Governor's Venture as Pastoralist

His Excellency (Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell) writing to the Secretary of State after his visit to the western coast of Eyre Peninsula in 1858, said that the width of the belt of scrub along the coast had not been ascertained, but Hack's and Miller's explorations, together with the information afforded to himself by the natives rendered it highly probable that behind the scrub was a large tract of country available for pastoral purposes.

In connection with this surmise, it is interesting to notice what one explorer had to say On June 24, 1858, when at Nakalla, P. T. Geharty referred to the visit of the Governor-in-Chief and Mr. Davenport to Streaky Bay on April 20, when a native is reported to have told them that there was good country inland. The same black was only able to point out to Gerharty a bunch of grass here and there among the salt bushes. The Governor-in-Chief's belief of the capacity of the country he visited was that it could maintain more than double the stock than that pastured there. At the same time he realised that with so much open country, the best use could not be made of the land when partially occupied.

It would appear that lease holders took out irregular shaped blocks, thus practically excluding rival occupiers. Mr. Halcombe on 23/1/1937 showed me the plan of land leased by Messrs. B. and H. Holroyd, north of Cobbler's Hill, in 1850's and 1860's and it well exemplifies the irregular shaped boundaries. The Governor-in-Chief intended that less latitude would be allowed in the future with regard to the boundaries.

He considered that Streaky Bay would drain the produce of the greater part of the country at the foot of the Gawler Range. His Excellency in his despatch to the Secretary of State wrote : "I was anxious Her Majesty's Government should early decide on the destination of the tract of country adjoining the west of Fowler's Bay. I may observe that the information which I acquired during my recent trip makes me regard an early settlement of that question (annexation) as most desirable."

It was not until September, 1859, that His Excellency was able to forward to London lithograph plans and the report of Captain Bloomfield Douglas of the work done on the coast. At the same time he forwarded a complete series of charts compiled by the captain, and gave great praise as to the industry, skill and accuracy with which the work had been done. Sir Richard must have been impressed with the land adjacent to Lake Wangary, and with the possibilities of the pastoral industry, for, sometime during the next three years, he bought land at the lake and leasehold land somewhere else. Details of the transaction are not available at present.

Mr. G. W. Halcombe, nephew of Mr. Henry Holroyd, one time Inspector of Police at Port Lincoln and the owner of the Duck Ponds, kindly made available for this series of articles, four letters from Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell that he had found among his uncle's papers. His act is again very much appreciated and gives us some insight into Governor MacDonnell's pastoral activities on Eyre Peninsula, which could not have been ascertained otherwise.

VALUABLE LETTERS

Tile perusal of these letters shows how important it is to preserve the correspondence of the early settlers. They may look unimportant by themselves, seemingly to have no connection one with the other, but when collaborated with other letters and data elsewhere, they help to fill in the many gaps. The earliest of these letters will be dealt with forthwith, then the narration of a hurried trip made by the Governor-in-Chief in April 1861 to Port Lincoln, then the remaining three letters will be dealt with.

The first letter is from Sir R. G. MacDonnell to Mr. H. Holroyd, dated February 28, 1861, at Campbell House, Lake Albert. From this letter it is apparent that Mr. Holroyd was keeping a general oversight over the McDonnell properties. The question of rations had arisen — local supply as against the city. The Governor-in-Chief preferred the latter, where he could pay ready cash and thereby get a better 'deal.' Similarly with a cart horse and harness, wanted for the run, he said there were many opportunities for picking them up at reasonable price for cash. The sections owned by Sir Richard at Lake Wangary were the two nearest the creek but north of it at the east of the north-east part of the lake. As he was writing from Campbell House he was not sure whether he had two or three sections, but one contained 151 and the other 100 acres. He stated that he contemplated paying Wallaroo and Port Lincoln a visit about April, as Lady MacDonnell wanted to visit the lake and the Marble Range, while he himself wanted to examine the surrounding country in case any extension of the run might be contemplated in the future, as he could see that the whole affair was on quite too small a scale to permit of dividing his interest in the run.

VISIT TO PORT LINCOLN

As contemplated, in April 1861, His Excellency visited and went down the various shafts of Captain Hughes's mines at Wallaroo, and on April 12 sailed from there in the Yatala for Lipson's Cove and Port Lincoln. After a short trip inland at Port Lincoln he arrived at the Semaphore on the night of April 17, thence travelled by the first train the following morning. His Excellency reported to the Duke of Newcastle that he had visited a new discovery of copper ore at Lipson's Cove, supposed by many to be connected with the mineral deposits on Yorke Peninsula.

At Port Lincoln he made a journey of two days into the interior. From newspaper sources we learn that the cutter Alert (or Albert) on leaving Lipson's Cove passed the Yatala, inward bound. The directors of the mine had received a report that a few miners engaged had sunk a shaft in the rear of the main lode, cutting a branch of it, at 25 feet from the surface, consisting of quartz, green carbonate and grey ore. A cross cut was being made to intercept the main lode. The directors had secured a claim for a mineral section of good promise, about a mile inland from their property, it having been discovered lately by one of their miners.

The next letter in the MacDonnell Holroyd series is dated from Adelaide July 20, 1861. From this it would appear that the establishment of the run was not then complete. However, Sir Richard advised Mr. Holroyd that he had bought 900 ewes with lambs and 100 dry, from Mr. Richman, somewhere up north, where delivery had to be taken. Mr. Davenport was also advising the Governor and had suggested a man named Scott, the son of the manager at Poonindie as working overseer. Sir Richard said he was not disposed to invest more than £5,000 in the run and purchase of the land. At this time he had his eye on "section 508 with the land intervening between it and my section 506." The auction sale was to take place in August and he contemplated others might attempt to run up the price.

Even as Governor he could not get what he wanted cheaply. Horses were selling at from £8 to £15, yet when he wanted to purchase, nothing suitable could be got at a "moderate figure," so he wondered if a bullock team and dray might not be as useful as the horse and dray.

PURCHASE OF LAND

The next letter was dated August 17, 1861, still from Adelaide, just after the auction sale. He was able to say that the land between sections 508 and 506 as well as section 508 — altogether 529 acres — had been bought for him for £770, or, with charges, say £800 cash. In consequence, Holroyd could make any improvements desired. The purchased land now totalled nearly 800 acres without a public road on it.

A man named McNee, with a youth Hayes, had been sent north to take delivery of Mr. Richman's sheep, with authority to buy 500 more at 17/- per ewe and lamb, that with a small flock of 500 or 700 maiden ewes of the best brand to be purchased after shearing was considered enough for the run.

Here I may say that I am at a loss to distinguish between the purchased land and the run. Doubtless the former was the Lake Wangary land and the latter in the vicinity of Strawberry Hill. I will revert to this subject when considering the next letter, but at this time he wrote, "I would however like to know how many sheep and lambs, fit to retain, there now are at the run — and how many must be got rid of after shearing. I am averse to having any but the best wool grown and care must be taken to prevent the brand of the station being put on any wool of those old ewes which I saw when at Port Lincoln." Mr. William Borthwick was negotiating for the sale of a run with sheep thereon, but the Governor-in-Chief said he had no intention of dealing under those conditions.

(Another instalment next week.)