Guide 3 to NSW State Archives relating to Responsible Government - OCR - Flipbook - Page 146
A Guide to New South Wales State Archives relating to Responsible Government
Governor's Despatch of 18 May 1861, No.24, in which was
enclosed Resolutions from the Legislative Assembly deprecating
any such dismemberment "as unjust if not illegal in itself and as
injurious to the interests of New South Wales". Specifying the
reasons, Newcastle stated that he did not feel at liberty to
recommend Her Majesty to accede to the prayer of their petitions;
he believed that
nothing can be more injurious to the prospects of any Colony
than that the Inhabitants should be encouraged to seek relief
from real or supposed misgovernment not in the improvement
of the Institutions under which they live - but in transferring
themselves to another Government from which they imagine
that better treatment can be obtained.
Secretary of State Duplicate Despatch No.83 of 19 December
1861. In this Despatch the Duke of Newcastle acknowledges the
receipt of the Governor's Despatch of 18 September 1861 (No.69),
forwarding a petition from certain inhabitants of New South Wales
praying that the districts north of the 30th degree of South
Latitude be included within the Colony of Queensland. The
Governor was referred to Despatch No.59 of 26 September 1861
where he would find the Secretary of State's views fully stated.
Agitation for Separation
Despatch No.83
The Riverina
Independently from the agitation for separation occurring in the northeastern districts of
the Colony, in the early 1860s a separatist movement was occurring in the Riverina, or
`Riverine' district as it was then called. Both were doomed to fail, as at that time the
Colonial Office was set against any further alteration of colonial boundaries, except as
foreshadowed in the Constitution Act.
Local agitation for separation from New South Wales or annexation to Victoria had been
rift in the district for some time, usually in association with issues such as border
customs duties, The Electoral Act of 1858 and the Robertson Land Acts.
The grievances of the inhabitants of the Riverina resembled those complained about by
the inhabitants of the Port Phillip and Moreton Bay districts, who had successful
separated from the Colony of New South Wales. Neglect by a remote government,
insufficient attention to local needs, and inadequate development of the district,
including expenditure of money, were common complaints.
The agitation was more widely vocalised outside the district in 1863. On 2 September of
that year Augustus Morris, MLA for Balranald, presented a petition to the Legislative
Assembly from the inhabitants of that part of the Colony praying for the establishment of
their district as a distinct one, with defined boundaries, on the same footing as that of
Port Phillip before separation, and with a Superintendent or sub-Governor. The petition
was received, and on the same evening a similar petition to the Governor presented on
3 August by a deputation from the inhabitants of the Deniliquin district and surrounding
country, with the reply of the Colonial Secretary thereto, was laid on the table. The letter
of the Colonial Secretary was to the effect that the Government were not prepared to
recognise the necessity of defining any portion of the existing colony of New South Wales
as a distinct province; and that the appointment of a Government Superintendent would
impede rather than expedite the transaction of public business.
Agitation continued and the Riverina petitions requesting independence from New South
Wales were sent to the Home Government in 1865. However, the petitions had been held
back by the Governor to allow the Government the opportunity of commenting upon
them; this minute was also sent to the Secretary of State. The minute asserted that the
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State Records Authority of New South Wales
