An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales Volume I Part 46

Mr. Raven furnished these observations in the hope that they might benefit the settlement, by proving useful to the commanders of any ships which the governor might have occasion to send into those seas on the service of the colony.

The governor, convinced that an example was necessary to check the present practice of villainy, had ordered James McCarthy, the prisoner under sentence of death for forgery, to be executed on Sat.u.r.day the 14th of this present month; but yielded to the request of Mr. Johnson (the clergyman who attended the prisoner) to spare his life, it appearing evidently on the trial, that, guilty though he certainly was, he had in the present instance been rather the victim of the vice of others, than of his own. He was accordingly pardoned, on condition of his serving for seven years at hard labour at Norfolk Island.

About this time the _Marquis Cornwallis_ and _Experiment_ sailed for India. Previous to their departure, Mr. Hogan, the commander of the former, had requested an examination might be taken as to the circ.u.mstances of his conduct toward the convicts and others on board his ship during their pa.s.sage from Ireland to this country. The examination upon oath was made by the judge-advocate, a.s.sisted by two other magistrates, to whom it appeared, that Mr. Hogan, but for the fortunate and timely discovery of it, would with his ship have fallen a sacrifice to as daring and alarming a conspiracy as, perhaps, ever had been entered into by a set of desperate wretches on board of any ship; and that nothing was left for him, to save himself from the danger of a similar circ.u.mstance occurring during the voyage, but to inflict immediate punishment, on the persons who were concerned in it.

A civil court was a.s.sembled nearly about the same time, to try an a.s.sault, the action for which was brought by Mr. Matthew Austin (a gentleman who came out in the _Marquis Cornwallis_, as a superintending surgeon of the convicts in that ship, on the part of government) against Mr. Michael Hogan the commander, Mr. John Hogan the surgeon, and Henry Hacking the pilot. The circ.u.mstances of the a.s.sault being proved, the court adjudged Mr. M. Hogan to pay damages to the amount of fifty pounds; the others were acquitted.

On Mr. McClellan's arrival from Bengal, he reminded us, that some property had been found concealed in the bed of one of our people, which property had been shown to him at the time, under a supposition that it might have been stolen from his ship. On his return to India, he found that a small bale, containing the very articles which had been shown him here, had been put on board him at Bengal, to be delivered as a present to a gentleman at Batavia, the initials of whose name were marked on the bale. On his stating these circ.u.mstances to the judge-advocate, that part of the property which had been found, and placed in the custody of the provost-marshal, was given up to Mr. McClellan. Rogers, who had been either the princ.i.p.al or the receiver, perhaps foreseeing that the offence might sooner or later be brought home to him, had taken himself off in the _Endeavour_, and was one of those persons who had been unavoidably left behind at Dusky Bay by Mr. Waine when he quitted that place in the _a.s.sistance_.

From the address with which this business must have been managed, masters of ships might see the necessity that existed for their keeping a vigilant eye over the people whom they admitted on their decks, and be perfectly a.s.sured, that many visited them for the express purpose of discovering what vigilance was observed by the master, his mates, and people. Many instances of this kind had occurred, although it might have been readily supposed, that a stranger would have been on his guard, and never have lost the idea of the description of people by whom he was likely to be visited. A large quant.i.ty of tobacco had been stolen out of the _Bellona_ storeship shortly after she arrived here; half a cask of gunpowder had been stolen out of the _Britannia_, at the very time that the master was entertaming some of the gentlemen of the settlement in the cabin; Mr. Page, the master of the American ship _Hope_, was robbed of several articles, and the buckles out of his shoes, which stood in the cabin wherein he lay asleep; and this theft of the bale from on board the _Experiment_ was an additional instance of the management and ability displayed by our people in conducting an affair of that kind.

From this recapitulation of some of the offences which had been committed on board of ships while riding in this cove (to which many others might have been added), let the masters of those which may hereafter be sent out, and who may have perused this account, be cautious who they receive on board during the day, let their pretext of business, or coming from an officer, be what it may; never should they be suffered to mix with their seamen, nor to see where the stores of the ship are placed; nor should a boat be ever permitted to come alongside during the night, and in that case the people should not be allowed to come into the ship. The masters of ships were long since forbidden to receive any convict on board without a pa.s.s signed by the judge-advocate, who, from his official situation, was the best qualified to know the character of those who might apply; but the decks of ships were often filled with convicts, who went off with merely the sanction of the masters they lived with, although known perhaps at the time to be as suspicious characters as any in the settlement.

Among the Irish prisoners who arrived in the _Marquis Cornwallis_ was one who professed to understand the business of a millwright, and who undertook with very little a.s.sistance to construct a mill at this place.

He appeared rough and uncouth in his manners; but our want of a mill was so great, that it was determined to try what his abilities were, and place some hired artificers under his direction. A spot was chosen on the summit of the ground which forms the western side of the cove, and, saw-pits being dug for him, he began the work.

With a mill once erected competent to the grinding of all our wheat, a reduction in the ration of flour would not be felt. So sensible of this advantage had the governor been, that he brought out with him the most material parts of a windmill, with a model, by which any millwright he might find here would be enabled to set up the different parts; and Thorp the millwright was employed in collecting and preparing the timber necessary for putting up this mill at Parramatta.

The weather was very variable during the month. The cattle brought by Mr. Raven, though in Smithfield they would not all together have been worth fifty pounds, were sold by auction at enormous prices. The mares went at one hundred pounds, one of the cows at eighty-four pounds, and the others at prices something inferior.

June.] His Majesty's birthday was observed by the settlement with that attention which, as English subjects, we were proud to pay to it. The _Susan_ (with American colours flying), though provided with only six or eight guns, contrived to fire at one o'clock with the king's ships, a well-timed salute of twenty-one guns in honour of the day.

On this occasion the governor pardoned all culprits, except James McCarthy, who was under orders for Norfolk Island. It might be looked upon as a sort of encouragement to the commission of crimes, thus by a periodical pardon to render punishment less certain. If men were led to suppose, that on the King's birthday all culprits would be pardoned, they would be emboldened to offend, at least for a month or two previous to that time; but the governor did not mean to extend this act of mercy beyond the present occasion, being the first birthday of his sovereign that had occurred since his arrival.

Several daring thefts were committed early in this month. William Waring, a prisoner who had been allowed to cultivate a farm of thirty acres on the banks of the Hawkesbury, having occasion to move a cask of salted provisions, which he had purchased from the master of a ship riding in this cove, entrusted it to the care of two people his servants, to convey it from his farm to that of a neighbouring settler. The temptation was too great to be resisted, and the cask was stolen out of the boat, while the servants landed for the night at some farm by the way. They pretended to have no concern in it; but as that was too improbable to be believed, they were ordered to make rest.i.tution by their labour.

About the same time the brick hut occupied by Thomas Clark, a superintendant of convicts, was broken into; and, notwithstanding the door of the room in which he slept with his wife was open, they plundered the house of several articles to a great amount.

Some runaways from the jail gang at this place were suspected; and our watch, being dispatched immediately on receipt of this information, were very near falling in with the thieves; but these latter descried them in time to make their escape. Information being afterwards received, that two runaway vagabonds were concealed at a house near the brick-fields, some of the watch repaired to the spot, and found two notorious offenders, James McMa.n.u.s and George Collins. These two people had repeatedly broken out of the jall-hut, and one of them, McMa.n.u.s, had some time since been fired at and wounded in an attempt to commit a burglary.

On the present occasion, he had sufficient address to effect his escape from the watch; the other was secured and brought in. The hut in which they were found was pulled down the following morning, to deter others (if possible) from harbouring thieves and vagabonds.

The settlers in the different districts, and particularly those at the Hawkesbury, had long been supposed to be considerably in debt; and it was suspected, that their crops for two or more seasons to come were pledged to pay these debts. As this was an evil of great magnitude, the governor set on foot such an inquiry as he thought would ascertain or contradict the report. By this inquiry, it appeared, that the settlers at the districts of Prospect Hill, the Ponds, the Field of Mars, the Eastern Farms, and Mulgrave Place on the banks of the river Hawkesbury, stood indebted in the sum of 5098. The inquiry was farther directed as well to the appearance of the farms, and the general character of the settlers, as to their debts. Many were reported to be industrious and thriving; but a great number were stated to be idle, vicious, given to drinking, gaming, and other such disorders as lead to poverty and ruin. One man, a settler at the Eastern Farms, Edward Elliot, had received a ewe sheep from the late Governor Phillip before his departure in the year 1792. He had resisted many temptations to sell it, and at the time this inquiry took place was found possessing a stock of twenty-two sheep, males and females. He had been fortunate in not meeting with any loss, but had not added to his stock by any purchase. This was a proof that industry did not go without its reward in this country. Other instances were found to corroborate this observation.

At the settlement of the Hawkesbury one man had been drowned, and another killed by the natives.

The gentlemen who conducted the inquiry found most of the settlers there oftener employed in carousing in the fronts of their houses, than in labouring themselves, or superintending the labour of their servants in their grounds. There was at this time a considerable quant.i.ty of spirits in the colony from the _Susan_, the _Britannia_, and _Indispensable_, and no doubt much of it had found its way to the settlers; but that they could be so lost to their own true interests, could be only accounted for by recollecting their former habits of life, in which the frequent use of intoxicating liquors formed a part of their education.

With a view to check the drunkenness that prevailed in the different districts, the governor had directed licences for retailing spirituous liquors to be given to certain deserving characters in each; but it was not found to answer the effect he expected. Instead of the settlers being disposed to industry, they still indulged themselves in inebriety and idleness, and robberies now appeared to be committed more frequently than formerly. He therefore judged it necessary to direct, that none of those persons who had obtained licences should presume to carry on a traffic with settlers or others who might have grain to dispose of, by paying for such grain in spirits. He a.s.sured them, that should any persons he thereafter discovered to have carried on so destructive a trade, their licences would immediately be recalled, and such steps taken for their further punishment as they might be thought to deserve. He also desired it might be understood, that trading with spirits to the extent which he found practised was strictly forbidden to others, as well as to those who had licensed public houses.

The practice of purchasing the crops of the settlers for spirits had too long prevailed in the settlement; and the governor thought it absolutely necessary, by all the means in his power, to put an end to it; for it was not possible that a farmer who should be idle enough to throw away the labour of twelve months, for the gratification of a few gallons of poisonous spirits, could expect to thrive, or enjoy those comforts which were only to be procured by sobriety and industry. From such characters he determined to withdraw the a.s.sistance of government, since when left to themselves they would have less time to waste in drunkenness and riot.

In the night of the 19th of this month some thieves broke into the house of William Miller, (a young man who, on account of his good behaviour, had been allowed to exercise the trade of a baker,) and stole articles to the amount of fifty-six pounds, mostly property not belonging to himself.

Suspicion falling upon some people off the store, they were apprehended; but in the morning the greater part of what had been stolen was found placed in a garden where it could be easily discovered, and restored to the owner.

On the day following, the governor, with a small party, undertook a second excursion to the retreat of the cattle. A few days previous to the governor's departure, Mr. Ba.s.s, the surgeon of the _Reliance_, and two companions, set off in an attempt to round the mountains to the westward; but having soon attained the summit of the highest, they saw at the distance of forty or fifty miles another range of mountains, extending to the northward and southward. Mr. Ba.s.s reported, that he pa.s.sed over some very fine land, and he brought in some specimens of a light wood which he met with.

The governor was not long absent. He saw the cattle ranging as before, although not exactly in the same spot, in the finest country yet discovered in New South Wales, and ascended a hill which from every point of view had appeared the highest in our neighbourhood. He fixed, by means of an artificial horizon, its lat.i.tude to be 34 degrees 09 minutes S nine miles to the southward of Botany Bay. The height of this hill, which obtained the name of Mount Hunter, was supposed to be near a mile from the base; and the view from the summit was commanding, and full of grand objects, wood, water, plains, and mountains. Every where on that side of the Nepean, the soil was found to be good, and the ground eligible for cultivation. The sides of Mount Hunter, though very steep, were clothed with timber to the summit, and the ground filled with the Orchis root.

The knowledge derived from this excursion was, that the cattle had not been disturbed, and that they had increased; ninety-four were at this time counted.

About the same time the people of a fishing-boat returned from a bay near Port Stephens, into which they had been driven by bad weather, and brought in with them several large pieces of coal, which they said they found at some little distance from the beach, lying in considerable quant.i.ty on the surface of the ground. These people having conducted themselves improperly, while on sh.o.r.e, two of them were severely wounded by the natives, one of whom died soon after he reached the hospital.

The _Francis_ schooner sailed on the 21st with dispatches for Norfolk Island; the king's ships, the _Reliance_ and _Supply_, began the necessary preparations for their intended voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, and the first day of September was fixed for their departure.

Toward the latter end of the month two men from each officer were ordered to join the public gangs, it being found wholly impracticable to erect without more a.s.sistance any of the buildings which had now become indispensably necessary. Storehouses were much wanted; the barracks were yet unfinished; houses were to be built for the a.s.sistant-surgeons, those which had been erected soon after our arrival being now no longer tenable. A church too, of more substantial materials than lath and plaster, was wanted here and at Parramatta; as well as court-houses, or places where the courts of civil and criminal judicature might be held, and where the magistrates might meet to do the public business.

At Sydney, the bricklayers' gang was employed during this month in erecting a temporary court-house of lath and plaster; as it was uncertain when one to be built of bricks could be begun; and great inconvenience was felt by the judge-advocate and other magistrates in being obliged to transact business at their own houses.

We had at last the satisfaction of seeing usefully employed some of the cattle brought hither in the _Endeavour_. A careful person being found to conduct them, the timber-carriage was now, instead of men, drawn by six or eight stout oxen; and all the timber which was wanted for building, or other purposes, was brought to the pits by them, both here and at Parramatta. This was some saving of men, but eight people were still employed with each carriage.

The carpenters continued erecting the temporary shed for provisions; the town gang was employed delivering the storeships; and at Toongabbie some women were employed in making hay, intended to be put on board the king's ships for the cattle to be purchased at the Cape for the colony.

One man, Matthew Farrel, died in this month. He had been hurt in an affray with some watchmen in the night of the 17th of March last.

CHAPTER x.x.xII

Two men killed; consequent regulations The _Britannia_ hired to proceed to England Report of the natives The _Francis_ arrives from Norfolk Island Public works Deaths A criminal court a.s.sembled A settler executed for murder The _Susan_ sails A civil court held An American ship arrives from Boston A long-boat lost Deaths Weather A temporary church opened at Parramatta Appointments The _Supply_ sails for Norfolk Island and the Cape Account of stock Land in cultivation, and numbers in the colony A murder committed _Britannia_ sails for England General observations

July.] Among the many evils that were daily seen flowing from that state of dissipation which had found its way into the different settlements, we had to regret that two men lost their lives by the hand of violence. On Tuesday the 4th of this month, John Smith, a seaman belonging to the _Indispensable_, was shot at Sydney in the house of Mr. Daniel Payne, the master boat-builder, by a convict-servant of his; and on the same day, at the Hawkesbury, David Lane was shot by his master, John Fenlow, a settler at that place. The latter of these unfortunate men lived but a few hours; Smith the seaman was taken to the hospital, where he languished until the 9th, and then died. Fenlow and the convict were taken into custody, and would have been immediately brought to trial; but, through the carelessness of one of the watchmen, Fenlow found means, though inc.u.mbered with heavy irons, to escape from the cells, and was not retaken until the latter end of the month, when some natives discovered him lurking near his own grounds at the river, and, giving information, he was easily apprehended and secured.

These transactions were productive of some internal regulations which had long been wanting. Several settlers, with whose conduct the governor had had but too much cause to be displeased, were at length deprived of all a.s.sistance from government, and left to the exercise of their own abilities, pursuant to a notice which they received to that effect in the last month. Several other settlers also, who had been victualled from the public stores long beyond the period allowed them by the crown, were struck off from the victualling books. All persons off the stores, who of course did not labour for government, were ordered forthwith to appear at Sydney, in order to their being mustered and examined relative to their respective terms of transportation; when certificates were to be given to such as were regularly discharged from the commissary's books, and the settlers were directed not to employ any but such as could produce this certificate. Frequent visits were directed to be made by the magistrates, for the purpose of settling such differences as might arise among the settlers and other persons; and the governor signified his determination of inspecting their conduct himself from time to time, and of punishing such as were proved to afford shelter or employment to the thieves and vagabonds who ran to the river and other districts from this town and Parramatta.

These regulations being made known as publicly and generally as was possible, in order that none might plead ignorance, the town of Sydney was shortly filled with people from the different settlements, who came to the judge-advocate for certificates of their having served their respective sentences. Among these were many who had run away from public labour before their time had expired; some who had escaped from confinement with crimes yet unpunished hanging over their heads; and some who, being for life, appeared by names different from those by which they were commonly known in the settlement. By the activity of the watchmen, and a minute investigation of the necessary books and papers, they were in general detected in the imposition, and were immediately sent to hard labour in the town and jail gangs.

To the latter of these gangs additions were every day making; scarcely a day or a night pa.s.sed but some enormity was committed or attempted either on the property or persons of individuals. Two notorious characters, Luke Normington and Richard Elliott, were detected on the night of the 13th in a very suspicious situation in the commissary's stock-yard, which was well filled at the time with sheep and other stock. These were sent to the jail-gang, in company with one Sharpless, a convict, who, after marrying a woman that was a perfect antidote to desire, pretended to be jealous, and gave her such a dreadful beating, that her life was for some time in danger.

Stock of all denominations was at this time fast increasing in the different districts. An officer of the New South Wales corps, having obtained the governor's sanction for his quitting the colony in one of the ships now preparing for the Cape of Good Hope, sold to government a flock of goats, consisting of about one hundred animals, for 490 10s.

This was a valuable acquisition, and promises of stock to several deserving settlers were now performed.

The _Britannia_, being now cleared of the cargo she brought from Bengal on government account, was fitting again for sea, when Mr. Raven, the master, proffered her to the governor for the purpose of going direct to England, if his excellency should have any occasion to employ her in such a voyage. There were at this time several soldiers in the New South Wales corps wholly unfit for service; the governor had for some time intended to send home Mr. Clark, a superintendant of convicts, whose engagement with the crown had expired; and James Thorp, a person who had been sent out with a salary of 105 per annum, as a master millwright, but who was at this time unemployed in the settlement. To ease government at once of these expences, the governor thought it adviseable to charter the _Britannia_, for the purpose of taking home such invalids and pa.s.sengers as might be ordered, at the rate of fifteen shillings per ton per month; the charter to be in force on the first day of the ensuing month.

The public stores were opened during this month at Parramatta and the river for receiving Indian corn; which was taken in at five shillings per bushel for this season; but it was generally supposed, that there would not be occasion to give that price for it again.

Fresh pork was at this time purchased by the commissary at one shilling per pound, and issued as a ration, in the proportion of two pounds of fresh for one of salt meat.

It having been represented to the governor, that several people in the town of Sydney employed themselves in building boats for sale, and without obtaining any permission, a liberty which had crept into the settlement in opposition to all former orders and regulations on that head; and as it was well known that, notwithstanding the great convenience which must attend the having boats for various uses in this extensive harbour, many abuses were carried on through their means; it was ordered, that no boat whatever, of any size or description, should be built until applicationhad been made to the governor, and permission in writing obtained, either signed by the governor for the time being, or by some person properly authorised by him. It was also ordered, that all boats at that time in the possession of individuals should be forthwith taken to the master boat-builder, where a number was to be cut on the stern, and a register of such number was to be kept by the provost-marshal. All boats found without a number were to be liable to seizure.

The natives appeared less troublesome lately than they had been for some time past. The people of a fishing-boat, which had been cast on sh.o.r.e in some bad weather near Port Stephens, met with some of these people, who without much entreaty, or any hope of reward, readily put them into a path from thence to Broken Bay, and conducted them the greatest part of the way. During their little journey, these friendly people made them understand, that they had seen a white woman among some natives to the northward. On their reporting this at Sydney, this unfortunate female was conjectured to be Mary Morgan, a prisoner, who it was now said had failed in her attempt to get on board the _Resolution_ store-ship, which sailed from hence in 1794. There was indeed a woman, one Ann Smith, who ran away a few days after our sitting down in this place, and whose fate was not exactly ascertaineds; if she could have survived the hardships and wretchedness of such a life as must have been hers during so many years residence among the natives of New Holland, how much information must it have been in her power to afford! But humanity shuddered at the idea of purchasing it at so dear a price.

Toward the latter end of the month, there not remaining any more flour in the store than what was necessarily reserved for the use of his Majesty's ships _Reliance_ and _Supply_ to carry them to the Cape of Good Hope, nine pounds of wheat were added to the allowance of that article (three pounds) served to the civil, military, and free people.

A court of civil judicature was held on the 27th and 28th, when several debts were sworn to, and writs taken out.