European farming established on North Creek

European farming is established on North Creek

From the early 1860s new land legislation known as the Robertson Land Acts spurred a further wave of European migration to the Richmond River. This legislation aimed to encourage and resulted in ‘closer settlement’. Migration to the district in this decade was dominated by farming families, as this legislation enabled any colonist to select, or obtain, land providing it was occupied and improved – or farmed. In this decade, land situated along North Creek was among the first parcels of land farmed at Ballina. Selectors could claim grants of land of between 40 to 320 acres.19

The earliest farming activity to establish here included mixed-cropping, sugar cane production, cattle grazing and dairying. In contrast to the activities of the cedar-cutters, farming radically altered the environment, as land was systematically cleared of its natural vegetation to create ‘openings’ to grow crops and raise livestock. At this time the land was cleared by an axe, brush hooks and fire. After bringing down large trees and small shrubs with the axe and brush hook the vegetation was left to dry before they were burnt to expose the soil. In contrast, the cedar cutters had removed select trees and made their homes in existing clearances, or exposed only small plots to build their huts and keep a few livestock for their own consumption.

The first settler-farmers that located along or near to North Creek typically grew corn, or maize as it was historically referred. Sugar cane, which at this time was an experimental crop, was also grown. To grow these crops in the late nineteenth century the cleared land was first worked or ploughed by bullock or horse drawn implements. Other food stuffs grown to supplement cane and maize included fruits and vegetables – typically this included melons, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, beans, among others. Hand implements were used to work the ground – such as the hoe and adze. The ‘pioneering’ and experimental spirit of this era also saw some farmers trial other crops such as arrowroot.20

John Sharpe (Jnr) was among the first cohort of farmers to settle and farm land on North Creek. Arriving in 1864 from the south coast of NSW he selected land at Prospect, in partnership with two of his brothers. He was also part of the group of farmers who experimented with the cultivation, and processing, of cane on land along the creek. On his property, Sharpe also constructed a small sugar mill to process his and others’ cane. By the end of the decade the Sharpe brothers were joined by a number of other farming families, who settled along the creek and many of these settlers farmed sugar cane.

A record from 1871 give some sense of the extent of cane farming established along the creek in the first decade of closer settlement. Sharpe had 10.5 acres; James Ainsworth had 4 acres and about to build a mill; Charles Brown had 4 acres; John Skennar had 3.5 acres (and a mill) and Charles Coleman had 3 acres. The year previous a vehicular ferry was installed across North Creek, along the North Creek road, to assist in transporting goods and people to and from the farms and families that established and lived along North Creek.21

19 Baker, D. W. A. ‘The Origin of Robertson’s Land Acts’, Historical Studies Australian and New Zealand, Select Articles, Melbourne University Press (1964). 20 Mullens, M., (ed). Town & Country Journal on the Richmond, Lismore, Richmond River Historical Society, 2001. 21 Mullens, 24.

Photograph taken by professional photographer Joseph Check, c.1895 of men quarrying columns of basalt rock at Shaws Bay to build the breakwall. Image courtesy of Richmond River Historical Society.