JOURNAL of the J R A H ROYAL AUSTRALIAN S HISTORICAL SOCIETY IN THIS ISSUE Spain and the Botany Bay Colony: a response to an imperial challenge ROBERT J. K ING Australia and the Dardanelles Commission, 1916-1917: a re-assessment JATINDER MANN and CARL BRIDGE Avoid Stigmatising Them by Name MICHAEL WILLIAMS D E Living with the Hume Dam, 1919-2019 BRUCE PENNAY C E M BOOK REVIEWS B E R Pauline Curby, Local Government Engineers’ Association: 2 ARI ETZKE 0 a centenary history M M 2 0 Elizabeth Rushen, John Marshall: shipowner, Lloyd’s reformer and emigration agent CHRISTINE YEATS Denis Porter, Coal: the Australian story DAVID CARMENT Sean Scalmer, Democratic Adventurer: Graham Berry and the making of Australian politics LYNDON MEGARRITY Cameron Archer, The Magic Valley: The Paterson Valley – ARK UNN then and now M D V O TUART EAD Christine Morton-Evans, Ellis Rowan: a life in pictures S R L U Peter Browne and Seumas Spark (eds), ‘I Wonder’: the life and M work of Ken Inglis BEVERLEY KINGSTON E 1 Richard Allsop, Geoffrey Blainey: writer, historian, controversialist 0 6 DON GARDEN P A Michael Bennett, Pathfinders: a history of Aboriginal trackers R T R ILL ILSON in NSW D B W 2 Geoffrey Blainey, Captain Cook’s Epic Voyage: the strange quest for a missing continent EILEEN CHANIN DECEMBER 2020 VOLUME 106 PART 2 JOURNAL of the ROYAL AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY ROYAL AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY ABN 91 000 027 654 History House 133 Macquarie Street, Sydney NSW 2000 Telephone (02) 9247 8001 • Fax (02) 9247 7854 • E-mail [email protected] • Website www.rahs.org.au Joint Patrons Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AO QC Governor of New South Wales and Mr Dennis Wilson President Ms Christine Yeats, BA, DipLib, DipArchAdmin Senior Vice President Associate Professor Carol Liston, AO, BA (Hons), PhD, FRAHS Vice President Mrs Lynne Allen, BA, Dip Ed, GDipLFAH (UNE), MA Treasurer Dr Kathrine Reynolds, FRHS Councillors Ms Pauline Curby, MA, Dip Ed Mrs Judith Dunn, OAM, FPDHS Mrs Linda Emery, BA Dr Peter Hobbins, BA, BSc (Hons), M Medical Hum, PhD Dr Mark St Leon, BEc, GCertTQM, MBus, MA (Hons), PhD, CA Mr Graham Shirley Dr Iain Stuart, BA (Hons), M Env Sci, PhD Associate Professor Richard White, BA, Dip Ed Honorary Editors Associate Professor Carol Liston Dr Rosemary Kerr Book Review Editor Emeritus Professor David Carment AM, BA (Hons), PhD, FACE, FFAHS All correspondence regarding contributions to the Journal should be addressed to the Honorary Editor. The Society is not responsible for the opinions of contributors expressed in the Journal. ISSN 0035-8762 Production Editor Bruce Pollock 0432 612 375 Design, typesetting and printing PLT Print Solutions 18/2 Cerretti Crescent Manly NSW 2095 (02) 9976 2527 Editorial Note The Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society is a peer-reviewed journal. All articles submitted for publication undergo a process of independent review by appropriately qualified historians prior to acceptance for publication. The Editors of the Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society welcome articles in Australian history. All material should be original research and not previously published. The maximum length for articles, including footnotes/endnotes, is 8000 words. Manuscripts should be typed and should follow the guidelines set out in the style sheet, a copy of which is available at www.rahs.org.au or on request from the Society. The author should not be identified on the manuscript. 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Cover Illustrations Front cover: Imperial Federation, Map of the World Showing the Extent of the British Empire in 1886: areas under British control are highlighted in red, the end result of fierce competition between Britain, France and Spain for control of the Pacific. (Public Domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org.) Back cover: Sydney had its bridge; Albury had its dam. The Hume Dam was a central image of local iconography, showcasing Albury on postcards, tea towels, souvenir teaspoons and decorative matchbox sleeves. (Source: Postcard, Albury LibraryMuseum.) JOURNAL of the ROYAL AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY Volume 106 Part 2 December 2020 Robert J. King Spain and the Botany Bay Colony: a response to an imperial challenge 125 Jatinder Mann Australia and the Dardanelles Commission, 1916-1917: and Carl Bridge a re-assessment 146 Michael Williams Avoid Stigmatising Them by Name 165 Bruce Pennay Living with the Hume Dam, 1919-2019 194 BOOK REVIEWS Pauline Curby, Local Government Engineers’ Association: a centenary history MARI METZKE 212 Elizabeth Rushen, John Marshall: shipowner, Lloyd’s reformer and emigration agent CHRISTINE YEATS 213 Denis Porter, Coal: the Australian story DAVID CARMENT 215 Sean Scalmer, Democratic Adventurer: Graham Berry and the making of Australian politics LYNDON MEGARRITY 216 Cameron Archer, The Magic Valley: The Paterson Valley – then and now MARK DUNN 218 Christine Morton-Evans, Ellis Rowan: a life in pictures STUART READ 219 Peter Browne and Seumas Spark (eds), ‘I Wonder’: the life and work of Ken Inglis BEVERLEY KINGSTON 221 Richard Allsop, Geoffrey Blainey: writer, historian, controversialist DON GARDEN 224 Michael Bennett, Pathfinders: a history of Aboriginal trackers in NSW BILL WILSON 225 Geoffrey Blainey, Captain Cook’s Epic Voyage: the strange quest for a missing continent EILEEN CHANIN 227 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS 229 Spain and the Botany Bay Colony: a response to an imperial challenge ROBERT J. KING he founding of the Botany Bay colony in 1788 was viewed with disquiet in Spain and its empire, accustomed as its rulers were for over three-and-a-half Tcenturies to view the whole Pacific as their exclusive preserve. Over the following two decades, as a titanic struggle played out between Britain and France for world dominance, a defensive Spanish empire had to consider how to react to the strategic challenge of the new colony. The immediate Spanish reaction was to include a visit to the colony in the itinerary of the 1789-94 expedition commanded by Alexandro Malaspina. 1786: Announcement of the Botany Bay colony The British Government made the decision to colonise Botany Bay on the coast of New South Wales on 26 August 1786 and the news was promptly published in the London press. The Spanish ambassador in London, Bernardo del Campo, immediately forwarded translations of the press reports to Prime Minister José 1 Moñino Floridablanca in Madrid. The Gazeta de Madrid of 13 and 20 October and 14 November 1786 carried articles on the matter drawn from the English newspapers. The articles were soundly based on the proposal by James Matra for colonising New South Wales. An article published on 12 October 1786 said: ‘Mr Matra, an Officer of the Treasury, who, sailing with Capt Cook, had an opportunity of visiting Botany Bay, is the Gentleman who suggested the plan to Government of 2 transporting convicts to that island.’ The advantages of New South Wales given by Matra for a colony were that: the country was suitable for plantations of sugar, cotton and tobacco; New Zealand timber and flax could prove valuable commodities; it could form a base for trade with China, Korea, Japan, the north-west coast of America and the Moluccas; and it could be a suitable compensation for displaced American Loyalists, ‘where they may repair their broken fortunes & again enjoy their former domestick felicity’. He emphasised the strategic advantages to be derived from the colony. An article 126 JRAHS Vol. 106 Part 2 published widely in the London press in October 1786, drawn from Matra’s proposal, and reproduced in the press of other countries, said: The central situation which New South Wales, in which Botany Bay is situated, holds in the globe, cannot fail of giving it a very commanding influence in the policy of Europe … When this colony from England is established, if we should ever be at war with Holland or Spain we might very powerfully annoy either State from the new settlement. We might, with equal safety and expedition, make naval incursions into Java, and the other Dutch settlements, or invade the coast of Spanish America, and intercept the Manilla ships. Thus this check would, in time of war, make it a very 3 important object, when we view it in the chart of the world with a political eye . The announcement of the intention of the British Government to colonise Botany Bay and Norfolk Island in the seas adjacent was cause for concern to Spain. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the Spanish monarchy strongly defended its claim to the whole Pacific Ocean, its coasts and islands, which stemmed back to the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas with Portugal, against encroachments by France, Holland, and above all by England. Any attempt to make the Pacific more accessible to the other European nations posed a threat to the security of the Spanish empire, and the Spanish authorities were well aware that Britain, irrespective of treaties, was hostile to their claims to exclusive navigation in the Pacific. Spanish reactions to the voyages of James Cook clearly indicated their apprehensions.