its Hew Hebrides land problem

Australia takes a new look at its Hew Hebrides land problem

"Chief President Moses", alias Jimmy Stephens, a barely literate New Hebridean, is leading a strong New Hebrides nationalist movement aimed at restoring to native ownership all European-owned land that has never been developed. Robert Langdon reported on the movement in July PIM (p. 23). Here, another writer gives the background to the ownership of large tracts of Australian Commonwealth land in the New Hebrides, and reports that Australia may hand some of it back. . . .

By Roger Thompson *

Growing unrest among New Hebrideans over land ownership in the last few years (as de scribed by Robert Langdon) has forced the Australian Govern ment to consider doing some thing positive about the thou sands of acres of land to which it has rights in the New Hebrides.

The land is commonly referred to as Commonwealth land, but, it is, in fact, registered in the name of Burns Philp and Company, and the Australian Government has never considered it as its property. The government, however, has control over the disposition of it.

This strange situation dates back to 1889, when the Australasian New

Hebrides Company was formed by a group of prominent Australian Presbyterians, merchants and politi cians who feared that growing French economic interest in the New Hebrides would lead to French an nexation of the group.

To combat this, the new company organised an extensive trade network.

It also bought about 100,000 acres of land from the natives to give British subjects a stake in a territory where French land speculators had already bought up vast areas, as indicated in Langdon’s report.

In 1890-91, nine Australians were settled on part of 10,000 acres that the company had bought on the south coast of Santo. But the murder of one of these in late 1891 caused the settlement scheme to collapse within the next 12 months.

Flourished

With falling copra prices and mis management, the company was heavily in debt by 1893. That year it was reorganised, with Bums Philp directing it and as leading share holder. The company thereupon flourished. Admiral Cyprian Bridge reported in 1895 that it “was con ducting its operations—largely in the steamer-carrying trade—with much energy” and that it had cap tured most of the commerce of the New Hebrides from its French rivals.

Yet, in 1897, the company was dissolved, and its assets were taken over by Burns Philp, who claimed that it was then making a loss.

Between then and the formation

* Mr. Thompson is a PhD student in the Department of Pacific History at the Australian National University. He recently visited the New Hebrides to gather material for a thesis on Aus tralian interests in the New Hebrides to 1922.

of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901, Burns Philp did nothing to develop the land it had acquired from the now defunct ANH Co. But in December of that year Sir James Burns, the BP’s, managing director, wrote to the Department of External Affairs offering to make the land available for settlement.

He said his company would carry bona fide British settlers and their families to the group free of charge in the company’s steamers, and it would make over all former ANH Co. land to the government and hold it in trust for the government in order to promote settlement.

Correspondence of the time makes it clear that Sir James Burns feared that without a substantial increase in British settlement, the trading opera tions of his company would suffer.

The French were making vigorous efforts to increase the number of French settlers, and, as a result, there was a danger that France would annex the islands.

In one of his letters he said: “We must either go further and if possible absorb this group or the chances are we may be driven away”.

The Australian Government, which was strongly opposed to French an nexation of the New Hebrides, reacted favourably to Sir James Burns’ proposals, and a scheme to put Australian settlers on the com pany’s land was initiated in 1902.

It is clear that Burns Philp wanted the government to have a vested interest in promoting settlement, since this would lead to an increase in the company’s trade.

However, an agreement drawn up

between Burns Philp and the Gov ernment on March 12, 1902, does not seem to reflect precisely the wish of Sir James Burns to hand the land over to the government.

The agreement states in part that Burns Philp “will stand possessed of all such lands and properties in trust to lease them to such persons . . . and on such terms as the Minister of External Affairs of the Commonwealth may from time to time approve” and at the expiration of the agreement, or when required by the Minister, it will transfer all its “right, title and interest in and to such lands and properties to such person or persons and in such manner as the said Minister may direct”.

Prospective settlers in 1902 were offered leases of 50 to 500 acres at one shilling per 50 acres per annum, which they could convert into 99year leases if they carried out im provements to their land.

Hundreds of people applied for leases. But all were told of the pre valence of malaria in the New Hebrides and that titles to land could not be guaranteed, and most of them thereupon had second thoughts.

Nevertheless, a small band of prospective settlers left Sydney for the New Hebrides in May, 1902. The noted poet “Banjo” Patterson ac companied them to report on their doings in The Sydney Morning Herald. In February, 1903, 31 men and 20 women and children had settled on land on the south coast of Santo, and a few others were at Hog Harbour, and at Undine Bay on Efate.

Four years later only 13 male residents remained. Difficulty in

procuring labour and an Australian tariff on the importation of maize, which the settlers were relying on until their coconut palms began pro ducing, had ruined the settlement scheme.

No attempt was made to revive it.

The establishment of the Anglo- French Condominium in the New Hebrides in 1906 considerably les sened the possibility that those islands could or would be annexed by France and therefore the development of a British community in the group become less important.

Furthermore, the Commonwealth Attorney-General gave it as his opinion in 1909 that the Australian Government did not own the land mentioned in the 1902 contract with Burns Philp, and therefore the gov ernment felt no obligation to en courage further settlement on it.

In 1920, one of the original settlers at Hog Harbour, A. S.

Thomas, who was secretary of the New Hebrides British Association, complained to the British Resident Commissioner that “during the past five years ... a number of applica tions for lease of settlement areas from would-be settlers have been refused by Messrs. Burns Philp and Co”. When this complaint was re ferred to Burns Philp, the company stated that the settlement scheme had been “suspended some time ago and is not likely to be resumed in the near future”.

Most land untouched

In more recent times, areas of the so called Commonwealth land have again become available for lease to British subjects, and settlers such as Mr. Bob Paul on Tanna and Mr. H.

Harris at Undine Bay, have taken them up. Some of the original leases are also still being worked. How ever, the bulk of the land has either remained untouched since its acquisi tion 80 years ago, or if it ever was developed it has reverted to its natural state.

This, in the face of the growing demand for land among the rapidly increasing New Hebrideans, is ob viously a situation that cannot con tinue indefinitely.

Already, so I understand, one leaseholder at South Santo, who is not now working his land, has agreed to give up his lease in favour of New Hebrideans, and the Austra lian Government is considering this.

It is also reported from Aoba that the Australian Government is look ing into the question of handing back a large area of undeveloped land on the south side of that island to the New Hebrides.