MISFORTUNES OF THE COLONY.
Many causes have unhappily united to keep Western Australia from
rising into notice and importance with that rapidity which has marked
the career of the other Australian colonies. The misfortunes of the
first settlers, attributable in a great measure to flagrant
mismanagement, deterred intending emigrants from tempting the like
fate. The man who had the largest grant in the colony allotted to
him -- a monster grant of 250,000 acres -- made so ill an use of the
means at his command, that nothing but misery and misfortune has ever
attended his steps. The funds with which he was intrusted might have
been applied with the happiest effect, both for the advancement of
the colony and of his own personal fortunes. The people whom he
brought out, chiefly mechanics and labourers, to the number of four
hundred or upwards, were sufficient to have formed a settlement of
their own. By an unhappy fatality, the early settlers were landed on
a part of the coast the most unfavourable in the world for their
purposes. The whole country around them was a mere limestone rock.
Here, however, the town-site of Clarence was fixed upon, but scarcely
a yard of land was to be found that afforded space for a garden. No
attempt was made to sow grain, or plant potatoes, to provide for the
wants of the following year.
The people lived upon the provisions they had brought out with them.
The four hundred workmen being left by their principal without
direction or employment, soon consumed in riotous living the abundant
stores left at their disposal, and too soon found that destitution is
the inevitable consequence of idleness and folly. Many perished
miserably of want and sickness, and many others effected their escape
to Van Dieman's Land, where they gave a melancholy account of the
wretchedness of those who were unable to flee from the scene of their
errors.
The active intelligence, and unremitting exertions of the Governor,
Sir James Stirling, at length ameliorated the condition of the
unfortunate settlers. He removed the seat of Government to Perth,
and explored the neighbouring country in every direction in the hope
of finding tracts of land sufficient for the support of the people
under his charge. The flats of the Swan River afforded all the
facilities he required; but the settlers were greatly intimidated by
the treacherous attacks of the natives, and were very reluctant to
separate from the main body. In consequence of these fears, many
consumed their capital in their present support, instead of applying
it in the formation of farms, and laying the ground-work of future
prosperity. Provisions being all imported, were sold at high rates,
and the hesitating colonists became unavoidably subservient to the
cupidity of the traders.
In addition to these misfortunes, no man liked to lay out his money
in building a house upon land which might not eventually be allotted
to him. He lived therefore, with his wife, children, and servants,
miserably under a tent, until the surveyor-general should be able to
point out to him the land which had fallen to his share, in the
general lottery of the Government. In many cases this was not done
for one or two years after the formation of the colony, in
consequence of the lamentably inefficient force placed at the
disposal of the able and indefatigable surveyor-general; and even
then, the boundaries of the different allotments were not permanently
defined. This state of incertitude had the most fatal effect, not
only upon the fortunes, but upon the moral condition of the settlers.
Those who had come out resolutely bent upon cultivating their own
land, and supporting themselves and families by their manual labour,
refused to make the necessary exertions upon property which might
eventually belong to others for whom they had no desire to toil.
Waiting, therefore, in their tents on the shore, until the Government
should determine their respective locations, they passed the time in
idleness, or in drinking and riotous living; and when at length they
obtained their Letters of Allocation, they found themselves without
money or any means of subsistence, except by hiring out their manual
labour to others more prudent, or more fortunate.
Other accidental circumstances have combined to retard the progress
of the colony. From ignorance of the seasons, many lost their crops,
and were obliged consequently to expend the last remains of their
capital in procuring necessary supplies. From the same cause,
vessels which brought emigrants to the colony were not secured during
the winter season in the safest anchorages, and being exposed to the
fury of the north-west gales, were in too many instances, driven
ashore and completely wrecked.
Again, too, there has always existed a strong desire on the part of
Western Australia to connect herself with India, conscious that there
are great facilities of communication between the countries, from
favourable trade-winds, and that her own climate is perhaps better
suited to invalids than even that of the Cape. This desire has been
met by several influential gentleman of Calcutta, and on two
occasions, vessels were freighted and despatched from that city to
the colony, in the hope of establishing a mutually advantageous
connexion, and on both occasions the vessels were lost on the voyage.
At length a small establishment was effected near Australind, by the
agents of Mr. W. H. Prinsep, for the purpose of breeding horses for
the Indian market; and we most sincerely hope success will ultimately
attend the enterprising effort. Indian officers have occasionally
visited the colony; but they have naturally received unfavourable
impressions, from being unable to find those accommodations and
luxuries to which they had been accustomed.
The settlers will not build houses and lay out their money on the
mere speculation of gaining advantage by the visits of Indian
officers, but if once there appeared a reasonable prospect of early
remuneration, every convenience would be provided, and every comfort
ensured to visitors. Living is now extremely cheap, and there is a
profusion of vegetables and fruits of every kind. There are plenty
of good horses and pleasure-boats, and there are the amusements of
fishing, and hunting the Kangaroo and Emu.
The misconduct of some, and the misfortunes of others of the early
settlers, tended to bring about calamities which were echoed
throughout Great Britain, and for many years had the effect of
turning the stream of emigration away from these shores. Other
causes have also contributed to this end. The Government plan of
giving grants of land to emigrants, proportioned to the capital which
they introduced into the colony, was good to a certain extent, but
the object was perverted, and the boon abused. In almost all
instances, men received a much greater quantity of land than they
were justly entitled to. Every article of provisions, furniture, and
household effects, and even wearing apparel, were taken into account.
The valuations were made by friends and neighbours, who accommodated
one another, and rated the property of the applicant at a most
astounding price. The consequence has been, that large grants of
land have fallen into the hands of those who have never lived upon
them, or spent anything upon their improvement, beyond a fictitious
amount which they were required to specify to the Government before
they could obtain possession of their deeds of grant. These original
grantees have clung to their lands with desperate tenacity, in the
hope that some day their value will be more than nominal. The idea
that all the best portions of the colony are in the hands of a few
great unimproving proprietors, has been one reason why emigrants have
turned away from it.
But the provision, which has so long been an evil to the colony, may
now be looked upon, thanks to the narrow-minded policy of the Home
Government, as an advantage. These original grants, which have
proved so little beneficial to the owner, and so highly detrimental
to the community, are now far more easily obtainable by the emigrant
than the surrounding crown-lands. The policy of the Government has
entirely changed with regard to the disposal of waste lands in the
Australian colonies; instead of giving them away with a lavish hand,
it has for some years been the practice to throw every obstacle in
the way of intending purchasers.
They are now valued at one pound per acre, though it is well known,
even at the colonial office, that five acres of Australian land are
requisite to maintain a single sheep; and as the average value of
sheep in all these colonies is six or seven shillings, it scarcely
requires the head of a Secretary of State to calculate that every one
who buys land for the purpose of feeding his flocks upon it, must be
content to purchase it at an irreparable loss of capital. In
consequence of this wise regulation, no purchase of crown-lands are
now made in any of the Australian colonies, except of town
allotments, which have a factitious value, altogether irrespective of
the qualities of the soil. It is now that the holders of large
grants find purchasers, as they are extremely willing to sell at a
much lower rate than the crown. In Western Australia alone, however,
are these grants to be found; and here excellent land may be
purchased at three shillings an acre. Thus the careless profusion of
one government, and the false policy and unhappy cupidity of another,
have proved the means of placing this colony in a better position in
some respects than any other.
Western Australia has been unfortunate also in having had no powerful
company to support her cause in England. The neighbouring colony of
South Australia, with a much less extensive territory, and without
any natural superiority in the quality of the soil, was immediately
puffed into notice by the exertions of her friends at home.
But whilst the settlers at Adelaide and their patrons in London,
proclaimed to the world the advantages of the new colony, they
scrupled not to draw comparisons between it and the Western
settlement, that were neither flattering nor just to the latter. Not
content with elevating their own idol with paeans and thanksgiving,
before the gaze of a bedinned public, they persisted in shouting out
their scorn and contempt at the pretensions of their unhappy
neighbour. The public, with its usual discernment, gave implicit
credence to both fables. Western Australia had met its contumelious
detractors with silence; and the false statements were therefore
looked upon as admitted and undeniable. But notwithstanding the
injurious misrepresentations of enemies, and her own injurious
silence, this colony has been quietly and steadily progressing, until
she has laid for herself a foundation that no envious calumny can
shake. The last blow she has received was from the failure of the
settlement at Australind; a subject that I intend to treat of in a
separate chapter.
So many misfortunes and untoward accidents have combined to prejudice
the emigrating portion of the British public against Western
Australia, that no voice is ever raised in her behalf, and scarcely
any literary journal condescends to acknowledge her existence. And
yet, notwithstanding the veil of darkness that conceals her from
Northern eyes, there is perhaps no spot in the world that contains so
eminently within itself the elements of prosperity and happiness. A
climate more genial, more divine than that of Italy, robs poverty of
its bleakness and its bitterness. Absolute want is never felt, and
those who possess but little, find how little is sufficient in a
climate so productive and so beneficent.
The purity and elasticity of the atmosphere induce a continual flow
of good spirits.
To all the fruits of Italy in most abundant profusion, are added the
productions of the East.
The regularity of the seasons is so certain, that the husbandman
always reckons with confidence upon his crops. No droughts
interfere, AS IN THE OTHER COLONIES, to ruin his hopes. The
vintages, annually increasing and improving, are equally free
from disappointment.
It must not, however, be denied that there are many natural
disadvantages which can never be overcome without a much larger
population.
In the first place, the only good harbour on the Western coast has
only just been discovered -- June 1846 -- and is at least thirty-five
miles distant from Perth, the capital. Then, secondly, all the
superior land of the colony is situated about sixty miles back from
the capital, and the farmers therefore have a considerable distance
to convey their produce to the port; and part of that distance the
roads are extremely bad.
There is another objection to the colony in the opinion of intending
emigrants, which arises from a small plant, or shrub, of the order
leguminosae, a deadly poison to sheep and cattle. This plant grows
over the colony in patches, but is now so well known, that accidents
very seldom occur from it, shepherds being careful not to allow their
flocks to feed in its vicinity. It is however to be observed, that
neither sheep nor cattle will feed upon this plant unless they be
very hungry, and other food be wanting. It is very seldom indeed
that cattle, which are sometimes left to roam at large over the
country, are found to have perished from pasturing upon it. This
plant has no injurious effect upon horses; but these animals have in
several instances been poisoned by eating the leaves of a small plant
described as resembling the ranunculus, which grows in small
quantities in the Southern portion of the colony. A gentleman once
informed me that he was riding up from Australind on a favourite and
very fine horse, which he allowed to feed, during several hours of
rest, on a spot where this plant unfortunately grew. On mounting to
resume his journey, the horse seemed full of spirit; but he had not
proceeded a mile before it stumbled, and was with difficulty kept
from falling. A little farther on, after proceeding with evident
difficulty, it fell, to rise no more, and died in a few hours of
violent inflammation of the kidneys.
However alarming these drawbacks may seem to people at a distance,
they are only lightly considered in the colony. Fatalities are very
rare among the flocks and herds, and many diseases which prevail in
New South Wales are entirely unknown among us.