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2.2.3 Expansion West of the Darling River System
By the early 1860s, parties were prospecting for grazing country west of
the Darling River. Shaw (1987:26) records that a sketch map attributed to
William Conn and dated 21 January 1862 includes many features west of
the Darling River, including Yantara and Cobham Lakes, and states that
Conn was prospecting for grazing country on behalf of a pastoralist
sponsor from the Western District of Victoria, David Read.
In 1863 a Crown Lands District was declared to cover the whole area of
New South Wales west of the Darling River. John Chadwick Woore, the
first Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Albert District, commenced a
major survey of run boundaries in the same year. At the time the area
between Mount Poole and Mount Browne had been taken up in the name
of Henry Hopwood, and further runs had been established upon Yantara
Lake, Cobham Lake, and Salt Lake (Shaw, 1987:34). Hopwood was the
owner of a punt, bridge and hotel on the Murray River at Echuca, and was
well placed to benefit from expansion west of the Darling River (Morris,
1952:11). According to Shaw (1987:37), Hopwood 'passed' a run owned by
him at Mount Poole to Matthew Lang, a wine merchant and the Lord Mayor
of Melbourne. She does not supply a date for either the acquisition by
Hopwood or the transfer.
A map held by the Mitchell Library and attributed to Woore shows the
location of many more runs. Unfortunately part of this map, showing runs in
the north-eastern part of the district, is missing. W.E.P. Giles (Ernest
Giles -later to earn fame as an explorer in Central Australia) is shown on
Woore's map as the holder of two blocks north of Yantara Lake, and
according to Cannon (1983:134) Edward Henty, shown as holding a run at
Salt Lake, was also a major land-holder in Victoria. The plan of runs in
1870 which forms Map 3 is based upon the parts of Woore's map which
survive.
In 1865 the Squatting Directory of New South Wales listed thirty-two Runs
in the Albert District. By 1871 the list had grown to one hundred and ten,
but comparison to 1865 is not completely valid. This is because the
Directory lists Holdings rather than Runs. Heathcote (1965:204-205)
defines the former as 'an amalgamation of runs held under the same
ownership', and the latter as 'the demarcated area for which a Depasturing
License was granted'. When Holdings rather than Runs are considered,
the number falls to twenty-one. However even this figure is not entirely
satisfactory, as some holdings were probably inter-related. For example,
1871 holdings in the names of "C. Manton", "Manton and Harnett", and
"George S. Marryat and Harnett" are very likely related, reducing the
number of independent land holders to eighteen. Regardless of the exact
number of Holdings it is clear some consolidation took place between 1865
and 1871. A factor in this consolidation may have been drought. which
Heathcote (1965: 103) indicates caused many of the more speculative
pastoral runs to be abandoned between 1865 and 1868.