An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales Volume I Part 27

In the course of this month the lieutenant-governor judged it necessary to send an officer to Parramatta, whom he could entrust with the direction of the convicts employed there and at Toongabbie in cultivation, as well as to take charge of the public grain. This business had always been executed by one of the superintendants, under the immediate inspection and orders of the governor, who latterly had dedicated the greatest part of his time and attention to these settlements. But it was attended with infinite fatigue to his excellency; and the business had now grown so extensive, that it became absolutely necessary that the person who might have the regulation of it should reside upon the spot, that he might personally enforce the execution of his orders, and be at all times ready to attend to the various applications which were constantly making from settlers.

The lieutenant-governor, therefore (his presence being required at Sydney, the head-quarters of his regiment, and the seat of the government of the country) deputed this trust to Lieutenant John Macarthur, of the New South Wales corps; the superintendants, storekeepers, overseers, and convicts at the two settlements, being placed under his immediate inspection.

Charles Gray, a man who had rendered himself notorious in the registers of this colony by repeated acts of villainy, exhibited himself again to public view at the close of this month, and at a time when every one thought him a reclaimed man. He had been sent to Norfolk Island as a place where he would have fewer opportunities of exercising his predatory abilities than at Sydney; but the law having spent its force against him, he returned to this settlement as a free man in September last. On his declaring that he was able to provide for himself, he was allowed to work for his own support, and for some time past he had cut wood and drawn water for a drummer in the New South Wales corps, a man who, by much self-denial and economy, had got together and laid up thirty-three guineas, for the prudent and laudable purpose of hereafter apprenticing his children; but having unfortunately and most indiscreetly suffered this man to know, not only that he had such a sum, but where he kept it, Gray availed himself of a convenient opportunity, and carried off the whole sum, together with a s.h.i.+rt which lay in his way. On being taken up (for suspicion was directly fixed on him) he readily acknowledged the theft, and either was, or pretended to be, very much in liquor. On being urged to restore the property, he sent the watchmen to search for it in different places, but without directing them to the spot where he had concealed it. At last he was taken out himself, when accidentally meeting the lieutenant-governor he threw himself on the ground, pretending to be in a fit; on which he was directly ordered to be tied up and punished with one hundred lashes. After this he would not make any discovery, and was sent to the hospital. The drummer who had suffered so materially by this wretch, although the object of pity, yet, knowing as he must have done the character of the man, was certainly ent.i.tled to no small degree of blame for trusting with a secret of such importance to his family a man who he must have known could not have withstood so great a temptation.

The lieutenant-governor proposing to open and cultivate the ground commonly known by the name of the Kangaroo Ground, situate to the westward of the town of Sydney between that settlement and Parramatta, a gang of convicts was sent from the latter place for that purpose. The soil here was much better for agriculture than that immediately adjoining to the town of Sydney, and the ground lay well for cultivation; but it had hitherto been neglected, from its being deficient in the very essential requisite of water; on which account Parramatta had been preferred to it. The eligibility of cultivating it was however now going to be tried; and, permission having been received by the _Bellona_ to grant lands to those officers who might desire it, provided the situations of the allotments were such as might be advantageous to _bona fide_ settlers hereafter, if they ever should fall into such hands, several officers chose this as the spot which they would cultivate, and allotments of one hundred acres each were marked out for the clergyman (who, to obtain a grant here, relinquished his right to cultivate the land allotted for the maintenance of a minister), for the princ.i.p.al surgeon, and for two officers of the corps.

February.] The settlers who came out in the _Bellona_ having fixed on a situation at the upper part of the harbour above the Flats, and on the south side, their different allotments were surveyed and marked out; and early in this month they took possession of their grounds. Being all free people, one convict excepted, who was allowed to settle with them, they gave the appellation of '_Liberty Plains_' to the district in which their farms were situated. The most respectable of these people, and apparently the best calculated for a _bona fide_ settler, was Thomas Rose, a farmer from Dorsets.h.i.+re, who came out with his family, consisting of his wife and four children. An allotment of one hundred and twenty acres was marked out for him. With him came also Frederic Meredith, who formerly belonged to the _Sirius_, Thomas Webb, who also belonged to the _Sirius_, with his nephew, and Edward Powell, who had formerly been here in the _Lady Juliana_ transport. Powell having since his arrival married a free woman, who came out with the farmer's family, and Webb having brought a wife with him, had allotments of eighty acres marked out for each; the others had sixty each. The conditions under which they engaged to settle were, 'To have their pa.s.sages provided by government*; an a.s.sortment of tools and implements to be furnished them out of the public stores; to be supplied with two years' provisions; their lands to be granted free of expense; the service of convicts also to be a.s.signed them free of expense; and those convicts whose services might be a.s.signed them to be supplied with two years' rations and one year's clothing.' The convict who settled with them (Walter Rouse, an industrious quiet man) came out in the first fleet, and being a bricklayer by trade they thought he might be of some service to them in constructing their huts. He had an allotment of thirty acres marked out for him.

[* Government paid for each person above ten years of age the sum of eight pounds eight s.h.i.+llings; and allowed one s.h.i.+lling _per diem_ for victualling them; and sixpence _per diem_ for every one under that age.]

Many more officers availed themselves of the a.s.sent given by government to their occupying land, and fixed, some at Parramatta and others in different parts of the harbour, where they thought the ground most likely to turn out to their convenience and advantage. They began their settlements in high spirits; the necessary tools and implements of husbandry were furnished to them from the stores; and they were allowed each the use of ten convicts. From their exertions the lieutenant-governor was sanguine in his hopes of being enabled to increase considerably the cultivation of the country; they appeared indeed to enter vigorously into these views, and not being restrained from paying for labour with spirits, they got a great deal of work done at their several farms (on those days when the convicts did not work for the public) by hiring the different gangs; the great labour of burning the timber after it was cut down requiring some such extra aid.

On the 5th of the month the _Bellona_ was discharged from government employ. Twenty-one days were allowed for the delivery of her cargo; but, by taking off the people from the brick carts, and from some other works, she was cleared within the time. This s.h.i.+p was of four hundred and fifty-four tons burden, and was paid by government at the rate of four pounds four s.h.i.+llings per ton per month. A clause was inserted in the charter-party, forbidding the master to receive any person from the colony, without the express consent and order of the governor. The governor was also empowered to take her up for the purposes of the colony should he want her; but as the _Daedalus_ was expected, and the _Kitty_ was already here, both in the service of government, it was not necessary to detain her, and she sailed on the 19th for Canton.

The master having been permitted to receive on board two convicts (the number he requested) whose terms of transportation had expired, consented to his s.h.i.+p being smoked, when four people were found secreted on board, two of whom had not yet served the full periods of their sentences.

To prevent this s.h.i.+p's coming on demurrage while her cargo was delivering, the convicts worked in their own hours, as well as those allotted to the public, under a promise of having the extra time allowed them at a future day. While this labour was in hand, the building of the barracks stood still for want of materials; it therefore became necessary, when the brick carts could again be manned, to lose no time in bringing in a sufficient number of bricks to employ the bricklayers. This having performed, they claimed their extra time, which now amounted to sixteen days. As it would have proved very inconvenient to have allowed them to remain unemployed for that number of days, the lieutenant-governor directed the commissary to issue to each person so employed half a pint of spirits _per diem_ for sixteen days. Liquor given to them in this way operated as a benefit and a comfort to them: it was the intemperate use of spirits, procured at the expense of their clothing or their provisions, which was to be guarded against, and which operated as a serious evil.

For want of sufficient store-room, it was found necessary to stow a great part of the wet provisions and flour arrived by the _Bellona_ in tiers before the provision-store. Care was taken to shelter them from the sun and from the weather; and when the pile was completed, it was, until the eye was accustomed to the sight, an object of novelty and wonder; it never having occurred to us since we first built a store, to have more provisions than our stores could contain.

Gray, who had recovered from his last punishment, being now again urged to discover what he had done with the drummer's money, trifled until he was again punished, and then declared he had buried it in the man's garden; but being taken to the spot he could not find it, and in fact did not seem to know where to look for it. It was supposed, that, being in liquor when he committed the robbery, he was ignorant how he had disposed of the property, or that it had fallen into the hands of some person too dishonest to give it to the right owner. He was afterwards sent to the hospital, whence he made his escape into the woods.

On the evening of Sunday the 24th the signal was made at the South Head, a short time before dark, but too late to be observed at the settlement; at nine o'clock, however, information was received by the boat belonging to the South Head, that a s.h.i.+p from Calcutta was at anchor in the lower part of the harbour. In the morning she worked up, and anch.o.r.ed just without the cove. She proved to be the _Shah Hormuzear_, of about four hundred tons burden, commanded by Mr. Matthew Wright Bampton, from Calcutta, who had embarked some property on a private speculation for this country. Mr. Bampton, in September last, had sailed from Bombay, with a cargo of provisions and stock for this settlement; but when near the Line, his s.h.i.+p springing a leak, he was obliged to return, and got to Bengal, where, with the sanction of Lord Cornwallis, he took on board a fresh cargo for the colony. At Bengal he had met with Captain Manning, who sailed from hence in the _Pitt_ in April last, and who mentioned to him such articles as he thought were most wanted in these settlements.

Mr. Bampton had on board when he sailed, one bull, twenty-four cows, two hundred and twenty sheep, one hundred and thirty goats, five horses, and six a.s.ses; together with a quant.i.ty of beef, flour, rice, wheat, gram, paddy, and sugar; a few pipes of wine, some flat iron, and copper sufficient for the sloop's bottom which had been received in frame by the _Pitt_, and which Captain Manning remembered to have been sent out without that necessary article; a large quant.i.ty of spirits, and some canvas. In the article of stock, however, Mr. Bampton had been very unfortunate. His cattle died; of the sheep more than half perished; one horse and three a.s.ses died; and very few of the goats survived the voyage, a voyage by no means a long one, having been performed in eight weeks wanting three days, and in good weather. This mortality evidently did not proceed from any want of proper care, but was to be ascribed to their having been embarked immediately on being taken from the fields, and consequently wanting that stamina which a sea-voyage required.

The cattle that survived was purchased by the different officers of the colony, while the other part of the cargo, the spirits and canvas excepted, were taken by government. The amount of the whole purchased by government was 9603 5s 6d; for although a supply of provisions had been lately received from England, it was but a small one, and we were not yet in possession of that plenty which would have warranted our rejecting a cargo of provisions, particularly when brought on speculation. The hour of distress might again arrive, and occasions might occur that would excite a wish, perhaps in vain, for a cargo of provisions from Bengal. In addition to these reasons, it must be remarked, that the different articles which were purchased were of the best quality, and offered on reasonable terms.

By this s.h.i.+p we received information, that the _Queen_ transport had arrived safe at Bombay; but it was much feared that the _Admiral Barrington_, which sailed in company with the _Queen_ from this place on the 6th of January 1792, was lost, as no accounts had been received of her at any port in India, a considerable time after her arrival at Bombay from Batavia might reasonably have been expected. There arrived in the _Chesterfield_ a person who had been a convict in this country, but who had been allowed to take his pa.s.sage on board the _Admiral Barrington_.

This man quitted the _Admiral Barrington_ at Batavia, and got to the Cape in a Dutch s.h.i.+p, where meeting with Mr. Alt, he embarked with him, and by the accident which brought the _Chesterfield_ hither returned to this colony. On his arrival here, he circulated a report, that several of the convicts who had got on board of these two s.h.i.+ps had been landed by order of the masters at an island which they met with in their pa.s.sage to Batavia, inhabited indeed, but by savages; and that those who remained experienced such inhuman treatment, that they were glad to run away from them at the first port where any civilised people were to be found. He was himself among this number, and now declared that he was ready to make oath to the truth of his relation if it should be required. If there was any truth in his account, and the masters of these s.h.i.+ps did actually turn any people on sh.o.r.e in the manner already described, it was more than probable that an act of such apparent cruelty had been occasioned by some attempt of the convicts to take the s.h.i.+ps from them; and the numbers which were supposed to have been on board (seventeen) rather justified the supposition. Captain Manning, of the _Pitt_, who had taken from this settlement twenty men and nine women, found them so useless and troublesome, that he was very glad to leave the greatest part of them at Batavia*, and now declared that he regretted ever having received them on board. When these circ.u.mstances should be made public, it was thought that the masters of s.h.i.+ps would not be so desirous of recruiting their s.h.i.+ps' companies from among the inhabitants of this colony.

[* At that grave of Europeans the _Pitt_ lost eighteen of her people.]

The grain called dholl, which had been issued as part of the ration at the rate of three pints per man per week since the arrival of the _Atlantic_, was discontinued on the 25th, the whole of that article having been served out. It had been found useful for stock.

At Toongabbie the workmen were now employed in constructing a barn and granary upon a very extensive scale.

Among the females who died this month was one, a stout healthy young woman, of the name of Martha Todd, who came out in the _Mary Ann_, and fell a victim to a dysenteric complaint, which seized her after drinking too freely of the pernicious spirits which had been lately introduced into the colony. The same fate attended James Hatfield, a man who had been looked upon as a sober good character. He was on the point of obtaining a grant of land, and came from Parramatta to Sydney for the purpose of speaking about his allotment, when, unfortunately, he met with some of his friends, and partaking intemperately of the American rum, he was seized with a dysentery, which carried him off in a few days. In this way many others were affected after drinking, through want of a sufficient stamina to overcome the effect of the spirit.

March.] The repairs of the _Chesterfield_ having been completed, she was on the point of proceeding to sea, when the lieutenant-governor proposed to the master for the sum of 120 to take on board a freight of provisions for Norfolk Island; which he consenting to, she was hauled alongside the s.h.i.+p from Bengal, and a certain proportion of grain was put into her; after which, such salt provisions and stores as were intended to be conveyed by her were sent from the colony, and on the 10th she sailed for Norfolk Island.

In lieu of the three pints of dholl, which were now discontinued, an additional pound of flour was served; the civil and military receiving eight pounds, and the convicts seven pounds of flour per week, from the 9th; and in order to make a little room in the store, and that the officers might be accommodated with a better kind of flour, they were permitted to receive from the commissary two casks of American flour each, which were to be deducted from their ration.

The s.h.i.+p from Bengal, which was manned with Lascars, had no sooner hauled into the cove, and opened a communication with the sh.o.r.e, than a practice commenced among the convicts of disposing of the slops and blankets which they had lately received to the Lascars, who, trembling with the cold even of this climate, very readily availed themselves of their propensity to part with them; which was so great, that it became necessary to punish with severity such offenders as were detected.

On Tuesday the 12th the signal was made at the South Head, and by the noon of the following day two Spanish s.h.i.+ps anch.o.r.ed in the lower part of the harbour. An officer from one of them arriving at the settlement, we learned that they were the two s.h.i.+ps of whose expected arrival information had been received from government in the year 1790; and to whom it was recommended that every attention should be paid. They were named the _Descuvierta_ and _Atrevida_ (the _Discovery_ and the _Intrepid_); the former commanded by Don Alexandro Malaspina, with a broad pendant as the commander of the expedition, and the latter by Don Jose de Bustamante y Guerra. They had been three years and a half from Europe on a voyage of discovery and information; and were now arrived from Manilla, after a pa.s.sage of ninety-six days; touching in their way hither at Dusky Bay in New Zealand, from which they had sailed about a fortnight.

On their coming up, they anch.o.r.ed just abreast of the two points which form Sydney Cove, declining saluting, as it was not in our power to return it. These s.h.i.+ps were of three hundred and five tons burden each, and were built for the particular voyage on which they were sent. Great care was observable in their construction, both as to the strength of the vessels and the accommodation of the officers and the equipage. They were well manned, and had, beside the officers customary in king's s.h.i.+ps, a botanist and limner on board each vessel.

They had visited all the Spanish possessions in South America and other parts of the world, ascertaining with precision their boundaries and situations; gaining much information respecting their customs and manners, their importance with regard to the mother country, their various productions commercial, agricultural, botanical, and mineral. For all which purposes the officers on board appeared to have been selected with the happiest success. They most forcibly reminded us of the unfortunate Count de la Perouse and his followers, of whom these gentlemen had only heard that they were no more; and for whose destiny they expressed a feeling arising from their having traversed the ocean in the same pursuit, and followed in the same path. Equally sincere and polite as Count de la Perouse, the Spanish commodore paid a tribute to the abilities and memory of our circ.u.mnavigator Cook, in whose steps the Chevalier Malaspina, who was an Italian marquis and a knight of Malta, declared it was a pleasure to follow, as it left him nothing to attend to, but to remark the accuracy of his observations. They lost at the island of Luconia Don Antonio Pineda, a colonel of the Spanish guards, who was charged with that department of the expedition which respected the natural history of the places they visited. They spoke of him in high terms as a man of science and a gentleman, and favoured us with an engraving of the monument which they had caused to be erected over his grave at the place where he died; and from which the following inscription was copied:

ANTONIO . PINEDA .

Tribuno . Militum .

Virtute . In . Patriam . Bello . Armisque . Insigni .

Naturae . Demum . Indefesso . Scrutatori .

Trienni . Arduo . Itinere . Orbis . Extrema . Adiit .

Telluris . Viscera . Pelagi . Abyssos . Andiumque . Cac.u.mina. l.u.s.trans .

Vitae . Simul . Et . Laborum . Gravium .

Diem . Supremum . Obiit . In . Luconia . Phillipicarum .

VI Calendas . Julii . M.D.C.C.X.C.II.

Prematuram . Optimi . Mortem .

Luget . Patria . Luget . Fauna . Lugent . Amici .

Qui . Hocce . Posuere . Monumenturn .

The monument was designed by Don Fernando Brambila, the landscape-painter on board the _Atrevida_; and the inscription did credit to the cla.s.sical knowledge of Senor Don Fadeo Heencke, the botanist on board the _Descuvierta_.

Having requested permission to erect an observatory, they chose the point of the cove on which a small brick hut had been built for Bennillong by Governor Phillip, making use of the hut to secure their instruments. They did not profess to be in want of much a.s.sistance; but such as they did require was directed to be furnished them without any expense; it was indeed too inconsiderable to become an object of charge.

The arrival of these strangers, together with that of the s.h.i.+p from Bengal, gave a pleasant diversity to the dull routine that commonly prevailed in the town of Sydney; everyone striving to make their abode among us as cheerful as possible, and to convince them, that though severed from the mother country, and residing in woods and among savages, we had not forgotten the hospitalities due to a stranger.

The commission of offences was now so frequent, that it had become necessary to a.s.semble the criminal court during this month; and William Ashford, a lad who had been drummed out of the New South Wales corps, was tried for stealing several articles of wearing apparel from some of the convicts; of which being convicted, he was sentenced to receive three hundred lashes.

On the 21st the _Kitty_ returned from Norfolk Island, having on board Captain Paterson and his company of the new corps, together with a number of free people and convicts; amounting in all to one hundred and seventy-two persons; Governor King having been desired to get rid of any such characters as might be dangerous or troublesome to him.

Mr. King wrote very favourably of the state of the settlements, under his command. The crops of wheat and maize had produced so abundantly, as to insure him a sufficiency of that article for the next twelve months. The inhabitants were healthy; and such had been the effects of some wholesome regulations, and the attention of the magistrates to enforce them, that for the last three months not any offence deserving of punishment had been committed, nor a cob of corn purloined either of private or public property.

At the departure of the _Kitty_, he was busied in erecting some necessary buildings, as barracks, a granary, storehouses, etc. and had completed a very excellent house for his own use. Lime-stone having been found in great abundance on Norfolk Island, enabled him to build with some extent and security than had hitherto been done even in New South Wales. Several casks of this useful article were now imported in the _Kitty_, with a quant.i.ty of plank.

Captain Johnston's company in the new corps received some addition by this s.h.i.+p. Eight of the marine settlers, whose grounds, on extending the lines of their allotments, were found to intersect each other, and who had declined such accommodation as Governor King thought it proper to offer them, had resigned their farms, and preferred returning to their former profession.

Toward the latter end of the month information was received of some nefarious practices which had been carrying on at the store at Parramatta; the sum of which was, that the two convicts who had been employed in issuing the provisions under the storekeeper had been for some time in the habit of serving out on each issuing-day an extra allowance of provisions to one, or occasionally to two messes. The messes consisted of six people, and one of these six (taking any mess he chose) used to be previously informed by one or other of the convicts who served the provisions, that an extra allowance for the whole mess would be served to him, which he was to receive and convey away, taking care to return the allowance to them at night, then to be divided into three shares. To accomplish this fraud, an opportunity was to be taken of the storekeeper's absence, which might happen during the course of a long serving, and for which they took care to watch. On his return the mess for which one allowance had just been served was publicly called, and the whole served a second time. With this practice they had trusted nine or ten different people; and the wife of one man, who had a.s.sisted in the crime, in a fit of drunkenness confessed the whole.

On examination before the judge-advocate it appeared, in addition to the above circ.u.mstances, that this scheme had been carried on for about two months past; but there was little doubt of its having existed much longer.

It was no difficult matter to discover the persons who had a.s.sisted in this practice; and on their being taken up several confessed the share that they and others had had in it: upon which the lieutenant-governor ordered them all to be severely punished.

In the _Kitty_ arrived one of the superintendants who had at Norfolk Island been employed in manufacturing the flax plant; but which, for want of some necessary tools, he could not bring to much perfection. These had been written for to England, and he came hither to be employed at these settlements till they should arrive. He was now sent up to Toongabbie, to superintend the delivery of provisions at that place.

Notwithstanding the orders which had been given respecting spirits being in the possession of the convicts, on a search made in some suspected houses, fourteen or fifteen gallons were found in one night; and, being seized by the watchmen and the guard, were divided among them as a stimulus to future vigilance. The evil effect of this spirit was perceptible in the number of prisoners which were to be found every morning in the watch-house; for, when intoxicated, it could not be expected that people of this description would be very careful to avoid breaking the peace.

CHAPTER XXI