THEME 5 : THE EARLY GOVERNMENT INFLUENCE

The role of the government in colonial N.S.W.was a vital one. it fostered the enterpriseof its colonists and it shaped the frameworkof many towns and settlements through its landpolicy and surveys. The process of expansionwas also interactive. It was the settlers'need for new pasture which eventually found away across the Blue Mountains, their demandfor land which made the opening of the HunterValley inevitable, their requirements forregulation and services which brought thecourts, lock-ups and police stations, the postoffices, roads and bridges.

The government influenced the development ofthe Hunter Valley right from the beginning.It sent official parties to explore and gatherinformation and later, in its capacity as agaol-administrator, established the penalsettlement at Newcastle, thus precluding freesettlement. As has been discussed it was thisearly use which eventually resulted in thevalley's distinctive population anddevelopment.

The first of the Hunter's farmers, the convictand ex-convict settlers, were set down on thefertile plains at the government's initiative,while gangs of convict cedar cutters were sentto cut the red cedar out of the forests. Bothfarmers' settlements and cedar gangs' campsformed the nuclei of later settlements such asPaterson, Clarence Town and Dungog, andnumerous towns in the lower and middle Hunter.

Land Settlement Policy and TerritorialDivision

The most striking aspect of the government'searly influence was its land settlementpolicy, which was manifested in the physicalappearance of the land, divided into estates,farms and houses. The government was also ina sense the architect of the valley's socialstructure because of its land alienationpolicy. Land was granted in accordance withthe capital brought into the colony, andconvicts were assigned both to aid thelandowner in establishing and working theproperty, and to rid the government of theexpense of maintaining them.

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Two systems of land alienation wereestablished by Brisbane in 1824 - first,outright land auctions, with a 10% discountfor cash and refund of money if sufficientconvicts were employed; and second, grantswithout purchase, whereby a prospectivesettler had to first show that he could invest25% of the upset price in improvements, andthen paid 5% quit rent after a seven yeargrace period. Although survey was supposed tobe a prerequisite, most grants were taken upwithout it, since the Surveyor General'sDepartment was understaffed and hopelessly inarrears. When Darling arrived he found thatmost grantees could not meet the terms offinance. In spite of this, the paymentrequirements were retained to discouragespeculators, while the survey condition andthe convict allowance were done away with.1

Darling established a more straightforwardsystem of land allocation according to capital- for every five hundred pounds brought to thecolony, 640 acres would be granted, up to2,000 acres. outright sales were few, whilemost settlers, such as William Dun, J.P.Webber and Edward Long, lost no time inapplying for the maximum possible grant, andoften acquired further lands through variousmeans. The result was the huge estates suchas those of Webber, and John McIntyre whoowned 9,000 acres by 1829.2

By 1831 it was apparent that the system hadfailed in terms of limiting both the spread ofsettlement and the size of estates, and alsoin raising revenue since most could still notafford to pay. In that year, another schemedevised by Lord Goderich was introduced. Itcontinued the policy of limiting alienation tothe settled counties and proposed that salesbe the only method of acquiring land, with theminimum upset price of 5 shillings an acre.Purchasers were required to pay 10% depositand the balance before possession in an effortto generate revenue, keep prices up and limitsales. The impact of these regulations wasinitiated by the existence of boundless, freelands for the pasturage of stock. Landownerssuch as Cory, Dangar and W.H.Warland hadpushed to the north in the twenties, and hadsquatted and later established stations in theNew England, Gwydir and Liverpool Plainsdistricts.3

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While the government's attempts to limit thesize of holdings and the spread of settlementgenerally failed, its survey and land divisionpolicies laid the foundation for Australia'srectilinear landscape. When the Hunter wasopened up for settlement, Henry Dangar wasinstructed to survey it in straight linesforming a 1 mile square grid pattern, and allgrants to be slotted into this formation. (SeeFig. 11). The old plots at Patersons andWallis Plains were accordingly adjusted, andlater settlement followed Dangar's progressalong the rivers. No settler was to have ariver frontage more than a mile long. Inrelation to the earlier, chaotic system, theprogress of the survey was ordered andregular, but in the rush for land conflictsover boundaries still occurred, for example,the protracted argument between John Verge ofLyndhurst Vale and John Hooke of Wiry Gullybetween 1828 and 1832.4

Up until the time Dangar commenced his grid-pattern survey in 1821, the colony had beendivided into thirty-two Constable's districts.In that year Brisbane introduced a system oftownships based on the American model - atract of land of 36 square miles with aservice village at its centre. This systemwas replaced upon Darling's arrival in 1825with new divisions into Parishes (25 squaremiles), Hundreds (100 square miles) andCounties (400 square miles), to be bounded bystreams and ranges. One seventh of the landin each Parish was reserved for the Church ofEngland, for a local parish government wasenvisaged for each.5

The scheme effectively failed because of lackof population to support so many parishes.The official centres which did develop serveda much wider area than 25 square miles.Counties were internally divided by naturalobstructions such as rivers and ranges.Eventually, Counties and Parishes were limitedin use to describing precisely the location ofallotments, and were also used in the takingof censuses.6

Darling also published regulations for townplanning in 1829 which directed that streetsbe laid out in a grid pattern, and emphasiseduniformity and regularity, wide streets, half-acre allotments, and that buildings were to beset well back. The impact of these

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Fig. 11 : (Overleaf) Part of Henry Dangar's "Map of theRiver Hunter and its Branches....." sharing thegrid-patterned survey, early roads and estates.(Mitchell Library).

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regulations was enormous and since the baseplan for hundreds of subsequent country townswas thus laid down.?

Part of Dangar's task was to set aside likelysites for future towns, and his choice wasoften necessarily arbitrary. Some developed,some did not, depending on several factorssuch as transport links, settlement patternsand land use. The interaction of such factorsusually led to the establishment of, forexample, a store, an inn, a military station,or a pound, forming an embryonic village whichwas followed by later official survey. Thispattern occurred at Clarence Town, Patersonand Dungog.8

Regulation and Services

One of the first and most essential governmentservices was the administration andmaintainance of law and order. In view of thevast distances, the wild nature of thepioneering stage of society, the large convictpopulation and the blacks made hostile by theloss of their lands, this proved a difficulttask, and usually lagged behind the spread ofsettlement.

The earliest establishments were set up asoriginal settlements at Patersons, Wallis and,later, Nelsons Plains. A military depot wasestablished at the latter by 1820, togetherwith a governor's house. Police had probablybeen appointed to the Paterson district someyears before the barracks were built in thevillage of Paterson in 1820. Major Morrisettreported in that year:

Military detachment are placed at thesettlements at Patersons and WallisPlains to assist the constables there inkeeping order and to protect eachsettlement, one acting as corporal....9

The barracks were probably located on the siteof the present-day courthouse.

By 1825 bushranging had reached epidemicproportions, as desperate men escaped inincreasing numbers from their masters, andlater from itinerant road gangs. They roamedthe country in gangs using the wild bush asan ally and a haven, where previously it hadbeen a threat. James Phillips had begun withtwenty convicts in 1822 and by December 1825

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eight had absconded. The most infamous gangin the Dungog region was Jacobs Gang, formedof men who had run from various stations,including Vicars Jacob's farm. They attackedand plundered numerous farms, includingGostwyck, committing various atrocities, andwere not caught until October 1825.10

The increase and savagery of bushranging,together with the difficulties of maintainingdiscipline amongst assigned convicts whencourts of justice were a dim and distantthreat, led directly to the establishment ofmany courthouses, police stations, and laterwatchhouses and lock-ups. Paterson became oneof the earliest centres of law and order. By1828 there was one constable, usually an ex-convict, a scourger and a lock-up keeper, anda wooden lock-up was erected, together with aconstables' room which also served as acourthouse. Although it was described asdilapidated, with "loose slabs" in 1832, itappears that it was repaired and used until

Former the present courthouse building (now PatersonCourthouse Historical Society Museum) was commenced inPaterson: 1857 on the same site. A watchhouse was addedSignificant in 1882. Courts of Petty Sessions were heldBuilding once a fortnight by the Police Magistrate of

Maitland and Paterson, together with thehonorary unpaid Justices. Quarter sessions hadbeen held at Maitland since 1829. Mountedpolice were eventually posted at Paterson in1868.11

The settlers along the Williams gainedofficial regulation in the same pattern,roughly four years after initial settlement,centred on Dungog. A Court of Petty Sessionswas established there in 1833, and the townwas gazetted a year later, although notactually surveyed until 1838. An earlycourthouse and lock-up are shown on theoriginal survey at the north east corner ofDowling and Chapman Streets, together with apound on the north east corner of Chapman andLord Streets. By 1838 there were probablyalso police barracks. The courthouse was

Courthouse designed by Government Architect MortimerDungog: Lewis and built in 1849, and James BarnetSignificant designed its courtroom in 1862. BushrangersBuilding. were still a menace when Wells' Gazetteer

reported in 1848 that a chief constable, alocal police force and a "...guard of horsetroopers is also stationed here.... the wildand hilly nature of the country affording

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secret lurking places for (the bushrangers)".Courts were held twice a month by one officialand two honorary magistrates.12

The settlers around the beginnings of ClarenceTown were not so well-served, and probablyused the facilities at Dungog. Althoughsurveyed as early as 1832 there was no policeconstable until 1845, and in a rash of public

Courthouse and building in the Shire in 1854 it received aPolice Station watchhouse and lock-up. A handsome courthouseClarence Town: was designed by James Barnet and built in 1869Significant and a police station was erected the followingBuilding. year.13

Other services were also established at theearly centres. Clarence Town, Dungog andPaterson had pounds from the early 1830s. AtClarence Town a large pound predated the townsurvey and was set at odd angles to therectilinear grid pattern, between Marshall,King, Rifle and Queen Streets. (See Fig. 20).It was similary skewed at Dungog, near thecorner of Chapman and Lord Streets, (see Fig.25), while at Paterson, the pound was in themiddle of the western end of Prince Street. Apoundkeeper was appointed there in 1833, withthe impoundment rate of 1d for horses, cattleand pigs, and 1/2d for sheep.14

Post offices were set up at the early centresof Paterson (1834) and Dungog (1835), and PostMasters appointed from the local community.Business was initially carried out from theirprivate houses. Mail was delivered toPaterson twice a week by mounted police from1832, and a seven-day mail service began in1840 with the growth of the river trade.Clarence Town again lagged behind the othercentres, with a Post Office established in1845, four years after one was established atthe rural centre of Gresford, north ofPaterson. During the 1860's increasing andmore dense population led to the establishmentof Post Offices at the private town of Vacy(1860) and at Allynbrook, high on the AllynRiver in 1866.15

Although river boats dominated the transportnetwork in the lower part of the Shire, landlinks had also been established there duringthe early 1820s. Roads took on a moreimportant role beyond the heads of navigationnear Clarence Town and Paterson, although therelatively easy country meant that no great

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obstacles stood in the way of roads whichfollowed the lines of the valleys.

During Darling's period of governorship roadsin the colony, and particulary the Great Roadsfanning out from the centre of Sydney,received a good deal of attention. A massiveconvict road gang system was developed tobuild the fine, durable and permanent roadsystem intended by both Darling and theSurveyor General, Thomas Mitchell. In 1825Surveyor Heneage Finch marked the firstofficial road linking Sydney and the HunterValley, crossing the barren and mountainoustracts which separated them. This road, whichlater became known as the Great North Road,was intended to replace the earlier Bulga Roadfurther west, but in spite of ten years ofconvict labour, it was more or less supersededby steamer services introduced in 1832 andnever fulfilled the plans of its builders.Its branches had connected the main road tothe lower, middle and upper Hunter andconstruction began on the first of these,linking Wollombi and Wallis Plains in 1828.16

Henry Dangar's 1828 map of the Hunter Valleyshows, for the main part, official roads inthe area of Dungog Shire. (See Fig. 11).There were no doubt numerous settler's pathscriss-crossing the river flats and out throughthe bush, and both Dangar and James Atkinsonwrote that such tracks often later becamewell-used and properly constructed roads.17However, at the early stage, Dangar did notconsider the official laying out and buildingof roads a high priority:

The necessity.... for making roads inthose parts. ...under settlement is noturgent, the country being so open andpresenting so few difficulties that itseldom happens but that a loadedcarriage can be taken to any requiredpoint.18

He had marked a "tract northwards to PortStephens" in March 1826 for the use of theA.A. Company, but by 1828 it was still "notfit for carriages". He advised travellers touse the line "more to the east, crossing theHunter by Ferry Boat ... . just below thejunction of the Hunter and Williams River" asshown on his map (see Fig. 11 ). Another roadshown on his map crosses Dungog Shire in anorth easterly and easterly direction from theBranxton district, where it was linked to the

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main Hunter Valley road, fording the Patersonand Allyn Rivers above Gostwyck and theWilliams River below Dungog. No modern roadappears to correspond with this early line.19

G.B. White's 1829 map of the upper WilliamsRiver and the newly-established holdings thereshows a typical early settlers' track, closelyfollowing the course of the Williams on thewest side and branching at the future townsite of Dungog. One branch crossed MyallCreek towards Dingadee, while the othercontinued north-north-west along the creek toBrown's huts (Cairnsmore), and then swingingwest north west, petering out at Bendolba andDowling's Caningalla. These lines became thepresent day Dungog - Stroud Road and theDungog - Bendolba Road.20

Roads around Paterson were established in asimilar fashion with the early grants of the1820s. An 1831 map of the district showsWebber's, Phillips' and Boughton's grants,with a bridle track running due north betweenthe first two, crossing Johnston Range towardsTillimby (Boughton). By 1832 this would havebeen linked to West Maitland by a punt overthe Hunter there, and in 1835 G.B. White drewup a "Plan of Proposed Line of Communicationbetween the Township of Maitland and theVillage of Paterson" which showed numerous"old" roads around Maitland and north of it.A new line was marked north of Morpeth,running directly along the west side of thePaterson River. Close to the Patersontownship it appears to follow the present lineof road.21

A web of haphazard tracks had developed on thesite of Clarence Town by 1832. One leddirectly to Marshall and Lowes' shipyards andthence to Singleton's mill further upstream,with others fanned away to Nelsons Plains andsouth along Storey Creek. (See Fig. 19). Someare still shown on the 1864 map of the town,completely out of kilter with its rectilinearplan. (See Fig.20). By 1840 a road also ranup from Raymond Terrace, past Clarence Town onthe opposite side of the river, and a punt wasestablished in 1844 to link the two.22

The link between Dungog and Paterson wasofficially resurveyed in 1838, probably bySurveyor Rusden. His line (which is in thevicinity of the present day road via

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Wallarobba) straightened out sections of theolder line, and the latter was considerablyaltered over the Wallarobba range. While theold road crossed the Paterson at Jones Ford(probably Vineyard Crossing) and thus cameinto Paterson on the same side of the river,Rusden's line veered towards the Martins Creekarea and approached Paterson from the oppositeside of the river, crossing it by a ford.Whether or not this road was actually built isunclear - an 1847 map of Dungog showed theline still marked "Rusden's line to Paterson"together with a "settlers line" presumablystill in use. It appears that the earlierapproach to Paterson River never ceased to beused. 23

By 1845 settlers around Dungog were demandingan improved road linking them with the head ofnavigation and the growing river trade atClarence Town and also the road link availablethere towards Raymond Terrace. The roadlinking the two was improved in 1856, thusfacilitating the transport of goods andproduce down the valleys to the ships. Dungogwas also linked to Fosterton in the north by1856.24

The government, interacting with settlers'activities and demands, thus set the stage andmarked the outlines of the later thrivingtowns and the busy transport networks of thesecond half of the nineteenth century. itprovided services and regulations whichbrought the location of towns into focus, andits ongoing work on roads, and later bridges,provided the necessary foundations foressential transport and communications.

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THEME 5 : THE EARLY GOVERNMENT INFLUENCE

NOTES

1 . Perumal, Wrathall and Murphy Pty. Ltd.,"Hunter Region Heritage Study, HistoricTowns and Settlements", unpublishedreport prepared for Department ofEnvironment and Planning, April 1982,pp.35-36.

2. Ibid, Campbell, "Genesis...",pp.76,99,101,103; Wood, pp.94,283.

3. Perumal, Wrathall and Murphy, pp.36-37,38-39; Campbell "Genesis....", P.91;Mitchell, p.175; See also, John Fryer,ed. Surveying the Hunter, Newcastle,1980, pp.13,16.

4. Perry, p.66; Dungog Town and District,p.2.

5. Jeans, p.104 if.

6. Ibid, pp.104-108.

7. Ibid, p.108 ff.

8. Ibid; Deamer, pp.31-32; Perumal,Wrathall and Murphy, pp.32-33.

9. Cited in Archer "The Settlement....",p.20; Mitchell, p.67.

10. Campbell, "Genesis....", p.105; Wood,pp.81-84.

11. Archer, "The Settlement.....", p.20. Itis possible that the 1833 account ofpolice at Paterson refers to PatersonsPlains military station Bellevue, nearLargs.

12. Brian Brock, "Local Survey of Dungog,Some Early History", Dungoq Chronicle,reprinted as a pamphlet, 1955, DungoqTown and District, pp.2-3; Charles E.Bennet, "Historical Notes", 1964,unpublished notes held by DungogHistorical Society; Wells Gazetteer,entry under Dungog; Rusden, "Plan forthe Village of Dungog on the UpperWilliams", 1838, A.O. map 2519.

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13. Anon. "Historical Notes on ClarenceTown", unpublished notes held inNewcastle Local History Library; CynthiaHunter, "Local History Course Outline",Department of Adult Education course,April - May 1985, held by DungogHistorical Society.

14. See, for example "Plan showingAllotments of Site for a Roman CatholicBurial Ground at Clarence Town", G.B.White, 1847, A.O. Map 2073; Rusden,"Plan for the Village of Dungog...."1838, A.O. Map 2519; Archer, "TheSettlement...", p.22.

15. Archer, "The Settlement....." p.27;Perumal, Wrathall and Murphy,supplementary volume, entries forClarence Town and Dungog; Vacy PublicSchool Centenary, 1859-1959, pp.11-12;Maitland Mercury, 24 November 1966.

16. Grace Karskens, "The GrandestImprovement in the Country": AnHistorical and Archaeological Study ofthe Great North Road, N.S.W., 1825-1836", M.A. Thesis, 2 vols., Universityof Sydney, 1985.

17. Dangar, p.59, James Atkinson, An Accountof the State of Agriculture and Grazingin New South Wales, London, 1826, p.136.

18. Dangar, p.59.

19. Ibid,p.61 and map.

20. See G.B. White, "West Bank of theWilliams River from Wattle Creek toTabbil Creek", 1829, A.O. Map SZ 531.

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21. See G.B. White, "Plan Showing RangesNorth of Hunters River, County Durham",1 831 , A.O. Map 3075-7; G.B. White, "Planof proposed line of road betweenMaitland and the Village of Paterson",1835, A.O. Map 5139.

22. See Townsend, "Clarence Town showingtown reserve, farms etc. on WilliamsRiver", 1832, A.O. Map 2208; J.C.Burnett, "Plan of 17 Farms on theWilliams River near Clarence Town",1840, A.O. Map 2309; Map of ClarenceTown, 1864, Mitchell Library.

23. See Rusden, "Survey of two lines ofroad between the townships of Patersonon the Paterson River and Dungog on theWilliams River, to Durham", 1838, A.O.Map 5179; E.L. Burrows, "Plan showingrelative positions of the cemetary andVillage of Dungog", 1848, A.O. Map 2097.

24. Hunter, "Course Outline"; See "Plan ofthe Parish Road from Dungog to Fostertonalong the west bank of the RiverWilliams", 1856, A.O. Map 5145.

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