rice, cotton, tobacco, or any other merchantable tropical or semitropical product, with an additional 500 acres to the first two persons or companies who became entitled to the bonus. Under the leasing system, the minimum area, with a lesser boundary on a river frontage, was 50,000 acres, and 20,000 when not on a frontage, the leases to date to 31st December, 1893. No pre-emptive rights were promised, but the lessee was entitled to claim the fair value of any lawful improvements. The minimum rental for every one thousand acres was ten shillings per annum, with the condition that every thousand acres must be stocked before the expiration of the second year with two head of large cattle or twenty sheep, the actual property of the lessee. Every tenant was required to despatch, yearly, a return of cattle, horses, and sheep depasturing on his land.
Enormous areas of country were taken up in the Kimberley district during the next few years. In the occupation of Crown lands a lively enterprise was shown. Large portions of the Gascoyne district had been selected in 1878-9-80, and the settlers boldly lived among the natives, which hitherto had proved so dangerous, and though at times they suffered very keenly, they soon established fairly peaceful relations. Because of the climate and the distance from settlement, life in the Kimberley district was even more trying than it had been in what was known as the north-west. The climate was tropical, yet not so unhealthy as such regions usually prove; the natives in the hilly districts were treacherous, and the pioneers had to live in primitive dwellings, and undergo physical sufferings which deserved splendid rewards. And to those who did not falter by the way, Kimberley certainly did yield rich returns.
Towards the end of 1879 proposals were being made in Western Australia and Victoria to form pastoral associations to take up the land so glowingly described by Mr. A. Forrest. Several of these were abandoned, but settlement rapidly extended over the new country nevertheless. In 1880 large selections were made, and in 1881 some 5,512,000 acres were taken up on lease. By June, 1882, according to the report of Surveyor-General Fraser, these figures were trebled. The task of apportionment was harassing, for the northern districts, as large as European kingdoms, were thrown open to free and unfettered selection, and huge blocks, equalling in extent English counties, were taken up by individuals. Survey parties were sent out, and had very arduous duties to perform. Their work was as much that of exploration as of surveying. New areas were discovered by them and the pioneer pastoralists, and risks with the natives had to be constantly met. Indeed, taking the whole of the north-western regions of this colony, the work of surveyors was more meritorious and difficult than is usually believed. Governor Broome announced in his speech to the Legislative Council in July, 1883, that the survey parties were doing very satisfactory work, and that about 43,000,000 acres of pastoral lands were leased in the Kimberley district, producing an annual rental of £21,348.
The landing-place chosen by the first bands of settlers was situated in Beagle Bay; thence they drove their sheep and cattle to their leases, scattered over hundreds of miles of country. One homestead was generally a vast distance away from another. The pioneers were courageous to live in such untamed country. Mr. J. Brockman, in 1882, was the first northern pastoralist. After him followed, with 2,000 sheep, the Murray River Squatting Company (Messrs. A.R. Richardson, G. and W. Patterson, S.R. Elliot, and H. Cornish) who settled on the Yeeda River. Then were Messrs. W. Lukin, Lowe, F. Monger, Bostock, and Brown, on behalf of Messrs. W. Lukin and J.H. Monger. These gentlemen obtained a large run of country on the Lennard River. They started from the south in 1883 with 4,500 sheep, but of this number they lost 2,700 on the voyage, or while landing at Beagle Bay. The animals were driven to the Fitzroy, where the Christmas of 1883 was spent; thence they went to the Lennard, and established a station, under the management of Mr. W. Lukin. The mosquitoes were a source of great annoyance. They stung through moleskin trousers, and to escape them the men often slept in bran sacks, preferring stifling heat to insects. The Kimberley Pastoral Company (Messrs. Marmion, Sholl, A. Forrest, and others), with Mr. J.P. McLarty as manager, landed 3,000 sheep at Roebuck Bay in 1883, and formed a run on the Fitzroy River. The Meda River Pastoral Company, comprising Messrs. Marmion and Lavender and residents of the Williams district, settled on the Meda River in 1883, with Mr. Coucher as manager. Mr. G.C. Rose, representing Mr. J.A. Game, of London, took 2,000 sheep to the Fitzroy in the same year, and he subsequently bought out the inferests of the Murray River Squatting Company. Messrs. Osborne and Panton were pioneers in the Ord district. Their stock was driven overland from Queensland by Mr. N. Buchanan, who took two and a half years to complete this courageous journey. Mr. Buchanan left settlement in the East with 6,000 cattle, and lost 1,500 on the road from pleura and red water; he arrived in August, 1884. Messrs. Durack and Kilfoyle, with 5,000 cattle, settled in the Ord district, near Mount Cockburn, in August, 1885. Mr. McDonald followed the example of Messrs. Osborne and Panton, but suffered heavy losses with his cattle in the trying overland journey. These are a few of the men who pioneered Kimberley settlement.
In 1883 Mr. John Forrest visited the district, and compiled a highly interesting report. He left Fremantle in the steamer Rob Roy, on 31st March, and reached Roebuck Bay on 11th April. He visited the stations and examined a large area of new country. He reported that there were eight station-holders, employing fifty-two white men, in West Kimberley:—J.A. Game, with 10,000 sheep, 50 cattle, 45 horses; Kimberley Pastoral Company, 8,000 sheep, 30 horses; Meda River Pastoral Company, 4,000 sheep, 8 horses; Lukin and Monger, 2,800 sheep, 12 horses; — Daly, 600 sheep, 4 horses; Poulton and Riley, 1,400 sheep, 6 horses; Roy, Cowan, and Co., 600 sheep, 14 horses; and Horgan and McDermott, with 600 sheep, and 8 horses, making a total of 28,000 sheep, 50 cattle and 127 horses. Some 6,000 sheep were lost in transit. During his visit Mr. Forrest visited the Yeeda, Logue, Fitzroy, May, Meda, and Lennard Rivers, and the Leopold Ranges. He was greatly impressed with the magnificent pasturage found throughout these areas.
By this time a decided change for the better had set in for pastoral pursuits. Each year the area leased in the colony was increased. Governor Broome visited Derby, a town site which had been established in King's Sound, in 1884. On 3rd December, 1885, the Port of Derby was proclaimed, and in the previous October Dr. T. Lovegrove was appointed Government Resident and Medical Officer to the West Kimberley district, of which Derby was the centre. In 1884 fifty-six leases, representing 3,451,000 acres, were issued for the Kimberley district. In 1883 difficult surveys were carried out under the direction of Mr. Harry F. Johnston, and were continued in 1884. In the latter year the party landed at Derby, and extended the work from the Leopold
