Chapter 4 - The Settlers
George Pateman Briant
George Briant, Snr
James Briant
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1874 - 1884
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"Unlock the land" the diggers cried as gold petered out. Emigrants from
Britain skilled as agricultural labourers proliferated during the
1840's and 1850's in Victoria and New South Wales. The land was
securely locked with the squatters, whose leases didn't come up for
renewal until the mid 1860's,
When leases did come up for renewal, "dummying"
became rife, as the squatters paid someone else to acquire the land on
their behalf. The so-called "dummy" worked elsewhere, moving his little
house on wheels around the squatter's land, whose flocks of sheep
grazed undisturbed on the land the squatter regarded as his.
This was an important feature of the future Land
Acts when the government tried to stamp out the problem of the dummy,
and give the settlers a better opportunity to obtain land. It had its
drawbacks, as the story of the Briant family shows.
By 1873, a family farm appealed to the Briants, who
realised that, if they were to succeed on the land, a small acreage of
eighty to one hundred acres would not be viable in Australian
conditions. Back "home" in England or Europe, two hundred acres would
be wealth untold, but the Australian climate with its propensity for
drought or floods meant a larger acreage for grazing sheep or growing
wheat was needed than in Europe.
A family farm seemed feasible, when four of the
seven children were adults. George Pateman Briant was twentytwo; James,
twenty; Emily Ann, sixteen and Louisa, thirteen.
Land had recently been opened for selection at
Boort, north of Ballarat, and George Snr., George Jnr. and James each
applied for a License to farm the maximum acreage allotted by the
Government - three hundred and twentythree acres each.
The first step was to apply for a License; once
approved, and before a Licensee could apply for a Grant of land or
Lease, improvements to the value of one pound an acre had to be made
within three years of the License approval. In an effort to control the
effect of "dummying" the Land Act of 1865 inserted the clause
"continuous residence".
Settlers had to reside continuously on their land;
but this was a disadvantage to settlers who needed to earn money to pay
for improvements to the value of one pound an acre. If they didn't
abide by the "continuous residence" clause, many lost their land.
The Briants reasoned that the bakery would subsidise
the criteria for land improvements. While they were working on the
land, Emma, with the help of a baker, and her younger sons, as well as
Louisa, could keep the bakery profitable.
Louisa, my grandmother, loved talking about life on
the land at Boort.
"I was cook to the shearers who came each year," she
told me when I was a young girl. "I worked hard in those days."
Another time, she remembered a bush
fire.
"It's the most terrifying event in anyone's life. We
walked over the blackened ground, behind the fire."
After she died, I asked my mother whether she
remembered when the Briants were on the land.
"Mother was always talking about Boort, but I
understand they were bakers at Ballarat," she told me.
I began to be haunted about the mystery of the land
at Boort. In 1884, Grandma married Edwin Farr, and at first they lived
in Ballarat but later moved to Northcote, where my mother was born in
1890. The clue to the mystery must have been before her marriage, I
thought. Detective work paid off, as the staff at the Public Records
Office were most helpful, and the files provided the answer to the
mystery. Everything came together, like the missing parts in a jigsaw
puzzle.
George and James Briant came alive, and not only did
they spring to life, but so did a time when the settlers were fighting
to retain a hold on land they held so tenuously.
George Briant, Snr. and his two sons applied for a
License for land at Boort in August 1873. Their applications for three
hundred and twenty acres each were approved in March, 1874.
The old town of Boort was originally settled nearer
the road to Melbourne, but the Briants' land was further inland, nearer
the Boort lake and, eventually, the railway line and the present
township of Boort. Perhaps George reasoned that, where the railway
went, that town was made.
In the early 1870's, settlers busily pegged out all
the available land around the Boort area, which was approximately two
hundred miles north of Ballarat. Boort is an aboriginal name meaning
"Smoke on the Hill."
A family farm did seem a reasonable proposition when
there were three strong men to farm the land. Emily could look after
three year old Victoria; Louisa could help her mother; Charles would
leave school in a year's time, and Alf could also help in the bakery.
He later said that he served his apprenticeship in the Hope Bakery, and
he would deliver bread before he went to school. He remembered one day
when he was held up by a bushranger as he drove the horse and cart on
his bakery round.
In those days the official age for leaving school
was twelve, and it was not unusual for boys of twelve to be regarded as
adults and go to work.
George and Emma decided their savings which had
accumulated over the years, as well as profits from the bakery, would
help to meet the License requirements. After the License had been
granted in March, 1874, they had three years in which to make
improvements to the value of one pound an acre; rent was two shillings
an acre, but rent paid was not deducted from the purchase price.
When these requirements had been met, the settler
could either apply for a Land Grant at a cost of one pound an acre, or
apply for a seven year Lease, and the rent paid would then go
towards the cost of buying their land.
In 1869, the maximum time to alienate the land was
increased from seven years to ten; the maximum allotment was still
three hundred and twenty acres; the rent continued at two shillings an
acre. The main variation from the 1865 Act was that land could be
pegged out before the settler applied to the local surveyor. Previously
there had been long delays before the surveyor approved the land, by
which time land had been auctioned to someone else after the settler
decided the survey was taking too long, and had forfeited his right to
the land by withdrawing his application.
It was estimated that by March 1877, when the
License conditions had been met, they would apply for a Lease, and the
rent paid would then go towards the cost of their land Grant.
They had the will to work, and it is evident that
they worked hard, when the files are looked at for the year l876.
One of the problems for the settler at that time was
the stipulation about improvements to the value of one pound an acre
having to be made, and yet remain continually on the land. The clause
"continuous residence" was a bugbear to many who realised that the
government was only trying to stamp out the dummy working for the
squatter. To many struggling to succeed on the land, this was a serious
disadvantage, because when they needed money to make improvements they
had to work.
This was not George's problem - in later
correspondence with the Lands Department he reveals that they spent
over two thousand pounds, which was their life savings. Their fight was
with a bureaucracy; and the legacy was one which many people felt, a
great desire to preserve the freedom of the individual.
They felt that they were meeting the conditions of
their License with time to spare - James wrote to the Department of
Lands in 1876 that he had cleared and cropped thirty acres and had an
acre of orchard planted; fences had been erected; also there was a
house, stable, "and in fact all necessary outhouses and having three
hundred and twenty acres fenced. I also have two hundred and fifty
sheep, with horses and a cow, and all necessary farming
implements."
At the beginning of 1876, when they were sure that
all was well and that another year would see the fulfilment of the
conditions of their Leases, the Department of Lands received the
following letter dated 10th January, 1876, from a William Smith, Albert
St., Ballarat:
"Honourable Minister for
Lands.
.
I have the honour to inform you a Mr. George Bryant
baker of Ballarat, selected three blocks of land at the Lake Boort
himself and two sons. Now near three years very little of any kind his
done to their blocks but I do know he is taking money from a lawyer in
Ballarat and his said a agent for Mr. Armstrong the squatter. His sons
never been up to see the land since they pegged it out.
I also hear his daughter a young girl was up last
week pegging out another block before any more be granted please
enquire Briants means. I was told it was only a short time he
compromised with his creditors.
I have the honour to be - Your obedient servant,
William Smith."
When the files are read, it becomes obvious that the
Briant family were thinking of a family farm. In 1875, when forms were
filled in for the Departmental records, George wrote that he lived on
his son's block, "for convenience of water." After a year on the land,
most of the improvements had been done on James' block - fences had
been erected, but only eleven pounds five shillings on improvements to
George's block. Most of the improvements had been done to James' land.
George, jnr., and his father helped James.
On 27th January 1876, the Land Bailiff, a Mr.
Campbell, wrote to the Department that Geo. Briant Snr. resided on his
son's adjoining selection. "The land is nearly all enclosed with a very
good class of fencing."
They had no idea why the Department was taking such
an interest in them. They had no idea that Bill Smith had written to
the Department suggesting that George Snr. might have been a dummy for
the squatter. It is true that a considerable amount of time and money
had been spent on James' land.
A little over a year later, in March 1877, just
three years after their License had been approved, James Briant, in
submitting his application for a Lease, estimated he had made
improvements to the value of four hundred and seventysix pounds one
shilling.
In June, 1876, Alex Campbell, the Land Bailiff, had
sent in a favourable report on their selection, when he wrote:
"These selections are nearly all fenced with a very
good class of fencing, the subdivision lines in course of erection...
George Snr. and Geo. Jnr. reside on James' block, which is fenced on
three sides, also a 160 acre paddock fenced and 16 acres cultivation -
The sons are bakers at Ballarat where James is at present. I believe
them to be quite bona fide."
On 27th October, 1876, the Crown Lands Bailiff, Mr.
Heathcote, reported that improvements to Geo. Snr. block had been made
to the value of one hundred and sixtyfour pounds.
"Family selection. Bona Fide."
On the bottom of the file, were the words:
"A tradesman at Ballarat can only be a visitor to a
selection at Boort. Call attention to the discrepancy."
On the 16th November,
George received a letter from the Department telling him that a
tradesman at Ballarat could only be a visitor to a selection at Boort.
He immediately jumped to the conclusion that the Bailiff was a guest of
the squatter, and had sent in an unfavourable report.
"I have lived on the land since the date named, 29
April l874; that I have never left the district since that time
that all the neighbours will prove if necessary only to go to market
about once or twice a year and cannot explain the discrepancy except it
is through the bailiff being a guest of the squatter and escorted
around the place by him or his servants ...."
He went on to say that his neighbours had noticed
the Bailiff, and his son had told him that he had only gone to market.
The Bailiff, when he read this letter, was very
upset to read the accusation that he might have been a guest of the
squatter.
"My information (NOT derived from the squatter} but
from selectors is to the effect that this licensee is a baker at
Ballarat and that he never resides on the land, although he may pay a
flying visit to it sometimes. .....
I may be wrong, but I put him down as a bona fide
selector, though not resident. I do not think it necessary to defend
myself from his imputations which are so grossly false ......."
Anonymity had been their protection, but from now
onwards they were under the watchful gaze of the Lands Dept, which had
an everlasting refrain: "Refused for insufficient residence."
Their deadline to make the improvements had been
March 1877, when they could apply for a Lease. In October, 1876, the
value of the improvements to George Snr. block had been one hundred and
sixtyfour pounds, while the value to James in March 1877 was four
hundred and seventy six pounds one shilling. It appears that they were
well on the way to have made improvements to the value of six hundred
and forty dollars on the two blocks.
In spite of a sense of urgency, nothing was going
right. For a start, a road was built through George's block, which
meant it had to be fenced on both sides. This took time and energy
which should have been used for sowing crops.
James Briant submitted his application for a Lease
in March, 1877, listing improvements as fencing, land cultivated -
wheat and oats - a bark hut, stable, cart sheds and a tent, stack yard,
sheep yard, garden, wagon and drays, blacksmith's forge, horse works
and chaff cutter and fixing. He valued this at four hundred and
seventysix pounds.
Robert Heathcote, the Kerang Bailiff, submitted a
favourable report in June 1877, when he wrote to the Secretary of the
Office of Lands and Survey that "the value of improvements to this
selection was five hundred and twentytwo pounds."
On the application was this footnote:
"Inform that information re residence must be
clearer. Ask him to state exact dates of residence and periods of same."
On 12th June 1877, Robert Heathcote had submitted a
report on George Briant Snr. saying that improvements had been made to
the value of one hundred and eightynine pounds six shillings.
"He is fenced on two sides, and a road which
intersects his selection is also fenced on both sides."
The footnote on George's application read:
"Refused for insufficient residence and improvements
not effected to full value of one pound an acre."
In spite of engaging a Melbourne solicitor to act on
their behalf, their applications for a Lease had been refused. In
April, 1877, George had employed a firm of Queen St. Melbourne
solicitors to write on their behalf to the Lands Department.
The solicitors, Harry Briggs & Co. sent
applications for the three Leases, and said that, in consequence of the
father's selection being some four miles from the son's, and in
consequence of no water being there he has "resided on the allotment of
his son James, and both the father and the other son in consequence of
the assistance given by them to him have not yet been able to comply
with the conditions as to cultivation and the lands being heavily
timbered this will take a considerable time.........."
Many settlers were in the same position as James,
afraid that their hard work would be wasted, and that someone else
would reap the rewards of their hard work. It was not until later in
1878 that the then Minister for Lands, Henry Longmore, MLA changed the
Act so that settlers could be away from their land for three months of
the year in order to pay for the improvements to the value of one pound
an acre.
In 1877, when both applications were in doubt, and
George Snr.'s application for a Lease had been refused, he was
devastated. On 15th July, 1877 he wrote to the secretary of the
Department of Lands and Survey:
"....I have already informed the Department that I
have sown wheat, barley, maize and potatoes, and by the end of the
season would have the whole under crop.
You say my residence not satisfactorily complied. I
have resided the whole time, nearly three years ..... we have done all
it was possible to do in the time which is too short, me and my
sons having spent over two thousand pounds in fencing and implements
for carrying farming such as ploughs wagons and machinery, the whole
earnings of twenty years, and if you cannot see your way to grant my
Lease allow time so as not to involve our ruin all at once as we have
done our best."
When James received his notification asking about
his time of residence he wrote:
.."Referring to correspondence received dated
27th June, I cannot furnish you with any more information than I
furnished to the Secretary about fifteen months ago........ I then
received a letter from the Secretary telling me to go on with the
selection as the Minister of Lands did not intend to disturb me..."
On the 13th February 1878, another Lease application
was sent from George, estimating the total cost of improvements as
three hundred and thirtyfour pounds ten shillings seven and a half
pence. On the footnote to the application was written:
"Mr. Hayes please ask him to state the time he has
been living on his son's block, and when he began his residence there,
and if continuous."
The dream of a family farm had turned into a
nightmare. They had envisaged that, within three years at the very
least, the family would be re-united, and that George could enjoy his
youngest children, whom he had rarely seen since 1874, when he began
living at Boort.
Improvements had been made to the value of eight
hundred and fiftysix pounds to both blocks, yet approval for a Lease
had not been approved.
Ruin faced them if their claims on the land had to
be relinquished and it was auctioned so that someone would benefit from
their improvements and hard work. Not only the farm, but the bakery
could be in jeopardy. One fact was certain; George and Emma decided
that, in future, the bakery could no longer subsidise the land. The
bakery must not be sacrificed, when Emma had worked hard to run it
profitably. Charles, and soon Alfred, would work at the bakery as well.
They no longer dreamt of a co-operative family farm.
The voters' roll for 1878 for the Electoral District
of Avoca, division Boort, proved interesting, because in 1878 a woman
could be on the voters' roll if she had land. This is what we
read:
Emily Ann
Briant, farmer, land Wychitella
George
Pateman Briant, farmer, Boort
James
David Briant, farmer, Boort
George
Briant, Snr. farmer, Boort
On the land map, Wychitella borders with Boort. A
family farm was definitely the aim of the Briants it could be assumed.
There is no file for George Pateman Briant {License No. 36790} although
we tried to find one. The only files were those for Licenses No. 36791
and 36792, which dealt with the improvements made on both blocks. It is
doubtful whether any improvements had been made on George Pateman's
land. It does not seem to have been of importance to the Department.
Eventually, a note on the file on land l5a and l5b
(George Snr.) dated 20th July, 1878, recommended:
"Prepare Lease."
By 19th November, 1878, the Leases were prepared and
signed. The land would not be forfeited and someone else reap the
benefit of their hard work. Over a year passed, and, when George hadn't
heard from the Department, he wrote to them in January 1880 asking
whether there had been a mistake made, as he had heard nothing more
from the Department since the Leases were signed. They replied that he
should check with the Titles Office.
When the Land Act of 1878 had been altered to
allow the settler to be away from his land for three months of the year
in order to pay for their improvements, Mr. Longmore, MP, had made the
suggestion that farmers should act more like businessmen, and take out
a mortgage on their land.
This idea appealed to the Briants, especially as
James was talking about getting engaged to a young lady named Mary Ann
Odgers. In those days a two year engagement was the usual length of
time before a couple married. A trousseau was needed by the bride, and
two years gave them time to save and get to know one another.
Their initial enthusiasm of living on the land had
waned during the last two years. George had hoped that, by this time,
the family would be re-united. It was not a possibility; he had another
four years in which to pay off his land and get a Grant. Ten years was
a long time for a man to be away from his family - Vicki had been three
when a family farm had been envisaged, and Alfred, seven years. For ten
years, their father had been a vague, shadowy figure, who appeared for
awhile, then disappeared for months before turning up again. It was not
the life that George and Emma had envisaged. It meant that George was
virtually a stranger to his two younger children; when he returned to
the Bakery to live, Vicki would be thirteen, and Alfred seventeen.
He felt that the family's future was at stake, and
was determined that, once the land was free of debt and his, it could
be transferred to a buyer, and he could return to the bakery business
and to his beloved Emma.
James decided to transfer his Lease to his father,
and on 31st August 1880 he applied for the transfer of his lease to
George Briant, Snr. His reason for the transfer was :"I have a business
in Ballarat which will prevent my residing on the land for the future."
He gave his future address as the Seymour St. Bakery. George paid his
son a purchase price of three hundred and twentythree pounds for
Allotment 16.
This meant that the future belonged to the bakery.
Consolidation of the bakery would be assured when James Charles and
Alfred worked together. It would enable Emma to have a spell for
awhile, and enjoy seeing the happiness of James and Mary Ann as they
planned for their wedding in 1882.
It is evident that James was fed up with the
continual fighting with the Department of Lands, which insisted that he
pay his rent at Kerang, north of Boort, instead of at Inglewood, south
of Boort, and on the way to Ballarat. He said that it took him longer
to make the return trip to Kerang, when he needed to go south for
supplies. The Department was adamant - Kerang was the place to pay his
rent.
Perhaps this was the straw which broke the camel's
back. James left the land without a backward glance -his family didn't
know about land at Boort. A new life began when he married.
The leased Titles were effective for seven years
from 28th March 1877; James had worked with his father until
1880; George felt that he could manage another four years on the land,
but he knew it wouldn't be easy, especially when too often seasons were
too dry, and their crop of wheat, maize and barley was so poor that the
cattle had to be turned in, as George wrote in one of his letters to
the Department.
The four original Leases were transferred to George
Briant, Snr., and on 6th January, 1881, he signed an application to
mortgage the four Leases to James Fry, Ballarat miller.
When we looked at the map to find George Briant's
block in 1881, we found that there were only the two blocks (James and
his) in his name; the block which was George P. Briant's, belonged to
J. Fry. Perhaps J. Fry bought it, so that George, who was no longer a
young man, could concentrate on two blocks of land.
It is difficult to know what happened to them after
this time. From the files, times were hard; by 1881 the usual seasonal
factor of drought surfaced. When the Department wrote to remind George
that rent hadn't been paid for 1881 and 1882 he replied that he would
pay after the harvest.
He said that the trouble was rabbits were eating his
crops. In 1880, he had bagged two hundred and eighty bags an acre of
wheat; 1881, the drought, and the rabbits, left him with only ten bags
an acre. Much of his time was spent clearing his block. Ironically,
after it was cleared, the next owner planted native trees. We were told
this when the Boort Shire officer told us the whereabouts of the
bullocks when we enquired in 1990.
Brush fences were built to prevent the rabbits
getting in, but he complained to the Lands Dept. that too many of the
settlers didn’t bother about their fences - hence the rabbits kept
coming!
It would be a lonely time for George. It was a long
way from Ballarat, although the train went through Inglewood and
Tarnagulla to Ballarat, from Boort. Perhaps that was why James was so
annoyed when he could have gone to Inglewood to pay his rent but had to
go to Kerang by horse and buggy, which took much longer.
How George went to Ballarat for his supplies is a
mystery to me. It could be that he went by horse and buggy, because his
granddaughter, Elinor, told me that he used to call in to see Ann
Pateman and Joseph at Tarnagulla on his way back from Ballarat.
This would be a welcome respite after a long
journey, and Ann, married to Joseph Pateman, would be a link with their
past, when they had looked forward to a future in a strange land with
hope and confidence. It would be pleasant to recall a time when they
had been young, enthusiastic and adventurous, before her two children
then her husband died.
In a changing world, there was only God who was the
same, today, yesterday and tomorrow. This was said to me many times
when I was young by my grandmother, who might have heard her father,
George, say it to her.
Page last
updated - 18 Jan 2006