a temperate climate; further precise investigations as to the quality of the soil, extent of pastures, and character of the aborigines were considered unnecessary." An easy assent was obtained from Government to the proposals for making the new settlement, of which Captain Stirling was appointed the Governor, and thus the colony of Swan River (a name now associated with transportation only) commenced its first start by repudiating any admixture of convictism in its society.
The earliest colonists were chiefly composed of persons belonging to the middle and upper middle classes, whose prominent idea seemed to be that of founding a settlement of gentlemen, each of whom, it was arranged, should receive a grant of land in proportion to the number of labourers and the quantity of property that he carried out with him; the last condition being quite independent of what sort of property it was, whether such as would be of immediate use, or such as could only become useful by ingenious adaptation.
[1]"The official persons, from the Governor down to the humblest officers, were to be paid in land—were in fact, like the followers of the old feudal conquerors, to receive a territorial investment for the support of their official dignity. Thus the Governor had a hundred thousand acres set apart for him, whilst the humbler officers generally obtained about five thousand each. The colonists in general were to obtain land according to the means of emigration which they furnished, it being quite overlooked that those who took out free labourers could not
- ↑ 'Emigrant's Manual,' p. 91. John Hill Burton. Edinburgh: Chambers. 1851.
