Penny Magazine

No. 001 - THE PENNY MAGAZINE - Mar. 31, 1832

VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.

We have before us an Almanac for 1831, published in Hobart Town, the capital of Van Diemen's Land. It is a matter of agreeable wonder to find an Almanac published in, and for the use of, a country, which even at so late a date as the beginning of the present century (within thirty years), and indeed for some years afterwards, was inhabited merely by a few thousands of the most ignorant and destitute savages on the face of the earth. And now we find established on those distant shores a community so far advanced in social refinement as to have already an almanac of its own; one, too, in many respects as well executed as any production of the same kind to be found in older countries, and much better than some that still disgrace the most civilized countries. This is an Almanac without Astrology.

Although called an Almanac, this little volume contains a considerable variety of information not usually given in works of that description. The heavy stamp-duty in our own country renders it necessary that an Almanac should contain little besides the Calendar, Lists, and useful Tables; and thus the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge prints a Companion to the Almanac, which may be bought with it or not. In addition to a Calendar and the ordinary lists, we have here a body of information respecting the past, and especially the present state of the country, embracing almost every particular with which either a person intending to emigrate, or the general reader, can desire to be acquainted.

Van Diemen's Land was discovered so long ago as the year 1642, by the Dutch navigator Tasman, who gave it the name which it still bears, in honour of his employer Anthony Van Diemen, the then governor of the Dutch possessions in India. It was not, however, till the year 1804 that the country was taken possession of by England. In the early part of that year Colonel David Collins, having been appointed Governor of the projected settlement, arrived on the island with about four hundred prisoners in charge, and a force of fifty marines under his command. He was accompanied also by several gentlemen, commissioned to fill the various situations on the new government. They fixed their headquarters on the site of the present capital, to which they gave the name of Hobart Town, after Lord Hobart, the then Secretary for the Colonies. "The Colony," proceeds the narrative before us, "being thus founded, continued to take root, although at times suffering very great hardships. Indeed those who recollect them, and see what the place has since become, will be of opinion that no difficulties at the outset of colonization are enough to deter adventurers from steadily pursuing their object. For the first three years, the inhabitants being wholly dependent upon foreign supplies for the commonest articles of food, were occasionally reduced to great straits; having been readily given for kangaroo flesh, and that even sea-weed, or any other vegetable substance that could be eaten, was eagerly sought after. But man is always the better for being thrown upon his own resources. After a time, it was discovered that the colony itself; if the land were cultivated, possessed that which would supersede the necessity of seeking elsewhere for food; and, although the first attempts at husbandry were merely made with the hoe and spade, enough was ascertained by them to bid the colonists go on and prosper. "No sheep or cattle were imported till three years after the settlement of the island. For some time after this, indeed, the colony was looked upon merely as a place of punishment for persons convicted of crimes in New South Wales, numbers of whom accordingly continued to be sent to it every year. Governor Collins died in 1810; and in 1813 Lieutenant-Colonel Davey arrived as his successor.

From about this time the colony began to be considered in a new light. The population consisted no longer merely of the convicts and the garrison; but, besides many persons who, having been originally crown prisoners, had obtained their freedom by servitude or indolence, embraced a considerable number of settlers who had arrived in successive small parties from the neighbouring colony of New South Wales. Hitherto the only places with which Van Diemen's Land was allowed to hold any communication, had been New South Wales and England: that restriction was now done away with, and the two colonies were placed, in respect to foreign commerce, on precisely the same footing. In 1816 the numbers of the community and the importance of its affairs had so much increased, that the government thought proper to establish a newspaper, entitled The Hobart Town Gazette, principally for the purpose of promulgating proclamations and other notices. This year also was distinguished by the first exportation of corn from the island, a considerable quantity having been sent to Port Jackson, and likewise by the commencement of whale-fishing by the colonists, " two of the sinews," says the present writer, "of our prosperity as a colony."

In 1817 Colonel Davey was succeeded in the government by Colonel Sorell. The first object which engaged the attention of the new governor was the suppression of an evil under which the colony had for some years been suffering, the ravages of the bush-rangers, as they were called, or prisoners who had made their escape and roamed at large in the woods. The capture and execution of the principal leaders of these marauders in a short time put an end, for the present, to their destructive inroads. Colonel Sorell then applied himself to the improvement, in various ways, of the internal condition of the colony. Amongst other important public works he formed a road between Hobart Town and Launceston, another settlement which had been made about a hundred and twenty miles farther north.

About 1821 may be said to have begun the emigration from England, which has since proceeded almost with uninterrupted steadiness. The immediate consequence was, "that trade began to assume regularity, distilleries and breweries were erected, the Van Diemen's Land Bank established, St. David's church at Hobart Town finished and opened, and many other steps taken equally indicative of the progress the colony was making." In 1874 a supreme court of judicature, was established in the colony. The same year Colonel Sorell was replaced by Colonel Arthur, the present Governor. Very soon after Colonel Arthur's arrival, bush-ranging again broke out in a more formidable manner than ever; but, by the judicious plans which he adopted for its suppression, "in the course of a few months," says the present writer, " not only was tranquillity entirely restored, but was placed on so firm a basis, that it is next to impossible ever to be again disturbed by a similar cause." In December, 1825, Van Diemen's Land was declared entirely independent of New South Wales; and an executive and legislative Council were appointed as advisers to the Governor, the members of both being named by the Crown. In 1827 the island was divided into eight police districts, each of which was placed under the charge of a stipendiary magistrate. The colony about this time "began to export considerably, loading several ships each season to England with wool, bark, and oil."

A new evil, however, now began to assail the colony, we mean the hostility of the natives. After various attempts had been made in vain to tame them, or to deter them from continuing outrages against the settlers, the Governor, at last, in September 1830, deemed it necessary to resort to the extreme measure of endeavouring to drive them into one corner of the island, with the intention of there enclosing them for the future. For this purpose the whole of the inhabitants were called upon to arm themselves, and to lend their aid to the military. The result had not been completely successful at the time when the latest accounts left the country.

In the course of the year 1828 the colony, and Hobart Town in particular, made a decided step in advance. In 1829 a new act of parliament was passed for the government of the colony, the most important provisions of which were, the transference of the power of levying taxes from the Governor to the Legislative Council and the extension of the authority of all the laws of England to Van Diemen's Land, as far as the circumstances of the colony permitted.

Such is a brief sketch of the origin and progress hitherto of this young, but advanced and flourishing colony. Our next week's publication will contain an account of its present state.

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