Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/67

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as a power upon the management of affairs long after Phillip had left the scene. The old saw "quantula sapientia gubernatur mundus" is daily proved to be true; but there is a compensating truth. When some good, great, or competent man has established the affairs of a state, or of a private undertaking, upon a firm foundation, his successors may, and often do, without genius or capacity, successfully control, on the system they find at work, matters which are in their scope far beyond the understanding of the new managers. A road may be difficult to make, but it generally requires no genius to keep it in repair. There may be traced in the early days of the Australian colonies an habitual outward respect for law, a deference to constituted authority, and an orderly behaviour, which would hardly have been looked for amongst those who formed the bulk of the original population, and the existence of which may be partly accounted for by the precepts and practice of the first Governor. It was his aim to make the colony self-supporting as soon as possible, but the soil near Sydney was rocky and sandy. This fact must have been plain even to those unskilled in agriculture, but the advantage of having his criminal subjects concentrated near his seaport and capital would no doubt outweigh, in the Governor's mind, the objections arising from poverty of the soil. In spite of all difficulties, however, experiments were made in various localities. Parramatta (called at first Rose Hill, before the native name was known to the Governor) was the first place at which farming on any considerable scale was attempted. There, four years after the foundation of Sydney, more than 1700 acres were in cultivation. It must excite a smile to reflect that the agricultural settlement at Norfolk Island in 1791 exceeded that at Parramatta. There were then at Parramatta thirty-five grantees, holding in their several names a total of 1640 acres. At Norfolk Island there were fifty-two grantees, holding amongst them 2620 acres. All but one of the Parramatta settlers were convicts. Only ten at Norfolk Island were convicts, the remainder being marines or sailors. The free settlers at Norfolk Island held 60 acres each, the convicts 10. The one free settler at Parramatta was taken to the colony as agricultural superintendent. He held 140 acres. The