known that Captain Stokes, Mr. Clifton and party, had the misfortune to explore a belt of sterile country, and that immediately outside that belt is some of the best land in Western Australia.
Mr. Clifton returned to Australind more satisfied in mind. He made several excursions throughout the Wellington country, and obtained a better idea of its resources. When he received despatches from London stating that the directors intended forwarding another ship load of settlers and emigrants he became hopeful, and was led to believe that the settlement of Australind would soon be firmly established, and prove a source of gratulation and gratification to all concerned. In April the Diadem arrived at Koombanah Bay with 170 people for the settlement. In December another ship, the Trusty, landed 173 people, and returning to England brought a few more in 1843. So disappointed were some of these new arrivals when they did not find the city their thoughtless minds expected from the published maps, that we are told they sat on the shore and wept bitterly. And, without sufficient food, and homeless, they had something to weep for.
On 6th April Mr. Clifton received a communication from the directors announcing their approval of his decision to establish the settlement at Leschenault, and also of the site chosen for the town. In consequence of this he gave notice that the town allotments were open to appropriation. The first lots were granted in May. The people of the colony began to hope more and more of the success of Australind.
Activity now temporarily marked the settlement, and men and women moved to and fro among the trees in the near Australind country. They suffered keenly, and their activity was concentrated on obtaining sufficient food. Small dwelling-houses were erected on the different allotments, but Australind lacked vitality, and the seeds of decay were already apparent. Information concerning the subsequent trials and history of the company is meagre, and difficult to collect. Notwithstanding the most strenuous efforts on the part of Mr. Clifton and his officers, no substantial progress was made. The people lost heart, and the settlement appeared more blighted than before. The Board of Directors did not render Mr. Clifton that assistance which he considered was warranted, and his enterprise was therefore confined within impossible limits. About the middle of 1843 the final distribution of Australind rural lands took place, and a few months later came a despatch from the directors ordering the cessation of sales, and discharge of the surveyors. Later still, in 1853, the directors determined to wind up the company's affairs, and the Chief Commissioner was released from duty. Thus, within three years, a company of magnitude and importance was projected and formed in London, began work in Western Australia, and became extinct, leaving officers, settlers, and emigrants to their own way. Through misapprehension, lack of vitality, essential experience, and liberal assistance, the company appeared doomed from the date of the beginning of difficulties in London in October, 1840. Mr. M. W. Clifton was in 1844 presented by his late officers with a token of respect and regard. The luminous anticipations aroused by Mr. Wakefield's principles of colonisation ended there, and in the light of subsequent colonial experience, it is apparent that the company was doomed from the beginning. There was not the slightest possibility of a settler gaining a livelihood on 100 acres of ground, no matter how fertile, in those days of intermittent and protracted communication, when no markets were to be had within thousands of miles. The population of the colony could not absorb the products, and there was no chance of exporting them. Had a commonage been allowed each settler, where he could run a flock of sheep, he might have fared better, and had more hope of success. Shareholders, directors, officers, settlers, and emigrants lacked essential experience, and purchased it at the price of great tribulation.
Several original settlers and migrants, or their children, continue to reside within the Australind Company's land. Mr. Pearce Clifton was appointed the agent for the company after the cessation, and he disposed of the bulk of the land at 2s. an acre. Numbers of people who purchased rural allotments in England did not take possession of them, and in course of time they were seized by people in the colony. By the land laws, any person who enjoys twelve and a half year's undisturbed occupation of a block can obtain the fee simple of it from the Government. Most of the rich lands on either side of the Brunswick River, which were cut up into 100 acre lots, were obtained by their present occupants in this manner.
The Cliftons had an honourable association with Western Australian affairs, and Mr. Robt. Clifton resided within the bounds of the otherwise almost deserted site of Australind town until 1897, when he died. The company did the colony substantial service in introducing a fine body of people, among whom were some of the best mechanics ever in Western Australia.
CHAPTER XIV.
DEPRESSION; BIRTH OF INDUSTRIES; CONVICT AGITATION.
1843 TO 1848.
