The History of Tasmania, Volume I

On the following morning the boats were despatched to the shore: on their return, the steersman informed them that they had heard the sound of voices, and of a little gong; but...

In 1800, the transportation of the _defenders_ from Ireland, appears to have created continual anxiety: a committee of officers was formed to examine persons suspected, when Har...

The duties payable on exports from the colonies were both excessive and unequal; especially in oil, the difference amounting to almost absolute prohibition; being twenty times g...

[Footnote 78: "Whereas it may be found necessary that a colony and a civil government should be established, and that a court of criminal jurisdiction should also be established...

On an appeal to the secretary of state, Lord John Russell referred the claimant to trial by jury. He erected a house on the ground: this a chain gang was employed to destroy. He...

Sir J. Franklin disapproved of these methods of supplying the labor market, and proposed to devote £60,000 for the introduction of suitable working families from Great Britain....

The erection of the archdeaconry in favour of the Rev. W. Scott, in 1824, was the result of his visit to the colonies, as secretary to Commissioner Bigge, whose reports were att...

In 1846-7 important additions were made to the educational means of the colony. An episcopal institution, called Christ's College, was formed at Bishopsbourne. Scholarships were...

Many of the genera of the perchers are peculiar to Australia; and the brush-like tongues of many species, formed for extracting the honey from flowers, have been classed amongst...

The site of the capital narrowly escaped a second change. The commissioner, Mr. Bigge, considered that the seat of government should be fixed nearer to the source of the river D...

The retirement of Lord Bathurst, and accession of Lord Goderich, gave some hope of a change in the form, if not the agents of government. The colonist expected much from the imp...

[Footnote 256: In our native land we are looked upon with feelings of horror. An old and respected colonist, and a most intimate friend of his own, had gone home, and had lately...

Before his embarkation the secretary of state instructed Sir W. Denison to arrange the dispute with the late councillors, and the claims of the gentlemen who occupied their plac...

The lieutenant-governor resolved, if possible, to exclude Baxter from an office which he could only dishonor, and passed an act, pronounced by the lawyers a piece of "doubtful a...

Collins was the son of General Arthur Tooker Collins and Harriet Fraser, of Pack, in King's County, Ireland: he was the grandson of Arthur Collins, author of the _Peerage of Eng...

Instructions under the sign manual, given to the Governor of New South Wales, dated April, 1787, were amplified by others in 1789. To detain the convict population, and to provi...

An account of this transaction was transmitted to Jamaica, when General Fuller, the superior officer, ordered the colonel's liberation; but forwarded to the authorities in Great...

In various forms Colonel Snodgrass, while acting lieutenant governor, expressed an interest in the church of his native country. He called a synod of ministers, elders, and dele...

Such were the inherent defects of this form of judicature, from the large influence possessed by the executive; which could determine the time of sitting and the members of the...

In 1828, the government determined to establish a school at New Norfolk, called the "King's Grammar School." The members of the government were the board of guardians: the maste...

The appointment of Mr. J. C. King as the delegate for Melbourne, and other gentlemen resident in London to act in the same capacity, was intended to agitate the colonial cause b...

In Van Diemen's Land, an ordinance was passed (1830), permitting the judge to allow a jury in civil cases, whenever it was desired by either party. The names were twenty-four: f...

Wilmot landed at a distance from Hobart Town, and delayed his entrance on office to afford time for a removal of Franklin's household. When he was sworn in the town illuminated,...

The great works of Arthur were attributed by his opponents to sinister motives: those most frequently mentioned were the new wharf at Hobart Town, the road to Richmond, and the...

M. Baudin died: Captain Hamilin, of the _Naturaliste_, returned to the Mauritius. He eulogised the conduct of the colonists to extravagance;[17] but it is mortifying to find, th...

When the estimates for the year were presented (August 20th) the country party insisted on enquiry, and Mr. Dry proposed the appointment of a committee to ascertain the proporti...

On the disruption of the church of Scotland the members of that church in Tasmania were involved in serious disputes, which terminated in the resignation of several of their cle...

Thus it presented no incitement to exertion: it gave the indolent abundance without labor; it afforded a leisure, in which man is prone to degenerate and sink into the savage. D...

The development of the new convict system gradually disclosed its adverse character, and excited general dissatisfaction and alarm. The press warned the people that an attempt t...

The governor himself was adverse to the ticket system. The control exercised over the holders was limited to the most ineffectual and distant surveillance. They were free in ref...

The colonial office at first did not deny, what indeed was unquestionable, that such hopes had been given, and not until twelve months after Lord Grey maintained that his discre...

"The lingering traces" of discord, were distressing to Franklin. In answer to an address from Richmond, which deplored the absence, and invoked the restoration, of social peace,...

[Footnote 265: "My anxiety now is, to reiterate and give permanency to the assurance, that my determination originated not in any feeling of insensibility, or indifference, towa...

While these plans of colonisation were in progress, the social condition of the penal colonies was constantly discussed. To correct the evils admitted on the spot, and to obviat...

The author takes this opportunity to thank the gentlemen who have allowed him, for several years, the use of their works on the colonies, and valuable original papers; especiall...