The Enlightenment Made Us

Transcription

1 blacksmih s forge; a hird, dragging along a load of sones or provisions; here an officer piching his marquee, wih a deachmen of roops parading on one side of him, and a cook s fire b p on he oher.1 The following day, he Firs Flee s chaplain, he Rev. Richard Johnson, ried o organise a church service, bu his appeals o he labouring heahens were ignored. They had o do. The wilderness would no willingly be appropriaed; a colony, founded on hihero unbroken soil, would no build iself. From he beginning, Ausralia was a place where men work heir own salvaion. The firs full Chrisian service on Ausralian soil was held under a ree on 3 February, eigh days afer he landing in Sydney Cove. Holy Communion was no celebra noher wo weeks.2 In November, Rev. Johnson wroe home ha he had no grea opinion of, nor expecaion of he colony or is selers. No Church is ye begun of, and I am afraid sc hough of. Oher hings seem o be of greaer Noice and Concern and mos would raher see a Tavern, a Play House, a Brohel anyhing sooner han a place for public worship.3 The cha n accomplished farmer, warns ha Ausralia spiriually as well as emporally was a land of sony soil. Of he convics, he wries: They neiher see nor will be persuaded o seek he L ercy and compassion of God. They prefer heir lus before heir souls, yea, mos of hem will sell heir souls for a glass of grog, so blind, so foolish, so hardened are hey.4 The consrucio hurch was so low on he lis of civic prioriies ha Johnson was sill waiing five years laer. He buil a emporary church a his own expense. The bill was no insubsanial: 67. He s eimbursemen from he Briish governmen in a leer o Secreary of Sae Henry Dundas: Public works of differen kinds have been, and sill coninue o be, so urgen ha no place of an as ye been ereced for he purpose of performing divine service here has been oo general and repeaed neglec shown o public worship.5 Finally, he expressed his arden desire o oloniss o aend more willingly, and consequenly more regularly, upon he solemn and public worship of God. The money was no immediaely forhcoming. On one level, he godle f he convics is easily explained; he indifference of hardened marines owards he diviniy is also unsurprising. The aiude of Capain Arhur Phillip and his successors, however, he l nd archiecs of he colony, demands a deeper explanaion. I lies in he philosophy of he Scoish Enlighenmen and man s alered relaionship wih God. The Pilgrim Fahers seled nied Saes in 1620 in a very differen culural climae. The supersiious world in he early seveneenh cenury science was a case of hi and miss. As Francis Bacon began piecing ogeh cienific mehod, wiches were being burned a he sake. In Ialy, Galileo Galilei was under virual house arres afer being ordered by he Roman Inquisiion o renounce his Cope pinions. The science was seled, hey old him: he Sun revolved around he Earh and no he oher way round. People lived in fear of God on whom hey depended for benev onsequenly, he clergy were he culural elie; hey inerceded for he Almighy, he source of all wisdom, and herefore, claimed o possess superior insigh o ha of he common ma ilgrim s urbulen 66-day journey across a sea of roubles rendered he pilgrims sick and exhaused. The ar of navigaion had improved only slowly. John Davis reaise, The Seaman s S ublished in 1594, is a guide o he echnology available a he ime. I liss hree essenial insrumens for he mariner: chars; he magneic compass, which had been around since h ynasy; and he cross-saff, which daes back o 400 BC. The asrolabe, according o Davis, was oo unreliable for use a sea. The pilgrims had no means of deermining longiude, and gues as heir bes guide o progress. I is undersandable, herefore, ha when land appeared on he horizon, i mus have appeared o hem like a blessing from God. Upon landing a Cap assachuses, William Bradford ells us, They fell upon heir knees and blessed he God of heaven, who had brough hem over he vas and furious ocean, and delivered hem from erils and miseries hereof. Ye here was a sense of despair and helplessness as hey faced wha Bradford described as a hideous and desolae wilderness, full and beass and wild men. Br escribes heir predicamen: Wha now could susain hem bu he spiri of God and his grace? 6 Their ribulaions were only jus beginning. By March 1621, four cold monhs afer land lymouh, more han half of he pilgrims had died from disease. They had arrived oo lae for he growing season, and survival of he few during ha firs harsh winer was a miracle o he soil needed organic maer, nirogen and poash, bu he science ha gave ha knowledge was a leas a cenury away. The firs year in he Purian s uopia was a year in hell a he m od, a place of disease, sarvaion and suffering. Noneheless, in he auumn of 1621, hey held a day of hanksgiving for he Lord s benevolence, an even ha was o become one elebraions of American naionhood. Rober Hughes was misaken: he easern coas of he Unied Saes, no Ausralia, was he real faal shore. Life in he infan colony of NSW, on a f arid soil beween he gloomy cliffs of he Blue Mounains and he empy and unchared sea, 7 was undoubedly ough. This was no a land of abundance i was a land of raw, un ilderness where scraching a living in he early years of selemen could seem impossibly hard. Forune, however, was no in he lap of he gods; i was in he selers power o improve h ih he works of heir hands. In he hisory of colonial selemen, Ausralia and New Zealand sand apar. The rae of economic growh is asounding. The sabiliy of heir dem nsiuions and he vibrancy of heir civic life make hem he sandou success sories of he colonial projec. The radical naionalis hisorians obsession wih brualiy has badly disor usralian sory. Ausralia was no place of condemnaion bu of redempion. I was a place where earhly sufferings were no endured bu overcome. I was a place where man was in con is desiny. The abiliy of applied science o ease he fricion of everyday life was apparen from he momen he Firs Flee se ou from Porsmouh. Capain Phillip headed confidenly o he Souh Alanic on HMS Sirius, a ship equipped wih he laes echnology: a chronomeer and sexan issued by he Board of Longiude ha would allow him o race his progres recision. Recen medical advances helped ameliorae he hrea of scurvy; Capain Phillip persuaded he Admiraly o allocae pey cash o buy fresh supplies along he way. The ask of coninen was sill o come, bu is pioneers survived he eigh-monh journey in relaively good shape; only one of he 212 marines and 24 of he 754 convics died on he journey, a low ae made all he more remarkable by he poor sae of healh of he convics.8 Selemen would be hard, bu he young colony would be able o draw on advances in scienific agriculure, f sudy ha had made rapid progress in eigheenh-cenury Briain. The Firs Flee included men wih a working knowledge of applied agriculural science. Among hem was a Cornish nd freelance housebreaker, James Ruse, who in 1789 was assigned by Governor Phillip an acre and a half of land near Parramaa as an experimen in self-sufficiency. Ruse applied po he form of burn imber reaing eigh or nine rods of land a day. Tench wroe: I was no like he governmen farm, jus scrached over, bu properly done. (More han 150 years before Fri on Hayek wroe The Road o Serfdom, he advanages of free enerprise and he limis of cenral planning were already clear in Ausralia.) He broke down soil clods by adding he only o aer o hand, grass and weeds, which would slowly decompose o release nirogen. Afer harves, he sowed urnip seeds, allowing he ground o lie fallow for a year beween crops, an adap f he four-crop roaion The sysem developed Enlighenmen by Charles Townshend in Briain 50 years earlier. Wihin 18 monhs, his blossoming Made smallholding had Us become an inspiraion for wha mi chieved, no hrough he benevolence of an immense and eernal being, bu hrough collecive ingenuiy and reason, he applicaion of empirical science and is pracical arm, echn longside he narraive of science runs a narraive of redempion a mere hree years afer he Firs Flee s arrival, a criminal senenced o hang in Briain had become he insrumen wn salvaion, demonsraing ha a colony of incarceraion migh become a land of libery. The was mankind s coming of age, he emancipaion of human consciousnes gnorance and error, and Ausralia was is proving ground. In so far as he Europeans were missionaries, hey bore esimony o he power of human reason and endeavour. The explore orged a roue hrough he Midwes of America were on a mission from God. The grea explorers of inland Ausralia, by conras, were men of science. Charles Sur was dispached o so ysery of he inland sea; John McDouall Suar wen in search of pasures and minerals; geologis Paweł Edmund Srzelecki was commissioned o conduc a mineralogical survey of Gipp he ill-faed rip of Rober O Hara Burke and William John Wills was commissioned by he Royal Sociey of Vicoria. In he Unied Saes, i ook a civil war for he values of he Enlighe o prevail; in he colonies of Ausralasia, he Enlighenmen s narraive of ingenuiy and enerprise would be wrien on a blank slae from he sar. Ausralian selemen was driven by he f progress, and i remained he dominan narraive for mos of is seled hisory. Reason, libery, individualism and ingenuiy were i hallmarks. Pragmaism and common sense were is g rogress, as i was undersood in he nineeenh cenury and for mos of he wenieh NICK cenury CATER was a risk-embracing projec of coninual improvemen, driven by an underlying opim ankind s abiliy o be he maser of his desiny. I sands in sark conras o he apprehensive, risk-averse spiri of susainabiliy ha overwhelmed Ausralian inellecual life in he final q f he wenieh cenury. For nineeenh cenury classical liberals, he horizon sreched owards infiniy and he srands of progress scienific, echnological, indusrial, economic and so ere inerdependen, muually reinforcing, and inseparable. Progress, as i was hen undersood, was quie differen from oday s progressiveness in which social progress is he primary fen only goal. For he hinkers of he Enlighenmen, belief in science was unqualified; for progressives, faih in science and indusry is condiional. Their world is finie; meagre res hwar ambiion; and aspiraion mus be conrolled. Aenion shifs from producion o redisribuion, since if one person gains anoher person loses. Social progress alone serves he co neres. Economic and indusrial success are privae accomplishmens, achieved a he expense of ohers. By conras, in classical liberal hinking, individual achievemens conribue o m dvanage. The benefis of innovaion are universal and, in he long run, everybody profis. Humaniy is in his hing ogeher; one small sep for man can become one gian leap for ma he free exchange of goods and ideas are naural disribuors of wealh and knowledge. As William Roberson described i, Indusry, knowledge and humaniy are linked ogeher ndissoluble chain. 9 In my recen book, The Lucky Culure, I characerise he sudden and dramaic paradigm shif in Ausralia in he early 1970s as he abandonmen of he spiri of pr o he spiri of progressivism. If I had a chance o inker wih book oday, I migh speak of he spiri of susainabiliy for ha word, wih is implied limis on growh sands in sark co o he infinie march of progress in which Ausralians once believed. Anybody he wrong side of 50 or perhaps I should say he righ side will remember he confiden sory of scendancy as i was once augh in he classroom. M.D. William s school exbook, Ou of he Mis, published in 1956, celebraed he subjugaion of naure in he onward march of Aus rogress. The sound of he axe in ha very hick wood was bu he forerunner of a mulipliciy of noises he sounds of roaring rains, whirring planes, chugging seamers and purring sounded he rumpe for he sar of a mighy pagean he pagean of civilizaion spreading hrough a land ha had previously been a backwash of he world. We can jusly be proud chievemens of our naion for, alhough Ausralia is young, much has been achieved.10 For he firs 180 years of selemen, Ausralians someimes argued over he pah hey should ak he division of he spoils, bu he spiri of progress born in he Enlighenmen, susained by an uncondiional faih in science, was seldom in dispue. Eleven years before he Firs Fl orsmouh, Adam Smih s The Wealh of Naions had been a publishing sensaion; i sold ou in six monhs. I was he cleares exposiion of he new science of economics. In he period b he voyages of Capain James Cook and he founding of he colony of NSW, Smih ponders wha would happen if a civilised naion was o ake possession of a hinly populaed wilderness. e could only be hinking of Ausralia when he predics ha such a naion would advance more rapidly o wealh and greaness han any oher human sociey. The coloniss carry ou wih knowledge of agriculure and of oher useful ars superior o wha can grow up of is own accord in he course of many cenuries among savage and barbarous naions. They carry ou hem, oo, he habi of subordinaion, some noion of he regular governmen which akes place in heir own counry, of he sysem of laws which suppors i, and of a regular adminisra usice; and hey naurally esablish somehing of he same kind in he new selemen.11 Ausralia was he Enlighenmen s mos audacious experimen an aemp o build a civilisaion crach on a coninen ha had ye o be inroduced o culivaion. Tom Robers The Golden Fleece, pained in 1894, is a record of indusrial progress in a colony barely a cenury ol aalogue a he Ar Gallery of New Souh Wales, where he picure Occasional hangs, describes The Golden Paper Fleece as a 136 conscious and generalised heroisaion of he rural worker and his evoca usralia as a new, Arcadian land of pasoral pleny. I is nohing of he sor. The shearing shed in Robers picure is a highly producive processing plan supplying a globalised exi lohing indusry. I was a collaboraion of ingenuiy on hree coninens. In Briain, Wa had re-engineered he seam engine and Rev. Edmund Carwrigh had paened he firs power he Facory Acs oulawing child labour gave exile mills an incenive o mechanise. By he ime Rober pained The Golden Fleece and ha oher grea shearing image, The Sheering of he he woollen mills of Yorkshire were mass producing worsed by he acre for which here appeared o be limiless demand. To alk of riding on he sheep s back is o sugges we were assengers on he journey o resource-based prosperiy, when in fac we were he drivers. The ingenuiy of George Peppin and oher graziers had creaed he super merino, he developmen nabled Ausralia o corner he marke for mass-produced, qualiy wool. The earlies Souh African merinos were low-yielding sheep; by 1821, he average beas in he Camden Park

2 The Enlighenmen Made Us Nick Caer Occasional Paper

3 Published Ocober 2014 by The Cenre for Independen Sudies Limied PO Box 92, S Leonards, NSW, cis@cis.org.au Websie: Views expressed in he publicaions of The Cenre for Independen Sudies are hose of he auhors and do no necessarily reflec he views of he Cenre s saff, advisers, direcors, or officers. Naional Library of Ausralia Caaloguing-in-Publicaion Daa: 2014 The Cenre for Independen Sudies Design by Ryan Acosa Copy edied by Mangai Pichai Cover images source: deuschemark.umblr.com

4 The Enlighenmen Made Us Nick Caer

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6 The Enlighenmen Made Us Nick Caer The Almighy go off o a disasrous sar in he colony of NSW. The Firs Flee landed a Por Jackson on a Saurday, 26 January There was lile ime for ceremony as he convics and marines se o work. Wakin Tench, he assiduous chronicler of he flee, describes he scene: Business now sa on every brow in one place, a pary cuing down he woods; a second, seing up a blacksmih s forge; a hird, dragging along a load of sones or provisions; here an officer piching his marquee, wih a deachmen of roops parading on one side of him, and a cook s fire blazing up on he oher. 1 The following day, he Firs Flee s chaplain, he Rev. Richard Johnson, ried o organise a church service, bu his appeals o he labouring heahens were ignored. They had work o do. The wilderness would no willingly be appropriaed; a colony, founded on hihero unbroken soil, would no build iself. From he beginning, Ausralia was a place where men worked ou heir own salvaion. The firs full Chrisian service on Ausralian soil was held under a ree on 3 February, eigh days afer he landing in Sydney Cove. Holy Communion was no celebraed for anoher wo weeks. 2 1

7 The Enlighenmen Made Us In November, he Rev. Johnson wroe home ha he had no grea opinion of, nor expecaion of he colony or is selers. No Church is ye begun of, and I am afraid scarcely hough of. Oher hings seem o be of greaer Noice and Concern and mos would raher see a Tavern, a Play House, a Brohel anyhing sooner han a place for public worship. 3 The chaplain, an accomplished farmer, warned ha Ausralia spiriually as well as emporally was a land of sony soil. Of he convics, he wroe: They neiher see nor will be persuaded o seek he Lord of mercy and compassion of God. They prefer heir lus before heir souls, yea, mos of hem will sell heir souls for a glass of grog, so blind, so foolish, so hardened are hey. 4 The consrucion of a church was so low on he lis of civic prioriies ha he Rev. Johnson was sill waiing five years laer. He buil a emporary church a his own expense. The bill was no insubsanial: 67. He sough reimbursemen from he Briish governmen in a leer o Secreary of Sae Henry Dundas: Public works of differen kinds have been, and sill coninue o be, so urgen ha no place of any kind has ye been ereced for he purpose of performing divine service here has been oo general and repeaed neglec shown o public worship. 5 Finally, he expressed his arden desire o see he coloniss o aend more willingly, and consequenly more regularly, upon he solemn and public worship of God. The money was no immediaely forhcoming. 2

8 Nick Caer On one level, he godlessness of he convics is easily explained; he indifference of hardened marines owards he diviniy is also unsurprising. The aiude of Capain Arhur Phillip and his successors, however, he leaders and archiecs of he colony, demands a deeper explanaion. I lies in he philosophy of he Scoish Enlighenmen and man s alered relaionship wih God. The Pilgrim Fahers seled in he Unied Saes in 1620 in a very differen culural climae. The supersiious world in he early seveneenh cenury science was a case of hi and miss. As Francis Bacon began piecing ogeher he scienific mehod, wiches were being burned a he sake. In Ialy, Galileo Galilei was under virual house arres afer being ordered by he Roman Inquisiion o renounce his Copernican opinions. The science was seled, hey old him: he Sun revolved around he Earh and no he oher way round. People lived in fear of God on whom hey depended for benevolence. Consequenly, he clergy were he culural elie; hey inerceded for he Almighy, he source of all wisdom, and herefore, claimed o possess superior insigh o ha of he common man. The Pilgrim s urbulen 66-day journey across a sea of roubles rendered he pilgrims sick and exhaused. The ar of navigaion had improved only slowly. John Davis reaise, The Seaman s Secres, published in 1594, was a guide o he echnology available a he ime. I lised hree essenial insrumens for he mariner: chars; he magneic compass, which had been around since he Han Dynasy; and he cross-saff, which daed back o 400 BC. The asrolabe, according o Davis, was oo unreliable for use a sea. The pilgrims had no means of deermining longiude, and guesswork was heir bes guide o progress. I is undersandable, herefore, ha when land appeared on he horizon, i mus have appeared o hem like a blessing from God. Upon landing a Cape Cod, Massachuses, William Bradford ells us, They fell upon heir knees and blessed he God of heaven, who had brough hem over he vas and furious ocean, and delivered hem from all he perils and miseries hereof. Ye here was a sense of despair and helplessness as hey faced wha Bradford 3

9 The Enlighenmen Made Us describes as a hideous and desolae wilderness, full of beass and wild men. Bradford describes heir predicamen: Wha now could susain hem bu he spiri of God and his grace? 6 Their ribulaions were only jus beginning. By March 1621, four cold monhs afer landing a Plymouh, more han half of he pilgrims had died from disease. They had arrived oo lae for he growing season, and survival of he few during ha firs harsh winer was a miracle of sors. The soil needed organic maer, nirogen and poash, bu he science ha gave ha knowledge was a leas a cenury away. The firs year in he Purian s uopia was a year in hell a he mercy of God, a place of disease, sarvaion and suffering. Noneheless, in he auumn of 1621, hey held a day of hanksgiving for he Lord s benevolence, an even ha was o become one of he wo celebraions of American naionhood. Rober Hughes was misaken: he easern coas of he Unied Saes, no Ausralia, was he real faal shore. Life in he infan colony of NSW, on a srech of arid soil beween he gloomy cliffs of he Blue Mounains and he empy and unchared sea, 7 was undoubedly ough. This was no a land of abundance i was a land of raw, unamed wilderness where scraching a living in he early years of selemen could seem impossibly hard. Forune, however, was no in he lap of he gods: i was in he selers power o improve heir lo wih he works of heir hands. In he hisory of colonial selemen, Ausralia and New Zealand sand apar. Their rae of economic growh is asounding. The sabiliy of heir democraic insiuions and he vibrancy of heir civic life make hem he sandou success sories of he colonial projec. The radical naionalis hisorians obsession wih brualiy has badly disored he Ausralian sory. Ausralia was no a place of condemnaion bu of redempion. I was a place where earhly sufferings were no endured bu overcome. I was a place where man was in conrol of his desiny. The abiliy of applied science o ease he fricion of everyday life was apparen from he momen he Firs Flee se ou from Porsmouh. 4

10 Nick Caer Capain Phillip headed confidenly owards he Souh Alanic on HMS Sirius, a ship equipped wih he laes echnology: a chronomeer and a sexan issued by he Board of Longiude ha would allow him o race his progress wih precision. Recen medical advances helped ameliorae he hrea of scurvy; Capain Phillip persuaded he Admiraly o allocae pey cash o buy fresh supplies along he way. The ask of aming a coninen was sill o come, bu is pioneers survived he eigh-monh journey in relaively good shape; only one of he 212 marines and 24 of he 754 convics died on he journey, a low deah rae made all he more remarkable by he poor sae of healh of he convics. 8 Selemen would be hard, bu he young colony would be able o draw on advances in scienific agriculure, a field of sudy ha had made rapid progress in eigheenh-cenury Briain. The Firs Flee included men wih a working knowledge of applied agriculural science. Among hem was a Cornish farmer and freelance housebreaker, James Ruse, who in 1789 was assigned by Governor Phillip an acre and a half of land near Parramaa as an experimen in self-sufficiency. Ruse applied poash in he form of burn imber reaing eigh or nine rods of land a day. Tench wroe: I was no like he governmen farm, jus scrached over, bu properly done. (More han 150 years before Friedrich von Hayek wroe The Road o Serfdom, he advanages of free enerprise and he limis of cenral planning were already clear in Ausralia.) Ruse broke down soil clods by adding he only organic maer o hand grass and weeds, which would slowly decompose o release nirogen. Afer harves, he sowed urnip seeds, allowing he ground o lie fallow for a year beween crops, an adapaion of he fourcrop roaion sysem developed by Charles Townshend in Briain 50 years earlier. Wihin 18 monhs, his blossoming smallholding had become an inspiraion for wha migh be achieved, no hrough he benevolence of an immense and eernal being, bu hrough collecive ingenuiy and reason, he applicaion of empirical science and is pracical arm, echnology. Alongside he 5

11 The Enlighenmen Made Us narraive of science runs a narraive of redempion a mere hree years afer he Firs Flee s arrival, a criminal senenced o hang in Briain had become he insrumen of his own salvaion, demonsraing ha a colony of incarceraion migh become a land of libery. The Enlighenmen was mankind s coming of age, he emancipaion of human consciousness from ignorance and error, and Ausralia was is proving ground. In so far as he Europeans were missionaries, hey bore esimony o he power of human reason and endeavour. The explorers who forged a roue hrough he Midwes of America were on a mission from God. The grea explorers of inland Ausralia, by conras, were men of science. Charles Sur was dispached o solve he mysery of he inland sea; John McDouall Suar wen in search of pasures and minerals; geologis Paweł Edmund Srzelecki was commissioned o conduc a mineralogical survey of Gippsland and he ill-faed rip of Rober O Hara Burke and William John Wills was commissioned by he Royal Sociey of Vicoria. In he Unied Saes, i ook a civil war for he values of he Enlighenmen o prevail; in he colonies of Ausralasia, he Enlighenmen s narraive of ingenuiy and enerprise would be wrien on a blank slae from he sar. Ausralian selemen was driven by he spiri of progress, and i remained he dominan narraive for mos of is seled hisory. Reason, libery, individualism and ingenuiy were i hallmarks. Pragmaism and common sense were is guides. Progress, as i was undersood in he nineeenh cenury and for mos of he wenieh cenury, was a risk-embracing projec of coninual improvemen, driven by an underlying opimism in man s abiliy o be he maser of his desiny. I sands in sark conras o he apprehensive, risk-averse spiri of susainabiliy ha overwhelmed Ausralian inellecual life in he final quarer of he wenieh cenury. For nineeenh cenury classical liberals, he horizon sreched owards infiniy, and he srands of progress scienific, echnological, indusrial, economic and social were inerdependen, muually reinforcing, and inseparable. Progress, as i was hen undersood, was quie differen from oday s progressiveness in which social progress is he primary and ofen 6

12 Nick Caer only goal. For Enlighenmen hinkers, belief in science was unqualified. For he progressives, faih in science and indusry is condiional. Their world is finie; meagre resources hwar ambiion; and aspiraion mus be conrolled. Aenion shifs from producion o redisribuion, since if one person gains anoher person loses. Social progress alone serves he common ineres. Economic and indusrial success are privae accomplishmens, achieved a he expense of ohers. By conras, in classical liberal hinking, individual achievemens conribue o muual advanage. The benefis of innovaion are universal, and in he long run, everybody profis. Humaniy is in his hing ogeher; one small sep for man can become one gian leap for mankind. The free exchange of goods and ideas are he naural disribuors of wealh and knowledge. As William Roberson described i, Indusry, knowledge and humaniy are linked ogeher by an indissoluble chain. 9 In my recen book, The Lucky Culure, I characerise he sudden and dramaic paradigm shif in Ausralia in he early 1970s as he abandonmen of he spiri of progress o he spiri of progressivism. If I had a chance o inker wih he book oday, I migh speak of he spiri of susainabiliy for ha word, wih is implied limis on growh, sands in sark conras o he infinie march of progress in which Ausralians once believed. Anybody on he wrong side of 50 or perhaps I should say he righ side will remember he confiden sory of man s ascendancy as i was once augh in he classroom. Max D. Williams school exbook, Ou of he Mis, published in 1956, celebraed he subjugaion of naure in he onward march of Ausralian progress. The sound of he axe in ha very hick wood was bu he forerunner of a mulipliciy of noises he sounds of roaring rains, whirring planes, chugging seamers and purring cars I sounded he rumpe for he sar of a mighy pagean he pagean of civilizaion spreading hrough a land ha had previously been a backwash of he world. 7

13 The Enlighenmen Made Us We can jusly be proud of he achievemens of our naion for, alhough Ausralia is young, much has been achieved. 10 For he firs 180 years of selemen, Ausralians someimes argued over he pah hey should ake and he division of he spoils, bu he spiri of progress born in he Enlighenmen, and susained by an uncondiional faih in science, was seldom in dispue. Eleven years before he Firs Flee lef Porsmouh, Adam Smih s The Wealh of Naions had been a publishing sensaion; i sold ou in six monhs. I was he cleares exposiion of he new science of economics. In he period beween he voyages of Capain James Cook and he founding of he colony of NSW, Smih pondered wha would happen if a civilised naion were o ake possession of a hinly populaed wilderness. Surely, he could only be hinking of Ausralia when he prediced ha such a naion would advance more rapidly o wealh and greaness han any oher human sociey. The coloniss carry ou wih hem a knowledge of agriculure and of oher useful ars superior o wha can grow up of is own accord in he course of many cenuries among savage and barbarous naions. They carry ou wih hem, oo, he habi of subordinaion, some noion of he regular governmen which akes place in heir own counry, of he sysem of laws which suppors i, and of a regular adminisraion of jusice; and hey naurally esablish somehing of he same kind in he new selemen. 11 Ausralia was he Enlighenmen s mos audacious experimen an aemp o build a civilisaion from scrach on a coninen ha had ye o be inroduced o culivaion. Tom Robers The Golden Fleece, pained in 1894, is a record of indusrial progress in a colony barely a cenury old. The caalogue a he Ar Gallery of New Souh Wales, where he picure hangs, describes The Golden Fleece as a 8

14 Nick Caer conscious and generalised heroisaion of he rural worker and his evocaion of Ausralia as a new, Arcadian land of pasoral pleny. I is nohing of he sor. The shearing shed in Robers picure is a highly producive processing plan supplying a globalised exile and clohing indusry. I was a collaboraion of ingenuiy on hree coninens. In Briain, James Wa had re-engineered he seam engine and he Rev. Edmund Carwrigh had paened he firs power loom. The Facory Acs oulawing child labour gave exile mills an incenive o mechanise. By he ime Robers pained The Golden Fleece and ha oher grea shearing image, The Shearing he Rams, he woollen mills of Yorkshire were mass producing worsed by he acre, and for which here appeared o be limiless demand. To alk of riding on he sheep s back is o sugges we were merely passengers on he journey o resource-based prosperiy, when in fac we were he drivers. The ingenuiy of George Peppin and oher graziers had creaed he super Merino, he developmen ha enabled Ausralia o corner he marke for mass-produced, qualiy wool. The earlies Souh African Merinos were low-yielding sheep; in 1821, he average beas in he Camden Park flock was producing jus 1.1 kg of coarse washed wool. By he end of he nineeenh cenury, he hardy, rugged impored animal had been urned ino a prolific fibre exrusion machine. A he sar of he 1890s, merinos in he Riverina disric were yielding an average of 4.6 kg of wool so fine i was sold in European markes under he name of he propery ha produced i, akin o he French vin d appellaion. The follicles of a single sheep could produce 100 million fibres a year, harvesed annually by an iineran gang, paid according o he volume of heir oupu. Bullock rains, he B-riple rucks of heir day, ranspored he bales o he coas, where hey were loaded ono square-rigged clippers capable of reaching Grea Briain via he Suez Canal in 72 days, a hird of he ime i had aken he Firs Flee o make he journey. Decades before he arrival of he superphosphae ha ransformed he soil, he Ausralian Merino was enriched by he ingenuiy and persisence of is breeders o become he mainsay of he economy. 9

15 The Enlighenmen Made Us In he 1860s, wool was a 4 million-a-year indusry. In he year The Golden Fleece was pained, wool was earning 21 million for Ausralia, equivalen o 11.6% of GDP. The high cos of labour drove echnological change. Shearing machines were insalled from he lae 1880s, designed and manufacured in Ausralia by Frederick Wolseley. He ook 20 years o develop a flexible drive mechanism using universal joins, and his machine was pu o he es a Euroka Saion near Walge. The Argus repored ha every pracical man on he ground admied he superioriy of he machine over he ordinary shears. 12 Wolseley old a journalis: The shearer also has an advanage of course, because he is able o shear a greaer number of sheep, and, consequenly, o earn a larger cheque han he could by hand; while he labour is no nearly so severe, and he is no called upon o sop work from bad wriss and so on. The Argus called i he deah knell... of an old colonial order. 13 Wolseley s machine was quicker han a hundred-a-day shearer... and any man may learn o work i in a week. Chinamen and rouseabous and blackfellows will all be shearers now... No more ar and no more srikes; no second cus spoiling samples and saples, and eigh ounces more wool from every sheep. 14 Individual enerprise, no governmen or insiuions, was he driver of innovaion. The Sociey of Ars offered a 100 prize o find a way of preserving mea for shipmen o he European marke. Some 200 paens were regisered. Messers Medlock and Vaily claimed ha by dipping mea in heir bisulphae of lime soluion, anyhing of animal origin, from a beefseak o a bullock, from a whiebai o a whale, can be preserved swee for monhs. The Rev. M.J. Berkley delivered a sirring address o he Sociey on fungi, bu somehow he mushroom palliaive failed o impress he commiee as a subsiue for he roas beef of Old England. Professor Gamgee suggesed ha cale should inhale carbonic oxide gas, a a cos of wo o hree shillings an animal, before being slaughered. Dr Hassall proposed producing Flour of Mea by drying muon wih sulphurous acid. The commiee delivered a gloomy repor, and he prize wen unclaimed

16 Nick Caer In 1874, he wool rader Thomas Sucliffe Mor esablished he NSW Fresh Food and Ice Company, and began building a freezing plan using ammonia compression echnology a an abaoir in he Lihgow Valley, linked by rail o he plan already operaing in Darling Harbour in Sydney. The following year, he served lamb slaughered 15 monhs earlier a a dinner for 300 people: Yes, genlemen, I now say ha he ime has arrived a all evens, i is no far disan when he various porions of he earh will each give forh heir producs for he use of each and of all; ha over-abundance in one counry will make up for he deficiency of anoher. Science has drawn aside he veil, and invenion has done he res... Where he food is, he people are no; and where he people are, he food is no. I is, however, as I have jus saed, wihin he power of man o adjus hese hings. 16 In November 1879, he Srahleven sailed from Sydney o London wih 40 onnes of beef and muon, frozen on board using dry air freezing echnology paened by he Bell-Coleman Mechanical Refrigeraion Company. Mea ha cos beween a penny and wopence a pound in Ausralia feched hree imes as much when i reached London s Smihfield Marke. A carcass of lamb was sen o Queen Vicoria and a sheep o he Prince of Wales. Frozen food revoluionised he Briish die. Mea consumpion rose dramaically. In 1885, he average Brion consumed jus 1.6 kg a year. By 1895, mea consumpion had risen o 5.6 kg. By 1910, i had more han doubled o 12.7 kg. The Briish farming indusry, meanwhile, inefficienly run for he benefi of he arisocracy, conraced sharply wih he arrival of efficienly produced produce from he New World. In 1912, James Crichell and Joseph Raymond published a riumphal hisory of frozen mea, recording: 11

17 The Enlighenmen Made Us The indusry... hangs on he slender pison rod of a refrigeraing machine, ye feeds naions wih a regulariy ha defies famine. 17 The sory of his invenive, resourceful, and enerprising spiri of progress has disappeared almos enirely from he elling of our naional sory. Progress has been re-invened as an endless series of moral crusades ha build ino a single narraive of heroic liberaion. Kenneh Minogue compares i o he legend of S George aking dragons o he sword. The sword fell firs on despoic kingships and religious inolerance, hen slavery, prison condiions, and finally he sae of he poor. In he nineeenh cenury, wries Minogue, The sword was never sill, prodding his way and ha agains he scaliness of privilege, vesed ineres or parician ineres. Mainaining his narraive requires ha we ake a dark view of he pas, for o acknowledge virue in our ancesors is o deny he glorious progress ha we mus assume has been made from darkness ino ligh. The elling of one paricular episode in our hisory he Harveser Judgemen is an indicmen of our selecive naional memory. The word harveser has become synonymous wih Jusice Henry Bournes Higgins ruling on working condiions. The Sunshine Harveser iself a echnically advanced, efficien machine o execue he business of broad acre farming is rarely celebraed. The rags-o-riches sory of Hugh Vicor McKay, he enrepreneur behind he Sunshine Harveser, is an inspiring sory. He was he fifh of 12 children, born o Irish immigrans in Vicoria and raised in he Presbyerian radiion of he Free Church of Scoland. His machine sood up well agains compeiion from he American Midwes. A is peak, McKay s Sunshine Harveser Works employed 3,000 people and gave is name o a Melbourne suburb. The firm was he larges manufacuring exporer in he Commonwealh. McKay ook a paernal ineres in his workers, in he manner of he celebraed nineeenh cenury liberal indusrialiss of Grea Briain, fielding cricke eams, forming he Sunshine choir, and building a fine sone church in use o his day. McKay s achievemens as Ausralia s 12

18 Nick Caer mos successful manufacurer are unlikely o be surpassed, bu he is a casualy of a selecive naional memory. I is no surprise ha a pioneering naion should be careless abou is hisory. This is a fuure-oriened sociey ha looks forward o he golden age, no back, and i is all he healhier for ha. Ye i is vial for fuure naional success ha we recover our rue naional sory and place i firmly in he conex of he Enlighenmen. Some may choose o inerpre his call as he reopening of he hisory wars, bu ha is no my inen. However, he so-called black arm band view of hisory mus be challenged o ensure ha as far as our human frailies allow, our elling of hisory fis he facs. The firs obligaion of hisorians, as i is wih journaliss, is o repor he simple, unvarnished ruh. Facs mus be presened in heir proper conex, for oherwise hey are wihou meaning. I agree wih John Hirs ha o ell he Ausralian sory wihou reference o he European sory as he radical naionaliss imply we should is o banish our hisory sudens o he dark ages. As Hirs says, wihou an undersanding of Briish and European hisory, he hisory of Ausralia is uninelligible. 18 How can sudens undersand secular liberalism and radicalism in Ausralia if hey do no undersand he Enlighenmen? How can hey grasp ha Ausralia s luck was no given, bu made? And wih ha eernal ruh planed in he minds of he nex generaion, can we blame hem for assuming ha our luck will simply coninue, ha our fuure prosperiy is assured, and ha he challenge of wealh is no how o earn i bu how o redisribue i. We mus adop an hones, enlighened view of hisory one ha sees Ausralia no as a dumping ground bu as he Enlighenmen s courageous experimen. As debae resumes over he shape of he naional curriculum wih he elecion of a Coaliion governmen, few issues are more vial o planning for our fuure han he correc elling of our pas. 13

19 The Enlighenmen Made Us Endnoes 1 Wakin Tench, A Narraive of he Expediion o Boany Bay, Chaper IX, p Manning Clark, A Hisory of Ausralia, Volume 1 (Melbourne: Melbourne Universiy Press, 1962), The Rev. Richard Johnson, Leer o Henry Fricker, 15 November 1788 (Sae Library of New Souh Wales). 4 Iain Hamish Murray, Ausralian Chrisian Life from 1788 (Edinburgh: Banner of Truh Trus, 1988). 5 The Rev. Richard Johnson, Leer o he Honourable Henry Dundas, 3 Sepember 1793 (Sae Library of New Souh Wales). 6 William Brewser, Hisory of Plymouh Planaion, , Chaper 9. 7 William H. Fiche, The New World of he Souh: Ausralia in he Making (London: Smih, Elder & Co. 1913), Wakin Tench, A Naraive of he Expediion o Boany Bay, Chaper VII. 9 Cied in Arhur Herman, The Scoish Enlighenmen: The Scos Invenion of he Modern World (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001), Max D. Williams, Ou of he Mis: The Sory of Man s Masery of his Physical Environmen and his Inellecual and Spiriual Developmen, fourh ediion (1956). 11 Adam Smih, The Wealh of Naions (firs published 1776), Trial of Wolseley s shearing machine a grea success, The Argus (29 November 1886), The Argus (25 February 1887), As above. 15 James Troubridge Crichell and Joseph Raymond, A Hisory of he Frozen Mea Trade (London: Consable & Company, 1912), As above, As above, John Hirs, Sense and Nonsense in Ausralian Hisory (Melbourne: Black Inc.),

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21 The Cenre for Independen Sudies is a non-profi, public policy research insiue. Is major concern is wih he principles and condiions underlying a free and open sociey. The Cenre s aciviies cover a wide variey of areas dealing broadly wih social, economic and foreign policy. The Cenre mees he need for informed debae on issues of imporance o a free and democraic sociey in which individuals and business flourish, unhindered by governmen inervenion. In encouraging compeiion in ideas, The Cenre for Independen Sudies carries ou an aciviies programme which includes: research holding lecures, seminars and policy forums publishing books and papers issuing a quarerly journal, POLICY For more informaion abou CIS or o become a member, please conac: Ausralia PO Box 92, S Leonards, NSW 1590 Ausralia Council of Academic Advisers Professor James Allan Professor Ray Ball Professor Jeff Benne Professor Geoffrey Brennan Professor Lauchlan Chipman Professor Kenneh Clemens Professor Sinclair Davidson Professor David Emanuel Professor Ian Harper Professor Wolfgang Kasper Professor Chandran Kukahas Professor Tony Makin Professor R. R. Officer Professor Suri Ranapala Professor David Roberson Professor Seven Schwarz Professor Judih Sloan Professor Peer Swan AM Professor Geoffrey de Q. Walker

22 a u a a m c r h c o a U s o C P p D w M p d P T G c o w w i A h p a r o a v m o a A o i f m o P m o w o i a T i a p I a P h a j s c A c T p e Nick Caer examines he Enlighenmen ideals ha helped shape our uniquely Ausralian culure. He argues ha wih a focus on progress and pracicaliy, he grea souhern coninen s primiive landscape would be a laboraory for he Enlighenmen s bold experimen of applied science. Unlike America, wih is pilgrim devoion o giving hanks o God firs and foremos, he pragmaic early coloniss of Ausralia go on wih he job of geing on. The colony s firs scienific insiuion, an observaory, was esablished wihin weeks bu i was five and a half years before he firs wale-and-daub church was compleed. Caer asks wheher ha valuable sense of pragmaism sill exiss in Ausralia or are we in danger of losing i o poliical correcness. Nick Caer is he Execuive Direcor of he Menzies Research Cenre, a columnis for The Ausralian, auhor of The Lucky Culure, and a former CIS Visiing Fellow. CIS Occasional Paper 136 ISBN ISSN The Enlighenmen Made Us