A FREE MAN.
"I must have liberty
Withal, as large a charter as the wind,
To blow on whom I please."
--SHAKESPEARE.
In 1843 I became a free man, and, after the knocking about I had had
for some years, sought the most comfortable quarters I could. I went
to the "Speed the Plough" hotel, which was kept by Mr. C----, and
there I found a good home, besides plenty to eat and drink, and a good
bed to sleep on. After a few months, however, I decided to leave
Port Macquarie and go to Sydney, from whence I walked to Windsor,
Parramatta, and other places in search of work. Not being successful
in this direction, however, I decided to wend my way back to Port, and
eventually arrived overland at Maitland. Here a constable came up to me
and inquired where I had come from, and "Was I free?" I told him where
I had been, and also that I was a free man. He then asked me what proof
I had to show that I was free, and I presented to him the pass that I
had received from the Police Office in Port Macquarie. He looked at
this for a little while, and then informed me that it was no good, and
that I would have to go with him to the lock-up. I told him that it was
a hard case after serving my term to be shut up in the lock-up again;
but he said that the pass was no good, and he could not help it--so off
I went.
The next day I was brought before the Police Magistrate, Mr. D----, as
a bolter; he asked me where I got the pass, and I told him. He then
asked me how long I had been at Port Macquarie, adding that anyone
could buy a pass like the one I had for half-a-crown. I told him I
wished I had known that, and I would have got one years ago. On
hearing this, he ordered the constable to take me away, and bring me up
again next morning, when he would sentence me to 100 lashes. "That," I
said, "is more than you dare do!" and I was marched away.
Instead of being brought up again the next morning, I was sent away
to Newcastle Gaol for identification. There I was kept three weeks,
until one afternoon Major C---- walked in, and I spoke to him, with the
result was that I was sent to Sydney the same night.
The next day Old Tim came into the lock-up, where I and some others
were. He gave them orders to do something but I was not on a par with
other prisoners, and so did not comply with it. He sang out to me,
"Here, you with the whiskers, stand up and let me see you!" I stood up,
and as soon as he saw me he said, "Your face is quite familiar to me;
you've been here often, and it's not the first time you've tried the
same dodge, you scoundrel!" I said, "You've never seen me before, Tim,"
and at being called Tim he got into a terrible rage, while I stood
grinning at him. Then he said, "By G--, you're not free, I'll get it
sent home to you, you saucy b----!" Then he left, and one of his flash
subordinates came into the lock-up with the "hominy," and he told me
that if I were not a free man I would catch it, as the super was in a
great rage at being called "Tim."
At 10 o'clock the same day I was sent into the office before Mr. R----,
and "Tim" was there to see how things went. I was put under the stand
to have my height tested, and my marks were taken, the result of the
examination being that my freedom was proved. A paper to this effect
was handed to me before leaving the office, and I shook it at "Tim" as
I left.
When I was put into the lock-up, I was possessed of three shirts, a
razor, a new silk handkerchief, and a new pair of trousers. I asked
the lock-up-keeper for them, but was only pushed out and told to go to
----. So I went back to Mr. R---- and complained, and he soon ordered
my things to be handed over to me.
I now started a second time to walk from Sydney to Port Macquarie--a
distance of over 200 miles--with ninepence in my pocket with which to
buy food on the journey. I got along all right until I reached the A.
A. Company's land near Stroud, where I was almost starving. Coming
through this land, however, I came by good fortune on a camp in which
there was a piece of damper about a week old, which I gladly ate, and I
would have eaten it had it been a year old, for it was a matter of eat
what you could get.
I could not swim then, nor have I learned since, consequently, when I
came to a river, I either had to cross it at the head, or else lash
some dead timber together, make a raft, and get across the rivers in
that manner.
Finally I arrived at the Manning river, and at this place had a
peculiar experience with a woman named Miss ----. She stuck me up with
a pistol, asked me my name and also where I had come from. I gave her
these particulars satisfactorily, and she then asked me if I were free,
and to show her my freedom. I told her that I had travelled all the way
from Sydney, and she was the first woman policeman I had met. After
this she wanted me to take a letter to Port Macquarie for her, but I
declined, and notwithstanding that she assured me it was not heavy, I
told her to take it herself, as it was only fifty miles. So I proceeded
to Port Macquarie without the letter after her impudence to me, and
arrived there two days later. It was not long after this before I got
constant work.