squatter

n.

1) One who squats; that is,settles on land without a title or licence. This is anEnglish use.

1835. T. A. Murray (Evidence before Legislative Council ofNew South Wales on Police and Gaols):

«There are several parties of squatters in my neighbourhood.I detected, not long since, three men at one of their stationsin the act of slaughtering one of my own cattle. I have strongreason to suspect that these people are, in general, illicitsellers of spirits.»

1835. W. H. Dutton (Evidence before same Committee):

«These persons (squatters) are almost invariably theinstigators and promoters of crime, receivers of stolenproperty, illegal vendors of spirits, and harbourers ofrunaways, bushrangers, and vagrants.»

1843. Rev. W. Pridden, `Australia Its History and PresentCondition,' pp. 332-3:

«The squatters, as they are called, are men who occupywith their cattle, or their habitations, those spots on theconfines of a colony or estate which have not yet become anyperson's private property. By the natural increase of theirflocks and herds, many of these squatters have enrichedthemselves; and having been allowed to enjoy the advantages ofas much pasture as they wanted in the bush, without paying anyrent for it to the government, they have removed elsewhere whenthe spot was sold, and have not unfrequently gained enough topurchase that or some other property. Thus . . . the squatterhas been converted into a respectable settler. But this is toobright a picture to form an average specimen. . . .Unfortunately, many of these squatters have been personsoriginally of depraved and lawless habits, and they have madetheir residence at the very outskirts of civilization a meansof carrying on all manner of mischief. Or sometimes theychoose spots of waste land near a high road . . . there thesquatters knock up what is called a `hut.' In such placesstolen goods are easily disposed of, spirits and tobacco areprocured in return.»

Ibid. p. 334:

«The rich proprietors have a great aversion to the class ofsquatters, and not unreasonably, yet they are thus, many ofthem, squatters themselves, only on a much larger scale. . .»

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,'vol. i. c. ix. p. 260:

«This capital of Australia Felix had for a long time beenknown to some squatters from Tasmania.»

1846. T. H. Braim, `History of New South Wales,'vol. i. p. 235:

«A set of men who were to be found upon the borders of everylarge estate, and who were known by the name of squatters.These were ticket-of-leave holders, or freedmen who erected abut on waste land near a great public road, or on the outskirtsof an estate.»

1897. Australian Steam Navigation Company, `Guide Book,'p. 29:

«Nowaday squatters may be interested and possibly shocked onlearning that in March, 1836, a petition was being largelysigned for the prevention of `squatting, through which so muchcrime was daily occurring,' inasmuch as `squatting' was butanother term for sly grog selling, receiving stolen property,and harbouring bushrangers and assigned servants. The term`squatter,' as applied to the class it now designates – – withoutwhich where would Australia now be? – – was not in vogue till1842.»

2) A pastoral tenant of the Crown, often renting from theCrown vast tracts of land for pasturage at an almost nominalsum. The term is still frequently, but incorrectly, used fora man rearing and running stock on freehold land. Pastoralist is now the more favoured term.

1840. F. P. Labillicre, `Early History of the Colony ofVictoria' (edition 1878), vol. ii. p. 189:

«In a memorandum of December 19th, 1840, `on the disposal ofLands in the Australian Provinces,' Sir George Gipps informsthe Secretary of State on the subject, and states that, – – 'Avery large proportion of the land which is to form the newdistrict of Port Phillip is already in the licensed occupationof the Squatters of New South Wales, a class of persons whom itwould be wrong to confound with those who bear the same name inAmerica, and who are generally persons of mean repute and ofsmall means, who have taken unauthorized possession of patchesof land. Among the Squatters of New South Wales are thewealthiest of the land, occupying, with the permission of theGovernment, thousands and tens of thousands of acres. Youngmen of good families and connexions in England, officers of thearmy and navy, graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, are also inno small number amongst them.'»

1844. `Port Phillip Patriot,' July 8, p. 3, col. 3:

«The petitioner has already consigned the whole countryto the class squatter in perpetuity.»

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 165:

«The squatters of Australia Felix will meet on horseback, uponBatman's Hill, on the 1st of June, for the purpose of forming aMutual Protection Society. From the Murray to the sea-beach,from the Snowy Mountains to the Glenelg, let no squatter beabsent.»

1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 366:

«`Squatters.' A word not to be found in `Johnson's Dictionary';of Canadian extraction, literally to sit on the haunches: inAustralia a term applied to the sheep farmers generally; fromtheir being obliged frequently to adopt that position.»

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition' (Introd.), p. 15:

«We were received with the greatest kindness by my friends the`squatters,' a class principally composed of young men of goodeducation, gentlemanly habits, and high principles.»

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 168:

«The Port Phillip squatters, as occupants of the territory of New South Wales, were afterwards required to take out an annual depasturing licence in terms of a Colonial Act passed at Sydney.»

(p. 246): «The modern squatters, the aristocratic portionof the colonial community.»

1851. `Australasian,' p. 298:

«In 1840 the migratory flockmaster had become a settledsquatter. A wretched slab but is now his home; for furniturehe has a rough bush-made table, and two or three uncouthstools.»

1861. T. McCombie, Australian Sketches,' p. 128:

«The term squatter was applied in the first instance tosignify, as in America, such as erected huts on unsold land.It thus came to be applied to all who did not live on their ownland, to whom the original and more expressive name of settlercontinued to be applied. When the owners of stock becameinfluential from their education and wealth, it was thought dueto them to change this term for one more suitable to theircircumstances, as they now included in their order nearly everyman of mark or wealth in Australia. The Government suggestedthe term `tenants of the Crown,' the press hinted at `licensedgraziers,' and both terms were in partial use, but such is theprejudice in favour of what is already established, that bothwere soon disused, and the original term finally adopted.»

1862. G. T. Lloyd, `Thirty-three Years in Tasmania andVictoria,' p. 478:

«The term `squatter' . . . is thus derived: – – A flock-mastersettling in Australia could drive his stock to, and occupy,any tract of country, which, from its extent and pastoralcapabilities, might meet his comprehensive views; alwaysprovided, that such lands had not been already appropriated.. . . Early flock-masters were always confirmed in theirselection of lands, according to the quantity of stock theypossessed. . . . The Victorian Squatter who can number butfive or six thousand sheep is held to be a man of no account.. . . Those only, who can command the shearing of from tento forty thousand fleeces annually, are estimated as worthyof any note.»

1866. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 47:

«The squatters (as owners of sheepstations are called).»

1868. J. Bonwick, `John Batman, Founder of Victoria,' p. 94:

«In the language of the times, Messrs. Evans, Lancey, andsubsequently J. P. Fawkner, were squatters. That term issomewhat singular as applied to the latter, who asserts that hefounded the colony to prevent its getting into the hands of thesquatters. The term was then applied to all who placedthemselves upon public lands without licence.»

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,'vol. i. p. 265:

«It is not too much to say that all the early success ofAustralia was due to the squatters of New South Wales,who followed the steps of Captain McArthur.»

1878. `The Australian,' vol. i. p. 532:

«I have been a super, a small freeholder, and a middling-sizedsquatter, at different times.»

1889. Rev. J. H. Zillmann, `Australian Life,' p. 165:

«The Squatters are the large leaseholders and landedproprietors of the colony, whose cry has always been that thecountry was unfit for agricultural settlement, and only adaptedfor the pastoral pursuits in which they were engaged. . . .It is true the old squatter has been well-nigh exterminated.»

1893. J. F. Hogan, `Robert Lowe,' p. 36:

«The pastoral enterprise of the adventurous squatters.

Originally unrecognized trespassers on Crown lands. . . .»

3) Applied as a nickname to a kind of Bronze-wingPigeon (q.v.).

1872. C. H. Eden, `My Wife and I in Queensland,' p. 122:

«On the plains you find different kinds of pigeons, thesquatters being most common – – plump, dust-coloured littlefellows, crouching down to the ground quite motionless as youpass. I have frequently killed them with my stock-whip.»

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 114:

«Gentle little squatter-pigeons cooed lovingly in answer totheir mates on all sides.»