Guide 3 to NSW State Archives relating to Responsible Government - OCR - Flipbook - Page 143
A Guide to New South Wales State Archives relating to Responsible Government
Despatches and enclosures from the Governor of
Queensland, 12 Dec 1859-26 Sep 1860
CGS 4524,
[4/1631]
The despatches in [4/1631] include copies of the Queensland
Government Gazette of 10 December 1859 which printed the
Queen's Letters Patent erecting Moreton Bay into a Colony and
appointing Sir George Bowen Captain General and Governor in
Chief and copies of the Gazette of 11 May 1860 constructing the
first Queensland Legislative Council. They deal with such matters
as the need for immigrant labour; requests for payment by New
South Wales of monies owing to Queensland; supply of New South
Wales postage stamps to Queensland; the nominated Members of
the Queensland Legislative Council; arrangements to light the
Torres Strait route; the possibilities of steam trade through Torres
Strait and Singapore with the English and French troops in China;
proposed nautical survey of the Australian coast; and
arrangements for the defence of Queensland.
Agitation for Separation
River and New England
Clarence, Richmond
One of the most contentious issues in the separation of the Northern Districts from the
Colony of New South Wales had been whether the boundaries of the new Colony should
include the northern districts of the Clarence, Richmond River and New England.
In late 1856 the opinions of the inhabitants of the Clarence, New England and Gwydir
pastoral districts were sought on the proposal for these districts to be included in the
northern Colony about to be separated from New South Wales. The replies from
Armidale, Wellingrove, Warialda, Grafton, Tenterfield indicated opposition to separation
from New South Wales while that from Casino was mixed, with inhabitants both opposed
and in favour of separation. The Parliament was also opposed to the inclusion of the
northern districts of New England and the Clarence River in a separate northern Colony
and had indicated as much in Resolutions adopted in November 1856.
As it was decided that generally the inhabitants of these areas preferred to remain with
New South Wales their districts were not attached to the Colony of Queensland on its
establishment. However, "Great dissatisfaction was expressed in the new colony at the
exclusion from its territorial area of the rich territory comprising the Clarence, the
Richmond, and the New England Districts; and, for years after, this north-eastern portion
of the mother colony indulged in sporadic outbreaks of quickly subsiding agitation for
union with Queensland".21
The period following the establishment of the Colony of Queensland was one in which
agitation for separation from New South Wales — either for erection as a separate Colony
or for attachment to Queensland — in these districts was particularly strong.
The "New States Movement" which came to be the name applied to separatist
movements from the New England, Riverina and other areas of New South Wales
continued well into the twentieth century. Indeed, the various movements (not only in
New South Wales but also in other colonies such as Queensland and Victoria) were the
reason for the clauses relating to New States being included in the Constitution of the
Commonwealth of Australia when it was being drafted in the 1890s.
21
Ibid
State Records Authority of New South Wales
141
