THE HARBOR OF MELBOURNE--CONVICT HULKS AND BUSHRANGERS.
In the afternoon the party visited Port Melbourne, formerly known as
Sandridge. Properly speaking, this is the harbor of Melbourne, and it is
situated near the mouth of the Yarra, where that stream enters Hobson's
Bay, the latter being an arm of Port Philip Bay. It is a busy place and
contains the usual sights of a harbor. Ships were discharging or
receiving their cargoes, some at the piers which jut out into the water,
while some were anchored away from the shore and were performing the
same work by means of lighters. On the other side of Hobson's Bay is
Williamstown, which is a sort of rival of Sandridge. A great deal of
shipping business is done there, and Williamstown contains, also,
graving docks and building yards where many vessels engaged in local
trade along the coast have been constructed. The gentleman who
accompanied our friends called their attention to the railways which
connect Williamstown and Sandridge with the city, and remarked that
times had changed since the gold rush in the early fifties.
"At the present time," said he, "you can go between Sandridge and
Melbourne for threepence or sixpence, according to the class you select,
but in the time of the gold rush prices were very much higher. If you
wanted a carriage from here to the city, you would be lucky to escape
for a sovereign, and a dray load of baggage drawn by a single horse
would cost fifteen dollars. There used to be an omnibus line that
carried passengers for two shillings and sixpence, but it was somewhat
irregular in its movements, and could not be relied on. Nowadays the
omnibus will carry you for threepence.
"When a ship arrived and anchored in the bay the passengers had to pay
three shillings each to be put on shore, and very often the boatman
raised the tariff to five shillings whenever he thought he could induce
or compel the passengers to pay it. The charge for baggage was a
separate one, and sometimes it cost more to take a quantity of baggage
from Sandridge to Melbourne than it had cost to bring it all the way
from London to Sandridge, a distance of thirteen thousand miles."
"It was a golden harvest for the boatmen and everybody else engaged in
the transportation business," Harry remarked.
"Indeed, it was," said the gentleman; "and a great many people had the
sense to perceive that they had a better chance for a fortune by
remaining right here than by going to the mines, where everything was
uncertain."
"I suppose everything else was in proportion, was it not?" queried Ned.
"That was exactly the case," was the reply. "When goods were brought on
shore they were loaded into carts for transportation to Melbourne, and
the cart was not allowed to move out of the yard until three pounds
sterling had been paid for taking the load to the city. The travelers
protested and said they would not pay, but they generally did, as there
was no other alternative. When they got to the city they found the same
scale of prices.
"The poorest kind of a room without any furniture would bring ten
dollars a week, and a stall in the stable of a hotel which would
accommodate two men rented readily for ten shillings a night.
Hotel-keepers made fortunes, or at least some of them did, and others
might have done so if they had taken care of their money. I have heard
of one hotel-keeper who had his house crammed full of patrons, none of
them paying less than ten shillings a night for their lodging, while he
had seventy-five lodgers in his stables, each of them paying five
shillings apiece.
"A great many people spread tents on the waste ground outside of the
city to save the expense of lodgings. They did not succeed altogether in
doing so, as the government required them to pay at the rate of sixty
dollars a year for the privilege of putting up a tent. Everybody was
anxious to get away from Melbourne as quickly as possible, but they
underwent great delays in getting their goods out of the ships."
"I suppose you had no railways at that time to facilitate travel," one
of the youths remarked.
"No; there were no railways and the only way of travel was by the
ordinary route, and very ordinary it was in many places. It was not a
graded and macadamized road such as you find in England, but simply a
rough pathway, principally of nature's manufacture. It was full of ruts
and gullies, very muddy in the rainy season, and terribly dusty in the
dry times. Travelers went to the mines in all sorts of ways, some on
foot, and some by ox and horse wagons, and if they had plenty of money,
and were determined to have luxury and speed at whatever cost, they
traveled by stage-coach. An American firm, Cobb & Company, came here in
the early days and established lines of stage-coaches, first from
Melbourne to the mines, and afterwards all over Australia. Cobb's
coaches are still running on some of the interior routes that are not
covered by railway, but wherever the locomotive has put in its
appearance it has forced them out of the way."
"I have read somewhere," said Harry, "that traveling on the road to the
mines was not very safe in those days."
"That depended somewhat on the way one was going," was the reply.
"Travelers going towards the mines were not very liable to attack, as
they were not supposed to have any money, but it was not so with those
coming from the mines to the coast. The natural supposition was that an
individual moving in the direction of Melbourne had 'made his pile' and
was on his way home. The country was infested with ex-convicts and men
who had escaped from convict service in Australia and Tasmania. They
were known as 'bushrangers,' and great numbers of them were along the
routes to the mines. They lived in caves among the hills, or in the open
air, and occasionally took shelter in out stations on sheep runs. They
supplied themselves with food by stealing sheep and cattle from the
ranches, and by robbing wagons laden with provisions on their way to the
mines. Clothing they obtained by the same system of plunder, and
whenever the haunt of a gang was discovered by the police it was almost
invariably found to be well stocked with provisions and clothing.
"These were the fellows that made life miserable to the miners returning
to the coast. The bushrangers traveled in gangs of all the way from five
to fifteen or twenty, and sometimes more, and each gang was led by the
most desperate man among them. They used to 'stick up' solitary
travelers, or travelers in groups of a dozen or more. They lay in wait
at turnings of the road or near the summits of hills, and generally took
their victims by surprise. If a man submitted quietly to be robbed, he
was generally left unharmed, but if he made any resistance, he was
knocked senseless or shot down without the least compunction. Sometimes
these gangs were so numerous that hardly a traveler escaped them. Then
there would be a lull in the business for a time and the road would be
particularly safe.
"Once a week or so, gold was sent down from the mines by the government
authorities; and of course it was accompanied by a strong and well-armed
escort of police. Many people entrusted their gold to the escort, paying
a high premium for the guarantee of safe delivery in Melbourne. A good
many people used to accompany the escort for the protection it afforded,
but the number became so great and troublesome that the government at
length refused to permit travelers to go in that way unless they paid
the same premium on the gold that they carried as was paid by those who
shipped the precious metal. Not infrequently the bushrangers attacked
the government escort, and on several occasions they were successful.
"It was a piece of good fortune that, as a general thing, the
bushrangers were never able to agree with each other very long. After a
gang had been organized and selected its leader, dissensions arose very
speedily, particularly as to the division of the spoil. The leader
always believed that he ought to have a larger share of the plunder than
anybody else, while all the subordinate members believed just as
earnestly that their stealings should be divided equally. In this way
quarrels took place. The captain would be deposed and another one
selected, and he in time would share the fate of his predecessors.
"Some of the bushrangers were quite famous for their bravery and daring,
and they used to give the police a great deal of hard fighting. On the
other hand, the police acquired a high reputation for their skill in
fighting and capturing bushrangers. They were instructed to bring in
their captives alive, if possible, but it did not injure their
reputations at all if they killed the scoundrels on the spot. The
government wanted to be rid of the rascals, and frequently offered
rewards for their capture, 'dead or alive.'
"Whenever the bushrangers made a haul of gold dust it was divided as
soon as possible, each man taking his share and doing with it what he
pleased. They generally hid their booty in spots known only to
themselves, and when any of the bushrangers were captured, the police
usually proceeded to draw from them the information as to where their
gold was concealed. Naturally, the fellows were unwilling to say, and if
they refused to tell, various means were resorted to to make them give
up the desired information. Singeing their hair, pinching their fingers
and toes, or submitting them to other physical tortures, were among the
means commonly used.
"When ordinary methods failed, a favorite device was to tie the
bushranger hand and foot, and then place him on an ant hill. The black
ant of Australia has a bite that is very painful, and when hundreds of
thousands of ants are biting a man all at once, the feeling is something
fearful. The ant-hill torture was generally successful. After submitting
to it for a time, the bushranger generally gave up the secret of the
whereabouts of his gold. I do not mean to say that all the police
officials indulged in this harsh treatment, but it is certain that many
of them did.
"It is probable that a great deal of stolen gold is concealed in the
country bordering the road from Melbourne to the gold diggings which
will never be found. Many of the bushrangers were killed while fighting
with the police, died of their wounds, or in prison, or managed to flee
the country without giving up the secret which would have enabled the
authorities to find where their treasures were concealed. Occasionally
one of their deposits is found by accident, but there are doubtless
hundreds which nobody will ever come upon.
"There was a great deal of lawlessness in and around Melbourne in those
days. One afternoon a band of robbers took possession of the road
between Melbourne and Sandridge, and 'stuck up' everybody who attempted
to pass. People were tied to trees and robbed, and for an hour or two
the bandits were in full possession of the road. They had one of their
number on watch who gave the signal when the police approached, and
thus they were enabled to get away in good time, leaving their victims
fastened to the trees.
"Once a ship was anchored in the harbor, ready to sail for England, with
several thousand ounces of gold on board. She was to leave the next
forenoon, and was to receive her crew and passengers early in the
morning. There were only some ten or twelve persons on board. Along
about midnight a boat came to the side of the ship, and, when hailed by
the lookout, the answer was given that two passengers were coming on
board. Two men came up the side of the ship dressed like ordinary
passengers, and without any suspicious appearance about them.
"While they were in conversation with the lookout and asking about the
location of their rooms, they suddenly seized and bound him, and put a
gag in his mouth to prevent his making an outcry. Then several other men
came up the side of the ship very quickly, and one by one all on board
were bound and gagged so quietly and speedily that they could not give
the least alarm. The robbers then opened the treasure-room, took
possession of the gold, lowered it into their boat and rowed away. They
were not on the ship more than half an hour, and as no one came to
ascertain the state of affairs and give the alarm until the next
morning, the robbers succeeded in getting away with all their plunder.
It was a very bold performance, but from that time such a careful watch
was kept on board of the ships that it could not be repeated.
"A fair proportion of the successful miners kept their money and went
home with it, but there was a large number who seemed to believe that
the best use to be made of gold was to get rid of it as quickly as
possible, and they found plenty of people ready and willing to help them
in this work; and it was not infrequently the case that miners were
killed for the sake of their gold, and their bodies disposed of in the
most convenient way. Most of the men who thus disappeared had no
relatives or intimate friends in the country, and consequently their
disappearance caused no inquiries to be made concerning them. If the
waters of Hobson's Bay would give up their dead, and the dead could
speak, there would be a long series of fearful tales."
"Those bushranger fellows must have been terrible men," remarked Harry
as the gentleman paused. "What did the authorities do with them whenever
they caught any?"
"They disposed of them in various ways," was the reply. "Those who had
been guilty of murder or an attempt at it were hanged, while those
against whom murder could not be proved were sent to the hulks for life
or for long terms of imprisonment."
"What were the hulks? I don't know as I understand the term."
"Oh, the hulks were ships, old ships that had been pronounced
unseaworthy and dismantled. They were anchored in Hobson's Bay after
being fitted up as prisons, and very uncomfortable prisons they were. A
most terrible system of discipline prevailed on board of these hulks.
The man who established the system, or rather, the one who had
administered it, was beaten to death by a gang of desperate convicts,
who rushed upon him one day on the deck of one of the hulks, with the
determination to kill him for the cruelties they had suffered. Before
the guards could stop them they had literally pounded the life out of
him and flung his body overboard."
"How long did they keep up that system?" one of the youths asked.
"From 1850 to 1857," their informant replied. "In the last-named year
the practise of imprisonment on board of the hulks was discontinued and
the convicts were put into prisons on shore. Four of the hulks were sold
and broken up, and the fifth, the _Success_, was bought by speculators
and kept for exhibition purposes. She was shown in all the ports of
Australia for many years, and was at last taken to England and put on
exhibition there. She was five months making the voyage from Australia
to England, and at one time fears were entertained for her safety; but
she reached her destination all right, and has probably reaped a harvest
of money for her exhibitors. She was built in India in 1790, her hull
being made of solid teak-wood. She was an East Indian trader for more
than forty years, then she was an emigrant ship, and finally, in 1852, a
convict hulk.
"The convicts on board these hulks, or at any rate the worst of them,
were always kept in irons, but this did not deter them from jumping
overboard and trying to swim to the shore. Very few of these ever
succeeded in reaching the land, as they were either carried to the
bottom by the weight of the irons, or were captured by the guard boats
that constantly surrounded the hulks. Most of the convicts were
confined in separate cells, and the 'history' of each convict was posted
on the door of his cell.
"Nearly the whole interior of the ship was thus divided into cells, and
when candles and lanterns were removed the places were in pitchy
darkness. I went on board the _Success_ one day, while she was on
exhibition here, long after she had given up her old occupation, and as
a matter of curiosity, I had myself shut up in one of the cells and the
light removed. I told them to leave me in for ten minutes only, not
longer.
"It was on the lower deck, where not a ray of light could come in, and
the place where they locked me in was one of the 'black holes' in which
prisoners were confined from one to twenty-eight days on bread and
water.
"As soon as they had locked me in and went away, I regretted that I had
made the suggestion. You have heard of its being so dark that you could
feel the darkness; well, that was the case down there. I felt the
darkness pressing upon me, and the air was very thick and heavy. I felt
an overwhelming desire to light a match, and discovered that I had no
matches in my pocket.
"One, two, three, and four minutes passed away, and I had had all I
wanted. I kicked and hammered at the thick door, and when it was opened
and I went out of the hold and up on deck, I was nearly blinded. How in
the world a man could stay in one of those places for a single day, let
alone twenty-eight days, without losing his reason is more than I can
understand."
Harry asked if all the prisoners were kept in solitary cells on board of
these hulks.
"Most, but not all, of them were confined in this way. There is a space
at the stern, and another in the center of the ship, heavily barred with
iron, where those who were considered utterly irreclaimable were huddled
together. It would almost seem as though the authorities deliberately
put them there in order that they should kill each other, as fights
among them were very frequent and not a few were murdered by their
companions. They did not work, they were simply in prison, that was all.
"The punishments that the convicts received were various. They had the
dark cells and bread and water of which I have told you, and then they
had floggings, and plenty of them, too. They were tied up by the thumbs
so that their toes just touched the deck, and they were compelled to
sustain the weight of the body either on their thumbs or their toes for
hours at a time. They were 'bucked,' 'gagged,' and 'paddled,' and
'cold-showered,' and treated to other brutalities which have been known
in the English army and navy for a long time. In spite of their
liability to punishment, many of them paid little attention to the
rules, and some were continually yelling in the most horrible manner,
and day and night the sound of their voices was heard.
"Over the hatchway was a wheel by which the food of the convicts was
lowered into the hold at morning, noon, and night; at other times it was
used for raising in an iron cage, from the lower decks, convicts who
were allowed exercise, but the weight of whose irons prevented their
ascending by the companionways. Many of them wore 'punishment balls'
attached to their irons. The punishment balls and chain together
weighed about eighty pounds, and frequently bowed the prisoner double.
"The heaviest leg irons weighed thirty-five pounds, and some of them
forty pounds. You will readily understand why it was that men who tried
to escape by swimming, with such weights about them, were almost
invariably drowned in the attempt.
"A good many famous criminals were confined on board of the _Success_
and her four sister hulks. Among them was the notorious Captain
Melville, who for several years haunted the country between Melbourne
and Ballarat, and was credited with many murders and countless
robberies. When he was finally caught he admitted that his own share of
the gold he had stolen amounted to not less than two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars, and he claimed that he had hidden it in a place known
only to himself. For the last forty years people have been trying in
vain to find out where Melville hid his ill-gotten gold. He was in the
habit of riding to the top of Mount Boran, whence, by the aid of a
powerful field-glass, he was able to see the returning gold miners on
the road. Consequently, it is believed that Melville's treasure must be
hidden in the neighborhood of Mount Boran, but all attempts to find it
have proved fruitless.
"Melville was tried and convicted and condemned to be imprisoned for
thirty-two years on board the _Success_. He watched his opportunity, and
formed a conspiracy with a number of his fellow-convicts to rush upon a
boat and the keeper in charge of it and take possession. The plan
succeeded and the escaped convicts pulled to the shore in safety,
although fired upon by all the hulks and war ships in the harbor.
Melville was soon recaptured, and at his trial he defended himself
brilliantly, relating in burning words the horrors of the penal system
on board the hulks.
"The speech was published in the Melbourne papers and caused a great
sensation. A great mass meeting of the citizens was held, and
resolutions were passed in favor of abolishing the convict hulks. The
popular feeling aroused against them was so strong and general that,
although the government had sentenced Melville to death for killing the
keeper in his attempt to escape, it was compelled to commute the
sentence to imprisonment for life. He was not sent back to the
_Success_, but was incarcerated in the jail at Melbourne. According to
the official report, he committed suicide there, but the unofficial
version of the affair is that he was strangled to death by a keeper
during a struggle in which the prisoner was trying to escape.
"Melville at one time had eighty men in his gang, the largest number of
bushrangers at any time under a single leader. Another scoundrel who was
confined on the _Success_ was Henry Garrett, who, in broad daylight,
'stuck up' the Ballarat bank and robbed it of 16,000 pounds. One of his
tricks consisted in wearing a suit of clothes of clerical cut, a white
necktie, and broad-brimmed hat. On one occasion he walked into the bank
dressed in this manner, stepped up to the safe and began to plunder it.
He was a man of good education, and varied robbery with the pursuit of
literature. He used to write essays and other articles, which he sent to
the newspapers, and on one occasion he wrote an essay on crime.
"One man, William Stevens, helped Melville and his gang in their
attempt to escape from the _Success_. He struck down a warder with a
stone-cutter's axe and jumped overboard. He was never seen again, and
the authorities were always in doubt whether he escaped or went to the
bottom, the prevailing opinion being in favor of the latter result.
Another famous bushranger was Captain Moonlight, who served his time and
became a respectable citizen. Another prisoner, after serving for
fifteen years, was given the position of 'guide' upon the vessel by her
owners, and made a comfortable income by showing visitors around."