|
Dismemberment
of New South Wales Empire, Sydney (From the Border Post, January 24.) 30
January 1857 |
|
In another column [below]
will be found a letter from the veteran separationist, Dr. Lang, a gentleman
whose achievements for the political advancement of the Australian colonies
are too well known to require mention here. From the tenor of the
communication, and the allusion to "putting into people's heads"
the idea of separation, it would appear that our correspondent has not seen
the various articles on the subject which have appeared in this journal; and
although the suggestions embodied in the letter differ in one point from our
own ideas, Dr. Lang's views, in the main, meet with our entire concurrence.
The point wherein we differ from Dr. Lang is merely with reference to
the eastern boundary of the proposed new colony. Instead of the Tumut River,
we have expressed an opinion that the coast line would be the more natural boundary,
and we would include the tract of country lying between the dividing range
and the imaginary line forming the boundary of Victoria. The new colony would
thus possess a coast-line of about 100 miles, extending between Cape Howe and
Point Dromedary, and including the much-neglected but important settlements
of Eden and Twofold Bay. This question, however, is not one for us to deal
with, but depends for its solution on the feelings of the inhabitants of the
Maneroo and Twofold Bay districts. We have never been able to see the propriety of annexing this district
either to Victoria or South Australia, for the seat of Government would still
be nearly as distant, and we might be simply exchanging the rule of King Log
for that of King Stork. Although one of our principal reasons for urging the
necessity for separation is undoubtedly the fact that we have been
misgoverned and grossly neglected, we should be sorry to have it supposed
that we were prompted to this course solely by a temporary irritation caused
by any particular grievance. Severely as the inhabitants of Murrumbidgee have
felt the want of a Court of Session and a bridge,
or deeply as they may regret the deprivation of their franchise, it is not
the compliance with their wishes in these respects that will make them
contented with a Government administered at a distance of four or five
hundred miles. It is the conviction of the impossibility of being
satisfactorily governed from such a distance, even under the most favourable of circumstances, which constitutes the
principal argument for the erection of the Murrumbidgee district into an
independent colony. It will be seen that this argument is recognised
in the second resolution appended to Dr. Lang's latter. We quite agree with Dr. Lang that the time has fully arrived for the
commencement of the agitation, and on a former occasion we showed that the
total revenue of Moreton Bay, when the petition was
sent home, amounted only to £5500, whereas the land sales in Albury have
alone produced nearly that sum during the past year. We consider the
population standard of of 20,000, mentioned by Dr.
Lang, a proper means of testing the expediency of forming the new colony, and
we now proceed to add together the populations of the various electorates
comprised within the limits of the country proposed to be severed from New
South Wales. The figures are as follow:- Albury - 2015 Broulee and Eden - 2458 Lachlan, Binalong,
and Wagga Wagga - 3300 Lower Murrumbidgee - 1718 Maneroo - 3282 Tumut and Gundagai - 2433 Total -,305 This, however, is only an approximation, for the boundaries of the
electorates are not of course precisely identical with those of the district
proposed to be erected into an independent colony. Supposing our population to increase in the same ratio as hitherto, we
may expect in a couple of years or so to have more than 20,000 persons
located here. In the meantime, a rush to Talgarno, Wagra, or any of the other auriferous localities on this
side of the Murray, might commence to-morrow, and qualify us for petitioning
at once. There is no fear of our population deserting us, for the residents
in this part of the world are, with few exceptions, landowners, and represent
a far greater amount of property than the same number of Sydney electors. Moreover,
they have better reasons to be contented with their lot than the people
residing in other parts. In former issues we have quoted the example of Moreton
Bay, and we hope we have succeeded in impressing the people with the
desirability of legislating for themselves, in preference to having laws made
for them by a clique in Sydney. We imagine it will be unnecessary to suggest
the propriety of spending upon this district the public money collected here,
instead of appropriating it to the beautification of the metropolis; for our
grumblers are eloquent enough on this topic. We take leave of this important subject for the present, with a
recommendation to our readers to bestow on Dr. Lang's letter the attention it
deserves. We should like to have occasion to report the proceedings of a
monster meeting called to consider the resolutions appended to the
communication. An Inland
And Riverine Colony On The Banks Of The Murray (Letter to the Editor of the Border Post.) SIR - I have observed for some time past that there is a growing and
general dissatisfaction on the part of the inhabitants of that portion of the
vast territory of New South Wales in which you are located, with their
present political condition as a comparatively unknown and neglected dependency
of a remote and virtually inaccessible authority. If "it was a far cry
to Loch Awe," when the ancient Lords of the Isles used to defy the Kings
of Scotland, when threatening them with their royal displeasure from
Edinburg, you find, in a somewhat different sense of the phrase, that
"it is a far cry to Sydney," when you have anything to ask
for a bridge, for instance - from that quarter. In short, Government from so
great a distance as the city of Sydney is from the Murray River, is necessarily
bad government, and can never be anything else. In these circumstances, I understand that certain of the inhabitants
of the tract of country situate between the Murray and the Murrumbidgee
Rivers, and especially those who had originally crossed over from Port Phillip,
have been talking of the annexation of that tract of country to the colony of
Victoria. Others, again - those, I presume, who have come up the Murray from
South Australia - have been hinting at annexation to that province. But if I
understand aright certain intimations which I have seen, in the form of
extracts from your paper, in the Sydney and Melbourne press, I believe, you
are in favour of the separation of the tract of
country in question from New South Wales, and its erection into a distinct colony.
And as this has been my own view of the matter ever since the Imperial Act of
1850 made the Murray River the northern boundary of Port Phillip, I beg to
offer a few remarks on the subject, for the information and consideration of
your readers; premising that, for many years past, I have paid, perhaps, more
attention to the subject of colonial boundaries and the propriety of forming
distinct colonies in certain circumstances, than any other person in
Australia; and that, as I have crossed overland between Sydney and Melbourne
three different times - twice in one direction and once in the other - I am
not altogether unacquainted with the general character and circum- stances
and prospects of the tract of country to which this communication relates. When the Act of Parliament, to which I have just referred, was on the
table in London, viz:- in
the years 1847, 1848 and 1849 I happened to be in England; having previously
been for four years one of the six representatives of Port Phillip in the
Legislative Council of New South Wales, and having been mainly instrumental
in that capacity in obtaining the boon of Separation for Port Phillip in the
year 1845, although it was not carried out till the 1st of July, 1851. On
that subject I addressed repeated communications to Earl Grey, who was then
Secretary for State for the Colonies, during the years I have mentioned
above, earnestly recommending that the northern boundary of Port Phillip
should be the Murrumbidgee river, from its junction with the Tumut (at Darbillehra, about twelve miles east of Gundagai), to
where it falls into the Murray. And in the year 1849, when it was expected
that the bill for the better government of those colonies, which was then
before Parliament, would be passed, I got a sketch map of the country
constructed, with the proposed boundary marked on it with red lines, which
the honorable Francis Scott, then Member of Parliament for Berwick or Roxburgh, promised to lay on the table of the House of
Commons, when the bill should be in committee, for the information and
guidance of the members. But the bill being withdrawn for that year, the
circumstance was probably forgotten by Mr. Scott, when it was introduced and
passed the following year; and the question of a proper boundary for Port
Phillip being referred to the Sydney Executive, that body insisted on having
the Murray River substituted for the Murrumbidgee, and your district is
therefore a part of the great colony of New South Wales. I may add, that although I was not successful on that occasion in
getting what I conceived a proper boundary for Port Phillip, I succeeded in
getting the 30th parallel of latitude fixed as the northern boundary of New
South Wales in the Act of Parliament which was passed in 1850, with power to
her Majesty to erect the territory northward of that parallel into a separate
colony whenever she might think proper. Such, then, was the origin of the new
colony of Moreton Bay, which owes its existence in
that capacity to my repeated and earnest representations to Earl Grey ten
years ago. As to the cause in which you are particularly interested, I stated
in the last edition of my History of New South Wales, published in 1852, that
as the Sydney Executive had refused to do justice to those concerned in that
case, by refusing to assign a proper boundary between New South Wales
and Port Phillip, the result would unquestionably be, that as soon as a
sufficient population should be permanently settled in the tract of country
situated between the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers, that population would
assuredly agitate for their entire separation from New South Wales, and would
eventually, and at no distant period, succeed in forming a new inland and riverine colony. In the prospect of that consummation,
which I now consider neither remote nor doubtful, it was very fortunate for
you that the Sydney Executive perpetrated that great wrong upon Port
Phillip; for a separate Government for the tract of country lying between the
Murray and the Murrumbidgee Rivers will be infinitely preferable for its
inhabitants to annexation to Victoria. The Tumut River, which I would propose as your Eastern boundary, rises
in the great dividing range - the Snowy Mountains, or Australian Alps - a
little to the northward of Mount Kosciuzsko, the
highest peak in that range. It pursues a course, due north, of 120 miles to
where it falls into the Murrumbidgee, at Darbillehra,
near Gundagai. From thence the Murrumbidgee pursues a due westerly course of
about 300 miles (as the crow flies) to where it receives the Lachlan River,
and makes a sudden bend to the south to join the Murray. The course of the
Murrumbidgee is, as nearly as possible, on the 36th parallel of latitude, and
the country between it and the Murray forms a parallelogram of about 300
miles in length, by 100 in average breadth; its area or superficial extent
being at least 30,000 square miles that is, larger than all Scotland, and
much larger than Van Diemen's Land. This tract of country is pre-eminently fitted for the settlement of a
numerous population; the land for many miles along the Murray below Albury,
and along the whole course of the stream above that point, being of the first
quality for cultivation. So also is the land on the Murrumbidgee for at least
100 miles below Gundagai; the intervening country generally being well
adapted for pastoral purposes. - But the peculiar feature of this tract of
country is its two noble rivers, which both for navigation and for irrigation
will doubtless be the great sources of its future wealth. In particular, the
Edward country, enclosed by an anabranch of the Murray, called the Edward
River, recently ascertained to be navigable throughout, is about 120 miles in
length, by an average breadth of 30 miles; having, therefore, an area of 3600
square miles, that is, nearly equal in extent to the whole Kingdom of
Holland. And the Yanko Creek, an offshoot of the
Murrumbidgee, carrying off a portion of its surplus waters in times of flood,
at an acute angle to the course of the parent river, traverses and waters the
whole of the intervening country till it falls into the Edward, with a course
of upwards of 200 miles. The successful engineering operations that are now
in progress on that creek, at the sole expense of the squatters in
that neighbourhood (for the Sydney Government would
never think of aiding operations of the kind so far off), are a mere specimen
of the far greater operations of a similar kind that will one day be
exhibited, both for navigation and for water supply, along the Murray and
Murrumbidgee rivers, when you come to have a Government of your own to
originate and direct such operations. Now, to suppose that a tract of country, of such extent, of such
superior character, and of such wonderful capabilities, - a country larger
than Scotland, with far more good land in it, land a far better climate -
should be a mere dependency of a dependency, and be subject to an authority
from three to seven hundred miles off, is too absurd either to be thought of
or to be tolerated. As an integral portion of the great British community of
Australia, you have a right to the best possible government under the
Parliamentary Constitution of 1855, and you can never have such government as
a portion of New South Wales. At present, in your state of infancy and pupilage,
you are necessarily under the management and guardianship of the Government
of that colony; but that Government can have no right or title to govern you
when you have attained the years of maturity and discretion. The same process
that has already been gone through successively in the cases of Van Diemen's
Land, South Australia, Port Phillip, New Zealand, and Moreton
Bay, which were all successively separated and cut off from New South Wales,
of which they all once formed a part, will then have to be repeated in your
case also, on the ground of your inherent rights as a British community on
the one hand, and of the great Christian rule on the other, of doing to
others as we should wish them to do to us. These are the principles, and the
only principles, on I would advocate your separation from New South Wales, as
I shall always do till you attain it. For although I am as much interested as
any of its inhabitants in promoting the welfare and advancement of the older
colony I can never believe that it can ever be necessary for the welfare and
advancement of that colony to practise injustice to
any other British community with precisely the same rights as ourselves. I
have no idea of such alleged patriotism as this implies - it is contrary
alike to the word of God and the rights of man. The importance of the Murray River, as the grand feature of the future
colony, would seem to indicate the propriety of making the town of Albury, on
that river, its future capital. In order to give the Government of that
colony of the future the entire command of the Murray River in the upper part
of its course, it would probably be necessary to annex to the future riverine province that triangular portion, of the
territory of Victoria, bounded by the Upper Murray on the one hand, and a
line drawn from Forest Hill to the Mitta Mitta
river on the other. And it would also be desirable to annex to the future
colony on the Murray the whole tract of country along the north bank of the
river from the junction of the Murrumbidgee to the boundary of South
Australia. Most, if not all, of this tract of country is exceedingly sterile,
and it can never be of any value to New South Wales. Portions of it, however,
might be of great value to the future inland colony, under an extensive
system of irrigation. The great question, then, is how to carry out this idea (supposing it
should meet the views of the inhabitants of the tract of country between the
two rivers), and what period should be fixed for its accomplishment. My
opinion on this question is that you should commence an agitation for
Separation at once and immediately; but that you should not ask for it till
your population, within the limits indicated above, shall amount to twenty
thousand souls. The case of Moreton Bay is a
precedent for you, and one to which you can appeal with perfect propriety.
The advocates for Separation in that part of the territory have been
agitating on the subject for six years; and now that it has been conceded,
the whole population to the northward of the 30th parallel does not exceed
22,000 souls. As to opposition to such a measure on the part of the Government and
Parliament of New South Wales, you must expect that to the very utmost. Every
weapon that selfish cupidity, downright hostility, ridicule and vituperation
can command in the case, will be directed against you: and I shall probably
come in for a large share of this treatment for putting such bad ideas into
your heads. But never-you-mind any such opposition, as I certainly shall not.
Your cause is a just one, and that is enough; your rights in the matter are
unquestionable, and the voice of twenty thousand people, who will ere long be
located in your future colony, will at length obtain their universal
recognition. But in order to ensure that consummation at the proper time, the
people must be duly informed and enlightened, and their affections engaged,
on the subject beforehand and this can only be done by systematic and
continued agitation. I should be very willing, if I remain long enough in the
colony myself, before leaving it, as I expect to do shortly for another
voyage to England, to assist in such an organisation
as is needful by visiting your good town, and delivering a lecture or address
on the subject ; - but I cannot make any promise of the kind. Of this,
however, I am fully persuaded, that your political,
social, and moral welfare and advancement for all future time will be
inconceivably and indefinitely advanced by your separation from New South
Wales and your erection into a distinct colony. I enclose a series of Resolutions that may serve as a guide for your
movements in the matter. I am, Sir, Your sincere well-wisher, John Dunmore Lang Melbourne, January 10th, 1857. Proposed Resolutions 1. That every integral portion of the Australian territory, inhabited
by a population of British origin, is entitled to the best possible
government under the Parliamentary Constitution of 1855. 2. That it is contrary to the uniform experience of the past, that any
country, or tract of country, situated at from three to seven hundred miles
from the capital, or seat of Government, can ever be well governed, that is,
beneficially and satisfactorily for its inhabitants ; and that it is therefore
an unwarrantable invasion of tho rights of men to
subject any community of British fre- men to such
injustice as the condition of subjection to a remote and virtually
inaccessible authority implies. 3. That the tract of country situated between the Murrumbidgee and
Murray rivers in the colony of New South Wales, and extending westward from
the junction of the former of these rivers with the Tumut as also the tract
of country along the right bank of the Murray, from its junction with the Murrumbidgee to the boundary of
South Australia, being from three to seven hundred miles and upwards from the
present seat of Government in the city of Sydney, and being moreover
of sufficient extent and capabilities for the existence and maintenance of a
separate Government, ought to be separated from New South Wales, and erected
into a distinct colony, whenever its population shall amount to twenty
thousand souls. 4. That as a whole series of extensive and costly engineering works
will be of indispensable necessity along the whole course of the Murray and
Murrumbidgee rivers, to improve the valuable agricultural lands on their
banks, and to render their surplus waters extensively available for the
purposes of man, these works can only be constructed and maintained in the
requisite state of efficiency by and under the vigilant superintendence of a
Government on the spot. 5. That it is therefore tho earnest desire
and will henceforth be the unceasing endeavour of
all who are associated in the present movement, to promote the formation of
an inland and riverine colony, through the
separation of the tract of country intervening between the Murray and the
Murrumbidgee Rivers from New South Wales, as also of the tract lying along
the north bank of the Murray River westward to South Australia. 6. That the desire for separation from New South Wales on the part of
the inhabitants of the tract of country aforesaid, is in no respect to be
identified with any alleged project for the annexation of that country to the
colony of Victoria ; as the resident inhabitants of the territory intervening
between the two rivers conceive they will be fully entitled to a Government
of their own, whenever their whole number shall amount to twenty thousand;
and would ultimately prefer such a Government, having its seat on the Murray
River, to one either in Melbourne or Sydney. 7. That the following gentlemen be appointed a standing committee, to
be designated "The Murray River Separation Committee," to
collect and circulate information of all kinds on the subject, by means of
public meetings, pamphlets, lectures, maps, &c, to ascertain the proper
boundaries for the proposed riverine province, and
to point out the great benefits and advantages that would accrue to its
inhabitants from the accomplishment of an object of such transcendent
importance to this community; and that the said committee have power to add
to their number. |