Monday, April 4, 2016

BH 4 After separation - new immigration schemes and land sales Qld 1860.


Before 1859, Queensland was part of New South Wales.  It began life as a penal settlement, not unlike other places.  Those red cliffs that Captain Cook saw, as he sailed past in 1770, later became the home for convicts.  

There was an exclusion zone around Brisbane, and ships brought settlers into Maryborough, as one of the major ports.  

Gradually areas were settled, and lands were purchased by early settlers and speculators.  

When Queensland became a separate state in 1859 more settlers began arriving in their droves to settle and farm the lands, and new towns were created.  In the Fassifern Valley, a huge number of German settlers created farms from the bush.  


But, how many people  realise that the northern suburbs of Bald Hills and Bracken Ridge were settled by immigrants from Scotland?


They were able to obtain land, either lease or purchase, from the Government.  The monies had to be repaid, and the  purchase price was £1.00 per acre.  They could have terms and repay the loan in 3 years.


Some it seems worked their land for others, some mortgaged their lands in order to gain financial assistance.  Sometimes their land would be transferred to a businessman at the time of death. Possibly as payment for one of the debts.


They cleared the land, in order to farm, and sell their crops.  They created communities around their farms.  Sometimes a church was the first community building, then a school.  Followed by numerous pubs and other services to cater for the residents. Those communities then became towns.


Most towns then were recognised by being named. Bald Hills and Sandgate were the named towns, both either side of Bracken Ridge






Sketch of the Moreton Bay Settlement from South Brisbane, 
attributed to Henry W. Boucher Bowerman c.1835 (courtesy State Library of Queensland)


On the East Coast of UK there is a lovely fishing town called Whitby.  If you take a walk down the close alleyways between the old tenements, you will find Captain Cook, in a Museum.


He lived in the house for 6 months while he trained they now have a small maritime museum there.


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 When working on a comparison of the lot numbers from the records at the Queensland Archives, and the map showing the allocated lot numbers, there were differences.


Trying to find out why was a mammoth task, and my sincere thanks to Rob Carseldine for his valuable assistance.  Working on his family knowledge, and details obtained from some probate records, he poured over documents until he located an explanation.



However, I believe I have resolved the difference between the Lot numbers on your list and the Portion numbers on the map. 

They are both correct. If you look on the Land Purchase documents in Ancestry NSW Land Records 1856 -1859, the description of the land includes reference to the previous Lot numbers.

 Example below for Loudon’s 22 Jan 1857 purchase, Portion 22 previously Lot 21:
So that explains all the differences. I have checked several to be sure.


One of the lovely things to come from undertaking this sort of a research project, is the new "friends" that you can meet along the way, and often never even meet.  A fellow researcher assisted me while doing John's convict ancestors, and between us we searched for around 4 months continuously for an article that I had fleetingly seen, then could never find again.  Sue was over the moon when she found it late one Saturday night.  My theory was true!

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QUEENSLAND IMMIGRATION
AND
THE BLACK BALL LINE
by WARWICK FOOTE
Read at a Meeting of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland
on 23 February 1978
After separation on 1 December 1859 the First Parliament of the new Colony of Queensland resolved on 31 May 1860 that a select committee be appointed to consider and report on the best
means of promoting immigration to the Colony.

The committee sat during June, July and August 1860. Its object was "to elicit opinions as to the best mode of inducing a cheap, healthy and continuous flow of immigration to Queensland
and to gain evidence as to the working, satisfactorily or otherwise, of the present and other systems which have been in use for some years".

These systems, which were conducted under the control of the Imperial Emigration Commissioners in England, were —

Free immigration, under which the conveyance of immigrants to the Colony was entirely at the cost of the Government;

Remittance immigration, under which a remission of 80 per cent on all purchases of land was made to parties sending home for their friends; and

Assisted immigration, by which the immigrants were required to repay a large portion of their passage money within a certain period after their arrival in the Colony^.


The select committee recommended, among other things —

(a) That the Government make arrangements for the introduction of any number of immigrants, the cost of whose passage may be guaranteed by responsible parties in the Colony . . . these immigrants to be entitled to a land order on production of a certificate from their employer to the effect that they have fulfilled the conditions of their agreement to repay to him the amount of their passage
money;

(b) That parties importing their own servants or friends be allowed a remission in the shape of a land order to the amount of f.l8 for every statute adult (a statute adult being anyone over the age of 12 years, or two children between the ages of one year and 12 years);

(c) That these conditions be extended to all individuals paying their own passages from the United Kingdom and who are able and willing to settle down upon the land at once or after two or three years' residence in the Colony;

(d) That a selecting agent be appointed in Great Britain, one who possessing a thorough knowledge of the country and its requirements should adopt active measures for disseminating the knowledge of the new Colony by means of lectures and advertisements and pointing out to those who would be desirable immigrants the many advantages offered by Queensland; and

(e) That all parties emigrating to Queensland and all ships conveying them be under the supervision of the Emigration Commissioners in England.

As a result of the committee's recommendations the Queensland Government instituted a system of immigration known as the land order system to supplement that carried out under the control of the Emigration Commissioners.

Originally the land order system provided that every adult immigrant who paid his or her own passage to Queensland was to be granted a land order for 18 acres and, after two years' residence in the Colony, a further order for 12 acres. The orders were valued at £18 and £12 respectively. 

A shipowner who brought free passengers or assisted passengers to Queensland at his own
expense was to be given a land order for £18 for each adult immigrant carried. These provisions were altered from time to time. 

Furthermore, assisted passages were to be granted to any immigrant who was unable to pay his full fair and free passages were to be given to female domestic servants and persons whose
circumstances were such as to warrant the granting of a free passage.

The land order system operated under the Immigration Regulations promulgated under the Alienation of Crown Lands Act. From the Government's point of view, the immediate advantage to be gained from the system was that, by paying a shipowner in land orders instead of in cash, the young Colony
was saved the need of calling upon its meagre financial resources to meet the cost of immigration of free and assisted passengers.

However, as was to be discovered later, the granting and circulation of a large number of land orders resulted in a drastic reduction in the sale of Crown lands, on which the Colony relied heavily for its revenue.

Recruiting settlers


In the mid-1860's there was a scheme introduced in Queensland where "agents" would spend years in overseas countries "interviewing and seeking new immigrants to settle the land".

This they carried out in Germany, where many came, and settled in the Fassifern Valley.

In Scotland, Henry Jordan worked remarkably hard to increase his quotas of Scottish folk.


"In terms of persistent, high profile and effective recruitment, Queensland surpassed all the other Australian colonies in the four decades between responsible government and confederation. The groundwork was done in the 1860s by Henry Jordan, who had emigrated to Sydney, and lived in Brisbane before being appointed as agent in Britain in October 1860, a year after Queensland’s separation from New South Wales. He spent the next five years lecturing, publishing pamphlets, advertising in newspapers and offering land grants to full-paying passengers, as well as free passages to poorer recruits.

He covered 5,000 miles a year on lecture tours, giving a total of 192 lectures to an estimated 161,200 people, and he liaised closely with the hundreds of amateur passenger brokers scattered throughout the country. Those individuals earned their commission by screening applicants, making a preliminary selection and issuing tickets, and Jordan made much more extensive use of such local recruitment networks than did his counterparts in the other Australian colonies.

 Queensland’s sudden rise in popularity among Scots in 1865, when over 1,500 embarked on the Clyde, was attributable to Jordan’s enthusiastic canvassing two years earlier, and by the time colonial recession brought his efforts to a halt in 1866, he had orchestrated the removal of nearly 36,000 British emigrants in  eighty-five ships"


 From May to November 1860 he represented Brisbane in the colony's first Legislative Assembly. In 1861 he was sent to London as commissioner and immigration agent. He wrote a pamphlet on emigration to Queensland, 'the future cotton-field of England', lectured widely and dedicated himself to attracting migrants to the colony. 

His superior, (Sir) Robert Herbert, visited England in 1862-63 and found fault with Jordan's lack of discipline. In turn Jordan complained of his miserable allowance which caused him to spend part of his own income on lecture tours and to bargain with Mackay Baines & Co. of the Black Ball line for sending a migrant ship each month to Queensland in exchange for land orders. The bargain started well with one-class ships for free migrants but Black Ball soon began to carry paying cabin passengers and then to demand cash for its land orders.













Imagine if you will, joining the settlers in a Meeting in 1860!  This transcript is lengthy but provides in insight into just how the many settlers who arrived post 1860 were able to purchase lands.


NEW SCHEME OF IMMIGRATION. 

On Monday evening last, Mr. Henry Jordan, the       newly appointed Emigration Commissioner for the colony, and who is about proceeding to England on his mission, - delivered an address in the hall of   the School of Art, explanatory of the new scheme   of immigration adopted by the government. At the commencement of the proceedings the audience was small, but this was principally owing to the   fact that the time fixed had been variously stated  at 7 o'clock in the newspapers, and half-past 7 in the 'Gazette;' but the hall became well filled before the lecturer had gone far into his subject.the interruptions were frequent, but good-humoured, and it's only justice to Mr Jordan to say that he       acquitted himself with considerable tact and ad-roitness.

The chair was occupied by  His Worship the MAYOR (J. Petrie, Esq.), who   merely introduced the lecturer to the meeting, and claimed for him a fair and impartial hearing. 

Mr. JORDAN then came forward, and was received with mingled tumult and and applause. he commenced by saying that the object for which they were called together, is they all knew, was to hear  from him an exposition of the new government scheme of Immigration (Here, hear, and uproar,   and a cry of "five bob an acre") He had been told that this was not a popular subject; that this was a scheme generally disapproved of, and, above all, that the person addressing then was very unpopular (Hear, hear, and a laugh.) People entertained the idea that he had accepted the office"  for the sake of the £600 a year attraction to it, but he could assure them that it was no pecuniary advantage to him whatsoever. (Uproar.) he would be able to prove this to them, if they would only listen to his explanation of the government scheme of immigration, if they would, he repeated, he would make a statement establishing the truth of what he said. In accepting this office, his objects  were as pure and disinterested as they were when he first came before them. (Cheers and uproar.) 

 It has always been the characteristic of an English audience that, when a man had anything to say, he was sure of fair play; and if he said what   he had to say civilly and properly, he hoped they would give him a proper hearing (Hear, hear, and uproar.) He could stand any  amount of abuse. (Renewed clamour.)   he had no great amount of brass in his exposition, but lots of wire, and he could stand a good deal. His motives had been of the purest, and he had not, as stated, been guided in   this matter by a lust of wealth. It was no benefit whatever to him in a pecuniary sense. (Hear, hear.)

Coming now to his subject, they would  remember that, at a very early period of the session, a select committee was appointed to take this important question of immigration into consideration. In doing so, the committee had of course (the advantage of looking at the various schemes which had at different tunes been in vogue in the Australian colonies, seeing where these schemes had failed, and availing themselves of all that was worth adopting in them.

They were thus greatly assisted in striking out a scheme of immigration, which should have the effect of introducing into this colony the great want of every country - population, population of the right kind - able-bodied labourers, small capitalist farmers, and large capitalists too, men who would be induced to come   because they would be sure of a regular supply of labour which could alone render capital safe. He would allude to one or two of these schemes in   order to institute a comparison between them and the one newly determined upon.

First, there was free immigration. On this plan the government paid the whole cost of the passage to this colony of anyone selected by the Emigration Commissioners at home on a method of their own devising. In other words, the expense of immigration was borne by the colonies themselves. It was thought that the whole of the proceeds derived from the sale of lands might be very legitimately employed in relieving England of her surplus population. 

Two ideas seemed to have possessed the minds of the Commissioners; the first was - that the poorest,
idlest, and most worthless - those who were no use at home, and whom they were very glad to get rid of,   would do very well to send out here; and secondly,   - they appeared to think that the whole of our land fund would be properly disposed of in sweeping England of her useless population The very poorest, the most degraded, the most worthless, men of no value, either to their employers or to themselves, seemed to have been selected as being most in need of a change of air, as if their removal
to a distant part of the globe would effect any transformation in such characters - make the lazy,  hulking loafer an industrious, thrifty, and frugal man, or transform the miserable slattern into a clean and tidy housewife. Now, however, these things were altered.

The Imperial government has placed the money derived from the sale of  lands into the hands of the colonists themselves, to do with it as they thought best, and it was not now deemed desirable to devote it to the purpose of relieving England of her worst paupers. The next scheme was one by which the government only bore a portion of the cost of transit from England to Australia. A man who was not doing very well at home, and who has made up his mind  to go somewhere else to try and do better, would think a long time before he gave three times as much to come to Australia as he would have had to pay to go anywhere else, and the government  thought it wise to bear a portion of the passage  money.

By this scheme of assisted immigration the government paid one-fourth of the expense, and three-fourths of the cost ol the passage was refunded by the immigrant himself out of his first year's wages. Two other methods pursued were - the remission or 80 per cent on the price of land   to the importer of labour, and bearing three-fourths of the cost of the passage of those whose relatives contributed one-fourth. each of these schemes had been found to work well to a certain extent,   but not on the whole. The assisted immigration scheme was not equal to meeting the   wants of any new country, nor was it altogether   calculated to introduce the class best fitted to lay the foundations of society.

Free immigration, as he had previously said, brought into the country the poorest, and most worthless - not that he objected to the poor, on the contrary, he was anxious to see them come so long as they were not absolutely worthless. While this scheme of immigration was less expensive than the other, it was   not perfect, the employers found they were not   always able to get the money due to them refunded.     

Immigrants who had bound themselves to work  an employer often performed their service un-   willingly, and there were cases in which the employer  has quietly taken the money from the wages of     the immigrant, quietly pocketed it, and forgotten  to honour his own promissory note to the govern-       ment. (Laughtcr) These schemes were very expensive, but that would not have mattered so much         if commensurate advantages were accrued. This, however, was not the case. It was found that  great numbers of persons went away to some other  colony, leaving the one which had paid the cost of their passages; and this had been the case to a great extent in Queensland.

Attracted by the  goldfields of Victoria; or hearing that Sydney was   a very fine city, and a much better place to live in than this out-of-the-way hole, as some of them  chose to call it, - they went away by every steamer, and we had to pay the price. Supposing we had six ship loads coming here in as many months, with 300 people on board each ship, the colony would  incur an expense of £28000, but all to very little purpose if they left the country directly. This happened, often, while other colonies acting on the same system, but now this system had been abandoned by them. Otherwise, the task of bringing labour     into the new colony would have been like pouring water into a sieve. (Hear, hear)

He did not wish to weary them with detail, but, as he happened to be a member of a committee appointed to investigate the subject, he wished to show them that some pains had been taken to inquire into it, in all its different bearings. Men were examined ho had a great deal of experience both in colonisation and immigration, and whose opinions were   worthy of the best consideration - Sir Charles Nicholson, Dr. Lang, Dr. Cannan, Dr. Kendall,   Dr. Hobbs, and others, being among the number.   

The result was well considered by the committee; it was brought up to the House by the Chairman,         the Colonial Treasurer; it was discussed by the a full   chamber without a single alteration, and, if he re-collected rightly, it passed finally without a division. He was thus particular because he was anxious to show them that this subject received   the best attention of their parliament; but he would now proceed to give the particulars of the  new government scheme. The question of immigration is immediately connected with colonization,  and is interesting alike to the colonists themselves, and to statesmen at home.

Three hundred thousand   people must go somewhere every year to make room for that amount of increase in the population of the United Kingdom. On the one hand they had England, with her enormous wealth, with her wondrous manufactories, with her teeming population, and on the other, the vast colonial territory  of Australia,-(a voice "With a paltry government,") - forming part of that boundless empire of which an American writer has said that its "morning drumbeat, following the sun, and keeping company with the hours, encircles the earth daily with one continuous and unbroken strain of   the martial airs of England." On this side, millions of square miles now covered with the primeval forest, waiting the hand of man to cover it with waving fields of corn and plantations of cotton (Ironical   cheers.)

The Englishman, with his indomitable skill, dauntless courage, and untiring energy, seemed to have been marked out by Providence as the great colonising agent. (Uproar.) By Englishmen, of course he meant English, Irish, and Scottish, he intend the whole British nation It seemed they were destined to be the chief agents of spreading throughout the world universal peace and happiness. here were some 25,000 people, owning a million of square miles of  territory. Who could say that there was not room for more? He believed that there was room for hundreds of thousands, and believed so because he held the life of a man to be superior to the life of a sheep. (Hear, hear.)

There was an abundance of alluvial land for an honest and hard-working population on the banks of our creeks and river, and on the shores of our bays, and there  was an abundance of room both for the people   and the agricultural interests. He did not wish to say a word against the pastoral interest as an interest. (A Voice: "200,000 square miles.") He did not mean to say a word against that interest, but he could not bring himself to believe that sheep and cattle only were to enjoy the bounties of the land, or to live under   its beautiful climate. (Interruption.) There could be no denying one fact that the pastoral interest stood as the first great interest of the colony at present, but nobody could imagine that the splendid tablelands of this country, high above  the level of the sea, and stretching away hundreds
of miles northward of the 28th parallel of latitude, were not to be used for other than grazing purposes when required. But what mattered it to the sheep owner or the grazier that all this was available to him or that the intrepid Stuart had  planted his flag in the very middle of the  continent, and found all fertile and beautiful  which had hitherto been supposed to be an arid and sterile desert; what mattered all this to  him if he were unable to obtain the labour he required?

Nothing at all; if this state of things continued, capital would soon cease to be embarked  in pastoral pursuit«. Supposing that gold seeking here had been successful, or that the attractions or  the Victorian gold-fields had drawn away our industrial population, there would have been no labour  for the squatter at all. (A voice: "At his own   price.") Not so. {Another auditor : "free selection.") He begged they would listen to him for  the present; he would answer any question any gentleman present might put to him after he had   had his say. (Hear, hear.) It must be evident to them that any scheme of immigration must be or   such a kind ad would supply labour to the flock owner. 

The present scheme of immigration accomplished  all this, inasmuch as it enabled the squatter, or   anyone else, to get the labour he required, without   costing him anything; for he would have full value  for the money he might advance. The 20th clause of the Land Sales Act provided that any person  paying his own passage to this colony direct from Europe, or paying the passage of another, should  his receive a land order for £18.

The Immigration Agent at Brisbane, and the Clerk of Petty Sessions throughout the colony, would be supplied   with printed forms, and anybody in want of labour would go to one or other of these parties, and ask   for one of these forms. Perhaps a groom is wanted,   or a cook, or a housemaid, and the forms are filled   up accordingly, and handed over to somebody at   home - not their humble servant, but somebody they would sooner trust than they would him (the  speaker)-(laughter)-and the required parties are  engaged for one or two years at the current rate of  wages. He did not mean by the current rate of  wages that new chums just arriving in the colony would receive equal wages with those who had been here a long time,-not at all ; by the current rate he  meant the rate new immigrants were worth on  their arrival. (Laughter and cheers.)

The party  sending for them would have to pay their passage- money, and a land order for £18 for each immigrant paid for would then be paid to the credit of   the employer in the public treasury. The object this was to secure the services of the immigrants to the employer for twelve months at least, as, if  the immigrant did not refund the passage-money to his employer, the latter had the land order to
fall back upon ; and if the immigrant served his full  time, the land order was in safe hands for him.     These land orders would be available for the purchase of any kind of land-country, suburban, or   otherwise, and they would be transferable, so that they would always be worth about £18.

The  government were bound to receive the land orders as representing their full value, so that they could  never depreciate, and they could always be changed  into money. For instance, the holder of an order  might go to a government land sale, and say to a  party who was buying a country lot or a town lot,  " Here you are ; give me £17 10s. for this £18 land order, and you shall have it." The scheme was   at once simple and valuable. ("Yes, for the  squatter.") It was equally good for the poor man as for the squatter. The poor man at home who  cannot afford to pay his own passage out here,  would be able to come out under this system, would   have a living when he came here, and if he chose  to repay his employer he would have eighteen  acres of hind to commence with on his own account, and if he stayed two years in the colony, he would  have twelve acres besides. he (Mr. Jordan)   thought they would agree with him that this  scheme would be of incalculable benefit to the country. (A voice: "When is the land to be given to him? Hisses and cheers.) He had been very anxious for the evening to come. (Laughter  and hisses.)

He had been told in Ipswich that he dared not meet his Brisbane constituents, and some of his friends wanted him to avoid doing so, but he told them he could stand a great deal of  abuse, and would do so whatever came of it.  (Hisses and uproar.) He could stand a great deal of that, and he could tell them that he was not afraid of meeting any man. He had acted for the   best, and he had acted honestly, and in strict accordance with the promises made to his constituents, (Uproar, and a voice-" You sold them.") The scheme was not alone calculated to benefit the squatter. There was the farmer, who might send home for his labour ; and there was the tailor, the shoemaker, the draper, the banker, and every man  wanting labour.

The more we had here the more would want to come, and any one would be able to get on here who had his head screwed on the right way. (Laughter, and a voice-"'You've done it well enough.") Every man contributes to the revenue, and the more population came into the country, the better would it be for the country at large. Some people were afraid that there would be too much of it; that too great an influx of population would take place ; but he believed there could not be too many if proper care were taken to procure the right  sort. Little or no trouble attended it; if they  wanted a groom or a gardener, ("Oh!") or a housemaid, all they had to do was to apply to the Immigration Agent or Clerk of Petty Sessions, and one would be engaged for them. It did not matter what kind of character was wanted, whether a fat boy to wait at table, with no end of buttons running up and down the breast of his jacket, or a man with a wooden leg, it would be all the same ; they would be brought if required. ("Soft   soap).") He did not keep that article ; what he had to say he said honestly, and he knew they believed him to be honest. ("You don't believe it;" interruption.)

 Then if any colonists wanted to get their friends out-their brothers, sisters, or perhaps the old folks at home, it would be very easy to do it. Under an old system persons who wanted to get out their relatives, the government paid ¾ths of the passage, but the full amount  of this assistance was confined to cases where the parties were not over the age of 35; so  that if a man's parents happened to be over  that age-which was more than probable in  the majority or instances-he had to pay nearly the whole amount. But to the new system there were no limitations whatever, and any one might get out his friends without difficulty -brothers starving on a few shillings n week, or sisters paid at the rate or £5 a year and very scanty fare.

He would suppose the case of a young woman who had come out here and got a good place, and who had yielded to the soft persuasions of a stout young farmer and become his wife. She would say to her husband, "Bill, I'd like to have our father and mother, and my brother Thomas." Bill would of course be very glad to do that kind of thing, and being well-to-do and thrifty, he would be able to pay the migration Agent the necessary money for  each or them, and when they came out, Bill would be entitled to land orders to the amount of £54. 

 ("Question.") He would be able to select 54 acres of land on one of the agricultural reserves, on which the new comers might go to work, and at the expiration of two years from their arrival, they would   be able to claim and have 36 acres more. (Interruption.)

Thus they would become useful colonists and-well-to-do men, and need not fear dreaming about the workhouse when they went to sleep. He   thought they would admit the government scheme of immigration to be infinitely superior to the former one, by which the proceeds of land sold at an enormous price were devoted to the introduction of a useless class of persons. Nobody was taxed by the new plan. ("Five bob an acre.") He would  explain everything to them bye mid bye. ("Yes, you can explain anything.") Something was wanted besides labour-capital, and the scheme was calculated to meet this want. There was a desire to which every Englishman was subject,-the desire to become the possessor of land himself. This feeling existed in great intensity, and it was for them to avail themselves of this feeling.

If we can only make it easy to people on the other side of the globe to come here and gratify this part of their nature, it would prove as attractive to them as gold. This "earth hunger," as a Germán writer   has called it, would be satisfied, and every person  brought out to this colony under the new regulations might satiate his appetite if he liked.

 Many a man would be encouraged to hope that better times were coming for him, and would dispose of his goods and chattels in order to make his way to a country that offered him 30 acres of land for nothing, with no rent to pay, and gave him 8d. a pound for all the cotton he grew, besides 1s. 4d. he could get from the merchant. Should he be so unfortunate as to be married, - (laughter) - he would have 30 acres for himself, 30 for his wife, and if he had a child over fourteen years of age, 30  acres more, and for every two children under that age -whether twins or not- 30 acres more. (A voice: "Yes, when the government has time to survey   it.")   

There would be plenty surveyed by the time he people came out to occupy it, and it was no small inducement to tell a single man that he could have 18 acres on landing and 12 more in two years. (A Voice :-"What was your scheme when  you came out as a candidate?') If the man intends to go to farming at once, he (Mr. Jordan) knew that the government were disposed to let him have the whole 30 acres at once, if it were found that there was nothing in the act positively forbidding such a course.

Now these regulations would have the effect of bringing to this colony a superior class of men-he did not mean superior in point or wealth;-but men who have been fortunate enough to be able to bring a little capital with them when they came here. This was the class which formed a large proportion of the great stream of emigration to America, and this fact was well illustrated by a statement made in England by the Chairman of the Emigration Board that when a vessel named the "Ocean Monarch" was wrecked   some time ago, It was found that the 320 people on board of her were possessed of £10,000 among them. This "flight of farmers," as it was called, frightened the people, but it was   found that no serious harm ever accrued, notwithstanding the rate at which the migration went on.

He (Mr. Jordan) had lately seen a return of the numbers of persons who had emigrated from the United Kingdom in the seven years between 1847 and 1854, and he found it stated that 302,620 persons left England every year during  that period. Most of these were honest, industrious, and saving people, who went to avail them-selves of the liberal land regulations of the United States. Canada saw the effect which the liberality of the States laws was producing, and, she, too, offered attraction to the immigrant, saying -"Come here and we will  give you land for nothing."



The stream of immigrants immediately divided, and part flowed into the ports of Canada, being only too eager to avail themselves of her free grants, and Canada was now rapidly becoming settled by a population who carried with them their honesty, industry, frugality, and their money too. Seeing this state   or things going on, New Zealand began to think, and ultimately decided upon offering a grant of 40 acres for nothing to anybody who would spend £20 in getting there. When they reached there, how-ever, they found it was not 40 acres of land at all, but 40 acres of pipeclay - (laughter, and a voice: " There's plenty of that here,") - or 40 acres of fern roots, and they were consequently disappointed.

With respect to the agricultural reserves he was authorised to say that the government intended to include the very best land in Queensland in those reserves. That he knew to be the case. He had just been to Rockhampton, and before reaching it the steamer stuck on the flats for some time.   Whilst in that interesting position he amused him-self by looking over the flats and saw a magnificent   tract of thinly timbered alluvial country  in fact, the finest block of land in the-Fitzroy River. On   his arrival at Rockhampton he found that this had been selected as an agricultural reserve. When at Ipswich he had been met by a gentleman who brought him to task by the assertion that though he was himself over the country to advocate his scheme he was afraid to meet his own constituents. He then told him that he was going to meet them here. After a great many more questions to floor him, he made inquiries of him respecting the agricultural reserves at Drayton and Toowoomba.

 He went to Toowoomba, and there met with an intelligent farmer who had a farm of 40 acres of truly good land, which he was cultivating with success, and who went to show him the agricultural reserve. Amongst that selected he found that there was much that was badly situated, water not being accessible, but on other land closely contiguous being pointed out to him he examined it and found that water was not only accessible but that the land was really good.

The surveyors had since received instructions to add more land to the reserve and on his showing him (Mr. Jordan) the plans of the additional 18,000 acres, he found that the very land he had examined and found so good had been included. (Cheers.) There were also two miles along the side of Gowrie Creek, on the western slope of the range requiring very little trouble in clearing, and this he had since been informed by the Colonial Secretary was added to that reserve. He afterwards went to Drayton, where, from its being so near Toowoomba, it would hardly be expected that a reserve would have been proclaimed. Many of the people there were dissatisfied with the land, but on talking with the more intelligent he found that the reserve contained 14,000 acres, of   which more than 10,000 consisted of really good land.

 He went thence to Warwick, where he found that the reserve picked upon formed part of the Canning Downs run. He there met Captain Daveney, the manager of the Canning Downs Station, who said that though he would admit that the taking this reserve would much injure the station the government might still have done better by taking another part of it further off; but as he (Captain Deveney) was an interested person, he would recommend him (Mr. Jordan) to   consult the people in the town. He did so, and found that by going twelve miles out of Warwick a reserve could be found containing the pick of the whole country, well watered, and coming under the regular rains, and this was Killarney, twelve miles from Warwick.



During the three days he was at Warwick, there was not a drop of rain, but at Killarney there was rain the whole time. At Warwick he saw Mr. Evans, a gentleman who knew men that had grown into affluence as farmers in that neighbourhood, and who had for a longtime grown wheat. On his observing to him (Mr. Jordan) that it was a pity the reserve had not been fixed upon at Killarney, Mr. Jordan replied that though the act limited the reserve to a distance of five miles from the township, he believed the government were so desirous of selecting the best lands, that the distance would be no obstacle, and  accordingly recommended him to write to the government on the subject.

He was not aware whether Mr. Evans had done so, but he had since seen  the Colonial Secretary, and informed him of the state of things, and had been assured by him that the government were so desirous of selecting the best lands for reserves, that in all probability this would be included. (Applause.) The scheme was not designed to bring out people to compete with those already here, but to bring out the hard-working and industrious, possessed of a little capital, who would be able to cultivate their own land and thus benefit others. (A Voice: "What's the  odds to you whether they come or not?") If they   came they could not eat the land, it was true but they might grow plenty that they could. He had been told that cabbages could not be grown here; and   he knew farmers who had told him that agriculture would not pay in the country. There were many such men in the colony, who belonged to the class of croakers, and who represented Queensland as a miserable, dry, parched up country. One of this class he met some time since, who had on a good coat, fit for the Governor, with hat and boots to match, and who was, in short, a jolly, happy specimen of a distressed agriculturist. (Laughter)  

He put a few questions to him, and his reply was that he had come to the country about five years since from Somersetshire, where he had worked as agricultural labourer for 10s. per week. He asked   him what he was doing then ? He was farming and had a bit of land which was his own, and paid for ; it was fenced in, cleared, and he had a house on it. He had also a few pigs and some cows. Now here was a fair sample of such men. A man who five years since was earning but 10s a week, and would in all probability have done so for the next twenty-five years, had he remained in England, and at last have died in the workhouse.

Some farmers in Queensland were more honest, and avowed that farming would pay them. Mr. Hartenstein, of the German Station, assured him that he had grown arrowroot for some years and found that it would pay better than anything else, for although the demand was to a certain extent limited, it was a certain one. He had grown at the rate of a ton  per acre, which, at 1s. a pound, yielded £112. There was no mistake about it. (A voice: "Has he done that?") He (Mr. Hartenstein) assured him he had, and that not reckoning it before it was ground, but clean arrowroot. (A voice: "How about the cost of labour?") He (Mr. J.) made enquiries about that too, and found that it required comparatively little. Mr. Hartenstein showed   him a machine of his own contrivance, a kind of large nutmeg grater, by which the arrowroot was reduced to pulp. A man and a boy could dig the root, grind, wash, and pack it in tin canisters for the market, in one month.

 Mr. Walter Hill, of the Botanical Gardens, whom they all knew as an honest and intelligent man, had assured him that an acre of ground would readily yield six hundred pounds of cotton, and this, Mr. Bazley, of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, had stated to be worth, on the average, 1s 4d a pound. There was the government bonus of eightpence a pound to be added, which would increase the produce of the acre to about £50.



 Mr. Stewart, of the Bald Hills formerly of the Hunter River, told him that he had tried wheat-growing in that locality, and raised   thirty bushels to the acre of splendid grain, samples of which he (.Mr. Jordan) was going to take home to England with him. Manchester must be supplied with cotton, and in England there were annually three hundred thousand people who required  to be fed and provided for in some part of the world; whilst Queensland, with her capabilities for growing and quantity, and abounding with  other resources, was in need of the population to develop them.

Seeing this he was determined to make the trial, and to bring out that population he was going home. If those people found that farming would not pay, if the experiment failed they need not starve; he would recommend them all to grow the sweet potato.(Loud laughter.) He had been told that in highly favoured districts twenty-five tons of this wholesome esculent had been grown to the acre, and that even on poor land ten tons to an acre could be procured. Thus supposing they did not grow rich they would not starve; children must have something to eat, and their mouths could always be stopped with sweet potatoes. (Renewed laughter and up-roar.) When the rush of fifteen thousand people took place to Canoona, no doubt there was great distress, for then there was neither gold nor potatoes to be dug from the earth ; but he felt convinced that if under the present scheme thousands came out, there would be no starvation, no hunger.

 If he returned to the colony in about four years, as he hoped to do, he felt certain that on all hands he would be warmly welcomed by thousands whom he had induced to immigrate to these shores ; then he would see agriculture flourishing, and find ships in the harbours loading with cotton for Manchester; - (laughter)-then, indeed, would he feel glad at having taken part in bringing about these things. (Voice from the gallery. "No doubt  you'll see wonderful things.") One gentleman had said he would see wonderful things ; doubtless he would, and he had done so already in Queensland. When first the cry for separation was raised, some time ago, people laughed at it, and at the idea of having two houses of Parliament assembled in Queen-street, but it had been accomplished never-the less. It might be said that his scheme would be good for the people in England, but what did it do for them ? ("Why, did not the government give  them the 30 acres?") They would admit that it was good for the people at home. (Cries of "No,   no.")

That was all very fine, but they knew it was, and, if in no other respect, they were benefitted by the opening of the new agricultural reserves, which they admitted would attract population. That was all he wanted. (A Voice: "Yes, that's all.") It   was, and doing so would be a benefit to every man in Queensland, where every man was, or ought to be, worth something, if it was only a wheelbarrow, a pig, or a cow. (Uproar und merriment.) What he contended was, that with an increased demand the value of everything would be enhanced. There were some there who had houses in the Valley they could not let, town allotments they could not sell, and cows without being able to sell their milk; but only let population come out, and bye and bye they would find tenants for their houses, customers for their milk, and be able to sell their town allotments for £4 or £5 a foot. ("Sweet potatoes")

 Any one who had the effrontery to tell him that they would not be benefitted by the increase of population knew nothing of the matter. (A Voice: "How did squatting pay you?") A great deal better than going home to England as their agent would, and he would tell that gentleman that he was going home with the approbation, sympathy, and good wishes of the great majority of the intelligent and thinking inhabitants of the country. (Increased interruption.)

He would then visit all the towns or England, Ireland, and Scotland, go to  the town halls and address himself to more attentive audiences, he hoped, than he had there that evening. (From the gallery: "Yes, they won't know you so well." Loud laughter.) He would tell them the advantages awaiting them in Queensland, ("Yes, and a great deal more.") There was no necessity for that, for if he told them only the extent of what he knew, they would be well satisfied if he told them how many respect-able people there were ("oh!"); how few went to gaol ("oh!" and laughter); how many went to church ("oh!"); and the rest ("oh!"); if he described its sunshine and its bright skies ("oh!" "Cock-a-doodle-doo"); if he told them how much they could earn as shepherds by going up into the bush, they would believe him and come out in hundreds and thousands, very many to realise more than he had promised them. ("A Voice: "I don't believe it.")

He would go to Scotland and talk to some of the cautious and wary Highlanders. (Three hearty cheers were here given for Dr. Lang.) He would tell them all about him, he hoped to work with him. ("But he's on his own hook ; three more cheers for Dr. Lang.") He would go to Ireland, and then from its towns and villages induce numbers of her stalwart sons to emigrate to this country, which they would readily exchange for "taturs and Tipperary." (Laughter.) He would go through England, and there ask hundreds and thousands to do the same, and then bye-and-bye come out himself, when he was convinced all would be glad to see him, and welcome him as one who had done much towards making Queensland one of the most prosperous of the British colonies. ("Oh, oh," and cheers.)

Then with respect to his appointment. He did not create the office ; it was one that had been resolved upon after due deliberation of the representatives of the people, and that being the case, it became the bounden duty of the government to send a fit and proper person to discharge its duties. If they wanted a house built, or anything else done, they would not select a stranger to the work, but one who was well acquainted with what he had to do. So if they wanted a man to go to the other side of the globe to advocate their Interests, they would send one who understood their wants, who could lecture in a free-and-easy style, so that people would listen to and believe him. This the government was bound to do ; but he did not say that he was such a man. ("Oh, oh!" and laughter.)

 It was asked, why not send Dr. Lang? To any agreement there must be two parties-both must be willing, and Dr. Lang had declined to go. (Mr. CRIBB: "Was he asked to go?" and three   cheers more for Dr. Lang.) He could not say; but if he had, he believed he would have taken office. He saw a letter from him to the government, stating that he had heard his name had been mentioned, and if so, he must decline to act. Besides, Dr. Lang's scheme was a different one ; it was to establish a company in England, to whom the land orders were to be transferred.

That being the case, whoever said that Dr. Lang would have gone had he been asked, knew nothing of the matter. Some had said he was going to get £600 a year, clear of costs, and asked him if he was going to pocket any of the expenses. He would tell them that he was to pay his own passage home, and that would cost him upwards of £250. Then he was to be allowed travelling expenses, but of them a strict account would be kept, and after all he believed he would be a loser. He did not think they would consider £600 a year too much. He would ask them if they would be willing to give up a good business for one that would bring in less. Every one knew that he was not a loose hand without employment; indeed he had never made less than  £600 a year in Brisbane, so that he should not make a penny by the appointment. (A Voice: " What did you get for your business when you sold it?") It was a matter of great consideration with him whether he would act justly to him-self were he to have to make arrangements by which he would lose nearly the whole of the profits of his station.

He expected to find, at the end of three years, that he was a poorer man than he was then. What then became of the assertion that he went into the House for a billet? He had advocated liberal principles. ("Free selection.") He had never talked about it ("five bob an acre;" "What about the pamphlet?") In his pamphlet he advocated the upset price at auction to be five shillings an acre, feeling assured that though good land would realise a far higher price, the power to get indifferent land at 5s. per acre would prove a  great attraction to many people. But even that scheme was not likely to be so attractive as having the best land picked out for agricultural reserves to the extent even of the whole country, - and this was possible, as the act required that the supply in each reserve should always be five thousand acres in excess of the demand, so that the whole colony could be taken up if wanted.

To those who said he had been false to his principles he would say that he was chiefly instrumental in the abolition of pre-emptive right. On the proposal for its abolition being lost by a majority of one, a meeting was   called to consider the subject,-and he was en-trusted with the petition passed at that meeting. The result was that the question was re-opened, and by one or two coming over pre-emptive right was abolished. On that occasion one of the members who came over told him (Mr. Jordan) that he had been influenced in the alteration of his views mainly through his arguments. ("Oh, oh!")

However, it was admitted by some who were clamorous against him that he had one quality, that of being able to talk. In a letter which recently appeared in the public press under the signature of "Paul Pry" the writer asked "what special aptitude Mr. Jordan had for the office he had managed to obtain." He did not manage to obtain the office. When he heard that Dr. Lang would not go-("You know what he (Paul Pry) says is true")-he determined he would go if he could, even without making a penny by it. On his mentioning his determination to the Governor he was pleased at the idea, and shortly afterwards received an intimation from the Governor through the Colonial Secretary that they would be glad for him to go, if he would make the application. He declined to do so, and shortly afterwards on seeing the Governor, he told him that he was willing to go, and it was agreed that he should pay his own expenses home and back. He had always carried out the principles which he advocated when he came to the country five years before.

 He felt himself a colonist; he had married in the colony; and he felt that by going home and bringing out population he would   be doing more good than by continuing their member. Paul Pray also says "I want to know how it is   that the requirements for Mr. Jordan's presence at his station happened so opportunely as to call him away just when the ministry wanted to hurry the Crown Lands Leasing Act through the House?" In answer to this he could say that he had carried out the principles he enunciated on the hustings, and that he was present when the Crown Lands Leasing Act was passed through the House clause by clause. (Cheers.) He might say that he was encouraged in going home by the hearty good wishes and sympathy manifested towards him by those whose intelligence and esteem he most valued in the town.

 One of these made use of this language to him, "Go and   you will succeed, and carry with you the hearty good wishes of the majority of your fellow-towns-men." He felt that would be the case, and that if when he returned in four years' time, he came out as a candidate they would put him in, and they would say that he was one of the best members they ever had in the house. (Loud laughter, cheers, and uproar.) Paul Pry said that he was absent at his station whilst tho Crown Lands Leasing Act was passing through the House. What did the public papers say? Why that he was only absent four days, and he could tell them that he was only absent on those occasions.

The bill passed through Committee on the 6th September, and was read the third time on the 7th September. On the day following the Bill being carried through Committee, he found it stated that he was present in the house that evening. Paul Pry would per-haps say that he meant the Crown Lands Sales Bill, but that had been passed previously. He opposed this bill on the ground that £1 an acre was retained, and that the agricultural reserves were not defined nor likely to attract population, and he voted that the bill be read again that day six months. The end of the matter was, that the reserves were clearly defined, that they were always  to be kept 5000 acres in advance of the demand, and such alterations were made as greatly altered the character of the bill. He had also watched it while going through Committee. It was originally proposed that purchasers should be able to lease additional land at two shillings an acre, someone else proposed sixpence, and be proposed one penny an acre.

Though unsuccessful in this he did all he could to carry it. In conclusion Paul Pry said,-"I want to know, in conclusion, what system of political economy he has so readily mastered, as it must have been a simple one to be so soon acquired by a mere novice in political matters?" Now that ought to have been the   very cream of the whole affair, but what did it amount to? He had never said that he had ma-tered any system or political economy. He considered himself a modest man-(roars of laughter) -and merely said that the want of the colony was population, and that farming would pay. When he came forward at the eleventh hour he used no  claptrap, nor made a single disparaging remark of any of the other candidates, nor had he asked for a single vote individually. He simply explained his sentiments, and his last words wore "that he was not anxious to be returned unless they thought the principles he declared would meet their appro-val, and that he would act for them as an honest man."

He knew that he stood well in the opinion of his fellow townsmen, but if not, though he liked to do so, he would not forego his sense of honour and uprightness for all the plaudits ever bestowed on man. (Cheers.) It was for no government place that he went into the House, and he had no idea of accepting any kind of appointment, but he would own that, before he came out, when he found he could not continue his practice and his station together, he intended to give up his business and apply for a certain government appointment which would enable him still to live in the town, and still carry on his station. He believed that he could have got it, but the moment he presented himself as a candidate he abandoned the idea entirely ; nor did he think it would have been right to act otherwise. He never made a promise to his constituents that he would not accept a post. Such a pledge he believed would be derogatory to his character as an honest man. He believed the true principle was to put the right man in the right place, and if the government wanted a man, they were bound to get the best they could, whether in the House or out of it.

He had never nibbled for office, nor did he support the government generally for that purpose ; what he thought right he supported, what he thought wrong he opposed with all his might. (Cheers.) He told them when he first came before them he would do the best he could for the colony, and to that he had been true. When he found Dr. Lang would not go home-(A voice : " Was he asked to go?")-he gave up his prospects in the colony, and with the honest determination to do the best he could for the country. With the views he held on the question of immigration, he believed he could carry out the system proposed, and as no better man was coming forward - (Ironical cheers, hisses, groans, and uproar.) They know no better man was coming forward, and they might hiss as they liked. (Cheers and uproar.) As he found no better man coming forward, he honestly believed that he could do what was required  (A voice: "You did do it, and no mistake about that;")-and that; - and he believed he should be successful.
Population must be had, with him it was population first, population middle, and population all the way through ; and in this he had been true-true to his constituents-true to his promises-and true to the colony. ("Oh, oh!" and cheers.) In nothing that he had done had been untrue to them, and he was convinced that he should serve them in the most effectual way, and act in the best manner for the interests of this great and flourishing colony, by going home as their Emigration Agent. (Pro-longed cheers and uproar.)

Having concluded his address, Mr. Jordan announced that he should be happy to answer any questions put to him that were pertinent to the subject or to his appointment.

Mr. HUTTON : What class of immigrants will you select for this colony-farmers' labourers only?

Mr. JORDAN : The idea embodied in the scheme is that persons who want labour should send home for it themselves. If you want relatives and you are going to pay their passages, you procure the land orders here, and send to them a passage certificate; or, if a man wishes to come out on his own account, he gets 30 acres of land for coming.

Mr. HUTTON : You will have to sign the orders won't you ?

Mr. JORDAN : I shall not have to sign them. I shall have to go about the country, addressing just such attentive audiences as I have had to-night-(laughter)-and I shall say to them, "Some of you may wish to go to Queensland, and may want to know something more about it; if so, just come to my place at such and such an hour, and I'll tell you all about it." I shall stay a week at the large towns, after having delivered a first lecture, und I shall deliver a second before I go, giving them further information. This is the way I propose to act, and when I have ascertained that a number of people wish to come, I shall say to the shipping agent, " Here are 50 people who want to go out to Queensland ;" and they will then be forwarded by the Commissioners.

Mr. HUTTON: Will you make any difference as to class ?

Mr. JORDAN : No difference. The Commissioners will have to send out the men recommended by me.

No other questions being asked,

Mr. W. BROOKES rose, amidst much cheering and merriment, to propose a vote of confidence in Mr. Jordan as the Emigration Agent for the colony. He did not think it right that a gentleman like Mr. Jordan should leave the colony, entrusted by the government with such a responsible mission, without receiving some expression of confidence from the people. They might differ as much as they pleased from him, but he hoped they would separate the Emigration Agent from the man, and show Mr. Jordan that, when he leaves for England, he carries with him the sympathies and best wishes of the intelligent part of the country. ("Oh, oh," cheers, and uproar.) They came there to have a little bit of fun, and they had had it; now for a little business. (Renewed laughter.) He begged to propose a vote of confidence in these terms-"that the great leading question of immigration may be safely en-trusted to Mr. Jordan, to whom this meeting wishes a prosperous voyage to England, and every success in the great work in which he will be engaged." (Cheers and hisses.)

Mr. S. DOIG seconded the motion.

Mr. HUTTON moved, by way of amendment, that Mr. Jordan ought first to thank the electors for having put him in a position to obtain such a situation.

Mr. JORDAN said he did thank the electors for having returned him, and in going home, if he succeeded in his mission, he would be quits with them, ns he was going to serve them in the most effectual way by bringing out population. (Applause.)

The MAYOR then put the resolution to the meeting, and declared it to be carried.

Mr. JORDAN rose to return thanks, and said that, on the night when the poll was declared for the city, he happened to be away in the country, not being aware that It would be declared so immediately after the election, and he therefore lost the chance of thanking them for having conferred upon him the highest honour they could bestow on any man. (A voice: "It was a mistake.") Not at all; and the party who said that it was would live, he hoped, to acknowledge it was not. Had   he been there, he should have told them then, as   he told them now, that it was the proudest moment of his life, (Laughter.) He knew they believed him to be an honest man, and they must all believe that he would act as one. (Cheers and countercheers.)

Mr. JORDAN then moved a vote of thanks to his Worship the Mayor for his conduct in the chair, Memorial Hall.

So a totally logical explanation for how the settlers in the Bald Hills/Bracken Ridge
 region acquired their land!



This research has been compiled using data from the early map of the Lots as recorded in what appears to be the original purchaser,

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