Waves of Development and Social Change on K.I.

WAVES OF DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURAL CHANGE ON KANGAROO ISLAND

I have chosen waves as my theme, since waves sometimes crash angrily and sometimes are but a ripple on the sandy shore. The settlement of Kangaroo Island has been like that; there have been waves of settlement and change that have moulded every aspect of the Island - sometimes big and often quite small.

I am not an historian, I have taken my information from books expressing other's opinions (some at variance with others), and from living on the Island for over 80 of the 180 years since official settlement. My forbears lived here another 80 years before that, so I have seen and heard a lot.

It would be remiss of me in speaking of the first wave of settlement if I didn't mention the unknown indigenous people who lived here many thousands of years ago. When I was growing up, I saw unusual stones lying around the farm. I have brought some for you to look at. I was told that they were tools used by the Aboriginal people who lived along our creek and in other areas of the Island. That seemed reasonable enough, but where were the skeletons of all these people? I still dream of finding a cave with a perfect skeleton. Rather than spend time on speculation about their origin, I will acknowledge those unknown inhabitants and move on to the next wave that impacted our shores.

French and English expeditions of discovery both visited here in the period 1802 to 1803. This set off a chain of events that ultimately changed the Island dramatically. I doubt that I need to enlarge on their visits, except to say that Flinders mapped a part of the North Eastern coast of Kl, while the French captain Nicolas Baudin circumnavigated the Island. After their historic meeting in Encounter Bay in 1802, both expeditions spent that winter in Sydney, enjoying the hospitality of the Governor.

The following year, Baudin spent a few weeks at the Eastern Cove of Nepean, on his way back to Europe, mapping the Island and, no doubt enjoying the company of Mary Beckwith, the 17 year old he had brought from Sydney with the acquiescence of the Governor. Now that's a story in itself. Baudin died in Mauritius and left the girl to his brother. He was a generous soul. Put more kindly, he asked his brother to care for her which I am sure he did.

On leaving the Island and arriving at Albany in Western Australia Baudin met an American sealer, Isaac Pendleton, and told him of the seals, and no doubt the availability of meat, water and a sheltered harbour. Within weeks Pendleton was at American River gathering seal skins and building a ship, the Independence, from local timber. In itself, this may not have been huge but the ensuing wave of sealers certainly had a big impact on the island and its future settlement. Remember the infant colony of New South Wales was only thirteen years old when Flinders discovered the Island and in desperate need for goods to trade and for local consumption.

Initially sealers were left on the Island with provisions and collected a year or so later along with whatever skins and salt, they had gathered. This system gradually changed to a more permanent arrangement, with sealers arriving from Tasmania, with Aboriginal partners setting up camps, and in some cases, permanent homes. Ships manifests list many, many thousands of skins shipped but did not always differentiate between sea lion, fur seal, kangaroo and wallaby skins.

The Aboriginal women were not only sexual partners but the work force too. They were experts at clubbing seals, catching and skinning kangaroos and wallabies and salt gathering. These were South Australia's first industries, along with whaling, (though that to a much lesser extent on Kangaroo Island), and an incentive for the South Australian Company to want to set up business here 25 years later. No doubt the sealers were of help to the official settlers, but there is a flip side to that situation. If the sealers had not spent those 20 to 30 years catching seals and kangaroos, the pickings for the official settlers would have been richer, both in the sense of more readily available food and in an economic sense.

Once Captain Robert Morgan landed his passengers (how many there were varies from publication to publication) from the Duke of York at Reeves point, he left again for the whaling grounds in the Pacific. 

I would like to digress here about the Duke of York. I got very excited when I read in a publication that Henry Wallen was a crew member of the Sofia when was left on the Island, where he set up a farm later taken over by the South Australia Co. The Sophia was later named the Duke of York. It took me some time to discover that there were two Duke of York ships, so Henry Wallen and Elizabeth Beare were not delivered to our shores by the same ship as some have suggested.

The fact that some of the ships came to the Island with Try Pots on their decks ready to cash in on existing industries proves that some sort of European settlement and economic activity had an influence on decisions to start a new colony in the South. These early sealers may have been wild and woolly and may even have included escaped convicts but they, with their Aboriginal partners, paved the way for the rest of us.

But by the time of official settlement, the easy pickings had been picked. The salt industry was the only one that continued, until the 1950s, although seals continued to be caught and kangaroo, wallaby and possum skins continued as an source of income and food, at some level, for residents.

In my young years, I snared wallabies and sold the skins for pocket money and my grandfather sold possum skins to pay for the free-holding of the land at Willson River. G. H. Leigh writing in 1839 said that if he wanted some kangaroo meat, he would have to send someone so far out in the bush from Kingscote that it would be putrid before he returned. Kangaroos were not seen again on the Eastern end of the Island until the 1970's. Perhaps the Parndana land clearing sent them East.

We all know the result of the landing and subsequent shift to the mainland by most of the settlers, the establishment of the capital and the proclamation when the total population of the colony was about 500. The Island population didn't change greatly at that time, the biggest effect of official settlement for the Island came from having trade with the mainland as the colony progressed. Within six years, the population of the colony of South Australia was 17,366 and the first wool sales were conducted at Soloman's Mart, Currie St. Then there followed a time of economic difficulty and falling population. Life was very hard in South Australia for a few years and many left the colony.

The Yacca Gum industry started on the Island in 1843. As it built up, over 1,000 tons were shipped annually to Europe and the USA. In one year between the wars, 12,000 tons were shipped, but like mining, once you take it, it's gone. However, it was a good source of income in difficult times and over a good many years with stops and starts.

From the time of the sealers, salt was gathered seasonally and from 1909 to the 1950's it was big business in Kangaroo Island terms. At its peak, 200 men were employed gathering, processing and packing 100,000 tons of salt in a year. The vessels, the Warrawee and the Kapoola were built for that trade. When major machinery replacement was required for the salt industry, a decision was made to change the operations to mining Gypsum which was in a layer underneath the salt. It was shipped overseas from Ballast Head. This lasted until the 1980s when it too, closed. One might ask whether it would have been wiser to keep mining salt.

Early in the settlement, basalt rock was shipped to Adelaide for the road between Port Adelaide, (still called Port Misery at that time) and Adelaide. Timber from the Cygnet River saw mill was supplied for sleepers on the Port to city railway and also the line to Gawler and the Moonta mines.

Fishing has always been of importance to the economy. A fish factory was set up at American River in the early 1900s and Sapphire Town set out for future workers to live. It survived for 2 years and employed 40 men. Following that, some Chinese settled at American River and tried to start a fish salting works.

Other efforts have been made but it seems the most successful and sustainable is the present day cray-fishing and abalone industries. The latter consisting of land based culture as well as open sea gathering of the shell fish.

1875 saw an undersea telephone cable laid from Normanville to Kingscote and from there, overland to Cape Borda. One can imagine the improvement to island living.

I mentioned earlier that there were tough times in the colony in the 1840s however, by 1850 things were looking up and this is when my family arrived in Port Adelaide. The best agricultural land close to Adelaide had been taken up and my great grandfather [Thomas Creasy Willson 1821-1901 - Ed.] had three sons so, after a few years at Yankalilla, he looked across the water to Kangaroo Island. He was one of the many so-called wave of agriculturalists who arrived on the Island from the late 1840's to about 1870. The population of the island in 1851 was 87. These agriculturalists were the ones that established churches, schools, local Government etc which encouraged population growth. It had swelled to 379 by 1881 and to 721 by the turn of the century. It might be added that some of the sealers were well educated and added much to the development and interaction with the government of the day.

The first tourist guest house opened in American River in 1895, perhaps not a big event at the time but paving the way for later industry. In the 1950's American River was THE place for South Australians to holiday. Honeymoons were big business and all the local lads went to the Saturday night dances at the American River hall in the hope of meeting the young working women who also flocked to Linnett's and Lierich's guest houses. (Today it's Bali).

Eucalyptus distilling flourished from 1890 to the 1930's, when over 100 distilleries were in operation, however, my uncle had a still in operation in the 1940's, so some remained. Like yacca gumming, it lasted for many years and helped the economy in tough times.

Over the next 40 years several things of note happened, the most momentous being WW1. Other events which, taken individually, were but ripples on the shore, but together pushed the Island forward considerably. Other events were :-

- The newly built SS Karratta began a service to the Island in 1907, that lasted almost 60 years.

- A china clay mine was started near Penneshaw and bricks fired in a building near the wharf, but both closed within three years. Various mining and oil drilling attempts were made, but with little success.

- The Ozone Hotel was built near the new Kingscote jetty.

- Lighthouses at Cape St Albans and Cape DeCoudic were erected, Cape Willoughby, or the Sturt Light was already in use.

- Flinders Chase came into being and non-island were introduced there to ensure their survival and in the hope of economic benefit to the State.

- 1908 a light rail was built from the Salt Lake to the shipping point at Muston.

- An underwater telephone cable was laid between Kingscote and Normanville.

- Extensive barley production and good prices gave a firm base to agriculture

- 1928 saw a new telegraph cable laid between Cape Jervis and Cuttlefish Bay with more on-island land lines.

Charcoal burning became a viable source of income to power the Salt Lake steam train. Much later, charcoal was sent to Holden's to be put into gas masks and used to produce gas for engines during the war.

There was a very hard push by locals to get the Government of the day to put in a railway from Kingscote to Rocky River.... to no avail. Although the effort was great, it was hard to prove that production on the Western end of the Island warranted it. Instead jetties were built around the coast for ships to collect and deliver goods. The one built at Vivonne Bay was supposed to take the place of the railway but was little used.

There may not have been great production on the Western part of the Island then, but things were about to change. For years farmers had struggled to grow crops and pasture on the Island, particularly the ironstone country on the Parndana plateau and further West. Land would produce in the first year of planting, but in the second would not set viable seed so the third year was disastrous. 1920 began the era of planting subterranean clover on Kangaroo Island. This, along with superphosphate and later copper sulphate and other trace elements showed what the land, especially the lateritic soils of the plateau, could do. Before this, the average stocking rate was a half a sheep to the acre, but with the introduction of super, sub clover and copper this rose quickly to three sheep to the acre. Production is much higher today, of course, as ideas have advanced and other trace elements come into use, but at the time, it was impressive.

The years 1934/35 saw another mild land boom inspired by what had been achieved in the previous 14 years.

The Great Depression had a negative effect on the economy and the people, as in all areas, but for farmers there wasn't a lot of difference. They could put food on the table even if it was mainly mutton, potatoes onions and pumpkin and, of course, wallaby. Some men went to war and others had to take up the slack of keeping industries functioning. The population was 1479 immediately after the war.

In 1947 the Island had secondary schooling made available with an Area School at Kingscote, something we take for granted now, but a big step forward then. Then, as now the Kingscote Council was hard pressed to make ends meet with such a small population, so when the Federal Government put money into a scheme to settle returned soldiers on farms, the Council pressed hard to have Kangaroo Island included in the scheme.

The settlement of War Service men on farms, cleared from 143,000 acres of virgin scrub had an enormous effect on the Island. It brought the population to 2522 at the 1954 Census, a 70% increase from seven years earlier.

Just as the official settlers of 1836 and the agriculturalists of the mid to late 1800s had brought a new social and economic structure to the Island, so did the Soldier Settlers and their families.

Kingscote boomed because that was the supply centre for the new settlement. Parndana came into being, sporting teams flourished. Established farmers had a ready sale for surplus stock and old machinery, the Karratta was replaced by a roll on/roll off ferry. To add to this, the Korean War sent wool prices sky high for a brief period. A school was built at the new town of Parndana which had up to 160 pupils, the largest on the Island.

To the rest of the Island, this was all roses but the 174 Soldier Settler families did it tough. In the earliest days new roads had to be constructed, there was no town, they lived in the camp where conditions were basic. The saving grace was that they were still young enough to find fun in the new life and the children enjoyed the almost communal living. A rough count says that there are descendants of about 80 Soldier Settler families still living on the Island although a lot less than that still farm the land allotted in their families in the 1950s.

The settlers were housed in the camp for an average two years with the men camping out in the scrub during the week. They then moved out to their own land where a house had been erected.

The years 1970 to 1980 were quiet on the Island, but the installation of the under-sea power cable from the mainland in the late 1960s, was a boon to everyone. In 1984 a daily ferry service from Penneshaw to Cape Jervis hailed the beginning of an expanded tourist industry which had mainly been focussed on American River previously. The Arts flourished and still today offer great interest to tourists with festivals and exhibitions proving popular, especially with a food and wine component. New Land Clearing legislation brought changes and restrictions to the way farmers managed their farms. Heritage listing of uncleared land became available.

By 1991, the population was 3,901 and the wool market which had had an artificial floor in it fell apart, with many thousands of bales of wool stock-piled around the country. Farmers and their families turned to tourism to bring extra money into the family. Grapes, aquaculture, honey and cheese-making also provided diversification and have found a permanent place in the economy as a part of the regional food and wine offering to tourists.

In 1996, the Kingscote and Dudley Councils became one, in an effort to offset the problems of a small rate base. They had both been formed in 1888. Initially one council for the Island was formed but after an initial joint meeting or two which were beset by travel and distance problems, they decided two was better than one. My great grandfather used to sail to Pt Morrison, pick up Oswald Thomas and they would continue to Kingscote for the Council meetings. Apparently sixteen miles of sea were less bumpy than 45 miles of un-made roads.

Forestry at the Western end of the Island saw many farms of the Soldier Settlers disappear to blue-gums and pines. Some farmers retired locally and some moved off the Island with the reverse effect that their influx had brought fifty years earlier. Schools, sporting clubs and retailers, all felt the effects and are still feeling them today.

On the positive side, better car ferries and more trips daily are a boon and a big improvement on the twice weekly Seaway service we had up until the 1980s. Tourism has supported this service strongly, but all residents have benefited from multiple daily crossings.

Better than average wool and meat prices in the last five years have helped farmers, although they now farm two or three farms that were farmed by individuals in in the 60's. The population has barely increased in the past 25 years.

We are living in a time of change. With the advent of greater numbers of cruise ships, tourism and supporting industries are increasing, farmers are utilising new technologies and taking advantage of direct selling overseas markets as well as value adding to their products. We are all waiting to see what the next wave will bring. Since change has been so great and so fast world-wide, in the last 25 years, the future, and our culture, may well be influenced by conditions and inventions we have not even dreamed of.

References:

Kangaroo Island 1800 - 1836 J.S. Cumpston
The Third Year Tells the Tale G. M. Bell
Kangaroo Island - This remote Island in the Southern Sea G. M. Bell
Birth of American River C.A. Thomas
Border's Land Kangaroo Island 1802 - 1836 W.J. Ruediger
Salt Gypsum & Charcoal - Industries on Kangaroo Island B. Overton
People, Places and Serious Business D. G. Kely
The Full Story of Flinders Chase Samuel Dixon
The Man Who Would Hunt Whales Dorothy Heinrich
Travels and Adventures in South Australia 1836 - 1838 W.H. Leigh
South Australian Records Prior to 1841 E.A.D. Opie

 Hartley Willson c 2016