History of Victoria

Richard Broome, reflecting that explorer Thomas Mitchell claimed Victoria as a prize left for Englishmen by God, states that “Victoria was not a prize left by God, but one wrestled from Aboriginal people”.

Research suggests that the ancestors of the Aborigines arrived from south-east Asia at least 60,000 years ago. Artefacts have been found at Keilor which provide evidence of continuous occupation for about 40,000 years.

As these first explorers and settlers left no written record, fragmentary archaeological finds and oral traditions are all that we have to show how they lived.

Since the end of the ice age about 10,000 years ago, when Victoria became cut off from Tasmania, the climate and the physiography has been fairly stable. While Aboriginal society also remained stable, gradual changes appear to have occurred with society and technology becoming more complex. Fish weirs, hafted tools, and storage facilities were developed, suggesting a more sedentary life, at least in some areas.

Estimates of numbers around 1800 vary considerably, from 11,500 to perhaps 100,000, with a 1987 ‘guesstimate’, by Mulvaney & White, of about 30,000. One of the difficulties in estimating numbers is due to the uncertain effect of two smallpox epidemics about 1789 and 1829.

There were about 35-40 cultural-language units with specific territories. They formed four loose confederations: the Kurnai or Gunai in Gippsland, the Kulin in Central Victoria, the Mara on the south-west, and the Wotjo in the north-west.

Within each cultural-language group were smaller clans. Members of each clan were spiritually bound to a particular area of land which was the source of all life and sacred. The land was jealously guarded and no Aboriginal would cross a clan boundary without permission. Those who lived in other territories were described as ‘wild black fellows’ to early Europeans who failed to recognise the importance of territory. The alienation of lands for pastoral purposes, pushed clans beyond their traditional boundaries, resulting in violent inter-tribal clashes between 1836 and 1849.

Meetings between clans would occasionally take place, and the Yarra near Melbourne was a traditional meeting-place for the Kulin confederation, as late as 1840.

Clans moved throughout their territories according to the weather and food supplies. This nomadic life was systematic to preserve the resources of the environment, and to visit sacred and ceremonial sites where the spirits of ancestors resided.

Over time the Aborigines modified the environment through the use of fire to regenerate the grasses, creating lightly timbered plains over central and western Victoria.

Technological advances were gradually made. Bone replaced stone in tools and other artefacts. In the south-west eel and fish traps and drainage complexes were developed, and well-constructed huts suggested a more sedentary way of life.

Some limited trading occurred, such as at a stone quarry at Mount William near Lancefield where clans came from far away to exchange rugs and other goods for stone needed to make axes.

Aboriginal society in Victoria, having survived for thousands of years, was to be almost destroyed in a single generation after 1835.

See also: Indigenous Australians

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First European contacts

Some people believe that the first Europeans to sight the coast of Victoria were sailors on a Portuguese expedition in 1522 who sailed down the east coast of Australia and into Bass Strait. An old hulk, supposedly seen in the sand-hills near Warrnambool during the nineteenth century, and known as the Mahogany ship is thought by some to be the wreck of this ship. This hulk has not been seen since 1880, and has presumably been buried in the shifting sand-dunes of the area.

Coming from New Zealand in 1770, Captain James Cook in HM Bark Endeavour sighted land at Point Hicks, about seventy kilometres west of Gabo Island, before turning east and north to follow the coast of Australia.

Ships sailing from Europe to Sydney crossed the Indian Ocean and Southern Ocean, sailing around Van Diemen's Land before turning north to their destination. Several captains viewed the expanse of water between Van Diemen's Land and the east coast of New South Wales and wondered whether it was a large bay or a strait. Survivors of the Sydney Cove, wrecked in the Furneaux Group of islands, also thought it might be a strait.

To clear up the question, Governor Hunter sent George Bass to thoroughly explore the coast in a whaleboat. After reaching Wilsons Promontory and Western Port in January 1798 he was forced by bad weather and lack of provisions to return to Sydney.

Bass returned with Matthew Flinders in December 1798 and sailed through the strait, proving its existence.

In December 1800, Lieutenant James Grant in HMS Lady Nelson, on way from Cape Town to Sydney, sailed through Bass Strait from west to east. Governor King, disappointed at the vagueness of Grant’s chart, sent him back to survey the strait more thoroughly. Bad weather prevented him from proceeding beyond Western Port, where he stayed for five weeks, planting wheat, fruit trees and vegetables on Churchill Island off Phillip Island.

In January 1802 Lieutenant John Murray in the Lady Nelson visited Western Port and entered Port Phillip on 14 February. He named Arthur’s Seat, explored Corio Bay and formally took possession of the bay (which he named Port King) for Britain.

Three weeks later the French explorer Nicolas Baudin sailed through the strait from east to west and was the first to properly survey the coast to the west.

On 26 April 1802, Flinders, unaware of Murray’s visit, entered Port Phillip in Investigator, climbed Arthur’s Seat, rowed to Mornington and across to the Bellarine Peninsula and climbed the You Yangs.

In January 1803 Acting-Lieutenant Charles Robbins in the schooner Cumberland sailed right around Port Phillip. With him were acting surveyor-general Charles Grimes and gardener James Flemming. At the head of the bay they found a river and followed it upstream where it soon divided. They followed the western branch and named it the Saltwater River (the present Maribyrnong) to what is now Braybrook, and then the eastern fresh-water branch (the Yarra) to Dights Falls. They had a friendly meeting with Aboriginal people and returned to their ship via Corio Bay. They concluded that the best site for a settlement would be on the freshwater at the northern head of the bay, but were unenthusiastic about the soil and its agricultural potential.

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First European settlement

With Britain involved in the French revolutionary wars, Governor King was concerned that Bass Strait could harbour enemy raiders, and that in peace time it could provide an important trade route and trading base. The appearance of Baudin’s ships seemed to reinforce that France was interested in the area. In addition he was looking for an alternative settlement for the increasing number of convicts in Sydney and reduce the pressure on food resources. Port Phillip, with a favourable climate and rich fishing and sealing resources, seemed an ideal location for another settlement.

A full description of Murray’s and Flinders’ discoveries, together with King’s thoughts on settlement, but not Grimes’ report, reached England just as HMS Calcutta was being prepared to send a shipload of convicts to Sydney. In February 1803, Lord Hobart the Secretary of State changed the destination to Port Phillip. On 24 April 1803, HMS Calcutta, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins left England accompanied by the store-ship Ocean. On board were some 300 male convicts, a few free men, a dozen civil officers, a guard of about 50 marines, the wives of 36 men, plus 38 children.

The party entered Port Phillip on 9 October 1803 and chose a site at Sullivans Bay near present-day Sorrento.

Collins was soon disappointed with the area. Reports from exploring parties led by Lieutenant James Tuckey and surveyor George Harris described strong currents, sandy soil, poor timber, swampy land, and scarce fresh water. They also clashed with the Wathaurung people near Corio Bay, killing their leader – the first known Aboriginal death in Victoria.

Collins reported his criticisms to Governor King, who supported him and recommended moving the settlement. On 18 December Calcutta departed for England, and the party was prepared for evacuation. This was achieved in two voyages of Ocean in January and May 1804, assisted by the Lady Nelson which had been surveying Port Dalrymple on the north coast of Van Diemen's Land. The party was transferred to the fledgling settlement of Hobart, founded by Lieutenant John Bowen as a penal colony at Risdon Cove in September 1803.

The brief settlement at Sorrento achieved little and left only a few relics for modern tourists to observe. Collins has been criticised for not investigating the bay thoroughly, in particular the northern head with its fresh-water river, and for being too hasty in his condemnation of the bay. The site of the settlement is now a reserve incorporating some graves from the period. [1]

When Collins departed, one man was left behind. A convict, William Buckley, had escaped and was presumed killed by Aborigines. He was to see his next European in 1835.

For the next thirty years a few sealers and whalers rested on the southern coast of New South Wales. In 1826 the French explorer Dumont d’Urville visited one of these camps on Phillip Island. There was a brief convict settlement at Corinella on Western Port under the command of Samuel Wright from November 1826 to April 1828, to protect the approaches to the bay. A sealer William Dutton built a hut on the shore of Portland Bay in 1829.

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Interest grows in the north coast of Bass Strait

For the next thirty years a few sealers and whalers rested on the north coast of Bass Strait – the southern extremity of New South Wales. There were also a number of exploratory expeditions south from the settled areas of New South Wales.

In October 1824 the pastoralist Hamilton Hume and former sea-captain William Hovell set off to explore the country to the south. They crossed the Murray River (which they named the Hume River) near the site of Albury and continued south. They crossed the Goulburn River (which they called the Hovell) above the site of Yea, and were forced to detour around mountains. They arrived on the shores of Corio Bay, mistakenly believing it to be Western Port, and returned to Sydney in January 1825, lavishly praising the quality of the country they had passed through.

In April 1826 the French explorer Dumont d’Urville visited one of the sealers’ camps on Phillip Island. Worried by this renewed French interest in the area and encouraged by Hume and Hovell’s reports, Governor Darling ordered a settlement to be established at Western Port. A small convict party arrived in November 1826 at Corinella under the command of Samuel Wright, to protect the approaches to the bay. Hovell, accompanying the party, soon realised that this was not where he had arrived two years before, and reported unfavourably on the swampy land around Western Port, although he referred to better land to the north. In spite of clearing the land for crops, and the construction of a fort and houses, the settlement was abandoned in April 1828.

The shortage of good pasture in Van Diemen's Land led to settlers there showing interest in the country across Bass Strait, following Hume and Hovell’s reports and stories of visiting sealers. Pastoralist John Batman and surveyor John Wedge planned an expedition from Launceston in 1825 but permission was not granted. A number of settlers sought land over the next few years, but Governor Darling turned down all requests.

The expedition down the Murray River by Charles Sturt in 1830 again aroused interest in settlement in the south,

The sealer James Wishart in the schooner Fairy discovered Port Fairy at the end of 1828, and another sealer William Dutton built a hut on the shore of Portland Bay in 1829. In April 1833 Edward Henty, returning to Van Diemen's Land from Spencer Gulf called in to Portland for a cargo of oil, and was much impressed. In November 1834 John Hart, another sailor, reported favourably in Launceston on Western Port. It was now inevitable that settlement would occur.

In June 1834 banker Charles Swanston advised his client George Mercer that land was scarce in Van Diemen's Land and he should invest across Bass Strait. Pastoralists John Aitken and George Russell suggested forming a partnership, and in August 1834 a group of eight Launceston capitalists formed what became the Port Phillip Association.

On 19 November 1834 Edward Henty landed in Portland Bay and began the first permanent European settlement on the north coast of Bass Strait.

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Permanent settlement

Victoria's first successful European settlement was at Portland, on the west coast of what is now Victoria. Portland was settled by the Henty family in 1834, who were originally farmers from Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). When Major Mitchell led an expedition to the region from Sydney in 1835, he was surprised to find a small but prosperous community, living off the fertile farmland.

Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman, also from Van Diemen's Land.

The British Act of Parliament separating Victoria from New South Wales, and naming and providing a Constitution for the new Colony, was signed by Queen Victoria on 5 August 1850. It was followed by enabling legistlation passed by the New South Wales Parliament on 1 July 1851. This was formally the founding moment of the Colony of Victoria as separation from New South Wales was established by Section 1 of the 1851 Act. [2]

In 1851 gold was discovered at Ballarat, and subsequently at Bendigo. Later discoveries occurred at many sites across Victoria. This triggered one of the largest gold rushes the world has ever seen. Victoria grew rapidly in both population and economic power. The colony was granted independence from New South Wales in the same year.

Immigrants arrived from all over the world to search for gold, especially from Ireland and China. Many Chinese miners worked in Victoria, and their legacy is particularly strong in Bendigo and its environs. Although there was some racism directed at them, there was not the level of anti-Chinese violence that was seen at the Massacre of Lambing Flat in New South Wales. However, there was a massacre at Buckland Valley on July 4 1857.

Conditions on the gold fields were cramped an unsanitary - a massive outbreak of typhoid at Buckland Valley in 1854 killed over 1000 miners.

In 1854 there was an armed rebellion against the government of Victoria by miners protesting against mining taxes (the "Eureka Stockade"). This was crushed by British troops, but some of the leaders of the rebellion subsequently became members of the Victoria Parliament, and the rebellion is still sometimes regarded as a pivotal moment in the development of Australia democracy.

George Augustus Constantine Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby, was governor during 1879—1884.

The first foreign military action by the colony of Victoria was to send troops and a warship to New Zealand as part of the Maori Wars. Troops from New South Wales had previously participated in the Crimean War.

In 1901 Victoria ceased to be an independent colony and became a state in the Commonwealth of Australia. Victorian and Tasmanian politicians were particularly active in the Federation process.

As a result of the gold rush, Melbourne became the financial centre of Australia and New Zealand. Between 1901 and 1927, Melbourne was the capital of Australia while Canberra was under construction. It was also the largest city in Australia at the time, and the second largest city in the Commonwealth (after London). Whilst Melbourne remains an important financial centre, its importance has slowly waned from the 1970's onwards as Sydney increases in population and business importance.

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References

A. G. L. Shaw, A History of the Port Phillip District: Victoria before separation, Melbourne, MUP, 1996. (ISBN 0 522 85064 2).
Marjorie Tipping, Convicts Unbound: The story of the Calcutta convicts and their settlement in Australia, Melbourne, Viking O’Neil, 1988. (ISBN 0 670 90068 0).

See also: Politics of Victoria

History of Victoria

Contents

Aboriginal Victoria before European arrival

First European contacts

First European settlement

Interest grows in the north coast of Bass Strait

Permanent settlement

References