Port Phillip On Judge Willis’ Arrival

It was a sign of the growing importance of the Port Phillip district by 1841 that it was deemed necessary for it to have its own Supreme Court jurisdiction with its own Resident Judge. When Justice Willis arrived in Melbourne in March 1841 it was estimated that there were 11,738 new settlers in the Port Phillip District, with 4,479 residing in the formal square mile that defined central Melbourne at the time. These newcomers challenged the rights of perhaps 10,000 Aboriginal owners at contact whose numbers were already in rapid decline by eighty per cent over the next two decades.

The People Of Port Phillip

The opening up of pastoral land attracted an influx of ‘over-lander’ pastoralists down from the settled districts of New South Wales and ‘over-straiters’ across from Van Diemen’s Land. The rapid growth of the pastoral industry meant that there was an ongoing demand for single men as agricultural labourers and farmworkers, which attracted many ex-convicts from Van Diemen’s Land who went up-country with their employers. Uneasiness about the imbalance of men and women prompted bounty and assisted migrant schemes to target family groups and single women to work as skilled tradesmen, farmhands and domestic servants, particularly in rural areas. Amongst those coming to Port Phillip independently were former military officers and their families from across the empire who could maintain a respectable lifestyle by combining their military half-pay pension with a modestly paid government position. Other immigrants constituted links in a pattern of chain migration, with the younger generations of families venturing first to establish a foothold in the colony as squatters and farmers, before helping their siblings and parents to join them later. The swell of assisted and unassisted immigrants was estimated to number 10,000 in 1841 alone.

The Character Of Melbourne Town

The port cities of Melbourne, Geelong, and to a lesser degree Portland spawned a profusion of shipping agents, trading companies, banks, small factories, shops, bakeries, brickworks, breweries, foundries and tallow works. By 1841 the wattle-and-daub huts and tents of the early settlements were gradually giving way to more permanent brick and prefabricated homes. Some double-storied hotels, shops and dwellings were under construction. In Melbourne, the streets of the familiar Melbourne grid were gradually becoming fringed with shops, factories and houses. Streets were still unmade, turning to dust in summer and congealing with mud in winter. The central town blocks, purchased cheaply by speculators, were subdivided again and again. Houses, occupied by families, tradesmen and single workers, existed side by side with shops, hotels and small factories. There was a high degree of mobility as pastoralists and bushworkers and agricultural labourers gravitated towards the towns at the end of seasons, as contracts ended, and as men and women moved between waged labour and self-employment. The rapid turnover of rental and sub-lets, and the constantly shifting population of boarding-house and hotel-dwellers testify to the transient and burgeoning nature of Port Phillip life.

Public Life

Melbourne was served by three newspapers: the Port Phillip Gazette, the Port Phillip Herald and the Port Phillip Patriot, each published twice a week on a different day, hence giving newspaper coverage six days a week. Portland and Geelong had their own newspapers. Each of the newspapers had its own political slant, which along with short, often humorous anecdotes about daily life and local personalities added to the boisterous and irreverent nature of public discourse. Until the formation of the Melbourne Town Corporation during 1842, there was no formal, locally elected political body, and the first elections for the New South Wales Legislative Council were held in 1843. The franchise of £200 property or £20 annual rent meant that even male ‘respectable mechanics’ were eligible to vote. Politics were highly personalized and, despite accusations of ‘party’ and ‘faction’, there were no organized political parties as such.

The influx of new settlers and the growing pride in the identity of the District led to a flowering of civic, educational, religious and philanthropic organizations at around the time of Willis’ arrival. Churches, schools, clubs and societies and lodges were established with all the enthusiasm of a new settlement. During the first twelve months or so of Willis’appointment there was a general spirit of tolerance and co-operation between the different religious and national groups, but there was a gradual hardening of sectarian divisions. Among the ‘respectable’ and gentry there were race meetings, balls, public dinners and debating societies. The labouring population’s leisure activities were more impromptu, with social life centring on the streets and hotels.

Port Phillip Falters Under Economic Recession

Much of this was to change from mid-1842 until 1844 when New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land were plunged into economic depression. Although its origins lay largely in the British financial markets, the depression hit the newly-established and buoyant Port Phillip District particularly hard. In the spirit of speculation and confidence, pastoralists and landowners had overextended themselves in the expectation of easy profit. Banks did not lend directly to settlers, and merchants had been happy to act as middle-men, buying up bills of exchange and promissory notes at a discount, before presenting them to the banks. To the deluge of personal insolvencies were added the failure of many of the social clubs and institutes patronized by the respectable men of good society, including the Turf Club, the Port Phillip Club and the Private Quarterly Assemblies. The flood of immigrants, once started, was not easily or quickly stopped. The immigrant boats kept arriving, disgorging new settlers and workers to add to the rising number of tradesmen, craftsmen, professional men, clerks and servants who found themselves unemployed as debts were called in, properties and business were sold off, and strict household economies were enforced.

All these aspects of Port Phillip society were reflected in the cases that came before the Supreme Court of New South Wales in the Port Phillip District.