British colonisation of South Australia
Province of South Australia | |||||||||
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British Colony | |||||||||
1836–1901 | |||||||||
William IV first | |||||||||
• 1837–1901 | Victoria last | ||||||||
Governor | |||||||||
• 1836–1838 | John Hindmarsh first | ||||||||
• 1899–1901 | Hallam Tennyson last | ||||||||
History | |||||||||
1836 | |||||||||
1901 | |||||||||
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British colonisation of South Australia describes the planning and establishment of the colony of South Australia by the British government, covering the period from 1829, when the idea was raised by the then-imprisoned Edward Gibbon Wakefield, to 1842, when the South Australia Act 1842 changed the form of government to a Crown colony.
Ideas espoused and promulgated by Wakefield since 1829 led to the formation of the South Australian Land Company in 1831, but this first attempt failed to achieve its goals, and the company folded.
The
The British Province of South Australia was established by the
However, after the government under the Colonisation Commission set up by the 1834 Act failed to achieve financial self-sufficiency, the South Australia Act 1842 repealed the earlier Act, made South Australia a
There were moves towards representative self-government in the mid-nineteenth century, and South Australia became a self-governing colony in October 1856.
Background
The French
Historian Geoffrey Dutton suggests three clear phases in the foundation of the colony: first, the practical men, with their discoveries; second, the theorists, in particular Wakefield and Gouger (who had not seen Australia); and lastly the settlers, who had to marry fact with ideals.[1]
1829–1831
Wakefield
Influenced by prison reformer
Wakefield saw the colonies as "extensions of an old society"; all classes would be represented among the settlers. In addition, the colonies would be more or less self-governing. His ideas were not original, but Wakefield was the one who synthesised a number of theories into one plan of systematic colonisation, and who spread the ideas among the British public and urged the
After
South Australian Land Company
After his first proposal failed, Wakefield published his "Plan of a company to be established for the purpose of founding a colony in Southern Australia, purchasing land therein and preparing the land so purchased for the Reception of Immigrants", and the South Australian Land Company (SALC) was formed in 1831 to establish a new colony in the area of South Australia.
However, the scheme, which included free trade, self-government and the power to select the Governor, was not approved as these ideas were considered too radical and republican.[2]
1833–1835
South Australian Association (1833)
In 1833 the South Australian Association was established and began to lobby the government for the establishment of a colony in South Australia, with Crown-appointed governance.[2]
Robert Gouger started setting up the South Australian Association from November 1833. Between that time and August 1834, he corresponded with George Grote, Sir Edward Smith-Stanley, Earl of Derby, William Wolryche-Whitmore, Joseph Hume, Liberal MP Sir William Clay, and Charles Shaw-Lefevre.[6] The aim of the association was to bring to fruition the idea of "systematic colonisation", as proposed by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, in the creation of a new colony in South Australia by the British government.[7] The proposal was for a colony that belonged to the Crown but with its administration run by trustees.[8]
The aim of the Association and details of the planned administration of the proposed colony were published on 11 January 1834 in
...The South Australian Association consists of three classes of members, First, Persons who propose to settle in the Colony. Secondly, Persons willing to aid the Association without taking a responsible part in the proceedings. Thirdly, Persons who may take an active part in the preliminary proceedings of the Association, and may become, under the proposed Charter, Trustees for carrying its provisions into effect.
The members of the South Australian Association were men of varied backgrounds, from
The association organised a huge public meeting at
South Australia Act 1834
The Association lobbied the British government for years, taking part in numerous negotiations and submitting plans that underwent many modifications.
South Australian Colonization Commission
The South Australia Act 1834 set out the governance of the new colony by a new body known as the South Australian Colonization Commission, also known as the Colonization Commissioners for South Australia (and variant spellings[Note 1]), which would be based in London.[11][2] However, the Act gave control of the new colony to the Colonial Office as well as the Commissioners, which led to tension between the two and caused problems later.[1]
The Act provided that three or more persons could be appointed as Commissioners to be known as Colonization Commissioners for South Australia, to carry out certain parts of the Act. The Commissioners formed a Board, which had responsibilities for:[14]
- the disposal of land;
- an Emigration Fund which for conveying poor emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland to South Australia; and
- appointing a treasurer, assistant surveyors and other officers necessary to carry the Act into execution.
The British government appointed Commissioners to oversee implementation of the Act, to control sales of land and the administration of revenue: thirteen Commissioners were based in London (at 6
Administrative power was divided between a Governor, John Hindmarsh, who represented the Crown, and the Resident Commissioner, who reported to the Colonisation Commissioners and who was responsible for the survey and sale of land as well as for organising migration and funding.[17][18][Note 2] The first Resident Commissioner was James Hurtle Fisher.[16]
The Commissioner of Public Lands was appointed to act under the orders of the Commissioners. All monies were to be submitted to the Lord of
South Australian Company (1835)
The
Sales of land had proved difficult; buyers did not rush to buy an acre of wild land for 20 shillings. It was left to the South Australian Company (formed on 15 October 1835, after talented businessman George Fife Angas resigned as Commissioner[1]) to purchase the remaining portion of the £35,000 worth of land that was required for settlement to proceed.[20][21] The South Australian Company acted as a "third power" in the control of the colony and the one which saved it.[22]
Official appointments
The South Australia Act was finally
The appointment of Governor of South Australia, as the most well-paid position and the most important one, proved complex. Sir Charles Napier (who had written a book about the colonisation of South Australia in 1835) was first approached by a group of emigrants, while the Colonial Office was considering Sir John Franklin. Franklin withdrew in favour of Napier, but Napier quarrelled with the emigrants and made two requests (for access to Treasury funds, and for troops to act as police) which were not met, and he resigned.[22]
Napier favoured Light as Governor; however, the ambitious
Hindmarsh and Fisher quarrelled frequently and could not work together harmoniously, so in 1838 both were recalled to London and a new Governor (George Gawler) appointed, who would also act as Resident Commissioner.[23]
1836
Letters Patent and the Order-in-Council
The procedure for the founding of the South Australian province was unclear to the Board of Commissioners, so
The main changes in the Letters Patent were to amend the wording in the 1834 document which referred to the land as "unoccupied", and to recognise the rights of the
First settlers and Proclamation
Under the emigration scheme, "worthy" labourers and their families received free passage.[25] They had to be between 15 and 30 years of age, preferably married, and needed two references. Steerage passengers paid £15-20, middle berth £35-40, and cabin class £70. Children under 14 years were charged £3 while those under 1 year were free.[26]
Montefiore and Lt-Col Palmer helped Colonel Light to prepare two of the ships, Rapid and Cygnet. They proposed a new code for emigrant ships carrying more than 100 passengers, which meant having a minimum deck height and including a
Four ships chartered by the South Australia Company set sail for South Australia in early 1836:[28]
- On 22 February, just days after the Letters Patent had been adopted, the ship John Pirie set sail with 24 passengers on board;
- The ship Duke of York set sail with 42 passengers on 24 February.
- On 30 March the ship Lady Mary Pelham departed London with 29 passengers.
- The fourth ship was the Emma, which left London with 22 passengers on 21 April.
All four ships of the South Australia Company arrived at Nepean Bay on Kangaroo Island: the Duke of York on 27 July, Lady Mary Pelham on 30 July, John Pirie on 16 August and Emma on 5 October. More ships left in the coming months, making a total of at least nine, which for convenience can be regarded as the First Fleet of South Australia. Apart from the last one, HMS Buffalo, all went to Nepean Bay first.[28]
A settlement was started at
The foundation of South Australia is usually considered to be Governor Hindmarsh's
Colonel Light was given two months to locate the most advantageous location for the main colony. He was required to find a site with a
The River Torrens was discovered to the south and Light and his team set about determining the city's precise location and layout. The survey was completed on 11 March 1837. Light's poorly paid and ill-equipped surveying team were expected to begin another massive task of surveying at least 405 square kilometres (156 sq mi) of rural land. Light, despite slowly succumbing to tuberculosis,[30] managed to survey 605.7 square kilometres (233.9 sq mi) (or 150,000 acres (61,000 ha)) by June 1838.[32]
Settlement growth
The settlement grew steadily. In 1836 the South Australian Company imported pure merinos from the German region of Saxony, and cows and goats were also shipped over. Sheep and other livestock were brought in from Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales. The wool industry was the basis of South Australia's economy for the first few years, with the first wool auction held in Adelaide in 1840.[33][34]
The settlers were mostly British, but
1840: Adelaide City Council
Established in 1840, with its first meeting held on 4 November 1840,
Architecture and engineering
The office of Colonial Architect was established by July 1840, with
Engineering and architecture departments changed in structure and naming over the years, with the names including:[43]
- Colonial Engineer's Office (1841–1852)
- Colonial Architects Department [I] (1852–1854)
- Public Works Department (1854–1857)
- Colonial Architects Department [II] (1854–1860)
- Engineer and Architect's Department (1860–1867)
From 1867, the functions were split into separate entities:
- Engineer in Chief's Department (1867–1906)
- Architect in Chief's Department (1867–1960)
Demise of the Colonization Commission
As it became evident that the colonial administration had brought the province of South Australia to near bankruptcy in 1840,[44] the South Australian Colonization Commission was stripped of its powers.[45] Torrens wrote a report "intended to have been given to the Committee on the Affairs of South Australia, as part of his evidence" on 30 March 1841, outlining how the financial administration of the colony had been mishandled, and how it would not have happened had a proposed loan of £120,000 been raised in June 1840 to the emigration fund, and "a cautious stream of emigration been kept up", and by various means the "calamitous crisis" may have been averted.[46] Records in the State Records of South Australia include a document in which the "Colonization commissioners defend their position as regards responsibility for the crisis" on 17 July 1841.[47]
The post of
(The Colonial Land and Emigration Commission was wound up in 1855, succeeded by the Emigration Commission, which was abolished in 1878.[52][53])
South Australia Act 1842: Crown colony
The South Australia Act 1842 (5 & 6 Vict c. 61) is the
The Act was passed on 30 July 1842. It repealed the
Moves towards independence
By the mid 19th century, there was a strong desire for representative and responsible government in the colonies of Australia. The
In 1855, limited self-government was granted by London to New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. An innovative
Self-governing colony (1856)
South Australia became a
Several decades after the federation of Australia in 1901, the Constitution Act 1856 was replaced by the Constitution Act 1934.[60][61]
See also
Footnotes
- ^ The transcript as of 6 November 2019 misspells "colonization" as "colonisation" in the long name (as per the long name of the title in the actual document). Throughout the rest of the document, both transcript and original, it is spelt with a Z.
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7270-1913-4.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Foundation of the Province". SA Memory. State Library of South Australia. 5 February 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
- ^ a b c d "Brief History: Colony built on a dream". Exploring Adelaide. Tourist Information Distributors Australia. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- OL 20440157M.
- ^ South Australian Land Company (1831), Plan of a company to be established for the purpose of founding a colony in Southern Australia : purchasing land therein, and preparing the land so purchased for the reception of immigrants, Ridgway and Sons, retrieved 21 December 2016
- ^ "Entry-Books of Correspondence: Letters from the South Australian Association, 1833-1834". Migration to New Worlds. Adam Matthew Digital. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ^ "South Australian Association". Bound for South Australia 1836. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ^ a b "Gouger forms South Australian Association with success; chosen as colonial secretary". AdelaideAZ. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ^ "South Australian Association". The Spectator. Published online=10 June 2013: 10. 11 January 1834. Retrieved 6 December 2020 – via The Spectator Archive.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ a b c "South Australian Company". SA Memory. State Library of South Australia. 29 October 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ^ John Piriewas Deputy Chairman, but as yet no other source found to confirm this, so left out of the article for now.
- ^ "South Australian Colonization Commission". WorldCat. OCLC WorldCat Identities. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
- ^ South Australian Colonization Commission (1838), Report of the Colonization Commissioners for South Australia to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies (3rd ed.), retrieved 1 November 2019
- ^ a b c "Colonization Commissioners". State Records of South Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2020. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Attribution 3.0 Australia (CC BY 3.0 AU) licence.
- ^ The British Almanac of The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, for the year of our Lord 1840. Charles Knight & Co. 1840. p. 59. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
- ^ a b c "Majority of the Colony of South Australia". South Australian Register. Vol. XXII, no. 3509. South Australia. 5 January 1858. p. 3. Retrieved 1 November 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "South Australia Act, or Foundation Act, of 1834 (UK)". Documenting a Democracy: Australia'a Story. Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
- ^ "Transcript of the South Australia Act, 1834" (PDF). Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
- ^ "South Australian Commission Land Sale Regulations 1835 (issued by the Commissioners in the UK)". Museum of Australian Democracy. Documenting a democracy. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
- ^ "History of the South Australian Company". SA Memory. State Library of South Australia. 29 October 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
- ^ "The South Australian Company". South Australian Gazette And Colonial Register. South Australia. 18 June 1836. p. 6. Retrieved 6 December 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7270-1913-4.
- ^ "Establishing Representative Government". Parliament of South Australia. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
- ^ a b Paul, Mandy (9 December 2013). "Letters Patent". Adelaidia. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
- ^ "Immigration to South Australia". LibGuides. State Library of South Australia. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ Jaunay, Graham. "Emigrants seeking free passage to South Australia 1836–1841". findmypast.com.au. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ Elton, Jude. "Montefiore Hill". Adelaidia. History SA. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ a b c "The infancy of South Australian settlement". South Australian Register. Vol. LI, no. 2, 387. South Australia. 27 July 1886. p. 6. Retrieved 6 December 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Reeves Point Settlement Site, Seaview Rd, Kingscote, SA, Australia". Australian Heritage Database. Australian Government. Dept of the Environment and Energy. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
- ^ a b c Steuart, Archibald Francis (1901). A short sketch of the lives of Francis and William Light: the founders of Penang and Adelaide, with extracts from their journals. Sampson Low, Marston & Co.
- ^ "Order-in-Council Establishing Government 23 February 1836 (UK)". Museum of Australian Democracy. Documenting a democracy. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
- ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
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- ^ "Wool". SA History Hub. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
- ^ "The Early South Australian Pastoral Industry: An Overview". Flinders Ranges Research. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
- ^ Harmstorf, Ian (5 June 2015). "Germans". Adelaidia. "First published in The Wakefield companion to South Australian history, edited by Wilfrid Prest, Kerrie Round and Carol Fort (Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 2001). Edited lightly and references updated". Retrieved 6 December 2019.
- ^ a b Ball, Corinne. "Adelaide City Council". Adelaide. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
- ^ "History". Adelaide Council. Archived from the original on 28 February 2011.
- ^ "The last gazette". South Australian Register. Vol. III, no. 130. South Australia. 18 July 1840. p. 6. Retrieved 18 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
- Observer (Adelaide). Vol. LXXXI, no. 6, 040. South Australia. 1 November 1924. p. 49. Retrieved 18 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Advertising". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 3730. Victoria, Australia. 26 May 1858. p. 7. Retrieved 18 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Collins, Julie. "Hamilton, Edward Angus". Architects Database. University of South Australia.
- ^ Collins, Julie. "Architect Personal Details: Soward, George Klewitz". Architects Database. University of South Australia. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- ^ Daniels, Elizabeth (19 November 2019). "South Australian Colonial Engineering and Architecture Departments". Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation. Swinburne University of Technology. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
- ^ a b "South Australia Act 1842 (UK)". Museum of Australian Democracy. Documenting a democracy. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
- ^ a b "The Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners". Research Data Australia. Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC). Retrieved 28 October 2020. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence (see here).
- ^ Torrens, R.; Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on the affairs of South Australia.; South Australian Colonization Commission. (1841), "42 pages ; 22 cm.", Paper intended to have been given to the Committee on the Affairs of South Australia, as part of his evidence, by Colonel Torrens, on Tuesday, the 30th of March, 1841., London, nla.obj-33431217, retrieved 28 October 2020 – via Trove
- ^ "GRG 56/ 68/2Index to early correspondence relating to colonization" (PDF). p. 18.
(JUlY 17,1841) [667 I P.59
- ^ Hayden, Albert A. "Thomas Frederick Elliot". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (MUP), 1966
- .
- ^ "Colonization Commissioners". State Records of South Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
- ^ "Libraries Australia Authorities - Full view [Heading: South Australian Colonization Commission]". Libraries Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2020. Note: This ref is added for completeness, but as of October 2020, the end date it gives doesn't accord with the other sources. To be investigated.
- The National Archives. Retrieved 5 December 2020. Text may have been copied from this source, which is published under an Open Government Licence [1] "compatible with the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0".
- ANU. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (MUP), 1966.
- ^ The Right to Vote in Australia. Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
- ^ (28 January 2011). Australia’s major electoral developments Timeline: 1788 - 1899. Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
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- ^ Government of South Australia. "Constitution Act 1934". Retrieved 9 March 2022.
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- ^ Government of South Australia. "Constitution Act 1934" (PDF). Retrieved 9 March 2022.
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Further reading
- Hamilton, Reg. Colony : strange origins of one of the earliest modern democracies (2010) online
- Hastings, W. K. "The Wakefield colonisation plan and constitutional development in South Australia, Canada and New Zealand." Journal of Legal History 11.2 (1990): 279-299.
- Langley, Michael. "Wakefield and South Australia." History Today (Oct 1969), Vol. 19 Issue 10, pp 704–712; online.
- Mills, Richard Charles. The colonization of Australia (1829-42): the Wakefield experiment in empire building (1915). online
- Garnett, Richard. Edward Gibbon Wakefield: The Colonization of South Australia and New Zealand (1898) online
- Hodder, Edwin (1893). The History of South Australia: From Its Foundation to the Year of Its Jubilee: Volume I.]. A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook (posted 2013). With much material gathered by George Fife Angas used as the basis of this history. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co.
- South Australian Association, took up the idea, and worked it into practical shape; Colonel Robert Torrens brought experience and influence to bear to make the scheme popular, and ensure its acceptance by the Government; while Mr. George Fife Angasmade the working of the Act of Parliament possible.
- Pike, Douglas (1967). Paradise of dissent: South Australia 1829-1857 ([2nd] ed.). Melbourne University Press. Retrieved 19 November 2019. (Also available to borrow on the Internet archive)
- Richards, Eric. "Migration". SA History Hub.
This entry was first published in The Wakefield companion to South Australian history edited by Wilfrid Prest, Kerrie Round and Carol Fort (Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 2001). Edited lightly. Uploaded 12 August 2015.