Читать книгу The History of Tasmania (Vol. 1&2) - John West - Страница 17

SECTION V

Table of Contents

William Sorell, Esq., third Lieutenant-governor, landed 8th April, 1817. To restore safety to the colony was the first duty of the governor: on his assumption of office he called the inhabitants together, and enabled by their subscriptions he offered large rewards, and thus inspirited both the soldiers and the constables. In less than three months the greater portion of the bushrangers were destroyed or captured. During Sorell's administration the colony suffered no serious disturbance from outlaws. This display of rigour was followed by judicious precautions: he ascertained more frequently the distribution and employment of the prisoners of the crown, and removed many temptations to disorder and crime.

It was the practice, established first a few months after his arrival, to muster the whole population annually. Notice was sent through the districts, requiring the attendance of the several classes, who accounted for their families and their stock: the name, the residence, and civil condition of every inhabitant became known. Sorell thus ascertained the increase of cultivation and cattle, and whatever indicated progress.

The landing of settlers direct from Great Britain was an important event: their efforts were experiments, and their achievements were prophetic. The political philosopher may trace in their errors, trials, and successes, the lessons afforded by experience for the instruction of nations. The rapid advance of modern colonisation tends to underrate the first efforts of our predecessors. The first colonial boat-builder founded a great commercial navy; the first shepherd held in his slender flock a treasure of unimaginable worth.

The arrival of many emigrants led to the exploration of the country. The hunters were usually the pioneers, but beyond the general features of the scenery, they afforded little information: wild cattle were the better guides. To provide a settlement for strangers, Sorell explored the region lying between the Shannon and the Clyde to its junction with the Derwent; free from timber, and within twenty miles of navigable waters. At this district were located several distinguished settlers.

The narrow grants and wretched homesteads of the emancipist cotters, the sole farmers at the time of this immigration, presented but little to please. The settler, whose imagination pictured the rustic beauties and quiet order of an English farm, saw unfenced fields of grain, deformed with blackened stumps: a low cottage of the meanest structure,[108] surrounded by heaps of wool, bones, and sheepskins; harrows and water carts amidst firewood; mutton and kangaroo strung on the branches of trees; idle and uncleanly men, of different civil condition but of one class; tribes of dogs and natives. No green hedges or flowery meadows, or notes of the thrush or nightingale; but yet there was the park-like lands, the brilliant skies, the pure river; and, above all, the untainted breath of the morning.

In 1820, there were only two estates, those of Mr. E. Lord and Colonel Davey, on which fences were erected; and the destructive incursions of cattle were subjects of many complaints: yet in that year £20,000 had been obtained for wheat exported to Sydney. The first crops were prolific: the early settlers chose the more fertile and open plains; and many selected sites for their dwellings on natural lawns of surpassing beauty.

The dispatch of vessels direct from England rapidly increased the population: in one year (1822) six hundred settlers entered the port, and by the capital which they invested, and the habits of decency and enterprise they exhibited, gave a new tone to the colony. A succession of publications drew attention at home to the capabilities of Van Diemen's Land. It was described in the Quarterly Review (May, 1820) by a friendly pen, which stated that during three years, a detachment of one hundred men had not lost three, and that Hobart Town had been sixteen months without a funeral.

The work of Lieutenant Jeffries, who spent several months in a passage from Sydney to Van Diemen's Land, and who wrote much in praise of the native women, and the pleasures of a bush life, drew a pleasing picture. The more sober sketch of Captain Dixon, and the copious delineations of Mr. Wentworth, directed the public curiosity to Tasmania. For several successive years new books were published, describing the fertility of the soil and the beauty of the climate. These generally contained a theory of pastoral increase—a geometrical progression towards wealth. The increase was, indeed, rapid beyond oriental precedent. Between 1810 and 1820, it was estimated at fifty fold.[109] The adaptation of these colonies for the growth of wool first drew the attention of several gentlemen of Hamburgh, whose importations afterwards promoted the improvement of our flocks.

The position of Van Diemen's Land favored its settlement. Vessels bound to Port Jackson often touched at the Derwent to discharge portions of their cargo; and weary with the length of the voyage, emigrants listened to the persuasions of the colonists, and the hints of the lieutenant-governor himself.

The advantages offered to settlers, so late as 1818, included not only grants of land, but loans of stock and seed; and a price for wheat, long standing at 10s. per bushel, and for meat 6d. per lb. The settlers were entitled to rations for themselves and their convict servants for six months. It was stipulated that the stock should be replaced by the increase, and the wheat repaid at the harvest. Such engagements were, however, rarely fulfilled. No suits could be prosecuted by the crown in the local court, and vague threats of disfavor were the only means of recovery: these were understood as formalities. The crown, by the prohibition of distillation, prevented a consumption of grain, and until a fixed price was given corn had been sometimes of no value whatever. A partial market was assured, to prevent the total neglect of agriculture. The patronage, of course, led to official corruption: many officers received wheat from their servants in commutation of labor, and some of more than usual inferiority was thus admitted by a Launceston commandant, a refugee Frenchman, who threatened to transport the storekeeper for calling in question its quality. The Commissioner Bigge recommended the bounty should be entirely abolished, distillation permitted, and supplies purchased by tender. A deficiency could be no longer apprehended. There were 7,400 inhabitants, at the close of 1821, who possessed 15,000 cultivated acres, 35,000 horned cattle, 170,000 sheep, 550 horses, and 5,000 swine. With such resources, the danger of famine finally disappeared.

The herds were composed chiefly of Bengal cattle, imported at an early period; but the emigrants introduced the most valued of the English breeds, which have entirely supplanted the early stock. The herbage and the climate are equally favorable to the increase of cattle.

The interior of the country being quiet, tickets of occupation were granted to settlers, who were enabled to establish large herds and flocks on the lands of the crown. The scarcity of provision in New South Wales soon created a considerable demand for the produce of this country, and in 1820 meat, to the value of £10,000, was purchased by the crown for exportation.[110]

Macquarie, when his administration was drawing to a close, came on a tour of inspection to Van Diemen's Land. He arrived in the Midas. The squally weather, which prevented his immediate landing, gave time to prepare for his reception. He disembarked on the 24th April, 1821, saluted from the battery, and by the military, who lined the road to the government house. At his former visit in 1810, the population did not exceed 1,500. A few scattered and miserable huts, separated by thoroughfares but half recovered from the forests, then constituted the capital, which had now acquired something of an English aspect: there were 426 houses, and 2,700 souls.

Few scenes are more pleasing than those which, assisted by memory, display the growth and triumph of industry. The gratification of all parties was visible, and a general illumination closed the day. It was a day of pardons and bounty: when the prisoner received his liberty and the settler his heritage: every inhabitant who had no plaint to prefer, had yet thanks to pay. The bachelors of Hobart Town gave a public ball to the governor: one hundred and fifty sat down to supper, and the gentlemen danced together until the morning.

On the 29th June, Macquarie sailed in the Caroline: he was accompanied to the water's edge by a large concourse of people, and carried with him applauses which his amiable vanity prized, and which his beneficence deserved.

Macquarie inserted in the Sydney Gazette the details of his progress, and observations. Whatever he described, he lauded: the architectural taste of the private buildings; the handsome church; the commodious military barracks; the strong gaol; the well constructed hospital. The enterprise and industry of the people; their spacious harbour; their battery, signal post and pier—are all distinguished with the minuteness of an auctioneer's catalogue, and nearly in its phrases.

During his progress he gave names, among which many remain memorials of his love of country: Staffa Ulra, and Olmaig; Perth, Campbell Town, Oatlands, Strathallen Creek, Roseneath. The townships of Sorell, Brighton and Elizabeth, were designated by him: the last in honor of his wife. His own name is found everywhere.

FOOTNOTES:

[108] There is nothing new under the sun. The following description of a New England cottage, on the Penka-tang River, in 1704, is given in the journal of Madame Knight:—"It was supported with shores (posts), inclosed with clapboards laid on lengthways, and so much asunder that the light came thro every where; the doore tyed on with a cord in ye place of hinges; the floor the bare earth. No windows but such as the thin covering afforded, nor any furniture but a bedd with a glass bottle hanging at ye head on't. An earthen cupp, a small pewter bason, a bord with sticks to stand on instead of a table, and a block or too in ye corners insted of chairs."

[109] Wentworth, vol. ii. p. 93.

[110] The following is a list of exports from Van Diemen's Land to Sydney in six years:—

Wheat valued at 10s., and Meat at 6d.

Year.	Bushels Wheat.	lbs. of Salt Meat.	£
1815	1,770	—	885
1816	13,135	10,000	6,817
1817	15,240	8,000	7,820
1818	7,990	64,640	5,611
1819	24,768	346,800	21,054
1820	47,131	386,000	33,225

Wentworth, vol. ii. p. 32.

Lands granted from 1818 to 1821, from 25,000 to 273,000 acres; population from 3,557 to 7,360; in cultivation, from 5,080 to 15,005 acres.