We have before us an Almanac for 1831, published in Hobart Town, the
capital of Van Diemen’s Land. It is a matter of agreeable wonder to find
an Almanac published in, and for the use of, a country, which even at so
late a date as the beginning of the present century (within thirty
years), and indeed for some years afterwards, was inhabited merely by a
few thousands of the most ignorant and destitute savages on the face of
the earth. And now we find established on those distant shores a
community so far advanced in social refinement as to have already an
almanac of its own; one, too, in many respects as well executed as any
production of the same kind to be found in older countries, and much
better than some that still disgrace the most civilized countries. This
is an Almanac without Astrology.
Although called an Almanac, this little volume contains a considerable
variety of information not usually given in works of that description.
The heavy stamp-duty in our own country renders it necessary that an
Almanac should contain little besides the Calendar, Lists, and useful
Tables; and thus the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge
prints a Companion to the Almanac, which may be bought with it or not.
In addition to a Calendar and the ordinary lists, we have here a body of
information respecting the past, and especially the present state of the
country, embracing almost every particular with which either a person
intending to emigrate, or the general reader, can desire to be
acquainted.
Van Diemen’s Land was discovered so long ago as the year 1642, by
the Dutch navigator Tasman, who gave it the name which it still
bears, in honour of his employer Anthony Van Diemen, the then
governor of the Dutch possessions in India. It was not, however,
till the year 1604 that the country was taken possession of by
England. In the early part of that year Colonel David Collins,
having been appointed Governor of the projected settlement, arrived
on the island with about four hundred prisoners in charge, and a
force of fifty marines under his command. He was accompanied also by
several gentlemen, commissioned to fill the various situations in
the new government. They fixed their headquarters on the site of the
present capital, to which they gave the name of Hobart Town, after
Lord Hobart, the then Secretary for the Colonies. “The Colony,”
proceeds the narrative before us, “being thus founded, continued to
take root, although at times suffering very great hardships. Indeed
those who recollect them, and see what the place has since become,
will be of opinion that no difficulties at the outset of
colonization are enough to deter adventurers from steadily pursuing
their object. For the first three years, the inhabitants being
wholly dependent upon foreign supplies for the commonest articles of
food, were occasionally reduced to great straits; and, accordingly,
we hear of eighteen pence per pound having been readily given for
kangaroo flesh, and that even sea-weed, or any other vegetable
substance that could be eaten, was eagerly sought after. But man is
always the better for being thrown upon his own resources. After a
time, it was discovered that the colony itself, if the land were
cultivated, possessed that which would supersede the necessity of
seeking elsewhere for food; and, although the first attempts at
husbandry were merely made with the hoe and spade, enough was
ascertained by them to bid the colonists go on and prosper.” No
sheep or cattle were imported till three years after the settlement
of the island. For some time after this, indeed, the colony was
looked upon merely as a place of punishment for persons convicted of
crimes in New South Wales, numbers of whom accordingly continued to
be sent to it every year. Governor Collins died in 1810; and in 1813
Lieutenant-Colonel Davey arrived as his successor.
From about this time the colony began to be considered in a new light.
The population consisted no longer merely of the convicts and the
garrison; but, besides many persons who, having been originally crown
prisoners, had obtained their freedom by servitude or indulgence,
embraced a considerable number of settlers who had arrived in successive
small parties from the neighbouring colony of New South Wales. Hitherto
the only places with which Van Diemen’s Land was allowed to hold any
communication, had been New South Wales and England: that restriction
was now done away with, and the two colonies were placed, in respect to
foreign commerce, on precisely the same footing. In 1816 the numbers of
the community and the importance of its affairs had so much increased,
that the government thought proper to establish a newspaper, entitled
The Hobart Town Gazette, principally for the purpose of promulgating
proclamations and other notices. This year also was distinguished by the
first exportation of corn from the island, a considerable quantity
having been sent to Port Jackson, and likewise by the commencement of
whale-fishing by the colonists, “two of the sinews,” says the present
writer, “of our prosperity as a colony.”
In 1817 Colonel Davey was succeeded in the government by Colonel Sorell.
The first object which engaged the attention of the new Governor was the
suppression of an evil under which the colony had for some years been
suffering, the ravages of the bush-rangers, as they were called, or
prisoners who had made their escape and roamed at large in the woods.
The capture and execution of the principal leaders of these marauders in
a short time put an end, for the present, to their destructive inroads.
Colonel Sorell then applied himself to the improvement, in various ways,
of the internal condition of the colony. Amongst other important public
works he formed a road between Hobart Town and Launceston, another
settlement which had been made about a hundred and twenty miles farther
north.
About 1821 may be said to have begun the emigration from England, which
has since proceeded almost with uninterrupted steadiness. The immediate
consequence was, “that trade began to assume regularity, distilleries
and breweries were erected, the Van Diemen’s Land Bank established, St.
David’s church at Hobart Town finished and opened, and many other steps
taken, equally indicative of the progress the colony was making.” In
1824 a supreme court of judicature was established in the colony. The
same year Colonel Sorell was replaced by Colonel Arthur, the present
Governor. Very soon after Colonel Arthur’s arrival, bush-ranging again
broke out in a more formidable manner than ever; but, by the judicious
plans which he adopted for its suppression, “in the course of a few
months,” says the present writer, “not only was tranquillity entirely
restored, but was placed on so firm a basis, that it is next to
impossible ever to be again disturbed by a similar cause.”
In December, 1825, Van Diemen’s Land was declared entirely independent
of New South Wales; and an executive and legislative Council were
appointed as advisers to the Governor, the members of both being named
by the Crown. In 1827 the island was divided into eight police
districts, each of which was placed under the charge of a stipendiary
magistrate. The colony about this time “began to export considerably,
loading several ships each season to England, with wool, bark, and oil.”
A new evil, however, now began to assail the colony, we mean the
hostility of the natives. After various attempts had been made in vain
to tame them, or to deter them from continuing outrages against the
settlers, the Governor, at last, in September 1830, deemed it necessary
to resort to the extreme measure of endeavouring to drive them into one
corner of the island, with the intention of there enclosing them for the
future. For this purpose the whole of the inhabitants were called upon
to arm themselves, and to lend their aid to the military. The result had
not been completely successful at the time when the latest accounts left
the country.
In the course of the year 1828 the colony, and Hobart Town in
particular, made a decided step in advance. In 1829 a new Act of
Parliament was passed for the government of the colony, the most
important provisions of which were, the transference of the power of
levying taxes from the Governor to the Legislative Council, and the
extension of the authority of all the laws of England to Van Diemen’s
Land, as far as the circumstances of the colony permitted.
Such is a brief sketch of the origin and progress hitherto of this
young, but advanced and flourishing colony. Our next week’s publication
will contain an account of its present state.
---------------------