The Van Diemen’s Land Company
The Company has operated on its original royal charter land grant since 1824.
In 1824 a group of woollen mill owners, wool merchants, bankers and investors met in London to consider establishing a land company in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) similar to the Australian Agricultural Company in New South Wales, to meet the demands of the English Midlands manufacturers for improved strains of fine wool. Up intil that time the United Kingdom had to import wool from Spain and Italy at premium prices, so the opportunity to develop a wool industry of its own in one of its colonies was grasped with both hands by the British Government.
Encouraged by the support of William Sorell, the former Lieutenant-Governor, and Edward Curr, who had recently returned from the colony of New South Wales, the Van Diemen’s Land Company was formed and it applied to Lord Bathurst for a grant of 500,000 acres. James Bischoff (managing director), John Jacob, William Burnie, Brice Pearse, Thomas Sheppard, Jacob Montefiore, George Rougemont were among its directors.
The aims of the Company were ambitious: bringing the land into production, importing purebred livestock, building roads and bridges, wharves and settlements, and encouraging the free settlement of the colony. Bathurst agreed to a grant of 250,000 acres. The Van Diemen’s Land Company received a royal charter in 1825 giving it the right to cultivate land, build roads and bridges, lend money to colonists, execute public works, and build and buy houses, wharves and other buildings. The VDL Company has operated on its original royal charter land grant longer than any other company in the world, gifted by King George IV in 1824. They were granted six parcels of land in the north-west of the colony, eventually amounting to over 350,000 acres.
Edward Curr was appointed the chief agent of the Company in Van Diemen’s Land and led a group of English officials to Van Diemens Land, arriving in Hobart in March 1826 to begin establishing the Company - chief agent Eward Curr, Stephen Adey (superintendent), Alexander Goldie (agriculturalist), Henry Hellyer (surveyor and architect), Joseph Fossey and Clement Lorymer (surveyors). They travelled north and selected land at Circular Head, the Surrey and Hampshire Hills to the south of Burnie, and Woolnorth on Cape Grim. The Company established its base at Highfield House at Circular Headand in 1829 began renting land to tenants.
Above: illustration of the Circular Head settlement, 1832. Circular Head is depicted as being offshore away from the mainland settlement.
Woolnorth (41,000 hectare, est. 1829) and Circular Head were established as farms, with two more farms set up in 'settled districts' as stock depots. Ultimately the holdings of the Company included 100,000 acres at Cape Grim and 26,725 acres on nearby islands; 20,000 acres at Circular Head; 150,000 acres at Surrey Hills and 10,000 acres at the Hampshire Hills, 10,000 acres at Middlesex Plains, plus a 50,000-acre strip along the Emu Bay road.
Much of the company's initial cargo, stock and farm labourers arrived at Circular Head (the site of present-day Stanley), aboard Tranmere in May 1826. Some of the farm labourers struggled to adapt to their new surroundings.They did not recognise that in the Southern Hemisphere the seasons were reversed, hence for many years the costs of farming were only just recovered. By the 1880s the company was making more money from timber felling and timber exports than from farming.
Map of Burnie, 1846
A year later the Emu Bay settlement consisted of a store, small jetty, sawpit and a few huts on the western shores of Emu Bay. A narrow dirt road was cut through dense rainforest to Company settlements in the hills. The Company oversaw 35 convicts in 1827. Company establishments in 1832 consisted of Surrey/Hampshire Hills (population 62 men, 7 women and 10 children) with a store at Emu Bay; Woolnorth (24 men, 11 women and 25 children) and Circular Head (45 men, 11 women and 25 children).
Circular Head was initially developed as the principal establishment. Today's Oakleigh Park is named after a homestead nearby known as 'Oakleigh', built for the Van Diemen's Land Company's Emu Bay overseer in the early 1840s. The homestead was the Van Diemen's Land Company's headquarters from 1875 to the early 1950's and the centre of early port activity when Burnie became the headquarters for the road and rail system at the port. It was demolished in 1962.
In 1829, settlers began to arrive in small numbers, but much of the selected land was found to be barren. The attempt by the company to raise merino sheep on the isolated, cold and wet hinterland of Tasmania's north-west was generally a disaster; thousands of sheep died from starvation, the cold or were killed by Aboriginal people or Tasmanian tigers. The records of the Company describe mistreatment of indentured servants. The Van Diemen's Land Company also introduced bounties on the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) from as early as 1830, which was a partial cause of their extinction.
The development of the Company and clearing of the land saw the displacement and murder of many Tasmanian Aboriginals. Before the company's operations began, the directors knew its activities would deprive the Aboriginal tribes of their lands and concluded that they would have to make way for "civilisation", but did make clear that the Company desired it be done peacefully if possible: "It is impossible to conclude this order without adverting to the situation of the Aborigines who are known to exist in considerable numbers in the North West part of this island. It is too little to say that they are never to be molested unnecessarily, or injured, but in self defence. The dictates of common humanity will protect them so far, it should always be kept in view that in taking a large tract of country for the necessary purposes of civilisation the original possessors will be deprived in a great degree of their Hunting Grounds, their only support, and thereby acquire a claim to such assistance and consideration as circumstances may enable the Company's servants to confer."
VDL Co. store, Marine Terrace, Burnie
Changes to the 1825 Act in Britain gave the company greater flexibility. Significant steps taken included the development of subsidiaries, such as the Emu Bay and Mount Bischoff Railway Company Ltd (1875, 1882) or the Burnie (Tasmania) Timber and Brick Company Ltd (1908). Flocks and herds were restored to take advantage of the west coast mineral boom.
Curr was on bad terms with the colonial government and the directors in London were dissatisfied with the slow progress of the Company. He was dismissed in 1840. In 1841 James Gibson was appointed as Chief Agent of the Company, at which time the Company’s main income came from the sale of breeding stock. Gibson completed a survey of the Company’s lands and arranged for convict gangs to build roads, schools and churches and oversaw the move towards a focus on income generation through land development.
Gibson sought to convert the Company into a real estate company and in 1851 all its land, stock and plant were advertised for sale, but the attempt failed. Gibson moved his office to Launceston in 1856 and was dismissed three years later. The Company’s fortunes improved after James Norton Smith became general manager in 1869. He moved back to Circular Head and in 1875 established the Company’s headquarters at Burnie. The Company was to be the dominant presence in the town up to the 1950s. Norton Smith established a stud of Hereford cattle at Woolnorth and improved the quality of the Company’s stock.
Mount Bischoff mine
In 1954, Pat Busby, a Tasmanian, became the first non-British Director of the Company. In the mid to late 20th century the VDL Company focused on dairy activities, sheep, beef, prime lamb and tourism at Woolnorth. The VDL and its principle asset, Woolnorth, became part of Tasman Agriculture Limited in 1993. New Plymouth District Council (through Taranaki Investment Management Limited) in New Zealand, was primary shareholder. In 2016 the company was purchased by Moon Lake Investments for A$280 million.
As at 2019, the VDL Company retains some of the original land grant and is widely believed to be the last Australian chartered company still operating. 'Van Dairy' is Australia's biggest milk producer. It is an 18,000 cow dairy operation, with over 30,000 dairy livestock in total, that produces thousands of tonnes of milk solids every year and employs about 140 people across 23 milking sheds. Henry Hellyer: In His Footsteps > Mining and the VDL Co.> The Indentured Servants of the VDL Co.> Mt Bischoff mine today James Bischoff (1776–1845) was Chairman and Managing Director of the Van Diemen's Land Company, and author of works on the wool trade and Van Diemen's Land.
Bischoff was of a German family which settled in Leeds in 1718. He was born in Leeds about 1776, and was brought up there. His early mercantile pursuits were connected with the wool and woollen trades, and he took a lively interest in all measures likely to affect, them. Being convinced that the restrictive laws relating to wool were bad, he used his utmost endeavours to bring about a change. He published some letters on the subject in 1816 in the Leeds Mercury and the Farmers Journal. In 1819 he was appointed one of the deputies from the manufacturing districts to promote a repeal of the Wool Act, and wrote a pamphlet entitled Reasons for the Immediate Repeal of the Tax on Foreign Wool.
In the following year he published 'Observations on the Report of the Earl of Sheffield to the Meeting at Lewes Wool Fair, July 20, 1820'. In 1825 William Huskisson, then President of the Board of Trade, invited the advice of Bischoff with regard to some proposed alterations in commercial policy, particularly a reduction of the duty on foreign manufactured goods. Bischoff gave his opinion strongly in favour of freedom of trade, and the reasons he advanced had great weight with the minister in the proposal which he subsequently made in parliament. In 1832 he issued a Sketch of the history of Van Diemen's Land, illustrated by a map of the island, and an account of the Van Diemen's Land Company, octavo, the map is by John Arrowsmith.
Bischoff, who married in 1802 Peggy, daughter of David Stansfeld of Leeds, carried on business as a merchant and insurance broker for many years in London. He became Chairman of the Van Diemen's Land Company in 1828 and Managing Director from 1832 until 1833. Bischoff died at his home, Highbury Terrace, on 8 February 1845 aged 69.
Mount Bischoff, in the north-west of Tasmania, was named by Henry Hellyer after James Bischoff.
Oakleigh Park, close to Burnie's business centre is where the Van Diemen's Land Company's chief surveyor, Henry Hellyer camped in 1827 when searching for a suitable site for a port. With Curr's later agreement, Hellyer selected Emu Bay, which Oakleigh Park overlooks, for the port to service the company's tracts of land at Hampshire and Surrey Hills fifty kilometres inland around St Valentine's Peak. Hence, part of Oakleigh Park's cultural significance is historical.
The Order concluded with a paragraph that reflected Curr's own interpretation of Company Policy, as well as his innate distrust of people generally, irrespective of their origins: "... At the same time the well known character of the people must be kept in view and treachery must be guarded against. No person must suffer himself to be surprised by them at a disadvantage or without arms or to be seduced by any appearance of friendliness to trust himself in their power; the surest way to prevent bloodshed is to be always prepared to repel and punish aggression."
Curr seems to have been the wrong man to have been entrusted with the task of negotiating a relationship with the Aborigines, particularly the model favoured by the directors in London who had encouraged the close integration of the native population with the company's commercial activities as much as possible. He ignored the Company's directive, and instead gave strict instructions that settlers should have no dealings or communication with the natives whatsoever.
On the 15 August 1828, the Hobart press reported that: "...Persons in the service of the V.D.Land Company, who have arrived in town from Circular head last week, inform us, that the black natives in that quarter are extremely quiet and do not possess the spirit of revenge so predominant in other parts of the Island; much to the praise of Mr. Curr, orders had been given that they were not to be troubled in any way whatever, unless guilty of dishonest or improper conduct, (to the former they are much addicted,) and on mo account, to kill any of them.'
Curr talked down the growing escalation of conflict, and kept Gov. Arthur in the dark about what was happening. That everything was harmoneous and peaceful between the white settlers and natives was the impression Curr always put across, perhaps to stay onside with his employers and keep the Colonial government from prying into his and the Company's affairs. Rosalie Hare, the wife of the Captain of the Caroline, stayed at Circular Head as Curr's house guest, and was not blind to what was happening. She wrote in her diary: "We have to lament that our own countrymen consider the massacre of these people an honour. While we remained at Circular Head there were several accounts of considerable numbers of natives having been shot by them (the Company men), they wishing to extirpate them entirely, if possible."
He made no attempt to quell the escalation of violence and conflict or to bring into line those under his authority who acted contrary to the Company's stated policy. After one early altercation between company shepherds and some local Aboriginals, Curr concluded his report on the incident by saying "... we can only hope to prevent our people from being murdered by obtaining and preserving the mastery over them".
Currr eventually replied to his director's pleas to establish friendly relations with the Aborigines, and in doing so, he made it abundantly clear that he did not believe that peaceful co-habitation with the indigenous population was possible and attempts to bring harmony would be futile: "I observe the very great importance which the Court attaches to the hostilities which have taken place between Company Stockmen in common with others in the Island and the Natives ... It is to be lamented that discord should ever have arisen between the Colonists and the aborigines and I will not say that if the first acquaintance were yet to be formed it might not be possible so to act as to maintain peaceable terms with them. But we found all the mischief done, discord has already gone to that length that there was no safety for a Whlte man but in the destruction of his Black opponent." By the time Curr was replaced in 1840, two white men and at least 36 Aborigines had been killed and the Aborginal presence in the region was no more.
While the settlers clamoured to have the benefits of free convict labour, the Company was (by deduction of rent for hiring them) theoretically paid for taking them. Moreover, arrangements were made for agricultural workers sentenced in England for protest activities to be assigned as Company convicts. When convicts were no longer assigned, the Company still pressed for special consideration. As regards numbers, these ranged from 35 convicts in 1827 to a peak of 117 in 1835. Although Company convicts had a good reputation, incidents such as the escape of six convicts in a sealing vessel in 1828 or the 1835 plan to capture Circular Head and seize the Company schooner Edward are worthy of note.
Van Diemen's Land Company store, Stanley
This resulted in the towns of Stanley at Circular Head and Burnie at Emu Bay being surveyed. Surveyor Nathaniel Kentish laid out the settlement on Emu Bay in 1843, and was re-named Burnie. Surveyor James Sprent laid out the Circular Head settlement at the same time. It was renamed Stanley after Lord Stanley, the British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in the 1830s and 1840s, who later had three terms of office as British Prime Minister. Stanley officially became a town in 1842 and by 1843 more than 8,000 acres had been sold or leased to almost 70 people.
The discovery of rich tin deposits at Mount Bischoff in 1871 led Smith to construct a tramway from Waratah to Emu Bay, which was replaced by a railway in 1884. The Emu Bay and Mt Bischoff Railway Company was a subsidiary of the Van Diemen’s Land Company until 1897. Norton Smith retired in 1903 and was succeeded by Andrew McGaw, who held the post until 1947. By that time, the Company ownedabout 91,000 acres at Circular Head, the Hampshire Hills, Woolnorth and Burnie. It continued to breed cattle and sheep. By 1970 its holdings were limited to about 50,000 acres at Woolnorth.
Related Links
Edward M. Curr and the Tide of History >
James Bischoff