Australia and the World Past and Present

I wanted to find some statistics regarding agriculture in Victoria in the late 1800s.

My focus was the Gippsland area in general and the South Gippsland / Bass Coast area in particular.

I wanted to get a handle on things like average farm size.

I wanted to get an idea about which crops were grown in different parts of the state and I wanted to know how much different regions were producing.

I wanted to know how much livestock was in the state. I wanted to know the percentage of dairy cattle versus the percentage of beef cattle.

At first I wasn’t sure where to look. Then someone suggested that I take a look at the Victorian Year-Books. they contain a wealth of agricultural statistics.

I’ll take you through some of the stats I have found. They help us to build up a picture of farm life in the late 1800s.

Victorian Year-Books can be accessed online through the State Library of Victoria.

I began with the year 1873.

In that year the amount of Crown land sold (under review) was 529,309 acres.

The total amount of Crown land alienated up to the end of 1873 was 9,401,050 acres or 16.6% of the total area of the colony.

There were 894 squatting runs in 1873 with an average run size of 28,893 acres – a huge expanse. The government received revenue from the runs – at a rate of 1.308 d. per acre.

It is noted that the number of runs had been decreasing since 1864. There were 1,177 runs in that year.

Not all land was enclosed. The amount of enclosed land was 10,284,439 acres. But a lot of land was in the process of being fenced. 494,847 acres was fenced in 1873 alone.

There were 964,996 acres under tillage.

Wheat production took up 349,976 acres. This represented 34% of total crops.

Oats made up 13% of the total.

38,517 acres were used for growing potatoes in Victoria. This land produced 132,997 tons.

Around 12% of land under tillage was used for producing hay.

The “land under vines” was relatively small – at 5,485 acres.

3,347 tons of onion were produced in 1872-3 while there was 1,837 cwt. of tobacco.

281 tons of chicory was produced but only 16 acres was used for flax.

The number of acres used for hops was relatively small – only 107.

The average duration of leases was between 1 and 7 years and the average rental was between 2s. and 20s. per acre.

Interestingly, the Year-Book provides information the size of holdings.

The most common holding size was 100-200 acres. But holdings of 50-100 acres and 200-350 acres were also very common.

There were 2,487 farms that were more than 500 acres.

The average of all holding sizes works out at 310 acres.

In 1873 there were 57,459 males employed on farms and stations. There were 25,347 females, giving a total of 82,806. Land clearing and farming work were male-dominated with more than twice as many men as women.

Rates of Labor were recorded. The highest paid work was that of the “reapers” who received 28s. per week. Closely behind were the “mowers” who got 27s. Women received substantially less – 9s. a week.

At this time, much of the agricultural land in Victoria was still being cleared which accounts for the presence of these reapers and mowers.

Stockmen received over 44 pounds for a year’s work.

Shepherds made over 33 pounds.

Females got more than 26 pounds for the year while hutkeepers took over 24.

Let’s now turn to livestock.

There were 883,763 cattle in the colony. More than a quarter were “milch cows” – cows kept for milking.

There were 180,342 horses and 160,336 pigs. But sheep outstripped them all at a figure of 11,323,080.

So there were far more cattle than horses and far more sheep than cattle. It looks like Victoria at this time was living on the sheep’s back.

Steam engines were beginning to make an appearance on Victorian farms. By 1873 there were 358.

There were 163 flour mills of which 151 were powered by steam. 114,962 tons of flour was being produced.

The colony had its breweries. In 1873 there were 117 of them churning out 12,587,321 gallons of amber liquid. But it wasn’t a case of perpetual growth for the breweries. The following year there were 11 fewer. Perhaps this was a result of amalgamations or buy-outs.

The Year-Book also gives figures for manufacturing in the state.

In 1872-83 there were 13 dye works.

There were 24 boot “manufactories” and 8 hat manufactories.

Obviously rope or twine were in demand as there were 12 factories producing them.

There were 22 “meat-curing” establishments as well as 7 biscuit manufactories, 5 confectionery works and 4 jam manufactories.

A large number of factories were making aerated water (113).

There were 2 chicory mills and 6 distilleries.

An interesting one is the “fellmongeries” or wool-washing establishments. 43 is the number given. I suppose given the number of sheep in Victoria, this shouldn’t come as a huge surprise.

Many places were making soap and candles – 41 in all. This was in era before the widespread electrification of homes and streets.

There were 73 tanneries.

Even paper was being made in Victoria at this time – but only in 2 locations.

There was a role for limekilns and there was 31 of these.

There was even 2 ice “manufactories”.

The Victorian Year Books are an amazing resource for anyone researching agriculture in the colony/state. I will follow up with some more articles based on Year-Book figures. I have surveyed figures at roughly 10 year intervals, which helps me to see how the industry has changed over time.

Source: Victorian Year-Book 1873, pp. 51-68