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Early Migrants to Australia and New Zealand - Part
I Captain James Cook (1728-1799), British explorer, is credited with taking possession of Australia for Britain in 1770. The new acquisition was added to an ever-expanding British Empire, but appears to have been accepted in the manner which a young bride might view some strange, unattractive wedding gift. Initially, no-one seemed to know what to do with it and it was not until 1786 that any serious attempt was made to place a settlement on the new territory. Until this time, Virginia and Maryland had been the main areas where the hundreds of convicts being churned out annually by the British legal system were sent. However, when the thirteen American colonies became the United States of America, the Crown could no longer transport unwanted subjects there. Thus, with the gracious assent and blessings of the half-insane King George III, Britain turned its attention to the recently discovered Australian and (to a lesser degree) New Zealand territories. Again, not surprisingly, the new land was viewed as suitable only for penal colonies. The policy of the Crown was to eject undesirables out of Britain (and Ireland), and it mattered not where they were sent, so long as it was out of sight and, hopefully, out of mind. Britain's prisons were overflowing, when it was decided that Botany Bay on Australia's east coast might be a useful alternative. Thus, at the cost of around £190,000, an expeditionary fleet of eleven ships carrying men and equipment brought with them Australia's first settlers...albeit that the 548 male and 188 female prisoners might be seen as reluctant immigrants. The Scottish legal system generally banished only those convicted of the more serious crimes (including the Scottish Martyrs of 1793-94), the sentences being seven to fourteen years, or life. English courts, on the other hand, exiled folk for petty crimes, and it has been said the poor Irish were often banished for no crime at all, but simply for being Irish. From the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 until 1868, some 160,000 convicts arrived in Australia. However, it is claimed that in the first twenty years, only one hundred men agreed to remain in Australia as free settlers, at which time the land boasted a white population of just over 12,600. It was not until the 1830s that the British government did anything positive to encourage proper settlement. In 1835 a Bounty system was devised which encouraged colonists to devise schemes that might encourage emigration from Britain. The initial colony was New South Wales (named by Captain Cook), which stretched from Cape York in the north to Port Phillip in the south. By 1803, a penal settlement was formed at Hobart, Tasmania, and in 1829, Captain Fremantle founded another penal settlement, from which sprang the City of Perth, Western Australia: this was the last to accept convicts (1868). A colony of free settlers was established in 1835 on the banks of the Torrens River, at the foot of the Lofty Mountains range. Named after Queen Adelaide, it became the administrative capital of South Australia. Similarly, the state of Victoria was recognised in 1851, with its capital, Melbourne, having grown up around the small village of Port Phillip. Taking advantage of the Bounty System during the mid 1830s, the Rev. John Dunmore Lang, a Presbyterian minister, and staunch supporter of free immigration, secured financial backing for his own project, which was to bring people from the depressed farming communities in Britain, particularly those in the Highlands of Scotland. He therefore travelled to Britain and lectured in various districts. During one such recruiting drive in Wester Ross, his earnest enthusiasm for life 'DownUnder' greatly affected many local tenants and cottars who were by then suffering the worst effects of depression and poverty. Highlanders of this period placed a great deal of trust in Presbyterian ministers, and it seems his visit resulted in the later appearance of the vessel the "William Nicol". Among the passengers to embark were Alexander MacLennan, his wife Mary Matheson, and their infant son, Farquhar, from Plockton, Lochalsh parish. Alexander seems to have persuaded his younger unmarried sister Catherine to emigrate along with him. Apart from the "William Nicol", at least four other chartered vessels prowled the West Highland waters during the summer and autumn of 1837. The "Midlothian" also uplifted several Skye and mainland families. Further south, the "Boyne" the "Blonde" and the "Brilliant" were helping to empty the glens of Lochaber and Argyll. Among the emigrants were some 300 of the name Cameron. Indeed, the "Boyne" sailed with some 200 of Lochiel's finest clanspeople. In spite of the miserable existence they were leaving behind, one can visualise the great sadness they must have shared, as they watched from the heaving decks the disappearing coastline of their beloved Alba. But their melancholia would be short-lived as they braced themselves for what lay ahead, not the least of which would be learning to cope with the cramped conditions in which they now found themselves. We are told that each person was allotted an eighteen-inch wide deck space on which to rest. To Alexander and Mary, with their infant son, this would average out about the width of a modern double bed. Just where they might stow their possessions is not clear. However, we are told that the food was ample and that the ship's surgeon, Dr. George Roberts, managed to keep the spread of disease to a minimum. Nevertheless, it was the young children who were most vulnerable. Records show that of the 179 children and 144 adults on board the "William Nicol", nineteen children and two adult females died enroute. The "William Nicol" had a favourable passage compared to the other ships mentioned. She anchored at Port Jackson (Sydney) on the 27th October 1837 and, assuming that she left as scheduled on the 6th July, this amounts to a run of just 113 days - the other ship's average was about 125 days. Disembarking at Sydney, the MacLennan family and other Highlanders would be taken along to the Emigrant Building in Bent Street. Here they could meet with prospective employers. And it seems that, almost before he had acquired his shore legs, Alexander was offered a job as stockman in the area of Invermain in the Hunter River. His sister Catherine obtained work as a domestic servant near him. It can also be stated that these particular MacLennans prospered, and their many descendants flourish yet in the New England area of New South Wales, particularly around Grafton, where they form the oldest overseas branch of Clan MacLennan. During the mid-1830s, Australia received a steady flow of Scottish immigrants, many of whom were sponsored by organisations such as the Highlands and Islands Emigration Society. Most were from the Highlands, where the infamous "Clearances" were emptying the straths and glens. Wherever Gaels settled, they invariably wrote home to encourage other members of their family to join them. Indeed it is noticeable that emigrants from the Highlands tended to move as family units, while Lowland Scots more often travelled as individuals. Scots settlers invariably named their farms after places back in the homeland. No better example of this can be seen than in the area of New South Wales known as "Scots Corner", located mainly along the Wollomombi and Chandler rivers. Here we find Applecross (settled by the McDonalds); Inverinate and Conanside (Macraes); Kilcoy (McLennans); Glenross (Gillanders); Fassifern and Glen Nevis (showing Cameron influence). Scots Corner, it is claimed, was at one time wholly owned by Ross-shire families. The Gold-Rush of 1851 brought some radical change to Australian culture, due to the number of foreign prospectors who came in. Thus, in the following decade the population figures almost trebled, from 405,356 to 1,145,385. But in Victoria, the increase was six-fold, going from 80,0000 to more than half a million. The gold diggers came from many countries. Some Australians who had earlier gone to the Californian goldfields, were quick to return and apply their new-found skills at home. Some 5,000 Americans came into Victoria, and many more Orientals. But, of course, the British were there also. Gold fields apart, Victoria was a favourite destination for Scots farmers. One such, was Kenneth MacKenzie Lobban (b. 1818 Banffshire) who, at the age of twenty-one, emigrated to Australia. In 1845 he met and married Jane McFeteridge (b. 1823 Co. Antrim). Kenneth and Jane settled first in Moruya, New South Wales, where he worked as a cattle drover, and it was in this area that their first five children were born (two died young). In 1854, the family obtained property of their own at Yackandandah, north-east Victoria. For a short while Kenneth was attracted to the gold fields, but later returned to stock rearing, and it was in this district that their other seven children were born. By 1875, he had acquired some 320 acres near Tolgarno and yet another 80 acres at Kiewa. However, this land had to be developed, and it was not until the 1880s that the Lobban family had settled on the new property, which they named "Thornbush" (his brother William owned a brewery of that name in Inverness). One report identifies Kenneth Lobban as a grazier with some 200 head of cattle and 25 horses. All their surviving family have married well and led successful, prominent lives in society. Some of the men served in public office as councillors and shire presidents, but the main family interest was always farming and stock rearing. Eight of Kenneth and Jane's nine surviving children married, and between them they produced 45 children, 83 grandchildren and some 160 great-grandchildren..and the number is yet growing. The foregoing should give some ideas of how early settlers flourished in Australia. Of course, there were others who found it difficult to adjust to the rigours of climate and rugged terrain, and were happy to return home. But for the majority who had the strength and determination to carve out a new life, the rewards were many. Modern Australia bears testimony to the efforts of those early settlers. Copyright (September 2001) - Malcolm Lobban Published in The Scots Link, Issue No. 59 - Summer 2001
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