THE LIBRARY 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 A 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES, 
 
 VOL. I.

 
 - i -&' 
 
 HJP 
 
 He!
 
 A 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES, 
 
 FROM ITS SETTLEMENT 
 
 TO 
 
 THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR 1844. 
 
 BY THOMAS HENRY BRAIM, ESQ. 
 
 OP ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; FORMERLY READ MASTER OF THE 
 
 EPISCOPALIAN GRAMMAR SCHOOL, HOBART TOWN, VAN DIGMEN'S LAND, AND 
 
 NOW PRINCIPAL OF SYDNEY COLLEGE, NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 As in a cradled Hercules, we trace 
 
 The lines of Empire in thine infant face. 
 
 CAMPBELL. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, 
 
 in rBtnanj to Ijcr 
 
 MDCCCXLVI.
 
 LONDON 
 
 Printed by Schuhe and Co., 13, Poland Street.
 
 170 
 373^ 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE nature and object of the Work now issued 
 to the world are sufficiently explained in the 
 opening Chapter. The toils of an Author in 
 Australia are not of that pleasing character, which 
 suggested to the poet the expression " Labor ipse 
 voluptas." While his fellow-citizens, the Great 
 Republic of Letters at home, trim their lamps at 
 leisure, and relax their bows, when Apollo ceases 
 to be propitious, the Author in this hard-working 
 country is compelled to pursue his task under the 
 pressure of daily avocations ; his lamp often expires 
 while his labours are incomplete, and his bow is 
 broken from too great severity of tension. I 
 have not been exempted from the general sentence. 
 My professional calls are neither few, nor light ; and 
 such is the best apology I have to offer for 
 imperfections, which the critical reader will not 
 fail to detect. Let this candid confession bespeak 
 his indulgence. 
 
 1127793
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 It is my pleasing duty to acknowledge the 
 assistance and sympathy, which I have received 
 in the execution of my undertaking. To the 
 Hon. Edward Deas Thomson, Colonial Secretary, 
 and the Gentlemen connected with Public Depart- 
 ments, I am under the greatest obligations for the 
 readiness with which they have supplied me with 
 documentary information, so necessary to the 
 elucidation of the important questions in which 
 the Colonists are at present interested, and which 
 are discussed in this Work. 
 
 With regard to " the Climatology and Diseases 
 of Australia," I am greatly indebted to Charles 
 Nicholson, Esq., M.D. M.L.C.; a gentleman to 
 whom the Australian Public are under many 
 and lasting obligations. 
 
 I have also to acknowledge the assistance, I 
 have received from George Arden, Esq., and Mr. 
 Slatterie, as well as from J. B. Laughton, Esq. 
 B.A. all of whom aided me greatly in the 
 preparation of the historical parts of the Work. 
 
 LONDON, 
 DECEMBER, 1845.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PACK 
 
 SECTION I. GOVERNMENT OF CAPTAIN PHILLIP . 1 
 
 SECTION II. GOVERNMENT OF CAPTAIN HUNTER . 17 
 
 SECTION III. GOVERNMENT OF CAPTAIN KING . ' 25 
 
 SECTION IV. GOVERNMENT OF CAPTAIN BLIGH . 30 
 
 SECTION V. GOVERNMENT OF MAJOR-GENERAL MAC- 
 
 QUARIE . . . . '''. . 42 
 
 SECTION VI. GOVERNMENT OF SIR THOMAS BRISBANE. 51 
 
 SECTION VII. GOVERNMENT OF LIEUTENANT-GENERAL 
 
 DARLING 56 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 GOVERNMENTS OF SIR RICHARD BOURKE AND SIR 
 GEORGE GIPPS. 
 
 SECTION I. INTRODUCTORY. . V ?"* .'- ''"' 74 
 
 SECTION II. SALE OF CROWN LANDS ' ~ . 88 
 
 SECTION III. IMMIGRATION .... 140 
 
 SECTION IV. DISCONTINUANCE OF TRANSPORTATION . 218 
 
 SECTION V. MINOR ACTS .... 274 
 
 SECTION VI. ANALYSIS OF LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL . 294
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 SIR R. BOURSE'S STATUE . . To Face the Title. 
 
 THE TANK STREAM .. Page 9 
 
 VIEW OP THE FIRST SETTLEMENT IN VAN 
 
 DIEMEN'S LAND . 28 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 VIEW OF SYDNEY COLLEGE GROUNDS . To FttCC the Title. 
 
 ST. PHILIP'S CHURCH . . . Page 161 
 
 ST. ANDREW'S CATHEDRAL . . . 163 
 
 ST. DAVID'S (HOBART TOWN) . . 183 
 
 ST. JOHN'S CHURCH . . . 201 
 
 SYDNEY COLLEGE .... 204 
 
 NEW GOVERNMENT HOUSE . . . 292 
 
 AUSTRALIAN LIBRARY . . . 301 
 
 MONUMENT OF LA PEROUSE AT BOTANY BAY. 307
 
 THE HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DISCOVERY AND EARLY HISTORY. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 GOVERNMENT OF CAPTAIN PHILLIP. 
 
 WHILE the commercial nations of Europe were 
 pushing discoveries, and making territorial acqui- 
 sitions in the Eastern and Western hemispheres 
 the Old and the New World ; while England had 
 been colonizing the lands of America, and con- 
 quering the kingdoms of India, the wide tracts 
 of the South Pacific and South Indian Oceans 
 embosomed in unknown solitude a number of vast 
 and populous islands, which, since their discovery, 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 POLYNESIAN ISLANDS. 
 
 have been named and classed as a fifth grand 
 division of the globe under the title of Polynesia. 
 
 The most prominent in geographical impor- 
 tance of the Polynesian islands are Australia, New 
 Zealand and New Guinea; but while the latter 
 with its group of sister islands, forming a connect- 
 ing link between Asia and Australia, has been 
 hardly explored, the former with their dependencies 
 have become British colonies, second only in wealth 
 and value to the Canadas, and the West Indian 
 Islands. 
 
 The chief, as it is the oldest colony planted by 
 Great Britain on the continental island of Australia, 
 is New South Wales ; and it is the history and 
 general description of this settlement that we now 
 propose to compile for the information of the 
 English reader, and for the perusal of our native 
 youth. 
 
 After a course of fifty years, as a penal colony, 
 New South Wales is now ranked in the list of 
 the free dependencies of the Crown, and besides 
 the highly curious and interesting field of research 
 and narrative which its early history affords, it 
 has now arrived at a point in its career which 
 indicates the present as the fittest time for the 
 composition of a work embracing its past history, 
 its actual position, and its future prospects. The 
 institution we mean is that of a local legislature, 
 combining the principles of elective representation 
 with the representation of the Crown interests,
 
 PLAN OF THE WORK. 3 
 
 and the establishment of this fixes a date up to 
 which the previous progress of the colony forms 
 of itself an era, or period of history : it is through 
 the details of that period, that we now purpose to 
 carry the reader. 
 
 The plan upon which the following work is com- 
 posed, is of a descriptive as well as statistical nature, 
 combining the mode and style pursued by Lang 
 and Martin. It has always appeared to us that 
 the former is too generally descriptive, the latter 
 too sterile in his materials for general interest. 
 Lang is exceedingly meagre in his statistical details, 
 and weak in his financial views ; Martin is replete 
 with figures, but such as are often incorrect and 
 sometimes contradictory. In the following papers, 
 the early history which is connected, we consider, 
 with the first distinctive period that we have de- 
 scribed, is made to contain a narrative of the 
 earliest discoveries of Australia down to the naming 
 and taking possession of New South Wales by 
 Cook, the Navigator; the formation of a penal 
 settlement at Port Jackson, or Sydney under Cap- 
 tain Phillip, the first Governor of the territory ; 
 and a brief but complete and faithful memoir of 
 the several administrations of his successors in 
 the government of the colony. We have given, 
 however, in a separate chapter, a larger propor- 
 tionate space to the administrations of Sir Richard 
 Bourke and Sir George Gipps, both from the 
 greater development of the country during their 
 
 B 2
 
 EARLY DISCOVERY 
 
 term of vice-regal sway, and because, as yet, 
 the political state of New South Wales under their 
 rule has been nowhere succinctly described the 
 history written by Dr. Lang only proceeding so 
 far as the first year of Sir Richard Bourke's go- 
 vernment. 
 
 The continental island of Australia was visited, 
 it is now generally agreed, by De Quiros, a Spanish 
 navigator, in 1609, who, evidently desirous to 
 emulate in this new tract of country the adventures 
 and successes of Columbus and his followers in 
 America, proposed to the reigning monarch of 
 Spain to fit out an expedition for its conquest and 
 possession. For once, however, the swelling ideas 
 of the Hispanian Princes on the subject of uni- 
 versal monarchy were limited, if not suppressed ; 
 the Court of Madrid was satisfied with the acqui- 
 sition of all the Americas, and allowed the Australias 
 to remain an open field for the enterprise of other 
 Kings. 
 
 During the next forty years several Dutch navi- 
 gators at various dates fell in with the land on the 
 northern and western coasts, and through their 
 combined observations was obtained a tolerably 
 faithful knowledge of the outline of the country 
 from its south-western extremity (at which the 
 colony of Swan River is now situated) to the north- 
 western promontory or cape which borders on the 
 Gulf of Carpentaria, and is the site of Port Essing- 
 ton, and the present settlement of Victoria.
 
 OF AUSTRALIA. 5 
 
 Nor did the discoveries of the Dutch stop here ; 
 for another navigator, sent thither for the purpose 
 of surveying by the Dutch East India Company, 
 discovered and named Van Diemen's Land, which 
 up to that time had been supposed to be a cape or 
 extremity of Australia. The same commander, 
 Tasman, also sailed round the northern extremity 
 of the island of New Zealand, which he named 
 Cape Maria Van Diemen the two discoveries 
 thus christened, being called by him after the 
 Governor of the Dutch settlement of Batavia 
 and his daughter, under whose auspices he had 
 undertaken the exploratory voyage. 
 
 The Gulf of Carpentaria lying just to the east- 
 ward of the northern cape, which we have described 
 as one of the termini of the early Dutch surveys, 
 was entered, explored and named after himself by 
 a commander of the name of Carpenter. The 
 name, therefore, which one half the island of 
 Australia bears that of New Holland, or as it 
 is written in the original Dutch, " Niew Hollandt" 
 is justly and properly retained by modern hydro- 
 graphers, whilst the remaining half is called generally 
 New South Wales, from the eastern coast having 
 been so first designated by Captain Cook, to whose 
 enterprise and that of other English navigators, 
 the eastern and southern coasts of Australia more 
 particularly owe their discovery. 
 
 It is to be observed that these are the two main 
 divisions of Australia. Portions of territory have,
 
 6 DIVISION OF AUSTRALIA. 
 
 from time to time, been reserved out of either, and 
 set apart as Colonies of the Crown, or as depen- 
 dencies of the colonies, under distinct names. Of 
 these, South Australia comprises a part of the 
 territory of New South Wales, but is a separate 
 colony; in like manner the dependency of Port 
 Phillip has distinct boundaries reserved to it out 
 of the same, division, while Western Australia 
 has allotted to it a considerable part of the division 
 known as New Holland; and Port Essington 
 again, although a dependency of New South Wales, 
 has its territory reserved out of New Holland. 
 
 We have thought it as well to be somewhat 
 particular in describing the above divisions and 
 subdivisions, because, up to this day, great con- 
 fusion respecting the nomenclature of Australia 
 and its colonies exists in Britain, even amongst 
 the best informed classes. 
 
 We have brought the progress of discovery 
 down to the year 1777, on the 20th of January 
 in which year, Captain Cook planted the British 
 standard on the eastern coast of Australia, in the 
 vicinity of a harbour named by Dr. Solander (who was 
 one of the savans who accompanied that expedition) 
 Botany Bay, from the number, variety, and novelty, 
 of the natural specimens he met with in the 
 adjacent country. The country bounded by the 
 line of coast north and south of Botany Bay at 
 frequent intervals of which Captain Cook landed, 
 and took formal possession in the name of his
 
 ITS CLIMATE. 7 
 
 Britannic Majesty was called generally New South 
 Wales. 
 
 The extreme brightness of the sky, the purity 
 and elasticity of the air, and the botanical wonders 
 in the neighbourhood of Botany Bay at that season, 
 but more than all, the seductive charm of dis- 
 covering and taking possession of a vast, new, 
 beautiful, and interesting country, led the narra- 
 tors of that expedition into describing the " Great 
 New South Land" in such terms, as induced the 
 British Government, when, in 1785, its ministers 
 were looking about for a fresh and eligible 
 geographical situation for their projected penal 
 settlements, to give the preference to New South 
 Wales. 
 
 It was just at that period that the recent 
 separation of the American colonies from the 
 mother country, deprived Great Britain of a place 
 to which to send the sentenced criminals, who, 
 under the transportation system long and early in 
 vogue, were regularly despatched to the plantations 
 and settlements in the West. Australia presented 
 a favourable aspect, and accordingly to Botany 
 Bay it was resolved to send the " first fleet" of 
 convicts. 
 
 In March, 1787, a fleet of eleven vessels, having 
 on board five hundred and sixty-five males, and 
 one hundred and ninety-two female prisoners, 
 with a proportionate military guard, the whole 
 under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip,R.N.,
 
 8 GOVERNOR PHILLIP. 
 
 as Governor of the convict colony of New 
 South Wales, sailed from Portsmouth, and after 
 a voyage of eight months, protracted by the 
 frequent calls made on the outward route at 
 Teneriife, the Cape, and other points on their 
 track, for supplies of provisions and necessaries, 
 arrived at its destination on the wild, solitary, and 
 scarcely inhabited shores of Botany Bay. The 
 site selected as the settlement or home of the 
 young colony, on the descriptions of Captain 
 Cook and his officers, was found to be, on farther 
 examination, wholly unsuitable ; the heat was 
 great, the land beyond the circle of half a mile 
 from the sea, was encumbered with sands, swamps, 
 and heavy forests, and the harbour itself, when 
 the weather was rough, and the easterly wind 
 prevailing, was unsafe anchorage. 
 
 In this dilemma, Captain Phillip, the Governor, 
 resolved to go northward with an expedition, or 
 pioneering corps in the ships' boats, for the purpose 
 of examining another harbour, also discovered and 
 described by Captain Cook, and called " Broken 
 Bay." In his passage upwards along the coast, 
 curiosity led him to enter an inlet laid down on the 
 chart of Cook's expedition as a " Boat harbour," 
 and which it was said was called after the seaman 
 who descried it from the mast-head, " Port Jack- 
 son." 
 
 To their surprise and delight, the excursive 
 band found themselves in a harbour, which, beyond
 
 PORT JACKSON. 9 
 
 the narrow passage of the lofty heads, kept on 
 widening into a broad sheet of water, indented in 
 every direction with still and sheltered coves, and 
 naturally protected with rocks and woods, which 
 combined a certain air of picturesque romance with 
 indications of safety and fertility. To this port 
 the fleet was immediately removed from Botany 
 Bay, and in the basin of one of its inmost recesses, 
 the ships having come to an anchor, the inmates 
 were landed, and the commencement of the set- 
 tlement made on the 26th of January, 1788. 
 
 The Tank Stream. 
 
 Where the "Tank Stream," of which we annex a 
 sketch, now exhibits a portion only of a thriving 
 
 B 3
 
 10 PORT JACKSON. 
 
 city the metropolis of a country with a population 
 of one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants 
 there then stood a thick silent wood, through which 
 the stream gurgled and trickled, breaking by its 
 voice alone the solitude that pervaded that singular 
 spot, unless, at intervals, the shrill "cooee" of the 
 savage, or the crackling bound of the hunted 
 kangaroo, trespassed on its primitive haunts. 
 The evening on which the axe first sounded along 
 that streamlet and through that wood, on which 
 the tents were landed for the accommodation of 
 the residents of the new settlement, closed over 
 the heads of one thousand and thirty individuals, 
 while the same sun set fifty years afterwards upon 
 a town thronged with between thirty and forty 
 thousand inhabitants, whose rejoicings on the day 
 of their " jubilee" had been attended with every 
 demonstration of a luxuriously civilized commu- 
 nity, whose city was beautified with costly buildings, 
 private and public, whose means of defence were 
 powerful and extensive, and whose port was 
 crowded with a thousand ships, and the evidence 
 of a widely ramified commerce. Who that has 
 ever stood on the boundaries of that wonderful 
 place, has not felt himself carried away by the 
 brilliancy of the contrast we have drawn, and 
 cannot but forgive the digression to which, at this 
 point in our history, we have been irresistibly led. 
 It is not our object to follow with minute atten-
 
 TRIALS OF GOVERNOR PHILLIP. 11 
 
 tion the changes of fortune to which the distance 
 of the colony from the rest of the civilized world, 
 and its great dependence upon such parts for 
 the literal maintenance of its population, subjected 
 the settlement of Port Jackson ; but, in proceeding, 
 to give an account of the administration of each of 
 the Governors in succession ; noting, of course, all 
 the particular events which had any influence on 
 the prospects of the country then, or its state at 
 this time. 
 
 The trials to which Governor Phillip was exposed 
 in the management and preservation of his charge, 
 were almost incredible ; of these we will endeavour 
 to give a familiar but faithful picture. So soon as 
 his little state was in some degree organized, he 
 endeavoured to bring the soil into cultivation, but 
 from its sterility in the neighbourhood of Sydney, 
 being nothing but sand, little progress was made ; 
 the convicts soon began to be troublesome, insubor- 
 dination and desertion being of early occurrence ; 
 then the inhabitants got very soon embroiled with 
 the natives who frequented the port for fishing. 
 As soon as it was reckoned that the convicts had 
 arrived in New South Wales, a vessel was 
 despatched from Britain to convey a further store 
 of provisions and other necessaries. This ship, 
 the Guardian, Captain Bean, was wrecked on her 
 way out, at the Cape. In the meantime an acces- 
 sion to the number of colonists had taken place by 
 the arrival of another ship at Sydney with two
 
 12 MISERIES OF 
 
 hundred and twenty-two female convicts. As a 
 measure of relief, Captain Phillip sent away a 
 detachment from the crowded settlement to take 
 possession of Norfolk Island, that dependency 
 which is distant about seven days' sail from Port 
 Jackson, being supposed capable of supporting the 
 whole number so consigned to its soil, and even 
 to afford relief to the mother colony, by the capa- 
 bilities of its climate and soil for agricultural 
 purposes. 
 
 The same fatality, however, attended their move- 
 ments in the new settlement as in the old. The 
 Sirius, which conveyed the settlers of Norfolk 
 Island, was wrecked on its nigged coast, and the 
 Lieutenant-Governor (Hunter) found himself re- 
 moved still farther from all assistance with five 
 hundred and six persons, for whose sustenance 
 it seemed almost impossible to provide from the 
 scanty supply of food saved out of the wreck, 
 and for whose use no diligence or ingenuity could 
 raise sufficient grain for a period of several months. 
 The state of the friends, whom they had left at 
 Port Jackson, was still more aggravated by another 
 arrival of convicts shortly after their departure, 
 although the expected increase of distress was 
 somewhat abated by the loss through death of 
 a number of the prisoners on their passage out. 
 In this manner, penury and privation, amounting 
 almost to starvation, assailed the colony for three 
 years. There may be some of our readers, who,
 
 THE EARLY SETTLERS. 13 
 
 like ourselves, have made a long voyage, for a few 
 weeks of which time " all hands were on short 
 allowance ;" to them the fearfully protracted time 
 of thirty-six months, or three years, will appear 
 in all its appalling colours. There are few who 
 could realize, without due reflection, the immense 
 amount of natural obstacles overcome by the first 
 settlers in New South Wales. There are probably 
 none in the wide city of Sydney, who, as they pass 
 unconcernedly through its well furnished streets, 
 enter its markets teeming with every produce the 
 native air and land can produce, besides innu- 
 merable exotic luxuries, think upon the hardships, 
 known and unknown, endured by their predeces- 
 sors in founding for them a land of abundance, 
 contentment and beauty. 
 
 The miseries that weighed down the spirits 
 of the early settlers, and that added bitterness to 
 the chains of the felon, were at length relieved 
 at the two settlements ; a third convoy with stores 
 having arrived from the Cape in June, 1790. In 
 the following year, what is generally termed in 
 the colony the " second fleet," consisting of ten 
 vessels with sixteen hundred and ninety-five male, 
 and sixty-eight female convicts, carrying propor- 
 tionate quantities of stores, had the effect of placing 
 the inhabitants once more at ease, and in the midst 
 of abundance. Meanwhile the historian must not 
 forget to trace the efforts made in both settlements 
 to secure the means, and to advance in the social
 
 14 MOUNT PITT. 
 
 and substantial elements of civilization. The 
 deplorable situation in which we left the colonists 
 at Norfolk Island was temporarily relieved by a 
 circumstance which is well worth relating again, 
 although preserved as an anecdote by previous 
 writers on the history of these countries. One 
 night, shortly after the arrival of the Sirius, it 
 was observed that a nighbouring hill (since called 
 Mount Pitt) was frequented by innumerable birds 
 that winged their way home at the close of day to 
 their nests and their young, built and reared in the 
 holes constructed by the inmates of this singular 
 warren. By going stealthily on the birds at night, and 
 attracting them as soon as disturbed to the light of 
 a lantern purposely exposed, they were easily cap- 
 tured, being knocked down by hundreds through 
 the activity of the half-starving capturing parties. 
 On the flesh and eggs of this bird,* a species 
 of gull, the people contrived to support life, until, 
 in time, grain was reared for the supply of the 
 station. In December, 1791, at the close of the 
 second year's settlement in the island, about a 
 thousand bushels of wheat had been reaped, besides 
 five hundred bushels of maize. 
 
 At Port Jackson, Governor Phillip did also his 
 best to encourage agricultural pursuits. In 1791, 
 seven hundred acres of land were under cultivation, 
 but, independently of the soil being of an inferior 
 quality, the drought which prevailed at that very 
 * Commonly called " the Mutton-bird."
 
 FREE SETTLERS. 15 
 
 season, of all others the most calamitous, together 
 with the attenuated strength of the operative por- 
 tion of the community from long suffering and 
 want, nearly neutralized all the labour and expense 
 thrown away upon it. 
 
 It was about the same year that Governor Phillip, 
 with the concurrence of the Home Government, 
 began to introduce those elements of freedom into 
 the little colony, which, like the grain of mustard- 
 seed, here branched out into a noble and eman- 
 cipated nation ! In March, 1791, four free settlers 
 were rewarded with grants of land situate on the 
 narrow and prolonged arm of the sea, now known 
 as the " Paramatta river." As the colony advanced, 
 similar grants were made to other free individuals, 
 and occasionally a convict was emancipated, and 
 made at once independent and respectable through 
 the same judicious means a plan, which, on the 
 recommendation of Governor Phillip, was used as 
 an inducement to further free immigration, and 
 which eventually attracted, there can be no doubt, 
 that class of people from the mother country, 
 which has tended to render the colony at length 
 free and independent. We should not omit to 
 mention the assistance afforded to the earlier 
 settlers, in gifts of implements, provisions, stock, 
 clothing, and other necessaries; and upon the 
 departure of Captain King, upwards of a hundred 
 settlers, forming the germ of a respectable, indus- 
 trious and thriving class, were occupying, under
 
 16 THE HAWKESBURY. 
 
 this system, their own estates, farms, or grants 
 of land. 
 
 In the intervals that elapsed between the events 
 we have narrated, the " progress of discovery" was 
 not neglected. The three contiguous ports of 
 Port Jackson, Botany Bay, and Broken Bay were 
 well surveyed ; and it was in examining .the details, 
 as it were, of the last harbour, that the discovery 
 of the river Hawkesbury was made, which, for 
 many years, indeed until the discovery of the 
 Hunter River more to the northward, was the 
 principal agricultural district of the colony, and 
 the granary of New South Wales. The Hawkes- 
 bury was tracked by the Governor himself for more 
 than a hundred miles in its upward course. 
 
 We now draw near to a close the administration 
 of the first Governor of New South Wales. Shortly 
 after the arrival of the " second fleet," his Excel- 
 lency, whose health was doubtless impaired by 
 long anxiety and great difficulties, embarked for 
 England. 
 
 If we pause for a few minutes, and try to esti- 
 mate the value of Captain Phillip's government, 
 we shall see it on the one hand enriched by the 
 results to the country which owes, we may say, 
 much of its present importance to his vigorous 
 conduct united with patient forbearance; on the 
 other hand, we find that value enhanced by his 
 temperate, judicious, liberal and patient behaviour 
 through all the trying scenes of his residence in this
 
 THE FATHER OF THE COLONY. 17 
 
 land of exile. When we look upon him successfully 
 combating with starvation, disease, death, drought, 
 and insurrection, amidst ruffian companions, and on 
 a rugged inhospitable soil, we are obliged to admit, 
 that this brave good man deserves, in more senses 
 than one, the endearing, the ennobling epithet 
 of "the father," as well as the founder , of our 
 colony. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF CAPTAIN HUNTER. 
 
 Captain Hunter, whose name has been inci- 
 dentally mentioned as having been, while in the 
 Command of the Sirius, one of those who shared 
 the privations of the colonists of Norfolk Island, 
 on the coast of which his vessel was shipwrecked, 
 was appointed to succeed Captain Phillip as 
 Governor of New South Wales. It will be borne 
 in mind by the reader, that Captain Phillip was 
 the first captain of the Sirius, when, with that 
 vessel and her convoy, he arrived at Australia 
 as leader of the first colonizing expedition. Upon 
 his landing, and assuming the more immediate 
 duties of Governor, Captain Hunter continued in 
 command of the Sirius as first captain, and subse- 
 quently to the wreck of that vessel at Norfolk 
 Island, he returned to England by way of Batavia 
 in a Dutch vessel, which was hired by Captain
 
 18 NEW SOUTH WALES CORPS. 
 
 Phillip to convey his brother captain, his officers 
 and crew to England. 
 
 After the departure of Governor Phillip, the 
 government of the colony was administered, first 
 by Captain Grose, and then by Captain Paterson, 
 of the New South Wales corps, during a period of 
 nearly three years, namely from December 1792 to 
 August 1795. 
 
 The New South Wales corps, of which mention 
 has thus been casually made, was a regiment formed 
 at home for the purpose of being despatched to 
 the colony in place of the marines, who had served 
 as a special guard over the convicts during the 
 earliest years of its progress. This regiment was 
 intended, indeed, to take that place of trust with 
 regard to the felon population of the country, that 
 the Royal Marines do in respect to the ships' com- 
 panies of the navy. It was to their loyalty and 
 bravery, that the Crown entrusted its honour and 
 power amongst a population that might be induced, 
 or inflamed to mutiny. How far that corps ful- 
 filled such honourable service will be learned as the 
 reader proceeds with the narrative. 
 
 The corps to which we have referred was placed 
 in very peculiar and trying circumstances; their 
 period of sendee in that distant land was intended 
 to be perpetual. With all the high feelings and 
 ardent dispositions of British soldiers, the officers 
 found themselves situate in quarters, where, 
 neither the excitement of adventure and glory could
 
 CULTIVATION OF SOCIAL LIFE. 19 
 
 stimulate and reward them, nor the attractions of 
 polished society could relieve their monotony and 
 privations. Feeling themselves settled for life, 
 they naturally cherished the wish of accumulating 
 an independence out of the resources of the country 
 on which to maintain their families in the land, or 
 by means of which they could purchase their 
 retirement, and return to England. Accompanied 
 with this view of their circumstances, was the 
 wish to form amongst themselves, and to cultivate 
 amongst their own class of free civilians, the frame 
 and amenities of civilized social life. The first 
 object was to be gained by the two channels of 
 agriculture and commerce, and the pursuit of these 
 led many of the officers of that corps into 
 an illegitimate connection with the chances and 
 tricks of mercantile dealings. The second object 
 was gained by their indisputable position with 
 regard to the society of the place, and through the 
 familiar intercourse kept up between Government 
 House and the Officers' quarters, where all that 
 was "presentable" of male or female society, in 
 New South Wales, occasionally congregated. 
 
 Unfortunately for that strictly gentlemanly spirit 
 which should mark the military officer, in private 
 as in public life, the trade of the colony held out 
 allurements of so enticing a character for the 
 accumulation of wealth, that many members of 
 the local regiment actually turned hucksters and 
 store-keepers. The chief article of trade at that
 
 20 RETAILING OF SPIRITS. 
 
 time happened most unfortunately to be "rum;" 
 and thus the military dealers were rendered the 
 earliest agents on that work of demoralization, 
 which has been going on in the colony ever since 
 from the passion of the inhabitants for intoxicating 
 liquors. Many of the officers obtained licenses 
 for retailing spirits, which were so managed, that 
 the store or inn in which the business was carried 
 on, was left to the superintendence of some female 
 convict, between whom and the licensed officer an 
 immoral liaison existed. Spirits were often ex- 
 changed for the agricultural produce of the settler, 
 which produce was disposed of to the Commis- 
 sariat of the colony Treasury Bills being received 
 in return. Had the officers of this regiment 
 confined themselves to pursuits similar to those of 
 the landed gentry of England, much of the sub- 
 sequent mischief arising from their conduct would 
 have been avoided, and their own characters 
 preserved from blemish. I say much only, because 
 it is a question whether the giving a colonial 
 military protective force any permanent and agra- 
 rian interest in the country was not radically bad. 
 The result, indeed, shows that it was. The New 
 South Wales corps was in time removed, being 
 engrafted into the line, and a regular succession of 
 regiments has since been continued, as at other 
 foreign stations and settlements. The general 
 consequence of the permitted huckstering which 
 has been described, was laxity of principles, licen-
 
 INFLUENCE OF THE MILITARY. 21 
 
 tiousness of manners, and selfishness of mind. If 
 we consider, then, that these acquired habits and 
 feelings were carried into social life which, as a 
 body, the officers of the corps materially influenced, 
 if they did not wholly control the consequences, 
 even at this stage of our history, it will be seen 
 could not have turned out otherwise than disas- 
 trous. 
 
 One circumstance which tended to increase the 
 influence of the military was, that the interregnums 
 which occurred during their stay in New South 
 Wales were always filled by the chief officer, who 
 was also the councillor and assistant of the govern- 
 ment whenever in the hands of the organ or 
 representative of the Crown. This will account, 
 in a great measure, for the power by which 
 Governor Hunter's administration was embarrassed, 
 and to which that of Governor Bligh succumbed. 
 In fact, when Captain Hunter, the second Governor 
 of the colony took upon him its government, his 
 enjoyment of society almost depended upon the 
 terms he was on with the military aristocracy, 
 while the friendly assistance of its principal officers, 
 who had for more than two years previous to his 
 arrival, governed the settlement, was essential to 
 his own success. The New South Wales corps 
 had, literally, a greater influence than the Crown, 
 for its weight had been continuous and increasing, 
 while that of the former was broken, and depen- 
 dent upon the disposition of the one party who
 
 22 GOVERNOR HUNTER. 
 
 represented the monarch to associate or quarrel 
 with the latter. 
 
 The new sailor Governor was as blunt and 
 determined to maintain his superiority as any 
 captain of the naval service, who monopolizes the 
 dignity and control of a vessel afloat. Jealousy 
 and misunderstanding between the two influences 
 of the military and civil powers ensued almost 
 immediately on his arrival, and so increased during 
 the next five years, that the Governor was at 
 length induced to embark for England, again 
 leaving the administration to the commander of 
 the colonial corps, in order to obtain leave and 
 means for completely reorganizing the machine of 
 government. He never returned, probably owing 
 to the influence exercised by his military opponents, 
 even at the distance which intervened between 
 Government House, Sydney, and Downing Street, 
 London. 
 
 Although Governor Hunter's administration 
 wanted that decisive character and result, which 
 independence of the local party spirit described 
 might have gained for it, yet there were improve- 
 ments going on that are worthy of notice. Free 
 immigration was slowly extending, and the agri- 
 cultural wealth of the colony increased considerably 
 under the application and spirit of the originally 
 free settlers, together with those who had been 
 from time to time emancipated. To encourage 
 their operations, the government provided the
 
 THE ASSIGNMENT SYSTEM. 23 
 
 settlers with labourers, and servants of various 
 descriptions out of the bond or convict population ; 
 a practice which originated what has since been 
 termed the " Assignment System." That it was 
 a highly judicious custom, few words will suffice 
 to show. The difficulty of obtaining labour, which 
 has at all periods of the history of our colony 
 formed a standing complaint with the colonists, 
 will readily present itself to the reflecting mind as 
 having been, in the first struggling circumstances 
 of the country, the greatest drawback to the success 
 of the farmer and proprietor. Very few of the 
 lower orders could be induced to leave their 
 British homes for the chance of what fortune 
 offered them in a land associated with poverty, 
 indifferent fertility, and the fancied horrors of 
 penal society and government. The parties who 
 mostly gave themselves to the venture, were men 
 of respectable education and standing, who relied 
 upon the joint exertions of themselves and their 
 families to turn their little means to advantage. 
 Others, however, who were possessed of some 
 capital, wherewith to stock their grants, would 
 have been wholly disabled from tillage or rearing 
 stock, or even from keeping " a house together," 
 for the want of servants. To them, therefore, 
 and to all, the Assignment System became of the 
 highest utility ; every person, whether in town or 
 country, who could give employment to one or 
 more domestics or servants, had male or female
 
 24 PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY. 
 
 convicts, according to the circumstances of the case, 
 assigned for his use, and placed under his control. 
 The same plan was also of real service to the 
 government, since it relieved the Treasury of an 
 expenditure necessary to the maintenance of the 
 convicts while retained under government, an 
 expenditure which was then usually reckoned at 
 from 12 to 15 a head, and which ultimately 
 amounted to such an immense annual outlay, as 
 to form a very serious item on the budget of the 
 British Treasury Board. 
 
 During the administration of Captain Hunter, 
 the "progress of discovery" was neither neglected, 
 nor unattended with beneficial results. Port 
 Macquarie, Newcastle, and the Hunter River were 
 discovered and settled, and have since proved of 
 great agricultural and commercial importance. 
 It may be stated, in passing, that Port Macquarie is 
 a harbour about seventy miles to the northward of 
 Sydney. Newcastle was so called, on account of the 
 abundance of coal discovered in the neighbourhood. 
 The River Hunter empties itself into the sea at 
 Newcastle; and on the banks of this river, the 
 town of Maitland was subsequently founded, and 
 the communication between it and Sydney is at 
 present maintained by several steamers which ply 
 constantly, and are always well supported by the 
 great traffic of the port, town, and fertile 
 interior. 
 
 Captain Hunter on his return to England, was
 
 CAPTAIN KING. 25 
 
 rv posted" to the command of the Venerable, seventy- 
 four ; he rose to the rank of Rear-admiral, and 
 spent the closing years of his life in the neighbour- 
 hood of Leith, in Scotland. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF CAPTAIN KING. 
 
 The third Governor of the colony was Captain 
 King, who at the time that Captain Hunter was 
 Governor in New South Wales, was left in charge 
 of Norfolk Island, the occupation of which has 
 been fully described, as Lieutenant-Governor. On 
 the departure of his immediate superior, he 
 succeeded to the higher post, according to general 
 directions to that effect transmitted from home 
 on the establishment of the colony and its depen- 
 dency. On the recommendation of Captain King, 
 the dependency of Norfolk Island was abandoned, 
 at least, as a penal settlement, and the whole 
 expenditure, and duties of the government were 
 concentrated in New South Wales, with Sydney 
 as its capital town. There can be no doubt that 
 this was an ill-judged step. After the expense 
 which had been incurred in the formation of the 
 settlement, nothing short of insalubrity of climate, 
 sterility of soil, or insecurity of position, ought to 
 have decided the government in throwing away 
 the results of so many years toil, and of so large 
 
 VOL. i. c
 
 26 NORFOLK PLAINS. 
 
 an amount of money. Even if such objections 
 should have operated against the propriety of 
 longer retaining the dependency, such of the free 
 settlers, at least, as were willing to remain, might 
 have been permitted to continue on the island 
 under the government of a magisterial executive. 
 Yet, with all the natural capabilities of climate, soil, 
 and situation acting strongly in its favour, instead 
 of against it, not only was the convict establishment 
 abolished, but every exertion made to get the free 
 population out of the place at the same time. 
 
 Many of these, it is to be remembered, were 
 settled with their families on beautiful and produc- 
 tive farms at Norfolk Island, and had had children 
 born to them on the soil they were called upon 
 to quit. They were removed, and had grants of 
 land given to them either in New South Wales, 
 or Van Diemen's Land. A considerable band of 
 them settled on the northern division of the latter 
 colony, where the district to which they removed, 
 is to this day called " Norfolk Plains ;" and another 
 township farther to the southward, and situate 
 about twenty miles from the town of Hobart, was 
 called " New Norfolk," in commemoration of that 
 event. The island, however, from which they 
 were taken, was not many years vacant, before 
 the British government saw its error, and gave 
 directions to Governor Bligh to re-occupy it for 
 the purposes of a penal settlement, whither all 
 convicts re-convicted in New South Wales of
 
 COLONEL COLLINS. 27 
 
 transportable offences were to be sent, and sub- 
 jected to the severest discipline. 
 
 It was in the government of Captain King, that 
 the first attempt to settle on the shores of Port 
 Phillip was made by directions from the authori- 
 ties at home. So important was that locality 
 considered, that in 1 804 an expedition was fitted 
 out from Britain to take possession of the country 
 on the southern coast of Australia, to form a 
 convict settlement, and to organize a local govern- 
 ment under a Lieutenant-Governor and a suitable 
 corps of officers. Colonel Collins, who was de- 
 spatched to perform the duty, most unfortunately 
 debarked his companions and subjects in the most 
 unpromising locality that could have been chosen 
 in the whole range of that extensive inlet. Irri- 
 tated at the escape of some of the prisoners, and 
 by the apparent difficulty of supporting the 
 population in such a tract of country, Colonel 
 Collins abandoned the project, without even 
 attempting a survey of the harbour and other parts 
 of the neighbourhood, and proceeded with his 
 whole charge to Van Diemen's Land, where in 
 due time the settlement of Hobart Town in the 
 south, and of Launceston in the north, were, by 
 them, established. 
 
 It was very shortly after the occupation of the 
 country around the present site of Launceston by 
 the expedition of Colonel Collins, that the settlers 
 of Norfolk Island removed to Van Diemen's 
 
 c 2
 
 28 
 
 MUTINY 
 
 Land, and assisted in the early colonization of 
 the sister island. 
 
 ; " .-. _- .- 
 
 
 View of the first settlement in Van Diemen's Land. 
 
 It is somewhat curious that the abandonment 
 of Norfolk Island and Port Phillip, in the one case 
 unadvisedly hurried, in the other, imprudently 
 deliberate, should have contributed to the settle- 
 ment of Van Diemen's Land as an original 
 dependency of New South Wales, but subsequently 
 as an independent Crown colony. 
 
 The first, and in fact, the only mutiny that 
 has occurred in the colony amongst the prisoner 
 population, took place while it was under the 
 government of Captain King. The mutiny broke 
 out at the government agricultural establishment
 
 AT CASTLE HILL. 29 
 
 at Castle Hill, when some hundreds of the men 
 threw off the control of their overseers, and arming 
 themselves with such weapons as came to hand, 
 set off on their way to Sydney, hoping to awe the 
 authorities, and incite the remainder of the popu- 
 lation to join the rebellion. They were, however, 
 promptly met and put down by the military under 
 Major Johnstone of the New South Wales corps, 
 and some of the ringleaders having been condemned 
 to the punishment of death, order and subjection 
 were restored. 
 
 Whilst these events were passing, the opposing 
 government and military influences were daily 
 widening the breach occasioned in the adminis- 
 tration of the former Governor, between the mem- 
 bers of the New South Wales corps, and the civil 
 representative and officers of the Crown. To 
 counteract the weight which the military had 
 acquired among the social branches of the colony, 
 the Governor resorted to the dangerous expedient 
 of emancipating as many of the convicts as he 
 conveniently could, and encouraging them to take 
 a position amongst the colonists which might 
 have been very well as a reward for merit, or an 
 encouragement to reform, but which proved of the 
 most mischievous tendency when used merely as 
 an instrument of party spirit. 
 
 Many of the emancipists were allowed licenses 
 to sell spirits, and in the pursuit of a business 
 which brought them perpetually into contact with
 
 30 BUSHRANGING. 
 
 the most depraved portion of the colonists, they 
 were led to encourage the evil, fierce, and reckless 
 dispositions of the lower classes, convict and free, 
 and to participate in the fruits of their frequent 
 lawless practices. By degrees bushranging became 
 prevalent, and prison discipline so relaxed that it 
 was nearly being altogether subverted ; profligacy 
 in private life, and the greatest weakness in admi- 
 nistering the authority of the police and executive 
 department marked the last years of Captain King's 
 government, so that at his departure in 1806, after 
 six years of residence, no one satisfactory circum- 
 stance in the progressive history of the colony 
 remains to be noted. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 GOVEBNMENT OF CAPTAIN BLIGH. 
 
 Captain King was succeeded by Captain Bligh, 
 whose name as a naval officer has been well 
 known in connection with the mutiny of the 
 Bounty, out of which vessel he was turned adrift 
 by his crew in the South Pacific Ocean, when 
 prosecuting a voyage from the South Sea to the 
 West Indian Islands. The return of Captain 
 Bligh to England, having navigated an open 
 boat through Torres Straits to the Dutch settle- 
 ment of Timor, with safety to himself and his 
 crew, as well as the subsequent adventures which
 
 GOVERNOR BLIGH. 31 
 
 befel the mutineers of the Bounty, must be well 
 known to our readers. 
 
 No sooner had Captain Bligh arrived at the 
 seat of his government, than he showed a determi- 
 nation to suppress the growing and injurious 
 influence of the New South Wales corps, by 
 depriving the officers of their licenses to sell 
 spirits ; and, indeed, abolishing, as far as practica- 
 ble, the monopolizing value of rum as an article of 
 exchange. The course taken by Governor Bligh, 
 although it met with the highest approval from 
 his Majesty's government, was looked upon with 
 marked hostility by the military officers of the 
 colony, and as they had nearly the whole of the 
 society on their side, they quickly succeeded in 
 exciting disaffection, and even disloyalty towards 
 the obnoxious Governor. Not only, however, 
 did Captain Bligh place the greatest restriction 
 on the importation and sale of spirits in the 
 colony, but, setting out on a tour of inspection 
 to the settled country on the Hawkesbury, when 
 the farmers, just at that period, were suffering 
 from the destructive effects of an inundation of 
 the river, his Excellency visited all their stations 
 in person, inquiring into and learning their wants, 
 and giving directions for their supply from the 
 government stores, in exchange for, or in advance 
 of, their agricultural produce. Such a system, 
 by interfering with the lucrative trade in the 
 necessaries of life hitherto carried on by the
 
 32 RELATION OF 
 
 colonial officers, civil as well as military, amongst 
 the settlers, mechanics and labourers, incensed 
 their jealousy and dislike, until they broke out 
 into open rebellion, and deposed the Governor 
 from his high situation upon their own responsi- 
 bility. 
 
 A relation of the occurrences which led to the 
 New South Wales Revolution, is very minutely 
 and faithfully set forth in Dr. Lang's History 
 of this country ; but is far too prolix, and of too 
 unimportant a character to be repeated at length 
 here. The story, briefly told, is, that in March, 
 1 807, Governor Bligh, on examining the manifest 
 of a ship just come into port, observed that two 
 stills which formed part of the cargo were con- 
 signed, one to Mr. McArthur, a resident mer- 
 chant and civilian of the colony, the other to 
 Captain Abbott of the Colonial corps. The stills 
 were commanded to be given up to the Customs' 
 officers by virtue of a government order abolishing 
 the practice of colonial distillation, and prohibiting 
 the use, or keeping of stills. Owing to some 
 official misunderstanding, the stills were seized 
 by the naval officers in a way which severely 
 inflamed Mr. McArthur's mind against the 
 government. The rupture, so commenced, was 
 aggravated by the seizure of a vessel belonging 
 to Mr. McArthur, within a few months follow- 
 ing, on the ground that a convict had been 
 conveyed away from the colony by it. On the
 
 THE REVOLUTION. 33 
 
 proof of this matter, the bond in such cases 
 required from the owners having been refused, 
 the vessel was seized to indemnify the bond. 
 The officers and men were, in consequence, left 
 in arrears as to their wages, and even mainten- 
 ance was refused them. They applied to the 
 Judge Advocate's office for protection, as, by 
 coming on shore, contrary to the regulations of 
 the port, they had rendered themselves liable to 
 imprisonment. 
 
 At the command of the Governor, the Judge 
 Advocate, who was the chief administrative magis- 
 trate at the time, wrote to Mr. McArthur, requiring 
 his attendance at the Judge's office, to account for 
 having allowed the crew of his vessel to land in 
 the colony, or so refusing to maintain them as to 
 compel them to have recourse to the authorities 
 on shore. To this Mr. McArthur answered, that 
 it was owing to the illegal detention of his vessel 
 that he had refused any longer to maintain the 
 crew, for whose further support he considered the 
 government was alone responsible. As this letter 
 evinced no desire on the part of the writer to 
 comply with the requisition of the court, the Judge 
 Advocate, construing such conduct into a con- 
 tempt of his authority, immediately issued a war- 
 rant to compel Mr. McArthur's attendance. The 
 constable in charge of this warrant was openly set 
 at defiance, and an insulting answer returned in 
 the hand-writing of Mr. McArthur himself. The 
 
 c 3
 
 34 RELATION OF 
 
 chief constable was then directed forcibly to 
 apprehend the malcontent, who was captured 
 shortly after, and, being brought before a bench 
 of magistrates, was committed to take his trial 
 for misdemeanour at the Session of the Supreme 
 Criminal Court. 
 
 Mr. McArthur appeared to stand his trial on 
 the 25th of January, 1808, before a court com- 
 posed of the Judge Advocate, and six officers 
 of the New South Wales corps. To the appear- 
 ance on the bench of the Judge Advocate, Mr. 
 McArthur vehemently objected, as one who was 
 prejudiced against himself and his case. The 
 President, as he was, of the court, although he 
 showed plainly that the court could not be con- 
 stituted without him, was obliged by the military 
 magistrates, or jurors to leave the bench, whilst 
 Mr. McArthur delivered himself of a written 
 address, protesting against the mode, and kind 
 of injustice to which he had been subjected. 
 Having heard the protest, the officers addressed 
 a letter to his Excellency the Governor, requesting 
 that another party might be appointed in the 
 room of Mr. Atkins as Judge Advocate in the 
 pending prosecution of Mr. McArthur. The 
 Governor, of course, as he was not authorized 
 to adopt such a step, declined to interfere in the 
 way requested. The officers importuned, and at 
 last refused even to allow the papers before the 
 court to be given up, until another Judge had been
 
 THE REVOLUTION. 35 
 
 appointed. The Judge Advocate, having, in the 
 mean time, determined upon enforcing his autho- 
 rity, again caused Mr. McArthur to be appre- 
 hended, an act which drew from the military 
 officers of the court a communication to the 
 Governor of their serious objections to the pro- 
 ceedings of the Judge Advocate. This letter also 
 required that Mr. McArthur might be liberated 
 on his former bail. In reply, his Excellency 
 summoned each of the officers in person to attend 
 at Government House, in order that the recrimina- 
 tory charge brought against them by the Advocate 
 General, of contemplating an usurpation of his 
 Majesty's Government, might be investigated by 
 himself and a bench of magistrates as a grand 
 jury for the occasion. This procedure, the officers 
 in question looked upon as an intention on the 
 part of the government to set aside the authority 
 of the Colonial Court, of which they were members, 
 and to try them previously to their imprisonment 
 by the court constituted by himself. 
 
 At this critical juncture, Major Johnstone, 
 commanding the New South Wales corps, arrived 
 in town, having been detained through sickness 
 at his country residence, and unable to attend, 
 although several times anxiously pressed by the 
 Governor, with a view, doubtless, of influencing 
 the officers of the corps to some pacific and 
 respectful arrangement. Upon his arrival, his 
 brother officers, assisted by Mr. McArthur and his
 
 36 ARREST OF GOVERNOR BLIGH. 
 
 partizans, instigated Major Johnstone to the belief 
 that Governor Bligh desired nothing less than to 
 set aside all law in the colony, excepting his own 
 will, and to oppress the officers of their corps in 
 particular, by enforcing their degradation and 
 punishment. In accordance with this advice, 
 Major Johnstone, excited by his comrades and 
 urged to step in between the Governor and the 
 corps, first liberated Mr. McArthur, and then 
 marching at the head of his regiment to Govern- 
 ment House, arrested Captain Bligh, made him a 
 prisoner in his own room, and on the following 
 morning assumed the direction of affairs by a pro- 
 clamation in the name of the King. 
 
 Governor Bligh's conduct throughout seems to 
 us to have been strictly impartial, and, in the 
 exigency of the circumstances, perfectly authorized, 
 although it is to be regretted that a more pre- 
 dominant desire for reconciliation had not marked 
 his correspondence, as the events were coming to 
 their fatal crisis. The principal cause of the 
 mischief lay in the anomalous position of the free 
 British subjects of the colony in respect to the 
 law and government of the territory. The 
 Governor, at the time alluded to, was as absolute 
 and irresponsible as the Autocrat of the Russias. 
 The law was administered by a Judge Advocate in 
 supreme, and by paid or honorary justices, in 
 ordinary. The Civil and Criminal Code of 
 England prevailed wherever it could be made
 
 THE JUDGE ADVOCATE. 37 
 
 applicable, or was not superseded by any ordinance 
 of the Governor, but even such law as this could 
 be entirely set aside by the head of the govern- 
 ment, if, at any time it was his pleasure to 
 suspend the only judge of the land, or proclaim 
 military law. The immediate administration of 
 British law, as before stated, was in the hands of 
 one party, who, as sole resident judge, could not 
 be free from the suspicion of local prejudices. 
 Whenever that judge sat in banco, he was aided 
 by six officers of the local regiment, as jurors or 
 assessors, who were equally open to the charge of 
 natural and unavoidable partiality. The radical 
 impropriety of such a situation brought itself to an 
 issue in the case of Mr. McArthur the Judge 
 Advocate being, in private life, openly inimical 
 to the prisoner, whilst the military jurors were as 
 openly his friends. Mr. McArthur, feeling that he 
 had little justice to expect at the hands of the 
 former, challenged his right to preside at the trial, 
 a view in which the military assessors agreeing, 
 they sent a requisition to the Governor for the 
 appointment of a temporary president. Captain 
 Bligh was aware that he could not deprive the 
 Judge Advocate of his authority, except by sus- 
 pending him, and that then even he had not the 
 power to substitute another in the place of the 
 deposed official. He declined, therefore, either 
 interfering at all, or complying with the desire of 
 the requisitionists. Judge Atkins in the mean
 
 38 MR. M C ARTHUR. 
 
 time aggravated the dislike and suspicion to which 
 his former conduct had always subjected him, 
 by carrying out his power with a high hand, by 
 accusing the jurors of an attempt to usurp the 
 executive and administrative authority of the 
 government, and by causing Mr. McArthur to 
 be apprehended and imprisoned. This step so 
 enraged the officers, who were before at open 
 variance with the judge, that they positively 
 refused to deliver up the papers connected with 
 the trial, which were before the court, and which 
 it appears to have been the object of the judge to 
 have got hold of, in order to continue the prose- 
 cution of Mr. McArthur in a second and another 
 court convened for the purpose. The Governor, 
 in so unprecedented a dilemma, convened a bench 
 of magistrates at Government House, before which 
 he summoned the jurors to inquire into the serious 
 charge of usurpation and treason preferred by the 
 judge. It was subsequently proved, on the evi- 
 dence of the Governor's private secretary, that it 
 was the intention of Captain Bligh to have made 
 the projected investigation only a preliminary one, 
 leaving its final adjudication, on indictment, if 
 that were necessary, to the pleasure of the Home 
 Government. It was his intention, also, mean- 
 while to have prevented the administration of the 
 law in the person of Mr. Atkins, and to have left 
 it in the hands of the magistrates, until further 
 provision were made by the authorities at home.
 
 POWER OF THE MILITARY. 39 
 
 The officers of the corps, however, having long 
 been at enmity with Captain Bligh, to whom the 
 Judge Advocate was a sycophant, whilst he used 
 his power to insult and oppress any member of 
 the opposite party, when within the operation of 
 the law, rashly conceived the opinion that the 
 Governor was determined not only to countenance 
 the proceedings of the judge, to which indeed he 
 was bound, but also to seize the occasion as one 
 in which to inflict the summary vengeance of 
 government on the refractory spirits of the opposite 
 party. 
 
 It was then they ruled their commanding officer 
 to use his power with the military to depose the 
 obnoxious Governor and judge. Their conduct 
 was doubtless impeachable as openly illegal and 
 rebellious, but a very great allowance is to be 
 made for their behaviour to the judge, whose 
 prostitution of the law, when advantageous to his 
 own mean and tyrannical feelings, was notorious 
 throughout the settlement ; and which, if it had 
 been suffered to go longer unchecked, must have 
 resulted in some violent collision between the 
 officers and the judge. 
 
 In the highly excited state of all parties, it was 
 natural that the officers should involve the Governor 
 in their suspicion of the Judge Advocate's preju- 
 diced and oppressive conduct, since they had quar- 
 relled with his Excellency as a party from the 
 date of his earliest arrival, while the judge had
 
 40 JUDGE ATKINS. 
 
 been not only his supporter, as bound out of 
 respect to the Crown, but the opponent of the 
 military clique and influence in a manner highly 
 discreditable to the sacred and lofty nature of his 
 office. 
 
 The direct provocative of this insurrection is to 
 be shown. We consider Judge Atkins to have 
 been the cause, who, from his perversion of power, 
 and desecration of the duties of judge to the pique 
 and passions of the man, excited the movement 
 which has remained a disastrous memorial against 
 the character of all concerned. 
 
 A somewhat similar collision, between the 
 administrator of the law and the colonists, has 
 lately occurred in the district of Port Phillip, 
 where the sole resident judge has been deposed 
 and inhibited from the further exercise of office. 
 Two such warnings, one would think, were 
 sufficient to induce the British government to 
 abolish so anomalous a constitution, as a district 
 law court presided over always by a sole resident 
 judge. 
 
 After his arrest, Captain Bligh was detained 
 a close prisoner until, by negociation with his 
 captors, he was permitted to take command of 
 H.M. ship, Porpoise, they stipulating that he was 
 at once to proceed to England in the vessel thus 
 placed at his disposal. This portion of the treaty 
 was, however, evaded, and the deposed Governor 
 sailed for Van Diemen's Land, where he probably
 
 LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHNSTONE. 41 
 
 had hopes of finding means in the greater loyalty 
 of the inhabitants to recover his lost authority ; but 
 the officers there, having received instructions from 
 the party in power, Captain Bligh was disappointed 
 in that quarter. He then cruised off the coast 
 until certified of the arrival of a new Governor 
 for the colony with particular directions respecting 
 the case of his predecessor, and whom Captain 
 Bligh hastened to join in Sydney. The Home 
 Government had appointed Colonel Macquarie 
 to the important post, with instructions to 
 reinstate Captain Bligh for a period of twenty- 
 four hours, then to direct his return to England, 
 in order to prosecute the trial of Major Johnstone, 
 who was sent home under the strictest arrest. 
 The New South Wales corps, which was in reality 
 the cause of the late insurrection and its various 
 forerunners, was relieved of its charge as military 
 guard of the colony, and re- transported to Britain. 
 On the arrival of all parties in England, Major 
 Johnstone, or, as he had at that time become, 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Johnstone, was arraigned before 
 a court-martial held at Chelsea on the 7th of May, 
 1811, declared guilty of highly mutinous conduct, 
 and sentenced to be cashiered. He subsequently 
 returned to New South Wales, where he died, 
 several years after, in private life, a colonist of 
 general repute and estimation. Captain Bligh 
 obtained employment again in his original and 
 more congenial service the navy, and at his
 
 42 GOVERNOR MACQUARIE. 
 
 death ranked as an Admiral of the Blue. The 
 New South Wales corps was incorporated with 
 the line, of which it now forms the 103rd regi- 
 ment. 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF MAJOR-GENERAL MACQUARIE. 
 
 Colonel Macquarie, who assumed the control 
 of affairs in New South Wales as successor to 
 Captain Bligh, was the fifth Governor of the 
 colony. He took charge in December 1809, and 
 continued in the post for a period of twelve years, 
 up to December 1821. 
 
 The most remarkable feature of Governor 
 Macquarie's administration, was his application 
 of the large amount of convicts which rapidly 
 swelled the population of the country to public 
 works. By employing the prisoners as mechanics 
 and labourers, he was enabled to complete many 
 public buildings in Sydney, which continue to be 
 of the highest utility, and he was also enabled to 
 lay open the resources of the interior by the for- 
 mation of roads. 
 
 The progress of discovery in the colony, which 
 was almost at a halt in the previous Governor's 
 reign, and the extension of the aids to industry of 
 its inhabitants, profited greatly by these spirited 
 undertakings, although a draw-back to its social
 
 PUBLIC WORKS. 43 
 
 character was generated by the too great indulgence 
 shown to the emancipist class. 
 
 Amongst the lines of communication with the 
 interior constructed under Governor Macquarie's 
 authority, are, the road from Sydney to the 
 Hawkesbury, by the towns of Paramatta, Windsor, 
 and Richmond, and that to Liverpool, Campbell 
 Town, Airds and Appin settlements, which were 
 founded at the commencement of his term of 
 government. The principal achievement, however, 
 in this department of public works was the road 
 he caused to be made to Bathurst, a flourishing 
 settlement which had been made at the distance of 
 about one hundred and thirty miles westward from 
 Sydney by the earliest settlers that had crossed the 
 Blue Mountain Ranges, and occupied the plains of 
 Bathurst as a pastoral locality. This tract of 
 country was discovered in 1813 by Messrs. Went- 
 worth, Lawson and Blaxland, (all now members 
 of the New Representative Assembly,)* who, in a 
 season of drought which afflicted the land, pene- 
 trated beyond the barrier of the chief mountainous 
 range then known to the colonists, denominated 
 the "Blue Mountains," and opened the way to 
 the country beyond, which, by the comparative 
 abundance and fertility of its pastures, afforded 
 relief to the distressed flocks hitherto grazed on 
 a burnt-up and degenerating soil nearer to Sydney. 
 
 * Since these pages were arranged, Mr. Blaxland has 
 resigned his seat.
 
 44 PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 
 
 The public buildings erected during the adminis- 
 tration of Governor Macquarie make too long a 
 list to be particularized here; but, the General 
 Hospital, the Military and Convict Barracks, and 
 St. James's Church in Sydney are of the number, 
 and form lasting memorials of his judicious em- 
 ployment of the means at his disposal for for- 
 warding the service of the State. 
 
 Mr. Bigge, who was sent out from England 
 expressly for the object of making the report of a 
 Government Commissioner on the colony, subse- 
 quently attached censure to the extent of public 
 building carried on by Colonel Macquarie, although 
 he appears to be at a loss to suggest any other 
 more useful mode in which the prison population 
 could have been employed. Had it been the case 
 that while such expensive works were proceeding, 
 the country settlers were destitute of the assigned 
 labourers whom they required, the Commissioner's 
 reproach might be justified ; but if, as can be 
 shown, it was only the vastly redundant portion of 
 the convicts who were employed in the manipu- 
 lation of government projects, their disposal in 
 such a manner proves itself to have been the best 
 which could have been devised. Indeed a return 
 to the system of continuing public works through 
 the colony, partly at the expense of the Home 
 Government, and partly as a charge on the Colonial 
 Treasury, has been deliberately advised by many of 
 the most talented writers on New South Wales,
 
 EMPLOYMENT OF CONVICTS. 45 
 
 and certainly secures our favourable opinion and 
 approbation. 
 
 There is no more reason why convicts should 
 not be again sent to this colony, and employed 
 on the public works of the government, or even 
 assigned, if necessary, to the employers of labour, 
 than that a similar system of employment in 
 France and Holland should be discontinued. So 
 long as the system produced the reproach of the 
 colony's being a convict colony, which, in con- 
 sequence, was placed to some extent beyond the 
 pale of free British institutions, it was advisable, 
 perhaps, for the colonists to consent to its suspen- 
 sion. But as we never saw the force of the 
 argument which kept this colony back on that 
 account, so now we can no longer remain silent, 
 as to the positive amount of benefit derivable from 
 a return to the plan of transportation and assign- 
 ment. If we mistake not, the present ministry 
 holds a view on the subject not inimical to its 
 early restoration as a component part of colonial 
 economy. 
 
 The chief and perhaps only fault about Governor 
 Macquarie's administration, was his injudicious 
 encouragement of the emancipists as a class, for, 
 although there could be no just grounds for con- 
 tinuing to keep them in degradation after having 
 satisfied the sentence of the law, yet, to advance 
 them at the expense of the originally free settlers 
 created that very division which, but for such
 
 46 GRANTING SYSTEM. 
 
 policy, would not, we consider, have been dreamed 
 of. 
 
 It was the intention of Colonel Macquarie to 
 carry on the admirable plan, introduced by Governor 
 Phillip, of forming an agricultural population out 
 of the emancipated inhabitants by giving them 
 grants of land as an inducement to cultivation ; 
 but the indiscriminate manner in which the 
 " granting system" was conducted, proved a source 
 of much general turpitude and evil. Convicts 
 whose address and cunning secured the coveted 
 indulgence of emancipation, obtained grants of 
 land which served only the purposes of after- 
 traffic and fraud. Instead of being applied to 
 the purposes of cultivation, they were frequently 
 exchanged for liquor, which became an article 
 of sale and consumption in every spot where a 
 population of any amount was collected ; a custom 
 which was the means of forming a dissipated and 
 improvident generation, in the place of a hard- 
 working and virtuous people. Over the class 
 to whom he had carelessly confided the elements 
 of the country's future rural population, Governor 
 Macquarie extended his special patronage, and 
 with equal want of discrimination, the emanci- 
 pists were admitted to associate with his own 
 set of acquaintance a circumstance which highly 
 offended the originally free inhabitants, and by the 
 immoral character of many of the emancipists at 
 that time, first induced that vitiated taste which
 
 DR. LANG'S HISTORY. 47 
 
 has been so injurious to the colonial-born, and 
 still continues, we fear, to exert a mischievous 
 influence. It will not surprise the reader, there- 
 fore, to learn, that under this state of things, the 
 immigration of free persons generally, but especially 
 those of the upper and more educated classes, was 
 greatly retarded, if not altogether checked; while 
 the attempt of the Governor to place the eman- 
 cipated convict in a higher position than in the 
 natural order of circumstances would have been 
 accorded him, failed from want of caution and 
 care. That it was a praiseworthy and philan- 
 thropic motive that actuated Colonel Macquarie 
 will be readily allowed, and that it might have 
 been, under more prudent management, more 
 beneficially productive to the emancipists them- 
 selves, and the colony at large; that it was not 
 wholly devoid of success, there are now remaining 
 most gratifying evidences in the persons of eman- 
 cipated landed proprietors and farmers of substance 
 and repute. Indeed, as Dr. Lang says in his 
 " Historical Account of New South Wales," when 
 engaged with the same subject : " During the long 
 course of his administration, Governor Macquarie 
 did succeed in settling many families of emanci- 
 pated convicts on small farms in various parts 
 of the territory ; as, for instance, along the banks 
 of the Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers, and at 
 the agricultural settlements of Campbell Town 
 and Appin; and had subsequent events not re
 
 48 PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY. 
 
 duced many of these families to debts and difficul- 
 ties, and obliged them at last to sell their farms, 
 the result would doubtless have been exceedingly 
 pleasing to the eye of philanthropy." 
 
 The progress of discovery during Macquarie's 
 administration has already been introduced in 
 mentioning the settlement of Bathurst. It was 
 also in his time that the now thickly settled plains 
 of Argyle were originally discovered and located ; 
 the value of this last discovery was of immense 
 importance at the time, owing to the pasturage 
 ground then attainable being limited, in com- 
 parison to the increasing flocks and herds of 
 the colonists ; and it was only by meeting with 
 natural supplies of land and herbage in the interior 
 from time to time, as the extending and valuable 
 flocks demanded more room and nurture, that the 
 expectancy of colonial wealth from its sheep could 
 be realized. This, perhaps, is the best opportunity 
 which will offer of recording the origin of that 
 trade in wool which has since become so impor- 
 tant to New South Wales. 
 
 It was a few years only previous to the arrival of 
 Governor Macquarie, that the value of Australian 
 wool was decided. Mr. McArthur, who was the 
 first and almost only person who for many years 
 paid attention to sheep farming, was sent home 
 about the year 1803, on account of his having 
 incurred the anger of Governor King, in fact, sent 
 out of the colony under a virtual sentence of banish-
 
 SHEEP-FARMING. 49 
 
 ment. On his arrival in England, he displayed 
 the samples of wool grown by himself in New 
 South Wales to some brokers, who thought so 
 highly of it, and foresaw the advantage which 
 would accrue to Great Britain, if, by its extensive 
 cultivation, the Australian fleece could be made to 
 compete in the English market with the Spanish and 
 Saxonarticle, that they interested themselves to obtain 
 for Mr. McArthur the special favour of the Home 
 Government. In consequence, when Mr. McAr- 
 thur returned, as he shortly did, he received a large 
 grant of land suitable to his grazing adventure, and 
 a number of assigned servants sufficient for his pur- 
 pose. He continued his operations with variable 
 success at first, but ultimately with such profitable 
 certainty, as to make sheep-farming the general 
 pursuit of the colony. When Colonel Macquarie 
 assumed the government, the number of sheep 
 in the country was about twenty-five thousand, but 
 at his departure it had increased to fully a hundred 
 thousand, besides supplying for twelve years a very 
 large item of local consumption. In the year 
 1819, the tenth year of his administration, the 
 export in wool amounted to more than 70,000 Ibs., 
 at a value of at least 10,000 sterling. Such 
 being the state of sheep-farming in the colony, 
 it will easily be understood that every discovery 
 of pasturage ground extended the prospects of 
 wool-growers, and consequently that the discovery 
 of the plain pastoral country of Argyle was a.n 
 VOL. i. D
 
 50 SYSTEMATIC PLAN OF DISCOVERY. 
 
 event of very considerable importance to the 
 colonists. 
 
 It was during Macquarie's time that the govern- 
 ment first entered on a systematic plan of forward- 
 ing the progress of discovery ; and the labours of 
 Mr. Oxley, the Surveyor-General of that period, 
 were great as well as useful. " The Lachlan and 
 Macquarie rivers, to the westward of the Blue 
 Mountains, were traced in one of that officer's 
 expeditions into the interior, and followed until 
 lost in a vast swamp ; the River Hastings, with 
 a large extent of pastoral country to the westward 
 called Liverpool Plains, was discovered to the north- 
 ward ; an agricultural penal settlement was formed 
 at Emu Plains, a district lying at the eastern base 
 of the Blue Mountains, as also were penal settle- 
 ments at Newcastle on the mouth of the River 
 Hunter, and at Port Macquarie on the mouth 
 of the River Hastings." 
 
 Colonel Macquarie having administered the 
 government in the manner which has been detailed, 
 resigned it into the hands of his Sovereign in the 
 year 1821, after a period of laborious service 
 extending over twelve years. Colonel Macquarie 
 died in 1824, but a few years after his retirement 
 from public life, and his return to his native 
 country.
 
 SIR THOMAS BRISBANE. 51 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF SIR THOMAS BRISBANE. 
 
 So important had New South Wales grown, as 
 a dependency of the British Crown, during the 
 comparatively few years which have been reviewed 
 in the preceding pages, that on the retirement of 
 Colonel Macquarie, its government was entrusted 
 to a titled officer of high rank in the army, and 
 distinguished as much for his scientific acquire- 
 ments as for his professional bravery. The sixth 
 Governor of the colony was Major-General Sir 
 Thomas Brisbane, K.C.B., a Scotchman by birth 
 and extraction, who commenced his administration 
 on the 1st of December, 1821. 
 
 At the time that Sir Thomas Brisbane came to 
 the colony, the population exceeded twenty-three 
 thousand souls, free and bond, with an ordinary 
 revenue, arising out of its incipient commerce, 
 amounting to about 5,000 ; this was, of course, 
 exclusive of the large sums placed at his disposal 
 by the British Treasury for the maintenance and 
 management of the convicts, which must have 
 equalled at least 200,000 per annum, taking the 
 average annual cost per head at from 15 to 20 
 sterling, including all the expenses of management. 
 
 The impetus which the colony received during 
 his predecessor's term of office, from the extension 
 of its pastoral, agricultural and commercial capa- 
 
 D 2
 
 52 INCREASE OF CULTIVATION. 
 
 bflities, had made New South Wales so much 
 better known in England, as to render it at the 
 time of Sir Thomas Brisbane's appointment, an 
 opening field for free emigration from Britain ; a 
 character which has since grown so popular, as 
 to have secured for it in 1843, not more than 
 twenty years beyond the period of which we are 
 writing, a free Representative Council, adminis- 
 tering the legislature of the country to a population 
 of one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. 
 
 To encourage the evidently growing opinion in 
 favour of emigration to the colony, the British 
 government held out inducements to respectable 
 capitalists and men of family, in the shape of 
 grants of land. It was expected that such emi- 
 grants would be able to employ convicts, whose 
 expense to the treasury would in consequence be 
 saved, and their gradual and safe reformation 
 insured. These parties answered, we believe, all 
 the expectations formed on the foregoing points, 
 and first laid the basis of that industrious, respect- 
 able, and influential rural population, which 
 Governor Macquarie had in vain tried to establish 
 through the agency of the emancipists. In fact, 
 so meagre was the state of tillage on the arrival of 
 Sir Thomas Brisbane, that the country still 
 habitually depended upon India for its grain. 
 But so rapidly did cultivation increase with the 
 increase of free immigrant capitalists from the 
 mother country, that the penal agricultural settle-
 
 MONETARY CIRCULATION. 53 
 
 ments, formed by Governor Macquarie at various 
 eligible points, were speedily abandoned. The 
 change, indeed, which followed in the moral, social, 
 and commercial state of New South Wales demon- 
 strated that the advice of Governor Phillip to make 
 it from the first the abode of free settlers, who 
 could employ the convicts, or government-men, 
 was wise, and it proves that Governor Macquarie's 
 belief that the colony would be most prosperous as 
 the country consisted chiefly of emancipated proprie- 
 tors, was erroneous, and injurious to its future 
 political state. 
 
 It has been seen that the circumstances of the 
 colony, when Sir Thomas Brisbane came, were 
 highly propitious, and had it not been for the 
 subsequently fatal measures of the government in 
 regard to the monetary circulation of the country, 
 would have led to the happiest issues for the 
 credit of his management, and the advancement 
 of the people. In an evil hour, however, Sir 
 Thomas Brisbane was led to meddle with the 
 currency by making the silver coin or dollars then 
 frequently used, bear a high value in relation to 
 the sterling coin of the realm. This was done 
 with a view of making a market for the bills 
 which the government was empowered to draw on 
 the Treasury at home for the means of defraying 
 the local expenses, and met with the fate which 
 such shameful gambling, and interference on the 
 part of the government deserved, for it tended to
 
 54 DEPRECIATED CURRENCY. 
 
 attach the greatest censure to the officials concerned. 
 It would have been well if this were all that had 
 resulted ; but, unfortunately, it involved nearly all 
 the farmers in distress and ruin, for in settling 
 their accounts with rapacious agents, they had to 
 sell their produce which, owing to another 
 measure we shall presently describe, was down at 
 a very low price to the merchant at Sydney, and 
 receive payment in the depreciated currency, whilst 
 the debts they had previously contracted, and 
 which they trusted the value of their produce 
 would have liquidated, were wrung out of them in 
 sterling coin. It should have been previously 
 mentioned, that the measure of the government 
 had made sterling coin so valuable, that twenty- 
 five shillings of the current dollars declared of 
 the value of three shillings and sixpence went to 
 purchase only one sovereign, or twenty shillings 
 sterling, or the value of it, in a draft on the 
 Treasury. At the very same time that this impro- 
 vident result was effected by the government in 
 the value of money, the distress consequent to the 
 farmers was aggravated by the depreciation in the 
 price of grain, occasioned by the refusal of the 
 government to purchase produce, as heretofore, at 
 the King's stores ; and giving, as was before the 
 custom, the value of it partly in money, and partly 
 in the stores which were always kept on hand for the 
 convicts and military in the colony. Many of the 
 farmers had to part with their wheat at a trifling
 
 THREATENED FAMINE. 55 
 
 rate, and to sell their effects afterwards to pay the 
 balance against them in the general dealer's ledger, 
 so that the depression became very general, and 
 created what in a large commercial country would 
 be called a " panic." 
 
 To consummate the monetary confusion preva- 
 lent, the next year's produce was thrown back by 
 a drought, and whilst in former years grain was 
 so low in value that a large quantity was wasted, 
 the result was a threatened famine, and flour had 
 to be imported at enormous cost from foreign 
 ports. 
 
 These events which passed rapidly on during 
 the years 1823 and 1824, tended, of course, to 
 make Sir Thomas Brisbane particularly obnoxious 
 and unpopular. Representations were made by 
 his opponents of the want of judgment which he 
 had betrayed in managing public affairs, and by 
 the influence they exercised in England, Sir 
 Thomas was recalled before he had entered the 
 fifth year of his term of office. He went, we 
 believe we are right in saying, without a regret or 
 a good opinion. 
 
 During the government of Sir Thomas Brisbane, 
 considerable progress was made in the way of 
 discovery in the interior. In 1823, Captain 
 Currie, in an expedition southerly in search of the 
 upper part of the Murrumbidgee, a river which 
 had been discovered watering the plains of the 
 district of Argyle, came upon the tract of grazing
 
 56 MORETON BAY. 
 
 country known now as the " Maneroo Plains," but 
 which were originally designated the " Brisbane 
 Downs." Messrs. Hovel and Hume, in 1824, 
 made an overland journey to the north shore of 
 Bass' Straits in the neighbourhood of Port Phillip, 
 which subsequently led to the establishment of a 
 penal station at Port Western contiguous to Port 
 Phillip. In the beginning of 1825, Mr. Cun- 
 ningham opened up the pasture grounds of 
 Liverpool Plains to the northward, by finding a 
 practicable pass in the dividing ranges from the 
 district of the Upper Hunter, of which the settlers 
 in those crowded parts gladly availed themselves ; 
 but the most important discovery made in 
 Governor Brisbane's time was that of the Brisbane 
 River, by Mr. Oxely, the Surveyor-General, while 
 exploring Moreton Bay to the northward, and into 
 which the Brisbane empties itself. This was in 
 October, 1823, since which period, Moreton Bay 
 has been occupied for many years as a penal 
 settlement, but is now a free district. 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 
 GOVEKNMENT OF LIEUTENANT-GENERAL DARLING. 
 
 Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Darling, in suc- 
 ceeding Sir Thomas Brisbane, made the seventh 
 of the successive Governors who had administered 
 the affairs of the colony since its foundation. His
 
 EMANCIPATED CONVICTS. 57 
 
 vice-regal sway commenced on the 19th of 
 December, 1825, having arrived at Sydney only a 
 few days after the departure of his predecessor. 
 
 According to the principles which govern the 
 moral as well as the physical world, it need not 
 occasion surprise, that a strong reaction, with 
 regard to the public position and status in society 
 of the emancipated convicts, took place in the 
 opinion of government, and the free inhabitants 
 during the administration of Sir Ralph Darling. 
 
 It will be remembered, that Governor Phillip 
 had commenced in a quiet and judicious manner 
 to encourage prisoners in a life of industrious 
 occupation upon their becoming emancipated, by 
 bestowing on them grants of land. In the reigns 
 of his successors, the countenance of the Governors 
 was on the whole favourable to that class, and this 
 feeling of patronage increased until Colonel 
 Macquarie's accession to the government, when 
 it positively raised the emancipated portion of the 
 colonists above that portion which had originally 
 been, and remained, free. This Governor's par- 
 tiality of opinion went so far as to induce him to 
 check free immigration, in order to give the greater 
 scope to the prisoners as they obtained their 
 emancipation. The frequent complaints urged at 
 home against his policy by the agents and friends 
 of the free colonists, in all probability originated 
 the instructions under which Governor Darling 
 
 D 3
 
 58 GOVERNMENT OF 
 
 professed to act in his severity towards the convict 
 and emancipated population. This sudden change 
 in the policy of the local government was naturally 
 accompanied by those violent feelings and demon- 
 strations which served amongst other causes to 
 agitate and embitter the administration of Sir 
 Ralph Darling. 
 
 The chief merit of this Governor's reign was 
 the system of order and despatch which he intro- 
 duced into the government departments, a 
 system which had been as much neglected by 
 his predecessors as it has been unnecessarily loaded 
 with forms and technicalities by his successors. 
 An increase of forms was doubtless required by 
 the enlargement of the varidus public departments, 
 but it is a question whether in the first place the 
 employes of the government were not far too 
 numerous, and the machinery too expensive ; and, 
 in the second place, whether such a multiplicity 
 of requisitions did not cause vexatious delays and 
 inconvenience, particularly in the remoter districts 
 of this extensive country and its scattered commu- 
 nities. The present elective council no sooner 
 came into office, than agreeing with Lord John 
 Russell in his frequent despatches recommending 
 economy on the enormous cost of the colonial 
 government, they set about the work of reduction 
 in good earnest, and in dispensing with the 
 services of numerous officials, simplified public
 
 SIR RALPH DARLING. 59 
 
 business, and kept its transactions within reason- 
 able limits, obviating also many of its faulty and 
 cumbersome adjuncts. 
 
 The chief fault of Governor Darling in adminis- 
 tering the affairs of the colony, was his practice of 
 intrenching himself within a spirit of stern and 
 exclusive reserve, a fault which brought sycophants 
 about him, who by their obsequiousness ^obtained 
 power, until their reflection of his practical severity 
 became oppressive, and iniquitous. The subser- 
 viency of such people, joined to their real activity 
 and pretended zeal in carrying out the mandates 
 of his will, was of course rewarded in various ways, 
 until these rewards took the colour of favouritism 
 and injustice. Thus grants of land, of convict 
 labour, and lucrative monopolies within the control 
 of government were freely made, until the Gover- 
 nor found himself highly unpopular, and laid the 
 fulfilment of his duties open to the charges of 
 jobbing and corruption. 
 
 So greatly had the free population of the country 
 increased since the government of Macquarie, that 
 at this time the amount of prisoners disposable 
 for assignment was far in arrear of the demand 
 amongst the settlers. Owing to the understanding 
 that the country was supplied with an operative 
 population from amongst the prisoners of the 
 Crown, few, if any, of the humbler classes visited 
 the colony, and those who did, after remaining
 
 60 UNPOPULARITY OF 
 
 in service, chiefly as overseers for a short time, 
 found means to start themselves in life indepen- 
 dently of service to others. Indeed, it appears, 
 from the tenor of the regulations on the subject 
 of grants, that before an emigrant could obtain the 
 land he applied for, he had to show that he either 
 possessed five hundred pounds in hand, or had 
 expended that sum in the emigration of himself, 
 or of himself together with his family. This 
 regulation naturally operated to exclude the emi- 
 gration from England of parties with a smaller 
 patrimony than that of five hundred pounds. 
 Consequently, nearly the whole of the free 
 emigrant colonists, besides the emancipated 
 inhabitants, were employers of labour, and were 
 applicants to government for assigned servants 
 as well as land. It was this state of affairs, and 
 the direction given to them by the executive, that 
 occasioned the unpopularity of Sir Ralph Darling ; 
 for it was asserted, and not, apparently, without 
 some foundation, that the greatest partiality and 
 favouritism were shown in the distribution both of 
 grants and of assigned servants. Of this fault we 
 are willing wholly to acquit the Governor himselfj 
 but it must be imputed to him as blame-worthy, 
 that he suffered his vigilance to sleep in regard to 
 the misrepresentations and intrigues of some of 
 the officials about him. There can be no doubt 
 that numerous complaints can be established, as
 
 SIR R. DARLING'S GOVERNMENT. 61 
 
 to the quantity of prisoner-labour allowed to some 
 colonists, and the almost total deprivation of 
 labourers under which others suffered. 
 
 Another ground for reproach against the chief 
 executive, originated with the capricious system 
 adopted of forming roads through the country dis- 
 tricts by the employment of prisoners. It was not 
 always on the main, or arterial thoroughfares of the 
 territory that public labour was expended, but on 
 cross roads, which in many instances owed their 
 formation solely to the selfish management of the 
 large landed proprietors of the district. This is an 
 abuse which continued, and until lately prevailed 
 in Van Diemen's Land to a shameful extent. It 
 arises generally from a sort of compact made 
 between some officers of the colonial government, 
 and their craving relatives and influential friends. 
 It was an abuse which, consequent on the penal 
 state of the colony, has in New South Wales 
 gradually become extinct, partly from the reduc- 
 tion of the present establishment, and partly 
 from the careful watch kept on the motions of 
 government by a searching press at home, and 
 in the colony. 
 
 It was in Governor Darling's time, that the 
 country felt for the first time the rapid changes 
 effected in the moral and social world by the ex- 
 citement and depression of commercial transactions ; 
 changes to which the country has again and again 
 been subject, without bringing any accession of
 
 62 FORMATION OF THE 
 
 prudence to the people from the lessons of past 
 experience. 
 
 Almost at the commencement of this Governor's 
 administration, a company was formed in Britain 
 for carrying on the usual operations of a colonial 
 settler's pursuits ; only on a gigantic scale, and for 
 the benefit of a great number of individuals. Agri- 
 culture and stock-breeding were the chief objects of 
 the society, although mining for coals was added 
 with considerable profit to the company, and benefit 
 to the colony. Although the members, or share- 
 holders in the capital stock of this association were 
 just so many partners in a colonial farming and 
 grazing concern, yet as it did not suit the taste or 
 circumstances of any to emigrate to New South 
 Wales, and take an active part in the proceedings, 
 it was agreed to depute a manager, and appoint 
 various necessary servants, who, being sent out to 
 the colony, were to work the concern whilst resident 
 there for the benefit of the shareholders. With the 
 spirit of jobbing > which for many years past has 
 characterized these co-partnery schemes at home, 
 the directory made berths or situations, with com- 
 petent salaries attached, for the servants or officers 
 appointed, and in whom a majority of the directors 
 felt some private family interest. The capital of 
 the association was raised in shares, nominally to 
 the amount of a million sterling. As private par- 
 ties obtained their grants of land, so this public 
 company applied for a grant, and had several
 
 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY. 63 
 
 grants given to them, in separate blocks, to the ex- 
 tent of a million and a half acres. The first grant, 
 containing one million acres, was chosen by Mr. 
 Dawson, the original agent, in the neighbourhood 
 of Port Stephen, and the second some years after, 
 encompassing six hundred thousand acres in the 
 district of Liverpool Plains, and on the banks of the 
 Peel River. 
 
 At the outset of its operations, the association, 
 under the title of the " Australian Agricultural 
 Company," despatched a number of clerks, agents, 
 superintendents, and indented servants, under the 
 charge of a principal agent, who was himself under 
 the control of the colonial committee, composed of 
 several resident gentry. Mr. Dawson, the first 
 principal, was removed after a short period of ser- 
 vice, and succeeded by Captain, Sir Edward Parry, 
 the celebrated Polar navigator, at the enormous 
 salary of 2000 per annum for seven years, and 
 an annuity of 300 a year engaged to him upon 
 his retirement. Sir Edw T ard Parry was succeeded, 
 in 1 8 34, by Lieutenant-Colonel Dumaresq, under 
 the grandiloquent title of Resident Commissioner, 
 but upon a salary of only 700 a year. Upon the 
 death of this highly esteemed colonist in 1837, the 
 affairs of the company were placed under the 
 management of Captain King, who continues to 
 fill the situation. 
 
 It must be evident enough, that there could not 
 be the same industry and spirit displayed by a
 
 64 INCREASED VALUE OF 
 
 number of paid servants and officers, as if the 
 operations had been in the hands of the proprietors 
 themselves ; at least, the result proves what other 
 colonists anticipated from the first, and the com- 
 pany's concern although paying a large annual 
 dividend, has been yearly reduced in its expenses, 
 at the same time that the working part has been 
 put into a more active shape, and the machinery 
 greatly compressed. 
 
 It was the cumbersome nature of this machinery 
 that assisted to retard the success of the Agricul- 
 tural Company at their commencement, and to 
 increase the system of extravagance and jobbery 
 which marked its earliest operations. But if the 
 comparative loss to the shareholders of the com- 
 pany had been all the injury the colony indirectly 
 sustained through their operations, it would have 
 been well for New South Wales generally in suc- 
 ceeding years. 
 
 The simple introduction, however, of its capital 
 into a country, before that time comparatively poor, 
 was the origin of the great commercial revolution 
 which was just now alluded to. The agent of 
 the company immediately set about carrying 
 out the directions he had received, and purchased 
 largely of the older proprietors sheep and 
 cattle, wherewith to stock the company's im- 
 mense grants. 
 
 The improving market thus opened for the dis- 
 posal of surplus stock, considerably raised the value
 
 SHEEP AND CATTLE. 65 
 
 of sheep and cattle. Parties who, previously to the 
 arrival of the company's agents, only looked to 
 their flocks and herds as affording a sort of patri- 
 archal independence, discovered that they possessed 
 a value which might be easily realized in money. 
 Stock of all descriptions rose in price; and 
 many who before were content to earn a livelihood 
 for themselves and their families as plain farmers 
 or cultivators, mortgaged their lands to buy stock ; 
 and those who had stock bought more, while 
 several who saw the progressive value created from 
 day to day, bought and sold on speculation. 
 
 As a very general confidence prevailed in these 
 transactions, credit was facilitated : in the same ratio 
 settlers continued purchasing far more than they 
 could manage, and accumulated debts of which it 
 ultimately became impossible to pay either principal 
 or interest. It was imagined that the growth of 
 the wool from the sheep of the colony was to 
 produce perpetually a splendid income, and accord- 
 ingly fine wool was sedulously cultivated, although 
 whatever produce might have been expected from 
 cattle and other stock, it was very generally 
 neglected. 
 
 As is usual in such stages of fictitious prosperity, 
 extravagance in social life followed upon the fancied 
 attainment of riches, the manufactures of England 
 were largely introduced, and a great variety of 
 articles of consumption, which might have been 
 produced in the country, with common industry
 
 66 PECUNIARY DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 and patience, were flowingly imported and made 
 use of on liberal credit. 
 
 During the years 1827, 1828, and 1829, 
 the value of the imports rose from 362,324 to 
 570,000, and 601,004, falling again rapidly to 
 420,480 in 1830; and if the excess of imports 
 over exports is to be taken as a criterion of com- 
 mercial unsoundness, the value of exports for the 
 same years will show a very heavy balance against 
 the colony. The value of exports in 1827 was 
 70,3 14, leaving a deficiency of nearly 300,000 ! 
 The value of exports in 1828 was 90,050, 
 showing a deficiency of nearly 500,000!! The 
 value of the exports in 1829 increased to 
 161,716, leaving still, however, a deficiency 
 of nearly 450,000. 
 
 At length, however, the evil day arrived ; the 
 bills which had been circulated on the speculation of 
 purchases in stock fell due and had to be paid. 
 Buyers and sellers when they came to press each 
 other, found how delusive had been their specula- 
 tions : credit was shaken confidence was lost 
 and a panic ensued. 
 
 To aggravate the distress of the colonists, both 
 on account of pecuniary difficulties, and the regret 
 which follows money wasted and time lost, a 
 drought was afflicting the country, which, although 
 from its commencing in 1827, and continuing 
 through 1828 and 1829 was comparatively but 
 little heeded, on account of the golden and extra-
 
 THE COLONISTS. 67 
 
 vagant visions in which during those years the 
 people indulged, yet oppressed them with a terrible 
 weight at the close of 1829, and the beginning of 
 1830, when the sudden revulsion of affairs made 
 men look around them with maddening reflections. 
 When the drought commenced, they fancied they 
 were in a position to neglect the cultivation of the 
 soil for grain, to follow in search of the " golden 
 fleece, " and that they could then afford to import 
 grain from Van Diemen's Land. 
 
 The importation of grain in 1828 was valued at 
 54,823, and in 1829 to 42,640. The lesson 
 which was taught the colonists by their former folly 
 revived agricultural industry, and their labour in 
 1830, joined to the return of propitious seasons, 
 reduced the importation of grain in that year to 
 the value of 23,344, and although it increased 
 again the following year to 27,691, it was 
 reduced in 1831 to 13,365. 
 
 It has been thought profitable to dwell at length 
 upon the details and consequences of the first com- 
 mercial revolution that took place in New South 
 Wales, that its narration may be compared with 
 those of similar eras which followed in 1836 and 
 1841. In all of these, but particularly during the 
 last and present crisis, the punishment of foolish 
 and extravagant speculation was severely felt by 
 the colonists in spite of all the bitterness of former 
 example and past experience. 
 
 Unfortunately, political excitement of a dan-
 
 68 SEVERE SENTENCE 
 
 gerous tendency was going on during the same 
 period, that is described as having been occupied 
 by scenes of commercial speculation and highly 
 wrought expectation. Two privates of the 57th 
 regiment, then stationed in Sydney, committed a 
 theft in the latter part of the year 1837, and on 
 being tried and convicted, were sentenced to 
 transportation for seven years. Shortly after their 
 conviction, it came out that the theft had been 
 designedly committed for the purpose of incurring 
 the penalty of transportation, one of the convicted 
 soldiers having himself determined to commit the 
 crime, and having persuaded his partner in guilt 
 to the same act, upon the plea that the life of a 
 convict was preferable to that of a soldier in New 
 South Wales. So dangerous a doctrine, Sir Ralph 
 Darling resolved to punish and suppress by a 
 solemn and striking example. By his authority 
 as Commander of the Forces in the colony, con- 
 jointly with his authority as Governor, General 
 Darling revoked the sentence of the civil court, 
 and condemned the men to hard labour on the 
 roads for a period of seven years. 
 
 They were then openly stripped of their regi- 
 mentals in view of the whole soldiery of the town 
 clothed in the prisoner's degraded garb, and 
 exhibited for several hours in heavy manacles and 
 iron collars. One of the men, overcome with 
 anguish and despair, fell into a violent fever, which, 
 heightened by the heat of the weather during
 
 ON TWO SOLDIERS. 69 
 
 his exposure, sent him to the hospital as an invalid, 
 where he died in a few days. This unlocked for 
 termination of the Governor's example supplied 
 the large body of free colonists, with whom his 
 Excellency had long been unpopular, with a handle 
 for severe animadversion. The man's punishment 
 was denounced as intentionally cruel, and the 
 lamentable end of the soldier was ascribed to a 
 brutal and unfeeling disposition in the commander. 
 At this time the government possessed an organ 
 in a local newspaper, called the " Sydney Gazette," 
 and the manner in which it was recognized as an 
 organ, was from its having a monopoly of all the 
 government notices and advertisements. Since 
 the establishment of a press in the colony, it 
 appears that the government had been in the 
 practice of publishing all the orders in council, 
 and notices connected with the public business of 
 the colony in the only paper then published in 
 New South Wales, a species of patronage which 
 converted the " Sydney Gazette," the oldest and 
 only journal of the country, into a supporter of 
 government policy, and an echo of the opinions 
 of the Governor's party. This paper, then, at the 
 earliest signs of disapprobation that appeared 
 amongst the anti-government party, came forward 
 to defend the act of Sir Ralph Darling, in a 
 manner that betrayed not only servility to power, 
 but was annoying and insulting to many respect- 
 able persons who held contrary opinions. The
 
 70 NEWSPAPER WAR. 
 
 circumstances of the case quickly called out the 
 latent talents for agitation existing in their breasts, 
 and became the means of bringing into existence 
 two or three journals, avowedly supported by, and 
 in the pay of the Governor's opponents. One of 
 these was the " Australian," edited by Dr. Wardell, 
 and another was the "Monitor," edited by Mr. 
 E. S. Hall. Both papers immediately commenced 
 a violent and vituperative warfare, which was met 
 with equal warmth by the government organ, and 
 as in its maintenance of the Governor's policy, it 
 was openly countenanced by Sir Ralph Darling, 
 his Excellency was himself greatly to blame for 
 the indignities to which his name and office were 
 subjected throughout the contest. General Darling, 
 who both in his former government of the Isle of 
 France, and that of New South Wales had 
 exercised and continued to sway a most arbitrary 
 authority, sanctioned by the colonial constitution, 
 was sternly bent upon suppressing the offensive 
 freedom of the newspapers opposed to himself, and 
 accordingly enacted a law, by which editors, printers, 
 and publishers of newspapers were obliged to enter 
 into heavy recognizances for their good behaviour, 
 and were submitted to the most galling surveillance. 
 This law also provided a penalty of fine and 
 imprisonment for a first conviction of libel, with 
 confiscation and banishment for the second. So 
 severe a measure only enraged his opponents to 
 the last extreme, and caused the newspaper press
 
 RESIGNATION OF GOVERNOR DARLING. 71 
 
 to be occupied as a violent arena for controversy, 
 for and against the government during the 
 remainder of his term of office. 
 
 Lieutenant-General Darling resigned the situa- 
 tion of Governor of New South Wales, and left 
 the colony in October, 1831, his opponents 
 continuing to the latest hour, previous to his 
 departure, to assail him with the severity of their 
 attacks; a spirit of opposition which must have 
 become outrageous, if, as is said to be the case, 
 Mrs., now Lady, Darling was insulted by some of 
 its leaders. Subsequent to his arrival in England, 
 General Darling was in 1835 impeached for 
 malpractices on the repeatedly urged complaints 
 of his enemies, particularly of Mr. Maurice 
 O'Connell; but, upon investigation, he was honour- 
 ably acquitted of the charges preferred, and made 
 a knight by his Majesty William IV., in token of 
 the undiminished confidence reposed in him by his 
 Majesty's ministers. 
 
 During the whole of General Darling's admin- 
 istration, the legislative control of the government 
 was in the hands of a council nominated by the 
 Crown, who conjointly with the Governor, passed 
 all laws for the welfare, peace, and good order of 
 the colony. The Legislative Council was appointed 
 in 1824, shortly before this Governor's term of 
 office commenced, and consisted of fourteen 
 members, seven of whom were officers of the 
 Crown. The Legislative Council which was
 
 72 SURVEY OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 originally given to New South Wales has been 
 enlarged and amended, until it was lately fixed in 
 its present shape of thirty-six members, twenty- 
 four elected by the people, and twelve appointed by 
 the Crown. 
 
 The progress of discovery during the period of 
 which the political events have just been narrated, 
 was both extensive and important. The great 
 and oppressive drought which afflicted the colony 
 for three years, as already mentioned, stimulated 
 the government to fit out an expedition in search 
 of a better watered and more available country 
 than that which was already occupied. Captain 
 Sturt, at present holding the office of Resident- 
 Commissioner to the South Australian Company, 
 at Adelaide, was appointed to conduct an expe- 
 dition to survey the country about the great inland 
 sea into which Mr. Oxley, the late Surveyor- 
 General of the colony, had reported the Macquarie 
 River as disemboguing ; the inland sea was proved 
 to be only an immense marsh about one hundred 
 miles in circumference, at the northern edge of 
 which the river made its re-appearance. On being 
 traced, it was found to join another large river 
 which was flowing in a south-westerly direction, 
 at the time that the expedition was compelled to 
 return. 
 
 In the year 1827, Mr. Allan Cunningham made 
 his second journey to the northward, traversing 
 the country which lies at the back of Moreton Bay,
 
 MAJOR MITCHELL. 73 
 
 and is now occupied by settlers, during which 
 journey the Rivers Gwydir and Dumaresq were 
 discovered. 
 
 Major Mitchell, the Surveyor-General of the 
 colony, some time afterwards, having the direction 
 of an expedition to the same quarter as that last 
 referred to, ascertained that these two rivers flowed 
 into the Darling. The further prosecution of his 
 journey was, however, interrupted by a predatory 
 attack of the natives. 
 
 VOL, I.
 
 74 CAPABILITIES OF THE COLONY. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF NEW SOUTH WALES 
 DURING THE GOVERNMENTS OF SIR RICHARD 
 BOURKE AND SIR GEORGE GIPPS. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 IN accordance with the plan intimated in the 
 commencement of the work, the present chapter 
 will be devoted to the consideration, in detail, 
 of the various and important measures adopted 
 by the imperial and colonial governments from 
 the year 1832 to 1844 inclusive, during which 
 period the affairs of the colony had been admi- 
 nistered by Major-General Sir Richard Bourke, 
 and his Excellency Sir George Gipps. It 
 has been considered advisable to allot a larger 
 proportionate space to these administrations, be- 
 cause, not only has the ground been untraversed 
 by any regular historian, but the capabilities of 
 the colony have, during that period, been more 
 fully developed ; prospects for the future have 
 been opened, the realization of which had pre-
 
 REPRESENTATIVE LEGISLATURE* 75 
 
 viously been but remotely anticipated, if not 
 considered altogether chimerical; and, above all, 
 a constitution has been granted to the colony, 
 which secures to us, in many important particulars, 
 the privileges of a free people. We have received 
 the first element of freedom a Representative 
 Legislature ; a boon which, though in the opinion 
 of many, it has been tardily conferred, and is 
 of a limited character, cannot but be regarded 
 as of the highest value, as being calculated to 
 promote the growth of the enterprise, the educa- 
 tion, and, it may be added, the religion of the 
 community, for " freedom is the twin sister of 
 virtue." If we had not attained our full political 
 majority, we had at least arrived at that age when 
 the analogy between men and states suggested, 
 that we should have the privilege of choosing 
 our own guardians ; this privilege our imperial 
 mother has, it may be with some reservations, 
 accorded ; and it is not without strong feelings 
 of satisfaction that the present volumes are issued 
 to the world, as the first History of New South 
 Wales under our free Constitution. 
 
 Major-General Bourke arrived in the colony 
 on the 2nd December, 1831, an interregnum 
 of six weeks having elapsed since the departure 
 of his predecessor, during which brief period 
 the duties of Acting-Governor were discharged 
 by Lieutenant-Governor Colonel Lindsay, of H.M. 
 39th regiment. It will be proper, before enter- 
 
 E 2
 
 76 UNPOPULARITY OF GOVERNOR DARLING. 
 
 ing on the consideration of more momentous 
 subjects, to notice a few minor points, which may 
 convey to the reader an impression of the general 
 character of Governor Bourke's administration, 
 and which will prevent the necessity of subse- 
 quent digressions. 
 
 The colony, at the time of General Darling's 
 resignation, was, and for some time past had been, 
 in a state of excitement which affected both its 
 political and commercial welfare. The causes of 
 this excitement have been briefly mentioned ; they 
 are reducible to two ; viz : the undue inter- 
 ference of his Excellency with the public press ; 
 and his undue encouragement of one particular 
 class of colonists, to the entire exclusion and 
 positive hindrance of the other. The operation 
 of both these causes very materially impeded the 
 prosperity of the colony. Indeed, it could hardly 
 have been otherwise ; for, during the latter part 
 of his administration, his Excellency was chiefly 
 occupied in devising measures to restrain the 
 freedom of the press, and in prosecuting those 
 publishers who ventured to question either the 
 soundness of his views, or the policy of his 
 measures. He had, therefore, little time to attend 
 to the more important affairs of his government ; 
 and he was so completely surrounded by the 
 exclusive party, that scarcely any public measure 
 was carried into effect of the slightest importance 
 to the general advancement of the colony. In
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL BOURKE. 77 
 
 short, feelings of distrust and suspicion, partly 
 arising from commercial losses, and partly from 
 the highly irritating and arbitrary course observed 
 by his Excellency, pervaded every class of the 
 community ; the wheels of commerce had been 
 taken off, and she was driven heavily ; and a 
 continuance of the same system must have ter- 
 minated in the utter ruin and desertion of the 
 colony. 
 
 The arrival of a new Governor was consequently 
 hailed by the colonists with the liveliest demon- 
 strations of satisfaction ; and seldom has any 
 colonial Governor arrived at the seat of his govern- 
 ment with such favourable prospects of enduring 
 popularity and usefulness, as those which opened 
 on Major-General Bourke. The greatest results 
 were augured from his administration, and it is 
 gratifying to state that the colonists were not 
 disappointed. His Excellency was found to pos- 
 sess, in an eminent degree, all the decision of 
 character which distinguished his predecessor, com- 
 bined with the public spirit and energy which had 
 characterized the government of Macquarie ; while 
 his accessibility, and unaffected desire to advance 
 every beneficial undertaking, tended to confirm 
 the prepossessions which the public had entertained 
 in his favour. The fevered condition of the social 
 blood, aggravated as it had been by a phlogistic 
 regimen, attracted the early attention of his 
 Excellency, who succeeded, by an opposite treat-
 
 78 FIRST ACTS OF 
 
 ment, in restoring our political system to health 
 and vigour. One of his first acts was to renounce 
 all official connection with, or patronage of, the 
 public press ; and the editor of the " Sydney 
 Gazette," assuming the style of the Moor of 
 Venice, apostrophized his types and presses as 
 follows : 
 
 " And oh ! you mortal engines, whose rude forms 
 The Governor's dread clamours counterfeit, 
 Farewell ! Your master's occupation's gone !" 
 
 The highest officer of the colony, the representa- 
 tive of the British Crown, was no longer under 
 obligation, for a defence of his measures, to a 
 hireling advocacy ; those measures, as ought ever 
 to be the case, were left to the weight of public 
 opinion ; nor did the impartial journalists, who 
 canvassed them, fear any apprehension of an 
 action for libel. The system of Spain, which 
 permits every man to print what he pleases, so 
 long as he does not speak of the government, 
 the theatre, the markets, nor of the state of parties 
 a system scarcely more arbitrary than that 
 pursued by General Darling was decreed by 
 General Bourke to be unsuited to the constitution 
 of Britain, and not calculated to promote the 
 welfare of British colonists. The train of adula- 
 tors, therefore, at the printing office, were dis- 
 missed from Government House, having received 
 an intimation from his Excellency that no more
 
 GOVERNOR BOURKE. 79 
 
 crumbs were to be picked up under the table. 
 The printing required by the government was 
 thenceforth thrown open to the competition of 
 the trade, and though for some years the trade 
 was badly supplied with journeymen of steady 
 character, this inconvenience was found less in- 
 jurious than the system of monopoly and exclusion 
 which had hitherto prevailed. 
 
 The colonists had long felt it a grievance, that 
 the reporters of the press were denied admittance 
 to the Legislative Council ; but as that body, 
 during the administration of General Bourke, con- 
 sisted entirely of nominees of the Crown, it could 
 hardly be expected that such a surveillance would 
 be permitted. His Excellency, however, to remove 
 as far as possible any just ground of complaint, was 
 pleased to order that copies of the votes and pro- 
 ceedings of the legislative body should be sent 
 regularly to all the newspapers of the colony, and 
 that quarterly accounts of the colonial revenue and 
 expenditure should also be published at the expense 
 of the government. For this latter purpose, and 
 also for the advertisements of land sales, and other 
 government notices, the Government Gazette was 
 issued from the press of the contractor for the 
 government printing, and under the immediate 
 control and superintendence of the Colonial Se- 
 cretary. This conciliatory measure was most 
 favourably received by the colonists, who perceived 
 that, under the then Constitution of the colony, it
 
 80 OBJECT IN FORMING 
 
 was not in his Excellency's power to concede any 
 further facilities to the public. 
 
 His Excellency also exerted himself, as far as 
 possible, to allay the feelings of jealousy which 
 existed between the exclusive and emancipist parties. 
 There can be no doubt that the management of 
 these rival classes of colonists forms a great diffi- 
 culty in the path of a Governor in New South 
 Wales. Governor Macquarie had so openly iden- 
 tified himself with the emancipist interest, that he 
 made no scruple in declaring that " the colony was 
 intended for convicts, and that the emigrants had 
 no business in it." This opinion, however, was not 
 only unfounded in fact, but was highly injurious 
 in its tendency. The avowed object of the imperial 
 government in forming a settlement on the coast 
 of Australia, was, besides ridding the mother 
 country of a vast amount of criminals, and pro- 
 viding for their safe custody and punishment, 
 " to form a British colony out of those materials 
 which the reformation of these criminals might 
 gradually supply to the government, in addition to 
 the families of free emigrants who might from 
 time to time be induced to settle in the new 
 territory" 
 
 This avowal of the imperial government, not 
 only proves that the occupation of the lands in 
 the new settlement by the free emigrants was 
 contemplated from the very first, but appears to 
 point out the proper light in which the emancipist
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF AUSTRALIA. 81 
 
 population ought to have been regarded. It was 
 not the merely emancipated, but the reformed 
 criminals, whom the government believed likely 
 " to form a British colony." But, by a strange 
 and lamentable oversight, free emigration was, for 
 more than thirty years, not only neglected, but 
 discouraged, on the unsound principle broached by 
 Governor Macquarie ; and the inevitable conse- 
 quence was, that the emancipists grew up into 
 a large, wealthy and influential body, who consi- 
 dered the free immigrants when they did arrive, 
 as intruders, and vented their spleen in terms 
 neither warrantable nor measured. The immi- 
 grants, on the other hand, naturally shrank from 
 associating with men, who, though legally free, 
 in many cases had not given evidence of a 
 complete reformation of character, and who, be- 
 sides, had manifested so hostile a spirit towards 
 themselves. 
 
 In such a state of things, where one section of 
 the community was at war with the other, the 
 policy of Governor Darling, in identifying himself 
 with the exclusive party, and dispensing the 
 advantages at his disposal entirely among them, 
 departed from the principle of impartiality not less 
 than Governor Macquarie, who confined his pa- 
 tronage to the emancipists. Even Sir Thomas 
 Brisbane, who was by no means a man of extremes, 
 did not succeed in discovering the true mode of 
 
 E 3
 
 82 IMPARTIAL POLICY OF 
 
 procedure in this difficult business; for, after 
 confining himself, during the greater portion of his 
 administration to the exclusive party, he endea- 
 voured to make amends to the emancipists, when 
 the hour of his departure approached, not by 
 conceding any important public benefit, but by 
 accepting their invitation to a public dinner. 
 
 That such a continual cause of irritation should 
 have been suffered to exist for so long a time, 
 must be considered a matter of deep regret ; and 
 the more so, as a due encouragement of free 
 emigration in the earlier years of the colony, would 
 have effectually prevented the emancipist body, as 
 such, from ever assuming the least political im- 
 portance; while their gradual reformation would 
 have been promoted by their dispersion over the 
 territory, and their eventual capability of exercising 
 the highest privileges of British subjects would 
 have been secured. A contrary course had, how- 
 ever, been pursued ; and at the time Major- 
 General Bourke assumed the reins of government, 
 the unhappy irritation which has been described, 
 had risen to the highest pitch, contributing, with 
 the other causes mentioned, to throw the whole 
 social elements into a state of aggravated and most 
 unhealthy fermentation. His Excellency, however, 
 had discrimination enough to perceive the impolicy 
 of recognizing any invidious distinctions; the be- 
 nefits at his disposal were granted without reference
 
 GOVERNOR BOURKE. 83 
 
 to party; and it soon became understood that 
 merit was the only test by which applications would 
 be decided. By a calm and impartial observance 
 of this course, public confidence was restored ; the 
 feeling of hostility which had previously existed 
 was gradually quelled, and it is earnestly to be 
 hoped that no incautious step on the part of the 
 government may ever revive it. 
 
 During the year 1832, Governor Bourke made 
 a series of tours to the most important settlements 
 in the colony, with a view of personally ascertaining 
 their actual condition, and capabilities for future 
 improvements. This judicious step tended greatly 
 to strengthen his popularity, and the enthusiastic 
 reception which he uniformly met, must have been 
 highly gratifying to his feelings. Dr. Lang records, 
 " that several miles from the settlement of 
 Bathurst, all the respectable proprietors of the 
 district met him on horseback, and escorted him 
 to the settlement. His reception at Argyle was 
 equally flattering; and the town of Maitland, at 
 Hunter's River, was illuminated in honour of 
 his visit." 
 
 It may also be of some advantage to mention 
 in this place, that, from the best data which could 
 be obtained, it appeared that the population of the 
 colony in 1831 amounted to not less than fifty-five 
 thousand souls. It is true, that the census taken 
 in 1828 had exhibited a population of little more
 
 84 POPULATION 
 
 than thirty-seven thousand; but there were cir- 
 cumstances which cast strong suspicions on the 
 accuracy of that census ;* and the calculation 
 which has been adopted above is based on the 
 censuses taken under the administration of Sir 
 Thomas Brisbane, which gave the following re- 
 sults : 
 
 Population of the colony in 1822 24,188 
 
 1823 28,333 
 
 1824 33,595 
 
 1825 36,366 
 
 showing an average increase of about four thousand 
 per annum. Allowing the increase to have con- 
 tinued at the same ratio during the five years of 
 Governor Darling's administration, the above esti- 
 mate will not be found to exceed the probable 
 truth.f The census taken in 1833, was managed 
 with great judgment, and may, therefore, be relied 
 
 * The papers left by the district constables at each house 
 required the householder to specify whether he had arrived 
 free, or as a convict ; a requisition which led to much 
 falsification. In addition to this, the colonists were appre- 
 hensive of a poll-tax, and the returns consequently were in 
 many cases incorrect. Many houses also were entirely 
 omitted through the negligence of the constables . 
 
 t The increase of population by immigration was not so 
 great under General Darling as under Sir Thomas Brisbane, 
 but the number of marriages and births was so much greater, 
 that the deficiency was probably supplied by this means.
 
 OF THE COLONY. 85 
 
 on with some confidence. It exhibited the following 
 
 result : 
 
 Free males above 12 
 
 years of age .... 17,542 
 Do. under do. . . 5,256 
 
 22,798 Total free males. 
 
 Free females above 12 
 
 years of age .... 8,522 
 Do. under do. . . 4,931 
 
 13,453 Total free females. 
 
 36,251 Total free persons. 
 Convict males . . . 21,845 
 Convict females . . . 2,698 
 
 24,543 Total convicts. 
 
 60,794 Grand total. 
 
 On considering the above table, two circumstances 
 cannot fail to attract the attention : the dispropor- 
 tion between the male and female population, and 
 the large number of convicts in proportion to the 
 free population.* These facts show such a la- 
 mentable want of foresight on the part of the im- 
 perial government, that it cannot be a matter of 
 surprise that the colony has hitherto held a low 
 moral position, and that the office of a Governor is 
 by no means an enviable one. According to the 
 census of 1833, the number of free females above 
 
 * Even of the free population, at least, one half were 
 emancipists ; while of the convict a large number held 
 " tickets of leave," that is, they were turned loose upon the 
 colony, to gain a livelihood as best they might, and invested 
 with the privilege of free subjects, until some new offence 
 should bring them once more under the arm of the law.
 
 86 THE RIVAL INTERESTS. 
 
 twelve years of age did not amount to one half the 
 number of free males of corresponding years, while 
 among the convicts, the proportion of females was 
 not one-tenth. That crimes of the most flagrant 
 and horrible character should exist among a popu- 
 lation so constituted, might have been predicted by 
 the merest tyro in political economy ; and the fact, 
 that, even after the large influx of free immigrants 
 during Sir Thomas Brisbane's government, the 
 number of convicts amounted to two-fifths of the 
 whole population of the colony, is of itself sufficient 
 to account for the preponderance of the emancipist 
 class, and to show the difficult task which Major- 
 General Bourke had to perform, in reconciling, or 
 at least in preventing any undue clashing between 
 the two great rival interests in the colony. There 
 cannot be the least doubt that these considerations 
 had great influence in inducing the imperial go- 
 vernment to adopt the measure which forms the 
 chief feature in the history of the period now under 
 review, viz., the abandonment of the system of 
 alienating the Crown lands by grant, and the sub- 
 stitution of the system of sale at a minimum 
 price ; the proceeds, after certain deductions, to be 
 appropriated to the encouragement of free immigra- 
 tion. Subordinate to this measure, another was 
 subsequently introduced, with a view of preventing 
 the occupation of the unalienated Crown lands by 
 unauthorized and improper persons. This was the 
 issuing of depasturing licenses, the holders of which,
 
 SALE OF CROWN LANDS. 87 
 
 on payment of a fee of 10 per annum, became 
 entitled to the use of the waste lands of the Crown, 
 for the depasturing of as many sheep and cattle as 
 they possessed. The sale and permissive occu- 
 pancy of the Crown lands, form at present the 
 grand topic of discussion among all circles inte- 
 rested in the affairs of the colony ; and, as it is im- 
 possible to understand our political position aright, 
 without an accurate knowledge of these important 
 subjects, it is intended to exhibit them as fully as 
 possible, and with that care and freedom from bias 
 which questions of acknowledged difficulty demand. 
 For the sake of convenience, these questions will be 
 examined chronologically, and their history brought 
 down to the present time (1844) before any others 
 are discussed. The subjects of immigration, and 
 the discontinuance of transportation, will be consi- 
 dered in succeeding sections. A section must also 
 be reserved for a brief account of several minor 
 measures introduced during the period under exa- 
 mination, and for a few remarks on the general 
 character of Sir George Gipps' administration. 
 This branch of our subject will conclude with a 
 careful analysis of the first two sessions of the Re- 
 presentative Legislative Council.
 
 88 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 SALE AND OCCUPATION OF CROWN LANDS. 
 
 Previously to the year 1831, the disposal of land 
 on behalf of the Crown appears to have been con- 
 ducted in a manner sufficiently loose and irregular. 
 The early Governors had followed the practice of 
 granting sections of land to convicts on their eman- 
 cipation to such, at least, as were willing to accept 
 them a practice, which, though in some instances 
 attended with good effects, was far from answering 
 the benevolent expectations of those who recom- 
 mended it.* If the mere possession of a section 
 
 * The error consisted in investing men with the rights of 
 property, who could not be supposed to know the value of 
 real property, or to have any respect to the privileges which 
 it conferred; in short, hi giving land to men who were 
 ignorant of those acts by which land is made valuable. It 
 is but just to the memory of the humane and enlightened 
 Governor Phillip, to state, that his views were not carried 
 out by his successors. On this subject, the following re- 
 marks of Dr. Lang, are worthy of attention : " I am decid- 
 edly of opinion, that Governor Macquarie's procedure in 
 discouraging free emigration to New South Wales was im- 
 politic, and preposterous in the extreme ; and I am equally 
 confident, that if the British Government had steadily fol- 
 lowed up the prudent suggestions of Governor Phillip, by 
 encouraging the emigration of free persons of reputable cha- 
 racter in the earlier times of the colony, and by doing every 
 thing that was requisite to promote their comfortable settle- 
 ment throughout the territory ; not only would the colony
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 89 
 
 of land could have operated as a Lethcean draught 
 on the former habits and associations of the con- 
 vict, and transmitted the leaden vices of the town 
 into the golden virtues of the country if, in short, 
 to borrow the phrase of Governor Hunter, " pick- 
 pockets could have been made farmers " by a dash 
 of the Colonial Secretary's pen, no possible scheme 
 could have been devised better calculated to develop 
 the principle on which the colony was originally 
 founded, nor could any scheme of colonization have 
 been pronounced more eminently successful. But, 
 unfortunately, the government, in spite of their 
 blunders, were at length compelled to see that these 
 grants of land did not possess alchymical powers ; 
 and, instead of contemplating wit h satisfaction the 
 result of their political experiments, they were at 
 
 have raised grain sufficient for its own consumption at a 
 much earlier period than it actually did, and thereby saved 
 the enormous expense incurred by the frequent importa- 
 tions from India and Batavia, but flourishing 1 agricultural 
 settlements would have been gradually formed with the 
 utmost facility, and at little or no expense to government, 
 all over the territory : while the highly important proce ss 
 of converting the prison population into an agricultural 
 population, would have gone on progressively and succes- 
 fully, and the British Government would have been saved 
 the enormous expenditure incurred on the government and 
 experimental farms of the colony an expenditure which, I 
 am fully persuaded, has proved of so little real benefit to 
 the colony, as if the money had been thrown at once into 
 the Pacific Ocean." Historical Account of New South 
 Wales, vol. I. Cap. 6.
 
 90 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 length driven to adopt measures to counteract the 
 evils which had their source in the rash and impro- 
 vident policy which had previously been observed. 
 
 It was found that the reformation of the eman- 
 cipated convicts was, generally speaking, as far 
 distant as ever ; while large and valuable portions 
 of the Crown lands had been irrecoverably alienated, 
 and which, after having been sold for rum, or 
 mortgaged for one-tenth of their value, had 
 gradually become the property of publicans and 
 usurers. To such a course, it was high time to 
 put a stop ; and the first attempt to do this was 
 made under Sir Thomas Brisbane, by granting 
 land to free British capitalists, on condition of 
 their maintaining a proportionate number of 
 assigned convict servants. The Colonial executive, 
 in fact, was utterly unable to find employment for 
 the large number of convicts whom they were 
 obliged to maintain, and the mother country was 
 exposed to an enormous expense, for which not 
 the slightest return was made. Accordingly, when 
 the influx of immigrants commenced in .1821, 
 any respectable person who would pledge himself 
 to government to maintain a certain number of 
 convict servants, might obtain without further 
 trouble a grant of one hundred acres of land for 
 every convict servant he so undertook to maintain. 
 The result of this experiment showed at once the 
 defects of the policy which had been previously 
 pursued respecting the convict population, and the
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 91 
 
 lamentable manner in which the resources of this 
 territory had been neglected. 
 
 In a few years, so ready were capitalists to avail 
 themselves of these advantages, the Colonial 
 executive found, that so far from the maintenance 
 of the convicts being a burden, they had not 
 enough to supply the demand for labour created 
 by the influx of employers. Shortly after the 
 arrival of General Darling, there were, at one 
 time, applications for more than two thousand 
 convict servants, which the Superintendent was 
 unable to satisfy. 
 
 These results, however, not only opened the 
 eyes of government to their previous mismanage- 
 ment of the prisoners, but suggested an important 
 source of revenue, which should assist in deve- 
 loping the prodigious resources of the colony. It 
 was found, that so long as both land and labour 
 could be had for asking, there was no scarcity of 
 applicants ; and if the supply of labour could have 
 been kept up, there can be no doubt that a very 
 large proportion of the Crown lands would have 
 been alienated, while government would have 
 received nothing in return, save the indirect relief 
 afforded by the maintenance of the convicts. 
 
 As, therefore, the Crown lands could not be 
 occupied without a supply of labour, and as labour 
 could not be procured without funds to defray the 
 expense of its importation, it appeared both 
 necessary and just that an immigration fund should
 
 92 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 be raised in some way or other from those lands 
 which the imported labour was to render available; 
 and this necessity, in addition to the considerations 
 before alluded to, arising from the ill-balanced 
 state of the population, compelled the government 
 to place some restrictions on the " free-grant" 
 system, and to introduce the principle of sale.* 
 This was attempted to be done in a government 
 order issued on the 5th September, 1826, which 
 defined the terms on which the Crown lands 
 would thereafter be granted or disposed of. 
 
 Persons desirous of obtaining grants of land 
 were directed to apply to the Colonial Secretary, 
 and to present, for the satisfaction of the Governor, 
 evidence of their respectability. 
 
 If the applicant was approved, he was then fur- 
 nished with a letter to the Colonial Land Board, 
 appointed by the Governor, whose business it was 
 to enquire into the amount and nature of the 
 applicant's capital, which might consist of money, 
 imported stock, agricultural implements, half-pay, 
 pensions, or annuities, or might be compounded 
 of some or all of these kinds of capital. The 
 
 " The object of the change of system introduced (in 
 1831) by Lord Ripon was, to remedy the great want of 
 labour which was at that time complained of in the colony, 
 by providing the pecuniary means of assisting emigration, 
 and, at the same time preventing the undue dispersion of 
 the emigrants." Despatch from Lord Glenelg to Sir George 
 Gipps, No. 176, of the 9th Augvst, 1838.
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 93 
 
 object of government in instituting this inquiry was, 
 to prevent persons obtaining more land than they 
 could improve, and to prevent grantees disposing 
 of their grants, a practice which was now made to 
 incur the penalty of forfeiture. The Governor 
 being satisfied of the bond fide character of the 
 application, the Colonial Secretary furnished the 
 applicant with a letter of recommendation to the 
 Survey or- General, from whom he received a written 
 authority to search for land, " to the northward, 
 from Cape Hawke, in a line due west to Welling- 
 ton Valley, to the 33rd parallel of latitude, and 
 thence due east to Campbell's River along its course 
 to the southward, and so on to the latitude of 
 Bateman's Bay." If the selection made were 
 approved by the Governor, the applicant received 
 a written authority from the Colonial Secretary to 
 take possession, conditional, however, on the royal 
 pleasure, which was necessary to render the grant 
 valid. The tenure of the land so granted was in 
 free and common socage, and at a quit-rent of five 
 per cent, per annum, on the value of the land as' 
 fixed by the Land Board, payable after seven years 
 authorized possession, the grantee being in the 
 mean time bound to expend on the land one-fourth 
 of its value, under penalty of forfeiture. The 
 quit-rent might be redeemed by payment of twenty 
 years purchase, within twenty-five years from the 
 execution of the grant. The grant was to be in 
 the proportion of one square mile for every five
 
 94 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 hundred pounds of the applicant's capital, and was 
 in no case to exceed two thousand five hundred 
 and sixty acres, or four square miles. The personal 
 residence on the land of the applicant, or a free 
 overseer, was made an indispensable condition. 
 The Crown also reserved the right of making 
 roads and bridges, and of cutting timber and 
 stone for public purposes. Other free grants 
 were also made in consideration of marriage and 
 of military service, under certain restrictions. 
 
 The above is an outline of what was called, " the 
 free grant" system, which had existed, with various 
 modifications, from the foundation of the colony. 
 An attempt was made, however, though unsuc- 
 cessfully, to introduce the principle of sale, in the 
 following manner. 
 
 Persons who wished to purchase land were 
 directed, by the same government notice of the 5th 
 of September, 1826, to apply for leave, which having 
 been obtained, the land selected was valued by the 
 Land Board, and then put up for sale for one 
 month, by proclamation, to be sold according to the 
 royal instructions, at a value not less than that 
 fixed by the Board. For the land, so advertised, 
 sealed tenders were to be sent to the Colonial 
 Secretary, and at the expiration of a month from 
 the date of the proclamation, the tenders were to 
 be opened in the presence of persons appointed by 
 the Governor, and the land sold to the person mak- 
 ing the highest tender, if approved by the Governor.
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 95 
 
 These lands also were to be held in free and com- 
 mon socage, at a yearly quit-rent of one pepper- 
 corn. No person, however, was permitted to pur- 
 chase more than nine thousand six hundred acres, 
 or fifteen square miles, without a special order from 
 the Secretary of State, and the personal residence 
 of the purchaser, or of a free agent, was an indis- 
 pensable condition. 
 
 The purchases made under this regulation, were, 
 however, very limited, and the system was by no 
 means satisfactory to the public; accordingly, by 
 a government order of the 21st of August, 1828, 
 it was announced, that, by instructions from the 
 Secretary of State, the Crown lands would in future 
 be disposed of by public auction, no person 
 being admitted a bidder without the Governor's 
 permission. Not a single sale took place under 
 this arrangement ; and, at length, by a subsequent 
 order- of the 17th of August, 1829, the former 
 order was declared to be suspended, and the Crown 
 lands were reserved from sale. 
 
 No further attempt was made by government to 
 effect sales of Crown lands until the arrival of 
 Major- General Bourke. Four months previously, 
 however, (on the 1st of August, 1831) a govern- 
 ment order was issued, announcing that, from that 
 time, all Crown lands, not appropriated to public 
 purposes, should, either directly by the govern- 
 ment, or on special application, " be put up in lots 
 of one square mile each, and in some particular
 
 96 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 cases, in smaller lots, for sale by public auction, at 
 a minimum upset price of five shillings an acre, to 
 be conveyed in fee-simple at a quit-rent of one 
 peppercorn, subject to the road reserves, and to a 
 reserve of all mines of coal and precious metals ;" 
 and all free persons were thenceforth permitted to 
 purchase land to any extent whatever. These regu- 
 lations were to apply to all lands within the limits 
 open for selection, excepting town allotments, of 
 which the minimum price varied from forty shil- 
 lings to forty pounds an acre. With respect to 
 some town allotments, in order to secure their 
 speedy occupation by tradesmen, mechanics, and 
 labourers, instead of being idly possessed by a few 
 wealthy individuals, the purchase of such land was 
 made conditional, on the erection within two years 
 of a permanent building worth twenty pounds. 
 
 The mode of sale now adopted was found to 
 give much greater satisfaction than the plans 
 previously set forth, and large sales took place in 
 consequence. The price fixed as the minimum, 
 enabled the wool-growers to purchase large tracts 
 of land, which were perfectly useless except for 
 pastoral purposes, and which, in many cases, were 
 valuable only as connecting one rich block of land 
 with another. The withdrawal of all restrictions 
 also operated favourably on the market, and for 
 some years afterwards the sales proceeded rapidly 
 and extensively. The colony rose in wealth and 
 importance, and numbers of immigrants began to
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 9/ 
 
 arrive, the cost of whose transport was defrayed 
 out of the Land Fund, which was thus called into 
 existence.* 
 
 A subject of great importance now presents 
 itself, to which it will he necessary to devote some 
 space ; viz. : the growth of the squatting interest. 
 It must be borne in mind, that the lands open 
 to the selection of purchasers were confined to 
 those counties which had been surveyed by govern- 
 ment, and which included a very small portion 
 of the vast territory of New South Wales. To 
 the westward and southward of these located dis- 
 tricts, immense tracts lay altogether unoccupied 
 untrodden, save by the kangaroo, and the hardly 
 more humanized Aboriginal. As the flocks and 
 
 * The following is a statement of the immigration which 
 took place in the year 1832. Of immigrants who received 
 no assistance from government, six hundred and seventy- 
 nine men, two hundred and fifty-one women, two hundred 
 and eighty-four children ; total, twelve hundred and four- 
 teen. Assistance was given by government in two ways ; 
 in the shape of an advance to tradesmen, with their wives 
 and children, of whom four hundred and sixty-nine were 
 thus enabled to emigrate in 1832, the amount advanced 
 being 2759. But besides these advances, bounties to the 
 amount of 2497. 6s. 9d. were paid for three hundred and 
 twenty-one single women and two children, making a total 
 for that year : of immigrants, two thousand and six ; of sums 
 paid, 5256. 6s. 9d. About the same number continued to 
 arrive every year until 1837, when bounty immigration 
 commenced on a more extensive plan. The number for 
 1836 was sixteen hundred and twenty-one. 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 98 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 herds of the settlers increased, the land which they 
 had purchased within the boundaries was found 
 inadequate to their support ; and accordingly they 
 were compelled to wander forth in search of more 
 abundant pastures. These they readily found of 
 boundless extent, and, in many parts, of great 
 luxuriance; and the natural result has been that 
 the flocks and herds of New South Wales wander 
 over nearly half a million of square miles, and 
 have increased to a degree which those who are 
 unacquainted with its prodigious and peculiar 
 resources find it difficult to believe possible. This 
 occupation of the Crown lands without the boun- 
 daries, though not formally authorized by the 
 authorities, was, nevertheless, connived at, because, 
 in the first place, it would have been impossible to 
 prevent it ; and, in the second, it would have been 
 impolitic to have attempted it, as the natural and 
 only outlet for the fecundity of the sheep and cattle 
 would have been closed, and the prosperity of the 
 country effectually impeded. But, besides the flocks 
 and herds belonging to the proprietors of land 
 within the limits of location (i. e. the surveyed 
 counties), vast numbers of cattle and sheep were 
 depastured on these waste knds, which were the 
 property, in some cases very dubiously acquired, 
 of men who had no purchased land whatever, but 
 who in the strict sense of the term were squatters. 
 These men were too frequently of bad repute, many 
 of them selling spirits privately, and harbouring
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 99 
 
 and encouraging bushrangers, and other desperate 
 characters. Had the occupation beyond the limits 
 been confined to the respectable proprietors within, 
 government would have had less occasion to inter- 
 fere ; but the character of many of the squatters, 
 and the necessity of obtaining some recognition of 
 the title of the Crown, so as to render the future 
 resumption of those lands easy, compelled Governor 
 Bourke to give his attention to this subject. 
 
 It had for many years been customary to give 
 to certain individuals, supposed to be of good 
 character, "Tickets of Occupation," by virtue of 
 which the holders were authorized temporarily to 
 occupy unalienated lands of the Crown for grazing 
 purposes. By a government notice of August 29th, 
 1826, all the tickets of occupation then in force 
 were recalled, and it was announced : " that persons 
 desirous of obtaining the temporary occupation of 
 land for the purpose of grazing, would be required 
 in future to pay a rent, at the rate of 20s. sterling, 
 per annum, for every hundred acres ; and further, 
 to quit the same on receiving six months notice to 
 that effect." A further notice was issued two years 
 afterwards, by which settlers who held either by 
 grant or purchase, were authorized " to occupy the 
 unlocated Crown lands immediately adjoining their 
 respective possessions, at a rent after the rate of 
 2s. 6d. per annum for every hundred acres ;" 
 it being, however, clearly to be understood, that 
 government reserved to itself the right of disposing 
 
 F 2
 
 100 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 of all lands occupied under this tenure, and to give 
 possession of them to any other party, on giving 
 one month's notice to the occupant. It is unneces- 
 sary to say, that abundance of occupiers were found 
 on terms so easy as those proposed; but the 
 resumption of the lands at a future period was not 
 so easy. It was therefore found necessary, within 
 twelve months from the date of the last-mentioned 
 government notice, to provide by an Act of Council 
 (10 Geo. IV. No. 6), "for the more effectual 
 resumption of lands permitted to be occupied under 
 the Crown, &c." The regulations of the 29th of 
 August, 1826, and of the 16th of October, 1828, 
 were revoked by a government notice of the 1 st of 
 August, 1831; and an extensive system of annual 
 leases was introduced, under which the Crown 
 lands were let by auction in sections of one square 
 mile each, being put up at a minimum price of 
 20s. per section; the lands, however, being still 
 open to purchase, and in the event of their being 
 sold, to be surrendered by the lessee upon one 
 month's notice. Subsequently, in the year 1841, 
 licenses were granted in lieu of leases, but in a 
 similar manner and on similar terms, and this 
 system still exists within the boundaries ; but it is 
 to be feared that occasional instances of unau- 
 thorized occupation continue to occur, though the 
 temptation is materially diminished. But if govern- 
 ment found it difficult to prevent unauthorized 
 occupation within, the case was a hundred-fold
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 101 
 
 worse beyond the boundaries, where no civil or 
 military force existed, but where " every man did 
 that which was right in his own eyes." 
 
 If, therefore, the government were to exercise 
 any control over the extensive tracts referred to, 
 the first obvious step was to establish some species 
 of jurisdiction in and over them. With this view, 
 the Act of Council (4 Gul. IV. No. 10) was passed, 
 providing for the appointment of " Commissioners 
 of Crown lands in the Colony of New South 
 Wales," with power " to do and perform by, and 
 under the direction of the Governor for, and on 
 behalf of his Majesty, &c., in, upon, or in respect of 
 any Crown lands in this colony, all such lawful 
 acts, &c., for preventing intrusion, encroachment, 
 and trespass thereon, or for such other purpose, as 
 any bailiff or bailiffs, lawfully appointed, may by 
 law do or perform, in, upon, or in respect of any 
 lands, &c., of his, or their employer, or employers." 
 
 The commissioners were also empowered to 
 make perambulations and surveys in any part of 
 the colony, and to erect and maintain beacons 
 and landmarks, of which the only object appears 
 to have been to assert the title of the Crown, and 
 to afford facilities for future and more regular 
 surveys, when the land should in process of time 
 be opened for sale. 
 
 That the " intrusion, encroachment and tres- 
 pass," however, were not materially restrained by 
 the commissioners thus appointed, is abundantly
 
 102 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 evident from the despatch which Governor Bourke 
 found it necessary to address, three years afterwards, 
 to Lord Glenelg, then Secretary of State for the 
 Colonies. This despatch is dated on the 10th 
 October, 1835, and presents such a candid view of 
 the question between the government and the 
 squatters, that no apology is requisite for intro- 
 ducing a long extract. 
 
 It may be necessary to premise, that an official 
 intimation had been received from the imperial 
 government to the effect, that it was not desirable 
 to allow the population to become more scattered 
 than it then was, at the very time that an exten- 
 sive and unauthorized occupation of a large portion 
 of the district, now known as the Port Phillip 
 district, by Mr. Batman and other individuals, had 
 manifested to the colonial executive the futility of 
 any measures for restraining such encroachments. 
 In the previous year, Governor Bourke had made 
 a personal excursion to Twofold Bay and the 
 neighbouring country, and in the despatch just 
 referred to, he thus writes : 
 
 " On the excursion alluded to, I found the 
 greater part of the vast tract of fertile land lying 
 between the county of St. Vincent and Twofold 
 Bay, depastured by flocks and herds, attended by 
 shepherds and stockmen ; the pastures already 
 contributing largely to the wealth of the colony, 
 and exceeding in importance many of the districts 
 where land is disposable by sale, or on lease. An
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 103 
 
 export of live stock from Twofold Bay to Van 
 Diemen's Land had commenced, and is likely to 
 increase, and a considerable supply of grain and 
 other agricultural produce would, in all probability, 
 be furnished from that district for the Sydney 
 market, in the event of the land there being 
 thrown open to purchase. 
 
 " Admitting, as every reasonable person must, 
 that a certain degree of concentration is necessary 
 for the advancement of wealth and civilization, and 
 that it enables government to become at once 
 efficient and economical, I cannot avoid perceiving 
 the peculiarities which, in this colony, render it 
 impolitic and even impossible to restrain disper- 
 sion within limits that would be expedient else- 
 where. The wool of New South Wales forms at 
 present, and is likely long to continue, its chief 
 wealth. It is only by a free range over the wide 
 expanse of native herbage which the colony affords, 
 that the production of this staple article can be 
 upheld, at its present rate of increase in quantity, 
 a standard of value in quality. The proprietors of 
 thousands of acres already find it necessary, equally 
 with the poorer settlers, to send large flocks beyond 
 the boundary of location to preserve them in 
 health throughout the year. The colonists must 
 otherwise restrain the increase, or endeavour to 
 raise artificial food for their stock. Whilst nature 
 presents all around an unlimited supply of the 
 most wholesome nutriment, either course would
 
 104 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 seem a perverse rejection of the bounty of Provi- 
 dence, and the latter would certainly require more 
 labour than can at present be obtained in the 
 colony, or immigration profitably supply. Inde- 
 pendently of these powerful reasons for allowing 
 dispersion, it is not to be disguised that the 
 government is unable to prevent it. No adequate 
 measures could be resorted to for the general, and 
 permanent removal of intruders from waste lands, 
 without incurring probably a greater expense than 
 would be sufficient to extend a large share of the 
 control and protection of government over the 
 country they desire to occupy. One principal 
 objection to dispersion thus becomes as powerful 
 against its restraint. 
 
 " I do not, however, mean to admit the claim 
 of every wanderer in search of pasture to the 
 protection of a civil or military force. The 
 question I would beg leave to submit is simply 
 this : How may this government turn to the best 
 advantage a state of things which it cannot wholly 
 interdict ?" 
 
 It may be interesting to show, that the same 
 view of the general question of squatting was taken 
 at a later period by Sir George Gipps, who, in a 
 memorandum, enclosed to Lord John Russell on 
 the 19th December, 1840, thus writes: 
 
 " If the theory, by which it is sought to make 
 persons cultivate lands in Australia in the natural 
 order of their advantages, be altogether incapable
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 105 
 
 of good, that which would seek to prevent the 
 dispersion of the people, is only incapable of 
 mischief, because it is utterly impossible to reduce 
 it to practice. As well might it be attempted to 
 confine the Arabs of the Desert within a circle 
 traced upon their sands, as to confine the graziers 
 or wool-growers of New South Wales within any 
 bounds that can possibly be assigned to them ; and 
 as certainly as the Arabs would be starved, so also 
 would the flocks and herds of New South Wales, 
 if they were so confined, and the prosperity of the 
 country be at an end. The time will come, if the 
 colony continue to prosper, when it may be more 
 desirable, that is to say, profitable, for a proprietor 
 to improve the land he holds, so as to make its 
 produce suffice for his increasing flocks, than 
 to seek, as is the present practice, for new lands 
 in distant regions ; but it may perhaps be wiser to 
 let this time arrive naturally, as it will, than to 
 attempt to accelerate it by any contrivances. The 
 largest landholders of New South Wales have not 
 land enough of their own for their flocks ; there is 
 scarcely a man of any property, who has not a 
 cattle run, or a sheep-station beyond the boundaries, 
 that is to say, upon the unalienated lands of the 
 Crown." 
 
 In a subsequent despatch of 18th December, 
 1835, Governor Bourke observes : 
 
 " The subject (the unauthorized occupation of 
 Crown lands) is under my serious consideration, 
 
 F 3
 
 106 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 and I trust I shall be able to adopt some measure 
 that may moderate the evil complained of, without 
 putting a weapon into the hands of selfishness or 
 oppression. I had been in frequent consultation 
 with Mr. Burton* on the subject. . . . and I hope 
 to make a project, submitted by him, the ground- 
 work of a Regulation or Act of Council, adapted to 
 the necessity of the case. . . . The most desirable 
 plan appears to be, to let or license the land at a 
 small rent." 
 
 The plan merely hinted at in this despatch was 
 more fully developed in the Act of Council (7 Gul. 
 IV. No. 4) which was passed on the 29th of July 
 of the succeeding year, 1836. Under this Act, 
 licences were issued for the occupation of waste 
 Crown lands, without the boundaries, to such appli- 
 cants only as were approved by the commissioners 
 of Crown lands for the district in which the lands 
 were which the applicant sought to occupy ; and 
 heavy penalties were attached to the occupa- 
 tion of lands without such licenses. Within the 
 boundaries, occupation was defined to mean, resi- 
 dence, or the erection of some kind of building, or 
 the cultivating any part of the land ; and this kind 
 of occupation of waste lands was altogether for- 
 bidden on similar penalties to those fixed for un- 
 licensed occupation beyond the boundaries. By 
 
 * His Honour, Mr. Justice Burton, then one of the 
 puisne judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, 
 recently promoted to the bench at Madras.
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 107 
 
 an oversight, leaseholders were not excepted from 
 this prohibition, but this was amended in the year 
 1838. 
 
 These regulations continued in force until the 
 1st of July, 1839, the second year of Sir George 
 Gipps' administration. The trial, which the colo- 
 nists had made of the licensing system, had proved 
 satisfactory, and no stock-holder of any pretension 
 to respectability attempted to occupy the waste 
 lands of the Crown without procuring a license. 
 Several serious outrages, however, committed by 
 the Aborigines upon the stations of the settlers 
 beyond the boundaries having led to retaliation, and 
 a system of warfare having sprung up, likely to 
 lead to the most disastrous results, involving pro- 
 bably the entire and sanguinary extinction of all 
 the native tribes, government found it necessary 
 to establish a police force beyond the boundaries, 
 and to discourage, in the most explicit manner, 
 the retaliatory outrages alluded to. Accordingly, 
 in an extraordinary session of the Legislative Coun- 
 cil, the Act (2 Viet. No. 27) was passed, by which 
 the commissioners of Crown lands acting beyond 
 the boundaries were all made magistrates of the 
 territory, and invested with extensive powers of 
 summary jurisdiction, and provision was made for 
 the establishment of a border police, by an assess- 
 ment on stock, of one halfpenny a head for sheep, 
 three-halfpence for cattle, and threepence for horses. 
 The Act also provided, that any licensed party,
 
 108 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 " convicted on the oath of any one or more credi- 
 ble witness or witnesses, of any felony, or of ille- 
 gally selling fermented or spirituous liquors, or of 
 wilfully harbouring any convict or felon illegally at 
 large, or of any malicious injury or offence com- 
 mitted upon or against any Aboriginal native,* or 
 other person, &c. &c.," should thereupon be de- 
 
 * In reference to this subject, the following notice was 
 published: " Colonial Secretary's office, Sydney, 21st of 
 May, 1839. His Excellency the Governor desires to draw 
 the attention of owners of stock throughout the colony, and 
 of the public in general, to the extensive powers which, 
 by an Act passed in a recent extraordinary session of the 
 Legislative Council (2 Vic. No. 27) are now vested in the 
 Commissioners of Lands acting beyond the boundaries of 
 location, as well as to the fact that these commissioners are 
 now magistrates of the territory ; and, as one of the prin- 
 cipal objects which the council had in view, in passing the 
 Act referred to., was to put a stop to the atrocities which 
 have of late been so extensively committed beyond the 
 boundaries, both by the Aborigines and on them, his Excel- 
 lency deems the present a proper occasion to notify to the 
 public, that he has received distinct instructions from her 
 Majesty's government to cause an inquest or inquiry to be 
 instituted, in every case, wherein any of the Aboriginal 
 inhabitants may have come to a violent death, in conse- 
 quence of a collision with the white men ; and that his 
 Excellency is determined to make no distinction in such 
 cases, whether the aggressors, or parties injured be of 
 one or the other race, or colour, but to bring all, as far as 
 may be in his power, to equal and indiscriminate justice. 
 As human beings partaking of our common nature as the 
 Aboriginal possessors of the soil from which the wealth of 
 the country has been principally derived and as subjects
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 109 
 
 clared to have forfeited his license; and if such 
 party continued to occupy the lands, his cattle 
 
 of the Queen, whose authority extends over every part of 
 New Holland, the natives of this country have an equal 
 right with the people of European origin to the protection 
 and assistance of the law of England. To allow either to 
 injure or oppress the other, or to permit the stronger to 
 regard the weaker party as aliens with whom a war can 
 exist, and against whom they may exercise belligerent 
 rights, is not less inconsistent with the spirit of that law, 
 than it is at variance with the dictates of justice and hu- 
 manity. The duties of the Commissioners of Crown lands, 
 in respect to the Aborigines, will be, to cultivate, at all 
 times, an amicable intercourse with them, to assist them in 
 obtaining redress for any wrong to which they may be ex- 
 posed, and particularly to prevent any interference on the 
 part of white men with their women. On the other hand, 
 they will make known to them the penalties to which they 
 become liable by any act of aggression on the persons or 
 properties of the colonists. They will endeavour to in- 
 duce the chiefs in their respective districts to make them- 
 selves responsible for the good conduct of their tribes, and 
 they will use every means in their power to acquire such 
 personal influence over them, as may either prevent aggres- 
 sion, or ensure the immediate surrender of the parties who 
 may be guilty of it. His Excellency thinks it right fur- 
 ther to inform the public, that each succeeding despatch 
 from the Secretary of State, marks, in an increasing de- 
 gree, the importance which her Majesty's government, 
 and no less the Parliament, and the people of Great Bri- 
 tain, attach to the just and humane treatment of the Abori- 
 gines of this country; and to declare most earnestly and 
 solemnly his deep conviction, that there is no subject or 
 matter whatsoever, in which the interest, as well as the 
 honour of the colonists are more essentially concerned"
 
 110 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 might be driven off by the commissioner and im- 
 pounded. Any improvements effected upon Crown 
 land depastured under the authority of a license 
 were declared to be at the risk of the party hold- 
 ing the same ; such land whenever it might be 
 deemed expedient to extend the boundaries of loca- 
 tion, being liable to be put up to competition at 
 public auction in the same manner as other un- 
 alienated Crown lands. 
 
 By an Act passed June 23, 1841, the former 
 Act was continued for five years, certain amend- 
 ments being made in the details to increase its 
 practical efficiency. A proclamation, however, 
 issued by order of his Excellency, on the 2nd of 
 April, '1844, has had the effect of renewing the 
 discussion of the whole question of squatting, as 
 well as of the sales of land. To this latter subject 
 it will now be necessary to return; and that the 
 subject may be placed before the reader in an in- 
 telligible light, it will be proper to recur to the 
 state of the colony during the earlier years of Sir 
 Richard Bourke's administration. 
 
 It is admitted by almost every one, that during 
 those years the colony was in a healthy state. Her 
 commerce was rapidly increasing ; the various 
 enterprises pursued by the colonists proved ad- 
 vantageous ; and could that state of things have 
 continued, if capital, which was rapidly flowing 
 into the country, had been left to its natural 
 channels, without being forced into circulation, if
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. Ill 
 
 circumstances had not arisen, which gave a tempo- 
 rary and artificial value to colonial produce, the 
 prosperity of the country might at this time have 
 been established on so permanent a basis, that a 
 monetary crisis, such as that which has lately 
 occurred, must have been a matter rather of econo- 
 mical speculation, than of statistical reality. 
 
 The recent crisis, has, however, been so alarming 
 in its character and extent, and so disastrous in its 
 effects, that it cannot but be instructive to review 
 those circumstances, which in any way have con- 
 tributed to produce it. There appears scarcely any 
 reasonable doubt, that the distress into which our 
 affairs have been thrown, is in a great degree attri- 
 butable to the cessation of the influx both^of capi- 
 tal and population, and the consequent failure of the 
 internal demand for consumable produce. But 
 this cessation is distinctly traceable to the raising of 
 the minimum price of land, and the consequent 
 annihilation of the land revenue ; and if it can be 
 shown that this enhancement of price was a mea- 
 sure based upon deceptive facts and unsound prin- 
 ciples, a most important conclusion will have been 
 established. 
 
 If it can be shown, that the value of property 
 preceding the first change of price had been falsely 
 raised, nothing further will be requisite to show 
 that the Imperial Government, in attempting to 
 perpetuate this unnatural state of things by express 
 regulations, acted under a false impression res-
 
 112 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 pecting the sources from which permanent colonial 
 prosperity must be derived. 
 
 The establishment of the Colony of South Aus- 
 tralia was the first of those circumstances which 
 may be mentioned, as having given a fictitious 
 value to property in New South Wales. A full 
 account of the settlement of this colony is not 
 necessary in this place. It will be sufficient to 
 remark here, that within a short period after the 
 opening of the lands in that province to public 
 competition, several thousand persons arrived on 
 its shores, with a large amount of capital, either in 
 money, bills, or merchandize. This capital they 
 were unable immediately to employ in production, 
 as the ' purchasers of land could not obtain pos- 
 session until after tedious and lengthened delays ; 
 the only occupation of the labouring emigrant who 
 had arrived there, being the erection of buildings 
 on the ground appropriated for the site of Adelaide. 
 During all this time, the colonists were obliged 
 to import from the older colonies, a great variety of 
 commodities, especially grain, cattle, sheep, horses, 
 &c. The opening of this market proved a great 
 stimulus to the enterprise of New South Wales, 
 and to such an extent did our colonists avail them- 
 selves of it, that in our own market, wheat actually 
 obtained thirty shillings a bushel, and sheep thirty 
 shillings a head. While these prices could be pro- 
 cured, it is not surprising that speculators should 
 have been found eager to purchase land, even mere
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 113 
 
 waste grazing land, at from three to four pounds 
 an acre ; and that arable land, if near a sea-port, 
 should have readily obtained from eight to ten 
 pounds. The price of everything, in fact, was as 
 if South Australia, had been designed for ever to 
 remain a consuming, instead of becoming a pro- 
 ducing country, an importer, instead of an ex- 
 porter, a dependent, instead of a rival. 
 
 There were, doubtless, other causes which com- 
 bined with that just mentioned to excite speculation 
 to an unnatural degree. An apparently boundless 
 extent of land, at an apparently low minimum 
 price, invited numerous British capitalists to our 
 shores ; who, without regarding the probable con- 
 tingencies, vied with each other in adventure, so 
 that the land office on a sale day, resembled some 
 of the London Bubble offices of the last century, 
 where patrician and plebeian trod on each other's 
 heels in the general scramble for Fortunatus' 
 Purse. The newly commenced system of immigra- 
 tion, also, appeared to render it probable that labour 
 might be obtained to render the land available, 
 and it was accordingly bought up greedily by the 
 crowd of speculators, who were in general too eager 
 to obtain a ticket in the lottery, to think of the 
 possible blanks in the wheel. 
 
 Speculation being in this inflammatory state, 
 another circumstance added fuel to the fire. Two 
 banking companies, each with a capital of 750,000 
 were established in the colony ; and large sums were
 
 114 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 invested in mortgages, both by Indian and European 
 capitalists. And as if that were not enough, the 
 Treasury balances, which at this period amounted 
 to a considerable sum,* were placed at interest in 
 the banks, by whom, in order to make them pro- 
 fitable, they were disposed of in discounts and loans, 
 thus creating an unnatural abundance of that which 
 was already superabundant, money. In the year 
 1837, however, Bounty Immigration was com- 
 menced on a larger scale ; to defray the cost of 
 which, the accumulated balances began to be with- 
 drawn from the banks ; and the banks in conse- 
 quence were compelled to call in their loans. This 
 contraction of the currency produced the first 
 symptoms of that general and ruinous sacrifice of 
 property which we have witnessed during the last 
 three years.f 
 
 : The balance of general revenue remaining in the 
 Treasury unappropriated on the 31st December, 1835, was 
 18,845. 2s. 7$d. At the close of the year 1836, 
 the disposable balance amounted to no less than 
 66,826. 8s. 5^d. The general revenue had, however, 
 been aided by the unappropriated sum arising from Crown 
 lands, and which amounted at the close of 1835, 
 to 120,858. 15s. and at the close of 1836, to 
 126,034. 7s. 8d. In the year 1837, no part of the land 
 revenue was transferred in aid of the general revenue, the 
 amount of 44,731. Is. 8^d. having been paid for the 
 immigration of 2664 labourers ; and the financial accounts 
 of this year exhibited a great deficiency, the expenditure 
 exceeding the receipts by 48,195. 12s. 3%d, 
 t In the preparation of these remarks, the assistance derived
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 115 
 
 It would almost seem as if the imperial govern- 
 ment had participated in the visions of wealth which 
 had attracted so many speculators to this land of 
 the south ; for not satisfied with the price which 
 had been obtained for land by active competition, 
 Lord Glenelg in a despatch to Sir Richard Bourke, 
 of date 15th February, 1837, called for a report on 
 the expediency of raising the minimum price of 
 land beyond five shillings an acre. The despatch 
 enclosed copies of correspondence which had taken 
 place between the Under Secretary of State for the 
 Colonies, and the Colonization Commissioners for 
 South Australia. The latter complained that a 
 design existed to induce the labourers, sent out to 
 South Australia at the cost of the purchasers of 
 land in that colony, to migrate to the new settle- 
 ment formed in the southern district of New South 
 Wales. The sum of the complaint appears to be 
 contained in the following extract : 
 
 "If the lands on the south coast of New 
 Holland, adjoining the new colony, be sold at five 
 shillings per acre, or less, land of a similar quality 
 in the new colony cannot be sold at twelve 
 shillings per acre ; and if the emigration fund 
 created by the sale of land, throws into the new 
 colony a more abundant supply of labour than 
 
 from a valuable paper by Edward Curr, Esq. of St. Hillier's 
 near Melbourne, lately published in an Appendix to the 
 Report from the Select Committee of the Legislative 
 Council on Land grievances, 1844, is gladly acknowledged.
 
 116 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 that which is given to Portland Bay, Western Port, 
 and Port Phillip, the emigrant labourers sent out 
 to the new colony, will be drawn off until 
 throughout the settled districts of the southern 
 coast, the supply and the price of labour shall be 
 equalized." 
 
 To the alarms, rather querulously expressed, of 
 the Colonization Commissioners, Sir George Grey 
 was instructed to reply, that the fact of the upset 
 price in the southern district of New South Wales 
 being only five shillings, was not a matter of choice 
 with the government, but of necessity. The reply 
 proceeds : 
 
 " In the remoter part of the vast regions com- 
 prised within the range of the Australian colonies, 
 the power of the law is unavoidably feeble, when 
 opposed by the predominant inclinations of any 
 large body of the people. In such a country, un- 
 popular regulations, unless supported by a force, 
 either of police or soldiery irresistible and over- 
 whelming, must become little more than a dead 
 letter." 
 
 Sir George then refers to the occupation of a 
 part of Port Phillip by Mr. Batman, in 1835, 
 which has already been mentioned, as a case in 
 illustration of the " triumph of popular feeling over 
 positive law ;" and proceeds to state the measures 
 adopted by government " for arresting the progress 
 of those unauthorized settlements." 
 
 " It would have been easy," he observes, " to
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 117 
 
 publish, at Port Phillip, a regulation fixing the same 
 upset price of 12s., which had been fixed in South 
 Australia ; but to have made such a rule, would 
 have been to insure the disappointing of every 
 attempt to repress the growing evil. Port Phillip 
 is part of the colony of New South Wales, and 
 therefore fell naturally within the operation of the 
 existing rule of that colony, which had fixed the 
 price at 5s. ; but even that price, had afforded an 
 irresistible temptation to the unauthorized occu- 
 pation of the soil. If Sir Richard Bourke had 
 been instructed to consider that rule as applying, 
 peremptorily and inflexibly, to the case of Port 
 Phillip, he would have been destitute of any 
 resource, in the highly probable contingency of the 
 general refusal of the new community, to acquiesce 
 in those terms. The Governor was, therefore, 
 authorized to relax it, if he should find such 
 relaxation indispensable, in order to arrest the evil 
 of the unlicensed occupation of the newly explored 
 territory, while he was to adhere to the spirit of the 
 new regulation, which forbad the acquisition of any 
 land in the colony, the title to which rested on no 
 legal basis ; it by no means follows that the upset 
 price to be fixed in the first instance, is not here- 
 after to be increased; on the contrary, there is 
 every reason to believe, that as the settlement 
 advances, land will acquire a much higher value, 
 and that the upset price will be consequently fixed 
 at a proportionably higher rate:"
 
 118 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 " It cannot be imagined," adds Sir George, 
 " that any one has embarked his capital in the 
 South Australian colony, in such ignorance of the 
 state of affairs in that part of the world, as not to 
 have prepared himself for the competition of 
 unauthorized occupants of the soil on the surface 
 of that vast continent " " The responsi- 
 bility, therefore, rests on the colonists themselves." 
 
 To the despatch of Lord Glenelg, Sir Richard 
 Bourke replied in a despatch, dated 6th of 
 September, 1837, expressing a very strong opinion 
 against the policy of raising the minimum price. 
 Any augmentation, his Excellency considered, 
 would, practically be of little importance, " compe- 
 tition being always active enough to secure a full 
 price, exceeding, in general, that which any public 
 officer entrusted with their valuation, would be 
 likely to place upon them." " It is probable," he 
 adds, " that the sale by auction, prescribed by the 
 existing regulations, applies to each case the surest 
 criterion of value of which it admits." After 
 referring to the existence of the class of persons 
 familiarly known as land sharks, as a proof of the 
 vigorous spirit of competition prevalent at the 
 government sales, his Excellency proceeds :- 
 
 " If it be objected that such an effective compe- 
 tition as I have described, arising from increased 
 population and wealth, in itself indicates the 
 necessity of raising the minimum price of 1837 
 over that of 1831, 1 would observe, that the Crown
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 119 
 
 lands now in the market form only a surplus in 
 many cases they may be justly called a refuse 
 consisting of lands which in past years were not 
 saleable at any price, and were not sought after 
 even as free grants. As improvement and popu- 
 lation penetrate through the colony, such lands 
 begin to acquire a value, and there is a stage in 
 this process in which they are saleable at the 
 present minimum price of 5s. By declining in 
 future to dispose of them at this rate, it by no 
 means follows that they will be sold at a higher. 
 The result mav be to retain them for an indefinite 
 
 
 
 time unsold ; such a result as your Lordship 
 appears fully aware, is the more likely, or rather 
 certain, in consequence of the alternative at the 
 settler's command, of wandering without authority 
 or restraint with his flocks and herds over the 
 vast tracts of the interior. A facility in acquiring 
 the actual property in land at a low price, is the 
 safest check to this practice ; and it may here be 
 observed, that the unauthorized occupiers of remote 
 Crown lands, do not wholly consist of small flock- 
 owners of slender means ; but of the agents and 
 shepherds of the wealthiest colonists residing 
 within the limits of location, who are continually 
 balancing between the opposite motives presented 
 by the cheapness of unauthorized occupation on 
 the one hand, and the desire of adding to their 
 permanent property in land on the other. The 
 extent of their purchases at the government sales
 
 120 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 corresponds with the prevalence of the latter 
 motive ; and it is easy to see that its influence 
 must be weakened in proportion to the augmen- 
 tation of the upset price. 
 
 But though I am convinced that in almost every 
 case, the present value of land is obtained by means 
 of the competition excited by public sales, yet it is 
 possible that an augmentation of the minimum 
 price would have the injurious effect of checking 
 the immigration of persons possessed of small 
 capital, desirous of establishing themselves upon 
 land of their own. There are very few new 
 comers who possess sufficient means to purchase 
 at a price much above 5s., the large tract of land 
 which in this country is absolutely necessary, even 
 for the commencement of an ordinary grazing 
 establishment. Again, the inducement offered to 
 retired officers to settle in the colony, by obtaining 
 land at the minimum price, would be much 
 diminished if that price were raised. These officers, 
 both as regards number and character, are no 
 small acquisition to the rural population of the 
 colony. 
 
 Apprehending, therefore, that to raise the upset 
 price of Crown lands would introduce much of the 
 mischief I have represented; believing also, that 
 the influence of competition is becoming daily a 
 more certain safeguard against the sale of any 
 land below its just value ; considering further the 
 general impolicy of meddling, without imperative
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 121 
 
 necessity, with any established system affecting so 
 nearly the foundations of property, especially with 
 one which has been found hitherto to operate so 
 advantageously, I am unable to recommend any 
 change in the minimum price at which Crown 
 lands are, under the present regulations, offered to 
 sale by public auction in New South Wales." 
 
 Sir Richard Bourke was spared the mortifica- 
 tion of having to carry into effect any regulations 
 opposed to the public-spirited, and enlightened 
 views of the despatch just quoted. Early in the 
 year 1838, he returned to England, having 
 administered the affairs of the colony during a 
 period of six years, with great vigour and efficiency. 
 The public regret for his departure was deep and 
 unaffected; nor was it much alleviated by the 
 flattering reports which heralded the arrival of his 
 successor. Whatever gratification may be derived 
 from the anticipation of a new friendship, we are 
 seldom disposed to indulge in it while our hearts 
 mourn for the termination of an old one. In a 
 colony, a change of Governors is a serious event ; 
 the circumstances of the mother country afford no 
 parallel case. There, a change in the executive 
 government seldom takes place except in obedience 
 to the voice of Parliament, without whose confi- 
 dence and support no government could exist for 
 a single Session. But in a colony, even where a 
 Representative Legislature exists, the tenure of 
 office does not depend on the support of the 
 
 VOL. i. G
 
 122 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 Legislature; the Governor may not be able to 
 carry a single measure, and yet retain the control 
 of the executive, nor would the operations of 
 government be materially impeded, unless the 
 supplies were stopped ; the evil of which extreme 
 measure would mainly fall, not on the officers of 
 government, but on the colony. Such must ever 
 be the case, so long as the mother country reserves 
 all official appointments to herself, as a means of 
 extending the patronage and influence of the Prime 
 Minister. We colonists, in fact, are in the condi- 
 tion of the frogs of ^Esop, being compelled to take 
 such a King as Jupiter may choose to send us ; we 
 must beware of grumbling, if he send a log, lest 
 haply he should send a stork. In the colony of 
 New South Wales, in particular, the influence of 
 a Governor is prodigious ; and it is, therefore, a 
 matter deeply interesting to us to know whether 
 the opinions of the head of our executive, or rather 
 of those who have placed him in that position, are 
 favourable to the public views entertained by the 
 majority of the colonists. 
 
 Such had, happily, been the case during the ad- 
 ministration of Sir Richard Bourke ; but his retire- 
 ment, while so important a question as the 
 minimum price of land remained unsettled, in- 
 spired the colonists with great alarm, lest our 
 British rulers contemplated changes which would 
 vitally affect their interests, and which the sound 
 practical knowledge of the late Governor would not
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 123 
 
 permit him to sanction. He left us, long and 
 painfully regretted ; and while the humble monu- 
 ment which our poverty has permitted us to 
 erect, is almost all that remains to keep alive 
 within us the memory of his talents and of his 
 virtues, it is to be feared that his own feelings 
 must be, at best, of a mixed character. To a 
 mind like his, animated by the purest benevo- 
 lence, and distinguished by consummate sagacity, 
 it cannot but be a source of regret, that his 
 remonstrances failed to avert the calamities he 
 foresaw, and that the land he loved so well, 
 and for which he had laboured so anxiously, was 
 sacrificed to a visionary and untried theory ; while 
 the only consolation remaining to him is, that 
 while he was with us, he discharged his duty, 
 and that in his absence he is spared the sight 
 of the evil which has come upon us. 
 
 His Excellency Sir George Gipps, after having 
 occupied himself during the first three months 
 of his residence, in acquainting himself with the 
 circumstances of the colony, called together a 
 new Legislative Council on the 29th of May, 
 1838. In his opening address, however, not the 
 slightest allusion was made to any projected changes 
 in the existing regulations respecting the sale of 
 land. And with respect to the licensing system, 
 his Excellency thus expressed himself: "I am 
 fully impressed with the importance, in this pas- 
 toral country, of giving every facility to the 
 
 G 2
 
 124 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 occupation, under proper restrictions, of the vacant 
 lands of the Crown, and I shall readily give my 
 assent to any measure which, while it recognizes 
 the rights of the Crown, may permit to the 
 honest settler the occupation of these lands on 
 easy terms, and at the same time exclude, as 
 far as is possible, men of dissolute character, who 
 now only seek to become occupiers of them for 
 dishonest practices." 
 
 On the 16th of January, 1839, Sir George 
 Gipps received instructions to raise the minimum 
 price of Crown land from 5s. to 125. per acre. 
 The instructions were conveyed in a despatch, 
 dated the 9th of August, 1838, in which Lord 
 Glenelg gravely informs his Excellency, that " the 
 time has now arrived when the interests of the 
 colony ( ! ) require that a considerably higher 
 price should be affixed to land than that which 
 was named by Lord Ripon as the minimum price 
 in 1831, and which was clearly intended to be 
 merely experimental." "So far," con- 
 tinues his Lordship, " as regards the encourage- 
 ment of emigration, the measure has to a con- 
 siderable degree succeeded ; but the extent of 
 land which has been sold, and the increasing 
 want of labour, affords decisive proof that the 
 check, which it was intended to impose on the 
 undue dispersion of the inhabitants of the colony, 
 has not been sufficient. It is only by raising the 
 minimum price of land, or by restricting the
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 125 
 
 quantity offered for sale, that the end in view 
 can be obtained; because in the present circum- 
 stances of the colony, though competition may 
 determine the relative value of different allot- 
 ments of land, while more is offered for sale 
 than can be profitably occupied, it is obvious 
 that the minimum price demanded by the govern- 
 ment will determine the saleable value of land 
 which has no peculiar advantages, either from 
 its neighbourhood to a market, or from its natural 
 fertility." 
 
 On receipt of these instructions, a government 
 notice was immediately issued announcing the 
 change ; and it is unnecessary to remark, that 
 the greatest dissatisfaction was exhibited on the 
 part of the colonists, while his Excellency, who 
 was charged with giving effect to the new regula- 
 tion, found his position the very reverse of agreea- 
 ble. The notice, as first issued, included all 
 lands, whether previously advertised at a lower 
 rate or not, his Excellency having understood 
 Lord Glenelg's instructions as peremptory ; but, 
 as it subsequently appeared that the Lieutenant- 
 Governor of Van Diemen's Land (Sir John 
 Franklin) had taken a different view, a second 
 notice was issued, announcing that the rise in the 
 minimum price would not affect any lands pre- 
 viously advertised at a lower rate. The amount 
 thus advertised amounted to not less than three 
 hundred thousand acres. The effect produced
 
 126 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 by the expected rise on the land sales is thus 
 intimated by Sir George Gipps, in a despatch 
 dated April 1, 1839, acknowledging the receipt 
 of Lord Glenelg's instructions : 
 
 " I have delayed writing to your Lordship on 
 this subject, until I could report the effect which 
 the expected rise (for it is as yet only an expected 
 rise) in the minimum price of land has had upon 
 our land sales. Two sales have taken place since 
 the receipt of the order ; one on the 1 3th Feb- 
 ruary, the other on the 13th March. Abstracting 
 from each sale the land which, on account of 
 its superior situation or fertility, would have com- 
 manded a high price under any circumstances, 
 I find that, on the 13th February, twenty one 
 thousand eight hundred and seven acres of ordi- 
 nary land, put up at 5s. per acre, sold for the 
 sum of 6,827, being at the rate only of 6s. 3d. 
 per acre ; and that, on the 1 3th March, fifty-four 
 thousand three hundred and forty-eight acres sold 
 for 14,118, or at the rate of only 5s. 2^d. per 
 acre. 
 
 "These results would seem to show either 
 that, in the present state of the Colony, the 
 ordinary Lands of it are not worth more than 
 5s. per acre, or that there is, for the present, a 
 determination on the part of the public not to 
 give a higher price for it. 
 
 " These results are, however, I should observe, 
 exclusive of Port Phillip, where fifteen thousand
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 127 
 
 five hundred and seventy-six acres were sold, on 
 the 13th February, for 10,272, or at an average 
 of 13s. 4^d. per acre." 
 
 The principal effect of the change appears to 
 have been to divert speculation from country lands 
 to town allotments. During the whole year 1839, 
 though it was known that the period within which 
 lands would be put up at 5s. was approaching to 
 a close, and though a considerable quantity of land 
 was actually advertized at 125., the average price 
 per acre obtained for country lands was 8s. Ifd. ; 
 while that obtained for town allotments was 
 29. Os. ll^d. In Port Phillip, which had now 
 become the great arena of land speculation, the 
 following averages were obtained ; viz : country 
 lands, 31s. lid. ; town allotments, 137. 19s. 
 The attractions of Port Phillip caused a prodi- 
 gious influx of British capital, which was rapidly, 
 and in most cases, ruinously invested in the 
 purchase of land.* The imperial government 
 
 * " To what cause do you attribute the superior prices 
 obtained at Port Phillip to those obtained for land in 
 the located districts of New South Wales ?" " I do not 
 consider the prices, realized for lands, sold at Port Phillip, 
 as so extraordinarily high when fully considered. The 
 impression in England, that Port Phillip is not a penal 
 colony, taken together with what I consider the very 
 exaggerated statements made to the Transportation Com- 
 mittee, induced many persons of large capital to give 
 Port Phillip a preference. Taking the proximity of Van 
 Diemen's Land, and its limited territory into consideration,
 
 128 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 seem, however, to have shut their eyes to the 
 future, and to have thought only of the golden 
 eggs without regard to the life of the goose ; 
 for before Sir George Gipps' report on the first 
 change had reached Downing Street, we find 
 fresh instructions on their way from the Marquis 
 of Normanby, who had succeeded Lord Glenelg 
 in the Colonial Office. " I have not yet," says 
 his Lordship, " received from you any report on 
 the subject; but in the mean time it appears to 
 me to be desirable, as Port Phillip is so attractive 
 to settlers, to place the highest minimum price 
 on land there, which may be compatible with the 
 objects contemplated in my predecessor's des- 
 patch." 
 
 Before the middle of the succeeding year, the 
 purchase of country lands was almost suspended, 
 while the rage for town allotments increased.* 
 
 the capitalists of both colonies have been brought into 
 competition with those from England ; and the competition 
 has been confined to either a comparatively small area of 
 incalculable value, from its proximity to a sea-port, the 
 geographical and commercial capabilities of which are not 
 second even to Sydney. Again, it must be remembered, 
 that all the corresponding and most desirable sites hi the 
 older colonies were long since granted to the early set- 
 tlers." Evidence of P. L. Campbell, Esq., Acting-Colonial 
 Treasurer, before Immigration Committee, Question 80, 
 July 28, 1840. 
 
 * Town allotments in Sydney have been sometimes 
 sold for enormous sums. At the corner of George and
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 129 
 
 In the year 1840, the average price obtained 
 for town allotments in the older parts of the 
 colony was 69. 35. 7f d. per acre ; and in 
 Port Phillip the average was 487. 1 6s. Id. per 
 acre; whilst it is a fact, that in the month of 
 June of the same year, " Twenty-nine thousand 
 acres of, perhaps, the finest land in New Holland, 
 and in the immediate vicinity of Melbourne, Port 
 Phillip, put up at 12s. an acre, was not bid 
 for."* 
 
 Bridge Streets, a plot containing sixteen hundred and 
 thirty two superficial feet was sold, on the 28th February, 
 1834, for 680, or at the rate of 18,150 per acre. In 
 the same year, at the corner of King and George Streets, 
 2205f superficial feet sold at 55. 10s. per foot of frontage, 
 or at the rate of 27,928 per acre. On the 15th August, 
 1839, a plot of six perches was sold for 413, without 
 competition. In 1840, one small allotment was sold at 
 the enormous rate of 40,000 per acre. Scarcely any 
 Crown land remains to be disposed of in Sydney, and the 
 sales alluded to in the text were chiefly effected in the 
 more recent towns. 
 
 * The following passages throw much light on the 
 subject. Evidence of P. L. Campbell, Esq., #c. Question 
 30. " Do you think that the increased minimum price 
 put upon town allotments, has had a similar effect upon 
 the sale of such allotments ?" " Certainly not ; and one 
 reason is, that the great scarcity of labour, and the increased 
 minimum price of the pasturage lands, has made persons 
 fearful of purchasing stock ; they have, therefore, invested 
 their money extensively in the purchase of town allot- 
 ments." 
 
 Question 10. " Including (query excluding ?) Port 
 
 G 3
 
 130 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 The imperial government were determined, 
 however, to proceed still further. On the 10th 
 of January, 1 840, a Board of Commissioners was 
 appointed by her Majesty for superintending the 
 sale and settlement of the waste lands of the 
 Crown in the British colonies, and the conveyance 
 
 Phillip, do you think there is a reasonable prospect that 
 the sales of land, within the old limits of location, will 
 produce a sufficient sum for the purposes of emigration ?" 
 " Most certainly not, or, indeed, anything near it. From 
 the system hitherto pursued in the colony first by grant- 
 ing, and next by selling only the lands applied for, the 
 best part of the tracts, and the command of the water- 
 courses, have been disposed of; consequently, there are 
 large tracts of country of no use to any but particular 
 individuals, and hence of no value, except what they 
 derive from the estate to which they adjoin. Were these 
 brought fairly within the means of the persons to whom 
 alone they are of use, at a reasonable rate, a considerable 
 revenue might be raised. The average value of these 
 lands, however, I should say to be less than 5s. an acre." 
 
 Question 16. "What is your opinion as to the effect 
 of this system (the Licensed Squatting system) in 
 checking the sale, and probably curtailing the receipts 
 of the Land Revenue ?" " In the first instance, it dimi- 
 nishes the extent of sales of Crown lands within the 
 present limits ; but ultimately, the Land Revenues are 
 enriched by it. Because I am satisfied that the permission 
 to occupy lands beyond the boundaries has enriched, and 
 will enrich, a large number of persons particularly those 
 who have arrived with small capital it enables them 
 ultimately to purchase land, and has, in a great measure 
 produced the large sums which have been paid for lands 
 in the towns."
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 131 
 
 of emigrants thither, under the title of " the 
 Colonial Land and Emigration Board ;" and on 
 the 5th of December following, Sir George Gipps 
 communicated to the Legislative Council that he 
 had received an Additional Instruction, under the 
 royal signet and sign manual, dated May 23, 
 1 840, and therewith a despatch from the Secretary 
 of State for the Colonies, dated May 31, 1840, 
 containing directions, issued on the recommen- 
 dation of the Colonial Land and Emigration Board ; 
 in pursuance of which, the territory of New South 
 Wales was, for all purposes connected with the 
 disposal of land, divided into three distinct portions 
 or districts, under the names of the Northern, the 
 Middle or Sydney, and the Southern or Port 
 Phillip districts. 
 
 With respect to the Middle district, no change 
 was proposed by those instructions. But in the 
 Southern district, the following system was to be 
 adopted, and extended, after a time, to the Northern 
 district : All country lands not required for public 
 purposes, except certain allotments, (for public 
 works, &c., &c.,) were, after survey, to be open 
 to purchase, in certain lots, at one uniform price, 
 then fixed at a pound an acre. Purchases were to 
 be made at the Land Office, and the money paid 
 into the local treasury of the district. Purchasers, 
 howevef, from the United Kingdom, were allowed 
 to deposit money with the Colonial Agent-General, 
 and became thereupon entitled to an order from.
 
 132 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 the commissioners, giving them credit for land in 
 a corresponding sum ; and such purchasers were 
 allowed to bring out to the colony a proportionate 
 number of bounty labourers. 
 
 No sooner were these regulations made known, 
 than a motion was made in the Legislative Council 
 by the Lord Bishop of Australia, that a petition 
 should be forwarded from the Council to her 
 Majesty, praying that the boundaries assigned to 
 the Middle district might be re-considered, the 
 petitioners entertaining fears, that, in the event of 
 the Northern and Southern districts being erected 
 (as was apparently intended) into separate colonies, 
 the interests of the Middle district would be ma- 
 terially and prejudicially affected. Alarm was also 
 entertained by the holders of depasturing licenses 
 beyond the boundaries, that the system of disposing 
 of the Crown lands at a uniform price might 
 render them liable to be dispossessed at a 
 moment's warning. It was true, that the squatters 
 had never been led to suppose that their tenure 
 was of a permanent character; they had always 
 been aware, that, at some future time, they must 
 either relinquish or purchase them; but, at the 
 same time, they had also been led to hope, that 
 they would receive some reasonable notice of the 
 intention of government to dispossess them that 
 the lands would be opened gradually by govern- 
 ment, and not brought into the market at the 
 caprice of individuals and that, under any cir-
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 133 
 
 cumstances, they would have a fair chance with 
 others of purchasing at a public auction. The 
 importance of the body from whom this complaint 
 emanated may be estimated from the fact that 
 the sheep and cattle depastured beyond the boun- 
 daries are the chief source of colonial wealth. 
 " The quantity of cattle," says Sir George Gipps, 
 in a despatch of December 19, 1840, "depas- 
 tured beyond the boundaries of location, or beyond 
 what may be called the shireland of New South 
 Wales, was, on the 31st of December, 1839, 
 371,699 horned cattle; 1,334,593 sheep ; 7,088 
 horses; and the number of persons of European 
 origin, employed in herding or tending of the same, 
 was 7,287." .; 
 
 In transmitting the petition of the Legislative 
 Council to the Queen, his Excellency forwarded at 
 the same time, a " Memorandum on the disposal 
 of lands in the Australian Provinces," which is 
 
 haps. one of the ablest papers on the subject. 
 In this memorandum, Sir George combated the 
 doctrine of a uniform fixed price, which he showed 
 to be a highly impolitic method of disposing of the 
 lands of the Crown, as it not only deprived the 
 revenue of the benefit of competition, but appeared 
 calculated to produce the greatest confusion. A 
 very masterly despatch was also forwarded by his 
 Excellency on the 1st of February following, de- 
 precating the establishment of three separate 
 Funds in the same colony. 

 
 134 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 The representations of the colonists on this oc- 
 casion were not fruitlessly made. And it happened 
 fortunately, that, at the very time those represen- 
 tations were on their way to Downing Street, the 
 affairs of South Australia (from the colonization 
 commissioners of which colony the notion of a 
 uniform price was borrowed) engaged the attention 
 of a select committee of the House of Commons. 
 The report of that committee tended to confirm 
 the views of Sir George Gipps, and the result was, 
 that Additional Instructions, dated August 21, 
 1841, were issued, revoking the former instruc- 
 tions, and restoring the system of sales by auction 
 throughout the whole of the colony. A clause, 
 however, was added, giving power to any person 
 to purchase, at a future time, and at the upset 
 price, lands which had been put up to auction and 
 not sold ; provided, that the same lands had not, 
 in the mean time, been again advertised by the 
 Governor. 
 
 But whatever hopes the colonists might have 
 formed, from the deference to their representations 
 shown on this occasion by her Majesty's govern- 
 ment, were destined to be of short continuance. 
 Shortly after the date of the Additional Instruc- 
 tions just mentioned, the reader will doubtless 
 recollect that Sir Robert Peel received her Majesty's 
 commands for the formation of a new administra- 
 tion ; and Lord Stanley, who had filled the office 
 of Secretary for the Colonies, in the earlier part
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 135 
 
 of Lord Melbourne's government, was now re- 
 quested to resume his important duties. 
 
 In a despatch to Sir George Gipps, of the 
 ] 8th of October, 1841, Lord Stanley transmitted 
 a report of the Colonial Land and Emigration 
 Commissioners, containing various recommenda- 
 tions explanatory of the royal instructions of the 
 21st of August. His Lordship also intimated his 
 intention of submitting to Parliament a measure 
 for the regulation of the sale of land in the Aus- 
 tralian colonies generally; and, in the meantime, 
 left it to his Excellency's discretion to fix the upset 
 price of lands, not in the Port Phillip district, at any 
 sum not under 12s. per acre, accompanying that 
 permission, however, with a strong expression of 
 opinion, that in the majority of cases, 20s. might 
 fairly and safely be assigned. 
 
 " In the Port Phillip district," said his Lordship, 
 " you will not consider yourself authorised to reduce 
 the upset price below 20s. ; and, in speaking of 
 that district, you will understand me to include the 
 whole of the land bounded by a line drawn from 
 Cape Howe along the south-west boundary of the 
 Maneroo district to the head of the Murray, and 
 thence along the Murray to the frontier of South 
 Australia." 
 
 No further intimations were received from the 
 imperial government on the subject of the sale 
 of lands until early in the year 1843, when the. 
 famous Act (5 and 6 Viet. c. 36) arrived in the
 
 1 36 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 colony, confirming the hints conveyed in Lord 
 Stanley's former despatch, and fixing the minimum 
 price of all Crown lands at 20s. an acre. The 
 History of the Land Revenue closes with the arrival 
 of this Act; and, perhaps, before proceeding to 
 other matters, this may be the most convenient 
 place for presenting a tabular view of " its rise and 
 fall." 
 
 RETURN of the AMOUNTS received from the 
 SALE of CROWN LANDS in the colony of New 
 South Wales, including the district of Port Phillip, 
 from the year 1824 to 1842 inclusive.* 
 
 YEAR. AMOUNT. 
 
 *. d. 
 
 1824 ... 279 17 9 
 
 1825 . . . 5,548 14 10 
 
 1826 . . . 2,596 2 6 
 
 1827 . . . 2,274 11 7 
 
 1828 . . . 5,004 19 2 
 
 1829 . . . 2,710 15 
 
 1830 ... 943 5 10 
 
 1831 . . . 2,597 1 10 
 1832f . . . 12,509 13 10 
 
 1833 . . . 24,956 1 1 
 
 1834 . . . 41,844 9 1 
 
 1835 ... 80,784 14 6 
 
 * Vide Votes and Proceedings of Legislative Council, 
 ]843, p. 458. 
 
 f In the year 1832, it will be remembered that the 
 system of sale by auction, at a minimum price of 5s. an 
 acre, first came into operation. 

 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 137 
 
 YEAH. AMOUNT. 
 
 S. d. 
 
 1836 . . . 126,458 16 
 
 1837 . . . 120,427 5 
 
 1838 . . . 116,324 18 11 
 1839* . . . 152,962 16 4 
 
 1840 ... 316,6'26 7 5 
 
 1841 . . ; 90,387 16 10 
 
 1842 . . . 14,574 10 4 
 
 Grand total . . . 1,119,812 13 3 
 
 The Act (5 and 6 Viet. c. 36) was intended to 
 establish the system of selling land in the Aus- 
 tralian colonies on a permanent principle ; and, with 
 this object, her Majesty was advised to relinquish 
 her prerogative in the disposal of land, and to 
 transfer the whole responsibility to Parliament, thus 
 affording a guarantee " for stability and consistency 
 of purpose." In this respect, it cannot be doubted 
 
 * In the year 1839, the minimum price was raised to 12s. 
 an acre. It will be perceived, that in the two years pre- 
 ceding, a slight diminution in the proceeds took place. In 
 explanation of this, it may be mentioned that the best lands 
 had been disposed of, and those which remained were chiefly 
 valuable on account of their connection with other estates. 
 The rise in the price produced a mania for town allotments, 
 which was at its height in 1840, the land revenue for which 
 year more than doubled that of any previous year. Of 
 course the chief sales for these latter years were effected in 
 the Port Phillip district. 
 
 The return of land sales for 1843 had not been procured 
 when the above table was prepared. The amount exhibited 
 a considerable decrease on the preceding year, being only 
 11,297. 3s. 9d.
 
 138 SALE AND OCCUPATION 
 
 that a change was made for the better ; and the 
 same remark may be applied to many of the pro- 
 visions of the Act, which is drawn up with great 
 care. But the grand legislative blunder consisted 
 in the enactment, "that no waste land of the 
 Crown shall ever be sold at less than 20s. an acre." 
 By means of this provision, the Act has been ren- 
 dered abortive, and the clauses determining the 
 mode in which the land revenue should be appro- 
 priated, appear, if a homely comparison may be 
 admitted, not slightly to resemble the calculations 
 of a farmer's wife on the number of her unhatched 
 chickens. 
 
 The grounds on which the pound-an-acre system 
 was adopted, are thus stated by Lord Stanley in his 
 despatch to Sir George Gipps, of September 15, 
 1842, accompanying the Act of Parliament : 
 
 " In fixing this sum, her Majesty's government 
 have not proceeded on the assumption that the 
 whole of the land in the colony under your 
 government, which may be profitably occupied, 
 would, if offered for sale, realize, or is worth, 
 at the present moment, that price ; they are 
 aware that there are large tracts now occupied 
 for grazing purposes of a value inferior to 
 the standard thus adopted; and by the pro- 
 visions of the 17th section, care has been taken 
 to relieve you from the necessity of attempting 
 to force sales of such land, by enabling you to 
 draw a revenue from its permissive occupation ;
 
 OF CROWN LANDS. 139 
 
 nor is it to such tracts only that her Majesty's 
 government are aware the price of 205. per acre is 
 at present inapplicable. They are conscious that 
 the same observation would apply to many portions 
 of the more settled and richer districts. These 
 circumstances, however, do not appear to them to 
 militate against the course they have taken on this 
 subject ; on the contrary, they consider it desirable 
 that the more fertile and valuable portions of land 
 in the colony should be first brought into culti- 
 vation, trusting to the operation of progressive 
 settlement, to render saleable hereafter many 
 qualities of land not at present of a marketable 
 value." 
 
 In the year 1843, the colony of New South 
 Wales received a new Constitution, the element 
 of representation being admitted into her legis- 
 lature. To an analysis of the proceedings of the 
 new Legislative Council a future section will be 
 devoted ; and as the questions connected with the 
 sale and occupation of Crown lands will neces- 
 sarily come under review during that analysis, the 
 further discussion of those subjects will for the 
 present be suspended, as there are other very 
 important questions whose history it is desirable 
 to bring up to the same point.
 
 140 IMMIGRATION. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 IMMIGRATION. 
 
 THE subject of immigration is so intimately 
 connected with the prosperity of colonies in 
 general, and occupies so prominent a place in the 
 History of New South Wales during the last 
 thirteen years, that it becomes entitled to a large 
 share of attention. An account of the various 
 methods which have been successively pursued, 
 with the design of replenishing this portion of the 
 earth with an industrious and virtuous population, 
 and of the causes which have impeded the full 
 and satisfactory accomplishment of that design, 
 will form an essential, and, it is hoped, not the 
 least acceptable portion of the present work. The 
 enquiries connected with the subject will be grateful 
 to the historian, who cannot fail to trace with 
 interest the development of a principle, capable of 
 producing such important results to the land of his 
 adoption ; and it may be supposed, that the reader 
 also will feel it a relief to pass from the considera- 
 tion of intricate questions of revenue, to details 
 which admit of being presented in a more narrative 
 form. 
 
 The successive reports of the committees on 
 immigration appointed by the Legislative Council, 
 with the minutes of evidence, and the various 
 documents printed by authority of government,
 
 IMMIGRATION. 141 
 
 are the authentic sources from which information 
 has been derived. 
 
 It will have been gathered from the preceding 
 pages, that the subject of immigration was forced 
 upon the attention of the colonial government by 
 two circumstances, the disproportion of the sexes, 
 and the failure of the convict-assignment system 
 in supplying the demand for labour, thus retarding 
 the development of the resources of the country. 
 To restore the balance of the sexes was an object 
 of the highest importance to the moral advance- 
 ment of the colony ; while, in the peopling and 
 consequent subjugation of the vast and pathless 
 wilds of Australia, the political economist recog- 
 nized the elements of future commercial greatness. 
 On both these grounds, the colonists antici- 
 pated the most beneficial results from immigration; 
 while the population of the mother country, in the 
 year 1830, had increased to such an extent, and 
 the agricultural districts, in consequence, suffered 
 such severe depression, that the imperial government 
 were fully prepared to adopt measures, which 
 would not only further the views of the colonists, 
 but would also relieve the parishes of Great 
 Britain from a burden, rapidly becoming into- 
 lerable. 
 
 In the early part of the year 1831, the Earl of 
 Ripon, then Viscount Goderich, Secretary of 
 State for the Colonies, directed the attention of 
 Governor Darling to the subject, and called for a
 
 142 INDUCEMENT TO SETTLERS. 
 
 report upon " the means which the colony might 
 possess of contributing towards the expenses of 
 the contemplated measure," that is, " of relieving 
 the distress prevailing among the agricultural 
 labourers in the south of Engknd, by enabling 
 the parishes to remove those who were out of 
 employment to the colonies." It was suggested 
 by his Lordship, that, by an extended system of 
 land sales, by a tax upon convict labour, and by 
 the aid of advances from settlers whose demand for 
 labour was most urgent, the required means might 
 be found. 
 
 As inducements to the settlers to assist in 
 promoting the objects of government, not only 
 were the services of the emigrants to be secured 
 to them for a definite period, but an abatement 
 was offered from the quit-rents reserved upon their 
 lands, in proportion to the number of labourers 
 whom they might enable to emigrate. 
 
 The great distance of Australia, however, 
 formed an obstacle of serious magnitude ; and it 
 was necessary to devise means for overcoming it, 
 as the parishes naturally preferred sending their 
 surplus population to North America, which was 
 within one-fifth of the distance. It was, therefore, 
 proposed by the Secretary of State, that a portion 
 of the revenue arising from the sales of land in 
 New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, should 
 be advanced by way of loan to female emigrants 
 to these colonies, to assist them in paying for
 
 APPOINTMENT OF A COMMITTEE. 143 
 
 their passage. It subsequently appeared that the 
 amount available for the ensuing year was esti- 
 mated at 10,000 ; and the appropriation of this 
 sum in the way proposed was sanctioned by the 
 Lords of the Treasury. 
 
 A commission was appointed in June 1831, 
 to carry the above measure into effect. The 
 commissioners exerted themselves in diffusing 
 information among persons who might desire to 
 emigrate, and received applications. One half 
 of the passage money was to be advanced to each 
 female, the emigrant herself being required to 
 make up the remainder, and a preference was to 
 be given to such as emigrated in company with 
 their families. 
 
 In consequence of several applications, the 
 commissioners were also authorized to advance 
 loans to a limited number of mechanics ; these 
 advances to be provided out of the fund proposed 
 to be raised by a tax on convict-servants. These 
 loans were at first limited to 20 for each family ; 
 but such was the success which attended the 
 scheme, that the commissioners, before they retired 
 from their labours, recommended to the Secretary 
 of State, that advances should also be made to 
 agricultural labourers, and that the amounts 
 advanced should be increased. The commission 
 was dissolved in August 1832, and a committee 
 of private gentlemen was appointed in London to
 
 144 LONDON COMMITTEE'S REPORT. 
 
 manage the business of emigration. In Ireland, 
 the executive of that country directed the emi- 
 gration. 
 
 The London committee published in 1834 a 
 report of their proceedings since their appoint- 
 ment, to which they added various recommenda- 
 tions for rendering their future operations more 
 effectual. In that report, the committee stated, 
 that they had not found the system of loans to 
 work so well as they had anticipated ; they had 
 " found in numerous instances, much reluctance 
 on the part of respectable women and their 
 connections to come under a liability for their 
 passage payable in the colony." This reluctance 
 is thus explained by the report : " Many of them 
 cannot be disabused of the idea that they thus 
 expose themselves to coercion, and to a state of 
 compulsory service until the stipulated payment 
 has been made," and, " such is the peculiar feeling 
 and apprehension existing on this point, that 
 many have relinquished the desire of emigrating 
 altogether." 
 
 For this reason, as well as on account of the 
 probable difficulty of recovering the advances from 
 such as might be disposed to evade, or unable to 
 make payment, the committee recommended that 
 a " free passage should be given to all such females 
 between the ages of fifteen and thirty as should 
 be ascertained to be fit subjects for emigration."
 
 IMMIGRATION COMMITTEE. 145 
 
 Having thus briefly sketched the plan on which 
 bounty immigration first commenced, and noticed 
 the machinery employed in the mother country to 
 give effect to the intention of government, it will 
 be proper to inquire, how ,far the immigration 
 effected was beneficial ? A select committee of the 
 Legislative Council* was appointed in 1835 to 
 examine into this subject, and to report on the 
 best means of introducing into the colony persons 
 of both sexes, of moral character and industrious 
 habits. From the report of that committee, it 
 appears, that since the appropriation of the funds 
 arising from the sale of Crown lands to immigra- 
 tion purposes, two thousand eight hundred and 
 forty eight persons had received aid from govern- 
 ment up to June 1835, and that the sum expended 
 amounted to 27,318. 16s. 9d; making an annual 
 average of about eight hundred emigrants, and 
 8000 expenditure, or 10 to each person. 
 
 No sooner had it been known in the colony that 
 emigrants might be expected, than a committee of 
 gentlemen was formed, consisting of the Arch- 
 deacon (now the Lord Bishop) of Australia, the 
 Colonial Secretary and Treasurer, and the Collec- 
 tor of Internal Revenue, for the purpose of 
 affording assistance to the emigrants, and dis- 
 bursing the payments of government. 
 
 * This committee consisted of Chief Justice Forbes, 
 Lieut.-Colonel Snodgrass, Mr. Lithgow, Mr. R. Jones, 
 and Mr. Blaxland. 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 146 FEMALE IMMIGRANTS. 
 
 A committee of ladies was also formed to receive 
 applications for domestic servants, and to enable the 
 expected emigrants to obtain situations. Tempo- 
 rary places were also prepared for their reception, 
 and every precaution taken which prudence could 
 suggest to ensure the success of the project, on 
 which the public anxiety had been so long and so 
 anxiously fixed. But, notwithstanding all the efforts 
 which were made at home and in the colony, it 
 was found, that, though a considerable number of 
 useful persons had been brought out, the operation 
 of the system had not by any means answered the 
 expectations of its originators. Not only had the 
 immigrants failed in repaying the advances made, 
 but their character (especially that of the females) 
 had in many cases proved such as entirely to frus- 
 trate the objects of government. The amount 
 advanced by way of loan up to the 30th of June, 
 1835, amounted in all to 9,745, of which 7,670 
 had been advanced to male emigrants, and the 
 balance of 2,075 to unmarried females. It ap- 
 peared, however, from the evidence of William Mac- 
 pherson, Esq. Collector of Internal Revenue, that, 
 though he was in possession of promissory notes, 
 or warrants of attorney, from three hundred and 
 seventy-eight male emigrants, covering nearly the 
 whole of the above sum of 7,670,onlyl 67. 3s. 2d. 
 in all had been paid ; while of the sum advanced 
 to unmarried females, and for a great part of which 
 promissory notes had likewise been given, not one
 
 THEIR CHARACTER. 147 
 
 farthing had been received. Mr. Macpherson was 
 instructed to proceed against the defaulters, but 
 many circumstances opposed the success of the 
 plan. The promissory notes having been executed 
 in England, the signatures could not, in many in- 
 stances, be proved. The debtors, also, were dis- 
 persed throughout the colony, many of them having 
 even gone to Van Diemen's Land, New Zealand, and 
 other places, beyond the jurisdiction of the courts. 
 
 In addition to these circumstances, many of the 
 females were under age, and could not be sued at 
 law. Mr. Macpherson, therefore, had suggested 
 that it would be better not to attempt to enforce 
 claims, which could with difficulty be established, 
 and the proceedings connected with which must 
 have an injurious effect on future emigration to the 
 colony. 
 
 With regard to the character of the female emi- 
 grants introduced under these regulations, it was 
 very soon discovered, that the London committee 
 had been most grossly deceived, and that a large 
 portion of the single females who had received 
 assistance from government were of the lowest 
 class, the mere sweepings of the streets of London, 
 and the towns where they had embarked. In one 
 ship, the ' David Scott,' two hundred and twenty- 
 six females had come out ; and the following ex- 
 tracts from the evidence of Mr. Marshall, R.N., 
 the superintendent of the ship, appear conclusive as 
 
 H 2
 
 148 MR. MARSHALL'S EVIDENCE. 
 
 to the extent of the deception which had been 
 practised : " I became acquainted," says Mr. Mar- 
 shall, " in some measure with the mode in which 
 they were selected. It was the professed object of 
 the committee to obtain them from all parts of 
 England, particularly from the agricultural coun- 
 ties; but I believe, in point of fact, very few were 
 from the country ; what I mean is, agricultural 
 people from country villages. The great majority 
 were of the class of servant women out of place from 
 large towns. I feel myself qualified to speak with 
 confidence on the subject, and it is my opinion that 
 there were not more than twenty-five that I would 
 consider suited for country servants." Mr. M. further 
 states, that, the ' David Scott', being a very large 
 ship, and requiring fifty men to navigate her, the 
 men " were not only less under control, but they 
 actually braved any command of the persons on 
 board in authority, and boldly avowed their deter- 
 mination not to allow the women to be interfered 
 with in any way whatever. They, consequently, 
 had an unrestrained intercourse with them during 
 the voyage. I do not allude, of course, to the 
 whole of the women, but to upwards of forty of 
 them, whose abandoned and outrageous conduct 
 kept the ship in a continual state of alarm during 
 the whole passage." 
 
 After reading such statements as these, how is 
 it possible to understand what Mr. Marshall states
 
 MR. MARSHALL'S EVIDENCE. 149 
 
 in another part of his evidence ? " Every woman 
 that was embarked was obliged to appear personally 
 before the committee, and to produce a certificate 
 of good moral character from two respectable 
 housekeepers, or the minister of the parish." " I 
 know, also, that the committee personally ques- 
 tioned every female for the purpose of ascertaining 
 her age, occupation, and qualifications in other 
 respects for the colony." Either the powers of 
 dissimulation possessed by abandoned females of 
 the lowest grade must be very great indeed, and 
 must have been well backed by forgery, or the 
 gentlemen of the London committee must have 
 been marvellously unskilled in discriminating cha- 
 racter. To whatever cause, however, the failure of 
 the scheme was to be attributed, the Immigration 
 Committee of the Legislative Council came to the 
 conclusion " that there is an inherent difficulty in 
 the original plan a difficulty bordering upon im- 
 possibility of procuring the emigration of single 
 females, combining all the requisite qualifications 
 of moral character and useful acquirements, such 
 as alone would render their accession of real advan- 
 tage to the colony." 
 
 After these extracts, it is only necessary to quote 
 a single sentence from the evidence of Alexander 
 McLeay, Esq., the Colonial Secretary : " I consider 
 the females by the ' David Scott' 'to be the best of 
 those from England." Mr. McLeay also states : 
 " I consider, that of all the ships, there was the
 
 150 MR. ECKFORD'S EVFDENCE. 
 
 greatest portion of well-conducted women by { The 
 Duchess of Northumberland,' from Ireland ;" yet, in 
 the evidence of James Eckford, Esq., surgeon super- 
 intendent of that ship, the following passages occur : 
 " To disclose a plain unvarnished tale respecting 
 the female emigrants by the 'Duchess of Nor- 
 thumberland' would be too tedious, and, perhaps, 
 not altogether beneficial in its results." " There 
 were some sent out by the government of Ire- 
 land, whose characters the committee had not an 
 opportunity of ascertaining; and who generally 
 were not so well conducted as the rest." 
 
 Under these circumstances, it became a question 
 in the colony, whether it would be wise to seek for 
 repayment of the loans already advanced, and whether 
 this system should be for the future discontinued? 
 With regard to the past, the general impression was, 
 that any attempt to enforce these claims, would only 
 defeat the object in view ; for though some portion, 
 doubtless, might be recovered, the remainder, as 
 certainly, could not; and as none but the indus- 
 trious were in circumstances to pay, it seemed hard 
 that the demand should be enforced against them, 
 while the idle and dissipated escaped. But, inde- 
 pendently of this difficulty, the system itself appeared 
 open to very cogent objections. However just it 
 might appear in the abstract, that the expense 
 of the emigrant's passage should be defrayed out 
 of his earnings in the colony, the plan had been 
 found to cast so many obstacles in the way of
 
 EXPENSE OF PASSAGE. 151 
 
 emigration, in addition to those already existing, 
 that there remained no longer any likelihood of its 
 being eventually successful. The preference given 
 to North America by the rural parishes, on account 
 of its proximity, was decidedly unfavourable to 
 Australia ; and when the prejudice which existed 
 on account of the penal character of this colony 
 was taken into consideration, it became obvious, 
 that, instead of presenting any new difficulties to 
 those who might be disposed to emigrate, some 
 advantages should rather be offered to counter- 
 balance the difficulties which already existed. 
 
 It was found that the average price of a passage to 
 Quebec or New Brunswick was only 5, and that 
 the wages of mechanics and labourers were fully 
 equal to those which could be offered in this colony, 
 to which the average passage money was 16. In 
 order, therefore, to induce respectable individuals to 
 emigrate to Australia', it was not only necessary to 
 make up this difference, but, by additional bounties, 
 to endeavour to vanquish the existing prejudices. 
 In the opinion of the committee of the Legislative 
 Council, the most efficacious mode in which a 
 bounty could be applied, was to provide the emi- 
 grants with an entirely free passage, and to afford 
 them gratuitous assistance in obtaining employment 
 immediately on their arrival. 
 
 " Considering," says the report, " the great 
 number of persons of all trades and qualifications 
 in the United Kingdom ready to emigrate, and
 
 152 FAILURE OF THE SYSTEM. 
 
 only wanting means, and the comparatively small 
 proportion required for this colony, your committee 
 cannot but feel the fullest confidence, that by a 
 well-conducted plan of selection, a most valuable 
 class of moral and industrious persons might be 
 obtained ; a connection through their means would 
 thus be formed ; the tide of healthy emigration, 
 being once directed towards this fine country, would 
 continue freely and unceasingly to flow ; its healthy 
 climate, fertile soil, varied productions, and vast 
 resources, would be duly represented and appre- 
 ciated, and no other bounty than itself would be 
 necessary to invite an ample supply of emigrants 
 to come and settle themselves on its shores." 
 
 With regard to the emigration of single women, 
 it is unnecessary to say, that the result of the expe- 
 riments which had been made had convinced the 
 colonists that a total change of system was neces- 
 sary. At the same time, the disproportion which 
 continued to exist between the sexes, being in 
 1835, nearly three males to one female, rendered it 
 necessary that something should be done to correct 
 the evil. For it will at once be understood by the 
 social economist, that independently of the more 
 revolting crimes which stained our records, and 
 which were mainly attributable to the unnatural 
 condition in which the negligence of the imperial 
 government had left us, it was impossible that the 
 main object the raising the character of the popu- 
 lation by providing virtuous homes for the operative
 
 NEW PLAN DISCUSSED. 153 
 
 classes could ever be accomplished, if the immi- 
 gration of females were discontinued. 
 
 But it had been found almost an impossibility to 
 induce young females of respectability to embark on 
 a distant voyage, to leave their homes, and entrust 
 themselves to strangers ; and it had also been found 
 that the dangers and temptations which assail an 
 unprotected female, both on her passage and after 
 her arrival, were such as to make the exposure 
 of any female, even with her own consent, to those 
 trials, a matter of more than dubious propriety. 
 These considerations induced the Committee of the 
 Legislative Council to recommend that the selection 
 of this class of emigrants should in future be con- 
 fined to such young women as were attached to 
 some family, under whose authority they would 
 be during the voyage, and who would be res- 
 ponsible for their maintenance, after their arrival, 
 until provided with reputable occupation or settle- 
 ment in life. 
 
 Themachinery by which immigration wasin future 
 to be carried on, was also a subject of much discus- 
 sion. Some were of opinion, that the whole business 
 should be left to private enterprize, government 
 only interfering to secure conformity to the general 
 regulations, and to see that the emigrants were suited 
 to the general requirements of the colony. Others, 
 however, thought that government should reserve to 
 itself the entire management of the matter. After 
 much deliberation, there appeared no reason why both 
 
 H 3
 
 154 NEW PLAN DISCUSSED. 
 
 of these modes should not be in operation together. 
 It was merely necessary, in order to prevent any 
 disappointment to individuals, that government 
 should publish from year to year, a statement of 
 the funds available for immigration, and require 
 parties who might be disposed to engage in the 
 business to give in a notification of the number and 
 description of persons on account of whom they 
 intended to claim bounties. With regard to the 
 ships employed, the Select Committee recommended 
 that they should not exceed from 300 to 500 tons, 
 and that they should be " temperance ships." A 
 desire was also expressed, that surgeons of the 
 Royal Navy might be engaged, under sanction 
 of the Lords of the Admiralty, on the same terms 
 as they were employed in convict ships sent to the 
 colony. The concluding passage of the report 
 of 1835, contains an exposition of the principle 
 on which the colonists claimed the proceeds of 
 Crown lands exclusively for immigration, the con- 
 ciseness and perspicuity of which warrant its 
 insertion in this place. 
 
 " The first emigrants were induced to embark 
 their fortunes in this distant colony under the 
 promise of receiving free grants of land, and in 
 the confidence that the same policy would be 
 continued as the best means of setding the 
 country. If it has since been deemed expedient to 
 sell the lands in lieu of granting them as before, it 
 is considered by the inhabitants merely as the 
 conversion of capital into another form, and that
 
 EXTRACT FROM REPORT. 155 
 
 the proceeds of the sale of land should still be 
 applied to the same purposes as the land itself. If 
 there be any justice in this argument, it derives 
 force from the circumstance, that this colony is 
 made the receptacle for the outcasts of the United 
 Kingdom, and is consequently loaded with a vast 
 disproportion of immoral persons. That the colo- 
 nists have derived many advantages from the 
 transportation of convicts cannot be denied; but 
 the system has brought with it a long train of 
 moral evils, which can only be counteracted by 
 an extensive introduction of free and virtuous 
 inhabitants ; and the only means upon which the 
 colonists can safely rely for accomplishing this 
 vital object is the revenue arising from the sale 
 of lands. 
 
 " It is for these reasons that your Committee 
 are anxious to record their opinion, as well as that 
 of the whole community of the colony, that the 
 funds arising from the sale of lands should be 
 appropriated exclusively to the purpose of intro- 
 ducing a moral and industrious population ; that 
 they consider this appropriation alike indispensable 
 to the present interests, and the future prosperity 
 and character of the colony ; and that they regard 
 the opinion expressed by the Secretary of State for 
 the Colonies, and approved by the Lords of the 
 Treasury, in the light of a pledge by his Majesty's 
 government, that the Crown lands of the colony
 
 156 DEMAND FOR LABOUR. 
 
 shall be held sacred to the promotion of immi- 
 gration."* 
 
 It may be proper in this place to introduce a 
 brief statement of the actual condition of the 
 colony in 1835 with respect to the demand for 
 labour, which will explain the anxieties displayed 
 by the colonists on the subject. 
 
 The demand for labour arose, not only from the 
 insufficiency of the number of disposable convicts, 
 but from another and more natural cause, the 
 increase of sheep and cattle. The number of 
 sheep required for slaughter was so small in 
 proportion to the vast flocks which were depastured 
 both within and beyond the boundaries, that the 
 price of butcher's meat had become merely nominal, 
 leaving but a trifling profit above the cost of 
 slaughtering and bringing to market. The con- 
 sequence was, that the flocks of Australia increased 
 almost without restraint, and to such an extent 
 that their numbers were rapidly becoming unma- 
 nageable. Instead of having the sheep divided 
 into flocks of four or five hundred, the settlers 
 were compelled to have seven or eight hundred, 
 and sometimes a thousand in one flock, being 
 unable to find shepherds to take charge of them. 
 
 * The Report of the Immigration Committee in 1835, 
 from which the above passage is extracted, was drawn up 
 by the Hon. Sir Francis Forbes, Chief Justice of the 
 Supreme Court of New South Wales.
 
 EVIDENCE OF MR. M C ARTHUR. 157 
 
 Moreover, of the convicts, very few were at all 
 calculated for shepherds, and the consequent loss 
 to the flock-masters was very great. Many of the 
 assigned servants also were of incorrigibly idle 
 habits and vicious propensities, which the restraints 
 of the law did not deter them from indulging, 
 when opportunity offered. It became, therefore, 
 desirable to obtain free men, even at liberal wages, 
 for all rural purposes, as the stoppage of wages 
 for losses occasioned by neglect of duty, would 
 operate as a better check upon the free, than the 
 fear of punishment upon the bond. 
 
 "This being the present situation," says Mr. 
 H. H. McArthur, a most extensive landed 
 proprietor and stock-holder, " of all farmers and 
 flock-masters in this colony, there can be no 
 question as to the great advantages they will 
 derive from the present proposed law of bringing 
 out emigrants, of those useful classes of men and 
 women, who are bred in the country parts of 
 Great Britain as farm servants, or agricultural 
 mechanics, and useful house servants. I am of 
 opinion," he adds, " that two thousand men would 
 readily find places the first year, and that the 
 demand would increase annually, with the increasing 
 property and advancing prosperity of an enter- 
 prising community thus periodically gaining 
 strength, both moral and political, and conse- 
 quently developing the resources and accumulating
 
 158 TESTIMONY OF INFLUENTIAL MEN. 
 
 wealth over the vast field presented to them in 
 our extensive forests and pastures." 
 
 The testimony of all the most influential 
 gentlemen of the colony was to the same effect, 
 as regarded the demand for labour, though there 
 was, of course, a difference of opinion as to the 
 machinery to be employed. Mr. Scott, a large 
 proprietor of land and stock, states : " The 
 demand at present is very great. I have myself 
 been unable to obtain free labour to effect improve- 
 ments that I conceived to be important. The 
 wants of the colony would, I think, take at 
 least, twelve ship loads of emigrants in the course 
 of the year. I think that a thousand persons 
 would find employment in the district of the 
 Hunter alone during the ensuing twelve months." 
 
 Sir John Jamison, Kt., also a large proprietor, 
 says : " At present the demand is so great, that 
 I think that from two to three thousand agricul- 
 tural labourers would find employment with an 
 increasing demand for their services annually. This 
 I consider a moderate computation for the wants 
 of the colonists, and quite within the number 
 required." And the statements of many others 
 might be adduced, concurring with those quoted. 
 
 In a despatch to Lord Glenelg, of October 14, 
 1835, Sir Richard Bourke directed the attention 
 of the imperial government to the recommendations 
 of the Committee of the Legislative Council. His
 
 EXTRACT FROM A DESPATCH. 159 
 
 Excellency more especially urged the propriety of 
 appointing Surgeons of the Royal Navy, who had 
 already been employed by government as superin- 
 tendents of convict ships, and consequently had 
 had opportunities of becoming acquainted with the 
 circumstances of the colony, and of acquiring 
 experience in the " management of large numbers 
 of unoccupied persons embarked on board mer- 
 chant vessels on long voyages." His Excellency 
 also justly observes, that " upon the judicious and 
 appropriate selection of the emigrants, the whole 
 value of the scheme of immigration now submitted 
 may be said to depend ;" and he therefore strongly 
 insists on the necessity " for appointing agents well 
 acquainted with the colony, responsible to the 
 colonial government for the discharge of their 
 duty, and looking to it for remuneration. I attach," 
 he adds, " much importance to the employment 
 of the same persons to select, embark, superintend 
 during the voyage, and finally deliver over in the 
 colony the persons whom he has been instructed 
 to procure." In addition to the emigrants selected 
 by the agents, his Excellency proposed also to allow 
 to settlers, who were desirous of importing a large 
 number of labourers, and who might prefer to 
 have them selected by their own agents, bounties 
 nearly equal to the passage of such persons, 
 requiring only that they should be of the ages and 
 descriptions specified in the government regula- 
 tions, and be passed by a Board appointed to
 
 160 APPOINTMENT 
 
 examine the immigrants on their arrival. It was 
 also proposed to engage ships for the emigration 
 service by means of the London merchants 
 connected with the colony. It was believed, that 
 by this arrangement good vessels would be secured 
 upon fair terms, as not only would the merchants 
 be anxious to preserve their credit with the 
 colonists who employed them in the sale of wool, 
 but the superintendent, having no common interests 
 with the merchant, would object to embark on 
 board any ship not well provided and suited to the 
 purpose. 
 
 Early in the year 1836, David Boyter, Esq., 
 M.D. Surgeon, R.N., received a conditional ap- 
 pointment as an agent of emigration to New South 
 Wales, on the plan suggested by Sir Richard 
 Bourke, subject to the confirmation of the Secre- 
 tary of State. Dr. Boyter was instructed, in the 
 event of his receiving the permission of the Secre- 
 tary of State, to proceed to Scotland, and in that 
 country to select mechanics for emigration to this 
 colony, of the following descriptions, and in the fol- 
 lowing proportions : viz., carpenters, one eighth ; 
 joiners, one eighth; stone-masons, one-half; black- 
 smiths, one-eighth; and bricklayers one-eighth. 
 These artificers were all to be married men, and 
 accompanied by their wives and children ; the ages 
 of neither of the married couple to exceed thirty 
 years. They were at liberty to bring out under 
 their charge any unmarried female between the
 
 OF DR. BOYTER. 161 
 
 ages of fifteen and thirty, in whose welfare they 
 were interested, and over whom they possessed 
 control. Dr. Boyter was also instructed to require 
 certificates of character and competency from the 
 ministers of their parishes, and from masters by 
 whom they had been employed, and to reject with 
 the utmost care any person who had the slightest 
 tendency to habits of intemperance, in order to 
 prevent the formation of which during the voyage, 
 it was intended to substitute a ration of wine 
 for that of spirits which had hitherto been supplied 
 .to emigrants. The conditions on which these 
 emigrants were to be brought out, were, a free pas- 
 sage for themselves and families, the Colonial 
 Government guaranteeing to employ them upon 
 public works, for one year, at the current wages. 
 
 Dr. Osborne, also of the Royal Navy, shortly 
 afterwards received a similar appointment, and was 
 sent home with the requisite credentials. 
 
 The arrangements proposed by Sir Richard 
 Bourke, on the recommendation of the Committee, 
 were approved by Lord Glenelg, and sanctioned by 
 the Lords of the Treasury. The view entertained 
 by the committee, that the whole net proceeds 
 of the sale of Crown lands should be applied to the 
 promotion of immigration, was strongly favoured by 
 Lord Glenelg, who recommended to the Treasury, 
 " that as large a portion of those funds as was re- 
 quired for emigration should be applied for that 
 object; and that no portion of them should, on
 
 162 FREE PASSAGE GRANTED. 
 
 any account, be devoted to other purposes, before 
 this primary object has been sufficiently provided 
 for." To which the Assistant Secretary to the 
 Treasury replies : " Although my Lords are not 
 aware of any engagement, or understanding, that 
 the whole proceeds of the sales of Crown lands in 
 the Australian colonies should be devoted to the 
 furtherance of emigration, they do not dissent from 
 Lord Glenelg's recommendation, that a requisite 
 portion of those funds should be appropriated for 
 this object, and that it should be considered as the 
 primary charge upon them." Lord Glenelg, how- 
 ever, did not, at first, seem favourably disposed to 
 granting the emigrant an entirely free passage ; but, 
 on the urgent remonstrances of Dr. Boyter, who 
 found it impossible to procure eligible mechanics 
 on other terms, the point was conceded, and the 
 age for married couples extended to thirty-five. 
 
 The year 1836 was also remarkable for a pro- 
 posal to commence an immigration into this colony 
 of a totally different character. John Mackay, 
 Esq., formerly of Bengal, an indigo planter and 
 merchant, drew up several memoranda for the 
 consideration of his Excellency the Governor, re- 
 specting the Hill Coolies, a race of Indian labour- 
 ers, whom, in the circumstances of the colony, he 
 considered it would be expedient to introduce for a 
 limited period of years. As the scheme alluded to, 
 is still favourably regarded by many colonists of
 
 THE HILL COOLIES. 163 
 
 influence, a few notices of this race of Indians may 
 be interesting to the reader. 
 
 The tribe of Indians, commonly known by the 
 names of Hill Coolies, Dhangars, or Boonahs, in- 
 habit those extensive hilly districts to the north- 
 ward and westward of Calcutta, which comprehend 
 from two to three degrees of latitude (from 23 to 
 25 N.). The native climate of the Hill Coolies, 
 therefore, is not so cold as that of the located 
 parts of New South Wales ; but, as they are ac- 
 customed to exposure in the winter season, (the 
 thermometer often falling to 35), and those who 
 remain in indigo factories during the rainy season, 
 suffer no inconvenience from working six or eight 
 hours a day up to their middle in water, it was 
 believed that they would be quite capable of endur- 
 ing the climate of this colony. They are a healthy, 
 active race, and in their own country cultivate 
 yams, pumpkins, water-melons, radishes, cucum- 
 bers, and chilies. They do not, however, object to 
 eat animal food, having no prejudices of caste, or 
 of religion, like the Hindoos and Mahometans. 
 They purchase from the plains a coarse kind of rice, 
 called paddy, and hunt wild animals, such as hogs, 
 guanas, and even rats, and mice. Their clothing 
 is very simple, and they usually eat but once in 
 twenty-four hours. Their habitations are equally 
 simple being similar to the back huts of this 
 country a dry floor and a blanket are the extent 
 of their accommodations. Their muscular strength
 
 164 ACCOUNT OP 
 
 is not, of course, generally equal to that of the 
 natives of higher latitudes ; but for the lighter ope- 
 rations of agriculture, and especially as shepherds, 
 it was believed that they would be found to answer 
 very well in this colony. Mr. Mackay states, " that 
 he has here seen many Europeans earning 35. 
 a-day, the result of whose labour, individually, 
 would not equal that of an industrious Dhangar." 
 With respect to their religion, there appears to be 
 some doubt. Mr. Bury, H.E.I.C. Bengal Civil 
 Service, states : " They believe in the existence of 
 a God ; and have some idea of a future state, but 
 what it is, I cannot say." Mr. Mackay observes : 
 " I do not know whether they have any idea of 
 marriage, but the men appear to be much attached 
 to their children, and to their mothers. They do 
 not seem to have any idea of religion, so far as I 
 have observed; and have no priests among them. 
 I never knew any of them able to read or write : 
 but they will travel a distance of five hundred miles 
 in search of employment, and know the value of 
 money." It appears certain, however, that they 
 are not acquainted with that wild and dark mytho- 
 logy which forms the basis of the horrid rites of 
 Brahminism. Indeed, the best authorities have 
 attributed their origin to a large tribe inhabiting 
 the Himalaya mountains, called the Gourcahs, 
 whose religion, though Pagan, is not idolatrous; 
 and this circumstance has probably led to the sup- 
 position that they had no religion at all. But such
 
 THE HILL COOLIES. 165 
 
 a conclusion seems irreconcileable with the clear 
 sense of moral obligation and character for trust- 
 worthiness, which all who profess to have any know- 
 ledge of them agree in ascribing to them. 
 
 Numbers of the Hill Coolies annually come down 
 from their own country to the plains in search of 
 employment. On these occasions they leave their 
 families at home, and remain absent for several 
 months at a time. They do not object, it appears, 
 to make engagements for longer periods ; some of 
 them having been known to remain seven years 
 in an indigo factory. They are hired in gangs of 
 different numbers, from ten to one hundred ; one 
 of their number is elected sirdar, or overseer, who 
 acts as interpreter, and makes contracts for the 
 labour of his men. They are tractable and docile, 
 and if treated well will exert themselves greatly. 
 They are particularly expert in the use of the axe 
 and hoe, and with a little instruction would make 
 excellent shepherds and cow-herds. 
 
 In the month of May, 1837, Mr. Mackay 
 addressed a further memorandum to his Excel- 
 lency, stating, that all the inquiries he had been 
 able to make had still more strongly confirmed 
 him in his opinion, as to the expediency of intro- 
 ducing a large number of labourers of the class 
 referred to. To this memorandum were appended 
 two letters, which had been recently received in 
 Sydney from an influential mercantile house in the
 
 166 EVIDENCE OF 
 
 Mauritius. In both these letters it was stated, 
 that the experiment of introducing Indian labou- 
 rers into the Mauritius had proved completely 
 successful ; and that the total cost, including their 
 food, clothing, and passage there and back, 
 amounted to no more than five Spanish dollars 
 per month, or about five shillings per week. A 
 Mr; Mayo, also, who had resided for some years 
 in the Mauritius, and was desirous of establishing 
 sugar, coffee and cotton plantations in the northern 
 parts of this colony, submitted to his Excellency 
 an account of the experiment which he had an 
 opportunity of witnessing, and recommended a 
 similar experiment here. 
 
 " I would observe," says that gentleman, " that 
 the importation of Indian labourers, under judi- 
 cious regulations, will not only advance the 
 interests of this country, but will prove of 
 incalculable benefit to India itself. In time, I 
 think it would be the most effectual method of 
 sending into that vast region, not only improved 
 manners, customs, arts, agriculture, and laws, 
 but also the blessings of Christianity." 
 
 To his account Mr. Mayo subjoined, among 
 other documents connected with the subject, a 
 copy of a circular letter, addressed by the colonial 
 secretary at the Mauritius, to individual planters 
 in that island, in which the following sentence 
 occurs : " The result is highly satisfactory with
 
 MESSRS. MACKAY AND MAYO. 167 
 
 regard to the general treatment, conduct and 
 condition of the Indians introduced as labourers 
 into this island : and the system appears not only 
 to have worked well hitherto, but to promise 
 improvement, in proportion as these persons 
 become acquainted with our language, and habi- 
 tuated to the manners and customs of the 
 colony." 
 
 Independently of the documents submitted to 
 his Excellency by Messrs. Mackay and Mayo, the 
 subject of Indian immigration was earnestly 
 pressed on his Excellency's attention by a letter, 
 addressed to the colonial secretary by a large body 
 of the flock-owners in New South Wales, com- 
 plaining bitterly of the want of labour experienced 
 in the colony, and binding themselves to support 
 a certain number of the Indian labourers, provided 
 his Excellency would sanction the defrayment by 
 government of the cost of their transport. This 
 letter is dated the 27th May, 1837; and the 
 complaint and the request which it contains afford 
 strong proof of the very small extent to which the 
 colonists had been benefited by the immigration 
 which had taken place up to that time, and of the 
 urgent necessity which existed for some immediate 
 and decisive measures. 
 
 The following table will exhibit in a concise 
 view the actual amount of immigration which took 
 place into the colony from the year 1832 in which 
 the first bounty immigrants arrived, to the 31st 
 December, 1835.
 
 168 
 
 ARRIVALS AND EXPENSE. 
 
 Years 
 
 Immigrants without 
 bounty. 
 
 Immigr 1 . receiving 
 advances. 
 
 Females 
 receive 
 
 Total 
 No. of 
 
 iimnig". 
 
 Total amount of 
 advances and 
 bounties. 
 
 Hen 
 
 Women 
 
 Child'. 
 
 Total 
 
 Men 
 
 Women 
 
 Child' 
 
 bounties 
 
 j 
 
 * 
 6 
 
 d 
 
 1832 
 1833 
 1834 
 1835 
 
 679 
 661 
 519 
 518 
 
 251 
 418 
 297 
 218 
 
 284 
 353 
 264 
 147 
 
 1214 
 1432 
 1080 
 883 
 
 140 
 177 
 52 
 33 
 
 134 
 164 
 43 
 31 
 
 195 
 348 
 133 
 86 
 
 323 
 564 
 256 
 395 
 
 200(5 
 2685 
 1564 
 1428 
 
 5256 
 12104 
 5005 
 8663 
 
 9 
 
 Total 
 
 2377 
 
 1184 
 
 1048 
 
 4609 
 
 402 
 
 372 
 
 762 
 
 1538 
 
 7683 
 
 31,028 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 From this table it appears that the whole 
 number of free persons who arrived in New South 
 Wales, during the four years immediately follow- 
 ing the adoption of Lord Ripon's scheme of 
 appropriating the land revenue, was seven thousand 
 six hundred and eighty-three, of whom consider- 
 ably more than one half came out at their own 
 expense. The average amount paid, in the shape 
 of advance or bounty, for three thousand and 
 seventy-four persons was, 10. Is. IQ^d. The 
 following is the account for the year 1836. 
 
 WITHOUT BOUNTY. 
 
 Men 451 
 Women 212 
 Children 150 
 
 Persons for whom bounties 
 were paid, either by order of 
 the Home Government, or 
 under the Colonial Government 
 order of October 28, 1835. . . f Men 57 
 By order off Families^ Women 58 
 the Home I Children 127 
 Governm 1 . 1. Unmarried females 516 
 
 Total 
 813 
 
 758 
 50 
 
 By order of Colonial Govern- 1* _ o? 
 Wnt of October 28, 1835.* \$55n ft 
 
 General total 
 
 1621 
 
 COST. 
 
 The total sum charged 
 on the Colonial Land Re- 
 venue for the year 1836, on 
 account of immigration, 
 was jtf 11,794. Us. 113d. 
 The actual amount paid 
 in bounties was j6'10,894, 
 makingan average bounty 
 of j\B. 9s. 7Jrf. per head 
 for eight hundred and ' 
 eight immigrants. 
 
 * The order offering bounties on immigrants introduced 
 by settlers agreeably to the intimation contained in Sir 
 Richard Bourke's despatch of October 14, 1835, before 
 mentioned.
 
 SCARCITY OF LABOUR. 169 
 
 From the foregoing tables, as well as from the 
 complaint on which the colonists founded their 
 proposals respecting Coolie immigration, the reader 
 will be enabled to draw a lively picture of the 
 distress which existed in the colony, on account of 
 the scarcity of labour at the commencement of the 
 year 1837. The losses sustained by the settlers 
 were of such lamentable extent, and the circum- 
 stance of a fertile land, rejoicing in all the strength 
 of its natural resources, but literally lying waste for 
 want of population, was so very distressing, that 
 the most vigorous measures appeared to be 
 demanded. But the continued remonstrances sent 
 to the Home Government, both in the indirect 
 course of private correspondence, and through the 
 more tardy channel of official communication, 
 appear at length to have roused the Colonial 
 Department to something like an energetic move- 
 ment. In a letter addressed by Lord Glenelg's 
 direction to the Secretary to the Treasury, dated 
 January 9, 1837, the attention of the Lords 
 Commissioners was forcibly called to the steps 
 which had hitherto been taken in the business of 
 emigration, and which had been limited, in conse- 
 quence of " the uncertainty which to a great extent 
 necessarily existed in 1831, as to the working of 
 a system at that time untried in the British 
 Colonies," and the impossibility of then orga- 
 nizing, without the risk of failure " an extensive 
 VOL. I. i
 
 170 PROPOSED PLAN. 
 
 scheme of emigration which would be dependent 
 on the proceeds of future Crown sales." The 
 letter points out the success of Lord Ripon's 
 scheme in the following terms : 
 
 "The extent of the revenue raised from the 
 sales of unsettled Crown lands in New South 
 Wales, exceeds the most sanguine anticipation 
 entertained at the time when the existing regu- 
 lations for the disposal of land were promulgated 
 by Lord Ripon in 1831. So completely has the 
 rigid adherence to the principle of these regulations 
 on the part of the government been justified by 
 experience, that the annual receipts from those 
 sales Jbave rapidly and progressively increased since 
 1831 ; and there is reason to believe that the 
 amount arising from this source during the present 
 year, 1837, will not fall short of 100,000. 
 The arrangements, however, for the employment 
 of these funds, have not hitherto kept pace with 
 the rapidity of their growth ; and Lord Glenelg con- 
 siders that some more efficient agency should, without 
 delay, be provided for securing the full benefit, 
 which ought to accrue, both to the colonies and 
 to this country, from the due administration of the 
 means thus rendered available for emigration." 
 
 With a view, therefore, of remedying the existing 
 evils, Lord Glenelg proposed a plan, of which the 
 following were the leading features : 
 
 1. "Two-thirds of the available land revenue
 
 PROPOSED PLAN. 171- 
 
 were to be appropriated to emigration, superintended 
 in the United Kingdom ; the remaining third to 
 be appropriated to immigration, conducted by indi- 
 vidual colonists in accordance with the govern- 
 ment order of October 28th, 1835." 
 
 2. " Naval surgeons to be employed by the 
 colony as agents for the selection and conveyance 
 of emigrants. It was left, however, for considera- 
 tion, whether an equally efficient and less expensive 
 agency might not be obtained by the employment 
 of agents practically acquainted with the colony, 
 and who might be employed exclusively in the 
 selection of emigrants, without being required to 
 conduct them to the colony." 
 
 3. " An officer to be appointed, with the deno- 
 mination of chief agent for emigration, who should 
 be settled in London, and to whom the entire super- 
 intendence of the business should be entrusted." 
 
 In a despatch of the 23rd of March, 1837, Lord 
 Glenelg states, that the proposed arrangement had 
 received the sanction of the Lords Commissioners 
 of the Treasury, and expresses his hope that it will 
 shortly be in effective operation. On the 30th of 
 May, in the same year, Sir Richard Bourke sum- 
 moned the Legislative Council, and in his opening . 
 address alluded to the difficulties of the colonists 
 from the want of labour, and proposed the appoint- 
 ment of a select committee,* to consider and report 
 
 * The committee consisted of Colonel Snodgrass, Mr. 
 
 I 2
 
 J72 BOUNTY ON COOLIES. 
 
 their opinion upon a proposal made to the govern- 
 ment of New South Wales for introducing into the 
 colony certain of the Hill labourers of India ; and to 
 consider the terms under which mechanics and 
 labourers from Europe are now brought out, and 
 to report their opinion thereon." 
 
 In their final report, which was laid on the 
 council table on the 25th of August, the committee 
 touch but slightly on the subject of Indian immi- 
 gration. Notwithstanding the distress of the colo- 
 nists, and the favourable picture which had been 
 drawn of the Hill Coolies by Messrs. Mackay and 
 Mayo, and others who were examined by the com- 
 mittee, the objections raised respecting the Pa- 
 ganism, colour, &c., of these people appeared to 
 produce so strong an impression against their 
 introduction, that the committee would not venture 
 to do more than recommend a bounty of 6 (or 
 about half the cost of importation) for every 
 male Dhangar who should be embarked on or 
 before the 31st of December, 1838, the master 
 employing them to give security for the payment 
 of ten shillings half yearly into the Savings' Bank, 
 " to form a fund to cover the expense of their 
 conveyance back to their native country, at the 
 expiration of six years from their arrival in this 
 colony." The committee recommended this mea- 
 
 Lithgow, Mr. Blaxland, Mr. McArthur, and Sir John Ja- 
 mison.
 
 LORD GLENELG DISAPPROVES. 173 
 
 sure only as an immediate and temporary relief to 
 the distresses of the settlers ; and, as they did not 
 calculate on more than from three to five hundred 
 Indians being brought into the colony under these 
 regulations, a large expenditure could not be in- 
 curred, while the colonists would be enabled to 
 judge of their utility, should a crisis of distress 
 again occur in the southern part of the colony. 
 
 To prevent the necessity of recurring for some 
 time to the subject of Indian immigration, it may 
 be convenient to state here, that the proposal was 
 not favourably received by Lord Glenelg. In a 
 despatch to Sir George Gipps, dated December 
 14th, 1837, his Lordship intimates that the papers 
 on the subject which had been laid before the Le- 
 gislative Council, and copies of which had been 
 forwarded to his Lordship, had been referred to 
 T. F. Elliot, Esq., the newly-appointed Agent- Ge- 
 neral for Emigration. As, however, the arrange- 
 ments made in the United Kingdom for promoting 
 emigration to New South Wales, in the early part 
 of that year, could not have been known in the 
 colony at the date of those papers, Mr. Elliot 
 expressed his opinion, in which Lord Glenelg con- 
 curred, that the effect of the arrangements in pro- 
 gress would be to remove the necessity which had 
 prompted the colonists to look to this mode of 
 supplying the deficiency of labour ; and that it was 
 much to be wished that the colonists " should con- 
 tinue to prosper without introducing Indian blood
 
 174 LORD GLENELG'S DESPATCH. 
 
 into their population, or Indian habits into their 
 industry." 
 
 Lord Glenelg further observes on this subject : 
 " Its tendency would, probably, be the perma- 
 nent erection in the colony of a distinct class of 
 persons, separated by origin and habits from the 
 rest of the labouring population, subject to restric- 
 tions not generally imposed, and regarded as of an 
 inferior and servile description. Such a system 
 could scarcely fail of being injurious to the parties 
 themselves, and, by bringing agricultural labour 
 into disrepute, to discourage the emigration of 
 agricultural labourers from this country, who, as 
 the advantages offered to them in New South 
 Wales become more extensively known, may rea- 
 sonably be expected to avail themselves in larger 
 numbers than heretofore of the opportunities of 
 emigration to that country." 
 
 With respect to British immigration, the report 
 of the committee of 1837 did not contain any 
 information or suggestions of great importance. 
 The simple and eloquent facts set forth were, that, 
 at that time " the means did not exist for main- 
 taining the present establishments of sheep, cattle, 
 and horses; and that, annually, the colony drew 
 one-fourth, and sometimes one-third of their sup- 
 plies of wheat from foreign markets." As a matter 
 of course, therefore, the committee recommended 
 " that immigration should be continued yearly to 
 the extent of the whole revenue arising from Crown
 
 MR. ELLIOT'S APPOINTMENT. 175 
 
 lands." As the minor recommendations of the 
 committee did not become the subject of any cor- 
 respondence with the colonial department, and, as 
 the attention of the colonists was soon occupied by 
 the arrival, in rapid succession, of emigrant vessels 
 sent out by government, it will be unnecessary to 
 detain the reader by any further account of 
 them. 
 
 In the year 1837, the number of immigrants 
 who arrived in the colony without bounty was eight 
 hundred and seventy-one; those who received 
 assistance from government amounted to two thou- 
 sand six hundred and sixty-four ; and the amount 
 of pecuniary assistance given by government was 
 36,219. 3s. \d. As yet, therefore, but little 
 had been done : the machinery, however, was now 
 fully in operation, and the returns of the ensuing 
 years will show a very different result. The appoint- 
 ment of Mr. Elliot, to the office of Agent-General 
 for Emigration, seems to have been attended with 
 most important advantages. To strong natural 
 judgment and benevolence of disposition, that gen- 
 tleman added the most accurate habits of business, 
 and, which was of still greater consequence, an ex- 
 tensive acquaintance with colonial affairs. In fact, 
 from the date of Mr. Elliot's appointment, the his- 
 tory of immigration may be said to commence ; all 
 that passed before having been merely experi- 
 mental.
 
 176 MINOR DETAILS. 
 
 It would extend this section far beyond the 
 limits which are necessarily assigned to it, if an 
 attempt were made to give even an outline of 
 the various schemes proposed, and successively 
 tried, for the conveyance of the immigrants, and 
 for their management during the voyage. The 
 details of shipping arrangements, of charter-parties, 
 provision-contracts, scales of victualling, &c., &c., 
 though matters of great importance to those 
 practically engaged in the business of immigration, 
 do not appear to fall within the province of 
 the historian, whose business is rather to watch 
 the results of social experiments, than to consider 
 the trifling details which do not affect the genera! 
 result. It has also been thought proper to omit 
 any accounts of the different methods adopted 
 by different Surgeons-Superintendent, for the 
 proper management of the emigrants during their 
 voyage, for though such particulars might be 
 interesting, they are not of importance to the 
 main subject, and would necessarily occupy a large 
 space. It is not to be concealed, however, that 
 the moral character of many of the immigrants, 
 especially after the discontinuance of the govern- 
 ment system, and their consequent utility to the 
 colony, were very materially affected by circum- 
 stances connected with the voyage ; and statements 
 will be presented in the sequel which will be 
 read with painful interest, and at the same time,
 
 CONDITIONS. 177 
 
 it is to be hoped, not without a prospective 
 advantage. 
 
 It has been already intimated, that immigration 
 was carried on, both directly by the government 
 agents in the United Kingdom, in vessels chartered 
 by government, and superintended by surgeons 
 of the Royal Navy ; and by private individuals, who 
 fitted out vessels at their own cost, and procured 
 emigrants by their own agents, who were superin- 
 tended by surgeons, appointed by the owners, and for 
 whom they were allowed bounties, provided they 
 were of a proper description, and in accordance with 
 the government regulations as to age, condition 
 in life, &c. If the immigrants on arrival were 
 found to exceed the prescribed age, or if the 
 written certificates and testimonials, which the 
 importers were required to produce, were found 
 to be at variance with the statements of the im- 
 migrants themselves, the bounties in every suck 
 case were withheld. The bounty also was not 
 paid for such as died during the passage ; in fact, 
 only for such persons of the proper description, 
 as were actually produced before the Colonial 
 Examining Board. The importers were also 
 obliged to show that the provisions and water 
 were good and sufficient, and that due precautions 
 had been used for securing the health and comfort 
 of the passengers during the voyage. The numbers 
 of immigrants brought out under these systems 
 
 i 3
 
 178 ARRIVALS IN 1838. 
 
 respectively during the year 1838, in addition to 
 those who came out on their own resources, were 
 as follows : 
 
 T . ,. , fMale 1126 
 
 Immigrants m ships char- I Female 
 
 tered by government. ^ Chudren 225g 
 
 - 4480 
 
 Immigrants in private ships, f Male 566 
 on whom bounties were< Female 577 
 paid. [Children 479 
 
 - 1622 
 fMale 851 
 
 Unassisted . . . . < Female 362 
 (.Children 265 
 
 - 1478 
 
 Total .... 7580 
 
 The Committee of the Legislative Council, ap- 
 pointed in 1838, consisted of the Right Reverend 
 the Lord Bishop of Australia, the Auditor-General, 
 Mr. Blaxland, Mr. Me Arthur, and Sir John Jami- 
 son. The labours of this committee were of 
 the greatest value, and their report, which was 
 prepared by the Right Reverend Chairman, is a most 
 able and instructive document. It will be neces- 
 sary to glance briefly at one or two of the topics 
 alluded to in the report. The urgent demand for 
 labour is most prominently set forth. Among all 
 the witnesses examined, and among those who 
 sent replies to the circular-letter of the committee, 
 not one was found who did not complain of a 
 deficiency, and urge the strongest measures for its 
 removal. This urgent demand also existed at
 
 DIMINUTION IN LAND REVENUES. 179 
 
 a time when the colony was suffering under a 
 a severe drought, which had raised the price of 
 grain to an extreme height, and which deterred 
 many of the settlers from proceeding with those 
 improvements, which they might otherwise have 
 been desirous to commence. 
 
 The report next proceeds to notice the means 
 arising within the colony for rectifying the dis- 
 proportion between the demand for, and the supply 
 of labour. The principle that the net revenues 
 arising from Crown lands should be applied 
 to this purpose is strongly insisted on, and 
 the allowance of any deviation from this principle 
 earnestly deprecated. But a more important 
 subject had been forced on the attention of the 
 committee by the financial minute of Sir George 
 Gipps for that year, in which the following passage 
 occurred : 
 
 "The land revenue has hitherto in every year, 
 much exceeded the amount spent in the same year 
 on immigration ; consequently there has been in every 
 year, since 1831 (the year in which the land revenue 
 first began to assume importance) a considerable 
 balance carried to the general account of the 
 colony. The reverse, however, of this may be 
 expected to be the case in the present year: the 
 land revenue during the first six months of it has 
 amounted only to the sum of 31,662. 105. 9 d. 
 and estimating the revenue for the other six at 
 the same sum, we shall have only the sum of
 
 180 APPLICATION OF LAND FUND. 
 
 63,325. Is. 6d. to meet our expenditure on immi- 
 gration, which, as far as we can at present judge, 
 will not fall far short of 100,000 ; so that at the 
 end of the present year, instead of having any thing 
 to transfer to the common revenue of the colony, 
 there will be a balance the other way of probably 
 37,000, which must be taken from the accumu- 
 lated fund of our savings." 
 
 The circumstance. thus disclosed by his Excel- 
 lency, caused the committee to express a strong 
 opinion upon the desireableness of removing all 
 ambiguity respecting the correct application, for 
 the future, of the revenue. They conceived " it 
 would not be difficult to make a final arrangement 
 as to the charges which shall be sustained by the 
 land revenue,* which, as being founded upon 
 equitable principles, would be received without 
 objection ; while the security thus afforded of the 
 appropriation, to purposes of emigration, of the 
 surplus remaining after such charges had been 
 met, could not fail to inspire the colony at large 
 with confidence and satisfaction." The anticipated 
 deficiency, however, alluded to by his Excellency, 
 
 * For the sake of convenience it may be here men- 
 tioned, that the charges now decided to belong to the land 
 fund are, 1st. The collection and management of the 
 fund. 2nd. A charge of 15 per cent, on account of the 
 Aborigines, the original possessors of the soil from which 
 the wealth of the colony is derived. And, lastly, immi- 
 gration.
 
 A LOAN RECOMMENDED. 181 
 
 had only j ustified the apprehensions entertained by 
 the most experienced of the colonists, on the rise 
 in the minimum price of Crown lands ; and though 
 the high price obtained for land in the newly- 
 opened district of Port Phillip might relieve those 
 apprehensions for a time, still it was questionable, 
 " whether the returns from the sale of land would 
 prove so invariable from year to year, as always 
 to supply exactly the amount which it might be 
 thought desirable at any particular time to devote 
 to the promotion of immigration." With a 
 view, therefore, of keeping up the extent of 
 immigration for some years, to a certain annual 
 amount, the committee reported generally in 
 favour of a proposal that money should be 
 raised by way of loan, secured upon the unsold 
 Crown lands, or upon the general revenues of 
 the colony. In reply to the objections which might 
 be raised to the creation of a public debt, the 
 committee direct attention to the difference between 
 borrowing on the general resources of a country, 
 and borrowing on the credit of real property known 
 to be of more than commensurate value. The 
 object for which the debt was to be created was 
 also of importance ; as there was a vast difference 
 between borrowing for the military or political 
 service of a nation, and for expenditure upon 
 territorial impr/vement, every pound of which 
 must necessarily be returned with increase. Besides 
 which, it appeared not improbable, that the intro-
 
 182 COMPARISON OF 
 
 duction of so extended a population would itself 
 so enhance the value of Crown lands, that the 
 difference would more than defray the interest 
 of the loan, the gradual discharge of which was 
 proposed to be provided for by a sinking fund 
 of one per cent. 
 
 The proposal to raise a loan of the character 
 alluded to, to the extent of 2,000,000, for the 
 introduction of one hundred thousand immigrants 
 in eight years, was very generally approved 
 throughout the colony, as was evidenced by 
 a letter, addressed to the committee by a large 
 number of gentlemen deeply interested in the 
 prosperity of the colony, and strongly urging 
 the necessity for the measure. The committee 
 declined specially recommending any particular 
 amount to be raised by way of loan, but suggested 
 that in the event of the project being authorized 
 by the imperial government, the gross produce of 
 the loan should be appropriated to the purposes 
 for which it was raised, and that all expenses 
 connected with it should be defrayed out of the 
 general revenue of the colony. 
 
 With respect to the comparative merits of the 
 two modes which had been adopted for the intro- 
 duction of immigrants, it had been found that the 
 bounty system was considerably less expensive 
 than the other. The Appendix to the Report 
 of the Committee contains, among other valuable 
 returns, a table, showing the cost of outfit and
 
 GOVERNMENT AND BOUNTY SYSTEMS. 183 
 
 victualling of eleven government ships, from 
 January 1, 1837, to June 30, 1838, with a 
 statement of what the cost would have been 
 of conveying the same individuals under the 
 bounty system, and it appears that the saving 
 to the colony would have exceeded 10,000 on 
 the introduction of three thousand and thirty- 
 three persons. This excess of expenditure on 
 the part of the government ships did not appear 
 to be accounted for by their superiority in point 
 of ventilation, cleanliness, or attention to the 
 security or morals of the passengers. In both 
 classes of vessels some additional regulations ap- 
 peared called for in reference to all these matters ; 
 but the question of expense seemed so far decided, 
 as to warrant the leaving the future business of 
 immigration to private enterprise. 
 
 Some inconvenience had been felt from the 
 introduction of so large a proportion of children 
 as had already arrived, many of whom being 
 infants, were a burden on the employers of their 
 parents ; and it was thought advisable to propose 
 in future a modification in the scale of bounties, 
 so as to discourage the emigration of very young 
 children, " and contrariwise to hold out greater 
 advantages to persons who are not encumbered 
 with such large families." The committee also 
 recommended that immigrants arriving under the 
 bounty system, should have the same advantages 
 with respect to maintenance on arrival as were 
 allowed to those arriving in government ships.
 
 184 SICKNESS AND MORTALITY. 
 
 The report concludes with a very animated appeal 
 on the necessity of providing the means of reli- 
 gious instruction for the population, which was 
 in this manner dispersed through the interior. 
 
 With reference to the subject of the greater 
 expense of government emigration, his Excellency 
 appointed a Board, on the 5th of December, 1838, 
 with instructions to inquire both into that question ; 
 and also the greater degree of sickness which had 
 prevailed on board ships freighted by government. 
 On the latter point, the Board reported, that the 
 sickness and mortality which had prevailed on 
 board the government ships, seemed attributable : 
 1st. To the number of children embarked, which 
 amounted in many cases to more than half of the 
 whole number of passengers. 2nd. To the un- 
 suitableness of the dietary, particularly of that 
 provided for children. 3rd. To the circumstance 
 of the emigrants being embarked without the 
 previous acquaintance of the Surgeons-Super- 
 intendent, many diseased persons by this means 
 contriving to get on board, and causing subsequent 
 epidemics. On the subject of expense, the Board 
 professed themselves unable to discover any items 
 in the outlay for government ships which could 
 conveniently be reduced ; and the only mode, in 
 which it appeared to them that any saving could 
 be effected in that important branch of the public 
 service, was the entire abolition of the system 
 of chartering and fitting out vessels, and leaving 
 that part of the business entirely to private
 
 BOUNTY RAISED. 185 
 
 individuals, the emigrants, however, being still 
 selected by government agency. 
 
 The superiority of the bounty system was more 
 abundantly manifested in the year 1839. Not 
 only was the expense shown to be reduced, but 
 the character of the immigrants, and general 
 suitability to the wants of the colony was found 
 to be of a much higher order than was to be 
 found in the immigrants brought out by govern- 
 ment vessels. With a view of rendering the 
 employment of introducing immigrants sufficiently 
 lucrative to ensure its being taken up to the 
 necessary extent, and pursued with the necessary 
 vigour, it was found expedient to raise the bounty 
 for male and female adults to 19 ; in considera- 
 tion of which the immigrants were to be allowed 
 to remain on board the vessel ten clear days 
 after their arrival, during which time they should 
 be provided with the same ration as was allowed 
 them at sea. 
 
 The committee appointed in 1839* renewed 
 the proposals for raising a loan on the security 
 of the land revenue, which had been made by 
 the committee of 1838. It had now been ascer- 
 tained, beyond a doubt, that the produce of that 
 
 * Of this committee, as well as of those appointed in the 
 three following years, the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of 
 Australia, was chairman, and to his pen we are indebted 
 for the very masterly reports which they presented to the 
 Legislative Council.
 
 186 ARRIVALS IN 1839. 
 
 revenue, in any one year, was not likely to be 
 of amount equal to the expenditure of that year 
 on account of immigration ; at the same time there 
 appeared no difficulty in the scheme of raising 
 a sum of money every year for eight years, (during 
 which it was supposed that a sufficient number 
 of immigrants might have been imported) the 
 interest to be paid out of the land revenue, and 
 a sinking fund being provided for the ultimate 
 redemption of the loan. 
 
 The history of immigration during the year 
 1839, presents no new feature for consideration; 
 it remains, therefore, only to give 
 
 A TABLE shewing the number of immigrants who 
 arrived in the colony during the year, whether 
 in government ships, on the bounty system, 
 or on their own resources : 
 
 
 f Males . . . 
 
 1514 
 
 In government ships < Females 
 [Children . . 
 
 1476 
 1993 
 4983 
 
 In private 
 bounty . 
 
 ,. f Males . . . 
 ships onl Femaleg m f 
 
 ' ' ' [Children . . 
 ["Males . . . 
 
 1019 
 1040 
 859 
 
 001 
 
 1513 
 
 Unassisted 
 
 . . < Females 
 
 599 
 
 
 [Children . . 
 
 691 
 
 oqno 
 
 
 Total arrived in Sydney .... 10,704 
 
 Landed at Port Phillip from government ships 229 
 
 Ditto Ditto from private ships on bounty 485 
 
 Ditto Ditto unassisted 150 
 
 Grand Total. . 11,568
 
 COST TO THE COLONY. 187 
 
 To this Table it will, perhaps, be convenient 
 to add the following : 
 
 STATEMENT OF OUTLAY. 
 
 . s. d. 
 
 Amount of charters for government ships 54,370 19 2f 
 Provisions, outfits, &c., for ditto ditto 44,497 8 4 
 
 Total expense of government ships . 98,868 7 7 
 Total amount of bounties paid . . 48,758 
 
 Total cost to the colony .... 147,626 7 7 
 
 In the year 1 840, the demand for labour through- 
 out the colony appears to have been as intense as 
 ever, notwithstanding the great numbers of immi- 
 grants who had arrived.* No sooner had an 
 
 * " Under the pressing representations which have reached 
 them from every side, your committee have directed their 
 attention to every imaginable source of relief. Among other 
 propositions, that of introducing, for a limited time, some of 
 the Hill Coolies, from India, to serve as shepherds (in which 
 employment they are known to excel) has been revived. 
 Your committee are impressed with objections of consider- 
 able weight, which may be urged against this measure, and 
 could not, under any circumstances, recommend that any 
 bounties should be granted on the introduction of that race 
 of people. But they are compelled, unwillingly, to express 
 their opinion, that, under the pressure of severe necessity, 
 and every other resource having failed, it would be ad- 
 visable to revoke the prohibition which is now in force 
 against the employment of the Coolies, for a limited period, 
 by colonists, who might be willing to introduce them at their
 
 188 THE 'JAMES PATTISON.' 
 
 emigrant ship arrived, than the liveliest anxiety 
 was displayed to obtain servants and labourers of 
 every description, and before a week had elapsed, 
 every soul who had arrived was provided for, 
 though in some cases the employer was compelled 
 to supply rations to a large family of children, in 
 order to obtain the sendees of the father. With 
 reference to one ship in particular, the ' James 
 Pattison,' which arrived from Gravesend on the 
 5th of February, 1840 though some fears had 
 been entertained in England, previously to her 
 departure, that the drought and other causes, 
 which oppressed the colony at the time, would 
 prevent the speedy hiring of the immigrants 
 Mr. Denham Pinnock, the Resident Agent for 
 Immigration positively stated, that, " so great was 
 the demand for labour, it was with great difficulty 
 he could prevent persons from engaging the immi- 
 grants before disembarkation." 
 
 That well known punster and caricaturist, Mr. 
 
 own charge, and who would give security for their return to 
 their native country, at the expiration of their covenanted 
 terms of service." Report of the Immigration Committee, 
 1840. 
 
 " Every department of industry is cramped ; and no 
 undertaking, public or private, can be prosecuted, except 
 at an immense expense ; owing to the exorbitant rate of 
 wages, and the inconceivable difficulty in procuring work- 
 men, servants, or mechanics, upon any terms whatever." 
 Ibid.
 
 HIRING SERVANTS. 189 
 
 Thomas Hood, has made one of his most successful 
 jeux-d'esprits in a letter, supposed to be written by 
 a domestic servant, on her arrival in Sydney by an 
 emigrant ship. She represents the demand for 
 servants to have been so great, that employers 
 came off to the ship in boats, and attempted to 
 engage them by means of speaking-trumpets ;* and 
 that a number of afflicted bachelors made a similar 
 experiment in the hope of obtaining wives. 
 Whether matrimonial speculations were ever really 
 commenced in this manner, it becomes not the 
 Historic Muse to sing ; but Mr. Hood was probably 
 little aware, that, so far as the engagement of 
 servants was concerned, his lively fancy had not 
 outstripped the strict limits of reality, and that the 
 scene which he had conjured up for the amusement 
 of the laughter-loving circles of England, was 
 veritably enacted, with all the accompaniments of 
 dress and decoration peculiar to the performances, 
 in the harbour of Port Jackson. 
 
 * Not long ago, we went ourselves in a boat with a lady 
 to engage a " housemaid." The ship was surrounded by 
 so many anxious parties, that the lady found it impossible 
 to get on board. We therefore left her, and went on deck ; 
 and the government agent caused several girls to get over 
 the ship's side to the " quarter-gallery," whence they were 
 inspected by the lady from below, and an eligible one agreed 
 with by " dumb motion," for from the height of the ship, 
 and the confusion on board, not a word that one said, could 
 be heard by the other.
 
 190 IMMIGRATION ABANDONED. 
 
 It will be unnecessary in this place to refer 
 to those discussions which agitated the public mind, 
 during this and the succeeding years, respecting 
 the extent to which the land revenue was affected 
 by the mode in which the sales were effected, and 
 the proceeds applied. These points, it is hoped, 
 have been fully noticed in the previous section, 
 and it is only necessary now to add that the appli- 
 cation of the net revenues to immigration was this 
 year decided by the appointment of the Colonial 
 Land Board, with instructions to superintend " the 
 sale in England of waste lands in the colonies ; and 
 the application of the proceeds to the removal of 
 emigrants."* 
 
 In this year the system of government immi- 
 gration was abandoned,! which occasioned a dimi- 
 nution in the arrivals. The last vessel with 
 government immigrants was the ' Glenhuntly,' 
 which arrived in Port Phillip on the 1 4th of April. 
 The following table shows the general results. 
 
 * In the Report of the Committee of the Legislative 
 Council appointed in 1840, the subject of a loan was not 
 mentioned, the land revenue for that year presenting so very 
 favourable an aspect. Its gross amount was 316,626. 7s. 5d. 
 one sale alone having realized, in the Port Phillip district, 
 104,000. 
 
 fThe discontinuance of government immigration deprivec 
 the colony of the services of Mr. Elliot, the London Agent 
 General for Immigration, whose services had been of the 
 greatest value, and the loss of which were deeply regretted.
 
 ARRIVALS IN 1840. 191 
 
 
 r Males . . 
 
 . 444 
 
 In government ships 
 
 < Females . . 
 
 . 442 
 
 
 (.Children . 
 
 . 481 
 
 
 
 1367 
 
 In private ships on 
 bounty .... 
 
 {Males . . 
 Children . 
 
 . 1471 
 . 1612 
 . 826 
 
 
 
 9000 
 
 
 f Males . . 
 
 . 824 
 
 Unassisted .... 
 
 < Females . . 
 
 . 285 
 
 
 (.Children . 
 
 . 188 
 
 
 
 1297 
 
 
 6573 
 
 Arrived in Port Phillip in government 
 
 ship 153 
 
 Ditto ditto bounty . . .1268 
 
 Unassisted 543 
 
 1964 
 
 Total number of immigrants for 1840 . . 8537 
 To this may be added a 
 
 STATEMENT OF OUTLAY. 
 
 . s. d. 
 
 Amount of charters for government ships . 15,807 13 
 Provisions, outfits for ditto, &c 10,38410 8 
 
 Total expense of government ships . 26,192 3 11 
 Amount of bounties, including gratuities 
 
 to surgeons 84,737 7 6 
 
 Total cost to the colony* . . . 110,929 11 5 
 The principal circumstance in the history of 
 
 * It appears from the Financial Minute of his Excellency 
 for 1841, that the actual cost for immigration for 1840 was 
 148,314. 17s. ; the above return not including expences on 
 account of the ' Glenhuntly,' the ' James Pattison, and the 
 ' Crescent,' with probably some other items.
 
 192 PROPOSAL TO ISSUE DEBENTURES. 
 
 immigration for the year 1841, which demands 
 attention, is the proposal by his Excellency, Sir 
 George Gipps, of a bill to secure, on the ordinary 
 revenue of the colony, the payment of debentures 
 issued to meet the expenses of immigration. The 
 proposal is contained in a Minute by his Excel- 
 lency to the Legislative Council, dated November 
 30, 1841, and as it contains a very clear expo- 
 sition of the state of the land revenue, the main- 
 spring of immigration, no apology is offered for the 
 introduction of copious extracts. It will be in the 
 recollection of the reader, that in the years 1838 
 and 1839, the Immigration Committee succes- 
 sively recommended the raising of a loan, in order 
 that the progress of immigration might not be 
 retarded by any fluctuations in the land revenue. 
 These recommendations had been supported by 
 Resolutions of Council, in the years 1838, 1839, 
 and 1840, strongly expressive of concurrence in 
 the principles of the recommendations of the com- 
 mittee. In 1841, a similar resolution was passed 
 by the Council, the concluding paragraph of which 
 ran as follows : 
 
 " And this Council, therefore, guarantees to the 
 utmost of its ability, a speedy re-imbursement of 
 such sums as the government may find it neces- 
 sary to advance in anticipation, towards promoting 
 an object of such vital importance." 
 
 In consequence, however, of the continued suf- 
 ficiency of the land fund, it had never been found
 
 RAISING FUNDS. 193 
 
 necessary to press the matter farther, Sir George 
 Gipps having all along considered a loan as the 
 last resource, having little faith in calculations of 
 redemption, or of sinking funds ; and not unjustly 
 apprehending " that it would be extremely difficult 
 to administer the government of the colony with 
 proper economy, in the midst of the fictitious 
 wealth which would be produced by a loan." The 
 subject, however, being pressed on his Excellency's 
 attention, he at length sent to the Home Govern- 
 ment a proposal for raising money,* to which 
 no answer had been received at the date of the 
 Minute above mentioned, the Home Government 
 having probably not imagined that the prosperity 
 of the land revenue in 1840 was the flash of the 
 taper previous to its sinking into darkness. In 
 the meantime, the pressure of the demand for 
 labour had been such, that (the government system 
 
 * The proposal was to this effect : That the British Trea- 
 sury should continue to make advances, as before, for such 
 emigration expenses as were to be provided for in England, 
 without pressing for immediate repayment into the military 
 chest of the colony ; and further, that his Excellency should, 
 in case of necessity, be authorized to receive advances in the 
 colony from the military chest, to any amount not exceed- 
 ing 10,000 at any one time, or 100,000 in a year. The 
 plain effect of the arrangement would have been, that the 
 British Treasury would have been the creditors of the colony 
 for the first instalment of a loan, and the colony would have 
 been kept out of the money market until that instalment 
 (which was to be limited to 125,000) had been exhausted. 
 VOL. I. K
 
 194 THE GOVERNOR'S DESPATCH. 
 
 having been abandoned) it had been found neces- 
 sary to extend the bounties, so as to induce a 
 greater number of persons to engage in the business 
 of importing immigrants. It may be necessary to 
 mention, that up to 1 840, the bounty system had 
 been carried on almost entirely by one individual 
 in England (Mr. Marshall). The sequel may be 
 told in the words of his Excellency. 
 
 " This measure had the desired effect ; numerous 
 applications for permission to import immigrants 
 were addressed to the local government, and were 
 very generally complied with, it being considered 
 next to impossible that immigrants could arrive 
 in the colony within the two years for which the 
 permissions were granted, faster than the colony 
 would require them. Even if the emigrants them- 
 selves could be obtained, it was considered that 
 ships to convey them to the colony could not be 
 procured, without so raising the cost of freight and 
 conveyance, as to make the speculation on the 
 part of the importers an unprofitable one. Towards 
 the end, however, of 1840, circumstances occurred, 
 which induced me to look with some anxiety on 
 the extent to which I had, on the part of the 
 government, made engagements for the payment of 
 bounties on immigrants ; and I determined shortly 
 afterwards to issue no more unconditional promises 
 of bounties." 
 
 After alluding to the extraordinary amount of
 
 FAILURE OF LAND FUND. 195 
 
 the land revenue in 1840, the first ten months 
 having produced thelarge sum of 313,628. 18s. \d. 
 His Excellency proceeds : 
 
 " In the month of November, these flattering pros- 
 pects began gradually to fade away. By instructions 
 under the sign manual which have been published, 
 both in England and the colony, I was prohibited 
 from opening the new lands on the Clarence River, 
 and at Moreton Bay, to which I had looked con- 
 fidently for a large accession of revenue. I was 
 equally prohibited from selling land in the county 
 of Macquarie, in which good lands remain unsold 
 to a greater extent than in any of the counties 
 which now form the middle district of the colony. 
 In carrying into effect the same instructions, I also 
 found myself forced to reserve from sale the most 
 
 valuable lands in the Port Phillip district In 
 
 the months, moreover, of October and November, 
 1840, the first appearances disclosed themselves of 
 that commercial distress, which has since fallen so 
 heavily on the colony ; and which, by creating a 
 great scarcity of money, has greatly diminished the 
 ability of the colonists to purchase land." 
 
 " The revenue derived from the sale of land in 
 the whole of the year 1840 was 316,626. 7*. 5d; 
 that of the eleven months already elapsed, in 1841, 
 is only 84,145. 5s. 7d. Meanwhile the impulse 
 given to the bounty system in March 1840, has 
 been producing its full effect, and an effect even 
 greater than was expected from it, as the freight 
 
 K 2
 
 196 IMMIGRATION CHECKED. 
 
 of vessels from the United Kingdom to Australia 
 does not seem to have increased in the ratio that 
 was anticipated, in consequence of so largely 
 increased a demand ; a circumstance, which is, I 
 believe to be attributed to the depressed state of 
 commerce at home, and particularly of the trade 
 between England and America. 
 
 " The total number of immigrants introduced on 
 bounty into the colony was, in 1840, 6697 ; and 
 
 in 1 84 1, up to the present date, it is 1 6,6 12 
 
 If every thing due for immigration were now paid, 
 the money now remaining in our treasury for the 
 service of every department of government would 
 be under 60,000. 
 
 " On the 1 1 th of September last, I issued a 
 circular notice to all persons who had received 
 conditional promises of bounty, warning them that 
 it was very probable, the government would not 
 be in a condition to pay them. This notice will, 
 it may be presumed, have the effect of greatly 
 checking immigration; and in issuing it, I could 
 not but feel apprehensive, that it might have this 
 effect to a greater degree than would be salutary to 
 the colony. 
 
 " The plan which I propose is, that the deben- 
 tures, to be issued for the support of immigration, 
 shall be secured on, and paid out of the ordinary 
 revenue of the colony, if not satisfied within three 
 years out of the land fund. That the debentures, 
 as also the interest on them, not exceeding the
 
 REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 197 
 
 rate of six per cent per annum, shall be payable 
 in London ; and that none shall be issued for any 
 other purpose than immigration, nor until the 
 funds in the local treasury shall be less than 
 50,000; that none shall be issued after the 31st 
 of December, 1842; and that the total sum 
 for which they are issued shall never exceed 
 200,000." 
 
 The measure, thus proposed by his Excellency, 
 was referred to a Sub-Committee of the Legislative 
 Council, whose report takes a masterly view of the 
 financial condition of the colony. The following 
 extracts are of great importance, and notwith- 
 standing their length, will be read with interest. 
 
 "There remained to the committee no other 
 course than to adopt one of two propositions : to 
 adhere to the measure proposed by his Excellency 
 the Governor, or to issue debentures for circulation 
 in the colony at eight per cent, per annum, for one 
 or two years certain ; but with liberty to use them 
 at any time during that period in payment for 
 land. With the available balance still remaining 
 in the treasury, and the proceeds of the bills to be 
 drawn against the amount due from the colony of 
 New Zealand,* to meet immediate payments, your 
 committee have no doubt that sufficient further 
 funds would be obtained, as from time to time 
 
 * This alludes to the sum of 40,000 which had been 
 advanced from the land fund of New South Wales to 
 establish British authority in the islands of New Zealand.
 
 198 REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 
 
 may be required, by the issue of such debentures 
 in periodical instalments. Your committee have 
 been induced to recommend this latter mode of 
 raising the necessary funds in preference to the 
 course provided for in the bill, from a persuasion 
 that, under all the circumstances of the case, it will 
 be the most beneficial for the public ; it will not 
 interfere at this crisis so materially with the course 
 of exchange, to the disadvantage of settlers, and 
 others drawing against their shipments of wool 
 and other produce; and it will avoid any chance 
 of prejudicing in England the more extensive 
 measure of a loan in aid of immigration, as 
 recommended in a subsequent part of this report. 
 If debentures be issued for circulation in the 
 colony, secured on the land revenue, it will not be 
 requisite to secure them also on the ordinary 
 revenue ; and, in such case, any act of the local 
 legislature, would, in the opinion of your com- 
 mittee, be unnecessary. 
 
 " Your committee have directed their attention, 
 with some anxiety, to the effect which is produced 
 on the monetary affairs of the colony, by the 
 immediate payment of large sums to the British 
 ship-owner and provision merchant for the passage 
 of emigrants, and which must be remitted to 
 Great Britain, thus materially adding to the already 
 large balance of trade against this colony. There 
 is no doubt that eventually the effect of the impor- 
 tation of labour will be to create capital to a far
 
 REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 199 
 
 greater extent than the amount paid for its intro- 
 duction, but in the meantime the withdrawal of 
 that capital must be materially felt. 
 
 " The effect of this abstraction of capital would 
 have been much more injurious, but for the 
 operation of certain private companies, possessing, 
 at the time, British capital for investment in this 
 colony. Unless such a medium of remittance to 
 England, as is afforded by the drafts of these 
 companies had existed, the demand for bills to 
 remit the charges for immigration would have 
 been so great, that the rate of exchange would 
 have risen to a premium, until it became more 
 advantageous to import specie, which would have 
 been withdrawn from the colony, to the great 
 injury of its pecuniary resources. Such appears, 
 indeed, to have been the case in the year 1840, 
 when the diminution of coin, at the close of that 
 year, as compared with the end of the previous year 
 1839, was no less than 118,488. 2s. iOd. 
 
 " In the present year, up to the 30th of Sep- 
 tember last, there has, however, been an increase 
 of coin again of 37,601. 12s. 3d. which may 
 be accounted for by the large importations during 
 that period of British capital. The great incon- 
 venience arising from the present mode of paying 
 for immigration would be obviated in a great 
 measure, if not entirely, by raising a loan in 
 England, to supply the necessary funds, provided
 
 200 REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 
 
 that a period of several years were allowed for 
 paying it off, as in the mean time the productive 
 labour of the emigrants would have created the 
 means of liquidating the debt. According to 
 the present system, the payment is made, as it 
 were, in advance, the inevitable effect of which 
 is, to cripple the pecuniary resources of the colony, 
 at least for a time, and your committee consider 
 this as one of the prominent causes of the present 
 monetary depression. It is a matter of vital 
 importance to the best interests of the colony, 
 that a regular and copious stream of immigration 
 should be kept up, and experience has shown, 
 that, although the sale of land may be relied on 
 as the means of eventually yielding an adequate 
 fund, yet from its very uncertain annual amount, 
 it is not to be depended upon as the resource from 
 which the expenses of immigration can be imme- 
 diately and regularly provided for. Your Com- 
 mittee would, therefore, strongly recommend the 
 measure of a loan as proposed by the committee 
 of this council on immigration, which sat in 1838 
 and 1839." 
 
 The report of the committee was approved 
 by the council, and resolutions in accordance with 
 its suggestions were adopted. 
 
 The following extract from his Excellency's 
 financial minute, July 26, 1842, will show how 
 far his Excellency availed himself of the advice
 
 FINANCIAL MINUTE. 201 
 
 of the council. From that document, it appears 
 that the charges on the land fund for 1842, 
 exceeded the receipts by 292,065. 125. 9d. 
 
 " Moreover," says his Excellency, " during the 
 portion of the present year already elapsed, the 
 further sum of about 104,800 has been paid 
 on account of immigration, whilst the amount 
 derived from the sale of land in the half-year end- 
 ing the 30th of June last, was only 7,566. 15s. 9d. 
 In the address which I delivered to the council 
 on the first day of the present session, I stated 
 that this great expenditure, on account of immi- 
 gration, has not only exhausted our treasury, 
 but that, in order to meet its deficiency, I had 
 issued, or was prepared to issue, debentures to 
 the amount of 65,000. I have now, however, 
 the satisfaction of stating, that the amount of 
 debentures in circulation is only 49,500 ; and 
 that, though there are still some unclosed accounts, 
 both in the colony and in England, the outstand- 
 ing balance against us, on account of immigration, 
 is supposed to be under 10,000, and conse- 
 quently the whole deficiency of the land fund 
 is less than 60,000. On the other hand, the 
 government has balances in its favour at the 
 different banks in Sydney and Melbourne, which, 
 as nearly as the account can be made up to the 
 present day, amount to 39,000 ; and the expen- 
 diture of government, immigration being sus- 
 pended, is now well within its income." 
 
 K 3
 
 202 FINANCIAL MINUTE. 
 
 The extent to which immigration was carried 
 on during the year 1841 was unprecedentedly 
 great. The amount quoted in his Excellency's 
 financial minute of the following year as having 
 been expended on account of immigration, was 
 331,971. 9s. ; and the total number of persons 
 introduced on bounty was 19,523, besides 3677 
 unassisted immigrants. 
 
 The sudden and almost total extinction of the 
 land fund, which has been so fully elucidated 
 in the previous pages, induced Lord Stanley, in 
 the commencement of the year 1842, to suspend 
 further emigration on bounty orders. " However 
 desirable," observes his Lordship, in a despatch 
 to Sir George Gipps, dated February 8, 1842, 
 " it may be to keep up a continued supply of 
 emigrants to New South Wales, I cannot consent 
 to anticipate its land revenue for that purpose ; 
 and looking to the very large addition which 
 will have been made to its population in the 
 course of the past and commencement of the 
 present year, I am strongly inclined to believe 
 that the supply of labour furnished will have 
 been at least equal to the demand, or, at all 
 events, to such a demand as would realize the 
 fair expectations of the emigrants." 
 
 Immigration having been thus suspended, this 
 section might also have been closed, did it not 
 appear impossible to omit any notice of those 
 shameless frauds which marked the latter history
 
 FRAUDS PRACTISED. 203 
 
 of the bounty system. The evidence appended 
 to the Report of the Immigration Committee for 
 1842, discloses a history of fraud and forgery, 
 a system of personation, falsehood, and breach 
 of contract, which must be a standing disgrace 
 to every one concerned in it ; and the full exposure 
 of which, on every occasion which offers itself, 
 becomes the duty of all who are interested in 
 the permanent welfare of the colony. Out of 
 21,126 immigrants, who embarked as bounty emi- 
 grants, no less than 1395 were found ineligible 
 under the colonial regulations ; and it is presumed 
 that, had greater strictness been exercised, a still 
 larger number would have been found liable to 
 objection. The amount of bounty saved to the 
 colony was 22,567, being about four and a 
 half per cent, on the whole amount of bounties 
 claimed. 
 
 In order to make the frauds which were prac- 
 tised against the colony intelligible, it may be 
 necessary to mention, that every emigrant was 
 required, by the regulations of the London com- 
 missioners, "to furnish himself with a certificate 
 of health, age, character, and other requisite par- 
 ticulars, signed by a medical practitioner, and 
 by two householders of repute, which signatures 
 were certified either by a clergyman, or magistrate, 
 or both. These certificates, when duly prepared, 
 were sent to the office of the Colonial Land and 
 Emigration Commissioners, and there examined;
 
 204 MR. MEREWETHER'S EVIDENCE. 
 
 or in case any deficiency in the number of persons 
 embarking occurred on the eve of the sailing of 
 a vessel, the government agent, at the port of 
 embarkation, had the power of examining and 
 passing these certificates. It was the duty of 
 this last mentioned officer to inspect the emigrants 
 before their departure, and to compare their ap- 
 pearance and their own representations of them- 
 selves, with the statement on the face of their 
 certificates. If satisfied that the individuals were 
 such as they were represented to be, he allowed 
 them to embark, but not otherwise. 
 
 Notwithstanding these precautions, however, the 
 grossest deceptions were practised, and were either 
 not detected, or were suffered to escape detection, 
 by the agents at the different ports of embarkation. 
 Mr. Merewether, Resident Agent for Emigration, 
 and Chairman of the Immigration Board, by whom 
 the immigrants were examined before the bounties 
 were paid by government, speaking generally of 
 the immigrants who had arrived in the year 
 ending May 1842, says, "that neither physically 
 nor morally have they been of so good a descrip- 
 tion as might have been chosen, and as the colony 
 had a right to expect." In answer to the ques- 
 tion, " In what respect do you consider them 
 ill-selected?" he replies, " Many of the single 
 women have been, proved to be of notoriously 
 bad character; and many also to have been of 
 a class much above that prescribed by the regu-
 
 CASES OF FRAUD. 205 
 
 lations, and in every way unsuited to the present 
 demand in the colony. Amongst the men, the 
 immigrants whom I characterize as ill-selected, 
 have been a number of those imported under 
 the description of ' agricultural labourers,' which 
 appears to have borne in England a most com- 
 prehensive signification, and to have included 
 every grade of persons not mentioned in the 
 bounty regulations, from classical tutors, down 
 to lumpers and hodmen. I do not think that 
 one third of the number calling themselves agri- 
 cultural labourers were really such. 
 
 From a very large number of cases detailed in 
 evidence before the committee, a few may be quoted, 
 to show the peculiarly flagitious nature of some 
 of the frauds attempted : 
 
 1. " One woman, as appeared from her own 
 statements to the Board, had been induced, by a 
 clerk in the office of a sub-agent employed by a 
 ship-owner to collect immigrants, to pass herself 
 off as the wife of her own son ; and one berth had 
 been appropriated to herself and her son as man 
 and wife." 
 
 2. " Another woman, who came out as a single 
 female, was found to be a married woman, but dis- 
 carded by her husband, in consequence of bad con- 
 duct, and allowed 30 a year ; while on board, she 
 conducted herself as a common prostitute ; ' the 
 constable on board took no steps to prevent such 
 conduct, as she had an apartment of her own parti-
 
 206 CASES OF FRAUD. 
 
 tioned off from the other emigrants, for which 
 accommodation she paid the agent.' " 
 
 3. "It was a fact, that in more than one of the 
 ports of embarkation, parties connected with the 
 business of collecting and shipping emigrants, and 
 even some of those whose office called them to be 
 protectors of these poor people, actually provided 
 themselves with concubines from the emigrants, 
 whom they kept until the departure of the vessel, 
 when they were packed off, in many cases, en 
 famille." 
 
 4. " One man, stated in his certificate to be a 
 blacksmith, proved to be a ladies' shoemaker, and 
 was employed as such in Sydney ; this man stated 
 on oath that the certificate produced in his favour 
 * was filled up by a clerk in the selecting agent's 
 office ; that he knew nothing of the signatures 
 attached to the document, and that the signature 
 purporting to be his own was not written by him.' ' 
 
 5 . " Another flagrant case is thus detailed by 
 the immigrant himself. ' I went, accompanied by 
 
 my brother, to Mr. , the agent in ; he 
 
 told us we could go out as agricultural labourers, 
 on payment of 1 each; we got certificates from 
 him, to which we signed our names; we then 
 asked him if we were to get the other certificates ; 
 he said not, there was no use in putting us to that 
 trouble, as he would do all, if we paid 6d. for each 
 
 signature. Mr. put his own name down as 
 
 one of the respectable householders. The Thursday
 
 CASES OF FRAUD. 207 
 
 before we left, I went, accompanied by my mother, 
 
 brother, and sister to Mr. , the commissioner's 
 
 agent; on our way, Mr. , the clerk of the 
 
 selecting agent in , asked us if we knew the 
 
 names which were signed to our certificates. We 
 replied, we did not ; he then handed the certificate 
 to us, and desired us to see, as the commissioners' 
 agent might ask us. I never was an agricultural 
 labourer ; I was a clerk in a shipping office ; my 
 brother is a draper ; my sister was never in service ; 
 she left school to come out here as a bounty im- 
 migrant.' 5: 
 
 6, " The following account is given by another 
 immigrant, who applied to the selecting agent 
 
 in , for a passage : ' He told me a ship was 
 
 to sail in about a week, and that he would have a 
 certificate filled up for me, if I would let him have 
 6d. for the doctor. I do not know who the medical 
 
 man was, but I heard he used to attend at the 
 
 inn, for the purpose of signing certificates for per- 
 sons desirous of emigrating .... We were taken 
 before the commissioners' agent, for the purpose 
 of being passed by him. I had been previously pre- 
 pared for this interview by the selecting agent's 
 clerk, who directed me to give the following account 
 of myself : ' that my father was dead, and that my 
 
 mother had sailed for Australia in the . The 
 
 commissioners'*agent asked Mr. if my mother 
 
 had sailed, as was stated by me; and Mr. 
 
 said : she had, he believed. In the evening, the
 
 208 CASES OF FRAUD. 
 
 selecting agent's clerk came to the place where the 
 intending emigrants were lodging, and a conversa- 
 tion passed between him and me, with some others, 
 relative to the characters required. The clerk then 
 addressed himself to a young woman, and asked 
 her: if she had lived nowhere ? She replied, she had 
 lived with Mr. , but she could not get a cha- 
 racter from him, as he would not permit her to 
 start for Australia, if he knew such was her inten- 
 tion. He then requested me to write a character 
 for the girl in her late master's name, which I re- 
 fused to do, saying that it would be forgery. He 
 then asked a young gentleman standing near me 
 to write it for her. The young gentleman refused 
 to write a character for her in another's name, but 
 consented to write a copy of one according to the 
 clerk's dictation, which he (the clerk) said he would 
 transmit to Mr. , (the selecting agent at ano- 
 ther town) that he might put it into the post-office 
 there. The clerk said the one character would 
 answer all, (meaning me and the four others in- 
 cluded in the same certificate) and, therefore, re- 
 quired 10s. from me for the selecting agent in , 
 
 as a reward for posting the character ; adding, he 
 could not be expected to endanger himself without 
 obtaining some remuneration. I also gave him 2 
 to purchase things, he said, I should require on the 
 passage. I paid him 6 for the perfecting the 
 certificates, including my own name and those of 
 the other four.' "
 
 CASES OF FRAUD. 209 
 
 It is but right to state, that the " 6d. a signa- 
 ture" system alluded to in the foregoing state- 
 ments, was only proved to have existed in the case 
 of one house. The following abstract from the 
 Report of the Local Immigration Board, shows a de- 
 gree of systematic villany, which it is difficult to 
 contemplate without a shudder. 
 
 7. "The manner in which unmarried females 
 are represented to have been shipped, without refer- 
 ence to character or to qualifications, by the person 
 
 to whom Messrs. entrusted the selection of 
 
 the immigrants imported by them, during this 
 season, is so disgraceful, that we should have been 
 inclined to receive the statements made in the 
 course of our inquiries as exaggerated, but for the 
 
 affidavit of (see above, No. 4 ;) not that we 
 
 are surprised that but little attention has been paid 
 to character, in the selection of females ; but we 
 could not have supposed that the evil, found by us 
 to exist, was of so shameless and so base a cha- 
 racter. The statements to which we refer, are on 
 the evidence of four persons, from which we con- 
 sider the following facts to be fully established : 
 
 'That the clerk of , agent, has been more 
 
 than once heard to say, that so long as he got his 
 number of single women, he did not care if he took 
 them from the streets.' ' That the same clerk has 
 encouraged women of the worst character to emi- 
 grate under bounty permission.' ' That the same 
 clerk was in the habit of getting certificates pre-
 
 210 DISTRESS IN THE COLONY. 
 
 pared in a manner nearly approaching to forgery.' 
 One of the witnesses states, that ' all individuals 
 had to do, was to say that they would go, and this 
 clerk would make it right for them.' ' The same 
 clerk has been in the habit of directing single men 
 who applied for a passage, to obtain from the streets 
 or brothels, or whence mattered not, the requisite 
 appendage of an unmarried female.' ' 
 
 Such nefarious practices, as was only natural to 
 expect, aroused the warm indignation of the colo- 
 nists. It was true, that the pecuniary loss, in every 
 case of fraud which was discovered, fell upon the 
 importers ; but to say nothing of a large number 
 of cases, which were either not detected at all, or 
 not until some time afterwards, the presence in the 
 colony of so large a number of unsuitable persons 
 as were really discovered to have been imported, 
 was felt to be a serious evil. One mischievous 
 effect has been that a great number of tradesmen 
 have been for some time past crowding the streets 
 of Sydney, occasionally almost besieging govern- 
 ment house, and clamouring for employment ; while 
 the very presence of numbers of these persons is a 
 proof of the extent to which the fraud and forgery 
 of the selecting agents was carried. Humanity, 
 indeed, teaches us to feel for the sufferers, but it is 
 impossible not to recollect, that the colony was im- 
 posed on when the bounty was taken for them, and 
 that they were themselves participators in the im- 
 posture. It is undoubtedly true, that many virtuous
 
 MRS. CHISHOLM'S LABOURS. 211 
 
 persons are at present suffering from the depression 
 of the times, to whom these remarks cannot be 
 applied ; but this only places the mischief more 
 prominently in view; for it cannot but be felt 
 that the scarcity of employment of which they 
 complain is an obvious consequence of the unscru- 
 pulous and ruinous measures by which the labour 
 market, in some departments, has been overstocked. 
 With respect to the unmarried females, several 
 cases have transpired of a truly deplorable character. 
 Besides the actual number of undoubted prostitutes 
 who have been added to the colonial population, 
 numbers of young women were shipped, by the 
 instrumentality of such men as the clerk men- 
 tioned in the Report of the Immigration Board, 
 who, though not positively of bad character, were 
 totally unfit for the colony, and arrived on its shores 
 without any prospect of employment. There are, 
 at this moment, scores of well-educated young 
 women in Sydney, who were tempted to come out 
 by these kidnappers, unable to procure adequate 
 support; and though some of them honourably 
 struggle to earn a few miserable pence by their 
 needles, or by a paltry school, too many have been 
 driven by despair, and by the want of a home, to 
 the paths of shame and infamy.* 
 
 * In connection with this subject, it would be unpardon- 
 able to omit noticing the disinterested exertions made by 
 Mrs. Chisholm, in favour of the unprotected and friendless 
 females, who have latterly been landed in such numbers on 
 our shores. Alluding to the friendless females mentioned
 
 212 GRATUITIES REFUSED. 
 
 It were to be wished that this tale of deception and 
 mischief could be closed with the embarkation of 
 the immigrants. Unhappily, however, the disclo- 
 sures made respecting many of the ships, left no 
 room to doubt that, from the moment of the vessel 
 leaving the port of embarkation, it became a scene 
 of riot and debauchery of the most disgusting cha- 
 racter. In making a statement of this sort, it is 
 no more than just to give the names of those ves- 
 sels respecting which facts of this nature transpired, 
 and from the officers and surgeons of which the 
 usual gratuities were consequently withheld. It 
 appears from a return, appended to the Report of 
 the Immigration Committee for 1842, that gratui- 
 ties were either totally or partially withheld from 
 the officers and surgeons of the following ships : 
 ' Queen Victoria,' ' New York Packet,' ' Albatross,' 
 'Carthaginian,' 'Mathesis,' 'Agnes,' and 'Sir Charles 
 Napier. The only exception appears to have been, 
 
 in the text, Mr. Merewether, agent for Immigration, ob- 
 serves, in his report for 1841, that "this lady generously 
 came forward to rescue these poor creatures from ruin and 
 misery, and has, for the last seven months, single handed, 
 and at an entire sacrifice of time and comfort, been labour- 
 ing to obtain situations, for any, or all, who made applica- 
 tions to her. She has deserved my thanks in my official 
 capacity, and I am anxious thus to record them." It is 
 gratifying to add, that Mrs. Chisholm's active and disinter- 
 ested exertions on behalf of the unemployed poor of all 
 classes, continue unabated to this hour, and have caused her 
 name to be held in the highest reverence throughout the 
 colony.
 
 THE 'SIR CHARLES NAPIER.' 213 
 
 the surgeon of the ' Sir Charles Napier,' the master 
 of the 'Albatross/ and the subordinate officers 
 of the ' New York Packet,' ' Albatross ' and < Car- 
 thaginian.' Dr. Tierney, the surgeon and super- 
 intendent of the ' Sir Charles Napier/ deserves 
 honourable mention for the manly way in which he 
 appears to have come forward to expose the gross 
 frauds which had been practised in the shipment 
 of the emigrants, and the " immorality" which had 
 " prevailed to a disgraceful extent during the pas- 
 sage," and which he had in vain endeavoured to 
 repress. In consequence of Dr. Tierney's repre- 
 sentations, which were supported by the most 
 respectable of the immigrants, his Excelleney re- 
 fused to sanction the payment of any bounties on 
 the immigrants by the Sir ' Charles Napier.'* 
 
 It appears, however, that many ships were much 
 more scandalous in respect of morality than the ' Sir 
 Charles Napier.' The sale of spirits to the immi- 
 grants on board, was, in many cases, proved to have 
 been carried on to a shameful extent. On board the 
 ' Agnes/ one immigrant, whose certificate declared 
 him to be a " farm servant," was proved to have 
 been a purchaser of spirits, wine, tobacco, and pro- 
 visions, to the amount of 13. 4s. 9^d. Another 
 man, having exhausted his stock of money, was 
 allowed to continue to purchase unnecessaries, on 
 leaving his watch in the hands of the mate. On 
 board the ' Duke of Roxburgh/ several of the 
 
 * A portion of these bounties has since been paid by per- 
 mission of the Home Government.
 
 2 1 4 SURGEONS-SUPERINTENDENT. 
 
 unmarried females conducted themselves in a most 
 disorderly manner ; and it turned out, on inquiry, 
 that they had heen taken from the Newington 
 workhouse, and that some of them had undoubtedly 
 been prostitutes from an early age. 
 
 In their report, the committee very justly attri- 
 bute much of the immorality which prevailed on 
 board some of the ships to have arisen from the 
 appointment of men to the important office of 
 Surgeon-Superintendent, who, from their youth 
 and inexperience, were often totally unfit for the 
 control of a large number of persons. It was in 
 the hope of inducing gentlemen of the medical 
 profession, of superior qualifications, to engage in 
 the emigration service, that the committee of 
 1840 recommended the payment of a gratuity to 
 the Surgeon-Superintendent, amounting to 10s. 6d. 
 for each approved immigrant landed in the 
 colony. It was soon discovered, however, that 
 this provision had been perverted from its proper 
 design, and had gone to swell the profits of the 
 emigration agents, who were known to have re- 
 quired, in very many instances, a guarantee from 
 the surgeons, that they would pay a sum out of 
 their expected receipts for their own passage. In 
 some cases, the surgeon was even required to pay 
 for his passage before embarkation. Not unfre- 
 quently, in consequence of these arrangements, the 
 surgeons became participators in, or, at least, 
 silent spectators of the frauds of the agents; as they 
 were bound by the articles of their agreement, some
 
 SHOCKING CASE OF IMMORALITY. 215 
 
 of which the Local Board succeeded in procuring, 
 " to assist in passing the emigrants so as to procure 
 payment of the bounty." An instance occurred 
 in the case of the ' Queen Victoria.' The account 
 is taken from the Report of the Immigration 
 Board : 
 
 " The next case, that of J. C. and C. W. is one 
 in which, we regret to say, fraud is combined with 
 neglect. These parties appear to have been re- 
 ceived on board as man and wife, and according to 
 the surgeon's statement, they slept together for 
 some weeks, when they quarrelled, and declared 
 that they were not married. They were then sepa- 
 rated, and C. W. took her place among the single 
 women. Certificates were then fabricated on board, 
 under the direction of an individual, who acted 
 as attorney for the agents in London, and such 
 signatures as are usually attached to these docu- 
 ments were inserted. These certificates were de- 
 posited in the office without comment, and J. C. 
 and C .W. were passed by the Board as single peo- 
 ple of good character, without a remark from any 
 of those persons present who were aware of the 
 circumstances of the case, except that when C. W. 
 was found to be without the requisite protection, 
 the surgeon came forward and said, that she had 
 been under his special care." 
 
 In the case of one vessel, a person had been 
 appointed to the office of Surgeon- Superintendent, 
 who was grossly incompetent, both from profes- 
 sional incapacity, and irresolution of character, to
 
 216 ILL-TREATMENT OF EMIGRANTS. 
 
 discharge the duties of his responsible situation. 
 A surgeon was also sent out with another ship, 
 whose conduct appears to have been the subject 
 of severe animadversion. In a Report from the 
 Immigration Board, we find the following sentence : 
 " We must express our surprise, that a person 
 so ill-educated, and of so ill-regulated a mind, as 
 his letters to us show him to be, could have been 
 appointed to so responsible a situation, or that he 
 could ever have been in possession of such testi- 
 monials as would admit of his application for such 
 employment being entertained."* 
 
 Complaints were also made by immigrants 
 that they had been ill-treated in various ways by 
 the surgeons and officers ; one case, in particular, 
 was the subject of a trial before the Supreme 
 Court. A single female, who, though of a peevish 
 disposition, appears to have been of good moral 
 character, had, on two occasions, been brought 
 on deck and hand-cuffed, when buckets of water 
 were thrown upon her by the surgeon and the 
 captain; she had afterwards been kept on the 
 poop in her wet clothes until after eleven o'clock 
 at night. The only provocation alleged for this 
 inhuman treatment was some paltry dispute about 
 cleaning a mess-kid. The surgeon and captain 
 were imprisoned six months, and fined 50 each; 
 
 * On account of the bad conduct of the surgeon and 
 captain of the vessel referred to, and the insufficiency and 
 bad quality of the provisions, not only the gratuities of the 
 officers, but also the bounties, were refused.
 
 NEW SCHEME. 217 
 
 in addition to which their gratuities were withheld 
 by the government. 
 
 In consequence of such circumstances as have 
 now been mentioned, it became necessary to devise 
 some plan for the better regulation of immigration, 
 in the event of its being revived. It was accord- 
 ingly recommended that the ships employed in the 
 service should in future be provided, fitted out, 
 and victualled by contract ; one half of the contract 
 money to be advanced in England, and the other 
 half paid in the colony, on the surgeon's reporting 
 favourably as to the performance of the contract. 
 It was further recommended that the business of 
 selecting emigrants should be entrusted to officers 
 under the superintendence of the colonial land and 
 emigration commissioners, and paid by the colo- 
 nial government by head money on every approved 
 immigrant landed in the colony. And with regard 
 to the Surgeon-Superintendent, it was proposed by 
 the immigration agent, and recommended by a 
 committee of council, that he should be nominated 
 by the colonial land and emigration commissioners, 
 who should require certificates, not merely as to 
 the professional qualifications of the candidate, but 
 also as "to his character for humanity, decision, 
 uprightness, and self-respect." That, after nomi- 
 nation, he should be required to present himself 
 to the medical officers of the Board of Admiralty, 
 and that his final appointment should depend on 
 the report of those officers. 
 
 VOL. i. L
 
 2 1 8 TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 The subject of immigration will be resumed, 
 when the proceedings of the new Legislative 
 Council are brought under review. In the mean- 
 time, the reader's attention must be invited to 
 other subjects of importance connected with the 
 history of the period under consideration. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 DISCONTINUANCE OF TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 A History of Transportation, including details of 
 all the methods which have been adopted in the 
 American and Australian colonies to render it 
 efficacious as a secondary punishment, would form 
 an interesting and valuable work. Even an 
 attempt to give such details would be incompa- 
 tible with the limits of these volumes ; nevertheless, 
 the subject of transportation is one which at present 
 occupies so considerable a share of public attention, 
 that a mere account of the circumstances imme- 
 diately connected with its discontinuance would 
 hardly be regarded as satisfactory. It will be 
 proper, therefore, to give in this place a succinct 
 account of the great penal experiment which has 
 been instituted in New South Wales, and Van 
 Diemen's Land, in order to render intelligible the 
 inquiry which will subsequently arise, viz : 
 whether the circumstances which led to the dis- 
 continuance of transportation to the elder colony
 
 OBJECT OF TRANSPORTATION. 219 
 
 are inseparable from the nature of the" punish- 
 ment, or have been developed rather by the lax 
 and inefficient mode in which the punishment has 
 been administered? 
 
 This question, the importance of which cannot 
 be over-estimated, admits of a two-fold discussion, 
 according as transportation is viewed, as a mode 
 of punishment, or as an instrument of coloniza- 
 tion. The former view is more readily taken by 
 residents in Great Britain, the great majority of 
 whom consider transportation simply as an outlet 
 for the overflowing of the criminal population, its 
 punishment consisting chiefly in the exile from 
 country, and entire disruption of associations 
 which it involves. To persons of sensibility and 
 moderate education, this appears a truly dreadful 
 punishment, and nothing further is requisite to 
 convince such persons of its efficacy as a deterrent. 
 But besides the prevention of crime through the 
 operation of terror, which is the primary object of 
 all punishment, there is or ought to be, in the 
 institution of secondary punishments, another 
 object in view, viz : the restraint and ultimate 
 reformation of the criminal. It is in this latter 
 view of the subject that the free settlers in a penal 
 colony feel most deeply interested. 
 
 In order^to enable the reader, as far as possible, 
 to form an independent judgment on these ques- 
 tions, his attention is invited to the following 
 account of the mode in which the punishment of 
 
 L 2
 
 220 TRANSPORTATION TO AMERICA. 
 
 transportation has been adhibited in the only two 
 colonies where it has been tried on a large scale ; 
 premising only that the general principles pursued 
 both in New South Wales, and Van Diemen's 
 Land were the same ; the differences existing only 
 in minute details adopted by different Governors 
 which do not affect the main question. 
 
 In the act of the imperial parliament (4 Geo. I. 
 c. 1 1) the first trace of the system of transportation 
 is to be found. The preamble of this act recites 
 the great scarcity of labour which existed in his 
 Majesty's plantations in America, and provided 
 for the supply of this scarcity by the transport of 
 convicts from Great Britain.* The revolt of the 
 American colonies, in 1776, compelled the imperial 
 government to devise other schemes for the 
 disposal of criminals, and it appears from several 
 acts passed about that time, that government was 
 considerably perplexed on this matter. By one of 
 these acts (19 Geo. III. c. 74) provision was made 
 
 * Transportation to America was arranged in a very 
 different manner from that practised with respect to New 
 South "Wales. When government wished to get rid of a 
 number of convicts, parties were always found willing to 
 contract for then- transport, on condition of being allowed 
 to dispose of them among the settlers, who purchased their 
 services from the contractor, to which services they became 
 entitled until the term of transportation expired. Even if 
 the royal prerogative of mercy were extended to the criminal, 
 he could not avail himself of it, until his master was reim- 
 bursed for the sum he had originally paid for his services.
 
 EXTRACTS. 221 
 
 for the erection of two penitentiaries, for the 
 confinement of offenders convicted of crimes for 
 which transportation had been usually inflicted, 
 who were to be " ordered to solitary confinement 
 accompanied by well regulated labour and religious 
 instruction," a course of moral and physical 
 discipline, which it was hoped " might, under 
 Providence, be the means, not only of deterring 
 others from the commission of the like crimes, but 
 also of reforming the individuals, and inuring 
 them to habits of industry." 
 
 These passages quoted from the Act of 1779, 
 show that the legislators of that age were by no 
 means ignorant of the nature and legitimate design 
 of secondary punishments, though they doubtless 
 were not actuated by the sentimental philanthropy 
 of the nineteenth century, that more active kind, 
 of which the life of John Howard furnishes so 
 striking an example, being in greater repute ; and 
 it is a peculiarly instructive fact, that notwith- 
 standing the passing of this act, the penitentiaries 
 were never erected; the government having on 
 mature deliberation, decided, that transportation, 
 both as a deterrent, and as a reformant, was the 
 best secondary punishment that could be devised. 
 This decision certainly is not formally announced 
 in any statute ;* governments do not intentionally 
 
 * In a paper on secondary punishments, by D. D. Heath, 
 Esq., published in the appendix to the report of the trans- 
 portation committee of the House of Commons in 1837
 
 222 OBJECT IN VIEW. 
 
 place on record any evidence of their fallibility; 
 but that such was the general impression of 
 enlightened men at the close of the last century, 
 may be inferred from the satisfaction with which 
 the departure of the first fleet to the eastern shores 
 of Australia in 1787 was hailed by the British 
 public. This settlement was formed with a 
 threefold design, viz: 1st. To rid the mother country 
 of the presence of convicted criminals. 2nd. To 
 provide for the safe custody and punishment of 
 those criminals. And 3rd. To form a British 
 colony out of those materials which the reformation 
 of those criminals might gradually supply to the 
 government, in addition to the families of free 
 emigrants, who might, from time to time, be 
 induced to settle in the newly discovered territory. 
 
 the following passage occurs : " This short summary of 
 the history of transportation tends to show, that its adop- 
 tion does not rest upon any broad and deliberately sanctioned 
 principle ; that its origin was owing to that state of things 
 in the American plantations which led to the illegal kid- 
 napping of Europeans, and to the legalization of the slave 
 trade ; and that its continuance was forced upon government 
 against its wishes by the immediate pressure of events." 
 It is difficult to conceive that the author of such a passage 
 as this had any other intention than to throw dust into the 
 eyes of the public. He cannot mean seriously to assert, 
 that the foundation of this colony was forced upon govern- 
 ment against its wishes, or that the continued transportation 
 of criminals hither did not give a deliberate sanction to the 
 broad principle stated in the text.
 
 ADVANTAGES GAINED. 223 
 
 It must be admitted that the first of these objects 
 has been fully attained. 
 
 Transportation secures to the mother country 
 this advantage, above all other modes of punish- 
 ment, that the criminal is altogether removed 
 from the scene of his crimes, and gangs of thieves 
 are by this means often completely broken up. 
 With regard to the second and third, however, 
 it cannot be denied, that the designs of the 
 imperial government have not been realized to the 
 extent which might have been accomplished, had 
 the details of the system been well considered from 
 the first, instead of being evolved by the slow and 
 harassing operation of circumstances. 
 
 For many years after the foundation of the 
 colony, as the reader is already aware, convicts 
 were not sent from the mother country in greater 
 numbers than could be employed under the 
 immediate superintendence of government. By 
 degrees, however, the arrival of free settlers with 
 capital opened another field for the disposal of 
 the convicts, and the system of assignment insen- 
 sibly came into operation. Assignment, however, 
 was permitted only to a limited extent for many 
 years, government always retaining large numbers 
 for employment on public works and roads. 
 Almost all the great thoroughfares of the colony, 
 and many of our most useful public buildings, 
 were completed by convict labour, during the 
 administration of Governor Macquarie. The
 
 224 ASSIGNMENT. 
 
 mother country, however, began to perceive, that 
 the course which had been pursued was not likely 
 to effect the original design, and that in the 
 meantime, an enormous expense was incurred, in 
 return for which no advantage was received, 
 except the negative one of getting rid of her 
 redundant criminals. Accordingly, it was consi- 
 dered expedient to afford every facility to the 
 assignment system ; and, as has been mentioned 
 before, Sir Thomas Brisbane was empowered to 
 grant lands to free emigrants, of extent propor- 
 tionate to the number of convicts their capital 
 warranted them in undertaking to maintain. The 
 result of this facilitation of assignment was, that 
 in a very few years, the government had not a 
 single male convict to dispose of. 
 
 It will now be necessary to explain more parti- 
 cularly the system of assignment. 
 
 Though the imperial government had from the 
 first perceived the efficacy of transportation as a 
 punishment, it is nevertheless a remarkable 
 instance of oversight, that no provision was made 
 at the time when the first settlement was formed 
 in Australia, nor for some years afterwards, by Act 
 of Parliament, for securing the person or services 
 of the transported convicts.* By instructions from 
 
 * The old transportation Acts, which had been passed 
 with reference to America, could not apply to Australia. 
 In the latter country, there were no settlers waiting to 
 purchase the services of the convicts ; and instead of being
 
 THE CRIMINAL CODE. 225 
 
 the Secretary of State, indeed, the Governor was 
 authorized to employ the convicts according to his 
 discretion ; but the opinion of eminent lawyers has 
 been, that such employment by the Governor was 
 illegal, no authority but that of Parliament 
 extending to the life or personal liberty, even of 
 convicted criminals. The sentence pronounced by 
 the judge is, that the offender shall be transported 
 " to such other part of her Majesty's dominions 
 beyond the seas as her Majesty shall be pleased to 
 appoint," and the further disposal of the convict 
 was formerly left as a matter of official regulation, 
 though there can be no doubt, that on his arrival 
 in the colony, he was, legally, free to dispose of 
 himself as he pleased, being obliged only to 
 continue in banishment until the expiration of the 
 period named in his sentence. This defect in the 
 criminal code of Britain was remedied by the Act 
 of 5 Geo. IV, c. 84, commonly called the Transpor- 
 tation Act, which defines the power of the Secre- 
 tary of State to appoint a place within his Majesty's 
 dominions to which the convict shall be transported. 
 It further provides, that on his arrival in the 
 
 taken out by a contractor, who accepted the power of sale 
 of the convicts' services as an equivalent for the cost and 
 trouble of their transport, the convicts were, in the first 
 instance, sent out in charge of the Governor of the colony, 
 an officer who was not recognized in any Transportation 
 Act, in existence at that time, as having any control 
 over the services of the convicts. 
 
 L 3
 
 226 ASSIGNMENT BOARD. 
 
 country he shall be delivered over to the Governor, 
 who shall have a property in the services of such 
 convict, and who may assign such convict over 
 to any resident within the colony, who shall have 
 a like property in the services of the convict for 
 the term of his transportation, with a power of 
 assigning to any other person, with the assent of 
 the Governor, each assignee having a property in 
 the sendees of the offender. 
 
 The Assignment System having been thus 
 legalized, it began to be brought into very exten- 
 sive operation. A Board, consisting of several 
 government officers, was appointed, whose duty it 
 was to receive applications from parties desirous 
 of employing convict servants, and to assign these 
 convicts to the parties whose applications were 
 approved, on a scale in conformity with the 
 government regulations, according to the grant 
 of land they possessed, excepting of course those 
 who were assigned as domestic servants, in which 
 case no reference was made to land or property of 
 any kind. On the arrival of a transport, the port- 
 master proceeded in a boat, and boarded the 
 vessel, examined into the state of the prisoners on 
 board, and left strict instructions prohibiting any 
 intercourse whatever with the shore. On his 
 return, the Colonial Secretary, accompanied by a 
 medical officer, proceeded on board, and inquired 
 into all particulars connected with the convicts, 
 who were drawn up for his inspection, and espe-
 
 ASSIGNMENT BOARD. 227 
 
 cially whether there were any complaints, either 
 on the part of the convicts, or on the part of the 
 Master, the Surgeon-Superintendent, or the officer 
 of the military guard. The Colonial Secretary 
 then returned to the shore, and reported to the 
 Governor. He was accompanied or followed by 
 the Surgeon-Superintendent, who presented the 
 official despatches from the Secretary of State. 
 
 These included what was termed the Indent, 
 being a nominal list of all the prisoners on board, 
 their period of sentence, and, in the case of Irish 
 transports only,* the crime for which they were 
 transported. The surgeon also presented a return, 
 prepared by himself in accordance with instructions 
 received at home, showing the name, birth-place, 
 age, crime, period of conviction, place of sentence, 
 marriage or otherwise, extent of education, character 
 from gaoler, character from the hulk, alleged quali- 
 fications for employment, and lastly his behaviour 
 on board the transport. The surgeon usually 
 added to this any information which he had been 
 able to collect from the prisoners themselves 
 during the voyage. The Assignment Board then 
 assembled, and the above mentioned returns were 
 placed before them by order of the Governor, by 
 
 * A great number of the convicts who arrived from 
 Ireland were expatriated for political, rather than moral 
 offences, which circumstance being known to the Governor, 
 he was enabled to act on that knowledge at a future time 
 for the benefit of the prisoner.
 
 228 ALLOWANCE TO CONVICTS. 
 
 which they were guided in apportioning the 
 convicts among the applicants. A certain portiop 
 were retained for immediate employment on public 
 works by government, the remainder were assigned 
 to private service, among the country settlers, or 
 among the town population. 
 
 On receiving the convict from the hands of 
 government, the assignee paid 1. for the bedding 
 and slops with which the convict had been already 
 furnished, and undertook to supply him with food 
 and clothing according to the following scale, viz : 
 12 Ibs. wheat, or 9 Ibs. second flour; or, in lieu 
 thereof, at the discretion of the master 3 Ibs. maize 
 meal, and 9 Ibs. wheat, or 7 Ibs. second flour ; 
 7 Ibs. beef or mutton; or 4|- Ibs. salt pork; 2 oz. 
 salt; 2 oz. soap; two frocks or jackets; three shirts; 
 two pair of trowsers; three pair of shoes; one hat 
 or cap. It is scarcely necessary to observe, 
 however, that almost every master allowed his 
 servants more than the quantities prescribed by 
 government, besides various indulgences, such as 
 tea, sugar, and in most cases, tobacco. The 
 advantage of these extra allowances was obvious ; 
 for not only was the convict stimulated to exer- 
 tions which far more than compensated for the 
 trifling additional outlay, but the master was 
 furnished with a mode of punishing his servant for 
 minor offences, by restricting him to the bare 
 government rations. 
 
 With regard to the convict himself, before being
 
 ADVICE TO CONVICTS. 229 
 
 delivered over to his future master, he was made 
 clearly to understand the circumstances in which 
 he would thenceforward be placed. Any dreams 
 in which he might have indulged, of a life of bliss 
 in a land of milk and honey, or " of peaches and 
 pound notes," were at once dissipated. He was 
 reminded that the situation he occupied was the 
 consequence of his crimes ; but, that notwith- 
 standing his present degradation, it was in his 
 power, by continued good conduct, to redeem the 
 character he had lost. It was also explained to 
 the convict at what periods his conduct would 
 entitle him to indulgence; he was also told that 
 government had provided for his being supplied 
 with a proper allowance of food and clothing, 
 and that his master would be expected to 
 comply with the regulation in this matter ; 
 while he, on his part, would be expected 
 to give the whole of his time without further 
 remuneration. He was warned, in conclusion, 
 that a code of laws had been enacted for his 
 peculiar circumstances, which rendered him liable 
 to summary conviction before one or two justices 
 of the peace, and punishment by flagellation, or 
 being sent to work on the roads, for neglect of 
 duty, insolence, drunkenness, pilfering, absconding 
 from service, &c. &c. The assignment list being 
 then signed by the Governor, the men were 
 distributed accordingly. 
 
 Having provided the convict with food, clothing 
 and lodging, and having established the summary
 
 230 NEGLECT OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 jurisdiction just mentioned as a check upon his 
 conduct, while at the same time he was himself 
 at liberty to complain to any magistrate, if he was 
 harshly treated, or defrauded of his allowances. 
 Having set the machinery of this system in motion, 
 government appears to have considered that nothing 
 farther remained to be done. It seems to have 
 been taken for granted, that every assignee would, 
 as a matter of course, and for the promotion of 
 his own interest, do all that in him lay to aid 
 in reforming the convict ; and consequently that 
 any interference on the part of government, in 
 the shape of moral regulations, would have the 
 ungracious appearance of an intrusion on the 
 domestic arrangements of private individuals. 
 
 There can be little doubt, that to this false 
 delicacy, to use no stronger term, the colony owes 
 the loss of convict labour, while the mother country 
 will be subjected to the expense of maintaining a 
 large number of prisoners within the walls of the 
 penitentiaries, or be compelled to found new penal 
 colonies. But perhaps this assertion may require 
 some explanation. In order to show, that govern- 
 ment would have been fully justified in prescribing 
 the most minute regulations for the management 
 of the convicts in assignment, and in providing 
 for their religious instruction, these two things 
 may be mentioned: 1st. The presumption that 
 men, as a matter of course, will attend to their 
 own interests, argues a very deficient knowledge 
 of the human heart. Even admitting that men
 
 DUTY OF GOVERNMENT. 231 
 
 always knew the course which their interest 
 required them to pursue, the number who have 
 strength enough to maintain that course regardless 
 of the suggestions of passion, and the influences of 
 an evil world, are few indeed. And, secondly, the 
 interference of the government in the management 
 of assigned convicts could under no circumstances 
 have been regarded as an intrusion. It was, on 
 the contrary, a sacred duty. The convict, having 
 forfeited his liberty to the laws of his country, is 
 reduced as it were to a state of pupillage under 
 the government, which is responsible to God for 
 its management of this charge. If in conside- 
 ration of the maintenance of some of these 
 " infants/' (for such, in law, are convicted felons), 
 government foregoes for a time the right to 
 their labour, it is not thereby absolved from 
 the moral charge which had also devolved upon 
 it. Government is bound to provide for the 
 religious instruction of convicts, precisely on the 
 same principle that a father is bound to provide 
 it for his children, though some be rebellious ; 
 and as a father, who binds his son as an ap- 
 prentice, (thus placing him in assigned service), 
 is bound to provide that the master to whom 
 he is assigned is a man of character, who ruleth 
 his house in the fear of the Lord ; so the govern- 
 ment, in transferring the services of the convict, 
 were bound to provide, with a view to their 
 reformation, that they should at least be placed
 
 232 QUALIFICATIONS FOR MASTERS. 
 
 within the influence of the ordinary means of 
 grace. 
 
 No such provision, however, was made by 
 government. The principal qualification required 
 in assignees was property. The man of acres, 
 the man of flocks and herds, the man of bank 
 credits, were presumed to be men of respectability ; 
 whereas many individuals who could boast of all 
 these qualifications, deserved rather to be in 
 the situation of their assigned servants, than 
 holding the responsible position of masters. It 
 is notorious, that many persons applied for, and 
 obtained assigned servants from . government, who 
 were utterly unworthy of so important a trust; 
 and the consequence was, that the Assignment 
 System, instead of being a means of restoring 
 the convict to society, a wiser and a better man 
 for the discipline he had undergone, was in many 
 cases made a mere instrument of gain in the 
 hands of avaricious and unprincipled men. 
 
 The importance of these remarks will appear 
 more evident when it is remembered, that for more 
 than 'thirty years after the establishment of the 
 colony of New South Wales, the principle seems 
 to have been acted on, which was unhesitatingly 
 avowed by Governor Macquarie, " that the colony 
 was made for convicts, and for convicts only." 
 The fallacy of this principle has been already 
 exposed in this chapter. It is, however, not 
 the less true, that on this principle the colony
 
 EFFECTS OF NEGLECT. 233 
 
 was governed for more than thirty years ; and 
 though assignment in those days was only 
 permitted to a comparatively small extent, yet even 
 while immediately under the eye of government, 
 scarcely any attention was paid to the religious 
 instruction of the convict. 
 
 In the meantime, though the expiration of 
 sentences, and the granting of indulgences and 
 pardons was fast raising up a freed population ; 
 it never seemed to have entered into the calcu- 
 lations of government, that the establishment 
 of such a hive of ruffians and desperadoes, even 
 in a distant region of the world, was a grand 
 nuisance among nations, which, hut for the sub- 
 sequent influx of free immigrants, might have 
 grown to a fearful magnitude, and have become, 
 at a future date, the Algiers of the Southern 
 Hemisphere. It is, in fact, difficult to find ap- 
 propriate terms, adequately to characterize the 
 culpable and short-sighted policy pursued by the 
 mother country towards New South Wales, so 
 far at least as regards the management of convicts. 
 No sooner did free immigration commence, than 
 the necessity was immediately perceived of pro- 
 viding religious instruction, but this necessity 
 seems not to have been supposed to exist in 
 the case of the convict population, whether actually 
 under sentence, or emancipated ; or, at all events, 
 if its existence was admitted, no one seemed to 
 think of taking any charge concerning it.
 
 234 TREATMENT OF PRISONERS. 
 
 The government not having thought it necessary 
 to issue any regulations for the moral management 
 of the convict; the assignees, in a vast majority 
 of instances, followed the negative example set 
 before them. Instead of receiving his convict 
 servant as a charge with which a peculiar respon- 
 sibility was connected, the master, too generally 
 took no interest in his welfare, beyond what 
 was necessary to secure the performance of a 
 certain amount of labour. The men were lodged 
 in huts removed from the master's eye ; and 
 if they did their work, they got their rations, 
 as their fellow labourers, the horses and bullocks. 
 Under such a system, or rather absence of system, 
 it cannot be a matter of surprise that instances 
 of reformation among the prisoners should have 
 been very rare, or that crime should have prevailed 
 in the colony to a fearful extent. 
 
 On most of the large estates in the colony, 
 the servants were lodged in huts erected at some 
 little distance from the proprietor's residence ; 
 four men usually occupying each hut. In these 
 huts, the proprietors generally required their men 
 to be housed by eight o'clock in the evening, 
 and the fact that they were so was generally 
 ascertained by actual inspection ; but it was found 
 totally impossible to prevent the men from going 
 out afterwards. Some few convicts were, in- 
 deed, found to occupy their leisure in plaiting 
 hats of the split leaf of the cabbage-tree, or in
 
 SQUATTERS. 235 
 
 other similar employments, which were always 
 encouraged, on the ground of their keeping the 
 men out of mischief, though the money ob- 
 tained by the sale was left at the convicts dis- 
 posal, and was too often wasted in gambling, or 
 drinking. Had masters only permitted this occu- 
 pation on condition that the money should be 
 laid up till the expiration of the probationary 
 period, when the convict would become entitled 
 to indulgence, a small capital might, in almost 
 every case have been created sufficient to have 
 enabled the man to avail himself of the full 
 advantages of his ticket-of-leave. But it was 
 only a few of the convicts who were found disposed 
 even to this species of work. The majority of 
 them found means to gratify their appetites by 
 petty plunder, either of their own masters or of 
 others, and they had unfortunately great facility 
 in disposing of the stolen goods to a set of men 
 who were to be found upon the borders of every 
 large estate, and who were known by the name 
 of squatters. These were ticket-of-leave holders, 
 or freed-men, who erected a hut on waste land 
 near a great public road, or on the outskirts of 
 an estate where a number of convicts were em- 
 ployed, and immediately became the nuisance of 
 the district. The convicts were supplied with 
 liquor in exchange for property when money 
 could not be procured; they had also facilities
 
 236 "SLY GROG SHOPS." 
 
 of meeting with women, particularly the black 
 gins the complaisance of whose husbands was 
 to be purchased by a little tobacco or rum ; and 
 lastly, in these dens of iniquity, robberies, and 
 often worse crimes were concerted, and the booty 
 concealed. 
 
 The evils arising from this source have been 
 already noticed in the account given of the 
 growth of the pastoral interest ; the regulations 
 which were issued, as the reader is aware, put 
 an end to squatting within the boundaries of 
 location, and reduced it to a system without 
 the boundaries. But the evil was the natural 
 result of the loose management which prevailed 
 in most of the large establishments; the tempta- 
 tion offered by the " sly grog shop," was too 
 much for the moral fortitude of men, most of 
 whom had passed through every grade of dissi- 
 pation, and who were subjected to no efficient 
 control, not to speak of reformatory discipline. 
 The fear of summary punishment was undoubtedly 
 operative to a certain extent ; the men, when 
 kindly treated, would do a certain amount of 
 work, and, generally speaking, kept within some 
 kind of bounds in their midnight excursions, 
 and had some compunctions in the matter of 
 plunder; but whatever good might have been 
 done by judicious masters, limited as that could 
 but be in the absence of systematic religious
 
 MR. MURRAY'S EVIDENCE. 237 
 
 instruction, was entirely destroyed by the pesti- 
 lential miasma arising from the " sly grog shop."* 
 
 * " There are several parties of squatters in my neigh- 
 bourhood. I detected, not long since, three men at one 
 of their stations in the act of slaughtering one of my own 
 cattle. I have strong reason to suspect that these people 
 are in general, illicit sellers of spirits. I had occasion to 
 search one of their huts some time ago, at a considerable 
 distance from my own place, and found in it many signs of 
 its being a grog-shop, such as an empty keg, empty bottles, 
 and measures ; the latter, however, might have been used 
 for ordinary purposes, as well as for measuring spirits, 
 together with a number of orders drawn by overseers of 
 large establishments in the neighbourhood on the pro- 
 prietors for small sums of money, but amounting in all to 
 about one hundred pounds. The owner of the hut had 
 no ostensible means whatever of getting these orders 
 honestly. I can, of course, say nothing of this man's 
 character from my own observation, having never seen 
 or heard of him before, but I have not the slightest doubt, 
 judging from the circumstances observed on this occasion 
 of the correctness of the common report of his being a 
 ' notorious grog-seller.' Many of the small settlers are 
 also in the habit of selling spirits ; but it is most difficult 
 to obtain proof against them. I consider that the greater 
 part of the crimes committed in the interior arises from 
 the sale of spirits ; many persons dispose of it in quantities 
 not less than two gallons at a time, thereby avoiding the 
 penalty of retailing without a license. This large quantity 
 is obtained by a number of convicts and other servants 
 clubbing together for its purchase." Evidence of T. A. 
 Murray, Esq., J.P. before Committee of Legislative Council 
 on Police and Gaols, 1835. 
 
 " These persons (squatters) are almost invariably the 
 instigators and promoters of crime, receivers of stolen
 
 238 MR. BUTTON'S EVIDENCE. 
 
 But, as if the mischief could not spread fast 
 enough, a government order was actually at one 
 time issued, authorizing settlers to pay ticket- 
 of-leave and freed- men for one third of their 
 labour in liquors, if they chose to accept it. So 
 little discrimination had the majority of the 
 assignees, that this practice had grown to a 
 disgraceful extent, before government took any 
 notice of it. At length, informations having 
 been laid against several gentlemen for selling 
 spirits without license, the matter was investigated, 
 and as the parties informed against chose to repre- 
 sent that " nothing could be done without a little 
 rum," the Executive most considerately legalized 
 that ruinous custom, and thus threw an additional 
 obstacle in the way of the eventual reformation 
 of the convict or emancipist. While such things 
 were tolerated, can it be wondered that the con- 
 property, illegal venders of spirits, and harbourers of run- 
 aways, bushrangers and vagrants. The congeniality of 
 habits between master and man, the absence of all restraint, 
 and the predatory life they lead whilst collecting stolen 
 cattle, has a charm for them which even considerably 
 higher wages in the service of respectable employers will 
 not induce them to quit. They keep up a constant inter- 
 course with our assigned servants, and knowing the weak 
 points of each establishment, seize their opportunity, and 
 commit depredations, particularly upon cattle, with im- 
 punity. I am convinced that all the petty pilferings 
 occurring on our properties might be traced, directly or 
 indirectly, to the agency of these squatters." Evidence of 
 W. H. Dutton, Esq. J.P., before same Committee.
 
 ABUSES OF ASSIGNMENT. 239 
 
 victs in assignment often grew worse instead of 
 better; and that the population gradually formed 
 out of such elements should have exhibited a moral 
 appearance disgusting and humiliating in the 
 extreme ? 
 
 But the list of abuses of the Assignment 
 System is far from being complete. Even in 
 the remote districts, which have as yet been 
 chiefly noticed, those familiar with the details of 
 the system will readily call to mind other evils 
 which had become so mixed up with it, as 
 almost to have been considered its inseparable 
 adjuncts. The bad example of many of the 
 masters, the tyranny of some, the culpable facility 
 of others, were fruitful sources of corruption, in 
 the one case tempting the men to crime, in 
 the other exasperating them to revenge, which 
 was often satiated only by the barbarous murder 
 of the obnoxious master ; while gangs of despe- 
 radoes were collected in the bush, consisting of 
 convicts who had fled from their assigned service, 
 and who spread terror and destruction through 
 the whole country. To multiply details on this 
 subject would be unnecessary. It must be per- 
 ceived, that tyranny on the one hand, and indul- 
 gence on the other, were but natural consequences 
 of the policy of government, which consigned the 
 convicts to the arbitrary authority of men too 
 often utterly unfitted for such responsibility. 
 
 It was, however, in the towns that the Assign-
 
 240 ABUSES OF ASSIGNMENT. 
 
 ment System was most grossly abused. Parties 
 frequently obtained, as assigned servants, convicts 
 who understood a particular trade, which trade 
 they were furnished with means of carrying on, 
 and the assignee shared largely in the profits. 
 Men under sentence as convicts were thus foisted 
 into society as free-men; their condition, instead 
 of being one of punishment, became one of com- 
 parative independence ; the accounts of such things 
 when received in England, operated as an incen- 
 tive to crime ; and a system of wholesale bribery 
 was established which destroyed any benefit that 
 might have resulted from a police already the 
 most wretched and inefficient in the world. In 
 fact, the assignment of convicts as servants in 
 towns was a most dangerous practice, adopted 
 at first from the impossibility of procuring free 
 servants, but continued from a wretched desire 
 of gain, a determination to make money by any 
 means however vile.* In a Report from Colonel 
 Wilson, first police magistrate of Sydney, appended 
 to the Report of the Committee of the Legislative 
 Council on Police and Gaols in 1835, the follow- 
 ing passage occurs : 
 
 " Sydney now covers an area of more than 
 
 * It is a revolting fact, that individuals were to be 
 found, who did not disdain to receive the wages of prosti- 
 tution, earned by their female assigned servants ; yet 
 these wretches were neither pilloried nor hooted from the 
 colony.
 
 COLONEL WILSON'S EVIDENCE. 241 
 
 two thousand acres, and contains a population 
 probably of twenty thousand souls. This popu- 
 lation includes a great proportion of prisoners of 
 the Crown of both sexes ; persons whose passions 
 are violent, and who have not been accustomed 
 to control, and yet, for the most part have no 
 lawful means of gratifying them. It includes 
 great numbers of incorrigibly bad characters, who, 
 on obtaining their freedom, will not apply them- 
 selves to any honest mode of obtaining a living, 
 but endeavour to support themselves in idleness 
 and debauchery, by plunder, but who cannot be 
 drawn from their haunts by the same process 
 that vagabonds are disposed of at home. I believe 
 it will be unnecessary for me to express my opinion, 
 that there is more immorality in Sydney, than 
 in any other English town of the same popula- 
 tion in his Majesty's dominions. It contains 
 two hundred and nineteen public houses, and there 
 are so many places where spirits are sold without 
 license, that I feel myself incompetent to guess 
 at their number. 
 
 " There is no town which affords so much 
 
 facility for eluding the vigilance of the police. The 
 
 unoccupied bush near and within the town itself, 
 
 will afford shelter to the offender, and hide him 
 
 from pursuit ; he may steal or hire a boat, and in 
 
 i few minutes place an arm of the sea -between 
 
 lim and his pursuers. The want of continuity in 
 
 ;he buildings of a widely extended but young town, 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 242 EVIDENCE OF SIR F. FORBES. 
 
 affords greater facilities for lying in wait for oppor- 
 tunities of executing a wicked purpose, for instant 
 concealment on the approach of constables, and for 
 obtaining access to the backs of houses and stores, 
 than are to be found in towns at home, where 
 there are few unoccupied spaces. The drunken- 
 ness, idleness, and carelessness of a great portion 
 of the inhabitants afford innumerable opportu- 
 nities and temptations by day and night to those 
 who choose to live by plunder." 
 
 In reference to this extract, Chief Justice Forbes 
 observes : " That this is a true description of the 
 actual state of Sydney, who can deny?" And 
 in further explanation, the following evidence may 
 be quoted, which was taken before the Committee 
 of the House of Commons, on Transportation, in 
 1837- The foregoing extract having been read 
 to one of the witnesses, he replied : " I should say 
 that is a complete picture of that state of society ; 
 the thing could not be better drawn, and I may 
 as well add to what you have just read, that a 
 great deal of it occurs in consequence of eman- 
 cipists. Perhaps a man has just become free ; he 
 has convicts assigned to him, the same as any 
 gentleman, no matter what his rank in society 
 may be; this man will have convicts assigned to 
 him, and they eat and drink at the same table, 
 they get drunk together, and they are perfectly 
 on a footing, and of course placed under no 
 control I have known instances where the
 
 A NOTORIOUS CASE. 243 
 
 convict man has been literally master of the house, 
 and has got intimate, &c. &c." 
 
 Another source of the most glaring abuse, was 
 the assignment of convicts to their wives. Several 
 instances of a most flagrant kind are still fresh in 
 the remembrance of many of the colonists. So 
 little inquiry was made, or rather such gross 
 neglect was permitted, that at one time, the wives 
 of convicts who came from England with con- 
 siderable property, were permitted to have their 
 husbands assigned to them. The following extract 
 from the evidence taken before the Select Com- 
 mittee on Transportation contains an account of 
 a notorious case. 
 
 Question 1686. "The wives brought out con- 
 siderable property, did they?" " Yes; for instance, 
 I can relate an instance of one man in particular. 
 I may mention his name; he is a very notorious 
 
 character, a man of the name of , who was 
 
 transported, and his wife went to the surgeon of 
 the ship in which he was going out ; she was very 
 anxious to get a passage in the same ship ; she 
 said she would not mind giving 200 or 300, 
 provided she could go out in the same ship with 
 her husband. The surgeon told her it was impos- 
 sible ; no money could procure her a passage in that 
 ship. She followed immediately afterwards ; the 
 man was assigned to her, and I know, from very 
 good authority, that she took . out 2,000 or 
 3,000 with her. He was assigned to her; and 
 
 M 2
 
 244 A NOTORIOUS CASE. 
 
 ever since, they have kept one of the most exten- 
 sive haberdasher's shops in Sydney." 
 
 Question 1687. " In whose name was it 
 kept ?" " They used to advertise, and their bills 
 
 were headed ; and was over the door. 
 
 They also kept a large cash account in one of the 
 banks, 2,000 or 3,000 frequently ; that was so 
 managed, that if any inquiries were made, it was 
 
 Mrs. 's. In fact, this man was so well off, 
 
 that he did not attend to the shop himself, he was 
 generally seen riding about the streets on horse- 
 back, or driving in some conveyance, and attending 
 the theatre and public places of amusement at 
 night." 
 
 Question 1688. " He was still a convict?" 
 "Yes." 
 
 Question 1689. "Do you suppose the pro- 
 perty brought over by his wife was the result 
 of robbery in England ?" " Yes. I heard what 
 the robbery was ; I understood it was some exten- 
 sive concern, either mail-coach or bank robbery; 
 that is what I was told." 
 
 So flagrant a system as this could not long be 
 permitted to continue ; the outrage upon propriety 
 was too gross. The assignment of convicts to 
 their wives was accordingly discontinued, except 
 in cases where the convict had undergone a certain 
 probation, and generally the practice was much 
 discouraged. The culpable negligence or con- 
 nivance of other assignees, however, supplied a
 
 " GENTLEMEN" CONVICTS. 245 
 
 means of evading the precautions of the Governor. 
 A convict possessed of plausible character had 
 little difficulty in persuading a weak or careless 
 master to permit him indulgences to which he was 
 not entitled ; and where the indulgences could not 
 be obtained in this way, the prospect of gain was 
 often found to prevail ; the cases where assignees 
 conscientiously discharged their duty being deplor- 
 ably few. It was, therefore, no uncommon thing 
 for convicts to be permitted to leave their assigned 
 service, and live with their free wives ; under which 
 unjustifiable circumstances, they often carried on 
 business as free persons, in too many cases by 
 disreputable means, to the great injury of the fair 
 trader. 
 
 The last source of abuse to which it will be 
 necessary to refer, is the irregular mode in which 
 the assignment of what are termed " gentlemen 
 convicts" was conducted. The reader need scarcely 
 be reminded that convicts of this class are by far 
 the most dangerous, and require the most judicious 
 management. But instead of receiving this manage- 
 ment, such was the miserable state of society, that 
 these men were considered the " prizes" in the 
 assignment scheme. So few free immigrants were 
 there in the colony possessed even of common 
 education, that merchants and lawyers who wanted 
 clerks, schools which wanted masters, and even 
 private families which wanted tutors, were, pre- 
 vious to the period of immigration, compelled to
 
 246 EDITORS OF PAPERS. 
 
 employ convicts. That these men sometimes 
 discharged their duty, and became reputable mem- 
 bers of society, it would be unjust to deny ; but 
 from the lax mode in which the assignment was 
 regulated, and from the necessities of society, evils 
 of a most flagrant character arose. 
 
 A case is recorded of the son of a clergyman, 
 who was educated by a " gentleman convict" 
 assigned to his father, and who was afterwards 
 transported for life to Van Diemen's Land. It is 
 possible that the young man's unhappy circum- 
 stances might not altogether have resulted from the 
 influence exercised over his mind by his convict 
 tutor, but surely it must be acknowledged that such 
 experiments were highly dangerous, and not justi- 
 fiable by any amount of anticipated good. This, 
 also, was an extreme case ; but, unfortunately, the 
 influence of convict tuition was known to be pro- 
 ductive of sufficient evil to justify the censure 
 passed on the system which permitted it, even 
 though the melancholy fact alluded to had never 
 occurred. 
 
 Cases, also, were not unfrequent of the employ- 
 ment of convicts in connection with the public 
 press, not merely as compositors and pressmen, but 
 in the editorial department. The employment of 
 ticket of leave holders and emancipated convicts in 
 such capacities has been very general, and the con- 
 sequence has been lamentable in the extreme. The 
 influence of such persons on the press was, in
 
 O'SHAUGHNESSY AND WATT. 247 
 
 effect, to break down the barriers established by 
 the divine law between morality and immorality ; 
 to persuade the community that the free emigrant 
 population were no better, in point of character, 
 than the class to which they themselves belonged, 
 and to disseminate the notion, that their position 
 in society was the result, not of guilt, but of mis- 
 fortune. In proof of the influence of such mis- 
 chievous doctrines, when inculcated by men of in- 
 tellectual ability, it is only necessary to refer to the 
 evil which was produced by the circulation of the 
 Sydney Gazette, during the time it was under the 
 management of O'Shaughnessy and Watt.* The 
 former of these men had been, at first, assigned to 
 the proprietor of the Gazette, and was employed as 
 a reporter and sub-editor; having become free, he 
 became, on the death of the proprietor, the respon- 
 sible editor. The history of Watt is peculiarly 
 instructive, and illustrates most forcibly the deplor- 
 able state of society in the colony, before the com- 
 mencement of Immigration. He was originally a 
 solicitor's clerk in Edinburgh ; but having, on ac- 
 count of some misdemeanor, been compelled to 
 leave that place, he obtained employment in a mer- 
 cantile house in London, from which place he was 
 transported for embezzlement in the year 1828, for 
 fourteen years. From the influences he was able to 
 
 * This was during the greater part of the years 1834 
 and 1835.
 
 248 WATT. 
 
 exert (being a man of great talents) he obtained the 
 indulgence of a ticket- of-leave after a much shorter 
 probation than would subsequently have been pos- 
 sible ; and on the arrival of Sir Richard Bourke, 
 he was employed as a clerk in the office of the 
 School Corporation. On the dissolution of that 
 body, his services were eagerly sought by the con- 
 ductors of the public press, and he obtained an 
 engagement in the Gazette office, of which paper 
 he soon assumed the virtual control, the nominal 
 editor being a person of indolent and dissipated 
 habits. While in this capacity, he was the source 
 of immense demoralization from the mode in which 
 he used the powerful influence he possessed, endea- 
 vouring to stir up the convict population against 
 the free emigrants, by representing the latter as 
 intruders, and the former as a grievously injured 
 and meritorious class. A state of things in which 
 a thief, a man of unchaste living, was permitted to 
 disseminate, for nearly two years, principles so 
 grossly opposed to common decency, can hardly be 
 conceived by persons whom experience has not 
 assured of the fact. That fact should be remem- 
 bered by the community of New South Wales, as 
 a great public sin which should fill us with sen- 
 timents of humility and self abasement. The ter- 
 mination of Watt's career shows that he was capa- 
 ble of any villany, however contemptible, which 
 could promote his views. An anonymous letter 
 had been sent to the editors of another newspaper,
 
 WATT. 249 
 
 which was unguardedly ordered for insertion, and 
 was accordingly set in type. Before it was printed, 
 however, the editor discovered that it contained 
 libellous matter, and accordingly withdrew it. Watt, 
 however, having learned that such a letter was 
 actually in type, bribed a convict-compositor, em- 
 ployed in the other office to steal one of the proofs 
 of the letter, which he subsequently enclosed in an 
 envelop to the individual on whose character it 
 reflected, who was an emancipated convict. An 
 action for libel was instituted by this party against 
 the editors of the paper to whom the letter had 
 been sent, and the fact of publication was attempted 
 to be established by the circumstance of his having 
 received a copy through the public post. The ac- 
 tion failed ; but the editor, whose ruin had been 
 so foully attempted, did not suffer the matter to 
 rest, and, at length, succeeded in bringing to light 
 the whole of the transaction. Watt was prose- 
 cuted in the Criminal Court, on a charge of " grand 
 larceny," which unfortunately was not warranted 
 by the value of the property which he had pro- 
 cured to be stolen ; he was, consequently, acquitted. 
 The circumstance having been officially made known 
 to the Governor by the Judge,* before whom he 
 was tried, he was immediately sent to Port Mac- 
 quarie, a penal settlement, appointed for special 
 convicts. While at this settlement, the widow of 
 
 * Mr. Justice Burton. 
 M3
 
 250 ABUSES OF ASSIGNMENT. 
 
 the former proprietor of the Gazette, actually soli- 
 cited, and obtained permission to marry him ! It 
 is only just to add, that, after Watt's affair, the 
 Gazette passed into the hands of respectable per- 
 sons, but it never regained its original position 
 among the respectable portion of the community, 
 and gradually dwindled into the tomb of oblivion. 
 
 It has been thought proper to admit, to the 
 fullest extent, the magnitude of the abuses which 
 existed under the Assignment System, and even to 
 quote some of the most flagrant cases, because, in 
 the first place, those abuses were of so glaring a 
 character, that their concealment would be impos- 
 sible, and no writer who affected to be ignorant of 
 their existence, would hope to obtain credit for 
 impartial judgment ; and, in the second place, 
 because the abuse of a system, however it may have 
 been permitted through ignorance or neglect, can 
 never form an argument against the principle on 
 which the system is founded; nor prove, that-, 
 under a more judicious arrangement, the principle 
 might not be made productive of the highest public 
 advantage. It will, therefore, be of importance to 
 enquire whether, under regulations of adequate 
 stringency, the evils which existed under the former 
 system might not be avoided, and the assignment 
 of convicts rendered both an economical mode of 
 punishment for minor felonies and misdemeanors, 
 and also a source of wealth to the colony where the 
 assignment may be permitted. Observing, how-
 
 TRANSPORTATION AND ASSIGNMENT. 251 
 
 ever, the order of events, it will be necessary to 
 give a short account of the discontinuance of trans- 
 portation to New South Wales ; from which it will 
 appear, that the abuses, and not the principle of 
 the system were the real cause which influenced 
 the Home Government in the adoption of so 
 important a measure. 
 
 The reader has already been incidently informed, 
 that a select Committee of the House of Commons 
 was appointed, in the year 1837, to examine into 
 the subjects of transportation and assignment.* 
 Among the witnesses examined before the Com- 
 mittee, were the Chief Justice of the Colony (Sir 
 Francis Forbes), James Mudie, Esq. (formerly of 
 Castle Forbes in this colony, and J.P.), the Rev. 
 John Dunmore Lang, D.D. (the Senior Presby- 
 terian Minister of the Colony), James McArthur, 
 Esq. J.P. ( one of the most extensive and influ- 
 ential land and stock-holders in the colony) Colonel 
 ' George Arthur, late Lieutenant Governor of Van 
 Diemen's Land ; with several officers of the army 
 w 7 ho had filled official situations, and one or two 
 medical gentlemen, who had come out as Surgeons- 
 Superintendent of convict ships. The evidence 
 given by these gentlemen was extremely multi- 
 farious and voluminous, and it is to be feared that 
 much of it was given under the influence of 
 
 * The Committee was appointed on the 7th of April, 
 and the primary report was ordered to be printed on the 
 14th of July.
 
 252 LORD JOHN RUSSELL. 
 
 strong personal feeling, hostile to the emancipist 
 population; but without further alluding to this 
 subject, it may safely be conceded, that, by their 
 united testimony, the most iniquitous abuses were 
 proved to exist, and the unavoidable conclusion 
 was, that, in order to make the Assignment System 
 morally advantageous, it was necessary that it 
 should be entirely remodelled, if not temporarily 
 suspended. 
 
 So strong was the impression produced by the 
 representations which had at various times reached 
 the imperial government, that, even during the sit- 
 tings of the Select Committee, a correspondence 
 was being carried on between the home and colo- 
 nial departments, on the expediency of discontinuing 
 the practice of assignment. In a communication, 
 dated the 15th of April, 1837, Lord John Russell 
 called the attention of Lord Glenelg to the subject 
 of transportation generally, and declared his opinion, 
 that it was inexpedient that convicts, even after 
 having been employed a certain period on public 
 roads and works, should be assigned to private 
 individuals : " the evils arising from that mode of 
 employment, and which must be aggravated by the 
 difference of humanity, weakness, fear, or caprice of 
 different masters, being very serious and notorious." 
 From the reply to this communication, it appears 
 that Lord Glenelg coincided " in the opinion enter- 
 tained by his Lordship of the evils generally arising 
 from the assignment of convicts in the Australian
 
 LORD GLENELG. 253 
 
 colonies, and was happy to learn that it was the 
 wish of Lord John Russell to dimmish as much as 
 possible the number of transports sent yearly to 
 those colonies." In consequence of this correspon- 
 dence, Lord Glenelg addressed a despatch to Sir 
 Richard Bourke, dated 26th of May, in which his 
 Lordship observes: -"Being strongly impressed 
 with the evils which appear to me, to a certain 
 extent, inherent in the system of assignment,* I 
 trust that the measures in progress for the increase 
 of free emigration to the Australian colonies, will 
 adequately supply the future demand for labour, 
 without continuing a practice which is open to so 
 many objections." 
 
 When the report of the transportation committee 
 of 1837 was received in the colony, it excited the 
 strongest sensation. It was considered, and with 
 justice, that in a case so deeply affecting the inte- 
 rests of the colony, the inquiry should have been 
 made in the colony itself. Nor could the colonists 
 but feel, that in many cases matters had been 
 represented in such a light, as made them appear 
 worse than they actually were. In particular, the 
 evidence of Mr. Mudie was severely censured, as 
 having been given under a peculiarly hostile 
 
 * His Lordship, of course, meant in the system of assign- 
 ment as it existed at that time in these colonies. To say 
 that those evils were inseparable from the principle, would 
 be to hazard an assertion, the justice of which could not be 
 maintained without more extended experiments.
 
 254 MR. MUDIE. 
 
 feeling. Tliis gentleman had been a magistrate of 
 the territory ; and his name, with about fifty others, 
 had been excluded from the commission. Though 
 the cause of this exclusion was not, of course, 
 formally announced, it was generally understood, 
 that the arbitrary spirit in which Mr. Mudie, and 
 other magistrates administered the laws, with 
 respect to the convict population, had induced his 
 Excellency to revise the list. It appears certain 
 that Mr. Mudie was the object of the most bitter 
 animosity to the convicts generally, a feeling which 
 they did not manifest towards those magistrates 
 who discharged their functions firmly and humanely. 
 The colonists, therefore, felt that the position of 
 Mr. Mudie did not justify the importance which 
 was attached to his statement ; and complained, 
 not without reason, that they had no opportunity 
 of rebutting them. 
 
 A meeting was held in Sydney to take into con- 
 sideration the prejudicial effects which such evidence 
 was likely to produce on the colony, and a petition 
 was addressed to his Excellency, praying " the ap- 
 pointment of a committee of the Legislative Council, 
 to inquire into the working of the system of trans- 
 portation and assignment, with a view to counteract, 
 as far as possible, the evil impressions which might 
 have been produced in England, in respect to the 
 social and moral condition of the colony." Sir 
 George Gipps in reply, represented to the petitioners 
 that the assignment of convicts was a matter for
 
 DOCTORS LANG AND ULLATHORNE. -255 
 
 which the Governor alone was responsible to her 
 Majesty, and that the Legislative Council had no 
 jurisdiction therein. Nevertheless, considering the 
 importance of the subject, he would lay the petition 
 on the council table, and leave that body to adopt 
 such a course as might seem necessary. The 
 council, after a protracted debate, adopted a series 
 of resolutions, expressive of their opinions, and 
 embodying generally the sentiments of the peti- 
 tioners. The appointment of a committee of in- 
 quiry was negatived, (as appears from a despatch 
 from his Excellency of the 18th of July, 1838) 
 solely from the apprehension felt by a majority of 
 the council that such an inquiry would tend to 
 revive animosities in the country, which had hap- 
 pily in a great degree subsided. 
 
 In the year 1838, the committee on transporta- 
 tion resumed their labours, and presented their 
 final report, which very strongly confirmed the ap- 
 prehensions of the colonists, being chiefly founded 
 on the evidence given the preceding year, the bonus 
 animus of so much of which there was just reason 
 to suspect.* 
 
 The following letter, from the Under Secretary 
 
 * It is impossible, on perusing the evidence of Dr. Lang, 
 not to be struck with the ingenuity with which he contrived 
 every now and then to give a stab in the dark to the esta- 
 blished church, a circumstance in itself sufficient to throw 
 suspicion on his statements. The evidence of the Rev. Dr. 
 Ullathorne, also, a dignitary of the Church of Rome, it is to 
 be feared, is not free from the charge of partiality.
 
 256 LETTER TO THE 
 
 for the Home Department to the Under Secretary 
 for the Colonies, explains the general intentions of 
 her Majesty's Government as to the changes to be 
 immediately effected in the existing system : 
 
 " Whitehall, January 30th, 1839. 
 
 "Sir, 
 
 " I am directed by Lord John Russell to acquaint 
 you, for the information of Lord Glenelg, that, in 
 conformity with the instructions of government on 
 the subject of transportation, he proposes to make 
 the following arrangements : 
 
 1st. " The number of convicts to be employed 
 in the hulks in Great Britain, during the present 
 year, will be increased to three thousand five hun- 
 dred. 
 
 2nd. " The number of convicts to be employed 
 at Bermuda will be increased to one thousand, of 
 whom two hundred will be sent out in the spring, 
 and two hundred at the end of the year. 
 
 3rd. " The number of prisoners in the Peniten- 
 tiary will be for this year eight hundred, being an 
 increase of two hundred and fifty. 
 
 4th. " It is not proposed at present to diminish 
 the number of convicts to be sent from Ireland. 
 
 5th. " The probable number of convicts to be 
 transported this year, will, consequently, be about 
 two thousand. 
 
 6th. " It is proposed to improve the system of 
 punishment and instruction now pursued on board 
 the hulks.
 
 SECRETARY FOR THE COLONIES. 257 
 
 7th. " It is proposed to build a new prison on 
 the separate system for five hundred prisoners. 
 
 " While these changes are taking place at home, 
 accompanying alterations must take place abroad ; 
 and Lord John Russell directs me to transmit to 
 you the following suggestions for Lord Glenelg's 
 consideration : 
 
 1. " That instructions should be sent out to 
 prepare the Governors of New South Wales and 
 Van Diemen's Land, for the immediate diminu- 
 tion and approaching discontinuance of the prac- 
 tice of assignment. 
 
 2. " That instructions should likewise be sent 
 to prepare buildings in Norfolk Island for the 
 reception of convicts from the United Kingdom ; 
 and that the government of that island should be 
 entrusted to some officer in whose zeal and intelli- 
 gence Lord Glenelg can confide. 
 
 3. " That general instructions should be given 
 as to the future treatment of convicts confined 
 in the Australian settlements, subject to such 
 variations from time to time as experience may 
 suggest, founded on the principles stated in the 
 Report of the Committee of the House of Commons, 
 and in conformity with the views of government. 
 
 " I have, &c., 
 " (Signed) F. MAULE. 
 
 " Sir George Grey, 
 &c., &c., &c."
 
 258 NORFOLK ISLAND. 
 
 In a despatch enclosing the above letter, Lord 
 Normanby wrote to Sir George Gipps as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " With respect to Norfolk Island, it is the 
 intention of her Majesty's government, that an 
 essential alteration should be made in the system 
 of punishment pursued there; the healthiness of 
 the climate, the fertility of the soil, and its entire 
 separation from intercourse with ordinary emigrants, 
 render it peculiarly fit for the reception of a large 
 number of convicts, subject to careful superinten- 
 dence and discipline, and for whom regular means 
 of employment must be provided. Her Majesty's 
 government hope, that this may be effected with 
 little, if any, increase of expense, owing to the 
 facilities which exist for rendering the labours of 
 the convicts productive. In order to carry this 
 proposal into effect, a prison will require to be 
 erected, capable of holding as many convicts as 
 can be conveniently and profitably employed in 
 the island, and so arranged as to facilitate the 
 adoption of the most effectual means of enforcing 
 an improved system of discipline." 
 
 And again : 
 
 " The general principles which are to guide 
 the future management of transported convicts, 
 are: 
 
 1 . " That a fixed period of imprisonment should, 
 in the first instance, be allotted for the punishment 
 of the crime of which the prisoner has been con- 
 victed.
 
 NEW REGULATIONS. 259 
 
 2. " That the actual period of imprisonment 
 should be liable to a subsequent abridgement, 
 according to the previous character of the prisoner, 
 the nature of his crime, and his conduct during 
 his punishment. 
 
 3. " That when allowed to leave Norfolk Island, 
 he should not be assigned to any individual in 
 Australia, but should enjoy advantages, at least, 
 equal to those of a ticket of leave. 
 
 " No prisoner is to be detained in Norfolk Island 
 longer than fifteen years. 
 
 " In order fully to carry these regulations into 
 effect, it is desirable, that, as far as possible, Norfolk 
 Island should be appropriated to convicts from the 
 United Kingdom ; and that persons convicted of 
 offences in New South Wales, should be confined 
 in some other part of the colony, or employed on 
 the roads." 
 
 It could not but be expected, that the regulation 
 which professed to confer on expirees from Norfolk 
 Island the benefit of a ticket of leave in New South 
 Wales, would be received with much dissatisfaction 
 by the colonists. As this subject will again fall 
 under notice in the analysis of the proceedings of 
 the new Legislative Council, it will not be neces- 
 sary in this place to do more than quote a short 
 passage from a despatch of Sir George Gipps, of 
 the 23rd November, 1839. 
 
 " That part of the proposed plan," however, 
 observes his Excellency, " was very loudly denounced 
 in the council and out of doors, which seems to
 
 260 TRANSPORTATION DISCONTINUED. 
 
 point to the introduction into the colony of 
 convicts from Norfolk Island, when their sentences 
 shall have expired ; by which it was objected (and 
 I must candidly say I think with reason,) that 
 New South Wales will still remain the receptacle 
 of convicts, and, therefore, will in no way be freed 
 from the stain which transportation has impressed 
 on it, though it will be deprived of all the benefits 
 which it has hitherto derived from the forced 
 labour of convicts." 
 
 In the ensuing year, 1840, the transportation of 
 convicts to New South Wales, from the United 
 Kingdom was discontinued. By an order in 
 council, her Majesty was pleased to determine 
 those places to which convicts might be trans- 
 ported from the United Kingdom, from and after 
 the 1 st of August of that year ; the effect of which 
 was to exclude the colonv of New South Wales 
 
 9 
 
 from the list of such penal settlements. The 
 order in council was published in the New South 
 Wales Government Gazette of 28th October, 
 1840. 
 
 In pursuing very briefly the inquiry suggested 
 by the subject of this section, and the importance 
 of which has already been shown, it will be neces- 
 sary once more to notice the distinction between a 
 system, and the principle on which that system is 
 founded. It would be both uncandid and unwise 
 to attempt to conceal, that gross abuses prevailed
 
 TRANSPORTATION. 261 
 
 under the mode in which the transportation and 
 assignment of convicts was formerly conducted ; 
 but in making this admission, it is not necessary 
 to concede, that the principle of transportation, 
 combined with assignment, is incapable of applica- 
 tion to the discipline of convicts, and ill-calculated 
 to effect their ultimate reformation. 
 
 We have, during a period of ten years, had very 
 favourable opportunities of observing the effect of 
 the transportation principle, and have examined 
 the subject with all the care which its importance 
 demanded ; and we have no hesitation in declaring 
 that transportation, combined with properly regu- 
 lated assignment, appears to us very far to exceed 
 any other species of secondary punishment which 
 has yet been attempted in any country, whether it 
 be considered with reference to expense, to penal 
 efficacy, or (which is the most important conside- 
 ration of all) ^to the eventual reformation of the 
 criminal. In spite of the flagrant abuses of the 
 former system, it is capable of proof, that a greater 
 amount of actual reformation has been accomplished 
 under it, than under any of the boasted schemes 
 of American or continental philanthropists. An 
 attentive examination of the various schemes has 
 added strength to the conclusion, that, however 
 beautiful in theory, they are almost entirely 
 inefficacious, being suited only to impress minds 
 rarely and peculiarly constituted, and being sup- 
 ported at an expense, which seems to suggest,
 
 262 ADVANTAGES CONSIDERED. 
 
 that at the time they were sanctioned, the 
 " calculating" genius of our Transatlantic acquain- 
 tances had fallen into one of his periodical fits of 
 oblivion. 
 
 Without entering farther into the general ques- 
 tion of secondary punishments, it may suffice to 
 observe, that the fundamental difficulty connected 
 with them consists in the necessity of combining 
 a certain degree of penal severity with measures of 
 a reformatory tendency. Without possessing the 
 former feature, the punishment would become an 
 incentive to, instead of a deterrent from, the 
 commission of crime; without the latter, the 
 country is at the expense of supporting an idle 
 mouth for a given period, at the expiration of 
 which the criminal is again turned loose on the 
 society from which he had been withdrawn, without 
 any prospect or desire of obtaining an honest 
 livelihood, and consequently resumes his previous 
 life of plunder, until again convicted. It appears 
 extraordinary how so weighty a practical difficulty 
 as this could have escaped the observation of the 
 speculative proposers of the various schemes above 
 mentioned, which are all modifications of the prin- 
 ciple of imprisonment, a punishment which is open 
 to strong, and, in the opinion of many, fatal, 
 objections. 
 
 The difficulty, however, is effectually met by the 
 transportation system, by which the criminal is 
 at once separated from all his vice promoting
 
 SYSTEM IN FRANCE. 263 
 
 associations, a circumstance which constitutes a 
 very important part of the penal character of the 
 system. A point of some consequence appears 
 thus to be established ; for if the efficacy of 
 secondary punishment is almost neutralized by 
 the difficulty in question, it follows, that a system 
 which avoids that difficulty possesses an eminent 
 superiority. 
 
 M. Thiers, in speaking of the convict establish- 
 ments of, and in France, called them " the plague 
 spot of the country," a remark no less eloquent 
 than just, for while the expense of supporting them 
 is an intolerable burden on the industry of the 
 people, they serve only for the temporary coercion, 
 while they possess no reformatory principle what- 
 ever, and are almost wholly inoperative as a 
 deterrent. But the French are not an enterprising 
 nation, and are more given to bombast than to 
 commerce. Half the expense, and less than half 
 the bluster, which has been expended on the 
 Island of Tahiti, would have served to establish a 
 penal colony in some of the countless groups of 
 the Pacific, which might have become a centre of 
 civilization, of commerce, and Christianity, to the 
 thousand isles that gem the bosom of that mighty 
 ocean. But unfortunately the Protectorate of 
 Tahiti was considered an object of greater magni- 
 tude than the civilization of a hemisphere, and 
 France still rings with the groans of the galley 
 slave.
 
 264 COMPARISON OF EXPENSE. 
 
 On the subject of expense, it may be proper to 
 say a few words. So little was this matter for- 
 merly understood in the mother country, that it 
 was actually, on one occasion, and that not of 
 very ancient date, proposed in the House of 
 Commons to abandon this colony, and deport the 
 inhabitants from its shores. In reference to this 
 proposition, the following passage is quoted from 
 a revised edition of a letter frcm the Australian 
 Patriotic Association to C. Buller, Jun., Esq., 
 M.P. 
 
 " The speakers in the above cases were, no 
 doubt, ignorant of the fact, (for they attacked 
 the system chiefly on economical grounds), that 
 the colony had even then, during the period 
 from 1786 to 1821, notwithstanding the ex- 
 penses incident to its primary establishment, pro- 
 duced to the mother country a net saving of 
 1 ,9 1 3,446. 1 7s. the additional sum that it would 
 have cost, provided the number of convicts which 
 had then been transported to this colony, had 
 been kept in the parent country in hulks ; and a 
 net saving of 1 1,800,837. 5s. 6d., the additional 
 sum' that it would have cost, had the same number 
 of convicts been kept in the parent country on the 
 most economical plan in Penitentiaries." 
 
 A simple calculation of the comparative cost of 
 the penitentiary and transportation system will 
 satisfactorily prove the economical advantage of the 
 latter. The actual charge on the British Treasury
 
 COMPARISON OF EXPENSE. 265 
 
 for the maintenance of each male convict in a 
 penitentiary is 30 per annum. The cost of the 
 passage of a male convict to New South Wales, 
 including his maintenance during the voyage, a 
 period of four months, is no more than 15 ; his 
 maintenance during the remaining eight months 
 costs 8 ; so that the total expense of transporting 
 and maintaining the convict the first year, effects 
 a saving of 7. on the expense which would have 
 been incurred had he been kept in England. After 
 the first year, the saving amounts to 18. on every 
 man, an immense amount on the number expa- 
 triated. It is thus, that the simple test of figures 
 puts to flight a host of undigested theories, with 
 little foundation beyond an imaginary and delusive 
 philanthropy. 
 
 But mere economy, after all, would form a 
 poor ground for the adoption of a penal system, 
 unless it could be shown to possess higher advan- 
 tages. It remains, therefore, to show, that the 
 system of transportation, combined with properly 
 regulated assignment, affords ample means, both 
 for punishing and reforming the criminal. Under 
 such a system, a criminal, unless his character is 
 so utterly hardened and depraved as to offer no 
 prospect of his being influenced by gentle measures, 
 is subjected to a moderate coercion, and required 
 to labour without any other remuneration than his 
 food and raiment. This, if rightly understood, is 
 a punishment sufficiently severe for ordinary 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 266 IGNORANCE ON TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 offences, and even for felonies of the lower class. 
 Every man knows that his labour is of some value, 
 and to that value the unconvicted man possesses 
 an undisputed claim ; but the right of reaping the 
 reward of his toil is taken away from the convict, 
 and this circumstance added to the irksomeness of 
 labour to the idle and vicious, forms a punishment 
 of severity quite commensurate with the character 
 of the offences for which it is inflicted. But it is 
 of importance that the nature of the punishment 
 should be correctly understood by those on whom 
 it is intended to operate as a deterrent. Very few, 
 indeed, of the convicts who have been sent hither 
 have been found to have had any idea of the 
 nature of the punishment they were to undergo ; 
 a fact which is quite sufficient to explain the 
 jesting manner in which the lower orders at home 
 talk of being " lagged," which is the thieves' 
 slang term for " transported." 
 
 Not to diffuse just information on the subject 
 of the punishment is at once to disarm it of its 
 terrors ; and the British government in neglecting 
 this important duty have incurred a heavy charge, 
 almost amounting to an encouragement of crime. 
 De non apparentibus et non existentibus eadem 
 est ratio. A man who does not know what a 
 punishment is, very readily seizes upon the notion 
 that it is no punishment at all. A propos, this 
 circumstance suggests a cogent objection against 
 what the Americans call the solitary system. The
 
 ASSIGNMENT SYSTEM. 267 
 
 feelings of one shut out from all communication 
 with the world are such as can only be compre- 
 hended by him who has experienced them, nor can 
 any description render them intelligible. In order, 
 therefore, to render the solitary system operative 
 as a deterrent, the population of the states where 
 it prevails should be made to undergo a cautionary 
 incarceration for six months, on the plan of the 
 ancient pedagogue, who was wont to muster his 
 boys for a general flogging once a week, that they 
 might not be ignorant of the nature of the punish- 
 ment. 
 
 The efficacy of the Assignment System in New 
 South Wales was much impeded, as has been often 
 shown by the abuses which existed in its adminis- 
 tration. These abuses gradually crept in from 
 several sources. The officers of government here, 
 were, from the remoteness of the settlement, 
 almost entirely removed from the control of the 
 Home authorities, and these latter were so much 
 occupied with the pressure of public affairs, that 
 they had little time to attend to Botany Bay, 
 which became a bye-word and a reproach among 
 mien. Men of ability and gentlemanly qualifica- 
 tions were seldom found willing to leave the centre 
 of civilization to look after pick-pockets; this 
 circumstance led to the appointment of the New 
 South Wales corps, the officers of which were, with 
 few exceptions, men of inferior standing, and, as it 
 turned out, of inferior character also ; for many of 
 
 N 2
 
 268 EVILS TO BE 
 
 them did not scruple, on their arrival in the 
 colony, to become dealers in the instruments of 
 drunkenness, and to exhibit to the public an 
 example of gross profligacy such were not the 
 men who should have been charged with the 
 management of a reformatory penal system. When 
 men are willing to forget their character for the 
 sake of " getting money," it is not to be wondered 
 that bribery and corruption should be found to 
 exist, even in high places, and that convicts on 
 their emancipation, should be emulous of the 
 occupations of their betters their betters ? If 
 there was ill-nature, there was also truth in the 
 remark, which has been attributed to Governor 
 Macquarie, that New South Wales at one time 
 contained but two classes of persons, " those who 
 had been transported, and those who ought to 
 have been so." 
 
 But the evils which arose from this source, and 
 from others are now well known, and their danger 
 is perfectly understood. There can be little doubt, 
 therefore, that a system of assignment could be so 
 ordered as to realize all of which it has been 
 supposed capable. Some limitation would neces- 
 sarily be imposed on the number of convicts 
 assigned to each applicant; for to allow a single 
 individual to have upwards of a hundred assigned 
 servants was equivalent to forming a nest of 
 thieves in the heart of the country, the evil of 
 which has been already shown. Nor is it probable
 
 GUARDED AGAINST. 2 69 
 
 that any applicant would, under a revised system, 
 obtain any convicts, unless he were known to be 
 a man of firmness and humanity. The obtaining 
 of servants by the influence of a bank-note would, 
 of course, be effectually prevented. Care would 
 also be taken to disperse the men throughout the 
 territory, to remove them entirely from evil asso- 
 ciations, an arrangement which might perhaps be 
 facilitated by a regulation, occasionally and judi- 
 ciously changing the assignment of particular 
 individuals who were found to possess influence 
 over the others ; for the same reason as the 
 Commissioners of Excise periodically change the 
 stations of their subordinate officers, and the 
 regiments of the army are removed from town to 
 town, that the formation of improper connections 
 may be prevented. 
 
 The reformatory efficacy of the system having 
 been thus so unhappily injured by mal-adminis- 
 tration, it would seem that any remarks on this 
 subject should be made entirely in reference to the 
 possible revival of the system. It is earnestly to 
 be hoped that the British government, in esta- 
 blishing the new penal settlement for the proba- 
 tionary exiles from the model-prisons on the 
 north-eastern coast of Australia, will not omit so 
 favourable an opportunity for renewing the experi- 
 ment. There will be an entirely new field, where 
 no old interests or prejudices can embarrass the 
 measures of the executive, and the friends of the
 
 270 NEW CONVICT COLONY. 
 
 assignment principle look forward with sanguine 
 anticipations to the course which shall be pursued. 
 A conference, relative to the site and management 
 of the new colony, is about to take place between 
 Sir George Gipps, Sir Eardley Wilmot, Governor 
 of Van Diemen's Land, and C. J. La Trobe, Esq., 
 Superintendent of Port Phillip, the result of whose 
 deliberations will influence the Home Government 
 in maturing their plans. 
 
 There is one subject, the importance of which 
 is so vast, that it might be thought impossible that 
 a government, in the formation of a penal settle- 
 ment, could omit it from their consideration. It 
 is, however, a fact, that for many years after the 
 establishment of this colony, not one clergyman, or 
 teacher of any religious denomination was to be 
 found on its shores. This truly awful fact renders 
 it not impertinent to remark, that the securing of 
 religious instruction to convicts, wherever they are 
 sent, is a matter of primary consequence, for 
 without this the best devised schemes of human 
 policy must prove abortive. Even secular educa- 
 tion, valuable as that is, if not based on religious 
 knowledge, will prove a curse rather than a 
 blessing. Convicts, truly, have forfeited the 
 advantages which their country offered them at 
 home ; but they are nevertheless members of that 
 great family, for whom, even for the worst of 
 them, Christ died. Fearful, indeed, is the guilt 
 already resting on the parent land, for neglecting
 
 RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. 271 
 
 the religious instruction of her colonies, whether 
 penal or otherwise ; but still more fearful will that 
 guilt be, if her rulers are deaf to the voice of 
 experience, and pursue the false chimera of making 
 men virtuous without religion. 
 
 It has been thought, that any sort of men are 
 fit for clergymen to prisoners. At home, the 
 chaplaincy of a gaol is unhappily considered as a 
 cure of the meanest character; and a similar 
 impression has existed, and it is to be feared> 
 continues to exist, respecting clerical appointments 
 in penal colonies. To what other cause can be 
 attributed the sufferance of so great a proportion 
 of men of known incapacity and inexperience as 
 was formerly to be found among the clergy of these 
 colonies ? Such a stigma is now no longer justly 
 applicable to the clergy ; but formerly, with a few 
 exceptions, a " colonial parson" was a man of 
 little more estimation than a colonial soap-boiler. 
 It is to be hoped that such an error will be avoided 
 in the new colony. Men entrusted with the 
 spiritual charge of convicts should especially be 
 men of proved ability, piety, and zeal, skilled in 
 all the windings of the human heart: such men 
 should be sent at any expense. The saving of a 
 few paltry pounds on such a score is the most 
 paltry of all savings. It is too much to expect 
 that first-rate men, whose education has been 
 completed at great expense, will exile themselves,
 
 272 PROBATION SYSTEM. 
 
 perhaps, with wives and families and these are 
 the most useful and go to live in an expensive 
 country for 200 a year. 
 
 A system has been recently attempted in Van 
 Diemen's Land, called the " Probation System," 
 which has been suggested by some ignorant British 
 theorists, and, as might have been expected, has 
 proved a complete failure. The convicts are 
 allowed to choose their own masters, bargain for 
 their own wages, and quit their service in a 
 month if they dislike their situation, the Crown 
 maintaining them while out of employment. The 
 consequences of so wretched a departure from 
 propriety cannot be sufficiently deplored, nor a 
 renewal of a similar scheme elsewhere be suffi- 
 ciently deprecated. By such an injudicious system 
 as this, the bad are furnished with facilities for 
 uniting with the bad " pares cum paribus facillime 
 congregantur" and little troops of banditti (this 
 is not too strong a term) are thus formed to 
 the consternation and annoyance of the peaceful 
 settlers. In reference to this system, the following 
 paragraph appeared in an influential London journal 
 of June 6, 1844. 
 
 "The prosperity of this colony (Van Diemen's 
 Land) is destroyed for many years to come. Since 
 the ridiculous convict probation system has been 
 in force, its character is entirely changed. Armed 
 ruffians travel its length and breadth. The bond
 
 CONCLUSIONS DRAWN. 273 
 
 far out-number the free ; life and property are daily 
 becoming more insecure, and from being a quiet 
 tranquil home for industrious men, it is becoming 
 the plague-spot of the south. Now, indeed, with 
 great truth and honesty, may a virtuous people 
 at home be warned against contact with the felon- 
 deluged shores. The hopeless colonists begin to 
 entertain the opinion, that British government 
 intend, by the large monthly importations of 
 pollution, to drive them to despair. If things 
 do go on as they lately have done, two years hence 
 no one will be safe in the interior at noon-day. 
 The felons are allowed to choose their own masters, 
 bargain for their own wages, and quit their service 
 in a month, the Crown maintaining them when 
 their caprice leads them to quit a master." 
 
 The language of this paragraph may possibly 
 be rather warmly coloured, but the justice of 
 the opinion the writer has formed cannot be 
 questioned. 
 
 From the statements made in this section these 
 conclusions appear to be warranted : that, as a 
 secondary punishment, nothing can exceed trans- 
 portation ; and that, as a reformatory scheme, 
 nothing can be more effectual than a well-regulated 
 system of assignment. 
 
 N 3
 
 274 OLD COUNCIL. 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 REVIEW OF CERTAIN MINOR ACTS AND ORDINANCES OF 
 THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL OF NEW SOUTH WALES 
 DURING THE TEARS 1832 1842, INCLUSIVE. 
 
 The great public questions which have engaged 
 
 the attention of the colonists of New South Wales 
 
 during the governments of Sir Richard Bourke 
 
 and Sir George Gipps have now been discussed. 
 
 The consideration of these questions naturally 
 
 involved many details, from which the intelligent 
 
 reader will have been able to form a general 
 
 notion of the progress of colonial legislation. It is 
 
 not to be supposed, however, that the local legislature 
 
 was solely occupied with these great questions ; 
 
 several enactments were made during this period 
 
 of very considerable importance, and which it 
 
 would be improper to exclude from these pages. 
 
 Some of them, indeed, may be thought to have 
 
 merited a more enlarged investigation ; but on 
 
 reflection, it was found impossible to allow this, 
 
 without extending the volumes beyond the limits 
 
 to which they are restricted. Such readers as may 
 
 desire more detailed information than will be 
 
 found in this section will, no doubt, easily obtain 
 
 access to public documents, from which their 
 
 curiosity will be fully satisfied. It may, perhaps, 
 
 be necessary to remind the reader that the old
 
 ITS CONSTITUTION. 275 
 
 Legislative Council was a body constituted very 
 differently from that which now exists. In the 
 old Council, the Governor presided in person ; the 
 members were only fourteen in number, of whom 
 seven were government officers,* and the other 
 seven nominated by the Crown from among the 
 gentlemen of the colony ; the result of which 
 arrangement was plainly to place the legislation 
 of the colony in the hands of the executive, which 
 was able to carry every measure it introduced, 
 and equally to reject any measure to which it was 
 unfavourable. 
 
 With such a power in his hands, it is no vain 
 tribute to the public character of Sir Richard 
 Bourke, that he was the most popular Governor 
 who has ever presided over the colonial affairs ; 
 and should it be found that Sir George Gipps has 
 not been equally popular, it must in candour be 
 remembered, that he has been placed in circum- 
 stances entirely different, and such as would have 
 shaken the spirit of any man less distinguished for 
 strength and consistency of purpose. The Acts 
 and Ordinances which will be noticed in this 
 section, are " Acts and Ordinances of the Governor 
 
 * The official members of the old Council were, the Lord 
 Bishop of Australia, the Colonial Secretary, the Colonial 
 Treasurer, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the 
 Attorney- General, the Auditor- General, and the Collector 
 of Customs.
 
 276 PREPARATION OF BILLS. 
 
 and Council of New South Wales." Under the 
 new Constitution, the Legislative Council passes 
 its own Acts, which are then presented to the 
 Governor for the royal assent. To the debates 
 of the old Council, the public were always denied 
 admission until within a short period of its dis- 
 solution ; this restriction has never been attempted 
 under the new Constitution. A legislative body, 
 withdrawn from public review, is seldom so guarded 
 in its proceedings, as the nature of their functions 
 would seem to demand ; and it cannot be concealed 
 that the legislative history of New South Wales, 
 previously to the year 1843, exhibits many in- 
 stances of carelessness and haste in the preparation 
 of bills, which merit strong censure. A mere 
 cursory glance at the index of a volume of Acts 
 of the Governor and Council will prove to the 
 reader that, at least, one hah of the actual business 
 of each session was to amend the errors of the 
 preceding one. The constantly recurring phrases, 
 " An Act to amend an Act," " An Act further 
 to amend an Act," " An Act to alter and amend," 
 " to amend and explain," " to amend and extend," 
 " to repeal in part, and to amend and extend," 
 induce the reader to think that these amendments 
 and alterations are of great importance, and relate 
 to some vital clauses of the original measure. His 
 disappointment will be considerable when he finds 
 many of them to provide for some case which
 
 JURY LAW. 277 
 
 ought to have been foreseen, or to supply the 
 omission of some technicality, which, however 
 trivial, impeded the efficacy of the Act.* Never- 
 theless, various measures were passed, which 
 exercised a very important influence upon the 
 state of the colony, and to a few of these the 
 attention of the reader is now solicited. It will 
 perhaps be convenient to arrange the subjects 
 of legislation under heads, rather than offer a 
 dry chronological detail. 
 
 JURY LAW. 
 
 The constitution of juries in New South Wales 
 was, for a long period, a matter of severe debate, 
 and so delicate was the ground on which the legis- 
 lature knew they were treading, that the old council 
 never considered it expedient to pass any enact- 
 ment, the provisions of which were to continue in 
 force for a longer period than two years. The 
 difficulty, it will readily be perceived, lay in the 
 question of the admissibility, or non-admissibility 
 of the emancipist body to serve on juries. Pre- 
 viously to the administration of Sir Richard Bourke, 
 that class of persons, notwithstanding their number, 
 
 * 'After the Sydney Incorporation Act was passed, such 
 was the careless manner in which it had been drawn 
 up, that it was found necessary to pass a Supplementary 
 Act to declare that the aforesaid Act might hereafter be 
 amended or repealed.
 
 278 ADMISSION OF EMANCIPISTS. 
 
 and the great wealth, and even respectability of 
 many of them, had never been considered eligible to 
 the jury-box, for it was considered, and not wholly 
 without reason, that their natural sympathies for 
 the individuals, most frequently brought to trial, 
 would militate against the honesty of their verdict. 
 This exclusion, however, was a severe thorn in the 
 side of the party, and frequent attempts were made 
 by meetings and petitions to the Governor and 
 Council, to procure a new constitution for juries. 
 In the year 1832, the clamours of the party had 
 become so loud, that a measure was at length 
 introduced into the council, and, after a warm de- 
 bate, carried, to relieve the emancipists from their 
 disqualification. The principal clauses of the Act 
 contain provisions for the striking of special juries, 
 and the trial of issues in certain cases, the particu- 
 lars of which are not of much interest. The dis- 
 tinguishing clause is as follows : 
 
 "And be it further enacted, that the following 
 persons shall not be qualified to serve on any such 
 jury as aforesaid ; that is to say, every man not 
 being a natural born subject of the King, and every 
 man who hath been, or shall be, attainted of any 
 treason or felony, or convicted of any crime that is 
 infamous, (unless he shall have received for such 
 crime a pardon, or the full period expired for which 
 he shall have been sentenced to be transported), 
 and every man of bad fame, or of dishonest life or 
 conduct, or of immoral character or repute."
 
 A SALUTARY ACT. 279 
 
 By the succeeding clause, persons twice convicted 
 were altogether disqualified. 
 
 During the two years that this Act remained in 
 force, several unhappy instances occurred, in which 
 it was clearly proved that the jury-box was used as 
 a means of delivering the guilty from punishment. 
 That such cases would in all probability occur, 
 had not been unforeseen by the legislature, for a 
 provision had been made for the striking out by 
 ballot of any objectionable names from the list pre- 
 pared by the police superintendents of each district. 
 The magistrates, however, too generally shrank 
 from acting on this provision, and the consequence 
 was, that many juries were impannelled, containing 
 individuals of the most depraved character. Not- 
 withstanding these lamentable facts, however, the 
 measure was found on the whole to have been 
 salutary in its operation, having tended to soften 
 the acerbity which existed between the rival parties 
 in fact, it had, more than any thing else, contri- 
 buted to obliterate that distinction, which had so 
 often been used for the most invidious purposes. 
 The proposal, therefore, to continue the Act till the 
 30th of June, 1835, received the sanction of the 
 legislature. Some explanatory clauses were added, 
 relative to the summoning and striking of juries, 
 and the qualification clause was altered as follows : 
 " Unless he shall have received for such crime a 
 free pardon, or shall be within the benefit and pro- 
 tection of some Act of Parliament, having the force
 
 280 SALARIES 
 
 and effect of a pardon under the Great Seal for 
 such crime, &c., &c." 
 
 In 1835, the Act was again continued for ano- 
 ther year, and in 1836 it was still further con- 
 tinued, with the addition of a clause to remove 
 doubts as to the power of justices in petty sessions 
 to omit or strike out the names of men of bad 
 fame and repute. A circular letter was also addressed 
 to the various benches of magistrates throughout 
 the colony, directing their attention to 'the import- 
 ance of carefully revising the jury lists, and thus 
 preventing unscrupulous persons from defeating 
 the ends of justice. The result was highly grati- 
 fying ; the cases of collusion and perjury on the 
 part of jurors becoming much less frequent, and at 
 length ceasing to be heard of altogether.* 
 
 SALARIES OF GOVERNORS AND JUDGES. 
 
 In 1832, a short Act was passed, to provide for 
 the payment of the salaries of the Governor, or 
 acting Governor, and of the Judges of the Supreme 
 Court, which were ordered to be a charge upon the 
 
 * An important modification of the jury law has been 
 made by the new council, by Mr. Windeyer's Jury Bill in 
 the Session of 1844. In civil cases, when the question is 
 referred to a jury, the number of the jury may be only four ; 
 and if, after deliberating six hours, they cannot form a 
 unanimous judgment, the opinion of three-fourths may be 
 taken ; and if, after deliberating twelve hours, their opinions 
 are still divided, a new trial must take place.
 
 OF GOVERNORS AND JUDGES. 281 
 
 revenues arising from the duties of customs levied 
 in the colony. The salary of the Governor, or 
 acting Governor, was fixed at 5000, that of the 
 Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at 2000, and 
 those of each of the Puisne Judges at 1500. 
 Subsequently similar provision was made for the 
 payment of a salary of 1500 to the Superin- 
 tendent of Port Phillip. 
 
 SAVINGS' BANK. 
 
 The preamble of an Act passed on the 9th of 
 March, 1832, sets forth that "it is desirable, for 
 the encouragement of frugality, that persons pos- 
 sessing small sums of money beyond what they re- 
 quire for their immediate wants, should be afforded 
 an opportunity of depositing the same on good 
 security, to accumulate at compound interest, and 
 to form a provision for themselves and families." 
 In pursuance of this very laudable object, the 
 Savings' Bank of New South Wales was established, 
 the Governor being President, and the affairs of 
 the Bank being vested in nine trustees, nominated 
 by the Governor. The deposits were all to be paid 
 over to the Colonial Treasurer, and the trustees 
 were authorized to advance loans, not exceeding 
 500 to any one person, on security of real pro- 
 perty, and to discount bills of exchange or promis- 
 sory notes, for amounts not exceeding 500, and at 
 a rate of interest or discount of not less than eight
 
 282 SAVINGS' BANK. 
 
 per cent. Depositors were to receive five per cent, 
 interest on all deposits not less than 20s., and, 
 when the profits of the Bank for any year should 
 exceed 200, the surplus was to be rateably divided, 
 and placed to the credits of depositors. No depo- 
 sitor, however, was allowed to deposit more than 
 100, nor to claim compound interest, when his 
 deposits amounted to 100. A proviso was also 
 made authorising minors to make deposits in their 
 own names, and to give validity to their receipts. 
 A special clause was also introduced for the benefit 
 of prisoners of the Crown, who were allowed to 
 make deposits above 100. 
 
 This valuable institution continued to flourish, 
 and contributed greatly to improve the moral 
 character of the colony by forming habits of 
 economy. After some years, however, the govern- 
 ment declined to have any direct interference with 
 the affairs of the bank, and withdrew the implied 
 security which was understood to have been given 
 by the circumstance of the moneys being paid into 
 the Colonial Treasury. This created no little 
 alarm among the depositors, and a " run" ensued. 
 Happily, however, the trustees succeeded in main- 
 taining the stability of the bank, and it still con- 
 tinues to flourish, though the amount of deposits 
 is considerably reduced on account of the late 
 general depression of the colony. It may be 
 truly said, however, that, but for this institution, 
 many a poor family, who have continued to
 
 POSTAGE OF LETTERS. 283 
 
 struggle through the severe monetary crisis which 
 has happily now passed away, would have been 
 plunged into hopeless and irremediable beggary. 
 Colonists of every class, indeed, have much cause 
 to be grateful for the institution of a Savings' 
 Bank. 
 
 POSTAGE OF LETTERS. 
 
 Until the year 1835, the conveyance of letters 
 in New South Wales was irregularly and expen- 
 sively managed. An Act was, therefore, passed 
 in that year, providing for the establishment of 
 a General Post Office, and other sub-offices in 
 different parts of the colony, to be under the 
 superintendence of a Postmaster-General. The 
 Governor was also authorized to determine the 
 rates of postage, so that they did not exceed 
 those contained in a schedule appended to the 
 Act. Regulations with respect to franking letters 
 were enacted, similar to those which existed in 
 the United Kingdom, prior to the Penny Postage 
 scheme. Letters to and from convicts were directed 
 to be enclosed open to the principal superintendent 
 of convicts, by whom they were to be marked 
 "convict's letter," and forwarded free of charge. 
 Newspapers printed within the colony were to 
 be marked with the words " newspapers only." 
 Various other provisions were made for the con- 
 venience of the public ; but the rates chargeable
 
 284 NORFOLK ISLAND. 
 
 were, and still continue to be, very high, a cir- 
 cumstance which impedes commerce, and prevents 
 that frequent and agreeable interchange of com- 
 munication which adds such a charm to the 
 private life of our friends at home. 
 
 NORFOLK ISLAND. 
 
 By an Act passed on the 10th day of June, 
 1835, a Court of Criminal Jurisdiction was estab- 
 lished at Norfolk Island, which the reader is aware 
 is a small island lying about eight hundred miles 
 eastward from the coast of New South Wales, 
 of which colony it was, until lately, a penal depen- 
 dency. Since the discontinuance of transportation, 
 Norfolk Island has been attached to the govern- 
 ment of Van Diemen's Land. The origin of 
 the establishment of a Court of Criminal Juris- 
 diction in that island is strange, and opens a 
 curious page in the great volume of human nature. 
 With reference to this subject, therefore, the 
 following extract from the evidence of Sir Francis 
 Forbes before the select Committee of the House 
 of Commons on Transportation, in the year 1837, 
 will be found interesting, as it explains both the 
 origin and constitution of this Court. 
 
 Chairman (Sir William Molesworth). "Have 
 not several mutinies taken place in Norfolk Island 
 amongst the convicts ?" " There have been at- 
 tempts at mutiny."
 
 EVIDENCE OF SIR F. FORBES. 285 
 
 " Do you know anything of one of the leaders 
 of those attempts, a man of the name of Fitch ?"* 
 " The man of the name of Fitch was not 
 the leader in a mutiny. I believe that he had 
 something to do with an attempt at seizing upon 
 a vessel that was taking down the prisoners to 
 Norfolk Island." 
 
 " What was that plan ?" " The plan laid 
 was, I believe, at least it was said to be, to 
 poison the ship's company ; but I can only speak 
 from such an indistinct recollection of the case, 
 that I can hardly say that I could give any 
 evidence very confidently on that point." 
 
 Mr. Ward. "Did none of those cases occur 
 during your residence in the colony?" "Yes." 
 " Did they not come under the cognizance of 
 yourself, or of some court ?" " The court in 
 Norfolk Island would take cognizance of that." 
 
 Mr. F. Baring. "There is a court there, is 
 there ?" " Yes, a regular Criminal Court." 
 
 Sir George Grey. "Was it not found, from 
 the absence of such a court, that offences were 
 committed for the express purpose of convicts 
 being removed to Sydney for trial ?" " I have 
 
 * The real name of this villain was John Knatchbull. 
 He was of one of the best families in England, his brother 
 being a Baronet. He himself had been a Commander in 
 the navy. After various adventures, the wretched man 
 was hanged at Sydney in the month of March, 1844, for 
 a most brutal murder.
 
 286 EVIDENCE OF SIR F. FORBES. 
 
 known desperate crimes committed by the convicts 
 at Norfolk Island for the purpose of their being 
 sent to Sydney, sometimes even to be tried for 
 capital felony." 
 
 " In consequence of that being the case, was 
 a law passed and carried into effect, establishing a 
 Court in Norfolk Island ?" " In consequence of 
 that, the Governor recommended a law to be 
 passed for a court to be established at Norfolk 
 Island. That recommendation was carried into 
 effect, and an Act of Parliament was passed 
 for the purpose of introducing a Court of Judica- 
 ture in Norfolk Island, presided over by a Judge, 
 who must be a barrister, and five military offi- 
 cers." 
 
 Mr. F. Baring. " Have they power to commit 
 for capital punishment ?" " All powers." 
 
 Mr. Ward. "Is not almost every punish- 
 ment in Norfolk Island capital ?" " No ; there 
 may be various grades of offence insolence, for 
 instance. Norfolk Island is subject to the same 
 laws, of course, as New South Wales." 
 
 Chairman. "You stated in a former answer, 
 ' I have known desperate crimes committed by 
 the convicts at Norfolk Island for the purpose 
 of their being sent to Sydney, sometimes even 
 to be tried for capital felony;' will you explain 
 that ?" " The explanation is, that I have known 
 crimes committed by convicts in order that they 
 might be sent to Sydney to be tried; and I
 
 EVIDENCE OF SIR F. FORBES. 287 
 
 have known false charges made by convicts for 
 the purpose of being sent to Sydney to give 
 evidence." 
 
 " Have you known murders committed for that 
 purpose ?" " I have such cases in my recollection, 
 but I could not now attempt to refer to them." 
 
 " Are you not aware that the chief cause of 
 committing those crimes was that the residence 
 at Norfolk Island was so exceedingly disagreeable 
 and hateful ?" " I believe that to be the cause ; 
 an impatience of remaining in Norfolk Island, and 
 a desire to get back to Sydney, taking the chance 
 of escape, or any other casualty that might befal 
 them. A man who accused three persons of 
 the murder of Mr. Mclntyre, swore to a great 
 deal of falsehood, and he came up, as it appeared 
 afterwards, merely for the purpose of being re- 
 moved from Norfolk Island, accusing innocent 
 men that he might be removed to Sydney for 
 the purpose of giving evidence against them." 
 
 " So that you have known cases in which men 
 have incurred the risk of the punishment of death 
 for the sake of being removed from Norfolk 
 Island ?" " I have." 
 
 Mr. Buller. " Were the chances of escape 
 considerable ?" " No. I do not know what 
 chances they might have calculated upon, but 
 I am aware that was attributed to them as one 
 of the motives that induced them; the vessel 
 might have been seized on the passage up, or
 
 288 CHURCH ACT. 
 
 might have been wrecked on the coast, or they 
 might have escaped from the hulk at Sydney, 
 or when they were coming from the gaol to 
 the Court-house, or coming back. In their 
 desperate state, any speculation is gladly taken 
 hold of by those persons." 
 
 " Was the chance of escape such that they 
 calculated upon it ?" " I think that they calcu- 
 lated upon it, but I do not think the chance 
 was enough to justify their expectation." 
 
 " Have you known any instances of escape 
 under such circumstances ?" " Not one." 
 
 It is impossible to turn from this subject, with- 
 out remarking, that if information of the severities 
 which attend the punishment of transportation, 
 in its most intense application, were duly dis- 
 seminated by authority at home, that punishment 
 would not be so lightly incurred by many who 
 are ignorant of its nature. 
 
 CHURCH AND CHAPEL BUILDING, &C. 
 
 An Act, generally known as Sir Richard 
 Bourke's Church Act, was introduced to the 
 Council by that Governor, and proved one of 
 the most popular measures which has ever been 
 proposed to the colony. The object of the Act 
 was, to authorize the Governor, with the advice 
 of the Executive Council, to issue sums from the 
 general revenues of the colony in aid of private
 
 CHURCH ACT. 289 
 
 contributions for the building of churches and 
 chapels, and the maintenance of ministers of 
 religion. It was provided, that the sum granted 
 by government should not exceed the amount 
 of the private contributions which might be raised ; 
 and that the whole grant should never exceed one 
 thousand pounds. Amounts issued in this way 
 were, of 'course, to be applied to the erection of 
 places of worship and dwelling-houses for the 
 officiating ministers. The second clause autho- 
 rizes the Governor and Executive Council to issue 
 annual sums for the payment of stipends in pro- 
 portion to the population of the district wherein 
 the church or chapel is erected. A population 
 of one hundred adults might claim for their minister 
 one hundred pounds a year ; two hundred adults 
 one hundred and fifty pounds; and five hundred 
 adults, two hundred pounds; which last named 
 amount was not to be exceeded. Proof was 
 required to be made to the Governor and Execu- 
 tive Council of the due and faithful performance 
 of the duties in respect of which such stipends 
 were paid. 
 
 The real estate in the site of all buildings erected 
 under this Act, and in the buildings themselves 
 was to be conveyed to trustees, who should be 
 authorized to receive all moneys issued from the 
 treasury, and to provide for the celebration of 
 Divine Worship. Another clause provides, that 
 in every church or chapel erected under this Act, 
 
 VOL. i. o
 
 290 CHURCH ACT. 
 
 not less than one sixth part of the sittings shall 
 be inscribed with the words " Free Seats," and 
 appropriated to the use of poor persons resorting 
 thereto. 
 
 This measure, which offers assistance to the 
 members of every Christian denomination, was not 
 received with much satisfaction by the members of 
 the Church of England. Some condemned the 
 principle of the measure ab initio, contending 
 that the Church of England alone was entitled to 
 receive the countenance of government; while 
 others, with greater moderation, would have been 
 content had the support been confined to such 
 denominations as retained the essential doctrines 
 of the Gospel. To all, however, support is alike 
 offered ; and the government of this colony assumes 
 the dangerous position of one which distinguishes, 
 not the evil from the good ; which mingles the 
 grapes and the thorns ; the figs and the thistles, in 
 one unwholesome mass. 
 
 MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS. 
 
 In the Session of 1838, an Act was passed 
 providing for the attendance of medical witnesses 
 at Coroner's Inquests, in which it was provided, 
 that if, at the holding of any inquest, the Coroner, 
 or other justice conducting the inquiry, ascertained 
 that the deceased had not been attended by any 
 "legally qualified medical practitioner," it should
 
 MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS. 291 
 
 in such case be lawful for the Coroner, or Justice, 
 to summon the nearest " legally qualified medical 
 practitioner" to give evidence at the inquest, and 
 if necessary to make a post mortem examination 
 of the body. A regulated remuneration was also 
 authorized to be paid to such medical witnesses. 
 An important omission was however made, which 
 was quite characteristic of colonial legislation, and 
 which virtually nullified the Act. The question 
 immediately arose, "what persons were, for the 
 purposes of the Act, to be deemed ' legally qualified 
 medical practitioners ?' ' A supplementary Act 
 was therefore passed, declaring such persons only 
 to be qualified within the meaning of the Act, as 
 produced before a Medical Board, appointed by 
 the supplementary Act, satisfactoiy evidence of 
 his being " a Doctor or Bachelor of Medicine of 
 some University, or a Physician, or Surgeon 
 licensed, or admitted as such by some College of 
 Physicians, or Surgeons in Great Britain or Ireland, 
 or a Member of the Company of Apothecaries of 
 London, or who is, or has been, a medical officer, 
 duly appointed and confirmed of her Majesty's sea 
 or land service." 
 
 These Acts are important, as by them the 
 medical profession has been established on a 
 footing of respectability, and protected against the 
 intrusion of ignorant and designing empirics. 
 
 o 2
 
 292 OBSERVANCE OF SABBATH, &C. 
 
 OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH-DAY. 
 
 As an evidence of progressing improvement in 
 the moral tone of society in the colony, it is 
 gratifying to record, that an Act, introduced into 
 the council, by the Bishop of Australia, for the 
 purpose of prohibiting shooting for sport, or 
 pleasure, or profit on Sunday, received the cordial 
 sanction of the legislature, and has been found by 
 the public not to be so oppressive in its enact- 
 ments, as many persons, with whose diversions it 
 interfered, were disposed to predict. 
 
 INSOLVENCY. 
 
 The colony is indebted to Mr. Justice Burton, 
 late first Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court, for 
 the production of a law for the Relief of Insolvent 
 Debtors, and abolishing Imprisonment for Debt. 
 The wisdom of the measure has been disputed; 
 but there can be but one opinion as to the amount 
 of relief it has afforded during an unprecedented 
 pecuniary struggle, and it is something in favour 
 of the measure, that the objections against it have 
 generally proceeded from the grasping and disap- 
 pointed usurer.
 
 ANALYSIS OF ACTS. 293 
 
 INCORPORATION OF SYDNEY AND MELBOURNE. 
 
 Two Acts were passed in the Session of 1842, 
 the former of which declared the town of Sydney 
 to be a city, and incorporated the inhabitants 
 thereof; the latter incorporated the inhabitants of 
 the town of Melbourne. The provisions of neither 
 of these Acts call for any particular comment. 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 ANALYSIS OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE LEGISLATIVE 
 COUNCIL OF NEW SOUTH WALES, CONSTITUTED UNDER 
 THE ACT OF PARLIAMENT 5 AND 6 VICT., C. 76, 
 DURING THE SESSIONS OF 1843 AND 1844. 
 
 It is proposed to give in this section a detailed 
 account of the labours of the Representative 
 Assembly of this Colony, constituted under the 
 provisions of the Act of the Imperial Parliament, 
 5 and 6 Victorias, Cap. 76, intituled " An Act 
 for the Government of New South Wales and 
 Van Diemen's Land," during the three Sessions 
 held in the years 1843 and 1844. Such an 
 account will, it is believed, be neither uninteresting 
 nor unprofitable; for the principle of representa- 
 tion is one so intimately interwoven with the 
 Constitution of Britain, that even her distant 
 dependencies begin to babble of it, ere they can
 
 294 REASONS OF DELAY. 
 
 well stand alone ; and in New South Wales, the 
 clamour had been loud and importunate, for years 
 before the imperial legislature saw fit to concede 
 the boon. It is well known, that the reason, 
 which chiefly operated in the minds of British 
 statesmen, causing them to entertain with so much 
 coolness the oft-repeated petitions and remon- 
 strances of the inhabitants of this colony, was the 
 admixture with the population of a large number 
 of persons who were, or who, at least, had formerly 
 been, of depraved morals, but possessed of consi- 
 derable wealth. To persons of that stamp it was 
 considered unsafe to entrust the franchise, and 
 still more so to make them eligible to senatorial 
 honours ; while the difficulty was fully perceived, 
 of conferring a Representative Constitution on the 
 colony, the provisions of which should not appl 
 to persons of the emancipist class. There can be 
 no doubt, that the prevalence of these notions 
 at home is to be attributed to the partial and 
 unjust representations of those who were disposed 
 rather to trample on, than to elevate, the character 
 of the emancipist population. Men of this dispo- 
 sition seemed incapable of estimating the ennobling 
 tendency of political freedom, and persisted in 
 asserting, that those who had broken the law, 
 must therefore, ex necesse, be for ever disqualified 
 for comprehending its value, and for rightly 
 exercising political privileges. It would be needless 
 in this place to do more than allude to these
 
 SIR GEORGE GIPPS. 295 
 
 discussions ; they are, it is to be hoped, for ever 
 at an end ; for though, previously to conceding 
 the principle of representation, her Majesty's 
 government considered it necessary to deprive the 
 colony of its penal character, it may confidently be 
 maintained, that the proceedings of the new 
 legislative body have afforded no ground for regret 
 that the principles of the exclusionists were not 
 recognized in the new Constitution. That invi- 
 dious distinctions will become every day more and 
 more inoperative, and that merit alone will be 
 considered the true path to honour, there is now 
 every reason to believe. 
 
 Before proceeding to the main business of the 
 section, courtesy appears to require a single remark 
 or two on the general character of the adminis- 
 tration of his Excellency Sir George Gipps, who 
 arrived in Sydney on the 24th of February, 1838, 
 and has continued to preside over the affairs of 
 the colony to the present time. It is always a 
 delicate task to comment upon the qualities of 
 those who are in authority over us, and for this 
 obvious reason, it will be necessary to be brief. 
 That Sir George Gipps is a man of commanding 
 ability, great -energy of mind, and habitual firmness, 
 and perseverance, even the enemies of his admi- 
 nistration have hardly ventured to deny; the 
 utmost that his opponents allege is, that his 
 measures are not framed with a due consideration 
 of the wants of the colony, and that he is not
 
 296 DIFFICULTIES WHICH BESET 
 
 sufficiently ready to be influenced by the repre- 
 sentations of those who fancy themselves endowed 
 with oracular powers. It is very far, however, 
 from the design of this work to enter upon the 
 field of contest between the government and anti- 
 government parties. The different questions at 
 issue will of course pass under review in the course 
 of the subsequent analysis, but mere party state- 
 ments on either side will be studiously avoided. 
 It is, however, but common justice to his Excel- 
 lency to observe, that the circumstances in which 
 he has been placed, through the whole course of 
 his administration have been peculiarly harassing 
 and perplexing. At the time of his Excellency's 
 assumption of the government, the colony was in 
 a most flourishing condition; and though it is 
 true, that the subsequent depression was to be 
 attributed to the madness of speculators, rather 
 than to the measures of government, the politicians 
 of the colony were not generally acute enough to 
 perceive, or candid enough to admit, their errors ; 
 but would have it, right or wrong, that the 
 Governor alone was to blame for the change which 
 had come over the spirit of their avaricious dreams. 
 That government availed itself of the land mania 
 in Port Phillip, which was at its height during the 
 earlier years of Sir George Gipps' government, 
 and brought into the market land, which was 
 purchased by jobbers, to the injury of the bond 
 fide settler, is undoubtedly true; and this policy
 
 SIR GIPPS' ADMINISTRATION. 297 
 
 has previously been spoken of in terms of repro- 
 bation; but the singular fact is, that the disap- 
 pointed jobber, and not the honest deluded settler, 
 is the source from which this unqualified abuse 
 for it amounts to that of Sir George Gipps and 
 his government proceeds. 
 
 The new Constitution of the Colony has also 
 operated prejudicially to the popularity of his Ex- 
 cellency. The number of elective members being 
 double that of the Crown nominees, the Governor 
 does not find the same facility in carrying his mea- 
 sures as he enjoyed formerly. On the contrary, it 
 is to be feared, that certain gentlemen of the oppo- 
 sition party have evinced a disposition to throw 
 obstacles in the way of the government ; and it is 
 certain, that their language has, on some occasions, 
 betrayed a spirit anything but consistent with 
 his Excellency's position as the representative of her 
 Majesty. In contrast with such indecorous con- 
 duct, the dignified and imperturbable demeanour of 
 the Governor has appeared to great advantage ; and 
 it is to be hoped, that the gentlemen alluded to 
 will feel it more in accordance with the senatorial 
 character to refrain from so objectionable a course. 
 It is only right to add, that these discourteous feel- 
 ings, so far from being participated by the majority, 
 even of those who are generally opposed to his 
 Excellency's measures, are confined to one or two 
 individuals. There certainly is, however, a general 
 
 o 3
 
 298 . WANT OF FORESIGHT. 
 
 feeling, throughout the colony, of want of confidence 
 in his Excellency's government ; and, though much 
 of this feeling doubtless originates in the gloom 
 which has been cast over our affairs by unsuccess- 
 . ful speculation, it were to be wished that his Ex- 
 cellency's instructions from the Colonial Depart- 
 ment permitted him to attempt, in some way, a 
 revival of public confidence. Until some concilia- 
 tory measure be announced, it is to be feared, Sir 
 George Gipps will have to contend against a spirit 
 of factious opposition, backed by the shouts of the 
 disaffected, which those who would gladly co-ope- 
 rate in the advancement of the welfare of the 
 colony are not always able successfully to resist. 
 Were his Excellency to reflect that several of his 
 measures have been characterized by a want of 
 foresight, and based upon superficial views of eco- 
 nomy, he would be less unwilling to listen to the 
 friendly voice of expostulation. If he reflected, 
 that, though the offensive declamation levelled 
 against him proceeds from the ruined gambler, 
 rather than from the honest insolvent, a great 
 amount of real injury was produced by the inju- 
 dicious manner in which he, at one time, overloaded, 
 and, at another, suddenly contracted the currency ; 
 if he reflected on these things, and on the fearful 
 devastation caused by the hurricane which has 
 swept over the land, he would be more ready to 
 pardon an occasional ejaculation of impatience, and 
 would seek to pour water rather than oil, upon the
 
 ACT OF PARLIAMENT. 299 
 
 fires of political animosity. But it is time to pro- 
 ceed. 
 
 The Act of Parliament, 5 and 6 Viet. c. 76, 
 is of so much consequence to this colony, that a 
 somewhat minute analysis of the several pro- 
 visions seems indispensable. 
 
 The preamble merely states, that " it is expedient 
 that further provision be made for the Government 
 of New South Wales ;" and the first clause enacts, 
 " That there shall be within the colony of New 
 South Wales a Legislative Council ;" " and that the 
 said Legislative Council shall consist of thirty-six 
 members," twelve of whom shall be nominated by 
 her Majesty, and the remaining twenty-four elected 
 by the inhabitants of the colony. The second clause 
 enacts that " the Legislature, now by law estab- 
 lished," shall " make all necessary provisions for 
 dividing the parts of the said colony within the 
 boundaries of location into convenient electoral 
 districts," for preparing lists of electors, for revising 
 such lists, for appointing returning officers, for 
 issuing and returning writs, and taking the poll at 
 elections, and for determining the validity of dis- 
 puted returns. 
 
 The third clause is merely temporary in its nature, 
 authorizing the Governor to define the electoral 
 boundaries of the several towns and districts, while, 
 by the fourth clause, the power of altering the 
 former divisions, and of establishing new ones, is 
 vested in the Governor and the future Council.
 
 300 CLAUSES 3 8. 
 
 Power is also given to alter the number of members 
 returnable by each town or district, " and to in- 
 crease the whole number of the Legislative Coun- 
 cil;" provided always that one-third of the addi- 
 tional councillors shall be appointed by her Ma- 
 jesty, the remaining two-thirds being elected as 
 before. 
 
 The qualification of electors is defined by the 
 fifth clause, to be the possession of freehold estate of 
 the value of two hundred pounds, or the occupation 
 of a house of the annual value of twenty pounds. 
 The next clause disqualifies minors, foreigners, and 
 convicts, except such of the latter class as have 
 received a full or conditional pardon, or undergone 
 the period of their sentences. The seventh clause 
 declares possession or occupancy of the house or 
 estate, for six months before the date of the writ of 
 election, and also the payment of all rates and 
 taxes, necessary to qualification. 
 
 The eighth clause limits the eligibility of mem- 
 bers to serve in the Legislative Council to those 
 who have attained the age of twenty-one years, to 
 subjects of the Queen, whether by birth or natura- 
 lization, and such as possess a freehold estate in 
 lands and tenements in New South Wales, of the 
 value of two thousand pounds, or one hundred 
 pounds per annum ; to the value of which estate, 
 and to the absence of collusive or colourable pos- 
 session thereof, the candidate shall, if required by 
 any other candidate, or by any elector, or by the
 
 CLAUSES 12 19. 301 
 
 returning officer, make an explicit declaration,* the 
 form of which is prescribed in the ninth clause. 
 The tenth clause affixes the pains and penalties of 
 perjury to the making a false declaration respecting 
 qualification. The eleventh clause authorizes the 
 Governor to issue a writ for the election of mem- 
 bers to serve in case of vacancy. 
 
 Clauses 12 19 inclusive are occupied with 
 provisions for the appointment and tenure of seat 
 of the members. Non-elective members may either 
 be nominated directly by the Queen, by warrant 
 under the sign manual, countersigned by one of 
 her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State ; or they 
 may be appointed by the Governor provisionally, 
 and until her Majesty's pleasure be known ; and 
 they may be designated either by their own proper 
 names, or as the holders for the time being of any 
 public offices within the colony. This delegated 
 power of nomination, however, may not be exer- 
 cised by the Governor until all the writs for the 
 election of the elective members have been 
 returned ; nor can more than half of the non- 
 elective members be holders of public offices. The 
 
 * This part of the Act has been amended by an Act 
 passed in the last Session of Parliament. The personal 
 attendance of the candidates at the elections is often im- 
 practicable from distance, and the difficulty of travelling: 
 and it is now sufficient, if an elected member make the de- 
 claration of qualification hi writing under his hand addressed 
 to the Speaker before he takes the oath.
 
 302 CLAUSE 19. 
 
 appointments made by. the Governor are by letters- 
 patent under the great seal of the colony, and 
 continue in force for five years, or until the disso- 
 lution of the Council. Any Member of the 
 Council, however, may by writing under his 
 hand, addressed to the Governor, resign his 
 seat. If any member also absent himself for two 
 successive Sessions, or make allegiance or adherence 
 to any foreign Prince or power ; or become bank- 
 rupt, or be attainted of treason, or convicted of 
 felony, or become non compos mentis, his seat 
 becomes thereby vacant ; and on any non-elective 
 member, who has been designated as the holder 
 of a public office, ceasing to hold such office, his 
 seat likewise becomes vacant. Questions arising 
 respecting vacancies must be heard and determined 
 by the Legislative Council, on such questions 
 being referred to them by the Governor, and not 
 otherwise. If the seat of any non-elective 
 member, who has been designated in his nomi- 
 nation as the holder of some public office, become 
 vacant, the vacancy shall continue till the appoint- 
 ment of another person to fill the same office. 
 Vacancies in the seats of non-elective members 
 who have been designated by their proper names 
 may be filled up by the Governor's nominating 
 another person in a similar way, the said nomina- 
 tion to continue in force until disallowed or 
 superseded by her Majesty, 
 
 The twentieth clause gives power to the Gover-
 
 CLAUSES 20 25. 303 
 
 nor to fix places and times for holding the Council, 
 and also to prorogue and dissolve the Council, by 
 proclamation or otherwise, whenever he shall 
 deem it expedient. 
 
 The twenty-first clause provides that there must 
 be a Session of Council at least once in every year ; 
 and also that the Council shall be dissolved by 
 effluxion of time in five years from the return of 
 the writs, if the Governor have not previously 
 dissolved it. And the twenty-second clause orders 
 that the first writs for the election of members 
 shall issue within twelve months from the 
 proclamation of the act. 
 
 Before proceeding to the despatch of any other 
 business, it is necessary for the Council to elect a 
 Speaker, whose election is, nevertheless, subject to 
 the allowance of the Governor, who, indeed, may 
 disallow the election of every member in succession 
 to the office of Speaker, if he should be so disposed. 
 The Council is not competent to transact business, 
 unless there be one-third of the members present, 
 exclusive of the Speaker. Questions are decided 
 on division by a majority of the members present, 
 other than the Speaker, who, however, has a 
 casting vote in case of equality of votes. Vide 
 clauses 23 and 24. 
 
 The following is a copy of the oath prescribed 
 by the twenty-fifth clause to be taken and sub- 
 scribed by every member before he can either sit 
 or vote in the Council, before the Governor or
 
 304 CLAUSE 25. 
 
 persons authorized by him to administer the oath. 
 Affirmations instead of oaths may be taken from 
 Quakers and Moravians. 
 
 " I, A. B., do sincerely promise and swear, 
 that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to 
 her Majesty, Queen Victoria, as lawful Sovereign 
 of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
 Ireland, and of this Colony of New South Wales, 
 dependent on and belonging to the said United 
 Kingdom, and that I will defend her to the 
 utmost of my power, against all traitorous conspi- 
 racies and attempts whatever which shall be made 
 against her person, crown and dignity ; and that I 
 will do my utmost endeavour to disclose and make 
 known to her Majesty, her heirs and successors, all 
 treasons, and traitorous conspiracies, and attempts 
 which I shall know to be against her or any of 
 them ; and all this I do swear without any 
 equivocation, mental evasion, or secret reservation, 
 and renouncing all pardons and dispensations from 
 any person, or persons, whatever to the contrary. 
 So help me God." 
 
 The Governor, with the advice and consent 
 of the Council thus constituted, has power " to 
 make laws for the peace, welfare and good govern- 
 ment of the said colony : provided always, that no 
 such law shall be repugnant to the law of England, 
 or interfere in any manner with the sale or other
 
 CLAUSES 29 33. 305 
 
 appropriation of the lands belonging to the Crown 
 within the said colony, or with the revenue thence 
 arising." Vide clause 29. 
 
 Bills may originate either with the Governor or 
 within the Council. In the former case, the 
 Governor transmits by message to the Council a 
 draft of the law which he proposes to introduce, 
 and the same is taken into consideration by the 
 Council in like manner, as if it had been a bill 
 originating therein. The Governor may also 
 propose, by message to the Council, amendments 
 on any bills sent up to him for her Majesty's 
 assent, which the Council may adopt or not, as 
 they think proper. Every bill passed by the 
 Council, whether the same may have originated 
 with the Governor, or within the Council, whether 
 amended or not, must be presented to the Gover- 
 nor for her Majesty's assent, which he gives or 
 withholds according to his discretion, or declares 
 " that he reserves such bill for the signification 
 of her Majesty's pleasure thereon." All bills 
 aifecting the division and extent of electoral 
 districts, or establishing new divisions, or altering 
 the number of members of Council, or altering the 
 salaries of the Governor, superintendent or judges, 
 as well as all bills altering or affecting the duties 
 or customs upon imports or exports, must be 
 reserved for her Majesty's pleasure. Her Majesty, 
 by an order in Council, may disallow any bill 
 assented to by the Governor, within two years
 
 306 .CLAUSES 34 40. 
 
 after the receipt of a copy of it by the Secretary of 
 State, and on notification of such disallowance 
 being signified by message to the Council, or 
 proclamation in the Government Gazette, the Act 
 forthwith becomes null and void. In the case of 
 bills reserved for her Majesty's pleasure, they have 
 no force within the colony, until her Majesty's assent 
 has been signified. Vide clauses 30 33 inclusive. 
 
 Clauses 34 40 inclusive, provide for the appro- 
 priation by the Council of " the whole of her 
 Majesty's revenue within the said colony, arising 
 from taxes, duties, rates, imports, &c., to the 
 public service of the said colony ; it is necessary, 
 however, for the Governor first to recommend to 
 the Council to make provision for the specific 
 public sendees to which such moneys are to be 
 appropriated. All such moneys are to be issued in 
 pursuance of warrants under the hands of the 
 Governor, addressed to the colonial treasurer. 
 The revenue is permanently chargeable with all 
 costs of collection and management. A provision 
 of 33,000 is made for the payment of the 
 salaries of the Governor and judges, and for the 
 administration of justice ; also of 18,600 for 
 the salaries of public officers and pensions ; and 
 of 30,000 for Public Worship throughout the 
 colony. 
 
 A most important part of the Act remains to be 
 noticed, viz : the provision for the constitution of 
 district councils.
 
 CLAUSES 41 43. 307 
 
 The forty-first clause runs as follows : " And 
 whereas it is expedient that provision be made for 
 the local government of the different parts of the 
 said colony ; be it enacted, that it shall be lawful 
 for the Governor, by letters patent under the 
 great seal of the colony of New South Wales, to 
 incorporate the inhabitants of every county within 
 the said colony, or of such parts of counties or 
 other divisions as to him shall seem fit, to form 
 districts for the purposes of this Act, and by such 
 several letters patent to establish a council in every 
 such district for the local government thereof, &c. 
 Certain provisions follow, fixing the proportion 
 which the number of district councillors for any 
 district shall bear to the population of the district, 
 the number of councillors being in no case less 
 than nine, nor greater than twenty-one. The 
 qualifications of members and electors are for the 
 present the same as those already fixed for 
 members and electors in the case of the Legislative 
 Council. 
 
 These district councils are empowered by clause 
 43, to make bye-laws for their respective districts, 
 for roads and public buildings, for the management 
 of the district property, for providing the means 
 of defraying a proportion of the expenses incurred 
 on account of the administration of justice and 
 police, for the establishment and support of schools, 
 for providing for the collecting of tolls, rates and
 
 308 CLAUSE 51 TO END. 
 
 assessments, and for any other matters referred 
 to them by the Governor and Legislative Council. 
 Further and more minute provisions for the Con- 
 stitution of the district Councils are made by the 
 three succeeding clauses, and clause forty-seventh 
 contains an enactment that one half of the expense 
 of the police establishment of the said colony, 
 (exclusive of the convict establishment,) shall be 
 defrayed out of the general revenue, and the other 
 half raised by the district Councils, in conformity 
 with the provisions of the forty-eighth, forty-ninth, 
 and fiftieth clauses. 
 
 In the fifty-first clause, provision is made for the 
 future division of the colony of New South Wales, 
 into two or more colonies, specifying, however, 
 " that no part of the territories lying southward of 
 the twenty-sixth degree of south latitude in the 
 said colony of New South Wales shall by any such 
 letters patent as aforesaid be detached from the 
 said colony." 
 
 The remaining five clauses are occupied with 
 providing for the government of the proposed 
 new colony to the northward, removing doubts as 
 to the validity of laws and ordinances passed by 
 the old council, and rendering permanent the 
 government of Van Diemen's Land. The three 
 last clauses are merely formal.
 
 NEW COUNCIL ROOM. 309 
 
 On receipt of this Act, his Excellency took im- 
 mediate measures to carry into effect its provisions. 
 Having summoned the old Legislative Council, the 
 Act was laid upon the table, together with Lord 
 Stanley's despatch, transmitting the same. A bill 
 for dividing the colony into electoral districts, &c., 
 was then introduced by his Excellency, who also 
 recommended the appointment of a committee to 
 consider in what manner a suitable chamber could 
 best be provided for the new council. 
 
 This committee, having examined the Colonial 
 Architect, reported on the expediency of erecting an 
 addition to the building in which the old council 
 was held. Accordingly, the elegant little wing at 
 the northern extremity of the old buildings in Ma.c- 
 quarie Street was erected. It contains one large 
 room, forty-six feet by twenty-eight, and twenty- 
 eight feet high, which, with retiring rooms for the 
 Speaker and Members, the Colonial Architect esti- 
 mated might be completed for about 2,000. This 
 building was ready for the reception of the new 
 council in four months. A gallery, capable of 
 holding eighty persons was erected at one end, and 
 subsequently a reporter's gallery has been added. 
 An attempt was made during the last Session to 
 introduce the Bude light into the chamber, but 
 it proved a failure, though 200 was expended on 
 the experiment. 
 
 By proclamation of his Excellency, the new 
 council was summoned to meet for the first time, 
 on Tuesday, August 1, 1843.
 
 310 LIST OF MEMBERS. 
 
 The following is a list of the gentlemen nomi- 
 nated, or returned as members of the first Legisla- 
 tive Council under the new Constitution.* 
 
 The following gentlemen have been appointed to the 
 subordinate offices in connection with the council : 
 
 John Stirling, Esq., Serjeant-at-Arms. 
 
 William Macpherson, Esq., Clerk of Council. 
 
 J. O'Connor, Esq , Assistant Clerk and Librarian. 
 The office of chairman of committees of the whole house 
 was filled, during the first and part of the second Sessions, 
 gratuitously, by Hastings Elwin, Esq. ; but, on the resigna- 
 tion of that gentleman, Charles Nicholson, Esq., M.D., was 
 elected to the office, with a salary of 250 per annum. 
 
 NOMINATED BY THE GOVERNOR, ON BEHALF OF HER 
 MAJESTY. 
 
 Designated as holders of public offices. 
 
 His Excellency, Sir Maurice C. O'Connell, K.C.B., Lieu- 
 tenant- General, Commanding the Forces. 
 Honourable Edward Deas Thomson, Colonial Secretary. 
 Hon. Campbell Drummond Riddell, Colonial Treasurer. 
 Lieutenant- Col. J. G. N. Gibbes, Collector of Customs. 
 William Lithgow, Esq. Auditor- General. 
 *Lieutenant- Colonel Barney, Colonial Engineer. 
 
 Designated by their proper names. 
 
 Alexander Berry, Esq. 
 *John Blaxland, Esq. 
 
 Thomas Icely, Esq. 
 
 Edward Hamilton, Esq. 
 *Hastings Elwin, Esq. 
 *Richard Jones, Esq. 
 
 * Those members to whose names an asterisk is prefixed 
 have resigned their seats.
 
 LIST OF MEMBERS. 311 
 
 REPRESENTATIVE MEMBERS. 
 
 Electoral Districts. Representatives. 
 
 ... r c i f W. C.Wentworth, Esq. 
 
 City of Sydney ( William Bland, Esq. 
 
 n c n t, i j / Charles Cowper, Esq. 
 
 County of Cumberland . . . . < -1,7-11 ^ -& 
 
 J L William Lawson, Esq. 
 
 Town of Paramatta H. H. McArthur, Esq. 
 
 County of Argyle William Bradley, Esq. 
 
 County of Northumberland . . William Foster, Esq. 
 St. Vincent and Auckland . . J. Coghill, Esq. 
 Cumberland and Boroughs . . W Bowman, Esq. 
 
 Georgiana, King, and Murray . T. Aubrey Murray, Esq. 
 Cook and Westmoreland . . . John Panton, Esq. 
 Northumberland Boroughs . . D'ArcyWentworth.Esq. 
 
 County of Bathurst Francis Lord, Esq. 
 
 County of Camden *Roger Therry, Esq. 
 
 Roxburgh, Phillip, & Wellington W. H. Suttor, Esq. 
 
 County of Durham Richard Windeyer, Esq. 
 
 Gloucester, Macquarie,& Stanley Alexander McLeay, Esq. 
 
 Hunter, Brisbane, and Bligh . W. Dumaresq, Esq. 
 
 Town of Melbourne *Henry Condell, Esq. 
 
 ~*C. Hotson Ebden, Esq. 
 
 ! Thomas Walker, Esq. 
 
 District of Port Phillip . . . < C.Nicholson,Esq.,M.D. 
 
 *Alex. Thomson, Esq. 
 
 ^ J.Dunmore Lang, D.D. 
 
 The Council having assembled, and the oaths 
 having been administered by Commissioners ap- 
 pointed by his Excellency for that purpose, Alex- 
 ander McLeay, Esq., was elected to the office of 
 Speaker, which election was approved by his Excel- 
 lency. 
 
 On Thursday, the 3rd of August, his Excellency,
 
 312 GOVERNOR'S FIRST ADDRESS. 
 
 the Governor, repaired in person to the council 
 chamber, and opened the business of the Session in 
 a speech, congratulating the Council on the intro- 
 duction of popular representation into the Constitu- 
 tion of the colony, and expressing his cordial 
 satisfaction in welcoming to the chamber the first 
 representatives of the people. His Excellency alluded 
 to the embarrassments under which the colonial 
 community laboured, but expressed doubts whether 
 any legislative enactments would tend to relieve 
 them. The concluding paragraph deserves to be 
 quoted entire : 
 
 " I cannot, Gentlemen, on this my first oc- 
 casion of addressing you, avoid adverting to the 
 peculiar Constitution which has been given to 
 your body or, to the fact, that to you singly 
 have been confided powers which in some of the 
 older colonies of Great Britain, are divided between 
 two separate bodies. 
 
 " The Council, Gentlemen, is composed of three 
 elements, or of three different classes of persons 
 the representatives of the people the official ser- 
 vants of her Majesty ; and of gentlemen of inde- 
 pendence, the unofficial nominees of the Crown. 
 
 " Let it not be said or supposed, that these 
 three classes of persons have, or ought to have, 
 separate interests to support still less that they 
 have opposing interests, or any interest whatever, 
 save that of the public good. Let there be no 
 rivalry between them, save which shall in courtesy
 
 PRAYERS. 313 
 
 excel the other, and which of them devote himself 
 most heartily to the service of their common 
 country." 
 
 It will be convenient to arrange the business 
 of the Council, during the sessions about to be 
 reviewed, under the three heads of " Resolutions," 
 " Reports of Select Committees," and " Acts." 
 It will also be convenient to complete at once 
 the subjects under each head, instead of recording 
 the proceedings of the Council in dull chronological 
 order. 
 
 SESSIONS 1843. 
 RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 Prayer, August 10. Dr. Lang moved, "That, 
 as it is the bounden duty of the legislature of any 
 Christian country, and accordant with the uniform 
 practice of both Houses of Parliament in the United 
 Kingdom, to commence the business of each day 
 with a solemn recognition of the Divine Majesty, 
 and a humble invocation of the Divine blessing, 
 public prayers to Almighty God be offered up 
 daily at the opening of this Council, as soon as the 
 Speaker shall have taken the chair." 
 
 The arguments used in support of this resolution 
 were such as would obviously occur to any man 
 of a religious habit of mind ; but fears were ex- 
 pressed, that the service might degenerate into 
 
 VOL. i. P
 
 314 SALARY OF GOVERNOR, &C. 
 
 a mere formality, and after considerable discussion, 
 the resolution was negatived by a majority of 
 nineteen to eight. 
 
 Salary of Governor, fyc., September 30. Mr. 
 Windeyer moved the following resolution : " That 
 it is the opinion of this Council, that it is ex- 
 pedient to fix, by colonial enactment, the salary 
 of any future Governor of this colony, and also 
 that of the Superintendent of Port Phillip." The 
 resolution was carried, and Mr. Windeyer obtained 
 leave to bring in a Bill to effect the object of 
 the resolution. 
 
 Distressed Operatives, October 3. The Colonial 
 Treasurer moved, " That this Council will make 
 good any sums, not exceeding 2,500, which may 
 be expended by his Excellency, the Governor, in 
 giving employment to distressed mechanics and 
 labourers, having families, in Sydney, during the 
 remainder of the present year." This humane 
 resolution was adopted, but it is painful to add, 
 that the relief which it afforded was only temporary 
 and partial. 
 
 Police Expenditure, October 3. The Council 
 having gone into Committee on the Estimates of 
 Expenditure for the year 1844, the Chairman 
 in reporting progress to the House, brought up 
 the following resolution: "That in the present 
 state of the colony, it is highly inexpedient, if not 
 impossible, to cast any portion of the Police
 
 POLICE EXPENDITURE. 315 
 
 Expenditure on the county districts.* That this 
 Expenditure, therefore, for the year 1844, be 
 defrayed, as hitherto, out of the general revenue." 
 This resolution was adopted by the House ; and 
 was, on the 10th of October conveyed to his 
 Excellency, in an Address, moved by Mr. Win- 
 deyer, praying his Excellency to take such measures 
 as might be requisite for giving effect to the same, 
 without injury to the public service. 
 
 In his reply to this Address, his Excellency 
 referred to the 47th clause of the Act 5 and 6 
 Viet. c. 76 ; but at the same time expressed 
 his sympathy with the feelings expressed by the 
 Council for the distresses of the country districts ; 
 and considering the difficulty which would ine- 
 vitably arise to those districts in providing, shortly 
 after their formation, for the large sums of 1 9, 1 30 
 (the proportion which, according to the Act, would 
 fall to be provided by them), his Excellency 
 declared his willingness to share with the Council 
 the responsibility of postponing for one year a 
 compliance with the requirements of the Act of 
 Parliament to which the resolution pointed. The 
 Council, on the motion of Mr. Wentworth, pre- 
 sented an Address to the Governor, thanking him 
 for the readiness with which he had consented to 
 share this responsibility. 
 
 Convicts in Gaols, October 1 1 . Another re- 
 
 * Vide the analysis of the Constitution Act, previously 
 given. 
 
 p 2
 
 316 CONVICTS IN GAOLS. 
 
 solution was this day brought up by the Chairman 
 of the Committee of the whole House on the 
 Estimates for 1 844, to the following effect : 
 " That, in the opinion of the Committee, the 
 expense attending the confinement of convicts in 
 the various gaols and houses of correction through- 
 out the colony, ought not to be borne by the 
 colonial revenue." 
 
 On the 26th of the same month, Mr. Windeyer 
 having moved for leave to bring in " A Bill to 
 provide a Gaol for the confinement of transported 
 Convicts," the motion was negatived, and a 
 resolution adopted, which was subsequently re- 
 duced to the following form : " That, in 
 the opinion of this Council, the 47th clause of 
 the Act of the Imperial Parliament, 5 and 6 
 Victoria Reginse, cap. 76, distinctly exempts the 
 colonial revenue from all expenses of Police, con- 
 nected with the Convict Establishment, and im- 
 plicitly sanctions their payment from the Military 
 Chest; and this Council, therefore, adheres to 
 the resolution passed on the 1 1th inst. in reference 
 to the support of convicts in gaols in this colony." 
 
 This resolution having been communicated to 
 his Excellency, a few days afterwards a message 
 was received by the Council, in which the Governor 
 stated, that the question depended on the meaning 
 attached to the phrase in the 47th clause of the 
 Act, " exclusive of the Convict Establishment." 
 
 " The Convict Establishment of New South
 
 CONVICTS IN GAOLS." 317 
 
 Wales," observes his Excellency, " in the most 
 comprehensive sense of the expression, includes all 
 separate establishments which are supported out 
 of funds voted from year to year by Parliament, 
 such as those at Norfolk-' Island, Cockatoo' Island, 
 and H^de Park Barracks ; also the Female Factory, 
 the Convict Hospitals, the Treadmill, the Ironed 
 Gangs, and some few others of minor importance ; 
 but her Majesty's government has, for several 
 years past, refused to recognize the gaols or police 
 of the colony as parts of the Convict Establishment, 
 the expences of which ought to be defrayed out 
 of parliamentary funds; and I am forced to add, 
 that, had the intention of the 47th clause of 
 the recent Act of Parliament been such as it is 
 taken to be by the Council, I cannot doubt that 
 I should have had some instructions from her 
 Majesty's government, with respect to the im- 
 portant changes which it would effect in the 
 financial arrangements of the colony, and of the 
 Military Chest. No such Instructions, however, 
 have been received by me; and I have, conse- 
 quently, no authority whatever to make any 
 payment out of the Military Chest, on account of 
 the police or gaols of the colony." 
 
 Unemployed Labourers, November 15. On 
 the motion of the Colonial Secretary, pursuant to 
 notice, the Council went into Committee,* to con- ' 
 
 * The 39th Standing Order of the Council declares, 
 "That matters connected with Finance shall be discussed 
 only in a Committee of the whole Council."
 
 318 UNEMPLOYED LABOURERS. 
 
 sider the expediency of appropriating a sum of 
 money to enable a number of unemployed married 
 labourers, at present in Sydney, to proceed with their 
 families to the country districts where they may 
 find employment. The Chairman reported the 
 following resolution : " Resolved, That a sum not 
 exceeding 500 be appropriated to enable a number 
 of the unemployed married labourers, at present in 
 Sydney, to proceed with their families to the dis- 
 tricts of Moreton Bay, Hunter's River, Bathurst, 
 Goulburn, Yass, Illawarra, and other country dis- 
 tricts where they are likely to find employment." 
 This resolution was unanimously adopted by the 
 House ; and it is satisfactory to state, that, though 
 the sum involved was considerably less than the 
 sum previously voted, for providing employment 
 for distressed operatives, yet the relief afforded was 
 far more effectual, many of the parties sent into the 
 interior by the means so judiciously voted by the 
 Council, having been enabled to provide a comfort- 
 able support for their families in the less populous 
 districts, which they had failed to procure in the 
 busy and densely inhabited metropolis. 
 
 Upset price of Crown Lands, December 15. 
 A Select Committee appointed at an earlier period 
 of the session, having brought up their report, Mr. 
 Murray moved that the following resolutions 
 ^founded on the Report, be adopted by the House. 
 The resolutions were moved seriatim, and debate 
 ensued on some of them, so that they were not all 
 proposed on the same day.
 
 UPSET PRICE OF CROWN LANDS. 319 
 
 1st. " That the waste lands of this colony con- 
 stitute an important element of national wealth, 
 which must lie dormant and unproductive, until 
 brought under occupancy or cultivation." (Carried) . 
 
 2nd. "That immigration to this colony the 
 extension of its population and the occupation of 
 its territory, are, and must continue to he, seriously 
 checked and retarded, so long as 20s. an acre shall 
 be, either by law or regulation, the minimum upset 
 price of waste lands in the colony." (Carried.) 
 
 3rd. " That the value of land must depend 
 upon the return or profit derivable from it ; and 
 that a minimum price of 205. an acre, |so far ex- 
 ceeds all attainable profits, in most instances, that 
 it virtually amounts to a prohibition upon sales." 
 (Carried). 
 
 4th. " That, as land is diversified in quality, so 
 must it vary in value ; and, therefore, that a uni- 
 form minimum price, is inapplicable to a whole 
 territory, unless it be so low as to be merely com- 
 mensurate with the value of inferior tracts, leaving 
 
 7 O 
 
 the selling prices of richer parts to be determined 
 by public competition." (Carried.) 
 
 5th. " That the waste lands should be made a 
 means of introducing immigrants, by allowing a 
 remission in the purchase of country lands to newly 
 arrived settlers, in proportion to the cost of their 
 own passages, those of their own families, or the 
 number of labourers they bring into the colony ; 
 and that such remission should be at the rate of
 
 320 UPSET PRICE OF CROWN LANDS. 
 
 80 for every cabin, 40 for every intermediate, 
 and 25 for every steerage passenger, with a pro- 
 portionate allowance for children, according to the 
 Bounty System, or the Passengers Act." (Carried.) 
 6th. " That an Address be presented to his 
 Excellency, the Governor, requesting him to forward 
 these resolutions, together with copies of the 
 report and evidence, to the Right Honourable the 
 Secretary of State, for the information of her 
 Majesty and both Houses of Parliament." (Carried.) 
 
 It is, perhaps, unnecessary to observe, that besides 
 the various resolutions which have been quoted as 
 having been adopted by the House, or, at least, 
 moved, many other sets of resolutions were an- 
 nounced for motion, which were subsequently 
 withdrawn. As the object of the section is to 
 record the bond fide business of the Council, it has 
 not been considered necessary to allude to mere 
 " notices of motion." 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
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