Group Settlement Scheme
Encyclopedia
The Group Settlement Scheme was an assisted migration
scheme which operated in Western Australia
from the early 1920s. It was engineered by Premier
James Mitchell
and followed on from the Soldier Settlement Scheme
immediately after World War I
. Targeting civilians and others who were otherwise ineligible for the Soldiers' scheme, its principal purpose was to provide a labour force to open up the large tracts of potential agricultural land to ultimately reduce dependence on food imports from interstate. It was also seen as boosting the ideals of the White Australia Policy
by strengthening the British cultural identity. High levels of post-war unemployment in Britain saw the UK Government seizing on the scheme as a way to reduce dole-queues. Over 6,000 people emigrated to Western Australia under the scheme which was funded jointly by the State
, Federal
and UK Governments.
Mitchell's plan was for 40 to 65 ha (98.8 to 160.6 ) land holdings to be cleared and intensively cultivated by the settlers, initially supervised by experienced farmers, to develop a self-sustaining dairy
industry. Premier Mitchell was nicknamed "Moo-Cow" from his perceived obsession with the dairy industry. He and his Nationalist
and Country Party
colleagues considered the 'unlimited land resources for closer settlement' were the key the state's economic progress.
Migrant settlers received financial assistance for them and their families passage to Australia, and in return were required to work in small communities in undeveloped areas in the State's South West and Wheatbelt regions. After often only one or two days of acclimatisation and processing on arrival, properties were allocated by ballot and the settlers transported to their selections. After a period of establishment, the settlers were required to repay a 30-year loan (not exceeding ₤1,000) provided by the Agricultural Bank
, and at the completion of the loan repayment the settler would have freehold title to the property. They were paid 10 shillings per day during the land clearing phase and offered a ₤10 loan for the purchase of household and agricultural equipment. The loan was interest-only for the first five years. The communities (or groups) typically comprised between twelve and twenty families, and cleared land, built fences and established their farms in areas which had previously been unable to attract settlers.
The promises made to applicants were often unrealistic; and sometimes grossly misleading, and caused many to resign and walk off the properties soon after arrival and realisation of the task before them. For those that did persevere, communities endured considerable hardships and deprivation. Inadequate resources were provided, as well as the settlers often lacking the necessary farming skills and suitability for rural enterprise. Unsuitable equipment was often supplied for clearing the immense hardwood timber forests. Uneconomic farm sizes and depressed agricultural prices forced consolidations and various changes to the scheme. In some areas, poor land quality also led to failures. The extreme isolation in the virgin forests and lack of infrastructure such as roads and communications made life difficult. By April 1924, 30% of migrants and 42% of Australians had abandoned their allocations. Others stayed as they had no alternative. Sustenance payments were made to support many families.
The term "Group Settlement" was believed to have come from a suggestion made by a British soldier-settler John Wozencroft who had been assigned a 34.4 hectares (85 acre) allotment near Lefroy Brook at Pemberton
. After selecting his property from a plan in Perth with advice from the Lands Department, Wozencroft travelled to Pemberton only to discover it to be impossibly isolated and that the heavily timbered property could only be cleared with the assistance of a small team of men. He wrote a letter directly to Premier Mitchell saying that he and his government "should be had up for misrepresentation". Mitchell reacted quickly, possibly fearing a public relations issue, and despatched Barbe More, a Lands Inspector at Bunbury
. More interviewed Wozencroft in November 1920 who relayed his suggestion that future allotments be made to four of five settlers in a group, and that an expert adviser be initially assigned to each group to assist and advise.
The first group settlement was at Manjimup
in 1921 and comprised eighteen blocks. Other settlements were established in Northcliffe
, Denmark
, Nornalup
, Walpole
, and Bridgetown
. A program of draining the vast floodplains above the Peel-Harvey Estuary
was instigated during the same period. This freed up potential farmland in the Peel Estate
which was subdivided and allocated to many of the groups. The sandy soils were found to be of poor quality however, and mostly unsuited for cattle grazing or pastures.
In 1924-25 the government established a Royal Commission on Group Settlement
. The Commission's final report was published on 9 June 1925 and included:
At that time there were 127 groups in operation throughout the South-West. Establishment of new groups was abandoned briefly but later resumed with more settlements at Northcliffe, Busselton and Manjimup.
Mitchell's successor Philip Collier
supported and continued the scheme through most of his Premiership from 1924 to 1930. With the 1930s Depression
and the collapse of dairy produce prices, ever more settlers walked off their properties. Politicians called for its scrapping due the drain of the state's resources with the high failure rate. The last settlement established was at Northcliffe in May 1928. In 1930, government support was finally withdrawn and management responsibility for the remaining settlements passed to the Agricultural Bank
.
After World War II
, many of the abandoned Group Settlement farms were taken over by immigrants under a new Soldier Settlement Scheme
, the next assisted migration scheme.
British newspaper magnate Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe
, actively promoted the scheme in its early years through his UK newspapers—especially The Times
. The town of Northcliffe
was established through the scheme and named to recognise his role.
John Tonkin
worked as a teacher at a two-teacher school at the group settlement of Nuralingup (near Augusta
) for several years from 1923. He later taught at another group settlement at Margaret River
. Tonkin became Labor
state premier
from 1971 to 1974. He is the only former teacher to have reached the office of premier of the state.
Assisted migration
Assisted migration is the practice of deliberately populating members of a species from their present habitat to a new region with the intent of establishing a permanent presence there, generally in response to the degradation of the natural habitat due to human action...
scheme which operated in Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
from the early 1920s. It was engineered by Premier
Premier of Western Australia
The Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive government in the Australian State of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions...
James Mitchell
James Mitchell (Australian politician)
Sir James Mitchell GCMG was the 13th Premier of Western Australia, serving on two occasions, the Lieutenant-Governor of Western Australia for 15 years and the 22nd Governor of Western Australia....
and followed on from the Soldier Settlement Scheme
Soldier settlement (Australia)
Soldier settlement refers to the occupation and settlement of land throughout parts of Australia by returning discharged soldiers under schemes administered by the State Governments after World Wars I and II.- World War I :...
immediately after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Targeting civilians and others who were otherwise ineligible for the Soldiers' scheme, its principal purpose was to provide a labour force to open up the large tracts of potential agricultural land to ultimately reduce dependence on food imports from interstate. It was also seen as boosting the ideals of the White Australia Policy
White Australia policy
The White Australia policy comprises various historical policies that intentionally restricted "non-white" immigration to Australia. From origins at Federation in 1901, the polices were progressively dismantled between 1949-1973....
by strengthening the British cultural identity. High levels of post-war unemployment in Britain saw the UK Government seizing on the scheme as a way to reduce dole-queues. Over 6,000 people emigrated to Western Australia under the scheme which was funded jointly by the State
Government of Western Australia
The formation of the Government of Western Australia is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1890, although it has been amended many times since then...
, Federal
Government of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...
and UK Governments.
Mitchell's plan was for 40 to 65 ha (98.8 to 160.6 ) land holdings to be cleared and intensively cultivated by the settlers, initially supervised by experienced farmers, to develop a self-sustaining dairy
Dairy
A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk—mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels —for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned...
industry. Premier Mitchell was nicknamed "Moo-Cow" from his perceived obsession with the dairy industry. He and his Nationalist
Nationalist Party of Australia
The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...
and Country Party
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
colleagues considered the 'unlimited land resources for closer settlement' were the key the state's economic progress.
Description
Under an agreement made with the British government, the state would take up to 6,000 men from the UK and settle them on 6,000 farms over a five year period.Migrant settlers received financial assistance for them and their families passage to Australia, and in return were required to work in small communities in undeveloped areas in the State's South West and Wheatbelt regions. After often only one or two days of acclimatisation and processing on arrival, properties were allocated by ballot and the settlers transported to their selections. After a period of establishment, the settlers were required to repay a 30-year loan (not exceeding ₤1,000) provided by the Agricultural Bank
Bank of Western Australia
Bank of Western Australia is a full service bank based in Perth, Western Australia. Formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of HBOS plc, it was sold in October 2008 to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for 2.1 billion....
, and at the completion of the loan repayment the settler would have freehold title to the property. They were paid 10 shillings per day during the land clearing phase and offered a ₤10 loan for the purchase of household and agricultural equipment. The loan was interest-only for the first five years. The communities (or groups) typically comprised between twelve and twenty families, and cleared land, built fences and established their farms in areas which had previously been unable to attract settlers.
The promises made to applicants were often unrealistic; and sometimes grossly misleading, and caused many to resign and walk off the properties soon after arrival and realisation of the task before them. For those that did persevere, communities endured considerable hardships and deprivation. Inadequate resources were provided, as well as the settlers often lacking the necessary farming skills and suitability for rural enterprise. Unsuitable equipment was often supplied for clearing the immense hardwood timber forests. Uneconomic farm sizes and depressed agricultural prices forced consolidations and various changes to the scheme. In some areas, poor land quality also led to failures. The extreme isolation in the virgin forests and lack of infrastructure such as roads and communications made life difficult. By April 1924, 30% of migrants and 42% of Australians had abandoned their allocations. Others stayed as they had no alternative. Sustenance payments were made to support many families.
The term "Group Settlement" was believed to have come from a suggestion made by a British soldier-settler John Wozencroft who had been assigned a 34.4 hectares (85 acre) allotment near Lefroy Brook at Pemberton
Pemberton, Western Australia
Pemberton is a town located in the South West region of Western Australia, named after the early settler Pemberton Walcott. It is the home of the karri tree, the largest tree in Western Australia and the third largest hardwood tree in the world...
. After selecting his property from a plan in Perth with advice from the Lands Department, Wozencroft travelled to Pemberton only to discover it to be impossibly isolated and that the heavily timbered property could only be cleared with the assistance of a small team of men. He wrote a letter directly to Premier Mitchell saying that he and his government "should be had up for misrepresentation". Mitchell reacted quickly, possibly fearing a public relations issue, and despatched Barbe More, a Lands Inspector at Bunbury
Bunbury, Western Australia
The port city of Bunbury is the third largest city in Western Australia after the State Capital Perth and Mandurah. It is situated south of Perth's central business district...
. More interviewed Wozencroft in November 1920 who relayed his suggestion that future allotments be made to four of five settlers in a group, and that an expert adviser be initially assigned to each group to assist and advise.
The first group settlement was at Manjimup
Manjimup, Western Australia
Manjimup is a town in Western Australia, south of the state capital, Perth. The town of Manjimup is a regional centre for the largest shire in the South West of Western Australia. At the 2006 census, Manjimup had a population of 4,239.-History:...
in 1921 and comprised eighteen blocks. Other settlements were established in Northcliffe
Northcliffe, Western Australia
Northcliffe is a town located in the lower South West region of Western Australia, about south of the town of Pemberton. At the 2006 census, Northcliffe had a population of 412....
, Denmark
Denmark, Western Australia
Denmark is a town in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-south-east of the state capital of Perth. At the 2006 census, Denmark had a population of 2,732.-History:...
, Nornalup
Nornalup, Western Australia
Nornalup is a small town located in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. The town is located along the South Coast Highway and on the banks of the Frankland River. The name derives from the local indigenous language: "Place of the Black Snake" - Norne - meaning "black snake" -up meaning...
, Walpole
Walpole, Western Australia
Walpole is a town in Western Australia, 432 km SSE of Perth and 66 km west of Denmark.Walpole lies very close to the northern point of the 100-hectare Walpole Inlet, from which it takes its name....
, and Bridgetown
Bridgetown, Western Australia
-Notable people:*Emily Barker, singer-songwriter*Jon Doust, author and comedian*Robyn McSweeney, politician*Tom O'Dwyer, cricketer*David Reid, politician*Deborah Robertson, novelist and poet-External links:* * * * * * * *...
. A program of draining the vast floodplains above the Peel-Harvey Estuary
Peel-Harvey Estuary
The Peel Harvey Estuary is a natural estuary which lies roughly parallel to the coast of Western Australia and south of the town of Mandurah. The strip of land between the Indian Ocean and the estuary carries the Old Coast Road and to the east is the Forrest Highway which is the main thoroughfare...
was instigated during the same period. This freed up potential farmland in the Peel Estate
Thomas Peel
Mr. Peel, he moans, took him from England to Swan River, West Australia, means of subsistence and of production to the amount of £50,000. Mr. Peel had the foresight to bring with him, besides, 300 persons of the working-class, men, women, and children. Once arrived at his destination, "Mr. Peel was...
which was subdivided and allocated to many of the groups. The sandy soils were found to be of poor quality however, and mostly unsuited for cattle grazing or pastures.
In 1924-25 the government established a Royal Commission on Group Settlement
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
. The Commission's final report was published on 9 June 1925 and included:
The new method of land settlement was put into effect in March 1921, when Group 1 was started on its way to Manjimup. This group in common with the first 40 inaugurated between this date and December 1922 was made up mainly of colonials or migrants of some years standing, but from then onwards the groups became composed almost entirely of migrants.
At that time there were 127 groups in operation throughout the South-West. Establishment of new groups was abandoned briefly but later resumed with more settlements at Northcliffe, Busselton and Manjimup.
Mitchell's successor Philip Collier
Philip Collier
Philip Collier was Premier of Western Australia for nine years, the longest ever term for an Australian Labor Party premier....
supported and continued the scheme through most of his Premiership from 1924 to 1930. With the 1930s Depression
Great Depression in Australia
Australia suffered badly during the period of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October, 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. As in other nations, Australia suffered years of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging incomes, and...
and the collapse of dairy produce prices, ever more settlers walked off their properties. Politicians called for its scrapping due the drain of the state's resources with the high failure rate. The last settlement established was at Northcliffe in May 1928. In 1930, government support was finally withdrawn and management responsibility for the remaining settlements passed to the Agricultural Bank
Bank of Western Australia
Bank of Western Australia is a full service bank based in Perth, Western Australia. Formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of HBOS plc, it was sold in October 2008 to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for 2.1 billion....
.
Legacy
Its legacy is that it had managed to establish a dairy industry which flourishes today, and many successful farms were cleared by the group workers. It also saw the expansion and establishment of a number of townships, schools and rail links. Over 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres) of land was cleared by the scheme which had cost the state ₤3 million.After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, many of the abandoned Group Settlement farms were taken over by immigrants under a new Soldier Settlement Scheme
Soldier settlement (Australia)
Soldier settlement refers to the occupation and settlement of land throughout parts of Australia by returning discharged soldiers under schemes administered by the State Governments after World Wars I and II.- World War I :...
, the next assisted migration scheme.
British newspaper magnate Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe
Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe
Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe rose from childhood poverty to become a powerful British newspaper and publishing magnate, famed for buying stolid, unprofitable newspapers and transforming them to make them lively and entertaining for the mass market.His company...
, actively promoted the scheme in its early years through his UK newspapers—especially The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
. The town of Northcliffe
Northcliffe, Western Australia
Northcliffe is a town located in the lower South West region of Western Australia, about south of the town of Pemberton. At the 2006 census, Northcliffe had a population of 412....
was established through the scheme and named to recognise his role.
John Tonkin
John Tonkin
John Trezise Tonkin AC , popularly known as "Honest John", was the 20th Premier of Western Australia , taking power after the almost 12 year term of Liberal Sir David Brand....
worked as a teacher at a two-teacher school at the group settlement of Nuralingup (near Augusta
Augusta, Western Australia
Augusta is a town on the south-west coast of Western Australia, where the Blackwood River emerges into Flinders Bay. It is the nearest town to Cape Leeuwin, on the farthest south-west corner of the Australian continent. In the 2001 census it had a population of 1,694; by 2006 the population of...
) for several years from 1923. He later taught at another group settlement at Margaret River
Margaret River, Western Australia
Margaret River is a town in the South West of Western Australia, located in the valley of the eponymous Margaret River, south of Perth, the state capital. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River....
. Tonkin became Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
state premier
Premier of Western Australia
The Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive government in the Australian State of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions...
from 1971 to 1974. He is the only former teacher to have reached the office of premier of the state.