Attempt of some Irish convicts to desert in search of a new settlement
Some punished
Steps taken to prevent future desertion
A settler's boat stolen
Particulars
The _Francis_ returns from the southward
Conjectures as to a strait
Natives
A convict providentially saved
Public works
Weather
1798.]
January.] The Irish prisoners who had arrived in the last ships from
that country had about this period become so turbulent and refractory,
and so dissatisfied with their situation, that, without the most rigid
and severe treatment, it was impossible to derive from them any labour
whatever. In addition to their natural vicious propensities, they conceived
an opinion that there was a colony of white people, which had been
discovered in this country, situated to the SW of the settlement, from
which it was distant between three and four hundred miles, and in which
they were assured of finding all the comforts of life, without the
necessity of labouring for them.
It was discovered, that, in consequence of this extraordinary rumour, a
plan had been formed, by means of a correspondence carried on between
these people, from one district to another, of escaping from the colony;
which was to be put in execution so soon as they had completed a
sufficient stock of provisions. The place of general rendezvous was fixed
upon, and they were furnished with a paper of written instructions for
their guidance to this fancied paradise, or to China; in addition to
which, they had been supplied with the figure of a compass drawn upon
paper.
Having received early information of the intentions of this party, the
governor wrote to a magistrate at Parramatta, desiring that he would go
to Toongabbie, where the principal part of the malcontents were employed,
and point out to them the danger to which so ill-advised a step would
expose them; but, as to attempt to reason with ignorance and obstinacy
was only to waste time, he was to acquaint them, that the governor would
allow any four of them whom they should select from their number, and who
they might think capable of travelling over steep and rocky mountains,
through thick and extensive woods, and fording deep and rapid streams, to
proceed as far as they should find themselves able with such provisions
as they could carry. That further, for the preservation of the lives of
those four men, he would order three other people, who were accustomed to
the woods of this country, and well acquainted with the savages of the
mountains, to accompany and lead them in the direction pointed out in
their written instructions,
On conversing with these infatuated people, it appeared, that the history
of the supposed settlement had its rise from some strange and
unintelligible account which one of these men, who had left his work, and
resided for some time with the natives, had collected from the mountain
savages.
A very few days demonstrated the effect of the governor's address to
these ignorant people. He received information, that considerable numbers
of them were assembling for the purpose of proceeding in quest of the new
settlement. He, therefore, directed a party of armed constables, to
waylay and secure as many as they were able; which was effected, and
sixteen were taken and put into confinement. On speaking to them the
following day, they appeared to be totally ignorant whither they were
going; but, observing in them as much obstinacy as ignorance, the
governor justly conceived that he could not use an argument more likely
to convince them of their misconduct, than by ordering a severe corporal
punishment to be inflicted at Sydney on those who appeared to be the
principals in this business; which was accordingly put in execution;
seven of them receiving each two hundred lashes; the remainder, after
being punished at Parramatta, were sent to hard labour and strictly
looked after.
On enquiry it appeared, that this party was composed of several who were
present when the magistrate addressed them by order of the governor; and
that others had assembled from different farms, which were situated at a
considerable distance from each other. The trouble taken to collect and
mislead these people proved to him that it was the work of some wicked
incendiary, who designed by this means to embarrass the public concerns
of the colony, and thereby throw obstacles in the way of his government.
Being, on further consideration of the necessity of checking this spirit
of emigration, determined to convince them, by their own experience, of
the danger and difficulties which attended it, the governor caused four
of the strongest and hardiest among them to be chosen by themselves, and
properly prepared for a journey of discovery. They were to be accompanied
by three men, upon whom the governor knew he could depend, and who were
to lead them back, when fatigued and exhausted with their journey, over
the very worst and most dangerous part of the country. This plan was no
sooner settled, than the governor received information on which he could
rely, that a party of these miscreants had concerted with the four
deputies to meet them at a certain place, where they were to murder the
persons intended to be their guides, possess themselves of their arms and
provisions, and then pursue their own route. This diabolical scheme was
counter-acted by the addition of four soldiers to the guides; and on the
14th they set off from Parramatta.
On the 24th the soldiers returned with three of the deputies, who, having
gained the foot of the first mountains, were so completely sick of their
journey, and of the prospect before them, that they requested to return
with the soldiers, whose mission here terminated, being ordered to leave
them at this place in the direction of the guides; one man only expressed
a resolution to persevere, and penetrate further into the country, and
was left with them for that purpose.
The history of these people might well be supposed to end here; but their
restless dispositions were not calculated to remain long in peace.
It will be seen, on recurring to the transactions of the month of October
last, that a boat belonging to a settler had been carried off in the
night, by some people who were supposed to have taken her out to sea,
where, from the weakness of the boat, they must soon have perished: but
they were now heard of again. Owen Cavanagh, a free man, had a boat which
he employed in transporting grain from the Hawkesbury to Sydney. On the
10th of this month, he informed the governor, that, a short time before,
his boat had been boarded in the night, off Mullett Island, by the very
people who had stolen the one from the settler, and carried her off, with
another containing fifty bushels of grain which some other person was
bringing to Sydney. One man, who had, against his wish, been concerned in
the first seizure, now left them, and returned with Cavanagh; and from
him the following account of their proceedings was obtained. Having
effected the capture, they proceeded to the southward, with the intention
of reaching the wreck of the ship _Sydney Cove_. For their guide,
they had a pocket compass, of which scarcely one man of the fourteen who
composed the party knew the use. In this boat they were twice thrown on
shore, and at last reached an island, where, had they not fortunately
found many birds and seals, they must inevitably have perished. From the
inconceivable hardships they underwent, they would to a man have gladly
returned, could they have hoped that their punishment would have been any
thing short of death. Finding it impossible for such a number of
discontented beings to continue of one mind, or to be able to furnish
food in their miserable situation for so many, they judged it necessary,
from a motive of self-preservation, that one half should deceive the
other half; and while these were asleep, those who were prepared took
away the boat, leaving their seven wretched and unsuspecting companions
upon the desolate island, the situation of which this man could not
describe so as to enable the governor at any time to find it. Their
number now being reduced to seven, and thinking themselves in danger near
this port, they had been lurking for some time about Broken Bay, with a
view of capturing a better boat loaded with grain from the Hawkesbury;
which they effected, first by taking the boat of Owen Cavanagh, the
support of whose wife and children it had long been. After securing him,
they took possession of a smaller boat, containing upwards of fifty
bushels of wheat; and, finding Cavanagh's the largest and best of the
two, they ran out about three or four leagues from the land, when they
shifted their prisoners into the smaller boat, and stood off to the
Northward; where it was very probable they would lose their boat, she
being of such a size, that if they should get her on shore by any
accident, they would not be able to launch her again, and must finally
perish.
Here we find extreme ignorance, accompanied by great cunning, producing
cruelty; for nothing less can be said of their abandoning the miserable
uninformed companions of their crime. Self-preservation was their plea;
but was there not a method left within their reach, which might have
preserved the whole? Might they not have returned to Sydney, and thrown
themselves upon that mercy which they had so often seen exercised in the
settlement. Could it be imagined, that at this day there was existing in
a polished civilised kingdom a race of beings (for they do not deserve
the appellation of men) so extremely ignorant, and so little humanised as
these were, compared with whom the naked savages of the mountains were an
enlightened people?
Occasional desertions of one or two people at a time had occurred since
the establishment of the settlement; but the first convicts who arrived
from Ireland in the _Queen_ in the year 1791 went off in numerous
bodies, few of whom ever returned. They too were prepossessed with the
possibility of penetrating through the woods to China, and imparted the
same idea to all of their countrymen who came after them, engaging them
in the same act of folly and madness. It was not then to be wondered at,
that Wilson, who lately came in from the woods, should, among other
articles of information, mention his finding more than fifty skeletons,
which the natives assured him had been white men, who had lost their way
and perished. This account was corroborated by different European
articles which were scattered about, such as knives, old shoes, and other
things which were known not to belong to the natives.
On the 20th the _Francis_ returned with Captain Hamilton from the
southward. Previous to his departure for the wreck of his ship, he had
informed the governor that she had on board nearly 7000 gallons of
spirits, and solicited permission to bring back a part with him in the
schooner. The governor, ever averse to the introduction of spirituous
liquors, would certainly have resisted the application; but, it being
generally known in the colony that a considerable quantity of this
article had been saved from the wreck, and that the island abounded with
kangaroos and birds, he conceived these circumstances not only to have
conduced to those desertions and captures of boats which had been
effected, but as likely to prove farther temptations to similar
practices. He therefore determined to purchase the rum of Captain
Hamilton; and, as there was none in store for the public service, to take
it on account of government. An agreement was accordingly entered into by
the commissary, and 3500 gallons were brought round in the _Francis_.
Captain Hamilton stated, that of all the other articles which had been
taken on shore from the wreck, a small quantity of coarse cloth alone had
been saved, the remainder having been destroyed by gales of wind and bad
weather. The wreck of the ship was entirely washed away. Of the six
Lascars who had been left with the property, one had died; the other five
were in health, and had lived tolerably well, killing upon a neighbouring
island as many kangaroos and birds as they could use. These poor fellows
had erected a smoke-house, and had salted and smoke-dried as much meat as
would serve them during the ensuing winter.
These people, though provided only with one small boat, had made some
excursions; and it appeared by their accounts, that this part of the
coast of New South Wales was formed entirely by a group of islands,
extending as far as they had seen to the westward of them, and
interspersed with many shoals. Hence, and indeed from observations which
he had made when on that part of the coast himself, the governor thought
it highly probable that there were many passages or straits quite through
to the ocean westward, making Van Diemen's land, the southernmost part of
New Holland, an island.
Captain Hamilton had left a cow with his people, but she had died; a mare
that he had been more fortunate with was brought away in the _Francis_.
Notwithstanding the severe trial which Cole-be had been put to for the
death of Ye-ra-ni-be, the friends of that young man had not thought it
sufficient to atone for his loss. One of them, Mo-roo-bra, in company
with some other natives, meeting with Cole-be, made an attack upon him,
with a determination to put an end to the business and his life together.
Cole-be, not yet recovered of the wounds that he had received in the last
affair, was unable to make much resistance; and, after receiving several
blows on the head, was supposed to have been dispatched; but Mo-roo-bra,
as they were quitting him, seeing him revive, and attempting to rise,
returned to finish this savage business; which so exasperated another
native, that he snatched up a spear, and in a rage threw it with all his
force at Mo-roo-bra. The spear entered his right side, just over the hip
bone, and went inclining downwards quite through the body, penetrating
the bladder in its passage. Of this wound he died in about an hour. On
the same evening this generous fellow was attacked by the friends of the
deceased in the usual way; and, as might be expected, defended himself
with great gallantry. He was, however, speared twice through the thigh,
once through the leg, and received a bad wound in the right hand. The
spear entered at the side of the hand, rather on the back part of it,
came out in the palm, entered again under the ball of the thumb, and came
out on the back of the hand, near the tendon of the forefinger. The very
little inflammation that attended these painful wounds was remarkable.
Both the officiating magistrates at Sydney being at this time much
indisposed, so great an inconvenience was felt, that the governor found
it necessary, through the want of other magistrates, to take upon himself
the execution of some part of their troublesome office. It must be
observed, that the governor for the time being is a justice of the peace,
by virtue of his Majesty's letters patent.
Towards the latter end of the month, he went up to Parramatta, attended
by his aid-de-camp, to examine the progress of the works carrying on
there.
While on this service, an Irish convict, who had escaped from his work,
and had been for some time missing, was brought in. He had wandered about
for several days in search of a road which he expected to have found, and
which was to have conducted him to China, or the new colony; but, his
strength failing with his provisions, he grew faint, and, despairing of
meeting with any relief, he had just sense enough to reverse the written
instructions which had been calculated solely to carry him out, directing
him to keep the sun on a particular part of his body, varying according
to the time of the day. By this method he travelled eastward, and in a
direction that led him nearly to the head of George's river, where a few
people were settled; and, having one morning heard the report of a gun at
a distance, he endeavoured to walk towards it, but was unable to make
himself heard by hallooing, when night overtook him. Being faint and
wearied, he took a little flour, which he still had in his pocket, and
sprinkling it on some fresh water, drank it, and laid himself down to
rest. In the morning, being somewhat refreshed, he again exerted himself
to get forward in the direction whence the report of the gun had revived
him, and soon after heard a man's voice, upon which he hallooed again,
and to his infinite joy was answered. The man, who was one of the
settlers, took him to his house, recruited his spirits, and brought him
into the town. On being questioned how he found his way back, he said,
'that a paper compass which had been given him was of no utility; he
therefore kept his face toward the place where the sun came from; but if
the hord (sic) had not been on his side, he should have been lost, for he
had been two whole days without any food, except a little flour and
water.'
Among the public works that were carrying on during this month must be
reckoned the laying another floor in the granary at Parramatta; repairing
the military barracks, store-houses, and every brick building belonging
to government, which were so far decayed as to be scarcely able to
support their own weight. These repairs, which they had long been in want
of, and which if sooner attended to would have preserved them from the
ruin they were fast approaching, with the various other buildings that
were so essentially requisite, completely stood in the way of making any
exertions in clearing and cultivating land, and considerably added to the
expenses of the colony. At Sydney the tower of the second wind-mill was
begun; and on the 31st, the building being completed for its reception,
the public clock was set up, and, for the first time, announced the hour
to the inhabitants at Sydney. The shipwrights were employed in
constructing a flat-bottomed vessel for the carriage of planks, posts,
etc.
Some heavy rain fell in this month, which for the time retarded all
out-door work; but it came very opportunely for the maize, the growth of
which had been rather obstructed by the dry weather which preceded.