People were unhappy. The squatters who had taken up leases for sheep runs in 1851 were worried. The Government in Adelaide was indecisive about the renewal of these leases. In particular, the right of ‘perpetual renewal’ was in question. The South Australian Government would not make a commitment regarding perpetual renewal. The squatters felt betrayed by the Government of the day.
Under the terms of an Act of Parliament passed in 1858; which purported to be “An Act to impose an assessment on stock”; the real reason soon became apparent. In the body of this Act it stated it was “An Act for raising the rent of certain Crown lands during the currency of the leases, and to give five years extension of lease at the full market rates as compensation therefore.” Therein was the main problem. The leases were to be valued at an annual rate over a five years period; and the new market rate assessed for that period would become the new value applied to the leases. This ‘assessed’ value would apply to the squatters’ current stock holdings.
So in 1864 a gradual exodus of the pastoralists in the Guichen Bay area began. Their leases were surrendered to the Crown. Many of the people leaving could not afford the impost re-assessment of their leases would bring. They sold off their flocks of sheep and left the district; never to return. They were disillusioned, disconsolate and very unhappy about the Government’s stance regarding their leases.
Surveyor-General Goyder was commissioned to revalue the sheep runs in the Guichen Bay District. Mr Goyder chose 18 of the best sheep runs as a frame of reference. These runs when assessed would become the standard for assessing all the sheep runs in the district.
The pastoralists were apprehensive! It seemed that the Government was determined to gain more revenue from them; but not in an equitable manner.
Mr Goyder’s assessments were mind numbing! The pastoralists were stunned at the increases! Normal assessments based on the old rates for the 18 sheep runs totalled £4,303. The new assessments totalled £30,199; a staggering increase of 700% or seven times more. A huge outcry took place! On top of this assessment was a levy of twopence per head of sheep! The whole Province was in an uproar! Even Parliament was divided on the issue. The South Australian Parliament split into anti-squatting factions, or pro-squatting factions. Many city folk believed the squatters should pay the increase. The Chronicle newspaper stated, “The squatting question is alone enough to make 1864 celebrated – or notorious – just according to the light in which people view it.”
An immediate impact was felt in Robe Town. Pastoralists leaving the Guichen Bay District meant a loss of jobs and income. Sheep flocks decreased and bullockies found carting jobs harder to find. A general mood of discontent, and anger at the Government, pervaded the town. The population had reached a peak of 500 inhabitants; but was now on the decrease. Another issue was linked to the discontent. It had become obvious that the sheep runs needed to be fenced wherever possible. Some pastoralists had built ‘dry stone wall’ fences to enclose their sheep. Others used ‘brush’ fences. These were not light fences; cleared scrub was piled into long heaps at a cost of £13 per mile. Bullock teams were used to drag the heavy brush into position.
There was another bone of contention for the pastoralists. The Government in Adelaide did not care! Thirty two percent of the population lived in or around Adelaide; with another large group of miners at the copper mines on the upper Yorke Peninsula. These people were not interested in the agricultural areas.
For the pastoralists, what was the use of incurring heavy expenses on leases that were overvalued and not profitable anymore? What about the improvements they had made in clearing the land and constructing buildings and yards? Would they receive any compensation for this? If the leases on the sheep runs were surrendered they would simply be put up for auction. It was an unsatisfactory situation to be in. It’s no wonder people were just giving up and leaving. People in Robe Town sympathised with the pastoralists. In most cases their livelihoods depended on the prosperity of the pastoralists in the district.
Harry Medcroft noticed a decline in wool shipments and an increase in live sheep sales to other districts or Colonies. The shipments of live sheep out of the Guichen Bay area did not bode well for the future prosperity of the area. To make matters worse, the local Member of Parliament in the Penola area sided with the anti-squatter factions.
This was happening just as South Australia was getting on top of the sheep ‘Scab’ problem that blighted a lot of flocks. Former Police Superintendent, Alexander Tolmer was instrumental in attacking the problem. As Crown Lands Ranger for the Guichen Bay District he was successful in having an Act passed in Parliament in 1863 to regulate the distance stock could travel daily. It was about this time an excellent sheep dip, based mainly on tobacco plus other chemicals, was discovered that eradicated the ‘Scab’ blight.
Ranger Tolmer was based in Robe Town but moved about frequently around the whole of the Guichen Bay District in his duties. As vigilant as he was, he found it hard to keep tabs on the flocks. The early settlers had not bothered about fences and there were no clear boundaries on the leases. The scrub had been cut by hand, using axes or saws. The settlers had to cut their own tracks through the bush as they settled on their leases.
Another huge problem was the Government’s refusal to construct drains to channel the swamp waters out to sea. Some of the land was under water for two thirds of the year! Yet year by year successive Governments refused to do anything to alleviate the problem. A huge area of low lying land would become productive land if the marshes and swamps were drained.
A severe drought, due to bad weather conditions, was in progress in South Australia. Wheat farmers in the north of the Province were in a terrible plight. Annual rainfall levels were way below normal. Pastoralists in the Olary and Flinders ranges were losing large quantities of sheep due to starvation and thirst. Wool shipments through Port Augusta dropped dramatically, however, Port Robe continued to be a busy port. Whilst the exodus of some of the pastoralists was being felt it did not have a major impact at this point of time. The local store keepers and the two banks were trading profitably.
It was about this time that rumours swept through the town that bushrangers from the disputed territory on the South Australian/Victorian border were on their way to Robe Town.
Angus Cameron, the manager of the State Bank of South Australia was very concerned at the news. He loaded his revolver and paced up and down on the verandah outside his bank. All afternoon he paced up and down. Townspeople went indoors and locked their doors. Robe Town became very quiet as everybody waited expectantly for the bushrangers to appear. Police troopers were placed on standby.
As night fell Angus continued his vigilance. He became more apprehensive and was spooked by shadows. All night he paced slowly up and down; sometimes stopping to lean his back against the front wall of the bank. Nervous anticipation soon had him moving again. By morning he was completely exhausted. He went wearily to bed and collapsed into a deep sleep. He slept all day! The bushrangers never showed up! They had stayed in the ‘no man’s land’ in between South Australia and Victoria.
Back in 1836 an Imperial Statute was proclaimed that the border between South Australia and Victoria would be fixed at the 141st degree meridian of longitude, east of Greewich. However, proclaiming it and surveying it were two very different matters.
In 1839 Charles Tyers completed a survey from Melbourne to the mouth of the Glenelg River near the border area. On a broad expanse of the sandy beach he made a broad arrow with limestone blocks. This was used to determine a starting point for the border survey. However, the equipment used was inadequate and the border was later found to be 2 miles and 4 chains in error.
As Tyers’ mark was used as the starting point for the border survey up to the Murray River, the error was extrapolated. Doubts as to the accuracy of the border line meant a constant state of dispute between South Australia and Victoria. Thus a ‘no man’s land’ appeared in the disputed 500 square miles of territory. The disputed territory
became a safe haven for bushrangers, thieves and scoundrels evading the law.
The disputed territory was even more hotly contested when Victoria included a large proportion of it in land sales or leased Crown land. The South Australian Government sought monetary compensation from the Victorian Government.
As the year 1864 concluded the pro-squatters faction became more vocal. The original leases were due to expire 30-Jun-1865. Mr Goyder’s re-evaluations were based on the premise that each of the five years used in his assessment would be very good years.
No variation scale was built into his assessments to account for bad years, loss of stock, bushfires or devastating weather conditions. Mr Goyder assumed that each year would be better than the previous year. The severe drought conditions continued into 1865.
The anti-squatting arguments continued. The ongoing drought also took up their attention. Surveyor-General Goyder was instructed to report on the state of the pastoralist runs in the north of the Province. Mr Goyder drew a ‘line of rainfall’; indicating the limits of the rainfall areas for the year. He then defined three zones of drought severity upon which the Government based reduced rents to assist the drought stricken leaseholders. Goyder’s famous line became, in the publics’ eyes, the areas showing ‘safe’ from ‘uncertain’ rainfall.
1865 was a tumultuous year for the South Australian Parliament. On 11-Jan-1865 a deputation went to Lindsay Gordon to ask him to stand for Parliament in the Mount Gambier district. The pastoralists wanted someone in Parliament who would champion their cause. Polling day for the general election was 6-Mar-1865. Lindsay Gordon fought a close contest with the sitting member. On 16-Mar-1865 he defeated the sitting member Attorney-General, Randolph Stow by three votes; helping to bring down the Blyth government.
The month of March was another distressing month for Harry Medcroft. On the night of Monday, 13-Mar-1865 the 80 tons, schooner Agnes was wrecked on Margaret Brook reef near Cape Jaffa. The Agnes had a crew of five. News did not reach Port Robe until Thursday, 16-Mar-1865. A survivor, Seaman Backer brought the news himself. Harry decided to take the pilot boat to Margaret Brock reef, as the only other survivor left was the captain of the Agnes.
The local newspaper correspondent was infuriated again. “Mr Medcroft what good is the Port Robe lifeboat if you don’t use it for rescues?”
“Mind your own business! There is only one known survivor. I don’t need a full crew to rescue one man.”
Harry, Coxswain Fullarton, a crewman and the survivor Backer set off about 4:00 pm to sail to the last known spot of the wrecked Agnes. They reached the area at night. The seas were still up and they were in broken water. They put down the anchor. During the night the sea became even more boisterous, so much so they feared for their lives if the anchor chain broke. Harry thought about Amanda and his children and the Insurance office!
Next morning they sailed to Margaret Brock reef, but could not see any signs of the vessel. They sailed around the area, concluding that the ship must have broken up. For a long time they found no evidence of the wreck. Eventually they spotted some floating spars and rigging.
They were hoping to find the Captain lashed to some part of the stern. They began a pattern, sailing towards shore and then out again. About midday they discovered a portion of the wreck with a signal lashed to it. Harry used his powerful telescope to search the wreckage. As they neared the wreckage Harry could see a body on the starboard portion of the wreckage. Their spirits soared!
“Maybe he’s asleep.” said the Coxswain.
Seaman Backer said, “He’s probably exhausted.”
“Surely, he’s not dead!” they all exclaimed.
Alas, he was as dead as a doornail. Harry wondered why he had died. “Did he die of a broken heart? Had he given up all hope of rescue, as he found himself drifting out to sea?’
They recovered his body and took it to Port Caroline. The local newspaper correspondent at Lacepede Bay, for the South Australian Register filed this report on 17-Mar-1865.
'On Wednesday afternoon this place was thrown into a state of consternation by some natives reporting a ship had broken up outside, as the bay was strewn with wreck. On going down Mr Tucker picked up a bundle of papers, &c.
We then ascertained her to have been the schooner Agnes, Taylor, 80 tons, from Port Adelaide, bound to Melbourne, and from the direction of the drift, concluded that the ship had gone on to the Margaret Brook Island, which lies about seven miles from the shore off Cape Jaffa, about sixteen miles from here.
Every available horse was, therefore, immediately put into requisition to get to the spot as soon as possible, whilst the Sub-Collector of Customs started on horseback for Robe to telegraph the Chief Collector, and to have the lifeboat sent out, as we did not know then that it was known in Robe, and that they had already promptly despatched the pilot boat. On arriving at the Cape found Trooper Budd there, who informed us that a sailor, Charles Henry Backer by name, had come ashore on a raft, and had arrived in Robe that afternoon, having been twenty-four hours up to his waist in water, and then travelled nearly twenty miles on foot. It seems that the ill-fated craft left Yankalilla on Sunday morning, the 12th instant. On Monday night it was blowing very heavy, and Backer, being on deck, saw white water, and told the captain, who was at the helm. They hove the lead, and found seven fathoms, lowered away the peak of the mainsail, and put her head half round when she struck! All hands were then called, and before they got on deck she struck a second time. The captain ordered the mainsail to be again fully set, when the sea swept clean over her and cleared everything off her deck and she heeled right over. The captain, his brother the mate, and three seamen made for the rigging, and in about an hour she broke up.
Between that time and daylight four of them were washed off, when Backer seeing they were only about two miles from the beach, constructed a raft, and invited the captain to go with him. Captain Taylor, however, refused, and Backer succeeded in reaching the shore after twenty four hours immersion.
The raft he landed on consisted of five small pieces of three-quarter-inch plank and a piece of timber about 4 by 3 inches, tied with bits of line and rope yarn in the form of a triangle; and the brave fellow must have been in imminent peril from the smallness and frailty of his craft in the fearful sea breaking over the continuous reef, and the immense number of sharks between Brock Island and Cape Jaffa. On landing, he was so weak and exhausted that he could not stand, and, after lying down for half an hour, he, without any further refreshment, started on a journey of twenty miles which he accomplished in about six hours notwithstanding all this exertion, under such exhausting deprivation.
In half an hour after his arrival in Guichen Bay, and having had something to eat and drink, so anxious was he to save his captain that he volunteered to go in the pilot boat to the spot where he had left him clinging to the wreck. His conduct is beyond praise, and deserving of a very handsome reward. The pilot boat after cruising about that night and part of next day without seeing the captain on the wreck, followed the drift of most of it, and at last succeeded in recovering his body, though quite dead, clinging to a portion of the wreck floating into Lacepede Bay where it was pointed out to them by Mr A. Cooke. They landed the body at Port Caroline, and an inquest was held on it by Mr Jas. Cooke, J.P., at the Ship Inn, Kingston, The body was buried with every decorum on Friday morning in the Kingston cemetery, the funeral being attended by about seventy people.
As yet none of the other bodies have been found; though a strict patrol of the shore for twenty miles is being kept up. We must not forget to mention that the steamer Penola, came out on Thursday, and steamed round the reef, to assist should it be necessary. Backer is now at Kingston, where a subscription has been opened for him, and is being liberally endorsed.
The captain, whose name was William Taylor was a fine young man. He had no papers on him, but a ring bearing a Masonic emblem, and inside the inscription, 'William Taylor, from J. and B. Miller.' It is reported that he has
left a wife and four children in Melbourne, and he and his brother the mate, who is also drowned, were part owners. One of the seamen lost was named John Welsh, and the other two not known.'
Subsequent to these events Harry was contacted by the relatives of the deceased captain expressing their wish that Captain Taylor be buried in Victoria. George Ormiston very kindly had the body taken up and placed in a special casket to be returned to Victoria. A tombstone and railing were constructed and placed on the grave site in the Kingston cemetery. Captain Taylor’s relatives sent Harry a very nice letter of appreciation.
His Chief at Port Adelaide as usual sent no word of approval for their actions. ‘Here we go again; we risk life and limb to aid our fellow human beings and we don’t even get an acknowledgement from Port Adelaide.’
1865 was marked by uncertainty as Premiers came and went. Arthur Blyth lasted until 22-Mar-1865; when Francis Dutton became Premier. He lasted until 20-Sep-1865. Henry Ayers then took on the job of Premier; but he was only there for 33 days before John Hart became Premier.
1865 was the year Lindsay Gordon made his famous leap on horseback over the post and rail perimeter fence of the “Blue Lake” at Mount Gambier.
The feat was astounding as the horse needed to clear the fence, land then stop on a narrow ledge on the other side of the fence. Below was a steep drop of 200 feet to the surface of the lake! The famed Blue Lake is a volcanic lake, famous for its deep, blue colour; particularly around November each year. It has a constant, ready supply of fresh water for the township via a pumping station situated near the top of the lake.
More pastoralists in the Guichen Bay area sold off their flocks and walked off the land. The indecision from the Government left many people in a quandary as to whether they would continue on the land or not. Trade in and out of Port Robe began to decline. People had lost confidence in the Government and general morale in the district was low. Shipments of live sheep out of Port Robe continued as pastoralists sold off their flocks.
Lindsay Gordon was a bit of a maverick in Parliament. His semi classical speeches were few and were not of much consequence. He found parliamentary life on the whole quite boring; even though the South Australian Parliament was going through tumultuous times. Sure he upheld the cause of the pastoralists; but their problems were not resolved. Lindsay would rather be off racing horses.
As 30-Jun-1865 came and went, the question of the lease renewals was let slide until 1870. The indecisiveness of the Parliament was the final straw for many and they let their leases lapse.
The Province of South Australia had grown and prospered since its formation in 1836. In 1856 the Province had been granted a large measure of self government by the British Colonial Office. The South Australian constitution was deemed to be very democratic and was based on the Westminster system of government. Progress and prosperity in the 1850’s had been rapid.
Steam navigation on the River Murray began in 1853, and by 1865, there were thirty six, South Australian owned paddle steamers on the river in South Australia. The river trade really opened up the eastern interior of the Province.
It was a sign of a greedy Government that the once very prosperous region in the south east of the Province was now in a steady state of decline.
Chapter 12 - Changing Times