toonkev667
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The squattocracy is a relic of the colonial past when most people lived in rural areas, yet Australia would not be what it is now without the original pastoralists and their vast, mobile herds of cattle and sheep. The squatters were as influential in shaping the European settlement of this country as the ranchers in North and South America, if not more so.
As Barry Stone describes in this fascinating book, an uncontrolled land grab began soon after the arrival of the First Fleet. Squatting was not allowed in British property law, just like squatting in the modern sense of inhabiting a dwelling without the permission of the legal owner. Legislation to regulate rural squatting in Australia was not introduced until the 1830s.
The most audacious among the early squatters operated far ahead of government surveyors, sometimes forging ahead of official exploration parties. A bush ranger could operate with considerable freedom during the 19th century because many rural communities were located a long way from any police presence.
The squatters were the chief agents for the disruption and widespread obliteration of the Indigenous population through dispossession, violence and disease. The total number of people involved may never be determined precisely since in many cases squatters were a law unto themselves. Any sign of resistance typically led to massive retaliation.
The competition among the squatters to establish lucrative livestock runs not only caused incalculable suffering among the First Australians, and it also affected the lives of countless millions of animals. Much of the heavy work was done by teams of bullocks, followed by horses and imported livestock that were exploited and expendable.
Among the animals introduced by squatters that caused enormous damage to the native ecology were rabbits and foxes. Kangaroo and emu hunting were popular pastimes. The thylacine was driven to extinction because Tasmanian squatters claimed (wrongly) the animal posed a threat to sheep.
The shortage of workers in the bush aided the establishment of the Australian labour movement. Bullockies, shearers and boundary riders were sought after and well-paid. The shearers' strike of 1891 led to the formation of the Australian Labor Party. Deprived of their traditional lands, some Aborigines found employment as stockmen and took other pastoral roles.
Stone points out that not all squatters were alike. Sometimes the settlers in a particular area belonged to rural families who came from places such as Scotland and Ireland and had been displaced from their homeland by the Highland Clearances or the Great Famine. Other squatters were cocky young Englishmen from wealthy families. While the frontier was male-dominated, there were a few female squatters as well as the women who took charge of the station after their husbands died.
Squatters could amass landholdings on a staggering scale. By the time of his death in 1898, cattle baron James Tyson, the son of a convict, owned 17 stations covering more than 5.3 million acres.
In places such as the Darling Downs region of Queensland, the squatters styled themselves as landed gentry. There was political pressure from squatters to have Australians included in the British hereditary peerage on the basis of their landholdings.
Author Mary Durack, the granddaughter of a successful Irish squatter, memorably characterised the squattocracy as kings in grass castles.
Despite the enormous extent of the land occupied and the fabulous wealth extracted from it by the most successful squatters – not to mention the aristocratic pretensions of some of them – the squattocracy as a class went into decline after little more than a century.
No sooner had squatter dynasties been established than their social position and political power were undermined by a series of unfortunate events, beginning with the financial crisis of the 1890s, followed by the near-decade long Federation Drought.
The squattocracy was further diminished by the First World War, which decimated the populations of so many rural communities. Today there are still large stations in operation, though increasingly these are owned by foreign corporations. The Squatters is informative, highly readable and free from the tedious authorial posturing found in some Australian popular histories. Reading this book led me to wonder if the Australian obsession with real estate perhaps had its origins in the squatters' insatiable
As Barry Stone describes in this fascinating book, an uncontrolled land grab began soon after the arrival of the First Fleet. Squatting was not allowed in British property law, just like squatting in the modern sense of inhabiting a dwelling without the permission of the legal owner. Legislation to regulate rural squatting in Australia was not introduced until the 1830s.
The most audacious among the early squatters operated far ahead of government surveyors, sometimes forging ahead of official exploration parties. A bush ranger could operate with considerable freedom during the 19th century because many rural communities were located a long way from any police presence.
The squatters were the chief agents for the disruption and widespread obliteration of the Indigenous population through dispossession, violence and disease. The total number of people involved may never be determined precisely since in many cases squatters were a law unto themselves. Any sign of resistance typically led to massive retaliation.
The competition among the squatters to establish lucrative livestock runs not only caused incalculable suffering among the First Australians, and it also affected the lives of countless millions of animals. Much of the heavy work was done by teams of bullocks, followed by horses and imported livestock that were exploited and expendable.
Among the animals introduced by squatters that caused enormous damage to the native ecology were rabbits and foxes. Kangaroo and emu hunting were popular pastimes. The thylacine was driven to extinction because Tasmanian squatters claimed (wrongly) the animal posed a threat to sheep.
The shortage of workers in the bush aided the establishment of the Australian labour movement. Bullockies, shearers and boundary riders were sought after and well-paid. The shearers' strike of 1891 led to the formation of the Australian Labor Party. Deprived of their traditional lands, some Aborigines found employment as stockmen and took other pastoral roles.
Stone points out that not all squatters were alike. Sometimes the settlers in a particular area belonged to rural families who came from places such as Scotland and Ireland and had been displaced from their homeland by the Highland Clearances or the Great Famine. Other squatters were cocky young Englishmen from wealthy families. While the frontier was male-dominated, there were a few female squatters as well as the women who took charge of the station after their husbands died.
Squatters could amass landholdings on a staggering scale. By the time of his death in 1898, cattle baron James Tyson, the son of a convict, owned 17 stations covering more than 5.3 million acres.
In places such as the Darling Downs region of Queensland, the squatters styled themselves as landed gentry. There was political pressure from squatters to have Australians included in the British hereditary peerage on the basis of their landholdings.
Author Mary Durack, the granddaughter of a successful Irish squatter, memorably characterised the squattocracy as kings in grass castles.
Despite the enormous extent of the land occupied and the fabulous wealth extracted from it by the most successful squatters – not to mention the aristocratic pretensions of some of them – the squattocracy as a class went into decline after little more than a century.
No sooner had squatter dynasties been established than their social position and political power were undermined by a series of unfortunate events, beginning with the financial crisis of the 1890s, followed by the near-decade long Federation Drought.
The squattocracy was further diminished by the First World War, which decimated the populations of so many rural communities. Today there are still large stations in operation, though increasingly these are owned by foreign corporations. The Squatters is informative, highly readable and free from the tedious authorial posturing found in some Australian popular histories. Reading this book led me to wonder if the Australian obsession with real estate perhaps had its origins in the squatters' insatiable