Transactions
Transports sail for China
The _Supply_ sails for Lord Howe Island
Return of stock in the colony in May
The _Supply_ returns
Transactions
A convict wounded
Rush-cutters killed by the natives
Governor's excursion
His Majesty's birthday
Behaviour of the convicts
Cattle lost
Natives
Proclamation
Earthquake
Transports sail for England
_Supply_ sails for Norfolk Island
Transactions
Natives
Convicts wounded
May.] The month of May opened with the trial, conviction, and execution
of James Bennett, a youth of seventeen years of age, for breaking open a
tent belonging to the _Charlotte_ transport, and stealing thereout
property above the value of five shillings. He confessed that he had
often merited death before he committed the crime for which he was then
about to suffer, and that a love of idleness and bad connexions had been
his ruin. He was executed immediately on receiving his sentence, in the
hope of making a greater impression on the convicts than if it had been
delayed for a day or two.
There being no other shelter for the guard than tents, great
inconvenience was found in placing under its charge more than one or two
prisoners together. The convicts, therefore, who were confined at the
guard until they could be conveyed to the southward, were sent to the
Bare Island at the entrance of this cove, where they were to be supplied
weekly with provisions from the store, and water from the _Sirius_, until
an opportunity offered of sending them away.
The three transports sailed on the 5th, 6th, and 7th of this month for
China. The _Supply_ also sailed on the 6th for Lord Howe Island, to
procure turtle and birds for the settlement, the scurvy continuing to
resist every effort that could be made to check its progress by medicine;
from the lateness of the season, however, little hope was entertained of
her success.
The governor having directed every person in the settlement to make a
return of what livestock was in his possession, the following appeared to
be the total amount of stock in the colony:
1 Stallion 2 Bulls 19 Goats 5 Rabbits 35 Ducks
3 Mares 5 Cows 49 Hogs 18 Turkeys 122 Fowls
3 Colts 29 Sheep 25 Pigs 29 Geese 87 Chickens
There having been found among the convicts a person qualified to conduct
the business of a bricklayer, a gang of labourers was put under his
direction, and most of the huts which grew up in different parts of the
cleared ground were erected by them. Another gang of labourers was put
under the direction of a stonemason, and on the 15th the first stone of a
building, intended for the residence of he governor until the
government-house could be erected, was laid on the east side of the cove.
The following inscription, engraven on a piece of copper, was placed in
the foundation:
His Excellency
ARTHUR PHILLIP Esq.
Governor in Chief and Captain General
in and over the Territory of New South Wales,
landed in this Cove
with the first Settlers of this Country,
the 24th Day of January 1788;
and on the 15th Day of May
in the same Year,
being the 28th of the Reign of His present Majesty
GEORGE the THIRD,
The First of these Stones was laid.
The large store-house being completed, and a road made to it from the
wharf on the west side, the provisions were directed to be landed from
the victuallers, and proper gangs of convicts placed to roll them to the
store.
Carpenters were now employed in covering in that necessary building the
hospital, the shingles for the purpose being all prepared; these were
fastened to the roof (which was very strong) by pegs made by the female
convicts.
The timber that had been cut down proved in general very unfit or the
purpose of building, the trees being for the most part decayed, and when
cut down were immediately warped and split by the heat of the sun. A
species of pine appeared to be the best, and was chiefly used in the
frame-work of houses, and in covering the roofs, the wood splitting
easily into shingles.
The _Supply_ returned in the afternoon of the 25th from Lord Howe Island,
without having procured any turtle, the weather being much too cold and
the season too late to find them so far to the southward.
To the southward and eastward of Lord Howe Island there is a rock, which
may be seen at the distance of eighteen leagues, and which from its shape
Lieutenant Ball has named Ball Pyramid.
On the 26th a soldier and a sailor were tried by the criminal court of
judicature for assaulting and dangerously wounding James McNeal, a
seaman. These people belonged to the _Sirius_, and were employed on the
island where the ship's company had their garden, the seamen in
cultivating the ground, and the soldier in protecting them; for which
purpose he had his firelock with him. They all lived together in a hut
that was built for them, and on the evening preceding the assault had
received their week's allowance of spirits, with which they intoxicated
themselves, and quarrelled. They were found guilty of the assault, and,
as pecuniary damages were out of the question, were each sentenced to
receive five hundred lashes.
Farther and still more unpleasant consequences of the ill-treatment which
the natives received from our people were felt during this month. On the
evening of the 21st a convict belonging to the farm on the east side was
brought into the hospital, very dangerously wounded with a barbed spear,
which entered about the depth of three inches into his back, between the
shoulders. The account he gave of the transaction was, that having
strayed to a cove beyond the farm with another man, who did not return
with him, he was suddenly wounded with a spear, not having seen any
natives until he received the wound. His companion ran away when the
natives came up, who stripped him of all his clothes but his trousers,
which they did not take, and then left him to crawl into the camp. A day
or two afterwards the clothes of the man that was missing were brought
in, torn, bloody, and pierced with spears; so that there was every reason
to suppose that the poor wretch had fallen a sacrifice to his own folly
and the barbarity of the natives.
On the 30th an officer, who had been collecting rushes in a cove up the
harbour, found and brought to the hospital the bodies of two convicts who
had been employed for some time in cutting rushes there, pierced through
in many places with spears, and the head of one beaten to a jelly. As it
was improbable that these murders should be committed without
provocation, inquiry was made, and it appeared that these unfortunate men
had, a few days previous to their being found, taken away and detained a
canoe belonging to the natives, for which act of violence and injustice
they paid with their lives.
Notwithstanding these circumstances, a party of natives in their canoes
went alongside the _Sirius_, and some submitted to the operation of
shaving: after which they landed on the western point of the cove, where
they examined every thing they saw with the greatest attention, and went
away peaceably, and apparently were not under any apprehension of
resentment on our parts for the murders above-mentioned.
June.] The governor, however, on hearing that the two rushcutters had
been killed, thought it absolutely necessary to endeavour to find out,
and, if possible, secure the people who killed them; for which purpose he
set off with a strong party well armed, and landed in the cove where
their bodies had been found; whence he struck across the country to
Botany Bay, where on the beach he saw about fifty canoes, but none of
their owners. In a cove on the sea-side, between Botany Bay and Port
Jackson, he suddenly fell in with an armed party of natives, in number
between two and three hundred, men, women, and children. With these a
friendly intercourse directly took place, and some spears, etc. were
exchanged for hatchets; but the murderers of the rush-cutters, if they
were amongst them, could not be discovered in the crowd. The governor
hoped to have found the people still at the place where the men had been
killed, in which case he would have endeavoured to secure some of them;
but, not having any fixed residence, they had, perhaps, left the spot
immediately after glutting their sanguinary resentment.
His Majesty's birthday was kept with every attention that it was possible
to distinguish it by in this country; the morning was ushered in by the
discharge of twenty-one guns from the _Sirius_ and _Supply_; on shore the
colours were hoisted at the flag-staff, and at noon the detachment of
marines fired three volleys; after which the officers of the civil and
military establishment waited upon the governor, and paid their respects
to his excellency in honor of the day. At one o'clock the ships of war
again fired twenty-one guns each; and the transports in the cove made up
the same number between them, according to their irregular method on
those occasions. The officers of the navy and settlement were entertained
by the governor at dinner, and, among other toasts, named and fixed the
boundaries of the first _county_ in his Majesty's territory of New South
Wales. This was called Cumberland County, in honor of his Majesty's
second brother; and the limits of it to the northward were fixed by the
northernmost point of Broken Bay, to the southward by the southernmost
point of Broken [sic] Bay, and to the westward by Lansdown and Carmarthen
Hills (the name given to the range of mountains seen by the governor in
an excursion to the northward). At sunset the ships of war paid their
last compliment to his Majesty by a third time firing twenty-one guns
each. At night several bonfires were lighted; and, by an allowance of
spirits given on this particular occasion, every person in the colony was
enabled to drink his Majesty's health.
Some of the worst among the convicts availed themselves of the
opportunity that was given them in the evening, by the absence of several
of the officers and people from their tents and huts, to commit
depredations. One officer on going to his tent found a man in it, whom
with some difficulty he secured, after wounding him with his sword. The
tent of another was broken into, and several articles of wearing apparel
stolen out of it; and many smaller thefts of provisions and clothing were
committed among the convicts. Several people were taken into custody, and
two were afterwards tried and executed. One of these had absconded, and
lived in the woods for nineteen days, existing by what he was able to
procure by nocturnal depredations among the huts and stock of
individuals. His visits for this purpose were so frequent and daring,
that it became absolutely necessary to proclaim him an outlaw, as well as
to declare that no person must harbour him after such proclamation.
Exemplary punishments seemed about this period to be growing daily more
necessary. Stock was often killed, huts and tents broke open, and
provisions constantly stolen about the latter end of the week; for among
the convicts there were many who knew not how to husband their provisions
through the seven days they were intended to serve them, but were known
to have consumed the whole at the end of the third or fourth day. One of
this description made his week's allowance of flour (eight pounds) into
eighteen cakes, which he devoured at one meal; he was soon after taken
speechless and senseless, and died the following day at the hospital, a
loathsome putrid object.
The obvious consequence of this want of economy was, that he who had
three days to live, and nothing to live on, before the store would be
again open to supply his wants, must steal from those who had been more
provident. Had a few persons been sent out who were not of the
description of convicts, to have acted as overseers, or superintendants,
regulations for their internal economy, as well in the articles of
clothing as provisions, might have been formed which would have prevented
these evils: it would then too have been more practicable to detect them
in selling or exchanging the slops which they received, and their
provisions would have been subject to a daily inspection. But overseers
drawn from among themselves were found not to have that influence which
was so absolutely necessary to carry any regulation into effect. And
although the convicts, previous to the birthday, were assembled, and
their duty pointed out to them, as well as the certain consequence of a
breach or neglect thereof, both by his excellency the governor and the
lieutenant-governor, yet it soon appeared that there were some among them
so inured to the habits of vice, and so callous to remonstrance, that
they were only restrained until a favourable opportunity presented
itself.
The convicts who had been sent to the rock, in the hope that lenity to
them might operate also upon others, were, on the occasion of his
Majesty's birthday, liberated from their chains and confinement, and his
excellency forgave the offences of which they had been respectively
guilty, and which had occasioned their being sent thither.
By some strange and unpardonable neglect in the convict who had been
entrusted with the care of the cattle, the two bulls and four cows were
lost in the beginning of this month. The man had been accustomed to drive
them out daily to seek the freshest grass and best pasturage, and was
ordered never on any pretence to leave them. To this order, as it
afterwards appeared, he very seldom attended, frequently coming in from
the woods about noon to get his dinner, leaving them grazing at some
little distance from the farm where they were kept; and in this manner
they were lost. They had strayed from the spot he expected to find them
on, or perhaps had been driven from it by the natives, and he spent two
days in searching for them before the governor was made acquainted with
the accident.
Several parties were successively sent out to endeavour the recovery of
stock so essential to the colony; but constantly returned without
success.
On the 27th a party of the natives, supposed to be in number from twenty
to thirty, landed at the point on the east side of the cove, between the
hours of eleven and twelve at night, and proceeded along close by the
sentinels, stopping for some time at the spot where the governor's house
was building, and in the rear of the tents inhabited by some of the
women. It was said that they appeared alarmed on hearing the sentinels
call out 'All is well,' and, after standing there for some time, went off
toward the run of water. The sentinels were very positive that they saw
them, and were minute in their relation of the above circumstances;
notwithstanding which, it was conjectured by many to be only the effect
of imagination. It is true, the natives might have chosen that hour of
the night to gratify a curiosity that would naturally be excited on
finding that we still resided among them; and perhaps for the purpose of
observing whether we all passed the night in sleep.
The cold weather which we had at this time of the year was observed to
affect our fishing, and the natives themselves appeared to be in great
want. An old man belonging to them was found on the beach of one of the
coves, almost starved to death.
It having been reported, that one of the natives who had stolen a jacket
from a convict had afterwards been killed or wounded by him in an attempt
to recover it, the governor issued a proclamation, promising a free
pardon, with remission of the sentence of transportation, to such male or
female convict as should give information of any such offender or
offenders, so that he or they might be brought to trial, and prosecuted
to conviction; but no discovery was made in consequence of this offer.
In the afternoon of the 22nd a slight shock of an earthquake was
observed, which lasted two or three seconds, and was accompanied with a
distant noise like the report of cannon, coming from the southward; the
shock was local, and so slight that many people did not feel it.
July.] The _Alexander_, _Prince of Wales_, and _Friendship_ transports,
with the _Borrowdale_ storeship, having completed their preparations for
sea, sailed together on the 14th of the month for England. Two officers
from the detachment of marines, Lieutenant Maxwell and Lieutenant
Collins, were embarked as passengers; these gentlemen having obtained
permission to return to Europe for the recovery of their healths, which
had been in a bade state from the time of their arrival in the country.
The following report was made by the principal surgeon, of the state of
the sick in the settlement, at the time of the departure of the ships:
The number of marines under medical treatment were 36
The number of convicts under medical treatment were 66
Convicts unfit for labour from old age and infirmities 52
And if idleness might have been taken into the account, as well it might,
since many were thereby rendered of very little service to the colony,
the number would have been greatly augmented.
It was now necessary to think of Norfolk Island; and on the 20th the
_Supply_ sailed with stores and provisions for that settlement.
Only two transports remained of the fleet that came out from England;
these were the _Golden Grove_ and _Fishburn_, and preparations were
making for clearing and discharging them from government service. The
people were employed in constructing a cellar on the west side for
receiving the spirits which were on board the _Fishburn_, and in landing
provisions from the _Golden Grove_, which were stowed in the large
storehouse by some seamen belonging to the _Sirius_, under the inspection
of the master of that ship.
From the nature of the materials with which most of the huts occupied by
the convicts were covered in, many accidents happened by fire, whereby
the labour of several people was lost, who had again to seek shelter for
themselves, and in general had to complain of the destruction of
provisions and clothing. To prevent this, an order was given, prohibiting
the building of chimneys in future in such huts as were thatched.
Several thefts were committed by and among the convicts. Wine was stolen
from the hospital, and some of those who had the care of it were taken
upon suspicion and tried, but for want of sufficient evidence were
acquitted. There was such a tenderness in these people to each other's
guilt, such an acquaintance with vice and the different degrees of it,
that unless they were detected in the fact, it was generally next to
impossible to bring an offence home to them. As there was, however,
little doubt, though no positive proof of their guilt, they were removed
from the hospital, and placed under the direction of the officer who was
then employed in constructing a small redoubt on the east side.
The natives, who had been accustomed to assist our people in hauling the
seine, and were content to wait for such reward as the person who had the
direction of the boat thought proper to give them, either driven by
hunger, or moved by some other cause, came down to the cove where they
were fishing, and, perceiving that they had been more successful than
usual, took by force about half of what had been brought on shore. They
were all armed with spears and other weapons, and made their attack with
some show of method, having a party stationed in the rear with their
spears poised, in readiness to throw, if any resistance had been made. To
prevent this in future, it was ordered that a petty officer should go in
the boats whenever they were sent down the harbour.
No precautions, however, that could be taken, or orders that were given,
to prevent accidents happening by misconduct on our part, had any weight
with the convicts. On the evening of the 27th one of them was brought in
wounded by the natives. He had left the encampment with another convict,
to gather vegetables, and, contrary to the orders which had been
repeatedly given, went nearly as far as Botany Bay, where they fell in
with a party of the natives, who made signs to them to go back, which
they did, but unfortunately ran different ways. This being observed by
the natives, they threw their spears at them. One of them was fortunate
enough to escape unhurt, but the other received two spears in him, one
entering a little above his left ear, the other in his breast. He took to
an arm of the bay, which, notwithstanding his wounds, he swam across, and
reported that the natives stood on the bank laughing at him.
Much credit, indeed, was not to be given to any of their accounts; but it
must be remarked, that every accident that had happened was occasioned by
a breach of positive orders repeatedly given.
Still, notwithstanding this appearance of hostility in some of the
natives, others were more friendly. In one of the adjoining coves resided
a family of them, who were visited by large parties of the convicts of
both sexes on those days in which they were not wanted for labour, where
they danced and sung with apparent good humour, and received such
presents as they could afford to make them; but none of them would
venture back with their visitors.