The luxury of vegetables after their long fast was much appreciated, and they were eaten ravenously. Behind the house was generally a small field of one, two, or even five acres, from which the timber was cleared, and where the earth was broken with hoes or primitive ploughs. A patch of soil was generally prepared between the house and the river. The indentured servants minded the sheep and cattle where fences had not been erected, and the energetic settler studied the climate and soil daily, hewed down the bush, or tended his vegetables, and prepared his fields for culture. Morning and night the music of the feathered tribe mingled with the rural sounds of bleating sheep, lowing kine, and barking dogs. The solitude began to have more charms for the energetic and determined. Many of them were soon busily engaged in sowing crops. Each settler apparently held different ideas of the Swan River seasons and the proper time to plant. Some sowed the seeds of cereals and vegetables early in the autumn, others in May, and still others thought they would be wiser to wait until August and even September. They anxiously watched the results of these experiments, and each farmer carefully scrutinised the crops of his neighbours to see which were faring best. So diverse were soils and seasons from the English, that they knew not what to do.
Severe storms burst over the Darling Ranges, the Swan River country, and the coast, in May or June, 1830, and the waters in the upper parts of the river rose phenomenally high. Those settlers who had erected their houses on the high banks did not suffer, but the floods rushed over the flats and brushed away everything movable. Several new arrivals lived in tents on the flats with their goods and stock congregated round them, and awaited the recording of their grants. The waters carried off goods, and the stock broke away into the woods and augmented the herds which had already escaped. Some of the people had a narrow escape from drowning.
Those on the seas fared little better, and vessels anchored in Cockburn Sound were severely strained during the stress of the gale. Several ships were riding at anchor in the southern extremity of the sound, one or two of which had just arrived with settlers. During the night four vessels broke their moorings and lay on the sandy beach when morning dawned. No lives were lost, but there were narrow escapes, and numbers of passengers landed in the surf. The Rockingham was among the vessels, and the country upon which she grounded was thenceforward known as Rockingham.
A few weeks later a settler from Tasmania put into Rockingham with a large herd of cattle on board his ship. Not being able to get near shore, these cattle, although almost blind from confinement in the ship, were thrown into the water and driven to the beach. There were no yards ready to receive them and no men to watch them, and they wandered into the bush and were not again recovered. They apparently found their way to the Murray River, upon whose pasture they grew fat and multiplied, and formed, with the others previously escaped, wild herds, which afforded an exciting pastime to hunters in after years. This settler, who was young and careless was sent to the Swan River by his father to form a large cattle station.
Much trouble was being experienced by settlers with their stock. Cattle and sheep certainly thrived on the herbage, for even where it was scanty they grew fat. But in the absence of yards and fenced-in fields they often wandered away, and many were lost. As soon as possible yards were erected, and in addition bells were hung on sheep and cattle of every flock and herd. The tinkling of these, wafted by the breeze, told the settler where his property had strayed. The flocks which were introduced from Tasmania very extensively gave early signs of being afflicted with scab, and the woolly ranks of some settlers were thinned out by this malignant disease. Much loss was thereby occasioned, and other settlers had to exercise the greatest care to keep their flocks unaffected.
Building was actively continued in Perth, and brick and weatherboard residences dotted the slopes, mostly at first in St. George's Terrace. Some of these houses were made comfortable and attractive when the indentured servants arrived. The natives, too, were constant visitors, and eagerly received the food which was too liberally offered them. Inns were deemed indispensable concomitants of a village, and one or two were launched during the first part of 1830. They were largely patronised by both capitalists and servants, and proved a source of much evil to the latter. The crime of the colony was very slight, but so as to be relieved of the duty of judgment, Captain Stirling had opened a Court of Quarter Sessions, of which Mr. W. H. Mackie, a trained lawyer, was appointed chairman. Mr. Mackie was also the legal adviser to the Administration. A store or two was opened, those of Messrs. Samson and Shenton being among the earliest. Stores and inns were also doing well at Fremantle, where some stone houses had arisen.
Substantially the history of Western Australia up till the end of 1830 was one of exploration, land alienation, and the preliminary trials of pioneers. Some large grants were made during the year. The Surveyor-General worked incessantly through the summer. Complaints were made that delays occurred in obtaining surveys and in the recording of grants. This was the fault of the regulations, for Mr. Roe afforded claimants for Crown lands every assistance in his power. He prepared maps of the country surveyed and explored, and new arrivals were able to examine these. He instructed them as to the mode of procedure in securing grants, and how in their first application to the Lieutenant-Governor to accurately describe the land they desired to obtain. The Board of Counsel found their duties decidedly onerous. Appraising the value of property introduced by pioneers was not easy, but every effort was made to facilitate administration. The civil officers, when their administrative duties were over for the day, were wont to repair to their own grants, where they supervised the preparations being made for cultivation, the erection of dwelling-houses, or laboured in the fields. Indeed, some of the officials were among the most earnest, energetic, and progressive settlers.
The first large grant in 1830 was allotted on January 12 to Mr. Thomas Peel, who selected 250,000 acres, described as in Cockburn Sound. This huge block of country had its northern coastal boundary near Mount Brown, south of Clarence, and went to the east almost to the present South-Western Railway, and included a large portion of the Murray River to below and inclusive of Pinjarra. Some excellent soil was acquired, but a large portion was quite useless for agriculture. Mr. Peel introduced numerous other servants than those which arrived in December, 1829, and among them were artisans of all classes, and men experienced in farming pursuits. The number is given as 300 by some authorities, while others credit him with one or two hundred more. He projected developments on an elaborate scale, but from the first he had difficulty with his servants. He proceeded to erect a house on the property and intended cultivating
