THE SWAN RIVER COLONY. - The Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929) - 12 Dec 1929 (original) (raw)

The Swan River colony, founded by

the landing of Captain Stirling and his

expedition on June 1st, 1829, was the

first free settlement to be established in

Australia. But so disastrous was the

initial working out of this experiment

in free colonisation that the unpropitious

view of the western part of the

continent held by Englishmen of the

time was strongly confirmed. Indeed the

idea of the free settlement of Australia

would almost have been abandoned had

not Wakefield and his Colonisation Society

used the errors of the Swan River

experiment to evolve a sound method of

systematic colonisation. So that South

Australia, and later New Zealand

profited from the original failure on

It is true that the original project for

the settlement of the Swan River colony

contained the germ of the idea later developed

by Edward Gibbon Wakefield

that "the prosperity of new colonies

depends chiefly on the quantity of

manual labour in proportion to the

country occupied that capitalist have

at their disposal." But the idea had

not been adequately worked out and

the first organised attempt in Australia

to relate the alienation of Crown lands

to the introduction of population merely

provided a magnificent demonstration of

The original proposal presented to the

British Government by Thomas peel.

Sir Francis Vincent and other interested

parties in 1828 was conceived upon a

particularly grand scale. Fired with enthusiasm

for this untouched portion of

the new continent by the glowing reports

of Captain Stirling, these promoters

proposed to settle 10,000 persons

and a considerable amount of stock

on condition of receiving a grant of

land, with an area calculated on the

basis of one acre for each sum of 1s. 6d

expended in carrying out the settlement

As they estimated the cost of

transporting and settling the immigrants

at £30 per head they proposed to invest

£300,000 in the project for which

they were to be recouped by the Government

by the grant of 4,000,000 acres of

The British Colonial Office, with a dispaly

of caution based upon its knowledge

that £30 per head was an exorbitant

price to pay for the introduction of

free settlers into Australia, was not prepared

to concede to Peel and his

partners an area larger than Yorkshire

and of unknown value. Moreover, the

British Government, after its loss of

the American colonies was not disposed

to be put to any further expense upon account of any new settlements

therefore decided, ''on account of the

extensive distress which would be occasioned

by a failure in any of the objects"

(the financial responsibility for

which would devolve on the Government)

to limit the area of the possible grants

to 1,000,000 acres, half to be granted

on the arrival of the first vessel carrying

not less than 400 persons the remaineder

to be allotted by degrees as

fresh importations of capital and settlers

were made, if by 1840 the capital expended

at the rate of Is. 6d. per acre

was sufficient to cover the initial grant

Peel's partners saw little opportunity of obtaining a profitable return for

their money under such conditions and

withdrew from the project. Peel however seems to have aspired to be one of the founders of "new majesties of

mighty States.'' As the founder of the

colony he was to receive 250,000 acres

for himself , so with his enthusiasm un-

dimmed he decided to proceed. Mean-

while the Government had issued regulations throwing open the country around the Swan River to any capitalists upon

the same terms as had been offered to Peel. This destroyed the idea of mono-

poly which in the original proposal would have permitted the founders to

recoup themselves by the rising values

of the land. The sole advantage which

Peel was able to obtain was the right

of priority over other investors in the

selection of the land for himself and his

first band of settlers to the extent of

The scheme proved extremely popular and attracted many independent in-

vestors in addition to Peel. From the

outset a large number of emigrants

competed for land grants. By 1830 there

had arrived in the colony 1767 persons

bringing with them 101 horses, 583 head

of cattle. 7981 sheep, 66 pigs, 36 goats

and a variety of poultry. The value

of the property introduced, upon which

land was claimed, amounted to £73,260

equal at 1s 6d per acre, to 976,800

acres. Under these circumstances the

best land was rapidly appropriated. The

free grants of 250,000 acres to Peel and

of 100.000 acres to Captain Stirling as

Governor, followed by the granting of

large areas at the rate of Is. 6d. per

acre for all capital introduced, led to

the rapid dispersal of the settlers.

Within a few months of the first settlement

there was no land available

with ready access to the two rivers the

Swan and Canning, along whose courses,

in the absence of roads, the only effec-

tive settlement was possible. The new

arrivals, in order to secure land which

could be worked, took over portions of the

earlier grants, agreeing to carry out

improvements sufficient to secure the

whole property. The remainder of the

property was neglected. Many settlers,

finding they were allotted a selection

in the back country, left immediately in disgust.

As they still retained their

titles this did nothing to reduce the dis-

persal. Moreover, since any person could

obtain a grant of land in proportion to

his capital, however small, many labourers

who were introduced by capitalists

to work their lands deserted and secured

their own land. Nor was the equipment

of the settlers in all cases the most

suitable for the conditions of the new country.

"A seventy guinea piano was hardly

the sort of furniture," says Jose.

"suitable for a pioneer homestead ; but

it was good for a 980 acre land order,

and, having secured that, was left to

rot on Fremantle sands." Peel who

brought out the full equipment

necessary for the development of the

country found his equipment useless

when his labourers left him. They were

as little able to work their own land

when they received it, without the

equipment. English gentlemen who had

brought their carriages and pairs ex-

pecting to reproduce in Australia the

conditions and life of the English landed

gentry, found themselves left to live in

their carriages while their labourers

"struck out on their own."

The whole scheme proved a costly

failure. Peel, who had invested £50.000

in the venture. lost it all. Finally con-

scious of failure he surrendered his interests and returned to England.

The new settlement was described as "the

scarecrow of civilisation." It took many

years for Western Australia to recover from this

false and over-ambitious start.

But recover it did and a period of slow

development began. Meanwhile the

failure of the Swan River colony

to realise the hopes of its founders had

added point to the suggestions of Edward

Gibbon Wakefield and assisted him

to develop his scheme of "Systematic