North Australia was (1) the name of a briefly proclaimed but never established British colony and (2) a former part of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

of Australia administered as "North Australian".

Colony (1846–1847)

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

of North Australia was briefly authorised by the British government by

letters patent Letters patent (plurale tantum, plural form for singular and plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, President (government title), president or other head of state, generally granti ...

of 17 February 1846 but never established. The colony was to comprise that part of the

Colony of New South Wales The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New ...

that is now the

of Australia and that is now that part of the state of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

lying north of the 26th parallel. The colony was intended as a new

penal colony A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer ...

after the end of

transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

to the existing Australian colonies. Since 1822, when

John Bigge John Thomas Bigge (8 March 1780 – 22 December 1843) was an English judge and royal commissioner. He is mostly known for his inquiry into the British colony of New South Wales published in the early 1820s. His reports favoured a return to the ...

recommended the establishment of a convict settlement at Port Curtis (now the location of

Gladstone, Queensland Gladstone () is a coastal city in the Gladstone Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the Gladstone urban area had a population of 45,185 people. It is by road north-west of the state capital, Brisbane, and south-east of Rockhampton, Queensl ...

), the idea had been revived several times. As some difficulty was being experienced in finding work for time-expired convicts in

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania during the European exploration of Australia, European exploration and colonisation of Australia in the 19th century. The Aboriginal Tasmanians, Aboriginal-inhabited island wa ...

(Tasmania), it was decided to try the experiment of sending them to a new area and giving them land and a certain amount of government help.

Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby (29 March 1799 – 23 October 1869), known as Lord Stanley from 1834 to 1851, was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who served three times as Prime ...

and

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...

, successive secretaries of state for the colonies, fathered the project.

Charles Augustus FitzRoy Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy, (10 June 179616 February 1858) was a British Army officer, politician and colonial administrator who held governorships in several British colonies during the 19th century. Family and peerage ...

, the

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the representative of the monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia, Governor-General of Australia at the national level, the governor ...

, was to be the Governor and, in May 1846,

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

George Barney Lieutenant Colonel George Barney (19 May 1792 – 16 April 1862) was a military engineer of the Corps of Royal Engineers and became Lieutenant Governor of the Colony of North Australia. Early life George Barney was born in Wolverhampton, Sta ...

was appointed to be

Lieutenant-Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a " second-in-com ...

and Superintendent. Gladstone selected Barney as a man used to authority and with previous experience in Australia. Barney was dispatched and arrived in Sydney on 15 September 1846 on the ''William Hyde''. He quickly surveyed the coast in a small steamer, decided that Port Curtis was the most suitable place for a settlement and returned to Sydney. However, after a change of government ministries in Britain,

Henry Grey, 3rd Earl Grey Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey (28 December 18029 October 1894), known as Viscount Howick from 1807 until 1845, was an English statesman and cabinet minister in the government of the United Kingdom. Background Grey was the eldest son of Cha ...

succeeded Gladstone, and he promptly vetoed the whole project and the letters patent authorising the colony were revoked in December 1846. Report of the revocation did not reach Australia and Barney until 15 April 1847. On 8 January 1847, Barney, his family, various officials and 87 soldiers and convicts sailed on the chartered barque ''

Lord Auckland Baron Auckland is a title in both the Peerage of Ireland and the Peerage of Great Britain. The first creation came in 1789 when the prominent politician and financial expert William Eden was made Baron Auckland in the Peerage of Ireland. In 1 ...

''. The ship arrived off the southern entrance of Port Curtis and ran aground on shoals off the southern tip of Facing Island. On 30 January 1847, the (already revoked) colony of North Australia was proclaimed at Settlement Point on Facing Island and Barney was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor. The settlers spent seven weeks on Facing Island before being rescued by the supply ship ''Thomas Lowry'' and delivered to the intended site of settlement, the region now known as Barney Point. There was much discomfort from the extreme summer heat. News of the revocation of the colony reached Barney and the party returned to Sydney. The convict settlement lasted barely two months and cost the British government £15,000. The colony's intended role as a convict penal settlement attracted much criticism in the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...

Territory (1927–1931)

North Australia was a short-lived administrative area of the

of Australia.

George Pearce Sir George Foster Pearce KCVO (14 January 1870 – 24 June 1952) was an Australian politician who served as a Senator for Western Australia from 1901 to 1938. He began his career in the Labor Party but later joined the National Labor Party, ...

, Minister for Home and Territories in the federal government in the 1920s, thought that the

of Australia was too large, sparsely populated and disparate to be adequately administered as a whole. So, on 1 February 1927, under the ''Northern Australia Act 1926'' (Cth), administration the Northern Territory was split into two administrative areas, North Australia and

Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Australia. In its narrowest sense it describes a region that is limited to the town of Alice Springs and ...

, respectively above and below latitude 20° S.Baillie, Jill (1990). Struggling to achieve the vision splendid: the North Australia Commission, 1926/ 1930. In Northern Perspective. 13 (2), 23–32. However, on 12 June 1931, administration of the Northern Territory reverted to a single area and administration.

Colony (1846–1847)

Territory (1927–1931)

See also

References

Further reading