Land - or
‘the land question’ as it was called - was the major issue in the colony, and
had been since its creation in 1859, for the competing demands of squatters and
selectors caused perennial conflict. In
order to promote selection, in 1860 the Crown
Lands Alienation Act had been enacted to set aside agricultural reserves in
the settled districts and to allow for selectors to purchase up to 320 acres at
20 shillings an acre. In 1863, the
squatters managed to have this act diluted with the passing of the Agricultural Reserves Act under which
restrictions, in the form of development conditions, were imposed on any land
that had been taken up under the 1860 Act.
This Act established in Queensland
the principle of permanent land settlement under conditional purchase.
In 1868, all
lands legislation was consolidated and updated under the Consolidating Land Act, which allowed for resumptions from pastoral
holdings, restricted selection areas, and set out the manner in which
selections could be occupied and improved.[1] The following year squatting interests again
triumphed with the Pastoral Leases Act,
which enabled them to purchase and convert up to 2,560 acres of their
pastoral leases to freehold status.[2]
Much of the
best land in the colony was subsequently converted to freehold status by
squatters under this Act. As well,
extensive dummying and other irregularities on their part continued to
undermine those provisions designed to protect the small farmer, with
agricultural reserves set aside by government often falling into the hands of
squatters and speculators.[3] The Lilley and Macalister ministries
attempted, without much success, to make the land laws fairer and less open to
abuse by squatters.[4] These failures were the prime reason for the
disillusionment expressed by the electorate over the performance of the
Macalister ministry.
The Brisbane Courier accurately reflected
this public mood:
The patience of the country has really been exhausted by
the delays and shuffles which have, session after session, been interposed to
excuse the non-effectment of some intelligible law to suit the altered
circumstances of the colony with regard to its estate.[5]
Two main
issues needed to be addressed; firstly, the manner in which land for settlement
should be provided; secondly, the method to adopt in populating it.[6] Douglas
wanted to raise revenue from the sale of public lands while ensuring actual
settlement on “real and bona fide homestead areas” that in the past had
been stymied by dummying and ‘peacocking.’[7]
He moved
quickly, introducing into parliament an amending and consolidating land bill, which
was passed as the Crown Lands Alienation
Act of 1876.[8] The Act, designed to curb the power of the
squatters, limited selection of land to 5,120 acres, provided for 10 year
leases and ensured that homestead areas selection was limited to 80 acres with
residency made compulsory. Improvements
of 10 shillings per acre were necessary before the property could become
freehold, and homesteads were protected against claims for debt.[9]
In framing
this Act, Douglas incorporated many of the
measures he had long and consistently advocated to facilitate the development
of small-scale agriculture in the colony.[10] Agrarian reserves for public purposes were
finally created, something he first advocated in his unsuccessful 1863 Bill.[11] The practice of dummying was firmly addressed
through a provision that occupancy had to be by the selectors themselves, and
not their nominees,[12] while
unlimited speculation was also checked, despite the best efforts of the
squattocracy, through their representatives on the opposition benches, to
prevent its passage. The Act was
assented to on 27 November 1876.[13]
The Act made
provision for two classes of settler - the larger, conditional purchasers, who
bought at auction; and the smaller and, to Douglas, the more important,
agricultural homesteaders, who alone could select in the Darling Downs, the
garden of the colony – and who only had to pay one quarter as much.[14] Encouraging agriculturalists resulted in
increased and closer settlement in the colony.[15]
The other Bill
introduced and enacted by Douglas was the Settled Districts Pastoral Leases Act.[16] Although comprising only nine sections, its
importance lay in the way it allowed for the continuation of the leasing
provisions of the Crown Lands Alienation
Act of 1868. As leases expired, the
new Act allowed them to be offered at auction for a further lease at a rental
of not less than £2 per square mile.[17]
Douglas had consolidated and improved the land
legislation of the colony by placing all settlers, past and present, under one
set of regulations and by repealing the number of preceding Acts still in
operation, Acts that had made for chaos and inefficiency in administration.[18] His achievements in the areas of land
management and administration reform were widely recognised and applauded, and
he was considered a ‘shining light’ in an otherwise weak and lacklustre
ministry.[19] As Mason correctly observed, it was “Douglas
the individual rather than the Thorn government as a whole,” who deserved full
acknowledgment for reforming land legislation in the colony.[20] Douglas’s
vision was to encourage and support farming and closer settlement in the colony
by favouring selectors at the expense of the squatters. In achieving this, he demonstrated his
ability to put plans into actions and words into deeds when required.
[1] Our First Half-Century,
p. 57
[2] Cilento, pp. 278-79
[3] Fitzgerald, p. 189
[4] For more details, see Bernays, p. 318
[5] Brisbane
Courier, 17 June 1876 ,
p. 4
[6] Ibid.
[7] “Maryborough.” Brisbane Courier, 21 June 1876 , pp. 2-3
[8] Mason, p. 142. This Act,
which was 105 sections in length, repealed all provisions of the existing 1868
Alienation Act and its 1872 and 1875 amendments. It was introduced to parliament on 20 July 1876 , and received
assent on 29 November 1876 .
[9] Our First Half Century,
p. 59
[10] Neil Byrne. Bishop Robert
Dunne: A Study of his Attempts to
Implement Catholic Social Policy in Southern Queensland
1863-1885. MA thesis. University of Queensland, 1981, p. 29
[11] Mason, p. 143
[12] Fitzgerald, pp. 189-90
[13] Bernays, p. 318
[14] Stephen H. Roberts. History of Australian Land
Settlement, 1877-1920. Melbourne,
Macmillan, 1968, p. 263
[15] Ibid.; The Governor.
“Opening Speech.” Queensland Parliamentary Debates, vol
23, 1877, p. 3; Brisbane Courier, 19 April 1877 , p. 2
[16] This Act was introduced to parliament on 20 July 1876 , and received assent on 18 October 1876 .
[17] Bernays, p. 319; Our First
Half Century, p. 59; Roberts, p. 262
[18] Cameron, p. 32
[19] As Governor Cairns correctly observed: “The great measure of the
session has been the Crown Lands
Alienation Bill.” (Cairns to
Colonial Office, 6 December 1876, Australian
Joint Copying Project (AJCP) CO 234/36, p. 473), while William Henry
Traill, the editor of the Darling Downs Gazette, believed that “there is
no enactment which is likely, for the next few years, to engage the attention
of the public of Queensland in an equal degree to the Land Act of
1876.” (William Henry Traill. A Plain Explanation of the New Land Act of
1876, and Regulations: Specially Designed for the Information and Guidance of
Selectors in Every part of the Colony.
Toowoomba, 1877, Preface. Copy in
National Library of Australia, call no. FER F9947)
[20] Mason, p. 143
