Description

Extended Data

Location notes

We do not know the exact location of Ridley's Avon Valley block, but have located it just outside of Northam

Date notes

Though the Avon Valley block was awarded to Ridley in 1830, colonists did not expand inland into this region until 1831. We do not know the exact date that Ridley began working on this block, but the earliest mention we have is on 18 August 1838, when the Government Gazette reported 'in regard to the Division Line between the Districts of York and Toodyay, to include in the former Mr. Ridley's Farm'. [9]

Biographical information

Ridley was working on land in the Avon Valley by August 1838, taking up land near Northam. In October he was advertising in the newspaper for wheat and for ‘hands’ to ‘clear land, plough, &c’ at the farm. [1] The block officially became part of the York district that year. Jane Lydon explains that 'the York farmers' demands for labour - along with their techniques of discipline such as flogging - were already widespread by the late 1830s.' ... Among the "big York farmers", Ridley was a prime mover in the district’s Agricultural Society, which aimed to disseminate techniques of labour discipline and promoted a variety of labour schemes, seeking variously to put Noongar to work, to import British "Orphan and Destitute’"children, poor German families, or labourers from places as distant as Singapore, China, and Tasmania.' He was Secretary in May, 1833, when it announced a special meeting to discuss ‘the propriety of opening a Correspondence with the Society in London, “For the permanent Support of Orphan and Destitute Children, by means of Apprenticeship in the Colonies.”’ This led to one of the earliest British child migration schemes, conducted by The Society for the Suppression of Juvenile Vagrancy.' [1] Ridley also led the exploitation of timber - in particular jarrah (which did not take off) and the very successful sandalwood - as well as the cultivation of sugar cane, not as a staple product, but to supply the colony with sugar, syrup, molasses, rum, vinegar, and conserves. [1]

Links to slavery

Ridley was Attorney of Vreed en Hoop ('Peace and Hope') plantation, as well as of Turkeyen and Henrietta. Attorneys had a lot of authority within the Caribbean plantation management system - they were responsible for managing the estates of 'absentee' owners (those who owned plantations but lived elsewhere). By 1832 over 80% of the large sugar plantations had absentee owners, which allowed attorneys to amass considerable wealth. [1] Turkeyen and Henrietta was a major sugar plantation. It was purchased by Liverpool merchant and absentee owner John Gladstone in 1828, and by the time of the emancipation there were 415 enslaved people held there. [6, 1] Slavery heritage of Demerara: Demerara is today part of what is known as Guyana. Some of the earliest settlers of Guyana were Arawak, Carib, and possibly Warao. Although Christopher Columbus sighted the Guyana coast in 1498 and Spain claimed the area, the first Europeans to colonise the land were the Dutch in the late 16th century. In the mid-17th century the Dutch began bringing over enslaved people from West Africa to cultivate sugarcane. From the 1740s, English settlers from Caribbean islands began to move in on the region, first on the island of Wakenaam, then on the coast of Essequibo, followed by Demerara. By 1760, the British were the largest contingent in Demerara. During the Napoleonic wars the British and French in particular fought over the land, but in 1796 the British captured the territories and except for short intervals held 'possession'. In 1831 the British combined Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice to form 'British Guiana'. In 1823 Demerera was the site of one of the greatest uprisings of enslaved people in history: the 1823 Demerara rebellion involved over 10,000 enslaved people and was crucial in the dismantling of Caribbean slave systems. [1]

Attitudes around race

Attitudes around labour

Jane Lydon explains that 'the York farmers' demands for labour - along with their techniques of discipline such as flogging - were already widespread by the late 1830s.' ... Among the ‘big York farmers’, Ridley was a prime mover in the district’s Agricultural Society, which aimed to disseminate techniques of labour discipline and promoted a variety of labour schemes, seeking variously to put Noongar to work, to import British ‘Orphan and Destitute’ children, poor German families, or labourers from places as distant as Singapore, China, and Tasmania.' He was Secretary in May, 1833, when it announced a special meeting to discuss ‘the propriety of opening a Correspondence with the Society in London, “For the permanent Support of Orphan and Destitute Children, by means of Apprenticeship in the Colonies.”’ This led to one of the earliest British child migration schemes, conducted by The Society for the Suppression of Juvenile Vagrancy. [1]

Images

Newspaper notice referring to Ridley's farm between the York and Toodyay Districts: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/639434?searchTerm=ridley

References