Land allocation in Tasmania under the Waste Lands Acts, 1856-1889

529 Pages·2015·14.52 MB·English

by  Meikle, Bronwyn

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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
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This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying in accordance
with the Copyright Act 1968.

Bronwyn Dorothy Meikle
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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
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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,
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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 Land Sales 1858-61 206
Figure 4.1 Sales of Country Lands 1864-9 272