The Times, 5 November,
1838
. 6. Ibid,9
November, 1838*h ad l i t t l e t r u c k f o r m o r a l g e s t u r e s u n r e l a t e d t o e c o n o m i c i n t e r e s t s and no s e n s e o f o b l i g a t i o n t o a Whig G o ve rn me nt w h i c h h a d i n c l i n a t i o n s t o w a r d s r e f o r m b u t was n o t a l w a y s s u r e w h a t d i r e c t i o n t o f o l l ow t o a c h i e v e p r o g r e s s w i t h o u t i m p i n g i n g t o o much on p r i v i l e g e .
The m a j o r i t y among t h e f r e e and f r e e d c o l o n i s t s o f Dew S o u t h Wa l e s w e r e n o t i n t e r e s t e d i n R o m a n t i c o r U t i l i t a r i a n c o n c e p t s o f Em
p i r e , n o r i n t h e s p r e a d o f C h r i s t i a n i t y and t h e p r e s e r v a t i o n o f c i v i l i z a t i o n . T h e i r m a i n c o n c e r n s w e r e t h e r i g h t s o f E n g l i s h m e n , t h e p r i c e o f w o o l , t h e t e n u r e o f l a n d , and t h e s h o r t a g e o f l a b o u r . The e n t e r p r i s i n g among them p r o v i d e d t h e d y n a m i c f o r t h e ” s q u a t t i n g r u s h ” t h a t h ad t u r n e d Dew S o u t h Wa l e s f r o m a g a o l i n t o a c o l o n y . T h e i r v i t a l i t y was e x p a n d i n g t h e p e r i m e t e r o f a n E m p i r e R o m a n t i c s and R e f o r m e r s a l i k e c h e r i s h e d . More p e r h a p s t h a n any o t h e r f r o n t i e r , A u s t r a l i a was i s o l a t e d f r o m t h e ma in s t r e a m o f E u r o p e a n t h o u r h t a nd c u l t u r e , a f r a g m e n t w i t h o u t r o o t s , s t r u g g l i n g t o d e v e l o p a p o l i t i c a l a nd s o c i a l i d e n t i t y on a f o u n d a t i o n o f s e m i -
s e r f d o m u n d e r p a r t i c u l a r l y u n c o m p r o m i s i n g g e o g r a p h i c a l c o n d i t i o n s . The A u s t r a l i a n f r o n t i e r was a ” B i g Man’ s ” f r o n t i e r , toa r a w , i s o l a
t e d and e c o n o m i c a l l y d e p e n d e n t t o d e v e l o p t h e s e l f - c o n t a i n e d commun i t y e n v i s a g e d b y R o m a n t i c s and C o l o n i a l R e f o r m e r s ; t o o new a n d un d e v e l o p e d f o r t h e e s t a b l i s h m e n t o f p o s t - u t i l i t a r i a n i d e a s o f demoo- r a c y , s o c i a l i s m o r t h e R e l i g i o n o f H u m a n i t y . F o r t h e n o n c e , t h e s q u a t t e r s p r o v i d e d A u s t r a l i a w i t h a n i d e n t i t y a n d a p u r p o s e , a l b e i t t h e i d e n t i t y was l i m i t e d , h u c k s t e r i n g a nd a t r i f l e s w a s h b u c k l i n g a n d t h e p u r p o s e i m m e d i a t e a n d p r a c t i c a l ---more l a n d f o r more s h e e p . By c o n t r a s t , i n A m e r i c a , t h e p o o r man’ s f r o n t i e r was r e a l , a l t h o u g h t h e p i o n e e r s who f o u n d e d new c o m m u n i t i e s a c r o s s t h e c o n t i n e n t l e d a n y t h i n g b u t t h e i d y l l i c l i f e E u r o p e a n R o m a n t i c s e n v i s a g e d . The t r a i n s o f c o v e r e d w aggo ns t h a t c r o s s e d t h e w i d e M i s s o u r i w e r e c o m m u n i t i e s i n embryo, m i c r o —e c o n o m i e s , t h e s e e d s o f a new c i v i l -
Decade 100
ization. The dour men and "brave women who filled them "battled ag1- ainst hostile forces, the environment, the elements and Red men, for possession not only of the land "but of the future. In a way, the great lumbering vehicles had taken over from the Mayflower and the Pilgrim Fathers, who "brought European civilization to the north eastern coasts of America, although the Spanish had been first in the South-west and the French along the Mississipi. Waggon trains pushed out from the great river into the vast prairies with a Waggon Master to maintain the law, if necessary, with Winchester and Colt;
a preacher to remind the travellers that they were " ever in their great 'taskmaster’s eye” ; wives and sisters to chasten husbands and brothers and admonish the children; and one common purpose: to establish new homes in safe and fertile places. Even Wyatt Earp’s Tombstone, in Arizona beyond the Rio Grande, archetype Western set
tlement in the later days of gunplay, gamblir? and. gold, had fif teen city blocks, a magnificent Town Hall, churches, a County Courthouse, a tov.n band, a newspaper and a stolid bourgeois citi zenry who represented the norm rather than the romance of the Wild West7 American folk heroes include Johnny Appleseed and Daniel Boone as well as Wyatt Earp and "Doc" Holliday.
in Australia things were different. The overlanders and squatters who followed on the heels of the explorers were mostly ex- pa triate English and Irish minor gentry, or dispossessed Scottish yeorren, who travelled alone with their sheep and their ex-convict or native-born stockmen. They fanned out from the coastal settle ments of Hew South Wales and Port Phillip, looking over their shoulders towards Sydney or Melbourne as the centres of community life. When they dreamed dreams they were dreams of ’’Home'1, far across the sea, which remained for them the only real source of civilization and culture. They were economic virtuosos rather than