Bound for South Australia 1836Planning the Economy

Week 32

The Honourable George Fife Angus, c. 1920-1935. Courtesy of the Art Gallery of South Australia

OverviewBetween February and July 1836 nine ships left Britain bound for the newly created province of South Australia. On-board the ships were passengers who over many long months braved the perils of the ocean, including some of the most treacherous seas in the world to begin a new life on the other side of the world.

This resource uses the stories from these nine ships as recorded by the passengers and crew in their personal journals.

Contents

• Introduction• Journal entries• Inquiry Questions• Relevant images • Glossary of terms

IntroductionA number of references have been made to finances and money. Last weekwe read of The Africaine making a stop in Cape Town, South Africa. Sailingfrom Europe to Australia in the 1830s, captains tried to avoid calling intoports as these stops cost time and money was spent on port charges andsupplies. Some of the currencies mentioned to date include theEnglish pound and Spanish dollar. Money and finances played a big part in theestablishment of South Australia and its economy. This week we look at trade,examining how exchanges were made and start to learn about the firstindustries in South Australia.

Samuel Stephens, who arrived in South Australia on board the Duke of Yorkwrote:

My Dear Sir,…Nothing is yet done (or rather nothing yet appears to have been done towards paying a Dividend, but I assure you, that most deliberately & coolly, I at this moment consider the shares of the S.A.C. to be worth more than I ever expected they would be in so short a time – In four or five days (D.V.) I shall go over to Cape Jervis with the view of Discharging the “Emma” on her arrival at “Yankalilla” & there forming forthwith an Agricultural Establishment, for which purpose I think of employing that Vessel to fetch up Stock. The John Pirie must keep at work fetching Sawn Timber as there is no timber here or there that is worth a rush for building. I wish I had 3 or 4 more such handy & roomy little Craft as the “Pirie” – I could employ them so as to return us a handsome Profit & I hope you will press upon the Board the propriety of sending out more whale ships –

Journals from settlers in South Australia:Tuesday 27 September 1836

Nothing can be more suitable than the “Lady Mary Pelham”, she is exactly the thing. – Our two whalers intend to return here next May & take the Black Whale season (in which they can hardly help doing well) & then after refreshing – Proceed on an Eight months Cruise for Sperm & this is the course all our ships (except very large ones) had better pursue…

Saturday 1 October 1836

John Pirie journal writer, who arrived in South Australia on board the John

Pirie wrote:

Oct 1st This Morng I got G. Bates to Saw off part of aHorn, from One of the Merino Rams, in order to get at a Woundthat was underneath it, and which the Animal recd on thefirst Day of being Tether’d by plunging about to get hisliberty, when the Cord slip’d under his Horn and cut his Neckseverely, since which time it has contd getting worse, on acct

of not being able to apply any remedy, for the above mention’dpiece of Horn being right upon the part most Wounded —Powell and Chandler have been engaged at the new Fence, Yestdy

and to Day, while G. Bates has been employ’d among theStock and sometimes at the Fence, during all the Week, butthis Eveng left us to accompany Mr Stephens, on a visitto the Main-Land with which he is well acquainted _______

Robert Gouger, on board the Africaine wrote:

Wednesday Septr 28th The wind now subsided into a calm, which enabled us to speak with a schooner on her way to Swan River. Her cargo contained amongst other things spirits of various kinds, equal in quantity to 100 puncheons which the Capt regarded as his most profitable investment. One 100 puncheons to a of 1600 persons! [sic] One puncheon to 16 persons – men, women & children! The cost of this importation would suffice to pay the passage of 100 labourers to the Colony, or thereabouts: a mode of expenditure infinitely more profitable to the Colony, seeing that the main cause of difficulty there, is the want of labourers. Capt Tobin, the commander of this schooner has resided in the Colony 4 years & says that the chief bane of the Colony is Drunkenness – to this he attributes greater political evils than the scarcity of labour for, he says, “the labourers we have there: from intoxication will scarcely ever perform three days work together”!

Journals from passengers at sea:Wednesday 28 September 1836

Inquiry Questions• How were goods and services traded in 1836?

• What form of currency was used in England in 1836?

• What were the first industries established in South Australia?

• How did these industries affect the state’s economy and people?

Images

"Whale" engraved by T.Dixon, published in Oliver Goldsmith's History of the Earth and Animated Nature', 1822. Ref E9242. Image courtesy of ancestryimages.com

"Leicester Ram" and "Leicester Ewe" engraved by W.Forrest after pictures by J.Stewart. Published by A & C Black, 1853. Ref E8038. Image courtesy of ancestryimages.com

Glossary of Terms(D.V.)• Deo Volente – God willing. S.A.C.• South Australian Companyschooner• A schooner is a vessel with two masts, the main mast is taller than the forward mast and the

largest sail on each mast is a fore and aft sail.

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