Page:History of West Australia.djvu/64

 46 "On receiving the report of the Board, the Lieutenant-Governor will accord permission to the applicant to proceed to select such land, to the extent recommended, as may suit his particular views, and having selected, the applicant is to make his selection known to the Surveyor-General, by filling up the form which may be attached to the permission to select. This report of selection will be examined by the Surveyor-General, and transmitted by him to the Lieutenant-Governor, with such remarks as may be necessary to enable the Lieutenant-Governor to decide on the propriety of the allotment being made, and, if no prior claim to the land in question, or other objection exist, the applicant will receive a grant thereof, in the usual form of a primary conveyance.

"Land thus granted will belong in perpetuity to the grantee, his heirs and assigns, to be held in free and common sociage, subject, however, to such reservations and conditions as may be stated in the conveyance."

Then appear the permanent and non-permanent liabilities of grants, by which the land is held liable to taxation for public purposes, river frontages to a special tax for a fund to deepen the river and facilitate navigation, and the Government held the right of constructing roads, canals, bridges, churches, schools, and works of defence, through and on private property. No land could be sold by the settler until he had improved it to the extent of 1s. 6d. per acre, except where special permission was obtained from the Lieutenant-Governor. Other liabilities, as promulgated in the Colonial Office Circular of 13th January, were also mentioned.

In June and July the foundations of settlement were laid, and then began the influx of a rapid, almost phenomenal, stream of pioneers. In February the pioneer Parmelia left England, and the other ships which had been hired by the Government and private individuals, waited for some weeks to give Governor Stirling an opportunity to organise his Civil establishment for their reception. Three vessels reached Cockburn Sound in August. On the 5th August the Calista landed 73 men, women, and children on Western Australia shores, together with 14 horses, 200 sheep, and a general cargo. Next day came the St. Leonard, freighted with a general cargo, 26 horses, 11 cows, 6l bullocks, and 70 sheep. On the 23rd August the Marquis of Anglesea put into the sound, burdened with 104 men, women, and children, 2 horses, 1 cow, 4 calves, 50 sheep, and a general cargo. These 177 people, with the 67 who had landed from the Parmelia, made a total of 244 settlers, besides the 57 officers and men who had arrived by the Sulphur. The nucleus of the flocks and herds of the colony was formed, and after the half blind stock—suffering from their long incarceration—were landed, they were driven to pasture on the banks of the Swan. If any of the natives were observing this new move they must have been unusually astonished when the woolly sheep and horned cattle scattered, and hungrily browsed on the herbage. The Parmelia colonists were delighted at the familiar sight of the dumb animals, and it implanted renewed hope in them as they meditated on the stretches of pasture which were ready to receive the stock. At this time ships were constantly on the oceans bound from England for Western Australia. There was an almost continuous line of them, some separated only by a few days from each other, some by weeks.

Cockburn Sound bore quite a busy sight with these vessels anchored off the shore. The Challenger had not yet left, while the Sulphur was instructed by the English Government to remain attached to the settlement for some time, to protect the pioneers and be ready for any emergency. Captain Dance, the commander, repeatedly went up into the land to visit the settlers. The Parmelia had been seriously damaged by her contact with the sand-banks, and lay in the offing. Captain Luscome considered the damages so great that he wished to abandon her, and wrote to Governor Stirling that in his opinion the local Government were responsible. To this His Excellency did not agree, explaining that he had brought the Parmelia into harbour not as her commander, but at the special request of the master, and threatened that if Captain Luscombe abandoned her it would be at his own serious risk. Captain Luscombe then petitioned for assistance from the Sulphur to repair the damages, which was finally granted. The Calista, St. Leonard, and Marquis of Anglesea completed the little fleet.

When Captain Stirling recognised that it would be impossible for the settlers to produce any crops in the 1829 season, he despatched the Parmelia, after her repairs were completed, to the Dutch Islands for provisions. A successful voyage was made, and the barque returned to Cockburn Sound in January, 1830, laded with corn, cattle, and pigs.

A severe storm broke upon these vessels after they had been together but a few weeks, and struck a very severe blow to the settlement, and especially to individual settlers. Approaching with terrific force from the north-west, it soon strained the anchors of the ships to their highest tension, and finally carried the Marquis of Anglesea on to the shore under the cliffs of Arthur Head, where she became a total wreck. The Calista dragged three anchors into most dangerous proximity to the coast, but the storm abating in time saved her. No lives were lost in the Marquis of Anglesea, but stores, and especially a large consignment of bricks, caused a most serious loss. The Government subsequently used the ship as a storage hulk. This calamity brought unexpected distress on many people, and reports were pertinaciously circulated for a long period as to the openness and unsafeness of Cockburn Sound as a harbour.

The hardships endured by the August band of pioneers were little short of those which the Parmelia people had been exposed to. While the capitalistic class had brought stock and goods out with them they seem to have paid little attention to essentials. As a result many of them were without shelter, and it is stated that women and children lived in the caves at the mouth of the Swan for some time before suitable shelter could be procured for them. Others were landed at the depot at Garden Island, and forlornly waited there until it was convenient to receive them on the mainland. The labourers, who were often accompanied by their wives and families, suffered perhaps more keenly than the rest. The warmth which slowly draws on in the month August relieved them of some bodily suffering. Many of the first arrivals sowed vegetables in what they considered suitable spots, and it encouraged them greatly when they saw them spring from the soil but before they could make any success of gardening they had to study the new conditions of soil and climate, so diverse from what existed in England. The whole year seemed to be turned upside down, and the more ignorant were greatly astonished to find a winter in August, a spring in October, summer at Christmas, and autumn at the usual period of English spring. Many mistakes were therefore made in their efforts at culture, and it required careful study and some experience before the best use could be made of the land.

Notwithstanding all the vicissitudes to which these pioneers