Sir George Bowen and the Problems of 's Defence 1859-1868.

by DUNCAN ANDERSON, B.A.*

It seems a strange inversion of normal priorities that defence In both and the almost defunct proved a problem for Queensland in the years immediately after volunteer units, which had been formed at the outbreak of separation. In 1859 the colony's treasury was virtually empty and the Crimean War increased tremendously in size2. Queensland, the total population was only 25,000. Indeed, the largest towns, with a French naval base at Noumea, only 700 miles from and Ipswich, had a combired population of under Brisbane, did not prove an exception. The volunteer movements 8,000, and outside this area Queensland was little more than of 1859 were a popular response to -the threat of war, a feeling a vast, in part unexplored, cattle run. which left no part of the Empire untouched. At the risk of making an understatement, the colony obviously The war hysteria of 1859 and the concomitant idea of a had many basic developmental problems. However, even the volunteer force filtered into Queensland through The Moreton most cursory examination of the standard historical sources, Bay Courier reprints of British press articles, and more the Brisbane Courier and Queensland Daily Guardian, the particularly, through the steady arrival of immigrants from Governor's despatches and Parliamentary debates, reveals that the older colonies and direct from Britain. These influences the colonists spent an inordinately large proportion of their created a climate of opinion in the colony favourable to the time arguing the pros and cons of defence issues. Defence formation of a local military force. was the subject of three acts of the Herbert Ministry and of But the war scare was not to be the only pressure forcing a full-scale commission during Macalister's Government at a the colonists to consider their defences. Sir George Bowen, time when the colony was suffering from a severe depression. Queensland's newly appointed governor, was, in the long term, Earlier, the defence problem had been the cause of Brisbane's to exert more influence on his colony's defence policies than first dangerous civic disturbances which came close to ending the threat of 1859. In his letter of appointment from the the life of one of the colony's most promising politicians, Secretary of State, Bulwer Lytton, Bowen had received explicit . It was also the issue which led Sir George instructions to form a volunteer unit "as rapidly as circumstances Bowen into a series of inter-colonial disputes with New South would permit"3. This order from the Colonial Office was the Wales ar.d New Zealand, and was the subject on which he product of a long-term policy begun in 1846 to force the argued most frequently and most bitterly with the Colonial colonies to undertake responsibility for the greater part of Office. their own protection4• Since this time the British Government had been increasingly reluctant to supply regular garrisons to The relatively high priority which defence received at the self-governing colonies, feeling that self-government necessarily outset of Queensland's independence was not, of course, an implied self-reliance. In fact, shortly before Bowen's appoint­ isolated phenomenon. In late 1859 war between Britain and ment, an inter-departmental committee of the War Office and France over Napoleon Ill's Italian policy appeared to be a Colonial Office had brought down a report advocating a system real possibility. In all parts of the self-governing Empire this of comparatively heavy financial contributions from colonies threat resulted in an outbreak of spontaneous military activity. wishing to have a regular garrison5. This was the strongest In Britain, for example, a volunteer corps was enrolled which, l effort to date to force the colonies to undertake full responsibility in a few months, had several hundred thousand members .- for their own military defence. Acting on the implications of this report, the Secretary for *Research Assistant in History, University of Queensland. War, Sidney Herbert, asked Bowen, in October 1859, if he

P(lge Thirty-two Queensland Herital!e would consider forgoing the establishment of a regular garrison. the idea of self-interest. It was surely politic for Britain, he As an alternative, the War Office recommended the establish­ argued, to protect her commerce with Queensland, which in ment of a soldier settlement scheme, under which retired 1865 he estimated to be worth at least £4,000,00010 . troops from the Indian Army would be given land grants in Such arguments, however, evoked only curt replies from Queensland6• the Colonial Office. After a protracted dispute with the Bowen disliked such a scheme. "Regiments of this sort," Government of New South Wales, Bowen finally did manage he wrote to Sidney Herbert, "inevitably become involved in to have about a dozen troops seconded from the Sydney the politics of the colony.'" Indeed, one of the examples garrison in January 1861 11 , a force which Major General Chute, the Commander-in-Chief of British forces in Australasia, of such a scheme in Australia had been the New South Wales l2 Corps, a force recruited in from a number of British subsequently tried to have transferred to New Zealand . In the regular units. Arriving in the colony in 1790, the force gradually early 1860s the Maori War was the major British military accrued economic and political power, to such an extent that commitment in the Australian area and exaggerated requests in January 1808 its officers had staged a coup d'etat and from an insignificant colony were not regarded sympathetically, deposed Governor Bligh. This history was hardly calculated certainly not when they conflicted with the current trend of to endear such forces to future colonial governors. colonial defence policy. An increased garrison did not arrive until October 1866. It is But more important, perhaps, was the fact that the ironical, in fact, that it was the fruition of the British Govern­ implications of the scheme clashed violently with Bowen's ment's withdrawal policy that gave Queensland a larger garrison concepts of imperial defence. His understanding of this subject than Bowen had originally requested. Acting on the terms of was thirty years out of date. He was an imperialist of the the 1862 Mills Committee's report on ways and means to "Stephen" school and had little conception of the changes in reduce garrisons, the Colonial Office eventually devised a the imperial structure wrought by the Colonial Reformers and 8 scheme for an overall cutback in the Australian colonies. the fiscal and political theories of the Manchester economists . This scheme, however, involved a more equitable distribution Bowen's first experience as a colonial administrator had been of forces amongst the colonies. The unexpected result was in the Ionian Islands, an imperial naval station where these that, although there was to be a general withdrawal, Bowen radical influences had had little impact. Completely out of found the force to which he was entitled increased from a sympathy with his London superiors, he could only view with handful to a complete company13. apprehension any move which would tend to weaken, as he It would seem that Bowen's luck with his efforts to obtain put it, "the Imperial Connection". One such move would be a garrison had finally changed. All that now had to be done the abandonment of his right to have a regular garrison. was to secure the sanction of the Legislative Assembly for One part of Bowen's defence activity, therefore, was to be the funds required to maintain these troops. This apparently a succession of efforts to obtain and then maintain a regular simple step, however, proved fraught with difficulty. In May garrison. The qualities of determination and stubbornness he of 1864, a bill for the maintenance of an increased garrison displayed in this struggle provide some indication of the way presented to the Assembly was roundly attacked on economic he was also conducting efforts to form a local volunteer force. grounds. After a lengthy debate, this objection was narrowly Although these two efforts were contemporaneous in their overcome by presenting the troops as inexpensive warders for operation, his garrison policy was generally carried on in the new prison at St. Helena. British regulars, it would seem, isolation from the rest of the colony. It is therefore convenient could be used for a variety of non-military activities14. to examine this first. There was, however, a more serious objection of long duration. The regular forces already stationed in Queensland were extremely unpopular. Many examples can be found in the Brisbane Courier and the early 1860s of letters and articles * accusing them of brawling, drunkenness and of generally lowering the tone of the community. This criticism had begun less than two weeks after the arrival Beginning in February 1860 he kept up a constant barrage of the first contingent. On 21 January 1861, a letter under of requests to the Colonial and War Offices. This was to last the pseudonym "Vanguard" was published in The Moreton until the complete garrison finally arrived in October 1866. Bay Courier with the caption "A Budding Nuisance". A group Bowen used a variety of arguments to convince his superiors of soldiers, drinking outside the "Sawyers Arms", a hotel in that the colony really needed a regular garrison. These can George Street, had bothered "Vanguard" and some ladies in be organized in a logical progression. His chain of reasoning his company, while they were on their way home from church. began with the assertion that a volunteer force could not be "Vanguard" was censorious: established without a regular contingent to act as a nucleus. Now, Sir, you will bear me out in the assertion that The necessity for a local military force came from two constant hitherto our prettily situated city has been noted for its threats to the colony's security, the Aborigines on the fringe quiet and well behaved community. Does it not then seem of settlement and the French naval base at Noumea. To give a pity that those who come here to be the guardians of plausibility to the Aborigine threat, Bowen often compared their our homes should be permitted by military regulations to fighting prowess and· numerical strength to that of the Maoris. unfit themselves, no less for duty than for conducting The obvious corollary was that if Britain was willing to station themselves with propriety in our public streets, especially 10,000 troops in New Zealand to protect the colonists, it on the Lord's day. could surely spare a single platoon, the number to which "Vanguard" hoped that the soldiers' commanding officer Queensland was entitled, to protect his colonists from a similar would "take strict measures for preventing a recurrence of danger9. such proceedings," for, he feared, "such disregard for the When using the French threat, Bowen often recalled finding Sabbath must, eventually, prove of incalculable mischief to the colony completely defenceless at the time of his arrival our, at present, well conducted inhabitants."15. during the war crisis of 1859. The shipping using the port Such exhortations for better behaviour had little effect. of Brisbane was almost entirely owned by London-based interests Two weeks later The Moreton Bay Courier carried an account and this was completely exposed to an attack from Noumea, of a brawl between soldiers and some police officers at only three days away by sail. Later, he appealed directly to "Hearns Hotel" in Queen Street. A drunken soldier had

Queensland Heritage Page Thirty-three approached the police, saying "that they were a d - - d set, Challinor, Ratcliffe Pring and Charles Coxen fell into this who were getting 7/6d. a day for robbing people, at the same category. On the other hand there were Bowen's appointees, time saying he would not be satisfied until he got them Sir Maurice O'Connell, President of the Legislative Council outside."16. A fearful fist fight then ensued, which the police and Commanding Officer of the Volunteers, John Bramston, were unable to control. Nearly four years later The Brisbane a member of the Legislative Council and a Captain in the Courier was still reporting "Drunken rowdyism amongst the Volunteers and Captain Pitt, the Governor's A.D.C. These garrison"I? men had been, or still were, serving officers in the British This build up of antipathy between the more respectable Army23. colonists and the garrison came to a head in 1866. In August A more disparate group would have been difficult to imagine, and September of that year a severe economic recession in and it is difficult to find any common ground for their interest the colony resulted in a number of serious riots. Although in defence. Lilley and Challinor, for example, both held no loss of life was reported Bowen apparently considered the quite radical political beliefs whereas O'Connell was an arch­ situation dangerous enough to send a series of urgent requests conservative. Challinor, in fact, had been one of the original to Victoria, New South Wales and New Zealand for troops. "Fortitude" immigrants and was imbued with many of Dr Lang's The idea of having regular soldiers used as a police force notions which were generally unfavourable to military service, appalled many colonists, and when news of his action filtered whilst Lilley's contact with the army in England had been, to through to members of the Assembly, the projected garrison say the least, unpleasant. increase was bitterly criticised, and an attempt was made to However, Lilley and Challinor's interest in the volunteer cancel the contribution18. movement was not really as strange as it might first appear In fact, the parliamentarians need not have bothered to try for several of the concepts involved in this organization fitted preventing the contribution because the depression of 1866 left into the general nature of mid-nineteenth century radicalism. Queensland virtually bankrupt. Although the troops did arrive The volunteers could be a movement for raising the respecta­ in October there was no money available to support them, and bility and morals of the average citizen. It could inculcate early in the following year Bowen attempted to obtain a the necessity of accepting responsibility for the defence of his remission of payment from the Imperial Governmentl9. Queens­ community; it could encourage a more responsible attitude to land, in fact, never paid the contribution and throughout 1867 participating in the affairs of the state; it would heighten his until his departure in early 1868 Bowen continued to stall as feelings of patriotism and would encourage in him the virtue of the British Government's demands for payment became increas­ self discipline. In an age of evangelical unions, temperance ingly peremptory. The garrison was quickly relinquished in April organizations and co-operative societies the volunteer movement 1868, as one of the first acts of Bowen's successor, Colonel could be seen as something more than a military force. Samuel Wensley Blacka1l20. To the regular officers, O'Connell, Bramston and Pitt, the For Bowen, the problem of maintaining a garrison had been volunteers were, of course, a purely military organization. a continuous struggle. With regular monotony he sent despatch Little is known of Bramston's military activities but O'Connell after despatch to London demanding forces. With not much and Pitt were both deeply involved in the formation of local less difficulty he tried to obtain funds from his own Parliament military forces. As early as 1849 O'Connell had begun pressing and he quarrelled successively with the legislature of New the Government of New South Wales to set up a militia24, South Wales and the British Commander-in-Chief of New pressure which he kept up until his Queensland appointment Zealand over the former's reluctance to send him troops and eleven years later. Whilst still serving in the Queensland over the latter's attempts to outrank him and rob him of these 21 Volunteers, Pitt was to be involved in establishing the New meagre forces . Zealand Militia and in organizing a corps of Australian . To Bowen the garrison was much more than a military volunteers for service in the Maori Wars25 . force. It was a symbol of his vice-regal authority and, probably With Lilley, Challinor, Pring and Coxen in the Assembly, more importantly, of the imperial connection. Long after a with a Legislative Council whose president was the commanding less determined man would have given up the struggle as a officer of the corps, and with Bowen's close friend George lost cause Bowen kept plugging away. This desire for a garrison Herbert as the Premier, the volunteers initially had a powerful did, in fact, eventually come to assume an obsessive quality. parliamentary representation, which was quite often lacking in the older colonies. This backing was responsible for the * * * * * comparatively heavy financial assistance the corps received during 1860. Five months after the formation of the first If the attempts to obtain regular forces from Britain were unit, for example, Parliament voted a sum of £3,000 for rifles and, during the remainder of the year, subsequent votes fraught with frustration, the formation of a local volunteer 26 force was, initially at least, more successful. The war scare were passed for artillery batteries and uniforms . of late 1859 and the examples of the volunteer corps of What neither Bowen nor his Parliamentary allies could do, Britain and the other colonies made it, in the beginning, a however, was force men to join the movement. Public interest popular movement. in the volunteers remained high in the early part of 1860, In February 1860 Bowen opened lists for the formation of while Noumea still seemed to pose a threat to Queensland's two troops of mounted infantry, one in Brisbane and the other security. However, as the year wore on, tension between in Ipswich. During the course of the year an additional force Britain and France gradually abated. Early in the following of five rifle companies was formed, two in Brisbane, and one year the first signs of collapse had begun to appear. each in Ipswich, Maryborough and Rockhampton. The system of Attendance at parades in all four centres fell drastically. formation laid emphasis on democratic participation, the In March 1860, the seven units had been able to field over procedure being for groups of interested citizens to hold a 400 men, but by mid-1861 the combined total was only meeting and elect their own officers. The Governor, however, about 100. The reason for the decline was simple. The reserved the right to make the more senior officers his own volunteers had no system of payments, which meant that time appointees22. spent in drilling represented a financial loss to the members. The volunteer officers therefore fell into two groups. Those Although no records of the actual process of decline are who won their position by election were generally popular available for Rockhampton, Maryborough and Ipswich, the politicians, the bulk of the membership of their companies commanding officer of No. 1 Brisbane Rifle Company, Captain coming from within their own electorate. Charles Lilley, Dr Drury, wrote a. report on the collapse of his unit. Apparently

Page Thirty-four Queensland Heritage the commercial classes of Brisbane were the first to withdraw: In a despatch to the Colonial Office in 1862 Bowen admitted tradespeople and shopkeepers simply could not afford to be that the volunteer movement had collapsed3o. The Courier away from business during trading hours. This meant that certainly agreed with him. In a savage editorial on 12 March, membership after the first few months was confined largely this paper advised Queenslanders to forget about the corps: to mechanics and labourers, of whom only a handful regularly There has always been so strong a tinge of absurdity 27 attended drills . mixed up with the Queensland volunteer movement, that As The Courier explained the problem: every man of common sense feels grateful that it has been Anyone who has his living to earn for a wife and a presented to the public as a downright failure. All kinds family, attaches some importance to the amount of wages of dodges have been tried to keep it on its legs, but it he can bring home on Saturday afternoon, and you may really will not stand up respectably, and is now being talk about "the critical state of the great powers" a very quietly given up as a hopeless job.31 long time indeed before he will believe it to be his duty Bowen, however, had not given up. He had a personal to place the folks at home on short commons because 28 motivation for keeping the corps in operation, for his reputation he is learning to hit a bull's eye with a rifle at 500 yards. as an administrator depended in part on his ability to organize This seems to have been a fair summary of the colonists' a movement which seemed to be flourishing in other parts of attitude after the war scare had passed. the Empire. In addition, in February, an even more pertinent The democratic basis of the corps meant that there were motivating element arrived with a despatch from Colonial no effective punitive measures to remedy this situation. When Secretary Newcastle informing him that war between the United formed, each separate unit of the Volunteers had drawn up States and Britain was imminent. An American frigate had its own rules. The main control provisions centered around seized two confederate envoys from the British mail packet systems of fines to be imposed for failure to attend parades "Trent" and already mobilization was under way in Britain. or to obey the commands of an officer29 . There is little evidence, If the confederates were not restored hostilities were almost however, to suggest that these worked in practice. Their certain. Newcastle further warned that "no time should be operation depended on agreement between authority and the lost in completing those measures of defence which in the defaulter and it was a simple· matter for the latter to simply colony under your government are required and practicable"32. resign from the corps. In addition, apart from dismissal from With the colony's defences consisting of a garrison of less the corps, there was no apparent mechanism by which punish­ than thirty regulars, and a virtually non-existent volunteer corps, ment could be carried out if fines were not paid. The whole Bowen set in operation what was to be one of the most curious process, then, was self-defeating. episodes in the entire history of colonial defence. According to

Photograph from an illuminated address to Charles Lilley, late Captain of the Spring Hill and Fortitude Valley Volunteer Rifle Corps, 1868. (By courtesy of Oxley Memorial Library.)

Queensland Heritage Page Thirty-five subsequent Courier accounts, Bowen offered the post of and, at this moment, the mob outside broke into the hotel. Attorney-General to the popular radical member for Fortitude In the confusion, Lilley fought his way into the street and Valley, Charles Lilley, in return for Lilley's agreement to made another attempt to address the crowd from the footpath; introduce a conscription bill in the Legislative Assembly33. but the mob surged on him and, with "wild hibernian oaths" It is doubtful, however, that Bowen would have needed to made threats to lynch him. Lilley, the hero of the Fortitude bribe Lilley, for on the subject of defence they were in close radicals, might well have lost his life at the hands of his accord. In any event, in April 1862, Lilley presented the bill constituents had it not been for the timely intervention of to Parliament34. Edmonstone, a fellow member of the assembly who opposed In retrospect, it seems almost incredible that the government the Bill. Edmonstone implored the crowd to give Lilley another of the least-populous and economically poorest of the Australian chance. As might be expected, when the Bill again came colonies would have had the temerity to attempt such an action. before Parliament on 18 June, Lilley lost no time at all in A few years before, Sir William Denison, chief instigator of withdrawing it4o . local defence in New South Wales, had warned his advisors This was an inauspicious beginning to the concept of that the Australian colonists would accept no degree of coercion compulsory military service, and a similar move was not to in military service. And indeed, this feeling was not confined to be attempted in Australia until the Commonwealth Defence Australia. Shortly before Lilley introduced his bill, the Canadian Act of 1911 41 • In 1862, in a series of meetings at the time Parliament threw out a similar bilP5, at a time when they of the Bill, the anti-military position revealed itself in some appeared to be directly threatened with the prospect of an detail. Basically, it consisted of two objections which could American invasion. vaguely be termed ideological with a subsidiary economic As introduced the Queensland Bill provided for a system of objection. In the first place, the "Langites", particularly the selective conscription. Service was to be in a militia force for Cribbs, believed that the morality of the colonists would be a period of three years. Apart from a few limited classifications adversely affected by service in the militia. This would tend no-one was exempt, either on grounds of economic hardship or to weaken the standards of society, with Queenslanders eventually conscientious objection and any militia man balloted in and becoming depraved, drunken idiots or brainless automatons. refusing to serve was liable to a heavy fine and six months' Secondly, all speakers believed that the Bill cut across certain imprisonment. basic British rights and freedoms. This could readily be The introduction of such a Bill was to prove a serious believed in a society unused to the concept of conscription. mistake for those who wished to put volunteering on a popular Thirdly, the economic opposition rested on the belief that basis. It had exactly the opposite effect for it created an the Bill would in fact create a more expensive defence system emotional and often hysterical opposition not only to coercive than even the maintenance of a British garrison and that it measures but to all forms of military activity. In Queensland, would hamper the development of resources. As the Rev. from 1862 until at least 1870, there existed a powerful anti­ William Wilson, a Methodist Minister said: military faction based initially on a coalition formed to defeat The tradesman, the artisan, or the mechanic was to Lilley's Bill. sacrifice the development of his prospects, his comforts The crux of this opposition was found in Lilley's own and the labour of his hand, what for? To 'Stand at Ease'! constituency of Fortitude Valley. Here were established a That was a fine way to develop the resources of group of immigrants whom Dr.. J. D. Lang had brought out Queensland!42 several years before. Lang himself had been bitterly opposed The 1862. Bill had a most traumatic effect on opposition to to the formation of a volunteer corps in Sydney in the early 36 colonial defence legislation. Sixteen years later it was still l850s and this attitude towards the military was certainly being used as an example of the way not to organize shared by a number of his followers. This group found Queensland's defences43 . It turned apathy towards defence into leadership in Robert and Benjamin Cribb, the former having active opposition. Parliamentarians, realizing the public support come out on the "Fortitude". They were both members of they could gain from opposing coercive measures, virtually the Assembly, and in this position could effectively harass 37 quashed subsequent bills in 1871, 1872 and 1878 which had military legislation . all been designed to introduce more stringent regulations of This "Langite" faction were supported m their anti­ service44. conscription campaign by two radicals who introduced the The defence problem facing Bowen in the remammg six flavour of "Manchester School" economic arguments into the years of his governorship was a search to find a formula' to opposition. Theophilus Parsons Pugh and Thomas Blackett keep the Volunteers in existence. Until 1865 Bowen attempted Stephens, who, while in England had been a friend of Richard to do this by promulgating a number of reorganizations. Basically Cobden, were both prominent in journalistic circles. They what these meant was that as the membership of the various were to use the Brisbane Courier to whip up opposition 38 units declined they were amalgamated until there were only against the Bill . two companies left45 . In addition, a Volunteer Act was passed Finally, there appeared to be an Irish, immigrant, labourer in 1864 which attempted to increase the Governor's control group whose exact strength and influence is difficult to over the appointment of officers and at the same time tried to determine. It is known, however, that they played a major establish a criterion of efficiency46. role in the demonstrations against the Bill. Some of the more By 1865, however, the force was totally inept, a fact which readily identifiable of the Irish, e.g. Dr Kevin Izod O'Doherty, could not be disguised from a hostile parliament. As one transported for Irish repUblican activities, and Patrick O'Sullivan, member of the Assembly put the position in May of that year: accused on many occasions of being an active Fenian, were 39 A stranger arriving in Brisbane and looking over the later continuously to oppose defence measures in Parliament . advertisements in the papers, would arrive at the conclusion Three days after the printing of the Bill in The Courier that we have at least two strong battalions. He would see on 30 May, Lilley called a meeting of his constituents at a brigade order to the effect that No. 1 Company was to the "Forsters Arms", a hotel in Fortitude Valley. The hotel meet at such an hour and that No. 2 Company was to was packed beyond capacity, with almost 500 people crowded do so and so. But how does the matter really stand? inside, and several hundred more on the footpath clamouring Although we have two companies, there is hardly a single to get in. When Lilley appeared on a balcony to address the member of either Corps who attends drill.47 "meeting", he was shouted down. The crowd's mood was ugly. Criticism like this proved to be the prelude of a parliamentary Suddenly, the floor gave way under the unaccustomed weight, investigation into expenditure on volunteers. Evidence of waste

Page Thirty-six Queensland Heritage and inefficiency was not difficult to find. Over one-third of He suggested that a small elite force of about 200 men should total expenditure, for example, had gone on items like adver­ be formed to act as the basis of any reconstruction of the tising, travelling expenses and bottles of porter for the mess48. corps54. To a budget-minded parliament this was excuse enough, in The committee's report was presented to Parliament on 25 late 1865, to refuse further funds to the Corps. July. It was several pages long, and contained vague proposals This was a personal blow to Bowen. He had at that for the fortification of Moreton Bay and the training of boat time been negotiating with the new colonial secretary, Edward men in government employment in the use of coastal artillery. Cardwell, for the despatch of further artillery batteries for Within the report there were two key recommendations; firstly, the volunteer movement49 . Bowen had been trying to convince that the colony should maintain "a small, well drilled, body of Cardwell that the corps was enthusiastic and efficient. Now men, who, in the presence of any serious menace, would form his legislature had made him appear either a liar or a fool. a nucleus capable of being expanded into an effective force. On the day following Parliament's refusal to vote funds, Secondly, to keep this force intact, and to provide an incentive, Bowen addressed the corps after their annual rifle shooting a land order of the value of £18 should be given to every match: volunteer who could establish a claim to three years effective He did not wish, he stated, the opprobrium to be placed service."55. on Queensland of being the only self-governing British Parliament, obsessed by the economic crisis then threatening, Colony not to make an effort for its own protection.50 adopted the report almost in a fit of absentmindedness. The He implored the Volunteers to continue drilling even though only part of the committee's report ever acted upon was those they had now virtually been denied official recognition, and, provisions dealing with the revitalisation of the volunteer corps. more significantly, promised them that a full-scale parliamentary Later in the year moneys were voted for the corps and two committee would be established in the next session to investigate new companies were formed in Brisbane56. In addition, possibly means of resurrecting the corps. the most significant part of the report, that dealing with an This then, was to be the method Bowen used in 1866 for incentive system for membership was incorporated into the giving the corps a new lease of life. Such committees have Crown Lands Alienation Act of 1868. This provided for always been notorious for subverting parliamentary control, substantial land grants to volunteers after five years of effective and at least one member of the Assembly realised this. Theo­ service5? philus Pugh, in objecting to the committee's formation said: The committee of 1866 had, in fact, been a vehicle for But if the Committee were appointed, from whom were giving the volunteer corps a new lease of life. At first, there they to get evidence in this Colony, except those who appeared to be an impressive rise in membership. From total would recommend extravagant expenditure? The Govern­ extinction in 1865, the new Brisbane companies had over 400 ment's proposals, couched in terms of a Committee's report, members by 1867. The following year, however, in spite of a would then have added legitimacy, in making the refusal 51 defence vote of nearly £ I000 and the introduction of the land of adoption more difficult. grant system, membership had again fallen58. In stating this, Pugh had in fact revealed the purpose of The piecemeal reforms of 1866 could only be of temporary the committee. When it began hearings on 10 May it had value. The basic problems militating against the force remained seven members, four of whom were strongly in favour of the unaffected. Until the population increased, the economy became revival of the volunteer corps. Of these members, Dr Henry more stable, and the colonists became willing to accept more Challinor and Charles Coxen, had both been officers in the rigorous military legislation, a local defence organization could corps, and the former Premier, , shared Bowen's have no permanent success. feelings on defence. A fourth member, the Chairman, Douglas, had not, up until this time, been connected with defence policy. When Bowen left the colony in 1868 the movement was Later, however, during his period as Premier, he was to prove once again collapsing. The decline in membership continued a vigorous supporter of the volunteers52 . into the following year, and, in April 1869, exactly one year Likewise, a majority of the five witnesses brought before after Blackall had relinquished the garrison, Parliament for the committee, strongly favoured the volunteer movement. the second time refused to vote funds for the COrpS59. Three of them, O'Connell, Pitt and Drury, had been connected Queensland was once again as defenceless as Bowen had found with the corps since its inception, and had nursed it through it ten years before. It was to be another ten years before periods of ill health before. Queensland, under the threat of the Russian war scare of The evidence of the two non-volunteer witnesses, the Port 1878, would again regard defence seriously. Master, Lieutenant G. P. Heath, R.N. and an Admiralty The basic trend which emerged from the 1860s was that Surveyor, Captain James Jeffery, R.N., was treated in an Queensland's defence depended very much on Bowen's presence. almost cavalier fashion. Heath, for example, felt that the best The efforts to obtain and then maintain a regular garrison defence for Brisbane could be obtained by fortifying Moreton were his alone. In the volunteer movement, although he had Island. Herbert derided this idea and felt that a viable local allies, it can be safely assumed from the pattern which alternative would be a force of volunteer riflemen concealed emerges, that the significant events, the formation, the 1862 in the mangroves along the lower reaches of the river. Jeffery Conscription Bill, and the 1866 Committee were either largely received a more curt reception. At one stage, whilst he was or wholly his handiwork. advocating the purchase of gun boats, Douglas cut him short; The majority of the colonists were as yet unwilling to "it would require too many men, too much equipment and accept responsibility for their own defence. Some parliamen­ too much expense"53. tarians paid lip service to this need, but they were either The evidence from the other three witnesses, O'Connell, unwilling to, or incapable of, making the sacrifices involved. Drury and Pitt, concerned mainly the reasons for the failure Rather they were prepared to relinquish the garrison, and of the volunteers -lack of financial support, derision by the cut finances to the volunteers whenever it appeared that press, small population - and ways of overcoming these. All retrenchment was necessary. It was natural that in a pioneer three suggested some sort of payment in the form of land society oriented towards development, defence should have a grants to stimulate membership and Pitt asserted, on the basis low priority. That Queensland had, by colonial standards, a of his experience in the , that, in spite of comparatively vigorous albeit unsuccessful defence policy, was all evidence to the contrary, the volunteers could be efficient. due to the presence of Sir George Bowen.

Queensland Heritage Page Thirty-seven REFERENCES

1. Col. J. K. Dunlop.- The Development of the British Army, 1899­ 29. For regulations of Corps.- 1914. London, Methuen, 1938. p. 7. Queensland Mounted Rifles - Queensland Government Gazette, 1 Mar 1860; 2. T. B. Millar.- "The History of the Defence Forces of the Nos. 1 & 2 Queensland Rifle Coy.- Queensland Government Port Phillip District and Colony of Victoria 1836-1900". M. A. Gazette, 25 May 1860; Thesis, University of Melbourne, 1957. pp. 84-85. Ipswich Rifle Coy. - Queensland Government Gazette, 26 May 3. D. C. Gordon.- The Dominion Partnership in 1mperial Defence, 1860; 1870-1914. Baltimore, Maryland, The John Hopkins Press, 1965. Rockhampton Volunteer Corps - Queensland Government Gazette, p. 3. 31 Dec 1860: 4. John M. Ward.- Earl Grey and the Australian Colonies, 1846-1857. 30. GD/SSC. Bowen to Newcastle, 11 Feb 1862. Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1958. p. 66. 31. The Courier, 12 Mar 1862. 5. R. L. Schuyler.- "Withdrawal of the Legions". American Historical 32. Circular Despatch, Newcastle to Australian Governors, 26 Dec 1861. Review, Vol. XXVI (Oct 1920). p. 32. New South Wales Journal of the Legislative Council, 1862, Vol. 1. p. 514. 6. Governors Despatches to Secretary of State for Colonies, Bowen 33. The Courier, 5 June 1862. to Newcastle, No. 30, 4 Apr 1860. (Hereafter cited as GD/SSC). 34. Guardian, 5 Sep 1862. 7. 1bid. 35. The Courier, editorial, 5 Sep 1862. 8. Named after James Stephen, permanent Under Secretary of the 36. The Courier, 1 Jul 1862 (letter from J. D. Lang congratulating the Colonial Office - called "Mr Over Secretary Stephen" or "Mr. people of Qld. on rejecting the bill). Mother Country" - believed in rigid control of the colonies from MacCullum.- "Defence in the 1850s". Journal of the Royal London. See A. G. L. Shaw.- "Orders from Downing St." in Australian Historical Society (1958). pp. 79 and 87. Journal of the Royal Austriiliiih Historical Society, Vol. 54, Pt. 2 (June 1968). 37. K. Elford.- "The Political ideals of J. D. Lang". Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society (June 1968). p. 161. 9. GD/SSe. Bowen to Cardwell, No. 30, 18 May 1865. A. Morrison.- "Colonial Society, 1859-1890". Anzaas (1956). p. 25. 10. Ibid. 38. Lack.- "A Century of Qld. Journalism". Journal of the Royal Queensland Historical Society (1951). p. 476. 11. Governors Despatches to Various Persons, Bowen to Col. Kempt, 19 Dec 1860. (Hereafter cited as GD/VP). 39. Morrison.- op. cit. p. 25. 40. The Courier, 2 June 1862. 12. Minutes and Memoranda to Governor, Brig. Gen. Chute. Lt. Seymour, 23 Aug 1863, Minute to Bowen, 7 Sep 1863. 41. R. Forward and R. Reece.- Conscription in Australia. University of Queensland Press, 1968. p. 27. 13. Secretary of State for Colonies to Governor, Newcastle to Bowen, L. C. Jauncey.- The Story of Conscription in Australia. London, 26 June 1863. (Hereafter cited as SSC/Gov.). Allen and Unwin, 1935. 14. Queensland Parliamentary Debates, 20 May 1864. p. 95. 42. The Courier, 9 June 1862. 15. The Moreton Bay Courier, 21 Jan 1861. 43. For example, The Brisbane Courier editorial- 4 June 1878 - In an attack on the Voll1Jllteer Bill of that year the editor made 16. Ibid. 7 Feb 1861. allusion to "Mr Lilley's ill fated attempts 16 years ago.". 17. The Brisbane Courier, 18 Oct 1864. 44. The Brisbane Courier, 27 Apr 1871. This bill was not reported in Queensland Parliamentary Debates. 18. Queensland Parliamentary Debates, 1866, Vol. III. p. 825. Queensland Parliamentary Debates, 13 Aug 1872. p. 853. 19. GD/SSC. Bowen to Buckingham and Chandos, No. 13, 14 Mar Queensland Parliamentary Debates, 17 May 1878. p. 488. 1867. 45. Queensland Parliamentary Debates, 1865. (Speech by L. A. MacKenzie, 1 May). p. 44. 20. GD/VP. Blackall to Chute, 8 Apr 1868. 46. "An Act to Amend the law relating to Volunteers". Queensland 21. GD/SSe. Bowen to Newcastle, No. 32, 20 Oct 1862. Government Gazette, 3 Sep 1864. p. 651. GD/VP. Bowen to Chute, No.9, 8 Sep 1863. 47. Queensland Parliamentary Debates, 1865. (L. A. MacKenzie. 10 22. Queensland Government Gazette, 11 Feb 1860. May). p. 14. 48. Queensland Votes and Proceedings, 1865, Vol. I. pp. 461-463. 23. For details of pro-volunteer faction see.- V. MacCullum.- "The Early Volunteer Movements of N.S.W.". 49. SSC/Gov. Car!lwell to Bowen, No. 40, 20 Sep 1865. Arts (1959). p. 152. SSC/Gov. Cardwell to Bowen, No. 14, 26 Feb 1866. A. Morrison.- "Charles Lilley". Journal of the Royal Australian 50. The Brisbane Courier, 30 Nov 1865. Historical Society, Vol. 45, Pt. 1 (May 1959). pp. 4-5. V. Gordon.- "The Waiting Years 1842-59". Reprint from The 51. Queensland Parliamentary Debates, 1 May 1866, Vol. III. p. 114. Medical Journal of Australasia, (1966). 52. Queensland Votes and Proceedings, 1866, Vol. I. Minutes of Drury Papers - Oxley Memorial Library. Evidence taken before the Select Committee. p. 1705. G. P. Taylor.- "Business and Politics in Qld. 1859-1895". New 53. Ibid. Zealand Journal of History, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Apr 1967). 54. Ibid. 24. Queensland Parliamentary Debates, 1877, Vol. XXII. p. 98. 55. Queensland Votes and Proceedings, Vol. I, 1866. p. 1687. 25. James Cowan.- The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori 56. Queensland Parliamentary Debates, 25 Jul 1866, Vol. III. p. 583. Campaign and the Pioneering Period. (2 vols.) Vol. 1. , 57. Queensland Government Gazette, 1868, Crown Lands Alienation Government Printer, 1955-56. p. 237. Act of 1868. 26. GD/SSC. Bowen to Newcastle, No. 49, 16 Aug 1860. 58. Queensland Votes and Proceedings, 1882, Vol. I. Report of 27. "Report of Parliamentary Investigation into defence spending". Committee on Defence. p. 514. Queensland Votes and Proceedings, 1865, Vol. 1. p. 463. 59. Queensland Journal of the Legislative Council, 7 Apr 1868, Vol. l. 28. The Courier, 12 Mar 1862. (Statement of Sir Maurice O'Connell).

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