‘Discontent and habits of evasion'*

Abstract

Relations between governors and settlers were often fraught with difficulty in the Australian colonies before 1856. Contentious issues included the demand for representative government, ownership of land, and the levying of taxes. In Van Diemen's. Land a struggle emerged over the imposition of quit rents, a symbol of imperial control of land. Pressed by the Colonial Office to generate more revenue, the lieutenant‐governors threatened, cajoled, and conceded but faced stiff resistance to the payment of quit rents. They were defeated by the powerful combination of self‐interest, a growing adherence to democratic principles, and the political use of juries to vent landowners' grievances.