33.7 The pacific: a.d. 1801 to 1900  (Page 14/6)

The pacific

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Australia

Although the first penal colonists, including 700 convicts and 324 officials and family members had landed in Botany Bay in 1,788, the population of Australia did not pass 50,000 until 1,830 and the 1,000,000 mark was not reached until the late 1,850s.

As the century opened England was so busy with Napoleon that there was little concern for Australia and it was not until about 1,820 to 1,825 that even reasonable information was available in England about the New South Wales colony. Overall, by mid-century 160, 800 convicts had been sent, including many Irishmen. Few free settlers could be tempted to arrive and by the middle 1820s there were not more than 2,000.

It was in 1,801 that Captain Mac Arthur brought 12 ewes and a ram of the Merinos Spanish-origin sheep from South Africa, where they had been introduced from Spain a generation before. But wool was not exported to Britain until 1,806 and did not become a really significant market factor until the middle 1,820s, chiefly as the result then of the prodding of Governor Lachlan Macquarie, successor to the famous William Bligh of "Bounty" fame. The subsequent need for new grassland resulted in the successful crossing of the Blue Mountains and as the economy improved, a scattering of free settlements were started around the coast. Then the inland exploration of Australia was dominated by the problem of the rivers, because away from them there was usually great drought. (Ref. 76 , 122 )

Insert Map: Some Significant Explorations of Australia, and notes.

Multiple attempts were made by the British to settle the northern tip of Australia, chiefly to harass the Dutch in the adjacent islands and to make contact with the Malayans and Indonesians, who had been in communication with the Australian aborigines for centuries, but by mid-century all colonies had failed. In the south wheat began to be of commercial importance by 1,843, when a mechanical harvester called a "stripper" became available. Problems of land acquisition and ownership as well as the problem of labor supply continued for decades. Even up to 1850 free labor lived under the shadow of convict competition. At mid-century one still spoke of the "Australian Colonies", four in number, and initial proposals of federation got little response. In 1,863, however, the political geography was fixed in the present day pattern, although the Commonwealth did not materialize until 1,901. Up until then, the people thought of themselves, not as Australians, but as Victorians or Queenslanders, etc., as the case might be. Gold in significant quantity was discovered in New South Wales and multiple areas of Victoria in the 1,850s, leading to massive immigration from Europe, America and China, so that Australia's population almost tripled from 1,850 to 1,860, reaching 1,146,000 people. Melbourne grew fiercely as the seat of government of the gold fields of Victoria and the presence of thousands of "diggers" in those fields resulted in a lasting nickname for any of Australia's residents. But even then, wool-growing remained the premier industry.