CHAPTER II. 

 FIRST AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT. 



Turning to the beginning of stock raising in Australia, the penal 

 nature of the settlement was scarcely favourable at first. There were 

 cows on board the first fleet, principally of' the Bengal breed, although 

 there were also cows shipped from England for the use of the officers 

 and their families. They are seldom mentioned in any of the official 

 reports for obvious reasons. ... In 18,00 Captain Kent imported 

 a Devon bull and a few Durham cows, which he afterwards sold to 

 the New South Wales Government at long prices. A. picture of Cap- 

 tain Kent's bull appears on the next page. The insurrection against 

 Governor Bligh, headed by Captain John Macarthur, marks the dawn 

 of squatterdom in Australia. The disaffected we're anxious to have the 

 lands unlocked ; the British authorities favoured, but Bligh opposed 

 granting Macarthur 5000 acres, and threatened he should not keep his 

 10,000 acres at Camden. 



In 1805 there were in New South Wales 2000 male and 3000 female 

 cattle. After the recovery of the " wild cattle," a well-known inci- 

 dent, which gave us the name "Cowpasture," the beasts having strayed 

 away while Phillip was Governor, Phillip put in a claim, stating that 

 the majority were his private property, and received 100 cows, fifty 

 heifers, and fifty oxen, then worth about 10,000. In Bligh's time 

 the brothers Blaxland arrived, and went in for stock raising. In 1803 

 pi general order for the breeding of stock had set apart large areas 

 round Sydney, and animals from the Government herds were paid 

 for by instalments. From 1799 to 1802 nearly every ship brought out 

 cattle, and shipments of the best British breeds continued dor years. 



The first cultivation by free or freed men settlers is interesting as 

 marking the initial step towards making the colony self-supporting. 

 The former class was made up of mechanics and others engaged to 

 instruct convicts, as well as of soldiers whose service had expired 

 (the place at which they settled was called " Field of Mars") ; the 

 latter of prisoners who had received their liberty. A paternal Go- 

 vernment assisted them in many ways, including the use of convicts. 

 The way the land grants were made continued in abuse right up till 

 1813. when they ceased, and this is of a piece with the whoie history 

 of our land policy. To illustrate early values, in 1793 an English cow 

 in calf brought 80, and a calf, a bull, was subsequenty sold for 15. 

 And though almost every ship brought cattle either on order or as a 

 speculation o>f the captain, prices did not decrease. At the end of 

 1796 the dairy cattle numbered nearly 200, not including those at the 

 Cowpasture. The latter were in a grassy tract from which they were 

 not likely to move, and Governor Hunter had them protected as a 

 reserve against emergencies. On his departure in 1800 the colony's 

 figures had grown to 332 bulls and oxen, and 712 cows. He erected 

 several stockyards for the protection of horned cattle. 



In Governor Bligh's time the Messrs. Blaxland arrived in the colony, 

 diid having received a grant of 1290 acres of land, one of the brothers 

 at once went in for stock raising, and selected from the Government 

 herds sixty cows, one bull, and four bullocks. The land in those days 

 and for years afterwards was granted at a quit rental of so much per 

 year according to approximate value, the Government holding thereby 

 the power of resuming any lands that might afteirwards be required 

 for other purposes. The stock were obtained from the Government 

 herds on the promise of payment in instalments according to the 

 estimated value of the animals or other varying circumstances. In 



21. 



