Frederick Chidley Irwin

“ No sooner were these feelings of gratification excited, at viewing the recent footsteps, than, at a distance of about three hundred yards, the child was seen lying on the beach, its legs washed by the surf, and apparently in a state of insensibility. Mr. Norcott galloped up to him, and, calling him by name, the boy awoke and instantly jumped up. Another hour, and probably the child would have perished, as the waves were rapidly gaining on him. The joy and delight of the two natives is represented to have been beyond all conception ”

“ Perhaps the most painful circumstance connected with the India Service is the separation of families. How many ladies are obliged to tear themselves from their husbands, either on account of their own ill health, or that of their children, on whose tender frames the deleterious climate soon begins to operate! These separations are often prolonged for years, and the same causes have obliged many a delicate female to make the long voyage a second time home and to India without any relation to protect her. ”

“ We believe no difference exists in any point considerable enough to establish a claim of superiority on either side. And up to 1816 so little sensible were the stockholders of New South Wales of the capabilities of their country, with respect to the production of wool for exportation, that we find Mr. Riley, an able and zealous improver, strenuously urging them to “a consideration of the obvious propriety of transforming the hair that disgraced so many of their sheep into golden fleeces.” The total export of wool for that year amounted to no more than about 80,000 lbs. ”

“ The scum and refuse of the civilized nation (men whose education in their own country has only served to render them adepts in villainy) have been let loose upon the natives—for it seems an almost inevitable result of a penal settlement, that some of the most desperate and depraved of the convicts will, from time to time, escape, and lead on the native tribes to the commission of every enormity that malignant ingenuity can devise. ”

“ At the outset the natives are to understand that they are to procure their own means of subsistence, either by the remuneration they may derive from work or labour performed for individuals, or by the exercise of their own native arts, such as fishing, hunting, &c. It does not form any part of the intended plan to maintain the natives at the public expense, or support them in a state of indolence,—a boat will be provided for them, for the purpose of fishing, and any surplus quantity they may have will be disposed of for their benefit, under the direction of Mr. Armstrong. ”

“ What is it better, that, instead of a household, it is a whole people we have so brought together, and are so keeping up?—that it is the wide society of the whole world, and not of a single country, against which the nuisance is committed? ”

“ The sound of these words brings our thoughts back to the Cape. We have about two millions of sheep; but the wool exported this year will probably not exceed 100,000 lbs., nor realize a higher sum than 7000 l.
For what purpose are these statements submitted to our readers? Not to vex them by any humiliating contrast, but to encourage them by a splendid example of successful industry, which they have now the opportunity and means to imitate, and perhaps surpass. Only fourteen years ago the wool exported from both the Australian colonies did not exceed in quantity that which we now raise. ”

“ This has been experienced, in the beginning, by every new colony; and might have been expected to occur here, as well as elsewhere. The greater part, incapable of succeeding in England, are not likely to prosper here to the extent of their groundless and inconsiderate expectations. Many of the settlers who have come, should never have left in England a safe and tranquil state of life; and, if it be possible to discourage one set of people, and to encourage another, I would earnestly request that, for a few years, the helpless and inefficient may be kept from the settlement ”

“ A Lady, warmly interested in the welfare of relations and friends, settled at the above-named Colony, is extremely anxious that they, and the respectable community to which they belong, should not, in giving up the many advantages of their native land, be deprived of its most precious privilege—the means and opportunity of religious worship and instruction. ”

“ The entire change of habits, and the wider range which a new settlement involves, not to mention the contact and neighbourhood of tribes in the lowest state of barbarism, have more or less a relaxing tendency as regards the moral texture of such minds; and, if the laws of the colony into which they are transplanted are not strictly maintained, but, on the contrary, impose little or no restraint, society must of course deteriorate, and the entire community ultimately suffer. ”

“ Macarthur obtained the highest price ever known in the London market, for a bale of wool taken from Merinos in New South Wales.
Thus, if the scheme we now recommend, obtain the approbation of our fellow-colonists, we shall probably lay a better foundation for our future flocks, which are to constitute the wealth and power of the colony, than has ever yet been laid in any country. Our breed—the future Cape breed of sheep—will have proceeded from Spain to Saxony, from Saxony to Australia, and from Australia to South Africa—improving at every stage. ”

“ The daily employment of settlers in a new colony demands and engrosses their attention to a degree that people at home, who have always been used to a long-established and completely organized state of society, are but little prepared to conceive. The occupations of such persons being pastoral as well as agricultural, lead to their distribution over a considerable extent of country. A colony also like the one proposed, though happily not intended as a penal settlement, will have its ports open to all who have the means and inclination to find their way thither ”

“ In the course of the past year a few friends of Missions in Glasgow, sensible of the claims which the natives of Western Australia have on them, proposed to the Church Missionary Society to send a missionary there, and that the expense of the station should be borne by themselves and other friends interested in the object. The same proposal was repeated last winter by persons in Dublin anxious to promote the same cause, but the Society declined both proposals, assigning as a reason that they had chosen China, as the next station to which they proposed to extend their operations. ”

“ The state of society among the agriculturists themselves is, in general, of the most friendly description. A kind and cordial feeling is that which for the most part prevails, and a readiness to do good offices for each other. Much social intercourse is kept up, and the laborious occupations of farming are combined with a refinement of manners and taste, which has surprised and delighted many who have visited the colony. To the hospitality which is so generally practised, the writer has already borne testimony when treating of the Swan River District. ”

“ To the ladies generally, of the settlement, the meed of praise is due. Some of them are highly educated as well as most amiable women. They have not neglected to cultivate and maintain, as opportunity has occurred, those elegancies and accomplishments in which they have excelled; and music, especially, forms a most pleasing part of the evening recreations of several families. The good sense and intelligence of the sex have been strikingly displayed in the readiness with which they have borne many privations, and encountered the difficulties incident to a new colony. ”

“ Those who may be about to emigrate cannot be too often reminded that judgment, perseverance, and fortitude are as essential to their success as good climate and soil, and moderate means. It is true that the colony having attained to its present position, much of the difficulty of the enterprize is removed, and many may now prosper who would not have done so originally; but without some portion of those valuable qualities above specified, the emigrant, under the most favourable circumstances, ought not to expect success. ”

“ Should it be the means of rightly directing any of his countrymen who may now be looking out for a field of honourable and successful enterprize, he will consider himself amply recompensed for any labour the task has imposed. In his judgment—on a calm and deliberate review of the whole subject—the colony of Western Australia is calculated to yield a rich return to capital, industry, and perseverance, and appears to be destined by Providence to take a distinguished rank among the dependencies of the British Empire. ”

“ If, after what has been said, it be granted that Western Australia, as far as natural advantages go, is well suited for the purposes of colonization, still it will be apparent, from the principle on which the colony was founded, that its success must be greatly dependent on the capital and exertions of the settlers. The charge of maintaining a military and a civil establishment being all his Majesty’s Government was pledged to, every other expense was to be borne by the emigrant; such as his outfit, voyage, and settlement in the colony. ”