1839.] GOVERNMENT. 259 



was made the seat of government. In 1834, a settlement 

 was formed on Vincent's Gulf, called South Australia, under 

 the patronage of a joint stock association constituted in Eng- 

 land, to whom the management of the affairs of the colony 

 was intrusted. The association had the power of disposing 

 of the unappropriated lands within the colonial limits, on 

 condition that the proceeds should be devoted, in the first in- 

 stance, to replacing the outlay incurred on the original estab- 

 lishment of the colony, and then to be applied for the com- 

 mon benefit of the inhabitants. It was further stipulated, 

 that the colony should remain under the immediate su- 

 perintendence of the crown, — the governor appointed by 

 whom was also to be the agent of the company, — till the 

 population should reach fifty thousand, when a representative 

 legislature might be organized. This colony enjoyed a large 

 share of prosperity for several years ; the price of land, in 

 March, 1836, rose as high as a pound sterling per acre ; and 

 by the 1st of January, 1838, 64,358 acres had been sold. 

 But a period of severe financial embarrassment now followed; 

 in 1841, the land sales amounted to only three hundred and 

 twenty acres ; and in 1842, there were less than one hun- 

 dred and fifty immigrants arrived. Still, this colony pos- 

 sesses many of the elements of wealth ; it contains some of 

 the finest pasture lands in Australia, and there are nearly 

 half a million of sheep, many of which are merinos, now 

 owned by its inhabitants. 



In 1838, a new colony was established to the south-east 

 of New South Wales, to which it was annexed, and received 

 the name of Port Phillip. This settlement lies in the region 

 known as Australia Felix, one of the most delightful and 

 productive tracts of country, as may be inferred from the 

 appellation bestowed upon it, in all Australia. In the course 

 of the previous year, it was, by some means, understood, 

 that the French government were preparing an expedition to 

 form a settlement in northern Australia. They were antici- 

 pated, however, by the English authorities ; who, in 1838, 

 dispatched a number of persons, and an armed force, to estab- 



