In the history of Australia, squatting was the act of extrajudicially occupying tracts of Crown land, typically to graze livestock. Though most squatters initially held no legal rights to the land they occupied, the majority were gradually recognised by successive colonial authorities as the legitimate owners of the land due to being among the first (and often only) white settlers in their area. The term squattocracy, a play on aristocracy, was coined to refer to squatters as a social class and the immense sociopolitical power they possessed.[1]
The term squatter derives from its English usage as a term of contempt for a person who had taken up residence at a place without having legal claim. The use of squatter in the early years of British settlement of Australia had a similar connotation, referring primarily to a person who had "squatted" on Aboriginal land for pastoral or other purposes.[citation needed] In its early derogatory context the term was often applied to the illegitimate occupation of land by ticket-of-leave convicts or ex-convicts (emancipists).
From the mid-1820s, however, the occupation of "unoccupied" land without legal title became more widespread, often carried out by those from the upper echelons of colonial society. As wool began to be exported to England and the colonial population increased, the occupation of pastoral land for raising cattle and sheep progressively became a more lucrative enterprise. Squatting had become so widespread by the mid-1830s that Government policy in New South Wales towards the practice shifted from opposition to regulation and control. By that stage, the term squatter was applied to those who occupied land under a lease or license from the Crown, without the negative connotation of earlier times.
El término pronto desarrolló una asociación de clase, lo que sugiere un estatus socioeconómico elevado y una actitud empresarial. En 1840, los ocupantes ilegales eran reconocidos entre los hombres más ricos de la colonia de Nueva Gales del Sur, muchos de ellos de familias inglesas y escocesas de clase media y alta. A medida que las tierras "desocupadas" con frente a agua permanente se volvieron más escasas, la adquisición de terrenos requirió cada vez mayores desembolsos de capital. Una "carrera" se define en Reminiscencias de Australia de Christopher Pemberton Hodgson de 1846 , con sugerencias sobre la vida de los ocupantes ilegales como: "tierra reclamada por los ocupantes ilegales como paseos para ovejas, abierta, tal como la naturaleza los dejó, sin ninguna mejora por parte del ocupante ilegal". [2]
Con el tiempo, el término ocupante ilegal pasó a referirse a una persona de alto prestigio social que pastorea ganado a gran escala (ya sea que la estación estuviera en régimen de arrendamiento o de dominio absoluto ). En Australia, el término todavía se utiliza para describir a los grandes terratenientes, especialmente en zonas rurales con una historia de ocupación pastoril. El término okupacracia , un juego de palabras con "aristocracia", [1] se utilizó de manera burlona ya en 1841. [3]
Cuando la Primera Flota estableció un asentamiento en Sydney Cove en 1788, el gobierno colonial afirmó ser dueño de toda Australia al este del meridiano 135 este , ignorando cualquier reclamo indígena sobre la tierra. La tierra que los europeos habían considerado "desocupada" se describió como tierra de la Corona . A los gobernadores de Nueva Gales del Sur se les dio autoridad para otorgar concesiones de tierras a colonos libres, emancipistas (ex convictos) y suboficiales. Cuando se otorgaban concesiones de tierras, a menudo estaban sujetas a condiciones tales como un alquiler (un chelín por cada 50 acres (200.000 m 2 ) que se pagaría después de cinco años) y el requisito de que el cesionario residiera y cultivara la tierra. De acuerdo con la política del gobierno británico de asentamiento concentrado de tierras para la colonia, los gobernadores de Nueva Gales del Sur tendieron a ser prudentes al otorgar concesiones de tierras. Al final del mandato del gobernador Macquarie en 1821, se habían concedido menos de 1.000 millas cuadradas (2.600 km2) de tierra en la colonia de Nueva Gales del Sur .
During Governor Brisbane's term, however, land grants were more readily made. In addition regulations introduced during Brisbane's term enabled settlers to purchase (with his permission) up to 4,000 acres (16 km2) at 5s an acre (with superior quality land priced at 7s 6d). During Governor Brisbane's four years in office the total amount of land in private hands virtually doubled.[4]
The impetus for squatting activities during this early phase was an expanding market for meat as the population of Sydney increased. The first steps in establishing wool production in New South Wales also created an increased demand for land. Squatting activity was often carried out by emancipist and native-born colonists as they sought to define and consolidate their place within society.[5]
From 1824 there were acts and regulations to limit squatting. The "limits of location", also known as the Nineteen Counties, were defined from 1826; beyond these limits land could not be squatted on or subdivided and sold. This was because of the expense of providing government services (police ...etc.) and difficulty supervising convicts over a wide tract of land. However the nature of the sheep industry which required access to vast grassy plains meant that despite the limitations, squatters often occupied land far beyond the colony's official limits. From 1833 Commissioners of Crown Lands were appointed under the Encroachment Act to manage squatting.
From 1836 legislation was passed to legalise squatting with grazing rights available for ten pounds per year. This fee was for a lease of the land, rather than ownership, which is what the squatters wanted. The 1847 Orders in Council divided land into settled, intermediate and unsettled areas, with pastoral leases of one, eight and 14 years for each category respectively. From here on, squatters were able to purchase parts of their land, as opposed to just leasing it.
It is known that many squatters fought battles with advanced European weapons against the local Indigenous Australian communities in the areas they occupied,[6] though such battles were rarely investigated. These battles/massacres are the subject of the history wars, being the term for an ongoing public discussion on Australia's interpretation of its history. Squatters were only occasionally prosecuted for killing indigenous people. The first conviction of white men for the massacre of Indigenous people followed the Myall Creek massacre in 1838, in which Aboriginal subject status was employed by colonial courts for the rare co-incidence of local, colonial and imperial authorities.
Whilst life was initially tough for the squatters, with their huge landholdings many of them became very wealthy and were often described as the "squattocracy". The descendants of these squatters often still own significant tracts of land in rural Australia, though most of the larger holdings have been broken up, or, in more isolated areas, have been sold to corporate interests.
In April 1844 Governor Gipps made two regulations with the intention of remodelling the squatting system. The first, gazetted on 2 April, permitted squatters to occupy runs on payment of £10 for every 20 square miles (52 km2). The second regulation allowed squatters after 5 years occupancy to purchase 320 acres (130 hectares) of a run and gave purchasers security of tenure over a whole run for another 8 years. 150 squatters gathered in Sydney later in the month of April and protested against Gipps's changes drafting a petition to the Queen and forming the Pastoral Association of New South Wales - the first formalising of the identity of squatters as a political group.
A large squatting demonstration was held in Melbourne in June 1844. The lessees of the Crown lands came into Melbourne on horseback, and marched to the place of the meeting with flags flying, preceded by a Highland piper playing martial airs. At this meeting petitions were adopted to be transmitted to the several branches of the Home and Colonial Legislatures, requesting alterations in the law of Crown lands and a total separation from the Middle District (New South Wales). A new association was formed at this meeting, and designated the Pastoral Society of Australian Felix.[7]
In the 1860s several colonies passed legislation to permit selection.
In the colony of Victoria, the 1860 Land Act allowed free selection of Crown land, including that occupied by pastoral leases.
The process of land selection in Queensland began in 1860 and continued under a series of land acts in subsequent years.[8] Separated from New South Wales in 1859, land was considered the new Queensland colony’s greatest asset and its prosperity as a colony was measured according to the extent of land settlement. Rent from land leases was the colony’s largest revenue earner. The initial political contest was between the squatters who controlled large tracts of land and the new immigrants who wanted small land holdings. The resumption of squatters' land for division into smaller farms (known as closer settlement) was promoted by the Queensland Government to attract immigrants to Queensland. Although Queensland legislation was framed with the aim of a comprehensive land policy, lobbying by both groups led to numerous rule changes about the conditions of occupancy of the land and who had priority. Consequently there were over 50 principal and amending acts covering all land legislation up to 1910.[8]
The squatters' grip on agricultural land in the colony of New South Wales was challenged in the 1860s with the passing of Land Acts that allowed those with limited means to acquire land. With the stated intention of encouraging closer settlement and fairer allocation of land by allowing "free selection before survey", the Land Acts legislation was passed in 1861. The relevant acts were named the Crown Lands Alienation Act and Crown Lands Occupation Act. The application of the legislation was delayed until 1866 in inland areas such as the Riverina where existing squatting leases were still to run their course. In any case severe drought in the Riverina in the late 1860s initially discouraged selection in areas except those close to established townships. Selection activity increased with more favourable seasons in the early 1870s.
Both selectors and squatters used the broad framework of the Land Acts to maximise their advantages in the ensuing scramble for land. There was a general manipulation of the system by squatters, selectors and profiteers alike. The legislation secured access to the squatter's land for the selector, but thereafter effectively left him to fend for himself. Amendments passed in 1875 sought to remedy some of the abuses perpetrated under the original selection legislation.
However discontent was rife and a political shift in the early 1880s saw the setting up of a commission to inquire into the effects of the land legislation. The Morris and Ranken committee of inquiry, which reported in 1883, found that the number of homesteads established was a small percentage of the applications for selections under the Act, especially in areas of low rainfall such as the Riverina and the lower Darling River. The greater number of selections were made by squatters or their agents, or by selectors unable to establish themselves or who sought to gain by re-sale. The Crown Lands Act of 1884, introduced in the wake of the Morris-Ranken inquiry, sought to compromise between the integrity of the large pastoral leaseholds and the political requirements of equality of land availability and closer settlement patterns. The Act divided pastoral runs into Leasehold Areas (held under short-term leases) and Resumed Areas (available for settlement as smaller homestead leases) and allowed for the establishment of local Land Boards.[9]
Prior to 1851, squatters paid a licence fee of £10 per year (regardless of area), with no surety of tenure from one year to the next. After 1851, leases could be acquired for 14 years, with annual rent.[10] The Strangways Land Act in 1869 provided for replacing large pastoral runs with closer-settled more intensive farming.
A significant proportion of squatters opposed the movement for self-determination by workers that gained impetus in the last decades of the 19th century in Australia. The events of the shearers' strike of 1891 and the harsh counter-measures by government and squatters left a bitter legacy that adversely affected class relationships in the ensuing decades.
The squattocracy have historically retained close ties to Britain. Many families retained properties in both Britain and Australia, often retiring to Britain after making their fortune and leaving vast stretches of land to be controlled by hired staff or younger sons.[11]
Prominent Australian families from the squattocracy include:
Literatura: El poder de los ocupantes ilegales, incluida su afinidad con la policía, se menciona en " Waltzing Matilda " de Banjo Paterson , la canción popular más famosa de Australia.
Clara Morison de Catherine Helen Spence explora el poder de Australia para transformar a aquellos con una posición social humilde en Gran Bretaña en la aristocracia de un nuevo mundo. [17]
La novela Bengala de Mary Theresa Vidal de 1860 es una comedia social austenesca que explora la evolución de los modales pseudoaristocráticos que definen la okupacracia. [17]
En Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries , el personaje principal, la Honorable Phyrne Fisher, se resiste a su clase y actúa como contraste con su tía Prudence, quien tipifica el esnobismo ganadero y okupa.
La película Australia trata sobre el fracaso de muchas grandes propiedades ganaderas a mediados del siglo XX, así como los estrechos vínculos históricos de la okupacracia con la aristocracia británica, con quienes frecuentemente se casaban entre sí. La estrella de la película, Nicole Kidman , es pariente de la prominente familia de ocupantes ilegales Kidman, quienes, en el apogeo de su poder, poseían 107.000 millas cuadradas de tierra en Australia Central. [13]
El juego de mesa de estrategia Squatter lleva el nombre del término.
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