“Men of Substance and Deservedly Good Repute”: The Tasmanian Gentry 1856–1875

Australia’s Fertility Transition: A study of 19th-century Tasmania

“…In the 1820s and 1830s, many of the British immigrants obtained large landholdings in Tasmania's fertile Midlands and in the river valleys south of Launceston through free grants or purchase at cheap prices. These landholders became the Tasmanian 'gentry', who used cheap convict labour to develop and maintain their properties (Reynolds 1969; Appendix D: Story 1, this volume). In the early years of the colony, the government granted small landholdings to pardoned convicts and, while many of these were forfeited or sold, several small farms and commercial gardens remained close to the two major cities.…”

“…By the middle of the 19th century, most of the largest rural estates were owned by families who had obtained the land before the 1830s (Reynolds 1969). These families often intermarried, concentrating land in the hands of these large landowners.…”

“…The power and influence of the landed gentry declined markedly from 1875 (Reynolds 1969). Wool ceased to be a dominant commodity and the economic importance of the large landowners declined.…”

“…However, the occupation 'farmer' is difficult to classify, since the term can cover a wide range of circumstances (Van Leeuwen and Maas 2005). In 19th-century Tasmania, there was a group of gentlemen farmers, many of whom owned large properties in the Midlands (Reynolds 1969(Reynolds , 2012Meikle 2011). They called themselves farmers but employed others to manage their landholdings.…”

“…They called themselves farmers but employed others to manage their landholdings. I reclassified farmers to the HISCLASS category 'Higher manager (1)' if the husband or wife was a member of these large landowning families identified in Boyce (2010) and Reynolds (1969Reynolds ( , 2012. I also reclassified other men to this category who identified themselves as 'gentleman farmer' on their children's birth registrations if I could find information supporting their claim-for instance, their marriage was reported in a newspaper and they were named as an 'Esquire' or the 'son of an Esquire'.…”