Chapter 10: The Golden Age
With the growing maritime trade between Port Arthur and Port Gilbert, many new business ventures were established. The Port Arthur docks were expanded to accommodate the increase in shipping traffic, and new warehouses and storage yards were constructed all around the docks. The first shipyard and drydock was also under construction near the old fisher's camp, where the settlement of Fisherman's Bay had been slowly growing over the years. The maritime trade not only opened up new business opportunities, but also led to an influx of women from the Hakawa settlement at Port Gilbert into the highly male dominated Port Arthur society. A golden age for New Southland truly had dawned, and a new (healthy) rivalry established between the two major settlements.
With economic success ahead and warfare behind them, the two settlements could now focus on civics, which had largely been neglected since the founding of New Southland. The first schools were opened in town to educate the children (as well as to keep them out of mischief).
With the new knowledge of local medicines gained from the Hakawa, two hospitals were opened to treat the ill and injured, who until now would have been testing their luck recuperating at home.
Things were looking up for New Southland, however the actions of a few would cause great implications for the many. As land around the Port Arthur docks became more valuable, business owners became more brazen in their expansions. Some of the original timber huts to the Noth of the docks were intentionally demolished to make way for several large warehouses, without the consent of their owners. As there were no land ownership records in New Southland, residents had been claiming whatever land they wished and simply fencing it in to claim their stake - commonly known as the fencing laws. These houses had no such fences, and so the business owners simply referred back to the fencing laws to justify their position.
The home owners, obviously upset, set the warehouses ablaze mid-construction in protest, causing significant damage. Before the situation spiraled out of control, an emergency meeting was held between the home owners, business owners, and New Southland government where mediation efforts resulted in one of the most significant changes to domestic policy in New Southland - the creation of the Land Registry Office (LRO). New laws were passed by the government implementing the new policy of land ownership, whereby all currently fenced-in areas would be officially recognised as private land, and all unfenced areas public land. Any future land claims would need to be approved by the government and registered with the LRO.
For residents that had not yet fenced in their lands, a grace period of 12 months would be given to complete their fencing to claim their land - up to a maximum area of 1 acre within the town, or 10 acres outside the town. Some Port Arthur residents decided to abandon their homes within the town and take advantage of the larger land claims possible a little further out. As a result, much of the land between Deer Creek and Port Arthur became settled and the rapid clearing of the land led to a huge surplus of felled timber, which was stored and processed in the newly constructed lumber yards at Port Arthur and Fisherman's Bay. The lumber would be put to good use constructing new fishing and merchant vessels for the growing maritime trade between Port Arthur and Port Gilbert.
For the residents whose homes were demolished for the warehouse construction, they were offered compensation as well as new land at Fisherman's Bay where they began constructing new dwellings and fencing in much larger portions of land for themselves, taking advantage of the new laws. The warehouses were re-built (ultimately a win for the business owners), and a new industry was created in the wake of the newly implemented laws - the trade of real estate.
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