Pattern of pastoral settlement in the Wimmera 1843-1883

© 1973 Dr. June SenyardPastoralism has always held a prominent place in Australian awareness, forming such a central feature of the cultural heritage that few can escape even a vague knowledge of its existence in the Australian past. Against the implicit threat and aggression of the convict element, the squatter has come to stand for the forces of order, stability and productivity. The squatter, reinforced by the police in 'Waltzing Matilda', sweeps down to the swagman and although the melancholy of the latter permeates the song, the rights of the squatter are in no way questioned and he stands as the legitimate source of authority. Frank the Poet, too, in the refrain "Squatter’s Heaven, Convict's Hell, Land of Bastards, Fare Thee Well" elevated the figure of the squatter to the salutary position of being the one useful sector in the colonial community. Thus, even though the Australian folk tradition has stemmed largely from the non-elite - the convicts, workers (urban and bush), and the gold-diggers - the squatter has emerged in the folk tradition as the obverse side representing the virtues of British habits of thought, wealth and status against the aggressively collectivist democracy of the bush-worker. At a more conscious level, historians have also viewed pastoralism as a major motif in the growth of a peculiarly Australian society of transplanted Europeans. In the unfolding history of Australia, writers have attached considerable importance to pastoralism, especially to its decisive role in the process usually termed, “From Gaol to Colony”. It was the pastoral industry which precipitated the spread of settlement over the continent even to the most isolated and inhospitable of areas. In Imperial terms, pastoralism enhanced the value of the Australian colonies to the mother Country as the most important supplier of wool while within the colonies themselves, wool, as the dominating export commodity, enjoyed a valued economic role. Undeniably, squatting was a central factor in the development of Australia from enforced gaol to immigrant colonies to democratic nation. (From Introduction