Possession, planning and control: Imperial and early Australian land policies as a cornerstone of New South Wales history, 1788-1855

The possession of land, its settlement and the means by which it was occupied, has been a vital determinant in the unfolding of NSW history and yet, in recent times, its importance has been neglected. Rather than a backdrop to a wider historical narrative, land policy in the years of the early governors was crucial to the way in which the colony grew and to the socio-economic and political structures that emerged. The possession of land and its regulation therefore formed a cornerstone on which the history of NSW was founded. This thesis revisits the early history of NSW and presents land use and ownership as a major theme. Britain’s imperial aspirations were instrumental in James Cook’s taking possession, on behalf of the British Crown, of the land along the continent’s eastern coastline in 1770. Cook’s claim intrinsically carried with it the associated dispossession of the indigenous population from that date. Land and its possession was prominent among the objectives of Arthur Phillip’s 1787 expedition to Botany Bay and is regarded by many historians as the prime reason for the colony’s existence. The selection of the site at Sydney Cove, the colonisation of Norfolk Island, Tasmania, New Zealand and the expansion across the entire continent were processes that unfolded at the confluence of British policies and the exigencies of colonial government. It was land that seeded the power of the NSW Corps officers and enabled them to achieve a monopoly on trade. It was their fear of losing land that ignited a rebellion by the same officers against a sitting governor. Land policy explains the colony’s original slow expansion and, once the confining barriers and restraining policies were breached, the rapid expansion of pastoral pursuits. Finally, land policy was a major cause of tension between the governors and the governed. It was a source of disquiet that tainted colonial politics and led to demands for, and the eventual achievement of, representative government. An examination of the land policies of both the British government and the early colonial governors Phillip to FitzRoy and the means by which different groups responded to those policies will shed fresh light on the physical, social and political growth of colonial New South Wales.