Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/120

 94 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY The Husbandmen of legitimate producers, by devoting themselves to farming or pastoral operations ; and the seasons gave them encouragement. During Governor Gawler's administration wages in the citv were so high that farmers could not obtain labor enough to enable them to break the soil. But all this was changed by the new policy ; and the men who were forced by indigence to tramp into the country were important factors towards changing the situation. At first man)- laborers were unaccustomed to agricultural work and disinclined to a country life. The harvest of 184 1-2 was so abundant, and labor so scarce, that gentlemen volunteered to go out and assist the farmers ; and the Governor gave permission for the military and civil officials to lend a helping hand ; but, even then, it is recorded that a quantity of grain was lost. The splendid crop served a double purpose : it encouraged the farmers to increase their tillage, and stimulated the inventive genius of certain colonists. It was during 1842 that the most effective decentralisation work was carried out ; and the consequence was a great increase in that year — 19,641 acres — in the area under cultivation. The Agricultural Society wisely offered for competition prizes for the best agricultural laborers and for shepherds ; in keeping with the spirit of the times, farmers' clubs were established in several centres, ploughing matches were arranged, and agricultural, sheep, and catde shows were held. In 1843, Mr. J. Ridley, a miller at Hindmarsh. invented a reaping machine, which speedily proved invaluable to farmers; and Mr. Pettit manufactured a plough adapted to the peculiar conditions of the Province. The rapid increase in cultivation fulfilled Governor Grey's sanguine expectations. While Adelaide presented a deserted appearance at the end of 1842, the country exhibited a pleasing contrast. "There," says a newspaper of the time, "everything is activity, and farms are spreading almost like the work of enchantment over the land, raised up by the industry of our .settlers." The harvest of 1842-3 provided South Australians with more breadstuff than they required for their own consumption ; and in February the first export was made. The South Australian Company shipped 260 bags of flour to Western Australia, and Mr. S. Stocks, jun., in conjunction with Messrs. Hamilton and Co., forwarded a large parcel of wheat to Mauritius. New flourmills were erected, and thenceforth South Australia consistently supplied its eastern and western neighbors with grain and flour. Within a year or two it was the largest wheat-producer in Australia, and agriculture, which was ushered in under such forced conditions, became, with wool, its most reliable source of wealth. Under Governor Gawler the main portion of this original areii of land was alienated ; but under Governor Grey the first legitimate and systematic attempts at cultivation were made. It is in this respect, and in his adjustment of the finances, that the latter's rule stands forth in the brightest light. While in 1840, out of a total population in the Province of 14,630, there were 8,480 persons in Adelaide, in 1844 there were only 6,107 ""-'t of '^ total of 17,366. Notwithstanding that there was a phenomenal fall in the price of stock, the wool industry soon recovered its balance, and the pastoral interests began to flourish. Many of the stations changed hands, but the stock in the Province increased, and the wool exjjort became substantial ; a considerable area of new country was settled both by