Under the Southern Cross We Stand
- Thread starter johnboy
- Start date
@johnboy I have a question regarding New Caledonia. There is an interesting group of geckos on that island called Rhacodactylus which look like the images below:
And their relative Correlophus, commonly known as the crested gecko.
It was discovered by a French zoologist in 1866, but it was presumed to be extinct until its rediscovery in 1994. It has become widely known due to its popularity in the pet trade, being easier to take care of than most other reptiles and living around 20 years.
With New Caledonia under Australasian rule, will Rhacodactylus or Correlophus geckos become as iconic as kangaroos, koalas, kiwis, and other Australasian fauna in TTL? Will they be kept as display animals in museums throughout Europe, North America, and Australasia? Or are they doomed to be wiped out from human development and domestic carnivores?
p.s. This is my favorite timeline on the site at this moment, so much that I have stopped lurking.
Good Day, Leviathan
Last edited:
Thanks very much. I had become a bit exhausted by writing but I will get back to it at my usual pace soon. Been cleaning out my study cupboards lately and ebay'd my old classic AD&D and D&D modules. Gee, they are popular. Plus I moved all my old stories onto Kindle after editing. I sense a block of free time coming very soon.
I don't know about these, however, it's hard to think of anything worse than the old French administration where natives were virtually taken as slaves or confined to reservations. Can't imagine the wildlife received much love either.
No that is as OTL. In regards the NSW border, Bega is in Victoria, for instance, in fact right on the border.
March 1852 - Chinese immigration
14 March 1852, Government House, Melbourne, Victoria
Governor Horatio Wills looked at his pile of papers. There were three items under his consideration, the first of which was his replacement. He had no current thoughts in relation to this but would have to correspond with London in regards to it soon.
His second problem was the Chinese. Already 25,000 Chinese had immigrated to California for “Gold Mountain”. Now, at the height of summer, 224 Chinese had arrived on board the large barque Star of Asia. With ‘the diggings” around Ballarat and Clunes already called “New Gold Mountain” it seemed obvious to all concerned that the gold strikes would only be the start of another wave of Chinese immigration. To Will’s mind the presence of potentially so many Chinese in Melbourne and Victoria was likely to constitute a security risk. Who knew where such people’s loyalty lay. Already there were calls within Victoria and indeed Tasmania’s Parliament to take measures to cease or restrict Chinese immigration. Will’s, however, had his own ideas.
Labourer’s were now needed on Melbourne’s suddenly booming docks and the gold fever gripping the colony was dragging away able bodied men to fulfill such a need. From Amoy came indentured Chinese labourers that had been successful in other areas as an alternative to the slave trade and many ships and crews who had previous experience in such a trade, which was probably appropriate as he was certain many did not come voluntarily. The very Treaty of the First Opium War had allowed the presence of British subjects in virtually all Chinese ports and for that reason London would never agree to an exclusion of Chinese immigrants and in any case Will’s had a need for them to feed into Melbourne’s dock work and foresaw a need to use their market gardening and irrigation skills. No, there was more than one way to skin a cat. Chinese miners were not required, however, Chinese labourers were. Wills was to recommend the placement of an 8 pound poll tax on Chinese immigration for single men only. For families or men with wives this was waived. It was also waived for those that came to fill indentured positions for the Colonial Government. This was to become law on 15th June 1852, initially cutting Chinese immigration drastically before it was to flow again in 1853.
His second priority was to greatly increase the presence of the local militia. With the outbreak in January of a full scale Sepoy revolt in India in addition to a Roaylist rebellion in Burma, the 40th Somerset Regiment would not be coming to the colonies at all, leaving Australia and New Zealand garrisoned by only two thinly spread Regiments, namely the 11th and 99th. This was down from a peak of seven Regiments in the 1840’s. To cover such an enormous area such limited forces were, in his own mind, manifestly inadequate. To that end he had obtained permission for some military stores to be left in Melbourne to allow the formation of full Regiment of Rifles, with half in Melbourne and the remainder in Tasmania, New Zealand and South Australia. There was little point in trying to accommodate such an arrangement with New South Wales and it’s vassal states Queensland and North Australia, as the Governor in Sydney, Richard Plantagenet, was a man that seemingly was vested in only his own interests. Relations between New South Wales and Victoria had plunged to an all-time low, fuelled by escaped convicts, jealousy of the gold strikes in Victoria and silly pettifogging, Plantagenet being insanely jealous of all those he thought likely to usurp his prerogatives. Even his own son had broken with the man and now resided in Melbourne. It was a fundamental differences in philosophies, on one side a penal colony based on slave labour, on the other a developing colony.
Governor Horatio Wills looked at his pile of papers. There were three items under his consideration, the first of which was his replacement. He had no current thoughts in relation to this but would have to correspond with London in regards to it soon.
His second problem was the Chinese. Already 25,000 Chinese had immigrated to California for “Gold Mountain”. Now, at the height of summer, 224 Chinese had arrived on board the large barque Star of Asia. With ‘the diggings” around Ballarat and Clunes already called “New Gold Mountain” it seemed obvious to all concerned that the gold strikes would only be the start of another wave of Chinese immigration. To Will’s mind the presence of potentially so many Chinese in Melbourne and Victoria was likely to constitute a security risk. Who knew where such people’s loyalty lay. Already there were calls within Victoria and indeed Tasmania’s Parliament to take measures to cease or restrict Chinese immigration. Will’s, however, had his own ideas.
Labourer’s were now needed on Melbourne’s suddenly booming docks and the gold fever gripping the colony was dragging away able bodied men to fulfill such a need. From Amoy came indentured Chinese labourers that had been successful in other areas as an alternative to the slave trade and many ships and crews who had previous experience in such a trade, which was probably appropriate as he was certain many did not come voluntarily. The very Treaty of the First Opium War had allowed the presence of British subjects in virtually all Chinese ports and for that reason London would never agree to an exclusion of Chinese immigrants and in any case Will’s had a need for them to feed into Melbourne’s dock work and foresaw a need to use their market gardening and irrigation skills. No, there was more than one way to skin a cat. Chinese miners were not required, however, Chinese labourers were. Wills was to recommend the placement of an 8 pound poll tax on Chinese immigration for single men only. For families or men with wives this was waived. It was also waived for those that came to fill indentured positions for the Colonial Government. This was to become law on 15th June 1852, initially cutting Chinese immigration drastically before it was to flow again in 1853.
His second priority was to greatly increase the presence of the local militia. With the outbreak in January of a full scale Sepoy revolt in India in addition to a Roaylist rebellion in Burma, the 40th Somerset Regiment would not be coming to the colonies at all, leaving Australia and New Zealand garrisoned by only two thinly spread Regiments, namely the 11th and 99th. This was down from a peak of seven Regiments in the 1840’s. To cover such an enormous area such limited forces were, in his own mind, manifestly inadequate. To that end he had obtained permission for some military stores to be left in Melbourne to allow the formation of full Regiment of Rifles, with half in Melbourne and the remainder in Tasmania, New Zealand and South Australia. There was little point in trying to accommodate such an arrangement with New South Wales and it’s vassal states Queensland and North Australia, as the Governor in Sydney, Richard Plantagenet, was a man that seemingly was vested in only his own interests. Relations between New South Wales and Victoria had plunged to an all-time low, fuelled by escaped convicts, jealousy of the gold strikes in Victoria and silly pettifogging, Plantagenet being insanely jealous of all those he thought likely to usurp his prerogatives. Even his own son had broken with the man and now resided in Melbourne. It was a fundamental differences in philosophies, on one side a penal colony based on slave labour, on the other a developing colony.
Are you going to butterfly effect Ned Kelly? Would be a shame if that happened.
Sergeant Kennedy and Constables Fitzpatrick, Lonigan and Scanlan of the Victorian police and civilians Martin Cherry, George Metcalf and John Jones respectfully disagree.
May 1852 - shipyards
22 June 1852, Recherche Bay, Van Diemen’s Land
The 18 gun 405 ton Sloop of War Maweena was something new, a ship that would actually belong to the new Colonial Government rather than the Royal Navy. Her sister ship Tasmania was also nearing completion. The shipbuilding works at Recherche Bay had been a staple of the colony ever since the Macquarie Harbour Penal Station had closed at the end of 1840. It had already produced two brigs and two gunboats, the later using the prized Huon Pine that was harvested for a month a year from Tasmania’s remote West Coast.
The yard, along with another in Hobart, were the only yards in Australasia that were able to quickly produce craft of over 200 tons. Up until now, for most British merchants, the Australian colonies were simply too remote to dispatch vessels of under 150 tons or so. As a result, there was an ever present need for smaller vessels to meet domestic needs for transport and trade between the colonies. Furthermore, smaller vessels were required to meet the needs of the Australasian-based maritime extractive industries, such as sealing and whaling and now mining, the later the first important income generating industries in the colonies. Due to the great distances between the new Australian colonies, boat and shipbuilding was vitally important to the development and sustainability of the colonists.
It was pride that kept Governor Plantagenet from ordering similar ships from the Recherche Bay or Hobart yards as Victoria had done, instead New South Wales, increasingly diverging in both attitudes and priorities from the Southern colonies, was to commence work in March 1852 on a shipyard of its own that was slated to be capable of building ships of over 2,000 tons and with an attached engineering works capable of producing boilers and screws under the new craze, steam.
Even the shipyard itself was a microcosm of diverging attitudes. In New South Wales, the shipyard construction was a project of the Colonial Government using almost entirely convict labour. In Tasmania, the Hobart yard was convict free and owned by the very wealthy Archer family, who used the income to support their grazing activities in the North of the state. The quality of the island's hardwood timber resources, combined with excellent port facilities and access to major shipping routes meant that by 1850, Hobart Town and Recherche Bay were producing double the amount of wooden ships than all other Australasian ports combined.
Archer's shipyard, Hobart
Tasmanian Colonial Flag
The 18 gun 405 ton Sloop of War Maweena was something new, a ship that would actually belong to the new Colonial Government rather than the Royal Navy. Her sister ship Tasmania was also nearing completion. The shipbuilding works at Recherche Bay had been a staple of the colony ever since the Macquarie Harbour Penal Station had closed at the end of 1840. It had already produced two brigs and two gunboats, the later using the prized Huon Pine that was harvested for a month a year from Tasmania’s remote West Coast.
The yard, along with another in Hobart, were the only yards in Australasia that were able to quickly produce craft of over 200 tons. Up until now, for most British merchants, the Australian colonies were simply too remote to dispatch vessels of under 150 tons or so. As a result, there was an ever present need for smaller vessels to meet domestic needs for transport and trade between the colonies. Furthermore, smaller vessels were required to meet the needs of the Australasian-based maritime extractive industries, such as sealing and whaling and now mining, the later the first important income generating industries in the colonies. Due to the great distances between the new Australian colonies, boat and shipbuilding was vitally important to the development and sustainability of the colonists.
It was pride that kept Governor Plantagenet from ordering similar ships from the Recherche Bay or Hobart yards as Victoria had done, instead New South Wales, increasingly diverging in both attitudes and priorities from the Southern colonies, was to commence work in March 1852 on a shipyard of its own that was slated to be capable of building ships of over 2,000 tons and with an attached engineering works capable of producing boilers and screws under the new craze, steam.
Even the shipyard itself was a microcosm of diverging attitudes. In New South Wales, the shipyard construction was a project of the Colonial Government using almost entirely convict labour. In Tasmania, the Hobart yard was convict free and owned by the very wealthy Archer family, who used the income to support their grazing activities in the North of the state. The quality of the island's hardwood timber resources, combined with excellent port facilities and access to major shipping routes meant that by 1850, Hobart Town and Recherche Bay were producing double the amount of wooden ships than all other Australasian ports combined.
Archer's shipyard, Hobart
Tasmanian Colonial Flag
Last edited:
Well OTL about that time Hobart yards produced more than 50 percent of Australia’s domestic ships. In this case it is more as the early Eeat Coast building has moved to Recherche Bay where there are enormous quantities of great shipping timber.
Last edited:
It almost has to for this to be an interesting time line. Same or less would suck.
May 1853 - Ballarat mining
28 May 1853, Ballarat, Colony of Victoria
There were scarcely three such people that were less likely to form a friendship, yet such had occurred in any case. Firstly Peter Lalor, a participant in the failed 1848 rebellion and an Irish Nationalist whose father had been that rare thing, an Irish Catholic MP. Secondly, the hard bitten Scotsman Duncan Gillies, who had left Scotland and his position in an engineering concern to pursue his own future at 17 and was still only 19. Lastly, the ultimate English aristocrat, Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, who had relocated to Victoria after a violent quarrel with his father had resulted in what seemed like a permanent split between the two men.
Together they had done what many others had not been able to, namely form a coherent and stable mining company rather than simply arriving and pegging out a claim as most had done. They had good fortune, of that there was no doubt, pegging out an initial very rich area and expanding from that. To form such a company a major requirement had been provision of capital. Even cut off from his father, Plantagenet had been able to provide that. Secondly, such a company needed to be efficiently run, both in an engineering sense and also in a financial one. Gillies had worked in just such a capacity in Scotland. Lastly, as the operation expanded and Blocks Company became more well established, there was a need to recruit more and more miners and handle the everyday disputes of what was becoming more and more a diverse workforce, as people poured in to "marvelous Melbourne" in response to the Gold Rush, making their way to the diggings. Peter Lalor had proven himself extraordinarily adept at such dealings. One advantage that Blocks had in terms of attracting workers was the removal of the requirement to pay for a Prospecting license, which the company paid rather than the individual miner. Already on the goldfields, there were many men that avoided paying the ruinous 8 Pounds per annum license. Currently enforcement was only lax, which was all to the well as non payment of such carried a term of up to 6 months imprisonment per offense. With the colony due to receive a new Governor in June or July, enforcement may not stay lax for long. Lalor had proven to be fair if controversial hirer, taking even escaped convicts from New South Wales and Chinese miners. The later in particular had stoked much resentment but had proven to be a boon for the company as many were excellent workers, even if he had been required to hire a ten man "security detachment" to protect the company's assets.
Richard Plantagenet had built himself a legacy in rapid time, a most pleasant result he though, as he again looked at a recriminatory letter from his father deriding him for the use of escaped convicts at his company works. He watched as his two fellow directors came into the room. Whilst he himself retained a 52% in interest in the company, whilst Lalor, Gillies and the Melbourne based Swanston family each held 16%.
Peter Lalor snorted. "Are you still looking at that letter from your feckless father Richard?"
"Indeed I am. It's always those disappointments that are caused by family that cause one the most distress I feel. Duncan would say the same, would you not?"
Duncan Gillies snorted " Aye, indeed I would."
Peter Lalor spoke again. "He is acting like a King in New South Wales, taking all steps in London to ensure a steady flow of convict bodies. What happens now that the Ottomans have rejected the Russian demands in Wallachia? Will Britain be drawn into a war? If so, what will then happen. As it is in New South Wales, many of the wool barons face abandoned flocks as greater numbers of convicts run off. This is a campaign we have run from here in Victoria to convince many to abandon their slavery. We are beyond such things here now. Transportation needs to cease, lest we have a slave state like exist in America. We need free settlers, free thinkers, men of substance. In the event of war, those in New South Wales that pull the stings in London will be facing the loss of their power in Westminster and will allow abolitionists to turn their sights on transportation more fully. That is what we must hope for."
Richard Plantagenet smiled a grim smile. "Acting like a King? Yes I suppose he is. He has New South Wales, Queensland, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island and North Australia until his total control after all."
Duncan Gillies chimed in. "You realise he actually could be a King Peter?"
Peter Lalor looked at his Scottish friend. "How?"
"Well Henry VIII's will disinherited the Stuarts to a claim to the English Crown. If that had been followed secession would have been through his other daughter Mary, whose direct descendant is here in front of you through the Brydges family. As his name says he is also descended from Arthur Plantagenet through an illegitimate line."
There were scarcely three such people that were less likely to form a friendship, yet such had occurred in any case. Firstly Peter Lalor, a participant in the failed 1848 rebellion and an Irish Nationalist whose father had been that rare thing, an Irish Catholic MP. Secondly, the hard bitten Scotsman Duncan Gillies, who had left Scotland and his position in an engineering concern to pursue his own future at 17 and was still only 19. Lastly, the ultimate English aristocrat, Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, who had relocated to Victoria after a violent quarrel with his father had resulted in what seemed like a permanent split between the two men.
Together they had done what many others had not been able to, namely form a coherent and stable mining company rather than simply arriving and pegging out a claim as most had done. They had good fortune, of that there was no doubt, pegging out an initial very rich area and expanding from that. To form such a company a major requirement had been provision of capital. Even cut off from his father, Plantagenet had been able to provide that. Secondly, such a company needed to be efficiently run, both in an engineering sense and also in a financial one. Gillies had worked in just such a capacity in Scotland. Lastly, as the operation expanded and Blocks Company became more well established, there was a need to recruit more and more miners and handle the everyday disputes of what was becoming more and more a diverse workforce, as people poured in to "marvelous Melbourne" in response to the Gold Rush, making their way to the diggings. Peter Lalor had proven himself extraordinarily adept at such dealings. One advantage that Blocks had in terms of attracting workers was the removal of the requirement to pay for a Prospecting license, which the company paid rather than the individual miner. Already on the goldfields, there were many men that avoided paying the ruinous 8 Pounds per annum license. Currently enforcement was only lax, which was all to the well as non payment of such carried a term of up to 6 months imprisonment per offense. With the colony due to receive a new Governor in June or July, enforcement may not stay lax for long. Lalor had proven to be fair if controversial hirer, taking even escaped convicts from New South Wales and Chinese miners. The later in particular had stoked much resentment but had proven to be a boon for the company as many were excellent workers, even if he had been required to hire a ten man "security detachment" to protect the company's assets.
Richard Plantagenet had built himself a legacy in rapid time, a most pleasant result he though, as he again looked at a recriminatory letter from his father deriding him for the use of escaped convicts at his company works. He watched as his two fellow directors came into the room. Whilst he himself retained a 52% in interest in the company, whilst Lalor, Gillies and the Melbourne based Swanston family each held 16%.
Peter Lalor snorted. "Are you still looking at that letter from your feckless father Richard?"
"Indeed I am. It's always those disappointments that are caused by family that cause one the most distress I feel. Duncan would say the same, would you not?"
Duncan Gillies snorted " Aye, indeed I would."
Peter Lalor spoke again. "He is acting like a King in New South Wales, taking all steps in London to ensure a steady flow of convict bodies. What happens now that the Ottomans have rejected the Russian demands in Wallachia? Will Britain be drawn into a war? If so, what will then happen. As it is in New South Wales, many of the wool barons face abandoned flocks as greater numbers of convicts run off. This is a campaign we have run from here in Victoria to convince many to abandon their slavery. We are beyond such things here now. Transportation needs to cease, lest we have a slave state like exist in America. We need free settlers, free thinkers, men of substance. In the event of war, those in New South Wales that pull the stings in London will be facing the loss of their power in Westminster and will allow abolitionists to turn their sights on transportation more fully. That is what we must hope for."
Richard Plantagenet smiled a grim smile. "Acting like a King? Yes I suppose he is. He has New South Wales, Queensland, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island and North Australia until his total control after all."
Duncan Gillies chimed in. "You realise he actually could be a King Peter?"
Peter Lalor looked at his Scottish friend. "How?"
"Well Henry VIII's will disinherited the Stuarts to a claim to the English Crown. If that had been followed secession would have been through his other daughter Mary, whose direct descendant is here in front of you through the Brydges family. As his name says he is also descended from Arthur Plantagenet through an illegitimate line."
Last edited:
