TYPES OF SQUATTER 81 



Wliile the proportion of Scottish settlers in the popu- 

 lation of the United States during the first years of 

 independence hardly exceeded six per cent., the number 

 of Scots among the early squatters of New South Wales 

 was considerable. There were many, Mr. Bartley tells 

 us, settled on the Lower Darling, They were among 

 the first to push in advance. The three pioneer squatters 

 of (what is now) Queensland were Scots — John Campbell 

 and the brothers Leslie. About 1850 two Scots ex- 

 plored the comparatively unwatered country above the 

 Darling and eventually stocked it. One of these settled 

 at Memindie with sheep and the other at Pooncaree 

 with cattle. It has been said, with pardonable exag- 

 geration that the Scots own all the land in Australia, 

 while the Irish own all the public-houses. In Northern 

 and in other parts of Southern Queensland the same 

 ethnical feature is found. In Western Victoria Rolf 

 Boldrewood found them preponderant. "I wish I had 

 been a Scotchman, Rolf," said one of his squatting 

 associates to the genial author of Old Melbourne Me- 

 mories. " I should have had a good run and 20,000 

 sheep by this time." Yes, rephed his friend, and kept 

 them too. They figure not unfrequently, and not to 

 their disadvantage, in the gossipy writer's reminiscences 

 of his old squatting days. 



In all parts of Australia squatters have risen from the 

 ranks. Some of them known in West Victoria to the 

 Crown Lands Commissioner, Captain Fyans, were of a 

 very low class and lived in hovels. Another class 

 consisted of old shepherds, many of whom had become 

 wealthy and behaved A^dth discretion ; but most of 

 them, he considered, should have remained shepherds.* 



Dr. Lang relates that he had met with many squatters 

 of humble origin. One, in particular, from lowly 

 beginnings, had come to possess one of the largest 

 pastoral estabhshments in the country. f 



Most of the squatters on the great cattle-runs of 



* Victorian Pioneers, pp. 120-1. See also pp. 180-1. 

 t Account, i. 268. 



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