Part One

Editors Note - parts of the original article are undecipherable.

As most grants of land in Tasmania were issued by Governor Philip Gidley King at Sydney, on the ...th August, ... During that year he issued four grants ... of one hundred acres each ... situate at Glenorchy, and the grantees were Edward Miller, Leo ...., Matthew Bowden, and Lieutenant James Michael Johnson.

An attempt was made at first to give each grant a name ... ... grant was named Kensington Farm and this name has lived to the present day. It was known as a road district at Glenorchy, and is now the ...

The quit rent which each grantee rendered himself liable for on these four grants, was hall a crown per year, and this was not payable until after five years from the date of the grant. After issuing four grants on August ..., ..., Governor King rested until December 18, 1805, more than a year. He then issued seven leases of small ..., all at Hobart Town, on the river Derwent. These leases all had a ... of 14 years. The leases were all issued to persons well known to history and are as follows:—1 acre .. roods ... perches to Lieutenant James M. Johnson; ... acres to George Prideaux Harris, the settlement's first surveyor; 10 acres adjoining St. David's Burial Ground to the Rev. Robert Knopwood; a second 2 acres to G. P. Harris aforesaid; ... acres to Matthew Bowden, the surgeon of the settlement ... day; 2 acres to William Hopley, his assistant, and 2 acres to Jane Hobbs. Though these documents are merely leases for 14 years, it appears in all cases that where the leases were enclosed and occupied in a bona-fide manner by the lessee, that they formed good equitable claims for a free grant when it became desirable for the lessee to part with portions of his occupancy.

The code of honour of the Governor-General to those who were given the slightest claim to an area, was very nigh, no repudiation was ever dreamt of, and where occupants had to be disturbed to lay out streets, they were well compensated for their improvements and given usually land in generous measure rather than money.

Every grievance was remedied in these old times with a grant of land; It was the one commodity in which the Government was rich beyond the dreams of avarice. If a settler caught a bushranger, and handed him over to justice, he was usually rewarded with a free grant; in fact, free land and free pardons were the only valuable stock in trade of local Governors in the very early days, and if they made mistakes, I incline to take the view that they were honest ones, popular officials were well treated, but ... l left home and country, and journeyed to a land where they were subject to great risks and hardship, and the remuneration they received in cash was as small that it might fairly be called infinitesimal. Their work ... also very unpleasant, and military officers always considered they had a ... in being detailed for duty as ... in Australia. (To be continued.) 1