Settlers and the Agrarian Question: Capitalism in Colonial Australia

320 Pages·2004·7.09 MB·English

by  Philip McMichael

SETTLERS AND THE AGRARIAN QUESTION
This book traces the formation of Australian colonial society and economy
within the context of the changing fortunes of British hegemony in the
nineteenth-century world economy. But Australia's transition from con-
servative origins as a penal colony supporting a grazier class oriented to
export production, to liberal agrarian capitalism, was not a simple reflex of
imperial setting. Domestically, the "agrarian question" - who should con-
trol the land and to what end? - was the central political struggle of this
period, as urban-commercial forces contested the graziers' monopoly of
the landed economy. Resolution in the former's favor led to economic
diversification, in turn contributing to the viability of British capitalism
as metropolitan protectionism challenged its international supremacy.
Nevertheless, embedded in the conflict among settler classes was an inter-
national dimension, involving a juxtaposition of laissez-faire and mercan-
tilist phases of British political economy. Colonial graziers, whose origins
lay in the older British mercantile system, depended on British policy for
their supply of labor and land. In midcentury, as that policy shifted with
the liberal currents in both societies, the progressive settler alliance gained
power in the newly self-governing colonial states. Land reform resulted,
and this, combined with gold wealth and the institutional development
and integration of capital markets in London and the colonies, facilitated
the subordination of pastoralism to the colonial urban economy. The
resulting national "agrocommercial" complex anticipated industrialization
in the twentieth century.
Professor McMichael argues that the transition from a patriarchal wool-
growing colony to a liberal-nationalist form of capitalist development is
best understood through a systematic analysis of the effect of the imperial
politicoeconomic relationship on the social and political forces within
nineteenth-century Australia. This is, therefore, an original interpretation
of the path of development of Australian colonial society prior to Fed-
eration in 1901.
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SETTLERS AND THE
AGRARIAN QUESTION
FOUNDATIONS OF
CAPITALISM IN COLONIAL AUSTRALIA
PHILIP McMICHAEL
Department of Sociology
University of Georgia, Athens
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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© Cambridge University Press 1984
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1984
First paperback edition 2002
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
McMichael, Philip.
Settlers and the agrarian question
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Land tenure - Australia - History - 19th century.
2. Land settlement - Australia - History - 19th century.
3. Squatter settlements - Australia - History - 19th century.
I. Title.
HD1035.M37 1984 306'.32'0994 84-1762
ISBN 0 52126570 3 hardback
ISBN 0 52152316 8 paperback
To my father, David,
and to the memory of my mother, Catherine

CONTENTS
Map of Australia frontispiece
List of tables page ix
Preface xi
1. The social structure of British hegemony 1
PART I
THE COLONIAL ECONOMY ENTERS THE WORLD MARKET
(1788-1830)
2. The transition from penal to commercial colony 35
3. The world-economic origins of colonial wool growing 54
PART II
THE SQUATTING PHASE OF PASTORALISM
(1830s AND 1840s)
4. Squatting and colonial politics 79
5. Merchants and growers 101
6. Pastoral enterprise in the colonial economy 119
7. The conservative character of pastoralism 145
PART III
CONFRONTING THE AGRARIAN QUESTION
(1840-1900)
8. The 1840s crisis and social transition 167
9. Foundations of the agrarian question 191
vn
viii CONTENTS
10. State formation and transformation of the landed
economy 215
Conclusion 241
APPENDIXES
1. Selected land purchases from the county register,
1831-1835 253
2. Differentiation among squatters by land possession
and stock, 1844 255
3. Statement showing the difference between convict
and free labor 259
4. Wool exports from New South Wales, 1822-1849 262
5. Statements concerning profitability of pastoral
enterprise, 1842 and 1844 263
6. Letter (draft) to Henry Dangar, squatter, from
R. Campbell Jnr. and Co., Sydney, 1840 267
7. Correspondence: Edward Curr to Niel Black, 1847 268
8. Memo of English capitalists on behalf of squatters,
1845 270
9. Memo from London merchants concerning pastoral
labor supply, 1847 272
10. Memo regarding wire fencing, by Jesse Gregson 274
References 279
Index 300
TABLES
3.1 English wool imports, 1815—22 63
3.2 Grants issued, 1812-20 71
3.3 Convicts transported to Australia, 1812-30 73
3.4 Distribution of alienated land, 1821-8 74
6.1 Register of leases of Crown lands, 1831-42 121
6.2 Number of laborers, 1851 census 122
6.3 Total urban and rural population, 1833-46 139
7.1 Half-yearly returns of the number of persons
employed or residing at and of the number and
description of the livestock on the
licensed station (Glenormiston), 1841-7 162
8.1 Commodity structure of Britain's export trade,
1830s 169
8.2 Exports of British woolen and worsted goods,
1832^42 172
8.3 New South Wales (including Port of Phillip) trade
statistics, 1836-45 180
8.4 Pastoral statistics of New South Wales unsettled
districts, 1839-43 185
9.1 Insolvent estates, 1842-9 193
9.2 Value of New South Wales imports and exports,
1840-9 199
10.1 Internal migration of eastern agriculture, 1860-90 224
10.2 Land concentration in New South Wales and
Victoria, 1857-96 225
10.3 Shares of total registered pastoral lessees in
New South Wales, 1866-89/90 230
10.4 Geographical distribution of British overseas trade
and investment, 1860s through 1911-13 237
IX