Soldier settlement (Australia)

Following World War I, soldiers who had previously worked on irrigation activities along the Murray River during the years leading up to the war returned to find that their previous jobs were no longer available.

The South Australian government responded as early as 1915 with the first of the acts of parliament designed to both repatriate and compensate returning servicemen, and to meet the political and economic need to 'sponsor' the development of intensively productive agriculture pursuits. Soldiers were informed of the availability of the scheme via the media and in the material provided in both recruitment packages and general information forwarded to men serving overseas.

Settlement schemes during and after the conclusion of World War I saw properties specialising in dairy, grapes, vegetables, grains, and grazing develop along the River in Cobdogla, Waikerie, Berri, Cadell, Chaffey and near Renmark.[18]

Following a number of acts that dealt with Soldier Settlement the South Australian government introduced the Discharged Soldier Settlement Act 1934 which consolidated acts such as the Crown Lands Act 1929 and the Irrigation Act 1930 for the benefit of any discharged soldier who had served in connection with the Great War and had been a member of the British Army or Navy or of the Australian Imperial Force or of any other naval or military force raised in any part of the British Empire for service in that War, or to the widow (who had children) of any such who had died or dies from wounds inflicted, accident occurring, or disease contracted whilst on service.[19] A training farm was established at Pompoota to teach soldiers the skills they would need to be successful as farmers.[20] The training farm was an initiative of Samuel McIntosh who had observed the Village Settlements twenty years earlier in which unemployed city people were provided with land and expected to be able to clear and farm it with no relevant experience in farming.[21]

Settlement schemes after World War II expanded to include the Loxton Irrigation Area, which became the largest such scheme in South Australia, and to another part of the previously developed area of Chaffey. The Returned Services League (RSL) lobbied the state government to open up more land for returned soldiers at Loxton, and returning soldiers were informed of the scheme at the RSL through handout material. Settlement schemes after World War II also led to the establishment of the new towns of Parndana on Kangaroo Island and Padthway in the south east of the state.[22]

However whilst the first world war settlers had achieved only a modicum of success the benefit of that previous experience helped the second world war veterans, particularly in Loxton, to avoid some past mistakes and with the assistance of the Department of Lands, the community worked together in order to survive and prosper. Irrigation schemes that eventually arrived saw the advent of the productive orchard and vineyard concerns that became so important to the overall region as it exists today.[23]

Carting posts at Oban, New South Wales Soldiers Settlement

Batlow Soldier's Settlement Estate - settlers and their families

The State Government of New South introduced the Returned Soldiers Settlement Act, 1916 shortly after the combined Australian and State meeting held in Melbourne earlier that year (see above). Soldiers who had served outside of Australia either as a part of the Australian Imperial Forces or as a part of the British Defence Service and who had been honourably discharged were eligible to apply for Crown Lands. This was land that the Australian Government had acquired under either the Closer Settlement Acts, Murrumbidgee Irrigation Act, or was available as a part of general disposal under the Crown Lands Consolidation Act.[24]

Ex-servicemen were required to apply for such land via completion of appropriate paperwork and if successful a soldier could gain additional financial assistance for the purpose of clearing, fencing, drainage, water supply and other improvement of the land as well as for the erection of buildings and the purchase of stock, seeds, implements, plants and similar material necessary for the occupation and development of the land.

By 1917 the state government saw fit to enact the Returned Soldiers Settlement (Amendment) Act, which broadened the definition of returned soldiers to include those who had not enlisted in Australia and those who had not served overseas, as well as providing for potential further categories of soldiers.

In the period October 1917 – June 1920?, twelve soldier settlement projects were commenced. Projects areas included Bankstown and Seven Hills in the outer metropolitan area[25] and rural Glen Innes, Hillston, and Batlow. Industries commenced included poultry, horticulture, pig, fruit, and market gardening. The pastoral property Dirnaseer was subdivided for soldier-settlement in 1919.

New South Wales also repeated the process following World War II with settlements commencing in areas including Dareton.

The Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act of 1917 established a scheme. Between 1918 and 1934, 11,639 returned servicemen were allocated blocks under this soldier settlement scheme.[4] Most settled in the Mallee (both on dryland and irrigated properties), South Gippsland, the Western District, Central Gippsland near Maffra and Sale and in the Goulburn Valley.[26]

During the 1920s soldier settlers struggled and of those allocated blocks under the scheme, only sixty-one per cent were on blocks in 1934.[4] By 1939 60% had left their blocks.[26] The scheme was criticised by a Victorian Royal Commission in 1925 and a later Australian Government inquiry. The Royal Commission identified four main reasons for the failure of soldier settlers:

• The selection of inexperienced settlers
• Lack of capital
• The size of blocks allocated
• Prices received for agricultural products.[4]

It was also claimed that returned soldiers were allocated blocks of land without having established their ability to manage a farm.[4]

The soldier settler scheme in Red Cliffs, Victoria was very successful.[27]

Numurkah became the headquarters of the Murray Valley Soldier Settlement Area - one of the largest soldier settlements in Australia.[28]

After World War II, the Soldier Settlement Scheme was refined in the light of past failures. Blocks were bigger, were more carefully selected and roads, housing and fences were supplied to prospective settlers.[26]

The Heytesbury Settlement Scheme was one of the last large scale soldier settlement schemes in Victoria.

In Western Australia, the War Service Land Settlement Scheme settled hundreds of soldiers, in the Wheatbelt and south west region.[29] Initially, fully and partially developed farms were bought, improved and subdivided by the government, then sold to returned soldiers. Loans were also offered.[30]

In 1949, the price of land rose sharply, so the government began to develop virgin Crown land in the south of the state.

In 1957 a royal commission was conducted into the scheme.[31]

By 1958, demand for land by ex-servicemen had declined, but the scheme had been so successful that the government was reluctant to end it, so it instead opened it up to all civilians.[32] This continued until 1969, when a wheat glut forced the government to impose quotas on wheat planting.[33]