On 17 July 1893, radical idealist William Lane and his followers left Sydney on the Royal Tar for Paraguay, where they planned to establish the socialist colony of New Australia. The New Australia Cooperative Settlement Association had been formed following the suppression of the maritime and shearers' strikes of 1890-1891. More than 230 adults and their children left Australia seeking a workers' utopia in South America.

However, even on the outward voyage, disputes arose under Lane's authoritarian leadership. Factions formed at the settlement and in 1894 Lane was forced to resign. He established a separate community at Cosme, where for a time Cosme Monthly was published, but by 1898 this had also failed to develop as a socialist settlement.

In addition to the ideological disputes and personality clashes, the inhospitable climate and difficult living conditions all took their toll on the settlers. Many of the colonists became disillusioned and returned to Australia, and those who stayed eventually abandoned communal living and the land was divided between them.

Mellowship, JH. New Australia: a South Australian chapter, B.A. (Hons.) Thesis, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, 1960

Peake, Andrew. ''New Australia' in Paraguay', South Australian genealogist, vol. 13, no. 4 (October 1986), p. 163-165

Souter, Gavin. A peculiar people: William Lane's Australian utopians in Paraguay, St Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, 1991

Whitehead, Anne. Paradise mislaid: in search of the Australian tribe of Paraguay, St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, 1997

Australian Dictionary of Biography Online search: Lane, William