Three southern whalers arrive, and an American from the Isle of France
A transport with female convicts arrives from England
_Reliance_ arrives from Norfolk Island
Information
John Raynor executed
Profligacy of the female part of the settlement
August
Civil regulations
The Sabbath neglected
Attendance enforced
Two whalers arrive
Public works
A native girl killed
Consequences
An extraordinary custom among them
September
The _Barwell_ sails for China, and the _Hunter_ for New Zealand
The bones of two horses found
Whalers sail
Public works
Weather
Fears for the approaching harvest
July.] The month opened with the arrival of the _Cornwall_, Southern
whaler, the master of which brought an account, that some Spanish
cruisers having appeared off Cape Horn, the whalers of the southern
fishery were directed to pass into these seas during the war. This ship
was directly followed by two others, the _Eliza_ from the Cape of
Good Hope, and the _Sally_.
This circumstance was likely to be attended with some advantages to the
settlement. The whale fishing on the coast would be effectually tried,
and the position of shoals, or the existence of harbours or rivers, be
ascertained.
Having in a few days refitted their ships, the three whalers sailed upon
their fishing voyages.
Previous to their departure, the _Argo_, a small American schooner,
arrived, last from the Isle of France, having on board a cargo of salt
provisions, some French brandy, and other articles, upon speculation; all
of which was brought to a good market. From the circumstance of this
ship's coming from the Mauritius, the governor entertained some jealousy;
and, as it was not impossible or improbable but that, under neutral
colours, a spy might be concealed, he judged it necessary to put the
battery on Point Maskelyne into a more secure and respectable state, and
to construct two redoubts in proper and convenient situations.
The ready sale which the speculators who called here constantly found for
their cargoes, together with the ruinous traffic which was carried on by
means of the monopolies that existed in opposition to every order and
endeavour to prevent them, would, beyond a doubt, without the
establishment of a public store on the part of government, keep the
settlers and others in a continual state of beggary, and extremely retard
the progressive improvement of the colony.
On the 18th arrived the _Britannia_ whaler from England, with 94
female convicts, who were forthwith landed, and some of them were sent to
Parramatta and Toongabbie. The cattle that were brought in the
_Hunter_, and which were sold by auction at this time, were not
greater objects of contest than were these females, the number of women
in the settlements bearing no proportion to the men.
The _Reliance_ and _Francis_ schooner, which had been sent to
Norfolk Island at the latter end of May, returned the 25th and 27th of
this month, having been absent on that service about 60 days, 27 of which
were taken up by the _Reliance_ on her passage back, she meeting
with blowing weather and much sea the whole way.
By her, the officer commanding on the island wrote, that a most improper
association had been entered into by the settlers and others which they
termed the Fraternal Society of Norfolk Island; and which, among others,
had for its object the uniting for the purpose of distressing the
government, by withholding the produce of their farms from the store; in
consequence of some misconduct on the part of the store-keepers, who
suffered the same monopoly to take place there, as was complained of in
New South Wales. They wrote at the same time to the governor, positively
denying their giving any name to their meeting but heavily complaining;
that, after much expense and trouble in rearing swine, the store-keepers
would not receive it.
The governor highly censured this manner of assembling, and, in a printed
notice which he sent thither, pointed out to the inhabitants, that if
they felt themselves labouring under any grievance real or supposed, they
were to submit their complaints respectfully to the officer in the
direction of the settlement, by one or two persons chosen for that
purpose, and not by a numerous body of people. Every other mode of
procuring redress was highly illegal, and could only tend to expose those
who might be concerned to a very considerable degree of danger.
It was necessary to assemble the court of criminal judicature once in
this month for the trial of an incorrigible offender, John Raynor. who
was convicted of house-breaking, and whose fate had been often merited
and long predicted. He left a letter, previous to his execution, in which
he enumerated the many offences that he had committed, and denied several
with which he had been charged.
Great complaints were now made of the profligacy of the women; who,
probably from having met with more indulgence on account of their sex
than their general conduct entitled them to, were grown so idle and
insolent, that they were unwilling to do any thing but nurse their
children; an excuse from labour which very few were without. Were their
value to be estimated by the fine children with which they had increased
and multiplied the numbers in the settlement, they certainly would have
been found to deserve every care and attention as useful members of
society; but their vices were too conspicuous and prominent to admit of
much palliation.
The heavy rains which had fallen in part of this and the preceding month
having very much damaged the public road between Sydney and Parramatta,
two gangs were employed in repairing them. The weather was much colder
than common at this season, and in the interior part of the country there
was a sharp frost during the night.
August.] An order having been given in the beginning of the month for
assembling the court of civil judicature, a recommendation to the
inhabitants was added, that when any bargain, contract, or agreement, was
made, between any party or parties, on any subject whatsoever, the same
should be reduced to writing, specifying in direct and clear terms what
the nature of such bargain or contract might be, and causing the same to
be properly witnessed, and subscribed by the parties concerned. This
measure was calculated to prevent disputes, litigation, and
misunderstandings, among the inhabitants, as well as to do away the great
inconvenience which the members of the court experienced every time they
were convened, from the loose and careless manner in which business was
brought before them.
On the 1st day of this month the regulation directed by government,
relative to the number of public servants which the officers were allowed
to retain, was put in force.
The abandoned and dissipated disposition of most of those who were or had
been convicts, so much to be regretted and so often mentioned, was
particularly manifest in a shameful abuse of the Sabbath, and a profane
ridicule with which every thing sacred was treated. A conduct so
derogatory to every Christian principle had from time to time been
severely reprobated; but it had now arrived at a height that called for
the exertion of every advocate for morality to subdue. Observing, that,
instead of employing the Sunday in the performance of those duties for
which that day was set apart, it was passed in the indulgence of every
abominable act of dissipation, the overseers of the different gangs were
strictly ordered to see their men mustered every Sunday morning, and to
attend with them at church. The superintendants and constables were to
see this order complied with, and that the women (who, to their disgrace,
were far worse than the men) were strictly looked after and made to
attend divine service regularly. And, as example might do something, the
officers were not only to send a certain number of their servants, but
they were also called upon, civil and military, to assist in the
execution of this order; to the meaning of which, the magistrates were
required in a particular degree to pay their attention, in compelling a
due obedience thereto, by preventing the opening of the licensed public
houses during the hours of divine service as well as any irregularity on
the day appropriated to the performance thereof.
In the evening of the 20th, the _Pomona_ and _Diana_, whalers
belonging to the southern fishery, anchored in the Cove. They brought an
account of much disturbance and disaffection in Ireland. Too much of the
same evil spirit seemed to prevail here among the late importations from
that kingdom.
Wishing to have that part of the coast examined in which a strait was
supposed to exist (between the latitude of 39 degrees 00 minutes S and
the land hitherto deemed the southern Promontory of New Holland, and
called Van Diemen's land), the governor resolved on sending Lieutenant
Flinders and Mr. Bass of the _Reliance_ on that service, in the
_Norfolk_, the small decked boat which had lately arrived from
Norfolk Island, and began fitting her properly for the voyage.
The battery on Point Maskelyne was nearly completed in this month. A few
carpenters were employed in laying a floor in Government House, and other
repairs; but several of the public works were nearly at a stand, many of
the sawyers being in the hospital. The powder magazine having been found
upon examination to be in a very insecure and dangerous state, the powder
was taken out and sent on board the _Supply_. This removal was the
more necessary, as an attempt had been made to open the door of the
magazine in the night. The weather was bad; and it was supposed that the
sentinel, whose box was thrown down and broken, had endeavoured to
shelter himself in the magazine.
The agricultural hands were employed in breaking up ground for maize in
the vicinity of Parramatta, and others were endeavouring to prepare
materials for a water-mill there.
The natives about this time excited a great deal of interest.
A young woman (nearly related to Bennillong), who had resided from her
infancy in the settlement, was most inhumanly murdered; and a native of
the Botany Bay district had driven a spear through the body of the lad
Nanbarrey. The name of the good-tempered girl (for such she was) was
War-re-weer; but, to distinguish her from others of the same name, an
addition was given to her in the settlement from a personal defect that
she had. Being blind of one eye, she was called, War-re-weer Wo-gul Mi,
the latter words signifying one eye. The circumstance of this girl's
being killed, and Nanbarrey wounded, occasioned much violence on the part
of their friends and relations, of which number were Cole-be and
Bennillong; the former of whom, falling in with the man who had wounded
the boy, revenged his treatment of him so fully that he died of his
wounds the following morning. Bennillong, in consequence of this, was
attacked, when alone, by two men; when he defended himself with much
address, and would have defied and foiled them both, had they kept fairly
and openly in his front; but one of them, with the treachery common to
those savage people, contrived to skulk behind, and throw a spear into
his side, the weapon penetrating seven inches into the cavity of his
body, and, from its direction, being supposed to have wounded the
intestines. He was taken on board the _Reliance_, where at first the
wound was attended with some unfavourable symptoms, nothing remaining
upon his stomach.
Gaining every day some further knowledge of the inhuman habits and
customs of these people, their being so thinly scattered through the
country ceased to be a matter of surprise. It was almost daily seen, that
from some trifling cause or other they were continually living in a state
of warfare; to this must be added their brutal treatment of their women,
who are themselves equally destructive to the measure of population, by
the horrid and cruel custom of endeavouring to cause a miscarriage, which
their female acquaintance effect by pressing the body in such a way, as
to destroy the infant in the womb; which violence not infrequently
occasions the death of the unnatural mother also. To this they have
recourse, to avoid the trouble of carrying the infant about when born,
which, when it is very young, or at the breast, is the duty of the woman.
The operation for this destructive purpose is termed Mee-bra. The burying
an infant (when at the breast) with the mother*, if she should die, is
another shocking cause of the thinness of population among them. The fact
that such an operation as the Mee-bra was practised by these wretched
people was communicated by one of the natives to the principal surgeon of
the settlement.
[* See Vol. I Appendix XI, viz: 'When the body was placed in the grave,
the bye-standers were amazed to see the father himself place the
living child in it with the mother. Having laid the child down,
he threw upon it a large stone, and the grave was instantly filled
in by the other natives. The whole business was so momentary, that
our people had not time or presence of mind sufficient to prevent it; and
on speaking about it to Cole-be, be, so far from thinking it inhuman,
justified the extraordinary act by assuring us that as no woman could be
found to nurse the child it must die a much worse death than that to
which he had put it. As a similar circumstance occurred a short time
after, we have every reason to suppose the custom always prevails among
them; and this may in some degree account for the thinness of population
which has been observed among the natives of the country.']
The death of the young man who was slain by Cole-be was to be revenged,
and a body of the southern or Tag-a-ry natives gave battle to those of
Sydney for that purpose several days after. The contest was carried on
with much desperation on both sides; three natives were killed, and
several others wounded, among whom was Bennillong, who, having perfectly
recovered of his late dangerous wound, appeared and fought on this
occasion as the friend of Cole-be.
The weather in the last month was remarked to be uncommonly cold. In the
latter part of this it was excessively sultry, and the wind high, which
set many parts of the country on fire, and destroyed some property. The
surveyor-general's house, and every article in it, was consumed by one of
these conflagrations.
September.] The _Barwell_ being ready for sea, she dropped down the
harbour on the 12th, and sailed the 17th of this month for China. Captain
Cameron, her commander, was allowed to receive on board about 50 persons
who had completed their period of transportation, and politely offered to
touch at Norfolk Island, for the purpose of landing any people whom the
governor might have occasion to send thither. In this ship Mr. Robert
Campbell, who arrived here in the _Hunter_ from Bengal, took his passage
to China. By this gentleman the governor addressed a letter to the
governor-general of India, informing his lordship, that having
transmitted to the Secretary of State copies of the letters upon the
subject of raising recruits in this country for the army in India, which
had been received in the year 1796*, by the officers who were sent from
Calcutta in the _Britannia_, it was the opinion of his Majesty's
ministers, that the inconveniences attending such a measure would more
than counter-balance the advantages of it, and that permission for that
purpose could not therefore be granted.
[* See Vol I Ch. XXXI, viz 'On board of this ship arrived two officers
of the Bengal army, Lieutenant Campbell and Mr. Phillips, a surgeon
of the military establishment for the purpose of raising two hundred
recruits from among those people who had served their respective
terms of transportation. They were to be regularly enlisted and
attested, and were to receive bounty-money; and a provisional
engagement was made with Mr. Raven, to convey them to India, if no other
service should offer for his ship.']
Indeed, had it been adopted, the army in India could not have been much
benefited; since, if the recruiting officers were nice as to the point of
character, small would be the number of their recruits, and, if not
overnice in this particular, small would be the portion of morality that
they would introduce.
In order to encourage as far as possible the rearing of swine in the
colony, as well as of every other kind of live stock, a circumstance that
must not only prove a great benefit to the public, but be also highly to
the advantage of those who devoted a part of their time to this useful
purpose, and which, from the advanced state of the private farms, might
now be done with far less trouble and expense than formerly, the settlers
and others were informed, that when any individual should have prepared a
number of such animals fit for the public store, they might make the same
known to the commissary, who, in order to prevent any unnecessary expense
to the feeder, would give immediate notice of the day and place when and
where he would receive them. He was also at liberty to enter into an
agreement or contract for a certain length of time, and on such
conditions as should be agreed, with any person who would engage to
furnish the public store either at Sydney, Parramatta, or the Hawkesbury,
with any certain quantity at stated periods.
The commander of the _Hunter_ snow, Mr. Fern, having found, like
most of those who had preceded him, that a voyage to New South Wales was
not a bad speculation, resolved on deriving some profit from his return.
It was understood at his departure, which was on the 20th, that he was
bound for New Zealand, for the purpose of cutting spars to load with back
to Bengal.*
[* Mr. Robert Campbell, who returned some time after to Port
Jackson, mentioned, that Captain Fern proceeded to the river Thames in
New Zealand, where his people cut down a quantity of very fine spars,
sufficient to load his vessel; but, being rather short of hands, he could
not have shipped them, had not the natives with much alacrity and good
humour assisted his people in getting them to the water's side. See Vol I
Ch. XXVIII, viz: 'In the course of that time they cut down upwards
of two hundred very fine trees, from sixty to one hundred and forty feet
in length, fit for any use that the East India Company's ships might
require. The longest of these trees measured three feet and a half in
the butt, and differed from the Norfolk Island pines in having the
turpentine in the centre of the tree instead of between the bark and
the wood. . . .']
Two men, who had been exploring the country to the northwest of Richmond
Hill and of the river Hawkesbury, fell in with the bones of two mares
which had been stolen some time since from Parramatta. It was very
probable, that the people who stole them had, after some time and
experience, found that travelling was not quite so practicable in this
country as they had imagined, and that, not being able to procure a
supply of food, they had been compelled by hunger to the necessity of
destroying their cattle, and living upon them as long as they could
possibly cat of them; after which they, no doubt, followed such route as
their judgment was capable of pointing out; but, unfortunately for them,
they could not have known which way they went. The bones of the mares,
the heads of which the men brought in to prevent any doubt of their
story, were found at not more than a good day's journey from the
Hawkesbury, which river they had no doubt crossed at one of its branches
higher up, where there are many fordable places.
Some of the whalers that were in the harbour, proceeding on their
fishery, the town was freed from the nuisance of their seamen, who could
not resist the two temptations, spirits and women, so peculiarly
calculated every where to lead them astray. The masters of the ships made
many complaints that they could not keep their people on board.
At Sydney the walls of the granary were completed, and part of the roof
got up. The battery also was finished.
The weather during the month had been so very sultry and dry, that there
was every appearance of being completely disappointed in the sanguine
expectations which had been entertained of a most abundant wheat harvest.
The pasture and garden grounds also were suffering exceedingly through
want of rain.