Angas and Special Survey No. 2, Port Lincoln (1)

In looking through my draft, it appears that much space has been given to a scheme which came to nought, but historically the scheme played an important ipart in the economics of South Australia, for it is so tied up with Flaxman's extra bold bid for supremacy in land in the Barossa Ranges that eventually it forced George Fife Angas to bring his family to South Australia.

It also shows the optimistic spirit of the age, buying land from the Government for £1 an acre plus a little extra for expenses incurred in selecting the land and desiring to sell for varying amounts from £4 up to £8 per acre before they got possession of the land, in fact even before it was surveyed.

In the February-March, 1939, issues of the 'Port Lincoln Times' appeared accounts of how George Fife Angas was inveigled into taking 2,000 acres of special survey demanded by D. McLaren on behalf of the South Australian Company (hereinafter referred to as the S.A. Coy.) and Charles Flaxman or his nominee. At that time, the search of correspondence had not progressed sufficiently far to state how Angas recovered from the unfavorable position in which he found himself when McLaren asked the Governor to allow him to abandon the Port Lincoln site and to claim an equal quantity somewhere else.

We have now the broad principles on which a settlement was arrived, and in telling of such, opportunity will be taken to narrate other interesting events brought about by Flaxman's action in nominating Angas as joint proprietor with the S.A. Coy.

In my last article I considered whether McLaren and Flaxman had met at Port Lincoln. McLaren writing to E. J. Wheeler on February 11, 1840, gives one of those ambiguous phrases from which one can argue either way. At the time, he was commenting on Wheeler's condemnation of the way McLaren had managed the Port Lincoln exploration. Said he (McLaren), "I do not think I have an overweening conceit of my own management, but under all the circumstances of the case, I have considered, and do consider that my proposing and obtaining the interview with Mr. Flaxman on the way home when the spirit of excitement was so high and my success in that inte view, was a piece of good management and this opinion was universally entertained." This seems to indicate that he had not seen, or seen much of Flaxman at Port Lincoln. If he had, why leave such a vital discussion until on the high seas halfway home?

McLaren applied for the special survey March 2-4, of 1839. It was not until July 6, 1839, that Flaxman wrote McLaren asking that the directors of the S.A. Coy. should transfer to George Fife Angas the whole of his half interest in the special survey. A subsequent arbitration award gave Angas three-quarters and Flaxman a quarter of these 2,000 acres. That application was forwarded to the London manager the same day, McLaren stipulating that the transfer should be subject to an agreement as to the division and selection, and suggesting that Angas should also be charged 7 per cent on his share of the purchase money. On August 8, 1839, Flaxman agreed with McLaren as to the method of apportionment of respective interests and authorised Mr. J. Morphett to draw lots or select on Flaxman's behalf.

The scheme was to divide the water frontage and town blocks into 12 blocks, each pair to be about the same value, that is No. 1 and 2 of same value, the same with 3 and 4, and so on. Lots were then to be drawn as to who should have first selection, the winner taking the 1st, 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th and 11th, the other party of course taking 2, 3, 6, 7, 10 and 11. The same routine to apply for country lands, only that division be into 8, the first choice taking 1st, 4th, 5th, 8th.

Angas writing to Flaxman on August 16, 1839, after chastising him for speculating in land instead of confirming himself to commission business said, "Your notions of the profits to be made at Port Lincoln are extremely speculative and I am greatly afraid that you have caught some of the mania for land speculation which characterises the settlers in South Australia at this time. Good may be done there but it was a dangerous and rash experiment for you as an individual to enter upon, when you do not even say that you are sure there is good land and plenty of water to be got there. As to the harbour at Port Lincoln and Boston Bay we knew it was good before South Australia was settled, but as yet no proof is given of good land and water. Judging from the whole tenor of your letters I candidly confess to you I am greatly alarmed at the speculative animus of these things."

It is not known when Angas started retailing the land in England, but it seems curious in view of the remarks to Flaxman, that he had the temerity to charge his clients on an average of about £4 per acre. It is also interesting to notice the varying valuations he put on the Boston Bay lands throughout the negotiations.

Previously I have mentioned that John Morphett had been appointed attorney for on January 5, 1840, to Wheeler, "Mr. Morphett's powers from Mr. Flaxman do not embrace this property. Mr. Rowlands is comparatively uninformed as to this subject." At the time McLaren, with Morphett, had been interviewing the Governor as to the northern boundary of special survey No. 1. McLaren aligned for an alteration, but all in vain.

On January 27, 1840, Angas paid to the S.A. Coy. in London £2,000, and on February the balance being interest and discount of £64 9/11. The account for expenses was still to be paid. It was very shortly after Angas in London had settled for his share that McLaren in South Australia seriously commenced to think of the boundaries for the special survey. He could not get the Governor to force the Port Lincoln Special Survey Association to restrict themselves to the halfway line in Boston Bay. He thereupon decided to send Henry Nixon, a surveyor, and John Hill, an expert in land values, to report on the selection of a suitable site. In the letter of instructions issued to Nixon on March 16, 1840, which was accompanied by a map of Port Lincoln, etc., McLaren stated. "On it I have marked what I consider the centre of Boston Bay measuring midway between the point of land to the southward of Kirton Point and the northern head of Boston Bay. This mode of measuring the Governor has assented to, when suggested by me to him in the presence of Mr. Winter (and I think, Mr. Frome) at Government House." It is satisfactory to get an authoritative statement as to how the centre of Boston Bay was to be fixed. In the same letter McLaren said, "from personal examination, and Mr. Flaxman's report I am satisfied of the general accuracy of the map." It is assumed that this report of Flaxman is a separate one and not the journal of Stephens. Flaxman's report is highly desired to make the records of Port Lincoln complete.

The Governor and McLaren met at Port Lincoln in April, 1840, resulting in the Governor acquiescing in McLaren's request to abandon the claim at Port Lincoln as has been previously told. On McLaren's return he wrote to E. J. Wheeler April 16, 1840, and inter alia said, "one of the most wonderful and unaccountable circumstances connected with special surveys, has occurred in relation to that district (Port Lincoln — J.D.S.). During my absence Mr. Davenport has declared for a special survey there — although he admitted to Mr. Giles, or his return from Port Lincoln, that he had not seen above 1,000 acres good land — made the made admission to Mr. Nixon yesterday — but seems to be talked over, to declare for a survey there, by Mr. Osmond Gilles, who raves about Port Lincoln."

Here let me stray from the tale for a while. In one of McLaren's letters he stated that someone was thinking of applying for a special survey to the north of the one demanded by the S.A. Coy. In one of William Smith's letters to Angas he said that "our company," by which I suppose he meant the Port Lincoln Special Survey Association, was contemplating taking out another survey. No doubt these two statements refer to the same contemplated transaction. This William Smith would be the same person who accompanied Capt. H. C. Hawson and others up the Tod Valley in October, 1839. He was a brother to Matthew Smith.

John Hill and Henry Nixon commenced on March 30, 1840, their examination of the country up the Tod right up to Mount Liverpool and from there to the sea, and their well considered opinion was, that there was no land to warrant a special survey. They had the benefit of Dr. Harvey's company who had a few months earlier been over the country with Mr. Matthew Smith, C. Driver, C. C. Dutton and others. John Hill and party saw Mr. Dutton's station about two miles north-west of Mount Liverpool. This is the earliest reference I have seen of Dutton occupying this area, the future Pillaworta. (To be continued.)

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