A Source Book of Australian History Part 13

The wool industry in Australia was founded by John MacArthur. Once established, the flocks increased rapidly in numbers and quality, and as it became possible to export wool, its manufacture was stimulated in the older countries. The annual value of Australia's wool export is now over 26,000,000.

GOVERNOR KING TO EARL CAMDEN

Sydney, N.S.W., _20th July, 1805._

My Lord,

By Mr. MacArthur, who arrived the 9th Ult'o, I had the honour of receiving your Lordship's Letters dated as per margin.

It will be my Duty and Interest to pay the strictest attention to His Majesty's Commands and your Lordship's wishes in every point that can advance the increase and improvement of the breed of sheep for which a better foundation could not be laid, or the Success more ensured, than the progressive increase of the Stock throughout the Colony. Mr.

MacArthur possesses at least a third of the Numbers, a considerable part of which were reported at the last muster to bear Wool of the finest kind, and the rest, as well as the other flocks, are continually improving from the hairy Coverings of the original breed to wool of different qualities, princ.i.p.ally owing to the introduction of a few Spanish Rams some years ago.

Soon after Mr. MacArthur's arrival we conversed together respecting the Objects of his laudable and, I hope, successful pursuits for the general benefit of the Colony, as well as for that of his Family, which he now regards as attached to the soil. His having bought a Ship to be employed in the Whale Fishery, I consider an object equally laudable and beneficial, exclusive of his being able to export the Wool of his increasing breed to England once in Eighteen Months or Two Years, and returning with Articles of use and Comfort to sell the Inhabitants. Nor ought I to doubt from his a.s.surances, that every expected benefit may be derived from his exertions, as he is certainly very equal to conduct and promote the Object he has so earnestly and, I hope, successfully embarked in. To attain which he does and will possess every local advantage that a good Stock to begin with, a good Climate, and fine natural pastorage can offer.

Taking your Lordship's Letter No. 18 as a data, respecting the Land to be located to Mr. MacArthur, wherein you do me the honour to signify His Majesty's Commands that "I will have a proper grant of Lands, fit for the pasture of sheep, conveyed to the said John MacArthur Esquire, in perpetuity, with the usual reserve of Quit-Rents to the Crown, containing not less than Five Thousand Acres," and Your Lordship having noticed that "It will be impossible for Mr. MacArthur to pursue this plan unless he shall be indulged with a reasonable number of Convicts (which he states to be not less than thirty) for the purpose of attending his sheep, and that as Mr. MacArthur will take upon himself the Charges of maintaining these Convicts, a saving will accrue to Government; and that you doubt not I will provide him with such as shall appear as most suitable to his Objects."

In order to expedite Mr. MacArthur's Object of exporting fine Wool to England, I have directed One hundred of the finest woolled Ewes from Government Stock to be chosen for this gentleman to add to his own, for which he is to pay Grain into the Stores at the rate of Two Pounds sterling for each Ewe. As I do not consider it an Object for Government to interfere in this pursuit, Seeing that the greatest exertions will be made by Mr. MacArthur, And notwithstanding every attention has been paid to improve the Fleeces of Government Sheep, Yet that Stock will always be a reserve for supplying present and future Settlers with proportions thereof, which will at once save the Necessity of purchasing to Supply New Settlers who have Claims, and preserve a residue for those deserving characters who may be allowed the advantage of exchanging Grain for Ewes, agreeable to my Lord Hobart's Acquiescence with my proposal on that Subject.

The number of Male Convicts a.s.signed to Mr. MacArthur for the Care of his Stock, etc., previous to his return, was Sixteen; Since then they have been increased to Thirty, exclusive of those hired and retained in his service who have served their terms. Should Mr. MacArthur wish for an increase, they shall be a.s.signed him when more arrive from England; but your Lordship will observe by the number and employment Return that the Public Labour absolutely necessary to be carried on, and in which Agriculture on the part of the Crown is nearly given up, will not allow of more Men being a.s.signed at present until more arrive.

I have, etc.,

PHILLIP GIDLEY KING.

MACARTHUR'S OBSERVATIONS ON SHEEP-FARMING

A Report of the State of Mr. MacArthur's Flocks of Sheep, with some observations on the Advantages which may be expected from the Growth of fine Wool in New South Wales.

Paramatta, N.S.W., _2nd Oct., 1805._

The fine Woolled Sheep imported here from the Cape of Good Hope in the Year 1797 were said to be of the Spanish Breed. The excellence of the fleece of these Sheep combined with the consideration of their peculiar form, bears strong evidence in favour of the Correctness of this Report, tho' it is impossible to say whether they originally sprung from the best kind of Sheep that is bred in Spain. Be this as it may nothing is better established than that the Wool of this Breed of Sheep has considerably improved in this Climate, and as Mr. MacArthur has had the good fortune to bring out from England Four Rams and one Ewe, purchased from His Majesty's Flock of Spanish Sheep, It is to be hoped that these valuable animals will be the cause of a still further Melioration in the Quality of our Wool. Indeed there appears no reason to fear but that the Wool of this Country may by care and judicious Management be placed on an equality with the very best that is grown in Spain. It has been Mr.

MacArthur's invariable practice to keep the Spanish Breed apart from all others, and as fast as Spanish Rams have been reared they have been put among the coa.r.s.e-woolled Ewes. The result of this system has proved extremely satisfactory, his Flocks now consist of more than Five Thousand, of these Sixty are of the pure Spanish kind, and the whole are much improved in the quality of the Wool; he is of Opinion the best judge will be unable to discover any material difference between the perfect and the mixed Breed in Seven years.

With respect to Const.i.tution, Size, and Apt.i.tude to fatten, he has tried all the Breeds he could obtain in the Colony, and he has found the Spanish surpa.s.s them all in every one of these qualities. In the representations that Mr. MacArthur had the honour to make in England to His Majesty's Ministers, he stated that he thought a Flock of Sheep would double itself in Two Years and a half, longer experience induces him to think it may be done in rather less time; but in the Estimate he now proposes to make, he will govern himself by the same data on which his original Calculations were made, for he is desirous rather to repress too sanguine Expectations than to encourage such as may prove fallacious.

Estimating the Sheep in New South Wales at Twenty Thousand, a plain Arithmetical progression will prove that the present Stock may increase in Twenty Years to Five Millions, and calculating two pounds and a half of clear washed Wool to each Sheep, they would produce almost twice as much Wool as England now purchases from Spain at an Annual expense of One Million Eight Hundred Thousand pounds.

Should Great Britain still require a much larger supply, Sheep can be easily multiplied to any Extent in the immeasurable Forest which Surrounds us.

It is difficult for the Mind to embrace all the Advantages which must flow from the Successful Progression of this great National Object; for if we contemplate the progress of the Cotton Manufactory we shall see that at the commencement of the Eighteenth Century the quant.i.ties of raw cotton imported into England did not exceed Two Millions of Pounds weight. At this period it amounts to more than Twenty Millions; and altho' its price has considerably advanced, yet Manufactured Cotton Goods have fallen full Two Hundred per cent. This prodigious diminution in price is attributable to no other cause than the introduction of Machinery, by which the expense of Manual Labour is comparatively reduced to nothing.

Now, repeated experiments have demonstrated that the same Machinery is equally applicable to every Branch of the Woollen Manufactory, and in truth it would long since have been adopted, but for the popular Clamour that thousands of Labourers would be thrown out of employment. "It cannot be denied," say its Opponents, "that Machinery would reduce the price of Woollen, as it has done that of Cotton Cloths, but the two Cases bear no a.n.a.logy, for when Machinery was applied in the Manufacture of Cotton the increased Quant.i.ty of the raw material furnished abundance of Employment in some other branch to those whose Labour the Machine superseded. Make but the same experiment in the Woollen Manufactory, and its fatal effects upon the poor will soon be felt; for as you cannot increase the quant.i.ty of Animal Wool now being brought into the Market, any Invention that has a tendency to diminish Manual Labour is, and must be, pernicious."

This reasoning has had great weight on the Minds of best informed Men; but if we can by our united Efforts (as a.s.suredly we can) raise in this Colony any Quant.i.ty of fine Wool, all its force would be at once demolished. Whatever the demands of Great Britain may be for that Commodity, we certainly may supply it. The universal use of Machinery might then be safely sanctioned, and the British Manufacturers would be enabled so to reduce the price of Woollen Cloths, as would a.s.sure throughout the world the most Monopoly that any people ever possessed.

We also should largely partic.i.p.ate in the profits of this gainful Trade and should enjoy the pleasing Consolation that our Labours were contributing to the Support and Prosperity of that parent Country to whom our debt of Grat.i.tude can never be paid.

JOHN MACARTHUR.

EMANCIPIST CONTROVERSY

+Source.+--Historical Records of Australia. Vol. VII, pp. 245, 580-617

A storm of protest was aroused among the free settlers by the action of Governor Macquarie in recognizing convicts as ordinary members of society directly their terms of imprisonment had expired. The free community became sharply divided into emancipists and anti-emancipists.

GOVERNOR MACQUARIE TO VISCOUNT CASTLEREAGH

Sydney, N.S.W., _30 April, 1810._

My Lord,

I had the honour to address Your Lordship by Lieutenant-Colonel Foveaux in a brief Despatch, under dates the eighth and twelfth of last Month; but lest that Despatch may not get safe to Hand I shall in my present one recapitulate the substance of my last, and furnish your Lordship with a more detailed Account of my Proceedings.

I was very much surprised and concerned on my arrival here, at the extraordinary and illiberal Policy I found had been adopted by all the Persons who had preceded me in Office respecting those men who had been originally sent out to this Country as Convicts, but who, by long habits of Industry and total Reformation of Manners, had not only become respectable, but by many degrees the most Useful Members of the Community. Those persons have never been countenanced or received into society. I have, nevertheless, taken upon Myself to adopt a new line of conduct, Conceiving that Emanc.i.p.ation, when united with Rect.i.tude and long-tried good Conduct, should land a man back to that Rank in Society which he had forfeited, and do away, in as far as the Case will admit, all Retrospect of former bad Conduct. This appears to me to be the greatest Inducement that can be held out towards the Reformation of the Manners of the Inhabitants, and I think it is consistent with the gracious and Humane Intentions of His Majesty and His Ministers in favour of this cla.s.s of people. I am aware it is a measure which must be resorted to with great Caution and Delicacy; but I am hopeful that in time it may be extended beyond the line within which I must restrict myself for the present. The Number of Persons of this Description whom I have yet admitted to my Table consist of only four. Namely: Mr. D'Arcy Wentworth, Princ.i.p.al Surgeon; Mr. William Redfern, a.s.sistant Surgeon; Mr. Andrew Thompson, an opulent Farmer and Proprietor of Land; and Mr.

Simeon Lord, an opulent Merchant. Three of these Persons have acquired Property to a large amount; they have long conducted themselves with the greatest Propriety, and I find them at all times ready to come forward in the most liberal manner to the a.s.sistance of the Government. In order to mark my sense of the merits of Mr. Andrew Thompson, I have already appointed him a Justice of the Peace and Magistrate of the Hawkesbury, where he has a large property, and I intend to confer the same Marks of Distinction on Mr. Wentworth and Mr. Simeon Lord when Vacancies in the Magistracy at Sydney, where they both reside, may occur.

Before I conclude this Despatch, permit me to express my grateful acknowledgements to your Lordship for the Appointment I have now the Honour to Hold, and to a.s.sure your Lordship that, as far as my judgement and Abilities extend, I shall exert them in the faithful discharge of the Trust reposed in me, with the Hope that in the wide field for improvement here, my Services may not be unimportant, and that they will ultimately meet with the Approbation of my Sovereign and His Majesty's Ministers, and thereby Confirm the Opinion you did me the Honour to form in my Favour.

I have, etc.,

L. MACQUARIE.

GOVERNOR MACQUARIE TO EARL OF LIVERPOOL

Sydney, N.S.W., _17th Nov., 1812._

My Lord,

Since my last Public Despatch under Date 28th Oct. 1811, Transmitted per ship Friends, via Rio-de-Janeiro, I have been honoured with Your Lordship's Several Despatches, under Dates 26th July 1811, and 4th, 5th and 19th May, 1812; and also the several other Letters with their respective Enclosures and Accompanying Doc.u.ments from Your Lordship or the Under-Secretary of State, as noted in the margin.

In the first Despatch I had the Honour of addressing to Lord Castlereagh (Your Lordship's immediate Predecessor in Office) under date the 30th of April, 1810, I stated my Reasons for restoring those Persons _who had been Convicts_, to that Rank in Society, which they had lost, but which, by long habits of Rect.i.tude and Meritorious Conduct in this Colony they were fully ent.i.tled to be restored to. I have found the greatest benefit to result from the adoption of this System of Policy. Some Men who had been Convicts have been appointed Magistrates by me; Some of the same Description of Men have been honoured with His Majesty's Commission, which in my Mind is alone a sufficient proof of the eligibility of these persons for any Society. On all occasions I have found and experienced very great a.s.sistance from those Persons in the Habitual and Zealous discharge of the Several Duties attached to their respective Situations; and they act at all times as if they conceived it to be their indispensable and first Duty to a.s.sist the Government of the Country.

Altho' the princ.i.p.al Leaders, who headed the Faction which occasioned so much mischief and Anarchy in this Country (previous to my arrival), have left it, Yet the Seeds of it were so deeply sown that a considerable part of that factious spirit still exists among some discontented and disaffected Persons in this Colony, whose restless and Vicious Minds cannot endure any Control or legitimate form of Government. The only measure of mine which to my knowledge they have dared to attempt to counteract, is this extension of just and humane Indulgence to those Persons (who had formerly been Convicts), whom I have brought forward and patronised by admitting them to my Society, but whom the factious Persons herein alluded to found it advantageous to their Interests and illiberal Prejudices to consider as Outcasts, beneath their notice and for ever doomed to oblivion and Neglect.

It would therefore be highly gratifying and Satisfactory to Me, if Your Lordship would have the goodness to honour me with a Communication of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent's Sentiments on this Subject which I consider as one of the greatest possible Interest and Importance to the Welfare, Prosperity and Happiness of this rising Colony; which, as it was originally settled for the Reception, Punishment, and eventual Improvement of Convicts, appears to Me to require that their Improvement, Welfare and Happiness should form the first and chief Object of Attention in the important Duties entrusted to the Governor of it.

This Despatch will be delivered to your Lordship by Lieutenant Richard Lundin of the 73rd Regiment, to whom I take the liberty of referring Your Lordship for any particulars relative to the Colony that may have escaped my recollection in my Public Despatches; and I further beg leave to recommend him to your Lordship's Favour and Protection.

I have, etc.,

L. MACQUARIE.