large trunk stands against a partition, with the lid covered with all my 
 books and papers. The house has two rooms. Mr. Hutton and his 
 wife stay in one apartment, James Pett and his wife are living in the 
 other. There, now you have a picture of our domestic economy ; and 
 when I add that both Mary and I are cheerful and happy in it, I give 
 you full liberty to enjoy a laugh at what I have the honour to call my 
 first house. 
 
 " The advance of Melbourne, in a commercial point of view, is 
 surprisingly rapid, and so far her prosperity seems to be based on a safe 
 monetary foundation. The business part of the city is crowded each 
 day by an anxious throng, mostly parties preparing for or returning 
 from the diggings. In one lot you will see the lately arrived ' new 
 chum,' with his carefully cultivated moustache, raised on the voyage, 
 a la, Bond-street ; his leathern overalls, his fancy stick, and his ' swag ' 
 done up in Mackintosh. In another you may behold the ( old hand/ 
 the wary old file who has campaigned it at the Turon, at Braidwood, 
 and at the Mount, and who is now preparing for a trip to Bendigo, but 
 who declares that there is no use going till the roads are open. With 
 him there is none of your finery. A pair of stout boots, a blanket, and 
 the everlasting ' hook-pot,' complete his equipment. Anon you enter 
 a gold-buyer's shop, and perceive a party disposing of the proceeds of 
 their adventure. One party of three that I saw the other day had 
 145 Ibs. weight to dispose of. Another, a sailor lad, had 28 Ibs., the 
 produce of three months' work at the Bendigo. Such instances are of 
 no rare occurrence ; in short they are rather the rule than the 
 exception. 
 
 " I have said much about the immorality of the place ; it is but 
 fair to state that my remarks apply only to a certain class, who are, 
 as it were, beyond the pale of society, but whose conduct exercises 
 a pernicious influence upon the whole social system. I have been to 
 most of the churches on Sabbath, and I was pleased to find all of them 
 well filled with respectable and attentive congregations. In one parti- 
 cular the clergy are reaping a golden harvest from the diggings them- 
 selves. I allude to the demand which there is for their services in that 
 ceremony which binds the sexes together 'for better for worse' through 
 life. And let me inform you that a digger's marriage here is no every- 
 day affair, though they be upon each successive Sunday. The turn-out 
 on all occasions is spicy. I have seen even the wheels of the vehicles 
 (six in number) adorned with rosettes of love ribbons ; the jarvey and 
 
362 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 the horse covered with white so profusely that at a distance they might 
 pass for a small locomotive pyramid of snow. And such dresses as are 
 worn by the brides and bridesmaids such silks, such satins, such orange 
 blossoms ! 
 
 " The city itself, though well laid out, is in the most wretched con- 
 dition as regards all sanitary regulations, and as regards what is still of 
 more immediate consequence to its inhabitants protection for life and 
 property. The rains, which have not yet ceased for the season, continue 
 to pour down in incessant torrents, covering all the flat and marshy 
 ground around the city, and within it it is no exaggeration to say that 
 the streets are like so many rivers of mud, and in many instances knee 
 deep. So deep and so dirty are the streets, that one out of every three 
 pedestrians you meet in the course of the day, has his nether man 
 encased in a pair of huge leather boots no other way of getting along 
 with safety being available. Add to the filthy state of the streets the 
 fact that there is no gas in the town, nor attempt made to light it in 
 any way, and that water for culinary purposes is so dear as to become 
 an article of luxury rather than of use, and you will be able to form 
 some slight idea of the sanitary condition of this city. 
 
 " There is not household accommodation for one-third of its present 
 occupants. I have seen instances of over-crowding in sleeping apart- 
 ments since I came here, that were it to occur in any other country in 
 the world would breed almost instant fever. It is no rare thing to see 
 twenty stout and stalwart men, each requiring as much air for the 
 proper inflation of his lungs as an ox, stretched upon the floor of a close, 
 confined, unventilated room, night after night ; and for this accommoda- 
 tion various prices are charged, from one-and-sixpence to half-a-crown. 
 Nor in this respect are what may be termed respectable taverns much 
 better. I know an instance where four men were sleeping in one room, 
 in a respectable hotel, and were all thrown into dirty sheets, handed 
 on the first morning of their sojourn, dirty, nay filthy towels ; and after 
 the lapse of four days I happened to meet with one of the party, and 
 making inquiry as to whether there had been any reform in the toilet 
 department 'No/ said he, 'the same nasty things are there yet. 
 We asked for a change, but were told that if we did not like them we 
 might change our quarters, and so we are just as before/ 
 
 " A few evenings since I was at the house of a friend of that peace- 
 loving class called Quakers, and several other gentlemen were there 
 besides, when we were all at once startled by a heavy rap at the door. 
 Our host and 'friend' immediately opened it, when a herculean savage 
 thrust a great bullet head inside, and in the most insolent tones 
 
THE SUBURBS OF MELBOURNE. 363 
 
 demanded either money or a night's lodging. Friend John expostulated, 
 but, being rather diminutive in stature, the intruder paid but little 
 attention to him until he perceived the company, when he retired 
 grumbling and swearing, * What, though he was a government man, he 
 had as good a right to summit as any other.' It is generally believed 
 here that the parties who are the ringleaders, at least, of those vagabonds 
 are those gentlemen whom Earl Grey so pathetically describes as bearing 
 favourable comparison with the free emigrants who have come here." 
 
 THE SUBURBS OF MELBOURNE. 
 
 " In the neighbourhood of the capital of Victoria there are many 
 pleasant spots, where one given to rambling may spend a quiet after- 
 noon, and where 'ye manners and ye customs of ye people' may be 
 learned as clearly as if you mingled in all their everyday avocations. 
 Amongst the most popular places of resort are, St. Kilda and Liardet's 
 Beach, both situated on the margin of the noble bay, nearly opposite 
 William's Town. Although Melbourne possesses a tolerably fair steam 
 fleet, in the shape of various tug boats, belonging chiefly to Captain 
 Cole, not one of these vessels is allowed to ply on Sunday ; and hence 
 there is, upon one day in the week at least, a very great demand for 
 horse-flesh. The bazaars and livery stables upon a Sunday morning 
 present a very animated spectacle ; for here almost every masculine biped 
 of the genus homo considers it his peculiar privilege to mount his horse 
 on Sunday, without, be it remembered, the smallest reference to the 
 fact as to whether he can ride or not. 
 
 "St. Kilda lies about three miles from Melbourne, on the south side 
 of the Yarra, and as there is no highway, except the usual bush ruts 
 after the Prince's Bridge is crossed, the walk or ride, which you please, 
 is very pleasant. Arrived at the village, you are somewhat surprised at 
 the appearance of rapid growth which everything indicates. Houses 
 (wooden, of course) are in course of construction, some nearly finished, 
 others but commenced; and yet so eager are the people for house 
 accommodation, that the shingles are scarcely on the roofs before they 
 are tenanted. At St. Kilda there is a very fine hotel, at which they 
 charge very fine prices ; but then, in the go-a-head city, as Melbourne 
 is now called, who cares for a handful of silver? I was much pleased 
 to observe here a taste more generally diffused for the cultivation of 
 flowers than is to be found generally about Melbourne, 
 
 " The ramble from St. Kilda to Liardet's Beach, by the margin of the 
 wide and noble bay, a distance of about two miles, is very agreeable ; 
 
 x 2 
 
. n >f4 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 although, beyond the broad expanse of water, dotted, nay, closely 
 studded with shipping at anchor, there is nothing to relieve the dull 
 monotony of the place. At Liardet's, however, the scene changes, and 
 from the solitude of the shore and your own reflections, you are once 
 more aroused by the din of human voices. Here they are again 
 shopkeepers, shopmen, diggers, ladies, diggers' wives, horses, hackney 
 carriages, shandies, gigs, and almost every possible, and sometimes very 
 questionable modes of conveyance, all congregated on the sand. Pedes- 
 trians wandering, promenading, flirting, drinking, laughing, talking, on 
 the pier and in the shade of the cool verandahs ; pic-nics in the scrub ; 
 mirth and merriment everywhere ; boatmen lustily bawling for passen- 
 gers, and waiters for more drink at the bar of the hotel. Tents are 
 pitched upon all the ground surrounding this house of entertainment, 
 wherein many a new chum for the first time indulges in a glass of ale, 
 and when he has paid sixpence, declares that ' it is not half so good as 
 Burton or Alton/ 
 
 " A good deal of novelty is added to this scene by the constant 
 transit to and from a large ship, the Duke of Bedford, which is here 
 moored off the pier, and turned into a model lodging-house. ' Bed and 
 board, sir/ said our conductors on board, the other day, ' for two 
 pounds a week ; delightful marine residence and boatage found into 
 the bargain/ Decidedly the accommodations are excellent, and the 
 worthy proprietor keeps a good table. His apartments are full. It 
 would be well if a few more of the dozens upon dozens of idle ships 
 lying in harbour were turned to an equally useful and profitable account 
 to their owners. I was a good deal surprised to find, amidst all the 
 recreations of all classes and all kinds who visit the beach upon Sunday, 
 so little riot or intoxication. Except upon the arrival of a lot of ' new 
 chums/ with more money than sense, you will hardly observe any riot 
 or drunkenness. Noise there is, but still there is order. 
 
 " The road from the beach to town lies through a low marshy scrub, 
 which presents not one single pleasing feature, except we diverge at the 
 Emerald Hill and take a look in at the encampment of the tents of gold- 
 diggers in transitu to the Mount or elsewhere. There are the cover- 
 ings erected by poor new-comers to shelter them from the heavens, and 
 to make a temporary but safe refuge for themselves, their luggage, and 
 their families. And, oh ! such squalor, such misery. It is pitiable to 
 see well-dressed and genteelly-reared females, young and tender infants, 
 as well as grown-up persons, crouching and squatting in miserable wig- 
 wams, of which a North-American Indian would be ashamed. But what 
 can the creatures do ? 
 
THE BOTANIC GARDEN. 365 
 
 Cf The botanic garden is another favourite resort for the Melbournites 
 upon Sunday ; but its visitors are of a different class. This is the ground 
 where half the ' matches' which grace our churches daily are contracted. 
 Here it is that newly-married husbands display their brides during the 
 honeymoon. Such a blaze of silk and satin, such bonnets, such feathers, 
 flowers (artificial, of course), and such ribbons ! I was particularly 
 struck with the freshness and beauty of many of the charming belles 
 who frequent the gardens, contrasting strongly with the general sallow 
 and somewhat acclimatised style of female beauty prevalent about 
 Sydney. They are generally handsome, and fresh in colour. 
 
 " The charges to which poor confiding passengers are subjected to 
 before landing here from the bay are monstrous. These people take 
 their passage at Liverpool or London on the faith that themselves and 
 luggage will be delivered at Melbourne the same as at Sydney; but 
 guess their astonishment when they find that they have 4s. each to pay 
 for steam-boat fare up, and 30s. per ton for their luggage ; and when 
 they get on the wharf, there are other dues which, as the wharves belong 
 to private individuals, are fixed at such rates as their honours please. 
 
 " When the Lady Head arrived here from Liverpool the weather 
 was most inclement wet pouring down in bucketfuls, and the dirt, 
 slop, and mud more than knee-deep, not only in the thoroughfares, but 
 in every spot where it was possible for human beings to set foot. In 
 this state of affairs I saw more than 400 poor people thrust upon our 
 wharves, without food or shelter, but what their scanty bedding supplied. 
 In this state of affairs, Mr. Cole allowed the poor sufferers the use of 
 the sheds on his wharf. Happening to be there in the early part of the 
 night, I ascertained that a young woman, the wife of an intelligent 
 Scotchman, gave birth to her first-born child. 
 
 " The public buildings of Melbourne are of a most inferior descrip- 
 tion, both in point of architectural style and internal accommodation. 
 The only building of note at all adequate to its requirements is the 
 Mechanics' Institution ; and it has now to do the treble duty of concert 
 hall, assembly room, and town hall, including offices, &c., for the town 
 clerk. The library attached to the institution is very good indeed, and 
 the rooms spacious and commodious. The Legislative Council sits now 
 in St. Patrick's Hall." 
 
 DIARY OF A JOURNEY FROM MELBOURNE TO BENDIGO. 
 
 " Sep. 8th. Left the camp, passed through Flemington, about three 
 miles out of Melbourne ; roads in a dreadful state. Hundreds going to 
 and returning from the diggings. Met several of those who came down 
 
366 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 in the Waratah with us, who had been up at the diggings, and had 
 returned already, having 'ta'en a scunner' at it, as they say in 
 Scotland. A most beautiful country, as green as emerald, hills 
 richly sloping, and clotted with umbrageous trees. The country, from 
 the appearance of the soil and formation of the hills, appears to be 
 admirably adapted for the cultivation of the vine. The mimosa, 
 which is a much handsomer tree here than in New South Wales, 
 being large and shady, appears scattered through the forest, and 
 lacing now in full bloom, presents to the view a perfect mass of 
 beautiful golden flowers. Travelled to-day only five miles, the roads 
 being ankle-deep. 
 
 " 9th. Our horses strayed away during the night, and we did not 
 find them until mid-day. Just after starting it commenced to rain 
 -slightly. Crossing Keila Plains the roads were awfully bad, and to 
 add to our ills the rain poured down in regular torrents. Had our 
 horses not have been first-rate ones we must inevitably have stuck fast, 
 as during the whole day they had heavy pulling, men on foot being 
 unable to walk the road without sinking knee-deep. We had two 
 
 SHEPHERI/S HUT. 
 
JOURXEY FROM MELBOURNE TO BENTHGO. 367 
 
 horses in the cart, and had about 12 cwt. on it. Notwithstanding the 
 plight in which we were, we could not but admire the scenery, which 
 was beautifully varied now broad, undulating meadows now 
 groves of shea-oaks, eucalyptus, and mimosa ; while the grass every- 
 where was green and soft as silk. Crossed the Broad Meadow, 
 and came to the foot of Grellibrand's Hill. Several drays were at 
 the bottom of this, trying to get up, but it was with the greatest diffi- 
 culty that they reached the summit, five or six bullocks falling down 
 at a time through the slipperiness of the road. Ascended it without much 
 difficulty, and encamped on the top of it. Travelled seven miles. 
 
 " 10th. Roads worse than on either of the previous days, the ground 
 being quite rotten and swampy. Country resembling parts of Liverpool 
 Plains ; timber principally box. In the evening a suspicious looking 
 character came to the camp, having no boots or hat on, telling us that 
 he had been robbed, and threatening vengeance on the thief. Our 
 
 clothes-box being in the cart, C wanted to have it brought into 
 
 the tent, as our fortune he said was in it, upon which some wit in the 
 camp replied that it was a ragged one. The fellow, however, who 
 appeared to be a shepherd for some one in the vicinity, after 
 staying some time, and using some ferocious language in reference 
 to his spoliator, departed quietly, but not before we had given him 
 several hints that his room was more acceptable than his company. 
 Eight miles. 
 
 " Ilth. When at breakfast this morning, a large brown snake came 
 out of the log that was burning, and went into a pool of water close by. 
 Those who doubt the fact of a snake's having legs might have been 
 convinced of it by seeing this one, as the legs were distinctly visible 
 after they had been swollen by the heat, and much resembled those of 
 a caterpillar, only they were much larger. Roads very swampy. Kept 
 along the Deep Creek for a considerable part of the day, Mount Macedon 
 being in sight on our left hand. Much of the scenery very picturesque, 
 especially on the Deep Creek, the trees consisting of honeysuckle, cherry- 
 tree, mimosa, eucalyptus, &c. There is a species of thorny mimosa 
 growing here, which I have never seen in New South Wales, and the 
 foliage. of which is very pretty. Came to the Rocky Waterholes' Plain, 
 where we met a bullock driver, who informed us that gold had been 
 found within a few miles on a station belonging to Mr. Rigg. We 
 determined upon inspecting the new gold-field, and leaving the others 
 with the cart, three of us started in search of it. After going about 
 half a mile, we came to Rigg's house, when we were directed to the dig- 
 gings, about a quarter of a mile distant. When we got there, there were 
 
3G8 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 about a dozen men, two of whom only were at work ; the rest having 
 come, like ourselves, to see the place. The two men who had discovered 
 the gold informed us that they had been working there about a fort- 
 night no one knowing it until the day before. They had sunk several 
 holes on the top of a pretty high hill the gullies as yet being too wet to 
 allow of a hole to be sunk in them. From what we could learn from 
 themselves, and from washing several tin dishfuls of earth taken from 
 the bottom of the holes which they had sunk, it did not appear to us 
 that much could be done in that spot, although it seems very probable 
 that a rich gold-field will be discovered somewhere in the neighbourhood. 
 About four feet below the surface there was a vein of quartz, which was 
 extraordinarily rich in ore. Every stone that we broke was dotted with 
 minute specks of gold. One of the men showed us a piece that he had 
 obtained from one of the holes, about the size of a pea. The soil through 
 which they sunk was decomposed slate, resting on a bed of pipeclay. 
 The appearance of the country around is very picturesque, particularly 
 near the banks of the Deep Creek gently sloping hills, dotted with 
 umbrageous gum-trees, and covered with a thick sward of grass as green 
 as emerald. Went back to our mates, intending to proceed about half 
 a mile further before we pitched our tent. Crossing a flat, we were 
 obliged to divide the load into two ; but notwithstanding this, we got 
 bogged, and were obliged to unload and take the horses out. Camped 
 on Rigg's station. Five miles. The mosquitoes very troublesome, 
 which one would not expect at this time of the year. 
 
 " 12th (Sunday). Stayed at encampment. Some went out to 
 inspect the new diggings, and returned bringing with them several 
 pieces of quartz full of specks of gold. The majority, notwithstanding, 
 determined on proceeding to Bendigo, in preference to stopping to give 
 the place a trial. Four men encamped with us this night, who reported 
 a fight about a claim at the diggings, in which two or three men were 
 killed, and several wounded. They told us also that a nugget of pure 
 gold, weighing upwards of 28 Ibs., had been found at Eagle Hawk 
 Gully, Bendigo. The Deep Creek, on which the new diggings are 
 situated, runs eastward. If, therefore, gold in abundance be found 
 there, it will be somewhat in contradiction to geological theories. The 
 distance is twenty-five miles from Melbourne. 
 
 " 13th. Very bad roads again. Country undulating and more 
 thickly timbered ; box and stringy-bark ranges. Get bogged, and 
 take the horses out. Ascended Pretty Sally's or the Big Hill. The 
 soil excellent, and cultivation on the very top of the mountain. The 
 road which we came and that to Sydney meet on the top of this hill. 
 
JOURNEY TO BENDIGO DIGGINGS. 369 
 
 Magnificent view from the top of the hill open plains, wood-crowned 
 heights, shady valleys, and towering hills ' places which pale passion 
 loves' the view extending on one side to the sea coast, and the habi- 
 tations of man alone being wanting to make the scenery perfect. 
 Descended the hill and encamped at the foot of it. Twelve miles. A 
 tall Highlander who was at a camp close by came down to converse 
 with some of his countrymen who were with us, and afforded us much 
 amusement. 
 
 " l&h. Passed through Kilmore ; the land very rich ; saw the 
 wife of the man who had obtained the 28 Ib. nugget at Bendigo. She 
 informed us that her husband had sold it for 4 per ounce. About 
 midday it commenced to rain very hard ; roads indescribably bad ; got 
 bogged and unloaded, pulled the dray out, went a few yards and got 
 bogged again ; pulled the dray out again, and camped on the side of a 
 ridge; the ground everywhere, both on the road and ranges, being 
 perfectly rotten. Up nearly all night drying our bed-clothes, &c., 
 which had got wet through. Obliged every night to cut poles and 
 boughs to put under us, the ground being a regular quagmire. The 
 tinkling of the oxen's bells, which one hears at every encampment, 
 gives somewhat of an oriental character to the scene. Six miles. 
 
 " 1.5th. Crossed Donohoe's Creek ; broke one of the traces in 
 crossing, with fair pulling. If the horses had not been extraordinarily 
 good they could never have kept on, in the state in which the roads 
 were. Came to a creek in which there were several drays stuck one 
 with nine horses it being unable to cross. There is scarcely a dray 
 you meet on the road that is not accompanied with one or two women, 
 oftentimes with families of children, all bound for or returning from 
 the diggings. Got bogged in crossing the creek, unloaded, and then 
 had great difficulty in getting over, as the horses had no footing, and 
 sank up to the shoulder. The country very beautiful, compensating in 
 part for the badness of the roads, which were the worst we had 
 encountered. The hills and valleys were covered with flowers 
 daisies, white and yellow butter-cups, snowdrops, &c., while the mimosa 
 bloomed along our path, adding fresh beauty to the scene and fragrancy 
 to the air. Each succeeding scene only impresses more forcibly on the 
 mind the appropriateness of the title bestowed upon the country by 
 Sir T. Mitchell, of ' Australia Felix/ The country is well grassed 
 and watered, the timber low and branching, without any underwood, 
 and more beautiful and picturesque than any park. Just before en- 
 camping got bogged the second time, the ground being very deceiving, 
 the horses sinking to their middle in a place where you would least 
 
370 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 expect it. Encamped in a most beautiful and romantic valley, on the 
 hanks of a deep creek, with large waterholes which some fanciful indi- 
 viduals of our party imagined might be the retreats of the far-famed 
 bunyip. Honeysuckle, mimosa, and eucalyptus were the most common 
 trees, and formed beautiful groves. Five miles. 
 
 GRASS TREES. 
 
 " IQth. Crossed two very bad creeks ; met a great number of drays ; 
 crossed box hill and stringy bark ranges ; the latter always dreary- 
 looking. Witnessed some beautiful scenery ; hills rising over hills, 
 covered with grass and shady trees ; the valleys enamelled with flowers. 
 Passed Morrison's station a beautiful place. Ascended the Dividing 
 Range. Granite in large masses begins to appear ; quartz predominates 
 in this to a very unusual extent, and this fact may probably throw some 
 light on the richness of the Victoria gold-fields. The rocks are ofttimes 
 of very peculiar forms, and in remarkable situations ; large masses of 
 tons weight, and quite round, lying on top of one another ; the least 
 effort being sufficient to remove them, and send them headlong down 
 the mountain. The ranges are very low, and in fact the whole country 
 is remarkably level; a circumstance which is contrary to one's pre- 
 
JOURNEY TO BENDIGO DIGGINGS. 371 
 
 conceived notions of a gold-bearing region. The roads much better, 
 and lined with diggers homeward and outward bound. The soil decom- 
 posed granite, which appears to be the only rock in the neighbourhood. 
 The honeysuckle is met with here much farther from the coast than 
 in Australia Proper, and grows in all sorts of soil and situations. 
 Crossed Morrison's Creek, over which there is a bridge, the passage over 
 which is rather unsafe, in consequence of the late heavy rains. Overtook 
 two horse teams from Groulburn, which had been four months on the 
 road, having been detained in crossing the river a week or fortnight at 
 a time. Splendid views from the axis of the mountain ranges ; sheep 
 and cattle feeding on the wood-crowned hills, and in the fertile valleys, 
 and forming a charming and enticing picture of pastoral life. Encamped, 
 having for beds the branches of the gum wattle, as soft and luxurious 
 as a bed of down. Fourteen miles. 
 
 " Vlth. Crossed scrubby stringy bark ranges ; got bogged, and 
 were obliged to lay logs for twenty or thirty yards in order to get 
 through roads pretty good except in the gullies, which were desperately 
 bad ; fragmentary quartz in great abundance, and strong indications 
 of gold ; got bogged the second time near the M'lvor Inn ; most 
 beautiful scenery ; roads excellent, and as level as possible for the last 
 three miles of this day's journey ; encamped in the most delightful 
 valley that the eye of man could behold. Never before did the country 
 seem so justly to merit the appellation of the 'blest Australia' never 
 before did the mimosa seem to bear such lovely blossoms, or shed such 
 fragrant odours never before did the air seem so pure, clear, and 
 inspiriting as in that delicious valley. The herbage soft, green, and 
 luxuriant. Flowers of all hues, white, and purple, and crimson, and 
 gold, and violet, in which those of a golden colour predominated, 
 enamelled the hills and valleys, grateful alike to the sight and smell. 
 Buttercups, dandelions, eglantine, daisies, snowdrops, &c., completely 
 covered the ground ; the first-mentioned, in particular, growing as 
 richly as possible over acres, nay, miles of ground. The trees are 
 principally mimosa and honeysuckle, and here and there some giant of 
 the eucalyptus order grew in handsome clumps, some in full blossom, 
 others without any, but not the less beautiful ; while between them 
 were green open spaces, on which the sun poured down a flood of light. 
 To complete the scene the M'lvor meandered through the valley, each 
 winding- turn disclosing ' some fresher beauties varying round,' 
 Travelled to-day eleven miles. 
 
 " ISth. Travelled along the course of the M'lvor for eleven miles. 
 The scenery equal, if not superior, to that of yesterday. Even those 
 
372 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 who are usually unmindful of natural beauties were unable to gaze on 
 the landscape without giving vent to passionate exclamations of admi- 
 ration ; English, Irish, and Scotch, all concurred in agreeing that they 
 had never before seen anything so beautiful. To add to our pleasure 
 the roads were excellent, and as level as a bowling-green. The 
 formation of the country is principally schistose, with an abundance of 
 fragmentary quartz. Crossed the M'lvor, and came on to box flats, in 
 which swamp oak appeared for the first time. Scrubby ranges, box, 
 and stringy bark ; coarse grass and herbs like those at the Turon ; 
 country more level than at the Turon. From the geological structure 
 and general appearance I should imagine that gold would be found 
 somewhere in the neighbourhood in abundance. Eoads very bad again. 
 Crossed a box flat entirely consisting of hillocks having the appearance 
 of waves, and very uniform in their size. It seems as if the land had 
 been thrown up in a fused and slightly agitated mass, and then sud- 
 denly cooled. Came to the Campaspie Kiver, and had a fresh view of 
 the celebrated Mount Alexander ; romantic scenery, great abundance 
 of trap rock. When we got here, we were told we could not cross, as 
 the river was up. About forty drays were encamped on the banks, 
 waiting the first opportunity to pass over ; we accordingly pitched our 
 tent on the bank of the river, intending to cross over on Monday 
 morning, the stream being then considerably swollen and running 
 rapidly. To-day eighteen miles. 
 
 " Wth (Sunday). Remained in camp. An immense number of 
 people, on foot and on horseback, crossed the Campaspie to-day, on 
 their way to and from the diggings, The river fell considerably during 
 the day and previous night. About sunset the sky became overcast 
 with heavy clouds, threatening immediate rain, and therefore we thought 
 it advisable to cross the river at once, as it was probable we should be 
 detained on its banks a week or two if it should happen to rain. Packed 
 up accordingly, and started to cross over, one of the party riding the 
 leading horse. When about half way over, the leader laid down, which 
 circumstance was nearly causing an unlucky termination to our passage ; 
 fortunately, however, she rose again, and we crossed without further 
 trouble, although the water was above the bed of the cart, and running 
 with a strong current. It was lucky for us that we did cross, as it 
 rained hard during the night. 
 
 " 20th. Raining hard during the forenoon, but fine in the after- 
 noon. Passed over box and gum forests, scrubby in places, and thinly- 
 timbered well-grassed flats. The country in general, so far as this, was 
 as fine as could be wished for. The grass every where soft, silky, and 
 
JOURNEY TO BENDIGO DIGGINGS. 373 
 
 as green as a field of young wheat. Unlike that of New South Wales, 
 the grass and pasture here consists of nutritious herbs and very fine 
 grass, growing in a thick sward, and completely hiding the soil. Hills 
 and vales alike were covered with flowers, principally of a yellow colour, 
 and growing as thick as they could presenting to the eye of one 
 accustomed to the almost flowerless fields of Australia an unusual and 
 beautiful appearance, realising in some respects the description given of 
 English meadows. Everywhere, too, the mimosa, loveliest of the flower- 
 ing trees of Australia, and destined to be as much celebrated in the lays 
 of her poets as the hawthorn has been in those of the British bards, 
 scented the air with its perfume, and dazzled the eye with its rich yellow 
 blossoms. Passed over some barren ranges covered with quartz, the 
 only thing pleasant on them being some flowering shrubs, chiefly of the 
 mimosa species. Through some fertile flats, the roads very level and 
 good, as indeed they were during the greater part of the day the only 
 fault in them being a bog here and there, which after our previous bad 
 roads we considered a mere nothing. Met several men who were 
 returning from the diggings, and from whom we learned that robberies 
 and murders had of late been very frequent at Bendigo. On Wednesday 
 last, near thirty drays were stopped by a large gang of bushrangers in 
 the Black Forest, and rum, tobacco, and other property taken from them 
 to a great amount. One man lost upwards of 700 worth of gold. No 
 less than three murders have been committed during the last week at 
 Bendigo, one in Eagle Hawk, another at Peg Log Gully, and another 
 in the Long Gully. One of the murdered men, we are informed, had 
 his head completely severed from the body. Our informants told us 
 that they had heard cries of ' murder' from the tent in which one of the 
 unfortunate men was killed, but hearing some one (probably one of the 
 perpetrators of the crime) laugh at the same time, they thought that the 
 men were joking among themselves. The police are out scouring the 
 bush in all directions. We thanked our stars that we had not gone by 
 the road through the Black Forest, as we had at first intended, since 
 being indifferently armed, how much soever we might have wished to 
 display our heroism, we should have had but little chance of doing so. 
 Crossed Emu Creek ; the country of slate formation ; quartz in abun- 
 dance. An immense number of people passing to and from the diggings ; 
 men, women, and children along the whole road from this to Bendigo. 
 Came to Bullock Creek, where we saw the places that the diggers had 
 made for cradling during the dry weather, when the washing stuff had 
 to be carried here from Bendigo, a distance of seven or eight miles. 
 Four seizures of sly grog- sellers' carts, &c., were made here by the 
 
374 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 commissioner and police this morning. Passed over barren ridges, the 
 timber on which consisted of iron bark, box, gum, and stringy bark. 
 This was the first time I had seen iron bark in Victoria. Quartz in 
 great abundance, every ridge being covered with it. The country, 
 in its geological structure and general appearance, very much resembles 
 that on the Long Creek in the Western diggings. The ridges are 
 unusually uniform in their size, lower than one would be inclined to 
 imagine in a gold region, and have all the same direction. The strike 
 of the strata is north by west and south by east ; schistose formation 
 well developed ; and quartz in unusual abundance. The whole, or 
 nearly the whole, of the country over which we passed to-day, has every 
 appearance of being a rich gold-field, but it has not yet had a fair trial. 
 About three P.M. came in sight of the commencement of the Bendigo 
 diggings, or what is called the Back Creek. Pitched our tent on the 
 Back Creek. Travelled to-day a distance of 16 miles thus making 
 the whole distance to Bendigo 107 miles, which I think is correct, 
 although less than what we were informed it was. 
 
 " We, however, travelled upwards of 140 miles, having to make so 
 many detours in order to avoid bad places in the roads. 
 
 "R. W." 
 
MOUNT ALEXANDER FOREST CREEK. 375 
 
 A FOOT JOURNEY TO MOUNT ALEXANDER. 
 
 " We started for these mines on foot, each carrying his swag 
 mine weighed 50 Ibs. We had no other alternative, for there was no 
 dray to be got. I found the roads as bad as I had heard. We saw 
 about 100 drays on the road stuck fast. We could only make fifteen 
 miles a day, so it took us seven days ; and when we arrived I was 
 knocked up with cold, owing to being continually wet through between 
 heavy rains and wading through creeks up to the middle. I and 
 another got lost once on the mountains for eight hours ; but, as luck 
 would have it, we fell in with our party at the Bendigo diggings, 
 which, when all mustered, consisted of five. To-day ends our first 
 week's work; my share consists of 15, besides half an ounce I made 
 myself. 
 
 " I enjoy very good health now, otherwise it would be a hard case, 
 as doctors charge 5 5s. for looking at you. 
 
 " You would scarcely know me. My hair is very long, I wear an 
 old cap, a flannel shirt next my skin, and a blue one over all, with a 
 belt round my waist, where hang a brace of pistols and a knife eighteen 
 inches long, and a pair of antepopelos up to my haunches. I am always 
 covered with mud and soaked with water. You may judge of the 
 weather when I tell you, that when we rise in the morning our blankets 
 are covered with frost." 
 
 FOREST CREEK. 
 
 " The surface of the hills in this district, in many places, is quite 
 white from the quantity of small quartz, from the size of a pin's head to 
 a man's head. I tried surface washing, and knocked out an ounce a 
 day, taking eight or nine inches of the surface like the above, the quartz 
 being embedded in black loam. I also found gold in a red clay under 
 the above, say from nine to fifteen inches under the surface. This was 
 heavier gold, as if it had by gravity gone through the loam and rested 
 in the clay. The richest surfacing here has been on Spring Hill, 
 which is the highest part of the range between Forest Creek and 
 Fryer's Creek, the summit being about 600 feet above these creeks, 
 which are four or five miles from each other. Surfacing is as uncer- 
 tain as sinking. You may wash a whole day and get nothing, or you 
 may happen upon some ounces in a square foot. I have tried many 
 places, and invariably found at least a few streaks of gold in each 
 dishful. 
 
 " The quartz lying in this soil I may liken to the fruit in a good 
 
376 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 plum-pudding. Where there is gold on the surface, there is sure to be 
 gold lying on the rock below. 
 
 " Sinking in gullies and flats, I have always found the clay pre- 
 dominating, generally lying in strata more or less mixed with gravel, and 
 sometimes a stratum of pure gravel or pure sand ; the latter is reckoned 
 a bad sign. In this sort of sinking you come to the rock at various 
 depths to twenty-five feet ; I have seen none deeper. Hill sinking is 
 more tedious, as the strata are always harder going through a hard 
 red conglomerate gravel, or a hard white cemented quartz, very gritty 
 the base rock is often forty or fifty feet down. 
 
 " These base rocks, on the top of which the gold lies, are sandstone, 
 generally red, and pipe-clay. This pipe-clay appears to be slate in a 
 softer state. It is laminated, and will cut easily with a knife. The top 
 of the slate is softish for four or five inches, and contains gold. It is 
 this top that is scraped off with a knife and washed. The pipe-clay is 
 seldom a good gold-bearing bottom. All the rocks run almost north 
 and south are in laminae and on edge, like a ream of paper placed on 
 its edge, not laid flat. Often you will find these different sort of bottoms 
 in the same hole. 
 
 " We have done very little here for six weeks past in gold-finding, 
 though we have worked hard. In the above time we have seen (three 
 of us) the bottoms of ten holes, two of them upwards of twenty feet 
 deep, and all turned out not worth the washing. We have just bottomed 
 two others, nearly twenty feet deep ; two or three days will show what 
 it will turn out. In my hole I have to-day commenced mining ; but I 
 do not expect to see gold in any quantity till I get six or seven feet in. 
 I took out a few pounds of gold about two months ago, but I am sorry 
 to say that it is all spent, everything is so expensive. I have also been 
 speculating foolishly in things I knew nothing about, and naturally got 
 burned. I cannot, therefore, leave this till I have made a few pounds. 
 By persevering at the digging, I have no doubt fortune will favour me 
 at last, Spring, of course, is the best time for digging, so that it is not 
 likely I shall be in New Zealand soon, unless my luck turns very 
 soon." 
 
 SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 
 
 South Australia seemed about to be depopulated by the rush to the 
 gold diggings of Victoria, when the happy idea was suggested of 
 establishing an overland route, so as to give Port Adelaide the advan- 
 tage of a gold escort. The following journal gives a better idea of the 
 country and bush life than the most elaborate description : 
 
OVERLAND FROM ADELAIDE TO MOUNT ALEXANDER. 
 
 377 
 
 GOLD DIGGERS AT DINNER. 
 
 JOURNAL OVERLAND BETWEEN ADELAIDE AND MOUNT ALEXANDER. 
 
 Having conceived that a shorter and better route could be found between 
 Adelaide and the Victoria gold-fields, and that the adoption of a regular escort of 
 mounted police to bring the gold from the mines would be a benefit to South 
 Australia, and his Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor having approved of the 
 same, I received instructions on the 6th instant to proceed forthwith, and in 
 obedience thereto left Adelaide on the 10th February, at nine o'clock, A.M. 
 
 During the day overtook numerous parties travelling overland in almost 
 every description of vehicle; many were on foot, advancing with a firm step, and 
 head erect, as if determined to face and surmount whatever hardships might cross 
 their path. Arrived at Mount Barker at twelve o'clock, rested a couple of hours, 
 and again started for the crossing-place at Wellington, which I reached at half- 
 past seven, P.M. ; thus making the distance in eight hours and a half, including 
 the two hours' rest on the way. The present line of road between Mount Barker 
 and the crossing- place on the Murray is very circuitous, and might be greatly 
 improved by cutting a direct line across the scrub, starting from near Mr. Kay's 
 station. I imagine that ten miles might thus be saved in the distance ; and Cor- 
 poral Hall, of the mounted police, who is stationed here, informs me that the 
 ground is sound, and good travelling over. Overtook the police light cart at 
 
,378 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Langhorn's Creek, the driver of which had started from Adelaide the day previous, 
 and was furnished with instructions to the officers in charge at Mount Gambier 
 and Mosquito Creek police stations to join me without delay at Mount Alexander, 
 to form an escort hack to South Australia. 
 
 Wednesday, llth. The sun rose at twenty minutes past five. Got up early 
 to prepare for the journey ; saw the horses safely across the Murray ; fitted pack- 
 saddle to carry water, &c.; secured the services of an intelligent native, and rigged 
 him out at the store with a new blanket, shirt, and half a pound of tobacco, with 
 which he seemed highly delighted. The number of persons, horses, and carts 
 daily crossing the ferry, is truly astonishing. I ascertained that no less than 
 1,234 passengers, 1,266 horses and bullocks, and 164 carriages of all descriptions 
 passed during the month of February. The fees collected were ,64 14s. 2nd. 
 
 Thursday, 12th. Rose early ; had the horses well fed and saddled. At 
 seven o'clock made a final start ; taking an east-south-east course; my party, 
 consisting of myself, two constables, one native, and five horses, the extra one 
 being used as a pack-horse to carry water and provisions. The morning cool and 
 cloudy, and very favourable for travelling. During the first few miles I cut the 
 surveyor's tracks several times ; crossed extensive well-grassed plains, extending 
 seven or eight miles ; good travelling ground. Entered some low scrub, rather 
 sandy ; made for a scrubby-looking range, distant about ten miles. Following 
 same course, came to a belt of shea-oaks (casuarina), with a little grass in the 
 centre of a flat ; here there is a splendid well, or cave, with abundance of water. 
 The survey party had encamped at this spot, and had secured the top of the well 
 by fixing, a cask sawn in half. As we approached a number of bronze-winged 
 pigeons flew from within. Watered the horses by means of my oiled calico tent, 
 and pushed on, keeping same course towards two peaks. Halted for a few minutes 
 in a valley amongst some light-looking sandy ranges ; very little grass, no water. 
 Native says water could be obtained by digging. Distance from last halting-place 
 ten miles. Passed through heavy, sandy country, densely scrubby ; saw some 
 native signal fires to the north-east. The scrub became still more dense as we 
 proceeded, and impeded our progress greatly ; added to this, the pack became 
 every moment entangled in the branches, so that towards night I found myself 
 forced to fall back upon the beaten track which cuts that part of the desert known 
 as the Hundred Mile Scrub. Made the road at dusk, but saw no signs of the 
 survey party having passed. Pushed on about a mile further, and encamped 
 amongst some shea-oaks, honeysuckles, and a variety of shrubs, with plenty of 
 grass, and a good supply of water. Shortly after encamping, two drays belonging 
 to the survey party came up, the drivers of which informed me that the rest of their 
 party were sinking a well, about ten miles back, in a well-grassed patch of country 
 of about fifty acres in extent, well wooded. Doubts were, however, entertained 
 as to their succeeding in obtaining water. They had already sunk twenty feet. 
 Wrote a letter to the Deputy Surveyor-General, acquainting him with the object 
 of my journey, and enclosing a copy of the Colonial Secretary's letter, addressed 
 to me on the subject. Distance travelled this day, thirty miles. 
 
 Friday, 13th. A drizzling rain during the night, which soaked us completely ; 
 left camping- place by eight o'clock ; traversed extensive open country, sandy, 
 and covered with low bush or heath. About four and a half miles from last camp 
 found water in three different spots amongst the shea-oaks. Numerous remark- 
 able granite rocks crop out of the ground near this, and will not fail to indicate 
 the precise spot to travellers. The wells can be much improved by deepening. 
 
OVERLAND FROM ADELAIDE TO MOUNT ALEXANDER. 379 
 
 At noon halted to refresh the horses in a flat, with a fine spring of water, good 
 feed, convenient halting-place. The road to-day I found very heavy on account 
 of the sandy nature of the soil ; the heat of the sun excessive. Rested two hours, 
 and pushed on ; distance from last camp, sixteen and a half miles; liorses much 
 refreshed ; two and a half miles further, again found water and feed ; five miles 
 more, discovered another well the latter requires deepening and cleaning, how- 
 ever, before it is made available. Observed the tracks round the wells of a great 
 number of emus; the bronze-winged pigeon is likewise seen about the water a 
 sure indication that that great desideratum to the wearied traveller is at hand. 
 Passed two or three small plains well grassed, containing from fifty to one hundred 
 acres, surrounded with scrub no water; possibly it could be obtained by sinking, 
 as the soil differs- from the generality of that found in the scrub: it is of a rich 
 black loam, and might be made useful for growing hay and other produce. 
 Encamped for the night amongst the shea-oaks ; here two or three wells have 
 been sunk in which we found abundance of water. This spot makes an excellent 
 cam ping- place, as there is plenty of feed for the horses : distance, forty miles. 
 
 Saturday, 14th. Morning cloudy ; fine travelling weather^ Got up early ; 
 not much refreshed, however, in consequence of having been disturbed by the 
 howling of the native dogs, which were prowling about our camp. These animals 
 are perfectly harmless, and have never been known to attack any one. It would 
 be well, however, for bushmen to drive them off when heard in the vicinity of 
 their camp, as they are apt to gnaw the tethers, and thereby loosen the horses : a 
 good, useful kangaroo-dog will always scare them away. Moved off from the 
 camp at six o'clock, A.M. : on emerging from the scrub which surrounded our 
 camp, we entered a large plain, covered with heath, extending to the eastward, 
 as far as the eye could reach, bounded by a ridge to the north-north-east 
 a conspicuous hill bearing east-south-east, near which, the native informs me, 
 there is a sheep-station : steered direct for it* The road passes at its base, and 
 winds round to the left. The road,, although sandy, is much less so than yester- 
 day. I noticed a great variety of new shrubs, one in particular was pointed out 
 to me by my sable companion he informed me it bore a fruit in winter which 
 the natives are very fond of; it is sweet-tasted like sugar. Saw an emu quietly 
 feeding in the plains. As soon as it noticed us it made off, and would in a few 
 moments have been out of sight, but old Cusack commenced whistling in a pecu- 
 liar manner, which, to my surprise and great amusement, not only put a stop to 
 its further retreat, but actually brought it back to within a few yards. After 
 surveying us for a few moments, it again started off at a wonderful speed. I have 
 frequently in my bush excursions ridden after this extraordinary bird, but although 
 well mounted, seldom succeeded in overtaking it ; it gains fresh impetus at every 
 stride. Reached the hill above described ; distance from our last encamping 
 ground, fifteen miles. Observed the fresh tracks of sheep ; but being anxious not 
 to delay a moment I did not attempt to look for the station. This will make a 
 good halting-place for travellers, as there is plenty of wood, grass, and water. 
 The road after this is extremely heavy, the soil being composed of sand. Arrived 
 at a deserted sheep-station ; the feed luxurious, the country well timbered with 
 gum, shea-oak, blackwood, and other trees. Distance from hill where sheep- 
 tracks seen, fifteen miles. I may here remark, that on reaching this station the 
 desert ends. The traveller will find abundance of feed and water in a well 
 wherewith to recruit his horse before again proceeding on his journey. Marked 
 a tree, and left a note for Mr. M'Laren, directing him where to find water. 
 
 Y 2 
 
380 
 
 TUB THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Altered my course to the east, and pushed on to Mr. Scott's station ; distance, 
 eight miles. Had dinner, resumed my journey, and encamped at the Woolshed 
 Station. This station is supplied with excellent water from a chain of deep 
 water-holes; water permanent. 
 
 Sunday, 15th. Finding the water-kegs were very inconvenient (causing con- 
 siderable delay in my progress), and as water could now be obtained with certainty, 
 I determined upon leaving them at the station until my return. Resumed my 
 journey at seven o'clock, after our morning meal. Passed through the same 
 sort of country rich and fertile; water at intervals at from three to five miles 
 
 My attention was 
 this locality ; 
 the former stands _ 
 taste the one being 
 ~"~ u used 
 
 THE EMU. 
 
 V6rj gfaCeful tree ( sw *<*P-oak) quite peculiar to 
 * *?* f the CMUariM ' with ^is exception, that 
 *T* ^ laUer dro P* 5 * is likewise dissimilar in 
 " ^ ther Wtter : the wood is V6I 7 hard > and is 
 
 n' ^f g ^ ^^ PUrp SeS Cr SSCd th 
 One mile to the eastward of the line Messrs. Lloyd 
 
 ut b th Were from home Moved > * 
 h 11 ut - stations <** had dinner. At this, as well as 
 
 ng the .HP TT 7 Call6d at ' a W maa "^tkeeps," while the husband 
 - sheep. Hutkeepers, shepherds, and other labourers are as difficult 
 
 and You ha f 
 
 halted two ' 
 
 ev erv 
 
OVERLAND FROM ADELAIDE TO MOUNT ALEXANDER. 381 
 
 to be obtained in this province as in South Australia ; all are gold-digging mad. 
 Continued an easterly course ; came to a lagoon, and had to turn to the north in 
 order to head it. The country through, which I rode this day surpasses anything 
 I have met with in South Australia*; vast extensive plains, with luxurious 
 herbage, everywhere meet the eye : these are intersected by belts of fine timber 
 of all kinds. In crossing one of the plains, saw a mob of wild cattle ; no sooner 
 did they perceive us than they started off, tearing over the ground and raising 
 such clouds of dust, one might have imagined a herd of buffaloes. Came across 
 old sheep-tracks ; but could not spare time to look for the station. Suddenly 
 came to a long lagoon, stretching to the north and south for several miles. After 
 refreshing ourselves with a pannican of tea, pushed on, altering my course to the 
 southward for some distance to head the swamp. As this delayed me consider- 
 ably, and took me out of my course, I determined upon crossing, and made a dash 
 accordingly. Succeeded, but found it boggy, and water rather deep, occasionally 
 reaching to the saddle-flaps. I have not the least doubt but what this awkward 
 spot can be avoided by going round. Same sort of country ; occasionally undulating, 
 well grassed, and timbered. Travelled till late, and encamped amongst some large 
 timber, with abundance of grass. I deemed we had travelled this day thirty miles. 
 Monday, 16th. Horses are looking well and keep in good condition. One 
 or two of them have unfortunately sore backs a matter which, particularly in hot 
 weather, is difficult to guard against on long journeys. Saddled the horses and 
 started, keeping my old course ; heard the bark of a dog, and on going towards it 
 found that we had encamped within a mile of one of Major Firebrace's out-stations 
 (sheep) ; here there is a permanent spring of splendid water. Heat of the sun 
 dreadful. Reached a deserted sheep-station, found water near the hut : distance 
 from our camp, fifteen miles. Our course then took an east-south-east direction, 
 across a heath, sandy and bad travelling. Mount Arapiles bea/ing south-east ; 
 followed the beaten track, and entered some scrub ; slow travelling, heavy sand ; 
 this I regret to say continued for fifteen miles. I have since been informed that 
 ten miles of this heavy part of the road can be avoided by continuing same course 
 at the sheep-station, and not turning to the east-south-east, as I was directed to 
 do by the hutkeeper at Major Firebrace's station. By following the line which I 
 now indicate, Mr. Patterson's station on the Wimmera will be made, and from 
 thence a track will be found leading, to the village of Horsham, which is on the 
 direct route to Mount Alexander (see map.) After leaving the scrub we came 
 out on some open country, near two salt lakes, Mount Arapiles distant ten miles. 
 Entered some thickly- timbered country, well grassed, halted for two hours to 
 refresh the horses- at some water which we found in a swamp on the left of the 
 road ; ten minutes after resuming our journey crossed the Wimmera River. This 
 is a fine stream, not unlike the Onkaparinga, near Hahndorf ; the holes are, 
 however, considerably larger and deeper, some, I dare say, measure thirty yards 
 in breadth and from two hundred to three hundred in length; the soil on either 
 bank for miles, cannot, I am satisfied, be anywhere surpassed for its fertility and 
 richness. Passed the station of Messrs. Baily and Hamilton, and moved on, 
 keeping along the north bank of the river to Major Firebrace's station. The 
 Major was from home ; his son, however, hospitably entertained me and my 
 party; to him I feel much indebted for a great deal of valuable information 
 respecting the line of route which we have still to travel. Distance made this 
 day, thirty-five miles. At night it thundered and lightened considerably, which 
 greatly cooled the air ; heavy drops of rain fell. 
 
$S2 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Tuesday, 17th. I got up very early and left the house without disturbing 
 
 the family, and started. The regular beaten overland road passes close to tins 
 station ; we got upon it and followed it the whole of the day ; it is rather cir- 
 cuitous, as it follows the windings of the river : by a little observation many miles 
 might be saved during a day's journey. Passed several fine stations. The home- 
 stead is invariably enclosed by a sribstantial'fence, and stands in die centre of a 
 paddock of from 300 or 400 acres. From inquiries which I made, I find that 
 none of the land belongs to the squatters ; they rent it from the Crown with a 
 pre-emptive right of purchase. Passed numerous parties on their way to the 
 diggings, some encamped, others travelling. Came to the -village of Horsham, 
 distant twelve miles from the station of Major Firebrace ; after a stay of a few 
 minutes at the "pub," resumed my journey. Here is a police-station, a store, a 
 blacksmith, and one or two wooden houses. Travelled during the day pretty 
 smartly, and arrived about nine o'clock, P.M. at the village of G'lenarchy. The 
 village is similar to Horsham, about the same size, and containing about the same 
 number of houses. I was forced, much against my inclination, to pass the niglit 
 at the inn, in consequence of the want of feed in the neighbourhood. I did not 
 at first like the appearance of either the building or the inmates, and in truth I 
 was not deceived; the accommodation was bad, beds filthy, full of bugs, charges 
 exorbitant, and extremely uncivil withal. The rascally hostler had the impudence 
 (as I was giving directions about the feeding of my horses) coolly to tell me to 
 feed them myself! Distance made, forty-four miles. 
 
 Wednesday, 18th. Made rather a late start ; obliged to ride pack-horse, in 
 consequence of my own having a galled back. On reaching Mr. Green's station, 
 distant twelve miles from Glenarchy, turned off to left, to avoid the village of 
 Burnbank, thereby saving a distance of twenty miles to Mount Alexander : indi- 
 cated the spot by marking a gum tree with the words, "Take to the left." This 
 track leads through a well- watered country, with plenty of grass, to the Navarre 
 Inn, kept by a person named Mackoy, distant from Glenarchy thirteen miles. A 
 glance at the map will at once point out how the saving is effected. Eested the 
 horses two hours, and ouce more moved on ; a high range in the distance, beau- 
 tiful in appearance, much resembling the Mount Lofty Range of South Australia. 
 On leaving the inn the road became very circuitous ; it winds by the bank of a 
 creek, well watered, into the heart of the mountains : good travelling almost 
 level. 
 
 Thursday, 19th. Up by the break of day ; felt much refreshed, having slept 
 soundly all night ; effected a good start at half-past six o'clock ; road led through 
 a beautiful valley, with a creek meandering through it ; the country then became 
 undulating, exceedingly beautiful and romantic, the rising slopes and valleys 
 studded here and there with shrubs of every description, amongst which I noticed 
 the silver ^wattle, or Van Diemen's .Land acacia, predominating. Passed Mr. 
 M'Kinnon's sheep station nine miles ; country more hilly, densely timbered ; the 
 stringy bark, blue and white gum, box, and many other trees familiar to a South 
 
 Australian, are found in the hills. Crossed a creek near the station of , . 
 
 I could not help remarking that the water in all the creeks, as I get nearer and 
 nearer to Mount Alexander, is of a singularly dark colour, perfectly clear, how- 
 ever, when taken out, and sweet tasted. Query can this be an indication of 
 During the day passed through open forest land, plains, and now and 
 again densely -timbered flats.of from three to four miles in extent. Made Mr. 
 
RETURN FROM BENDIGO TO MELBOURNE. 383 
 
 Bucknall's station; crossed a large creek a few hundred yards below the house. 
 The country here, as we emerged from the thick timber, changed like magic ; 
 hills appeared in our front extending to the right and left for miles, grassy, but 
 perfectly bare of a single tree ; these again were bounded to the east and south- 
 east by a more distant, remarkable, high-peaked range, to all appearance of the 
 same character. Turning the head to the north-east a ridge, thickly wooded, 
 similar to that already described, is seen, behind which rises the already far-famed 
 Mount Alexander ; entered the thick wood seen sometime back ; again emerged 
 into a large plain, crossing which we came to the River Loddon, where the dig- 
 gings commence, thus accomplishing the journey between the Murray and it in 
 eight days. Encamped on the east bank of the river ; good feed and water ; 
 distance travelled this stage, fifty-nine miles. 
 
 Friday, 20th. Visited Forest Creek and Adelaide Gully; conversed with 
 many of the South Australian gold seekers, and informed them of the purport of 
 my visit ; shortly after it was made known throughout the diggings that I had 
 arrived, I was met by crowds, who expressed their delight at the success which I 
 hud had in making so quick a journey, at the news I was bearer of, and at the 
 establishment of a mounted escort to convey the gold to Adelaide. I have since 
 been assured that hundreds will remit their hard-earned earnings by the present 
 escort, and will so continue if it be regularly established, instead of having to 
 send it to Melbourne, or otherwise dispose of it, at a shameful loss, to agents who 
 reside at the mines. It affords me much pleasure to note that the Adelaide 
 diggers in general have obtained, and still continue to obtain, more gold-dust than 
 others. The greatest good feeling appears to prevail amongst them, and I can 
 confidently assert that nine out of ten will, as soon as possible, return to settle 
 permanently in South Australia, rather than remain in Victoria. 
 
 FROM BENDIGO TO MELBOURNE. 
 
 BY A RETURNED SYDNEY DIGGER. 
 
 We left Bendigo on Tuesday, about 12 A.M., and arrived in 
 
 Melbourne on the Friday following, about 2 P.M. Previous to leaving we had 
 to sell two carts and horses. The mode of disposing of such articles at Bendigo 
 is rather peculiar, but answers better than any other. The cart is driven through 
 the diggings with a flag, or rather a substitute for one in the shape of a handker- 
 chief, flying in front, and the words "For Sale" chalked in large letters on the 
 sides and back. The same plan is pursued with respect to all other articles for 
 sale, and answers admirably ; the goods being speedily disposed of. There are 
 several purchasers of second hand tools, &c., but as these parties of course buy to 
 make a profit, the mode above described is generally resorted to by the diggers. 
 The practice has even reached Melbourne, as I saw several carts driven about 
 the town with the words "For Sale "on them in letters of enormous magnitude. 
 
 Having disposed of the carts we set out on our journey with light hearts, 
 although the day was excessively hot. 
 
 The first day, having had a late start, we only went as far as the junction of 
 the road leading to Forest Creek. 
 
 You will recollect that we went up by the Kihnore road, which at that time, 
 though by far the longest, was the best for drays. The road by which we came 
 
384 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 down, nsnally called the "Kyneton Road,"is much shorter, and at all times better 
 for foot-men, inconsequence of the great number of accommodation houses which 
 are situated along the whole road at about the rate of one to every two or three 
 miles. The roads at this time of the year are in splendid condition, and, as there 
 is abundance of grass and water, nothing can be more agreeable than travelling 
 on them. There is no lack of public-houses, moreover, where the weary traveller 
 may solace himself with a cheering cup, but for which he has to pay at rather a 
 high rate : spirits and beer at nearly all the inns are Is. 6d. per glass. Provisions, 
 too, are far dearer than at the diggings. The four-pound loaf is 5s., and beef is 
 9d. per pound at the Bush Inn, which is only thirty-six miles from Melbourne. 
 
 On Wednesday morning we were up by day-break and on the road. We 
 walked ten miles to the Robert Burns hotel, where we had breakfast, which, 
 considering the price of things, was not very dear, being only 3s. Here we got a 
 lift in a cart for 1 each as far as the Broad Meadow, which is within ten miles 
 of Melbourne. The number of people whom we met on their way to the diggings 
 was astonishing. Most of them were evidently new arrivals ; and being unac- 
 customed to carrying heavy swags, many of them appeared to be quite worn out. 
 More than one-half of those whom we met wore veils, and at a distance might 
 easily be mistaken for women. 
 
 Women, too, there were in abundance bound for the gold-fields, many of them 
 with large families, seemingly bent upon making the diggings their home for some 
 time. The country through which we passed was most beautiful, being luxuriantly 
 grassed and but lightly timbered. In fact it might be described as a succession 
 of undulating plains, there being scarcely trees enough to relieve the scenery from 
 the charge of monotony. We had dinner at the Columbine where there is a 
 township, which seems rapidly progressing; wooden houses, some of them very 
 elegant, springing up in all directions. The Columbine was running at the time 
 with a considerable body of water, which was as clear as crystal. In the middle 
 of summer, however, the country is completely parched up, and there is not a 
 drop of water to be had on the road for miles. The government has at length 
 bestirred itself with regard to the road, and there are now numerous parties at 
 work metalling it. When approaching Kyneton, we met six men drawing a laden 
 cart, arranged in the form of a wedge, one leading, two in the middle and three 
 behind. This is no uncommon thing to see on the diggings, but it is rather unusual 
 on the roads from Melbourne. They appeared to be a party of recent arrivals 
 from England. We passed through Kyneton, which, since the diggings have 
 commenced, has been making considerable progress, being the principal town 
 between them and Melbourne. About three miles from Kyneton is Carlsruhe, 
 5 there is a large police-station. As we were passing there was a sergeant 
 ilfing about a dozen recruits, most of them boys, in every variety of costume, 
 from the blue shirt to almost no shirt at all ; but in this respect they are only 
 ! the rest of the Victorian police. It was impossible to refrain from laughter 
 
 e watching their movements, which disrespect on our part caused the sergeant 
 k austere, although he said nothing. After going about three miles beyond 
 Carlsruhe we camped for the night. 
 
 " Thursday morning we were on the road as soon as we had breakfast, and 
 
 Jllmg about three miles came to the entrance of the "Black Forest," of 
 
 >ry. During the more lawless days of the Victorian gold diggings, it 
 
 was the custom for travellers to wait on the verge of the forest until a sufficient 
 
BENDTGO TO MELBOURNE BY THE BLACK VOREST. 385 
 
 number were collected to insure their passage through it in safety. Latterly, 
 however, the place, although offering uncommon opportunities of concealment to 
 the bushranger, has become so quiet, that no more fear is entertained by those 
 who pass through it than on any other portion of the road. The Black Forest 
 well deserves its name, for it is as gloomy a place as the imagination could well 
 conceive. It is situated at the foot of Mount Macedon, and extends for several 
 miles in all directions. The timber, chiefly stringy-bark, is very large indeed 
 by far the largest that I saw in Port Phillip. The stringy-bark of itself is a dismal 
 looking tree, and is here more so, from having its trunk blackened with fire. The 
 underwood, too, is very thick, which adds to the gloom of the forest. Some years 
 ago there were great fires in several parts of Victoria, which occasioned an immense 
 destruction of life and property. The day on Avhich the fire took place, or in 
 which it was at the highest pitch, is still known in Port Phillip by the name of 
 Black Thursday. Traces of this fire are to be seen in several other localities 
 beside the Black Forest. The part of the forest through which we passed was 
 about twelve miles across, commencing at a place called Wood's End and ending 
 at the Bush Inn. There are now several accommodation houses in the forest, 
 which were much needed. 
 
 The road through the forest was crowded with teams ; and it certainly would 
 have been a difficult matter for any gang of bushrangers to have committed any 
 depredations, as they would have been obliged to "stick up" hundreds of drays. 
 One of my companions counted no less than seventy-five drays within the space 
 of a mile. It must be taken into consideration, also, that there were three or four 
 other roads to the diggings, on all of which the traffic was nearly as great as on 
 that of which I am speaking. After leaving the Bush Inn you again come into 
 an open country of trap formation. The soil, though uncultivated, is evidently 
 fertile, and would be admirably adapted to the cultivation of the vine. The most 
 peculiar feature of the scene is Mount Macedon, which is visible both from Mel- 
 bourne and the diggings, rising almost abruptly from the surrounding country. 
 In consequence of its vicinity to Mount Macedon, scarcely a day passes on which 
 more or less rain does not fall in the Black Forest, a fact which was exemplified 
 when we passed through it. The trees in many places after leaving the forest 
 are dying out, and as there are no new ones springing up to replace them, it seems 
 probable that in time a great portion of Victoria will be quite destitute of timber. 
 From Spring Hill, distant about twenty-seven miles from Melbourne, there is a 
 splendid view over Keilor Plains, which are clothed with the most luxuriant 
 verdure. The view extends as far as the sea coast, and on a clear day the shipping 
 in William's Town can be distinctly seen. We camped this night at Jackson's 
 Creek, where there was the greatest abundance of feed and excellent water. 
 
 Friday morning was cold and rainy, and as we had to travel through an 
 open country, we found it impossible to keep ourselves warm. We crossed the 
 Deep Creek, which flows between banks of a great height, and in the winter 
 season carries all before it. The country is of granitic formation, and along the 
 banks of the creek highly picturesque, though tame enough everywhere else. 
 What forcibly strikes the traveller in Victoria is the entirely uncultivated state of 
 the country, and the almost total want of gardens and orchards, notwithstanding 
 the fertility of the greater portion of the soil. In this respect, also, the contrast 
 between Melbourne and Sydney is very unfavourable to the former, the numerous 
 gardens and shrubberies in and around Sydney giving it an infinitely superior and 
 
3<3() Till: THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 more delightful appearance than Melbourne. From the Deep Creek you have a 
 first-rate view of the shipping at William's Town, which to one coming from the 
 iuti-rior is ;i more agreeable sight than could be imagined. Leaving the drays at 
 the Broad Meadow, we struck across the country until we came to the old Sydney 
 mad, which we followed until we arrived at Flemington, where we met the governor 
 starting on a tour through the gold-fields. After leaving Flemington, which is 
 about three miles from Melbourne, if yuu have been the road before, you are 
 j'l'rftvtly bewildered at the change that has taken place in a short space of time. 
 Wooden houses and tents have arisen as it were by the power of Aladdin's lamp, 
 and have completely altered the appearance of the scene. 
 
 Now you begin also to see some of the bustle that necessarily characterises 
 such a stirring place as Melbourne. You feel yourself, moreover, safer, as it were, 
 than previously, although I doubt if you have any reason for so doing. However, 
 your plan is to consider every man as a rogue you may meet between Bendigo 
 and the Flag-staff. You now begin to get fairly in the city, and after a few 
 minutes' walk you are in Collins Street, the principal street of Melbourne. Here 
 vou witness such a bustling scene as you are altogether unprepared for, notwith- 
 standing your previously conceived opinions of the great traffic that must exist in 
 Melbourne. It is literally impossible to walk through the streets without being 
 jo.-tled and squeezed at every step ; and if you for a moment deviate from the 
 foot-path, you run the most imminent risk of being knocked down by a cart or 
 cab, which completely block up the streets. Melbourne is swarmed with Jews, 
 and being easily recognised as a gold-digger as you are walking down the streets, 
 you are every half-dozen yards accosted by them something in the following 
 style : "Any gold tor sale, sir?" " 3 10s. to-day for gold, mate." "I say, old 
 fellow, have you got any gold to sell?" the salutation being framed according to 
 their different ideas of which will be most acceptable, the familiar or the polite 
 style. You are so pestered with these wasps, that you are compelled at length, iti 
 self-defence, to return them some saucy answer, which, being well accustomed to, 
 they receive with the most philosophical indifference. Next you take a stroll 
 along the wharves, where goods of every description are lying piled in immense 
 heaps, and completely exposed to the destructive influence of the weather. The 
 wharves are, if possible, more crowded than the streets, and if not particularly alive 
 to your own safety, you stand every chance of taking a cold bath in the Yarra. 
 
 Here and there are groups collected around some recent arrivals by the 
 English vessels, who are selling off their superfluous goods, most of which they 
 are obliged to dispose of at a loss. But what matters this ? They have reached 
 this El Dorado, the land of their long-cherished hopes. Look now to the south 
 side of the Yarra, and there you will see a perfect city of tents. It is estimated 
 that there are between three and four thousand individuals living there, and there 
 certainly cannot be less. These are all new arrivals, sojourning here for a time, 
 until they resolve upon whether they shall go to some employment, or shape their 
 course for the gold-fields. Everywhere you go in this golden city your olfactory- 
 senses are disagreeably assailed with almost unbearable stenches, which must at 
 no distant period occasion some frightful epidemic. The influenza is now raging 
 in Melbourne to an unusual extent, and the great numbers of funerals that take 
 place daily tell but too sadly the " common tale" of humanity. It needs no great 
 wight to foretel that some terrible disasters will befal Melbourne if the people 
 do not speedily bestir themselves to introduce a better state of social affairs. 
 
NEW GOLD FIELDS. 387 
 
 To-day I was at the Victoria Gold Escort Company's office, an establishment 
 admirably conducted. Those holding escort receipts may obtain their gold or 
 money in a few hours after the escort arrives, whereas at the government office 
 there are the most unnecessary and provoking delays. The name of the depositor 
 is not written in the receipts given by the company, but is transcribed into a book 
 kept for that purpose, together with the amount said to be deposited. The receipt 
 merely states that so many ounces or pounds are said to be in the bag, neither 
 money nor gold being counted or weighed. The bag is tied and sealed, and 
 received thus by the depositor, the company not holding themselves in any way 
 responsible for the amount. Omitting the depositor's name in the receipt is 
 obviously an excellent plan, and prevents a great deal of fraud. 
 
 I have been employed the greater part of the day in looking out for a vessel. 
 So many people are hurrying home just now that it is a matter of some difficulty, 
 notwithstanding the number of vessels laid on for Sydney, to obtain a passage for 
 that port. I have at length obtained one in the Wild Irish Girl, the passage- 
 money being 9, which is an advance of 3 on what the cabin passages were 
 formerly. 
 
 With these extracts, which afford so perfect an idea of the life and 
 the land of the diggers, we conclude our attempt to describe the 
 Australian Gold Regions. New creeks, rivers, and mountains are daily 
 announced as the sites of inexhaustible treasures, the last being gene- 
 rally for a time considered the richest. The Ovens, near the River 
 Murray, is now exciting a good deal of attention in New South Wales, 
 and has caused the desertion of localities previously in great repute,* 
 while the discovery of two enormous nuggets at Ballarat has caused a 
 vast re-emigration to the first discovered Victorian gold-field. 
 
 The South Australians have not yet been successful in discovering a 
 gold-field worth working. At Echunga 1,208 licences were in the first 
 instance issued, but of these only 166 were renewed once, only 64 
 twice, and 7 three times. At the last accounts 180 persons were at 
 work. 
 
 The following is a list of the outfit required for four gold diggers. 
 The cradles sold in England are for the most part toys, not strong enough 
 to bear rough work. English carts, forges, and pumps, unless made 
 from colonial directions, are not worth their freight for real use : 
 
 TOOLS. !=. d. 
 
 One cradle . . . . . . . 1 10 
 
 One heavy crowbar . . . . . 10 
 
 Six picks, with one end pointed and the other square . 18 
 
 A water-lifter . 026 
 
 Two shovels . . . . . 10 
 
 * Mr. Stutchbury, the government geologist, found in the Curtgegong River small specimens of 
 ruby, sapphire and chrysolite, toj>aa, hyacinth, amethyst, and cairngorm, aod expects to find 
 emerald and aqua marine. 
 
388 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 Two zinc buckets . .080 
 Two tin milk-dishes . . . .050 
 One axe . 046 
 
 Nails, tacks, cords, tomahawk, &c. &c. . . .100 
 
 UTENSILS. 
 
 Tarpaulin . . . . .700 
 
 Camp oven . . . . 10 6 
 
 Iron pot, kettle, quart pots, plates, &c. &c. . . 1 2 10 
 
 To this must be added the cost of a tent; and at any of the 
 Victoria diggings, a cart, a team, and provisions for six months. 
 
 While New South Wales and Victoria were becoming wealthy and 
 populous on the strength of their gold-fields, the able-bodied popu- 
 lation of South Australia proceeded en masse to the neighbouring 
 colonies. Two measures wisely and promptly adopted by the local 
 government and the Legislative Council saved South Australia. By 
 an act, rapidly passed through the legislature, in January, 1852, 
 gold of 22 carats was made a legal tender at the banks at the rate 
 of 3 11s. per ounce against an issue of bank-notes. It thus became 
 the interest of South Australian diggers to bring the produce of 
 their labour to their own colony, there to employ it in purchasing 
 land at government sales, in paying duties on imports, and in other 
 modes in which it was worth more money than in the gold provinces. 
 South Australia was the first province to strike gold tokens, which 
 passed there for twenty shillings, and in England are worth about 
 twenty-three shillings. 
 
 At the same time that the Bullion Act was passed, the overland 
 route to Mount Alexander was opened., and a government escort was 
 established. 
 
 The system prevalent in South Australia of selling land in small lots 
 in quantities always in advance of demand, afforded a further induce- 
 ment to the return of gold-diggers to settle on small farms. The 
 results have been most satisfactory ; a regular export trade in agricul- 
 tural produce has been established between Port Adelaide and the gold 
 colonies. 
 
 The Legislature of New South Wales have passed a Gold Mining 
 Act, of which the following are the most important clauses : 
 
 Clauses 2, 5, and 8, withhold the ordinary privileges of mining from 
 any persons who are not British subjects, except on payment of double 
 
NEW SOUTH WALES GOLD MINING ACT. 
 
 REMOVING GOODS. 
 
 fees or royalties. Clause 2 gives power to the executive to grant leases 
 or licences for gold mining, in regard to auriferous tracts, for twenty- 
 one years ; and clause 10 authorises the demand of a fee, not exceeding 
 25, from any applicant for quartz vein or auriferous tracts, which is to 
 be returned if his application is not granted. Clause 3 gives power to 
 suspend pastoral leases or licences, in so far as may be necessary to 
 mining operations, upon the runs to which these leases or licences per- 
 tain, and to make compensation for such suspension according to a 
 previously established rule. Clause 4. No sort of occupation may be 
 carried on within any auriferous tract of crown lands without licence 
 except the pastoral and agricultural. Women not mining, and children 
 under fourteen years of age, are exempt from this rule. Clause 11. 
 Persons employed in making tunnels or drains are to be permitted, on 
 condition that they give security that they will pay the due royalty 
 upon any gold they may accidentally find in the course of their work. 
 Clause 9 allows a half-licence to be taken after the fifteenth day of any 
 month, the applicant not having been guilty of anything during the 
 previous half month to furnish a sufficient ground of objection. 
 
300 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA.' 
 
 An idea of the financial importance of the gold exports may be 
 gathered from figures : 
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 Gold exports to 3rd February . 
 At 70s. per ounce 
 Licences issued in 1852 
 
 VICTORIA. 
 
 Gold exported to 30th Jan nary 
 At 70s. per ounce 
 
 COMPARATIVE PRICES AT 
 
 1,088,244 ounces 
 . 8,850,000 
 22,500 
 
 2,625,820 ounces 
 . J,200,000 
 
 MELBOURNE, IN 
 
 1850. 
 
 1851. 
 
 1852. 
 
 LABOUR. 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 d. 
 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 labourers per week ...... 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 14 
 
 6 
 
 Shepherds, with rations, per annum 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 38 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 l'if*lc smiths ditto 
 
 47 
 
 10 
 
 . 
 
 65 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 . 65 
 
 
 
 
 
 General useful servants, ditto. . . 
 
 28 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 38 
 
 
 
 
 
 57 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Carpenters per day 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 2 . 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 . 1 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 
 FEMALE SERVANTS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Thorough servants, per annum . . 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 27 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Cooks ditto .... ... 
 
 18 
 
 o 
 
 . 
 
 20 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 . 42 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 o 
 
 . 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 23 
 
 
 
 
 
 PROVISIONS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Beer ale per hogshead 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 . 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 o 
 
 . 6 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 Tea, hyson skin, per chest .... 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 . 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 . 3 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 Coffee Java, per Ib 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 5-2 . 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 6 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 Sugar refined per Ib . 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 *j*2 * 
 
 41 . 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 7 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Flour,* fine, per ton 
 
 17 
 
 10 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 . 25 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 7 . 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 Rice Java per ton . . 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 13 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 Cabbages, per dozen 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 6 . 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 Gooseberries, per quart .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 . 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 Cherries per Ib . . . 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 3 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 4 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 Ducks, ditto 
 
 o 
 
 4 
 
 9 . 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 Geese and Turkeys, each .... 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 . 1 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 Sheep, wethers, each 
 
 o 
 
 6 
 
 fi . 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 17 
 
 6 
 
 Horses, hacks . 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 , 17 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 * Flour is usually sold in Melbourne by the ton of 2,000 Ibs., instead of 2,240 Ibs., as in the 
 Vnited Kingdom. If reckoned by the ton of 2,000 Ibs., the price is respectively 15 and 22 10s. 
 
COLONISING RESULTS. 391 
 
 The Melbourne Argus of January 3 estimates the number of diggers 
 at the Victoria Mines at 100,000, earning on an average an ounce per 
 man per week. 
 
 The forebodings of the pastoral proprietors, who saw in the gold 
 discoveries the desertion of all their labourers and the destruction of 
 their flocks, have not been realised. A very large per centage of the 
 armies of emigrants who are daily landing on the shores of Australia 
 either find themselves prevented from taking to the pursuit which led 
 them to emigrate, by the expense and toil of the journey to the 
 interior ; or, after having tried gold-digging, are compelled to abandon 
 labour harder than they can endure. These disappointed ones fall 
 back upon the staple employments of the colony, and either turn 
 farmers or accept situations as gardeners, shepherds, agricultural 
 labourers, &c. 
 
 We have every reason to believe that while the great prizes of the 
 gold-fields are suffered to attract a steady stream of self-supporting 
 emigration, the overplus, unfit for such a laborious occupation, will be 
 sufficient to maintain the flocks of sheep and herds of cattle which have 
 hitherto supplied in wool and tallow the principal exports of the gold 
 colonies. 
 
 The first effect of gold mining has been to give a value, in the 
 shape of beef and mutton, to sheep and cattle, which had previously been 
 only worth money to shear or boil down. Another result will be the 
 establishment of towns and villages, surrounded by agricultural farms, 
 in districts which, under the pastoral system, seemed condemned to 
 perpetual barrenness and solitude. The question of opening the navi- 
 gation of the Murray, by clearing away shoals, rocks, and snags, will 
 perhaps be successfully solved by the gold-diggings at Albury. 
 
 If these anticipations be realised, gold will prove a most valuable 
 agent in stimulating colonisation. Every gold-digger gives occupation 
 to at least three other men, in feeding him, clothing him, and conveying 
 backwards and forwards what he produces, and what he consumes. 
 The profits on meat lately given to the dogs supports many a butcher in 
 a gold district, and land only used by sheep becomes worth the toil of 
 tillage. 
 
 It is a most favourable feature of the Australian gold-fields, that 
 they are within reach of settled communities, surrounded by live beef 
 and mutton, and by land of the best quality, which only needs the 
 plough and the hoe, roughly handled, to produce great crops of wheat, 
 maize, and every green vegetable. These lands will not remain 
 untilled. 
 
392 
 
 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA.. 
 
 The Australian gold-digger, unlike the Californian, has no sooner 
 filled his pockets than he sets to work to settle his wife comfortably in 
 a neat cottage with a garden, reserving the chances of another visit to 
 the mines if he should find more capital needful. 
 
 GOLD-SEEKERS' GRAVES ON THE TURON. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 IN the preceding pages we have followed step by step the series of 
 social, commercial, and political events which have established 
 three free and prosperous colonies on the island-continent of Australia ; 
 the progress of the pastoral interest from the eight merinos imported 
 by M' Arthur to the fourteen millions of fine-woolled sheep which now 
 graze over Australian pastures ; the progress of emigration, from the few 
 score officials, soldiers, turnkeys, and rum-traders, who, for a quarter of 
 a century, formed the only free additions to the native-born population, to 
 the present time, when armies of emigrants, counted in tens of 
 thousands, arrive from all countries of Europe and America ; the 
 progress of the value of land from the period when a bribe of rations 
 and the aid of government-fed slave labour was needed to induce a 
 colonist to accept a farm, to the present year, when land is sold by the 
 foot at the rate of thousands of pounds per acre ; the progress of trade 
 from the mere barter of the year 1800, with imports dependent on the 
 expenditure of the home government, to the year 1853, when millions 
 of Australian exports in gold and wool create a new and profitable 
 export for almost every branch of British manufactures, and afford 
 employment for an amount of tonnage which British shipowners find 
 themselves unable to supply ; the progress of political institutions, from 
 the irresponsible despotism of the first governor and gaoler, to the 
 concession of the amplest powers of self-government and taxation, with 
 full control of land and land funds, customs and casual revenues, to the 
 three Legislative Assemblies of New South Wales, Victoria, and South 
 Australia, by the Conservative Duke of Newcastle. 
 
 These rapid strides of the English-speaking Australian colonists, in 
 which the acquisition of political rights has kept pace with the enlarge^ 
 ment of their material resources, we have endeavoured to trace with a 
 firm and impartial pen. We conclude our task at a moment when the 
 brightest prospects seem opening to the three colonies ; when, released 
 from the baneful control of transmarine bureaucracy, permitted to 
 exercise with the most perfect freedom those rights of self-government 
 which are so essential to the full development of the powers of an 
 English race ; relieved from the contamination of old world felonry ; 
 
 z 
 
394 THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 with all the aid that can be derived from the capital, the credit, the 
 colonisation, and " cheap defence " of the parent state, Australia seems 
 starting on the race of empire with greater advantages than have ever 
 fallen to the offshoot of a great nation in ancient or modern times. 
 Free institutions, unrestricted commerce, ample revenues, without 
 debt, and without the taxes which a defensive force, naval or military, 
 would require nothing can retard the progress of our Australian fellow- 
 countrymen, if they prepare in good time to counteract the money- 
 worshipping, utilitarian spirit, and low tone of commercial morality 
 which are the bane of new communities. 
 
 An antidote is to be found in the teaching of zealous Christian 
 ministers, and in the study of those treasures of the literature, art, 
 and science of the old world, which no modern material El Dorado can 
 excel. 
 
 The regulation of the future colonisation of the Australians will rest 
 with the colonists themselves. If they are wise, they will give no 
 encouragement to that system of pauper emigration which the Govern- 
 ment Commissioners have long patronised. No population can be more 
 difficult to govern than a mob of uneducated peasantry, suddenly 
 transferred from indigence to the wages of a gold country. It is the 
 interest alike of the colonies and of this country, that the influence of 
 rude men who crowd to the gold diggings should be counterbalanced 
 by a stream of industrious, educated, intelligent families, the yeomen 
 and frugal mechanics, with large families, who swell the ranks of 
 " Family Colonisation," men who would be prepared to carry on colo- 
 nisation by cultivation, and reproduce on the fertile lands of Australia 
 the farms and villages of England. We commend to the attention of 
 the Colonial Legislatures, the fathers of this many-childrened class, who 
 are led to emigration, not by discontent, not by vain Utopian longings, 
 but by 
 
 " The pride to rear an independent shed, 
 And give the lips they love unborrow'd bread, 
 To skirt their home with harvests widely sown, 
 And call the blooming landscape all their own, 
 Their children's heritage in prospect long." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 THE Legislative Council of New South Wales, on the recommenda- 
 tion of the Committee (whose report we give below, I.), have passed an 
 Act (which we also give, II.), rendering it lawful to make contracts 
 with emigrants in this or any other country, to bind them to work 
 for wages settled in Europe to repay the cost of their passage to 
 Australia to compel emigrants sent out by the Emigration Commis- 
 sioners to repay part of their passage money to apprentice boys and 
 girls above the age of thirteen for four years, at 5 for two years, and 
 10 for two years, with board. 
 
 The principle that emigrants should repay part or all the cost of 
 their passage is sound, but whether the mode proposed by the Parlia- 
 ment of New South Wales will work, we may be permitted to doubt. 
 
 Attempts to make labourers or mechanics work for less than current 
 wages have always failed in this country, and so have contracts binding 
 men to serve a particular master in a skilled trade. 
 
 If the Council had made the passage-money paid by the colony a 
 debt due by the emigrant, that would have been reasonable ; but to bind 
 a man in Europe to serve a master he has never seen, in an employment 
 he has never practised, for wages to be fixed by the master, is to sow 
 the seeds of perpetual litigation and discontent, especially as the 
 magistrates who will have to decide the disputes are inevitably 
 employers of labour ; and no man is a safe judge in his own cause. 
 
 In like manner the theory of apprenticing minors is reasonable, but 
 this legislation is one-sided. 
 
 The wages will often be inadequate, and no provision is made in 
 the Act for the inspection or protection of those apprenticed orphans. 
 There may be Mrs. Sloanes in Australia as well as in England. 
 
 We feel for the hard position of the great stockowners and other 
 employers of labour in the difficult position in which they are placed by 
 the labour attraction of the gold-fields, but we venture to hint that the 
 only law which will bind the labourer to his employer under such 
 circumstances, is the law of kindness. " One man can lead the ox to 
 water ; a hundred cannot make him drink." 
 
 z 2 
 
396 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. 
 
 Second Report of the Select Committee of the Legislative Council, appointed 
 on the Wth June, 1852, " to inquire into and report upon the most 
 speedy and effectual means of introducing into the colony a supply of 
 labour adequate to its requirements? 
 
 THE number of applications which are now pouring- in upon the 
 Emigration Commissioners for passages to this colony, under the existing* 
 regulations, is so great, that it is evident the territorial revenue as at 
 present administered can no longer of itself sustain the charge, nor can it 
 supply an immigration at all commensurate with the large and growing 
 requirements of the colony. The fact, too, that the immigrants who are thus 
 introduced at the public expense, are under no obligation to embark on their 
 arrival in the ordinary industrial pursuits of the colony, which was the 
 primary object of their introduction, and is the sole ground upon which any 
 expenditure of the public revenue for such an object can be justified, renders 
 it both just and necessary that they should not only be compelled, as a 
 preliminary measure, to enter into such an engagement in England for a term 
 of not less than two .years, but that they should also bind themselves to 
 repay, by equal yearly instalments, a certain sum towards their passage- 
 money, which your committee have fixed at 13. It is considered that this 
 amount ought to be repaid by all statute adults, that is, by all persons above 
 fourteen years of age, because they can earn wages which will enable them 
 to repay without difficulty ; but no contributions will be required from the 
 mothers of families, and children under that age. Whilst it is obviously but 
 just that the immigrant who is likely to benefit so largely by being brought 
 to this colony at the public expense, should be compelled to refund this 
 stipulated amount to the public treasury on the one hand, it has been deemed 
 equitable on the other hand, first, that he should be allowed on his arrival to 
 repay (if he can) his passage-money ; second, that for a certain short period 
 after his arrival here (to be fixed by public regulation) he shall be permitted 
 to choose his employer, so as to enable him to obtain the current rate of 
 wages ; and third, that after serving an employer for one year he shall be at 
 liberty to pay any balance of passage-money 'due by him, on giving three 
 months' notice to his employer, and so terminate his agreement. To carry 
 out the details of this new system, it will be necessary that the immigrant, in 
 England, should indent himself in England to the immigration agent in the 
 colony, and that this officer again should have power to bind him by inden- 
 ture here to any competent employer, so as to carry these regulations into 
 effect. For this purpose a local enactment will be ' necessary, which your 
 committee will prepare. 
 
 Your committee further recommend, that the Immigration Commissioners 
 should be instructed, as a general rule in the distribution of passages by 
 emigrant vessels, to give a preference to emigrants hired under indenture in 
 England by colonial employers, or for them by their English agents, so long 
 as they belong to any enumerated classes now eligible for bounty emigration ; 
 but with an understanding, nevertheless, that they are to be subject to the 
 repayment out of their wages, of the amount of passage-money, viz., 13, 
 thus fixed by your committee. 
 
 As some misunderstanding seems to exist in England as to the necessity 
 that such indenture should be stamped, it may be as well here to observe, 
 
APPENDIX. 397 
 
 that, by the 9th Geo. IV., cap. 83, all indentures of this sort are expressly 
 exempt from the stamp duty ; and to make this exception the more certain, 'a 
 clause to the like effect will be introduced into the legislative measure which 
 will be required to carry out these recommendations. 
 
 Your committee having- learnt by advices lately received from England, 
 that there are large numbers of boys and girls of good character, of thirteen 
 years of age and upwards, in the orphan schools and other eleemosynary 
 establishments of the United Kingdom, towards whose emigration to this 
 colony the guardians and other managers of such establishments would 
 contribute largely out of parochial or other funds, with a view as well to 
 the relief of such establishments from the cost of their maintenance, as to the 
 advantageous settlement of the apprentices themselves in. the colony, recom- 
 mend that whenever any such boys or girls are under indenture to the 
 immigration agent of this colony for the time being, to serve an apprentice- 
 ship of four years, the two first for wages at the rate of 5 a year, and the 
 two. last for wages at the rate of 10 a year, a contribution of at a rate not 
 exceeding 8 for statute adults, should be made towards their passage-money 
 from the territorial revenue, and be repaid by the employer at the time the 
 apprentice is indented to him by the immigration agent, provided the 
 remainder of their passage-money and their outfit be contributed by the 
 guardians or other managers of any such institutions at home. 
 
 The emigrants of the enumerated classes, and to whom your committee 
 recommend that passages should be furnished under the foregoing stipula- 
 tions as to indenture and repayment, are as follows : 
 
 Amount to be Amount to be 
 
 paid in paid in the 
 
 advance in Colony out of 
 
 England. their earnings. 
 
 Married agricultural labourers, shepherds, herdsmen, s. d, ; & s. d. 
 miners, and other males of the labouring classes 
 
 generally, not exceeding 45 years of age -. .100 . 12 ( 
 Exceeding 45 and under 50 years of age . .500 . 800 
 Exceeding 50 years of age . . . . 11 . 200 
 Unmarried ma'les of any of the above classes, not exceed- 
 ing 40 years of age . . . . 1 . 12 
 Unmarried females, farm and domestic servants, not 
 
 exceeding 35 years of age . . . .100.1200 
 Country mechanics, such as blacksmiths, bricklayers, 
 carpenters, masons, sawyers, wheelwrights, and gar- 
 deners, under 46 . . . . 5- . 10 
 Above 45 and not exceeding 50 . . . .800. 700 
 Above 50 . 15 . 
 
 No payment will be required for the wives of persons of the above classes, 
 or any of their children who may be under the age of 14 years; all children 
 above that age must be paid for as statute adults.. 
 
 Your committee, in thus recommending a complete alteration in the 
 present bounty system, feel that a new era has arisen in the whole of the 
 colonies forming the Australian group, which renders them the most eligible 
 of all the countries in the globe as a field for immigration, not from the 
 United Kingdom alone but from all Europe ; that the necessity, therefore, 
 which has hitherto existed to hold out extraordinary inducements to intending 
 emigrants to select these colonies as a future home, has entirely ceased ; that 
 all future immigration therefore should, if its cost be not in the first instance 
 defrayed out of the funds of the immigrants themselves, be at least for the 
 most part of a self-supporting character, so as to relieve that branch of our 
 public revenue which has hitherto been almost exclusively devoted to this 
 
398 APPENDIX. 
 
 object from this absorbing- charge ; and to enable it hereafter to be devoted 
 to those internal improvements which the continued progress of population 
 and civilisation will render indispensable : and that in order to carry out these 
 views, the present system of bounty emigration from the mother country 
 should be abolished, and all future immigration, to this colony at least, be 
 established on that self-supporting, or nearly self-supporting, basis which is 
 indicated in this Report, unless some unforeseen necessity for a deviation from 
 it should arise, 
 
 As to the following resolutions referred to this committee on the motion 
 of Mr. Donaldson 
 
 1st. That this House considers that a sum of not less than 10,000 out 
 of the amount now in course of transmission to England by the Governor- 
 General, might with great propriety be applied in furtherance of the object of 
 the Family Colonisation Loan Society, in such manner as might be arranged 
 between the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the London Committee of 
 this Society, whether by way of guarantee funds, or by actual appropriation, 
 as might be decided on. 
 
 2nd. This House being of opinion that the Family Colonisation Loan 
 Society, established by Mrs. Chisholm, and represented in London by a 
 Committee ^onsisting of the Right Honourable the Earl of Shaftesbury and 
 others, forms a valuable adjunct to the other means employed for the 
 promotion of emigration of a good character to the Australian colonies. 
 
 Your committee propose that the provisions of the intended local enact- 
 ment shall be made applicable to emigrants brought out under the regulations 
 of this society. 
 
 Your committee have no hesitation in recommending these resolutions for 
 the adoption of your honourable House, and that tne sum of 10,000 out of the 
 amount now in course of transmission to England for emigration purposes, 
 be held at the disposal of the London Committee of the Colonisation Loan 
 Society, presided over by the Earl of Shaftesbury. 
 
 With regard to the report from the immigration agent for 1851, and the 
 despatches from the Secretary of State, referred to your committee, they are 
 at present only enabled to observe that any recommendations or regulations 
 suggested in them which may be at variance with any of the suggestions of 
 your committee, which refer to the suppression of the present bounty system 
 and the substitution in its stead of the more largely self-supporting system 
 recommended in this report, should give way to the views of your committee 
 on this most important subject. 
 
 W. C. WENTWORTH, Chairman. 
 
 Legislative Council Chambers, 
 Sydney, 1st October, 1852. 
 
APPENDIX. 399 
 
 II. 
 
 An Act to regulate the Indenting of Assisted Immigrants and others in the 
 United Kingdom and elsewhere, and their employment in this Colony 
 for a certain time after their arrival therein. 
 
 WHEREAS, the present system of bounty emigration has become highly 
 burdensome and impolitic, by renson that the emigrants sent out under'that 
 system, at the cost of the territorial revenue, are not required, on their 
 arrival in this colony, to take service, or to repay any portion of the public 
 money thus expended in providing- them with a passage to this colony, and 
 it is expedient that the said system should be reformed : Be it therefore 
 enacted, by His Excellency the Governor of New South Wales, with the 
 advice and consent of the Legislative Council of the said Colony, as follows : 
 
 I. Every male of or above the age of fourteen years, and every 
 unmarried female of or above that age, who shall hereafter be provided with 
 a passage as an emigrant to this colony by Her Majesty's Emigration Com- 
 missioners, and who shall not pay the "full cost of his or "her passage, 
 previously to his or her embarkation to this colony, or the embarkation of 
 the wife or family of any such male emigrant, shall, before obtaining an 
 authority for such embarkation, sign an indenture in the form or to the 
 effect set forth in the Schedule A to this Act annexed : Provided that no 
 emigrant of the class of country mechanics shall be required or bound to pay 
 more than the sum of fifteen pounds sterling for his passage, inclusive of any 
 deposit made by him in the United Kingdom under any regulation then in 
 force, and that no other class of emigrants shall be required or bound to pay 
 more than the sum of thirteen pounds sterling for his or her said passage, 
 inclusive as aforesaid. 
 
 II. If any immigrant so under indenture shall, on his or her arrival in 
 the colony, or 'within any period thereafter to be prescribed by the immigra- 
 tion agent in this colony for the time being, not exceeding fourteen days, 
 pay to such immigration agent, on behalf of the government, the full sum 
 set against his or her name in the said indenture, every such indenture shall 
 thereupon be cancelled, so far as it relates to every immigrant paying 
 such sum. 
 
 III. The immigration agent for the time being, or any person deputed 
 by him for that purpose, with the approbation of the governor, shall have 
 authority, with or without the consent of any such immigrant, not so paying 
 his or her passage-money, or any balance due therefor, to make and sign in 
 his or her name, and on his or her behalf, a contract of service with any 
 competent employer for the term of two years, to be computed from the day 
 on which such contract is made and signed, by an agreement in the form or 
 to the effect in Schedule B to this Act appended ; and every such employer 
 shall thereupon pay into the hands of such immigration agent, for the use of 
 the government of the colony, half the amount then due to the government 
 for the passage of every immigrant so bound; and such employer shall 
 undertake to pay the balance of the passage-money required by the regula- 
 tions from such'immigTant, at or before the expiration of twelve calendar 
 months from the making of such contract ; such employer being hereby 
 authorised to deduct such payments, so to be made, on behalf of any such 
 
400 APPENDIX. 
 
 iinmiirrant, from his or her wages, as such wages accrue or become due, by 
 eight equal deductions from the same, during such term of two years. 
 
 IV. Every immigrant serving an employer under any such contract, 
 
 inav, a't any time afte? the expiration of the first year, cancel the same, by 
 rivinir such employer three calendar months' notice thereof, in writing, and 
 by p;iviiiir such employer the amount of money then remaining due for his 
 or her passage. 
 
 V. It shall be lawful for any artificer, domestic servant, handicraftsman, 
 
 mechanic, gardener, servant in husbandry, shepherd, herdsman, wool-sorter, 
 coachman, groom, vine-dresser, or other labourer, and also for any male or 
 fMii:ile, being above the age of eighteen years, and for all and every other 
 classes and class of labourers, workmen, tradesmen, or artificers, whether 
 they be subjects of Her Majesty or of any foreign country, by indenture or 
 other agreement duly executed, to contract with any person or persons about 
 to proceed to or actually resident in this colony, or with the agent or agents 
 of any such person or persons in the said colony, for any period not exceed- 
 ing tlie full term of five years. 
 
 VI. Every emigrant already under indenture, or hereafter contracting, 
 by indenture or otherwise, to serve any employer in this colony, shall be 
 liable to repay to such employer, any sum which he or she may contract with 
 such employer, or with any agent of such employer, to repay, for whatever 
 object advanced, and whether his or her passage were paid for in the first 
 instance by such employer, or were paid by the said Emigration Commis- 
 sioners out of the public funds of this colony, and repaid or secured by 
 such employer to such commissioners, or to the immigration agent of the 
 said colony. 
 
 VII. It shall be competent to Her Majesty's Emigration Commissioners 
 by a written instrument, in the form or to the effect in Schedule C to this 
 Act appended, to' engage on behalf of the immigration agent of this colony 
 for the time being, any boy or girl of and above the age of thirteen years, 
 from any orphan or other public school or eleemosynary establishment in any 
 part of the United Kingdom, or from any parishes or boards of guardians, or 
 parents or guardians willing to contribute at the rate fixed by the regula- 
 tions towards their passage to this colony ; and the said commissioners shall 
 be at liberty, if they shall see fit, to contribute the remainder of their passage- 
 money not exceeding for any such boy or girl the sum of eight pounds 
 sterling out of any fund belonging to the said colony at their disposal. 
 
 VIII. Such boys and girls, on their arrival in the colony, may be bound 
 by the immigration agent for the time being, by indenture, in the form or 
 to the effect in Schedule D to this Act appended,' to proper employers, who, 
 upon the execution of any such indenture, shall pay the balance of the passage- 
 money due to the government for such boys and girls ; and shall enter into 
 the agreement for their due maintenance and support, and also for the 
 payment to them of wages at the rates and times in the said indenture 
 mentioned. 
 
 IX. If any owner or master of any ship or vessel shall contract, in 
 writing, with any emigrant, either from 'the United Kingdom, or from any 
 foreign country, for his or her conveyance to any port in this colony, and 
 inysuch emigrant shall engage either to pay any portion of his or her 
 l>:a ire-money, not exceeding ten pounds, within six days after his or her 
 
 /al, or to execute within the same period, with the concurrence of the 
 
 ition agent of this colony for the time being, or his deputy, an 
 
 .lenture of service for two years, to some competent employer, at such 
 
 f wages as may be agreed upon between the parties, or as the immi- 
 
APPENDIX. 401 
 
 gration agent may deem reasonable, and by which the employer engages, 
 upon the execution thereof, to pay or secure the amount of passage-money 
 remaining due from such emigrant ; then every such emigrant shall be held 
 bound to the due fulfilment of such contract, in the same manner, and subject 
 to the same penalties and punishment for non-performance, as if he or she 
 had arrived under indenture to Her Majesty's Emigration Commissioners in 
 England, under the provisions of this Act. 
 
 X. The provisions of this Act shall extend and apply, as far as the same 
 can be applied, to all contracts and indentures, entered into in any part of 
 the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, by any emigrant brought 
 out to this colony at the expense of any society organised or established in 
 any part thereof for the promotion or encouragement of emigration to this 
 colony, and to all contracts or indentures of service or apprenticeship which 
 may be entered into by any emigrant or apprentice after their arrival here, 
 with a view of repaying or securing to any such society the whole or any 
 part of the passage-money of any such emigrant or apprentice. 
 
 XI. All such indentures, or other written agreements as are hereinbefore 
 mentioned, shall, in all courts, and before all justices within the said colony, 
 be deemed to be valid, in whatever country they may be executed, and shall 
 be of the like force and effect within this colony, as if they had actually been 
 made and executed by the respective parties thereto within the same ; and 
 every such contract of service or indenture of apprenticeship as hereinbefore 
 mentioned, executed by the immigration agent for the time being of the 
 said colony, whether executed or not by the party to be bound thereby, or 
 with or without his or her consent, shall be as Valid and binding on such 
 party as if the same had been executed by such party, or by any parent, 
 guardian, or other lawful authority by or on his or her behalf, and shall 
 subject such party for any breach thereof, or of any condition or contract 
 therein contairied/upon summary conviction by or before two or more justices, 
 to the like tines, penalties, and punishments as are now or may be hereafter 
 provided by law for any wilful violation of the provisions of any ordinary 
 contract of service or indenture of apprenticeship, or for any misdemeanor, 
 miscarriage, misconduct, or ill-behaviour of any master, servant, or apprentice 
 within the said colony ; and if any such party, whether he or she be of the 
 full age of twenty-one years or not, shall abscond from the service of any 
 employer to whom he or she shall be under such contract of service or 
 indenture of apprenticeship, as hereinbefore mentioned, without lawful excuse, 
 shall be liable for a first offence to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, 
 at the discretion of the convicting justices, for a period not exceeding three 
 calendar months ; and for every subsequent offence to imprisonment with or 
 without hard labour, for any period not exceeding six calendar months ; and 
 the periods of such absconding and imprisonment shall not be deemed to be 
 a part of the term of service mentioned in any such contract of service or 
 indenture as aforesaid. 
 
 XII. Any person who shall employ, retain, harbour, or conceal any 
 immigrant of any of the classes or descriptions mentioned in this Act, during 
 the time such immigrant shall be under contract to serve any employer in 
 this colony, who shall have paid, or come under engagement to pay, the 
 whole or any portion of the passage-money of any such immigrant, shall be 
 liable to pay such employer at the rate of five shillings a day for every day 
 such immigrant may be so employed, retained, harboured, or^concealed by 
 any such person, up 'to the full amount or sum not exceeding fifteen pounds, 
 which such employer may have so paid, or came under engagement to pay ; 
 and every complaint for so employing, retaining, harbouring, or concealing 
 
402 APPENDIX. 
 
 any such immigrant, may be heard and determined in a summary way before 
 any two justices of the peace, who, in addition to any damages they may 
 award, by virtue of this Act, may give the complainant full costs : Provided 
 always, that if upon the hearing- of any information under this section any 
 person so employing 1 , retaining-, harbouring-, or concealing any such immi- 
 grant, shall prove to the satisfaction of the justices hearing the same, that 
 he has not been guilty of undue negligence, such information shall be there- 
 upon dismissed. 
 
 XIII. Every indenture or other written agreement officially transmitted 
 to the immigration agent of this colony, by Her Majesty's Commissioners 
 for Emigration in England, shall be conclusive evidence in any court or 
 before any justices, of the signature or consent of the several parties thereto, 
 whose names are therein or thereunder written or mentioned, and shall 
 require no further proof of its authenticity than its production in any such 
 court, or before any justices, by or on behalf of such immigration agent, or 
 by or on behalf of the employer of any such immigrant ; and any certificate 
 under the hand of the said immigration agent that any such immigrant- 
 came out as such in any vessel bringing out assisted immigrants, shall be 
 receivable in any court, or before any justices, and shall be conclusive as to 
 the identity of such immigrant, and as to all the facts therein certified to 
 be true. 
 
 SCHEDULES REFERRED TO. 
 
 A. 
 
 We whose names are severally hereunder written, in consideration of a 
 passage being provided for us and (as the case may be) our respective wives 
 and families by Her Majesty's Emigration Commissioners, at the expense of 
 ic colony of New South Wales, severally bind ourselves either to repay to 
 the immigration agent of that colony, 'for the time being, the sums set 
 against our respective names, in sterling British money, within fourteen days 
 arrival in the said colony, or to take service with any employer 'in 
 1 colony with whom we may agree during that period and who' shall 
 approved of by the said immigration agent, and shall forthwith pay to him 
 nait c the sums set against our names respectively, and shall bind 
 to pay the residue thereof to the immigration agent for the time 
 emg in twelve calendar months, or within any shorter period of the date of 
 employment. And in default of our making any such agreement with 
 ait of the said immigration agent, and in the form prescribed by law 
 filiations of the government, we hereby agree and bind ourselves to 
 * other employment and to accept such wages as the said irnmigra- 
 at may procure for us respectively; and we hereby, respectively, 
 nifr 1 TiT and authoritv > with or without our future consent, to 
 5half a contract of service with any employer whom he may 
 
 of '^ch contri^t /h th i term f tW yeaf3 ' t0 '^ co P ut *d from the date 
 hbertv to 1 ^ ^ m8> alwa - ys underst od that any such employer shall be 
 
 r -pee itlv dun % ^ J ^^ that m ^ aCCme r b( * me due to U8 
 
 n ', , r " , 6 Sdld term? at th * rate of on -eig-hth of the sums so 
 
 se vl-e atd r/r'^'T " ames in ench three cal r months of such 
 
 further, that at any time after the expiration of the first year 
 
APPENDIX. 403 
 
 thereof, we shall be respectively at liberty, on giving our respective employers 
 three calendar months' previous notice, to put an end to such contract and 
 service by paying" up the balance of the said sums then due by us for our 
 passage. " 
 
 Witness 
 
 B. 
 
 No. 185 . 
 
 Memorandum of Agreement made this day between A. B., Esq., the 
 immigration agent of this colony for the tiiae being of the first part, C. D., 
 a free immigrant, per ship , of the second part, and 
 
 E. F., of , of the third part. The said C. D. engages to 
 
 serve the said E. F. as a and otherwise to make 
 
 generally useful for the term of two years, to be computed from the date 
 hereof; and also to obey all .the said E. F.'s or his or her overseer's or autho- 
 rised agent's lawful and reasonable commands during that period ; in con- 
 sideration of which services the said E. F. doth hereby agree to pay the said 
 C. D. wages, at the rate of pounds shillings 
 
 ( ) per annum, payable quarterly, to provide him (or her) 
 
 with the understated rations weekly, and to defray the expense of his (or 
 her) conveyance to the place at which he (or she) is to be employed, it being 
 always understood that the said E. F. is to be at liberty to deduct from any 
 wages that may accrue or become due to the said C. D., by eight equal 
 quarterly deductions, the sum of & being the full sum due by the said 
 
 C. D. to the government of this colony for his or her passage thereto. 
 
 WEEKLY RATION: 
 
 Beef or Mutton ........ 10 Ibs. 
 
 Flour 10 Ibs, 
 
 Sugar 2 Ibs. 
 
 Tea i Ib. 
 
 And the said E. F. hereby agrees to pay to the said immigration agent 
 immediately upon the execution of this memorandum the sum of 
 being one-half of the amount of passage-money due by the said C. D. to the 
 said government, and to pay the residue thereof to the said A. B. or to such 
 other person as may then be the immigration agent for the time being, at 
 the end of one year from the date hereof. 
 
 (To be Signed) A. B., Immigration Agent. 
 
 C. D. 
 
 or 
 
 (A. B. on behalf of C. D.) 
 E. F. 
 
 Witness 
 
 We the undersigned or undernamed parties severally agree and bind 
 urselves, with the consent of all or any persons now in authority over us, to 
 
404 APPENDIX. 
 
 .*- 
 
 serve any employers to whom we may be respectively bound by the immi- 
 i rat ion agent for the time being of the colony of New South Wales, as 
 apprentices, for the term or period of four years, to be computed from the 
 date of our apprenticeship in the said colony, for such wages or remuneration, 
 after payment by such employers of the sums due for our passages to the 
 said colony, as to the said Immigration Agent may seem meet ; and we do 
 hereby authorise and empower him, or his deputy duly appointed with the 
 approval of the government of the said colony, to bind us out as such 
 apprentices, immediately upon or at any time after our arrival in the said 
 colony. 
 
 Witness 
 
 D. 
 
 Indenture of Apprenticeship made this day of 
 
 A.D. between A. B., immigration agent for the colony of New South 
 
 Wales, or C. D , his deputy (as the case may be), of the first part, E. F., an 
 immigrant (male or female as the case may be) per ship , being 
 
 of the age of years, of the second part, and G. H., of , of 
 
 the third part. The said A. B. (or C. D.) doth hereby bind the said E. F. to 
 the said G. H. as an apprentice in the trade or calling of (here describe 
 particular occupation), and otherwise to make (himself or herself as the case 
 may be) generally useful for the term of four years, and also to obey all the 
 said G. H/s lawful and reasonable commands) or those of (his or her) 
 authorised agent, during that period ; in consideration of which services the 
 said G. H. hereby agrees to pay the said party of the second part wages 
 quarterly, at the rate of five pounds per year for the first two years, and at 
 the rate of ten pounds per year for the residue of the said term, and to teach 
 or cause (him or her, as the case may be) to be taught such trade or calling 
 during the said term ; and to provide (him or her, as the case may be) with 
 lodging, and either with board, or a weekly ration (at the option of the said 
 IT. H.) consisting of 
 
 lOlbs. of flour, 
 10 Ibs. of meat,. 
 
 2 Ibs of sugar, 
 
 ilb. of tea. 
 
 names and seals to this Indenture of Apprenticeship. 
 
 (L. s.) 
 (L. s.) 
 
 itnesa 
 
 
INDEX. 
 
 ABSTRACT of the New Constitution 
 
 for the Colonies . . .194 
 Adelaide, a lady's description of . 224 
 Adventures of John Buckley . 204 
 Agreements between masters and 
 servants, as arranged by Mrs. 
 
 Chisholm 139 
 
 Agricultural stock, prices of, in 
 
 1792 36 
 
 " Algerine Clauses," the, of Go- 
 vernor Gipps .... 157 
 America, transportation to . . 20 
 Andrew Thompson, a valuable co- 
 lonist 61 
 
 Anecdote about letter-franking . ] 49 
 Ant-eater, engraving of the . 293 
 Anti-convict contest, the . . 170 
 Antipodes Islands, sketch of the . 189 
 Anti-transportation League, the . 181 
 Apology for Earl Grey's colonial 
 
 policy 180 
 
 Appendix 395 
 
 Archdeacon Scott . . .73 
 Arnheim's Land . . . .15 
 Arrest of John M'Arthur by Go- 
 vernor Bligh . . . 56 
 Arrival of overlanders at Ade- 
 laide 227 
 
 Arrival of the first judge in New 
 
 South Wales .... 72 
 Association of Tasmanian settlers 202 
 Association, the Squatters' . . 171 
 Australia from 1520 to 1770 . 11 
 Australia, Geographical portion of 243 
 " Australia," as named by Flinders 13 
 Australian Agricultural Company, 
 
 the 77 
 
 Australian declaration of rights . 157 
 Australian discovery, records of . 14 
 
 "Australian" 
 lished 
 
 newspaper estab- 
 
 74 
 
 BALLARAT, gold-washing at . . 280 
 Bass' and Flinder's explorations . 46 
 Bass, George, particulars regarding 51 
 
 Bathurst Plains, discovery of -. 60 
 Batman's estate at Port Phillip, 
 
 how first obtained . . . 202 
 Battle of the District Councils . 157 
 Bendigo to Melbourne, diary of a 
 
 journey from .... 365 
 Bingara diggings, the , . . 346 
 Bishoprics in Australia . . 302 
 Black Forest, Bendigo to Mel- 
 bourne by the .... 385 
 Blacks under gunyah, sketch of . 274 
 Bligh, Governor, arrival of . 40 
 
 Bligh, Governor, cowardice 
 
 wrongly imputed to . . .57 
 Bligh 's expulsion from the Gover- 
 norship 57 
 
 Blue Mountains, Macquarie's jour- 
 ney across the . . . .67 
 Blue Mountains, passage found 
 
 across the . . . .66 
 
 Blue Mountains, road made across 
 
 the 88 
 
 Bonded myrmicobius, or ant-eater 293 
 
 Botany Bay 13 
 
 Bounty system, evils of emigration 
 
 by the 134 
 
 Bourke's Church and School Act 107 
 Bourke's regulations regarding 
 
 convicts 105 
 
 Boyd's evidence on emigration . 131 
 Boyd's protective association .130 
 Braidwood diggings, the . . 342 
 Breweries in New South Wales . 317 
 Brisbane Downs, discovery of . 201 
 Brisbane's (Governor) insult to 
 
 the Presbyterians . . .74 
 Brisbane's regulations for the sale 
 
 of land 87 
 
 Brisbane, Sir T., recal of .76 
 
 Bristol, Judge Jeffries at .22 
 
 Bronze-winged pigeon, sketch of 
 
 the 270 
 
 Bubble, bursting of the South Aus- 
 tralian 230 
 
 Buckley's adventures at Victoria 204 
 
406 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 T>AO 
 
 Hurra- Hurra mines, profits of the 297 
 Hurra Burra mines, results of the 295 
 Hurra Burra mines, struggle for 
 
 the purchase of the . . 239 
 Bursting of the South Australian 
 
 Bubble 230 
 
 CAPTAIN STURT'S discoveries . 82 
 Case cooked for the House of 
 
 Commons 233 
 
 Cathedral, Roman Catholic, found- 
 ed at Sydney . . . .73 
 Cattle, value of, in 1796 . . 38 
 Charles Campbell, Mr., on the 
 
 price of labour . . . .132 
 Children cradling . . . .354 
 Chisholm, Mrs., colonial opposition 
 
 to 135 
 
 Chisholm, Mrs., liberal treatment 
 
 of, by the settlers . . .139 
 Chisholm, Mrs. Caroline . . 134 
 Church and School Act for New 
 
 South Wales . . . .107 
 Church, first brick-built . . 62 
 City of Adelaide, description of the 291 
 City of Melbourne, approach to the 276 
 Climate of Australia, the . . 246 
 Cloth, manufacture of, in New 
 
 South Wales . . . .318 
 Colonel Gawler's Government of 
 
 South Australia . . .217 
 Colonel Torrens' Colonisation 
 
 Scheme 209 
 
 Colonial Commissions, Mrs. Chis- 
 
 holm's 153 
 
 Colonial Constitution, abstract of 
 
 the new 194 
 
 Colonial Lunatic Asylums, man- 
 agement of .... 120 
 Colonial opinion, defiance of, by 
 
 Earl Grey .... 178 
 Colonial policy, Earl Grey's 
 
 apology for his . . . . 180 
 Colonial revenue under Governor 
 
 Gipps 114 
 
 Colony of Swan River founded . 90 
 Commissioner Bigge's Report . 72 
 Committee of the House of Lords 189 
 Committees on emigration . . 129 
 Company, the Australian Agri- 
 cultural 77 
 
 Comparative prices of labour at 
 Melbourne .... 390 
 
 Conclusion 393 
 
 Contest between Governor Gipps 
 
 and the colonists . . . 159 
 Contest, the anti-convict . [ 179 
 Contradictions in labour market .' 130 
 
 PAO 
 
 Convicts employed to make roads 61 
 Convicts, first batch of. . .24 
 Convicts selected for promotion 
 
 by Maequarie , . . .61 
 Convicts, treatment of, by Go- 
 vernor Darling . . , .79 
 Convict ships, early management of 33 
 Convict system, colonial report on 
 
 the 173 
 
 Cook's first landing-place . . 13 
 Cook's voyages . * . .17 
 Correspondence of Rev. Henry 
 
 Styles 137 
 
 Correspondence with Parliament- 
 ary Agent 182 
 
 Costume of the South Australian 
 
 overlanders .... 227 
 Counties in the Port Phillip dis- 
 trict 255 
 
 Cowper,Parson,unjust treatment of 71 
 Cow Pastures, how originated . 38 
 Criminals, number of, in New 
 
 South Wales . . . .312 
 Crown lands, sale of, in New South 
 
 Wales 320 
 
 Customs' dues and taxes in New 
 South Wales . . . .322 
 
 DAMPIER'S three visits to New 
 
 Holland 61 
 
 Darling's land regulations, effect of 88 
 Darling's treatment of the convicts 79 
 Debt, the, of South Australia . 235 
 De Caen's shameful treatment of 
 
 Flinders 51 
 
 Defaulting Registrar, the . .117 
 Description of Port Jackson . 257 
 "Devil and the Governor," the . 165 
 Diaries of Diggers . . . 358 
 Diary of a journey from Melbourne 
 
 to Bendigo . . . .365 
 Diggers, diaries of ... 358 
 Dingoe, or native dog, the . . 63 
 Discovery of Bathurst Plains . 66 
 Discovery of land at Adelaide . 238 
 Discovery of Mount Alexander . 205 
 Dispensary opened in Sydney . 80 
 Distilleries in New South Wales . 316 
 District Councils .... 156 
 Dodging the Commissioner . . 333 
 Dog, the native, or dingoe . . 63 
 Do-nothings, the, in the colonies . 141 
 Dover emigrant to South Austra- 
 lia, the 235 
 
 Drive to the Burra Burra, a . 298 
 Dr. Kerr's hundred pound nugget 334 
 Dr. Lang and his opinions . . 80 
 Dr. Leichardt, portrait of . . 271 
 
INDEX. 
 
 407 
 
 Duck-billed platypus, sketch of the 6 
 Dugong, or sea-pig, description of 26 
 Dutch, explorations of the . .13 
 
 EARL GREY cm the land question . 192 
 Earl Grey's despatches to Van 
 
 Diemen's Land . 
 
 176 
 
 Earl Grey's indifference about the 
 
 gold discoveries . . . 327 
 Earl Grey's unchanging policy . 185 
 Eastern Australia,, tabular view of 250 
 Education in Australia, past and 
 
 present state of ... 303 
 Edward Hargreaves, portrait of . 324 
 Election of Councillors . . 156 
 Emigrant females, dispersion of .139 
 Emigrant, sketch of a successful . 223 
 Emigrants, proposed mode of ap- 
 prenticing 394 
 
 Emigration 127 
 
 Emigration, Boyd's evidence on .131 
 Emigration, committees on . . 129 
 Emu, engraving of the . . . 380 
 Evidence of Mrs. Chisholm before 
 
 the Legislative Council . . 146 
 Explorations of Wentworth and 
 
 his companions . . . .66 
 Exports and imports of New South 
 
 Wales 321 
 
 Exports and imports of South 
 
 Australia 240 
 
 Expulsion of Governor Bligh . 57 
 Extract from Macquarie's first 
 despatch 59 
 
 FAILURE of Mr. G Wakefield's 
 
 South Australian Charter . 210 
 Failure of the South Australian 
 
 gold-fields . . . .387 
 Fair agreements between masters 
 
 and servants .... 139 
 Famine and mortality in 1792 . 36 
 Father O'Flynn expelled from the 
 
 colony 72 
 
 Father Therry .... 73 
 Female emigrants, treatment of, on 
 
 board government ships . . 135 
 Females, distribution of, in the 
 
 bush, by Mrs. Chisholm . . 139 
 First Australian newspaper estab- 
 lished by a convict . . .40 
 First Australian steamer launched 80 
 First brick church built . . 62 
 First gold-commissioner appointed 330 
 First Governor, immense powers 
 
 given to 29 
 
 First Governor of New South 
 Wales .... 24 
 
 PAGE 
 
 First insurrection at Sydney . 40 
 First judge, arrival of the . . 72 
 First official proclamation about 
 
 the gold discoveries . . . 328 
 First overland journey from Syd- 
 ney to Port Phillip . . .76 
 First revolution in New South 
 
 Wales 57 
 
 Fisheries of New South Wales, the 319 
 Flinders, infamous treatment of, 
 
 by De Caen . . . .51 
 Flinders, neglect of, by the British 
 
 government . . . .51 
 Flinders, Matthew, portrait and 
 
 account of . . . .45 
 Flood, the Gundagai . . .168 
 Foot journey to Mount Alexander 375 
 Forest Creek, gold-seeking at . 375 
 Francis Scott, Mr., the colonial 
 
 correspondence with . . 182 
 Franking letters by Mrs. Chisholm 149 
 Free grant of land to emigrants . 89 
 Future evils of the land system . 191 
 
 GENERAL Post Office established 
 
 in New South Wales . . .80 
 Geographical description of South 
 
 Australia 283 
 
 Gentlemen emigrants to South 
 
 Australia 222 
 
 George Barrington a thriving 
 
 farmer 39 
 
 George Bass, account of .45 
 Gibbon Wakefield and South Aus- 
 tralia 208 
 
 Gibbon Wakefield's colonisation 
 
 scheme 93 
 
 Gipps, Sir George, integrity of .159 
 Gipps', Sir George, acknowledg- 
 ments of Mrs.Chisholm's services 149 
 Gipps' Land, first discovery of . 281 
 Gipps' treatment of the colonists . 112 
 Gold diggings at Ophir . . 326 
 Gold discoveries, history of the . 325 
 Gold, first mention of the exist- 
 ence of 325 
 
 Gold escort, sketch of the . . 350 
 Gold diggers at dinner . . 377 
 Gold fields, failure of the South 
 
 Australian .... 387 
 Gold fields of Victoria . . .349 
 Gold first found about 1840 . . 325 
 Gold seeking at Forest Creek . 375 
 Gold washing at Ballarat . . 280 
 Gold washing, illustration of . 343 
 ~overnesses, sham . . . 141 
 Government Gazette, establish- 
 ment of a 38 
 
408 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Government of Sir Charles Fitzroy 169 
 Government of Sir Richard Bourke 84 
 Governor Bligh, arrest of, by the 
 
 colonists . . , . .57 
 Governor Bligh, arrival of . .40 
 Governor Bligh, tyrannical con- 
 duct of 53 
 
 Governor Bourke's administration 83 
 Governor Darling's administration 76 
 Governor Fitzroy's declaration . 175 
 Governor Gawler's enthusiasm 
 
 and innocence .... 220 
 Governor Gipps's administration . Ill 
 Governor Grey's administration . 231 
 Governor Grose, arrival of . .35 
 Governor Hindmarsh, doings of, 
 
 at Adelaide . . . .214 
 Governor Hunter, arrival of . 36 
 Governor King, arrival of . .39 
 Governor Macquarie, arrival of . 58 
 Governor Macquarie's departure 
 
 for England . . . .73 
 Grant of land to John M< Arthur . 85 
 
 Grass trees 370 
 
 Graves, gold seekers', on the Turon 392 
 Grey, Governor, administration of 231 
 Grey-headed vampire . . .19 
 Grievances, colonial, under Go- 
 vernor Gipps . . . .116 
 Grievances unconnected with land 157 
 Grose, Governor, arrival of . .35 
 Gulf of Carpentaria, why so called 15 
 Gum trees near Melbourne . . 202 
 Gundagai flood, the . . 168 
 
 HANGING ROCK diggings, the . 344 
 Hargreaves', Mr., gold discoveries 327 
 Hawkesbury, great flood on the 
 
 river 40 
 
 History of Port Phillip . . 200 
 History of the gold discoveries . 325 
 History of South Australia . . 208 
 " Home," description of the build- 
 ing used by Mrs. Chisholm as a 137 
 House of Lords' committee . . 189 
 House of Lords' committee, Mrs. 
 
 Chisholm before the . . .151 
 How to appoint a colonial school- 
 master 306 
 
 Hundredweight of gold found . 334 
 Hunter, Governor, arrival of . 36 
 Hyde-park barracks, convicts at . 121 
 
 IMPORTS and exports of New 
 South Wales . . . .321 
 
 Imports and exports of South 
 Australia 240 
 
 Increase of free emigrants in 1849 178 
 
 Inscription on Flinders' obelisk . 285 
 Integrity of Governor Gipps . 159 
 
 JAMAICA, transportation to . .21 
 Jemmy Nyrang .... 158 
 Johnstone, Major, unrewarded by 
 
 the colonists . . . .58 
 Joseph Smith, statement of . .42 
 Journey across the Blue Moun- 
 tains by Governor Macquarie . 67 
 Journey from Port Jackson to 
 
 Port Phillip .... 273 
 Judge Jeffries, legend of .22 
 
 KANGAROO ISLAND, in theory and 
 
 practice 212 
 
 Kapunda mine, discovery of the . 238 
 
 LABOUR, comparative prices of, 
 
 at Melbourne . . . .390 
 Labour market, contradictions in 
 
 the 130 
 
 Land Board, establishment of a . 88 
 Land auctions .... 122 
 Land, free grant of, to emigrants 89 
 Land-fund system of emigration . 127 
 Land, grant of, to John M'Arthur 85 
 Land jobbing, Earl Grey on . 192 
 Land mania in New South Wales 104 
 Land mania, result of the . .123 
 Land orders, Mr. Lowe's pamphlet 
 
 on the 187 
 
 Land question, Mrs . Chisholm on the 1 90 
 Land question, the . . . 121 
 Land system, future evils of the . 
 
 existing 191 
 
 Land tenure, laws of . . .85 
 Land, upset price of, raised . 122 
 
 Lang the agitator . . .80 
 Lake Alexandrina, discovery of . 82 
 La Perouse, monument to .26 
 
 Last letter from Dr. Leichardt . 270 
 Laughing jackass, engraving of the 352 
 Law in New South Wales . . 308 
 Lead first discovered at Adelaide 238 
 Legislative Council, answer of the, 
 
 to Earl Grey . . . .179 
 Legislative Council, first meeting 
 
 of, at Sydney . . .80 
 
 Legislative Council, Mrs. Chis- 
 
 holm's proposition to the . 145 
 
 Leichardt's expeditions, account of 269 
 Leipoa, description of the mounds 
 
 built by the . . . 290 
 
 Letter from Sydney," Wakefield's 92 
 Life at the Summerhill diggings 337 
 Life in Adelaide before the crisis 225 
 Lodger, a pleasant, at Melbourne 362 
 
INDEX. 
 
 409 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Lodging-house, a novel . . . 364 
 Lodgings in Melbourne . . 362 
 Lord Grey on the convict system 175 
 Lord Stanley and Mr. Cardwell . 164 
 Lord Stanley's appointment of a 
 
 prothonotary . . . . 119 
 Lowe's (Mr. Robert) pamphlet on 
 
 the land orders ... 187 
 
 Loyalty of the Australians . . 34 
 Lunacy in New South Wales . 312 
 Lunatic Asylum, management of 
 
 a colonial 120 
 
 Lyre-bird, description of the . 282 
 
 MARINE lodging-house, a . . 364 
 M f Arthur (Mr. Peter) on the price 
 
 of land ..... 125 
 M'Arthur's enterprise and success 55 
 Macquarie, arrival of Governor . 58 
 Macquarie's colonial tours . . 62 
 Macquarie the first talented go- 
 vernor ..... 60 
 Magistrate, a convict appointed 
 
 as a 61 
 
 Maj or Johnstone, trial of, at Chelsea 58 
 Management of early convict ships 33 
 Mania, result of the land . .123 
 Maneroo, discovery of . . . 201 
 Maneroo Plains, exploration of . 76 
 Manufactures in New South Wales 316 
 Megapodius, engraving of the . 291 
 Melbourne, description of the city 
 
 of f . 278 
 
 Melbourne first planned out by Sir 
 
 R. Bourke . . . .205 
 
 Melbourne, morality of the dig- 
 gers in ..... 361 
 Melbourne to Ballarat,. tandem 
 
 drive from .... 351 
 Merino ram, the . . .54 
 
 Middle District, counties south 
 
 and west of the .... 254 
 Mines of South Australia . . 294 
 Mitchell ( Sir Thomas) and hisworks 70 
 Morality in Melbourne . . 361 
 Mound-building birds, family of . 289 
 Mount Alexander, foot journey to 375 
 Mountains in New South Wales, 
 
 list of 250 
 
 Mount Alexander, first discovery of 205 
 Mount Disappointment . . 201 
 Moore (Mr.) on the land question. 125 
 Monument to La Perouse . . 24 
 Mrs. Chisholm's appeal for her 
 
 emigrants' " Home" . . 136 
 
 Mrs. Chisholm's " Countess" . 140 
 Mrs. Chisholm's departure from 
 the colonies . . . .153 
 
 Mrs. Chisholm's Home" for fe- 
 male emigrants . . . .136 
 Mrs. Chisholm's colonial commis- 
 sions 153 
 
 Mrs. Chisholm's colonial statistics 148 
 Mrs. Chisholm's registry-office . 139 
 Mudie's attack on Sir Richard 
 
 Bourke 105 
 
 Murray, steam traffic on the river 288 
 
 Names of towns in New South 
 Wales 250 
 
 Native dog, sketch of the . . 63 
 
 New Australian constitution, how 
 received 194 
 
 Newcastle, sketch of . . .37 
 
 New constitution for New South 
 Wales . . . . .193 
 
 New South Wales, early incidents 
 in ...... 32 
 
 New South Wales, early judicial 
 system at .... 32 
 
 New South Wales, first governor of 24 
 
 New South Wales, first revolution 
 in 57 
 
 New South Wales, geographical 
 sketch of 249 
 
 New South Wales, history and ori- 
 gin of . . . .11 
 
 New South Wales, land mania in . 104 
 
 New South Wales, list of coun- 
 ties in 250 
 
 New South Wales, new constitu- 
 tion for 193 
 
 New South Wales, "Voluntary 
 Statements" of the people of . 151 
 
 Nobs and snobs in South Australia 239 
 
 Northern counties of New South 
 Wales 253 
 
 Nugget of gold, engraving of a 
 large 336 
 
 Obelisk to Flinders at Port Lin- 
 coln 285 
 
 Objections to "indenting" emi- 
 grants 394 
 
 Obnoxious Order in Council, with- 
 drawal of the . . . .181 
 Official report on District Councils 157 
 Ophir diggings, account of the . 341 
 Opossum, sketch of an . . 374 
 
 Origin of transportation . . 20 
 Overland journey between Ade- 
 laide and Mount Alexander . 377 
 
 Palmer, disgraceful cowardice of 
 
 Captain 49 
 
 Pamphlet, Mrs. Chisholm's first . 138 
 2 A 
 
410 
 
 . INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Paradox, or water-mole, descrip- 
 tion of 68 
 
 Parliamentary report of 1812 . 62 
 Particulars regarding George Bass 51 
 Parson Cowper, shameful neglect 
 
 of, by government . . .71 
 Passage, discovery of a, across the 
 
 Blue Mountains . . .66 
 Peel River diggings, the . . 345 
 Platypus, or paradox, sketch of . 69 
 Policy, Earl Grey's apology for his 
 
 colonial .... .180 
 Population of New South Wales . 310 
 Port Jackson, description of . 257 
 Port Jackson, why so named , 17 
 Port Phillip declined sending re- 
 presentatives to Sydney . . 206 
 Port Phillip district, mountains in 
 
 the . . . . 255 
 
 Port Phillip, history of . 200 
 
 Port Phillip, or Victoria . 199 
 
 Port Phillip satisfied with the new 
 
 Constitution . . . 196 
 
 Port Phillip statistics . . 323 
 
 Port Phillip, why so called . 13 
 
 Portrait of Edward Hargreaves . 324 
 Portrait of the first gold-commis- 
 sioner ..... 331 
 Post-office returns for New South 
 
 Wales . . . . .320 
 Post-office, the, at Sofala, Turon 
 
 river :357 
 
 Practice versus theory .. . 197 
 
 Presbyterians insulted by Gover- 
 nor Brisbane . . . .74 
 Press, liberty of the, conceded to 
 
 New South Wales . . . 74 
 Price of labour, Campbell on the 132 
 Price of land, Leslie Foster on . 125 
 Princess Royal outcroppings . 239 
 Prisoners, recollections of . .40 
 Proceedings of the Australian 
 
 Agricultural Company . . 78 
 Proceedings in South Australia . 388 
 Profits of the Burra Burra mines 297 
 Promotion of convicts by Gover- 
 nor Macquarie . . .61 
 Protective Association, Mr. Ben- 
 jamin Boyd's .... 130 
 Prothonotary, Lord Stanley's ap- 
 pointment of a . . . . 119 
 Public works effected by Governor 
 Macquarie . . . .65 
 
 Question, Earl Grey on the land . 192 
 
 11 1 U-ERS, soldiers hired as . . 61 
 Ik-bels, transportation of . . -21 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Reception of the new Constitution 
 
 in South Australia . . 196 
 Recital of Henry Hale . . 43 
 Recollections of prisoners . 40 
 Records of Australian discovery 13 
 Registrar, the defaulting . 117 
 Registry-office, Mrs. Chisholm's 139 
 Religion -in Australia, state of 302 
 Religious denominations in Aus- 
 tralia 303 
 
 Remonstrance of the Sydney Le- 
 gislative Council . . .196 
 Report, Mrs. Chisholm's remark- 
 able 140 
 
 Report of Commissioner Bigge . 72 
 Report of Dr. Lang's committee . 147 
 Report of Parliamentary commit- 
 tee in 1812 . . . ,62 
 Report of the colonial-grievance 
 
 committee .... 157 
 Reports of the Commons' commit- 
 tee on South Australia . . 233 
 Report on the convict system . 172 
 Retirement of Sir George Gipps . ICO 
 Responsible government . . 155 
 Results of Governor Macquarie's 
 
 administration . . . .71 
 Right sort of emigrants, the . 223 
 Rivers of Australia, the . 44 
 Rivers of New South Wales, list of 250 
 Rivers in the Port Phillip district 255 
 River Torrens, real and alleged 
 
 capabilities of the . . . 219 
 Roads first made by convicts . '61 
 Road made across the Blue Moun- 
 tains 89 
 
 Roman Catholic cathedral founded 
 
 at Sydney . . . 73 
 Romantic doings at Adelaide . -226 
 Rude speeches of Governor Mac- 
 quarie 60 
 
 Rum-drinking in New South Wales 71 
 Rum hospital at Sydney . . 71 
 
 SATIN, or bower-bird, the . . 289 
 Schaffer, appointment of Mr. . "35 
 Schoolmaster, singular appoint- 
 ment of a colonial . . . . 306 
 Schools in New South Wales . 311 
 Scott, Archdeacon . . .73 
 Sea-pig, or dugong, description of 267 
 Sectarian zeal, singular instance of 304 
 " Self-supporting " colony, statis- 
 tics of a 236 
 
 Shani governesses . . . 141 
 Shelter, want of, for emigrants . 365 
 Shepherd's hut, sketch of a . . 366 
 Ship -building in New South Wales 319 
 
INDEX. 
 
 411 
 
 Shoal Bay, harbour of . . . 265 
 " Shovelling " out emigrants to 
 
 Australia 23 
 
 Sir Charles Fitzroy . . .169 
 Sir George and the Gibbet . . 168 
 Sir Richard Bourke's foresight . 100 
 Sir Roderick Murchison's opinion 
 
 regarding gold in Australia . 325 
 Sir Thomas Brisbane's govern- 
 ment 73 
 
 Sir Thomas Mitchell's evidence on 
 
 the land question . . .189 
 Sketch of an opossum . . . 374 
 Sketch of the lyre-bird . . 282 
 Smith's (Mr.) discovery of gold 
 
 unheeded 327 
 
 Snobs and nobs at Adelaide . 239 
 
 Soap and candle manufactures in 
 
 New South Wales . . .319 
 Soil, varied character of the Aus-- 
 
 tralian 247 
 
 Soldiers hired as reapers- . .61 
 Songs of the Squatters . . 161 
 South Australia, difficulty in pro- 
 curing a governor for . .211 
 South Australia, history of . . 208 
 South Australia, proceedings in . 388 
 "South Australian Gazette," es- 
 tablishment of the . . .211 
 South Australian Land Company, 
 
 formation of the ... 209 
 Special survey system, effect of, in 
 
 South Australia . . .216 
 " Spectator," the Sydney, to Mrs. 
 
 Chisholm 154 
 
 Spirit currency in the colony . 37 
 Squatters' Association, the . . 171 
 Squatters, songs of the . . 161 
 Squatting statistics of New South 
 
 Wales 313 
 
 Statement of Mrs. Smith . . 43 
 Statistics, Mrs. Chisholm's colonial 148 
 Statistics of Port Phillip . . 323 
 Steam-boat first launched in Aus- 
 tralia 80 
 
 Steam traffic on the Murray river 288 
 Straw-necked ibis, engraving of 
 
 the 34'8 
 
 Styles' (Rev. Henry) correspond- 
 ence with Mrs Chisholm . . 137 
 Suburbs of Melbourne . . .363 
 Success of Mrs. Chisholm's female 
 
 emigration . . . .139 
 Sudds and Thompson, treatment 
 
 of, by Governor Darling . . 81 
 Sugar refining in New South Wales 317 
 ' Summary of Governor Gipps' ad- 
 ministration .... 161 
 
 PAOE 
 
 Summerhill diggings, life at the . 337 
 Swan River, colony of, founded . 90 
 Swan River Settlement, failure of 
 
 the 91 
 
 Sydney cove, why so called . . 27 
 Sydney, dispensary opened in . 80 
 Sydney, first insurrection at . 40 
 
 Sydney, first meeting of the Legis- 
 lative Council at . . .80 
 Sydney Legislative Council, re- 
 monstrance of the . . .196 
 Sydney, Roman Catholic cathedral 
 
 founded at .... 73 
 Sydney, rum hospital at .71 
 
 TABULAR view of New South Wales 250 
 Tambaroura Creek diggings . 344 
 Tandem drive from Melbourne to 
 
 Ballarat 351 
 
 Tasmanian settlers', association of 202 
 Tasman's voyages . . .16 
 Taxes and customs' dues in New 
 
 South Wales . . . .322 
 Tenure, the laws of land . . 85 
 " The Assyrian came down," &c. 164 
 Theory versus practice. . . 197 
 Thompson and Sudds, treatment 
 
 of 81 
 
 Timber, import and export of, in 
 
 New South Wales . . .319 
 " Tityre tu Patulae," an Austra- 
 lian version of . . . . 162 
 Tobacco, manufacture of, in New 
 
 South Wales . . . . 318 
 Tours, Macquarie's annual . . 62 
 Towns, names of, in New South 
 
 Wales 250 
 
 Transportation first legalised . 20 
 Transportation of rebels . . 21 
 Transportation, origin of .20 
 
 Transportation to America . . 21 
 Transportation to Jamaica . . 21 
 Trial of Major Johnstone . . 58 
 Turon gold-fields, the . . . 341 
 Turon, gold-seekers' graves on 
 
 the 392 
 
 UNIVERSITY of Sydney . . . 307 
 Unchanging policy of Earl Grey . 185 
 
 VAMPIRE, the grey-headed . . 18 
 Van Diemen's Land, Earl Grey's 
 
 despatches to . . . . 177 
 Van Diemen's Land, first penal 
 
 settlement founded in . .40 
 Victoria, first Legislative Council 
 
 assembled at .... 207 
 Victoria, list of counties in . . 255 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Victoria, or Port Phillip 
 
 " Voluntary Statements" collected 
 by Mrs. C'hi>lu>lm 
 
 \V \ K KKIELD'S colonisation theories 
 AVakc-field's "Letter from Sydney " 
 Wa tor-mole, description of . 
 A\Ynt worth's, Lawson's, andBlax- 
 
 land's explorations . 
 Wesleyan chapel opened at Syd- 
 ney 
 
 199 
 151 
 
 95 
 
 92 
 
 66 
 73 
 
 "Wives wanted!" . . .152 
 Wool-growing, success of M* Ar- 
 
 thur in . . . .65 
 
 Wool projects of Mr. M< Arthur . 54 
 Women, Macquarie's protest 
 
 against, as colonists . . .60 
 Wonga wonga pigeon, descrip- 
 
 tion of the . . . .262 
 Works of Sir Thomas Mitchell . 70 
 
 YARKA Yarra, the 
 
 . 201 
 
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