Some settlers who sought a separation from New South Wales offered to accept British convicts if the ministry granted inde pendence. In .answer to their memorial a shipload of ticket-of leave men was sent in 1850. In spite of the objection of Sydney, the Moreton bay district was separated from New South Wales by an Order in Council of May 13, 1859, and proclaimed the colony of Queensland. The population was then about 20,000, and the revenue The Constitution, which was based upon the New South Wales Act of 1853, provided for 16 electoral districts, with a representa tion of 26 members. A legislative council was also formed, to which the governor of New South Wales, Sir William Denison, appointed five members, holding office for four years, and Sir George Ferguson Bowen, the first governor of the new colony, eight life members. Robert (afterwards Sir Robert) George Wyndham Herbert was the first premier, and held office until 1866. The white population at the end of 1859 was 25,788, and exports were valued at ,f500,000. In the next six years the popu lation was quadrupled and trade trebled. The first Parliament opened on May 29, 1860. In the same year a board of general education was established and State aid to religion abolished.
Gold mining is the foundation upon which much of the progress of the colony has been built. The Gympie field was discovered in 1867, Charters Towers and the Palmer diggings in 1872, and the celebrated Mount Morgan mine in 1881. In 1900, dredging the northern rivers for gold became an established industry. In 1924, Queensland produced 98,841oz. of gold, more than one seventh of the Australian total.
Political History.—A resolution in favour of payment of members was carried in 1871. In the following year, electoral representation was increased to 42 members, and the first agent general in London, Richard Daintree, was appointed. Railway building began in 1864, and in 1872 the Railways Act Amendment Act authorized the construction of railways by private enterprise, land being offered as compensation for outlay. This act was passed during the administration of A. H. Palmer, the only premier of importance during the period 1866-79.
On Jan. 21, 1879, Mr. (afterwards Sir Thomas) Mcllwraith first became premier. The opposition was led by Mr. (afterwards Sir Samuel) Griffith, and the political history of Queensland from that date to 1893 is, in effect, the political biography of these two remarkable men. In 1881 Mr. R. L. Jack, the government geolo gist, introduced artesian well-boring, which contributed largely to the subsequent prosperity of Queensland. In 1883 in view of
Germany's activities in the Papuan gulf the police magistrate at Thursday island was instructed by Queensland to proceed to Port Moresby and take possession of the unappropriated portion of the island in the name of the Crown. The step needed no justification when it is remembered that Papua lies nearer to Queensland than Tasmania to Victoria. This act was afterwards—to the indigna tion of Australia—repudiated by Lord Derby; and, eventually, under the Berlin Treaty of 1886, England and Germany entered into joint possession of that part of New Guinea lying east of 141 °E. In 1887 the number of seats in the assembly was in creased to 72 and the department of agriculture was established.
The first sugar crop was grown by the Hon. Louis Hope at Cleveland about 1862. From that date, Kanaka labour on the sugar plantations was a burning question in Queensland politics. After the defeat of Sir Thomas Mcllwraith in 1883, on the issues of coloured labour and land-grant railways, Mr. Griffith formed his first administration. The period which followed was marked by labour troubles and financial difficulties. In Dec. 1884, a royal commission reported that many islanders had been deported by "force and fraud." In view of this report, the Griffith Govern ment passed an act prohibiting the importation of Kanakas after 1890. The impending stoppage of Kanaka labour and the low price of sugar almost ruined the planters. In 1890 a financial crisis occurred. A coalition ministry with Griffith as premier and Mc Ilwraith as treasurer was formed, and in 1892 Sir Samuel Griffith announced his conversion to the policy of continuing Kanaka labour on the sugar plantations and also of building land-grant railways. From this year there was no further State legislation on the subject of Kanaka labour; but, in 1904, the Federal Gov ernment prohibited the importation of Kanakas, and by Iqo6 had deported most of those in Australia. Since then the industry has made progress under a system of bounties and excise tariffs. Sir Samuel Griffith, who had been chief justice in Queensland since 1893, afterwards became chief justice of the Federal high court, and played an important part in bringing Queensland within the Federation (see AUSTRALIA).
The history of Queensland continued to be a story of iridus trial disputes and financial distresses. Ultimately Queensland became a stronghold of the Labour party, which was in power from 1915-27. The legislative council and capital punishment were both abolished in 1922. Two important acts were passed in the same year, the Primary Producers Organization Act, which aimed at a united national organization of agriculture, and the Primary Products Pools Act, which created boards to control all markets. In 1927 the strike of the sugar-cane workers raised an issue of importance when it spread to the railway unions, but was defeated by the firmness of the premier, Mr. McCormack.
Queensland Governments have passed various land acts, now in favour of the pastoralist, now in favour of the farmer, but on the whole in favour of the latter. Experiments in such legislation were made easy by the fact that the State held unalienated no less than 643,428sq.m. out of the total area of 668,497 square miles.
According to the census of 1927 69% of Queenslanders were living in the country. Only Tasmania had a larger proportion of her population on the land. The Queensland policy, unique in Australia, of developing a railway system from several maritime centres instead of from one capital city may have helped to bring about this satisfactory result. But it must not be forgotten that Queensland enjoys a uniform rainfall near the coast from Cook town southward, and that she possesses 234,000sq.m. of territory having a rainfall of over 20 inches. (H. D. N.) QUEENSTOWN: see TASMANIA.