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After much legislation and discussion as to how best to divide up and
distribute the land to small farmers with very little capital it was finally
decided that the land act of 1869 would do this as fairly and as equatibly as
possible. The squatters of course were very anxious to protect their large
pastoral leases and in some ways because they pioneered these areas of land they
had reason to be up in arms, however was no stopping the thousands of ordinary
people from feeling that this new country with all its unused fertile land was
their chance to own land, an opportunity they would never have had in their
country of origin.
The Land Act of 1869 gave any person over the age of 18
permission to peg out and apply for an allotment of not more than 320 acres. A
licence to occupy for three years at 2 shillings per year per acre was then
issued. The land had to be fenced and one tenth of it cultivated within two
years. At the expiration of three years the occupant could either pay 14
shillings per acre, the balance of the full price of one pound per acre or he
could continue to hold the land at 2 shillings per year per acre with the
understanding that as soon as he had paid the one pound per acre in all, he
should receive a Crown grant.
This Act allowed potential farmers with little capital to try
their hand at making a living from the land. Compared to the tyrannies of tenant
farming in Ireland (and some other countries) this must have seemed a wonderful
opportunity to obtain the freehold to good farming land for thousands of
immigrants. In fact, in the five years from 1870 to 1875, 36,000 farms were
taken up.
In 1873 at the age of 30
Robert, having saved enough money as a carrier in Ballarat decided to select
land and try his i luck at farming. At three o'clock in the afternoon of 22nd of
September 1873 he and his brother John selected 320 acres adjacent to each other
in the then little known area near Kow Swamp in the Gunbower district. By
marking the corners with posts or cairns of stones with notices on them they
indicated 'their intention to settle the area. They then started the long
journey back to Ballarat where, eight days later, on the 30th September they
filled out the application for licence to farm their new land.
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