Land Allocation in Tasmania Under the Waste Lands Acts, 1856-1889
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i Cronyism, Muddle and Money: Land Allocation in Tasmania under the Waste Lands Acts, 1856-1889 Bronwyn Meikle Grad Dip Hum (University of Tasmania 2007), B Business (Accounting) (CQU 2004), B Education (BCAE 1989), G Dip Teacher-Librarianship (BCAE 1980), Cert Teaching (KGCAE 1969). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Tasmania, August 2014 ii This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. Bronwyn Dorothy Meikle iii This thesis contains no material that has been accepted for the award of any other degree in any tertiary institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due acknowledgement is made in the text of the thesis. Bronwyn Dorothy Meikle iv Abstract With the granting of self-government to the colonies of eastern Australia in the 1850s, each colony became responsible for its own land legislation. Each produced legislation that enabled settlement by small farmers, the selectors. In New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland this led to conflict between the selectors and those who had previously established their sheep runs on the land, the squatters, as they became known in Australia. The land legislation also enabled the development of agriculture in those colonies. Tasmania produced twenty-one Waste Lands Acts over a period of thirty-one years, and introduced a number of land schemes to attract immigrants. In spite of these attempts, the Tasmanian economy remained in depression, agricultural output declined, and immigration stagnated. This thesis argues that the Waste Lands Acts of Tasmania were critical for the economic development of the country. Under British rule, the land legislation had created a monopoly in which the large landholders, the pastoralists, controlled the best land and the parliament. After self-government, the Waste Lands Acts determined how and where people lived and they determined the economic and political relationships between the small farmers and the monopolists. This thesis has two major lines of enquiry. The first is centered on the land legislation, the Waste Lands Acts of Tasmania, under which land was alienated from 1858 to 1889. The second examines the way people lived under the provisions related to small farming. The main sources used include the legislation, v the parliamentary papers, the parliamentary debates, and the official archives. A number of farm diaries and associated correspondence, from both the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO) and from private collections, have been used, as well as contemporary newspapers and journals. The thesis has three parts. The first contains introductory material. It examines the systems of land alienation and the way people lived under these prior to self- government. It then provides an economic history for the period studied here, 1858 to 1890. The second part analyses the Waste Lands Acts, the debates that drove them, their provisions, their economic impact and the way the new settlers lived under them. The third part is a case study of an agricultural area opened for settlement under the Waste Lands Acts. This thesis contributes to knowledge by providing an economic and social history of a period previously little studied. It found that democratization of land ownership, a major driving force behind the land legislation in the other Australian colonies, was largely absent in Tasmania. Instead, the Waste Lands Acts were driven by the ideal of improvement, which was to be achieved by settling yeoman farmers on the land. Their implementation was flawed. The financial constraints, under which the Tasmanian government operated, meant the primary purpose of the land legislation must be to raise revenue, not encourage agriculture. They fuelled a pastoral land grab. Settlement of agricultural lands and exploration of the rich mineral lands were delayed by the practice of withdrawing lands from selection on the grounds that they might be auriferous. The operation vi of the Waste Lands Acts was further hampered by the refusal of the Legislative Council, Tasmania’s upper house in parliament, to agree to the construction of roads and bridges in the new areas being opened up. This prolonged the economic depression. In spite of these hindrances, selectors did establish new farms, contributing to the restructuring of agriculture and helping to fuel the development of regional economies. vii Acknowledgements I wish to acknowledge the support given to me by staff in the School of Humanities at the University of Tasmania, and in particular the encouragement and opportunities provided by my supervisors, Dr Stefan Petrow and Adjunct Associate Professor, Peter Chapman. This thesis contains extracts from a number of historical charts and survey plans of Tasmania and some satellite imagery. These were provided by the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Information and Land Services Division (DPIPWE). The Department is currently digitizing these documents, but the project was not complete while I was undertaking this research. I wish to acknowledge the assistance given to me by staff of the Information and Land Services Division who made it possible for me to access and use copies of the materials for the thesis. Many of these charts and plans will be available to the public from 2013 by way of the Department website, the Land Information System Tasmania (LIST), http://www.thelist.tas.gov.au/. Thanks are also due to the staff at the Tasmanian Archive and History Office (TAHO) and to staff in the University libraries for their timely service. This thesis would never have been undertaken without the unfailing support and encouragement from two history teachers, my husband Dave, and daughter, Penny. Thank you for sharing your love of history with me. viii Table of Contents List of Figures ........................................................................................................ ix List of Images ......................................................................................................... xi List of Maps .......................................................................................................... xii List of Tables........................................................................................................ xiii Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... xiv Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 Chapter One: An Unjust and Grievous Monopoly: Tasmania 1856 ..................... 21 Chapter Two: The Long Depression 1857-1875 ................................................... 85 Chapter Three: Waste Lands, Experiment and Speculation 1858-1862 ............. 157 Chapter Four: Waste Lands, Stagnation 1864-1869 ........................................... 222 Chapter Five: Waste Lands, Turning Point 1870-1879 ...................................... 289 Chapter Six: Waste Lands, The Boom Years 1880-1889 ................................... 347 Chapter Seven: Gould’s Country: a Case Study of Selection in Tasmania ........ 406 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 462 Appendix One ..................................................................................................... 473 Appendix Two ..................................................................................................... 474 Appendix Three ................................................................................................... 476 Appendix Four .................................................................................................... 477 Appendix Five ..................................................................................................... 478 Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 480 ix List of Figures Figure 2.1 Tasmanian Population 1850-1890 95 Figure 2.2 Net Migration 1850-1890 96 Figure 2.3 Value of Exports and Imports 1850-1890 102 Figure 2.4 Balance of Trade and Balance of Trade Corrected for 103 Commissariat Expenditure Figure 2.5 Export Values for Wool 1850-1890 107 Figure 2.6 London Prices for Australian Wool 1850-1890 109 Figure 2.7 Export Values for Wool, Grain and Grain Products 110 1850-1890 Figure 2.8 Value of Wool and Timber Exports 1850-1890 111 Figure 2.9 Value of Whale Exports 1836-1890 113 Figure 2.10 Value of Export for Wool, Fruit Products and Potatoes, 114 Hops 1850-1890 Figure 2.11 Tasmania Number of Vessels Inwards, 1857-1890 118 Figure 2.12 Shipping Tonnage Inwards 1850-1890 119 Figure 2.13 Sheep Numbers 1850-1890 122 Figure 2.14 Wool Exports by Weight 1850-1890 123 Figure 2.15 Land in Cultivation and in Crop 1853-1890 128 Figure 2.16 Wheat Production 1856-1890 130 Figure 2.17 Potato Production 1856-1890 131 Figure 2.18 Hop Production 1856-1890 132 Figure 2.19 Number of Trades and Manufactories 1850-1890 135 x Figure 2.20 Mineral Exports 1850-1890 136 Figure 2.21 Major Sources of Revenue 1853-1890 139 Figure 2.22 Revenue and Expenditure 1853-1890 140 Figure 2.23 Tasmania Public Debt 1872-1890 142 Figure 2.24 Tasmanian Banks Value of Holdings of Coin 1850-1890 143 Figure 2.25 Numbers Declared Bankrupt 145 Figure 3.1