The History of Tasmania, Volume I

by John West

SECTION III

Captain Dixon, commander of the Skelton, came to Van Diemen's Land in 1820. On his return to England, he published a small volume on the capabilities of the country. He suggested the formation of a pastoral company, with a capital divided into £100 shares, as a profitable scheme. Causes foreign to this enquiry reduced the marketable value of money, and awakened a speculative spirit in Great Britain: projects of every kind found favour—a madness fraught with insolvency, fraud, and ruin. But in the meantime the Van Diemen's Land Company had been formed. Men of opulence and prudence, when compared with common projectors, were concerned in its origin. They proceeded with caution, and postponed the issue of their share list until their plans were laid. Nor did they promise a dividend, but as the result of a considerable outlay, and at a distant date. Yet they drew a brilliant picture of this colony, and delineated in vivid language the riches of its soil, its relative position, and its future destinies. "Such advantages," said they, "could not long escape the penetration of the British public." It was, among their objects, to relieve Great Britain from dependence on foreign wool; to improve the quality of the Australian flocks: this object they have contributed to accomplish.

They applied to Lord Bathurst for 500,000 acres of land. By his countenance they obtained an act of parliament, under which the charter of their incorporation, on the 9th November, 1825, passed the great seal. By this charter they were authorised to employ their capital in cultivation and sheep farming; to lend money on mortgage and to persons engaged in fisheries; to undertake public works on security of tolls: but they were debarred from banking and commerce.

Lord Bathurst consulted Colonel Sorell: he was favorable to the company; but forwarned them that no large blocks of fertile land remained unlocated. The company received a grant of 250,000 acres, to be taken on the north-west coast in one square block; bounded by Bass's Strait on the north; on the westward by the ocean; and by a line drawn from shore to shore. After some debate, this land was valued to the company at two shillings and sixpence per acre, and the whole quit-rent charged, was "four hundred and sixty-eight pounds, sixteen shillings:" redeemable at twenty years purchase—£9,575. In the measurement, one-fourth allowed for useless land. The employment of convicts entitled the company to remission of quit-rent; £16 annually each man.

Mr. Edward Curr, at first the secretary of the company, became their agent. Having some time resided in Van Diemen's Land, he had returned to England, where he published a book on the state of the country, remarkable for its clear narrative and sober delineation. The first ship dispatched by the company was the Tramnere (1826), followed by the Caroline. Some time was lost in selecting the settlement, and Circular Head was chosen. On a closer inspection, the district was not found encouraging. Near the shore the country is heavily timbered, and the high lands towards the westward were found barren and cold. Mr. Curr was anxious to bring his line as far possible towards the sun; but the governor held him to the literal agreement, under an impression that the grant was already improvident and excessive. The whole scheme was distasteful to Arthur: a powerful company having interests of its own, whose head-quarters were in London, might have been a counterpoise to his influence, had it not been pushed to the extremity of an inaccessible country. By the oversight or complaisance of Lord Bathurst, the rule which made the outlay of capital the condition of a grant, was not inserted in the covenant. The public works promised by the proprietors were never undertaken, and their establishment was but a larger farm than common. They ultimately obtained several blocks of land, which gave them command of an intervening country of 150,000 acres, at Woolnorth; 20,000 at Circular Head, 10,000 at the Hampshire Hills, 10,000 at the Middlesex Plains, 150,000 at the Surrey Hills, and 10,000 at the islands on the coast. The total actual cost, including survey, was 1s. 6d. per acre.

The operations of the company were conducted on a liberal scale: artizans were sent out. The proprietors were promised a remission of £16 for men, and £20 for women, on the quit-rent. This was the first encouragement of free emigration to this quarter of the world. A road was opened with Launceston, chiefly useful to absconders. The importation of sheep and horses of great value, was beneficial to the country. The sheep of the company cost £30,000 (1830), when they exported wool to the value of £2,000. The servants of the company left them on the expiration of their engagements: many before. The reports of the proprietors eulogised the management of Mr. Curr, and affirmed that the moral influence he had acquired rendered his government easy and his people contented. They asserted that ardent spirits were excluded: there were no police or prison, and none required. These statements varied from fact. The company provided no religious teaching for its people; and Mr. Curr, a Roman catholic, could not be expected to promote heretical creeds.

The losses sustained by the company were great: the cold destroyed the stock, and their crops often perished from moisture. On the Hampshire Hills many hundred lambs died in a night. Sometimes the season never afforded a chance to use the sickle: in the morning the crop was laden with hoar frost, at noon it was drenched with the thaw, and in the evening covered with dews; and thus rotted on the ground. The agent, however, did not despair, and the company anticipated a dividend in 1834, at the latest!

The company provided a numerous staff; beside the agent, were a commissioner, an agriculturist, an architect, and surveyors. Its local affairs were confided to a council of three, Curr being the chairman; but the divided sovereignty was impracticable, and the "Potentate of the North," as he was sometimes called, soon reigned alone.

Servants engaged in Great Britain at low wages, on their arrival often escaped from the farms, and exposed the agent to great vexation. Sometimes they were pursued, and brought back by force: it was at last agreed to cancel their indentures, on repayment of the cost of their passage. In 1834, the population on the estate amounted to about 400 persons, of whom more than 200 were prisoners of the crown.

The New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land Establishment, formed at the same time, received a grant of 40,000 acres. They engaged to improve the stock of Van Diemen's Land, and introduced valuable horses. Colonel Latour was a leading partner; Captain Thomas, speared by the blacks in 1831, was superintendent of the company's affairs, which however were unprofitable for many years.