A Short History of Australia by Ernest Scott

Wakefield's LETTER FROM SYDNEY--His theory of colonization--The Colonial Office and Wakefield's Principle--Act to establish South Australia-- Colonists at Kangaroo Island--Colonel Light selects site of Adelaide-- Recall of Governor Hindmarsh--Gawler's governorship--Grey appointed Governor--His reforms.

The failure of Thomas Peel's Swan River experiment occurred at a time when much interest was being taken in England in systematic colonization. The Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars had thrown Europe into disorder for a quarter of a century, and parallel with them went the creation of the great change in conditions of manufacture which is known as the industrial revolution. The new system, while it made employers rich, plunged the mass of the working classes into deep poverty. Pauperism was 'breaking down the country,' though the total wealth of England was increasing enormously. Wages were miserably low, food was dear, and there was not sufficient employment to absorb the thousands who saw their old hand-industries rapidly disappearing in consequence of the application of steam-driven machinery to production. Emigration was advocated as a remedy for these painfully manifest ills. England was believed to be over-populated. But she had vast empty possessions oversea. These could be used to relieve the pressure at home. But there was a desire to use them in a systematic, scientific manner. The time was ripe for some one to show how this was to be done.