The History of Tasmania (Vol. 1&2). John West

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      SECTION V

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      William Sorell, Esq., third Lieutenant-governor, landed 8th April, 1817. To restore safety to the colony was the first duty of the governor: on his assumption of office he called the inhabitants together, and enabled by their subscriptions he offered large rewards, and thus inspirited both the soldiers and the constables. In less than three months the greater portion of the bushrangers were destroyed or captured. During Sorell's administration the colony suffered no serious disturbance from outlaws. This display of rigour was followed by judicious precautions: he ascertained more frequently the distribution and employment of the prisoners of the crown, and removed many temptations to disorder and crime.

      It was the practice, established first a few months after his arrival, to muster the whole population annually. Notice was sent through the districts, requiring the attendance of the several classes, who accounted for their families and their stock: the name, the residence, and civil condition of every inhabitant became known. Sorell thus ascertained the increase of cultivation and cattle, and whatever indicated progress.

      The landing of settlers direct from Great Britain was an important event: their efforts were experiments, and their achievements were prophetic. The political philosopher may trace in their errors, trials, and successes, the lessons afforded by experience for the instruction of nations. The rapid advance of modern colonisation tends to underrate the first efforts of our predecessors. The first colonial boat-builder founded a great commercial navy; the first shepherd held in his slender flock a treasure of unimaginable worth.

      The arrival of many emigrants led to the exploration of the country. The hunters were usually the pioneers, but beyond the general features of the scenery, they afforded little information: wild cattle were the better guides. To provide a settlement for strangers, Sorell explored the region lying between the Shannon and the Clyde to its junction with the Derwent; free from timber, and within twenty miles of navigable waters. At this district were located several distinguished settlers.

The narrow grants and wretched homesteads of the emancipist cotters, the sole farmers at the time of this immigration, presented but little to please. The settler, whose imagination pictured the rustic beauties and quiet order of an English farm, saw unfenced fields of grain, deformed with blackened stumps: a low cottage of the meanest structure,[108] surrounded by heaps of wool, bones, and sheepskins; harrows and water carts amidst firewood; mutton and kangaroo strung on the branches of trees; idle and uncleanly men, of different civil condition but of one class; tribes of dogs and natives. No green hedges or flowery meadows, or notes of the thrush or nightingale; but yet there was the park-like lands, the brilliant skies, the pure river; and, above all, the untainted breath of the morning.

      In 1820, there were only two estates, those of Mr. E. Lord and Colonel Davey, on which fences were erected; and the destructive incursions of cattle were subjects of many complaints: yet in that year £20,000 had been obtained for wheat exported to Sydney. The first crops were prolific: the early settlers chose the more fertile and open plains; and many selected sites for their dwellings on natural lawns of surpassing beauty.

      The dispatch of vessels direct from England rapidly increased the population: in one year (1822) six hundred settlers entered the port, and by the capital which they invested, and the habits of decency and enterprise they exhibited, gave a new tone to the colony. A succession of publications drew attention at home to the capabilities of Van Diemen's Land. It was described in the Quarterly Review (May, 1820) by a friendly pen, which stated that during three years, a detachment of one hundred men had not lost three, and that Hobart Town had been sixteen months without a funeral.

The work of Lieutenant Jeffries, who spent several months in a passage from Sydney to Van Diemen's Land, and who wrote much in praise of the native women, and the pleasures of a bush life, drew a pleasing picture. The more sober sketch of Captain Dixon, and the copious delineations of Mr. Wentworth, directed the public curiosity to Tasmania. For several successive years new books were published, describing the fertility of the soil and the beauty of the climate. These generally contained a theory of pastoral increase—a geometrical progression towards wealth. The increase was, indeed, rapid beyond oriental precedent. Between 1810 and 1820, it was estimated at fifty fold.СКАЧАТЬ