History of Australia and New Zealand from 1606 to 1890Sutherland, Alexander
History
History of Australia and New Zealand from 1606 to 1890
Sutherland, Alexander
Australia -- History; New Zealand -- History
[Illustration: PROCLAMATION TREE, GLENELG.
(The colony of S. Australia proclaimed a
British dependency, 28th December, 1836.)]
Another industry was also added about this time. The young squatters of
New South Wales, attracted by the high prices given for sheep in the
early days of Adelaide, had been daring enough, in spite of the blacks
and of the toilsome journey, to drive their flocks overland; and the
new-comers soon gave quite a wool-growing tone to the community. These
"overlanders," as they were called, affected a bandit style of dress; in
their scarlet shirts and broad-brimmed hats, their belts filled with
pistols, and their horses gaily caparisoned, they caused a sensation in
the streets in Adelaide, which rang all evening with their merriment
and dissipation. But as they brought about fifty thousand sheep into the
colony during the course of only a year or so, they were of essential
benefit to it. Many of them settled down and taught the new arrivals how
to manage flocks and prepare the wool, and thus they assisted in raising
Adelaide from the state of despondency and distress into which it had
sunk.
#8. Recall of Governor Gawler.#--The British Government eventually decided
to lend the colony a sufficient sum of money to pay its debts; but it
was resolved to make certain changes. The eleven commissioners were
abolished, Captain George Grey, a young officer, was appointed Governor;
and one day in May, 1841, he walked into the Government House at
Adelaide, presented his commission to Governor Gawler, and at once took
the control of affairs into his own hands. This summary mode of
dismissing Governor Gawler must now be regarded as somewhat harsh; for
he had laboured hard and spent his money freely in trying to benefit the
colony, and the mistakes which were made during his administration were
not so much due to his incapacity as to the impracticable nature of the
theory on which the colony had been founded. In 1841 he sailed for
England, deeply regretted by many who had experienced his kindness and
generosity in their time of trouble.
CHAPTER X.
NEW SOUTH WALES, 1838-1850.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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