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THE 
 
 HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA 
 
 FROM 1606 TO 1888 
 
 
 BY 
 
 ALEXANDER SUTHERLAND, M.A. 
 
 AND 
 
 GEORGE SUTHERLAND, M.A. 
 
 GEORGE ROBERTSON AND COMPANY 
 MELBOURNE, SYDNEY, AND ADELAIDE 
 
 MDCCCXCII 
 
GIFT 
 

 PREFACE TO THE FOURTEENTH EDITION. 
 
 As this little book has had the good fortune to retain its 
 popularity for twelve years, during which time it has 
 appeared in thirteen editions, with a total of fifty-eight 
 thousand copies, it has seemed only fair to its future readers 
 to make it advance with the times. It has, therefore, been 
 completely revised, in the light of the valuable original work 
 that has of late years been carried out in respect to the 
 original records of Australian history. Where errors have 
 in the course of years been observed, they have been 
 corrected. Where the information supplied has been found 
 somewhat meagre, it has been amplified. The insertion of 
 a number of authentic engravings will lend it an additional 
 value, it is hoped, for school purposes. 
 
 THE AUTHOHS. 
 
 330 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CnAPTRR PAGE 
 
 I. — The Early Discoverers - • -1 
 
 11. — Convict Settlement at Sydney • 13 
 
 III. — Discoveries of Bass and Flinders 21 
 
 IV.— New South Wales, 1800 to 1S08 - 29 
 
 v.— Tasmania, 1803 to 1836 - - 37 
 
 VI.— New South Wales, 1808 to 1837 - • 45 
 
 VII,— Discoveries in the Interior, 1817 to 1836 - 55 
 
 VIII.— Port Phillip, 1800 to 1840 - 65 
 
 IX.— South Australia, 1836 to 1841 - 79 
 
 X.— New South Wales, 1838 to 1850 88 
 
 XI.— South Australia, 1841 to 1850 - 98 
 
 XII.— The Discovery of Gold - - 105 
 
 XIII.— Victoria, 1851 to 1855 - • - 116 
 
 XIV.— New South Wales, 1851 to 1S60 - 128 
 
 XV.— West Australia, 1829 to 1886 ■ - 133 
 
 XVI.— Queensland, 1823 to 1SS6 - 140 
 
 XVII.— Explorations in the Interior, 1840 to 1860 - 152 
 
 XVIII. —Discoveries in the Interior, 1860 to 1886 - 167 
 
 XIX.— Tasmania, 1837 to 1886 - - - 182 
 
 XX.— South Australia, 1850 to 1876 - - . 191 
 
 XXI.— New South Wales, 1860 to 1888 - - 196 
 
 XXII.— Victoria, 1855 to 1888 - - - 202 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Captain Cook - _ • ■ - 10 
 
 View of Early Sydney, and Portrait of Phillip • 19 
 
 Flinders - - - - - 27 
 
 John Macarthur . ... 33 
 
 Governor Collins, and View of Mount Wellington - 39 
 
 Maequarie, and Scene in the Blue Mountains - 48 
 
 Hamilton Hume - - - - - 58 
 
 Captain Charles Sturt - - - - 61 
 
 John Pascoe Fawkner ■ - - - 65 
 
 Edward Henty - - - - 72 
 
 Early Melbourne - - - - - 75 
 
 Governor liatrobe - - - - 78 
 
 Governor Hindmarsh • - - - 82 
 
 Early Adelaide . • - - 86 
 
 Edward Hargraves - - - - 109 
 
 Distant View of Ballarat • - - 114 
 
 Governor Hotham - - - - - 122 
 
 View of King George's Sound - - - 133 
 
 Robert O'Hara Burke - • - -167 
 
 William John Wills - - - - 174 
 
 Governor Franklin - - - - • 182 
 
THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I,,, , 
 
 JO 
 
 THE EARLl DIrfCOVEREKS. 
 
 "3 "3 ' " ' 
 
 1. To the people who lived four centuries ago in Europe 
 only a very small portion of the Earth's surface was known. 
 Their geography was confined to the regions lying immed- 
 iately around the Mediterranean, and including Europe, 
 the north of Africa, and the west of Asia. Eound these 
 there was a margin, obscurely and imperfectly described in 
 the reports of merchants ; but by far the greater part of 
 the world was utterly unknown. Great realms of darkness 
 stretched all beyond, and closely hemmed in the little circle 
 of light. In these unknown lands our ancestors loved to 
 picture all that was strange and mysterious. They believed 
 that the man who could penetrate far enough Avould find 
 countries where inexhaustible riches were to be gathered 
 without toil from the gem-covered shores, or from the gold- 
 teeming valleys ; and though marvellous stories were 
 related of the appalling dangers supposed to fill these 
 regions, yet to the more daring and adventurous such 
 tales of peril only made the visions of boundless wealth 
 and enchanting loveliness seem more fascinating. 
 
 Thus, as the art of navigation improved, and long voy- 
 ages became possible, courageous seamen were tempted 
 
 2 
 
2 THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. [chap. 
 
 to venture out into the great unknown expanse. Columbus 
 carried his trembling sailors over great tracts of unknown 
 ocean, and discovered the two continents of America ; Vasco 
 di Gama penetrated far to the south, and rounded the 
 Cape of Good Hope ; Magellan, passing through the straits 
 now called by his name, was the first to enter the Pacific 
 Ocean ; and so in the case of a hundred others, courage and 
 skill carried the hardy seaman over many seas and into 
 many lands that had lain unknown for ages. 
 
 Australia was the ^cist part of the world to be thus visited 
 and explored. In the year 1600, during the times of Shakes- 
 peare, rhe regicr*. to the south of tha East Indies was still as 
 little known as ever ; the rude maps of those ages had 
 little more than a great blank where the islands of Austral- 
 asia ought to be. Most people thought there was nothing 
 but the ocean in that part of the world ; and as the voyage 
 was dangerous and very long— requiring several years for 
 its completion — scarcely anyone cared to run the risk of 
 exploring it. 
 
 2. De Quiros. — There was, however, an enthusiastic sea- 
 man who firmly believed that a great continent existed there, 
 and who longed to go in search of it. This was De Quiros, 
 a Spaniard, who had already sailed with a famous voyager, 
 and now desired to set out on an expedition of his own. He 
 spent many years in beseeching the King of Spain to furnish 
 him with ships and men with which to seek this southern 
 continent. King Philip for a long time paid little attention 
 to his entreaties, but was at last overcome by his persever- 
 ance, and told De Quiros that, though he himself had no 
 money for such purposes, he would order the Governor of 
 Peru to provide the necessary vessels. De Quiros carried 
 the king's instructions to Peru, and two ships were soon 
 prepared and filled with suitable crews — the Capitana and 
 the Almiranta, with a smaller vessel called the Zahra to act 
 
I.] DE QUI EOS. 
 
 as tender. A nobleman named Torres was appointed second 
 in command, and they set sail from Peru, on a prosperous 
 voyage across the Pacific, discovering many small islands, 
 and seeing for the first time the Coral Islands of the South 
 Seas. At length (1606) they reached a shore which stretched 
 as far as they could see both north and south, and De Quiros 
 thoujrht he had discovered the Great Southern Continent. 
 He called the place " Tierra Australis del Espiritu Santo," 
 that is, the " Southern Land of the Holy Spirit." It is now 
 known that this was not really a continent, but merely one 
 of the New Hebrides Islands, and more than a thousand 
 miles away from the mainland. The land was filled by 
 high mountains, verdure-clad to their summits, and sending 
 down fine streams, which fell in hoarse-sounding waterfalls 
 from the edges of the rocky shore, or wandered amid tropic 
 luxuriance of plants down to the golden sands that lay 
 within the coral barriers. The inhabitants came down to 
 the edge of the green and shining waters to make signs of 
 peace, and twenty soldiers went ashore, along with an 
 officer, who made friends with them, exchanging cloth for 
 pigs and fruit. De Quiros coasted along the islands for a 
 day or two till he entered a fine bay, where his vessels 
 anchored, and Torres went ashore. A chief came down to 
 meet him, offering him a present of fruit, and making signs 
 to show that he did not wish the Spaniards to intrude upon 
 his land. As Torres paid no attention, he drew a line upon 
 the sand, and defied the Spaniards to cross it. Immediately 
 Torres stepped over it, and they launched some arrows at 
 him, which dropped harmlessly from his iron armour. Then 
 the Spaniards fired their muskets, killing the chief and a 
 number of the naked savages. The rest stood for a moment, 
 stupefied at the noise and flash ; then turned and ran for the 
 mountains. 
 
 The Spaniards spent a few pleasant days among the fruit 
 
THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. [chap. 
 
 plantations, and slept in cool groves of overarching vegeta- 
 tion ; but subsequently they had quarrels and combats with 
 the natives, of whom they killed a considerable number. 
 When the Spaniards had taken on board a sufficient supply 
 of wood and of fresh water they set sail, but had scarcely got 
 out to sea when a fever spread among the crew, and became 
 a perfect plague. They returned and anchored in the bay, 
 where the vessels lay like so many hospitals. No one died, 
 and after a few days they again put to sea, this time to be 
 driven back again by bad weather, Torres, with two ships, 
 safely reached the sheltering bay, but the vessel in which 
 De Quiros sailed was unable to enter it, and had to stand 
 out to sea and weather the storm. The sailors then refused 
 to proceed further wdth the voyage, and, having risen in 
 mutiny, compelled De Quiros to turn the vessel's head for 
 Mexico, which they reached after some terrible months of 
 hunger and of thirst. 
 
 3. Torres — The other ships waited for a day or two, but 
 no signs being seen of their consort, they proceeded in 
 search of it. In this voyage Torres sailed round the land, 
 thus showing that it was no continent, but only an island. 
 Having satisfied himself that it was useless to seek for De 
 Quiros, he turned to the west, hoping to reach the Philippine 
 Islands, where the Spaniards had a colony, at Manila. It 
 was his singular fortune to sail through that ojDcning which 
 lies between New Guinea and Australia, to which the name 
 of " Torres Strait " was long afterwards applied. He pro- 
 bably saw Cape York rising out of the sea to the south, but 
 thought it only another of those endless little islands with 
 which the strait is studded. Poor De Quiros spent the rest 
 of his life in petitioning the King of Spain for ships to make 
 a fresh attempt. After many years he obtained another 
 order to the Governor of Peru, and the old weather-beaten 
 mariner once more set out from Spain full of hope ; but at 
 
I.] OTHER DUTCH DISCOVERERS. 5 
 
 Panama, on his way, death awaited him, and there the fiery- 
 soiiled veteran passed away, the last of the great Spanish 
 navigators. He died in poverty and disappointment, but 
 he is to be honoured as the first of the long line of Australian 
 discoverers. In after years, the name he had invented was 
 divided into two parts ; the island he had really discovered 
 being called Espiritu Santo, while the continent he thought 
 he had discovered was called Terra Australis. This last 
 name was shortened by another discoverer — Flinders — to 
 the present term Australia. 
 
 4- The Duyfhen. — De Quiros and Torres were Spaniards, 
 but at this time the Dutch also displayed much anxiety to 
 reach the great South Continent. From their colony at 
 Java they sent out a small vessel, the Duyfhen, or Dove, 
 which sailed into the Gulf of Carpentaria, and passed half- 
 way down along its eastern side. Some sailors landed, but 
 so many of them were killed by the natives that the captain 
 was glad to embark again and sail for home, after calling 
 the place of their disaster Cape Keer-weer, or Tumagain. 
 These Dutch sailors were the first Europeans, as far as can 
 now be known, who landed on Austrahan soil ; but as they 
 never published any account of their voyage, it is only by 
 the merest chance that we know anything of it. 
 
 5. Other Dutch Discoverers. — During the next twenty 
 years various Dutch vessels, while sailing to the settlements 
 in the East Indies, met with the coast of Australia. In 
 1616, Dirk Hartog landed on the island in Shark Bay 
 which is now called after him. Two years later Captain 
 Zaachen is said to have sailed along the north coast, 
 which he called Arnhem Land. Next year (1619) another 
 captain, called Edel, surveyed the western shores, which 
 for a long time bore his name. In 1622 a Dutch ship, 
 the Leeuivin, or Lioness, sailed along the southern coast, and 
 its name was given to the south-west cape of Australia. In 
 
6 THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. [chap. 
 
 1627, Peter Nuyts entered the Great Australian Bight, and 
 made a rough chart of some of its shores; in 1628 General 
 Carpenter sailed completely round the large Gulf to the 
 nortli, which has taken its name from this circumstance. 
 Thus, by degrees, all the northern and western, together 
 with part of the southern shores, came to be roughly 
 explored, and the Dutch even had some idea of colonizing 
 this continent. 
 
 6. Tasman. — During the next fourteen years, wo hear 
 no more of voyages to Australia ; but in 1642 Antony Van 
 Diemen, the Governor of the Dutch possessions in the East 
 Indies, sent out his friend Abel Jansen Tasman, with two 
 ships, to make new discoveries in the South Seas. Tasman 
 first Avent to the Island of Bourbon, from which he sailed 
 due south for a time ; but finding no signs of land, he 
 turned to the east, and three months after setting out he 
 saw a rocky shore in the distance. Stormy weather coming 
 on, he was driven out to sea, and it was not till a week later 
 that he was able to reach the coast again. He called the 
 place Yan Diemen' s Land, and sent some sailors on shore to 
 examine the country. These men heard strange noises in 
 the woods, and saw trees of enormous height, in which 
 notches v/ere cut seven feet apart. These they believed to 
 be the steps used by the natives in climbing the trees, and 
 they, therefore, returned to report that the land was 
 exceedingly beautiful, but inhabited by men of gigantic 
 size. Tasman, next day, allowed the carpenter to swim 
 ashore and set up the Dutch flag ; but having himself seen, 
 from his ship, what he thought to be men of extraordinary 
 stature moving about on the shore, he lost no time in taking 
 up his anchor and setting sail. Further to the east he 
 discovered the islands of New Zealand, and after having 
 made a partial survey of their coasts, he returned to 
 Batavia. Two years after, he was sent on a second voyage 
 
I.] T AS MAN, 
 
 of discovery, and explored the northern and western shores 
 of Australia itself, but the results do not seem to have been 
 important, and are not now known. His chief service in 
 the exploration of Australia was the discovery of Tasmania, 
 as it is now called, after his name. This he did not know 
 to be an island ; he drew it on his maps as if it were a 
 peninsula belonging to the main land of Australia. 
 
 7. Dampier.— The discoveries that had so far been made 
 were very imperfect, for the sailors, generally, contented 
 themselves with looking at the land from a safe distance. 
 They made no survej^s such as would have enabled them to 
 draw correct charts of the coasts ; they seldom landed, and 
 even when they did, they never sought to become acquainted 
 with the natives, or to learn anything as to the nature of the 
 interior country. The first who took the trouble to obtain 
 information of this more accurate kind Avas the Englishman, 
 William Dampier. 
 
 When a young man, Dampier had gone out to Jamaica to 
 manage a large estate ; but not liking the slave-driving 
 business, he crossed over to Campeachy, and lived for a 
 while in the woods, cutting the more valuable kinds of 
 timber. Here he became acquainted with the buccaneers 
 who made the lonely coves of Campeachy their head-quarters ; 
 and being persuaded to join them, he entered upon a life of 
 lawless daring, constantly fighting and plundering, meet- 
 ing with the wildest adventures ; often captured by the 
 American natives, still more often by the Spaniards, but 
 always escaping to enter upon exploits of fresh danger. In 
 1688 he joined a company of buccaneers, who proposed to 
 make a voyage round the world and plunder on their way. 
 It took them more than a year to reach the East Indies, 
 where they spent a long time, sometimes attacking Spanish 
 ships or Dutch fortresses, sometimes leading an easy and 
 luxurious life among the natives, often quarrelling among 
 
8 THE EARLY DISCOVERERS, [chap. 
 
 themselves, and even going so far as to leave their captain 
 with forty men on the island of Mindanao. But at length the 
 time came when it was necessary to seek some quiet spot 
 where they should be able to clean and repair the bottoms 
 of their ships. Accordingly, they landed on the north-west 
 coast of Australia, and lived for twelve days at the place 
 now called "Buccaneers' Archipelago." They were the 
 first Europeans who held any communication with the 
 natives of Australia, and the first to publish a detailed 
 account of their voyage thither. Growing tired of a lawless 
 life, and having become wealth}^, Dampier bought an estate 
 in England, where he lived some years in retirement, till his 
 love of adventure led him forth again. The king of England 
 was anxious to encourage discovery, and fitted out a vessel 
 called the Roehuck, to explore the southern seas. Dampier 
 was the only man in England who had ever been in Aus- 
 tralia, and to him was given the command of the little 
 vessel, which sailed in the year 1699. It took a long time 
 to reach Australia, but at last the Roebuck entered Shark 
 Bay, so called from an enormous shark caught there. 
 Dampier then explored the north-west coast as far as 
 Eoebuck Bay, in all about nine hundred miles ; of which he 
 published a full and fairly accurate account. He was a man 
 of keen observation, and delighted to describe the habits 
 and manners of the natives, as well as peculiarities in the 
 plants and animals, of the various places he visited. During 
 the time he was in Australia he frequently met with the 
 blacks and became well acquainted with them. He gives 
 this description of their appearance : — 
 
 " The inhabitants are the most miserable wretches in the 
 universe, having no houses nor garments. They feed upon a 
 few fish, cockles, mussels, and periwinkles. They are without 
 religion and without government. In figure they are tall, 
 fittaight-bodied and thin, with small, long limbs." 
 
I.] DAM PIER. 9 
 
 Tlie country itself, he says, is low and sandy, with no 
 fresh water and scarcely any animals except one which 
 looks like a raccoon, and jumps about on its long hind legs. 
 Altogether, his description is not prepossessing ; and he says 
 that the only pleasure he had had in his voyage was the 
 satisfaction of having discovered the most barren spot on 
 the face of the earth. 
 
 This account is, in most respects, correct, so far as regards 
 the portion of Australia visited by Dampier. But, unfortu- 
 nately, he saw only the most inhospitable part of the whole 
 continent. There are many parts whose beauty would have 
 enchanted him, but as he had sailed along nearly a thousand 
 miles without seeing any shore that was not miserably 
 barren, it is not to be wondered at that he reported the 
 whole land to be worthless. He was subsequently engaged in 
 other voyages of discovery, in one of which he rescued the 
 famous Alexander Selkirk from his lonely island ; but, amid 
 all his subsequent adventures, he never entertained the idea 
 of returning to Australia. 
 
 Dampier published a most interesting account of all his 
 travels in different parts of the world, and his book was for 
 a long time exceedingly popular. Defoe used the materials 
 it contained for his celebrated novel, " Eobinson Crusoe ; " 
 and the work was for a long time the standard book of 
 travels. But it turned away the tide of discovery from 
 Australia ; for those who read of the beautiful islands and 
 rich countries he had elsewhere visited, would never dream 
 of incurring the labour and expense of a voyage to so 
 dull and barren a spot as Australia seems to be in Dampier's 
 book. Thus we hear of no further explorations in this part 
 of the world until nearly a century after; and, even then, no 
 one thought of sending out ships specially for the purpose. 
 
 8. Captain Cook.— But in the year 1770 a series of 
 important discoveries were indirectly brought about. The 
 
10 
 
 THE EARLY DISCOVEREES. 
 
 [chap. 
 
 Royal Society of London, calculating that the planet Venus 
 would cross the disc of the sun in 1769, persuaded the 
 English Government to send out an expedition to the 
 Pacific Ocean for the purpose of making observations on 
 this event which would enable astronomers to calculate the 
 distance of the earth from the sun. A small vessel, the 
 Endeavour, was chosen ; astronomers with their instruments 
 embarked, and the whole placed under the charge of James 
 Cook, a sailor whose admirable character fully merited this 
 distinction. At thirteen he had been a shopkeeper's assistant, 
 but, preferring the sea, he had become an apprentice in a 
 coal vessel. After many years of rude life in this trade, 
 during which he contrived to carry on his education in 
 mathematics and navigation, he entered the Royal Navy, 
 and by diligence and honesty rose to the rank of master. 
 
 He had completed 
 so many excellent 
 surveys in North 
 America, and, be- 
 sides, had made 
 himself so well ac- 
 quainted with as- 
 tronomy, that the 
 Government had no 
 hesitation in mak- 
 ing their choice. 
 That it was a wise 
 one, the care and 
 success of Cook 
 fully showed. He 
 
 ^'" carried the expedi- 
 
 tion safely to Ota- 
 CAPTAIN COOK. hcitc, built fortifi- 
 
 cations, and erected the instruments for the observations, 
 
I.] CAPTAIN COOK. 11 
 
 which were admirably made. Having finished this part of 
 his task, he thought it Avould be a pity, having so fine a 
 ship and crew, not to make some discoveries in these little- 
 known south seas. He sailed south for a time without 
 meeting land ; then, turning west, he reached again those 
 islands of New Zealand which had been first seen by Tas- 
 man. But Cook made a far more complete exploration 
 than had been possible to Tasman. For six months he 
 examined their shores, sailing completely round both islands 
 and making excellent maps of them. 
 
 Then, saying good-bye to these coasts at what he named 
 Cape Farewell, he sailed westward for three weeks, until 
 his look-out man raised the cry of "land," and they were 
 close to the shores of Australia at Cape Howe. Standing to 
 the north-east, he sailed along the coast till he reached a 
 tine bay, where he anchored for about ten days. On his 
 first landing he was opposed by two of the natives, who 
 seemed quite ready to encounter more than forty armed 
 men. Cook endeavoured to gain their goodwill, but without 
 success. A musket fired between them startled, but did not 
 dismay them ; and when some small shot was fired into the 
 legs of one of them, though he turned and ran into his hut, 
 it was only for the purpose of putting on a shield and again 
 facing the white men. Cook made many subsequent 
 attempts to be friendly with the natives, but always without 
 success. He examined the country for a few miles inland, 
 and two of his scientific friends — Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. 
 Solander — made splendid collections of botanical specimens. 
 From this circumstance the place was called Botany Bay, 
 and its two headlands received the names of Cape Banks 
 and Cape Solander. It was here that Captain Cook, amid 
 the firing of cannons and volleys of musketry, took posses- 
 sion of the country on behalf of His Britannic Majesty, 
 giving it the name, "New South Wales," on account of 
 
12 THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. [chap. 
 
 the resemblance of its coasts to the southern shores of 
 Wales. 
 
 Shortly after they had set sail from Botany Bay they 
 observed a small opening in the land, but Cook did not 
 stay to examine it, merely marking it on his chart as 
 "Port Jackson," in honour of his friend Sir George Jackson. 
 The vessel still continued her course northward along the 
 coast, till they anchored in Moreton Bay. After a short 
 stay, they again set out towards the north, making a rough 
 chart of the shores they saw. In this way they had sailed 
 along thirteen hundred miles without serious mishap, when 
 one night, at about eleven o'clock, they found the sea grow 
 very shallow; all hands were quickly on deck, but before 
 the ship could be turned she struck heavily on a sunken 
 rock. No land was to be seen, and they therefore con- 
 cluded that it was upon a bank of coral they had struck. 
 The vessel seemed to rest upon the ridge ; but, as the swell 
 of the ocean rolled past, she bumped very heavily. Most 
 of the cannons and other heavy articles were thrown over- 
 board, and, the ship being thus lightened, they tried to 
 float her off at daybreak. This they were unable to do ; 
 but, by working hard all next day, they prepared every- 
 thing for a great effort at the evening tide, and had the 
 satisfaction of seeing the rising waters float the vessel 
 off. But now the sea was found to be pouring in 
 through the leaks so rapidly that, even with four pumps 
 constantly going, they could scarcely keep her afloat. 
 They worked hard day and night, but the ship was 
 slowly sinking, when, by the ingenious device of passing 
 a sail below her and pulling it tightly, it was found that 
 the leakage was sufficiently decreased to keep her from 
 foundering. Shortly after, they saw land, which Captain 
 Cook called " Cape Tribulation." He took the vessel 
 into the mouth of a small river, which they called the 
 
I.] CAPTAIN COOK. 13 
 
 Endeavour, and there careened her. On examining the 
 bottom, it was found that a great sharp rock had pierced a 
 hole in her timbers, such as must inevitably have sent her 
 to the bottom in spite of pumps and sails, had it not been 
 that the piece of coral had broken off and remained firmly- 
 fixed in the vessel's side, thus itself filling up the greater 
 part of the hole it had caused. The ship was fully repaired ; 
 and, after a delay of two months, they proceeded north- 
 ward along the coast to Cape York. They then sailed 
 through Torres Strait, and made it clear that New Guinea 
 and Australia are not joined. 
 
 9. Subsequent Visits- — Several ships visited Australia 
 during the next few years, but their commanders contented 
 themselves with merely vie^ving the coasts which had 
 already been discovered, and returned without adding any- 
 thing new. In 1772, Marion, a Frenchman, and next year 
 Fumeaux, an Englishman, sailed along the coasts of Van 
 Diemen's Land. In 1777, Captain Cook, shortly before his 
 death, anchored for a few days in Adventure Bay, on the 
 east coast of Van Diemen's Land. La Perouse, Vancouver, 
 and D'Entrecasteaux also visited Australia, and, though 
 they added nothing of importance, they assisted in filling 
 in the details. By this time nearly all the coasts had been 
 explored, and the only great point left unsettled was, 
 whether Van Diemen's Land was an island or not. 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 The Convict Settlement at Sydney, 1788-1800. 
 
 1. Botany Bay. — The reports brought home by Captain 
 Cook completely changed the beliefs current in those days 
 ^vith regard to Australia. From the time of Dampier it 
 
14 CONVICT SETTLEMENT AT SYDNEY, [chap. 
 
 had been supposed that the whole of this continent must be 
 the same flat and miserable desert as the part he described. 
 Cook's account, on the other hand, represented the eastern 
 coast as a country full of beauty and promise. Now, it so 
 happened that, shortly after Cook's return, the English 
 nation had to deal with a great difficulty in regard to its 
 criminal population. In 1776 the United States declared 
 their independence, and the English then found they could 
 no longer send their convicts over to Virginia, as they had 
 formerly done. In a short time the gaols of England were 
 crowded with felons. It became necessary to select a new 
 place of transportation ; and, just as this difficulty arose, 
 Captain Cook's voyages called attention to a land in every 
 way suited for such a purpose, both by reason of its fertility 
 and of its great distance. Viscount Sydney, therefore, 
 determined to send out a party to Botany Bay, in order to 
 found a convict settlement there ; and in May, 1787, a fleet 
 was ready to sail. It consisted of the Siriiis war-ship, its 
 tender the Supply, together with six transports for the 
 convicts, and three ships for carrying the stores. Of the 
 convicts, five hundred and fifty were men and two hundred 
 and twenty were women. To guard these, there were on 
 board two hundred soldiers. Captain Phillip was appointed 
 Governor of the colony. Captain Hunter was second in 
 command, and Mr. Collins went out as judge-advocate, to 
 preside in the military courts, which it was intended to 
 establish for the administration of justice. On the 18th, 
 19th, and 20th of January, 1788, the vessels arrived, one 
 after another, in Botany Bay, after a voyage of eight 
 months, during which many of the convicts had died from 
 diseases brought on by so long a confinement. 
 
 2. Port Jackson. — As soon as the ships had anchored in 
 Botany Bay, convicts were landed and commenced to clear 
 the timber from a portion of the land ; but a day or two was 
 
11.] PORT JACKSON. 15 
 
 sufficient to show the unsuitability of Botany Bay for such 
 a settlement. Its waters were so shallow that the ships 
 could not enter it properly, and had to lie near the Heads, 
 where the great waves of the Pacific rolled in on them by 
 night and day. Governor Phillip, therefore, took three 
 boats, and sailed out to search for some more convenient 
 harbour. As he passed along the coast he turned to examine 
 the opening which Cajotain Cook had called Port Jackson, 
 and soon found himself in a winding channel of water, Avith 
 great cliffs frowning overhead. All at once a magnificent 
 prospect opened on his eyes. A harbour, which is, perhaps, 
 the most beautiful and perfect in the world, stretched before 
 him far to the west, till it was lost on the distant horizon. 
 It seemed a vast maze of winding waters, dotted here and 
 there with lovely islets ; its shores thickly wooded down to 
 the strips of golden sand which lined the most charming 
 little bays ; and its broad sheets of rippling waters bordered 
 by lines of dusky foliage. The scene has always been one 
 of surpassing loveliness ; but to those who filled the first 
 boats that ever threw the foam from its surface, who felt 
 themselves the objects of breathless attention to groups of 
 natives who stood gazing here and there from the projecting 
 rocks, it must have had an enchanting effect. To Captain 
 Phillip himself, whose mind had been filled with anxiety 
 and despondency as to the future prospects of his charge, 
 it opened out like the vision of a world of new hope and 
 promise. 
 
 Three days were spent in examining portions of this 
 spacious harbour, and in exploring a few of its innumerable 
 bays. Captain Phillip selected, as the place most suitable 
 for the settlement, a small inlet, which, in honour of tlie 
 Minister of State, he called Sydney Cove. It was so deep 
 as to allow vessels to approach to within a yard or two of 
 the shore, thus avoiding the necessity of spending time and 
 
16 CONVICT SETTLEMENT AT SYDNEY, [chap. 
 
 money in building wharves or piers. After a few days the 
 fleet was brought round and lay at anchor in this little 
 cove. The convicts were landed, and commenced to clear 
 away the trees on the banks of a small stream which stole 
 silently through a very dense wood. When an open space 
 had been obtained, a flagstaff was erected, the soldiers 
 fired three volleys, and the Governor read his commission 
 to the assembled company. Then began a scene of noise 
 and bustle. From dawn to sunset, nothing could be heard 
 but the sounds of axes, hammers, and saws, with the crash 
 of trees and the shouts of the convict overseers. They 
 lost no time in preparing their habitations on shore ; for 
 the confinement of the overcrowded ships had become 
 intolerably hateful. 
 
 3. Early Sufferings. —More than a third of their number 
 were ill with scurvy and other diseases — sixty-six lay in 
 the little hospital which had been set up, and many of 
 them never recovered. Those who were well enough to 
 work began to clear the land for cultivation ; but so soon 
 as everything was ready for the ploughing to begin, the 
 amazing fact was discovered that no one knew anything 
 of farming ; and had it not been that Governor Phillip had 
 with him a servant who had once learnt something of agri- 
 culture, their labour would have been of little avail. As 
 it was, the farming was of the rudest kind ; one man, even 
 if he had been a highly experienced person, could do very 
 little to instruct so many. The officers and soldiers were 
 smart enough on parade, but they were useless on a farm ; 
 the convicts, instead of trying to learn, expended all their 
 ingenuity in picking each other's pockets, or in robbing the 
 stores. They would do no work unless an armed soldier was 
 standing behind them, and if he turned away for a moment, 
 they would deliberately destroy the farm implements in their 
 charge, or do whatever damage the most stupid and purpose- 
 
II.] EARLY SUFFERINGS. 17 
 
 less malice could suggest. Thus, only a trifling amount of 
 food was obtained from the soil ; the provisions they had 
 brought with them were nearly finished, and when the 
 news came that the Guardian transport, on which they were 
 depending for fresh supplies, had struck on an iceberg and 
 had been lost, the little community was filled with the 
 deepest dismay. Soon after, a ship arrived with a number 
 of fresh convicts, but no provisions ; in great haste the 
 Sirius was sent to the Cape of Good Hope, and the Supply to 
 Batavia ; these vessels brought back as much as they could 
 get, but it was all used in a month or two. Starvation now 
 lay before the settlement ; everyone, including the officers 
 and the Governor himself, was put on the lowest rations 
 which could keep the life in a man's body, and yet there 
 was not enough of food, even at this miserable rate, to 
 last for any length of time. Numbers died of starvation ; 
 the Governor stopped all the works, as the men were too 
 weak to continue them. The cattle and sheep which they 
 had brought with so much trouble to become the origin of 
 herds and flocks were all killed for food, with the exception 
 of two or three which had escaped to the woods and had 
 been lost from sight. 
 
 4. Norfolk Island —Under these circumstances, Governor 
 Phillip sent two hundred convicts, with about seventy 
 soldiers, to Norfolk Island, where there was a moderate 
 chance of their being able to support themselves ; for, 
 immediately after his arrival in New South Wales, he had 
 sent Lieutenant King to take possession of that island, of 
 whose beauty and fertility Captain Cook had spoken very 
 highly. Twenty-seven convicts and soldiers had gone 
 along with King, and had cleared away the timber from 
 the rich brown soil. They had little trouble in raising 
 ample crops, and were now in the midst of plenty, which 
 their less fortunate companions came to share. But the 
 
 3 
 
18 CONVICT SETTLEMENT AT SYDNEY, [chap. 
 
 SiriuSy in wliich they had been carried over, was wrecked 
 on a coral reef near the island before she could return, and 
 with her was lost a considerable quantity of provisions. 
 
 5. The Second Fleet.— The prospects of the colony at 
 Sydney had grown very black, when a store-ship suddenly 
 appeared off the Heads. Great was the rejoicing at first ; 
 but when a storm arose and drove the vessel northward 
 among the reefs of Broken Bay, their exultation was 
 changed to a painful suspense. For some hours her fate was 
 doubtful ; but, to the intense relief of the expectant people 
 on shore, she managed to make the port and land her 
 supplies. Shortly after, two other store-ships arrived, and 
 the community was never again so severely in want of 
 provisions. Matters were growing cheerful, when a fresh 
 gloom was caused by the arrival of a fleet filled to over- 
 flowing with sick and dying convicts. Seventeen hundred 
 had been embarked, but of these two hundred had died on 
 the way, and their bodies had been thrown overboard. 
 Several hundreds were in the last stage of emaciation and 
 exhaustion ; scarcely one of the whole fifteen hundred who 
 landed was fit for a day's work. This brought fresh misery 
 and trouble, and the deaths were of appalling frequency. 
 
 6." Escape of Prisoners. — Many of the convicts sought 
 to escape from their sufferings by running away; some 
 seized the boats in the harbour and tried to sail for the 
 Dutch colony in Java ; others hid themselves in the woods, 
 and either perished or else returned, after weeks of starva- 
 tion, to give themselves up to the authorities. In 1791, a 
 band of between forty and fifty set out to walk to China, 
 and penetrated a few miles into the bush, where their 
 bleached and whitened skeletons some years after told their 
 fate. , 
 
 7. Departure of Governor Phillip. — Amid these cares 
 and trials the health of Governor Phillip fairly broke down, 
 
II.] DEPARTURE OF GOVERNOR PHILLIP. 19 
 
 and, in 1792, forced him to resign. He was a man of 
 ■energy and decision ; prompt and skilful, yet humane and 
 just in his character ; his face, though pinched and pale 
 
 VIEW OF EARLY SYDNEY AND PORTRAIT OF PHILLIP. 
 
 with ill health, had a sweet and benevolent expression ; 
 no better man could have been selected to fill the difficult 
 position he held with so much credit to himself. He re- 
 ceived a handsome pension from the British Government, 
 and retired to spend his life in English society. Major 
 Grose and Captain Patterson took charge of the colony for 
 the next three years ; but in 1795 Captain Hunter, who, 
 after the loss of his ship, the Sirius, had returned to Eng- 
 land, arrived in Sydney to occupy the position of Governor. 
 8. Governor Hunter. — By this time affairs had passed 
 their crisis, and were beginning to be favourable. About 
 sixty convicts, whose sentences had expired, had received 
 
20 CONVICT SETTLEMENT AT SYDNEY^, [chap. 
 
 grants of land, and, now that they were working for them- 
 selves, had become successful farmers. Governor Hunter 
 brought out a number of free settlers, to whom he gave 
 land near the Hawkesbury ; and, after a time, more than 
 six thousand acres were covered with crops of wheat and 
 maize. There was now no fear of famine, and the settle- 
 ment grew to be comfortable in most respects. Unfortu- 
 nately, the more recent attempts to import cattle with which 
 to stock the farms had proved more or less unsuccessful ; 
 so that the discovery of a fine herd of sixty Avandering 
 through the meadows of the Hawkesbury was hailed with 
 great delight. These were the descendants of the cattle 
 which had been lost from Governor Phillip's herd some 
 years before. 
 
 9. State of the Settlement. — Twelve years after the 
 foundation of the colony, its population amounted to 
 between six and seven thousand persons. These were all 
 settled near Sydney ; but attempts had been made to pene- 
 trate to the west, though without success. The rugged 
 chain of the Blue Mountains was an impassable barrier. 
 Seventy miles north of Sydney a fine river — the Hunter — 
 had been discovered by Lieutenant Shortlands while in 
 pursuit of some runaway convicts who had stolen a boat. 
 Signs of coal having been seen near its mouth, convicts were 
 sent up to open mines, and, these proving successful, the 
 town of Newcastle rapidly formed. In 1800 Governor 
 Hunter returned to England on business, intending to come 
 out again ; but he was appointed to the command of a war- 
 ship, and Lieutenant King was sent out to take his place. 
 
11.] DISCOVERIES OF BASS AND FLINDERS. 21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Discoveries of Bass and Flixders. 
 
 1. Xo community has ever been more completely isolated 
 than the first inhabitants of Sydney. They were three 
 thousand miles away from the nearest white men ; before 
 them, a great ocean, visited only at rare intervals, and, for 
 the greater part, unexplored ; behind them , an unknown 
 continent, a vast, untrodden waste, in which they formed 
 but a speck. They were almost completely shut out from 
 intercourse with the civilized world, and few of them could 
 have any hope of returning to their native land. This 
 made the colony all the more suitable as a place of punish- 
 ment ; for people shrank with horror at the idea of being 
 banished to what seemed like a tomb for Kving men and 
 women. But, for all that, it was not desirable that Australia 
 should remain always as unknown and unexplored as it 
 then was ; and, seven years after the first settlement was 
 made, two men arrived who were determined not to suffer 
 it so to remain. 
 
 When Governor Hunter arrived, in 1795, he brought with 
 him, on board his ship, the Reliance, a young surgeon, 
 George Bass, and a midshipman called Matthew Flinders. 
 They were young men of the most admirable character, 
 modest and amiable, filled with a generous and manly 
 afl'ection for one another, and fired by a lofty enthusiasm 
 which rejoiced in the wide field for discovery and fame that 
 spread all around them. Within a month after their arrival 
 they purchased a small boat about eight feet in length, 
 which they christened the Tom Thumb. Its crew consisted 
 of themselves and a boy to assist — truly a poor equipment 
 
22 DISCOVERIES OF BASS AND FLINDERS, [chap. 
 
 with wliich to face a great and stormy ocean like the Pacifie. 
 They sailed out, and after tossing for some time like a toy 
 on the huge waves, they succeeded in entering Botany Bay, 
 which they thoroughly explored, making a chart of its 
 shores and rivers. On their return, Governor Hunter was 
 highly pleased with this chart, and, shortly after, he gave 
 them a holiday, which they spent in making a longer expedi- 
 tion to the south. It was said that a very large river fell 
 into the sea south of Botanj'- Bay, and they went out to 
 search for its mouth. 
 
 2- Boat Excursion. — In this trip they met with some 
 adventures which will serve to illustrate the dangers of 
 such a voyage. On one occasion, when their boat had been 
 upset on the shore, and their powder wet by the sea- water, 
 about fifty natives gathered round them, evidently with no 
 friendly intention. Bass spread the powder out on the 
 rocks to dry, and procui*ed a supply of fresh water from a 
 neighbouring pond. But they were in expectation every 
 moment of being attacked and speared, and there was no 
 hope of defending themselves till the powder was ready. 
 Flinders, knowing the fondness of the natives for the luxury 
 of a shave, persuaded them to sit down one after another on 
 a rock, and amused them by clipping their beards with a 
 pair of scissors. As soon as the powder was dry the 
 explorers loaded their muskets and cautiously retreated to 
 their boat, which they set right, and pushed off without 
 mishap. 
 
 Once more on the Pacific, new dangers awaited them. 
 They had been carried far to the south by the strong 
 currents, and the wind was unfavourable. There was 
 therefore no course open to them but to row as far as they 
 could during the day, and at night throw out the stone 
 which served as an anchor, and lie as sheltered as they 
 could, in order to snatch a little sleep. On one of these 
 
m.] GLARKK 28 
 
 niglita, while they lay thi»6 asleep, the wind suddenly burst 
 in a gale, and they were roughly wakened by the splashing 
 of the wares over their boat. They pulled up their stone 
 anchor and ran before the tempest— Bass holding the sail 
 and Flinders steering with an oar. As Flinders says — " It 
 Bequired the utmost care to prevent broaching to ; a single 
 wrong movement or a moment's inattention would have 
 sent us to the bottom. The task of the boy was to bale 
 out the water, which, in spite of every care, the sea threw 
 in upon us. The night was perfectly dark, and we knew 
 of no place of shelter, and the only direction by which we 
 could steer was the roar of the waves upon the neighbouring 
 cliffs." After an hour spent in this manner, they found 
 themselves running straight f©r the breakers. They pulled 
 down their mast and got out the oars, though without 
 much hope of escape. They rowed desperately, however, 
 and had the satisfaction of rounding the long line of 
 boiling surf. Three minutes after they were in smooth 
 water, under the lee of the rocks, and soon they discovered 
 a well sheltered cove, where they anchored for the rest of 
 the night. 
 
 It was not till two days later that they found the place 
 they were seeking. It turned out not to be a river at all, 
 but only the little bay of Port Hacking, which they 
 examined and minutely described. When they reached 
 Sydney they gave information which enabled accurate 
 maps to be constructed of between thirty and forty miles 
 of coast. 
 
 3. Clarke. — On arriving at Port Jackson, they found 
 that an accident had indirectly assisted in exploring that 
 very coast on which they had landed. A vessel called the 
 Sydney Cove, on its way to Port Jackson, had been wrecked 
 on Furneaux Island, to the north of Van Diemen's Land. 
 A large party, headed by Mr. Clarke, the supercargo, had 
 
24 DISCOVERT ES OF BASS AND FLINDERS, [chap. 
 
 started in boats, intending to sail along th^ coasts and 
 obtain help from Sydney. They were thrown ashore by a 
 «iorm at Cape Howe, and had to begin a dreary walk of 
 three hundred miles through dense and unknown country. 
 Their small store of provisions was soon used, and they 
 could find no food and little fresh water on their path. 
 Many dropped down, exhausted by hunger and fatigue, 
 and had to be abandoned to their fate. Of those who 
 contrived to approach within thirty miles of Sydney, the 
 greater part were murdered by the same tribe of blacks 
 from whom Bass and Flinders had apprehended danger. 
 Clarke and one or two others reached Port Jackson ; their 
 clothes in tatters, their bodies wasted almost to the bones, 
 and in such a state that, when a boat was brought to carry 
 them over the bay to Sydney, they had to be lifted on 
 board like infants Mr. Clarke, on his recovery, was able 
 to give a very useful account of a great tract of land not 
 previously explored. The crew of the Sydney Cove were 
 meanwhile living on one of the Furneaux Group, and 
 several small ships were sent down from Sydney to rescue 
 the crew and cargo ; these also served to make the coast 
 better known. Flinders was very anxious to go in one of 
 them, in order to make a chart of the places he might pass ; 
 but his ship, the Iieliauce, sailed for Norfolk Island, and he 
 had to be a long time absent. 
 
 4. Discovery of Bass Straits — His friend Bass was 
 more fortunate ; for Governor Hunter gave him an open 
 whaleboat, together with provisions for six weeks, and 
 six men to manage the boat. With these he discovered 
 the harbour and river of Shoalhaven ; entered and mapped 
 out Jervis Bay; discovered Twofold Bay, then rounded 
 Cape Howe, and discovered the country now called Victoria. 
 After sailing along the Ninety-mile Beach, he saw high land 
 to the south-west ; and, standing out towards it, he dis- 
 
III.] VAi\ BI EM EN'S LAND. 25 
 
 covered the bold headland which was afterwards named 
 Wilson's Promontory. Bad weather drove him to seek for 
 shelter, and this led to the discovery of Western Port, 
 where he remained thirteen days. But as his provisions 
 were running short, he was forced, with a heavy heart, to 
 turn homeward. He had again to seek shelter, however, 
 from strong head winds, and in doing so he discovered what 
 is called Corner Inlet. In ail he prolonged his voyage to 
 eleven weeks, before he again reached Sydney : during that 
 time he had explored six hundred miles of coast, and had 
 discovered four important bays, as well as what is perhaps 
 the most important cape in Australia. His greatest service, 
 however, was the proof that Van Diemen's Land is not 
 joined to Australia, but is divided from it by the wide 
 strait to which Bass's name is now so justly given. All 
 this, effected in an open whaleboat on a great ocean, may 
 well fill us with admiration for the courage and skill of the 
 young surgeon. 
 
 5. Flinders. — When Flinders returned from Norfolk 
 Island, he obtained leave to join the next vessel that should 
 start for the wreck of the Sydney Cove. Having arrived at 
 Fumeaux Island, during the time that the wreckage and 
 remaining cargo were being gathered, he obtained the loan 
 of a small boat for five days, and in it made careful surveys 
 of the islands and straits to the north of Yan Diemen's 
 Land. It was in this trip that he made the first discovery 
 of that peculiar Australian animal, the wombat. 
 
 6. Circumnavigation of Van Diemen's Land.— Next 
 year (1798), Governor Hunter gave to the two ardent young 
 men a small sloop — the Norfolk — in which to prosecute 
 their discoveries. They received three months' leave of 
 absence, in which time they proposed to sail round Yan 
 Diemen's Land. This they did, and discovered during their 
 voyage the river Tamar and its estuary, Port Dalrymple. 
 
m DISCOVERIES OF BASS AND FLINDERS, [ohap. 
 
 It was not in discovery alone tliat they were successful. 
 Flinders made the most beautiful and exact charts of all the 
 coasts ; he sometimes spent whole days in careful and 
 laborious observations and measurements, in order to have 
 the latitude and longitude of a single place correctly 
 marked. 
 
 7. Fate of Bass- — On their return to Sydney Bass met 
 some friends, who persuaded him to join them in making 
 their fortune by carrying contraband goods into South 
 America, in spite of the Spaniards. What became of Bass is 
 not known, but it is supposed that he was captured by the . 
 Spaniards and sent to the|^ilver mines, where he was com- 
 pletely lost from sight.- He^who entered these dreary mines 
 was obliterated for ever from human knowledge ; and Bass 
 may have perished there after years of weariful and unknown 
 labour. Aft©r all his hardships and adventures, his enthu- 
 siasm and his self-devotion, he passed away from men's eyes, 
 and no one was curious to know whither he had gone ; but 
 Australians of these days have learnt to honour the memory 
 of the man who first, in company with his friend, laid the 
 foundation of so much of our geography. 
 
 8. The Publication of Flinders' Charts. — Flinders 
 remained in His Majesty's service, and in the following year 
 he was raised to the rank of Lieutenant. "With his little 
 ship, the Norfolk, he examined the coasts of New South 
 Wales, from Sydney northward as far as Hervey Bay. Next 
 year (1800) he went to London, where his charts were pub- 
 lished, containing the first exact accounts of the geography 
 of Australia. They were greatly praised, and the English 
 Government admired them so much that it determined to 
 send out an expedition to survey all the coasts of Australia 
 in like manner. Flinders was placed at the head of it ; a 
 vessel was given to him, which he called the Investigator ; 
 a passport was obtained for him from the French Govern- 
 
in.] 
 
 BA UDIN. 
 
 27 
 
 ment, so that, thougli England and France were then at 
 war, he might not be obstructed by French war-ships. He 
 sailed to the south coast of Australia, where he discovered 
 Kangaroo Island and Spencer's Gulf. He entered Port 
 Phillip under the impression that he was the discoverer of 
 that inlet, but he afterwards learnt that Lieut. Murray had 
 discovered it ten weeks before, in his ship the Lady Nelson. 
 
 9- Baudin. — As Flinders sailed down towards Bass Strait 
 he met with a French expedition, under M. Baudin, who 
 had been sent out by Napoleon to make discoveries in 
 Australia. He had loitered so long on the coast of Tas- 
 mania, that Flinders had beej| able to complete the 
 examination of the southern coast before he even approached 
 it. Yet Baudin sailed into the very bays which had already 
 been mapped out, gave them French names, and took to 
 himself the honour of their discovery. Some months later 
 the two expeditions met one another again in Port Jackson. 
 Flinders showed his charts, and the French officers allowed 
 
 that he had earned off 
 
 the honours of nearly all 
 
 the discoveries on the 
 
 south coast ; but, in spite 
 
 of that, a report was 
 
 published in France in 
 
 which Flinders' claims 
 
 were quite ignored, and 
 
 Baudin represented as 
 
 the hero of Australian 
 
 discovery. The colonists 
 
 at Port Jackson, how- 
 ever, treated the French 
 
 sailors with much kind- 
 ness. Many of them were 
 
 suffering from scurvy, and these were carried to the Sydney 
 
 FLINDERS. 
 
28 DISCOVERIES OF BASS AND FLINDERS, [chap. 
 
 hospital and carefully tended, and thougli the colonists had 
 themselves eaten only salt meat for months before, in order 
 to preserve their cattle, yet they killed these very cattle 
 in order to provide fresh meat for the sick sailors. Baiidin 
 and his officers were feasted, and everything was done, 
 both by Flinders and the people of Sydney to make his stay 
 agreeable. 
 
 10. Imprisonment of Flinders —Flinders continued his 
 voyage northwards, rounded Qape York, and examined the 
 northern coasts, making an excellent chart of Torres Straits; 
 but his vessel becoming too rotten to be longer used, he 
 was forced to return to Sydney. Desiring to carry his 
 charts and journals to England, he took bis passage in an 
 old store-ship, but she had not sailed far before she struck 
 on a coral reef ; the crew with difficulty reached a small 
 sandbank, from which they were not released till two 
 months after. Flinders saved his papers, and brought 
 them back to Sydney. A small schooner, the Cumherland^ 
 was given him in which to sail for England ; but she was 
 too leaky, and too small a vessel to carry food for so long a 
 voyage : so that he was forced to put into the Mauritius, 
 which then belonged to France. He fancied that his pass- 
 port from Napoleon would be his protection ; but the 
 governor, De Caen, a low and ignorant fellow, seized him, 
 took his papers from him, and cast him into prison. 
 
 Baudin soon after called at the Mauritius, and might have 
 procured the release of his brother-mariner but for his death, 
 which occurred there. The charts of Flinders, however, 
 were all sent to France, where they were published with 
 altered names, as if they were the work of Frenchmen. 
 Meanwhile, Flinders was spending the weary months in 
 close confinement at the Mauritius, 
 
 11. Death of Flinders- — Nearly six years passed away 
 before the approach of an English fleet compelled the 
 
III.] DEATH OF FLINDERS, 29 
 
 French to release him ; and when he went to England he 
 found that people knew all about those very places of 
 which he thought he was bringing the first tidings. He 
 commenced, however, to write his great book, and worked 
 with the utmost pains to make all his maps scrupulously- 
 accurate. After about four years of incessant labour, the 
 three volumes were ready for the press ; but he was doomed 
 never to see them. So many years of toil, so many nights 
 passed in open boats or on the wet sands, so many ship- 
 wrecks and weeks of semi-starvation, together with his 
 long and unjust imprisonment, had utterly destroyed his 
 constitution ; and on the very day when his book was being 
 published, the wife and daughter of Flinders were tending 
 his last painful hours. He was, perhaps, our greatest 
 maritime discoverer : a man who worked because his heart 
 was in his work ; who sought no reward, and obtained 
 none ; who lived laboriously, and did honourable service to 
 mankind ; yet died, like his friend, Bass, almost unknown 
 to those of his own day, but leaving a name which the 
 world is every year more and more disposed to honour. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 New South Wales, 1800 to 1808. 
 
 1. Governor King. — Governor Hunter, who left Sydney 
 in the year 1800, was succeeded by Captain King, the young 
 officer who has been already mentioned as the founder of the 
 settlement at Norfolk Island. He was a man of much 
 ability, and was both active and industrious, yet so over- 
 whelming at this time were the difficulties of governorship 
 in New South Wales, that his term of office was little more 
 than a distressing failure. The colony consisted chiefly of 
 
30 NEW SOUTH WALES, 1800 to 1808. [chap. 
 
 convicts, who were — many of them — the most depraved and 
 hardened villains to be met with in the history of crime. 
 To keep these in check, and to maintain order, was no easy 
 task ; but to make them work, to convert them into indus- 
 trious and well-behaved members of the community, was 
 far beyond any governor's power. King made an effort, and 
 did his very best ; but after a time he grew disheartened, 
 and, in his disappointment, he complained of the folly which 
 expected him to make farmers out of pickpockets. His 
 chances of success would have been much increased had he 
 been properly seconded by his subordinates. But, unfor- 
 tunately, circumstances had arisen which caused the officers 
 and soldiers not only to render him no assistance whatever, 
 but even to thwart and frustrate his most careful plans. 
 
 2. The New South Wales Corps.— In 1790 a special corps 
 had been organized in the British army for service in the 
 colony ; it was called the New South "Wales Corps, and was 
 intended to be permanently settled in Sydney. Very few 
 hiffh-class officers cared to enter this service, so far from 
 home and in the midst of the lowest criminals. Those who 
 joined it generally came out with the idea of quickly 
 gathering a small fortune, then resigning their commissions 
 and returning to England. The favourite method of making 
 money was to import goods into the settlement and sell them 
 at high rates of profit ; and, in their haste to become rich, 
 many resorted to the most imscrupulous devices for obtaining 
 profits. A trade in which those who commanded were the 
 sellers, whilst the convicts and settlers under their charge 
 were the purchasers, could hardly fail to ruin discipline and 
 introduce grave evils, more especially when ardent spirits 
 beeran to be the chief article of traffic. It was found that 
 nothing ~ sold so well among the convicts as rum, their 
 favourite liquor ; and, rather than not make money, the 
 officers began to import large quantities of that spirit, thus 
 
IV.] STATE OF THE COLONY. 31 
 
 deliberately assisting to demoralize still further the degraded 
 population whicli they had been sent to reform. So enor- 
 mous were the profits made in this debasing trade that very 
 few of the officers could refrain from joining it. Soon the 
 New South Wales Corps became like one great firm of spirit 
 merchants engaged in the importing and retailing of rum. 
 The most enterj)rising went so far as to introduce stills and 
 commence the manufacture of spirits in the colony. By an 
 order of the Go vernor-in- Council this was forbidden, but 
 many continued to work their stills in secret. This system 
 of traffic, demoralizing to everyone engaged in it, was 
 shared even by the highest officials in the colony. In the 
 year 1800 the chief constable was a publican, and the head 
 gaoler sold rum and brandy opposite the prison gates. 
 
 3. State of the Colony. — Under these circumstances, 
 drunkenness became fearfully prevalent ; the freed convicts 
 gave themselves up to unrestrained riot, and, when 
 intoxicated, committed the most brutal atrocities ; the 
 soldiers also sank into the wildest dissipation ; many of 
 the officers themselves led lives of open and shameless 
 debauchery. This was the community Governor King had 
 to rule. He made an effort to effect some change, but 
 failed ; and we can hardly wonder at the feeling of intense 
 disgust which he entertained and freely expressed. 
 
 4. Mutiny of Convicts. — Most of the convicts, on their 
 arrival in the colony, were "assigned" — that is, sent to 
 work as shepherds or farm-labourers for the free settlers in 
 the country ; but prisoners of the worst class were chained 
 in gangs and employed on the roads, or on the Government 
 farms. One of these gangs, consisting of three or four 
 hundred convicts, was stationed at Castlehill, a few miles 
 north of Parramatta. The prisoners, emboldened by their 
 numbers and inflamed by the oratory of a nimiber of 
 political exiles, broke out into open insurrection. They 
 
32 NEW SOUTH WALES, 1800 to 1808. [chap. 
 
 flung away their hoes and spades, removed their irons, 
 seized about two hundred and fifty muskets, and marched 
 towards the Hawkesbury, expecting to be there reinforced 
 by so many additional convicts that they would be able to 
 overpower the military. Major Johnstone, with twenty- 
 four soldiers of the New South Wales Corps, pursued them ; 
 they halted and turned round to fight, but he charged with 
 so much determination into their midst that they were 
 quickly routed, and fled in all directions, leaving several of 
 their number dead on the spot. Three or four of the ring- 
 leaders were caught and hanged ; the remainder returned 
 quietly to their duty. 
 
 5. Origin of Wool-growing — During Governor King's 
 term of office, a beginning was made in what is now an 
 industry of momentous importance to Australia. In the 
 New South Wales Corps there had been an officer named 
 Macarthur, who had become so disgusted with the service 
 that, shortly after his arrival in Sydney, he resigned his 
 commission, and, having obtained a grant of land, became 
 a settler in the country. He quickly perceived that wool- 
 growing, if properly carried on, would be a source of 
 much wealth, and obtained a number of sheep from the 
 Dutch colony, at the Cape of Good Hope, with which to 
 make a commencement. These were not of a suitable kind, 
 and his first attempt failed ; but in 1803, when he was in 
 England on a visit, he spoke so highly of New South Wales 
 as a country adapted for wool-growing, that King George 
 III. was interested in the proposal, and offered his assist- 
 ance. Now, the sheep most suitable for Macarthur's 
 purpose were the merino sheep of Spain ; but these were 
 not to be obtained, as the Spaniards, desirous of keeping 
 the lucrative trade of wool-growing to themselves, had 
 made it a capital crime to export sheep of this kind from 
 Spain. But it so happened that, as a special favour, a few 
 
IV.] 
 
 GOVERNOR BLIGH. 
 
 33 
 
 had been given to King George, who was an enthusiastic 
 farmer ; and when he heard of Macarthur's idea, he sent 
 him one or two from 
 his own flock to be 
 carried out to New 
 South Wales. They 
 were safely landed 
 at Sydney, Governor 
 King made a grant of 
 ten thousand acres to 
 Mr. Macarthur, at 
 Camden, and the ex- 
 periment was begun. 
 It was not long before 
 the most marked suc- 
 cess crowned the effort, 
 and in the course of a John macarthur. 
 
 few years the meadows at Camden were covered with great 
 flocks of sheep, whose wool yielded annually a handsome 
 fortune to their enterprising owner. 
 
 6. Governor Bligh. — In 1806, Governor King was suc- 
 ceeded by Captain Bligh, whose previous adventures have 
 made his name so well known. In his ship, the Bounty, he 
 had been sent by the British Government to the South Sea 
 Islands for a cargo of bread-fruit trees. But his conduct to 
 his sailors was so tyrannical that they mutinied, put him, 
 along with eighteen others, into an open boat, then sailed 
 away, and left him in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Bligh 
 was a skilful sailor, and the voyage he thereupon undertook 
 is one of the most remarkable on record. In an open boat 
 he carried his little party over 3,500 miles of unknown 
 ocean to the island of Timor, where they found a vessel that 
 took them home. 
 
 In appointing Captain Bligh to rule the colony, the 
 
34 NEW SOUTH WALES, 1800 to 1808. [cuap. 
 
 English Government spoiled an excellent seaman to make a 
 very inefficient Governor. It was true that New South 
 "Wales contained a large convict population, who required to 
 be ruled with despotic rigour ; yet there were many free 
 settlers who declined to be treated like slaves and felons, 
 and who soon came to have a thorough dislike to the new 
 Governor. Not that he was without kindly feeling; his 
 generous treatment of the Hawkesbury farmers, who were 
 ruined by a flood in 1806, showed him to have been warm- 
 hearted in his way ; he exerted himself to the utmost, both 
 with time and money, to alleviate their distress, and he 
 received the special thanks of the English Government for 
 his humanity. And yet his arbitrary and unamiable man- 
 ners completely obscured all these better qualities. He 
 caused the convicts to be flogged without mercy for faults 
 which existed only in his own imagination ; he bullied his 
 officers, and, throughout the colony, repeated the same 
 mistakes which had led to the mutiny of the Bounty. At 
 the same time, he was anxious to do what he conceived 
 to be his duty to his superiors in. England. He had been 
 ordered to put a stop to the traffic in spirits, and, in spite 
 of the most unscrupulous opposition on the part of those 
 whose greed was interested, he set himself to effect this 
 reform by prompt and summary measures, and with a 
 contemptuous disregard of the hatred he was causing ; 
 but, xn the end, the officers were too strong for him, and 
 in the quarrel that ensued the Governor was completely 
 defeated. 
 
 7. Ezpulsion of Bligh. — Month after month BHgh grew 
 more and more unpopular ; those whom he did not alienate 
 in the course of his duty he offended by his rudeness, until, 
 at last,-there was scarcely anyone in the colony who was his 
 friend. Many were inflamed by so bitter a hatred that they 
 were ready to do anything for revenge, and affairs seemed 
 
IV.] EXPULSION OF BLIGH. 35 
 
 to be in tliat critical state in wliicli a trifling incident may 
 iDring about serious results. 
 
 This determining cause was supplied by a quarrel which 
 took place between Mr. Macarthur and Mr. Atkin, the new 
 judge-advocate of the colony. Mr. Macarthur was con- 
 denmed to pay a heavy fine for neglect, in having permitted 
 a convict to escape in a vessel of which he was partly the 
 owner. He refused to pay and was summoned before the 
 court, of which Atkin was the president. He declined to 
 appear, on the ground that Atkin was his personal enemy. 
 Thereupon Atkin caused him to be seized and put in gaol. 
 Bligh appointed a special court to try him, consisting of six 
 officers, together Avith Atkin himself. Macarthur was 
 TDrought before it, but protested against being judged by 
 his enemy, stating his willingness, however, to abide by the 
 decision of the six officers. The officers supported his protest, 
 and the trial was discontinued. Bligh was exceedingly 
 angry, and, by declaring he would put the six officers in gaol, 
 brought matters to a crisis. The officers of the New South 
 Wales Corps all took part with their comrades ; they assisted 
 Mr. Macarthur to get up a petition, asking Major Johnstone, 
 the military commander, to depose Governor Bligh, and him- 
 self take charge of the colony. Major Johnstone was only 
 too glad of the opportunity. He held a council of officers, 
 at which Mr. Macarthur and several others were present. 
 Their course of action was decided upon, and next morning 
 the soldiers marched, with colours flying and drums beating, 
 to the gate of the Governor's house. Here they were met 
 by Bligh's daughter, who endeavoured to persuade them to 
 retire ; but they made her stand aside and marched up the 
 avenue. Meantime the Governor had hidden himself in the 
 house ; the soldiers entered and searched everywhere for 
 him, till at length they discovered him behind a bed, where 
 he was seeking to hide important papers. He was arrested, 
 
36 I^EW SOUTH WALES, 1800 to 1808. [chap. 
 
 and sentinels were posted to prevent liis escape; while 
 Major Johnstone assumed the Governor's position, and 
 appointed his friends to the most important offices in the 
 Government service. He continued to direct affairs for 
 some time, until Colonel Foveaux superseded him. Foveaux, 
 in his turn, was superseded by Colonel Paterson, who 
 came over from Tasmania to take charge of the colony until 
 a new Governor should be sent out from home. Paterson 
 offered Bligh his liberty if he would promise to go straight 
 to England, and not seek to raise a disturbance in the 
 colony. This promise was given by Bligh, and yet no sooner 
 was he free than he began to stir up the Hawkesbury settlers 
 in his behalf. They declined to assist him, however, and 
 Bligh went over to Tasmania, where the settlement to be 
 described in the next chapter had been formed. Here he was 
 received with great goodwill, until the news arrived from 
 Sydney that, according to the solemn promise he had given, 
 he ought at that time to have been on his way to England. 
 An attempt was made to capture him, but he escaped to 
 England, where his adventures in New South Wales were 
 soon forgotten, and he rose to be an admiral in the English 
 navy. When the news of the rebellion reached the author- 
 ities in England, Major Johnstone was dismissed from the 
 service, and Major-General Lachlan Macquarie was sent 
 out to be Governor of the colony. Major Johnstone retired 
 to a farm in New South Wales, where he lived and pros- 
 pered till his death in 1817. 
 
v.] TASMANIA, 1803 to 1836. 37 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Tasmania, 1803 to 1836. 
 
 1. First Settlement. — After the departure of Baudin 
 from Sydney it was discovered that there was some inclina- 
 tion on the part of the French to settle in some part of 
 Australia. It was known that the inlet called Storm Bay, 
 in the island then known as Yan Diemen's Land, had 
 especially attracted their notice, its shores having been so 
 green and leafy. It was now known that Van Diemen's 
 Land was severed by a broad strait from the mainland, and 
 the Governor at Sydney thought that if the French 
 proposed to make a settlement anywhere they would be 
 certain to appropriate this island, and deny that the 
 English had any claim to it. He, therefore, prepared an 
 expedition to proceed to Storm Bay and take possession of 
 its shores. For that purpose he chose Lieutenant John 
 Bowen, who had recently arrived as an officer of a ship of 
 war, and appointed him commandant of the proposed 
 settlement. The colonial ship called the Lady Nelson was 
 chosen for the purpose of conveying him, and eight 
 soldiers, while a whaling ship called the Albion was 
 chartered for the purpose of carrying twenty-four convicts 
 and six free persons, who were to found the new colony. 
 This was a very small number with which to occupy a large 
 country ; but Governor King thought that in the meantime 
 they would be sufficient to assert a prior claim, and that 
 the authorities in England could subsequently decide 
 whether the settlement should be increased or withdrawn. 
 
 Governor King saw also another object in founding this 
 new colony. He had some most unruly convicts in Sydney, 
 
38 TASMANIA, 1803 to 1836. [chap. 
 
 who were only a source of trouble and annoyance to all the 
 rest. It seemed to him an advantage to be able to send 
 these off to a place by themselves, under specially severe 
 discipline. In September, 1803, the two ships sailed up 
 Storm Bay and into the mouth of the Eiver Derwent. 
 Lieutenant Bowen caused them to anchor on the right side 
 of the estuary, in a little bay called Eisdon Cove. The 
 people were soon on shore, and pitched their tents on a 
 grassy hill a little back from the water. Bowen went out 
 to survey the country while the convicts set to work to 
 build huts for themselves ; a little village soon appeared, 
 and in the long grass that surrounded it a few sheep and 
 goats were pastured for the use of the rising colony. The 
 place was named Hobart Town, after Lord Hobart, who 
 was then Secretary of State for the Colonies. A month 
 later Governor King sent forty-two convicts and fifteen 
 soldiers to increase the strength of the settlement ; and the 
 little village was beginning to look populous, when, 
 unexpectedly, there came a great accession from another 
 source. 
 
 2. Collins.— For during this same year, 1803, the British 
 Government, moved by fears of a French occupation, had 
 resolved to form a settlement on the shores of Port Phillip. 
 Accordingly David Collins, who had been judge-advocate 
 at Sydney, but had taken a trip to England, was chosen to 
 be Lieutenant-Governor of the new colony, and was dis- 
 patched with 307 convicts, 24 wives of convicts, 51 soldiers, 
 and 13 free settlers, on board two ships, the Calcutta and 
 the Ocean. Collins had made an effort to form a settlement 
 at Port Phillip on a sandy shore, near the site of Sorrento, 
 but had grown disgusted with the place; and early in 1804 
 he carried off' all the people, and resolved to abandon Port 
 Phillip in favour of the Derwent. He landed at Eisdon on 
 the loth February, and, after a short examination, came to 
 
v.] 
 
 GOVERNOR COLLINS. 
 
 39 
 
 the conclusion that the situation was unsuitable. Next day- 
 he went in search of a better place, and chose a little bay- 
 on the opposite side, some six miles nearer the mouth of 
 the estuary, and thither the whole settlement was soon 
 after removed. There, at the very foot of the lofty Mount 
 "Wellington, Hobart Town began to grow in its new 
 situation. Houses were rapidly erected ; most of them 
 consisted of posts stuck in the ground, interwoven with 
 twigs of wattle trees, and then daubed over with mud. The 
 chimneys were built of stones and turf, and the roofs were 
 
 GOVERNOR COLLINS, AND VIEW OF MOUNT WELLINGTON. 
 
 thatched %vith grass. Whilst the new town was growing, 
 a party of convicts and soldiers were still busy on the Kttle 
 farms at Eisdon, and early in May they had a most unfor- 
 tunate affray with the natives. A party of two or three 
 hundred blacks, who were travelling southward, came sud- 
 
40 TASMANIA, 1803 to 1836. [chap. 
 
 denly in sight of the white men and their habitations. These 
 were the iirst Europeans whom they had seen, and they 
 became much excited at the strange spectacle. While they 
 were shouting and gesticulating, the Englishmen thought 
 they were preparing for an attack and fired upon them. 
 The blacks fled and the white men pursued them, killing 
 about thirty of the unfortunate natives. Thus was begun a 
 long warfare, which ended only with the complete extinction 
 of the native races. 
 
 3- Paterson. — Next year, 1804, the Sydney Government 
 sent another party of convicts, under Colonel Paterson, to 
 found a colony in the north of Tasmania. The position 
 selected was near the entrance to Port Dalrymple ; and 
 here, for eight years, a small settlement continued to exist 
 in an independent state, until, in 1812, it was placed under 
 the charge of the Governor at Hobart Town. 
 
 4 Death of Collins- — The colony at the latter place 
 was meanwhile slowly establishing itself, and in 1808, when 
 Bligh visited it after his expulsion from Sydney, he found 
 the little township with quite a settled and comfortable 
 appearance. In 1810 it lost its amiable and warm-hearted 
 Governor. While calmly and cheerfully conversing with a 
 friend, Mr. Collins fell back dead in his chair. He was a 
 man of a good and kindly nature, a little vain and self- 
 important, but earnest and upright, and possessed of very 
 fair abilities. The distinguished part he played in the early 
 colonization of Australia will always render him a prominent 
 person in our history. 
 
 5- Governor Davey. — It took some time for the news of 
 the Governor's death to reach England, and during the 
 three years that elapsed before his successor could be sent 
 out, the place was filled in turn by three gentlemen, named 
 Lord, Murray, and Geils, till, in 1813, the new Governor, 
 Davey, arrived. He had been a Colonel of Marines, and 
 
v.] GOVERNOR DAVEY. 41 
 
 had shown himself a good soldier, but he had few of the 
 qualities of a Governor. He was rough and excessively 
 coarse in his manners, and utterly regardless of all 
 decorum. He showed his defiance of all conventional rules 
 by the manner of his entry. The day being warm, he took 
 off his coat and waistcoat, and marched into the town in a 
 costume more easy than dignified ; he listened to the 
 address of welcome with careless indifference, and 
 throughout showed little respect either for himself or for 
 the people he had come to govern. Yet, under his rule, 
 the colony made progress. In his first year he opened the 
 port to ordinary merchant ships ; for, previously, as the 
 town was a convict settlement of the most severe type, no 
 free person was allowed to land without special permission. 
 From this time commerce began to spring up ; free settlers 
 spread over the country, and cultivated it with such success 
 that, in 1816, besides suppljdng all the necessities of their 
 own community, they were able to export grain to Sydney. 
 
 6. New Norfolk.— In 1807, the settlement at Norfolk 
 Island had been abandoned by the British Government, and 
 the convicts, of whom many had there grown to be decent, 
 orderly farmers, were brought to Tasmania. They formed 
 a new settlement on the Derwent, about fifteen miles above 
 Hobart Town, at a place which they called " New Norfolk, " 
 in affectionate memory of their former island home. 
 
 ?• Bushranging — About this time the colony began to 
 be greatly annoyed by bushrangers. From twenty to forty 
 convicts generally escaped every year and betook themselves 
 to the wild country around the central lakes of Tasmania. 
 There, among the fastnesses of the Western mountains, they 
 led a desperate and daring life, sometimes living with the 
 natives, to whom they quickly taught all the wickedness 
 they themselves knew. Their ordinary lives were wretchedly 
 debased ; and, in search of booty, or in revenge for fancied 
 
42 Tu4.S MANIA, 1803 to 18S6. [chap. 
 
 injuries, they often committed the most savage crimes. 
 They treated their native companions like beasts, to be 
 used for a while, and then shot or mangled when no longer 
 wanted; and it is not surprising that the blacks soon 
 became filled with the most intense hatred of all the white 
 invaders of their land. Frequently the aboriginal tribes 
 united to attack the lonelv farm-house and murder all its 
 inhabitants. Hence, every settler in the country districts 
 was well supplied with arms, and taught all his household 
 to use them ; the walls were pierced here and there with 
 holes, through which a musket might be directed in 
 safety against an advancing enemy. The fear of bush- 
 rangers who might attack them for the sake of plunder, and 
 of natives who might massacre them in revenge, kept the 
 scattered settlers in constant terror and trouble. 
 
 8. Governor Sorell.— But in 1817, when Governor Davey 
 grew tired of his position and resigned it, choosing rather 
 to live an easy-going life on his estate, near Hobart Town, 
 than be troubled with the cares of office. Colonel Sorell, the 
 new Governor, set himself wdth vigour to suppress these 
 ruthless marauders. He was to some extent successful, and 
 the young colony enjoyed an interval of peace. Farming 
 was profitable, and the exports of wheat began to assume 
 large dimensions. The best breeds of sheep were brought 
 into the island, and Van Diemen's Land wool, which at first 
 had been despised in England, and used only for stuffing 
 mattresses, grew into favour, and was bought by the manu- 
 facturers at high prices. Thus many of the settlers became 
 wealthy, and the estates from which their wealth was 
 derived began to have a correspondingly high value, so as to 
 give the colony an assured jjrosperity which was certainly 
 remarkable in the sixteenth year from its foundation. 
 Another industry was added, which indirectly contributed to 
 the wealth of Tasmania. The captain of a merchant vessel, 
 
v.] GOVERNOR SORELL. 43 
 
 on his way to Sydney, had seen a great shoal of whales off 
 the south coast of Tasmania, and, along with the Governor 
 of New South Wales, secretly formed a scheme to fit out a 
 whaling expedition. But his crew also had seen the whales, 
 and soon made the fact widely known; so that, by the 
 time the captain's party were ready to sail, there were 
 several other whaling vessels on the point of starting. They 
 were all successful, and very soon a large number of ships 
 were engaged in whale fishing. Now, as Hobart Town was 
 the nearest port, the whalers found that it saved time to go 
 thither with their oil, and to buy their provisions and refit 
 their ships there ; so that the trade and importance of the 
 little city received a very material impetus in this way. 
 
 Much of the progress was due to the sensible management 
 of Governor Sorell, who spared no effort to reform the 
 convicts, as well as to elevate and refine the free settlers. 
 Hence it was with great regret that the colonists saw his 
 term of office expire in 1824. They petitioned the English 
 Government to allow him to stay for other six years, and 
 when the reply was given that this could not be done, as 
 Col. Sorell was required elsewhere, they presented him with 
 a handsome testimonial, and settled on him an income of 
 £500 a year from their own revenues. 
 
 9. Governor Arthur.— But when Col. Sorell had left, 
 bushranging became as troublesome as ever. Governor 
 Arthur arrived in 1824, and found the colony fast relapsing 
 into its former unsettled state. He learnt that, shortly 
 before, some thirteen or fourteen convicts had succedcd in 
 escaping from the penal settlement in an open boat, and had 
 landed on a lonely part of the coast. They were joined by 
 a great crowd of concealed convicts, and, under the leader- 
 ship of Crawford and Brady, they formed a dangerous horde 
 of robbers, which, for years, kept the whole colony in terror. 
 For a while they plundered without hindrance, till a party 
 
44 TASMANIA, 1803 to 1836. [chap. 
 
 of about a dozen attacked the house of an old gentleman 
 named Taylor, who had the courage to fight and defeat 
 them. With his three sons, his carpenter, and his servant, 
 he fired upon the advancing ruffians, whilst his daughters 
 rap'dly reloaded the muskets. The robbers retreated, 
 leaving their leader — Crawford — and two or three others, 
 who had been wounded, to be captured by Mr. Taylor and 
 sent to Hobart Town, where they were executed. Brady then 
 became chief leader of the band, and though his encounter 
 with Mr. Taylor had taken away all his ardour for fighting, 
 he contrived to plunder and annoy for a long time. Deep 
 in the woods, along the silent banks of the Shannon, the 
 outlaws lived securely ; for, even when the soldiers ventured 
 to penetrate these lonely regions, the outlaws could easily 
 escape to the rugged mountain sides, where they could hide 
 or defend themselves. Governor Arthur's task was not an 
 easy one, for Brady could command a powerful force, and 
 his was not the only one of the kind ; the result was that, 
 for a long time, the country was unsettled and trade was 
 paralyzed. Seeing no other course open, Governor Arthur 
 offered a pardon and a free passage home to those who 
 surrendered. So many were thus induced to submit peace- 
 ably that, at length, Brady was almost alone ; and whilst 
 he wandered in a secluded valley, without followers, he was 
 surprised by John Batman, who, several years after, assisted 
 in the settlement of Victoria. Brady surrendered and was 
 executed; the bushrangers, by degrees, disappeared, and 
 the colonists once more breathed freely. 
 
 10- Separation. — Hitherto Tasmania had only been a 
 dependency of New South Wales, but in 1825 it was made a 
 separate colony, with a Supreme Court of its o^vn. In 1829 
 it received its first legislative body, fifteen gentlemen 
 being appointed to consult with the Governor and make laws 
 for the colony. For some years after, the history of Tas- 
 
v.] SEPARATION. 45 
 
 mania is simply an account of quiet industry and steady 
 progress. Hobart Towtq, by degrees, grew to be a fine city, 
 with handsome buildings and well-kept streets. The 
 country districts were fenced in and well tilled, good roads 
 and bridges were made, and everything looked smihng and 
 prosperous. The only serious difficulty was the want of 
 coins for the ordinary purposes of trade. So great was the 
 scarcity of gold and silver money that pieces of paper, with 
 promises to pay a certain sum — perhaps a sixpence or a 
 shilling — were largely used in the colony, in place of the 
 money itself. At the request of Governor Arthur, coins to 
 the value of a hundred thousand pounds were sent out from 
 Engfland for the use of the colonists. 
 
 Governor Arthur's period of office expired in 1836, and he 
 left the colony, greatly to the regret of the colonists, who 
 subscribed £ 1 , 500 to present him with a testimonial. He was 
 succeeded by Sir John Franklin, the famous voyager, whose 
 history will be related in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 New South Wales, 1808 to 1837. 
 
 1. Governor Macquarie. — In 1808 the English Govern- 
 ment held an inquiry as to the circumstances which had 
 caused the expulsion of Governor Bligh, and though they 
 cashiered Major Johnstone, and indeed ordered the whole of 
 the New South Wales Corps to be disbanded yet, as it was 
 clear that Bligh had been himself very much to blame, they 
 yielded to the wishes of the settlers in so far as to appoint a 
 new Governor in his place, and therefore despatched Major- 
 General Macquarie to take the position. He was dii'ected 
 to reinstate Bligh for a period of twenty-four hours, in 
 
46 NEW SOUTH WALES, 1808 to 1837. [chap. 
 
 order to indicate that the authorities in England would not 
 suffer the colonists to dictate to them in these matters ; but 
 that they reserved completely to themselves the right to 
 appoint and dismiss the Governors. However, as Bligh had 
 by this time gone to Tasmania, Macquarie was forced to 
 content himself, on his arrival, with merely proclaiming 
 what had been his instructions. 
 
 In the early days of the colonies their destinies were, to 
 a great extent, moulded by the governors who had charge 
 of them. Whether for good or for evil, the influence of 
 the governor was decisive ; and it was, therefore; a matter 
 of great good fortune to Sydney that, during the long 
 administration of Governor Lachlan Macquarie, this 
 influence was almost wholly on the side of good. Not that 
 Macquarie had no faults. He was a man absurdly filled 
 with vanity and self-conceit ; a man who, instead of sober 
 despatches to his superiors in England, wrote flowery 
 accounts of himself and his wonderful doings ; a man who, 
 in his egoism, afiixed the names of himself and of his 
 family to nearly every place discovered in the colony 
 during his term of ofiB.ce. Yet, apart from this weakness, 
 Macquarie may be characterized as an exemplary man and 
 an admirable Governor. He devoted himself heartily to 
 his work ; his chief thought for twelve years was how to 
 improve the state of the little colony, and how to raise the 
 degraded men who had been sent thither. An ardent 
 feeling of philanthropy gave a kindly tone to his restless 
 activity. Once every year he made a complete tour of the 
 settled portions of the colony, to observe their condition 
 and discover what improvements were needed. He taught 
 the farmers to build for themselves neat houses, in place of 
 the rude huts they had previously been content with ; he 
 encouraged them to improve their system of farming, 
 sometimes with advice, sometimes with money, but more 
 
VI.] GOVERNOR MACQUARIE. 47 
 
 often with loans from the Government stores. He "built 
 churches and schools ; he took the warmest interest in the 
 progress of religion and of education; and, indeed, 
 neglected nothing that could serve to elevate the moral 
 tone of the little community ; and, certainly, no community 
 has ever been in greater need of elevation. The fact that 
 the British Government thought it necessary to send out 
 1,100 soldiers to keep order among a population of only 
 10,000 indicates very plainly what was the character of 
 these people, and almost justifies the sweeping assertion of 
 Macquarie, that the colony consisted of those "who had 
 been transported, and those who ought to have been." Yet 
 Macquarie uniformly showed a kindly disposition towards 
 the convicts ; he settled great numbers of them as free men 
 on little farms of their own ; and if they did not succeed as 
 well as they might have done, it was not for want of advice 
 and assistance from the Governor. 
 
 2. Road over the Blue Mountains. — The most im- 
 portant result of Macquarie's activity was the opening up 
 of new country. He had quite a passion for road-making ; 
 and though, on his arrival in the colony, he found only 
 forty-five miles of what were little better than bush tracks, 
 yet, when he left, there were over three hundred miles of 
 excellent and substantial roads spreading in all directions 
 from Sydney. He marked out towns— such as Windsor, 
 Eichmond, and Castlereagh — in suitable places ; then, by 
 making roads to them, he encouraged the freed convicts to 
 leave Sydney and form little communities inland. But his 
 greatest achievement in the way of road-making was the 
 highway across the Blue Mountains. It will be remembered 
 that this range had for years presented an insurmountable 
 barrier. Many persons — including the intrepid Bass — had 
 attempted to cross it, but in vain ; the only one who suc- 
 ceeded even in penetrating far into that wild and rugged 
 
48 
 
 NEW SOUTH WALKS, IS08 to 1837. [chap. 
 
 country was a gentleman called Caley, who stopped at the 
 edge of an enormous precipice, where he could see no way 
 of descending. But in 1813 three gentlemen — named 
 Went worth, Lawson, and Blaxland — succeeded in crossing. 
 
 GOVERNOR MACQUARIE, AND SCENE IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 After laboriously piercing through the dense timber which 
 covers some of the ranges, they traversed a wild and 
 desolate country, sometimes crawling along naked pre- 
 cipices, sometimes fighting their way through wild ravines, 
 
VI.] ROAD OVER THE BLUE MOUNTAINS. 49 
 
 but at length emerging on tlie beautiful plains to the west. 
 On their return they found that by keeping constantly on 
 the crest of a long spur, the road could be made much 
 easier, and Governor Macquarie, stimulated by their report, 
 sent Surveyor Evans to examine the pass. His opinion was 
 favourable, and Macquarie lost no time in commencing to 
 construct a road over the mountains. The difficulties in his 
 way were immense ; for fifty miles the course lay through 
 the most rugged country, where yawning chasms had to be 
 bridged, and oftentimes the solid rock had to be cut away. 
 Yet, in less than fifteen months, a good carriage highway 
 stretched from Sydney across the mountains ; and the 
 Grovemor was able to take Mrs. Macquarie on a trip to the 
 fine pasture lands beyond, where he founded a town and 
 named it Bathurst, after Lord Bathurst, the Secretary of 
 State. This was a measure of great importance to the 
 colony, for the country between the mountains and the sea 
 was too limited and too much subject to droughts to main- 
 tain the two hundred and fifty thousand sheep which the 
 prosperous colony now possessed. Many squatters took 
 their flocks along the road to Bathurst, and settled down in 
 the spacious pasture lands of the Macquarie and Lachlan 
 Rivers. 
 
 3 Governor Brisbane.— In 1821 Governor Macquarie 
 left for England, much regretted by the colonists. The 
 only serious mistake of his policy had been that he had 
 quietly discouraged the introduction of free settlers, 
 "because," as he said, "the colony is intended for 
 convicts, and free settlers have no business here." His 
 successor — Sir Thomas Brisbane — and, afterwards. Sir 
 Ealph Darling — adopted a more liberal policy, and offered 
 every inducement to free immigrants to make their homes 
 in the colony. It was never found possible, however, to 
 obtain many of that class which has been so successful in 
 
 5 
 
50 NEW SOUTH WALES, 1808 to 1837. [chap. 
 
 America, consisting of men who, having with diliiculty 
 gathered sufficient money for their passages, landed in 
 their adopted country without means and with no resources 
 beyond the cheerful labour of themselves and of their 
 families, yet settled down in the deep, untrodden forests, 
 and there made for themselves happy and prosperous 
 homes. This was not the class of immigrants who arrived 
 in New South "Wales during the times of Brisbane and 
 Darling. For in 1818 free passages to Australia had been 
 abolished, and the voyage was so long and so expensive 
 that a poor man could scarcely hope to accomplish it. 
 Hence, those who arrived in Sydney were generally young 
 men of good education, who brought with them a few 
 hundred pounds, and not only were willing to labour them- 
 selves, but were able to employ the labour of others. In 
 America, the " squatter" was a man who farmed a small 
 piece of land. In Australia, he was one who bought a 
 flock of sheep and carried them out to the pasture lands, 
 where, as they increased from year to year, he grew rich 
 with the annual produce of their wool. Sir Thomas 
 Brisbane was pleased with the advent of men of this class : 
 he gave them grants of land, and assigned to them as 
 many convicts as they were able to employ. Very speedily 
 the fine lands of the colony were covered with flocks and 
 herds ; and the applications for convicts became so numerous 
 that, at one time, two thousand more were demanded than 
 could be supplied. Hence began an important change in 
 the colony. The costly Government farms were, one after 
 another, broken up, and the convicts assigned to the 
 squatters. Then the unremunerative public works were 
 abandoned ; for many of these had been begun only for 
 the purpose of occupying the prisoners. All this tended 
 for good ; as the convicts, when thus scattered, were much 
 more manageable, and much more likely to reform, than 
 
VI.] GOVERNOR BRISBANE. 51 
 
 wlien gathered in large and corrupting crowds. In 
 Macquarie's time, not one convict in ten could be usefully 
 employed; seven or eight years after, there was not a 
 •convict in the colony whose services would not be eagerly 
 sought for at a good price by the squatters. 
 
 This important change took place under Governors 
 Brisbane and Darling, and was, in a great measure, due to 
 these Governors : yet, strange to say, neither of them was 
 ever popular. Brisbane, who entered on office in 1821, was 
 a fine old soldier, a thorough gentleman, honourable and 
 upright in all his ways. Yet it could not be doubted that 
 he was out of his sphere when conducting the affairs of a 
 young colony, and in 1825 the British Government found it 
 necessary to recall him. 
 
 4. Governor Darling. — He was succeeded by Sir Ealph 
 Darling, who was also a soldier, but was, at the same time, 
 a man well adapted for business. Yet he, too, failed to give 
 satisfaction. He was precise and methodical, and his habits 
 were painfully careful, exhibiting that sort of diligence 
 which takes infinite trouble and anxiety over details, to the 
 neglect of larger and more important matters. His adminis- 
 tration lasted six years, from 1825 to 1831. During this 
 period an association was formed in England, consisting of 
 merchants and members of Parliament, who subscribed a 
 capital of one million pounds, and received from Government 
 a grant of one million acres in New South Wales. They 
 called themselves the Australian Agricultural Company, and 
 proposed to improve and cultivate the waste lands of 
 Australia, to import sheep and cattle for squatting purposes, 
 to open up mines for coal and metals, and, in general, to 
 avail themselves of the vast resources of the colony. Sir 
 Edward Parry, the famous Polar navigator, was sent out as 
 manager. The servants and employes of the Association 
 formed quite a flourishing colony on the Liverpool Plains, 
 
52 NEW SOUTH WALES, 1808 to 1837. [chap. 
 
 at the head of the Darling River ; and though, at first, it 
 caused some confusion in the financial state of New South 
 "Wales, yet, in the end, it proved of great benefit to the 
 whole colony. 
 
 5. The Legislative Council.— In 1824 a small Executive 
 Council had been formed to consult with Governor Brisbane 
 on colonial matters. In 1829 this was enlarged and became 
 the Legislative Council, consisting of fifteen members, who 
 had power to make laws for the colony. But as their pro- 
 ceedings were strictly secret, and could be completely 
 reversed by the Governor whenever he chose, they formed 
 but a very imperfect substitute for a truly legislative body. 
 Yet it was of some service to the colony : one of its first acts 
 was to introduce the English jury system, in place of 
 arbitrary trials by Government officials. 
 
 6. The Newspaper War. — Governor Darling was never 
 popular. During the greater part of his period of office 
 intrigues were continually on foot to obtain his recall ; and 
 from this state of feeling there arose what has been called 
 the newspaper war, which lasted for four years with great 
 violence. The first Australian newspaper had been estab- 
 lished in 1803 by a convict named Howe. It was in a great 
 measure supported by the patronage of the Government, 
 and the Governors always exercised the right of forbidding 
 the insertion of what they disliked. Hence this paper, the 
 Sydney Gazette, was considered to be the Government organ, 
 and, accordingly, its opinions of the Governors and their 
 acts were greatly distrusted. But, during the time of 
 Brisbane, an independent newspaper, the Australian, was 
 established by Mr. Wentworth and Dr. "Wardell. A second 
 of the same kind soon followed, and was called the Monitor. 
 These papers found it to their advantage, during the 
 unpopularity of Darling, to criticise severely the acts of 
 that Governor, who was defended by the Gazette Avith 
 
VI.] THE NEWSPAPER WAR. 53 
 
 ntemperate zeal. This altercation had lasted for some 
 time, when, in the third year of Darling's administration, 
 a very small event was sufficient to set the whole colony in 
 an uproar. 
 
 A dissipated soldier named Sudds persuaded his com- 
 panion, Thompson, that their prospects were not hopeful so 
 long as they remained soldiers ; but that, if they became 
 convicts, they had a fair chance of becoming rich and 
 prosperous. Accordingly, they entered a shop and stole a 
 piece of cloth. They were tried, convicted, and sentenced 
 to be transported to Tasmania for seven years. This was 
 what they wished ; but Governor DarKng, having heard of 
 the scheme they were so successfully carrying out, took it 
 upon himself to alter the course of the law, and directed 
 them to be chained together with heavy spiked collars of 
 iron about their necks, and to be set to labour on the roads. 
 Sudds was suffering from liver disease ; he sank beneath 
 the severity of his punishment, and in a few days he died — 
 while Thompson, about the same time, became insane. This 
 was an excellent opportunity for the opposition papers, 
 which immediately attacked the Governor for what they 
 called his illegal interference and his brutality. The Gazette 
 filled its columns with the most fulsome flattery in his 
 defence, and Darling himself was so imprudent as to mingle 
 in the dispute, and to do what he could to annoy the editors 
 of the two hostile papers. Very soon the whole colony was 
 divided into two great classes — the one needlessly extolling 
 the Governor, the other denouncing him as the most 
 cowardly and brutal of men. For four years this abusive 
 warfare lasted, till at length the opponents of Darling 
 won the day ; and in 1831 he was recalled by the English 
 Government. 
 
 7- Governor Bourke.— Sir Richard Bourke, who suc- 
 ceeded him, was the most able and the most popular of all 
 
54 NEW SOUTH WALES, 1808 to 1837. [chap. 
 
 the Sydney Governors. He had the talent and energy of 
 Macquarie ; but he had, in addition, a frank and hearty 
 manner, which insensibly won the hearts of the colonists, 
 who, for years after his departure, used to talk affectionately 
 of him as the "good old Governor Bourke." During his 
 term of office the colony continued in a sober way to make 
 steady progress. In 1833 its population numbered 60,000, 
 of whom 36,000 were free persons. Every year there arrived 
 three thousand fresh convicts ; but as an equal number of 
 free immigrants also arrived, the colony was benefited by 
 its annual increase of population. 
 
 8. The Land Question- — Governor Bourke, on his 
 landing, found that much discontentment existed with 
 reference to what was called the Land Question. It was 
 understood that anyone who applied for land to the 
 Government, and showed that he could make a good use of 
 it, would receive a suitable area as a free grant. But many 
 abuses crept in under this system. In theory, all men had 
 an equal right to obtain the land they required ; but, in 
 practice, it was seldom possible for one who had no friends 
 among the officials at Sydney to obtain a grant. An 
 immigrant had often to wait for mouths, and see his 
 application unheeded ; while, meantime, a few favoured 
 individuals were calling day by day at the Land Office, and 
 receiving grant after grant of the choicest parts of the 
 colony. Governor Bourke, under instructions from the 
 English Parliament, made a new arrangement. There 
 were to be no more free grants. In the settled districts all 
 land was to be put up for auction ; if less than five shillings 
 an acre was offered, it was not to be sold ; when the offers 
 rose above that price, it was to be given to the highest 
 bidder. This was regarded as a very fair arrangement; 
 and, as a large sum- of money was annually received from 
 the sale of land, the Government was able to resume the 
 
VI.] THE SQUATTERS. 55 
 
 practice, discontinued in 1818, of assisting poor people in 
 Europe to emigrate to the colony. 
 
 9. The ScLuatters- — Beyond the surveyed districts the 
 land was occupied by squatters, who settled down where 
 they pleased, but had no legal right to their "runs," as 
 they were called. With regard to these lands new regula- 
 tions were urgently required, for the squatters, who were 
 liable to be turned off at a moment's notice, felt themselves 
 in a very precarious position. Besides, as their sheep 
 increased rapidly, and the flocks of neighbouring squatters 
 interfered with one another, violent feuds sprang up, and 
 were earned on with much bitterness. To put an end to 
 these evils Governor Bourke ordered the squatters to apply 
 for the land they required. He promised to have boundaries 
 marked out, but gave notice that he would, in future, 
 charge a small rent, proportional to the number of sheep the 
 land could support. In return, he would secure to each 
 squatter the peaceable occupation of his run until the time 
 came when it should be required for sale. This regulation 
 did much to secure the stability of squatting interests in 
 ;N'ew South Wales. 
 
 After ruling well and wisely for six years, Governor 
 Bourke retired in the year 1837, amid the sincere regrets of 
 the whole colonv. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Discoveries in the Interior, 1817-1836. 
 
 1. Oxley. — After the passage over the Blue Mountains 
 had been discovered — in 1813 — and the beautiful pasture 
 land round Bathurst had been opened up to the enterprise 
 of the squatters, it was natural that the colonists should 
 
56 DISCOVERIES IN INIEBIOR,^ 1817-1836. [chap. 
 
 desire to know sometliing of the nature and capabilities of 
 the land which stretched still further to the west. In 1817 
 they sent Mr. Oxley, the Surveyor-General, to explore the 
 country towards the interior, directing him to follow the 
 course of theLachlan and discover the ultimate " fate," as 
 they called it, of its waters. Taking with him a small 
 party, he set out from the settled districts on the Macquarie, 
 and for many days walked along the banks of the Lachlan, 
 through undulating districts of woodland and rich meadow. 
 But, after a time, the explorers could perceive that they were 
 gradually entering upon a region of totally different aspect ; 
 the ground was growing less and less hilly ; the tall moun- 
 tain trees were giving place to stunted shrubs ; and the 
 fresh green of the grassy slopes was disappearing. At 
 length they emerged on a great plain, filled with dreary 
 swamps, which stretched as far as the eye could reach, lilre 
 one vast dismal sea of waving reeds. Into this forbidding 
 region they penetrated, forcing their way through the 
 tangled reeds and over weary miles of oozy mud, into which 
 they sank almost to the knees at every step. Ere long they 
 had to abandon the effort to follow the Lachlan throughout 
 its course ; they therefore retraced their steps, and, striking 
 to the south, succeeded in going round this great swamp 
 which had opposed their progress. Again they followed 
 the course of the river for some distance, entering, as they 
 journeyed, into regions of still greater desolation ; but 
 again they were forced to desist by a second swamp of the 
 same kind. The Lachlan here seemed to lose itself in 
 interminable marshes, and as no trace could be found of its 
 further course, Oxley concluded that they had reached 
 the end of the river. As he looked around on the dreary 
 expanse, he pronounced the country to be " for ever unin- 
 habitable ; ** and, on his return to Bathurst, he reported 
 that, in this direction at least, there was no opening for 
 
VII.] ox LEY. 57 
 
 enterprise. The Lachlan, lie said, flows into an extensive 
 region of swamps, which are perhaps only the margin of a 
 great inland sea. 
 
 Oxley was afterwards sent to explore the course of the 
 Macquarie River, but was as little successful in this as in his 
 former effort. The river flowed into a wide marsh, some 
 thirty or forty miles long, and he was forced to abandon his 
 purpose ; he started ' for the eastern coast, crossed the New 
 England Range, and descended the long woodland slopes to 
 the sea, discovering on his way the river Hastings. 
 
 2. Allan Cunningham.— Several important discoveries 
 were effected by an enthusiastic botanist named Allan 
 Cunningham, who, in his search for new plants, succeeded 
 in opening up country which had been previously unkno\\Ti. 
 In 1825 he found a passage over the Liverpool Range, 
 through a wild and picturesque gap, which he called the 
 Pandora Pass ; and on the other side of the mountains he 
 discovered the fine pastoral lands of the Liverpool Plains 
 and the Darling Downs, which are watered by three branches 
 of the Upper Darling — the Peel, the Gwydir, and the 
 Dumaresq. It was not long before the squatters took 
 advantage of these discoveries ; and this district, after a 
 year or two, was covered A\ath great flocks of sheep. It 
 was here that the Australian Agricultural Comi^any formed 
 their great stations already referred to. 
 
 3 Hume and HovelL— The southern coasts of the 
 district . now called Victoria had been carefully explored by 
 Flinders and other sailors, but the country which lay 
 beliind these coasts was quite unknown. In 1824, Governor 
 Brisbane suggested a novel plan of exploration ; he pro- 
 posed to land a party of convicts at Wilson's Promontory, 
 with instructions to work their way through the interior to 
 Sydney, where they would receive their freedom. The 
 charge of the party was offered to Hamilton Hume, a 
 
58 
 
 DISCOVERIES IN INTERIOR, 1817-1836. [chap. 
 
 young native of the colony, and a most expert and intrepid 
 bushman. He was of an energetic and determined, though 
 somewhat domineering disposition, and was anxious to 
 distinguish himself in the work of exploration. He 
 declined to undertake the expedition in the manner 
 proposed by Governor Brisbane, but oifered to conduct a 
 party of convicts from Sydney to the southern coasts. A 
 sea-captain named Hovell asked permission to accompany 
 him. With these two as leaders, and six convict servants 
 to make up the party, they set out from Lake George, 
 carrying their provisions in two carts, drawn by teams of 
 oxen. As soon as they met the Murrumbidgee their 
 troubles commenced ; the river was so broad and swift that 
 it was difficult to see how they could carry their goods 
 across. Hume covered the carts with tarpaulin, so as to 
 
 make them serve as punts. 
 Then he swam across the 
 river carrying the end of a 
 rope between his teeth ; and 
 with this he pulled over the 
 loaded punts. The men and 
 oxen then swam across, and 
 once more pushed forward. 
 But the country through 
 which they had now to pass 
 was so rough and woody 
 that they were obliged to 
 abandon their carts and load 
 the oxen with their pro- 
 visions. They journeyed on, 
 through hilly country, beneath the shades of deep and far- 
 spreading forests ; to their left they sometimes caught a 
 glimpse of the snow-capped peaks of the Australian Alps, 
 and at length they reached the banks of a clear and rapid 
 
 HAMILTON HUME. 
 
VII.] HUME AND NOVELL. 59 
 
 stream, which they called the Hume, but which is now 
 known as the Murray. Their carts being no longer avail- 
 able, they had to construct boats of wickervvork and 
 cover them with tarpaulin. Having crossed the river, 
 they entered the Kghtly timbered slopes to the north of 
 Victoria, and holding their course south-west, they dis- 
 covered first the Eiver Ovens, and then a splendid stream 
 which they called the Hovell, now known as the Goulburn. 
 Their great object, however, was to reach the ocean, and 
 every morning when they left their camping-place they 
 were sustained by the hope of coming, before evening, in 
 view of the open sea. But day passed after day, without 
 any prospect of a termination to their journey. Hume 
 and Hovell, seeing a high peak at some little distance, left 
 the rest of the party to themselves for a few days, and with 
 incredible labour ascended the mountain, in the expectation 
 df beholding from its summit the great Southern Ocean in 
 the distance. Nothing was to be seen, however, but the 
 waving tops of gum-trees rising ridge after ridge away to 
 the south ; and wearily they retraced their steps to the 
 place where the others were encamped. They called this 
 peak Mount Disappointment. Having altered the direction 
 of their course a little, in a few days they were rejoiced by 
 the sight of a great expanse of water. Passing through 
 country which they declared to resemble, in its freshness 
 and beauty, the well-kept park of an English nobleman, 
 they reached a bay, which the natives called Geelong. 
 Here a dispute took place between the leaders, Hovell 
 asserting that the sheet of water before them was Western 
 Port, Hume that it was Port Phillip. Hume expressed the 
 utmost contempt for Hovell's ignorance ; Hovell retorted 
 \vith sarcasms on Hume's dogmatism and conceit ; and the 
 rest of the journey was embittered by so great an amount 
 of ill-feeling that the two explorers were never again on 
 
60 DISCOVERIES IN INTERIOR, 1817-1836. [chap. 
 
 friendly terms. Hume's careful and sagacious observations 
 of the route by which they had come enabled him to lead 
 the party rapidly and safely back to Sydney, where the 
 leaders were rewarded with grants of land and the convicts 
 with tickets-of -leave. 
 
 4. Captain Sturt.— The long drought which occurred 
 between 1826 and 1828 suggested to Governor Darling the 
 idea that, as the swamps which had impeded Oxley's pro- 
 gress would be then dried up, the exploration of the river 
 Macquarie would not present the same difficulties as 
 formerly. The charge of organizing an expedition was 
 given to Captain Sturt, who was to be accompanied by 
 Hume, with a party of two soldiers and eight convicts. 
 They carried with them portable boats ; but when they 
 reached the Macquarie they found its waters so low as to be 
 incapable cf floating them properly. Trudging on foot along 
 the banks of the river they reached the place where Oxley 
 had turned back. It was no longer a marsh ; but, with the 
 intense heat, the clay beneath their feet »vas baked and 
 hard; there was the same dreary stretch of reeds, now 
 withered and yellow under the glare of the sun. Sturt 
 endeavoured to penetrate this solitude, but the physical 
 exertion of pushing their way through the reeds was too 
 great for them. If they paused to rest, they were almost 
 suffocated in the hot and pestilent air ; the only sound they 
 could hear was the distant booming of the bittern, and a 
 feeling of the most lonely wretchedness pervaded the scene. 
 At length they were glad to leave this dismal region and 
 strike to the west, through a flat and monotonous dis- 
 trict, where the shells and claws of crayfish told of frequent 
 inundations. Through this plain there flowed a river, which 
 Sturt called the Darling, in honour of the Governor. They 
 followed this river for about ninety miles, and then took 
 their way back to Sydney, Sturt being now able to prove 
 
VII.] 
 
 THE MURRAY. 
 
 61 
 
 that the belief in the existence of a great inland sea was 
 erroneous. 
 
 5. The Murray. — In 1829, along with a naturalist named 
 Macleay, he was again sent out to explore the interior, and 
 on this occasion he carried his portable boats to the Mur- 
 rumbidgee, on which he embarked his party of eight convicts. 
 They rowed with a will, and soon took the boat down the 
 river beyond its junction with the Lachlan. The stream 
 then became narrow, a thick growth of overhanging trees 
 shut out the light from above, while, beneath, the rushing 
 waters bore them swiftly over dangerous snags and through 
 whirling rapids, until they were suddenly shot out into the 
 broad surface of a noble stream which flowed gently over 
 its smooth bed of sand and pebbles. This river they called 
 the Murray ; but it was afterwards found to be only the 
 lower portion of the stream which had been crossed by 
 Hume and Ho veil several years before. 
 
 Sturt's manner of journeying was to row from sunrise to 
 sunset, then land on the 
 banks of the river and en- 
 camp for the night. This 
 exposed the party to some 
 dangers from the suspicious 
 natives, who often mustered 
 in crowds of several hun- 
 dreds; but Sturt's kindly 
 manner and pleasant smile 
 always converted them into 
 friends, so that the worst 
 mishap he had to record was 
 the loss of his f ryingpan and 
 other utensils, together with 
 some provisions, which were 
 stolen by the blacks in the dead of night. 
 
 CAPTAIN CHARLES STURT. 
 
 After twilight 
 
62 DISCOVERIES IN INTERIOR, 1817-1836. [chap. 
 
 tlie little encampment was often swarming with dark figures, 
 but Sturt joined in their sports, and Macleay especially 
 became a great favourite with them by singing comic 
 songs, at which the dusky crowds roared with laughter. 
 The natives are generally good-humoured, if properly 
 managed ; and throughout Sturt' s trip the white men and 
 the blacks contrived to spend a very friendly and sociable 
 time together. 
 
 After following the Murray for about two hundred miles 
 below the Lachlan they reached a place where a large river 
 flowed from the north into the Murray. This was the 
 mouth of the Eiver Darling, which Sturt himself had pre- 
 viously discovered and named. He now turned his boat 
 into it, in order to examine it for a short distance ; but after 
 they had rowed a mile or two they came to a fence of 
 stakes, which the natives had stretched across the river for 
 the purpose of catching fish. Eather than break the fence, 
 and so destroy the labours of the blacks, Sturt turned to 
 sail back. The natives had been concealed on the shore to 
 watch the motions of the white men, and seeing their con- 
 siderate conduct, they came forth upon the bank and gave 
 a loud shout of satisfaction. The party in the boat unfurled 
 the British flag, and answered with three hearty cheers, as 
 they slowly drifted down with the current. This humane 
 disposition was characteristic of Captain Sturt, who, in 
 after life, was able to say that he had never — either directly 
 or indirectly — caused the death of a blackfellow. 
 
 "When they again entered on the Murray they were 
 Ccirried gently by the current — first to the west, then to the 
 south ; and, as they went onward, they found the river grow 
 deeper and wider, until it spread into a broad sheet of water, 
 which they called Lake Alexandrina, after the name of our 
 present Queen, who was then the Princess Alexandrina- 
 Victoria. On crossing this lake they found the passage to 
 
VII.] THE MURRAY. 63 
 
 the ocean blocked up by a great bar of sand, and were 
 forced to turn tbeir boat round and face the current, with 
 the prospect of a toilsome journey of a thousand miles 
 before they could reach home. They had to work hard at 
 their oars, Sturt taking his turn like the rest. At length 
 they entered the Murrumbidgee ; but their food was now 
 failing, and the labour of pulling against the stream was 
 proving too great for the men, whose limbs began to grow 
 feeble and emaciated. Day by day they struggled on, 
 swinging more and more wearily at their oars, their eyes 
 glassy and sunken with hunger and toil, and their minds 
 beginning to wander as the intense heat of the midsummer 
 sun struck on their heads. One man became insane ; the 
 others frequently lay down, declaring that they could not 
 row another stroke, and were quite willing to die. Sturt 
 animated them, and, with enormous exertions, he succeeded 
 in bringing the party to the settled districts, where they 
 were safe. They had made known the greatest river of 
 Australia and traversed one thousand miles of unknown 
 country, so that this expedition was by far the most 
 important that had yet been made into theinteiior; and 
 Sturt, by land, with Flinders, by sea, stands first on the 
 roll of Australian discoverers. 
 
 6- Mitchell. — The next traveller who sought to fill up 
 the blank map of Australia was Major Mitchell. Having 
 offered, in 1831, to conduct an expedition to the north-west, 
 he set out with fifteen convicts and reached the Upper 
 Darling ; but two of his men, who had been left behind to 
 bring up provisions, were speared by the blacks, and the 
 stores plundered. This disaster forced the company soon 
 after to return. In 1835, when the Major renewed his 
 search, he was again unfortunate. The botanist of the 
 party, Eichard Cunningham, brother of the Allan Cunning- 
 ham already mentioned, was treaclierously killed by the 
 
64 DISCOVERIES IN INTERIOR, 1817-1836. [chap. 
 
 natives ; and, finally, the determined hostility of the blacks 
 brought the expedition to an ignominious close. 
 
 In 1836 Major Mitchell undertook an expedition to the 
 south, and in this he was much more successful. Taking 
 with him a party of twenty-five convicts, he followed the 
 Lachlan to its junction with the Murrumbidgee. Here he 
 stayed for a short time to explore the neighbouring country ; 
 but the party was attacked by hordes of natives, of whom 
 some were shot. The Major then crossed the Murray ; and, 
 from a mountain top in the Loddon district he looked 
 forth on a land which he declared to be like the Garden of 
 Eden. On all sides rich expanses of woodland and grassy 
 plains stretched away to the horizon, watered by abundant 
 streams. They then passed along the slopes of the 
 Grampians and discovered the River Glenelg, on which 
 they embarked in the boats which they had carried with 
 them. The scenery along this stream was magnificent ; 
 luxurious festoons of creepers hung from the banks, 
 trailing downwards in the eddying current, and partly 
 concealing the most lovely grottos which the current had 
 wrought out of the pure white banks of limestone. The 
 river wound round abrupt hills and through verdant 
 valleys, which made the latter part of their journey to the 
 sea most agreeable and refreshing. Being stopped by the 
 bar at the mouth of the Glenelg, they followed the shore 
 for a short distance eastward, and then turned towards 
 home. Portland Bay now lay on their right, and Mitchell 
 made an excursion to explore it. What was his surprise to 
 see a neat cottage on the shore, with a small schooner in 
 front of it at anchor in the bay. This was the lonely 
 dwelling of the brothers Henty, who had crossed from 
 Tasmania - and founded a whaling station at Portland Bay. 
 On Mitchell's return he had a glorious view from the 
 summit of Mount Macedon, and what he saw induced him, 
 
VII.] 
 
 MITCHELL. 
 
 65 
 
 on his return to Sydney, to give to the country the name 
 " Australia Felix." As a reward for his important services 
 he received a vote of one thousand pounds from the Council 
 at Sydney, and he was shortly afterwards knighted ; so 
 that he is now known as Sir Thomas Mitchell. 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 Port Phillip, 1800-1840. 
 
 1. Discovery of Port Phillip.— The discovery of Bass 
 Strait in 1798 had rendered it possible for the captains of 
 ships bound for Sydney to shorten somewhat their voyage 
 thither; and as this 
 was recognized by 
 the English Gov- 
 ernment as a great 
 advantage, a small 
 vessel, the Lady 
 Nelson, was sent 
 out under the com- 
 mand of Lieuten- 
 ant Grant, in order 
 to make a thorough 
 exploration of the 
 passage. She reach- 
 ed the Australian 
 coast at the bound- 
 ary between the 
 two present colo- 
 nies of Victoria and 
 South Australia. Grant called the cape he first met with 
 Cape Northumberland. He saw and named Cape Xelson, 
 
 6 
 
 JOHN PASCOE FAWKNER. 
 
66 PORT PHILLIP, 1800-1 SAO. [chap. 
 
 Portland Bay, Cape Sclianck, and other features of tlae 
 coast. When he arrived in Sydney he called the attention 
 of Governor King to a small inlet which he had not been 
 able to examine, although it seemed to him of importance. 
 In 1802 the Governor sent back the Lady Nelson, now under 
 the command of Lieutenant Murray, to explore this inlet. 
 Lieutenant Murray entered it, and found that a narrow 
 passage led to a broad sheet of water, thoroughly land- 
 locked, though of very considerable extent. He reported 
 favourably of the beauty and fertility of its shores, and 
 desired to name it Port King, in honour of the Governor ; 
 but Governor King requested that this tribute should be 
 paid to the memory of his old commander, the first Aus- 
 tralian Governor, and thus the bay received its present 
 name. Port Phillip. Only sixty days later Flinders also 
 entered the bay; but when he arrived, some time after- 
 wards, in Sydney, he was surprised to find he was not the 
 first discoverer. 
 
 It was at this time that the Governor in Sydney was 
 afraid of the intrasion of the French upon Australian soil, 
 and when he heard how favourable the appearance of this 
 port was for settlement he resolved to have it more care- 
 fully explored. Accordingly he sent a small schooner, the 
 Cumberland, under the charge of Mr. Eobbins, to make 
 the examination. The vessel carried Charles Grimes, the 
 Surveyor- General of New South Wales, and his assistant, 
 Meehan; also a surgeon named M'Callum, and a liberated 
 convict named Flemming, who was to report on the agri- 
 cultural capabilities of the district. 
 
 On arriving at Port Phillip they commenced a systematic 
 survey ; Bobbins sounding the bay, and making a careful 
 chart, while the other four were every morning landed on 
 the shore to examine the country. They walked ten or 
 fifteen miles each day, and, in the evening were again taken 
 
VIII.] DISCOVERT OF PORT PHILLIP. 67 
 
 on board the schooner. Thus they walked from the site of 
 Sorrento round by Brighton till they reached the Kiver 
 Yarra, which they described as a large freshwater stream. 
 Then on round the bay as far as Geelong. They carried a 
 good chart and several long reports to the Governor at 
 Sydney, who would probably have sent a party down to 
 settle by the Yarra, had it not been that an expedition had 
 already set sail from England for the purpose of occupying 
 the shores of Port Phillip. 
 
 2. Governor Collins.— This was the expedition of David 
 Collins, already mentioned. He brought out nearly 400 
 j)ersons, of whom over 300 were convicts. There is good 
 good reason to believe that Collins from the first would 
 have preferred to settle at the Derwent, in Tasmania, but 
 at any rate he carried out his work at Port Phillip in a very 
 half-hearted manner. He chose for the settlement a sandy 
 shore at Sorrento, where scarcely a drop of fresh water was 
 to be had, and where the blazing sun of midsummer must 
 have been unusually trying to a crowd of people fresh from 
 colder climates. 
 
 It soon became apparent that the site selected would never 
 prove suitable, and Collins sent Lieutenant Tuckey in search 
 of a better place. That officer seems to have made a very 
 inefficient search. He found no river, and no stream better 
 than the little one on which Frankston now stands. Here 
 he was attacked by a great crowd of blacks, and had a 
 conffict with them sufficiently severe to prevent his landing 
 again. He was thus debarred from exploration by land, 
 and the stormy weather prevented him from remaining long 
 on the open bay. He therefore returned with a very gloomy 
 report, and increased the despondency of the little com- 
 munity. Everyone was dull and dispirited except the two 
 or three children, who had been allowed to accompany their 
 convict parents. Among these, the leader of all their 
 
68 PORT PHILLIP, I8OO-I84O. [chap. 
 
 childish sports, was a little lad named John Pascoe Fawkner, 
 who was destined to be afterwards of note in the history of 
 Port Phillip. Everybody grew dispirited under the heat, 
 the want of fresh water, and the general wretchedness of 
 the situation ; and very soon all voices were unanimous in 
 urging the Governor to remove. Collins then sent a boat, 
 with letters, to Sydney, and Governor King gave him per- 
 mission to cross over to Tasmania. He lost not a moment 
 in doing so, and founded the settlement at the Derwent, to 
 which reference has already been made. 
 
 Before he left, there were four convicts who took advan- 
 tage of the confusion to escape into the bush, hoping to- 
 make their way to Sydney. One returned, footsore and 
 weary, just in time to be taken on board ; the other three 
 were not again seen. Two are believed to have perished of 
 hunger, and thirty-two years passed away before the fate 
 of the third was discovered. 
 
 3. Western Port. — When Hume and Hovell returned to 
 Sydney after their exploring expedition, Hovell insisted 
 that the fine harbour he had seen was "Western Port. He 
 had really been at Geelong Harbour, but was all that 
 distance astray in his reckoning. Induced by his report, 
 an expedition was sent under Captain Wright to form a 
 settlement at Western Port. Hovell went with him to give 
 the benefit of his experience. They landed on Phillip 
 Island, but the want of a stream of permanent water was 
 a disadvantage, and soon after they crossed to the main- 
 land on the eastern shore, where they founded a settlement, 
 building wooden huts and one or two brick cottages. 
 Hovell had now to confess that the place he had formerly 
 seen was not Western Port, and he went off in search of 
 the fine country he had previously seen, but came back 
 disappointed. The settlement struggled onward for about 
 a year, but was then ^vithdrawn. 
 
VIII.] WESTERN PORT. 69 
 
 It is not easy to explain in a few words "wliy they 
 abandoned their dwellings and the land they had begun to 
 cultivate. It seems to have been due to a general dis- 
 content. However, there were private settlers in Tasmania 
 who would have carried out the undertaking with much 
 more energy. For in Tasmania the sheep had been multi- 
 plying at a great rate, while the amount of clear and 
 grassy land in that island was very limited. One of the 
 residents in Tasmania, named John Batman, who has been 
 already mentioned, conceived the idea of forming an 
 association, among the Tasmanian sheep-owners, for the 
 purpose of crossing Bass Strait and occupying with their 
 flocks the splendid grassy lands which explorers had seen 
 there. 
 
 4- Batman. — John Batman was a native of Parramatta, 
 but when he was about twenty-one years of age he had left 
 his home to seek his fortune in Tasmania. There he had 
 taken up land and had settled down to the life of a sheep- 
 farmer in the country round Ben Lomond. But he was 
 fond of a life of adventure, and found enough of excite- 
 ment for a time in the troubled state of the colony. It 
 was he who captured Brady, the leader of the bushrangers, 
 and he became well known during the struggle Avith the 
 natives on account of his success in dealing with them and 
 inducing them to surrender peaceably. But when all these 
 troubles were over, and he had to settle down to the 
 monotonous work of drafting and diiving sheep, he found 
 his land too rocky to support his flocks, and he knew that 
 others in Tasmania were in the same difhculty. In 1827 
 he and his friend Gellibrand, a lawyer in Hobart, asked 
 permission to occupy the grassy lands supposed to be round 
 Western Port, but the Governor in Sydney refused. In 1834 
 some of them resolved to go without permission, and an 
 association of eight members resolved to send sheep over to 
 
70 PORT PHILLIP, 1800-1840. [chap. 
 
 Port Phillip, wliich was now known to be the more suitable 
 harbour. 
 
 But, before they sent the sheep, they resolved to send 
 someone to explore and report. John Batman naturally 
 volunteered, and the association chartered for him a little 
 vessel, the Bebecca, in which, after nineteen days of sea- 
 sickness and miserable tossing on the strait, he succeeded in 
 entering Port Phillip on the 29th of May, 1835. Next 
 morning he landed near Geelong and walked to the top of 
 the Barrabool Hills, wading most of the way through grass 
 knee-deep. On the following day he went in search of 
 the aboriginals, and met a party of about twenty women, 
 together with a number of children. With these he soon 
 contrived to be on friendly terms ; and after he had distrib- 
 uted among them looking-glasses, blankets, handkerchiefs, 
 apples, and sugar, he left them very well satisfied. 
 
 5. The Yarra. — A day or two later the Rebecca anchored 
 in Hobson's Bay, in front of the ti-tree scrub and the lonely 
 shores where now the streets of Williamstown extend in all 
 directions. Batman again started on foot to explore that 
 river whose mouth lay there in front of him. With fourteen 
 men, all well armed, he passed up the river banks ; but, 
 being on the left side, he naturally turned up the Saltwater, 
 instead of the main stream. After two days of walking 
 through open, grassy lands, admirably suited for sheep, they 
 reached the site of Sunbury. From a hill at that place they 
 could see fires about twenty miles to the south-east ; and, as 
 they were anxious to meet the natives, they bent their steps 
 in that direction till they overtook a native man, with his 
 wife and three children. To his great satisfaction, he learnt 
 that these people knew of his friendly meeting with the 
 women in the Geelong district. They guided him to the 
 banks of the Merri Creek, to the place where their whole 
 tribe was encamped. He stayed with them all night, sleep- 
 
VIII.] THE YARRA. 71 
 
 ing in a pretty grassy hollow beside the stream. In the 
 morning he offered to buy a portion of their land, and gave 
 them a large quantity of goods, consisting of scissors, knives, 
 blankets, looking-glasses, and articles of this description. 
 In return, they granted him all the land stretching from 
 the Merri Creek to Geelong. Batman had the documents 
 drawn up, and on the Northcote hill, overlooking the grass- 
 covered flats of Collingwood and the sombre forests of 
 Carlton and Fitzroy, the natives affixed their marks to the 
 deeds, by which Batman fancied he was legally put in 
 possession of 600,000 acres. Trees were cut with notches, 
 in order to fix the boundaries, and in the afternoon Batman 
 took leave of his black friends. He had not gone far before 
 he was stopped by a large swamp ; and he slept for the 
 night under the great gum trees which then spread their 
 shade over the ground now covered by the populous streets 
 of West Melbourne. In the morning he found his way 
 round the swamp, and in trying to reach the Saltwater he 
 came upon a noble stream, which was afterwards called the 
 Yarra. In the evening he reached his vessel on the bay. 
 Next day he ascended the Yarra in a boat ; and when he 
 came to the Yarra Falls, he wrote in his diary, ' ' This will 
 be the place for a village," unconscious that he was gazing 
 upon the site of a great and busy city. Eeturning to 
 Indented Head, near the heads of Port Phillip, he left three 
 white men and his Sydney natives to cultivate the soil and 
 retain possession of the land he supposed himself to have 
 purchased. Then he set sail for Tasmania, where he and 
 his associates began to prepare for transporting their house- 
 holds, their sheep and their cattle, to the new country. 
 
 6. The Henty Brothers. ^ — But even earlier than this 
 period a quiet settlement had been made in the western 
 parts of Victoria. There, as early as 1828, sealers had dwelt 
 at Portland Bay, had built their little cottages and formed 
 
72 
 
 PORT PHILLIP, ISOO-mO, 
 
 [chap. 
 
 their little gardens. Butthey were unauthorized, and could 
 only be regarded by the Bntish Government as intruders, 
 having no legal right to the land they occupied. In 1834, 
 however, there came settlers of another class— Edward, 
 Stephen, and Frank Plenty. Their father — a man of some 
 wealth — had in 1828 emigrated with all his family t(^ 
 Western Australia, carrying with him large quantities of 
 fine stock. But the settlement at Swan Eiver proving a 
 failure, he had removed, to Tasmania, where his six sons all 
 settled. But very soon they found the pastoral lands of 
 Tasmania too limited, and as Edward Henty had in one of 
 his coasting voyages seen the sealers at Portland Bay and 
 noticed how numerous the whales were in that bay, and 
 how fine the grassy lands that lay within, he chartered a 
 vessel, the Thistle, and crossed in her to settle at Portland 
 Bay with servants, sheep, cattle, and horses. 
 
 The land was all that had been anticipated, and soon 
 
 Frank, and then Ste- 
 phen, arrived, with 
 more stock and more 
 ]nen to tend them. 
 Houses and stores 
 were put up, and fields 
 were ploughed. Ere 
 long other settlers fol- 
 lowed, and in the 
 course of five or six 
 years all the district 
 lying inland from 
 Portland Bay was well 
 settled and covered 
 with sheep, while a.t 
 Portland Bay itself so 
 many whales were caught that there were not tanks enough 
 
 EDWARD HENTY. 
 
VIII.] THE HENTY BROTHERS. 73 
 
 to hold the oil, and much of it was wasted. The English 
 Government after some delay agreed to sell land to the 
 settlers, and before 1840 a thriving little town stood on the 
 shores of Portland Bay. 
 
 7. Fawkner.— John Pascoe Fawkner, who, as a boy, had 
 landed at Sorrento in 1803, had grown up to manhood in 
 Tasmania through stormy times, and had at length settled 
 down as an innkeeper at Launceston ; with that business, 
 however, combining the editing and publishing of a small 
 newspaper. For he was always a busy and active-minded 
 worker, and he had done a great deal to make up for the 
 deficient education of his earlier years. When Batman 
 arrived in Launceston with the news of the fine pas- 
 toral country across the water, Fawkner became quite 
 excited at the prospects that seemed possible over there. He 
 accordingly began to agitate for the formation of another 
 association, and five members joined him. At liis expense, 
 the schooner Enterprise was chartered and loaded with all 
 things necessary for a small settlement. On the 27th July, 
 1835, he set sail from Launceston ; but the weather was so 
 rough that, after three days and two nights of inexpressible 
 sickness, Fawkner found himself still in sight of the 
 Tasmanian shores. He, therefore, asked to be put ashore, 
 and left Captain Lancey to manage the trip as he thought 
 best. The Captain took the vessel over to Western Port, 
 as had been originally arranged ; but the land there was 
 not nearly so good as they understood it to be in the 
 Port Phillip district. So they sailed round and safely 
 anchored in Hobson's Bay, bringing with them horses and 
 ploughs, grain, fruit-trees, materials for a house, boats, 
 provisions, and, indeed, everything that a small settlement 
 could want. Getting out their boat, they entered upon the 
 stream which they saw before them; but, unfortunately, 
 they turned up the wrong arm, and, after rowing many 
 
74 PORT PHILLIP, 1800-1840. [chap. 
 
 miles, were forced to turn back, the water all the way- 
 being salt and unfit for drinking. For this reason they 
 called this stream the Saltwater ; but next morning they 
 started again and tried the other branch. After pulling 
 for about an hour and a half they reached a basin in the 
 river, whose beauty filled them with exultation and delight. 
 A rocky ledge over which the river flowed kept the water 
 above it fresh ; the soil was rich, and covered with splendid 
 grass, and they instantly came to the conclusion to settle in 
 this favoured spot. Next day they towed the vessel up, 
 and landed where the Custom House now is. At night 
 they slept beside the Falls, where the air was odoriferous 
 with the sweet scent of the wattle trees just bursting into 
 bloom. 
 
 They had not been on the river many days before Mr. 
 "Wedge — one of Batman's party— in crossing the country 
 from Indented Head to the Yarra, was surprised to see the 
 masts of a vessel rising amid the gum trees. On reaching 
 the river bank, what was his surprise to find, in that lonely 
 spot, a vessel almost embedded in the woods, and the rocks 
 and glades echoing to the sound of hammer and saw 
 and the encouraging shouts of the ploughmen ! Wedge 
 informed Fawknor's party that they were trespassers on 
 land belonging to John Batman and Company. Captain 
 Lancey, having heard the story of the purchase, declared 
 that such a transaction could have no value. When Wedge 
 was gone, the settlers laid their axes to the roots of the 
 trees, and began to clear the land for extensive cultivation. 
 A fortnight later Wedge brought round all his party from 
 Indented Head in order to occupy what Batman had 
 marked as the site for a village, and the two rival parties 
 were encamped side by side where the western part of 
 Collins-street now stands. A little later Fawkner arrived 
 with further settlers and with a wooden house, which he 
 
VIII.] 
 
 FA WKNER. 
 
 75 
 
 soon erected by tlie banks of the Yarra, the first regularly 
 built house of Melbourne. He placed it by the side of the 
 densely wooded stream, which was afterwards turned 
 into Elizabeth-street. Great crowds of black and white 
 cockatoos raised their incessant clamour at the first strokes 
 of the axe ; but soon the hillside was clear, and man had 
 taken permanent possession of the spot. 
 
 v;;;.ii5?Nj^v 
 
 EARLY MELBOURNE (FROM THE SOUTH). 
 
 8- William Buckley. — Meanwhile a circumstance had 
 happened which favoured Batman's party in no small 
 degree. The men left at Indented Head were surprised 
 one morning to see an extremely tall figure advancing 
 towards them. His hair was thickly matted ; his skin was 
 brown, but not black, like that of the natives ; he was 
 almost naked, and he carried the ordinary arms of the 
 aborigines. This was William Buckley, the only survivor 
 
PORT PHILLIP, 1600-IS4G. [chap. 
 
 of the three convicts who had escaped from Governor 
 Collins's expedition. He had dwelt for thirty-two years 
 among the natives. He had many strange adventures 
 during this long time, but had not the smallest influence 
 for good upon the natives. He was content to sink at once 
 to their level, and lead the purely animal life they led. 
 But when he hoard that there was a party of whites on 
 Indented Head, whom the Geelong tribes proposed 
 to murder, he crossed to warn them of their danger. 
 Batman's party clothed him and treated him well, and for 
 a time he acted as interpreter, smoothing over many of the 
 difficulties that arose with the natives, and rendering the 
 formation of the settlement much less difficult than it 
 might have been. 
 
 9- Excitement in Tasmania — The news taken over by 
 Batman caused a commotion in Tasmania. Many settlers 
 crossed in search of the new country, and, before a year 
 had passed, nearly two hundred persons, with more than 
 15,000 sheep, had landed on the shores of Port Phillip. 
 But they soon spread over a great extent of country — from 
 Geelong to Punbury. They were in the midst of numerous 
 black tribes, who now, too late, began to perceive the 
 nature of Batman's visit, and commenced to seek revenge. 
 Frequent attacks were made, in one of which a squatter 
 and his servant were killed beside the Werribee. Their 
 bodies lie buried in the Flagstaff Gardens. 
 
 10. Governor Bourke. —These were not the only troubles 
 of the settlers ; for the Sydney Government declared that 
 all purchases of land from ignorant natives were invalid, 
 and Governor Bourke issued a proclamation, warning the 
 people at Port Phillip against fixing their homes there, as 
 the land did not legally belong to them. 
 
 Still new settlers flocked over, and a township began to be 
 formed on the banks of the Yarra. Batman's Association 
 
VIII.] GOVERNOR BOURKE. 11 
 
 found that their claims to the land granted them by the 
 natives would not be allowed ; and, after some correspondence 
 on the subject with the Home Government, they had to be 
 content with 28,000 acres, as compensation for the money 
 they had expended. 
 
 11. Lonsdale. — Towards the close of 18J5G Governor 
 Bourke found himself compelled to recognize the new 
 settlement, and sent Captain Lonsdale to act as a magistrate ; 
 thirty soldiers accompanied him to inaintain order and 
 protect the settlers. jN'ext year (1837) the Governor himself 
 arrived at Port Phillip, where he found the settlers now 
 numbering 500. He planned out the little town, giving 
 names to its streets, and finally settling that it should be 
 called Melbourne, after Lord Melbourne, who was then the 
 Prime Minister of England. 
 
 12. Latrobe- — In 1838 Geelong began to grow into a 
 township, and the settlers spread west as far as Colac. 
 Next year, Mr. Latrobe was sent to take charge of the 
 whole district of Port Phillip, under the title of Super- 
 intendent, but with almost all the powers of a governor. The 
 settlers held a public meeting, in an auction-room at 
 Market-square, for the purpose of according a hearty 
 welcome to their new Governor, whose kindliness and 
 upright conduct soon made him a great favounte. 
 
 A wattle -and- daub building was put up as a police office, 
 on the site of the Western Markets, where it did duty for 
 some time, until one night it fell : some say because it 
 was undennined by a party of imj^risoned natives ; but others, 
 because a bull belonging to Mr. Batman had rushed against 
 it. A court-house was erected, and four policemen appointed. 
 A post-office next followed, and, one by one, the various 
 institutions of a civilized community arose in miniature 
 form. Numerous ships began to enter the Bay, and a 
 lucrative trade sprang up with Tasmania. In 1838, the 
 
78 
 
 PORT PHILLIP, 1800-1840. 
 
 [chap. 
 
 first newspaper appeared. It was due to the enterprise of 
 Fawkner. Every Monday ruorning sheets containing four 
 pages of writing were distributed to the subscribers, under 
 the title of The Advertiser. After nine issues of this kind had 
 been published, a parcel of old refuse type was sent over 
 from Tasmania ; and a young man being found in the town 
 who had, in his boyhood, spent a few months in a printing 
 office, he was pressed into the service, and thenceforward 
 The Advertiser appeared in a printed form — the pioneer oi 
 the powerful press of Victoria. Mr. Batman had fixed his 
 residence not far from the place now occupied by the 
 Spencer-street Railway Station. Here, in the year 1839, he 
 was seized by a violent cold ; and, after being carefully 
 nursed by one of his daughters, died without seeing more 
 
 than the beginning of 
 that settlement he had 
 laboured so hard to 
 found. Mr. Fawkner 
 lived to an advanced 
 ago, and saw the city 
 — whose first house he 
 had built — become a 
 vast metropolis. 
 
 The year 1839 
 brought further in- 
 crease to the popula- 
 tion, and before the 
 beginning of 1840 
 there were 3,000 per- 
 sons, with 500 houses 
 
 GOVERNOR LATROBE. 
 
 and 70 shops, in Melbourne. In 1841 it contained 11,000 
 persons and 1,500 houses. 
 
IX.] SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 1S36 to I84I. 79 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 South Atjstraxia, 1836 to 1841. 
 
 1. Edward Gibbon Wakefield.— In 1829 a small book 
 was published in London which attracted a great deal of 
 attention, not only by reason of its charming style and the 
 liveliness of its manner, but also on account of the complete 
 originality of the ideas it contained. It purported to be a 
 letter written from Sydney, and described the annoyances 
 to be endured by a man of taste and fortune if he emigrated 
 to Australia. He could have no intellectual society ; he 
 could not enjoy the pleasures of his library or of his picture 
 gallery; he could hope for none of the delights of easy 
 retirement, seeing that he had to go forth on his land, and 
 with his own hands labour for his daily food. For, said Mr. 
 Wakefield, the author of this little book, you cannot long 
 have free servants in this country ; if a free man arrives in 
 the colony, though he may for a short time work for you as 
 a servant, yet he is sure to save a little money, and as land 
 is here so excessively cheap, he at once becomes himself 
 a landed proprietor; he settles down on his farm, and, 
 though he may have a year or two of heavy toil, yet he is 
 almost certain to become both happy and prosperous. Thus, 
 the colony is an excellent place for a poor man, but it is a 
 wretched abode for a man of means and of culture. Wake- 
 field therefore proposed to found in Australia another colony, 
 which should be better adapted to those who had fortunes 
 sufficient to maintaiu them, and yet desired to emigrate to 
 a new country. His scheme for effecting this purpose was 
 to charge a high price for the land, and so to prevent the 
 poorer people from purchasing it ; the money received from 
 
80 SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 1S36 to IS41. [chap. 
 
 thie sale of land he proposed to employ in bringing out 
 young men and women, as servants and farm labourers, for 
 the service of the wealthier colonists. Now, said Wakefield, 
 on account of the immense natural resources of these 
 colonies, their splendid soil, their magnificent pasture lands^ 
 their vast wealth in minerals, and their widespread forests 
 of valuable timber, which stand ready for the axe, a gentle- 
 man possessed of only £20,000 will obtain as large an 
 income from it as could be procured from £100,000 in 
 England ; yet he will be able to enjoy his learned and 
 cultured leisure, just as he does at home, because all the 
 work will be done for him by the servants he employs. 
 For three or four years this agreeable fallacy made quite 
 a stir in England ; famous authors, distinguished soldiers, 
 learned bishops were deceived by it ; noblemen, members of 
 parliament, bankers and merchants, all combined to applaud 
 this novel and excellent idea of Mr. "Wakefield. 
 
 2. South Australian Association.— In 1831 the first 
 effort was made to give a practical turn to these theories, 
 and the southern shores of Australia were selected as a 
 suitable locality for the proposed colony. A company was 
 formed ; but when it applied to the British Government 
 for a charter, which Avould have conceded the complete 
 sovereignty of the whole southern region of Australia, Lord 
 Goderich, the Secretary of State, replied that it was asking 
 a great deal too much, and abruptly closed the negotiation. 
 Two years later the South Australian Association was 
 formed, and as this company asked for nothing beyond the 
 power to sell waste lands and apply the proceeds to assist 
 immigration, the British Government gave its consent and 
 an Act was passed by the Imperial Parliament to give the 
 Associatio"n full power to found a colony. This act directed 
 that commissioners should be appointed to frame laws for 
 the colony, to establish its courts, and to nominate its 
 
IX.] SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATION. 81 
 
 officers ; land was to be thrown open for sale at not less 
 than twelve shillings an acre, and even this comparatively 
 high price was to be raised, after a short time, to £ 1 per acre, 
 in order to keep the land in the hands of the wealthy. It 
 was expressly stated that no convict would be allowed to land 
 in the new settlement, which, it was hoped, would become in 
 every respect a model community. The British Government 
 declined to incur any expense in establishing or in main- 
 taining the colony, which was to be purely self-supporting. 
 Eleven commissioners were appointed, of whom Colonel 
 Torrens was chairman in England, and Mr. Fisher the 
 representative in Australia, where he was to take charge 
 of the sale of lands and supervise the affairs of the colony. 
 At the same time, Captain Hindmarsh was appointed 
 Governor, and Colonel Light was sent out to survey the 
 waste lands preparatory to their being offered for sale. 
 
 In May, 1835, during the very month in which Batman was 
 wandering for the first time on the banks of the Yarra, these 
 appointments for the foundation of a fourth Australian colony 
 were being published in the English Government Gazette. 
 Thus Victoria and South Australia took their widely different 
 origins at almost the same time ; but while the first actual 
 settlers landed at Port Phillip towards the end of 1835, the 
 pioneers of South Australia did not reach that colony 
 until the middle of 1836. 
 
 3. Adelaide. — The first emigrants to South Australia 
 landed on Kangaroo Island, of which Flinders had given 
 a most attractive account ; but though the place was 
 beautifully wooded, and of the most picturesque aspect, it 
 was found to be in many respects unsuitable for the founda- 
 tion of a city, and when Colonel Light shortly afterwards 
 arrived with his staff of surveyors, he at once decided to 
 remove the settlement to St. Vincent's Gulf. Here, about 
 six miles from the shores of the gulf, he selected a broad 
 
 7 
 
82 
 
 SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 1836 to 18J^1. [chap. 
 
 plain between tlie sea and the pleasant hills of the Mount 
 Lofty Range, and on the banks of a small stream, which 
 he called the Torrens, he marked out the line^ of the 
 infant city. Queen Adelaide was the wife of the reigning 
 king of England, and, as she was exceedingly popular, the 
 colonists, with enthusiasm, adopted her name for their 
 capital. A harbour was found seven miles distant from the 
 city, and on it a town was established, to which the name 
 Port Adelaide was given. 
 
 4- Governor Hindmarsh. — In December, 1836, Governor 
 Hindmarsh landed, and beneath a spreading gum-tree near 
 the beach he read his commission to a small audience of 
 
 emigrants and officials; 
 but when he proceeded 
 to examine v/hat had 
 been done, he was fill- 
 ed with disgust and 
 indignation. The only 
 landing place for ves- 
 sels was in the midst 
 of a mangrove swamp 
 at the mouth of a 
 muddy little creek ; 
 and all goods would 
 have to be carried six 
 or seven miles inland 
 to the city. To a 
 sailor's eye, it seemed 
 the most reckless folly to make so unusual a choice, and he 
 at once determined to remove the settlement to Encounter 
 Bay ; but- neither Colonel Light nor Mr. Fisher would permit 
 any change to be made, and a violent quarrel took place. As 
 resident commissioner, Mr. Fisher had powers equal to 
 those of the Governor, and was thus enabled to prolong the 
 
 GOVERNOR HINDMARSH. 
 
[X.] GOVERNOR HINDU ARSH. 83 
 
 contest. Of the settlers, some sided mth the Governor ; 
 others gave their support to the Commissioner, and the 
 colony was quickly divided into two noisy factions. After 
 fourteen months of constant wrangling, the English 
 Government interfered. Mr. Fisher was dismissed and 
 Governor Hindmarsh recalled, while the offices of both 
 were conferred on Colonel Gawler, who arrived in the 
 colony during the year 1838. 
 
 5. Early Failures. — The "Wakefield system could not 
 possibly realize the hopeful anticipations which had been 
 formed of it ; for the foundation of a new colony and the 
 reclaiming of the lonely forest wilds are not to be accom- 
 plished by merely looking on at the exertions of hired 
 servants. Ladies and gentlemen who had, in England, 
 paid for land they had never seen, were, on their arrival, 
 greatly disgusted with a sight of the toils before them. 
 They had to pull their luggage through the dismal swamp, 
 for there were neither porters nor cabs in waiting ; they 
 had to settle down in canvas tents, on a grassy plain, which 
 was called a city, but where a few painted boards here and 
 there, fastened to the trunks of gum-trees, were the only 
 indications of streets. Then, when they went out to see 
 their estates, and beheld great stretches of rude and 
 unpromising wilderness — when they considered how many 
 years must pass away before there could possibly arise the 
 terraces and gardens, the orchards and grassy lawns, which 
 make an English country-house delightful — their courage 
 failed them, and, instead of going forth upon the land, they 
 clustered together in Adelaide. Everyone wished to settle 
 down in the city, and as it was expected that, with the 
 growth of population, the value of town allotments would 
 rapidly increase, the idea became prevalent that, to buy 
 land in the city and keep it for sale in future years would 
 be a profitable investment. But there were so many who 
 
84 SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 1S36 to 1S4L [chap. 
 
 entertained the same astute design that, when they all 
 came to put it in practice, there was little gain to anyone ; 
 and the only result was that Adelaide was turned into a 
 scene of reckless speculation and gambling in land. 
 
 6. Governor Gawler- — Meantime poorer emigrants were 
 arriving in expectation of obtaining employment from their 
 wealthier predecessors, who had been able to pay the high 
 price demanded for land. They found that those whom 
 they expected to be their employers had abandoned the 
 idea of going out into the country to cultivate the soil. 
 There was, therefore, nothing for them to do ; they had no 
 money with which to speculate in town allotments, they 
 had no land on which to commence farming for themselves, 
 and they were in a wretched plight. Provisions had 
 rapidly increased in price, so that flour was raised from £20 
 to £80 per ton ; no food was being produced from the land, 
 and nothing whatever was being done to develop the 
 resources of the colony, whilst the money which the 
 settlers had brought with them was rapidly being spent in 
 importing shiploads of provisions from other countries. 
 
 In order to give employment to those of the settlers who 
 were really destitute. Governor Gawler commenced a series 
 of Government works. He constructed a good road 
 between Adelaide and its port. He formed wharves, and 
 reclaimed the unwholesome swamp ; he built a Custom 
 House, with warehouses and many other costly buildings, 
 the Government House alone costing £20,000. Now, these 
 were all in themselves very desirable things ; but it was 
 difficult to see how they were to be paid for. Colonel 
 Gawler spent nearly the whole of his own private fortune 
 in paying the wages of the unfortunate persons he employed, 
 but that could not long support so great a concourse of 
 people. He persuaded merchants in England to send out 
 provisions and clothing for the famished people ; but the 
 
IX.] GOVERNOR GAWLER. 85 
 
 only means he had of paying for these goods was by drafts 
 on the British Treasury, which were at first accepted as 
 equivalent to money, for it was believed that, whenever 
 they were presented in London, payment would immediately 
 be given by the British Government. But this was a 
 serious mistake : though the first series of drafts were 
 paid readily enough, yet when the authorities in England 
 found that others, for larger and larger amounts, continued 
 to pour in, they refused to pay, and reminded the colony 
 that, by the terms of its charter, it was to be entirely self- 
 supporting. A series of drafts, to the amount of £69,000, 
 were therefore dishonoured; and the merchants, finding 
 the drafts to be worth no more than so much paper, 
 demanded their money from the Governor ; but he had 
 nothing with which to pay, and the colony had to be 
 declared insolvent, having debts to the amount of about 
 £400,000 w^hich it could not meet. 
 
 7. The Collapse — Matters were now in a very gloomy 
 condition. Most of the colonists became anxious to return 
 to England, and therefore sought to sell their land. But 
 when nearly all wished to sell, and scarcely any wished to 
 buy, the price went down to a trifle, and men who had 
 invested fortunes in town allotments realized no more than 
 enough to pay their passage home. In the meantime 
 the English merchants declined to send out any further 
 supplies, and those who had not the means of leaving 
 Adelaide seemed in great danger of starving. But as land 
 could now be bought very cheaply, many industrious people 
 of the poorer class settled down to clear the country for 
 farming. This was what should have been done at the 
 very beginning, for no colony can be prosperous, or hope 
 for anything but bankruptcy, until it commences to produce 
 grain, or wool, or minerals, or some other commodity ^vith 
 which it can purchase from other lands the goods which 
 
86 
 
 SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 1S36 to ISU^ [chap. 
 
 they produce. The lands of South Australia are admirably 
 adapted for the growth of wheat ; and, after a time, success 
 attended the efforts of the farmers, who thus laid the 
 foundations of future prosperity. 
 
 VIEW OF EARLY ADELAIDE. 
 
 Another industry was also added about this time. The 
 young squatters of New South Wales, attracted by the 
 high prices given for sheep in the early days of Adelaide, 
 had been daring enough, in spite of the blacks and of the 
 toilsome journey, to drive their flocks overland ; and they 
 soon gave quite a wool-growing tone to the community. 
 These " overlanders," as they were called, affected a bandit 
 
IX.] THE COLLAPSE. 87 
 
 style of dress ; in their scarlet shirts and broad-brimmed 
 hats, their belts tilled with pistols, and their horses gaily 
 caparisoned, they caused a sensation in the streets in 
 Adelaide, which rang all evening with their merriment and 
 dissipation. But as they brought about fifty thousand 
 sheep into the colony during the course of only a year or so, 
 they were of essential benefit to it. Many of them settled 
 down and taught the new arrivals how to manage flocks 
 and prepare the wool, and thus they assisted in raising 
 Adelaide from the state of despondency and distress to 
 which it had sunk. 
 
 8. Recall of Governor Gawler.— The British Govern- 
 ment eventually decided to lend the colony a sufficient sum 
 of money to pay its debts ; but it was resolved to make 
 certain changes. The eleven commissioners were abolished, 
 Captain George Grey, a young officer, was appointed 
 governor, and one day in May, 1841, he walked into the 
 Government House at Adelaide, presented his commission 
 to Governor Gawler, and at once took the control of affairs 
 into his own hands. This summary mode of dismissing 
 Governor Gawler must now be regarded as somewhat 
 harsh ; for he had laboured hard and spent his money freely 
 in trying to benefit the colony, and the mistakes which 
 were made during his administration were not so much 
 due to his incapacity as to the impracticable nature of the 
 theory on which the colony had been founded. In 1841 
 he sailed for England, deeply regretted by many who 
 had experienced his kindness and generosity in their time 
 of trouble. 
 
88 2^EW SOUTH WALES, IS3S to 1S50. [< jiap. 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 New South Wales, 1838 to 1850. 
 
 1. Gipps- — In 1838, when Governor Bourke left Australia 
 to spend the remainder of his life in the retirement of his 
 native county in Ireland, he was succeeded in the govern- 
 ment of New South Wales by Sir George Gipps, an officer 
 who had recently gained distinction by his services in 
 settling the affairs of Canada. The new Governor was a 
 man of great ability, generous and well meaning, but 
 somewhat arbitrary in nature. No governor has ever 
 laboured more assiduously for the welfare of his people, 
 and yet none has ever been more unpopular than Gipps. 
 During his term of office the colonists were constantly 
 suffering from troubles due, in most instances, to them- 
 selves, but always attributed to others, and, as a rule, to 
 the Governor. It is true that the English Government, 
 though actuated by a sincere desire to benefit and assist the 
 rising community, often aggravated these troubles by its 
 crude and ill-informed efforts to alleviate them. And as 
 Sir George Gipps considered it his chief duty to obey 
 literally and exactly all the orders sent out by his 
 superiors in England, however much he privately dis- 
 approved of them, it was natural that he should receive 
 much of the odium and derision attendant on these injudi- 
 cious attempts ; but, on the whole, the troubles of the 
 colony were due, not so much to any fault of the Governor 
 or to any error of the English Government, as to the 
 imprudence of the colonists themselves. 
 
 2. Monetary Crisis— During twelve years of unalloyed 
 prosperity, so many fortunes had been made that the road 
 
X.] MONETARY CRISIS. 89 
 
 to wealth seemed securely opened to all who landed in the 
 colony. Thus it became common for new arrivals to regard 
 themselves, on their first landing, as already men of fortune, 
 and, presuming on their anticipated wealth, they often 
 lived in an expensive and extravagant style, very different 
 from the prudent and abstendous life which can alone 
 secure to the young colonist the success he hopes for. In 
 Sydney the most profuse habits prevailed, and in Melbourne 
 it seemed as if prosperity had turned the heads of the 
 inhabitants. The most expensive liquors were the ordinary 
 beverages of waggoners and shepherds ; and, on his visit to 
 Port Phillip in 1843, Governor Gipps found the suburbs of 
 Melbourne thickly strewed with champagne bottles, which 
 seemed to him to tell a tale of extravagance and dissipation. 
 3- Land Laws- — Whilst many of the younger merchants 
 were thus on their way to ruin, and the great bulk of the 
 community were kept impoverished by their habits, the 
 English Government brought matters to a crisis by its 
 injudicious interference with the Land Laws. The early 
 years of South Australia, and its period of trouble, have 
 been already described. In 1840, South Australia was on 
 the verge of bankruptcy, and the Wakefield policy of main- 
 taining the land at a high price had not produced the results 
 anticipated. Now, many of the greatest men in England 
 were in favour of the Wakefield theory ; and, in particular, 
 the Secretary of State for the colonies — that is, the member 
 of the British Government whose duty it is to attend to 
 colonial affairs — was a warm supporter of the views of 
 Wakefield ; so that when the people of South Australia 
 complained that their scheme could not be successful so 
 long as the other colonies charged so low a price for their 
 land, he sympathized with them in their trouble. " Who," 
 they asked, " will pay £1 an acre for land in South 
 Australia, when, by crossing to Port Phillip, he can obtain 
 
90 NEW SOUTH WALES, 183S to 1S50. [chap. 
 
 land equally good at five shillings an acre?" To prevent 
 the total destruction of South Australia, the Secretary of 
 State ordered the other colonies to charge a higher price for 
 land. New South Wales was to be divided into three dis- 
 tricts. (1.) The Middle District, round Port Jackson, where 
 land was never to be sold for less than twelve shillings an 
 acre. (2.) The Northern District, round Moreton Bay, 
 where the same price was to be charged. (3.) The Southern 
 District, round Port Phillip, where the land was of superior 
 quality, and was never to be sold for less than one pound an 
 acre. 
 
 A great amount of discontent was caused throughout 
 New South Wales by this order ; but South Australia was 
 saved from absolute ruin, and the Secretary of State 
 decKned to recall the edict. In vain it was urged that a 
 great part of the land was not worth more than two or 
 three shillings an acre ; the answer was that land was 
 Avorfch whatever people were willing to pay for it. For a 
 time it seemed as if this view had been sound, and land 
 was eagerly purchased, even at the advanced prices; in 
 1840, the amounts received from land sales were three times 
 as great as those received in 1838. But this was mostly the 
 result of speculation, and disastrous effects soon followed; 
 for the prices paid by the purchasers were far above the 
 real value of the land. If a man brought a thousand 
 pounds into the colony and paid it to the Government for a 
 thousand acres of land, he reckoned himself to be still 
 worth a thousand pounds, and the banks would be willing 
 to lend him nearly a thousand pounds on the security of 
 his purchase. But, if he endeavoured, after a year or two, 
 to resell it, he would then discover its true value, and find 
 he was in reality possessed of only two or three hundred 
 pounds : every purchaser had found the land to be of less 
 value than he had expected ; everyone was anxious to sell ; 
 
X.] LAND LAWS. 91 
 
 and, there being few buyers, most of it was sold at a 
 ruinous price. Men who had borrowed money were unable 
 to pay their debts, and became insolvent. The banks, who 
 had lent them money, were brought to the verge of ruin ; 
 and one of the oldest — the Bank of Australia — became 
 bankrupt in 1843, and increased the confusion in monetary 
 affairs. In order to pay their debts, the squatters were 
 now forced to sell their sheep and cattle ; but there was 
 scarcely anyone ^\aLling to buy, and the market being 
 glutted, the prices went down to such an extent that 
 sheep, which two years before had been bought for thirty 
 shillings, were gladly sold for eighteenpence. Indeed, a 
 large flock was sold in Sydney at sixpence per head. 
 Fortunately, it was discovered by Mr. O'Brien, a squatter 
 living at Yass, that about six shillings worth of tallow 
 could be obtained from each sheep by boiling it do"svn ; and, 
 if this operation had not been extensively begun by many 
 of the sheep-o^vne^s, they would, without doubt, have been 
 completely ruined. So great was the distress that, in 1843, 
 the Governor issued provisions at less than cost price, in 
 order to prevent the starvation of large numbers of the 
 people. 
 
 Yet, the Secretary of State in England knew nothing of 
 all this, and, in 1843, he raised the price of land still 
 higher, ordering that, throughout all Australia, no land 
 should be sold for less than one pound an acre. 
 
 4. Immigration. — It is not to be imagined, however, 
 that the English Government ever took to itself any of this 
 land revenue. Every penny was used for the j^urpose of 
 bringing immigrants into the colony. Agents in Europe 
 were appointed to select suitable persons, who received what 
 were called bounty orders. Anyone who possessed an order 
 of this kind received a free passage to Sydney, all expenses 
 being paid by the Colonial government with the money 
 
/ 
 
 92 NEW SOUTH WALES, 1838 to 1850. [chap. 
 
 received from the sale of land. The Governor had the 
 power of giving these orders to persons in New South 
 Wales, who sent them home to their friends or relatives, or 
 to servants and labourers, whom they wished to bring to 
 the colonies. Now, Governor Gipps imagined that the 
 land would continue to bring in as much revenue every year 
 as it did in 1840, and, in the course of that year and the 
 next, gave bounty orders to the extent of nearly one million 
 pounds. But, in 1841, the land revenue fell to about one- 
 twentieth of what it had been in 1840 ; so that the colony 
 must have become bankrupt had it not been that more than 
 half of those who received bounty orders, hearing of the 
 unsettled state of the colony, never made use of the per- 
 mission granted. Governor Gipps was blamed by the 
 colonists, and received from the Secretary of State a letter 
 of sharp rebuke. 
 
 As for the immigrants who did arrive in New South 
 Wales, their prospects were not bright. For a long time 
 many of them found it impossible to obtain employment. 
 Great numbers landed friendless and penniless in Sydney, 
 and in a few weeks found themselves obliged to sleep in the 
 parks, or in the streets, and, but for the friendly exertions 
 of a benevolent lady, Mrs, Chisholm, who obtained employ- 
 ment at different times for about two thousand of them, 
 their position would, indeed, have been wretched. 
 
 Mrs. Chisholm founded a home for defenceless and 
 friendless girls, of whom nearly six hundred were at one 
 time living in Sydney in destitution, having been sent out 
 from home with bounty orders, under the impression that 
 employment was certain whenever they would land at 
 Port Jackson. 
 
 Gradually the return of the colonists to habits of prudence 
 and thrift removed the financial distress which had been the 
 primary cause of all these troubles. Land ceased to be 
 
X.] IMMIGRATION. 93 
 
 bought at tlie ruinously higt rates, and goods returned again 
 to their former prices. 
 
 5. Separation. — But these were not the only cares which 
 pressed upon the mind of Sir George Gipps. He was 
 entrusted with the management of the eastern half of 
 Australia, a region stretching from Cape York to Port 
 Phillip. There were, it is true, but 150,000 inhabitants in the 
 whole territory ; no great number to rule, had they been all 
 moderately compact. But the people were widely scattered, 
 and there were in reality two distinct settlements ; one 
 consisting of 120,000 people round Sydney, the other of 30,000 
 round Port Phillip. The latter, though small, was vigorous, 
 and inclined to be discontented ; it was six hundred miles 
 distant from the capital, and the delays and inconveniences 
 due to this fact caused it no little annoyance. 
 
 There was, indeed, a Superintendent in Melbourne, and 
 to him the control of the Southern district was chiefly 
 entrusted. But Mr. Latrobe was undecided and feeble. 
 Though personally a most worthy man, yet, as a ruler, he 
 was much too timid and irresolute. He seldom ventured to 
 take any step on his own responsibility ; no matter how 
 argent the matter was, he always waited for instructions 
 from his superior, the Governor. 
 
 Under these circumstances, it was natural that the people 
 of Melbourne should wish for an independent Governor, 
 who would have full power to settle promptly all local 
 affairs. In 1840, they held a meeting in a room at the top 
 of the hill in Bourke-street, to petition for separation from 
 New South Wales. But, next year, the Sydney people held 
 a meeting in the theatre to protest against it. Here, then, 
 was another source of trouble to Gipps ; for, from this time, 
 the colony was divided into two parties, eagerly and 
 bitterly disputing on the Separation question. Governor 
 Gipps and Mr. Latrobe were not in favour of separation, 
 
94 I^EW SOUTH WALES, 1838 to 1850. [chap. 
 
 and, by their opposition, they incurred the deep dislike of 
 the people of Port Phillip. The authorities at home, how- 
 ever, were somewhat inclined to favour the idea, and as 
 Gipps was necessarily the medium of announcing their 
 views to the colonists, and carrying them into force, he 
 became unpopular with the Sydney colonists also. No man 
 has ever occupied a more trying position, and a somewhat 
 overbearing temperament was not at all suited for smooth- 
 ing away its difficulties. 
 
 6. Representative Government.— In 1842, a meeting 
 was held in Sydney to petition for representative govern- 
 ment. The British Parliament saw its way clear to concede 
 this privilege ; and in July, 1843, the first representatives 
 elected by the people assembled in Sydney. The new 
 Council consisted of thirty- six members ; of whom twelve 
 were either officials or persons nominated by the Governor ; 
 the other twenty-four were elective — eighteen being chosen 
 by the people of New South Wales proper, and six by those 
 of Port Phillip. It was the duty of this body to consult 
 with the Governor, and to see that the legitimate wishes of 
 the people were attended to. Six gentlemen Avere elected 
 for Port Phillip ; but residents of Melbourne found it 
 impossible to leave their business and go to live in Sydney. 
 The people of Port Phillip were therefore forced to elect 
 Sydney gentlemen to take charge of their interests. How- 
 ever, these did their duty excellently. Dr. Lang was 
 especially active in the interests of his constituents, and in 
 the second session of the Council, during the year 1844, he 
 moved that a jDetition should be presented to the Queen, 
 praying that the Port Phillip district should be separated 
 from New South Wales, and formed into an independent 
 colony. The Port Phillip representatives, together with 
 the now famous Robert Lowe, gave their support to the 
 motion ; but there were nineteen votes against it, and this 
 
X.] REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMEST. 95 
 
 effort was supposed to have been completely baffled. But 
 Dr. Lang drew up a petition of his own, which was signed 
 by all the Port Phillip members and sent to England. 
 Nothing further was heard on the subject for some time, 
 until Sir George Gipps received a letter from Lord Stanley, 
 the Secretary of State, directing him to lay the matter 
 before the Executive Council in Sydney ; and stating that, 
 in the opinion of the English Government, the request of 
 Port Phillip was very fair and reasonable. An inquiry was 
 held, the Sydney Council sent to England a report on the 
 subject, and received a reply to the effect that steps would 
 at once be taken to obtain from the Imperial Parliament 
 the required Act. 
 
 The people of Port Phillip were overjoyed, and, in 1846, 
 gave a grand banquet to Dr. Lang to celebrate the occasion. 
 But they were not destined to quite so speedy a consumma- 
 tion of their desires. The English Government which had 
 given so favourable an ear to their petition was defeated and 
 succeeded by another Government, to whom the Avhole ques- 
 tion was new. Year after year passed away, and the people 
 of Port Phillip began to grow impatient, and to complain 
 loudly of their grievances. First of all, they complained 
 that, although it was a well recognized principle that the 
 money received by Government for the waste lands of any 
 district should be employed in bringing out emigrants to 
 that district, yet the Sydney Government used much of the 
 money obtained from the sale of land in Port Phillip for 
 the purpose of bringing out new colonists — not to Melbourne 
 or Geelong, but to Sydney itself. And thus, it was said, 
 the people of Sydney were using the money of the Port 
 Phillip district for their own advantage. And, again, the 
 people of Melbourne complained that, although they were 
 allowed to elect six members of the Legislative Council, yet 
 this was merely a mockery, because none of the Port Phillip 
 
96 NEW SOUTH WALES, 1838 to 1850. [chap. 
 
 residents could afford to live in Sydney for five months 
 every year and to neglect tlieir own private business. The 
 former of these accusations seems, so far as we can now 
 determine, to have been unfounded ; the latter was un- 
 doubtedly a practical grievance, though more or less 
 unavoidable in every system of representation. 
 
 7. Earl Grey. — For a year or two the English Govern- 
 ment forgot all about the Separation question ; and, in 1848, 
 the wearied colonists at Port Phillip determined to call at- 
 tention to their discontent. Accordingly, when the elections 
 for that year approached, they determined not to elect any 
 member, so that the English Government might see of how 
 little use to them their supposed privilege really was. It 
 was agreed that no one should come forward for election, 
 and it seemed likely that there would be no election what- 
 ever, when a gentleman named Foster offered himself as a 
 candidate. This placed the non-election party in a dilemma ; 
 for if they declined to vote at all, and if Mr. Foster could 
 persuade only two or three of his friends to vote for him, 
 then, since there was no other candidate, he would be 
 legally elected. 
 
 Now, at this time. Earl Grey was Secretary of State for 
 the colonies ; and when someone proposed to nominate him 
 for election, in opposition to Mr. Foster, the idea was hailed 
 as a happy one. The non-election party could then vote 
 for Earl Grey, and he would be returned by a large 
 majority. But Earl Grey, being an English nobleman and 
 a member of the British Government, would certainly never 
 go to Sydney to attend a small Colonial Council ; so that 
 there would be, in reality, no member elected. But the 
 attention of the Secretary of State would be drawn to the 
 desires of the district. Earl Grey was triumphantly elected, 
 and when the news went home it caused some merriment. 
 He was jokingly asked in the House of Lords when he 
 
X.] EARL GREY, 97 
 
 would sail for Sydney ? And for several weeks he underwent 
 so much banter on the subject that his attention was fully 
 aroused to the long-neglected question. He weighed the 
 matter carefully, and, resolving to do the people of Port 
 Phillip full justice, sent out word that he would at once 
 prepare a Bill for the Imperial Parliament, in order to 
 obtain the necessary powers ; and he also intimated that 
 Queen Victoria would be pleased if the new colony should 
 adoi)t her name. Nothing could give the colonists more 
 satisfaction, and they waited with patience until affairs 
 should be properly arranged in England. 
 
 8. Sir Charles Fitzroy. — All this agitation, however, had 
 not taken place without much irritation and contention 
 between the people at Port Phillip and their Governor at 
 Sydney, from whose authority they wished to free them- 
 selves. Sir George Gipps had much to harass him, and in 
 1846 he was glad to retire from his troublesome position. 
 He was succeeded by Sir Charles Fitzroy, a gentleman in 
 every respect his opposite. By no means clever, yet good- 
 tempered and amiable, he troubled himself very httle with 
 the affairs of the colony. The Sydney Council managed 
 everything just as it pleased ; Sir Charles was glad to be 
 rid of the trouble, and the colonists delighted to have 
 their own way. As for the Separation question, he cared 
 very little whether Port Phillip was erected into a colony 
 or not. 
 
 In 1850 the news arrived that Port Phillip was to be 
 separated from New South Wales, and in the middle of the 
 next year its independence was declared. Its Superinten- 
 dent, Latrobe, was raised to the dignity of Governor, and 
 the new colony received its constitution, conferring on it all 
 the legislative and other powers which had previously been 
 possessed only by New South Wales. 
 
 9. Abolition of Transportation.— It was during this 
 
 8 
 
98 NEW SOUTH WALES, 1838 to 1850. [chap. 
 
 period that the English government resolved on sending no 
 more convicts to Australia. A committee of the Imperial 
 Parliament held an inquiry into the effects of transporta- 
 tion, and reported that it would be unwise to continue the 
 system. From 1842, therefore, there was practically a 
 cessation of transportation, although the majority of the 
 squatters were averse to the change. They found that the 
 convicts, when assigned to them, made good shepherds and 
 stockmen, and that at cheap rates ; they subsequently 
 petitioned for a revival of transportation ; but, after some 
 hesitation, the British government resolved to adhere to 
 their resolution, and send no more convicts to Sydney. 
 Van Diemen's Land was still unfortunate ; it was to re- 
 ceive, indeed, the full stream of convicts, but from 1842 
 Australia itself ceased to be the receptacle for the criminals 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 South Australia, 1841 to 1850. 
 
 1. Governor Grey. — The colonists of South Australia 
 had, in 1841, received a sharp but salutary lesson, and we 
 have seen that they profited by it. They had discovered 
 that the land was their only source of wealth, and many, 
 who had sufficient means to purchase farms or stations, went 
 out into the country, determined to endure a year or two of 
 hardship in hopes of prosperity to come. Nor had they 
 very long to wait ; in 1844 they were able to export com to 
 the extent of £40,000, and in that year the colony possessed 
 355,000 sheep and 22,000 cattle. 
 
 The new Governor, Captain George Grey, took every care 
 to assist the colonists in returning to more prudent courses. 
 Many changes were needed ; for in 1840, while the colony 
 
XI.] GOVERNOR GREY. 99 
 
 had a revenue of only £30,000, it had spent at the rate of 
 £171,000 per annum. Such imprudence coidd lead to 
 nothing but ruin, and the first task of the Governor was to 
 reduce all expenses as far as possible. In the first year the 
 expenditure was cut down to £90,000; in the nest, to 
 £G8,000; and in 1843, to £34,000. 
 
 Instead of employing the poorer labourers on costly and 
 unnecessary public Avorks, he persuaded them to take 
 employment in the country with the farmers and squatters, 
 who were rapidly opening up the interior parts of the 
 colony. He settled many on small farms or stations of their 
 own, but in this he was greatly impeded by the high price 
 of land ; for Wakefield's friends in England were not yet 
 convinced that their favourite scheme was defective — they 
 attributed every mishap to the incompetence of Governors 
 Hindmarsh and Gawler. "To lower the price," said they, 
 *' will be to ruin the colony," and lest such a thing should 
 happen, they raised the price of all lands, whether good or 
 bad, to one pound per acre. But many of those who had 
 bought land in the first days of the settlement had been so 
 anxious to part with it during the crisis that they had sold 
 it for much less than it cost them ; and thus a great number 
 of the poorer people became possessed of land at very 
 moderate prices. In 1839 there were but 440 acres under 
 cultivation; three years afterwards there were 23,000 acres 
 bearing wheat, and 5,000 acres of other crops. So rich and 
 fertile was the soil that, in 1845, the colonists not only 
 raised enough of com to supply their own wants, but were 
 able to export about 200,000 bushels at cheap rates to the 
 neighbouring colonies, and even then were left with 150,000 
 bushels, which they could neither sell nor use. So rapid a 
 development of resources, and so sudden an accession of 
 prosperity have probably never occurred in the history of 
 any other country. 
 
100 SOUTH AUSTRALIA, I841 to 1850. [chap. 
 
 2. Mineral Wealth. — Such was the success attendant 
 upon careful industry, exercised with prudence, and under 
 favourable circumstances ; but the colony was to owe yet 
 more to accidental good fortune. During the year 1841, 
 a carrier, while driving his team of bullocks over the Mount 
 Lofty range, had been obliged, by the steepness of the road, 
 to fasten a log to the back of his waggon in order to steady 
 the load and prevent its descending too quickly. As the log 
 dragged roughly behind on the road, it tore great furrows in 
 the soil, and in one of these the carrier noticed a stone which 
 glanced and glittered like a metal. On looking more closely, 
 he saw that there were large quantities of the same substance 
 lying near the surface of the earth in all directions. Having 
 taken some specimens with him, he made inquiries in 
 Adelaide, and learned that the substance he had discovered 
 was galena, a mineral in which sulphur is combined with 
 lead and small quantities of silver. The land on which this 
 valuable ore had been found was soon purchased, and mines 
 opened upon it. At first there was a large profit obtained 
 from the enterprise ; and though, in after years, the mines 
 became exhausted, yet they served to call the attention of 
 the colonists to the possibility of discovering more per- 
 manent and lucrative sources of mineral wealth. 
 
 3. Copper. — At the Kapunda Station, about forty miles 
 north-west of Adelaide, there lived a squatter named 
 Captain Bagot. One day, durmg the year 1842, he sent his 
 overseer — Mr. Button — to search for a number of sheep 
 which had strayed into the bush. After spending some 
 time in fruitless efforts, Mr. Dutton ascended a small hill in 
 order to have a more extensive view of the country, but 
 still he saw nothing of the lost sheep. On turning to 
 descend, his attention was attracted by a bright green rock 
 jutting from the earth. It seemed to him peculiar, so he 
 broke a small piece off and carried it down to Captain 
 

 ■> , O'. > 5 t> > > > ' 1 
 
 XI.] 
 
 COPPER. '. o ^vy^,i'> >•/. > iQl 
 
 Bagot's house, where he and the Captain examined the 
 specimen, and came to the conclusion that it consisted of 
 the mineral malachite, containing copper in combination 
 with water and carbonic dioxide. They let no one know of 
 the discovery, but proceeded to apply for the land in the 
 usual manner, without breathing a word as to their purpose. 
 The section of eighty acres was advertised for a month, and 
 then put up to auction ; but as no one was anxious for this 
 barren piece of ground, they had no competitors, and the 
 land fell to them for the price of eighty pounds. As soon 
 as they became possessed of it, they threw off all appear- 
 ance of mystery, and commenced operations. During the 
 first year the mines yielded £4,000; during the next, 
 £10,000; and for several years they continued to enrich 
 the two proprietors, until each had realized a handsome 
 fortune, when the land was bought by an English com- 
 pany. 
 
 4. The Burra Mines. — The discovery of copper at 
 Kapunda caused much excitement in the colony. Every- 
 one who possessed land examined it carefully for the trace 
 of any minerals it might contain ; and soon it was rumoured 
 that, at a place about one hundred miles north of Adelaide, 
 a shepherd had found exceedingly rich specimens of copper 
 ore. The land on which these were discovered had not yet 
 been sold by the Government, and in great haste a company 
 was formed to purchase it. This company consisted of the 
 merchants, professional men, and officials of Adelaide ; but 
 a rival company was immediately started, consisting of 
 shopkeepers and tradesmen, together -with the farmers of 
 the country districts. The former always maintained a 
 haughty air, and soon came to be known throughout the 
 colony as the "nobs;" while they, in their turn, fixed on 
 their rivals the nickname of the " snobs." For a week or 
 two the jealousies of the companies ran high, but they 
 
10-^. SOUFH, AUSTRAL.! A, ISJ^l to 1850. [chap. 
 
 were soon forced to make a temporary union ; for, according 
 to tlie land laws of the colony, if anyone wished to buy a 
 piece of land, he had to apply for it and have it advertised 
 for a month ; it was then put up for auction, and he who 
 offered the highest price became the purchaser. But a 
 month was a long time to wait, and it was rumoured that a 
 number of speculators were on their way from Sydney to 
 offer a large sum for the land, as soon as it should be 
 put up to auction. It was, therefore, necessary to take 
 immediate action. There was another regulation in the 
 land laws, according to which, if a person applied for 
 20,000 acres, and paid down £20,000 in cash, he became at 
 once the proprietor of the land. The "nobs" determined 
 to avail themselves of this arrangement ; but when they 
 put their money together, they found they had not enough 
 to pay so large a sum. They therefore asked the " snobs" 
 to join them, on the understanding that, after the land 
 had been purchased, the two companies would make a fair 
 division. By uniting their funds they raised the required 
 amount, and proceeded with great exultation to lodge the 
 money. But part of it was in the form of bills on the 
 Adelaide banks ; and as the Governor refused to accept 
 anything but cash, the companies were almost in despair, 
 until a few active members hunted up their friends in 
 Adelaide, and succeeded in borrowing the number of 
 sovereigns required to make up the deficiency. The money 
 was paid into the Treasury, the two companies were the 
 possessors of the land, and the Sydney speculators arrived 
 a few days too late. 
 
 Now came the division of the twenty thousand acres. A 
 line was drawn across tlie middle ; a coin was tossed up to 
 decide which of the two should have the first choice, and 
 fortune favoured the " snobs," who selected the northern 
 half, called by the natives Burra Burra. To the southern 
 
XI.] THE BURR A MINES. 103 
 
 part tlie " nobs " gave the name of " Princess Eoyal." Tlie 
 companies soon began operations ; but though the two 
 districts appeared on the surface to be of almost equal 
 promise, yet, on being laid open, the Princess Royal was 
 soon found to be in reality poor, while the Burra Burra 
 mines provided fortunes for each of the fortunate " snobs." 
 During the three years after their discovery they jdelded 
 copper to the value of £700,000. Miners were brought from 
 England, and a town of about 5,000 inhabitants rapidly 
 sprang into existence. The houses of the Cornish miners 
 were of a peculiar kind. A creek runs through the district, 
 with high precipitous banks of solid rock ; and into the 
 face of these cliffs the miners cut large chambers to serve for 
 dwellings ; holes bored through the rock, and emerging upon 
 the surface of the ground above, formed the chimneys, 
 which were capped by small beer barrels instead of chimney- 
 pots. The fronts of the houses were of weatherboard, in 
 which doors were left ; and for two miles along each side 
 these primitive dwelKngs looked out upon the almost dry 
 bed of the creek, which formed the main street of the 
 village. Here the miners dwelt for years, until the waters 
 rose one night into a foaming flood, which destroyed the 
 houses and swept away several of their inhabitants. 
 
 In 1845 Burra Burra was a lonely moor; in 1850 it was 
 bustling with men, and noisy with the sounds of engines 
 and pumps and forges. Acres of land were covered with 
 the company's warehouses and offices, and the handsome 
 residences of its officers ; behind these there rose great 
 mounds of blue, green, and dark-red ores of copper, worth 
 enormous sums of money. Along the roads eight himdred 
 teams, each consisting of eight bullocks, passed constantly 
 to and fro, whilst scores of ships were employed in convey- 
 ing the ore to England. From this great activity the 
 whole community could not but derive the utmost benefit. 
 
104 SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 1841 to 1850. [chap. 
 
 and for a time South Australia had every prospect of taking 
 the foremost place among the colonies. 
 
 5- Governor Robe.— In 1841 Governor Grey had been of 
 the greatest service to the colony in changing the state of 
 its prospects, but he was not permitted to see more than the 
 commencement of its great prosperity ; for, in 1845, he was 
 sent to govern New Zealand, and his place was filled by 
 Colonel Eobe, a military gentleman, of what is called the old 
 school, honourable and upright, but inclined to think that 
 everything ought always to be as it has been. He disliked 
 all innovation, and did what he could to prevent it, much 
 to the discontent of the young and thriving colony, which 
 was of necessity the scene of constant and rapid changes. 
 He passed a very troublous time for three years, and in 1848 
 was heartily glad to be recalled. 
 
 6. Governor Young. — The colony was then placed under 
 the care of Sir Henry Young, whose policy was completely 
 the reverse. He sought by every means in his power to 
 encourage the ceaseless activity of the people. His failing 
 was, perhaps, an injudicious zeal for progress. For in- 
 stance, in his desire to open up the Eiver Murray to 
 navigation, he wasted large sums of money in schemes that 
 proved altogether useless. He made an efl'ort to remove 
 the bar at the mouth of the river, but fresh deposits of sand 
 were constantly being brought down by the current, and 
 lashed up into a new bar by the waves that rolled cease- 
 lessly in from the Southern Ocean. He spent about 
 £20,000 in trying to construct a harbour called Port Elliot, 
 near the entrance to the Murray ; but there are now only 
 a few surf -beaten stones to indicate the scene of his fruitless 
 attempt. He offered a bonus of £4,000 to the first person 
 who should ascend the Murray in an iron steamer as far as 
 the Eiver Darling ; and a gentleman called Cadell made the 
 effort and succeeded. He obtained the reward, but it was 
 
XI.] GOVERNOR YOUNG. 105 
 
 not enough to pay his heavy expenses ; and when he endea- 
 voured afterwards to carry on a trade, by transporting wool 
 to the sea in flat-bottomed steamers, he found that the 
 traffic on the river was not sufficiently great to repay his 
 heavy outlay, and in a short time he was almost ruined. 
 The attempt was premature ; and though, in our time, the 
 navigation of the Murray is successfully carried on, and is, 
 undoubtedly, of immense advantage not only to South 
 Australia, but also to New South Wales and Victoria, yet, 
 at the time when the first efforts were made, it led to 
 nothing but loss, if not ruin, to the pioneers. 
 
 CHAPTEli XII. 
 
 The Discovery of Gold. 
 
 1. Importance of the Year 1851.— The year 1851 was 
 in many ways an eventful one to Australia. In that year 
 the colonies received from the Imperial Parliament the 
 amended constitutions they had so long expected. Tasmania, 
 South Australia, Port Phillip, and Western Australia were 
 now no longer under the absolute control of Governors sent 
 out bv the colonial authorities in England: thev could, 
 henceforth boast the dignity of being self-governed com- 
 munities, for, in 1851, they were invested with political 
 powers which had previously been possessed by New South 
 Wales alone. They now had the privilege of electing two- 
 thirds of the members of a Council, whose duty it was to 
 make for them their laws, and advise with the Governors on 
 all matters of public interest. And, again, it was on the 
 first of July in the same year that Port Phillip gained its 
 independence ; from that date onward its prosperous career 
 must be related under its new title — Victoria. 
 
106 THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD. [chap. 
 
 But the event which made the year 1851 especially memor- 
 able in the annals of Australia was the discovery, near 
 Bathurst, of the first of those rich goldfields which, for so 
 long a time, changed the prospects and the whole appear- 
 ance of the colonies. For several years after the date of 
 this occurrence the history of Australia is little more than 
 the story of the feverish search for gold, with its vast hopes, 
 its labour, its turmoil, and its madness, its scenes of exulta- 
 tion and splendid triumph, and its still more frequent scenes 
 of bitter and gloomy disappointment. 
 
 2. Early Rumours of Gold.— For many years there had 
 been rumours that the Blue Mountains were auriferous. It 
 was said that gold had been seen by convicts in the days of 
 Macquarie, and, indeed, still earlier ; but to the stories 
 of prisoners, who claimed rewards for alleged discoveries, 
 the authorities in Sydney always listened with extreme 
 suspicion, more especially as no pretended discoverer could 
 ever find more than his first small specimens. 
 
 In 1840, a Polish nobleman named Strzelecki, who had 
 been travelling among the ranges round Mount Kosciusko, 
 stated that, from indications he had observed, he was firmly 
 persuaded of the existence of gold in these mountains ; but 
 the Governor asked him, as a favour, to make no mention of 
 a theory which might, perhaps, unsettle the colony, and fill 
 the easily excited convicts with hopes which, he feared, 
 would prove delusive. Strzelecki agreed not to publish his 
 belief ; but there was another man of science who was 
 not so easily to be silenced. The Eev. "W. B. Clarke, a 
 clergyman devoted to science, and the father of Australian 
 geology, exhibited specimens in Sydney, on which he based 
 an opinion ^ that the Blue Mountains would, eventually, be 
 found to possess goldfields of great extent and value. 
 Specimens had been taken to London by Strzelecki ; and in 
 1844 a great English scientist, Sir Eoderick Murchison, read 
 
XII.] EARLY RUMOURS OF GOLD. 107 
 
 a paper before the Royal Geographical Society in which he 
 expressed a theory similar to that of Mr. Clarke. In 1846 
 he again called attention to this subject, and showed that, 
 from the great similarity which existed between the rocks 
 of the Blue Mountains and those of the Urals, there was 
 every probability that the one would be found to be as rich 
 as the other was known to be in the precious metals. So 
 far as theory could go, the matter had been well discussed 
 before the year 1851, but no one had ventured to spend liis 
 time and money in making a practical effort to settle the 
 question. 
 
 3. Edward Hargraves.— About that time, however, the 
 lich mines of California attracted a Bathurst settler, named 
 Edward Hargraves, to seek his fortune on the banks of the 
 Sacramento ; and though, among the great crowds of 
 struggling and josthng diggers, he met with but little 
 success, yet he learned the methods by which gold is dis- 
 covered and secured, and laid the foundation for adventures 
 in Austi'alia which were afterwards to bring him both 
 wealth and renown. Whilst he toiled with increasing dis- 
 appointment on one of these famous goldfields, the scenery 
 around him, and the appearance of the rocks, recalled to 
 his memory a certain secluded valley beyond the Blue 
 Mountains, which he had visited thirteen years before ; the 
 notion floated vaguely through his mind that, perhaps, in 
 that silent spot, there might lie great treasures, such as he 
 saw his more fortunate companions from time to time draw 
 forth from the rocks and soil around him. Day after day 
 the image of that winding creek among the hills near 
 Bathurst recurred with increasing vividness to stimulate 
 his imagination and awaken his hopes ; and, at length, this 
 feeling impelled him to seek once more the shores of Aus- 
 tralia, in order to examine the spot which had so often been 
 present to his day-dreams. He lost no time in sailing, 
 
108 THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD. [chap. 
 
 and scarcely had he arrived in Sydney ere he set out on 
 horseback to cross the Blue Mountains. On the 11th of 
 February, 1851, he spent the night at a little inn a few 
 miles from the object of his journey, and shortly after 
 dawn he sallied forth on his ride through the forest, carrying 
 with him a spade and a trowel, and a little tin dish. In 
 the cool air of the morning the scent of the spreading gum- 
 trees braced up his frame as he plunged deeper and deeper 
 among those lonely hollows and wood-clad hills. In an 
 hour or two he reached the well- remembered sj)ot — the dry 
 course of a mountain torrent which, in rainy seasons, finds 
 its way into the Summerhill Creek. He lost no time in 
 placing a little of the grey-coloured soil into his tin dish, 
 and at once carried it to the nearest pool, where he dipped 
 the whole beneath the water. By moving the dish rapidly, 
 as he had learned to do in California, he washed away the 
 sand and earth ; but the particles of gold, which are more 
 than seven and a half times heavier than sand, were not so 
 easily to be carried off. They sank to the corner of the dish, 
 where they lay secure — a few small specks, themselves of 
 little value, yet telling of hidden treasures that lay scattered 
 in all the soil around. 
 
 A few days were spent in a careful examination of the 
 neighbouring valleys, and when he was absolutely certain 
 that the hopes he had so warmly indulged would not prove 
 empty, he set out for Sydney ; taking care, however, to 
 breathe no word of what he thought or of what he had 
 proven. On the 3rd of April he wrote a letter to the 
 Colonial Secretary, in which he stated that, if the Govern- 
 ment were willing to give him five hundred pounds, he 
 would point out localities in New South Wales where gold 
 was abundantly to be found. In reply, the Colonial Secre- 
 tary announced that no preliminary reward could be given ; 
 but that, if he chose first of all to point out the localities, 
 
XII.] 
 
 EDWARD HARGRAVES. 
 
 109 
 
 he would afterwards be recompensed in proportion to the 
 results. He accepted these conditions, and Mr. Stutchbury, 
 the Colonial Geologist, was sent to accompany him to the 
 Summerhill Creek. On the 8th of May they set to work, 
 and soon obtained 
 several ounces of grain 
 gold; on the 13th, 
 they discovered a sin- 
 gle piece worth £30, 
 and next day Mr. 
 Stutchbury reported 
 to the Government 
 that he had seen 
 enough to convince 
 him that the district 
 was rich in the pre- 
 cious metal. Five days 
 afterwards, the little 
 valley of the Summer- 
 hill contained four 
 hundred persons, all 
 stooping over the creek 
 in a row about a mile 
 long, each with a dish in his hand, scarcely ever raising his 
 head, but busily engaged in washing the sand for gold. 
 Lumps were frequently found of value varying from five 
 to two hundred pounds. A week later, there were a thou- 
 sand persons at work on the creek near the formerly lonely 
 gully. 
 
 4. Rush, to the Goldfield. — The excitement throughout 
 the colony now became intense : workmen quitted their 
 employments, shepherds deserted their flocks, shopkeepers 
 closed their stores, and a great tide of fortune -seekers 
 pressed onward, day by day, to the west. Most of these 
 
 EDWARD HARGRAVES. 
 
110 THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD, [chap. 
 
 had sold everything they possessed, in order to make up a 
 little bundle of necessary articles. Yet there were very 
 many but ill-provided for a lengthened stay ; they hurried 
 along the road with the fallacious idea that gold was simply 
 to be shovelled into bags and carted to Sydney. But when 
 they came upon the scene, and saw that in the case of most 
 of them it would only be after weeks and months of severe 
 and constant toil that they could be rich, they grew faint- 
 hearted, lounged for a week or two on the diggings, and 
 then started for home again; so that, for some time, there 
 was a counter- current of grumbling and discontented men 
 passing back to Sydney by the road. These men thought 
 themselves befooled by Hargraves, and it might, perhajjs, 
 have cost him his life had he fallen into their hands. On 
 his trip to Sydney he was careful to disguise himself, to 
 avoid their threatened revenge. He received from Govern- 
 ment, however, his preliminary reward of £500, and, in 
 after years, New South Wales voted him the sum of £10,000, 
 which was supplemented by a present of £2,381 from 
 Victoria. Other profits also accrued to Hargraves ; so that 
 he Avas, in the end, recompensed for his toil and trouble 
 with a handsome competency. 
 
 The gloomy reports of returning diggers checked for a 
 time the flow of people to the west ; but in the month of 
 July an aboriginal shepherd on a station near Bathurst 
 burst in upon his master while seated at dinner, his eyes 
 glistening with excitement. He was only able to stammer 
 out, " Oh, massa, white man find little fellow, me find big 
 fellow." When his master drove him in a buggy through 
 the forest, the shepherd pointed to where a hundredweight 
 of gold was sticking out from a rock. It was so heavy that 
 they had to chop it in two with their axes before they could 
 lift it into the buggy. It was afterwards sold for £4,000, 
 So splendid a prize, obtained in so easy a manner, was a 
 
XII.] RUSH TO THE GOLDFIELD. Ill 
 
 temptation too dazzling to be resisted ; and the stream of 
 people along the Bathurst road was now tenfold denser than 
 before. 
 
 5. Government Regulations- — When the population on 
 the goldfields began to grow numerous, the Government 
 found it necessary to make arrangements for the preserva- 
 tion of law and order. A commissioner was appointed, 
 who was to act as a magistrate ; he was to be assisted by a 
 small body of police, and was to take charge of the gold 
 escorts. As the lands on which the gold was being found 
 were the public property of the colony, it was thought to 
 be but just that the community, as a whole, should par- 
 ticipate, to some small extent, in the wealth raised from 
 them ; and the order was, therefore, issued that diggers 
 should in all cases take out licenses before seeking for gold, 
 and should pay for them at the rate of thirty shillings per 
 month. 
 
 New diggings were, from time to time, opened up, and 
 fresh crowds of eager men constantly pressed towards them, 
 leaving the towns deserted iand the neighbouring colonies 
 greatly reduced in population. For some months the 
 Turon River was the favourite ; at one time it had no less 
 than ten thousand men upon its banks. At Ophir, and 
 Braidwood, and Maroo the most industrious and sagacious 
 miners were generally rewarded by the discovery of fine 
 pieces of gold, for which the Californian name of 
 "nuggets" now began to be extensively used. 
 
 6. Gold in Victoria. — When Latrobe was swom in to fill 
 the office of Governor of Victoria on the 16th July, 1851, 
 it appeared probable that he would soon have but a small 
 community to rule over. So great were the numbers of 
 those who were daily packing up their effects and setting 
 off for the goldfields of New South Wales that Victoria 
 seemed likely to sink into a very insignificant place on the 
 
112 THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD. [chap. 
 
 list of Australian colonies. In alarm at this prospect, a 
 number of the leading citizens of Melbourne had, on the 
 9th of June, united to form what was called the Gold 
 Discovery Committee, and had offered a reward of £200 to 
 the jDerson who should give the first intimation of a payable 
 goldfield within two hundred miles of Melbourne. Many 
 persons set out, each in hopes of being the fortunate 
 discoverer ; and a report having been circulated that signs 
 of gold had been seen on the Plenty Eanges, there were 
 soon no less than two hundred persons scouring those hills, 
 though for a long time without success. The first useful 
 discovery in Victoria seems to have been made on 
 1st July, by a Calif ornian digger named Esmond, who, like 
 Hargraves, had entered on the search with a practical 
 knowledge of the work. His experience had taught him 
 the general characteristics of country in which gold is 
 likely to be found, and he selected Clunes as a favourable 
 spot. He found the quartz rock of the district richly 
 sprinkled with gold ; and his discovery having been made 
 known, several hundred people were quickly on the scene. 
 Almost on the same day, gold was discovered by a party of 
 six men, at Anderson's Creek, only a few miles up the 
 Yarra from Melbourne. It is thus difficult to determine 
 with certainty whether or not Esmond was in reality the 
 first discoverer ; but, at any rate, he received honours and 
 emoluments as such ; and in after years the Victorian 
 Parliament presented him with one thousand pounds for 
 his services. 
 
 7. Ballarat. — On the 10th of August the Geelong news- 
 papers announced that deposits of auriferous earth had been 
 discovered at Buninyong, and very soon the sunny slopes of 
 that peaceful and pastoral district were swarming with 
 prospecting parties; the quietly browsing sheep were 
 startled from their favourite solitudes by crowds of men, 
 
XII.] BALLARAT. 113 
 
 who hastened with pick and spade to break up the soil in 
 every direction, each eager to outstrip the other in the 
 race for wealth. This region, however, did not realize the 
 expectations that had been formed of it, and many of the 
 diggers began to move northwards, in the direction of 
 Clunes. But at Clunes, also, there had been disappoint- 
 ment, for the gold was all embedded in the quartz rock, and 
 these early miners were not prepared to extract it ; parties 
 from Clunes were therefore moving southward to Bunin- 
 yong, and the two currents met on the slopes of the 
 Yarrowee, a streamlet whose banks were afterwards famous 
 as the Ballarat diggings. The first comers began to work 
 at a bend in the creek, which they called Golden Point. 
 Here, for a time, each man could easily earn from twenty 
 to forty pounds a day, and crowds of people hurried to the 
 scene. Everyone selected a piece of groimd, which he 
 called his claim, and set to work to dig a hole in it ; but 
 when the bottom of the sandy layer was reached, and there 
 seemed to be nothing but pipe-clay below, the claim was 
 supposed to be worked out, and was straightway abandoned. 
 However, a miner named Cavanagh determined to tiy an 
 experiment, and, having entered one of these deserted 
 claims, he dug through the layer of pipe-clay, when he had 
 the good fortune to come suddenly upon several large 
 deposits of grain gold. He had reached what had been in 
 long past ages the bed of the creek, where, in every little 
 hollow, for century after century, the flowing waters had 
 gently deposited the gold which they had carried with 
 them from the mountains. In many cases these " pockets," 
 as they were called, were found to contain gold to the value 
 of thousands of pounds, so that very soon all the claims 
 were carried down a few feet further, and mth such success 
 that, before a month had passed, Ballarat took rank as the 
 richest goldfield in the world. In October, there were ten 
 
 9 
 
114 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD. 
 
 [chap. 
 
 thousand men at work on the Yarrowee ; acre after acre 
 was covered with circular heaps of red and yellow sand, 
 each with its shaft in the middle, in which men were toiling 
 
 DISTANT VIEW OF THE YARROWEE AND BALLARAT. 
 
 beneath the ground to excavate the soil and pass it to their 
 companions above, who quickly hurried with it to the banks 
 of the creek, where twelve hundred "cradles," rocked by 
 brawny arms, were washing the sand from the gold. 
 
 8. Mount Alexander. — In the month of September a 
 party, who had gone about forty miles north-east of Clunes 
 to Mount Alexander, discovered near the present site of 
 Castlemaine a valuable seam of gold-bearing earth. The 
 fame of this place soon spread through all the colony; 
 many left Ballarat to seek it, and crowds of people hastened 
 from Melbourne and Geelong to share in the glittering 
 
XII.] MOUNT ALEXANDER. 115 
 
 prizes. In October, eight thousand men had gathered in 
 the district ; in November, there were not less than twenty- 
 five thousand diggers at work, and three tons of gold were 
 waiting in the tent of the Commissioner to be carried to 
 Melbourne. The road to Mount Alexander was crowded 
 with men of all ranks and conditions, pressing eagerly 
 onward to be in time. 
 
 9. Sandhurst. — A few weeks later the glories both of 
 Ballarat and of Mount Alexander were dimmed for a time 
 by the discovery of gold on the Bendigo Creek, which 
 seemed at first to be the richest of all the goldfields. In 
 the course of a few months nearly forty thousand persons 
 were scattered along the banks of the Bendigo, where 
 Sandhurst now stands. 
 
 In the month of May, 1852, there must have been close 
 upon seventy thousand men in the country between Bunin- 
 yong and Bendigo, all engaged in the same occupation. 
 Melbourne and Geelong were silent and deserted ; for 
 ill classes were alike infected with the same excitement ; 
 lawyers, doctors, clerks, merchants, labourers, mechanics, 
 all were to be found struggling through the miry ruts that 
 served for a highway to Bendigo. The sailors left the ships 
 in the bay with scarcely a man to take care of them ; even 
 bhe very policemen deserted, and the warders in the gaols 
 resigned in a body. The jDrice of labour now became exces- 
 sive, for no man was willing to work unless tempted by the 
 offer of four or five times the ordinary wage. 
 
 10. Immigration. — Meanwhile the news of these great 
 discoveries had travelled to Europe, so that, after the 
 middle of 1852, ships began to arrive freighted with 
 thousands of men of all nations, who no sooner landed in 
 Melbourne than they started for the diggings. During this 
 year nearly one hundred thousand persons were thus 
 bro ight into the country, and the population was doubled 
 
116 THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD. [chap. 
 
 at a bound. Next year ninety-two thousand fresh arrivals 
 landed, and Victoria thus became the most populous of the 
 colonies. During the two following years it received a 
 further accession of a hundred and fifty thousand ; so that, 
 in 1856, it contained four hundred thousand inhabitants, 
 or about five times the number it possessed in 1850. The 
 staple industry was, of course, the mining for gold, of 
 which, in 1852, one hundred and seventy-four tons were 
 raised, valued at £14,000,000. During the next ten years 
 £100,000,000 worth of gold was exported from Victoria. 
 
 Some of the nuggets that were found are of historic 
 note. The "Sarah Sands," discovered in 1853, was worth 
 about £6,500. In 1857 the "Blanche Barkly," worth 
 £7,000, was discovered ; and the following year produced 
 the "Welcome Nugget," which was sold for £10,500, and 
 was the greatest on record, until, in 1869, the "Welcome 
 Stranger " was dug out, which proved to be slightly larger. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 VlCTOBIA, 1851 TO 1855. 
 
 1. Effects of Gold Excitement. — For the first few 
 months after the discovery of gold in Victoria, many 
 shrewd persons believed that the colony would be ruined by 
 its seeming good fortune. None of the ordinary industries 
 could be carried on whilst workmen Avere so scarce and 
 wages so high. But, happily, these expectations proved 
 fallacious ; for, in 1852, when the great stream of people 
 from Europe began to flow into the colony, every profession 
 and every trade sprang into new and vigorous life. The 
 vast crowds on the goldfields required to be fed, and the 
 farmers found ample market for their corn, the squatters 
 
XIII.] EFFECTS OF GOLD EXCFVEMENT, 117 
 
 for their beef and mutton. The miners required to be 
 clothed, and the tailor and shoemaker must be had, what- 
 ever might be the prices they charged. Mechanics and 
 artisans of everv class found their labours in demand, and 
 handsomely paid for. The merchants, also, found trade 
 both brisk and lucrative ; while the imports in 1850 were 
 worth only three-quarters of a million, those of three years 
 later were worth about twenty times that amount. After 
 this enormous increase in population and business, it was 
 found that there was quite as great an opportunity of 
 gaining riches by remaining quietly engaged in one's own 
 occupation as by joining the restless throng upon the gold- 
 fields. The public revenue of the colony was in 1852 six 
 times, and in 1853 twelve times as great as it had been 
 before the discovery of gold ; so that, both as individuals 
 and as a nation, the people of Victoria had reason to be 
 satisfied mth the change. 
 
 2- Convicts Prevention Act. — There existed, however, 
 one drawback ; for the attractions of the goldfields had 
 drawn from the neighbouring colonies, and more especially 
 from Tasmania, great numbers of that class of convicts 
 who, having served a part of their time, had been liberated 
 on condition of good behaviour. They crossed over by 
 hundreds, and soon gave rise to a serious difficulty ; for, in 
 the confused and unsettled state of the colony, they found 
 only too great an opportunity for the display of their 
 criminal propensities and perverted talents. Being by no 
 means charmed with the toilsome life of the gold-miner, 
 many of them became bushrangers. There were, in 1852, 
 several bands of these lawless ruffians sweeping the country 
 and robbing in all directions. As the gold was being 
 conveyed from the diggings, escorted by bands of 
 armed troopers, the bushrangers lurked upon the road, 
 treacherously shot the troopers, and rifled the chests. On 
 
118 VICTORIA, 1S51 to 1855. [chap. 
 
 one occasion, their daring rose to such, a height that a band 
 of them boarded the ship Nelson whilst it lay at anchor in 
 Hobson's Bay, overpowered the crew, and removed gold to 
 the value of £24,000 — remarking, as they handed the boxes 
 over the side of the vessel, that this was the best goldfield 
 they had ever seen. 
 
 To prevent any further introduction of these undesirable 
 immigrants, the Legislature, in 1852, passed what was 
 called the "Convicts Prevention Act," declaring that no 
 person who had been convicted, and had not received an 
 absolutely free pardon, should be allowed to enter the 
 colony ; and that all persons who came from Tasmania 
 should be required to prove that they were free, before 
 being allowed to land. Any ship captain who brought 
 a convict into the colony was to be fined £100 for the 
 offence. 
 
 3. Aspect of Goldfields- — Meanwhile the goldfields were 
 growing apace. The discovery of the Eureka, Gravel Pits, 
 and Canadian Leads made Ballarat once more the favourite ; 
 and in 1853 there were about forty thousand diggers at 
 work on the Yarrowee. Hotels began to be built, theatres 
 were erected, and here and there a little church rose among 
 the long line of tents which occupied the slopes above the 
 creek. 
 
 Below, on the flats, the scene was a busy one. Thousands 
 upon thousands of holes covered the earth, where men 
 emerged and disappeared like ants, each bearing a bag of 
 sand, which he either threw on a wheelbarrow or slung over 
 his shoulder, and then carried forward, running nimbly 
 along the thin paths among a multitude of holes till he 
 reached the- little creek, where he delivered the sand to one 
 of the men, who stood shoulder to shoulder, in long rows, 
 for miles on either bank, all washing the sand and clay into 
 the shallow current, whose waters were turned to a tint 
 
XIII.] ASPECT OF GOLDFIELDS. 119 
 
 of dirty yellow. Such is the scene which presents itself by 
 day ; but at sunset a gun is fired from the Commissioner's 
 tent, and all cease work : then, against the evening sky, 
 ten thousand fires send up their wreaths of thin blue smoke, 
 and the diggers prepare their evening meals. Everything 
 is hushed for a time, except that a dull murmur rises from 
 the little crowds chatting over their pannikins of tea. But, 
 as the darkness draws closer around, the noises begin to 
 assume a merrier tone, and, minghng pleasantly in the 
 evening air, there rise the loud notes of a sailor's song, the 
 merry jingle of a French political chant, or the rich strains 
 of a German chorus. 
 
 In some tents the miners sit round boxes or stools, while, 
 by the Hght of flaming oil-cans, they gamble for match-boxes 
 filled with gold-dust ; in others they gather to diink the 
 liquors illicitly sold by the "sly grog shops." Many of the 
 diggers betake themselves to the brilliantly -lighted theatres, 
 and make the fragile walls tremble with their rough and 
 hearty roars of applause : everywhere are heard the sounds 
 of laughter and good humour. Then, at midnight, all to 
 bed, except those foolish revellers who have stayed too late 
 at the " grog shop." 
 
 At dawn, again, they are all astir ; for the day's supply 
 of water must be drawn from the stream ere its limpid 
 current begins to assume the appearance of a clay-stained 
 gutter. Making the allowances proper to the occasion, the 
 community is both orderly and law-abiding, and the 
 digger, in the midst of all his toil, enjoys a very agreeable 
 existence. 
 
 4. The License Fee. — He had but one grievance to 
 trouble his life, and that was the monthly payment of the 
 license fee. This tax had been imposed under the erroneous 
 impression that everyone who went upon the goldfields 
 must of necessity earn a fortune. For a long time this 
 
120 VICTORIA, 1851 to 1855. [chap. 
 
 mistake prevailed, because only the most successful diggers 
 were much heard of. But there was an undistinguishMble 
 throng of those who earned much less than a labom-er's 
 wage. 
 
 The average monthly earnings throughout the colony 
 were not more than eight* pounds for each man ; and of this 
 sum he had to pay thirty shillings every month for the 
 mere permission to dig. To those who were fortunate this 
 seemed but a trifle; but for those who earned little or 
 nothing there was no resource but to evade payment, and 
 many were the tricks adopted in order to " dodge the 
 Commissioners." As there were more than one-fifth of the 
 total number of diggers who systematically paid no fees, 
 the police were in the habit of stopping any man they met 
 and demanding to see his license ; if he had none, he was at 
 once marched off to the place that served for a gaol, and 
 there chained to a tree. 
 
 The police were in the habit of devoting two days a week 
 to what was called "digger hunting;" and as they often 
 experienced much trouble and vexation in doing what was 
 unfortunately their duty, they were sometimes rough and 
 summary in their proceedings. Hence arose a feeling of 
 hostility among the diggers, not only to the police, but 
 indeed to all the officials on the goldfields. The first 
 serious ebullition of the prevailing discontent took place on 
 the Ovens, where a commissioner who had been unneces- 
 sarily rough to unlicensed diggers was assaulted and 
 severely injured. But as violence was deprecated by the 
 great body of miners, they held large meetings, in order to 
 agitate in a more constitutional manner for the abolition of 
 the fee. At first they sent a petition to Governor Latrobe, 
 who declined to make any change. It was then hinted 
 that, possibly, they might be driven to use force ; and the 
 Governor replied that, if they did, he was determined to 
 
XIII.] THE LICENSE FEE. 121 
 
 do his duty. But in August, 1853, when the agitation was 
 increasing, Latrobe huriiedly reduced the fee to twenty 
 shillings per month. This appeased the miners for a time ; 
 but the precipitancy with which the Governor had changed 
 his intention showed too plainly the weakness of the Govern- 
 ment ; for, indeed, there was at that time scarcely a soldier 
 in Victoria to repress an insurrection, if one should break 
 out Among the confused crowds on the goldfields there 
 were great numbers of troublesome spiiits, many of them 
 foreigners, who were only too happy to foment dissension. 
 Thousands of miners had been disappointed in their hopes 
 of wealth, and, being in a discontented frame of mind, they 
 blamed their misfortunes entirely on the Governor. 
 
 In spite of the concession that had been made to them, 
 through all the goldfields a spirit of dissatisfaction pre- 
 vailed ; mutteiings were heard as of a coming storm, and 
 Latrobe, in his alarm, sent to all the neighbouring colonies 
 to ask for troops. As the Ninety-ninth Eegiment was 
 lying idle in Hobart Town, it was at once despatched to 
 Melbourne. 
 
 5. Governor Hotham. — While matters were in this state. 
 Governor Latrobe retired from office ; and in Jiuie, 1854, 
 Sir Charles Hotham arrived to fill the position. On his 
 first arrival, he showed that his sympathies were, to a great 
 extent, with the diggers. But he could scarcely be expected 
 to make any important change until he had been a few 
 months in the colony, and had learnt exactly the state of 
 affairs ; and, meanwhile, the discontent on the goldfields 
 was daily increasing. The months of September and 
 October, in 1854, were exceedingly dry ; the creeks were 
 greatly shrunk in volume, and in many places the diggers 
 could find no water either for drinking or for gold- washing ; 
 and their irritation was not at all soothed by the manners 
 of the commissioners and police. Besides this, the Govern- 
 
122 
 
 VICTORIA, 1851 TO 1855. 
 
 [chap. 
 
 GOVERNOR IIOTHAM. 
 
 merit had thought it necessary to form a camp on the gold- 
 fields, so that a large 
 body of soldiers dwelt 
 constantly in the midst 
 of the miners. The 
 soldiers and officers, 
 of course, supported 
 the commissioners, 
 and, like them, soon 
 came to be regarded 
 with the greatest dis- 
 favour. 
 
 The goldfield popu- 
 lation was in this 
 irritable state when a 
 trifling incident kind- 
 led an extensive re- 
 volt. 
 6. Riot at Balla.rat. — A digger named Scobie, late one 
 evening, knocked at the door of Bentley's Hotel, at 
 Ballarat. Finding the place closed for the night, he tried 
 to force an entrance, and continued his clamour so long that 
 Bentley became angry, and sallied forth to chastise him. 
 A crowd gathered to see the fight, and, in the darkness, 
 Scobie' s head was split open with a spade. Whose hand it 
 was that aimed the blow no one could tell ; but the diggers 
 universally believed that Bentley was himself the murderer. 
 He was therefore arrested and tried, but acquitted by Mr. 
 Dewes, the magistrate, who was said by the diggers to be 
 secretly his partner in business. A great crowd assembled 
 round the hotel, and a digger, named Kennedy, addressed 
 the multitude, in vigorous Scottish accents, pointing out the 
 spot where their companion's blood had been shed, and 
 asserting that his spirit hovered above and called for 
 
XIII.] RIOT AT BALL A RAT. 123 
 
 revenge. The authorities sent a few police to protect the 
 place, but they were only a handful of men in the midst of 
 a great and seething crowd of over eight thousand powerful 
 diggers. For an hour or two, the mob, though indulging in 
 occasional banter, remained harmless. But a mischievous 
 boy having thrown a stone, and broken the lamp in front of 
 the hotel, the police made a movement as if they were about 
 to seize the offender. This roused the diggers to anger, and 
 in less than a minute every pane of glass was broken ; the 
 police were roughly jostled and cut by showers of stones; 
 the doors were broken open. The crowd burst tumultuously 
 into the hotel, and the rooms were swarming ^vith men 
 drinking the liquors and searching for Bentley, who, how- 
 ever, had already escaped on a swift horse to the camp. As 
 the noise and disorder increased, a man placed a handful of 
 paper and rags against the wooden walls of the bowling 
 alley, deliberately struck a match, and set fire to the place. 
 The diggers now deserted the hotel and retired to a safe 
 distance, in order to watch the conflagration. Meanwhile 
 a company of soldiers had set out from the camp for the 
 scene of the riot, and on their approach the crowd quietly 
 dispersed ; but by this time the hotel was reduced to a heap 
 of smouldering ruins. 
 
 7. Conviction of Rioters. — For this outrage three men 
 were apprehended and taken to Melbourne, where they were 
 tried and sentenced to imprisonment. But Bentley was 
 also re-arrested and tried, and as his friend Dewes could on 
 this occasion be of no assistance to him, he was sentenced to 
 three years of hard labour on the roads. Dewes was dis- 
 missed from the magistracy, and Sir Charles Hotham did 
 everything in his power to conciliate the diggers. They were 
 not to be thus satisfied, however, and held a stormy meeting 
 at Ballarat, in which they appointed a deputation consisting 
 of Kennedy, HumfFray. and Black, to demand from the 
 
124 VICTORIA, 1S51 to 1S55. [chap. 
 
 Governor the release of the three men condemned for burn- 
 ing Bentley's Hotel. Hotham received them kindly, but 
 declined to accept their message, because, he said, the word 
 "demand "was not a suitable term to use in addressing 
 the representative of Her Majesty. As the diggers were 
 haughty, and refused to alter the phrase, the Governor 
 intimated that, under these circumstances, no reply could 
 be given. The delegates having returned to Ballarat, a 
 great meeting was held, and Kennedy, Humffray, Black. 
 Lalor, and Vern made inflammatory speeches, in which they 
 persuaded the diggers to pass a resolution, declaring they 
 would all burn their licenses and pay no more fees. 
 
 8. Insurrection at Ballarat. — Skirmishes between the 
 soldiers and diggers now became frequent ; and, on the 30th 
 of November, when the last " digger-hunt" took place, the 
 police and soldiers were roughlj'- beaten off. The diggers, 
 among their tents, set up a flagstaff, and hoisted a banner 
 of blue, with four silver stars in the comer. Then the 
 leaders knelt beneath it, and, having sworn to defend one 
 another to the death, proceeded to enrol the miners and 
 form them into squads ready for drilling. Meantime the 
 military camp was being rapidly fortified with trusses of 
 hay, bags of corn, and loads of firewood. The soldiers were 
 in hourly expectation of an attack, and for four successive 
 nights they slept fully accoutred, and with their loaded 
 muskets beside them. All night long lights were seen to 
 move busily backwards and forwards among the diggers' 
 tents, and the solid tread of great bodies of men could be 
 heard amid the darkness. Lalor was marshalling his forces 
 on the slopes of Ballarat, and drilling them to use such 
 arms as they possessed — whether rifles, or pistols, or merely 
 spikes fastened at the ends of poles. 
 
 9. The Eureka Stockade. — Sir Charles Hotham now 
 sent up the remaining eight hundred soldiers of the Ninety- 
 
XIII.] THE EUREKA STOCKADE. 125 
 
 ninth Ptegiment, under Sir Eobert Nickle, and to these he 
 added all the marines from the men-of-war and nearly all 
 the police of the colony. They were several days' on the 
 march, and only arrived when the disturbance was over. 
 The diggers had formed an intrenchment, called the Eureka 
 Stockade, and had enclosed about an acre of ground with a 
 high slab fence. In the midst of this stronghold they 
 proclaimed the " Eepublic of Victoria;" and here they 
 were able to carry on their drilling unmolested, under the 
 command of the two leaders — Vern, a German, and Peter 
 Lalor, the son of an Irish gentleman. They sent out 
 parties in every direction to gather all the arms and ammu- 
 nition they could obtain, and made extensive preparations 
 for an assault ; but, imagining that the soldiers would 
 never dream of attacking them until the arrival of Sir 
 Ptobert Nickle, they kept guard but carelessly. Captain 
 Thomas — who commanded the troops in the camp — deter- 
 mined to finish the affair by a sudden attack ; and, on 
 Saturday night, whilst the diggers were amusing themselves 
 in fancied security, he was carefully making his prepara- 
 tions. On Sunday morning, just after daybreak, when the 
 Stockade contained only two hundred men. Captain Thomas 
 led the troops quietly forth, and succeeded in approaching 
 within three hundred yards of the Stockade without 
 being observed. The alarm was then given within ; the 
 insurgents rushed to their posts, and poured a heavy volley 
 upon the advancing soldiers, of whom about twelve fell. 
 The attacking party wavered a moment, but again became 
 steady, and fired with so calm and correct an aim, that, 
 whenever a digger showed himself, even for a moment, he 
 was shot. Peter Lalor rose on a sand heap within the 
 Stockade to direct his men, but immediately fell, pierced in 
 the shoulder by a musket ball. After the firing had lasted 
 for twenty minutes there was a lull ; and the insurgents 
 
126 VICTORIA, 1851 to 1855. [chap. 
 
 could hear the order, " Charge ! " ring out clearly. Then 
 there was an ominous rushing sound — the soldiers were for 
 a moment seen above the palisades, and immediately the 
 conflict became hand-to-hand. The diggers took refuge in 
 the empty claims, where some were bayoneted and others 
 captured, whilst the victors set fire to the tents, and soon 
 afterwards retired with 125 prisoners. A number of half- 
 burnt palisades, which had fallen on Lalor, concealed him 
 from view ; and, after the departure of the soldiers, he 
 crawled forth, and escaped to the ranges, where a doctor 
 was found, who amputated his arm. The Government 
 subsequently offered a reward of five hundred pounds for 
 his capture ; but his friends proved true, and preserved him 
 till the trouble was all past. 
 
 The number of those who had been wounded was never 
 exactly known, but it was found that twenty-six of the 
 insurgents had died during the fight, or shortly afterwards, 
 and in the evening the soldiers returned and buried such of 
 the dead bodies as were still lying in the Stockade. On the 
 following day, four soldiers who had been killed in the 
 engagement were buried with military honours. Many of 
 the wounded died during the course of the following 
 month, and in particular the colony had to lament the loss 
 of Captain "Wise, of the Fortieth Regiment, who had 
 received his death wound in the conflict. 
 
 10. Trial of the Rioters- — When the news of the struggle 
 and its issue was brought to Melbourne, the sympathies of 
 the people were powerfully roused in favour of the diggers. 
 A meeting, attended by about five thousand persons, was 
 held near Prince's Bridge, and a motion proposed by Mr, 
 David Blair, in favour of the diggers, was carried almost 
 unanimously. Similar meetings were held at Geelong and 
 Sandhurst, so that there could be no doubt as to the general 
 feeling against the Government ; and when, at the beginning 
 
XIII.] TRIAL OF THE RIOTERS. 127 
 
 of 1855, thirteen of the prisoners were brought up for trial 
 in Melbourne, and each in his turn was acquitted, crowds 
 of people, both within and without the courts, greeted them, 
 one after another, with hearty cheers as they stepped out 
 into the open air, once more free men. 
 
 11. Improvements on the Goldfields.— The commission 
 appointed by Sir Charles Hotham commenced its labours 
 shortly after the conclusion of the riot, and in its report the 
 fact was clearly demonstrated that the miners had suffered 
 certain grievances. Acting upon the advice of this com- 
 mission, the Legislative Council abolished the monthly fee, 
 and authorized the issue of " Miners' Eights," giving to the 
 holders, on payment of one pound each per annum, per- 
 mission to dig for gold in any part of the colony. New 
 members were to be elected to the Council, in order to watch 
 over the interests of the miners, two to represent Sandhurst, 
 two for Ballarat, two for Castlemaine, and one each for the 
 Ovens and the Avoca Diggings. Any man who held a 
 "Miner's Eight" was thereby qualified to vote in the 
 elections for the Council. 
 
 These were very just and desirable reforms, and the 
 Government added to the general satisfaction by appointing 
 the most prominent of the diggers to be justices of the 
 peace on the goldfields. Thus the colony very rapidly 
 returned to its former state of peaceful progress, and the 
 goldfields were soon distinguished for their orderly and 
 industrious appearance. 
 
128 NEW SOUTH WALES, 1851 to 1860. [chap. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Xew South Wales, 1851 to 1860. 
 
 1. Effects of Gold Discovery. — For some years after 1851 
 the colony of New South Wales passed through a severe 
 ordeal. The separation of Port Phillip had reduced her 
 population by one-fourth and decreased her wealth by fully 
 a third ; the discoveries of gold at Ballarat and Bendigo had 
 deprived her of many of her most desirable colonists. But 
 the resources of the colony were too vast to allow of more 
 than a merely temporary check, and, after a year or two, 
 her progress was steady and marked. The gloomy antici- 
 pations with which the gold discoveries had been regarded 
 by the squatters and employers of labour were by no means 
 realized ; for though men were for a time scarce, and wages 
 exceedingly high, yet, when the real nature of a gold- 
 digger's life and the meagreness of the average earnings 
 became apparent, the great majority of the miners returned 
 to their ordinary employments and the colony resumed its 
 former career of steady success, though, with this difference, 
 that the population was greater, and business consequently 
 brisker than it had ever been before. 
 
 Fortune, however, had given to Victoria so great an 
 impetus in 1851, that the firm prosperity of New South 
 Wales was completely lost from sight in the brilliant success 
 of its younger neighbour. The yield of gold in New South 
 Wales was never great as compared with that of Victoria ; 
 for, with the exception of 1852, no year produced more than 
 two million pounds' worth. But the older colony learnt 
 more and more to utilize its immense area in the growth 
 of wool, an industry which yielded greater and more 
 
XIV.] EFFECTS OF GOLD DISCOVERY. 129 
 
 permanent wealth than has ever been gained from gold 
 mining. 
 
 2. Governor Denison. — Governor Fitzroy, who had been 
 appointed in 1847, remained eight years in office, and thus 
 was present during the events which made so great a change 
 in the prospects of the colonies. In 1855 he returned to 
 England, and his place was taken by Sir William Denison, 
 who had previously been Governor of Tasmania. In 1854 
 great excitement had been caused in Sydney by the outbreak 
 of the Crimean war, and the people, in their fear lest they 
 miarht suddenlv receive an unwelcome visit from Eussian 
 cruisers, hastened to complete a system of fortifications for 
 the harbour. The new Governor, who had in youth been 
 trained as an officer of the Royal Engineers in England, 
 took a warm interest in the operations. He built a small 
 fortress on an islet in the middle of the harbour, and placed 
 batteries of guns at suitable spots along the shores. The 
 advance of the science of warfare in recent times has left 
 these little fortifications but sorry defences against modern 
 ironclads ; but they have since been replaced by some 
 of those improvements in defence which have accompanied 
 the invention of new methods of attack. 
 
 3. Constitutional Changes. — The Constitutions which 
 had been framed for the colonies by the Imperial Parliament 
 in 1850 were not expected to be more than temporary. 
 The British Government had wisely determined to allow 
 each of the colonies to frame for itself the Constitution 
 which it deemed most suitable to its requirements, and had 
 instructed the Legislative Councils which were elected in 
 1851 to report as to the ^vishes of their respective colonies. 
 In Sydney the Council entrusted the framing of the new 
 Constitution to a committee, which decided to adopt the 
 English system of Government by two houses — the one to 
 represent the people as a whole, the other to watch over the 
 
 10 
 
130 NEW SOUTH WALES, 1S51 to 1S60. [chap. 
 
 interests of those who, by their superior wealth, might be 
 supposed to have more than an ordinary stake in the 
 welfare of the country. It was very quickly arranged that 
 the popular house should consist of not less than fifty-four 
 members, to be elected by men who paid a small rental, or 
 possessed property of a certain annual value. But with 
 regard to the nature of the Upper House, it was much 
 more difficult to come to a decision. Wentworth proposed 
 that the Queen should establish a colonial peerage to form 
 a small House of Lords, holding their seats by hereditary 
 right ; but this idea raised so great an outcry that he made 
 haste to abandon it. Several of the committee were in 
 favour of the scheme, afterwards adopted in Victoria, of 
 making the Upper House elective, while limiting the choice 
 of members to those who possessed at least £5,000 worth of 
 real property. After much discussion, however, it was 
 decided to give to the Governor the power of nominating 
 the inembers of this chamber, which was to consist of not 
 less than twenty-one persons. 
 
 The Legislative Council adopted this scheme, and sent it 
 to England for the assent of the Queen ; they also requested 
 that their Constitution might be still further assimilated to 
 that of Great Britain by the introduction of responsible 
 government, so that the ministers who controlled the affairs 
 of the colony should be no longer officials appointed or dis- 
 missed by the Governor and Secretary of State, but should, 
 in future, be chosen by the Parliament to advise the Governor 
 on all matters of public interest, and should be liable to 
 dismissal from office so soon as the Parliament lost con- 
 fidence in their ability or prudence. The British Govern- 
 ment at once gave its assent to this Constitution, which was 
 accordingly inaugurated in 1856; and from that date on- 
 ward the political management of New South Wales has 
 been an imitation of that of the British Empire. In 1858 
 
XIV.] CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES. 181 
 
 two small modifications were introduced : the Lower House 
 was increased in numbers to sixty-eight members, and the 
 privilege of voting for it was extended to every male person 
 over twenty-one years of age who had dwelt not less than 
 six months in the colony. 
 
 4. Floods and Droughts. — From the very commence- 
 ment of its existence, New South Wales has been subject 
 to the two extremes of heavy floods and dreary j)eriods of 
 drought. The mountains are so near to the coast that the 
 rivers have but short courses, and the descent is so steep 
 that, during rainy reasons, the rush of waters deluges the 
 plains near the sea, causing floods of fatal suddenness. At 
 the same time, the waters are carried off so rapidly that 
 there are no supplies of moisture left to serve for those 
 seasons in which but little rain falls. The districts along the 
 banks of the Hunter, Hawkesbury, and Shoalhaven rivers 
 have been especially liable to destructive inundations ; and, 
 from time to time, the people of Sydney have been obliged 
 to send up life-boats for the purpose of releasing the unfor- 
 tunate settlers from the roofs and chimneys of their houses, 
 where they have been forced to seek refuge from the rising 
 waters. The Murrumbidgee also, at times, spreads out into 
 a great sea, carrjdng off houses and crops, cattle, and, 
 oftentimes, the people themselves. In 1852, a flood of this 
 description completely destroyed the town of Gundagai, and 
 no less than eighty persons perished, either from drowning 
 or from being exposed to the storm as they clung to the 
 branches of trees. 
 
 5. The Dunbar. — A great gloom was cast over the colony 
 in 1857 by the loss of a fine ship ^vitllin seven miles of the 
 centre of Sydney. The Dunbar sailed from Plymouth in 
 that year with about a hundred and twenty people on board, 
 many of them well-known colonists who had visited Eng- 
 land, and were now on their way homewards. As the vessel 
 
132 NEW SOUTH WALES, 1851 to 1860. [chap. 
 
 approached the coast, a heavy gale came down from the 
 north-east, and, ere they could reach the entrance to Port 
 Jackson, night had closed around them. In the deep and 
 stormy gloom they beat to and fro for some time, but at 
 length the captain thought it safer to make for Sydney 
 Heads than to toss about on so wild a sea. He brought the 
 vessel close in to the shore in order to search for the entrance, 
 and when against the stormy sky he perceived a break in 
 the black cliffs he steered for the opening. This, however, 
 was not the entrance, but only a hollow in the cliffs, called 
 by the Sydney people " The Gap." The vessel was standing 
 straight in for the rocks, when a mass of boiling surf was 
 observed in the place where they thought the opening was, 
 and ere she could be put about she crashed violently upon 
 the foot of a cliff that frowned ninety feet above ; there was 
 a shriek, and then the surf rolled back the fragments and 
 the drowning men. At daybreak the word was given that a 
 ship had been wrecked at the Gap, and during the day 
 thousands of people poured forth from Sydney to view the 
 scene of the disaster. On the following morning it was 
 discovered that there was a solitary survivor, who, having 
 been washed into a hollow in the face of the rock, lay con- 
 cealed in his place of refuge throughout that dreadful night 
 and all the succeeding day. A young man was found who 
 volunteered to let himself down by a rope and rescue the 
 half- dead seaman. 
 
 To prevent the repetition of so sad an occurrence, light- 
 houses were erected for the guidance of ship captains entering 
 the harbour. 
 
 In 1852 the people of Sydney had the satisfaction of 
 inaugurating the first Australian University — a structure 
 whose noble front, magnificent halls, and splendid appoint- 
 ments for the furtherance of science, will always do credit 
 to the liberality and high aspirations of the colony. In 
 
XIV.] 
 
 THE DUNBAR. 
 
 133 
 
 1857 the "Australian Museum" was opened, and formed 
 tlie nucleus of the present excellent collection of specimens. 
 During this period several newspapers sprang into existence, 
 railways began to stretch out from the metropolis, and 
 lines of telegraph united Sydney with the leading cities oi 
 the other colonies. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 West Australia, 1829 to 1886. 
 
 1. King George's Sound.— In 1825, when Sir Ealph 
 Darling was appointed Governor of New South "Wales, his 
 
 VIEW OF KING GEORGE S SOUND. 
 
134 WEST AUSTRALIA, 1829 TO 1SS6. [chap. 
 
 commission was supposed to extend over all that part of 
 Australia which lies between the 139th meridian and the 
 eastern coast. Not that the whole of this country, or even 
 the twentieth part of it, was occupied by settlers — the 
 region was merely claimed as British territory. But the 
 remainder of Australia, comprising about two-thirds of the 
 continent, had not, as yet, been annexed by any European 
 nation ; and when, in 1826, a rumour prevailed that the 
 French were about to occupy that region, the Sydney people 
 were alarmed lest so great a territory should thus be lost 
 for ever to the British Empire ; they, therefore, in that 
 year, sent a detachment of soldiers to take formal posses- 
 sion of the country and to found a settlement at King 
 George's Sound. From this early effort, however, no prac- 
 tical result ensued ; and, during the few years of its 
 existence, the place continued to be nothing more than a 
 small military station. 
 
 2. Swan River.— But, in 1827, an English captain, 
 named Stirling, after having sailed along the western coast, 
 gave a most favourable account of a large river he had seen 
 on his voyage. He was not the first discoverer of this river, 
 which, as early as 1697, had been visited by a Dutch 
 navigator, named Vlaming, who was sailing in quest of a 
 man-of-war supposed to have been wrecked on these shores. 
 Vlaming had seen this stream, and, astonished by the 
 wonderful sight of thousands of jet black swans on its 
 surface, had given to it the name of Swan River. But it 
 liad remained unthought of till Captain Stirling, by his 
 rej^ort, awakened a warm and hopeful interest in this 
 district. 
 
 Shortly afterwards the British Government resolved to 
 found a colony on the banks of this river, and Captain 
 Fremantle arrived as the pioneer of the intended settle- 
 ment. When he landed on the shore, he found that a 
 
XV.] SWAN RIVER. 135 
 
 nearer view of the country was far from realizing the 
 expectations formed by those who had viewed it merely 
 from the open sea. He began to have forebodings, but it 
 was now too late — the ships, containing eight hundred of 
 the first settlers, were already close at hand ; and, in the 
 course of a week or two, after narrowly escaping ship- 
 wreck on the reefs along the shore, they landed Captain 
 Stirling, the first Governor, with his little band, on the 
 wilderness of Garden Island. Here, in this temporary 
 abode, the colonists remained for several months — sheltering 
 themselves in fragile tents, or in brushwood huts, from the 
 rough blasts and the rains that beat in from the winter 
 storms of the Indian Ocean. Exploring parties set out 
 from time to time to examine the adjoining mainland ; but, 
 however fair it seemed from a distance, they found it to be 
 merely a sandy region, covered with dense and scrubby 
 thickets. The only port was at a place called Fremantle, 
 where there was but little shelter from the storms of the 
 open ocean ; and the ovly place suitable for a town was 
 several miles up the Swan River, where the waters expand 
 into broad but shallow lagoons. Here the colonists deter- 
 mined to build their city, to which they gave the name of 
 Perth. But the site was not favourable to enterprise ; an 
 impassable bar stretched across the mouth of the river, 
 which was, therefore, inaccessible to vessels. The goods of 
 the colonists had to be landed on an exposed beach at Fre- 
 mantle, and then carried overland through miles of sand 
 and scrub. 
 
 In 1830 about a thousand new immigrants arrived ; and 
 towards the end of this year, the colonists succeeded in 
 settling down in their new homes at Perth. 
 
 3. Land Grants. — Most of these immigrants were 
 attracted to Western Australia by the prospect of obtaining 
 large estates ; they knew how valuable land was in the well- 
 
136 WEST A US TEA LI A, 1829 to 1886. [chap. 
 
 settled eountries of Europe, and, when they heard of square 
 miles in Australia to be had for a few pounds, they were 
 captivated by the notion of so easily becoming great landed 
 proprietors. But the value of land depends upon surround- 
 ing circumstances, and ten acres in England may be worth 
 more than a whole wilderness in West Australia. At thai 
 time foolish notions were in every quarter prevalent as to 
 what could be done by means of land. The British Govern- 
 ment thought it possible to make the colony self-supporting 
 by paying for everything with grants which cost it nothing, 
 and yet were readily accepted by others as payment. Thus 
 the Governor, instead of his yearly salary, was to receive a 
 hundred thousand acres, and all the officials were to be 
 paid in the same manner. The land was distributed in 
 great quantities to people who had no intention of using it, 
 but who expected that, by the progress of colonization, it 
 would increase enormously in value, and might then be sold 
 for splendid prices. 
 
 To induce emigrants to bring with them useful property, 
 the Government offered a bonus of twenty acres for every 
 three pounds' worth of goods imported ; and the colonists — 
 quite unconscious of the future that lay before them — carried 
 out great numbers of costly, though often unsuitable, 
 articles, by means of which the desired grants were obtained. 
 It was found difficult to convey this property to the town, 
 and much of it was left to rot on the shore, where carriages, 
 pianos, and articles of rich furniture lay half -buried in sand 
 and exposed to the alternations of sun and rain. 
 
 Splendid horses and cattle of the finest breed had been 
 brought out, but they wandered useless in the bush. For, 
 till the country was surveyed, nothing could be done in the 
 way of agriculture ; and, even after the surveys were com- 
 pleted, owing to a regulation that those whose grants 
 exceeded a square mile should be allowed the first choice, 
 
XV.] LAND GRANTS. 137 
 
 all the sections nearest to the town were obtained by officials 
 and wealtliy speculators, who had no intention of using 
 them. Many of these persons held a district almost as large 
 as an English county, and, therefore, the lands reiKaining 
 for selection by farmers and small purchasers were 
 generally far in the interior. The sections were pointed 
 out on the maps, but the places themselves had never been 
 trodden by a white man's foot, and were held by tribes of 
 hostile savages. Some, indeed, tried to settle upon these 
 distant regions, but they were lonely and isolated, and 
 many of them perished, either from disease and hunger or 
 by the spears of the natives. Yet there were very few who 
 made any attempt at agriculture, and the costly ploughs 
 and implements that had been imported lay rusting on the 
 beach. The horses and cattle died off, the sheep that had been 
 introduced at great expense were almost all killed through 
 feeding on a poisonous plant, which grew in patches over 
 the country ; and the men themselves were forced to loiter 
 at Perth, consuming their provisions and chafing at their 
 ruinous inaction. 
 
 4. Mr. Peel. — There was one gentleman who had spent 
 fifty thousand pounds in bringing with him to the colony 
 everything that could be required for farming and sheep- 
 breeding on a magnificent scale. He brought with him three 
 hundred labourers ; but the land was by no means so fertile 
 as he had imagined, and he had scarcely commenced his 
 farming operations when he found that his only escape from 
 ruin was to enter, single handed, on the self-dependent life 
 of the ordinary settler. 
 
 5. Gloomy Prospects. — Matters grew worse and worse, 
 and those of the disappointed colonists who had sufficient 
 prudence to start before their means were all exhausted 
 either returned to Europe or sought the other colonies, where 
 several achieved success — notably the brothers Henty, who 
 
138 WEST A [/STB ALIA, 1829 to 18S6. [chap. 
 
 settled at Launceston, and established at Portland Bay the 
 whaling station already mentioned. The gloomy reports of 
 those who reached England prevented any further acces- 
 sion of immigrants, and in 1835 it was rumoured, though 
 erroneously, that the British Government intended to 
 abandon the place. 
 
 In the following year (1836) the Colony of South Australia 
 was founded ; and a great extent of territory previously 
 marked as belonging to West Australia was assigned to the 
 new settlement. These two colonies, during their early 
 years, experienced trials and difficulties of the same kind ; 
 but while South Australia, in a short time, emerged to a 
 career of brilliant prosperity, West Australia, for forty y«ars, 
 never enjoyed even a transitory gleam of success. 
 
 6. Introduction of Convicts.— Time brought no material 
 change in the prospects of the little colony to the west until, 
 in 1848, a message was received from Earl Grey, asking the 
 settlers if they were willing to receive convicts in their 
 midst. The other colonies had refused them, but it was 
 thought not unlikely that West Australia might be glad 
 of them. Opinions were divided as to the reply which ought 
 to be given : while some were averse to the idea, others be- 
 lieved that the money sent out by the British Government to 
 maintain the convicts and soldiers would originate a trade 
 which might give to the colony new life and fresh prospects. 
 These arguments prevailed, and in 1849 the first shipload 
 of convicts arrived. From time to time new gangs were 
 received, and the place began to be much more populous than 
 before. The shopkeepers in Perth became rich, and the 
 farmer- squatters of the surrounding districts found a ready 
 market for their produce. Yet this success was only 
 partial ; and there was nothing which might be said to 
 constitute general prosperity. In the little town of Fre- 
 mantle, the few and scattered houses had still a rural 
 
XV.] INTRODUCTION OF CONVICTS. 139 
 
 aspect, and the streets echoed to the sound of no com- 
 mercial bustle. In Perth the main street was still a grassy 
 walk, shaded by avenues of trees, and even in the business 
 quarter the houses stood each in the midst of its spacious 
 garden. 
 
 7. Evils of Convictism. — West Australia had now to 
 suffer the consequences of having become a penal settle- 
 ment. Many of the convicts, on being liberated, took up 
 their abode in the colony ; but their characters were seldom 
 either amiable or virtuous, and from the vices of these men 
 the whole population began to lose character in the eyes of 
 other countries. A large number of the prisoners were no 
 soour-r liberated than they set off for the goldfields in the 
 eastern colonies, which thus began to share in the evils of 
 convictism. These colonies were not inclined to suffer long 
 in this manner ; and, to defend themselves, they refused 
 admission to any person who came from West Australia, 
 unless he could show that he had never been a con\Tict. 
 Thus the colony at Swan River was branded, and held to 
 be contaminated ; no free immigrants sought its shores, 
 and many of its best inhabitants departed. 
 
 This stigma continued to rest on West Australia until the 
 year 1868, when the transportation of criminals from Great 
 Britain altogether ceased, and the colony no longer received 
 its periodical supply of convicts. Since that time it has, 
 in a great measure, retrieved its character ; it is now doing 
 what it can to attract free immigrants, and otiers large 
 tracts of pastoral land at low rentals, while the farming 
 classes are attracted by free selection at only ten shillings 
 an acre, with ten years in which to pay it. It has con- 
 structed several railways and a number of telegraph lines ; 
 and at Albany, the town on King George's Sound, it has 
 established a coahng depot for the mail steamers on their 
 way to Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney. But West 
 
140 ^VEST A US THALIA, 1S20 to 1886. [chap. 
 
 Australia is still what it was called twenty years ago, " the 
 giant skeleton of a colony," consisting of about forty thou- 
 sand people, scattered over a hundred thousand square miles 
 of territory, behind which stretches a vast region of un- 
 explored wilderness. There is every indication, however, 
 that its progress in the near future will be rapid. Up 
 to 1870 it formed what was called a crown colony : the 
 people had no voice in their own government ; their affairs 
 were managed for them by the officers of the English 
 Government. At that date, however, when transportation 
 was abolished, the colony was promoted to the partial 
 management of its own affairs, and the people began period- 
 ically to elect a Legislative Couiicil. At present they are 
 being promoted to the full dignity of an independent state, 
 and will shortly have, like the other colonies of Australia, 
 a parliament of two Houses, with full power to make and 
 unmake their laws as they please. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Queensland, 1823 to 1886. 
 
 1. Moreton Bay.— When Captain Cook, in 1770, sailed 
 into the wide opening of Moreton Bay, several of his friends 
 on board observed the sea to be paler than usual, and formed 
 the opinion that, if a careful search were made along the 
 shores it would be found that a large river fell into the sea 
 somewhere in the neighbourhood. Cook attached so little 
 weight to this idea that he did not stay to make any 
 examination ; and when, about twenty years later, Captain 
 Flinders surveyed the same bay, he saw no trace of a 
 river, though he made special search for one. 
 
 But the reports of both these travellers were subsequently 
 
XVI.] MORETON BAY. 141 
 
 found to be erroneous ; for, in 1823, when Governor Brisbane 
 sent the discoverer Oxley, in the Mermaid, to select a place 
 for a new convict station in the northern district of New 
 South "Wales, Moreton Bay was found to receive the waters 
 of a large and important river. His success was, at least 
 in part, due to accident. He saw among the blacks, on the 
 shores of the bay, a naked man, who was seen to be white. 
 This man was taken on board. He had sailed in an open 
 boat from Sydney, with three others, about a year before, 
 but had been driven by gales out to sea and far to the 
 north. They had landed and had been well received by the 
 blacks. The rest had started to walk along the shore to 
 Sydney, but one man, named Pamphlett, had remained 
 with the natives ; and it was he who now was rescued by 
 Oxley, to whom he gave the information that, when roving 
 inland with the tribe among whom he was living, he had 
 seen a fine river of fresh water. Under the guidance of 
 Pamphlett, Oxley left his little vessel in the bay, and with 
 a boat entered upon the broad current of the stream. 
 Before sunset he had ascended about twenty miles, and had 
 been delighted by the richness of the scenery and the mag- 
 nificence of the timber. On the following day he proceeded 
 thirty miles further up, and throughout the whole distance 
 found the stream to be broad and of sufficient depth to be 
 navigable for vessels of considerable size. Oxley was justly 
 proud of his discovery, and wished to penetrate still further 
 into the forests that lay beyond ; but his boat's crew had 
 been so exhausted by their long row under a burning sun 
 that he could go no further, and found it necessary to turn 
 and glide with the current down to his vessel, which he 
 reached late on the fourth night. To the stream he had 
 thus discovered he gave the name of the Brisbane River. 
 
 2. Convict Station.— On his return he recommended this 
 district as a suitable position for the new convict station. 
 
142 QUEENSLAND, 1823 to 1886. [chap. 
 
 and during the following year (1824) he was sent to form 
 the settlement. With a small party, consisting of convicts 
 and their guards, he landed at Redcliff, now known as 
 Humpy Bong, a peninsula which juts out into Moreton 
 Bay a few miles above the mouth of the Brisbane. Hero 
 the settlement remained for a few months, but afterwards it 
 was moved twenty miles up the river to that pleasant bend 
 which is now occupied by the city of Brisbane. Here, under 
 Captain Logan, the first permanent commandant of the 
 settlement, large stone barracks for the soldiers were erected, 
 and lines of gaols and other buildings for the convicts. Here, 
 for twelve or fourteen years, the lonely community dwelt — 
 about a thousand t\vice -convicted prisoners, and a party of 
 soldiers and officials to keep them in order. No free person 
 was allowed to approach within fifty miles of the settlement, 
 unless with special permission, which was very sparingly 
 granted. The place was a convict settlement of the harshest 
 type, and stern were the measures of that relentless com- 
 mandant. Captain Logan, who flogged and hanged the 
 unfortunate people under his charge till they hated him 
 with a deadly hatred. He was an active explorer, and did 
 much to open up the interior country, till at length, on a 
 trip, in which he was accompanied only by some convicts, 
 they glutted their vengeance by spearing him and battering 
 his head with a native tomahawk. 
 
 3. The ScLUatters. — For thirteen years the settlement was 
 not affected by anything that went on in that outside world 
 from which it was so completely excluded. But in 1840 the 
 onward progress of squatting enterprise brought free men 
 with sheep and cattle close to Moreton Bay. That fine dis- 
 trict discovered by Allan Cmmingham in 1827, and called 
 by him the Liverpool Plains, had almost immediately 
 attracted squatters, who by degrees filled up the whole of 
 the available land, and those who were either new-comers, 
 
XVI.] THE SQUATTERS. 143 
 
 or who found their flocks increasing too fast for the area of 
 their runs, were forced to move outward, and, as a rule, 
 northward. It was about 1840 that the pioneers entered 
 that fine table-land district called by Allan Cunningham, in 
 1829, the Darling Downs, and when the year 1844 was 
 ended there were at least forty squatters over the Queens- 
 land borders, with nearly 200,000 sheep and 60,000 cattle, 
 and with many hundreds of shepherds and stockmen to 
 attend them. 
 
 4. A Free Settlement. — Whilst the squatters were 
 gathering all round, a change took place at Brisbane itself. 
 We have seen that about 1840 the English Government had 
 resolved to discontinue transportation, except to Van 
 Diemen's Land. The word, therefore, went forth that 
 Brisbane was no longer to be a place of exile for criminals. 
 It was to be the home of free men and the capital of a new 
 district. In 1841 Governor Sir George Gipps arrived from 
 Sydney, and laid out the plan of what is now a handsome 
 city. Blocks of land were offered for sale to free settlers, 
 and eagerly bought. The Governor also laid out a little 
 town, now called Ipswich, further inland. Meanwhile the 
 little township of Drayton, and that which is now much 
 larger, Toowoomba, began to gather round two wayside 
 inns established for the convenience of travellers. Captain 
 Wickham was sent up to assume the position of Superin- 
 tendent of Moreton Bay, which thus became practically a 
 new colony, just as Port Phillip was in the south, though 
 both were then regarded as only districts of New South 
 Wales. 
 
 5. The Natives. — In these early years the squatters of 
 the district were scattered, at wide intervals, throughout a 
 great extent of country, and, being in the midst of native 
 tribes who were not only numerous but of a peculiarly 
 hostile disposition, they often found themselves in a very 
 
144 QUEENSLAND, 1823 to 1886. [chap. 
 
 precarious situation. The blacks swarmed on the runs, kill- 
 ing the sheep, and stealing the property of the squatters, 
 who had many annoyances to suffer and injuries to guard 
 against. But their retaliation oftentimes exhibited a ferocity 
 and inhumanity almost incredible in civilized men. 
 
 The Government troopers showed little compunction in 
 destroying scores of natives, and, strange to say, the most 
 inhuman atrocities were committed by blacks, who were 
 employed to act as troopers. On one occasion, after the 
 murder of a white man by two blacks, a band of troopers, in 
 the dead of night, stealthily surrounded the tribe to which 
 the murderers belonged, whilst it was holding a corroboree, 
 and, at a given signal, fired a volley into the midst of the 
 dancing crowd — a blind and ruthless revenge, from which, 
 however, the two murderers escaped. But more savage 
 still was the wholesale poisoning of natives. When the 
 shepherds and hutkeepers out on a lonely plain began to 
 grow afraid of the troublesome tribes in the neighbourhood, 
 they sometimes made them a present of flour, in which white 
 arsenic had been mixed. Half a tribe might then be seen 
 writhing and howling for hours in the agony of this fright- 
 ful poison till death relieved them. The blacks would then 
 take a frightful revenge when they could, and so the hatred 
 of black for white and white for black became stronger and 
 deadlier. 
 
 6- Separation. — In less than five years after the removal 
 of convicts the district began to agitate for separation from 
 New South Wales, and, in 1851, a petition was sent to the 
 Queen, urging the right of Moreton Bay to receive the same 
 concession as had, in that year, been made to Port Phillip. 
 On this occasion their request was not granted, but, on 
 being renewed about three years later, it met with a very 
 favourable reception ; and, in the following year, an Act was 
 passed by the Imperial Parliament giving to the British 
 
XVI.] SEPARATION. 145 
 
 Government power to constitute the new colony. Again, 
 as in the case of Port Phillip, delays occurred ; and, in 1856, 
 a change of ministry caused the matter to be almost for- 
 gotten. It was not until the year 1859 that the territory to 
 the north of the twenty-ninth parallel of latitude was pro- 
 claimed a separate colony, under the title of Queensland. 
 
 In the December of that year, Sir George F. Bowen, the 
 first Governor, arrived ; and the little town of Brisbane, with 
 its 7,000 inhabitants, was raised to the dignity of being a 
 capital, the seat of government of a territory containing 
 more than 670,000 square miles, though inhabited by only 
 25,000 persons. A few months later, Queensland received 
 its Constitution, which differed but little from that of New 
 South Wales. There were established two Houses of Legisla- 
 ture, one consisting of members nominated by the Governor, 
 and the other elected by the people. 
 
 7. Gold. — In 1858 it was reported that gold had been dis- 
 covered far to the north, on the banks of the Fitzroy Eiver, 
 and in a short time many vessels arrived in Keppel Bay, 
 their holds and decks crowded with men, who eagerly landed 
 and hastened to Canoona, a place about sixty or seventy 
 miles up the river. Ere long there were about fifteen thou- 
 sand diggers on the scene ; but it was soon discovered that 
 the gold was confined to a very small area, and by no means 
 plentiful ; and those who had spent all their money in getting 
 to the place were in a wretched plight. A large population 
 had been hurriedly gathered in an isolated region, without 
 provisions, or the possibility of obtaining them ; their 
 expectations of the goldfield had been disappointed, and 
 for some time the Fitzroy Eiver was one great scene of 
 misery and starvation, till the Governments of New South 
 Wales and Victoria sent vessels to convey the unfortunate 
 diggers from the place. Some, however, in the extremity 
 of the famine, had selected portions of the fertile land on 
 
 11 
 
146 QUEENSLAND, 1823 to 1886. [chap. 
 
 tlie banks of the river, and had begun to cultivate them as 
 farms. They were pleased with the district and, having 
 settled down on their land, they founded what is now the 
 thriving city of Rockhampton. 
 
 A great amount of success, however, attended a subse- 
 quent effort in 1867. The Government of Queensland offered 
 rewards, varying from two hundred to a thousand pounds, 
 for the discovery of payable goldfields ; and, during the 
 course of the next two or three years, many districts were 
 opened up to the miner. Towards the end of 1867 a man 
 named Nash, who had been wandering in an idle way over 
 the country, found an auriferous region of great extent at 
 Gympie, about 130 miles from Brisbane. He concealed his 
 discovery for a time, and set to work to collect as much of 
 the gold as possible, before attracting others to the spot. 
 In the course of a day or two, he gathered several hundred 
 pounds' worth of gold, being, however, often disturbed in 
 his operations by the approach of travellers on the adjacent 
 road, when he had to crouch among the bushes, until the 
 footsteps died away and he could again pursue his solitary 
 task. After some time, it seemed impossible to avoid 
 discovery, and lest any one should forestall him in making 
 known the district, he entered Maiyborough, not far away, 
 announced his discovery, and received the reward. A rush 
 took place to the Gympie, which was found to be exceed- 
 ingly rich, and it was not long before a nugget worth about 
 four thousand pounds was met with close to the surface. 
 
 Far to the north, on the Palmer River, a tributary of the 
 Mitchell, there have been discovered rich goldfields, where, 
 in spite of the great heat and dangers from the blacks, 
 there are crowds of diggers at work. Many thousands of 
 Chinamen have settled down in the district, and to these 
 the natives seem to have a special antipathy, as they spear 
 them on every possible occasion. 
 
XVI.] GOLD. 147 
 
 But all the stories which Australia offers of gold- digging 
 romance are eclipsed by that of the Mount Morgan Mine. 
 Near Eockhampton, and in the midst of that district to 
 which the diggers had rushed in 1858, but in which they 
 had starved through being unable to find gold, in the midst 
 of that very district a young squatter bought from the 
 Government of Queensland a selection of 640 acres. It 
 was on a rocky hill, and it was so barren that he considered 
 it useless, and was glad to sell it for £640 to three brothers 
 of the name of Morgan. These gentlemen were lucky 
 enough to find out that the dirty grey rocks of which the 
 hill was composed were very richly mixed with gold, so 
 that twenty or thirty pounds' worth of gold could be got 
 by crushing and washing every cart-load of rock. They 
 immediately set to work, and before long showed that they 
 were the possessors of the richest gold mine in the world. 
 A year or two later the hill was sold at a price equivalent 
 to eight millions of pounds, and it is now known that it 
 contains gold to the value of at least double that sum, 
 "What a strange adventure for the man who owned it and 
 reckoned it worth almost nothing ! 
 
 8. Cotton.- — Throughout most of the colony the climate 
 is either tropical or semi-tropical, and it is therefore, in its 
 more fertile parts, well suited to the growth of cotton and 
 of sugar. About the year 1861, the cultivation of the 
 cotton plant was commenced on a small scale; but, 
 although the plantations were found to thrive, yet the high 
 rate of wages which prevailed in Queensland, and the low 
 price of cotton in Europe, caused the first attempts to be 
 very unprofitable. 
 
 Matters were changed, however, in 1863, for then a great 
 civil war was raging in America ; and as the people of the 
 Southern States were prevented, by the long chain of 
 blockading vessels stationed by the Northern States along 
 
148 QUEENSLAND, 1823 to 18S6. [chap. 
 
 their coasts, from sending their cotton to Europe, there was 
 a great scarcity of cotton in England, and its price rose to 
 be exceedingly high. This was a favourable opportunity 
 for Queensland. The plantations were, of course, still as 
 expensive as ever, but the handsome prices obtained for the 
 cotton not only covered this great expense, but also left 
 considerable profits. The cultivation of the sugar-cane 
 was introduced in 1865, and, after a few years had passed 
 away, great fields of waving cane were to be seen in various 
 parts of the country, growing ripe and juicy beneath the 
 tropical sun, 
 
 9. Polynesian Labour. — The prices of cotton and sugar 
 remained high for some years ; but when the war was over 
 they fell to their former rates, and the planters of Queens- 
 land found it necessary to find some cheaper substitute for 
 their white labourers. At first it was proposed to bring 
 over Hindoos from India, but nothing came of this idea ; 
 and afterwards, when Chinese were introduced, they were 
 not found to give the satisfaction expected. But it hap - 
 pened that one of the planters, named Robert Towns, was 
 the owner of a number of ships which traded to the South 
 Sea Islands, and having persuaded a few of the islanders to 
 cross to Queensland, he employed them on his sugar planta- 
 tion. He took some little ttouble in teaching them the 
 work he wished them to do, and found that they soon 
 became expert at it. As the remuneration they required 
 was very small, they served admirably to supply the 
 necessary cheap labour. 
 
 The practice of employing these South Sea Islanders, or 
 "Kanakas," as they were called, soon became general, and 
 parts of Queensland had all the appearance of the American 
 plantations, where crowds of dusky figures, decked in the 
 brightest of colours, plied their labours with laughter and 
 with song, among the tall cane brakes or the bursting pods 
 
XVI.] POLYNESIAN LABOUR. 149 
 
 of cotton. The "Kanakas" generally worked for a year 
 or two in the colony, then, having received a bundle of goods 
 — consisting of cloth, knives, hatchets, beads, and so forth, 
 to the value of about £10 — they were again conveyed to 
 their palm-clad islands. A system of this kind was apt to 
 give rise to abuses ; and, accordingly, it was found that a 
 few of the more unscrupulous planters, not content with 
 the ordinary profits, stooped to the shameful meanness of 
 cheating the poor islander out of his hard-earned reward. 
 They hurried him on board a vessel, and sent after him a 
 parcel containing a few shillings' worth of property ; then, 
 when he reached his home, he found that all his toil and his 
 years of absence from his friends had procured him only so 
 much trash. 
 
 Happily, this was not of very frequent occurrence ; but 
 there was another abuse both common and glaring. As the 
 plantations in Queensland increased, they required more 
 labourers than were willing to leave their homes in the 
 South Sea Islands ; and, as the captains of vessels were 
 paid by the planters so much for every "Kanaka" they 
 brought over, there was a strong temptation to carry off 
 the natives by force, when, by other means, a sufficient 
 number could not be obtained. There were frequent con- 
 flicts between the crews of labour vessels and the inhabitants 
 of the islands. The white men burnt the native villages, and 
 carried off crowds of men and women ; while, in revenge, 
 the islanders often surprised a vessel and massacred its 
 crew ; and in such cases the innocent suffered for the guilty. 
 The sailors often had the baseness to disguise themselves as 
 missionaries, in order the more easily to effect their pur- 
 pose ; and when the true missionaries, suspecting nothing, 
 approached the natives on their errand of good will, they 
 were speared or clubbed to death by the unfortunate 
 islanders. But, as a rule, the " Kanakas " were themselves 
 
150 QUEENSLAND, 1823 to IS86. [chap. 
 
 the sufferers ; the English vessels pursued their frail canoes, 
 ran them down, and sank them ; then, whilst the men were 
 struggling in the sea, they were seized and thrust into the 
 hold, the hatches were fastened down ; and when in this 
 dastardly manner a sufficient number had been gathered, 
 and the dark interior of the ship was filled with a steaming 
 mass of human beings densely huddled together, the cap- 
 tains set sail for Queensland, where they landed those of 
 their living cargoes who had escarped the deadly pestilence 
 which filth and confinement always engendered in such 
 cases. 
 
 8. Polynesian Labourers' Act.— These were the deeds of 
 a few ruthless and disreputable seamen ; but the people of 
 Queensland, as a whole, had no sympathy with such bar- 
 barities, and in 1868 they passed a law to regulate the labour 
 traffic. It enacted that no South Sea Islanders were to be 
 brought into the colony unless the captain of the vessel 
 could show a document, signed by a missionary or British 
 consul, stating that they had left the islands of their own 
 free will ; Government agents were to accompany every 
 vessel, in order to see that the ^' Kanakas " were well treated 
 on the voyage ; and, on leaving the colony, no labourer was 
 to receive less than six pounds' worth of goods for every 
 year he had worked. 
 
 These regulations were of great use, but thej'- were often 
 evaded ; for, by giving a present to the king of an island, the 
 sailors could bribe him to force his people to exj^ress their 
 ^^dllingness before the missionary. The trembling men were 
 brought forward, and, under the fear of their chief's revenge, 
 they declared their perfect readiness to sail. Sometimes 
 the Government agents on board the vessels were bribed not 
 to report the misdeeds of the sailors ; and in the case of the 
 Jason, on which the agent was too honest to be so bribed, he 
 was chained below by the captain, on the pretence that he 
 
XVI.] POLYNESIAN LABOURERS' ACT, 151 
 
 was mad. When the ship arrived in Queensland, the 
 unfortunate man was found in a most miserable state of 
 filth and starvation. For this offence the captain was 
 arrested, tried, and imprisoned. But, whatever regulations 
 may be made, a traffic of this sort will always have its 
 (lark and ugly features, so that there is perhaps reason to 
 be glad that the people of Queensland have now swept it all 
 .iway, and that no one will henceforth be allowed to land 
 Kanakas on their shores. 
 
 10. Present State of the Colony.— In 1868 Sir George 
 Bowen was sent to govern New Zealand, and Governor 
 Blackall took charge of affairs in Queensland. He was a 
 man of fine talents and amiable character, and was greatly 
 respected by the colonists ; but he died not long after his 
 arrival, and was succeeded by the Marquis of Normanby, 
 who, in his turn, was succeeded, in 1874, by Mr. Cairns. 
 Sir Arthur Kennedy, in 1877, and Sir Anthony Musgrave, 
 in 1883, have been the recent Governors. 
 
 Queensland possesses magnificent resources, which have 
 only recently been made known, and are now in process of 
 development. Her exports of gold exceed two million 
 pounds a year ; she produces large quantities of tin, copper, 
 silver, and other minerals. The wool clipped from her 
 sheep exceeds one million four hundred thousand pounds in 
 annual value ; and her total exports, including cotton, 
 sugar, and other tropical productions, amount to about 
 four and a half million pounds per annum. The population 
 is now about three hundred and fifty thousand, and 
 immigrants continue to arrive at the rate of about sixteen 
 thousand a year. Though the youngest of the Australian 
 colonies, Queensland now ranks fourth on the list, and 
 appears to have a most promising future before her. Her 
 cotton industry has almost vanished, but there seem to be 
 good hopes for her ventures in sugar. However, it will be 
 
152 QUEENSLAND, ISSS to 1SS6. [chap. 
 
 in the raising of sheep and of cattle, as well as in gold- 
 mining, that the colony will have to look for her most 
 permanent resources. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Explorations in the Interior, 1840 to 1860. 
 
 1. Progress of Exploration- — The coasts of Australia 
 had aU been examined before the year 1815. From that 
 date, those who wished to make fresh discoveries were 
 obliged to penetrate into the interior ; and we have already 
 seen that, previous to the year 1836, explorers were busy in 
 opening up the south-east portion of the continent. Oxley 
 had made known the northern districts of New South Wales, 
 and Allan Cunningham the southern part of what is now 
 the colony of Queensland ; Hume and Ho veil, Sturt and 
 Mitchell, had traversed the southern districts of New South 
 Wales and the territory now occupied by Victoria. Follow- 
 ing closely in the footsteps of these intrepid discoverers, 
 the squatters had entered all these districts, and, wherever 
 the land was suitable, they had settled down with their 
 flocks ; so that, ere long, all that corner of Australia which 
 would be cut off by drawing a straight line from Brisbane to 
 Adelaide was fully surveyed. But there still remained to be 
 explored about seven- eighths of the continent ; and from 
 this date onward there was an unbroken succession of adven- 
 turous travellers, who entered the vast central territory for 
 the purpose of making known its nature and capacities. 
 But the manner of conducting an expedition was now very 
 different from what it had been. Previous explorers had 
 been provided with parties of convicts, and had traversed 
 lands for the greater part grassy and well watered. These 
 
XVII.] PROGRESS OF EXPLORATION. 153 
 
 expeditions had their dangers, arising chiefly from the 
 hostility of the blacks ; and Allan Cunningham, his brother 
 Richard, with many others, sacrificed their lives in their 
 ardour for discovery. But subsequent travellers had to 
 encounter, in addition, the pangs of hunger and thirst in 
 that dry and desolate country which occupies so great a 
 portion of Central Australia. 
 
 2. Eyre. — The first on this roll of gallant discoverers was 
 Edward John Eyre, who, in 1840, offered to conduct an 
 expedition to the interior. He himself provided about half 
 the money required, the South Australian Government — 
 which was then in difficulties — gave a hundred pounds, and 
 a number of Eyre's personal friends made up the remainder. 
 With five Europeans, three natives, and thirteen horses, and 
 with forty sheep to serve as food on the way, he set out 
 from Adelaide and travelled to the head of Spencer's Gulf, 
 where a small vessel lay waiting to supply them with 
 provisions sufficient for three months. Having traversed 
 forty or fifty miles of desert land, he turned to the west, 
 and came m sight of what he called Lake Torrens. It was 
 now dried up, so that in place of a sheet of water twenty 
 miles broad, he saw only a dreary region covered with 
 glittering salt. "When he entered upon it the thin crust of 
 salt broke, and a thick black mud oozed up. The party 
 plunged onward for about six miles, the mud becoming 
 always deeper and deeper, till at length it half covered the 
 saddles of their horses. He was then forced to turn back, 
 and to seek a passage round this lake of mud ; but, having 
 followed its shores for many miles, there seemed to be so 
 little prospect of reaching the end of the obstacle, that he 
 turned his course again, from west to north. After 
 travelKng about two hundred miles through a very desolate 
 country, he was once more arrested by coming upon a 
 similar sheet of salt-encrusted mud which he called Lake 
 
154 EXPLORATIONS IN THE INTERIOR, [chap. 
 
 Eyre. Again there appeared no hope of either crossing the 
 lake or going round it ; no water was to be found, and his 
 supplies were fast failing, so that he was forced to hasten 
 back a long distance to the nearest stream. Setting out 
 once more, he twice attempted to penetrate westward into 
 the interior, but, on each occasion, the salt lakes barred his 
 progress ; as a last effort, he urged his failing party towards 
 the north-east. Here the country was the most barren and 
 desolate that can be imagined. It is not always so, but 
 after a period of drought, when the grass is burnt to the 
 roots and not a drop of fresh water to be seen in a hundred 
 miles, it has all the appearance of a desert. His supplies of 
 water ran short, and frequently the explorers were on the 
 point of perishing. When they approached the Frome River 
 — a creek which flows northward into Lake Eyre — they were 
 inexpressibly delighted to view from afar the winding 
 current ; but its waters were found to be as salt as the 
 ocean. After a long and dreary journey, Eyre ascended a 
 hill, in order to see if there was any hope of finding better 
 country ; but the view was only a great and barren level, 
 stretching far away to the horizon on every side. He had 
 now no water, and his only course was to turn back ; so, 
 leaving this place — which he called Mount Hopeless — he 
 retraced his steps to the head of Spencer's Gulf. 
 
 3. Australian Bight.— Here he changed the object of his 
 journey, and made efforts to go along the shores of the Great 
 Australian Bight, in order to reach West Australia. Three 
 times he rounded Streaky Bay ; but in that bare and desert 
 land the want of water was an insuperable obstacle, and 
 each time he was forced to retreat to less desolate country'. 
 Governor Gawler now sent word to him to return to Adelaide, 
 as it seemedmadness tomake furthfer efforts ; but Eyre replied 
 that, to go back without having accomplished anything, 
 would be a disgrace he could never endure. Seeing that 
 
XVII.] AUSTRALIAN BIGHT. 155 
 
 his only chance of reaching "West Australia was to push 
 rapidly forward with a simple and light equipment, he sent 
 back the whole of his party except Mr. Baxter, his black 
 servant Wylie, and the other two natives ; and, taking with 
 him a few horses, carrying a supply of water and provisions 
 for several weeks, he set out to follow the coast along the 
 Great Australian Bight. His party had to scramble along 
 the tops of rough cliffs which everywhere frowned from three 
 hundred to six hundred feet above the sea ; and, if they 
 left the coast to travel inland, they had to traverse great 
 stretches of moving sands, which filled their eyes and ears, 
 covered them when asleep, and, when they sat at meals, 
 made their food unpleasant. But they suffered most from 
 want of water ; for often they were obliged to walk day 
 after day beneath a broiling sun when all their water was 
 gone, and not a drop to be seen on the burning soil beneath 
 them. On one occasion, after they had thus travelled 110 
 miles, the horses fell down from exhaustion, and could not 
 be induced to move. Eyre and a native hastened forward ; 
 but, though they wandered for more than eighteen miles, 
 they saw no sign of water, and, when darkness came on, 
 they lay down, with lips parched and burnmg, and tossed 
 in feverish slumber till morning. At early dawn they per- 
 ceived a ridge of sandhills not far away, and, making for 
 them, they found a number of little wells — places where 
 the natives had dug into the sand for six or eight feet, and 
 so had reached fresh water. Here Eyre and his black 
 companion drank a delicious draught, and hastened back 
 with the precious beverage to revive the horses. The whole 
 party was then able to go forward ; and there, around 
 these little waterholes, Eyre halted for a week to refresh 
 his men and animals before attempting another stretch of 
 similar country. They saw some natives, who told them 
 that there was plenty of water further on, and, when Eyre 
 
156 EXPLORATIONS IN THE INTERIOR, [chap. 
 
 set out again, he carried very little with him, so as not to 
 overburden the horses. But, after sixty miles of the desert 
 had been traversed without meeting any place in which 
 water was to be found, he became alarmed, atid sent back 
 Mr. Baxter with the horses to bring up a better supply, 
 whilst he himself remained to take charge of the baggage. 
 When Baxter returned, they all set forward again, and 
 reached a sandy beach, where they had great difficulty in 
 preventing the horses from diinkiiig the sea-water, which 
 would certainly have made them mad. As it was, two of 
 them lay down to die, and part of the provisions had to be 
 abandoned. Baxter now grew despondent, and wished to 
 return ; but Eyre was determined not yet to give up. 
 Onward they toiled through the dreary wilderness, and two 
 more horses fell exhausted ; 126 miles from the last halting- 
 place, and still no signs of water. Still onward, and the 
 horses continued to drop by the way, Baxter constantly 
 entreating Eyre to return. It was only after a journey of 
 160 miles that they came to a place Avhere, by digging, 
 they could obtain fresh water in very small quantities. 
 They were now forced to eke out their failing provisions by 
 eating horseflesh. Baxter was altogether disheartened ; 
 and, if to return had not been as dangerous as to go 
 forward. Eyre would himself have abandoned the attempt. 
 The three natives, however, were still as light-hearted and 
 merry as ever : whilst the food lasted, they were always 
 full of frolic and laughter. 
 
 4. Death of Baxter. — Each evening Eyre formed a little 
 camp, loaded the musliets, and laid them down ready for 
 use in case of an attack by the blacks ; the horses were 
 hobbled, and set free to gather the little vegetation they 
 could find. But this forced Eyre and Baxter to keep watch 
 by turns, lest they should stray so far as to be lost. One 
 evening when Eyre had taken the first watch, the horses, in 
 
XVII.] DEATH OF BAXTER. 157 
 
 their search for grass, had wandered about a quarter of a 
 mile from the camp. He had followed them, and was 
 sitting on a stone beneath the moonlight, musing on his 
 gloomy prospects, when he was startled by a flash and a 
 report. Hastening to the camp, he was met by Wylie, who 
 was speechless with terror, and could only wring his hands 
 and cry, " Oh, massa." When he entered, he saw Baxter 
 lying on his face, whilst the baggage was broken open, and 
 scattered in all directions. He raised the wounded man in 
 his arms, but only in time to support him as his head fell 
 back in death. Then placing the body on the ground, and, 
 looking around him, he perceived that two of his natives had 
 plundered the provisions, shot Mr. Baxter as he rose to 
 remonstrate with them, and had then escaped. The moon 
 became obscured, and in the deep gloom, beside the dead 
 body of his friend, Eyre passed a fearful night, peering 
 into the darkness lest the miscreants might be lurking near 
 to shoot him also. He says, in his diary: — "Ages can 
 never efface the horrors of that single night, nor would the 
 wealth of the world ever tempt me to go through a similar 
 one." The slowly-spreading dawn revealed the bleeding 
 corpse, the plundered bags, and the crouching form of 
 "Wylie, who was still faithful. The ground at this place 
 consisted of a great hard sheet of rock, and there was no 
 chance of digging a grave ; so Eyre could only wrap the 
 body in a blanket, leave it lying on the surface, and thus 
 take farewell of his friend's remains. 
 
 5- Arrival at King George's Sound.— Then he and Wylie 
 set out together on their mournful journey. They had very 
 little water, and seven days elapsed before they reached a 
 place where more was to be obtained. They could at 
 intervals see the murderers stealthily following their foot- 
 steps, and Eyre was afraid to lie down lest his sleep should 
 prove to have no awaking ; and thus, with parching thirst 
 
158 EXPLORATIONS IN THE INTERIOR, [chap. 
 
 by day, and hours of watchfulness by night, he slowly made 
 his way towards King George's Sound. After a time the 
 country became better ; he saw and shot two kangaroos, 
 and once more approached the coast. His surprise was 
 great on seeing two boats some distance out at sea. He 
 shouted and fired his rifle, without attracting the attention 
 of the crews. But on rounding a small cape, he found the 
 vessel to which these boats belonged. It was a French 
 whaling ship ; and the two men having been taken on 
 board, were hospitably entertained for eleven days. Captain 
 Rossiter gave them new clothes and abundance of food ; and 
 when they were thoroughly refreshed, they landed to pursue 
 their journey. The country was not now so inhospitable ; 
 and three weeks afterwards they stood on the brow of a hill 
 overlooking the little town of Albany, at King George's 
 Sound. Here they sat down to rest ; but the people, hear- 
 ing who they were, came out to escort them triumphantly 
 into the town, where they were received with the utmost 
 kindness. They remained for eleven days, and then set 
 sail for Adelaide, which they reached after an absence of 
 one year and twenty-six days. 
 
 This expedition was, unfortunately, through so barren a 
 country that it had but little practical effect beyond the 
 additions it made to our geography, but the perseverance 
 and skill with which it was conducted are worthy of all 
 honour; and Eyre is to be remembered as the first explorer 
 who braved the dangers of the Australian desert. 
 
 6. Sturt. — Two years after the return of Eyre, Captain 
 Sturt, the famous discoverer of the Darling and Murray, 
 wrote to Lord Stanley offering to conduct an expedition 
 into the heart of Australia. His offer was accepted ; and in 
 May, 1844, a well-equipped party of sixteen persons was 
 ready to start from the banks of the Darling River. Places 
 which Sturt had explored sixteen yeers before, when they 
 
XVII.] STURT. 159 
 
 were a deep and unknown solitude, were now covered with 
 flocks and cattle ; and he could use, as the starting place of 
 this expedition, the furthest point he had reached in that of 
 1828. Mr. Poole went with him as sui-veyor, Mr, Brown as 
 surgeon, and the draughtsman was Mr. J. M'Douall Stuart, 
 who, in this expedition, received a splendid training for his 
 own great discoveries of subsequent years. Following the 
 Darling, they reached Laidley's Ponds, passed near Lake 
 Cawndilla, and then struck northward for the interior. The 
 country was very bare — one dead level of cheerless desert ; 
 and when they reached a few hills which they called Stanley 
 Eange, now better known as the Barrier Eange, Sturt, who 
 ascended to one of the summits, could see nothing hopeful in 
 the prospect. How little did he dream that the hills beneath 
 him were full of silver, and that one day a populous city of 
 miners should occupy the waterless plain in front of him. 
 In thi« region he had to be very careful how he advanced, 
 for he had with him eleven horses, thirty bullocks, and two 
 hundred sheep, and water for so great a multitude could with 
 difficulty be procured. He had always to ride forward and 
 find a creek or pond of sufficient size, as the next place of 
 encampment, before allowing the expedition to move on ; and 
 as water was often very difficult to find, his progress was but 
 slow. Fortunately for the party, it was the winter season, 
 and a few of the little creeks had a moderate supply of water. 
 But after they had reached a chain of hills, which Sturt 
 called the Grey Eange, the warm season was already upon 
 them. The summer of 1844 was one of the most intense on 
 record ; and, in these vast interior plains of sand, under the 
 fiery glare of the sun, the earth seemed to burn like plates 
 of metal : it split the hoofs of the horses ; it scorched the 
 shoes and the feet of the men ; it dried up the water from 
 the creeks and pools, and left all the country parched and 
 full of cracks. Sturt spent a time of great anxiety, for the 
 
160 EXPLORATIONS IN THE INTERIOR, [chap. 
 
 streams around were rapidly disappearing ; and when all 
 the water had been dried up, the prospects of his party 
 would, indeed, be gloomy. His relief was great when Mr. 
 Poole found a creek in a rocky basin, whose waters seemed 
 to have a perennial flow. Sturt moved forward, and 
 formed his depot beside the stream ; and here he was forced 
 to remain for six months. For it ajjpeared as though he 
 had entered a trap ; the country before him was absolutely 
 without water, so that he could not advance ; while the 
 creeks behind him were now only dry courses, and it was 
 hopeless to think of returning. He made many attempts 
 to escape, and struck out into the country in all directions : 
 in one of his efforts, if he had gone only thirty miles 
 further, he would have found the fine stream of Cooper's 
 Creek, in which there was sufficient water for the party ; 
 but hunger and thirst forced him to return to the depot. 
 He followed down the creek on which they were encamped, 
 but found that, after a course of twenty-nine miles, it lost 
 itself in the sand. 
 
 Meantime the travellers passed a summer such as few 
 men have ever experienced. The heat was sometimes as 
 high as 130 deg. in the shade, and in the sun it was 
 altogether intolerable. They were unable to write, as the 
 ink dried at once on their pens ; their combs split ; their 
 nails became brittle and readily broke, and if they touched 
 a piece of metal it blistered their fingers. In their 
 extremity they dug an underground room, deep enough to 
 be beyond the dreadful furnace-glow above. Here they 
 passed many a long day, as month after month passed 
 without a shower of rain. Sometimes they watched the 
 clouds gather, and they could hear the distant roll of 
 thunder, but there fell not a drop to refresh the diy and 
 dusty desert. The party began to grow thin and weak ; 
 Mr. Poole became ill with scurvy, and from day to day he 
 
XVII.] STURT. 161 
 
 sank rapidly. At length, when the winter was again 
 approaching, a gentle shower moistened the plain ; and, as 
 the only chance of saving the life of Poole, half of the 
 party was sent to carry him quickly back to the Darling. 
 They had been gone only a few hours when a messenger 
 rode back with the news that he was already dead. The 
 mournful cavalcade returned, bearing his remains, and a 
 grave was dug in the wilderness. A tree close by, on which 
 his initials were cut, formed the only memorial of the 
 hapless explorer. 
 
 7. Journey to the Centre. — Shortly afterwards there 
 came a succession of wet days, and, as there was now an 
 abundance of water, the whole party once more set off ; and 
 ha\dng travelled north-west for sixty-one miles further, 
 they formed a new depot, and made excursions to explore 
 the country in the neighbourhood. M'Douall Stuart crossed 
 over to Lake Torrens ; while Sturt, with Dr. Bro^vne and 
 three men, pushing to the north, discovered the Strzelecki 
 Creek, a stream which flows through very agreeable 
 countiy. But as they proceeded further to the north their 
 troubles began again ; they came upon a region covered 
 with hill after hill of fiery red sand, amid which lay 
 lagoons of salt and bitter water. They toiled over this 
 weary country in hopes that a change for the better might 
 soon appear; but when they reached the last hill, they 
 had the mortification to see a great plain, barren, 
 nonotonous and dreary, stretching with a purple glare as 
 far as the eye could reach on every side. This plain was 
 called by Sturt the "Stony Desert," for, on descending, 
 he found it covered with innumerable pieces of quartz 
 and sandstone, among which the horses wearily stumbled. 
 Sturt wished to penetrate as far as the tropic of Capricorn ; 
 but summer was again at hand, their water was failing, and 
 they could find neither stream nor pool. When the madness 
 
 12 
 
162 EXPLORATIONS IN THE INTERIOR, [chap. 
 
 of any further advance became apparent, Sturt, witli his 
 head buried in his hands, sat for an hour in bitter dis- 
 appointment. After toiling so far, and reaching within 1 50 
 miles of his destination, to be turned back for the want of a 
 little water was a misfortune very hard to bear, and, but 
 for his companions, he would have still gone forward and 
 perished. As they hastened back their water was exhausted, 
 and they were often in danger of being buried by moving 
 hills of sand ; but at length they reached the depot, having 
 traversed eight hundred miles during the eight weeks of 
 their absence. 
 
 It was not long before Sturt started again, taking with 
 him M'Douall Stuart as his companion. On this trip he 
 suffered the same hardships, but had the satisfaction of 
 discovering a magnificent stream, which he called Cooper's 
 Creek. On crossing this creek he again entered the Stony 
 Desert, and was once more compelled reluctantly to retrace 
 his steps. When he reached the depot he was utterly worn 
 out. He lay in bed for a long time, tenderly nursed by his 
 companions ; and when the whole party set out on its return 
 to the settled districts, he had to be lifted in and out of the 
 dray in which he was carried. As they neared their homes 
 his sight began to fail. The glare of the burning sands 
 had destroyed his eyes, and he passed the remainder of 
 his days in darkness. His reports of the arid country 
 gave rise to the opinion that the whole interior of Aus- 
 tralia is a desert ; but this was afterwards found to be far 
 from correct. 
 
 8. Leichardt.—Allan Cunningham's discoveries extended 
 over the northern parts of New South Wales and the 
 southern districts of Queensland. But all the north- 
 eastern parts of the continent were left unexplored until 
 1844, when an intrepid young German botanist, named 
 Ludwig Leichardt, made known this rich and fertile 
 
XVII. ] LEICHARDT. 163 
 
 country. With five men lie started from Sydney, and, 
 passing through splendid forests and magnificent pasture 
 lands, he made his way to the Gulf of Carpentaria, dis- 
 covering and following up many large rivers — the Fitzroy, 
 with its tributaries — the Dawson, the Isaacs, and the 
 Mackenzie — the Burdekin, with several of its branches ; 
 then the Mitchell ; and, lastly, the Gilbert. He also 
 crossed the Flinders and Albert without knowing that, a 
 short time previously, these rivers had been discovered and 
 named by Captain Stokes, who was exploring the coasts in 
 a British war-ship. Having rounded the Gulf, he discovered 
 the Eoper, and followed the Alligator River down to Van 
 Diemen's Gulf, where a vessel was waiting to receive his 
 party. On his return to Sydney the utmost enthusiasm 
 prevailed ; for Leichardt had made known a wide stretch of 
 most valuable country. The people of Sydney raised a 
 subscription of £1,500, and the Government rewarded his 
 seiwices with £1,000. Leichardt was of too ardent a nature 
 to remain content with what he had already done ; and, 
 in 1847, he again set out to make further explorations in 
 the north of Queensland. On this occasion, however, he 
 was not so successful. He had taken A\'ith him great 
 flocks of sheep and goats, and they impeded his progress 
 so much that, after wandering over the Fitzroy Downs 
 for about seven months, he was forced to return. In 
 1848 he organized a third expedition, to cross the whole 
 country from east to west. He proposed to start from 
 Moreton Bay, and to take two years in traversing the 
 centre of the continent, so as to reach the Swan River 
 settlement. He started with a large party, and soon 
 reached the Cogoon River, a tributary of the Condamine. 
 From this point he sent to a friend in Sydney a letter, 
 in which he described himself as in good spirits, and full 
 of hope that the expedition would be a success. He then 
 
164 EXPLORATIONS IN THE INTERIOR, [chap. 
 
 started into the wilderness, and was lost for ever from 
 men's view. For many years expeditions were, from time 
 to time, sent out to rescue the missing explorers, if per- 
 chance they might still be wandering with the blacks in 
 the interior ; but no traces of the lost expedition have ever 
 been brought to light. 
 
 9 Mitchell- — Whilst Leichardt was absent on his first 
 journey. Sir Thomas Mitchell — the discoverer of the Glenelg 
 — had prepared an expedition for the exploration of 
 Queensland. Having waited till the return of Leichardt, 
 in order not to go over the same ground, he set out towards 
 the north, and, after discovering the Culgoa and Warrego — 
 two important tributaries of the Darling — he turned to the 
 west. He travelled over a great extent of level country, 
 and then came upon a river which somewhat puzzled him. 
 He followed the current for 150 miles, and it seemed to 
 flow steadily towards the heart of the continent. He 
 thought that its waters must eventually find their way to 
 the sea, and would, therefore, after a time, flow north to 
 the Indian Ocean. If that were the case, the river — which 
 the natives called the Barcoo — must be the largest stream 
 on the northern coast, and he concluded that it was 
 identical with the Victoria, whose mouth had been dis- 
 covered about nine years before by Captain Stokes. He, 
 therefore, provisionally gave it the name of the Victoria 
 River. 
 
 10. Kennedy. — On the return of Mitchell, the further 
 prosecution of exploration in these districts was left to his 
 assistant-surveyor — Edmund Kennedy — who, having been 
 sent to trace the course of the supposed Victoria River, 
 followed its banks for 150 miles below the place where 
 Mitchell had left it. He was then forced to return through 
 want of provisions. He had gone far enough, however, to 
 show that this stream was only the higher part of Cooper's 
 
XVII.] KENNEDY. 165 
 
 Creek, discovered not long before by Captain Sturt. This 
 river has a course of about twelve hundred miles ; and it is, 
 therefore, the largest of Central Australia. But its waters 
 spread out into the broad marshes of Lake Eyre, and are 
 there lost by evaporation. 
 
 In 1848, Kennedy was sent to explore Cape York 
 Peninsula. He was landed with a party of twelve men at 
 Eockingham Bay, and, striking inland to the north-west, 
 he travelled towards Cape York, where a small schooner 
 was to wait for him. The difficulties met by the explorers 
 were immense ; for, in these tropical regions, dense 
 jungles of prickly shrubs impeded their course and 
 lacerated their flesh, while vast swamps often made their 
 journey tedious and unexpectedly long. Thinking there 
 was no necessity for all to endure these hardships, he 
 left eight of his companions at Weymouth Bay, intending 
 to call for them on his way back in the schooner. He was 
 courageously pushing through the jungle towards the 
 north with three men and his black servant, Jackey, when 
 one of the party accidentally received a severe gunshot 
 wound, which made it impossible for him to proceed. 
 Kennedy was now only a few miles distant from Cape York ; 
 and, leaving the wounded man under the care of the two 
 remaining whites, he started — accompanied by Jackey — to 
 reach the Cape and obtain assistance from the schooner. 
 They had not gone far, and were on the banks of the 
 Escape Eiver, when they perceived that their steps were 
 being closely followed by a tribe of natives, whose swarthy 
 bodies, from time to time, appeared among the trees. 
 Kennedy now proceeded warily, keeping watch all around ; 
 but a spear, urged by an unseen hand from among the 
 leaves, suddenly pierced his body from behind, and he fell. 
 The blacks rushed forward, but Jackey fired, land at the 
 report they hastily fled. Jackey held up his master's head 
 
166 EXPLORATIONS IN THE INTERIOR, [chap. 
 
 for a short time, weeping bitterly. Kennedy knew lie was 
 dying, and lie gave his faithful servant instructions as to 
 the papers he was to carry, and the course he must follow. 
 Not long after this he breathed his last, and Jackey, with 
 his tomahawk, dug a shallow grave for him in the forest. 
 He spread his coat and shirt in the hollow, laid the body 
 tenderly upon them, and covered it with leaves and 
 branches. Then, packing up the journals, he plunged into 
 the creek, along which he walked, with only his head 
 above the surface, until he neared the shore. Hastily 
 making for the north, he reached the Cape, where he was 
 taken on board the schooner. This expedition was one of 
 the most disastrous of the inland explorations. The 
 wounded man, and the two who had been left with him, 
 were never afterwards heard of — in all probability they 
 were slaughtered by the natives ; whilst the party of eight, 
 who had been left at Weymouth Bay, after constant 
 struggles with the natives, had been reduced, by starvation 
 and disease, to only two ere the expected relief arrived. 
 
 11. Gregory. — In 1856, A. C. Gregory went in search of 
 Leichardt, and, thinking he might possibly have reached 
 the north-west coast, took a small party to Cambridge Gulf. 
 Travelling along the banks of the Victoria Eiver, he crossed 
 a low range of hills and discovered a stream, to which he 
 gave the name of " 8turt Creek." By following this, he 
 was led into a region covered with long ridges of glaring 
 red sand, resembling those which had baiSed Captain Sturt, 
 except that in this desert there grew the scattered blades 
 of the spinifex grass, which cut like daggers into the hoofs 
 of the horses. The creek was lost in marshes and salt 
 lakes, and Gregory was forced to retrace his steps till he 
 reached the great bend in the Victoria Eiver; then, 
 striking to the east, he skirted the Gulf of Carpentaria 
 about fifty miles from the shore ; and, after a long 
 
XVII.] 
 
 GREGORY. 
 
 1G7 
 
 journey, lie amved at Moreton Bay, but without any news 
 regarding Leichardt and Ms party. His expedition, how- 
 ever, had explored a great extent of country, and had 
 mapped out the courses of two large rivers — the Victoria 
 and the Eoper. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIll. 
 
 Discoveries in the Interior, 1860-1886. 
 
 1. Burke and Wills.— In the year 1800 a merchant of 
 Melbourne offered £1,000 for the furtherance of discovery 
 in Australia ; the Eoyal Society of Victoria undertook to 
 organize an expedition for the purpose of crossing the 
 continent, and collected subscriptions to the amount of 
 £3,400 ; the Victorian Government voted £6,000, and spent 
 an additional sum of 
 £3,000 in bringing 
 twenty-six camels 
 from Arabia. Under 
 an energetic committee 
 of the Royal Society, 
 the most complete 
 arrangements were 
 made. EobertO'Hara 
 Burke was chosen as 
 leader ; Landells was 
 second in command, 
 with special chaige of 
 the camels, for which 
 three Hindoo drivers 
 were also provided ; 
 W. J. Wills, an ac- 
 complished young astronomer, was sent to take charge of 
 
 ROBERT o'hARA BURKE. 
 
IfiS DISCOVERIES IN THE INTERIOR. [chap. 
 
 the costly instruments and make all tlie scientific observa- 
 tions. There were two other scientific men and eleven 
 subordinates, with twenty-eight horses to assist in trans- 
 porting the baggage. On the 20th August, 1860, the 
 long train of laden camels and horses set out from the 
 Eoyal Park of Melbourne, Burke heading the procession on 
 a little grey horse. The Mayor made a short speech, 
 wishing him God- speed ; the explorers shook hands with 
 their friends, and, amid the ringing cheers of thousands of 
 spectators, the long and picturesque line moved forward. 
 
 The journey, as far as the Murrumbidgee, lay through 
 settled country, and was without incident ; but, on the 
 banks of that river, quarrelling began among the party, and 
 Burke dismissed the foreman ; Landells then resigned, and 
 Wills was promoted to be second in command. Burke 
 committed a great error in his choice of a man to take 
 charge of the camels in place of Landells. On a sheep 
 station he met with a man named Wright, who made 
 himself very agreeable ; the two were soon great friends, 
 and Burke, whose generosity was unchecked by any 
 prudence, gave to this utterly unqualified person an 
 important charge in the expedition. 
 
 On leaving the Murrumbidgee they ascended the Darling, 
 till they reached Menindie — the place from which Sturt had 
 set out sixteen years before. Here Burke left Wright with 
 half the expedition, intending himself to push on rapidly, 
 and to be followed up more leisurely by Wright. 
 
 Burke and Wills, with six men and half the camels and 
 horses, set ofit' through a very miserable country — not 
 altogether barren, but covered with a kind of pea, which 
 poisoned the horses. A rapid journey brought them to the 
 banks of Cooper's Creek, where they found fine pastures 
 and plenty of water. Here they formed a depot and lived 
 for some time, waiting for Wright, who, however, did not 
 
XVIII.] BURKE AND WILLS. 169 
 
 appear. The horses and camels, by this rest, improved 
 greatly in condition, and the party was in capital quarters. 
 But Burke grew tired of waiting, and, as he was now near 
 the centre of Australia, he determined to make a bold dash 
 across to the Gulf of Carpentaria. He left one of his men, 
 called Brahe, and three assistants, with six camels and 
 twelve horses, giving them instructions to remain for 
 three months ; and if within that time he did not 
 return, they might consider him lost, and would then be 
 at liberty to return to Menindie. On the 16th December 
 Burke and Wills, along with two men, named King and 
 Gray, started on their perilous journey, taking with them 
 six camels and one horse, which carried provisions to last 
 for three months. 
 
 2. Rapid Journey to Gulf of Carpentaria.— They fol- 
 lowed the broad current of Cooper's Creek for some distance, 
 and then struck off to the north, till they reached a stream, 
 which they called Eyre Creek. From this they obtained 
 abundant supplies of water, and, therefore, kept along its 
 banks till it turned to the eastward ; then, abandoning it, 
 they marched due north, keeping along the 140th meridian, 
 through forests of boxwood, alternating with plains well 
 watered and richly covered with grass. Six weeks after 
 leaving Cooper's Creek they came upon a fine stream, flow- 
 ing north, to which they gave the name " Cloncurry," and, 
 by following its course, they found that it entered a large 
 river, on whose banks they were delighted to perceive the 
 most luxuriant vegetation and frequent clusters of palm- 
 trees. They felt certain that its waters flowed into the Gulf 
 of Carpentaria, and therefore, by keeping close to it, they 
 had nothing to fear. But they had brought only three 
 months' provisions with them ; more than half of that time 
 had now elapsed, and they were still 150 miles from the sea. 
 Burke now lost no time, but hurried on so fast that, one 
 
170 DISCOVERIES IN THE INTERIOR. [chap. 
 
 after anotlier, the camels sank exhausted ; and, when they 
 had all succumbed, Burke and Wills took their only horse 
 to carry a small quantity of provisions, and, leaving Gray 
 and King behind, set out by themselves on foot. They had 
 to cross several patches of swampy ground ; and the horse, 
 becoming inextricably bogged, was unable to go further. 
 But still Burke and Wills hurried on by themselves till they 
 reached a narrow inlet, on the Gulf of Carpentaria, and found 
 that the river they had been following was the Flinders, 
 whose mouth had been discovered by Captain Stokes in 
 1842. They were very anxious to view the open sea ; but 
 this would have required another couple of days, and their 
 provisions were already exhausted ; they were, therefore, 
 obliged to hasten back as quickly as possible. The pangs of 
 hunger overtook them before they could reach the place 
 where King and Gray had remained with the provisions. 
 Burke killed a snake, and ate a part of it, but he felt very ill 
 immediately after ; and when, at length, they reached the 
 provisions, he was not able to go forward so quickly as it 
 was necessary to do, if they wished to be safe. However, 
 they recovered the horse and camels, which had been greatly 
 refreshed by their rest ; and, by taking easy stages, they 
 managed to move south towards home. But their hurried 
 journey to the north, in which they had traversed, beneath 
 a tropical sun, about 140 miles every week, had told severely 
 on their constitutions ; Gray became ill, and it was now 
 necessary to be so careful with the provisions that he had 
 little chance of regaining his lost strength. One evening, 
 after they had come to a halt, he was found sitting behind 
 a tree, eating a little mixture he had made for himself of 
 flour and water. Burke said he was stealing the provisions, 
 fell upon 'him, and gave him a severe thrashing. He seems 
 after this never to have rallied ; whilst the party moved 
 forward he was slowly sinking. Towards the end of March 
 
XVIII.] JOURNEY TO GULF OF CARPEST ARIA. 171 
 
 their provisions began to fail ; they killed a camel, dried its 
 flesh, and then went forward. At the beginning of April 
 this was gone, and they killed their horse. Gray now 
 lay down, saying he could not go on ; Burke said he was 
 "shamming," and left him. However, the gentler counsel 
 of Wills prevailed ; they returned and brought him for- 
 ward. But he could only go a little further ; the poor 
 fellow breathed his last a day or two after, and was buried 
 in the wilderness. Burke now regretted his harshness, 
 all the more as he himself was quickly sinking. All three, 
 indeed, were utterly worn out ; they were thin and 
 haggard, and so weak that they tottered rather than walked 
 along. The last few miles were very, very weary ; but, at 
 last, on the 21st of April, they came in sight of the depot, 
 four months and a half after leaving it. Great was their 
 alarm on seeing no sign of people about the place ; and, as 
 they staggered forward to the spot at sunset, their hearts 
 sank within them when thoy saw a notice, stating that 
 Brahe had left that very morning. He would be then only 
 seven hours' march away. The three men looked at one 
 another in blank dismay ; but they were so worn out that 
 they could not possibly move forward Avith any hope of 
 overtaking the fresh camels of Brahe's party. On looking 
 round, however, they saw the word " Dig" cut on a neigh- 
 bouring tree ; and, when they turned up the soil, they 
 found a small supply of provisions. 
 
 Brahe had remained a month and a half longer than he 
 had been told to wait ; and, as his own provisions were fast 
 diminishing, and there seemed, as yet, to be no signs of 
 Wright with the remainder of the expedition, he thought it 
 unsafe to delay his return any longer. This man Wright 
 was the cause of all the disasters that ensued. Instead of 
 following closely on Burke, he had loitered at Menindie for 
 no less than three months and one week, amusing himself 
 
172 DISCOVERIES IN THE INTERIOR. [chap. 
 
 with his friends ; and, when he did set out, he took things 
 so leisurely that Brahe was half-way back to the Darling 
 before they met. 
 
 3- Sufferings. — On the evening when they entered the 
 depot, Burke, Wills, and King made a hearty supper ; then, 
 for a couple of days, they stretched their stiff and weary 
 limbs at rest. But inaction was dangerous, for, even with 
 the greatest expedition, their provisions would only serve to 
 take them safely to the Darling. They now began to deli- 
 berate as to their future course. Burke wished to go to 
 Adelaide, because, at Mount Hopeless — where Eyre had been 
 forced to turn back in 1840 — there was now a large sheep 
 station, and he thought it could not be more than 150 miles 
 away. Wills was strongly averse to this proposal. " It is 
 true," he said, "Menindie is 350 miles away, but then we 
 know the road, and are sure of water all the way." But 
 Burke was not to be persuaded, and they set out for Mount 
 Hopeless. Following Cooper's Creek for many miles, they 
 entered a region of frightful barrenness. Here, as one of the 
 camels became too weak to go further, they were forced to 
 kill it and to dry its flesh. Still they followed the creek, till 
 at last it spread itself into marshy thickets and was lost ; they 
 then made a halt, and found they had scarcely any provisions 
 left, while their clothes were rotten and falling to pieces. 
 Their only chance was to reach Mount Hopeless speedily ; 
 they shot their last camel, and, whilst Burke and King were 
 drying its flesh, Wills struck out to find Mount Hopeless ; 
 but no one knew in which direction to look for it, and 
 Wills, after laboriously traversing the dry and barren 
 wastes in all directions, came back unsuccessful. A short 
 rest was taken, and then the whole party turned south- 
 ward, determined this time to reach the Mount. But they 
 were too weak to travel fast ; day after day over these 
 dreary plains, and still no sign of a hill ; till at length, 
 
XVIII.] SUFFERINGS. 173 
 
 when they were within fifty miles of Mount Hopeless, they 
 gave in. Had they only gone but a little further, they 
 would have seen the summit of the mountain rising upon 
 the horizon ; but just at this point they lost hope and 
 turned to go back. Again a weary journey, and they once 
 more reached the fresh water and the grassy banks of 
 Cooper's Creek, but now with provisions for only a day or 
 two. They sat down to consider their position, and Burke 
 said he had heard that the natives of Cooper's Creek lived 
 chiefly on the seed of a plant which they called nardoo ; so 
 that, if they could only find a native tribe, they might, 
 perhaps, learn to find sufficient subsistence from the soil 
 around them. Accordingly, Burke and King set out to 
 seek a native encampment; and, having found one, they 
 were kindly received by the blacks, who very willingly 
 showed them how to gather the little black seeds from a 
 kind of grass which grows close to the ground. 
 
 With this information they returned to "Wills ; and as the 
 nardoo seed was abundant, they began at once to gather it ; 
 but they found that, through want of skill, they could 
 scarcely obtain enough for two meals a day by working 
 from morning till night ; and, when evening came, they 
 had to clean, roast, and grind it ; and, besides this, 
 whatever it might have been to the blacks, to them it was 
 by no means nutritious — it made them sick, and gave them 
 no strength. 
 
 Whilst they were thus dwelling on the lower part of 
 Cooper's Creek, several miles away from the depot, Brahe 
 had returned to find them and bring them relief. On his 
 way home he had met with Wright leisurely coming up, 
 and had hastened back with him to the depot ; but when 
 they reached it they saw no signs of Burke and Wills, 
 although the unfortunate explorers had been there only a 
 few days before. Brahe, therefore, concluded that they 
 
174 
 
 DISCOVERIES IN THE INTERIOR. [chap. 
 
 were dead, and once more set out for home. Meanwhile, 
 Burke thought it possible that a relief party might in this 
 way have reached the Creek, and Wills volunteered to e-o to 
 the depot to see if anyone was there. He set out by 
 himself, and after journeying three or four days reached 
 
 the place ; but only 
 to find it still and de- 
 serted. He examined 
 it carefully, but could 
 see no trace of its 
 having been recently 
 visited ; there could 
 be no advantage in 
 remaining, and he 
 turned back to share 
 the doom of his com- 
 panions. He MOW be- 
 gan to endure fearful 
 pangs from himger ; 
 one evening he entered 
 an encampment that 
 had just been abandoned by the natives, and around the 
 iire there were some fish bones, which he greedily picked. 
 Next day he saw two small fish floating dead upon a pool, 
 and they made a delicious feast; but, in spite of these 
 stray morsels, he was rapidly sinking from hunger, when 
 suddenly he was met by a native tribe. The black men were 
 exceedingly kind ; one carried his bundle for him, another 
 supported his feeble frame, and gently they ied the^ gaunt 
 and emaciated white man to their camp. They made him sit 
 down and gave him a little food. Whilst he Avas eating he 
 saw a grea't quantity of fish on the fire. For a few minutes 
 he wondered if all these could possibly be for him, till at 
 length thpy were cooked and the plentiful repast was 
 
 WILLIAM JOHN WILLS. 
 
XVIII.] SUFFERI^'GS. 175 
 
 placed before him. The natives then gathered round 
 and clapped their hands Avith delight when they saw 
 him eat heartily. He stayed with them for four days, 
 and then set out to bring his friends to enjoy likewise 
 this ample hospitality. It took him some days to reach 
 the place where he had left them ; but when they heard 
 his good news they lost no time in seeking their native 
 benefactors. Yet, on account of their weakness, they 
 travelled very slowly, and when they reached the encamp- 
 ment it was deserted. They had no idea whither the 
 natives had gone. They struggled a short distance 
 further ; their feebleness overcame them, and they were 
 forced to sink down in despair. All day they toiled 
 hard to prepare nardoo seed ; but their small strength 
 could not provide enough to support them. Once or twice 
 they shot a crow, but such slight repasts served only to 
 prolong their sufferings. "Wills, throughout all his jour- 
 neyings, had kept a diary, but now the entries became 
 very short ; in the struggle for life there was no time 
 for such duties, and the grim fight with starvation required 
 all their strength. 
 
 At this time Wills records that he cannot imderstand 
 why his legs are so weak ; he has bathed them in the 
 stream, but finds them no better, and he can hardly crawl 
 out of the hut. His next entry is, that unless relief 
 comes shortly he cannot last more than a fortnight. After 
 this his mind seems to have begun to wander ; he makes 
 frequent and unusual blunders in his diary. The last 
 words he wrote were that he was waiting, like Mr. Micaw- 
 ber, for something to turn up, and that, though starving 
 on nardoo seed was by no means unpleasant, yet he would 
 prefer to have a little fat and sugar mixed with it. 
 
 4. Deaths of Burke and Wills. — Burke now thought 
 that their only chance was to find the blacks, and proposed 
 
176 DISCOVERIES IN THE INTERIOR. [chap. 
 
 that he and King should set out for that purpose. They 
 were very loth to leave Wills, but, under the circumstances, 
 no other course was possible. They laid him softly within 
 the hut, and placed at his head enough of nardoo to last 
 him for eight days. Wills asked Burke to take his watch, 
 and a letter he had written for his father ; the two men 
 pressed his hands, smoothed his couch tenderly for the last 
 time, and set out. There, in the utter silence of the 
 wilderness, the dying man lay for a day or two : no ear 
 heard his last sigh, but his end was as gentle as his life had 
 been free from reproach. 
 
 Burke and King Avalked out on their desperate errand. 
 On the first day they traversed a fair distance ; but, on the 
 second, they had not proceeded two miles when Burke lay 
 down, saying he could go no further. King entreated him 
 to make another effort, and he dragged himself to a little 
 clump of bushes, where he stretched his limbs very wearily. 
 An hour or two afterwards he was stiff and unable to move. 
 He asked King to take his watch and pocket-book, and, if 
 possible, to give them to his friends in Melbourne ; then he 
 begged of him not to depart till he was quite dead : he 
 knew he should not live long, and he would like someone 
 to be near him to the last. He spoke with difficulty, but 
 directed King not to bury him, but to let him lie above 
 ground, with a pistol in his light hand. They passed a 
 weary and lonesome night ; and in the morning, at eight 
 o'clock, Burke's restless life was ended. King wandered 
 for some time forlorn, but, by good fortune, he stumbled 
 upon an abandoned encampment, where, by neglect, the 
 blacks had left a bag of nardoo, sufficient to last him a 
 fortnight; and, with this, he hastened back to the hut 
 where Wills had been laid. All he could do now, however, 
 was to dig a grave for his body in th« sand, and, having 
 performed that last sad duty, he set out once more on his 
 
XVIII.] DEATHS OF BURKE AND WILLS. 177 
 
 search, and found a tribe, differing from tliat whicli he had 
 already seen. They were very kind, but not anxious to 
 keep him, until, having shot some birds and cured their 
 chief of a malady, he was found to be of some use, and 
 soon became a great favourite with them. They made a 
 trip to the body of Burke, but, respecting his last wishes, 
 they did not seek to bury it, and merely covered it gently 
 with a layer of leafy boughs. 
 
 5. Relief Parties. — When Wright and Brahe returned 
 to Victoria with the news that, though it was more than 
 five months since Burke and Wills had left Cooper's Creek, 
 there were no signs of them at the depot, all the colonies 
 showed their solicitude by organizing parties to go to the 
 relief of the explorers, if, perchance, they should be still 
 alive. Victoria was the first in the field, and the Royal 
 Society equipped a small party, under Mr. A. W. Howitt, 
 to examine the banks of Cooper's Creek. Queensland 
 offered five hundred pounds to assist in the search, and with 
 this sum an expedition was sent to examine the Gulf of 
 Carpentaria. Landsborough, its leader, was conveyed in 
 the Victoria steamer to the Gulf, and followed the Albert 
 almost to its source, in hopes that Burke and Wills might 
 be dwelling with the natives on that stream. Walker was 
 sent to cross from Rockhampton to the Gulf of Carpentaria ; 
 he succeeded in reacliing the Flinders River, where Burke 
 and Wills had been ; but, of course, he saw nothing of 
 them. M'Kinlay was sent by South Australia to advance 
 in the direction of Lake Torrens and reach Cooper's Creek. 
 These various expeditions were all eager in prosecuting the 
 search, but it was to Mr. Howitt's party that success fell. 
 In follo^ving the course of Cooper's Creek downward from 
 the depot he saw the tracks of camels, and by these he was 
 led to the district in Avhich Burke and Wills had died. 
 
 Several natives, whom he met, brought him to the place 
 
 13 
 
178 DISCOVERIES IN THE INTERIOR. [chap. 
 
 where, beneath a native hut, King was sitting, pale, haggard, 
 and wasted to a shadow. He Avas so weak that it was with 
 difficulty Howitt could catch the feeble whispers that fell 
 from his lips ; but a day or two of European food served 
 shghtly to restore his strength. Howitt then proceeded to 
 the spot where the body of Wills was lying partly buried, 
 and, after reading over it a short service, he interred it 
 decently. Then he sought the thicket where the bones of 
 Burke lay with the rusted pistol beside them, and, having 
 wrapped a union jack around them, he dug a grave for 
 them hard by. 
 
 Three days later the blacks were summoned, and their 
 eyes brightened at the sight of knives, tomahawks, neck- 
 laces, looking-glasses, and so forth, which were bestowed 
 upon them in return for their kindness to King. Gay 
 pieces of ribbon were fastened round the black heads of the 
 children, and the whole tribe moved away rejoicing in the 
 possession of fifty pounds of sugar, which had been divided 
 among them. 
 
 When Ho\vitt and King returned, and the sad story of 
 the expedition was related, the Victorian Government sent a 
 party to bring the remains of Burke and Wills to Melbourne, 
 where they received the melancholy honours of a public 
 funeral amid the general mourning of the whole colony. In 
 after years, a statue was raised to perpetuate their heroism 
 and testify to the esteem with which the nation regarded 
 their memory. 
 
 6. M'Douall Stuart. — Burke and Wills were the first 
 who ever crossed the Australian Continent ; but, for several 
 years before they set out, another traveller had, with 
 wonderful perseverance, repeatedly attempted this feat. 
 John M'Douall Stuart had served as draughtsman in Sturt's 
 expedition to the Stony Desert, and he had been well trained 
 in that school of adversity and sufferings. He was em- 
 
XVIII.] M'DOUALL STUART. 179 
 
 ployed, in 1859, by a number of squatters, who wished him 
 to explore for them new lands in South Australia, and hav- 
 ing found a passage between Lake Eyre and Lake Torrens, 
 he discovered, beyond the deserts which had so much dis- 
 heartened Eyre, a broad district of fine pastoral land. 
 
 Next year the South Australian Government offered 
 £2,000 as a reward to the first person who should succeed 
 in crossing Australia from south to north, and Stuart set 
 out from Adelaide to attempt the exploit. With only two 
 men he travelled to the north, towards Van Diemen's 
 Gulf, and penetrated much further than Sturt had done in 
 1844. Indeed, he was only 400 miles from the other side 
 of Australia, when the hostility of the blacks forced him 
 to return : he succeeded, however, in planting a flag in the 
 centre of the continent, at a place called by him Central 
 Mount Stuart. Next year he was again in the field, and 
 following exactly the same course, he approached very near 
 to Van Diemen's Gulf ; being no more than 250 miles distant 
 from its shores, when want of provisions forced him once 
 more to return. The report of this expedition was sent to 
 Burke and Wills, just before they set out from Cooper's 
 Creek on their fatal trip to the Gulf of Carpentaria. 
 
 It was not until the following year, 1862, that Stuart 
 succeeded in his purpose. He had the perseverance to start 
 a third time, and follow his former route ; and on this 
 occasion he was successful in reaching Van Diemen's Gulf 
 and returning, after having endured many sufferings and 
 hardships. 
 
 His triumphal entry into Adelaide took place on the very 
 day when Howitt's mournful party entered that city, bearing 
 the remains of Burke and Wills, on their way to Melbourne. 
 Stuart then learnt that these brave explorers had anticipated 
 him in crossing the continent, for they had reached the Gulf 
 of Carpentaria in February, 1861 ; whilst he did not arrive 
 
180 DISCOVERIES IN THE INTERIOR. [chap. 
 
 at Van Diemen's Gulf until July, 1862. However, Stuart 
 had shown so great a courage, and had been twice before 
 so near the completion of his task, that everyone was 
 pleased when the South Australian Government gave him 
 the well-merited reward. 
 
 7. Warburton. — In a subsequent chapter it will be told 
 how a line of telegraph was, in 1872, constructed along the 
 track followed by Stuart ; and as the stations connected 
 with this line are numerous, it is now an easy matter to cross 
 the continent from south to north. But in recent years a 
 desire has arisen among the adventurous to journey over- 
 land from east to west. Warburton, in 1873, made a 
 successful trip of this kind. With his son, two men, and 
 two Afghans to act as drivers of his seventeen camels, he 
 started from Alice Springs, a station on the telegraph line 
 close to the tropic of Capricorn. 
 
 The country immediately round Alice Springs was very 
 beautiful, but a journey of only a few days served to bring 
 the expedition into a dry and barren plain, so desolate that 
 Warburton declared it could never be traversed without the 
 assistance of camels. After travelling about four hundred 
 miles, he reached those formidable ridges of fiery red sand 
 in which the waters of Sturt's Creek are lost, and where 
 A. C. Gregory was in 1856 compelled to turn back. In 
 traversing this district, the party suffered many hardships ; 
 only two out of seventeen camels survived, and the men 
 were themselves frequently on the verge of destruction. It 
 was only by exercising the greatest care and prudence that 
 Warburton succeeded in bringing his party to the Oakover 
 Eiver, on the North- West Coast, and when he arrived once 
 more in Adelaide it was found that he had completely lost 
 the sight of one eye. 
 
 8. Giles and Forrest. — Towards the close of the same 
 year, 1873, a young Victorian named Giles started on a 
 
XVIII.] GILES AND FORiiEST. 181 
 
 similar trip, intending to cross from the middle of the 
 telegraph line to West Australia. He held his course 
 courageously to the west, but the country was of such 
 appalling bareness that, after penetrating half-way to the 
 western coast, he was forced to abandon the attempt and 
 return. But when three years afterwards he renewed his 
 efforts, he succeeded, after suffering much and making long 
 marches without water. He had more than one encounter 
 with the natives, but he had the satisfaction of crossing 
 from the telegraph line to the West Australian coast, through 
 country never before traversed by human feet. In 1874 this 
 region was successfully traversed by Forrest, a Government 
 Surveyor of West Australia, who started from Geraldton, to 
 the south of Shark Bay, and, after a journey of tAvelve 
 hundred miles almost due east, he succeeded in reaching 
 the telegraph line. His entry into Adelaide was like a 
 triumphal march, so great were the crowds that went out to 
 escort him to the city. Forrest was then a young man but 
 a most skilful and sagacious traveller. Lightly equipped, 
 and accompanied by only one or two companions, he has on 
 several occasions performed long journeys through the most 
 formidable country with a celerity and success that are 
 indeed surprising. 
 
 His brother, Alexander Forrest, and a long list of bold and 
 skilful bushmen, have succeeded in traversing the continent 
 in every direction ; they have found fine tracts of land in 
 the course of their journeys. It is not all desert. Indeed, 
 more than half of the recently explored regions are suitable 
 for sheep and cattle, but there are other great districts 
 which are miserable and forbidding. However, thanks to 
 the heroic men whose names have been mentioned, and to 
 such others as the Jardine Brothers, Ernest Favenc, Gosse, 
 and the Baron von Mueller, almost the whole of Australia 
 is now explored. Only a small part of South Australia and 
 
182 
 
 DISCOVERIES IN THE INTERIOR. [chap. 
 
 the central part of West Australia remain unknown. We all 
 of us owe a great debt of gratitude to the men who endured 
 so much to make known to the world the capabilities of 
 our continent. 
 
 .*rP^-!'W; 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 Tasmania, 1837 to 1886. 
 
 1. Governor Franklin. — Sir John Franklin, the great 
 Arctic explorer, arrived in 1837 to assume the Governorship 
 of Tasmania. He had been a midshipman, under Flinders, 
 during the survey of the Australian coasts, and for many 
 years had been engaged in the British Navy in the cause 
 of science. He now expected to enjoy, as Governor of a 
 
 small colony, that ease 
 and retirement which 
 he had so laboriously 
 earned. But his hopes 
 were doomed to disap- 
 pointment. Although 
 his bluff and hearty 
 manner secured to him 
 the goodwill of his 
 people, yet censures 
 on his administration 
 were both frequent and 
 severe ; for during his 
 rule commenced that 
 astonishing decline of 
 
 the colony which continued, with scarcely any interruption, 
 
 for nearly thirty years. 
 
 2. Flood of Convicts.— After the cessation of trans- 
 portation to New South Wales, in 1840, hopes were enter- 
 
 GOVERNOR FRANKLIN. 
 
XIX.] FLOOD OF CONVICTS. 183 
 
 tained that Tasmania would likewise cease to be a penal 
 settlement ; and, under this impression, great numbers of 
 emigrants arrived in the colony. But, ere long, it became 
 known that Tasmania was not only to continue, as before, a 
 receptacle for British felons, but was, in fact, to be made 
 the only convict settlement, and was destined to receive the 
 full stream of criminals, that had formerly been distributed 
 over several colonies. The result was immediately disastrous 
 to the free settlers, for convict labour could be obtained at 
 very little cost, and wages therefore fell to a rate so miserable 
 that free labourers, not being able to earn enough for the 
 sui3port of their families, were forced to leave the island. 
 Thus, in 1844, whilst the arrival of energetic and hard- 
 working immigrants was adding greatly to the prosperity of 
 the other colonies, Tasmania was losing its free population, 
 and was sinking more and more into the degraded position 
 of a mere convict station. 
 
 Lord Stanley, the British Colonial Secretary, in 1842, 
 proposed a new plan for the treatment of convicts, according 
 to which they were to pass through various stages, from a 
 condition of absolute confinement to one of comparative 
 freedom ; and, again, instead of being all collected into one 
 town, it was arranged that they should be scattered through- 
 out the colony in small gangs. By this system it was 
 intended that the prisoners should pass through several 
 periods of probation before they were set at liberty ; and it 
 was, therefore, called the Probation Scheme. The great 
 objection to it was that the men could scarcely be superin- 
 tended with due precaution when they were scattered in so 
 many separate groups, and many of them escaped, either to 
 the bush or to the adjacent colonies. 
 
 3. Franklin's Difficulties.— The feelings of personal 
 respect with which the people of Yan Diemen's Land 
 regarded Sir John Franklin were greatly increased by the 
 
184 TASMANIA, 1S37 to 1S86. [vhav. 
 
 umiable and high-spirited character of his wiie. Lady 
 Franklin posessed, in her o^vn right, a large private fortune, 
 which she employed in the most generous and kindly man- 
 ner ; her counsel and her wealth were ever ready to promote 
 prosperity and alleviate sufferings. And yet, in spite of all 
 this personal esteem, the experience of the new Governor 
 among the colonists was far from being agreeable. 
 
 Before the arrival of Sir John Franklin, two nephews of 
 Governor Arthur had been raised to very high positions. 
 One of them, Mr. Montagu, was the Chief Secretary ; 
 and, during his uncle's government, he had contrived to 
 appropriate to himself so great a share of power that 
 Franklin, on assuming office, was forced to occupy quite a 
 secondary position. By some of the colonists the Governor 
 was blamed for pernutting the arbitrary acts of the Chief 
 Secretary; while, on the other hand, he was bitterly 
 denounced as an intermeddler by the numerous friends of 
 the ambitious Montagu, who, himself, lost no opportunity 
 of bringing the Governor's authority into contempt ; and, 
 at length, went so far as to write him a letter containing — 
 amid biting sarcasm and mock courtesy — a statement 
 equivalent to a charge of falsehood. In consequence of this 
 he was dismissed ; but Sir John Franklin, who considered 
 Montagu to be a man of ability, magnanimously gave him 
 a letter to Lord Stanley, recommending him for employ- 
 ment in some other important position. This letter, being 
 conveyed to Stanley, was adduced by Montagu as a con- 
 fession from the Governor of the superior ability and special 
 fitness of the Chief Secretary for his post. Lord Stanley 
 ordered his salary to be paid from the date of his dismissal ; 
 and Franklin, shortly after this insult to his authority, 
 suddenly found himself superseded by Sir Eardley Wilmot, 
 the next Governor, without having received the previous 
 notice which, as a matter of courtesy, h*^ might have 
 
XIX.] FBANKLIN'S DIFFICULTIES. 185 
 
 expected. In 1843 lie returned to England, followed by the 
 regrets of nearly all the Tasmanians. 
 
 Two years afterwards, he sailed with the ships Erebus 
 and Terror, to search for a passage into the Pacific Ocean 
 through the Arctic regions of North America. He entered 
 the ice-bound regions of the north, and for many years no 
 intelligence regarding his fate could be obtained. Lady 
 Franklin prosecuted the search with a wife's devotion, long 
 after others had given up hope ; and, at last, the discovery 
 of some papers and ruined huts proved that the whole 
 party had perished in those frozen wastes. 
 
 4. Governor Wilmot. — Sir Eardley "Wilmot had gained 
 distinction as a debater in the British Parliament. Like 
 Governors Bligh and Gipps, in New South Wales, Wilmot 
 found that to govern at the same time a convict population 
 and a colony of free settlers was a most ungrateful task. A 
 large proportion of the convicts, after being liberated, re- 
 newed their former courses : police had to be employed to 
 watch them, judges and courts appointed to try them, gaols 
 built to receive them, and provisions supplied to maintain 
 them. If a prisoner was arrested and again convicted for 
 a crime committed in Tasmania, then the colony was obliged 
 to bear all the expense of supporting him, and amid so 
 large a population of criminals these expenses became in- 
 tolerably burdensome. It is true that colonists had to some 
 extent a compensating advantage in receiving, free of 
 charge, a plentiful supply of convict labour for their public 
 works. But when Lord Stanley ordered that they should 
 in future pay for all such labour received, they loudly 
 complained of their grievances. "Was it not enough," 
 they asked, "to send out the felons of Great Britain to 
 become Tasmanian bushrangers, without forcing the free 
 settlers to feed and clothe them throughout their lives, after 
 the completion of their original sentences ? " To all such 
 
186 TASMANIA, 1S37 to 18SG. [ohap. 
 
 remonstrances Lord Stanley's answer was that Tasmania 
 had always been a convict colony ; and that the free settlers 
 had no right to expect that their interest would be specially 
 consulted in the management of its affairs. Sir Eardley 
 Wilmot found it impossible to obtain the large sums required 
 for the maintenance of the necessary police and goals, and 
 he proposed to the Legislative Council to borrow money for 
 this purpose. Those of the Council who were Government 
 officials were afraid to vote in opposition to the wishes of 
 the Governor, who, therefore, had a majority at his com- 
 mand. But the other members, six in number, denounced 
 the proposed scheme as injurious to the colony ; and when 
 they found that the Governor was determined to carry it 
 out, they all resigned their seats. For this action they were 
 honoured with the title of the " Patriotic Six." 
 
 About this time Mr. Gladstone succeeded Lord Stanley in 
 England as the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and as 
 he had shortly afterwards to complain that, in reporting on 
 these and other important matters, Sir Eardley had sent 
 home vague statements for the purpose of deceiving the 
 Imperial authorities, the Governor was recalled. But he 
 was destined never to leave the scene of his troubles ; for, 
 two or three months after his recall, he became ill and died 
 in the colony. 
 
 5. Denison and the Transportation Question.— On the 
 arrival of the next Governor, Sir "William Denison, in 
 1847, the Queen reinstated the "Patriotic Six;" and the 
 colonists, encouraged by this concession, vigorously set to 
 work to obtain their two great desires — namely, govern- 
 ment by elective parliaments, and the abolition of 
 transportation. It was found that, between the years 
 1846 and 1850, more than 25,000 convicts had been 
 brought into Tasmania ; free immigration had ceased, and 
 the number of convicts in the colony was nearly double the 
 
XIX .J THE TRANSPORTATION QUESTION. 187 
 
 number of free men. In all parts of the world, if it became 
 known that a man had come from Tasmania, he was looked 
 upon with the utmost distrust and suspicion, and he Avas 
 shunned as contaminated. On behalf of the colonists, a 
 gentleman named M'Lachlan went to London for the pur- 
 pose of laying before Mr. Gladstone the grievances under 
 which they suffered ; at the same time, within the colony, 
 Mr. Pitcairn strenuously exerted liimself to prepare petitions 
 against transportation, and to forward them to the Imperial 
 authorities. These representations were favourably received, 
 and, in a short time, Sir W. Denison received orders to 
 inquire whether it was the unanimous desire of the people 
 of Tasmania that transportation should cease entirely. The 
 question was put to all the magistrates of the colony, 
 who submitted it to the people in public meetings. The 
 discussion was warm, and party feeling ran high. There 
 were some who had been benefited by the trade and the 
 English subsidies which convicts brought to the colony, and 
 there were others who desired, at all hazards, to retain the 
 cheap labour of the liberated convicts. These exerted 
 themselves to maintain the system of transportation ; but 
 the great body of the people were determined on its aboli- 
 tion, and the answer returned by every meeting expressed 
 the same unhesitating sentiment — Transportation ought to 
 be abolished entirely. Accordingly, it was not long before 
 the Tasmanians were informed by the Governor that trans- 
 portation should, in a short time, be discontinued. But 
 Earl Grey was now preparing another scheme for the treat- 
 ment of convicts : they were to be kept for a time in English 
 prisons ; after they had served a part of their sentence, if 
 they had been well conducted the British Government 
 would take them out to the colonies and land them there as 
 free men so as to give them a chance of starting an honour- 
 able career in a new country. It was a scheme of kind 
 
188 TASMANIA, 1837 to 18S6. [chap. 
 
 intention for tlie reformation of criminals that were not 
 utterly bad, while the English Government would keep all 
 the worst prisoners at home under lock and key. But the 
 colonies had no desire to receive even the better half of the 
 prisoners. They were afraid that cunning criminals would 
 sham a great deal of reformation in order to be set free, 
 and would then revert to their former waj'-s whenever they 
 were let loose in the colonies. But Earl Grey was resolved 
 to give the criminal a fair chance. Ships filled with con- 
 victs were sent out to the various colonies, but the prisoners 
 were not allowed to land. In 1849 the Bandolpli appeared 
 at Port Phillip Heads ; but the people of Melbourne forbade 
 the captain to enter. He paid no attention to the order, 
 and sailed up the bay to Williamstown. But when he was 
 preparing to land the convicts, he perceived among the 
 colonists signs of resistance so stern and resolute that he 
 was glad to take the advice of Mr. Latrobe and sail for 
 Sydney. But, in Sydney also, the arrival of the convicts 
 was viewed with the most intense disgust. The inhabitants 
 held a meeting on the Circular Quay, in v\^hich they pro- 
 tested very vigorously against the renewal of transportation 
 to New South Wales. West Australia alone accepted its 
 share of the convicts ; and we have seen how the reputation 
 of that colony suffered in consequence. 
 
 6. The Anti-Transportation League.— Tlie vigorous 
 protest of the other colonies had procured their immunity 
 from this evil in its direct form ; but many of the ' ' ticket- 
 of -leave men" found their way to Victoria and New South 
 Wales, which were, therefore, all the more inclined to assist 
 Tasmania in likewise throwing off the burden. A grand 
 Anti-Transportation League was formed in 1851 ; and the 
 inhabitants of all the colonies banded themselves together 
 to force the Home Government to emancipate Tasmania. 
 Immediately after this, the discovery of gold greatly 
 
XIX.] THE ANTI-TRANSPORTATION LEAGUE. 189 
 
 assisted the efforts of the League, because the British 
 Government perceived that prisoners coidd never be 
 confined in Tasmania, when, by escaping from the colony, 
 and mixing with the crowds on the gokifields, they might, 
 in a few days, make their fortunes ; and there was now 
 reason to suppose that banishment to Australia would be 
 rather sought than shunned. 
 
 7. "Snd of Transportation. — In 1850 Tasmania, like tlie 
 other colonies, received its Legislative Council ; and when 
 the people proceeded to elect their share of the members, 
 no candidate had the slightest hope of success who was not 
 an adherent of the Anti-Transportation League. After 
 this new and unmistakeable expression of opinion, the 
 English authorities no longer hesitated, and the new 
 Secretary of State, the Duke of Newcastle, directed that, 
 from the year 1853, transportation to Tasmania should 
 cease. 
 
 Up to this time the island had been called Van Diemen's 
 Land. But the name was now so intimately associated 
 with ideas of crime and villainy, that it was gladly 
 abandoned by the colonists, who adopted, from the name 
 of its discoverer, the present title of the colony. 
 
 Sir Henry Young, formerly Governor of South Australia, 
 was appointed to Tasmania in 1855, and held office till 
 1861; during this period responsible government was 
 introduced. When the Legislative Council undertook the 
 task of drawing up the new Constitution, it was arranged 
 that the nominee element, which had now become extremely 
 distasteful, should be entirely abolished, and that both of 
 the legislative bodies should be elected by the j)eople. 
 
 After Sir Henry Young, the next three Governors were 
 Colonel Brown, Mr. DuCane, and Mr. Weld — all men of 
 ability, and very popular among the Tasmanians. After 
 the initiation of responsible government in 1856, various 
 
190 TASMANIA, 1837 to 1S86. [chap. 
 
 reforms were introduced. By a very liberal Land Act of 
 1863, inducements were offered to industrious men to 
 become farmers in the colony. For the purpose of opening 
 up the country by means of railways, great facilities were 
 given to companies who undertook to construct lines 
 through the country districts ; and active search was made 
 for gold and other metals. But, in spite of these reforms, 
 the population was steadily decreasing, owing to the 
 attractions of the gold-producing colonies. No great 
 amount of land was occupied for farming purposes, and 
 even the squatters on the island were contented with smaller 
 runs than those in the other colonies. They reared stock 
 on the English system, and their domains were rather sheep- 
 farms than stations. Indeed, the whole of Tasmania wore 
 rather the quiet aspect of rural England than the bustling 
 appearance of an Australian colony. But the efforts to 
 throw off the taint of convictism were crowned with marked 
 success ; and, from being a gaol for the worst of criminals, 
 Tasmania has become one of the most moral and respectable 
 of the colonies. 
 
 Of late years Tasmania has made great advances. Her 
 population has increased to about 140,000, and her resources 
 have been enormously increased by the rapid development 
 of her mineral enterprise. Tin mines of great value are now 
 widely spread over the west of the island, and gold mines 
 of promising appearance are giving employment to many 
 persons who formerly could find little to do. There is room 
 for a very great further development of the resources of 
 Tasmania ; but the colony is now on the right track, and 
 her future is certain to be prosperous. 
 
XX.] SOUTH AUSTBALIA, 1850 to 1886. 191 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 South Australia, 1850 to 1886. 
 
 1. Temporary Decline.— In 1851 the prosperity of South 
 Australia was somewhat dimmed by the discovery of gold 
 in Victoria ; for, before the middle of the following year, 
 the colony was deserted by a very large proportion of its 
 male inhabitants. The copper mines were A\dth difl&culty 
 worked, for want of men ; the fields were uncultivated, the 
 sheep untended, and the colony experienced a short period 
 of rapid decHne. However, the results obtained on the 
 goldfields by most of these fortune -seekers were hardly to 
 be compared with the steady yield of the fertile corn-fields 
 and rich copper mines of South Australia, and most of those 
 who had thus abandoned the colony returned in a short 
 time to their families and their former employments. 
 
 Governor Young adroitly turned the discovery of gold to 
 the advantage of his own colony by establishing an escort 
 between Bendigo and Adelaide ; and, as this was remark- 
 ably well equipped, many of the diggers preferred to send 
 their gold by this route rather than to Melbourne, thus 
 giving to South Australia some of the advantages of a gold- 
 producing country. The crowds of people rushing to the 
 goldfields had carried with them nearly all the coins of the 
 colony ; and the banks, although they had plenty of rough 
 gold, were yet unable, from scarcity of coined money, to 
 meet the demands upon them. In this emergency, Sir 
 Henry Young took the extreme and somewhat illegal step 
 of instituting a new currency, consisting of gold cast into 
 small bars or ingots ; and, although afterwards mildly 
 censiu-ed by the Home Government for exceeding his powers, 
 yet he could justly assert that this measure had saved the 
 colony from serious commercial disaster. 
 
192 SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 1850 to ISSG. [chap. 
 
 But Soutli Australia was still more benefited by the great 
 market opened for its flour and wheat among the vast crowds 
 on the goldfields ; and, when the first period of excitement 
 was over, it was found that the colony was, at any rate, not 
 a loser by the success of its neighbours. 
 
 2. The Real Property Act. — In 1858 South Australia 
 took the lead in a reform which is now being adopted by 
 nearly all the civilized nations of the world. According to 
 English law, each time an estate was transferred from one 
 person to another, a deed had to be made out for the 
 purpose ; and if changes in its ownership had been frequent, 
 it would be held by the last purchaser in virtue of a long 
 series of documents. Now, if anyone wished to buy a picee 
 of land, he was obliged for safety to examine all the preced- 
 ing deeds in order to be quite certain that they were vaKd ; 
 even then, if he bought the land, and another person, for 
 any reason whatever, laid claim to it, the owner had to 
 prove the validity of each of a long series of documents, 
 going back, perhaps, for centuries. A flaw in any one of 
 these would give rise to a contest which could be settled 
 only after a very tedious investigation ; and thus arose the 
 long and ruinous chancery suits which were the disgrace of 
 English law. When a man's title to his estate was disputed, it 
 often happened that he had to spend a fortune and waste 
 half a lifetime in protracted litigation before all the antece- 
 dent deeds could be proved correct. 
 
 Mr. E. Torrens had his attention drawn to this very un- 
 satisfactory state of things by the ruin of one of his rela- 
 tives in a Chancery suit. He thought long and carefully over 
 a scheme to prevent the occurrence of such injustice, and 
 drafted a bill for a new method of transferring property. 
 He proposed to lay this before the South Australian Parlia- 
 ment, but his friends discouraged him by declaring it was 
 impossible to make so sweeping a change ; and the lawyers 
 
XX.] THE REAL PROPERTY ACT. 193 
 
 actively opposed any innovation. But Torrens brought 
 forward the bill ; its simplicity and justice commended them- 
 selves to the people and to the House of Assembly, and it 
 was carried by a large majority. According to the new 
 scheme, all transferences of land were to be registered in a 
 public office called the Lands Titles Office, the pm-chaser's 
 name was to be recorded, and a certificate of title given to 
 him ; after this his right to the property was indisputable. 
 If his possession was challenged, he had simply to go to the 
 Lands Titles Office and produce his certificate to the officer 
 in charge, who could turn to the register and at once decide 
 the question of ownership. After this, no dispute was 
 possible. If he sold his land, his name was cancelled in the 
 public register, and the buyer's name was inserted instead, 
 when he became the undisputed owner. Mr. Ton-ens was 
 appointed to be registrar of the office, and soon made the 
 new system a great success; it was adopted one after 
 another in all the colonies of Australia, and must become 
 eventually the law of all progressive nations. 
 
 3. The Northern Territory.— In 1864 the Nonhern 
 Territory was added to the dominions of South Australia, 
 and from Adelaide an expedition was despatched by sea to 
 the shores of Van Diemen's Gulf, in order to form a new 
 settlement ; after many difficulties, caused chiefly by the 
 disputes between the first Government Eesident, or Super- 
 intendent, and the officers under him, a branch colony was 
 successfully founded at Port Darwin, opposite to Melville 
 Island. This settlement has become a most prosperous one : 
 all the fruits and grains of tropical countries flourish and 
 thrive to perfection ; gold is extensively discovered ; and, it 
 is asserted that there exist in the neighbourhood rich mines 
 of other metals, which will, in the future, yield great wealth, 
 while the great stations that are now being formed are 
 peculiarly favourable to the rearing of cattle and of horses. 
 
 14 
 
194 SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 1850 to 1SS6. [chap. 
 
 4. Overland Telegraph..— In a previous chapter it has 
 been described how M'Douall Stuart, after two unsuccessful 
 efforts, succeeded in crossing the continent from. Adelaide 
 to Yan Diemen's Gulf. Along the route which he then 
 took, the people of South Australia resolved to construct 
 a telegraph line. A gentleman named Charles Todd had 
 frequently urged the desirabihty of such a line, and in 1869 
 his representations led to the formation of the British 
 Australian Telegraph Company, which engaged to lay a 
 submarine cable from Singapore to Van Diemen's Gulf, 
 whilst the South Australian Government pledged itself to 
 connect Port Darwin with Adelaide by an overland line, 
 and undertook to have the work finished by the 1st of 
 January, 1872. Mr. Todd was appointed superintendent, 
 and divided the whole length into three sections, reserving 
 the central portion for his own immediate direction, and 
 entrusting the sections at the two ends to contractors. It 
 was a daring undertaking for so young a colony. For 
 thirteen hundred miles the line would have to be carried 
 through country which never before had been traversed by 
 any white men but Stuart's party. Great tracts of this 
 land were utterly destitute of trees, and all the posts 
 required for the line had to be carted through rocky deserts 
 and over treacherous sand-hills. Todd had, with wonderful 
 skill and energy, completed his difficult portion of the task, 
 and the part nearest to Adelaide had also been finished 
 before the time agreed upon ; but it fared differently with 
 those who had undertaken to construct the northern section. 
 Their horses died, their provisions failed, and the whole 
 attempt proved a miserable collapse. The Government sent 
 a party- to the north, in order to make a fresh effort. Wells 
 were dug, at intervals, along the route, and great teams of 
 bullocks were employed to carry the necessary provisions 
 and materials to the stations ; and yet, in spite of every 
 
XX.] OVERLAND TELEGRAPH. , 195 
 
 precaution, the result was a failure. Meanwhile the cable 
 had been laid, and the first message sent from Port Darwin 
 to England announced that the overland telegraph was not 
 nearly finished. The 1st of January, 1872, being now close 
 at hand, Mr. Todd was hastily sent to complete the work. 
 But the time agreed upon had expired before he had even 
 made a commencement, and the company threatened to sue 
 the South Australian Government for damages, on account 
 of the losses sustained by its failure to perform its share of 
 the contract. For the next eight months the work was 
 energetically carried forward ; Mr. Todd rode all along the 
 line to see that its construction was satisfactory throughout. 
 He was at Central Mount Stuart in the month of August, 
 when the two ends of the wire were joined, and the first tele 
 graphic message flashed across the Australian Continent. 
 But, meantime, a flaw had occurred in the submarine cable, 
 and it was not until October that communication was estab- 
 lished vnth. England. On the second day of that month, 
 the Lord Mayor of London, standing at one end of the line, 
 sent his hearty congratulations through twelve thousand 
 five hundred miles of wire to the Mayor of Adelaide, who 
 conversed with him at the other extremity. The whole 
 work was undertaken and accomplished within two years ; 
 and already not only South Australia, but all the colonies, 
 are reaping the greatest benefits from this enterprising 
 effort. Another undertaking of a similar character has been 
 completed by the efforts of both South and West Australia ; 
 along the barren coast on which Eyre so nearly perished 
 there stretches a long line of posts, which carry a telegraph 
 line from Perth to Adelaide. 
 
 A period of depression began in South Australia after 
 1882. For a time everything was against it. Long droughts 
 killed its sheep and ruined its crops ; while the copper 
 mines were found to be worked out. But fortune began to 
 
196 SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 1850 to 1886. [chap. 
 
 smile again after a few years of dull times, and when in 18S7 
 an exhibition was held in Adelaide to commemorate the 
 Jubilee of the colony, it was also the commemoration of 
 the return of brighter prospects. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 New South "Wales, 1860 to 1888. 
 
 1. The Land Act. — Sir John Young became Governor of 
 New South Wales in 1861. He was a man of great talent ; 
 but, at this stage of the colony's history, the ability of the 
 Governor made very little difference in the general progress 
 of affairs. The political power was now chiefly in the hands 
 of responsible ministers, and without their advice the 
 Governor could do nothing. The ministry of the period — 
 headed by Charles Cowper and John Eobertson — prepared a 
 bill to alter the regulations for the sale of land, and to give 
 to the poor man an opportunity of obtaining a small farm 
 on easy terms. Any person who declared his readiness to 
 live on his land, and to cultivate it, was to be allowed to 
 select a portion, not exceeding a certain size, in any part of 
 the colony which he thought most convenient. The land 
 was not to be given gratuitously ; but, although the selector 
 was to pay for it at the rate of one pound per acre, yet he 
 was not expected to give more than a quarter of the price 
 on taking possession. Three years afterwards he had the 
 option of either paying at once for the remaining three- 
 quarters, or, if this were beyond his means, of continuing to 
 hold the land at a yearly rental of one shilling an acre. 
 This was an excellent scheme for the poorer class of farmers ; 
 but it was not looked upon with favour by most of the 
 squatters, whose runs were only rented from the State, and 
 
XXL] THE LAND ACT. 197 
 
 were, therefore, Kable, under this new act, to be invaded by 
 selectors, who would pick out all the more fertile portions, 
 break up the runs in an awkward manner, and cause many 
 annoyances. 
 
 Hence, though the Legislative Assembly passed the bill, 
 the Upper House, whose members were mostly squatters, 
 very promptly rejected it ; and upon this there arose a 
 struggle, the Ministry being determined to carry the bill, 
 and the Council quite as resolute never to pass it. Acting 
 on the advice of his Ministers, Sir John Young entreated 
 the Upper House to give way ; but it was deaf to all 
 persuasions, and the Ministers determined to coerce it by 
 adopting extreme measures. Its members had been nomi- 
 nated by a previous Governor for a period of five years, as a 
 preliminary trial before the nominations for life ; the term 
 of their appointment was now drawing to a close, and Sir 
 John Young, by waiting some little time, might easily have 
 appointed a new Council of his own way of thinking. But 
 the ministers were impatient to have their measure passed, 
 and, instead of waiting, they advised the Governor to nomi- 
 nate twenty-one new members of Council, who, being all 
 supporters of the bill, would give them a majority in the 
 Upper House ; so that, on the very last night of its existence 
 it would be obliged to pass the measure and make it law. 
 But when the opponents of the bill saw the trick which was 
 being played upon them, they rose from their seats and 
 resigned in a body. The President himself vacated his 
 chair ; and as no business could then be carried on, the 
 Land Bill was delayed until the Council came to an end, 
 and the ministers thus found themselves outwitted. They 
 were able, somewhat later, to effect their purpose ; but this 
 little episode in responsible government caused no little stir 
 at the time, and Sir John subsequently received a rebuke 
 from the Colonial Secretary for his share in it. 
 
198 NEW SOUTH WALES, 1S60 to 18SS. [chap. 
 
 2. Prince Alfred.— In 1868 Lord Belmore became 
 Governor of New South Wales, and during liis term of 
 office all the colonies passed through a period of mild 
 excitement on the occasion of a visit from the Queen's 
 second son, Prince Alfred. He was the first of the Eoyal 
 Family who had ever visited Australia, and the people gave 
 to him a hearty and enthusiastic reception. As he entered the 
 cities flower- decked arches spanned the streets ; crowds of 
 people gathered by day to welcome him, and at night the 
 houses and public buildings were brilliantly illuminated in 
 his honour. But during the height of the festivities at 
 Sydney a circumstance occurred which cast a gloom over 
 the whole of Australia. The Prince had accepted an invita- 
 tion to a picnic at Clontarf , and was walking quietly on the 
 sands to view the various sports of the holiday-makers, 
 when a young man named O'Farrell rushed forward and 
 discharged at him a pistol. The ball entered his back, 
 and he fell dangerously wounded. For a day or two his 
 life trembled in the balance, and the colonists awaited the 
 result with the greatest excitement, until it was made 
 loiown that the crisis was past. No reason was alleged for 
 the crime except a blind dislike to the Eoyal Family ; and 
 O'Farrell was subsequently tried and executed. 
 
 3. Eailway Construction.— New South Wales has three 
 main lines of railway. One starts from Sydney, and passes 
 through Goulburn to Albury on its way to Melbourne ; one 
 goes nortli to Newcastle, then through the New England 
 district, and so to Brisbane ; and the third runs from Sydney 
 over the Blue Mountains to Bathurst, and away to Bourke, 
 on the Darling Eiver. Those rugged heights, which so 
 long opposed the westward progress of the early colonists, 
 have proved no insujjerable barrier to the engineer ; and the 
 locomotive now slowly puffs up the steep inclines and drags 
 its long line of heavily-laden trucks where Macquarie's 
 
XXI.] BAIL WAY CONSTRUCTION. 199 
 
 road, with so mucli trouble, was carried in 1815. The first 
 difficulty which had to be encountered was at a long valley 
 named Knapsack Gully. Here the rails had to be laid on a 
 great viaduct, where the trains run above the tops of the 
 tallest trees. The engineers had next to undertake the 
 formidable task of conducting the line up a steep and rocky 
 incline, seven hundred feet in height. This was effected by 
 cutting a " zig-zag" in the rock ; the trains run first to the 
 left, rising upon a slight incline ; then, reversing, they go 
 to the right, still mounting slightly upwards; then, again, 
 to the left ; and so on till the summit is reached. By these 
 means the short distance is rendered long, but the abrupt 
 steepness of the hill is reduced to a gentle inclination. The 
 trains afterwards run along the top of the ridge, gradually 
 rising, till, at the highest point, they are three thousand 
 five hundred feet above the level of the Sydney station. 
 The passengers look down from the mountain tops on the 
 forest-clad valleys far below; they speed along vast 
 embankments or dash through passages cut in the solid 
 rock, whose sides tower above them to the height of an 
 ordinary steeple. In some places long tunnels were bored, 
 so that the trains now enter a hill at one side and emerge 
 from the other. 
 
 One of these tunnels was thought to be unsafe; the 
 immense mass of rock above it seemed likely to crush 
 downwards upon the passage, and the engineers thought 
 that their best course would be to remove the hill from 
 above it. Three and a half tons of gunpowder were placed 
 at intervals in the tunnel, and connected by wires with a 
 galvanic battery placed a long distance off. The operation 
 of firing the mine was made a public occasion, and Lady 
 Belmore agreed to go up to the mountains and perform the 
 ceremony of removing the hill. When all was ready, she 
 touched the knob which brought the two ends of the wire 
 
200 NE]V SOUTH WALLS, 1860 to 18S8. [chap. 
 
 together. A dull and rumbling sound was heard, the solid 
 rock heaved slowly upward, and then settled back to its 
 place, broken in a thousand pieces, and covered with rolling 
 clouds of dust and smoke. All that the workmen had then 
 to do was to carry away the immense pile of stone, and the 
 course was clear for laying the rails. 
 
 "When the line reached the other side of the Blue Moun- 
 tains there were great difficulties in the descent ; here the 
 engineers had to lay out zig-zags of greater extent than the 
 former. By these the trains now descend easily and safely 
 from the tops of the mountains do^vn into the Lithgow 
 Valley far below. 
 
 By the southern railway to Albury, crowds of x^eople are 
 daily whirled in a few hours to places which, forty years 
 ago, were reached by Sturt, and Hume, and Mitchell, only 
 after weeks of patient toil, through unknown lands that 
 were far removed from civilization. 
 
 4. Sydney Exhibition. — So on every hand the colony 
 made progress. Her railways expanded in scores of 
 iDranches ; her telegraph lines stretched out their arms in 
 every direction ; her sheep increased so that now there are 
 nearly forty millions of them; her wheat and maize 
 extended to nearly half a million of acres ; her 
 •orangeries and orchards, her mines of coal and tin, and hei 
 varied and extensive manufactures, make her people, now 
 numbering a million, one of the most prosperous on the 
 face of the earth. Her pride w^as pardonable when, in 
 1879, she held an international exhibition to compare her 
 industries side by side Avith those of other lands, so as to 
 show how much she had done and to discover how much 
 she had yet to learn. A frail, but wonderfully pretty 
 building rapidly arose on the brow of the hill between 
 Sydney Cove and Farm Cove, and that place, the scene of 
 so much squalor and misery a hundred years before, became 
 
XXI.] SYDNEY EXHIBITION. 201 
 
 gay vn.i\i all that decorative art could do, aud busy with 
 daily throngs of gratified visitors. The place had a most 
 distinguished appearance ; seen from the harbour, its dome 
 and fluttering flags rose up from among the luxuriant foli- 
 age of the Botanic Gardens, as if boldly to proclaim that 
 New South Wales had completed the period of her infancy 
 and was prepared to take her place among the nations as 
 one grouTi to full and comely proportions. "When the build- 
 ing had served its purpose, the people were too fond and 
 too proud of it to dismantle and destroy it, but unfortunately 
 it was not long after swept away by an accidental fire. 
 
 In 1885, the colony was stirred by a great wave of 
 enthusiasm when it was known that its Government had 
 sent to England the offer of a regiment of soldiers to fight in 
 the Soudan side by side with British troops. The offer was 
 accepted, and some seven or eight hundred soldiers, well 
 equipped and full of high hopes, sailed for Africa. The 
 war was too soon over for them to have any chance of 
 displaying what an Australian force may be like upon a 
 battle-field. There were many persons who held that the 
 whole expedition was a mistake ; but it had one good effect. 
 It showed that, for the present at least, the Australian 
 colonies are proud of their mother- country ; that their eyes 
 are fondly turned to her, to follow all her destinies in that 
 great career which she has to accomplish as the leading nation 
 of the earth ; and that if ever she needed their help, 
 assistance would flow spontaneously from the fulness of 
 loving hearts. The idea of this expedition and its execution 
 belonged principally to C. B. Dalley. But the great leader 
 of New South Wales during the last quarter of a century, 
 and the most zealous worker for its welfare and prosperity, 
 has been the veteran statesman Sir Henry Parkes. 
 
202 VICTORIA, 1855 to ISSS. [chap. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXII. 
 
 Victoria, 1855 to 1888. 
 
 1 Responsible Government. — In 1855, when eack of 
 the colonies was engaged in framing for itself its own form 
 of government, Victoria, like all the others, chose the 
 English system of two Houses of Legislature. At first it 
 was resolved that the Lower House, called the Legislative 
 Assembly, should consist of onlv sixty members ; but by 
 subsequent additions, the number has been increased to 
 eighty-six ; in 1857 the right of voting was conferred upon 
 every man who had resided a sufficient length of time in 
 the colony. With regard to the Upper House, Victoria 
 found the same difficulty as had been experienced in New 
 South "Wales; but, instead of introducing the system of 
 nomination by the Government, it decided that its Legis- 
 lative Council should be elected by the people. In order, 
 however, that this body might not be identical in form and 
 opinion with the Lower House, it was arranged that no one 
 should be eligible for election to it who did not possess at 
 least five thousand pounds' worth of real property, and 
 that the privilege of voting should be confined to the 
 wealthier part of the community. 
 
 Along with this new Constitution responsible government 
 was introduced, and Mr. Haines, being sent for by the 
 Governor, formed the first Ministry. Before the close of 
 the year, the first contest under the new system took place. 
 Mr. Nicholson, a member of the Assembly, moved that the 
 voting for elections should in future be carried on in secret, 
 by means of the ballot-box, so that every man might be 
 able to give his opinion undeterred by any external 
 pressure, such as the fear of displeasing his employer or of 
 disobliging a friend. The Government of Mr. Haines 
 
XXII. ] RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 203 
 
 refused, its assent to this proposal, which was, nevertheless, 
 caiTied by the Assembly. Now, the system of responsible 
 government required that, in such a case, Mr. Haines and 
 his fellow ministers, being averse to such a law and declining 
 to carry it out, should resign and leave the government to 
 those who were willing and able to inaugurate the newly- 
 appointed system. Accordingly they gave in their resig- 
 nations, and the Governor asked Mr. Nicholson to form a 
 new ministry ; but, though many members had voted for 
 his proposal, they were not prepared to follow him as their 
 leader. He could obtain very few associates, and was thus 
 unable to form a ministry ; so that there appeared some 
 likelihood of a total failure of responsible government before 
 it had been six months in existence. In the midst of this 
 crisis Sir Charles Hotham was taken ill. He had been present 
 at a prolonged ceremony — the opening of the fu'st gas- 
 works in Melbourne — and a cold south wind had given him 
 a dangerous cold. He lay for a day or two in great danger ; 
 but the crisis seemed past, and he had begun to recover, 
 when news was brought to him of Mr. Nicholson's failure. 
 He lay brooding over these difficulties, which pressed so 
 much upon his mind that he was unable to rally, and on 
 the last day of the year 1855 he died. This was a great 
 shock to the colonists, who had learnt highly to respect 
 him. The vacant position was for a year assumed by Major- 
 General Macarthur, who invited Mr. Haines and his 
 ministry to return. They did so, and the course of respon- 
 sible government began again from the beginning. At the 
 end of 1856 another Governor — Sir Henry Barkly — arrived; 
 and during the seven years of his stay the new system 
 worked smoothly enough, the only peculiarity being the rapid 
 changes in the Government. Some of the ministries lasted 
 only six weeks, and very few protracted their existence to 
 a year. 
 
204 VICTORIA, 1855 to ISSS. [chap. 
 
 2. The Deadlock. — Sir Henry Barkly left the colony in 
 1863, and his place was immediately filled by Sir Charles 
 Darling, nephew of Sir Ralph Darling, who, forty years 
 before, had been Governor of New South AVales. Sir Charles 
 was destined to troublous times ; for he had not been long 
 in the colony ere a most vexatious hitch took place in the 
 working of constitutional government. It a,rose out of a 
 struo-o;le with reg-ard to what is called " Protection to Native 
 Industry." 
 
 The colony was filled with vigorous and enterprising men 
 who had come to it for the purpose of digging for gold. 
 For four or five years gold digging had been on the average 
 a fairly remunerative occupation. But when all the surface 
 gold had been gathered, and it became necessary to dig 
 shafts many hundreds of feet into the earth, and even then 
 in many cases only to get quartz, from which the gold had 
 to be extracted by crushing and careful washing, then the 
 ordinary worker, who had no command of capital, had to 
 take employment with the wealthier people, who could 
 afford to sink shafts and wait for years before the gold 
 appeared. These men, therefors, had to take small Avages 
 for toiling at a most laborious occupation. But most of 
 them had learnt trades of some sort in Europe ; and the 
 idea sprang up that if the colony prevented boots from 
 coming into it from outside there would be plenty of work 
 for the bootmakers ; if it stopped the importation of 
 engines there would no longer be any need for engineers to 
 work like navvies at the bottom of gold mines — they would 
 be wanted to make the engines of the colony. After a long 
 agitation, therefore, James M'Culloch, the Premier of the 
 colony, in 1864 brought a bill into the Victorian Legislative 
 Assembly according to which taxes were to be placed on all 
 goods coming into the colony if they were of a sort that 
 might be made within the colony. M'Culloch proposed to 
 
XXII.] THE DEADLOCK. 205 
 
 make this change because it was ardently desired by the 
 working men of the colony ; and these could by their votes 
 control the action of the Legislative Assembly. But the 
 Upper House called the Legislative Council, composed of 
 wealthy men, who had been elected by the wealthier 
 part of the community, thought, after careful decision, that 
 any such plan would ruin the commerce of the colony with- 
 out much benefiting its industries. They rejected the 
 proposed bill. 
 
 M'Culloch tried to persuade them to pass it, but they 
 were obstinate. He then resorted to a trick which is in 
 itself objectionable, but which is perhaps excusable when the 
 great body of the people wish a certain thing and a small 
 body like the Legislative Council are resolved to thwart them. 
 It is part of our constitutional law that all bills dealing with 
 money matters must be prepared in the Lower House ; the 
 Upper House can then accept them or reject them as they 
 stand, but is not allowed to alter them. 
 
 Now, once a year Parliament has to pass a bill called the 
 Apijropriation Act, by which authority is given to the Govern- 
 ment to spend the public money in the various ways that 
 Parliament directs. In 1865 M'Culloch put the whole of the 
 Protective Tariff Bill into the Appropriation Act as if it were 
 a part of that act, though really it had nothing to do with 
 it. The Legislative Assembly passed the Appropriation Act 
 with this insertion. The Legislative Council now found 
 itself in a most unlucky position. If it passed the Apjpro- 
 priation Act it would also pass the Protective Tariff Bill, 
 which it detested. But if it rejected the Apjpropriation Act, 
 then the Government would have no authority to pay away 
 any money, and so all the officers of the State, the civil 
 servants and the policemen, the teachers and the gaolers, 
 the survevors and the tide-waiters, would all have to g-o on 
 for a year without any salaries. There was no middle course 
 
206 VICTORIA, 1855 to 1SS8. [chap. 
 
 open, for the Council could not alter the Appropriation Act 
 and then pass it. 
 
 Whether was it to pass the act and make the protective tariff 
 the law of the land; or reject it, and run the risk of making 
 a number of innocent people starve ? It chose the latter, 
 and threw out the bill. The whole country became im- 
 mensely excited, and seemed like one great debating club 
 where men argued warmly either for or against the Council. 
 
 Matters were becoming serious, when the Ministry dis- 
 covered an ingenious device for obtaining money. Accord- 
 ing to British law, if a man is unable to obtain from the 
 Government what it owes him, he sues for it in the Supreme 
 Court, and then, if this Court decides in his favour, it 
 orders the money to be paid, quite independently of smy 
 Appropriation Act, out of the sums that may be lying in the 
 Treasury. In their emergency, the ministry applied to the 
 banks for a loan of money ; five of them refused, but the 
 sixth agreed to lend forty thousand pounds. With this 
 the Government servants were paid, and then the bank de- 
 manded its money from the Government ; but Government 
 had no authority from Parliament to pay imj money, and 
 could not legally pay it. The bank then brought its action 
 at law. The Supreme Court gave its order, the money was 
 paid to the bank out of the Treasury ; and thus a means had 
 been discovered of obtaining all the money that was required 
 without asking the consent of Parliament. Throughout the 
 year 1865 the salaries of officers were obtained in this way; 
 but in 1866 the Upper House, seeing that it was being beaten, 
 offered to hold a conference. Each House made concessions 
 to the other, the Tariff Bill was passed, with some alterations, 
 the Appropriation Bill was then agreed to in the ordinary 
 way, and the "Deadlock" came to an end. 
 
 3. The Darling Grant. — But, in its train, other troubles 
 followed ; for the EngKsh authorities were displeased with 
 
XXII.] THE DARLING GRANT. 207 
 
 Sir Charles Darling for allowing the Government to act as 
 it did. They showed how he might have prevented it, and, 
 to mark their dissatisfaction, they recalled him in 1866. He 
 bitterly complained of this harsh treatment ; and the Assem- 
 bly, regarding him as, in some measure, a martyr to the 
 cause of the people, determined to recompense him for his 
 loss of salary. In the Appropriation Act of 1867 they there- 
 fore placed a grant of £20,000 to Lady Darling, intending 
 it for the use of her husband. The Upper House owed no 
 debt of gratitude to Sir Charles, and, accordingly, it once 
 more threw out the Appropriation Bill. Again there was 
 the same bitter dispute, and again the public creditors were 
 obliged to sue for their money in the Supreme Court. In a 
 short time four thousand five hundred such pretended 
 actions were laid, the Government making no defence, and 
 the order being given in each case that the money should be 
 paid. 
 
 In 1886 the new Governor — Viscount Canterbury — 
 arrived; but the struggle was still continued, till, in 1868, 
 Sir Charles Darling informed M'CuUoch that Lady Darling 
 would decline to receive the money, as he was receiving 
 instead five thousand pounds as arrears of salary and a 
 lucrative position in England. The Upper House then 
 passed the Appropriation Bill, and the contest came to an 
 end. 
 
 4. Payment of Members. — But they had other things to 
 quarrel about. The working men of the colony thought 
 that they never would get fair treatment in regard to the 
 laws until working men were themselves in parliament. But 
 that could not be, so long as they had to leave their trades 
 and spend their time in making laws while getting nothing 
 for it. Hence they were resolved on having all members of 
 parliament paid, and they elected persons to the Lower 
 House who were in favour of that principle. But the 
 
208 VICTORIA, 1855 to 1888. [chap 
 
 better-off people sent persons into the Upper House who 
 wei'e against it. Thus for twenty years a struggle took 
 place, but in the end the working men carried their point 
 and it was settled that every member of parliament should 
 receive three hundred pounds a year. The two houses also 
 quarrelled about the manner in which the land was to be 
 sold ; the Lower House being anxious to put it into the 
 hands of industrious people who were likely to work on it 
 as farmers, even though they could pay very little for it ; 
 the Upper House preferring that it should be sold to the 
 people who offered the most money for it. On this and 
 other questions in dispute the Lower House gained the 
 victory. 
 
 5. Exhibitions. — It was not till the year 1880, that all 
 these contentions were set at rest, but from that time the 
 colony passed into a period of complete peace, during which 
 it made the most astonishing progress in all directions. 
 That progress was indicated in a most decided way by the 
 exhibitions held in the colony. It had from time to time 
 in previous years held Intercolonial Exhibitions at which all 
 the colonies had met in friendly competition. But in 1880, 
 and again in 1888, Victoria invited all the world to exhibit 
 their products at her show. A magnificent building was 
 erected in one of the parks of Melbourne, and behind it 
 were placed acres of temporary wooden erections, and the 
 whole was filled with twenty acres of exhibits. A similar 
 show, held in 1888, was much larger, and helped, by its fine 
 collection of pictures, its grand displays of machinery, its 
 educational courts, its fine orchestral music, and so on, in a 
 hundred ways to stimulate and develope the minds of the 
 people. , 
 
 During recent years Victoria has been very busy in social 
 legislation. While enjoying peace under the direction of a 
 coalition Government with Mr. Duncan Gillies and Mr. 
 
xxn.] EXHIBITIONS. ' 209 
 
 Alfred Deakin at its head, the colony has tried experiments 
 in regulating the liquor traffic ; in closing shops at an early- 
 hour ; in irrigating the waterless plains of the north-west, 
 and in educating farmers and others into the most approved 
 methods of managing their businesses. What is to be the 
 eventual result no one can as yet very definitely prophesy. 
 But the eyes of many thoughtful persons throughout the 
 world are at present turned to Victoria to see how those 
 schemes are working which have been so zealously under- 
 taken for the good of the people. 
 
 Meantime the colony has thriven to an astonishing extent. 
 Its central half forms a network of railways. Its agriculture 
 and its trades have doubled themselves every few years, and 
 there is not at present on the face of the earth any community 
 of a million people more prosperous than that of Victoria. 
 
 Of the colonies as they now stand, New South "Wales and 
 Victoria are the leaders, with a million inhabitants each ; 
 Queensland and South Australia come next with 350,000 
 each ; Tasmania next with 140,000, while West Australia is 
 still the least in importance. They have had only a short 
 history, the period of their occupation by civilized people 
 covering little more than a century ; but it is evident that 
 they are now upon the eve of a movement the most 
 momentous of their history. For there are signs that ere 
 long they will federate, and those colonies which when 
 single and isolated were of little standing among the nations, 
 will, when federated into the Dominion of Australia, move 
 forward upon a splendid destiny, with every promise to 
 rank, in the future, as one of the greatest and most 
 respected of earth's peoples. 
 
 15 
 

 INDKX. 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Page 
 
 > 
 
 Page 
 
 Abolition of Transportation 97 
 
 Caley's Repulse 
 
 - 48 
 
 Adelaide - 
 
 - 81 
 
 Carpenter, General - 
 
 - 6 
 
 Agricultural Co., N.S.W. 51 
 
 Castlereagh 
 
 - 47 
 
 Albany - - - 139, 158 
 
 Castlemaine 
 
 - 114 
 
 Alexander, Mount - 
 
 - 114 
 
 Chisholm, Mrs. 
 
 - 92 
 
 Alexandrina, Lake - 
 
 - 62 
 
 Clarke 
 
 - 23 
 
 Alfred, Prince - 
 
 - 198 
 
 Clarke, Rev. W. B. - 
 
 - 106 
 
 Anti-Transportation - 
 
 - 188 
 
 Clunes 
 
 - 112 
 
 Arthur, Governor 
 
 - 43 
 
 Collins, Governor 14, 38, 67 
 
 Atkin, Judge Advocate 
 
 - 35 
 
 Convicts Prevention Act - 117 
 
 Australia, name given 
 
 - 5 
 
 Cook's Voyages 
 
 - 9 
 
 Australian Bight 
 
 - 154 
 
 Corner Inlet 
 
 - 25 
 
 Ballarat - 
 
 - 112 
 
 Cotton Plantations - 
 
 - 147 
 
 Bass - - 21, 
 
 24, 26 
 
 Cowper, Charles 
 
 - 196 
 
 Bathurst - - 
 
 - 49 
 
 Crawford • 
 
 - 44 
 
 Batman - - 44, 
 
 69, 78 
 
 Cumberland, vessel - 
 
 - 28 
 
 Baudin 
 
 - 27 
 
 Cunningham, Allan - 
 
 - 57 
 
 Bentley - 
 
 - 122 
 
 Dalley - 
 
 - 201 
 
 Bligh - - 
 
 33,34 
 
 Dalrymple 
 
 25, 40 
 
 Blue Mountains 
 
 - 47 
 
 Dampier - 
 
 - 7 
 
 Botany Bay 
 
 11, 13 
 
 Darling River - 
 
 - 60 
 
 Bourke 
 
 53, 76 
 
 Darling, Sir Ralph - 
 
 - 51 
 
 Bowen, Lieut. - 
 
 - 37 
 
 Davey, Governor 
 
 - 40 
 
 Bowen, Sir George - 
 
 - 145 
 
 Denisou, Governor - 
 
 129, 186 
 
 Brady - • - 
 
 - 44 
 
 D'Entrecasteaux 
 
 - 13 
 
 Brisbane, Governor - 
 
 49, 52 
 
 DuCane - 
 
 - 189 
 
 Brisbane River 
 
 - 141 
 
 Dunhar 
 
 - 131 
 
 Brown, Colonel 
 
 - 189 
 
 Duyfhen - 
 
 - 5 
 
 Buccaneers' Achipelago 
 
 - 8 
 
 Edel- 
 
 - 5 
 
 Buckley - 
 
 - 75 
 
 Endeavour -^ 
 
 - 10 
 
 Burke and Wills 
 
 - 167 
 
 Esmond - 
 
 - 112 
 
 Burra Mines 
 
 - 101 
 
 Eureka Stockade 
 
 - 124 
 
 Caen, De - - - 
 
 - 28 
 
 Eyre, Edward - 
 
 - 153 
 
INDEX. 
 
 211 
 
 Exhibitions — 
 
 Sydney 
 
 Melbourne - 
 
 Adelaide 
 Fawkner - - 68, 
 
 Fisher 
 
 Fitzroy, Sir Charles - 
 Flinders - 
 Forrest 
 
 Foveaux, Colonel 
 Franklin, Sir John - 
 Fremantle 
 Furneaux 
 Garden Island - 
 Gawler, Colonel 
 Geelong - 
 Giles 
 
 Gipps, Governor 
 Glenelg River - 
 Gold, early rumours of 
 Goldfields, aspect of 
 Goldfields, rush to - 
 Gold in Queensland - 
 Gregory, A. C. 
 Grey, Earl 
 Grey, Governor 
 Grose, Major - 
 Grimes 
 
 Hacking, Port - 
 Hargraves 
 Hartog, Dirk - 
 Hawkesbury - 
 Henty Bros. 
 Hervey Bay 
 Hind marsh. Governor 
 Hobart Town - 
 Hotham, Sir Charles 
 Howe, Cape 
 Howitt 
 
 Hume and Hovell 
 Humfiray - 
 Hunter, Captain 
 Investigator', vessel - 
 Jackson, Port - 
 Johnston, Major 
 
 45 
 
 Page 
 
 - 201 
 
 - 208 
 
 - 196 
 73, 78 
 
 - 81 
 
 - 97 
 21, 25 
 
 - 180 
 
 - 36 
 182 
 
 - 134 
 
 - 13 
 
 - 135 
 84,87 
 
 - 70 
 
 - 180 
 
 - 88 
 
 - 64 
 
 - 106 
 
 - 117 
 
 - 109 
 
 - 145 
 
 - 166 
 
 - 96 
 87, 98 
 
 - 19 
 
 - 66 
 
 - 23 
 
 - 107 
 
 - 5 
 
 - 20 
 
 - 71 
 
 - 26 
 
 - 82 
 
 - 40 
 
 - 121 
 
 - 11 
 
 - 177 
 
 - 57 
 
 - 124 
 
 - 14 
 
 - 26 
 12, 15 
 32, 35 
 
 Page 
 
 Kangaroo Island - 27, 81 
 
 Kapunda Mines - - 100 
 
 Keer-weer, Cape - - 5 
 Kennedj'^, the explorer - 164 
 
 Kennedy, a miner - - 122 
 
 King, Lieut. - - 17, 29 
 King George's Snd. 133, 139, 157 
 Lalor - - 119, 124, 125 
 
 Lancey, Captain - - 74 
 
 Land Question - - - 54 
 
 Land Grants, W.A. - 135 
 
 Land Laws, N.S.W. - 89 
 
 Landsborough - - - 177 
 
 Lang, Dr. - - - 94 
 
 La Perouse - - - 13 
 
 Latrobe - - - 77, 93 
 
 Leeuwin - - - - 5 
 Legislative Council 52, 94, 129 
 Legislative Assembly 129, 202 
 Leichardt 
 License Fee 
 Lonsdale - 
 Macarthur, John 
 Macleay - 
 Macquarie, Governor 
 Macquarie River 
 M'Kinlay- 
 
 63, 
 12, 
 
 Marion 
 
 Melbourne 
 
 Merri Creek 
 
 Mitchell - 
 
 Moreton Bay 
 
 Murray, Lieut. 
 
 Murray River - 
 
 New Hebrides - 
 
 New South Wales Corps - 
 
 New South Wales named - 
 
 New Zealand - 
 
 Norfolk Island 
 
 Norfolk, sloop 
 
 Nuggets - 
 
 Nuyts 
 
 Ovens River 
 
 Oxley 
 
 Parkes, Sir H. 
 
 - 162 
 
 - 119 
 
 - 77 
 
 - 32 
 
 - 61 
 
 - 45 
 49, 57 
 
 - 177 
 
 - 13 
 71,77 
 
 70 
 164 
 141 
 
 27 
 
 61 
 8 
 
 30 
 11 
 
 - 11 
 17,41 
 
 - 25 
 
 - 116 
 
 - 6 
 120 
 141 
 201 
 
 59, 
 
 55, 
 
212 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 Patriotic Six - - - 186 
 Patterson, Colonel 19, 36, 40 
 Peel, Mr. - - - 137 
 
 Perth - - - - 135 
 Phillip, Governor - - 15 
 Polynesian Labour - - 148 
 Poole - - - - 160 
 Portland Bay - - - 64 
 Port Phillip . - - 65 
 Queensland - - - 151 
 Quiros, De ... 2 
 Railways in N.S.W. - 198 
 
 Rebecca, vessel - - 70 
 
 Redcliif Peninsula - - 142 
 Representative Government 94 
 Robe, Governor - - 104 
 Robertson, John - - 196 
 Rockhampton - - - 146 
 Roebuck ~ - - - 8 
 Risdon - - - - 38 
 Saltwater River - - 71 
 Sandhurst - - - 115 
 
 Separation of Port Phillip 93 
 Separation of Queensland 144 
 Shoalhaven River - - 24 
 Shortlands, Lieut. - - 20 
 Sirius, war ship - - 14 
 Sorell, Governor - - 42 
 Soudan Expedition - - 201 
 S. Australian Association 80 
 Spencer's Gulf - - - 27 
 Stony Desert - - - 161 
 Strzelecki - - - 106 
 
 Stuart, M'Douall 159, 161, 178 
 Sturt - - - 60, 158 
 Supply y war ship - - 14 
 
 
 Page 
 
 Sydney Cove - 
 
 - 15 
 
 Tamar River - 
 
 - 25 
 
 Tasman - 
 
 - 6 
 
 Tasmania named 
 
 - 189 
 
 Taylor - 
 
 - 44 
 
 Telegraph, overland - 
 
 - 194 
 
 Todd, Charles - 
 
 - 194 
 
 Tom Thumb, boat - 
 
 - 21 
 
 Torrens' Real Property Act 1 92 
 
 Torrens, Colonel - - 81 
 
 Torres - . . •- 4 
 
 Tribulation Cape - - 12 
 
 Twofold Bay - - - 24- 
 
 University of Sydney - 132 
 
 Vancouver - - - 13 
 
 Van Diemen - - - 6 
 
 Vern - - - - 124 
 
 Victoria named - - 97 
 
 Vlaming ... - 134 
 
 Wakefield - . . 79 
 
 Walker - - - - 177 
 
 Warburton - - - 180 
 
 Weld, Governor - - 189 
 
 Wentworth - - 48, 130 
 
 Western Port - - 25, 68 
 
 West Australia - - 139 
 
 Wilmot, Sir Eardley - 185 
 
 Wilson's Promontory - 25 
 
 Windsor - - - - 47 
 
 Wool-growing - - - 32 
 Y^arra .... 70 
 York, Cape - 4, 28, 165 
 
 Young, Sir Henry - 104, 189 
 
 Young, Sir John - - 196 
 
 Zaachen - - - - 5 
 
 George Robertson a^d Co., Printers, Melbourne. 
 
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