Throughout the British Empire official policy aimed at ‘peace, order and good government’ – in theory. In practice British rulers and leaders occupied the social and political heights while others were regarded as inferior. During the convict period peace and good order could be maintained by force if necessary. That tradition was also maintained against the Aborigines as settlement moved further out into their lands. As part of the British Empire, Australia also tried to secure support from settlers as they developed into citizens and later became voters. (Davidson 1997). A normal process in colonial lands like India, Malaysia or West Africa, was to use local chieftains and aristocrats to supply their own forces as keepers of the peace in the system known as ‘indirect rule’. This was not possible in Australia. The Aboriginal peoples did not have such hierarchical social systems, unlike the New Zealand Maoris or many peoples elsewhere in the vast empire. Moreover, the settlers were overwhelmingly British subjects and claimed the real or traditional rights of subjects in Britain and many other parts of the empire. As such they had growing political claims on the ruling élite and expectations of sharing in the wealth already apparent for their rulers.

The explosion of settler numbers and wealth during the ‘golden age’ expedited the demands of the predominantly male settlers for political and social influence and benefits. The authorities wished to avoid the American experience of colonial revolt. Two major reforming movements were launched in the period starting with the 1840s and reached its height in the 1890s moving towards federation. These were the extension of the male franchise to a level comparable to that in the United Kingdom and the granting of available land to settlers as ‘free selections’. As the franchise was not extended to Aborigines or Asians this cemented the settler social ranks behind their rulers with considerable success. The Eureka interlude of 1854 was not repeated, and parliamentary politics became well established. Public policy developed on the basis of British loyalty to the queen and empire, access to land and the franchise for a wider public of small farmers. The wealthy settlers were kept in power, and some of their descendants are still among the largest landholders and influential classes. Many others endured years of hardship with the onset of economic depressions in the 1890s and the 1920s.