History of The Australian Capital Territory - Early Settlement

Early Settlement

When the boundaries for settlement of New South Wales were determined, the Limestone Plains were opened up to settlers. The first land grant in the region was made to Joshua John Moore in 1823, and settlement in the area began in 1824 with the construction of a homestead by his stockmen on what is now the Acton Peninsula. Moore formally purchased the site in 1826 and named the property Canberry, or Canberra, although he never visited it. His 4 km2 (1.5 sq mi) claim covered much of the future North Canberra.

Adjacent to the eastern boundary on Moore's claim was the settlement of Duntroon, occupied by James Ainslie on behalf of Robert Campbell. John Palmer was granted land in the region, which was taken up by his son George in 1826. He established Palmerville near Ginninderra Creek in 1829, and the "Squire" at Gungahlin was completed in 1861. Palmerville in the Ginninderra district was the site of first school in the region, and operated from 1844 to 1848. The first school in the future Canberra opened on the Duntroon Estate, next door to St John's Church in what would become the suburb of Reid in the 20th century. Canberra's first church, St John's, was consecrated and opened for use in 1845.

The Tuggeranong Plains, situated 10 km (6.2 mi) south of the Molonglo River, were first settled in 1827 by Peter Murdoch. The Waniassa Homestead (also known as Tuggeranong Homestead) was established in 1836 by John McQuoid, and the first buildings of the Lanyon estate, owned by John Lanyon and James Wright, were built in 1838. Tharwa was settled in 1834; the homestead in this area was Cuppacumbalong, established by James Wright in 1839. Tharwa is the oldest official settlement in the ACT, having been proclaimed in 1862.

Settlers moved further south into what is now the Namadgi National Park. William Herbert made a claim over part of the Orroral Valley at some point between 1826 and 1836, while during the 1830s Garrett Cotter inhabited what would later be named the Cotter River Valley, in his honour. From the late 1830s, the Boboyan Homestead and station were established. Gudgenby was settled in the early 1840s and the Gudgenby Homestead was erected around this time. By 1848 most of the major valleys of the Namadgi area had been settled.

Convict labour was widely used in the region, and the first bushrangers in the area were runaway convicts. John Tennant, the earliest and best-known bushranger of the region, lived in a hideout on what is now known as Mount Tennant, behind Tharwa. From 1827 he raided the local homesteads, stealing stock, food and possessions until his arrest in 1828; He was later hung in Sydney for his crimes. The lawlessness of the region led to the appointment of the first resident magistrate on 28 November 1837 – Allured Tasker Faunce, who was also known as "Ironman Faunce" since his time as a magistrate at Brisbane Water. The magistrate oversaw legal matters and issued liquor licenses to several establishments, the first being the Elmsall Inn on the Duntroon estate in 1841.

A significant influx of population and economic activity occurred around the 1850s goldrushes, particularly the Kiandra rush of 1859–60. The goldrushes prompted the establishment of communication between Sydney and the region by way of the Cobb & Co coaches, which transported mail and passengers. The first post offices opened in Ginninderra in 1859 and at Lanyon the following year. Bushranger activity continued with the goldrushes: Australian-born bandits Ben Hall and the Clarke brothers were active in the area, targeting mail coaches and gold transportation.

Terence Aubrey Murray was born in Ireland in 1810 and came to Sydney with his father, a retired redcoat army officer, and siblings in 1827. In 1837, he acquired the Yarralumla sheep station, taking up residence in Yarralumla's Georgian-style homestead, which he extended. He was elected unopposed to represent the surrounding Counties of Murray, King and Georgiana in the first partially elective Legislative Council in 1843. With the establishment of responsible government in 1856, Murray became a member of the first Legislative Assembly, representing the electorate of Southern Boroughs – which included nearby Queanbeyan – and in 1859 he was elected to represent Argyle – which included another of his pastoral properties, Winderradeen, in the Collector area, north of Canberra.

The Robertson Land Acts and the Closer Settlement Acts altered the mechanism for granting land tenure and precipitated the break-up of large properties in New South Wales. During the 1860s, in the wake of the new government legislation, small farmers nicknamed "selectors" moved into what would become the ACT, taking up parcels of (usually inferior) land which existed between the estates of the wealthy, established landholders.

During colonial times, prior to the establishment of the ACT, the European communities of Ginninderra, Molonglo and Tuggeranong settled in and farmed the surrounding land, raising sheep in the main but also breeding horses and growing grain. The region was also called the Queanbeyan/Yass district, after the two largest towns in the area. The villages of Ginninderra and Tharwa developed to service the local agrarian communities. In 1882, the first allotments in the village of Hall – named after early pastoralist Henry Hall – were sold. By 1901, it was an established town with a hotel, coachbuilder, blacksmith, butcher, shoemaker, saddler, dairy and two stores.

In 1886, the agronomist William Farrer, established the research farm 'Lambrigg' on the banks of the Murrumbidgee south of present-day Tuggeranong. Farrer experimented with rust and drought-resistant wheat; the varieties he bred were widely used by Australian growers, and he was later credited with establishing Australia as a major producer. Tharwa Bridge, the oldest surviving bridge in the region, was opened in 1895 and was the first crossing over the Murrumbidgee River. By 1911, when the region came under federal control, the population had grown to 1,714 settlers.