George W. Cotton
Encyclopedia
George W. Cotton was a Member of the Legislative Council
in South Australia
, and a champion of the scheme
to put working men
onto small blocks (around 20 acre
s) on which they could carry out agricultural
production.
Cotton worked as a carpenter at Willunga and store-keeper on Hindmarsh Island before becoming a successful land agent in Adelaide. In 1865 he called a meeting of laymen of the Wesleyan Church to consider the purchase of a site for a Wesleyan college. This was to become Prince Alfred College
and Cotton the founding Secretary.
In 1879 Cotton retired from business, and was elected to office in the Legislative Council
(Upper House) elections of 1882 (at the age of 61). In the depression years following he took an interest in the unemployed and in land reform. Cotton developed a working men's blocks scheme in which the government would offer blocks of up to 20 acres (80,937.2 m²) of crown land at low rents. Income from such blocks would eventually be adequate to support a family, forming the basis of a new society of independent producers and co-operative associations.
In 1885 the South Australian government began to implement Cotton's plan. Blocks were surveyed and occupied in many parts of the colony, from Adelaide suburbs and country town fringes to the open country. In 1896 about 12,900 people, or nearly 4 per cent of the population, lived on them.
Cotton also championed the state bank, technical education, a strong government department of labour and boards of conciliation and arbitration. He was short-tempered and not an effective speaker despite being widely read. In the 1880s he left the Wesleyans, whose indifference to reform enraged him, and declared a new faith: 'I worship a living Christ in the person of every child, however it may have been born into the world'.
He died at Adelaide on 15 December 1892.
"Mr Cotton and the Military" (the Chronicle, 25 June 1870):
The belief is daily gaining ground that war is legalised murder
, except in extreme self-defence
, scientifically devised to kill the greatest number of persons in the shortest time, and that in times of peace
a standing army
is a great mischief
, because it keeps men in enforced idleness...
Following spirited public debates on unemployment
Thomas H. Smeaton, under the heading "Delusive Demagogues", fires the following shot across Mr Cotton's and a compatriot's bows:
Dangerous men these at the present. Discard them working-men; they will fool you and nothing more... (Register, 31 March 1886)
A fortnight
later another opinion was forthcoming:
He is a secret enemy, not an open fee, and in future it is the duty of all right-thinking men to treat his wordy vapourizings with the select contempt
they deserve... (Register, 13 April 1886)
The maligned politician
sprang to defend himself on 13 April 1886, page 6f:
Any man speaking of me as attempting to "gull" anybody can only be measuring me by some standard of his own to which course I respectfully demur to have judgments passed upon me...
Another correspondent
to the Register on 16 September 1886 complained:
If [he] wishes his 300 to 400 pioneers
on labourers' blocks to succeed he had better abstain from inflaming their zeal with misleading
statements, but rather ought to preach to them uninterrupted industry (no eight-hours system), the strictest of economy and an unlimited amount of self-denial
.
A further unsolicited opinion is given in the Register on 27 October 1886:
[He is] a gentleman
who works hard in writing and speaking to educate South Australia
ns in finance
, and yet every effort he makes seems to increase the fog through which we have to discover his meaning...
A letter from Rev Honner is in the Register, 15 February 1888:
If I may judge of those blocks by some I have seen, then they must be intended blockheads, for no sane man would live on them, unless he was seeking a wilderness
for the occupation of meditation.
This suggestion is castigated by Mr Cotton on 17 February 1888:
I hope when the historian has to look back at the difficulties small holdings had to encounter... that there will not be "perils among false brethren" to be received as amongst the bitterest opposition.
Another citizen enters the fray on 22 February 1888:
For some years past Mr Cotton has been energetically blowing his own trumpet from the homestead
blocks. Some of us working men are growing tired of [it]:
Cotton's the man for all jobs,
He scowls on all the nobs,
He winks and shouts at the snobs,
And he sighs for the Government's bobs.
In the heat of a public debate on the "land question" a correspondent to the Register on 31 July 1888 puts the following to Mr Cotton:
Must a man be a landjobber before he can honestly propose land reform? And is the only honest politician the land agent who opposes land nationalisation? And, pray, what right have you to say that all but yourself are catering for the votes
of the working men?... You may vaunt as much as you like your love for the "poor man"; there is one thing you dare not do... you dare not be an honest politician.
An editorial
on the Block system is in the Register, 16 March 1888:
Taken at its best it seems to us that it is more a hindrance than of a help to the establishment of a sound and rational system of land tenure
...
On 21 March a correspondent says:
That he is sincere does not admit the question, but why the continual proclamation
s, why always clamour for the expected chorus of applause?...
Two correspondents to the Register on 28 August 1888 pass judgement on Mr Cotton:
[It would be] much more worthy of a man who is privileged to write the prefix Honourable to his name if he were as particular in retailing slanderous
statements...
You will have observed long ago that Mr Cotton never gives a straight-forward answer however called for by nasty innuendoes, falsehoods and misrepresentations which he slips into his communications...
On the subject of "Workers" he said in the Register, 31 December 1889:
I believe that the wage-receivers are quite as anxious
for fair play as those who have to pay the wage
s. But who is to decide what is fair? Government
s shirk the responsibility and cry delusively "It is a matter of open contract". and so it will remain... till it is realised that it is the function of every Government to be a great arbitration
and conciliation
Association - nothing more and nothing less. In the meantime Trades and Labour Councils must act for the workers...
His views on 10 February 1890 under the heading "The Parliament
and the Adelaide
Club":
What I hold is wanted is a fair representation of each class and not a packed chamber that can only legislate
for the country
from the standpoint of its own class interests... For several years past South Australia has progressed in one direction only and that is in rapidly adding to its indebtedness to foreigners...
The following opinion is expressed in the Register
, 4 August 1890:
...They distrust him; they do not know in what category of politicians to place him; he really stands alone. Sometimes he seems radical and appears is the advocate of thorough reform; at others he opposes the very things which would more than any other benefit the workers...
is in the Register, 17 December 1892:
Anything which tended to benefit the working classes received [his] most serious attention... There has been no man who has been more straight forward and endeavoured to do good in the community
... The good acts of some men are far above their failings and [his] little faults could well be overlooked... The working men's block system
[has] been a moral
lesson to all the world... The tide of wealth had been heaped against him, but he had never shrunk from his duties.
At his funeral
, a wreath from some "blockers" bore the inscription - "In loving gratitude to [our] father, friend and champion"
The Register of 3 February 1893 has a proposal for a "Cotton Memorial
Homestead Institute" and at the same time the author unwittingly pens an appropriate epitaph
for a man of compassion and Christian
principles:
He it was who trod that broader path of humanity, revelled in those broader views that teach us there is a temporal
as well as a spiritual side to questions concerning man's salvation...
named after George Cotton was opened in 1914 and closed in 1945. The town of Cotton in the Hundred of Noarlunga
is discussed in the Chronicle of 26 May 1894. The Block Scheme area of Cottonville in the southern suburbs of Adelaide was later resubdivided and incorporated into Westbourne Park
.
A house of Prince Alfred College
Preparatory School was named after Cotton (and another after his father in law).
Legislative Council
A Legislative Council is the name given to the legislatures, or one of the chambers of the legislature of many nations and colonies.A Member of the Legislative Council is commonly referred to as an MLC.- Unicameral legislatures :...
in South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
, and a champion of the scheme
Scheme
Scheme may refer to:* Scheme , a minimalist, multi-paradigm dialect of Lisp* Scheme , a concept in algebraic geometry* Scheme , a figure of speech that changes a sentence's structure-See also:...
to put working men
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
onto small blocks (around 20 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s) on which they could carry out agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
production.
Life
George Witherage Cotton was born on 4 February 1821 at Staplehurst in Kent, England to Samuel and Lydia Cotton. He was apprenticed to a carpenter and studied at Wesley College, Sheffield. After working in London he migrated with his parents to South Australia in 1848. His wife and son died soon after their arrival and in 1848 he married Elizabeth Mitchell with whom he had nine children.Cotton worked as a carpenter at Willunga and store-keeper on Hindmarsh Island before becoming a successful land agent in Adelaide. In 1865 he called a meeting of laymen of the Wesleyan Church to consider the purchase of a site for a Wesleyan college. This was to become Prince Alfred College
Prince Alfred College
Prince Alfred College is an independent, day and boarding school for boys, located on Dequetteville Terrace, Kent Town, near the centre of Adelaide, South Australia...
and Cotton the founding Secretary.
In 1879 Cotton retired from business, and was elected to office in the Legislative Council
Legislative Council
A Legislative Council is the name given to the legislatures, or one of the chambers of the legislature of many nations and colonies.A Member of the Legislative Council is commonly referred to as an MLC.- Unicameral legislatures :...
(Upper House) elections of 1882 (at the age of 61). In the depression years following he took an interest in the unemployed and in land reform. Cotton developed a working men's blocks scheme in which the government would offer blocks of up to 20 acres (80,937.2 m²) of crown land at low rents. Income from such blocks would eventually be adequate to support a family, forming the basis of a new society of independent producers and co-operative associations.
In 1885 the South Australian government began to implement Cotton's plan. Blocks were surveyed and occupied in many parts of the colony, from Adelaide suburbs and country town fringes to the open country. In 1896 about 12,900 people, or nearly 4 per cent of the population, lived on them.
Cotton also championed the state bank, technical education, a strong government department of labour and boards of conciliation and arbitration. He was short-tempered and not an effective speaker despite being widely read. In the 1880s he left the Wesleyans, whose indifference to reform enraged him, and declared a new faith: 'I worship a living Christ in the person of every child, however it may have been born into the world'.
He died at Adelaide on 15 December 1892.
Newspaper reports
Cotton's opinions attracted some contaversy,as extracts from newspapers of the day show."Mr Cotton and the Military" (the Chronicle, 25 June 1870):
The belief is daily gaining ground that war is legalised murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, except in extreme self-defence
Self-defense
Self-defense, self-defence or private defense is a countermeasure that involves defending oneself, one's property or the well-being of another from physical harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in times of danger is available in many...
, scientifically devised to kill the greatest number of persons in the shortest time, and that in times of peace
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
a standing army
Standing army
A standing army is a professional permanent army. It is composed of full-time career soldiers and is not disbanded during times of peace. It differs from army reserves, who are activated only during wars or natural disasters...
is a great mischief
Mischief
Mischief is a vexatious or annoying action, or, conduct or activity that playfully causes petty annoyance. Young children, when they hear of mischief, think of practical jokes....
, because it keeps men in enforced idleness...
Following spirited public debates on unemployment
Unemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...
Thomas H. Smeaton, under the heading "Delusive Demagogues", fires the following shot across Mr Cotton's and a compatriot's bows:
Dangerous men these at the present. Discard them working-men; they will fool you and nothing more... (Register, 31 March 1886)
A fortnight
Fortnight
The fortnight is a unit of time equal to fourteen days, or two weeks. The word derives from the Old English fēowertyne niht, meaning "fourteen nights"....
later another opinion was forthcoming:
He is a secret enemy, not an open fee, and in future it is the duty of all right-thinking men to treat his wordy vapourizings with the select contempt
Contempt
Contempt is an intensely negative emotion regarding a person or group of people as inferior, base, or worthless—it is similar to scorn. It is also used when people are being sarcastic. Contempt is also defined as the state of being despised or dishonored; disgrace, and an open disrespect or willful...
they deserve... (Register, 13 April 1886)
The maligned politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
sprang to defend himself on 13 April 1886, page 6f:
Any man speaking of me as attempting to "gull" anybody can only be measuring me by some standard of his own to which course I respectfully demur to have judgments passed upon me...
Another correspondent
Correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is a journalist or commentator, or more general speaking, an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, location. A foreign correspondent is stationed in a foreign...
to the Register on 16 September 1886 complained:
If [he] wishes his 300 to 400 pioneers
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
on labourers' blocks to succeed he had better abstain from inflaming their zeal with misleading
Deception
Deception, beguilement, deceit, bluff, mystification, bad faith, and subterfuge are acts to propagate beliefs that are not true, or not the whole truth . Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda, and sleight of hand. It can employ distraction, camouflage or concealment...
statements, but rather ought to preach to them uninterrupted industry (no eight-hours system), the strictest of economy and an unlimited amount of self-denial
Self-denial
Self-denial is altruistic abstinence - the willingness to forego personal pleasures or undergo personal trials in the pursuit of the increased good of another. Various religions and cultures take differing views of self-denial, some considering it a positive trait and others considering it a...
.
A further unsolicited opinion is given in the Register on 27 October 1886:
[He is] a gentleman
Gentleman
The term gentleman , in its original and strict signification, denoted a well-educated man of good family and distinction, analogous to the Latin generosus...
who works hard in writing and speaking to educate South Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
ns in finance
Finance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
, and yet every effort he makes seems to increase the fog through which we have to discover his meaning...
A letter from Rev Honner is in the Register, 15 February 1888:
If I may judge of those blocks by some I have seen, then they must be intended blockheads, for no sane man would live on them, unless he was seeking a wilderness
Wilderness
Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with...
for the occupation of meditation.
This suggestion is castigated by Mr Cotton on 17 February 1888:
I hope when the historian has to look back at the difficulties small holdings had to encounter... that there will not be "perils among false brethren" to be received as amongst the bitterest opposition.
Another citizen enters the fray on 22 February 1888:
For some years past Mr Cotton has been energetically blowing his own trumpet from the homestead
Homestead (buildings)
A homestead is either a single building, or collection of buildings grouped together on a large agricultural holding, such as a ranch, station or a large agricultural operation of some other designation.-See also:* Farm house* Homestead Act...
blocks. Some of us working men are growing tired of [it]:
Cotton's the man for all jobs,
He scowls on all the nobs,
He winks and shouts at the snobs,
And he sighs for the Government's bobs.
In the heat of a public debate on the "land question" a correspondent to the Register on 31 July 1888 puts the following to Mr Cotton:
Must a man be a landjobber before he can honestly propose land reform? And is the only honest politician the land agent who opposes land nationalisation? And, pray, what right have you to say that all but yourself are catering for the votes
Votes
Votes are a people of Votia in Ingria, the part of modern day northwestern Russia that is roughly southwest of Saint Petersburg and east of the Estonian border-town of Narva. Their own ethnic name is Vadjalain . The Finnic Votic language spoken by Votes is close to extinction. Votians were one of...
of the working men?... You may vaunt as much as you like your love for the "poor man"; there is one thing you dare not do... you dare not be an honest politician.
An editorial
Editorial
An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
on the Block system is in the Register, 16 March 1888:
Taken at its best it seems to us that it is more a hindrance than of a help to the establishment of a sound and rational system of land tenure
Land tenure
Land tenure is the name given, particularly in common law systems, to the legal regime in which land is owned by an individual, who is said to "hold" the land . The sovereign monarch, known as The Crown, held land in its own right. All private owners are either its tenants or sub-tenants...
...
On 21 March a correspondent says:
That he is sincere does not admit the question, but why the continual proclamation
Proclamation
A proclamation is an official declaration.-England and Wales:In English law, a proclamation is a formal announcement , made under the great seal, of some matter which the King in Council or Queen in Council desires to make known to his or her subjects: e.g., the declaration of war, or state of...
s, why always clamour for the expected chorus of applause?...
Two correspondents to the Register on 28 August 1888 pass judgement on Mr Cotton:
[It would be] much more worthy of a man who is privileged to write the prefix Honourable to his name if he were as particular in retailing slanderous
Slander and libel
Defamation—also called calumny, vilification, traducement, slander , and libel —is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image...
statements...
You will have observed long ago that Mr Cotton never gives a straight-forward answer however called for by nasty innuendoes, falsehoods and misrepresentations which he slips into his communications...
On the subject of "Workers" he said in the Register, 31 December 1889:
I believe that the wage-receivers are quite as anxious
Anxiety
Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...
for fair play as those who have to pay the wage
Wage
A wage is a compensation, usually financial, received by workers in exchange for their labor.Compensation in terms of wages is given to workers and compensation in terms of salary is given to employees...
s. But who is to decide what is fair? Government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
s shirk the responsibility and cry delusively "It is a matter of open contract". and so it will remain... till it is realised that it is the function of every Government to be a great arbitration
Arbitration
Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...
and conciliation
Conciliation
Conciliation is an alternative dispute resolution process whereby the parties to a dispute agree to utilize the services of a conciliator, who then meets with the parties separately in an attempt to resolve their differences...
Association - nothing more and nothing less. In the meantime Trades and Labour Councils must act for the workers...
His views on 10 February 1890 under the heading "The Parliament
Parliament of Australia
The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...
and the Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
Club":
What I hold is wanted is a fair representation of each class and not a packed chamber that can only legislate
Legislation
Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...
for the country
Country
A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously...
from the standpoint of its own class interests... For several years past South Australia has progressed in one direction only and that is in rapidly adding to its indebtedness to foreigners...
The following opinion is expressed in the Register
The Register
The Register is a British technology news and opinion website. It was founded by John Lettice, Mike Magee and Ross Alderson in 1994 as a newsletter called "Chip Connection", initially as an email service...
, 4 August 1890:
...They distrust him; they do not know in what category of politicians to place him; he really stands alone. Sometimes he seems radical and appears is the advocate of thorough reform; at others he opposes the very things which would more than any other benefit the workers...
Death
An obituaryObituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...
is in the Register, 17 December 1892:
Anything which tended to benefit the working classes received [his] most serious attention... There has been no man who has been more straight forward and endeavoured to do good in the community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
... The good acts of some men are far above their failings and [his] little faults could well be overlooked... The working men's block system
Block (group theory)
In mathematics and group theory, a block system for the action of a group G on a set X is a partition of X that is G-invariant. In terms of the associated equivalence relation on X, G-invariance means that...
[has] been a moral
Moral
A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim...
lesson to all the world... The tide of wealth had been heaped against him, but he had never shrunk from his duties.
At his funeral
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
, a wreath from some "blockers" bore the inscription - "In loving gratitude to [our] father, friend and champion"
The Register of 3 February 1893 has a proposal for a "Cotton Memorial
Memorial
A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains, and even entire parks....
Homestead Institute" and at the same time the author unwittingly pens an appropriate epitaph
Epitaph
An epitaph is a short text honoring a deceased person, strictly speaking that is inscribed on their tombstone or plaque, but also used figuratively. Some are specified by the dead person beforehand, others chosen by those responsible for the burial...
for a man of compassion and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
principles:
He it was who trod that broader path of humanity, revelled in those broader views that teach us there is a temporal
Temporal
Temporal can refer to:* of or relating to time** Temporality in philosophy** Temporal database, a database recording aspects of time varying values** The Temporal power of the Popes of the Roman Catholic Church...
as well as a spiritual side to questions concerning man's salvation...
Legacy
A schoolSchool
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
named after George Cotton was opened in 1914 and closed in 1945. The town of Cotton in the Hundred of Noarlunga
Noarlunga
Noarlunga can refer to:* Noarlunga Centre, South Australia* Noarlunga Downs, South Australia* Old Noarlunga, South Australia* Port Noarlunga, South Australia...
is discussed in the Chronicle of 26 May 1894. The Block Scheme area of Cottonville in the southern suburbs of Adelaide was later resubdivided and incorporated into Westbourne Park
Westbourne Park
Westbourne Park may refer to:* Westbourne Park tube station* Westbourne Park, South Australia...
.
A house of Prince Alfred College
Prince Alfred College
Prince Alfred College is an independent, day and boarding school for boys, located on Dequetteville Terrace, Kent Town, near the centre of Adelaide, South Australia...
Preparatory School was named after Cotton (and another after his father in law).