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[Illustration: GOVERNMENT HOUSE]
JUBILEE MEMORIAL VOLUME
OUR FIRST HALF-CENTURY
A REVIEW OF QUEENSLAND PROGRESS
BASED UPON OFFICIAL INFORMATION
[Illustration: QUEENSLAND JUBILEE 1859-1909]
BY AUTHORITY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF QUEENSLAND
BRISBANE
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY ANTHONY J. CUMMING, GOVERNMENT PRINTER
1909.
PREFACE.
The object of this work, as the title implies, is to furnish the
reader with a succinct review of the salient facts of Queensland
progress, first as an autonomous British colony of the Australian
group, and second as a State of the Commonwealth of Australia,
retaining all constitutional rights unimpaired save in so far as they
may be qualified by the provisions of "The Commonwealth of Australia
Constitution Act of 1900." In treating of federation as thus
accomplished the object has been to set forth dispassionately, yet
clearly, the general results of the change upon the well-being of the
State, and the reasonable anticipations of its future when the objects
of federal union have been more completely attained.
This is not a volume of statistics, yet in a fifty-year review it
would be impossible entirely to avoid the use of figures. These,
however, have been availed of sparingly; and, to avoid encumbering the
text, tables compiled by the Government Statistician contrasting the
progress made, by presenting the figures for the first, middle, and
last (available) years of the fifty-year period, have been included
as appendices. Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, and to
embody in the volume all the information possible without overloading
it with detail.
For the series of diagrams illustrative of the subdivision of
Australia into separate colonies between 1787 and 1863 acknowledgment
is due to the Under Secretary for Lands of New South Wales, under
whose authority they were compiled from data in the Public Library,
Sydney.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGES.
PREFACE iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS v-x
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi-xiv
INTRODUCTION xv-xx
THE SUBDIVISION OF AUSTRALIA xxi-xxiv
JUBILEE ODE--"QUEEN OF THE NORTH" xxv-xxviii
_PART I.--OUR NATAL YEAR._
CHAPTER I.
THE BIRTH OF QUEENSLAND.
Issue of Letters Patent and Order in Council.--Appointment
of Sir George Ferguson Bowen as First Governor.--Continuity
of Colonial Office Policy.--Instructions to Governor.
--Munificent Gift of all Waste Lands of the Crown.
--Temporary Limitation of Electoral Suffrage.--Responsible
Government Unqualified by Restrictions or Reservations.
--Governor-General of New South Wales Initiates Elections 1-4
CHAPTER II.
INITIATION OF RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT.
Arrival of Sir George Bowen in Brisbane.--The First
Responsible Ministry.--Injunctions to Governor by
Secretary of State in regard to Choice of Ministers.
--Ex-members of New South Wales Legislature take Umbrage.
--The Governor on the Characteristics of Various Classes
of Colonists.--The Governor a Dictator.--The Microscopic
Treasury Balance.--Gladstone as Site of Capital.
--Mr. Herbert as a Parliamentary Leader 5-7
CHAPTER III.
DIFFICULTIES OF EARLY ADMINISTRATIONS.
Meeting of First Parliament.--Amendment on Address in
Reply defeated by Speaker's Casting Vote.--Adoption of
Address in Reply.--Compromise between Parties
Indispensable.--Successful Inauguration of Responsible
Government.--The Governor's Egotism.--Mr. Herbert's
Retirement.--Mr. Macalister Succeeds.--Financial and
Political Crisis.--Proposed Inconvertible Paper
Money.--Governor Undeservedly Blamed 8-10
CHAPTER IV.
THE FIRST SESSION OF PARLIAMENT.
Work of the First Session.--Four Land Acts Passed.
--Summary of Land "Code."--Pastoral Leases.--Upset
Price of Land L1 per acre.--Agricultural Reserves.
--Land Orders to Immigrants.--Cotton Bonus.--Lands
for Mining Purposes.--Renewal of Existing Leases.
--Governor's Laudation of "Code."--Praises Parliament.
--Abolition of State Aid to Religion.--Primary and
Secondary Education.--Wool Liens.--First Estimates and
Appropriation Act 11-14
CHAPTER V.
QUEENSLAND IN 1860.
Rush of Population.--High Prices for Stock for occupying
New Country.--Sparse Population.--Rockhampton most
Northerly Port of Entry.--Navigation inside Barrier Reef
Unknown.--Tropical Queensland Unexplored.--Ignorance of
Climate, Resources, and Conditions.--Primary Industries
in 1860.--Primitive Means of Communication.--Public
Revenue, Bank Deposits, and Institutions 15-18
_PART II.--FROM NATAL YEAR TO JUBILEE._
CHAPTER I.
THE LEGISLATURE.
The Governor.--His Functions: Political and Social.
--His Emoluments.--Administrations that have held
Office.--Number of Members of Council and Assembly.
--Emoluments of Assembly Members.--Good Results of
Responsible Government in Queensland 19-32
CHAPTER II.
PUBLIC FINANCE (1859-1884).
Importance of Sound Finance.--A Great Colony Starts upon
a Bank Overdraft.--First Year's Revenue.--Land Sales as
Revenue.--Deficits in First Decade.--Transfer of Loan
Moneys to Revenue to Balance Accounts.--Heavy Public
Works Expenditure.--Crisis of 1866.--Inconvertible Paper
Currency Proposals.--Flotation of Treasury Bills.
--Higher Customs Duties.--Wiping Out a Deficit by Issue
of Debentures.--Transfer of Surplus to Surplus Revenue
Account to Recoup Loan Fund.--Incidental Protection.
--Railway Land Reserves.--Proceeds Used as Ordinary
Revenue.--Three-million Loan.--Condition of Affairs at
Close of First Quarter-Century.--Phenomenal Progress;
Prospects Bright 33-38
CHAPTER III.
PUBLIC FINANCE (1884-1893).
The Ten-million Loan.--Ministers Practically Granted
Control of Five Years' Loan Money.--Vigorous Railway
Policy.--Effect of Over-spending.--Inflation of
Values.--Increased Taxation.--Succession of Deficits.
--Second McIlwraith Ministry.--A Protectionist Tariff.
--Temporary Increase of Revenue.--Heavy Contraction
in 1890.--Another Big Loan; Failure of Flotation.
--The First Underwritten Australian Loan.--Amended
Audit Act Limiting Spending Power of Government 39-42
CHAPTER IV.
PUBLIC FINANCE (1893-1898).
Sir Hugh Nelson at the Treasury.--Credit of Colony
Restored.--Assistance to Financial Institutions and
Primary Industries.--Savings Bank Stock Act.--Public
Debt Reduction Fund.--Treasurer's Cautious and Prudent
Administration.--Money Obtained in London at a Record
Price 43-45
CHAPTER V.
PUBLIC FINANCE (1898-1903).
The Philp Ministry.--Large Surplus.--Loan Acts for Seven
and a-half Millions Sterling.--Drought Disasters and
Sacrifices for Federation.--Accumulated Revenue Deficits
of over L1,000,000.--Rebuff on London Stock Exchange.
--Resignation of Philp Ministry 46-48
CHAPTER VI.
PUBLIC FINANCE (1903-1909).
The Morgan-Kidston Ministry.--Economy in Revenue
Expenditure.--Great Reduction in Loan Outlay.
--Equilibrium Established at the Treasury.
--Retrenchment and Taxation.--Improvement of
Finances.--A Record Surplus for Queensland.--Land
Sales Proceeds Act.--Abstention from Borrowing.
--First Loan Floated since 1903.--Sound Position
of Queensland.--Value of State Securities.
--Reproductiveness of Railways Built out of Loan
Money.--Public Estate Improvement Fund.--How
Recourse to Money Market has been Avoided 49-53
CHAPTER VII.
THE BOOM DECADE (1880-1890).
A Great Boom Decade.--Causes of Inflation of Values.
--Excessive Rating Valuations.--False Basis of
Assessing Capital Value.--Prodigality Succeeded by
Financial Stringency and Collapse of Boom.
--Difficulty in Determining Real Values.--Sir Hugh
Nelson's Legislation.--Sound Finance.--Stability of
State.--Prospects Good To-day 54-56
CHAPTER VIII.
CROWN LANDS LEGISLATION.
The Code of 1860.--Crown Lands Alienation Act of
1868.--Pastoral Leases Act of 1869.--Homestead Areas
Act of 1872.--Crown Lands Alienation Act and Settled
Districts Pastoral Leases Act of 1876.--The
Griffith-Dutton Land Act of 1884.--Co-operative
Communities Land Settlement Act.--Land Act of 1897
--Forms of Selection.--Act to Assist Persons to
Settle on Land by Advances from the Treasury.
--Extension of Pastoral Leases.--Closer Settlement
Act.--Land Orders 57-65
CHAPTER IX.
APPROPRIATION OF LAND REVENUE.
Land Sales Receipts; not Consolidated Revenue.
--Arguments used in favour of Treating Proceeds as
Ordinary Revenue.--Auction Sales have now Practically
Ceased.--Certain Proceeds Payable into Loan Fund.
--Special Sales of Land Act; Appropriation of Receipts 66-68
CHAPTER X.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN QUEENSLAND.
First Municipality Established.--Brisbane Bridge Lands.
--Grant for Town Hall.--Consolidating Municipalities
Act.--Provincial Councils Act.--Government Buildings
not Rateable.--Brisbane Bridge Debentures and Waterway
Acts.--Municipal Endowment.--Local Government Act of
1878.--Divisional Boards Act of 1879; Success of the
Act.--Local Works Loans Act.--Two Pounds for One Pound
Endowment Repealed.--Rating Powers Extended by Local
Authorities Act of 1902.--Cessation of Endowment.
--Valuation and Rating Act.--Decline in Land Values.
--Unequal Incidence of Rates Levied.--Efficiency
of Local Authorities 69-77
CHAPTER XI.
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
Primary Education: Board of National Education; Education
Act of 1860; Board of General Education; Education Act of
1875; Department of Public Instruction; Higher Education
in Primary Schools; Itinerant Teachers; Status of
Teachers; Statistics.--Private Schools.--Secondary
Education: Grammar Schools Act; Endowments, Scholarships,
and Bursaries; Success of Grammar Schools; Exhibitions to
Universities; Expenditure.--Technical Education:
Beginning of System; Board of Technical Instruction;
Transfer of Control to Department of Public Instruction;
Statistics; Technical Instruction Act; Continuation
Classes; Schools of Arts and Reading Rooms.--University:
Royal Commissions; University Bill; Standardised System
of Education 78-85
_PART III.--OUR JUBILEE YEAR._
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL REVIEW.
Good Seasons and General Prosperity.--Land Settlement and
Immigration.--The Sugar Crop.--Gold and Other Minerals.
--Reduction in Cost of Mining and Treatment of Ores.
--Vigorous Railway Extension.--Mileage Open for Traffic.
--Efficiency of 3 ft. 6 in. Gauge.--Our Railway Investment.
--The National Association Jubilee Show.--The General
Election.--The Mandate of the Constituencies.--Government
Majority.--Practical Extinction of Third Party.--Labour a
Constitutional Opposition.--Federal Agreement with States.
--Federal Union Vindicated 86-91
CHAPTER II.
THE FEDERAL OUTLOOK.
Proclamation of the Commonwealth.--The Referendum
Vote.--Queensland's Small Majority in the Affirmative.
--Representation in Federal Parliament.--The White
Australia Policy.--Temporary Effect on Queensland.
--An Embarrassed State Treasury.--Assistance to Sugar
Industry.--Continued Protection Necessary.--Unequal
Distribution of Federal Surplus Revenue.--The
Transferred Properties.--Effect of Uniform Tariff.
--Good Times Lessen Federal Burden on State.--The
Agreement between Prime Minister and Premiers.--Better
Feeling Towards Federation.--National Measures of Deakin
Government 92-96
_PART IV.--THE PRIMARY INDUSTRIES._
CHAPTER I.
THE PASTORAL INDUSTRY.
Importance of Industry.--Small Beginnings in New South
Wales.--Extension of Industry.--Stocking of Darling Downs
and Western Queensland.--Rush for Pastoral Lands.
--Difficulties of Early Squatters.--Influx of Victorian
Capital.--Changes in Method of Working Stations.--Boom
in Pastoral Properties.--Checks from Drought.--Discovery
of Artesian Water.--Conservation of Surface Water.
--Introduction of Grazing Farm System.--Closer Settlement
of Darling Downs.--Cattle-Rearing.--Meat-Freezing Works.
--Over-stocking.--Dairying.--Station Routine.--Charm of
Pastoral Life.--Shearing.--Hospitality of Squatters.
--Attraction of Industry as Investment and Occupation 97-112
CHAPTER II.
AGRICULTURE IN QUEENSLAND.
Tripartite Division of Queensland.--Climate.--Development
of Agriculture in Queensland.--Wide Range of Products.
--Early History.--Exclusion of Farmers from Richest Lands.
--Origin of Mixed Farming.--Extension of Industry Westward.
--Inexperience of Early Settlers.--Cotton-growing.--Chief
Crops.--Dairying.--Cereal-growing.--Farming in the Tropics.
--Farming on the Downs.--Farming in the West.--Irrigation.
--Conservation of Water.--Timber Industry.--Land Selection.
--Assistance Given by the Government.--Immigration.
--Attractions of Queensland.--Defenders of Hearth and Home 113-131
CHAPTER III.
THE SUGAR INDUSTRY.
Sugar-cane in the Northern Hemisphere.--The Rise of the
Beet Industry.--Abolition of Slave Labour in West
Indies.--Reorganisation of Industry on Scientific
Basis.--Establishment of Industry in Queensland.
--Difficulties of Early Planters.--Stoppage of Pacific
Island Labour.--Evolution of Small Holdings and Erection
of Central Mills.--Reintroduction of Pacific Islanders.
--Stoppage of Pacific Island Labour by Commonwealth
Legislation.--Bonus on White-grown Sugar.--Benefits
Arising from Separating Cultivation and Manufacture.
--Contrast between Past and Present Methods.--Scientific
Cultivation.--Recent Statistics.--The Future of the
Industry.--Queensland Leading the Van in Establishing
White Agriculturists in Tropics 132-143
CHAPTER IV.
A HALF-CENTURY OF MINING.
The Quest for Gold a Colonising Agency.--Earliest
Discoveries of the Precious Metal in Queensland.--Port
Curtis.--Rockhampton District.--Peak Downs.--Gympie.
--Ravenswood.--Charters Towers.--Palmer.--Mount Morgan.
--Croydon.--Later Discoveries.--Yield at Charters
Towers and Mount Morgan.--Copper Mining.--Tin.--Silver.
--Queensland the Home of All Kinds of Minerals and
Precious Stones.--Mineral Wealth in Cairns Hinterland.
--Copper Deposits in Cloncurry District.--The Etheridge.
--Anakie Gem Field.--Opal Fields.--Extensive Coal
Measures.--Railway Communication with Mining Fields.
--Value of Queensland Mineral Output.--Prospects of
Industry 144-152
CHAPTER V.
OUR ASSET IN ARTESIAN WATER.
Erroneous Judgment of Western Queensland.--Scarcity of
Surface Water.--Water Supply Department.--Discovery of
Artesian Water in New South Wales.--Prospecting in
Queensland.--Difficulties Experienced by Early Borers.
--First Artesian Flowing Bore.--Dr. Jack's First
Estimate of Artesian Area.--Revised Figures.--Number of
Bores and Estimated Flow.--Area Capable of being
Irrigated with Artesian Water.--Cost of Boring.--Value
of Artesian Water.--Extent of Intake Beds.--Waste of
Water.--Necessity for Government Control of Wells.
--Value of Water for Irrigation, Consumption, and
Motive Power.--Artesian Water a Great National Asset 153-161
_APPENDICES._
APPENDIX A--READJUSTMENT OF WESTERN BOUNDARY 162-163
APPENDIX B--THE FIRST PARLIAMENT 164
APPENDIX C--THE EIGHTEENTH PARLIAMENT 165-166
APPENDIX D--FIFTY YEARS OF LEGISLATION 167-183
APPENDIX E--LAND SELECTION IN QUEENSLAND 184-195
APPENDIX F--IMMIGRATION TO QUEENSLAND 196-197
APPENDIX G--SOME STATISTICS AND THEIR STORY 198-209
APPENDIX H--DIGEST OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEER'S REPORTS 210-230
APPENDIX J--CLIMATIC CONTRASTS 231-237
APPENDIX K--EDUCATION STATISTICS 238
APPENDIX L--INAUGURATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND 239-257
INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS.
Government House (_C. E. S. Fryer_) _Frontispiece_
Facing Page
First Gazette, 10th December, 1859 xiv
Writ of Summons for First Election xx
Governors of Queensland (_C. E. S. Fryer_) xxiv
Premiers of Queensland " " xxviii
Houses of Parliament, Brisbane " " 4
View from River Terrace, Brisbane " " 8
Barron Falls, Cairns Railway, North Queensland " " 12
Treasury Buildings, Brisbane " " 16
Coal Wharves, South Brisbane " " 20
Executive Buildings, Brisbane " " 24
Views of Rockhampton, Central Queensland " " 28
Townsville: Flinders Street, looking West " " 32
Hinchinbrook Channel, North Queensland " " 36
The Narrows and Mount Larcombe, near Gladstone " " 36
Barron Gorge below the Falls, Cairns Railway " " 40
On the Road to Market, Central Queensland (_W. E. Perroux_) 44
Fat Cattle, Central Queensland " " 44
Maroochy River and Ninderry Mountain, N.C. Railway (_C. E. S. Fryer_) 48
Scene on Barcaldine Downs, Central Queensland (_W. E. Perroux_) 52
Barcaldine Downs Homestead, Central Queensland " " 52
Swan Creek Valley, near Yangan, Warwick District (_C. E. S. Fryer_) 56
Surprise Creek Falls, Cairns Railway " " 60
Forest Scene near Woombye, North Coast Railway " " 64
Hauling Timber, North Coast Railway " " 68
Stony Creek Bridge and Falls, Cairns Railway (_C. E. S. Fryer_) 68
Timber Getting, North Coast Railway " " 72
Cairns Range and Robb's Monument, N. Queensland " " 76
View of Gympie from Nashville Railway Station " " 80
Coke Ovens, Ipswich District " " 80
Gulf Cattle Ready for Market (_H. J. Walton_) 84
Brigalow Country, Warra, Darling Downs 84
Hereford Cows, Darling Downs 84
Above Stony Creek Falls, Cairns Railway (_C. E. S. Fryer_) 88
Mount Morgan: Open Cut and Dumps (_Mount Morgan G.M. Co._) 92
Mount Morgan: Mundic and Copper Works " " 92
Cattle Country, West Moreton 100
Fat Cattle, Central Queensland (_C. E. S. Fryer_) 100
Horses at Gowrie, Darling Downs 104
Sheep at Gowrie, Darling Downs 104
Horses, Western Queensland (_H. J. Walton_) 104
Fat Cattle, Burrandilla, Charleville " " 104
Wool Teams, Wyandra, Warrego District (_C. E. S. Fryer_) 108
Hauling Cedar, Atherton, North Queensland " " 108
Dairy Cattle on Darling Downs 112
Sheep, Jimbour, Darling Downs 112
Horses, Ivanhoe Station, Warrego 112
Harvesting Wheat, Emu Vale, near Warwick (_C. E. S. Fryer_) 116
Surprise Creek Cascade, Cairns Railway " " 120
Pineapple Farm, Woombye, North Coast Railway " " 124
Sugar-Mill, Huxley, Isis Railway " " 124
Field of Maize, Eel Creek, Gympie " " 124
Threshing Wheat, Emu Vale, Killarney Railway " " 128
Coffee Plantation, Kuranda, Cairns Railway " " 128
Sugar-Mill, Childers, North Coast Railway " " 132
Sisal Hemp and Cane Fields, South Isis " " 136
Canefields, Isis Railway (_C. E. S. Fryer_) 136
Sugar Cane and Mill, Huxley, Isis Railway " " 136
Cambanora Gap, Head of Condamine, Killarney " " 140
Minto Crag, Dugandan, Fassifern District " " 140
Mount Morgan: Copper Works, looking North (_Mt. Morgan G.M. Co._) 144
Mount Morgan: General View of Works " " 144
Charters Towers: Plant's Day Dawn (_C. E. S. Fryer_) 148
Gympie: Scottish Gympie Gold Mine " " 152
Gympie: No. 1 North Oriental and Glanmire " " 152
Flowing Artesian Wells, Western Queensland:
1. Beel's Bore, Cunnamulla (_Kerry_) 156
2. Bore on Thurulgoona Station " " 156
3. Charleville Bore (_C. E. S. Fryer_) 156
Aberdare Colliery, Ipswich District " " 160
Cocoa-Nut Palms, Johnstone River, North Queensland " " 164
Custom House and Petrie Bight, Brisbane " " 164
In the Scrub Country, Kin Kin, North Coast Railway " " 168
On the Blackall Range, North Coast Railway " " 168
Barron Gorge, Cairns Railway, North Queensland " " 176
Farm Scene, Blackall Range " " 184
Sisal Hemp, Childers, North Coast Railway " " 184
Wool Teams, Longreach, Central Queensland " " 184
View on Barron River, Cairns Railway " " 192
Hauling Timber, Barron River, North Queensland " " 200
Falls near Killarney " " 208
Aboriginal Tree Climbers " " 208
Scene on Logan River, South Queensland " " 216
Cooktown and Endeavour River, North Queensland " " 224
Pearling Fleets off Badu Island, Torres Strait 224
Government House, now Dedicated to University purposes
(_C. E. S. Fryer_) 238
View of Dedication Ceremony (_H.W. Mobsby_) 242
The Premier (Hon. W. Kidston) Opening the Proceedings " " 244
His Excellency Sir W. MacGregor Addressing the Audience " " 248
His Excellency Unveiling the Dedication Tablet " " 250
Lady MacGregor Planting the University Tree " " 256
MAPS.
(_Prepared by Survey Office, Department of Public Lands._)
Subdivision of Australia xxii, xxiii
Australia before Captain Cook 96
Australia, Showing First Settlement 96
Queensland in 1859 96
Queensland in 1909 96
Australia in 1859, Showing Self-Governing Colonies 96
The World, Showing Relative Position of Australia 96
Queensland, with British Islands Superimposed 232
[Illustration: Royal Coat of Arms]
QUEENSLAND
=Government Gazette.=
PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY.
No. 1.] SATURDAY, 10 DECEMBER, 1859.
PROCLAMATION
By His Excellency SIR GEORGE FERGUSON BOWEN, Knight Commander
of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George,
Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of the Colony of
Queensland and its Dependencies, and Vice-Admiral of the same,
&c., &c., &c.
WHEREAS by an Act passed in the Session of Parliament holden in the
eighteenth and nineteenth years of the Reign of Her Majesty, entitled,
"_An Act to enable Her Majesty to assent to a Bill as amended of the
Legislature of New South Wales 'to confer a Constitution on New South
Wales, and to grant 'a Civil List to Her Majesty,'_" it was amongst
other things enacted that it should be lawful for Her Majesty, by
Letters Patent, to be from time to time issued under the Great Seal
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to erect into a
separate Colony or Colonies, any territories which might be separated
from New South Wales by such alteration as therein was mentioned, of
the northern boundary thereof; and in and by such Letters Patent, or
by Order in Council, to make provision for the Government of any such
Colony, and for the Establishment of a Legislature therein, in manner
as nearly resembling the form of Government and Legislature which
should be at such time established in New South Wales as the
circumstances of such Colony will allow; and that full power should
be given in and by such Letters Patent, or Order in Council, to the
Legislature of the said Colony, to make further provision in that
behalf. And whereas Her Majesty, in exercise of the powers so vested
in Her Majesty, has by Her Commission under the Great Seal of the
United Kingdom, bearing date the sixth day of June, in the year of Our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, appointed that from
and after the publication of the said Letters Patent in the Colonies
of New South Wales and Queensland, the Territory described in the said
Letters Patent should be separated from the said Colony of New South
Wales and be erected into the separate Colony of Queensland: Now,
therefore, I, SIR GEORGE FERGUSON BOWEN, the Governor of Queensland,
in pursuance of the authority invested in me by Her Majesty, do hereby
proclaim and publish the said Letters Patent in the words and figures
following, respectively.
QUEENSLAND.
_LETTERS PATENT erecting Moreton Bay into a Colony, under
the name of_ QUEENSLAND, _and appointing_ SIR GEORGE FERGUSON
BOWEN, K.C.M.G., _to be Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief
of the same_.
VICTORIA, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, to Our
trusty and well-beloved SIR GEORGE FERGUSON BOWEN, Knight
Commander of Our most distinguished Order of St. Michael and
St. George,--
GREETING:
WHEREAS by a reserved Bill of the Legislature of New South
Wales, passed in the seventeenth year of our reign, as amended
by an Act passed in the Session of Parliament holden in the
eighteenth and nineteenth years of our reign, entitled, "An
Act to enable Her Majesty to assent to a Bill, as amended, of
the Legislature of New South Wales, to confer a Constitution
on New South Wales, and to grant a Civil List to Her Majesty,"
it was enacted that nothing therein contained should be deemed
to prevent us from altering the boundary of the Colony of New
South Wales on the north, in such a manner as to us might seem
fit; and it was further enacted by the said last recited Act,
that if We should at any time exercise the power given to Us
by the said reserved Bill of altering the northern boundary of
our said colony, it should be lawful for Us by any Letters
Patent, to be from time to time issued under the Great Seal of
our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to erect into
a separate Colony or Colonies any territories which might be
separated from our said colony of New South Wales by such
alterations as aforesaid of the northern boundary thereof, and
in and by such Letters Patent, or by Order in Council, to make
provision for the Government of any such separate colony, and
for the establishment of a Legislature therein, in manner as
nearly resembling the form of Government and Legislature which
should be at such time established in New South Wales as the
circumstances of such separate Colony would allow, and that
full power should be given by such Letters Patent or Order in
Council to the Legislature of such separate Colony to make
further provision in that behalf. Now know you, that We have,
in pursuance of the powers vested in us by the said Bill and
Act, and of all other powers and authorities in Us in that
behalf vested separated from our colony of New South Wales,
and erected into a separate Colony, so much of the said colony
of New South Wales as lies northward of a line commencing on
the sea coast at Point Danger, in latitude about 28 degrees 8
minutes south, and following the range thence which divides
the waters of the Tweed, Richmond, and Clarence Rivers from
those of the Logan and Brisbane Rivers, westerly, to the great
dividing range between the waters falling to the east coast
and those of the River Murray; following the great dividing
range southerly to the range dividing the waters of
Tenterfield Creek from those of the main head of the Dumaresq
River; following that range westerly to the Dumaresq River;
and following that river (which is locally known as the
Severn) downward to its confluence with the Macintyre River;
thence following the Macintyre River, which lower down becomes
the Barwan, downward to the 29th parallel of south latitude,
and following that parallel westerly to the 141st meridian of
east longitude, which is the eastern boundary of South
Australia, together with all and every the adjacent Islands,
their members and appurtenances, in the Pacific Ocean: And do
by these presents separate from our said Colony of New South
Wales and erect the said territory so described into a
separate Colony to be called the Colony of Queensland.
And whereas We have by an Order made by Us in our Privy
Council, bearing even date herewith, made provision for the
government of our said Colony of Queensland, and we deem it
expedient to make more particular provision for the government
of our said Colony: Now know you, that We, reposing especial
trust and confidence in the prudence, courage, and loyalty
of you, the said Sir George Ferguson Bowen, of our especial
grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, have thought fit
to constitute and appoint, and do by these presents constitute
and appoint you, the said Sir George Ferguson Bowen, to
be, during our will and pleasure, our Captain-General and
Governor-in-Chief in and over our said Colony of Queensland,
and of all forts and garrisons erected and established, or
which shall be erected and established within our said
Colony, or in its members and appurtenances; And we do hereby
authorise, empower, require, and command you, the said Sir
George Ferguson Bowen, in due manner, to do and execute all
things that shall belong to your said command and the trust
We have reposed in you, according to the several powers,
provisions, and directions granted or appointed you by virtue
of our present Commission, and of the said recited Bill, as
amended by the said recited Act; and according to our Order
in our Privy Council, bearing even date herewith, and to such
instructions as are herewith given to you, or which may from
time to time hereafter be given to you, under our Sign Manual
and Signet, or by our Order in our Privy Council, or by Us,
through one of our Principal Secretaries of State; and
according to such laws and ordinances as are now in force in
our said Colony of New South Wales and its dependencies,
and as shall hereafter be in force in our said Colony of
Queensland.
2. And whereas it is ordered by our said Order, made by Us
in our Privy Council, bearing even date herewith, that there
shall be within our said Colony of Queensland a Legislative
Council and a Legislative Assembly, to be severally
constituted and composed in the manner in the said Order
prescribed; and that We shall have power, by and with the
advice and consent of the said Council and Assembly, to make
laws for the peace, welfare, and good government of our said
Colony in all cases whatever: And it is provided by the above
recited Act, that the provisions of the Act of the fourteenth
year of Her Majesty, chapter fifty-nine, and of the Act of the
sixth year of Her Majesty, chapter seventy-six, intituled,
"An Act for the Government of New South Wales and Van Diemen's
Land," which relate to the giving and withholding of Her
Majesty's assent to bills, and the reservation of bills for
the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure thereon, and the
instructions to be conveyed to Governors for their guidance
in relation to the matters aforesaid and the disallowance of
Bills by Her Majesty, shall apply to Bills to be passed by the
Legislative Council and Assembly constituted under the said
Reserved Bill and Act, and by any other Legislative body or
bodies which may at any time hereafter be substituted for
the present Council and Assembly: Now We do, by virtue of the
powers in Us vested, hereby require and command, that you do
take especial care that in making and passing such laws, with
the advice and consent of the said Legislative Council,
and Legislative Assembly, the provisions, regulations,
restrictions, and directions contained in the said Acts of
Parliament, and in Our said Order made in Our Privy Council,
bearing even date herewith, and in Our instructions under
Our Sign Manual, accompanying this Our Commission, or in such
future Orders as may be made by Us in Our Privy Council, or in
such further instructions under Our Sign Manual and Signet as
shall at any time hereafter be issued to you in that behalf,
be strictly complied with.
3. And whereas it is expedient that an Executive Council
should be appointed to advise and assist you, the said Sir
George Ferguson Bowen, in the administration of the Government
of our said Colony: Now We do declare Our pleasure to be, that
there shall be an Executive Council for Our said Colony, and
that the said Council shall consist of such persons as you
shall, by instruments to be passed under the Great Seal of our
said Colony in Our name and on our behalf, from time to time,
nominate and appoint, to be members of the said Executive
Council, all which persons shall hold their places in the said
Council during Our pleasure: But We do expressly enjoin
and require that you do transmit to Us, through one of Our
principal Secretaries of State, exemplifications of all such
instruments as shall be by you so issued for appointing the
members of the said Council.
4. And we do hereby authorise and empower you, the said Sir
George Ferguson Bowen, to keep and use the Great Seal of our
said colony for sealing all things whatsoever that shall pass
the Great Seal of our said colony.
5. And we do hereby give and grant to you, the said Sir George
Ferguson Bowen, full power and authority, by and with the
advice of the said Executive Council, to grant in Our name
and on Our behalf, any waste or unsettled lands in Us vested
within Our said Colony, which said grants are to be passed
and sealed with the Great Seal of Our said colony, and being
entered upon record by such public officer or officers as
shall be appointed thereunto, shall be effectual in law
against Us, Our heirs or successors: provided nevertheless,
that in granting and disposing of such lands you do conform to
and observe the provisions in that behalf contained in any
law which is or shall be in force within our said colony, or
within any part of our said colony, for regulating the sale
and disposal of such lands.
6. And we do hereby give and grant unto you, the said Sir
George Ferguson Bowen, full power and authority, as you shall
see occasion, in our name and on our behalf, to grant to any
offender convicted of any crime in any court, or before any
judge, justice, or magistrate within our said colony, a
pardon, either free or subject to lawful conditions or any
respite of the execution of the sentence of any such offender,
for such period as to you may seem fit, and to remit any
fines, penalties, or forfeitures which may become due and
payable to us, but subject to the regulations and directions
contained in the instructions under Our Royal Sign Manual
and Signet accompanying this our Commission, or in any future
instructions as aforesaid.
7. And We do hereby give and grant unto you, the said
Sir George Ferguson Bowen, full power and authority, upon
sufficient cause to you appearing, to suspend from the
exercise of his office, within our said colony, any person
exercising any office or place under, or by virtue of, any
Commission or Warrant granted, or which may be granted by Us,
or in Our name, or under Our authority, which suspension shall
continue and have effect only until Our pleasure therein shall
be made known and signified to you: And We do hereby strictly
require and enjoin you in proceeding to any such suspension,
to observe the directions in that behalf given to you by Our
present or any future Instructions as aforesaid.
8. And in the event of the death or absence of you, the
said Sir George Ferguson Bowen, out of Our said colony of
Queensland and its dependencies, We do hereby provide and
declare Our pleasure to be, that all and every the powers and
authorities herein granted to you shall be, and the same are
hereby vested in such person as may be appointed by Us,
by Warrant under Our Sign Manuel and Signet, to be Our
Lieutenant-Governor of our said colony, or in such person
or persons as may be appointed by Us, in like manner, to
administer the government in such contingency; or, in the
event of there being no person or persons within our said
colony so commissioned and appointed by Us as aforesaid, then
Our pleasure is, and We do hereby provide and declare, that in
any such contingency the powers and authorities herein granted
to you shall be, and the same are hereby granted to the
Colonial Secretary of our said colony for the time being,
and such Lieutenant-Governor, or such person or persons as
aforesaid, or such Colonial Secretary, as the case may be,
shall exercise all and every the powers and authorities
herein granted, until Our further pleasure shall be signified
therein.
9. And We do hereby require and command all our officers and
ministers, civil, and military, and all other the inhabitants
of our said colony of Queensland, to be obedient, aiding and
assisting unto you, the said Sir George Ferguson Bowen, or, in
the event of your death or absence, to such person or persons,
as may, under the provisions of this our Commission assume
and exercise the functions of Captain-General and
Governor-in-Chief of our said colony.
10. And We do declare that these presents shall take effect so
soon as the same shall be received and published in the said
colonies.
In Witness whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made
Patent. Witness Ourself at Westminster, the sixth day of June,
in the twenty-second year of Our Reign. By warrant under the
Queen's Sign Manual.
C. ROMILLY.
Given under my hand and Seal at Government House, Brisbane,
this tenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third
year of Her Majesty's Reign.
(L.s.) G. F. BOWEN.
_By His Excellency's Command_,
R. G. W. HERBERT.
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!
PROCLAMATION
By His Excellency SIR GEORGE FERGUSON BOWEN, Knight Commander
of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St.
George, Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of the Colony of
Queensland and its Dependencies, and Vice-Admiral of the same,
&c., &c., &c.
WHEREAS Her Majesty has been graciously pleased, by Letters
Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the sixth
day of June, in the twenty-second year of Her Majesty's Reign,
to separate from the Colony of New South Wales the territory
described in the said Letters Patent, and to erect the same
into a separate Colony, to be called the Colony of Queensland,
and has further been pleased to constitute and appoint me,
SIR GEORGE FERGUSON BOWEN, _Knight Commander of the Most
Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George_,
to be Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief, in and over
the said Colony of Queensland and in Dependencies: Now,
therefore, I, the Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief,
aforesaid, do hereby proclaim and declare that I have
this day taken the prescribed oaths before His Honor,
Alfred James Peter Lutwyche, Esquire, Judge of the
Supreme Court, and that I have accordingly assumed the
said office of Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief.
Given under my hand and seal at the Government House,
Brisbane, this 10th day of December, in the Year of Our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, and in
the twenty-third year of Her Majesty's Reign.
(L.s.) G. F. BOWEN.
_By His Excellency's Command_,
R. G. W. HERBERT.
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!
_Government House,
Brisbane, 10th December, 1859._
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR will hold
a Levee at Government House, on
WEDNESDAY, December 14th, at 11 o'clock,
a.m.
_By Command_,
C. E. HARCOURT VERNON,
Commander, R.N., A.D.C.,
REGULATIONS FOR THE LEVEE.
All gentlemen attending the Levee, to be
dressed in uniform or evening costume.
Each gentleman to be provided with two
cards with his name legibly written thereon;
one card to be left in the Entrance Hall, and
the other to be given to the Aide-de-Camp.
_Colonial Secretary's Office,
Brisbane, 10th December, 1859._
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR has been
pleased to appoint
ROBERT GEORGE WYNDHAM HERBERT, ESQ.,
to be Colonial Secretary of Queensland.
_By His Excellency's Command_,
R. G. W. HERBERT.
_Colonial Secretary's Office,
Brisbane, 10th December, 1859._
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR has been
pleased to appoint
ABRAM ORPEN MORIARTY, ESQUIRE,
to be His Excellency's Acting Private Secretary.
_By His Excellency's Command_,
R. G. W. HERBERT.
_Colonial Secretary's Office,
Brisbane, 10th December, 1859._
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR has been
pleased to appoint
COMMANDER CHARLES EGERTON HARCOURT
VERNON, R. N.,
to be His Excellency's Acting Aide-de-Camp.
_By His Excellency's Command_,
ROBERT G. W. HERBERT.
_Colonial Secretary's Office,
Brisbane, December 10, 1859._
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR has been
pleased to appoint
RATCLIFFE PRING, ESQUIRE,
of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law, to be
Attorney-General of Queensland.
_By His Excellency's Command_,
ROBERT G. W. HERBERT.
BRISBANE: By Command: T. P. PUGH, Printer,
George Street.
INTRODUCTION.
Terra Australis: The Fifth Continent.--Dampier lands on
North-west Coast.--Cook lands at Botany Bay.--Annexes entire
Eastern Coast North of 38 deg. S.--Phillip annexes whole
of Eastern Coast and part of Southern Coast, including
Tasmania.--Fremantle annexes all the rest of the Continent.
--Erroneous Impressions of Early Explorers regarding
Australia.--Discovery of Bass Strait.--Completion of Coast Map
of Australia.--Six Colonies constituted.--Queensland's Natal
Day.--Proclamation of Commonwealth.--Inland Exploration.
Without disparagement to the adventurous foreign navigators who
for centuries earlier than the British occupation had suspected the
existence of "Terra Australis," the "fifth continent" of the globe,
and had done their best to discover it, it may be safely contended
that the honour of the delineation of the coast-line belongs to
Englishmen, the chief of whom were William Dampier and James Cook. In
1688 Dampier, as super-cargo of the "Cygnet," a trading vessel
whose crew had turned buccaneers, landed on the north-west coast of
Australia in lat. 16 deg. 50 min. S. In the year 1699 he again visited
the coast in charge of H.M.S. "Roebuck," landing at Shark Bay, and
sailing thence northward to Roebuck Bay.[a] Afterwards Captain James
Cook, in voyages which extended until 1777, delineated the eastern
coast-line, and opened up the continent to European enterprise
and settlement. On 29th April, 1770, Cook, in the little barque
"Endeavour," 370 tons burthen, entered Sting-ray Harbour (Botany Bay),
remaining there until 6th May, when he sailed northwards, and, not
entering Port Jackson, named Port Stephens, "Morton Bay," Bustard
Bay, and Keppel Islands, landing at several places for the purpose of
obtaining fresh water and making observations. Thus, coasting along
for nearly 1,300 miles, on 11th June he narrowly escaped the total
loss of his vessel when north of Trinity Bay by striking a coral reef.
After enduring great hardships, and jettisoning all surplus gear, the
vessel was sailed into the mouth of the Endeavour River, and there
careened. During the succeeding two months she was thoroughly
repaired. In August the captain set his course again for the north;
and on the 23rd of that month, after navigating among the dangerous
rocks of the Barrier Reef Passage, he safely reached open water and
landed on Possession Island, near Cape York. There he took formal
possession, "in right of His Majesty King George III.," of the land he
had discovered from lat. 38 deg. S. to lat. 10 deg. 30 min. S.
Sailing through Torres Strait, Cook reached the English Channel in
the "Endeavour" on 18th June, 1771[b]. It was not until 7th February,
1788, however, that Captain Phillip, as Governor-General of the vast
territory then called New South Wales, read to the people whom he had
brought to Port Jackson in the first fleet his commission proclaiming
British sovereignty over the whole of the eastern coast of Australia
and Tasmania, and also over the then unknown southern coast as far
west as the 135th degree of E. longitude.[c] On 2nd May, 1829, Captain
Fremantle, hoisting the British flag on the south head of the Swan
River, took possession of all those parts of Australia not included in
the territory of New South Wales.
Thus a new continent was added to the British Empire. It was occupied
by only a few score thousand native blacks, and was believed to be
uninhabitable by civilised people unless possibly along a strip of
land south of the Tropic of Capricorn on the eastern, western, and
southern shores of the continent. Of the north-west Dampier had
written: "The land is of a dry, sandy soil, destitute of water,
unless you make wells, yet producing divers sorts of trees." Cook
occasionally found difficulty in getting water unless by sinking in
the shore sand; he made no attempt to penetrate the fringe of coast
or even to explore its inlets. It was not until 1798 that Flinders
and Bass discovered the channel through Bass Strait, and the former's
discoveries may be said to have completed the coast map of Australia.
By successive proclamations six colonies were subsequently
constituted, the last being that of Queensland on 10th December,
1859. On 1st January, 1901, Queen Victoria's proclamation of the
Commonwealth of Australia was formally made at Melbourne, the
prescribed place for the sitting of the Parliament until the federal
seat of government had been determined. This important step was
taken 131 years after Captain Cook had annexed the eastern coast
at Possession Island, and 72 years after Captain Fremantle made the
possession of the continent as British territory complete by hoisting
the flag at Swan River.
The story of Australian land exploration is a long one, and it would,
if complete, reveal many a startling tale of privation and death.
The earliest exploring expeditions were those of Governor Phillip, in
1789, when he set out from Sydney to discover Broken Bay first, and
then explore the Hawkesbury River.[d] At that time the undertaking no
doubt seemed great, but to-day Broken Bay may almost be regarded as a
suburb of Sydney. In the same year Captain Tench discovered the Nepean
River. By the end of the eighteenth century, despite many expeditions,
the total of the discoveries were the rivers Hawkesbury, Nepean,
Grose, and Hunter, and the fertile Illawarra district to the south of
Sydney. In 1813 Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth discovered a pass over
the Blue Mountains, and opened the way to the interior. Later in
the same year, following in their footsteps, George William Evans
discovered a river flowing inland, which he named the Macquarie, and
that led to the discovery of the Bathurst Plains, and other country
beyond the Blue Mountains. John Oxley, who in 1817 penetrated the
country until he struck rivers flowing to the south-west, found
himself in shallow stagnant swamps, with no indication that the rivers
reached the sea. Oxley and Evans made further discoveries to the
north-west of Sydney during the next seven years, the principal result
being the finding of Liverpool Plains. Cunningham, the botanist,
also was in the field of exploration in 1823. In the year 1824 Hume,
accompanied by W. H. Hovell, crossed the Murrumbidgee River, and some
time afterwards saw the snow-capped mountains of the Australian Alps.
In their progress to Port Phillip they discovered the Murray River,
and ultimately reached their destination, which proved to be the
seashore near the site of Geelong.
In 1828 Captain Charles Sturt discovered the Darling River. In the
next year he reached the Murray near its confluence with the Darling;
in 1830 he went down the stream by boat, and finally reached the sea
at Encounter Bay, east of St. Vincent Gulf. In 1826 Major Lockyer
founded King George Sound Settlement; in 1828 Captain Stirling
examined the mouth of the Swan River, and was afterwards, in 1831,
appointed Lieutenant-Governor at Perth, the settlement established in
1829 by Captain Fremantle. Other explorers traced the country for some
distance to the northward, and a settlement, called Port Essington,
which had an ephemeral existence, was formed on the northern coast. In
1831 Major Mitchell explored the country north-west from Sydney, and
in 1845-6 he traversed the Darling Downs, afterwards penetrating as
far north as the Drummond Range. Allan Cunningham had previously, in
1827, discovered the Darling Downs, and in the next year, by locating
Cunningham's Gap, he connected the Downs with the Moreton Bay
Settlement. A year later he explored the source of the Brisbane River,
that being his last expedition.
In 1831 Major Bannister crossed from Perth to King George Sound.
In 1836 John Batman landed at Port Phillip, and permanently settled
there. The same year Adelaide was founded by Captain Sir John
Hindmarsh, the first Governor of South Australia. In 1838 E. J.
Eyre discovered Lake Hindmarsh on his journey from Port Phillip to
Adelaide. Next year George Hamilton travelled overland from Sydney to
Melbourne, and Eyre penetrated from the head of Spencer's Gulf to Lake
Torrens.
In 1840 Patrick Leslie settled on the Condamine; in the year following
Stuart and Sydenham Russell formed Cecil Plains station. In 1842
Stuart Russell discovered the Boyne River, travelling from Moreton
Bay to Wide Bay in a boat. In 1844-5 Captain Sturt conducted his Great
Central Desert expedition. In the same year Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt
started on his first expedition from Jimbour station to Port
Essington; and in the next year Sir Thomas Mitchell went on his Barcoo
expedition. In 1846 A. C. Gregory entered upon his first expedition in
Western Australia. In 1848 Leichhardt set out upon his last journey,
from which he never returned. In the same year Kennedy made his fatal
venture up the Cape York Peninsula, and A. C. Gregory explored the
Gascoigne. Next year J. S. Roe, Surveyor-General of Western Australia,
travelled from York to Esperance Bay. In 1852 Hovenden Hely, in charge
of a Leichhardt search party, started from Darling Downs. In 1855
Gregory and Baron von Mueller started on an expedition to North
Australia in the same search, and discovered Sturt's Creek and the
Elsey River.
In 1858 Frank Gregory reached the Gascoigne River, Western Australia,
and discovered Mount Augustus and Mount Gould. A. C. Gregory in the
same year, when searching for Leichhardt, confirmed the identity of
the Barcoo River with Cooper's Creek. In 1858 also McDouall Stuart
started on his first expedition across the continent; in the following
year he started again, and one of his party, Hergott, discovered and
named Hergott Springs. In 1859 G. E. Dalrymple discovered the main
tributaries of the Lower Burdekin, also the Bowen and the Bogie
Rivers, and in the year following Edward Cunningham and party explored
the Upper Burdekin.
In 1860 the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition left Melbourne, and
reached the Gulf of Carpentaria, but their return journey resulted in
the death of Burke, Wills, and Gray.
In 1861 McDouall Stuart crossed the continent; Frank Gregory
discovered the Hammersley Range, and the Fortescue, Ashburton, de
Grey, and Oakover Rivers in Western Australia. In the same year
William Landsborough left the Gulf of Carpentaria in search of Burke
and Wills; and Alfred Howitt started from Victoria on the same errand.
Edwin J. Welch, Howitt's second in command, found King, the only
survivor of the expedition; and McKinlay, with W. O. Hodgkinson as
lieutenant, started from Adelaide in the search, and crossed the
continent, reaching the coast at Townsville. In 1863 John Jardine
formed a settlement at Somerset, Cape York; and in the next year
his adventurous brothers, Alexander and Frank, travelled overland to
Somerset along the Peninsula, which Kennedy had failed to do.
In 1864 Duncan McIntyre travelled from the Paroo to the Gulf of
Carpentaria, and died there. Next year J. G. Macdonald visited the
Plains of Promise, and Frederick Walker marked the telegraph line from
Rockingham Bay to the Norman River. In 1869 Mr. (now Sir John) Forrest
made his first expedition to Lake Barlee; in 1870 he travelled the
Great Bight from Perth to Adelaide, and in 1871 took charge of a
private expedition in search of pastoral country. In 1872 William
Hann, a Northern squatter, led an expedition equipped by the
Queensland Government, and discovered the Walsh, Palmer, and Upper
Mitchell Rivers, and found prospects of gold which led to great
mineral discoveries in North Queensland. Hann reached the coast at
Princess Charlotte Bay. In the same year J. W. Lewis travelled round
Lake Eyre to the Queensland border. Ernest Giles also made his first
expedition in 1872, discovering Lake Amadeus, and on a second trip in
1873 discovered and named Gibson's Desert, after one of his party who
died there. In 1873 Major Warburton crossed from Alice Springs, on the
overland telegraph line, to the Oakover River, Western Australia. In
1875-6 Ernest Giles made a third and successful attempt from Adelaide
to reach Western Australia. In the same year W. O. Hodgkinson started
on a north-west expedition to the Diamantina and Mulligan Rivers, on
which he officially reported.
In 1878 Prout brothers, looking for country across the Queensland
border, never returned. In 1878 N. Buchanan, on an excursion to
the overland telegraph line from the Queensland border, discovered
Buchanan's Creek. In 1878-9 Ernest Favenc, starting from Blackall
in charge of the "Queenslander" transcontinental expedition, reached
Powell's Creek station, on the overland telegraph line; four years
later he explored the rivers flowing into the Gulf, particularly the
Macarthur, and then crossed to the overland telegraph line. In 1878
Winnecke and Barclay, surveyors, started to determine the border lines
of Queensland and South Australia, returning in 1880 with their work
done. In 1879 Alexander Forrest led an expedition from the de Grey
River, Western Australia, to the overland telegraph line, discovering
the Ord and Margaret Rivers.
By this time there was little left of the continent, save Western
Australia, to explore, though men in search of pastoral country still
found occupation in expeditions to discover the unknown in Queensland
and the Northern Territory. In 1896 Frank Hann, younger brother of the
explorer, who had left Queensland, traversed the country to the
north of King Leopold Range, discovering a river which he named
the Phillips, but which was afterwards renamed the Hann by the
Surveyor-General of Western Australia. Afterwards Hann travelled from
Laverton, Western Australia, to Oodnadatta, in South Australia. F. S.
Brockman is another explorer who was leader of a Kimberley expedition
a few years ago, and discovered in North-west Australia 6 million
acres of basaltic country clad with blue grass, Mitchell and kangaroo
grasses, and other fodder vegetation. The Elder expedition, projected
on an ambitious scale in 1891 to complete the exploration of the
continent, started under David Lindsay, but the results were less
valuable than its generous and enterprising originator anticipated.
From a second Elder expedition under L. A. Wells no great results were
recorded. The same may be said of the Carnegie expedition in Western
Australia. Yet the sum total of the information obtained was valuable.
Australia owes much to her adventurous explorers, as well as to
the men who, following up their tracks, placed stock on much of the
country that produced great wealth to the people, though as a rule
neither explorers nor pastoral pioneers personally benefited much by
their labours and privations.
[Footnote a: See Dampier's "Collection of Voyages, 1729."]
[Footnote b: See Cook's "Journal during his First Voyage Round
the World, 1768-71." W. J. L. Wharton, 1893.]
[Footnote c: Historical Records of New South Wales, vol. i.]
[Footnote d: See "History of Australian Exploration," 1888;
and "Explorers of Australia," 1908, both by Ernest Favenc.]
[Illustration (hand-written letter):
Victoria by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, &c.
In pursuance of Our Order made by and with the advice of our Privy
Council on the 6th day of June in the year of Our Lord 1859, We do by
these presents summon and call together a Legislative Assembly in and
for Our Colony of Queensland to advise and give consent to the
making of Laws for the peace, welfare and good Government of our said
Colony.----
And we do enjoin and require Our subjects, inhabitants of Our said
Colony, and being duly qualified in that behalf, to proceed to the
Election of Members to serve in the said Legislative Assembly in
pursuance of Our Writs to be issued in Our name, in the first instance
by Our Governor of Our Colony of New South Wales, and thereafter by
Our Governor of Our said Colony of Queensland.----
----And We do further enjoin and require the Members who shall be so
elected, to assemble and meet together and to be and appear before Us
for the purposes aforesaid at the Court House Buildings Brisbane on
the 22nd day of May in the present year.
----In testimony whereof we have caused the Great Seal of Our Colony
of Queensland to be affixed to this Our Writ.----
----Witness our trusty and well-beloved Sir William Thomas Denison,
Knight Commander of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath, Governor
General in and over all Her Majesty's Colonies of New South Wales,
Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland,
and Captain General and Governor-in-chief of the Territory of New
South Wales and Vice Admiral of the same &c. &c. &c. at Government
House Sydney, in New South Wales aforesaid this twentieth day of March
in the Twenty third year of Our reign, and the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and sixty--
W. Denison
By His Excellency's Command
Robert G. W. Herbert
God save the Queen!]
THE SUBDIVISION OF AUSTRALIA.
(MAPS 1 AND 2.)
Since the issue of Captain Arthur Phillip's Commission as Governor
in 1786 there have been no less than ten successive modifications in
Australian boundaries, all internal save the first, which severed
Van Diemen's Land from New South Wales. Map 1 represents Australia as
depicted before the time of Captain Cook. Map 2 shows the territory as
divided into two parts by Governor Phillip's Commission. The continent
was severed by a north-and-south line along the 135th meridian of east
longitude, and all the eastern part declared to be the territory of
New South Wales.
VAN DIEMEN'S LAND (MAP 3).
Under an Imperial Act of 1823 a Royal Commission was issued to
Governor Arthur on 14th June, 1825, erecting Van Diemen's Land into a
separate colony, as shown in Map 3.
NEW SOUTH WALES--ALTERED BOUNDARY (MAP 4).
On 6th July, 1825, a Commission appointing Sir Ralph Darling Governor
of New South Wales, after describing the boundary of the colony as
then existing, declared that the western boundary should be extended
6 degrees further west to the 129th meridian of east longitude,
including all the adjacent islands in the Pacific Ocean.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA (MAP 5).
Although Western Australia had been occupied in 1826 by Major Lockyer,
and a settlement had been established at Swan River in 1829, the
boundaries of the colony were not definitely described until 1831,
when Sir James Stirling's Commission of appointment as Governor gave
him authority over all that part of the continent to the west of 129
degrees east longitude. A supplementary Commission issued in 1873
included all the adjacent islands in the Indian Ocean.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA (MAP 6).
South Australia was proclaimed a British Province by Letters Patent on
the 28th December, 1836; bounded on the north by the 26th parallel of
south latitude; on the south by the Southern Ocean; on the west by the
132nd meridian of east longitude; on the east by the 141st meridian.
VICTORIA (MAP 7).
In 1851 the territory previously known as Port Phillip was separated
from New South Wales. In July, 1851, the legal symbol of the fact was
found in the issue of writs of election for members of the
Legislative Council. This was done under an Act of the New South Wales
Legislature, passed to give effect to the Act passed in 1850 "for the
Better Government of Her Majesty's Australian Colonies." Boundaries:
On the north and north-east by a straight line from Cape Howe to the
nearest source of the River Murray; thence by the course of that river
to the eastern boundary of South Australia; and on the south by the
sea: the River Murray to remain within New South Wales.
NEW SOUTH WALES--ALTERED BOUNDARY (MAP 8).
By a later statute passed in 1855, the boundaries of New South Wales
were defined as follows:--"All the territory lying between the 129th
and 154th meridians of east longitude, and north of the 40th parallel
of south latitude, including all islands and Lord Howe Island, except
the territories comprised within the boundaries of the province of
South Australia and the colony of Victoria as at present established."
[Illustration: Map 1 (1770).]
[Illustration: Map 2 (1786).]
[Illustration: Map 3 (1825).]
[Illustration: Map 4 (1825).]
[Illustration: Map 5 (1831).]
[Illustration: Map 6 (1836).]
[Illustration: Map 7 (1851).]
[Illustration: Map 8 (1855).]
[Illustration: Map 9 (1859).]
[Illustration: Map 10 (1862).]
[Illustration: Map 11 (1861-3).]
[Illustration: Map 12 (1863).]
QUEENSLAND (MAP 9).
In 1859 Queensland was severed from New South Wales by Letters
Patent issued to Sir George Bowen, the boundaries being given as
follows:--"So much of the said colony of New South Wales as lies
northward of a line commencing on the sea coast at Point Danger, in
latitude about 28 degrees 8 minutes south, and following the range
thence which divides the waters of the Tweed, Richmond, and Clarence
Rivers from those of the Logan and Brisbane Rivers, westerly, to the
Great Dividing Range between the waters falling to the east coast
and those of the River Murray; following the Great Dividing Range
southerly to the range dividing the waters of Tenterfield Creek from
those of the main head of the Dumaresq River; following that range
westerly to the Dumaresq River; and following that river (which is
locally known as the Severn) downward to its confluence with the
Macintyre River; thence following the Macintyre River (which lower
down becomes the Barwan) downward to the 29th parallel of south
latitude; and following that parallel westerly to the 141st meridian
of east longitude, which is the eastern boundary of South Australia;
together with all and every the adjacent islands, their members and
appurtenances, in the Pacific Ocean; and do by these presents separate
from our said colony of New South Wales and erect the said territory
so described into a separate colony to be called the 'Colony of
Queensland.'"
ANNEXATION TO QUEENSLAND, 1862 (MAP 10).
On 12th April, 1862, the Duke of Newcastle advised Governor Bowen that
Letters Patent, of which a copy was enclosed, had been issued annexing
to Queensland the following territory--namely, "so much of our colony
of New South Wales as lies to the northward of the 21st parallel of
south latitude, and between the 141st and 138th meridians of east
longitude, together with all and every the adjacent islands, their
members and appurtenances in the Gulf of Carpentaria." The area thus
annexed added to Queensland about 120,000 square miles of territory,
which now comprises such centres as Birdsville, Boulia, Cloncurry,
Camooweal, and Burketown.
ANNEXATION TO SOUTH AUSTRALIA (MAP 11).
An Imperial Act of 1861 enacted that "so much of the colony of New
South Wales, being to the south of the 26th degree of south latitude,
as lies between the western boundary of South Australia and 129
degrees east longitude, shall be and the same is hereby detached
from the colony of New South Wales and annexed to the colony of South
Australia, and shall for all purposes whatever be deemed to be part of
the last-mentioned colony from the day in which the Act of Parliament
is proclaimed."
THE NORTHERN TERRITORY ANNEXED TO SOUTH AUSTRALIA (MAP 12).
There still remained, nominally belonging to New South Wales though
detached from that colony, the country now known as the Northern
Territory and forming part of South Australia, lying northward of
the 26th parallel of south latitude, and between 129 degrees and 138
degrees east longitude. That area was by Letters Patent, dated 6th
July, 1863, issued under the Imperial Act of 1861, annexed to South
Australia until it was "the Royal pleasure to make other disposition
thereof."
[Illustration]
GOVERNORS OF QUEENSLAND.
(1) SIR GEORGE FERGUSON BOWEN, G.C.M.G.: Dec. 1859--Jan. 1868.
(2) COLONEL SAMUEL WENSLEY BLACKALL: Aug. 1868--Jan. 1871.
(3) MARQUIS OF NORMANBY: Aug. 1871--Nov. 1874.
(4) WILLIAM WELLINGTON CAIRNS, C.M.G.: Jan. 1875--Mar. 1877.
(5) SIR ARTHUR EDWARD KENNEDY, G.C.M.G., C.B.: April 1877--May 1883.
(6) SIR ANTHONY MUSGRAVE, G.C.M.G.: Nov. 1883--Oct. 1888.
(7) SIR HENRY WYLIE NORMAN, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., C.I.E.: May
1889--Dec. 1895.
(8) LORD LAMINGTON, G.C.M.G.: April 1896--Dec. 1901.
(9) SIR HERBERT CHARLES CHERMSIDE, G.C.M.G., C.B.: Mar. 1902--Oct.
1904.
(10) LORD CHELMSFORD, K.C.M.G.: Nov. 1905--May 1909.
(11) SIR WILLIAM MACGREGOR, G.C.M.G., C.B.: Dec. 1909--
QUEEN OF THE NORTH.
ESSEX EVANS.
Stand forth, O Daughter of the Sun,
Of all thy kin the fairest one,
It is thine hour of Jubilee.
Behold, the work our hands have done
Our hearts now offer unto thee.
Thy children call thee; O come forth,
Queen of the North!
Brow-bound with pearls and burnished gold
The East hath Queens of royal mould,
Sultanas, peerless in their pride,
Who rule wide realms of wealth untold,
But they wax wan and weary-eyed:
Thine eyes, O Northern Queen, are bright
With morning light.
Fear not thy Youth: It is thy crown--
The careless years before Renown
Shall load its tines with jewelled deeds
And press thy golden circlet down
With vaster toils and greater needs.
Fear not thy Youth: its splendid power
Awaits the hour.
Stand forth, O Daughter of the Sun,
Whose fires through all thine arteries run,
Whose kiss hath touched thy gleaming hair--
Come like a goddess, Radiant One,
Reign in our hearts who crown thee there,
With laughter like thy seas, and eyes
Blue as thy skies.
Ah, not in vain, O Pioneers,
The toil that breaks, the grief that sears,
The hands that forced back Nature's bars
To prove the blood of ancient years
And make a home 'neath alien stars!
O Victors over stress and pain
'Twas not in vain!
Jungle and plain and pathless wood--
Depths of primeval solitude--
Gaunt wilderness and mountain stern--
Their secrets lay all unsubdued.
Life was the price: who dared might learn.
Ye read them all, Bold Pioneers,
In fifty years.
O True Romance, whose splendour gleams
Across the shadowy realm of dreams,
Whose starry wings can touch with light
The dull grey paths, the common themes:
Hast thou not thrilled with sovereign might
Our story, until Duty's name
Is one with Fame!
Queen of the North, thy heroes sleep
On sun-burnt plain and rocky steep.
Their work is done: their high emprise
Hath crowned thee, and the great stars keep
The secrets of their histories.
We reap the harvest they have sown
Who died unknown.
The seed they sowed with weary hands
Now bursts in bloom through all thy lands;
Dark hills their glittering secrets yield;
And for the camps of wand'ring bands--
The snowy flock, the fertile field.
Back, ever back new conquests press
The wilderness.
Below thy coast line's rugged height
Wide canefields glisten in the light,
And towns arise on hill and lea,
And one fair city where the bright
Broad winding river sweeps to sea.
Ah! could the hearts that cleared the way
Be here to-day!
A handful: yet they took their stand
Lost in the silence of the land.
They went their lonely ways unknown
And left their bones upon the sand.
E'en though we call this land our own
'Tis but a handful holds it still
For good or ill.
What though thy sons be strong and tall,
Fearless of mood at danger's call;
And these, thy daughters, fair of face,
With hearts to dare whate'er befall--
Tall goddesses and queens of grace--
Fill up thy frontiers: man the gate
Before too late.
Sit thou no more inert of fame,
But let the wide world hear thy name.
See where thy realms spread line on line--
Thy empty realms that cry in shame
For hands to make them doubly thine!
Fill up thy frontiers: man the gate
Before too late!
Prepare, ere falls the hour of Fate
When death-shells rain their iron hate,
And all in vain thy blood is poured--
For dark aslant the Northern Gate
I see the Shadow of the Sword:
I hear the storm-clouds break in wrath--
Queen of the North!
[Illustration]
PREMIERS OF QUEENSLAND.
(1) SIR R. G. W. HERBERT: Dec. 1859--Feb. 1866; July 1866--Aug. 1866.
(2) HON. ARTHUR MACALISTER: Feb. 1866--July 1866; Aug. 1866--Aug.
1867; Jan. 1874--June 1876.
(3) SIR R. R. MACKENZIE: Aug. 1867--Nov. 1868.
(4) SIR CHARLES LILLEY: Nov. 1868--May 1870.
(5) SIR A. H. PALMER: May 1870--Jan. 1874.
(6) HON. GEORGE THORN: June 1876--Mar. 1877.
(7) HON. JOHN DOUGLAS: Mar. 1877--Jan. 1879.
(8) SIR THOMAS MCILWRAITH: Jan. 1879--Nov. 1883; June 1888--Nov.
1888; Mar. 1893--Oct. 1893.
(9) SIR S. W. GRIFFITH: Nov. 1883--June 1888; Aug. 1890--Mar. 1893.
(10) HON. D. B. MOREHEAD: Nov. 1888--Aug. 1890.
(11) SIR H. M. NELSON: Oct. 1893--April 1898.
(12) HON. T. J. BYRNES: April 1898--Sept. 1898.
(13) SIR J. R. DICKSON: Oct. 1898--Dec. 1899.
(14) HON. A. DAWSON: 1st Dec. 1899--7th Dec. 1899.
(15) HON. R. PHILP: Dec. 1899--Sept. 1903: Nov. 1907--Feb. 1908.
(16) SIR A. MORGAN: Sept. 1903--Jan. 1906.
(17) HON. W. KIDSTON: Jan. 1906--Nov. 1907: Feb. 1908 (still in
office).
[Illustration]
PART I.--OUR NATAL YEAR.
CHAPTER I.
THE BIRTH OF QUEENSLAND.
Issue of Letters Patent and Order in Council.--Appointment of
Sir George Ferguson Bowen as First Governor.--Continuity of
Colonial Office Policy.--Instructions to Governor.--Munificent
Gift of all Waste Lands of the Crown.--Temporary Limitation
of Electoral Suffrage.--Responsible Government Unqualified by
Restrictions or Reservations.--Governor General of New South
Wales Initiates Elections.
Fifty years ago an emphatic expression of confidence in the
self-governing competence of the people of North-eastern Australia
was given by the British Government of Lord Derby. On 6th June, 1859,
Queen Victoria in Council adopted Letters Patent--which had been
already approved in draft on 13th May--"erecting Moreton Bay into
a colony under the name of Queensland," and appointing Sir George
Ferguson Bowen to be "Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of the
same." On the same day an Order in Council was made "empowering the
Governor of Queensland to make laws and provide for the administration
of justice in the said colony"; also to constitute therein a
Government and Legislature as nearly resembling the form of Government
and Legislature established in New South Wales as the circumstances of
the colony would allow. This meant that representative and responsible
government had been granted to the people of the new colony to the
full extent that it was enjoyed by the people of New South Wales under
the epoch-making Constitution Act of 1855. It meant also that the
whole of the unalienated Crown Lands of the colony were vested in the
Legislature.
Next day, the 7th June, the annual session of the Imperial Parliament
was opened, and four days later an amendment upon the Address in Reply
was carried in the House of Commons, whereupon Lord Derby and his
Conservative colleagues forthwith resigned, and were succeeded by a
Liberal (or Whig) Ministry under Lord Palmerston. The new Government
included men of such distinction as Mr. W. E. Gladstone, Lord John
Russell, and the Duke of Newcastle, the last-mentioned assuming the
office of Colonial Secretary. The change of Ministry, however, caused
no interruption in the continuity of Colonial Office policy; and no
time was lost in despatching Sir George Bowen to discharge the highly
responsible duties imposed upon him by the Queen's Commission.
In notifying Sir George Bowen of his appointment, Sir Edward Bulwer
Lytton tendered him some friendly advice. He said that Sir George
would experience the greatest amount of difficulty in connection with
the squatters, and he went on in these words:--"But in this, which is
an irritating contest between rival interests, you will wisely abstain
as much as possible from interference. Avoid taking part with one
or the other.... The first care of a Governor in a free colony," he
continued, "is to shun the reproach of being a party man. Give
all parties and all Ministries formed the fairest play." In
public addresses Sir George was advised to "appeal to the noblest
idiosyncracies of the community--the noblest are generally the most
universal and the most durable. They are peculiar to no party.
Let your thoughts never be distracted from the paramount object of
finance. All states thrive in proportion to the administration of
revenue." A number of excellent maxims followed, among them--"The more
you treat people as gentlemen the more 'they will behave as such.'"
Again, "courtesy is a duty which public servants owe to the humblest
member of the community." And, in a postscript, "Get all the details
of the land question from the Colonial Office, and master them
thoroughly. Convert the jealousies now existing between Moreton Bay
and Sydney into emulation." All these generous didactics from the
great novelist and Tory statesman, followed by congratulations and
good wishes, must have been stimulative to the aspirations of the
embryo Governor charged with the foundation of a new colony at the
Antipodes.
The value of autonomous government is generally appreciated; but
the free gift of land made by the Imperial authority to the various
self-governing colonies has no parallel in human history. In the case
of Queensland the recipients were a mere handful of people, mostly
settled at one end of a vast territory, at least half of which was
unexplored. Plenary authority was in fact given to manage and control
the waste lands belonging to the Crown, as well as to appropriate the
gross proceeds of the sales of any such lands, and all other proceeds
and revenues of the same from whatever source arising, including all
royalties, mines, and minerals, all of which by the Letters Patent
and the Order in Council were vested in the Legislature. This vesting,
however, was subject to a proviso validating all contracts, promises,
and engagements lawfully made on behalf of Her Majesty before the
proclamation took effect. The proviso also stipulated that there
should be no disturbance of any vested or other rights which had
accrued or belonged to the licensed occupants or lessees of Crown
Lands under any repealed Act, or under any Order in Council issued in
pursuance thereof.[a] This reservation was really for the protection
of a number of people in the colony, and not for the benefit of the
Imperial Government. The licensed occupants would be subject to the
mandates of the Legislature; while the reservation in favour of the
owners of freehold lands was of a comparatively trivial nature, the
total area alienated from the Crown a year after the establishment
of the new colony amounting to only 108,870 acres, which had yielded
L305,250 as purchase-money chiefly to the New South Wales Treasury.
Taking the 670,500 square miles within the colony thus handed over to
be worth five shillings per acre, or L160 the square mile, the total
value of the Imperial gift to Queensland would be L107,280,000. Of
course that price was not immediately realisable, and before much of
the vast area could be utilised millions of capital must be expended
in reclamation and development; but as some indication of ultimate
value it may be pointed out that the land sold up to 31st December,
1860, realised at the rate of nearly L3 per acre. That the "waste"
land was not a dead asset was shown by the fact that the public
revenue of the colony for the first year of its existence was
L178,589, to which rents and sales of land contributed a substantial
proportion. It was not surprising, therefore, that Sir George Bowen's
early despatches to the Secretary of State testified to the grateful
and enthusiastic loyalty of the people of the colony to the Queen and
the mother country.
When the previously established Australian colonies were severally
constituted the people were kept for years in a state of tutelage, so
to speak, power being exercised in each case by a Governor advised by
Ministers appointed by and responsible only to the Crown. The single
Chamber of the Legislature, if not wholly nominated, included a
prescribed number of members appointed by the Governor, and was
practically under his control. It had therefore been supposed by
many colonists that separation having been hotly opposed by some
influential residents of the territory concerned--and having been
emphatically condemned by an official despatch received in England
from Sir William Denison, then Governor-General of New South Wales,
almost at the last moment--conditions in restraint of popular
government would have been imposed on the establishment of Queensland.
For the separation struggle had been long continued, and marked by
much personal and party bitterness. The agitation had been originated
and chiefly maintained by people on the seaboard led by ardent
patriots introduced a few years previously under the auspices of Dr.
John Dunmore Lang, who while undoubtedly a great Australian patriot
was unhappily not a _persona grata_ with the controlling authority at
the Colonial Office. The movement was from its initiation protested
against by the enterprising Crown tenants who had driven their flocks
and herds overland from New South Wales, and had, taking their
lives in their hands, adventurously formed stations in the remote
wilderness. They not unnaturally dreaded the effect of popular
sovereignty upon what they deemed their vested interests. But British
statesmen, whether Conservative or Liberal, appear to have felt that,
responsible government having been granted to and enjoyed by the
people of New South Wales--and consequently to the people of that part
of its territory about to be separated--any Imperial limitation of
popular rights already conferred would be regarded as an unjustifiable
encroachment upon public liberty achieved after many years of ardent
struggle in the parent colony. True, the language of the Letters
Patent and Order in Council was afterwards construed to involve some
temporary limitation of the manhood suffrage which had been affirmed
by the Parliament of New South Wales; but whether this limitation
was actual or inadvertent does not clearly appear. It was not of much
practical consequence, perhaps, in a new country that was rapidly
multiplying its scant population, whether or not the electors for
the first Legislative Assembly were required to have some other
qualification than adult age and six months' residence; but the
incident operated prejudicially against the Government, and gave a
rallying cry to Opposition politicians.
A somewhat singular course adopted by the Home Government was the
authorisation of the Governor-General of New South Wales to appoint
the first members of the Queensland Legislative Council, with a term
of five years, although subsequent appointments were to be made by the
Governor of Queensland for the term of the members' natural lives.
Sir William Denison was also empowered to summon and call together the
first Legislative Assembly of Queensland; to fix by proclamation the
number of members; to divide the colony into convenient electoral
districts; to prepare the electoral rolls; to issue the writs of
election; and to make all necessary provision for the conduct of the
first elections. It was required, moreover, that the Parliament should
be called together for a date not more than six months after the
proclamation of the colony, and should remain in existence, unless
previously dissolved by the Governor, for a period of five years. Yet
there was practically no limitation of popular authority except
in respect of the preliminary arrangements, for the Queensland
consolidating and amending Constitution Act of 1867 reaffirmed all
rights and privileges conferred by the New South Wales Constitution
Act.
[Footnote a: These powers were given in the New South Wales
Constitution Act, 1855, Sect. 2.]
[Illustration: HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, BRISBANE]
CHAPTER II.
INITIATION OF RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT.
Arrival of Sir George Bowen in Brisbane.--The First
Responsible Ministry.--Injunctions to Governor by Secretary
of State in regard to choice of Ministers.--Ex-members of New
South Wales Legislature take Umbrage.--The Governor on the
Characteristics of Various Classes of Colonists.--The Governor
a Dictator.--The Microscopic Treasury Balance.--Gladstone as
Site of Capital.--Mr. Herbert as a Parliamentary Leader.
When on 10th December, 1859, Governor Bowen, accompanied by Mr. Robert
George Wyndham Herbert, his private secretary, had landed amidst great
popular rejoicings at Brisbane, read the Queen's proclamation of the
new colony, and been sworn in as Governor by Mr. Justice Lutwyche (the
Resident Supreme Court Judge for Moreton Bay), he was compelled to
choose Ministers and then govern the colony for nearly six months
before they could be constitutionally approved by the representatives
of the people in Parliament assembled. Sir George Bowen was faced by
the dearth of seasoned public men, and by the dread of enlisting the
services of strong partizans whose opinions and personal qualities
were alike unknown to him. But as a constitutional Governor he could
do no executive act until he had secured responsible advisers, and
therefore the immediate appointment of Ministers was imperative. Hence
on the day of the official landing a "Gazette" notice contained the
proclamation of the Queen's Letters Patent, and notification of the
appointment of Mr. Herbert as Colonial Secretary with Mr. Ratcliffe
Pring as Attorney-General. Thus with the Governor and his two
Ministers an Executive Council was at once formed; and five days later
Mr. (afterwards Sir) Robert Ramsay Mackenzie was gazetted Colonial
Treasurer.[a]
These appointments gave umbrage to certain colonists, particularly to
those who, having represented Moreton Bay constituencies in the New
South Wales Assembly, were deemed in many respects most eligible as
advisers of the Queen's representative. Mr. Herbert had come out from
England with Sir George Bowen as private secretary at the moderate
salary of L250 a year. He was a scholarly young man of 28 years, and
among other advantages had enjoyed the privilege of holding for a
time the post of private secretary to Mr. Gladstone. Indeed, both the
Governor and his secretary, although the former had been selected
by Sir E. B. Lytton, Colonial Secretary in the superseded Derby
Administration, may be classed among the Gladstone school of
politicians. Sir George Bowen probably recollected the injunction of
Sir E. B. Lytton against partizanship, and the danger of identifying
himself with the "squatters." For not only were they, speaking
generally, partizans of a pronounced type, but the reservation of
tenant rights made by the Order in Council of 6th June was calculated
to taint them with a strong personal, or at least class, bias in land
legislation and administration.
In his official despatches to the Colonial Secretary Sir George Bowen
did not mention at length these initial difficulties; but to Sir E.
B. Lytton he wrote more fully. "I have often thought," he said, under
date 6th March, 1860, "that the Queensland gentlemen-squatters bear a
similar relation to the other Australians that the Virginian planters
of 100 years back bore to the other Americans. But there is a
perfectly different class of people in the towns. Brisbane, my present
capital, must resemble what Boston and the other Puritan towns of
New England were at the close of the last century. In a population
of 7,000[b] we have 14 churches, 13 public-houses, 12 policemen. The
leading inhabitants of Brisbane are a hard-headed set of English
and Scotch merchants and mechanics; very orderly, industrious, and
prosperous; proud of the mother country; loyal to the person of the
Queen; and convinced that the true federation for these colonies is
the maintenance of the integrity of the Empire, and that the true
rallying-point for Australians is the Throne."
To the Under Secretary for the Colonies (Mr. Chichester Fortescue)
Sir George Bowen wrote on 6th June, 1860:--"At the first start of all
other colonies the Governor has been assisted by a nominated Council
of experienced officials; he has been supported by an armed force;
and he has been authorised to draw, at least at the beginning, on the
Imperial Treasury for the expenses of the public service. But I was an
autocrat; the sole source of authority here, without a single soldier,
and without a single shilling. There was no organised force of
any kind on my arrival, though I have now, by dint of exertion and
influence, got up a respectable police on the Irish model, and a very
creditable corps of volunteers. And as to money wherewith to carry
on the Government, I started with just 71/2d. in the Treasury. A
thief--supposing, I fancy, that I should have been furnished with some
funds for the outfit, so to speak, of the new State--broke into the
Treasury a few nights after my arrival, and carried off the 71/2d.
mentioned. However, I borrowed money from the banks until our revenue
came in, and our estimates already show (after paying back the sums
borrowed) a considerable balance in excess of the proposed expenditure
for the year."
Sir George Bowen's initial difficulties were not chiefly financial,
however; neither was the lack of material force to give effect to the
law a serious embarrassment. He was empowered practically to select
the seat of government by determining where the Parliament should
first assemble. Among the opponents of separation had been certain
squatters who sought to place the capital of the new colony in some
more geographically central place than Brisbane. Of these Mr. William
Henry Walsh, of Degilbo, Wide Bay, one of the most able and virile of
the Moreton Bay ex-members of the New South Wales Parliament, was very
prominent. Offended by the Governor's selection of Mr. Herbert for
the Premiership, Mr. Walsh refused a seat in either House of the new
Parliament, and sought to create an agitation in the more northerly
ports of Maryborough and Rockhampton, each containing about 500
inhabitants, in favour of Gladstone as the capital--a place which
Sydney political influence had always indicated as the future seat of
government when a new northern colony came to be established. But
each of the towns mentioned had ambitions of its own, and regarded
Gladstone as a rival. The movement therefore failed; but the colony
for years lost the benefit of Mr. Walsh's services at a time when
every capable man was needed to assist in organising the government
and directing the Parliament of political novices who took their
seats a few months later. Mr. Arthur Macalister, solicitor, another
ex-member of the New South Wales Parliament and an excellent debater,
was perhaps equally disappointed, but he was at least more diplomatic.
As member for Ipswich he took his seat on the Opposition benches, and
after two years' service in the Assembly was invited by Mr. Herbert to
join the Government. This invitation he accepted, and four years later
he became the party leader. The sequel proved that the Governor had
made no mistake in selecting Mr. Herbert for his Premier. He proved
a first-rate parliamentary leader, and succeeded in giving the
new colony the inestimable advantage of over six years of stable
government at the outset of its career, in marked contrast to the
kaleidoscopic Administrations which so greatly hindered political
progress in more than one of the southern colonies.
[Footnote a: For personnel of first Ministry and Parliament,
see Appendix B, post.]
[Footnote b: The census of 1861 showed that then the
population was only a little over 6,000.]
CHAPTER III.
DIFFICULTIES OF EARLY ADMINISTRATIONS.
Meeting of First Parliament.--Amendment on Address in Reply
defeated by Speaker's Casting Vote.--Adoption of Address in
Reply.--Compromise between Parties Indispensable.--Successful
Inauguration of Responsible Government.--The Governor's
Egotism.--Mr. Herbert's Retirement.--Mr. Macalister
Succeeds.--Financial and Political Crisis.--Proposed
Inconvertible Paper Money.--Governor Undeservedly Blamed.
On the 7th of May, 1860, the 26 members of the first Legislative
Assembly--among them the three Ministers of the Crown--having been
returned, Parliament was summoned to meet at Brisbane on the 22nd
of that month, just a few days before the maximum limit of delay
specified by the Queen's Order in Council. On 1st May Sir William
Denison had appointed 11 members for a five years' term to the
Legislative Council, and three weeks later Sir George Bowen,
conceiving the number insufficient, appointed four members additional
for a life term, raising the total number to 15. Thus the first
Parliament of Queensland was at length fully constituted, and all
preliminaries had been completed for entering upon the work of the
first session.[a]
On the 22nd of May the session opened, and after members had been
sworn in Sir Charles Nicholson, for some years Speaker in the Sydney
Parliament, was elected President of the Council, and Mr. Gilbert
Eliott--formerly an officer of the Royal Artillery--the member for
Wide Bay, Speaker of the Assembly. Both Houses then adjourned for a
week.
The Governor's Speech, which was of great length, having been
delivered, the Address in Reply was moved in both Houses. In the
Council the leadership had been entrusted to Captain Maurice Charles
O'Connell, Minister without portfolio, who had long been in the
Port Curtis district as a trusted official of the New South Wales
Government, and in early life had served with great distinction as
a British soldier in Spain. In the Council no difficulty arose in
adopting the Address. But in the Assembly an amendment moved for the
adjournment of the debate at an early stage was only defeated by the
Speaker's casting-vote, one member being absent. It thus appeared that
the Assembly was almost equally divided. This was a dangerous position
to be faced by a new Premier without a day's previous experience in
Parliament, and with the two most formidable debaters in the House,
Mr. Macalister and Mr. (afterwards Sir) Charles Lilley, in active
opposition. Mr. Herbert made a diplomatic speech, however, and the
Address passed without much further contention. The division list
showed that, despite the efforts of the Governor and his Premier to
avoid identification with the squatters, the votes of the latter were
essential to the existence of the Ministry, since the members of the
Opposition consisted almost exclusively of town representatives. The
following day (30th May) the Government nominee for the Chairmanship
of Committees, Mr. C. W. Blakeney, was defeated by 15 votes to 7, and
Mr. Macalister, who was nominated by the Opposition, was thereupon
elected on the voices. The division of parties evidently made
compromise indispensable to the passing of much-needed legislation.
But much had been gained by the Government. All its members had
been elected by the constituencies, and the Assembly had practically
acknowledged that it was entitled to a fair trial. Seeing that
for nearly six months Ministers had held their portfolios without
parliamentary sanction, and had naturally made many executive mistakes
during that time, it may be held that the first session of the first
Parliament had been inaugurated successfully from the Ministerial
standpoint. In his official despatches, as well as in private letters
to friends in England, Sir George Bowen revealed himself as a genial
though apparently unconscious egotist. His assumption of what must
strike the discriminating reader as a dominating influence in the
political and executive affairs of the colony was scarcely consistent
with his position as a ruler representing the Queen, and competent
to act only on constitutional advice. An impartial survey of Mr.
Herbert's six years of office as Premier leads to the conclusion
that chiefly to his judicious counsel and incomparable tact in the
management of men the Governor owed the exemplary success attained in
the organisation and government of the colony.
[Illustration: VIEW FROM RIVER TERRACE, BRISBANE]
The Governor's complete if rather florid reports to the Colonial
Office, however, justly evoked cordial responses from the Secretary of
State. Sir George Bowen was a most capable man, but sometimes betrayed
want of both reticence and dignity. He was enthusiastic as well as
optimistic, and his retention in Queensland for the unusually long
period of eight years is an unanswerable certificate of his official
merit. Yet it is undoubted that when bad times overtook the colony in
1866 both the Governor and his Premier appeared to have outlived their
popularity, though their combined action at that time for restoring
the public credit was perhaps the most eminent service that either of
them had ever rendered. Mr. Herbert had formed no ties in Australia;
he had exercised supreme influence in the local Legislature; but
now that there were several members with both natural capacity and
parliamentary experience aspiring to the Premiership, believing that
he had better prospects of preferment in the Imperial service, he
determined to return to England. His subsequent long career at the
Colonial Office justified his anticipations, and it may be safely
said of his departure from Queensland that the colony's loss was the
Empire's gain.
The ex-Premier did not leave the colony abruptly, however, on handing
over, on the 1st of February, 1866, all ministerial responsibilities
to Mr. Arthur Macalister, his senior colleague in the Cabinet. He
occupied his seat for nearly six months, in fact, and conducted
himself with native dignity and becoming self-effacement as an
unofficial member of the Assembly. Unhappily he was not to leave
Australia without having a wholly unexpected shadow suddenly cast over
his long administration of affairs. In mid-July the news reached the
colony of the catastrophic failure of the Agra and Masterman's Bank,
which had undertaken to finance the Queensland railway loan then being
rapidly spent. The financial crisis of 1866 played havoc in London; it
was of crushing effect in Queensland, for the Treasurer could not
meet his obligations, and the railway workmen threatened a riot
in consequence of non-payment of their hard-earned wages. In this
emergency, Parliament being in session, the Treasurer, Mr. (afterwards
Sir) Joshua Peter Bell desired to adopt the recent American expedient
of issuing an inconvertible paper currency. The Cabinet approved, but
on the Governor being consulted before the introduction of the bill he
emphatically declined to promise the Royal assent to the measure, if
passed. This he did for the all-sufficient reason that his Imperial
instructions compelled him to reserve the assent to all measures
affecting the currency. Ministers immediately resigned, and the
Governor became the victim of irrational public obloquy for a time.[b]
Mr. Herbert consented to lead a stop-gap Administration, and under his
guidance a bill was at once passed empowering the Government to raise
L300,000 by the issue of Treasury bills bearing not more than 10
per cent. interest per annum. They were forthwith disposed of at a
premium, and the credit of the Government was restored. The temporary
Government then resigned, and Mr. Macalister resumed office. Thus
Queensland was saved from the double peril of paralysed credit and a
debased paper currency.
[Footnote a: The names of the first Ministers, and of members
of both Houses of the first Parliament, will be found in
Appendix B. It may be of interest to mention that of all these
representative men one, Mr. A. W. Compigne, who resigned his
seat in the Council in 1864, alone survived till the Jubilee
Year; and that he died at his residence, Brisbane, on Sunday,
4th July, 1909, in the 92nd year of his age.]
[Footnote b: Sir George Bowen, writing to the Right Honourable
Robert Lowe, afterwards Lord Sherbrooke, said:--"Several
leading members of Parliament were ill-treated in the streets;
and threats were even uttered of burning down Government
House, and of treating me 'as Lord Elgin was treated at
Montreal in 1849.'"]
CHAPTER IV.
THE FIRST SESSION OF PARLIAMENT.
Work of the First Session.--Four Land Acts Passed.--Summary
of Land "Code."--Pastoral Leases.--Upset Price of Land L1
per acre.--Agricultural Reserves.--Land Orders to Immigrants.
--Cotton Bonus.--Lands for Mining Purposes.--Renewal of
Existing Leases.--Governor's Laudation of "Code."--Praises
Parliament.--Abolition of State Aid to Religion.--Primary
and Secondary Education.--Wool Liens.--First Estimates and
Appropriation Act.
The first session closed on the 18th of September, having extended
over nearly four months. On the 28th of August, Sir Charles Nicholson
having determined to retire and go to England, Captain O'Connell
was appointed President of the Legislative Council by the Governor's
Commission. Mr. John James Galloway at the same time accepted the
appointment of Minister without portfolio, and held the leadership of
the Council for the remainder of the session. Without other change in
the personnel of the Cabinet the session was brought to a close with
the position of the Government considerably improved. They had not
carried all the measures promised in the Opening Speech, but the
new Acts passed numbered sixteen, some of them important, and all
necessary. Seeing that both Houses were new to their work, the result
went to prove that the confidence of the Imperial Government in the
self-governing competence of the colonists had not been misplaced.
Even the "Moreton Bay Courier," then hostile to the Government,
admitted that much good work had been done, the chief exception taken
being to the Act authorising the granting of a five years' additional
term for existing pastoral leases. The Act reserved power of
resumption during the currency of the lease, but the Opposition
contended that the power would never be exercised.
No less than four Land Bills were passed during the session, and the
Governor, writing to the Secretary of State, said, referring to them,
that these Acts might be called "The Land Code of Queensland." The
first of the "Code," which was entitled the Unoccupied Crown Lands
Occupation Act, repealed the New South Wales pastoral leasing law of
1858, and the Orders in Council then in force in Queensland in so far
as they were repugnant to the new Act. Any person was to be permitted
to apply for an occupation license for one year for a run of 100
square miles, and if there were more than one applicant for the same
run preference was to be given to any person who had occupied it for
two months previously. Within nine months after the granting of the
license application might be made by the occupier for a 14 years'
lease conditionally on the run having been stocked to one-fourth its
assumed carrying capacity of 100 sheep or 20 head of cattle per square
mile. An absolute power of resumption at any time during the lease
on 12 months' notice was given. The second was the Tenders for Crown
Lands Act, authorising the issue of 14 years' leases to lessees of
runs already liable for rent; also authorising the acceptance of
tenders (which had been held over awaiting legislation) for runs
occupied since 1st January, 1860, and the granting to the tenderers of
14 years' leases.
The third measure of the "Code" was the Alienation of Crown Lands Act,
which fixed the minimum upset price at auction or otherwise at L1 per
acre; and which provided for the setting apart, within six months from
the bill becoming law, of not less than 100,000 acres on the shores
or navigable waters of Moreton Bay, Wide Bay, Port Curtis, and Keppel
Bay, and also within five miles of all towns with upwards of 500
inhabitants, as agricultural reserves of not less than 10,000 acres
each, which should not be for sale by auction, but surveyed and opened
to selection as farms of not less than 40 nor more than 320 acres
at the fixed price of L1 per acre; the purchase money to be paid in
advance, and the Crown grant issued at the end of six months if the
selector had occupied the land and commenced to improve it during
that term. If a selector failed so to occupy and improve, the
purchase-money was to be returned to him, less 10 per cent., and the
land again opened for selection. A selector was also entitled to lease
three times the area of his farm--but so that the whole should not
exceed 320 acres--in one lot or conterminous lots within the same
reserve, for a term of five years, at sixpence per acre rent, with
right of purchase, if fenced in, at L1 per acre at any time during the
currency of the lease. A further provision of importance in the
same Act was the granting of a land order for L18 on arrival to each
immigrant from Europe who paid his own passage, and a further land
order for L12 at the end of two years' residence in the colony. It was
also provided that two children between the ages of four and fourteen
should be reckoned as one statute adult. Further provision was made
by which a bonus in land was to be paid during the next three years of
L10 per bale of good cleaned Sea Island cotton, and for the two years
next following L5 per bale. And finally any person or company was
empowered to purchase land not exceeding 640 acres in one block for
mining purposes, other than for coal or gold, at the upset price of
20s. per acre.
The fourth measure of the "Code" was the Occupied Crown Lands Leasing
Act, which enabled the lessee of any Crown land held under previously
existing regulations, or under the Tenders for Crown Lands Act of the
current session, to get a five years' renewal at the end of his term.
The principle of compensation was recognised in these leasing Acts,
but no provision was made for the continuance of the pre-emptive right
of purchase, conferred by the old Orders in Council.
[Illustration: BARRON FALLS, CAIRNS RAILWAY, NORTH QUEENSLAND]
Sir George Bowen wrote to the Secretary of State in terms of exalted
laudation of these four Acts. "I regard them," he said, "as a
practical and satisfactory settlement of this much-vexed question,
which is still embittering the social life and retarding the material
advance of the neighbouring and elder colonies." To a friend in
England he wrote,--"The legislation of our first Parliament has
settled the long quarrel between the pastoral and agricultural
interests which has raged in all new countries ever since the days of
Abel, the 'keeper of sheep,' and Cain, the 'tiller of the ground!'" To
the Secretary of State he added,--"This Parliament may fairly boast
of having passed, with due caution and foresight, a greater number
of really useful measures, and of having achieved a greater amount of
really practical legislation, than any other Parliament in any of
the Australian colonies since the introduction of parliamentary
government." Sir George quotes a Sydney journal,[a] which before
separation was antagonistic to that movement, as saying,--"The
Government of Queensland has been either very fortunate or very
judicious. The last to enter the race, Queensland has shot ahead, and
taken the first place. While in Melbourne the popular rage has been
worked up by its guardians into riot, and while in Sydney the tactics
of the popular party have succeeded in placing the land question in a
position of chronic blockade, in Queensland it has been settled on
a moderate and reasonable basis, and without so much as a single
ministerial crisis."
In the prorogation speech Sir George Bowen reviewed at length the work
of the session. From that and other sources it may be stated that
the limitation of the number of salaried officials capable of being
elected to the Legislative Assembly had been fixed so as not to
exceed five; the collection of parliamentary electors' names had been
discontinued, and facilities provided for self-registration; State
aid to religion had been abolished, the rights of existing incumbents
being preserved; the existing system of primary education had been
abolished, and provision made for the appointment by the Governor in
Council of a "Board of General Education," a body corporate authorised
to expend such sums as Parliament might vote for primary education.
The Board was empowered to assist any primary school that submitted
to its supervision and inspection, and conformed to its rules and
by-laws; but it was forbidden to contribute to the repair or building
of any school unless the fee-simple thereof had been previously vested
in the Board. And nothing in the Act could be held to authorise any
inspection of or interference with the special religious instruction
which might be given in such school during the hours set apart for
such instruction. Not more than 5 per cent. of the Board's funds might
be applied to granting exhibitions at any grammar school to primary
scholars who had passed the competitive examination prescribed by the
Board.
The Board was also authorised to devote a portion of its funds to
assist in the establishment of normal or training schools, or to
industrial schools. The Grammar Schools Act of 1860, which with a few
amendments is still in force, was passed. An Act for taking the
census of the colony on 1st April, 1861, became law. An Act for the
appointment of Commissioners to adjust accounts with New South Wales
was another measure of the session. It may be remarked, however, that
an adjustment was never reached, but the amount in dispute became
so comparatively small when mutual credits had been allowed that the
question was permitted to lapse. Another measure of some practical
importance was the Liens on Wool Act, which extended also to mortgages
on sheep, cattle, and horses; and the Scab in Sheep Act, the main
provisions of which are still in force. The gold export duty was
abolished by an Act which merely validated the then official practice
of omitting to collect the duty imposed by a New South Wales Act
passed seven years previously.
It must be admitted that this record of work done by a new Parliament,
in a colony that had no existence as a self-governing entity twelve
months before, deserved much of the approbation expressed of its
proceedings by the Governor. Indeed, the "Courier" of the day, in
commenting upon the work of the session, gave honourable members
of both Houses hearty credit for the assiduity with which they had
attended to public duty, even to the neglect in many cases of their
own personal and business affairs. There was then no payment of
members in any form. And there were other matters than legislation
which deserve notice. The Estimates had been passed, totalling
L220,808 for the service of the year; and the Governor had
congratulated the Assembly upon having appropriated one-fourth of the
total estimated revenue to roads, bridges, and other public works,
besides ample sums to hospitals, libraries, botanic gardens, and
schools of arts. No less than L31,261 was voted for police, of which
L13,516 was absorbed for the native troopers then necessary for the
protection of the adventurous pioneers who were conducting what may be
termed exploratory settlement in the remote interior.
[Footnote a: "Sydney Morning Herald," September, 1860.]
CHAPTER V.
QUEENSLAND IN 1860.
Rush of Population.--High Prices for Stock for occupying New
Country.--Sparse Population.--Rockhampton most Northerly Port
of Entry.--Navigation inside Barrier Reef unknown.--Tropical
Queensland Unexplored.--Ignorance of Climate, Resources, and
Conditions.--Primary Industries in 1860.--Primitive Means
of Communication.--Public Revenue, Bank Deposits, and
Institutions.
Thus was Queensland fairly launched on her career as a self-governing
state of the Empire. The very announcement of impending separation had
caused a rush of population from the southern colonies; while even the
Crown tenants, who had for years regarded the movement with aversion,
found much compensation in their escape from the operation of the
imminent Robertson land law which threatened free selection before
survey throughout the entire area of New South Wales. The rush for new
pastoral country not only attracted the most adventurous bushmen in
Australia to the new colony, but also sent up the prices of sheep and
cattle to fabulous rates, as country tendered for could not be held
unless stocked to the prescribed minimum number. At the time a large
area of coast country was occupied by sheep, and symptoms of disease
were so menacing that the sales for stocking up new country proved the
salvation of some of the "inside" squatters; although looked at in the
light of experience it may be doubted whether the too rapid occupation
of the wilderness country, then inhabited solely by the aborigines,
was not partly accountable for disastrous results when the demand for
stocking up ceased, and the natural water on most runs proved wholly
insufficient to carry stock through the mildest drought. Still, at the
time Queensland attracted a population of seasoned Australians whose
colonising value was inestimable; and these in addition to many
immigrants from the mother country. Consequently the colony made
phenomenal progress.
A glance at the official statistics for the year 1860--the earliest
available--will illustrate the insignificance, compared with the
vast area of the territory held, of the population, trade, and liquid
capital of the community. The total population on 31st December,
1860, was estimated at 28,056, most of these people being more or less
concentrated in the towns. The rest were scattered sparsely over the
country between the southern boundary and the tropic of Capricorn for
a distance of about 250 miles back from the coast-line. Rockhampton
was then the most northerly port of entry; the site of the present
town of Bundaberg was virgin forest, the entrance to the Burnett
River from Hervey Bay being as yet unknown; Mackay, Bowen, Townsville,
Ingham, Geraldton, Cairns, Port Douglas, Cooktown, and the Thursday
Island settlement were non-existent; and of the coast waters beyond
Keppel Bay little more was known than the narratives of Captain
Cook and Lieutenant Flinders at the close of the eighteenth century
disclosed.
The existence of the magnificent natural harbour of 1,000 miles in
length formed by the Great Barrier Reef was undreamt of; the passage
was regarded rather as one of Nature's traps for the unwary navigator
than the future safe and easily traversed route of great steamship
lines along a coast dotted with prosperous ports kept busy as the
outlets of a richly productive hinterland.
The tropical climate of the northern coast lands was then supposed to
be deadly to members of the white races; the interior was declared to
be almost entirely devoid of surface water--for the greater part of
the year a fiery furnace, and at intervals of capricious periodicity
ravaged by destructive floods. It was assumed to be a country where
the white man would wither and the coloured man thrive--a land wholly
unfit for the home of civilised peoples, and only adapted to the wants
of the degraded aboriginal native. It was ignorantly affirmed that the
sheep stations intended to be formed in the far western country must
be failures, and English experts held that under the tropical sun the
sheep, if it could live in Queensland at all, would soon carry
hair instead of wool. Even in Southern Queensland the agricultural
possibilities of the land were sadly unappreciated. True, in the
population centres there were loud preachers of the gospel of
reclamation of the wilderness so that it might bud and blossom as the
rose; but their homilies for the most part fell upon deaf ears--the
seasoned bushman, like the great squatter, tenaciously held that even
the Darling Downs would not grow a cabbage.
So backward was the farming industry that in 1860 the total area under
cultivation was 3,353 acres in a country of greater extent than France
and Germany combined. Of this trifling cultivated area only 196 acres
were under wheat, and not an acre under sugar-cane. True, there were
nearly three and a-half million sheep, half-a-million cattle, and
24,000 horses finding subsistence on the limitless but ill-watered
natural pastures. But at that time the annual clip from the sheep,
though wool was the chief export of the colony, totalled only
5,000,000 lb., or equal to about 11/2 lb. to each fleece. Mining,
except for coal, of which 12,327 tons was raised in 1860, was almost
non-existent, although 2,738 fine ounces of gold are shown by the
statistics to have been won during the year.
[Illustration: TREASURY BUILDINGS, BRISBANE]
In 1860 there was not a mile of railway either open for traffic or
under construction; not a mile of electric telegraph wire; nor, save
between Brisbane and Ipswich, was there a formed or metalled road, the
only avenues of transport being along the bridle path or the
teamsters' track. The country was destitute of culverts and bridges
over watercourses, and the so-called roads were impassable for days,
weeks, or even months in succession after the seasonal rains. The
northern shipping trade was limited to a small steamer running once a
fortnight between Brisbane, Maryborough, and Rockhampton, but even
that had been arranged after the proclamation of the colony, partly to
meet administration exigencies, with the assistance of the new
Government. A fortnightly steamer from Sydney ran direct to
Maryborough, and another to Rockhampton, with the apparent object of
discouraging mutual intercourse among the ports. A weekly steamer ran
between Brisbane and Sydney, in addition to a few small sailing craft
for cargo purposes.
Although Sir George Bowen declared that on arrival he found nothing in
the Treasury save a few coppers, the revenue for the first year
reached L178,589. The expenditure for the year 1860 was L17,086 less
than the revenue, yet, through the Government having to lean upon the
banks in December, 1859, there was an overdraft of over L19,000 at the
end of the first year. But the banks themselves had little money among
them, the net assets slightly exceeding half a million sterling, and
the aggregate deposits totalling less than a quarter of a million. At
the end of 1860, out of the 28,000 people in the colony 163 were
"small capitalists" with an aggregate of L7,545, or about L46 per
depositor, in the Savings Bank. Yet there were six charitable
institutions in which 397 persons found relief. Of subscribers to
"public libraries" there were 538, and they had at their disposal
5,000 volumes from which to select reading for the leisure hour. There
were 41 schools, with a total of 1,890 pupils. The number of letters
posted showed a low degree of cultivation, for the average number
posted as well as received by each person was just seven a year, or
slightly more than one every two months. Of newspapers a rather fewer
number passed through the post office. Surely all these things were on
a microscopic scale, recollecting that the people of Queensland had
been endowed with autonomous government, and had unfettered control of
more than one-fifth of the total area of Australia.
Old Queenslanders who still survive, and can meditate retrospectively
upon the past, will be impressed with the marvellous optimism of all
classes of the population 50 years ago. The townspeople, enfranchised
with most political power by reason of their numbers, knew little of
the dormant resources of the inland country or its climatic vagaries.
They could not realise the privations, the hard labour, and the deadly
monotony of early settlement upon the land. The farmer had usually no
market, and in raising his produce he had to contend against droughts,
floods, pests, and isolation, and he was fortunate if his produce
brought from the store-keeper the cost of rations on which his family
could frugally subsist. The squatter, too, incurred enormous risks,
though he had a market for his wool at all times; and, if there was no
domestic consumption of sheep and cattle upon which he could rely, his
surplus stock brought a fair return from the boiling-down pots. But he
had to get his produce to port before a money return could be secured;
and as pastoral settlement pushed further out transport obstacles were
often crushing. It was no unusual occurrence for one wool clip to
be detained on a remote station until the next year's shearing had
commenced. A lien had therefore usually to be given on the clip, and
the rate of interest, including agent's commission, was commonly
12 per cent. per annum, while the high carriage rate made rations
extremely costly; so that even with good seasons the margin of profit
was small. In bad years ruin became well-nigh inevitable. The pioneer
squatter spent most of his strenuous life in the saddle, alternately
worried by bad seasons, low prices, and his bank overdraft. It is
easy, therefore, to understand the temptation which assailed him to
regard as his own the country which he had reclaimed at the expense of
his vitality as well as his capital. When he visited town after a
term of voluntary exile human nature often asserted itself, and
the holiday-making squatter disbursed his hard-earned money with a
prodigal hand, a fact not forgotten by his political opponents. The
shepherd, too, yielded to temptation, and at the end of a year's
solitary life in his bush hut longed for nothing so much as an
alcoholic stimulant or a bottle of pickles and gay human society. Thus
he prodigally knocked down his cheque in town, and in a week or two
again abandoned civilisation at the call of the bush. Fifty years
ago the urban people perhaps lived almost as comfortably as they
do to-day, but the bushman, whether farmer, squatter, shepherd, or
stockman, had usually a life of exhausting labour, bad food, dull
surroundings, and often in consequence indifferent health. Still the
landless colonist of 1860 had unbounded faith in his country; and if
he fought earnestly, sometimes passionately, against what he termed
squatting encroachment, it is now apparent that had not the pastoral
tenure been jealously limited by Parliament insurmountable obstacles
would have been placed in the path of progress. In future pages of
this work it will be seen that the often too sanguine anticipations of
individual colonists of Queensland's natal year were rudely shattered
by stern experience; while, on the other hand, the opening up of
unsuspected resources as often enriched the general community.
PART II.--FROM NATAL YEAR TO JUBILEE.
CHAPTER I.
THE LEGISLATURE.
The Governor.--His Functions: Political and Social.--His
Emoluments.--Administrations that have held Office.--Number
of Members of Council and Assembly.--Emoluments of Assembly
Members.--Good Results of Responsible Government in
Queensland.
In a self-governing dependency of the Empire the King's
representative, while competent to take official action only on
constitutional advice, is not a mere figurehead in the Government.
He is, so to speak, one of the three branches of the Legislature.
No expenditure can be voted by Parliament except after receipt of a
message of appropriation from the Governor; and no bill can become law
without the Royal assent, which he, subject to certain reservations,
is empowered to give. As President of the Executive Council, too,
the Governor has a voice in administration, although the actual
power vests in the Ministry so long as it commands the confidence of
Parliament. But the Governor is in constant touch with his Premier,
and therefore, apart from the official intercourse at meetings of the
Executive Council, His Excellency exchanges ideas informally with the
executive head of the Government. The Governor has social duties, too,
and these are not unimportant as bringing the King's representative
into personal contact with his Majesty's colonial subjects of both
sexes and various classes. The Governor's attendance at public and
social functions also furnishes a touch of sprightly colour to the
drab shade which would otherwise often characterise public
gatherings. He carries with him a distinctive atmosphere of Imperial
comprehensiveness which usefully neutralises a narrow parochialism
that might tend to induce men and women to forget that they, while a
politically independent community, yet form an integral part of the
great Empire of the Mistress of the Seas. Thus it is that our most
experienced public men have emphasised the importance of maintaining
direct communication with the Imperial authority through a Governor
appointed by and responsible to the King.
Pending the decision of Parliament, the Imperial Government
provisionally fixed the salary of the first Governor at L2,500 a
year. In the session of 1861, Parliament, representing a population
of 34,000 persons, not only voted an increase to L4,000, but also by
statute made the payment retrospective as from 1st January, 1860. At
this sum the salary remained until 1874, when Mr. Oscar de Satge, a
member of the Opposition, carried a motion affirming the principle of
an increase. This motion the Government accepted, and the salary was
increased to L5,000 a year, at which figure it remained from that
time until 1904, when it was reduced to L3,000. Three Governors
successively filled the office for the fifteen years ending with
November, 1874; and six for the thirty years between 1874 and October,
1904. In the latter year an amendment of the Constitution Act was made
by a bill introduced by the Government, reducing the salary of future
Governors to L3,000, for reasons exhaustively set forth by the Premier
in moving the second reading. The chief grounds of reduction, it may
be mentioned, were the altered situation created by the establishment
of the Commonwealth, and the steps of a similar character already
taken in the Southern States.
Twenty-five Ministries have held office during the fifty-year period.
On that led by the late Sir Robert Herbert comment has already been
made. It ended a useful Queensland career in 1866, after more than
six years of office. The succeeding Macalister Ministry, with an
interruption of eighteen days by a second Herbert Ministry of an
ephemeral nature, and with reconstructions, lasted until August, 1867,
when it was displaced by the Mackenzie-Palmer Administration. Mr.
Macalister was a clever politician; a concise and trenchant speaker;
and a capital parliamentary leader in so far as the House work
was concerned. But he was lacking in force, and his Ministry was,
moreover, much in the nature of coalition representing both squatting
and anti-squatting interests at a time when bitter controversy
prevailed. Mr. (afterwards Sir) R. R. Mackenzie, who was held in
general respect for his personal qualities, likewise lacked strength
as a politician, and the real force behind him was Mr. (afterwards
Sir) Arthur Hunter Palmer. His Ministry was at the time termed "pure
merino," every member of it, save Mr. Pring, the Attorney-General,
being identified with the pastoral industry.
In November, 1868, the Lilley Ministry was formed. It lasted only till
April, 1870, and was more than once reconstructed during its tenure of
office. It included Mr. Macalister, between whom and the Premier
there was inconvenient rivalry, but its members were all Liberals by
reputation. The Premier, however, was Radical rather than Liberal
in his opinions, and his abolition of primary school fees without
parliamentary authority, and the ordering of the steamer "Governor
Blackall" in Sydney, with the object of fighting the A.S.N. Company,
without the consent even of his colleagues, brought about the downfall
of the Ministry as soon as Parliament met in 1870, only one supporter,
the late Mr. Henry Jordan, voting with them in a division on a want of
confidence motion. Mr. (afterwards Sir) Charles Lilley was perhaps
the most accomplished debater that ever spoke in the Queensland
Parliament, and throughout most of his public career, as the member
for Fortitude Valley, he was a popular hero. As an educationist he was
undoubtedly both sincere and enthusiastic, but his colleagues found
his imperious moods difficult to contend against.
[Illustration: COAL WHARVES, SOUTH BRISBANE]
The Palmer Ministry met Parliament in May, 1870, and held office for
more than three and a-half years, although for a great part of the
time the Government had no working majority. Indeed, for months it
fought, with a majority of one in a full House of 32, a determined
Opposition in the Assembly ably led by Mr. Lilley. All business was
blocked for many weeks, and eventually 13 members of the Opposition,
headed by Mr. Lilley, waited as a deputation upon the Governor
(Colonel Blackall) requesting his intervention on the ground that
Ministers did not possess their confidence or the confidence of the
House. The Governor declined to interpose, and subtly remarked that he
had known many Oppositions in Parliament, but never yet knew one that
had confidence in the Government of the day. The interview did not
assist the Opposition cause. A second session opened on 5th July,
1870, and, being defeated two days later by 17 to 11, Mr. Palmer
was granted a dissolution.[a] The Premier had proved himself an
indomitable fighter, and his appeal to the constituencies was not
wholly unsuccessful. Obstruction continuing in the new Parliament, Mr.
Palmer was granted another dissolution in June, 1871, and from that
time had a fairly effective majority at his back for two years, when
being defeated he was granted another dissolution, from which his
party came back unsuccessful. If the Opposition of those days did not
obstruct by means of the "stonewall" to the same extent that has been
the case of recent years, they attained their end in another way. In
the session of 1871-2 for a period of five weeks the Government failed
to obtain a quorum except on two occasions, on both of which there was
a "count out." The Opposition were desirous of forcing the Government
to pass a Redistribution of Seats Bill before Supply was granted, and
by persisting in these tactics they compelled the Government to agree
to a compromise.
The Palmer Ministry on assuming office had found the public finances
in a bad way, but partly through good management and partly with the
help of good seasons and improving markets for exports, they retired
in January, 1874, after a succession of surpluses, and with railway
construction being vigorously pushed on both in Southern and Central
districts.
In January, 1874, when the new Parliament met after the general
election, Mr. Palmer and his colleagues found themselves in so
hopeless a minority that they resigned without awaiting a debate
on the Address in Reply. Amidst great hilarity in the Assembly, and
despite the vehement protests of the candidate, Mr. William Henry
Walsh was elected Speaker, although a member of the Palmer party; and
on his refusal to accept the office was humorously threatened with
the penalty of disobedience to the order of the House. But after
consideration he assumed the Speakership, and while in the chair
discharged his duties with credit.
The Macalister-Hemmant Ministry forthwith assumed office, Mr. Lilley,
who made the announcement in the Assembly on their behalf, declining a
portfolio. Shortly afterwards he was appointed a Judge of the
Supreme Court. The Ministry was initiated with Mr. MacDevitt as
Attorney-General, but in August following he retired, and Mr. S. W.
Griffith, who had proved an inconvenient supporter of the Government
as the leader of a subsection, accepted the portfolio. Mr. (afterwards
Sir) Thomas McIlwraith was Mr. Macalister's Minister for Works, but
at the close of the first session he differed from the Premier on the
question of a great private railway scheme, and therefore resigned
office. On the House reassembling in 1875 Mr. McIlwraith took the
front cross-bench seat next the gangway on the Opposition side, and,
while not approving of all the tactics of the party led by Mr. Palmer,
gave it his general support. The first session of the Parliament had
been distinguished by the passing of a Customs tariff incidentally
protective, Mr. Hemmant, the Treasurer, showing uncommon qualities as
a financial speaker. He closed his first year at the Treasury with
an apparent deficit of L200,762. His predecessor, when making his
Financial Statement in 1872, had anticipated a deficit. To prevent
this he proposed--and Parliament agreed to the proposition--to
transfer L350,000 from the Loan Fund to the Consolidated Revenue
Fund to meet the Treasury bills floated or authorised to cover the
accumulated deficits of earlier years. Mr. Hemmant disapproved of
this method of financing, and rectified matters as far as possible by
transferring to a Surplus Revenue Fund L240,000, which left him with a
deficit of L200,762. This was equivalent to recouping the Loan Fund to
the extent of L240,000, as the money was to be used for public works
which would, under ordinary circumstances, have been constructed out
of loan moneys. In the next year, 1876, soon after the opening of
Parliament, the appointment of the Premier as Agent-General was
announced. Ministers consequently resigned, and the Governor (Mr. W.
W. Cairns) sent for Mr. George Thorn, who to the surprise of political
circles succeeded in forming a Ministry including Mr. Griffith
and most of the late Cabinet. Mr. Thorn was personally a general
favourite, but not conspicuously fit for the position which he had
fortuitously attained. Mr. Griffith became the actual leader, however,
and the session was completed without disaster. During the recess Mr.
Thorn retired, to visit England, and was replaced in the Cabinet
by Mr. John Douglas, whose scholarly speeches had given him a high
reputation in the House. As Premier, however, Mr. Douglas was less
successful than had been anticipated. Conspicuously fair in debate, he
appeared invariably to feel the force of his opponents' arguments more
than those on his own side of the House, and therefore his leadership
wanted decision; but the sessions of 1877 and 1878 were passed through
without any defeat compelling a premature dissolution.
The Liberal Ministries from 1874 to 1878 had been fertile in
legislation, but after the retirement of Mr. Macalister they were
badly led, Mr. Griffith, who attained the Attorney-Generalship at the
age of twenty-nine, having been unwisely kept in the background on the
plea of political immaturity. It was evident, however, that chiefly to
him the passage of all important measures of legislation had been due.
The colony suffered severely from drought during the years 1876-7-8;
financial depression was the inevitable result, and, as usual under
such circumstances, the Government lost popularity.
In November, 1878, the general election resulted in the return of
a House determined to effect a change of Administration. On the
new Parliament assembling in January, 1879, Ministers were at once
defeated, and Mr. McIlwraith was sent for by the Governor. He met
Parliament a few days afterwards with colleagues representing all
parts of the colony, and obtained a four months' recess in which to
mature his policy. On Parliament reassembling in mid-May, however, the
position of the Government was less strong than had been anticipated.
During the recess they had been retrenching sharply, and a number
of dismissals from the Ipswich railway workshops were declared to be
tainted with partizanship. At no time in the first session, in a test
division, did the Government sit with a majority of more than six, and
usually they commanded only two or three. The Opposition, led by
Mr. Griffith, were always at their posts, and the Government were
frequently on the verge of defeat. The passing of a Three-million
Loan Act and of the Divisional Boards Act, however, strengthened the
Government's position, and in the following session the Torres Strait
mail contract, making Brisbane the Australian terminus, though opposed
by stonewalling measures for six consecutive weeks, added to their
popularity.
In the session of 1880 grave accusations were made against the Premier
by Mr. Hemmant, who had taken up his residence in England. Mr.
Hemmant presented a petition to Parliament charging the Premier with
complicity in certain transactions connected with the purchase of a
large quantity of steel rails for the Government which had involved
Queensland in a heavy loss. The matter was referred to a select
committee, on whose recommendation a Royal Commission was appointed
to take evidence in England. Mr. Griffith visited London during the
recess, and acted as honorary counsel for Mr. Hemmant. The Commission
exonerated the Premier, but a great deal of party animosity was
engendered, which did not die out for several years.
In 1883 Sir Thomas McIlwraith ordered the British flag to be hoisted
at Port Moresby, in Eastern New Guinea, annexing to the Empire that
portion of Papua not already claimed by the Dutch, an act which showed
true statesmanship and prophetic vision. Unfortunately, the Secretary
of State for the Colonies, Earl Derby, repudiated the annexation on
the ground that it was a usurpation of the sovereign rights of the
Imperial authorities. At the same time he acknowledged the patriotic
motives which had inspired the Premier of Queensland, and declared
that the British Government would regard any attempt at annexation by
a foreign Power as an unfriendly act. Whatever may have been the views
of political parties at the time, matured judgment formed in the light
of subsequent events endorses the action of Sir Thomas. The hoisting
of the German flag on the northern portion of the territory annexed
by Sir Thomas has brought a foreign Power almost to our doors, and too
late the home Government endeavoured as far as possible to retrieve
their blunder by annexing the south-eastern portion of Papua, which
was handed over to the Commonwealth after federation.
In the same year, the Premier, who had for many years been a strong
advocate of railway construction by private enterprise on the
land-grant principle, brought forward a bill authorising the
construction of what was commonly called the Transcontinental Railway,
from Charleville to Point Parker, on the Gulf of Carpentaria. Against
this proposal great popular clamour arose; the majority of the
squatting members of the Assembly combined with the Opposition, and
the second reading of the bill was negatived by 27 votes to 16. Sir
Thomas McIlwraith, rightly regarding the rejection of the measure as
equivalent to a vote of want of confidence, advised the Administrator
of the Government, Sir J. P. Bell, to dissolve the Assembly. His
Excellency accepted the advice, and the Premier asked for five
months' Supply. Mr. Griffith, the greatest constitutional authority
in Queensland, approved of the decision of the Administrator of the
Government, only objecting to Supply being given for such a length of
time. However, the House, by 24 to 19, agreed to pass the Supply asked
for, and the dissolution took place in the middle of July.
[Illustration: EXECUTIVE BUILDINGS, BRISBANE]
The Opposition, led by Mr. Griffith, were returned with a large
majority. Being defeated on the election of a Speaker and in two
subsequent divisions, the Government resigned. Mr. Griffith was sent
for, and formed a strong Administration. Parliament adjourned from
November to January, when some pressing legislation was passed at
once, including the repeal of the Railway Companies Preliminary Act,
under which proposals were made by railway syndicates. On 6th March
Parliament was prorogued until 8th July.
The Premier had chosen as his Lands Minister Mr. Charles Boydell
Dutton, a Liberal Barcoo squatter, with no previous experience of
parliamentary life, but a determined land reformer. With the Premier's
aid Mr. Dutton got the Land Act of 1884 safely through, and the
Government secured credit for passing a most important measure of
reform, one important change being the introduction of grazing farm
leases, and another the resumption of the halves of all runs included
in a comprehensive schedule of the unsettled districts. But the
historical measure of the session and the decade was the Ten-million
Loan Bill, which embodied a grand scheme for providing the entire
colony with railways. The Opposition protested against the loan as
unconstitutional on the ground that it covered a programme of railway
construction which could not be completed for several years, but they
dared not oppose any specific railway, and the bill passed without
amendment. Sir Thomas McIlwraith retired from the Assembly in 1886,
and during the whole life of the Parliament the Opposition found
themselves helpless to resist the domination of the Ministry. But as
the Administration aged its political force waned, and in 1887
the Treasurer, Mr. (afterwards Sir) J. R. Dickson, and Mr.
Macdonald-Paterson retired from the Ministry because of their
disagreement with a land tax proposed in Cabinet by the Premier.
Despite the large loan expenditure, too, there was a portentous
succession of deficits, due to unfavourable seasons, and Sir Samuel
Griffith found in 1887 that his Government and party had outlived
their popularity.
Like his great rival, Sir Samuel gave abundant proof during his
tenure of office of broad statesmanlike conceptions. No public man in
Australia has done more to foster the federal spirit and bring about
the union of the Australian colonies. He played a foremost part in
creating the Federal Council, and to him is due the credit of drafting
in 1887 the measure which was passed by all the colonial Parliaments
granting a subsidy to an auxiliary Australasian naval squadron,
although parliamentary vicissitudes robbed him of the honour of
passing the bill in his own State until 1891. He is also entitled to
the credit of making provision for the administration of British New
Guinea by Queensland.
In April, 1888, Parliament was dissolved, and when the new Parliament
met in June the enfeebled Griffith Government were promptly ejected
from office. Sir Thomas McIlwraith came in with a strong following,
and he at once formed a Ministry which seemed likely to endure for
several years. But at the close of the first session Sir Thomas
retired from the Premiership with a view to visiting England on
business. Mr. Boyd Dunlop Morehead then succeeded to the leadership.
In September, 1889, Sir Thomas McIlwraith resigned his seat in the
Ministry, and the following session he appeared in the Assembly as an
open opponent of his late colleagues. To make provision for a revenue
deficit, the Government brought down a proposal for a general property
tax. This quickly brought Sir Thomas McIlwraith into concerted action
with Sir Samuel Griffith, then leading the Opposition, and caused the
resignation of the Ministry in August, 1890. Almost immediately the
Griffith-McIlwraith Ministry was announced. A year or two earlier such
a fusion of parties would have been deemed impossible, but the two
leaders had fought away their mutual differences, and the financial
outlook was so alarming that the coalition was generally admitted to
be imperative. The new Government carried many important measures, and
effected material improvement in the finances.
In March, 1893, just before the banking catastrophe occurred, Sir
Samuel Griffith accepted the Chief Justiceship, and Sir Thomas
McIlwraith assumed the Premiership. A dissolution followed, the
Government securing a commanding majority in the new Assembly. But
the Premier's health failed, and in October following his Ministry
was merged into that of Mr. (afterwards Sir) Hugh Nelson. Sir
Thomas retained office without portfolio until March, 1895, when his
connection with the Government ceased, though he retained his seat as
a member of the House until the dissolution in 1896. After resigning
office he left the colony, and died in England on 17th July, 1900.
The new Premier proved a most capable financier, and although the
depression in financial, commercial, and industrial affairs continued
with great intensity he turned successive deficits into annual
surpluses, and was soon enabled to negotiate loans in the London money
market on unprecedently favourable terms. In April, 1898, Sir Hugh
Nelson resigned Ministerial office and accepted the President's chair
in the Legislative Council, that post having just become vacant by the
death of Sir Arthur Palmer. Mr. Thomas Joseph Byrnes succeeded to the
Premiership, and with Mr. Robert Philp as Treasurer it appeared as
though the reconstructed Government had before it a life of several
years. Five months afterwards, however, the young, brilliant, and
much-esteemed Premier was removed by death, and Mr. Dickson was
called to the Premiership. Fifteen months later the Dickson Government
suffered defeat, and resigned office.
Mr. Anderson Dawson, the Labour leader in the Assembly, being sent
for, assumed the Premiership with six other Labour colleagues, but was
defeated immediately he met Parliament a few days later, and resigned.
He was succeeded by Mr. Philp, who assumed office on 7th December,
1899. There had been a drought in most parts of the West for a year
or two previously, but wool prices were high, and better seasons were
anticipated. The country had almost recovered from the blow sustained
in 1893. Federation threatened some loss of revenue, but compensation
was looked for in the enhanced prosperity resulting from interstate
free trade. But for the two first years of the twentieth century there
was everywhere in the State a very deficient rainfall, and in most
inland parts absolute droughts. The double loss to the Treasury
through Federation and parsimonious Nature was very serious. Mr.
Philp made reductions in public service expenditure, but kept loan
expenditure at the normal level, sanguine that when the change
came there would be a swift recovery, and hesitating to add to the
depression by suspending the construction of railways and other
public works. Though by the end of June, 1903, the accumulated deficit
exceeded a million sterling, and the general election of 1902 had
given the Government a rather diminished majority, there appeared to
be no apprehension of a crisis even when Parliament met for its second
session in July, 1903. But the weight of successive deficits and the
protracted tenure of the "Continuous Ministry" inspired a general
desire for change; and, in September, Mr. Philp suddenly found himself
without adequate support as the result of a number of influential
Government supporters joining forces with the members of the Labour
party.
A new Ministry was at once formed, the Speaker, Mr. Arthur Morgan,
resigning the chair and assuming the Premiership, Mr. William Kidston
joining him as Treasurer. With a policy of retrenchment and reform
the new Administration entered upon its career sustained by a strong
backing of public opinion. Retrenchment had already been initiated
by the late Government, and it was continued by Mr. Morgan and his
colleagues. The bottom of the depression having been touched with
the break-up of the drought, the financial year 1903-4 closed with
a merely nominal deficit. In the next session, which opened in May,
1904, the Government encountered so much opposition that a dissolution
was granted in July. So strongly were the constituencies in favour of
the retention of office by Ministers that their party numbered 55 in
a House of 72 when the new Parliament met in September, and the
Government in that and the three following sessions were accordingly
able to carry many of their measures of reform.
In January, 1906, the death of Sir Hugh Nelson created a vacancy in
the Presidency of the Legislative Council. The Premier, who had earned
a reputation during his four years' occupancy of the Speaker's
chair for an intimate and comprehensive knowledge of parliamentary
procedure, was generally designated as peculiarly fitted to succeed to
the position of President; and, having resigned both the Premiership
and his seat as a member of the Assembly, he was translated to the
Legislative Council.
Mr. Kidston then became Premier. On the 11th of April, 1907, the
Assembly's term having almost expired by effluxion of time, a
dissolution took place, and a general election followed. The two chief
objects for which the coalition between Liberals and Labour members
had been brought about in 1903--sound financial administration and
electoral reform--having been secured, disintegration had commenced to
set in in the Government ranks. On the one hand some of the Liberals
were desirous of reunion with their former associates led by Mr.
Philp, and on the other the more extreme section of the Labour party
adopted a socialistic platform, thereby causing their more moderate
colleagues who followed Mr. Kidston to break with them before the
election. The respective manifestoes of the Premier and the leader of
the Opposition, issued some weeks before the dissolution, were found
to embody practically the same policy in so far as vital measures of
legislation were concerned. Both emphasised the necessity of having
in office a Ministry possessing the steadfast support of a united
following if full effect were to be given to their programme. The
result was disappointing, for when the new House met in July the Philp
party numbered 29, the Government party 25, and the Labour party
18. After a fight over the choice of the Speaker and Chairman
of Committees, the Labour members gave a general support to the
Government, but comparatively little progress could be made in
consequence of the uncertainty of that support. The Legislative
Council rejected several measures which both the Government and the
Labour party were very anxious to see placed on the Statute-book. With
a view to taking concerted action to overcome the veto of the Council
on democratic legislation, Mr. Kidston made overtures to the Labour
party for an offensive and defensive alliance in Parliament and at
the polls. The Labour party replied that they were unable to give any
assurance on the subject. Mr. Kidston then advised His Excellency,
Lord Chelmsford, to recognise the principle that there resided in the
Crown the power to nominate to the Legislative Council such a number
of new members as might be required to overcome obstruction, and that
the power should be exercised if, in the opinion of His Excellency's
responsible advisers, such a course became necessary. The Governor
declined to accept this advice, and the Premier resigned on 12th
November.
[Illustration: ROCKHAMPTON 1. Quay Street, from the North Side.
2. Custom House, Quay Street. 3. East Street.]
Mr. Philp, being sent for by His Excellency, formed a Ministry,
which was at once met in the Assembly by successive votes of want
of confidence, the members of the Labour party uniting with the late
Ministerialists in the divisions. A dissolution was granted, even
though the House refused to vote Supply to the Government, and early
in the new year (1908) a general election took place, Mr. Philp losing
four seats, the Labour party gaining that number, while the Kidston
party were again returned with the same following. The effect was that
the Philp and Kidston parties each numbered 25 and the Labour members
22. As the two latter parties had in most cases assisted one another
at the elections, the Philp Government resigned, and Mr. Kidston being
recalled found his position practically unchanged, so far as relative
numbers were concerned, and yet greatly strengthened as regards the
constitutional reform he desired to effect. A short session was at
once held. A reform of the Constitution limiting the vetoing power of
the Legislative Council by providing for a referendum on any measure
which the Council rejected twice, and also a number of democratic
measures rejected by the Council in the two preceding sessions, were
passed with the aid of the Labour party. When, however, the Government
turned to legislation affecting the material progress of the State,
and introduced two bills to authorise the construction of railways to
mineral fields (to Mount Elliott in the Cloncurry copper area and to
Lawn Hills in the Gulf district) on agreements made with two private
companies who undertook to provide in one case one-half and in the
other case three-fourths of the capital required, despite the fact
that the railways were to be constructed, worked, and managed by the
Railway Commissioner, that the companies were to receive no interest
on the money they advanced until the railways earned it, and that
when at the end of fifteen years the Government repaid the advance the
companies were only to receive a sum equal to what their investment
was then earning capitalised at 31/2 per cent., the bills were
obstructed by the Labour party, and were only passed with the
assistance of the Philp party, under the closure, the Estimates being
forced through by the same means at the close of the session. Before
leaving on a mission to England, Mr. Kidston publicly intimated that
he could no longer work with the Labour party. He returned in
October, and the Philp party, recognising the mischievous futility of
three-party government, agreed to accept the programme enunciated
by Mr. Kidston at the election in 1907, and to join the Ministerial
party, the Premier being granted a free hand, both by his colleagues
and followers, in reconstructing the Government.
The fusion of the two parties led to the immediate resignation of
two Ministers and the formation of an Independent Opposition by
these gentlemen and four more seceders from the Kidston party. A
reconstruction of the Cabinet followed, three members of the Philp
party taking office under Mr. Kidston. Mr. Philp declined to accept
a portfolio, but undertook to give the new Government support as
an unofficial member of the Assembly, an undertaking most loyally
observed. Dissatisfaction was naturally felt by several members at the
composition of the Cabinet, and when Parliament met on 17th November
it was evident that the fusion had not had the desired effect of
reducing the number of parties to two. On the Opposition side of the
Chamber were the Labour party in direct opposition and the Independent
Opposition of six sitting on the cross-benches, while on the
Government back cross-benches were three or four members who joined
forces with the Opposition in every division. The cohesive majority
was still large enough to enable the Government to pass several
railways, two or three bills, and the Estimates; but, unfortunately,
it was found necessary to have recourse again to the closure to get
the Estimates through the House before Christmas.
Further defections took place during the recess. The sudden death of
the Speaker, Mr. John Leahy, and the election for Bulloo of a Labour
member in his stead, reduced the Government majority to two. Such a
condition of affairs rendered it impossible for any party in the House
to carry on public business. A trial of strength took place over the
election of a Speaker when the House met on 29th June, the Government
having a majority of two. Two days later Mr. Bowman, the leader of the
Labour party, moved a want of confidence amendment on the Address in
Reply. A very protracted and acrimonious debate took place, and
the motion was only defeated by a majority of one in a full House.
Arrangements had been made earlier in the year for the holding of a
conference of Commonwealth and State Premiers and Treasurers with
a view to making a final effort to arrive at a mutual understanding
regarding the financial relations of the Commonwealth and the States
after the expiry of the ten-year period provided for by section 87 of
the Commonwealth Constitution. As it was considered highly important
that Queensland should be represented at this Conference, which was
to be held in mid-August, the Government secured an adjournment for a
fortnight, but only by applying the closure.
The Conference came to a unanimous agreement with regard to the future
division of the surplus Customs and Excise revenue, justifying the
determination of the Government of this State to be represented. But
the efforts of the Opposition to defeat the proposal of the Government
to adjourn furnished additional evidence, if any were needed, that no
business could be done in a House so evenly divided. When the Premier
returned from the Conference, which had been held in Melbourne, after
consultation with his party, he advised the Lieutenant-Governor to
dissolve the Assembly, provided it agreed to grant temporary Supply.
His Excellency accepted Mr. Kidston's advice, but stipulated that the
Supply must be for the shortest time in which it was possible to hold
an election and summon the new Parliament. After another fight, the
Government closured through an Appropriation Bill covering Supply for
ten weeks, and the House was dissolved on 31st August, the election
being fixed for 2nd October.
The result of the appeal to the country has been to bring about a
practical restoration of two-party government, an ideal for which the
Ministerialists have been striving ever since the session of 1906.
The Government have won 41 seats and the Labour party 27, while the
Independent Opposition, which went out 12 strong, have been reduced
to 4. The Government have thus a majority of ten over the combined
Opposition parties, and should be able to carry to a successful
issue their policy of railway construction, immigration, and land
settlement, and to steer the State through the temporary difficulties
arising from the pending rearrangement of the financial relations
between the Commonwealth and the component States.
It may be of interest to add that the last was the seventeenth
Parliament of Queensland, which gives to each an average of about
three years, the present maximum statutory term of the Legislative
Assembly. The explanation is, of course, that in the earlier years
of the colony the limit of the Assembly life-term was five years.
As already stated, the Legislative Council when first constituted
comprised 15 members. Since then the number has been periodically
increased to correspond with the enlargement of the other Chamber. The
present number of members of the Council is 44. Until 1865 the number
of members of the Assembly was 26; thence till 1873 it was 32;
thence till 1875 it was 42, increased in 1875 by the creation of the
electorate of Cook to 43, at which number it remained until 1879, when
there were 55 members. In 1886 the number was increased to 59, and
in 1887 to 72, at which it still remains. Payment of members of the
Assembly was first sanctioned in 1886 by an allowance of two guineas
a day for attendance, and 1s. 6d. a mile for travelling expenses, the
total in any one year for attendance not to exceed L200. In 1889 the
payment was fixed at L300 a year, with a mileage allowance for one
journey to and fro each session, unless where an adjournment exceeded
thirty days, when mileage was again payable. In 1892 the salary was
reduced to L150 a year. In 1896 it was again raised to L300, at
which amount it still remains. The members of the Legislative Council
receive no payment.
In the foregoing sketch of the Legislature of Queensland many
omissions will probably be detected by the careful reader. But as
a rule mention of the names of public men has had to be confined to
Premiers and such other Ministers or members to whom for some
usually apparent reason it is necessary to give prominence. Had space
permitted, many interesting character sketches of prominent men of the
past, as well as of the present, might have been written; and it must
not be forgotten that some of the services most worth recording have
been rendered by men whose names have not become household words, and
whose reward has been found in the lifelong consciousness that they
have unobtrusively done their duty to the State. Enough has probably
been said to prove that responsible government in Queensland,
initiated among a mere handful of people fifty years ago, and carried
on amidst discouraging difficulties until to-day, has been attended by
results of which no patriotic subject of the King need feel ashamed.
[Footnote a: An interesting incident occurred at the opening
of the second session. The Speaker announced the receipt of a
writ of election endorsing the return of the Right Honourable
John Bright as member for Kennedy. As Mr. Bright had not been
present during the preceding session--which had only lasted
from 26th April till 4th May--the seat was declared vacant.
This was not the first instance of an Australian constituency
voluntarily disfranchising itself by electing a prominent
British statesman by way of protest against some real or
fancied injustice.]
[Illustration: TOWNSVILLE: FLINDERS STREET, LOOKING WEST]