Most accounts of the history of Van Diemen's Land have skipped rather lightly over the years in which Colonel William Sorell was Lieutenant-Governor, preferring to concentrate on the eventful and controversial twelve-year reign of his successor, Colonel George Arthur. But the years 1817 to 1824 were the time when the colony began its growth spurt and it was Sorell, not Arthur, who was the first to deal with the rapid increase in the numbers of free settlers and convicts.