Frederick Chidley Irwin

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 Challenger Buoy, painted black, is moored in six fathoms water, about twenty-five yards to the north-east of the Challenger Rock, which is nearly awash, and is situated near the north-western termination of Sea Reef; extending a mile and a quarter in a north-west direction from the north-west point of Garden Island. This buoy is visible from a ship’s deck, through a spy-glass, at the distance of five or six miles, and is a principal object to be made out by a ship approaching the channel between Carnac and Garden Islands. ”

“ The sheep of this colony (the Cape) have hitherto been reared chiefly for food. But as, with little or no care, they increase much faster than the human race, and as their flesh, being impatient of salt, is unfit for exportation, this article of produce, though most agreeable to the consumer, has long since ceased to hold out any great prospects of wealth to the producer. Genuine Cape sheep, with their thin wiry hair, may be purchased in any numbers from the distant farmers for 1 s. ”

“ The history of this Saxon breed is also worthy of notice, as it affords another instance of the wonderful results of sheep farming. They come originally from Spain, where they are called Merinos. The late King of Saxony, when elector, was the first who introduced them into his dominions. He purchased a small flock from the King of Spain, and exerted so much diligence and care in promoting their growth, that they soon succeeded better in Germany than in Spain itself. In the London market, in March 1832, the best Saxon wool of the Electoral flocks, sold at from 4 s. ”

“ Armstrong brings to the task a considerable knowledge of the native language, obtained through several years of diligent inquiry, and frequent association with the natives in their primitive haunts; we are gratified, therefore, to find so judicious a selection made, and are disposed to augur favourably of this further attempt at conciliation, under the direction of one who has hitherto voluntarily devoted his time to the acquirement of the native language, and has zealously sought an intimate acquaintance with the habits and manners of the tribes around us. ”

“ But at that moment the spirit of improvement seems to have caught the whole agricultural population, and the following facts will give our readers some notion what miracles a whole population can perform, when they act in concert and from upright principles. ”

“ And as to their increase, the following fact may suffice:—In 1830 there were imported from Germany into the British market alone, 26,073,822 lbs.; while the quantity imported from Spain did not exceed 1,643,515 lbs.
Indeed the Merino seems to improve by every removal from its native soil and climate. Even in England, the climate of which forms a perfect, and to sheep a most severe, contrast with that of Spain, the Merinos not only thrive but improve, both in the carcass and in the quality of their wool. ”

“ When exploring the country for several days, and sometimes weeks, these people have been exposed to the sun, fatigued in the evening, after a day’s excursion, slept in the open air, and that repeatedly in wet weather, without suffering in the slightest degree. ”

“ Some of slight figure have become more robust and stronger. Parturition with the female sex is expeditious and safe; being accomplished by the efforts of nature alone, within from three to six hours. No woman has died in childbirth in this colony since its commencement, nor am I aware of any who died within a month after. ”

“ The masters of the ships had all sufficient warning and opportunity to run into Owen’s Anchorage from the Governor (Sir James Stirling) ; besides, long before the gale came on, the barometer fell so much as to make us keep an anchor-watch on board the Sulphur, which we very seldom had occasion to do.
From March to the beginning of September gales of wind from N. W. to S. W. may be expected on the coast. They usually commence at N. N. E., and are always preceded by very great depression of the barometer. ”

“ The advantages the natives will have in attaching themselves to the institution, will be—protection from violence, whether from each other or from white people, medical aid in time of sickness, and a regular supply of food ensured by cautious guidance and a provident superintendence ”

“ Children thrive remarkably well, and I may add every description of live stock, although collected from different climates,—England. India, South America, Africa, &c., and various plants and vegetables, collected from as many different sources, find here a congenial temperature. ”

“ They had to import the Merino breed from Europe to improve their coarse and inferior flocks, exposed to a voyage twice as long as, and more than doubly hazardous that, our imports have to encounter. We have a more abundant population, labour cheaper, and most certainly not of a worse description, and every thing else at least equally favourable. ”

“ They are nearly a mile apart, in a line between Fremantle and the Haycock on Garden Island, with seven to nine fathoms water between them. A ship should steer between them, and, after passing over a bank of three fathoms water, bring up about a mile from the shore, and nearly the same distance to the south-eastward of a beacon which has been placed in two fathoms water, at fifty yards to the westward of the fish-rocks. ”

“ She has limited the sum to be contributed to sixpence, not only because she trusts to find it sufficient, but that it overcomes any reluctance she might otherwise experience in making her solicitations for this distant though promising part of our empire—to feel she is asking for that which it can inconvenience none to bestow, however numerous and extensive may be their charities. ”

“ That they are to employ and maintain themselves by fishing, or such other work as Mr. Armstrong may point out; and that if they do not procure enough for their own supply, they must go without.
9th. That if they like to go away from Eliza Bay, they may always do so, and come back at their pleasure: but while there they must behave well, and do as Mr. Armstrong directs them; and if they are not well conducted, Mr. Armstrong will not let them remain there.—From the W. A. Journal of Dec. 13, 1834.
APPENDIX, No. VIII.
Extraordinary Recovery of a Child by the Swan-River Natives. ”

“ These sheep we have seen, in a climate in every respect the same as ours, double their numbers in every two years and a half, more or less. In 18381⁄2 we shall, therefore, have 200,000 sheep. In 1841 we shall have 400,000. In 18431⁄2 they will have increased to 800,000. In 1846 to 1,600,000. In 18481⁄4, or, say, in 1850, we shall have THREE MILLIONS and TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND sheep, bearing fleeces of the finest quality in the world, bringing into the colony an annual return of not less than 350,000 l., independently of their skins and tallow. ”