90-433: In the history of Australia , squatting was the act of extrajudicially occupying tracts of Crown land , typically to graze livestock . Though most squatters initially held no legal rights to the land they occupied, the majority were gradually recognised by successive colonial authorities as the legitimate owners of the land due to being among the first (and often only) white settlers in their area. The term squattocracy ,
180-588: A penal colony . In the century that followed, the British established other colonies on the continent, and European explorers ventured into its interior. This period saw a decline in the Aboriginal population and the disruption of their cultures due to introduced diseases, violent conflict and dispossession of their traditional lands. From 1871, the Torres Strait Islanders welcomed Christian Missionaries , and
270-448: A quit rent (one shilling per 50 acres (200,000 m) to be paid after five years) and a requirement for the grantee to reside on and cultivate the land. In line with the British government's policy of concentrated land settlement for the colony, governors of New South Wales tended to be prudent in making land grants. By the end of Governor Macquarie's tenure in 1821 less than 1,000 square miles (2,600 km) of land had been granted in
360-584: A base for Pacific trade; and it could be a suitable compensation for displaced American Loyalists. Following an interview with Secretary of State Lord Sydney in 1784, Matra amended his proposal to include convicts as settlers, considering that this would benefit both "Economy to the Publick, & Humanity to the Individual". The major alternative to Botany Bay was sending convicts to Africa. From 1775 convicts had been sent to garrison British forts in west Africa, but
450-423: A building program, assisted by convict labour, advanced steadily. Between 1788 and 1792, convicts and their gaolers made up the majority of the population; however, a free population soon began to grow, consisting of emancipated convicts, locally born children, soldiers whose military service had expired and, finally, free settlers from Britain. Governor Phillip departed the colony for England on 11 December 1792, with
540-543: A defined territory for foraging. Clans were attached to tribes or nations, associated with particular languages and country. At the time of European contact there were about 600 tribes or nations and 250 distinct languages with various dialects. Estimates of the Aboriginal population at this time range from 300,000 to one million. Aboriginal society was egalitarian with no formal government or chiefs. Authority rested with elders and group decisions were generally made through
630-567: A government order from Lord Bathurst , the Secretary of State. Counties had been used since the first year of settlement, with Cumberland County being proclaimed on 6 June 1788. Several others were later proclaimed around the Sydney area. A further order of 1829 extended these boundaries of the settlement to an area defined as the Nineteen Counties. From 1831 the granting of free land ceased and
720-484: A large scale (whether the station was held by leasehold or freehold title). In Australia the term is still used to describe large landowners, especially in rural areas with a history of pastoral occupation. The term squattocracy , a play on "aristocracy", was used derisively as early as 1841. When the First Fleet established a settlement at Sydney Cove in 1788 the colonial government claimed all of Australia east of
810-419: A longstanding debate over whether the key consideration in the decision to establish a penal colony at Botany Bay was the pressing need to find a solution to the penal management problem, or whether broader imperial goals — such as trade, securing new supplies of timber and flax for the navy, and the desirability of strategic ports in the region — were paramount. Christopher and Maxwell-Stewart argue that whatever
900-575: A penal settlement. Banks's plan was to send 200 to 300 convicts to Botany Bay where they could be left to their own devices and not be a burden on the British taxpayer. Under Banks's guidance, the American Loyalist James Matra , who had also travelled with Cook, produced a new plan for colonising New South Wales in 1783. Matra argued that the country was suitable for plantations of sugar, cotton and tobacco; New Zealand timber and hemp or flax could prove valuable commodities; it could form
990-481: A person who had occupied pastoral land not granted to them by the colonial authorities. In its early derogatory context the term was often applied to the illegitimate occupation of land by ticket-of-leave convicts or ex-convicts ( emancipists ). From the mid-1820s, however, the occupation of legally unoccupied land without legal title became more widespread, often carried out by those from the upper echelons of colonial society. As wool began to be exported to England and
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#17328511934671080-414: A play on aristocracy , was coined to refer to squatters as a social class and the immense sociopolitical power they possessed. The term squatter derives from its English usage as a term of contempt for a person who had taken up residence at a place without having legal claim. The use of squatter in the early years of British settlement of Australia had a similar connotation, referring primarily to
1170-644: A run and gave purchasers security of tenure over a whole run for another 8 years. 150 squatters gathered in Sydney later in the month of April and protested against Gipps's changes drafting a petition to the Queen and forming the Pastoral Association of New South Wales - the first formalising of the identity of squatters as a political group. A large squatting demonstration was held in Melbourne in June 1844. The lessees of
1260-623: A second report, Beauchamp recommended a penal settlement at Das Voltas Bay in modern Namibia. The plan was dropped, however, when an investigation of the site in 1786 found it to be unsuitable. Two weeks later, in August 1786, the Pitt government announced its intention to send convicts to Botany Bay. The Government incorporated the settlement of Norfolk Island into their plan, with its attractions of timber and flax, proposed by Banks's Royal Society colleagues, Sir John Call and Sir George Young. There has been
1350-517: A squadron of Dutch ships explored the northern coast particularly in the Gulf of Carpentaria . Abel Tasman 's voyage of 1642 was the first known European expedition to reach Van Diemen's Land (later Tasmania) and New Zealand , and to sight Fiji . On his second voyage of 1644, he also contributed significantly to the mapping of the Australian mainland (which he called New Holland ), making observations on
1440-471: A subsidiary settlement on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific where he hoped to obtain timber and flax for the navy. The island, however, had no safe harbour, which led the settlement to be abandoned and the settlers evacuated to Tasmania in 1807. The island was subsequently re-established as a site for secondary transportation in 1825. Phillip sent exploratory missions in search of better soils, fixed on
1530-672: A view to a British colonisation. John Callander put forward a proposal in 1766 for Britain to found a colony of banished convicts in the South Sea or in Terra Australis . Sweden's King Gustav III had ambitions to establish a colony for his country at the Swan River in 1786 but the plan was stillborn. The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) saw Britain lose most of its North American colonies and consider establishing replacement territories. Britain had transported about 50,000 convicts to
1620-416: Is an Austenesque social comedy exploring the evolution of the pseudo-aristocratic manners which define the squattocracy. In Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries , the title character, The Honourable Phyrne Fisher, is resistant to her class and acts as a contrast to her Aunt Prudence, who typifies grazier and squattocracy snobbery. The film Australia deals with the failure of many large grazier properties in
1710-472: Is controversial. Some Anthropologists describe traditional Aboriginal Australia as a "complex hunter-gatherer" society. Aboriginal groups were semi-nomadic, generally ranging over a specific territory defined by natural features. Members of a group would enter the territory of another group through rights established by marriage and kinship or by invitation for specific purposes such as ceremonies and sharing abundant seasonal foods. As all natural features of
1800-453: Is the history of the land and peoples which comprise the Commonwealth of Australia . The modern nation came into existence on 1 January 1901 as a federation of former British colonies . The human history of Australia, however, commences with the arrival of the first ancestors of Aboriginal Australians by sea from Maritime Southeast Asia between 50,000 and 65,000 years ago, and continues to
1890-403: The 135th meridian east , without regard to the presence of the existing Indigenous population. Land that had been deemed "unoccupied" by Europeans was described as Crown land . Governors of New South Wales were given authority to make land grants to free settlers, emancipists (former convicts) and non-commissioned officers. When land grants were made they were often subject to conditions such as
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#17328511934671980-453: The Endeavour reached the east coast of New Holland and ten days later anchored at Botany Bay . Cook charted the coast to its northern extent and formally took possession of the east coast of New Holland on 21/22 August 1770 when on Possession Island off the west coast of Cape York Peninsula . He noted in his journal that he could "land no more upon this Eastern coast of New Holland, and on
2070-504: The Myall Creek massacre in 1838, in which Aboriginal subject status was employed by colonial courts for the rare co-incidence of local, colonial and imperial authorities. Whilst life was initially tough for the squatters, with their huge landholdings many of them became very wealthy and were often described as the "squattocracy". The descendants of these squatters often still own significant tracts of land in rural Australia, though most of
2160-486: The Nineteen Counties , were defined from 1826; beyond these limits land could not be squatted on or subdivided and sold. This was because of the expense of providing government services (police, etc.) and difficulty supervising convicts over a wide tract of land. However the nature of the sheep industry which required access to vast grassy plains meant that despite the limitations, squatters often occupied land far beyond
2250-465: The Parramatta region as a promising area for expansion, and moved many of the convicts from late 1788 to establish a small township, which became the main centre of the colony's economic life. This left Sydney Cove only as an important port and focus of social life. Poor equipment and unfamiliar soils and climate continued to hamper the expansion of farming from Farm Cove to Parramatta and Toongabbie , but
2340-550: The animist framework, the Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral totemic spirit beings formed The Creation . The Dreaming established the laws and structures of society and the ceremonies performed to ensure continuity of life and land. The Dutch East India Company ship, Duyfken , captained by Willem Janszoon , made the first documented European landing in Australia in 1606. Later that year, Luís Vaz de Torres sailed to
2430-553: The limits of location of the nineteen counties redundant. The counties continue to be used for cadastral division purposes, and the rest of New South Wales was likewise divided into counties, totaling 141 by the end of the 19th century. In January 1819, John Bigge was appointed a special commissioner to examine the government of the colony of New South Wales. Bigge arrived in Sydney in September 1819 gathering evidence until February 1821 when he returned to England. Bigge's first report
2520-449: The Aboriginal people. In 1769, Lieutenant James Cook in command of HMS Endeavour , travelled to Tahiti to observe and record the transit of Venus . Cook also carried secret Admiralty instructions to locate the supposed Southern Continent . Unable to find this continent, Cook decided to survey the east coast of New Holland, the only major part of that continent that had not been charted by Dutch navigators. On 19 April 1770,
2610-472: The British government withdrew the extensive territorial claim over the South Pacific, passing an act specifying that Tahiti, New Zealand and other islands of the South Pacific were not within His Majesty's dominions. However, it is unclear whether the claim ever extended to the current islands of New Zealand. Governor Phillip was vested with complete authority over the inhabitants of the colony. His intention
2700-543: The Company in it, but rather very certain and heavy costs". In contrast, Emanuel Bowen , in 1747, promoted the benefits of exploring and colonising the country, writing: It is impossible to conceive a Country that promises fairer from its Situation than this of TERRA AUSTRALIS , no longer incognita, as this Map demonstrates, but the Southern Continent Discovered. It lies precisely in the richest climates of
2790-568: The Crown lands came into Melbourne on horseback, and marched to the place of the meeting with flags flying, preceded by a Highland piper playing martial airs. At this meeting petitions were adopted to be transmitted to the several branches of the Home and Colonial Legislatures, requesting alterations in the law of Crown lands and a total separation from the Middle District (New South Wales). A new association
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2880-441: The Crown, without the negative connotation of earlier times. The term soon developed a class association, suggesting an elevated socio-economic status and entrepreneurial attitude. By 1840 squatters were recognized as being amongst the wealthiest men in the colony of New South Wales, many of them from upper and middle-class English and Scottish families. As legally unoccupied land with frontage to permanent water became more scarce,
2970-461: The New World from 1718 to 1775 and was now searching for an alternative. The temporary solution of floating prison hulks had reached capacity and was a public health hazard, while the option of building more jails and workhouses was deemed too expensive. In 1779, Sir Joseph Banks , the eminent scientist who had accompanied James Cook on his 1770 voyage, recommended Botany Bay as a suitable site for
3060-727: The Riverina and the lower Darling River. The greater number of selections were made by squatters or their agents, or by selectors unable to establish themselves or who sought to gain by re-sale. The Crown Lands Act of 1884, introduced in the wake of the Morris-Ranken inquiry, sought to compromise between the integrity of the large pastoral leaseholds and the political requirements of equality of land availability and closer settlement patterns. The Act divided pastoral runs into Leasehold Areas (held under short-term leases) and Resumed Areas (available for settlement as smaller homestead leases) and allowed for
3150-646: The Western side I can make no new discovery the honour of which belongs to the Dutch Navigators and as such they may lay Claim to it as their property [italicised words crossed out in the original] but the Eastern Coast from the Latitude of 38 South down to this place I am confident was never seen or viseted by any European before us and therefore by the same Rule belongs to great Brittan " [italicised words crossed out in
3240-625: The World [...] Here a Thousand Sail of the Line may ride in the most perfect Security'. The territory of New South Wales claimed by Britain included all of Australia eastward of the meridian of 135° East. This included more than half of mainland Australia. The claim also included "all the Islands adjacent in the Pacific" between the latitudes of Cape York and the southern tip of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). In 1817,
3330-524: The World... and therefore whoever perfectly discovers and settles it will become infalliably possessed of Territories as Rich, as fruitful, and as capable of Improvement, as any that have hitherto been found out, either in the East Indies or the West. John Harris, in his Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca, or Voyages and Travels (1744–1748, 1764) recommended exploration of the east coast of New Holland, with
3420-543: The acquisition of runs increasingly required larger capital outlays. A "run" is defined in Christopher Pemberton Hodgson 's 1846 Reminiscences of Australia, with Hints on the Squatter's Life as: "land claimed by the Squatter as sheepwalks, open, as nature left them, without any improvement from the Squatter." Eventually the term squatter came to refer to a person of high social prestige who grazes livestock on
3510-441: The arrival from Britain of Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1810. Macquarie served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales , from 1810 to 1821, and had a leading role in the social and economic development of New South Wales which saw it transition from a penal colony to a budding civil society. He established a bank, a currency and a hospital. He employed a planner to design the street layout of Sydney and commissioned
3600-626: The boundaries within which the survey instructed by Bathurst in 1825 was to be conducted. The boundaries were the Manning River to the north, the Lachlan river to the west and the Moruya river to the south. Settlement beyond these boundaries was not to take place. The survey would allow the allocation of land grants and the boundaries, known as the limits of location , were used for other administrative purposes including police administration. Darling proclaimed
3690-453: The broad framework of the Land Acts to maximise their advantages in the ensuing scramble for land. There was a general manipulation of the system by squatters, selectors and profiteers alike. The legislation secured access to the squatter's land for the selector, but thereafter effectively left him to fend for himself. Amendments passed in 1875 sought to remedy some of the abuses perpetrated under
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3780-456: The climate and environment. About 30,000 years ago, sea levels began to fall, temperatures in the south-east of the continent dropped by as much as 9 degrees Celsius, and the interior of Australia became more arid. About 20,000 years ago, New Guinea and Tasmania were connected to the Australian continent, which was more than a quarter larger than today. About 19,000 years ago temperatures and sea levels began to rise. Tasmania became separated from
3870-475: The colonial population increased, the occupation of pastoral land for raising cattle and sheep progressively became a more lucrative enterprise. Squatting had become so widespread by the mid-1830s that Government policy in New South Wales towards the practice shifted from opposition to regulation and control. By that stage, the term squatter was applied to those who occupied land under a lease or license from
3960-506: The colony of New South Wales was challenged in the 1860s with the passing of Land Acts that allowed those with limited means to acquire land. With the stated intention of encouraging closer settlement and fairer allocation of land by allowing "free selection before survey", the Land Acts legislation was passed in 1861. The relevant acts were named the Crown Lands Alienation Act and Crown Lands Occupation Act . The application of
4050-484: The colony of New South Wales. During Governor Brisbane's term, however, land grants were more readily made. In addition regulations introduced during Brisbane's term enabled settlers to purchase (with his permission) up to 4,000 acres (16 km) at 5s an acre (with superior quality land priced at 7s 6d). During Governor Brisbane's four years in office the total amount of land in private hands virtually doubled. The impetus for squatting activities during this early phase
4140-624: The colony was self-sufficient in grain. Boat building developed in order to make travel easier and exploit the marine resources of the coastal settlements. Sealing and whaling became important industries. The New South Wales Corps was formed in England in 1789 as a permanent regiment of the British Army to relieve the marines who had accompanied the First Fleet. Officers of the Corps soon became involved in
4230-511: The colony's exports and by 1850 most of the eastern third of New South Wales was controlled by fewer than 2,000 pastoralists. Nineteen Counties The Nineteen Counties were the limits of location in the colony of New South Wales , Australia. Settlers were permitted to take up land only within the counties due to the dangers in the wilderness. They were defined by the Governor of New South Wales Ralph Darling in 1826 in accordance with
4320-778: The colony's official limits. From 1833 Commissioners of Crown Lands were appointed under the Encroachment Act to manage squatting. From 1836 legislation was passed to legalise squatting with grazing rights available for ten pounds per year. This fee was for a lease of the land, rather than ownership, which is what the squatters wanted. The 1847 Orders in Council divided land into settled, intermediate and unsettled areas, with pastoral leases of one, eight and 14 years for each category respectively. From here on, squatters were able to purchase parts of their land, as opposed to just leasing it. Squatters fought battles with European weapons against
4410-429: The colony. He appointed emancipists to key government positions including Francis Greenway as colonial architect and William Redfern as a magistrate. His policy on emancipists was opposed by many influential free settlers, officers and officials, and London became concerned at the cost of his public works. In 1819, London appointed J. T. Bigge to conduct an inquiry into the colony, and Macquarie resigned shortly before
4500-440: The consensus of elders. The traditional economy was cooperative, with males generally hunting large game while females gathered local staples such as small animals, shellfish, vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts. Food was shared within groups and exchanged across groups. Some Aboriginal groups engaged in fire-stick farming , fish farming , and built semi-permanent shelters . The extent to which some groups engaged in agriculture
4590-550: The construction of roads, wharves, churches, and public buildings. He sent explorers out from Sydney and, in 1815, a road across the Blue Mountains was completed, opening the way for large scale farming and grazing in the lightly wooded pastures west of the Great Dividing Range . Central to Macquarie's policy was his treatment of the emancipists , whom he considered should be treated as social equals to free-settlers in
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#17328511934674680-488: The corrupt and lucrative rum trade in the colony. Governor William Bligh (1806 – 1808) tried to suppress the rum trade and the illegal use of Crown Land, resulting in the Rum Rebellion of 1808. The Corps, working closely with the newly established wool trader John Macarthur , staged the only successful armed takeover of government in Australian history, deposing Bligh and instigating a brief period of military rule prior to
4770-415: The establishment of local Land Boards. Prior to 1851, squatters paid a licence fee of £10 per year (regardless of area), with no surety of tenure from one year to the next. After 1851, leases could be acquired for 14 years, with annual rent. The Strangways Land Act in 1869 provided for replacing large pastoral runs with closer-settled more intensive farming . A significant proportion of squatters opposed
4860-449: The experiment had proved unsuccessful. In 1783, the Pitt government considered exiling convicts to a small river island in Gambia where they could form a self-governing community, a "colony of thieves", at no expense to the government. In 1785, a parliamentary select committee chaired by Lord Beauchamp recommended against the Gambia plan, but failed to endorse the alternative of Botany Bay. In
4950-412: The fleet moved to the more suitable Port Jackson where a settlement was established at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788. This date later became Australia's national day, Australia Day . The colony was formally proclaimed by Governor Phillip on 7 February 1788 at Sydney. Sydney Cove offered a fresh water supply and a safe harbour, which Phillip described as being, 'with out exception the finest Harbour in
5040-606: The government's original motives were in establishing the colony, by the 1790s it had at least achieved the imperial objective of providing a harbour where vessels could be careened and resupplied. The colony of New South Wales was established with the arrival of the First Fleet of 11 vessels under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip in January 1788. It consisted of more than a thousand settlers, including 778 convicts (192 women and 586 men). A few days after arrival at Botany Bay
5130-544: The hard labour and poor food. The food situation reached crisis point in 1790 and the Second Fleet which finally arrived in June 1790 had lost a quarter of its passengers through sickness, while the condition of the convicts of the Third Fleet appalled Phillip. From 1791, however, the more regular arrival of ships and the beginnings of trade lessened the feeling of isolation and improved supplies. In 1788, Phillip established
5220-609: The islands on the northern tip of the Australian landmass. Dutch navigators explored the western and southern coasts in the 17th century and named the continent New Holland . Macassan trepangers visited Australia's northern coasts from around 1720, and possibly earlier. In 1770, Lieutenant James Cook charted the east coast of Australia and claimed it for Great Britain . He returned to London with accounts favouring colonisation at Botany Bay (now in Sydney ). The First Fleet of British ships arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788 to establish
5310-412: The islands were later annexed by Queensland, choosing to remain a part of Australia when Papua New Guinea gained independence from Australia a century later. Gold rushes and agricultural industries brought prosperity. Transportation of British convicts to Australia was phased out from 1840 to 1868. Autonomous parliamentary democracies began to be established throughout the six British colonies from
5400-464: The land and people of the north coast below New Guinea. Following Tasman's voyages, the Dutch were able to make almost complete maps of Australia's northern and western coasts and much of its southern and south-eastern Tasmanian coasts . William Dampier , an English buccaneer and explorer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688 and again in 1699, and published influential descriptions of
5490-492: The land were created by ancestral beings, a group's particular country provided physical and spiritual nourishment. Aboriginal Australians developed a unique artistic and spiritual culture. The earliest Aboriginal rock art consists of hand-prints, hand-stencils, and engravings of circles, tracks, lines and cupules, and has been dated to 35,000 years ago. Around 20,000 year ago Aboriginal artists were depicting humans and animals. According to Australian Aboriginal mythology and
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#17328511934675580-448: The larger holdings have been broken up, or, in more isolated areas, have been sold to corporate interests. In April 1844 Governor Gipps made two regulations with the intention of remodelling the squatting system. The first, gazetted on 2 April, permitted squatters to occupy runs on payment of £10 for every 20 square miles (52 km). The second regulation allowed squatters after 5 years occupancy to purchase 320 acres (130 hectares) of
5670-400: The legislation was delayed until 1866 in inland areas such as the Riverina where existing squatting leases were still to run their course. In any case severe drought in the Riverina in the late 1860s initially discouraged selection in areas except those close to established townships. Selection activity increased with more favourable seasons in the early 1870s. Both selectors and squatters used
5760-436: The local Indigenous Australian communities in the areas they occupied, though such battles were rarely investigated. These battles and massacres are the subject of the history wars , being the term for an ongoing public discussion on Australia's interpretation of its history. Squatters were only occasionally prosecuted for killing indigenous people. The first conviction of white men for the massacre of Indigenous people followed
5850-480: The locally born exceeded the convict population of New South Wales. From the 1820s squatters increasingly established unauthorised cattle and sheep runs beyond the official limits of the settled colony. In 1836, a system of annual licences authorising grazing on Crown Land was introduced in an attempt to control the pastoral industry , but booming wool prices and the high cost of land in the settled areas encouraged further squatting. By 1844 wool accounted for half of
5940-723: The mainland from about 14,000 years ago. As a result, they only possessed one quarter of the tools and equipment of the adjacent mainland. Coastal Tasmanians switched from fish to abalone and crayfish and more Tasmanians moved to the interior. Around 4,000 years ago the first phase of occupation of the Torres Strait Islands began. By 2,500 years ago more of the islands were occupied and a distinctive Torres Strait Islander maritime culture emerged. Agriculture also developed on some islands and by 700 years ago villages appeared. Aboriginal society consisted of family groups organised into bands and clans averaging about 25 people, each with
6030-615: The mainland some 14,000 years ago, and between 8,000 and 6,000 years ago thousands of islands in the Torres Strait and around the coast of Australia were formed. The warmer climate was associated with new technologies. Small back-bladed stone tools appeared 15–19 thousand years ago. Wooden javelins and boomerangs have been found dating from 10,000 years ago. Stone points for spears have been found dating from 5–7 thousand years ago. Spear throwers were probably developed more recently than 6,500 years ago. Aboriginal Tasmanians were isolated from
6120-427: The map. Despite the uncertainty of land tenure, squatters ran large numbers of sheep and cattle beyond the boundaries. From 1836 they could legally do so, paying £ 10 per year for the right. From 1847 leases in the unsettled areas were allowed for up to 14 years. The Robertson Land Acts of 1861 allowed unlimited selection and sale of agricultural crown land in designated unsettled areas at £1 per acre, making
6210-614: The mid-19th century. The colonies voted by referendum to unite in a federation in 1901, and modern Australia came into being. Australia fought as part of British Empire and later Commonwealth in the two world wars and was to become a long-standing ally of the United States through the Cold War to the present. Trade with Asia increased and a post-war immigration program received more than 7 million migrants from every continent. Supported by immigration of people from almost every country in
6300-691: The mid-twentieth century, as well as the Squattocracy's close historic links with the British Aristocracy, with whom they frequently intermarried. The film's star, Nicole Kidman , is herself a relative of the prominent squatter family the Kidmans, who, at the height of their power, held 107,000 square miles of land in Central Australia. The strategy board game Squatter is named for the term. History of Australia The history of Australia
6390-621: The movement for self-determination by workers that gained impetus in the last decades of the 19th century in Australia. The events of the shearers' strike of 1891 and the harsh counter-measures by government and squatters left a bitter legacy that adversely affected class relationships in the ensuing decades. The squattocracy have historically retained close ties to Britain. Many families retained properties in both Britain and Australia, often retiring to Britain after making their fortune and leaving vast stretches of land to be controlled by hired staff or younger sons. Prominent Australian families from
6480-417: The new settlement having survived near starvation and immense isolation for four years. After the departure of Phillip, the colony's military officers began acquiring land and importing consumer goods obtained from visiting ships. Former convicts also farmed land granted to them and engaged in trade. Farms spread to the more fertile lands surrounding Paramatta , Windsor , Richmond and Camden , and by 1803
6570-512: The north of Australia through Torres Strait , along New Guinea's southern coast. In 1616, Dirk Hartog , sailing off course, en route from the Cape of Good Hope to Batavia , landed on an island off Shark Bay , Western Australia. In 1622–23 the ship Leeuwin made the first recorded rounding of the southwest corner of the continent. In 1627, the south coast of Australia was discovered by François Thijssen and named after Pieter Nuyts . In 1628,
6660-507: The north of the continent, is perhaps the oldest site of human occupation in Australia. From the north, the population spread into a range of very different environments. Devil's Lair in the extreme south-west of the continent was occupied around 47,000 years ago and Tasmania by 39,000 years ago. The oldest human remains found are at Lake Mungo in New South Wales, which have been dated to around 41,000 years ago. The site suggests one of
6750-510: The only land that was to be made available for sale was within the Nineteen Counties. The area covered by the limit extended to Taree in the north, Moruya River in the south and Wellington to the West. The Nineteen Counties were mapped by the Surveyor General Major Thomas Mitchell in 1834. The scale of the map that Mitchell produced was determined by the amount of ship's copper available in Sydney to engrave
6840-473: The original selection legislation. However discontent was rife and a political shift in the early 1880s saw the setting up of a commission to inquire into the effects of the land legislation. The Morris and Ranken committee of inquiry, which reported in 1883, found that the number of homesteads established was a small percentage of the applications for selections under the Act, especially in areas of low rainfall such as
6930-529: The original]. In March 1772 Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne , in command of two French ships, reached Van Diemen's land on his way to Tahiti and the South Seas. His party became the first recorded Europeans to encounter the Indigenous Tasmanians and to kill one of them. In the same year, a French expedition led by Louis Aleno de St Aloüarn , became the first Europeans to formally claim sovereignty over
7020-418: The present day multicultural democracy. Aboriginal Australians settled throughout continental Australia and many nearby islands. The artistic , musical and spiritual traditions they established are among the longest surviving in human history. The ancestors of today's ethnically and culturally distinct Torres Strait Islanders arrived from what is now Papua New Guinea around 2,500 years ago, and settled
7110-651: The report of the inquiry was published. In 1820, British settlement was largely confined to a 100 kilometre radius around Sydney and to the central plain of Van Diemen's land. The settler population was 26,000 on the mainland and 6,000 in Van Diemen's Land. Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 the transportation of convicts increased rapidly and the number of free settlers grew steadily. From 1821 to 1840, 55,000 convicts arrived in New South Wales and 60,000 in Van Diemen's Land. However, by 1830, free settlers and
7200-580: The squattocracy include: Literature: The power of the squatters, including their affinity with the police, is referenced in Banjo Paterson 's " Waltzing Matilda ", Australia's most famous folk song. Clara Morison by Catherine Helen Spence explores the power of Australia to transform those with a lowly social station in Britain into the Aristocracy of a new world. Mary Theresa Vidal 's 1860 novel Bengala
7290-612: The survey one seventh of the land in each county was to be set a side for the Church of England and an educational system under the control of the church. Income from this land was to be managed under the Church and Schools Corporation. When Governor Darling was commissioned in July 1825, his commission extended the New South Wales boundary six degrees to the west compared with the commissions issued to previous governors. In September 1826, Darling announced
7380-491: The west coast of Australia, but no attempt was made to follow this with colonisation. Although various proposals for the colonisation of Australia were made prior to 1788, none were attempted. In 1717, Jean-Pierre Purry sent a plan to the Dutch East India Company for the colonisation of an area in modern South Australia. The company rejected the plan with the comment that, "There is no prospect of use or benefit to
7470-508: The world since the end of World War II, the population increased to more than 25.5 million by 2021 , with 30 per cent of the population born overseas. The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians moved into what is now the Australian continent about 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the last glacial period , arriving by land bridges and short sea crossings from what is now Southeast Asia. The Madjedbebe rock shelter in Arnhem Land , in
7560-408: The world's oldest known cremations, indicating early evidence for religious ritual among humans. The spread of the population also altered the environment. From 46,000 years ago, firestick farming was used in many parts of Australia to clear vegetation, make travel easier, and create open grasslands rich in animal and vegetable food sources. The Aboriginal population faced significant changes in
7650-436: Was an expanding market for meat as the population of Sydney increased. The first steps in establishing wool production in New South Wales also created an increased demand for land. Squatting activity was often carried out by emancipist and native-born colonists as they sought to define and consolidate their place within society. From 1824 there were acts and regulations to limit squatting. The "limits of location", also known as
7740-450: Was considered the new Queensland colony's greatest asset and its prosperity as a colony was measured according to the extent of land settlement. Rent from land leases was the colony's largest revenue earner. The initial political contest was between the squatters who controlled large tracts of land and the new immigrants who wanted small land holdings. The resumption of squatters' land for division into smaller farms (known as closer settlement)
7830-574: Was formed at this meeting, and designated the Pastoral Society of Australian Felix. In the 1860s several colonies passed legislation to permit selection . In the colony of Victoria , the 1860 Land Act allowed free selection of Crown land, including that occupied by pastoral leases. The process of land selection in Queensland began in 1860 and continued under a series of land acts in subsequent years. Separated from New South Wales in 1859, land
7920-500: Was promoted by the Queensland Government to attract immigrants to Queensland. Although Queensland legislation was framed with the aim of a comprehensive land policy, lobbying by both groups led to numerous rule changes about the conditions of occupancy of the land and who had priority. Consequently there were over 50 principal and amending acts covering all land legislation up to 1910. The squatters' grip on agricultural land in
8010-451: Was published in June 1822 and his second and third reports in 1823. His third report dealt with agriculture and trade. In 1824, Governor Brisbane approved the sale of crown land in accordance with one of Bigge's recommendations. Previously only a nominal quit rent was required for grants by the crown. In 1825, Secretary of State Lord Bathurst instructed Governor Brisbane to survey the territory to allow for more planned settlement. During
8100-410: Was to establish harmonious relations with local Aboriginal people and try to reform as well as discipline the convicts of the colony. Early efforts at agriculture were fraught and supplies from overseas were scarce. Between 1788 and 1792 about 3546 male and 766 female convicts were landed at Sydney. Many new arrivals were sick or unfit for work and the condition of healthy convicts also deteriorated due to
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