QUAINT HISTORY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 105, 6 May 1933, Page 12

QUAINT HISTORY

AUSTRALIA’S EARLY DAYS. REAL DEPRESSION. Major Casey, M.H.R., has presented to the Commonwealth and Mitchell libraries copies of an exhaustive index of the references made to Australia in the London Times between 1791 and 1892. In this potted history of early Australia there are many quaint times, and indications, too, that London showed great interest in the progress of the colony, and not a little anxiety. There is a wealth of information concerning tho convicts, and it is plain that the policy that was followed in those days did not find general support. The early efforts of the primary producers make interesting reading, and judging by their fighting spirit in those days it is little wonder that their successors have done so wonderfully against the great odds that have ruled in recent years Much is made of the outstanding figures in the history of New South Wales, and there are references to the state of health of Captain Cook’s sister.

In 1894 the Times correspondent, giving an account of Mr. McArthur’s introduction of “flocks of Spanish sheep,” wrote:—On the plains of Parramatta the sheep now number 400. Mr. McArthur offered the sheep to the Government for the good of the colony. They were refused and he will now trade in wool himself.” The beginnings of a great industry and a noble family which played so important a part in the development of Australia, are thus epitomised. On© wonders whether Mr. McArthur ever dreamed of the day when the flocks of Australia would run into millions—of the clay when the wool industry would be the main one upon which the prosperity of a vast Commonwealth depended. Tho struggles of the early settlers are chronicled in a number of remarkable extracts, and it is plain that the early settlers know the meaning of depression even more than those of the present day. In January, 3807, conditions were so bad that “even tho Lieutenant-Governor is on an allowance of 21b of rotten pork and lib or flour.” In even more harrowing terms the correspondent relates that “no spirits are obtainable ,either.” Tn 1823 there was a demand for tho introduction into New South Wales of “respectable females.” In 1819 colonists were finding that the work was not too hard, but there was excessive rum drinking that was “deleterious to virtue.” It was about this time that a Sunday school wag established, ana it seems strange to read or such an event in the London Times.

In 1818, it is recorded, three out of 97 female convicts who had been sent to New South Wales died on the voyage. Tho correspondent recording this fact, evidently believed in condensation. His reference concludes;— “One, out of irritability, threw herself overboard, and was drowned. A ball was given by the Governor’s