advisers, but practically they had no voice in the decisions. The Governor's duties were both onerous and difficult, for every class of colonial life was under his direct control. The first few months of a colony require no great efforts at statesmanship, but demand a sound Supervisor of Works, and this was the chief position filled by Captain Stirling. Indeed, he was the pastoral father of all the unhappy people who had come to the Swan River Settlement; and all but the best class of pioneers went to him with their puny complaints. He was repeatedly being begged to assist people to leave the colony, and even had to decide in disagreements between employees and employers.
Up to November 1830 his duties were not clearly defined by the British Government. The Provisory Act for the Government of Western Australia received Royal Assent in May, 1829, but it was not until the 1st November, 1830, that steps were taken to provide the colony with any legislative machinery or to define its charter. On that date His Majesty, sitting in Council, ordered and authorised the appointment of any three or more persons residents in Western Australia "to make, ordain, and establish all such laws, institutions, and ordinances, and to constitute such courts and officers as may be necessary for the peace, order, and good government of His Majesty's subjects and others within the said settlement." It was provided that these laws, orders, and ordinances should be laid before both the English Houses of Parliament as soon as convenient. His Majesty, in pursuance of the authority vested in him by the Act before mentioned, ordered that "the Governor for the time being of the said settlement of Western Australia, or the officer administering the Government thereof, the senior officer of His Majesty's Land Forces next in command, the Colonial Secretary of the said territory for the time being, the Surveyor-General hereof for the time being, and the Advocate-General thereof for the time being "should be empowered with the legislative authority subject to the following conditions and restrictions:—"That all such laws and ordinances as aforesaid, shall by the said Governor or officer administering Government, be with all convenient expedition transmitted to His Majesty for his approbation or disallowance through one of his principal Secretaries of State, and that the same or any part thereof shall not be in force within the said settlement after His Majesty's disallowance thereof, or of any of them, or of any such part thereof, or of any of them aforesaid, shall be made known therein; and further, that no such law or ordinance shall be made unless the same shall have first been proposed by the said Governor or officer administering Government; and further, that in making all such laws and ordinances, the said several persons shall and do conform to all such instructions as His Majesty shall from time to time be pleased to issue for the purpose; and further, that no Court of Justice be constituted by the several persons aforesaid without said settlements, except by a law or ordinance to be by them for that purpose made under and subject to the conditions and instructions aforesaid."
The Executive or Legislative Council thus constituted was opened in the following year, and Captain Stirling, Captain Irwin, Mr. P. Brown, Lieutenant Roe, and Mr. George Fletcher Moore (who had been appointed Advocate-General) were its first members.
CHAPTER VIII.
EXPLORATION; SOCIAL CONDITION; ABOLITION
OF LAND GRANT SYSTEM.
1831.
GREAT DOMAIN UNKNOWN—BANNISTER AFTER GREAT DIFFICULTY REACHES KING GEORGE'S SOUND OVERLAND FROM SWAN RIVER—KING GEORGE'S SOUND TAKEN OVER BY WESTERN AUSTRALIA—W.K. SHENTON AND OTHERS GO TO LESCHENAULT—JOHN DEWAR AND ANDREW SMITH WALK FROM AUGUSTA T0 SWAN RIVER—PARTY EXAMINE SOUTHERN COAST IN WHALE-BOAT LOSING WHICH THEY PROCEED ALONG THE BEACH TO AUGUSTA THENCE TO SWAN RIVER—DR. COLLIE'S EXPLORATIONS IN NEIGHBOURHOOD OF KING GEORGE'S SOUND—SETTLERS ON SWAN RIVER—STIRLING'S DESPATCH—IRREGULAR FOOD SUPPLIES—SATISFACTORY GROWTH OF VEGETABLES—HUNTING—RESULTS 0F HARVEST AND AREA CULTIVATED-EXPECT STORMS—WANT OF LIVE STOCK—PROPOSED MEMORIAL TO ENGLISH GOVERNMENT—AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY ESTABLISHED—BRICK HOUSES—PROGRESS AT GUILDFORD AND UPPER SWAN—KELMSCOTT, KINGSTON AND ALBANY ESTABLISHED—ALLOTMENTS DISTRIBUTED AT AUGUSTA—FREMANTLE AND BOATS—LIFE OF SETTLERS, VISITING, HOSPITALITY, EFFECTS OF SECLUSION, A BARRISTER GOING TO MARKET—CHURCHES—LITERARY SOCIETY AND HOSPITAL ESTABLISHED—NEWSPAPERS AND A BOOK—FIRST GOVERNOR'S BALL—THE NATIVES, MURDERS AND DEPREDATIONS—EXPEDITION TO SETTLE THE AVON AND YORK—DISCOVERY OF TOODYAY VALLEY BY DALE—THE CAUSES OF DEPRESSION—EVIL EFFECTS OF LAND GRANT SYSTEM, ETC.—OTHER REGULATIONS ISSUED—SALE OF CROWN LANDS.
ALL the isolated settlements in Western Australia in 1830 were formed near the coast. Any fears of French aggression held in earlier years were now forgotten, and, as far as was known, the most fertile coastal country was occupied by remote bands of settlers, so that little opening existed for foreign people to colonise without going the lengths of deliberate warfare. Hitherto comparatively nothing was known of that huge domain which was denominated Western Australia. Men had gone in a few miles from the coast, but they were ignorant of what the long ranges of hills and the unmeasured plains concealed. The primal obscurity still held these in thrall. Dale slightly illuminated the darkness by his explorations to the Avon Valley, and when the excitement engendered by his discoveries subsided, the thoughts of settlers and the administration led them towards their great undiscovered land. Paths must be found from the central settlement at Swan River overland to those along the coast. Speculation was general as to what description of country intervened, and one and all advocated the equipment of expeditions to reveal the mysteries of woodland, hill, and plain. The first few years were, indeed, more distinguished for exploration than for the development of the resources the colony possessed at Swan River and the other settlements. It has been inferred that the system of free selection of large grants had much to do with this.
Late in 1830 Lieut.-Governor Stirling determined to have the country between Swan River and King George's Sound explored. An immense distance had to be traversed, but so free were these lands already known to be of sanguinary enemies—men or beasts—that it was not considered necessary to equip a powerful party. Men were needed of strong frames and of a knowledge of bushcraft, who were able to pick their way through hundreds of miles of possible dense woods and sandy deserts to King George's Sound. Captain Thomas Bannister, who was attached to the military establishment, and had taken up some grants of land, was entrusted with the
