Australasia 1836: Province of South Australia

From 1829 a British group led by Edward Gibbon Wakefield began pushing for the establishment of convict-free settlements in Australia and New Zealand. The British government agreed to grant them a colony in southern Australia and in 1836 the Province of South Australia was proclaimed separate from New South Wales.

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Main Events

? Dec 1832–9 Jan 1838 Kāi Tahu reconquest ▲

In the summer of 1832–33 a force of Kāi Tahu traveled north from Otakou, attacking Ngāti Toa remnants in Kaikoura and almost capturing Te Rauparaha in what is now Marlborough. An even larger force (taua-nui) set out in 1834, securing the east coast almost as far as Wairau. With Ngāti Toa and its allies weakened by internal conflict, the only large scale counterattack occurred in 1836 when Te Puoho led a great raid 1,500 km down the West Coast into Southland. Te Puoho’s defeat and death in 1837 left the West Coast defenseless, allowing Kāi Tahu to complete their reconquest of the region. in wikipedia

? Jun 1834 Settlement of Lord Howe Island ▲

Despite being claimed by Britain in 1788 and visited by whaling ships from the late 18th century, Lord Howe Island remained uninhabited until 1834. In June of that year, the British whaling barque Caroline arrived from New Zealand, depositing three men at Blinky Beach with their Māori wives and two Māori boys to establish a supply station in the area now known as Old Settlement. The settlement grew slowly, reaching a population of about 20 by the time it was incorporated into New South Wales in 1856. in wikipedia

28 Oct 1834 Pinjarra massacre ▲

Following Aboriginal attacks on settlers and cattle in the new settlement at Pingarra, Western Australia, a party of about twenty-five police, soldiers, and settlers set out on a punitive expedition in October 1834. Coming across a group of about seventy Noongar people, the party chased them down, killing dozens at a river crossing. in wikipedia

6 Jun 1835–3 Mar 1837 Foundation of Melbourne ▲

Despite a number of failed early attempts and the successful settlement of nearby Portland Bay by Edward Henty in 1834, permanent British settlement in Port Phillip (Melbourne), Australia, only began in 1835 when John Batman purchased land off the local Aboriginal people, the Wurundjeri. More settlers—like Henty and Batman, from Launceston, Van Diemen’s Land—arrived later that year and together they formed a town. Although Governor Bourke of New South Wales regarded these men as squatters and all treaties signed with Aborigines as null and void, their rights were eventually recognized and the new town officially named Melbourne in 1837. in wikipedia

14 Sep 1835 Sovereign Chief of New Zealand ▲

In June 1835 the notorious French adventurer ‘Baron’ Charles de Thierry sailed from Panama to the Marquesas, where he proclaimed himself King of Nukuhiva. Drawing on land purchases he had made in 1822, de Thierry wrote to British Resident Charles Busby in New Zealand of his intentions to become ‘Sovereign Chief of New Zealand’. De Thierry eventually arrived in November 1837 but, by now penniless and unable to reign in his followers, was forced to settle for a small grant of land at Hokianga. in wikipedia

28 Oct 1835 United Tribes of New Zealand ▲

In May 1833 James Busby arrived in the Bay of Islands as British Resident in New Zealand, building a house on land he bought at Waitangi. Fearing French intervention, Busby persuaded 35 northern Māori chiefs to sign a Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand in October 1835, proclaiming themselves as the United Tribes of New Zealand. More Māori signatures, including those of non-northern chiefs from Waikato and Ngāti Kahungunu, were gathered up to 1839. in wikipedia

18 Nov–5 Dec 1835 Conquest of the Chatham Islands ▲

In 1835 some 900 Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama—all Māori from the Taranaki region of New Zealand who had migrated to Port Nicholson (Wellington)—commandeered the British brig Lord Rodney to transport themselves to the Chatham Islands in two trips. There they met the indigenous and peaceful Moriori—already decimated by European diseases and the loss of their vital fur seals to sealers—who they proceeded to enslave or kill. Within a month the Māori had conquered and divided up the islands, while the Moriori population collapsed from about 2,000 to just over 100 by 1862. in wikipedia

28 Dec 1836 Province of South Australia ▲

In 1834 the South Australian Association—originally formed by colonial advocate Edward Gibbon Wakefield—persuaded British Parliament to pass the South Australia Act and allocate land in southwestern New South Wales for a convict-free colony. Letters Patent enabled the creation of the colony—bounded by 132° and 141° East of Greenwich, and to the north by the Tropic of Capricorn (23° 26′ South)—on 19 February 1836 and nine ships set out with 636 settlers under Governor John Hindmarsh. After a first landing on Kangaroo Island, Hindmarsh landed at Holdfast Bay and proclaimed the free Province of South Australia. in wikipedia

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Australasia 1836: Province of South Australia

28 December 1836

Australasian Colonies

Australasia

Province of South Australia