Selection on the Cooleman Run, County of Cowley, New South Wales

The process of transforming the vast pastoral estates of the squatters in southeastern Australia into freehold land was a key part of mid to late 19th century political life. Armed with slogans and political will, through elected representatives in the lower houses of colonial parliaments, the squatting runs from the 1840s were to be broken up and turned into small farms for small or 'yeoman' farmers (supposedly, mostly, former gold miners). The mechanism for undertaking this process was termed 'free selection' and the individuals concerned 'selectors'.