Creator Published by Smith Elder & Co.

Date 1840

'Australind is located 11 km north of Bunbury and 163 km south of Perth and is part of one of the fastest growing areas in Western Australia. Although now effectively a suburb of the ever-expanding Bunbury (although it is actually in the Shire of Harvey), Australind was the site of an unusual and ambitious land scheme during the 1840s. In 1840-41, only a little over a decade after the establishment of the Swan River colony, the newly formed Western Australian Land Company purchased land in the area and surveyed a town site which they named as a kind of bizarre combination of Australia and India. There was already a horse breeding station in the area and it was hoped that the horse trade would be the beginning of a continuing trade relationship between Australind and India. The first settlers arrived in 1841 and by the following year over 440 immigrants had settled in the area Marshall Walter Clifton was appointed Chief Commissioner. The plan was to divide a huge land grant of over 40 000 ha into small farming lots of 40 ha and establish an English style village in the centre of this project. The philosophy behind the plan was similar to that of Edward Gibbon Wakefield who had developed the notion of settlements for ordinary citizens to ease the burden of poverty which characterised so much of English society at this time. In the case of Western Australia the settlement had the added bonus of providing the infant colony with a much needed labour force. The settlement was short-lived and had been abandoned by 1843. The problems (they are the problems of the whole of the west coast) were a combination of poor sandy soils, no water in summer and too much rain in winter.' (From NLA catologue description)

Source: National Library of Australia