Guide 3 to NSW State Archives relating to Responsible Government - OCR - Flipbook - Page 133
A Guide to New South Wales State Archives relating to Responsible Government
New South Wales not be erected into a separate Colony. The
original petition, a copy of it and the letter from Commissioner
O'Connell transmitting it in August 1856 are also included.
1857 Despatches - M525/B
M525/B comprises a number of 1856 and 1857 despatches from
the Secretary of State relating to the Northern Districts of New
South Wales.
CGS 905,
M525/B in
[4/3371]
Topnumbered as M525/B is Despatch No.91 of 16 July 1857 from
the Secretary of State. This transmits a copy of a letter, with
testimonials, from a Lieutenant G P Heath of Her Majesty's Royal
Navy seeking employment in the new Colony of Moreton Bay or
elsewhere.
Topnumbered as M326/B is Despatch No.90 of 21 July 1856. In
this Despatch the Secretary of State informs the Governor that Her
Majesty's Government has determined that the time has arrived
when the separation of the Northern Districts of the Colony of New
South Wales and their erection into a Distinct Colony would be
desirable. They
believe that it is better to run the risk of forming into a colony a
community as yet in some respects immature, but rapidly
advancing to maturity than of letting the partial difficulties of
separation, and the ill-feeling which the present state of things
is calculated to engender, grow stronger from day to day.
The boundary between the two future provinces, the future
Government of the separated portion, and the division of the debt
are identified as the three most important questions which remain
to be decided. A subsequent note with this Despatch, of
22 October 1856, details the returns that will be required to
enable the Executive Council to form an opinion as to the proper
proportion of the debt of the Colony which should be chargeable
upon the revenue of the Moreton Bay District.
Topnumbered as M523/B is Despatch No. 88 of 13 July 1857. The
Secretary of State acknowledges receipt of various Governor's
despatches on the projected separation of the Northern Districts of
New South Wales and conveys the decision of Her Majesty's
Government with respect to the boundary line between the two
provinces, the division of the debt and the form of Constitution to
be granted to the new Colony. Upon the question of the boundary
line, the Secretary of State indicates that Her Majesty's
Government has decided against the inclusion of the Clarence
River, New England and Gwydir districts in the new Colony and
hence has abandoned the originally indicated boundary line of the
30th parallel of latitude.
Enclosed with M523/B is a copy of a letter of 9 October 1856 from
the Law Advisers of the Crown on the steps required to effect a
division of the debt and the kind of Constitution which could be
established in the new Colony.
State Records Authority of New South Wales
131
