 Dissension caused a rift in the colony and in May 1894, Lane and 58 others left New Australia to found Cosme, a new colony 72 kilometres farther south.Eventually New Australia was dissolved as a cooperative by the government of Paraguay, and each settler was given their own piece of land.Some colonists founded communes elsewhere in Paraguay, others went home to Australia or on to England; some 2000 descendants of the New Australia colonists still live in Paraguay.