Successes within the ColonyAs settlers spread out from Sydney Cove they found better land for farming. They moved along the Parramatta River and formed a settlement called Rose Hill. Crops and vegetables were grown successfully here. However, because they didn’t have good transport, it was difficult to take the harvested crops back to Sydney.
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Expanding the Colony |
Shortly after arriving in the colony in 1809, Governor Macquarie commenced building or refinishing roads between distant townships and outlying farming areas to improve transport and communication and increase the colony's economic wellbeing. In order to manage traffic along these new roads, and help fund their upkeep, Macquarie ordered a series of tollhouses to be built at strategic points, much like modern-day toll booths on freeways today. It was during construction of such a tollhouse that Richard Rouse received permission to take up land and construct a dwelling on the elevated grassy ridge, then known as Vinegar Hill.
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By the 1820s Governor Macquarie had been in charge of the colony for a decade. He had worked hard to bring order and stability to the colony after years of convict transportation and political instability. In particular he had worked to organise the streets and roads of the colony, giving them official names and improvements where necessary. Macquarie also built the Hyde Park Barracks to control the convict population more effectively.
(Source: http://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/) |
Effects of expansion inland |
The expansion inland provided much new land for the British colony and provided the resources for the Australian economy to grow rapidly - particularly the wool industry and later the mining industry. The population of the colony started to increase through immigration, as British people saw that money could be made in the new colony. Living conditions had also improved and more land had become available. The effects on the Indigenous population, however, were disastrous. The Indigenous populations were reduced substantially because of dispossession, wars and disease. In Victoria, for example, many Aboriginal groups were reduced to perhaps a quarter of their pre-1788 population in one generation. Some Aboriginal peoples elected to work for the settlers as it would mean they could remain on their land. In these cases, some pastoralists recognised that the Indigenous peoples needed to stay on the land, but only as long as they adapted to domestic and station work. (Source: www.skwirk.com) |
Governor Lachlan Macquarie |
Lachlan Macquarie was sworn in as governor of the Colony of New South Wales on New Year's Day in 1810. His instructions from the Secretary of State to the colonies, Viscount Castlereagh (1788–1825) emphasised that Macquarie needed to: improve the moral and social conduct of colonists, particularly to moderate the consumption of alcohol; increase the number of women in the colony with a view to increasing the number of colonial marriages; and support pastoral and agricultural expansion so that the colony could become self-sufficient. He introduced new regulations for the granting of tickets-of-leave, rewarding some former convicts with government commissions. One such ticket-of-leave convict was Francis Greenway (1777–1837), who Macquarie appointed as chief architect.
Additionally, Macquarie adopted his own vision for the colony, which included a predominantly free settler society coexisting with a penal settlement. As his governorship coincided with a dramatic increase in the number of convicts, he developed an extensive public works program to use the free labour for the construction of essential infrastructure including a new general hospital, a turnpike road to Parramatta and churches in Sydney and its surroundings. Macquarie tried to curtail the excessive use of corporal punishment by magistrates and tightened up the pass regulations. He ordered the construction of new barracks in Sydney, Parramatta and Windsor for the better control of the 'government' convicts. Source: (www.myplace.edu.au) |
Use of Convicts to help build Infrustructure |
Many male and female convicts were assigned to free 'masters' to work for the duration of their sentence or were assigned to public works for colonial authorities. Well-behaved or fortunate convicts could be assigned to a kind master, learn skills or a trade and eventually earn a pardon.
With good conduct, convicts could progress through stages to attain a ticket-of-leave or a conditional or absolute pardon. Many convicts were treated compassionately, enjoyed better conditions than free workers in Britain, and gained skills that provided opportunities once released |
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