New Year's Day
A convict drowned
A native killed
Signal colours stolen
_Supply_ sails for Norfolk Island
H. E. Dodd, Superintendant at Rose Hill, dies
Public works
Terms offered for the hire of the Dutch snow to England
The _Supply_ returns
State of Norfolk Island
Fishing-boat overset
Excessive heats
Officers and seamen of the _Sirius_ embark in the snow
_Supply_ sails for Norfolk Island, and the _Waaksamheyd_ for England
William Bryant and other convicts escape from New South Wales
Ruse, a settler, declares that he can maintain himself without assistance
from the public stores
Ration reduced
Orders respecting marriage
Port regulations
Settlers
Public works
1791.]
January.] On the first day of the new year the convicts were excused from
all kind of labour. At Rose Hill, however, this holiday proved fatal to a
young man, a convict, who, going to a pond to wash his shirt, slipped
from the side, and was unfortunately drowned.
The Indian corn beginning to ripen at that settlement, the convicts
commenced their depredations, and several of them, being taken with corn
in their possession, were punished; but nothing seemed to deter them, and
they now committed thefts as if they stole from principle; for at this
time they received the full ration, in which no difference was made
between them and the governor, or any other free person in the colony.
When all the provisions brought by the Dutch snow were received into the
public stores, the governor altered the ration, and caused five pounds of
rice to be issued in lieu of four pounds of flour, which were taken off.
Information having been received toward the close of the last month, that
some natives had thrown a spear or fiz-gig at a convict in a garden on
the west side, where they had met together to steal potatoes, the
governor sent an armed party to disperse them, when a club being thrown
by one of the natives at the party, the latter fired, and one man was
wounded. This circumstance was at first only surmised, from tracing a
quantity of blood from the spot to the water; but in a few days afterward
the natives in the town told us the name of the wounded man, and added,
that he was then dead, and to be found in a cove which they mentioned. On
going to the place, a man well known in the town since the intercourse
between us and his countrymen had been opened was found dead, and
disposed of for burning. He had been shot under the arm, the ball
dividing the subclavian artery, and Mr. White was of opinion that he bled
to death.
It was much to be regretted that any necessity existed for adopting these
sanguinary punishments, and that we had not yet been able to reconcile
the natives to the deprivation of those parts of this harbour which we
occupied. While they entertained the idea of our having dispossessed them
of their residences, they must always consider us as enemies; and upon
this principle they made a point of attacking the white people whenever
opportunity and safety concurred. It was also unfortunately found, that
our knowledge of their language consisted at this time of only a few
terms for such things as, being visible, could not well be mistaken; but
no one had yet attained words enough to convey an idea in connected
terms. It was also conceived by some among us, that those natives who
came occasionally into the town did not desire that any of the other
tribes should participate in the enjoyment of the few trifles they
procured from us. If this were true, it would for a long time retard the
general understanding of our friendly intentions toward them; and it was
not improbable but that they might for the same reason represent us in
every unfavourable light they could imagine.
About the middle of the month a theft of an extraordinary nature was
committed by some of the natives. It had been the custom to leave the
signal colours during the day at the flagstaff on the South Head, at
which place they were seen by some of these people, who, watching their
opportunity, ran away with them, and they were afterwards seen divided
among them in their canoes, and used as coverings.
On the 18th the _Supply_ quitted the cove, preparatory to her sailing for
Norfolk Island, which she did on the 22nd, having some provisions on
board for that settlement. She was to bring back Captain Hunter, with the
officers and crew of his Majesty's late ship _Sirius_. Her commander,
Lieutenant Ball, labouring under a very severe and alarming
indisposition, Mr. David Blackburn, the master, was directed by the
governor to take charge of her until Mr. Ball should be able to resume
the command.
The wound which McIntire had received proved fatal to him on the 22nd of
this month. He had appeared to be recovering, but in the afternoon of
that day died somewhat suddenly. On opening the body, the spear appeared
to have wounded the left lobe of the lungs, which was found adhering to
the side. In the cavity were discovered some of the pieces of stone and
shells with which the weapon had been armed. This man had been suspected
of having wantonly killed or wounded several of the natives in the course
of his excursions after game; but he steadily denied, from the time he
was brought in to his last moment of life, having ever fired at them but
once, and then only in defence of his own life, which he thought in
danger.
26th. Our colours were hoisted in the redoubt, in commemoration of the
day on which formal possession was taken of this cove three years before.
On the night of the 28th Henry Edward Dodd, the superintendant of
convicts employed in cultivation at Rose Hill, died of a decline. He had
been ill for some time, but his death was accelerated by exposing himself
in his shirt for three or four hours during the night, in search after
some thieves who were plundering his garden. His body was interred in a
corner of a large spot of ground which had been inclosed for the
preservation of stock, whither he was attended by all the free people and
convicts at Rose Hill. The services rendered to the public by this person
were visible in the cultivation and improvements which appeared at the
settlement where he had the direction. He had acquired an ascendancy over
the convicts, which he preserved without being hated by them; he knew how
to proportion their labour to their ability, and, by an attentive and
quiet demeanor, had gained the approbation and countenance of the
different officers who had been on duty at Rose Hill.
Mr. Thomas Clark, a superintendant who arrived here in the last year, was
directed by the governor to carry on the duties with which Mr. Dodd had
been charged, in which, it must be remarked, the care of the public grain
was included.
At Rose Hill great progress was made in the building of the new barracks.
At Sydney, the public works in hand were, building the new storehouse,
and two brick houses, one for the Rev. Mr. Johnson, and the other for
Mr. Alt, the surveyor-general. These two buildings were erected on the east
side of the cove, and in a line with those in the occupation of the
commissary and judge-advocate.
February.] The master of the Dutch snow having received instructions from
his owner, the sabandhaar at Batavia, to offer the vessel to the
governor, either for sale or for hire, after she should be cleared of her
cargo, mentioned the circumstance to his excellency, and proposed to him
to sell the vessel with all her furniture and provisions for the sum of
thirty-three thousand rix dollars, about £6,600, or to let her to hire at
fifteen rix dollars per ton per month; in either of which cases a passage
was to be provided for his people to the Cape of Good Hope. The governor
was desirous of sending this vessel to England with the officers and
people of the _Sirius_; but it was impossible to close with either of these
offers, and he rejected them as unreasonable. Her master therefore
dropped the vessel down to the lower part of the harbour, meaning to sail
immediately for Batavia. Choosing, however, to try the success of other
proposals, he wrote from Camp Cove to the secretary, offering to let the
vessel for the voyage to England for twenty-thousand rix dollars,
stipulating that thirty thousand rix dollars should be paid for her in
the event of her being lost; the crew to be landed at the Cape, and
himself to be furnished with a passage to England. On receiving this his
second offer, the governor informed him, that instead of his proposal one
pound sterling per ton per month should be given for the hire of the
snow, to be paid when the voyage for which she was to be taken up should
be completed. With this offer of the governor's, the master,
notwithstanding his having quitted the cove on his first terms being
rejected, declared himself satisfied, and directly returned to the cove,
saluting with five guns on coming to an anchor.
In adjusting the contract or charter-party, the master displayed the
greatest ignorance and the most tiresome perverseness, throwing obstacles
in the way of every clause that was inserted. It was however at length
finally settled and signed by the governor on the part of the crown, and
by Detmer Smith, the master, on the part of his owners, he consenting to
be paid for only three hundred tons instead of three hundred and fifty,
for which she had been imposed upon Lieutenant Ball at Batavia. The
carpenter of the _Supply_ measured her in this cove.
Directions were now given for fitting her up as a transport to receive
the _Sirius's_ late ship's company and officers; and Lieutenant Edgar,
who came out in the _Lady Juliana_ transport, was ordered to superintend
the fitting her, as an agent; in which situation he was to embark on
board her and return to England.
26th. The _Supply_, after an absence of just five weeks, returned from
Norfolk Island, having on board Captain Hunter, with the officers and
people of the _Sirius_; and Lieutenant John Johnson of the marines, whose
ill state of health would not permit him to remain there any longer.
We now found that our apprehensions of the distressed situation of that
settlement until it was relieved were well founded. The supply of
provisions which was dispatched in the _Justinian_ and _Surprise_ reached
them at a critical point of time, there being in store on the 7th of
August, when they appeared off the island, provisions but for a few days
at the ration then issued, which was three pounds of flour and one pint
of rice; or, in lieu of flour, three pounds of Indian meal or of wheat,
ground, and not separated from the husks or the bran. Their salt
provisions were so nearly expended, that while a bird or a fish could be
procured no salt meat was issued. The weekly ration of this article was
only one pound and an half of beef, or seventeen ounces of pork. What
their situation might have been but for the providential supply of birds
which they met with, it was impossible to say; to themselves it was too
distressing to be contemplated. On Mount Pitt they were fortunate enough
to obtain, in an abundance almost incredible, a species of aquatic birds,
answering the description of that known by the name of the Puffin. These
birds came in from the sea every evening, in clouds literally darkening
the air, and, descending on Mount Pitt, deposited their eggs in deep
holes made by themselves in the ground, generally quitting, them in the
morning, and returning to seek their subsistence in the sea. From two to
three thousand of these birds were often taken in a night. Their seeking
their food in the ocean left no doubt of their own flesh partaking of the
quality of that upon which they fed; but to people circumstanced as were
the inhabitants on Norfolk Island, this lessened not their importance;
and while any Mount Pitt birds (such being the name given them) were to
be had, they were eagerly sought. The knots of the pine tree, split and
made into small bundles, afforded the miserable occupiers of a small
speck in the ocean sufficient light to guide them through the woods, in
search of what was to serve them for next day's meal. They were also
fortunate enough to lose but a few casks of the provisions brought to the
island in the _Sirius_, by far the greater part being got safely on
shore; but so hazardous was at all times the landing in Sydney Bay, that
in discharging the two ships, the large cutter belonging to the _Sirius_
was lost upon the reef, as she was coming in with a load of casks, and
some women; by which accident, two seamen of the _Sirius_, of whom James
Coventry, tried at Sydney in 1788, for assaulting McNeal on Garden
Island, was one, three women, one child, an infant at the breast whose
mother got safe on shore, and one male convict who swam off to their
assistance, were unfortunately drowned. The weather, notwithstanding this
accident, was so favourable at other times, that in one day two hundred
and ninety casks of provisions were landed from the ships.
The experience of three years had now shown, that the summer was the only
proper season for sending stores and provisions to Norfolk Island, as
during that period the passage through the reef had been found as good,
and the landing as practicable as in any cove in Port Jackson. But this
was by no means certain or constant; for the surf had been observed to
rise when the sea beyond it was perfectly calm, and without the smallest
indication of any change in the weather. A gale of wind at a distance
from the island would suddenly occasion such a swell, that landing would
be either dangerous or impracticable.
It was matter of great satisfaction to learn, that the _Sirius's_ people,
under the direction of Captain Hunter, had been most usefully and
successfully employed in removing several rocks which obstructed the
passage through the reef, and that a correct survey of the island had
been made by Lieutenant Bradley, by which several dangers had been
discovered, which until then had been unknown.
The lieutenant-governor had, since taking upon him the command of the
settlement, caused one hundred and fourteen acres of land to be cleared;
and the late crops of maize and wheat, it was supposed, would have proved
very productive had they not been sown somewhat too late, and not only
retarded by too dry a season but infested by myriads of grubs and
caterpillars, which destroyed every thing before them, notwithstanding
the general exertions which were made for their extirpation. These vermin
were observed to visit the island during the summer, but at no fixed
period of that season.
Two pieces of very coarse canvas manufactured at Norfolk Island were sent
to the governor; but, unless better could be produced from the looms than
these specimens, little expectation was to be formed of this article ever
answering even the common culinary purposes to which canvas can be
applied.
Those officers who had passed some time in both settlements remarked,
that the air of Norfolk Island was somewhat cooler than that of ours,
here at Sydney; every breeze that blew being, from its insular situation,
felt there.
Martial law continued in force until the supplies arrived; and of the
general demeanor of the convicts during that time report spoke
favourably.
The _Lady Juliana_, passing the island in her way to China, was the first
ship that was seen; but, to the inexpressible disappointment and distress
of those who saw her, as well as to the surprise of all who heard the
circumstance, the master did not send a boat on shore. Nor were they
relieved from their anxiety until two days had passed, when the other
ships arrived.
This was the substance of the information received from Norfolk Island.
From an exact survey which had been made, it was computed, that not more
than between three and four hundred families could be maintained from the
produce of the island; and that even from that number in the course of
twenty years many would be obliged to emigrate.
On the _Supply's_ coming to an anchor, the _Sirius's_ late ship's
company, whose appearance bore testimony to the miserable fare they had
met with in Norfolk Island for several months, were landed, and lodged in
the military or portable hospital, until the _Waaksamheyd_ Dutch snow
could be got ready to receive them.
William Bryant, who had been continued in the direction of the
fishing-boat after the discovery of his malpractices, was, at the latter
end of the month, overheard consulting in his hut after dark, with five
other convicts, on the practicability of carrying off the boat in which
he was employed. This circumstance being reported to the governor, it was
determined that all his proceedings should be narrowly watched, and any
scheme of that nature counteracted. The day following this conference,
however, as he was returning from fishing with a boat-load of fish, the
hook of the fore tack giving way in a squall of wind, the boat got
stern-way, and filled, by which the execution of his project was for the
present prevented. In the boat with Bryant was Bennillong's sister and
three children, who all got safe on shore, the woman swimming to the
nearest point with the youngest child upon her shoulders. Several of the
natives, on perceiving the accident, paddled off in their canoes, and
were of great service in saving the oars, mast, etc. and in towing the
boat up to the cove.
In addition to other works in hand this month, the surveyor was employed
in clearing and deepening the run of water which supplied the settlement
at Sydney, and which, through the long drought, was at this time very
low, although still sufficient for the consumption of the place. Fresh
water was indeed every where very scarce, most of the streams or runs of
water about the cove being dried up.
At Rose Hill the heat on the 10th and 11th of the month, on which days at
Sydney the thermometer stood in the shade at 105 degrees, was so
excessive (being much increased by the fire in the adjoining woods) that
immense numbers of the large fox bat were seen hanging at the boughs of
the trees, and dropping into the water, which, by their stench, was
rendered unwholesome. They had been observed for some days before
regularly taking their flight in the morning from the northward to the
southward, and returning in the evening. During the excessive heat many
dropped dead while on the wing; and it was remarkable, that those which
were picked up were chiefly males. In several parts of the harbour the
ground was covered with different sorts of small birds, some dead, and
others gasping for water.
The relief of the detachment at Rose Hill unfortunately took place on one
of these sultry days, and the officer having occasion to land in search
of water was compelled to walk several miles before any could be found,
the runs which were known being all dry; in his way to and from the boat
he found several birds dropping dead at his feet. The wind was about
north-west, and did much injury to the gardens, burning up every thing
before it. Those persons whose business compelled them to go into the
heated air declared, that it was impossible to turn the face for five
minutes to the quarter from whence the wind blew.
8 a.m. 2 p.m, 10 p.m.
The greatest height of the thermometer
during this month was, 90 105 84
The least height of the thermometer
during this month was, 62 64½ 61
March.] On the 2nd of March Lieutenant Thomas Edgar hoisted a pendant on
board the snow, in quality of naval agent, on which occasion she fired
five guns. The preparations which were making on board that vessel were
not completed until toward the latter end of the month, at which time the
officers and seamen who were to go home in her were embarked.
Of the _Sirius's_ late ship's company, ten seamen and two marines chose
rather to settle here than return to their friends. Two of the seamen
made choice of their lands in this country, the others in Norfolk Island.
The majority of them had formed connections with women, for whose sake
they consented to embrace a mode of life for which the natural
restlessness of a sailor's disposition was but ill calculated. This
motive, it is true, they disavowed; but one of the stipulations which
they were desirous of making for themselves being the indulgence of
having the women who had lived with them permitted still to do so, and it
appearing not the least important article in their consideration, seemed
to confirm the foregoing opinion.
The number of officers who were to embark was lessened by Mr. Jamison,
the surgeon's mate of the _Sirius_, receiving the governor's warrant
appointing him an assistant surgeon to the colony, in which capacity he
was to be employed at Norfolk Island. For that settlement the _Supply_
was now ready to sail; and on the 21st, one captain, two subalterns, one
serjeant, one corporal, one drummer, and eighteen privates of the New
South Wales corps, embarked on board that vessel, to relieve a part of
the marine detachment doing duty there. Mr. Jamison and the ten settlers
from the _Sirius_ were also put on board, together with some stores that
had been applied for. Allotments of sixty acres each were to be marked
out for the settlers, which they were to possess under the same
conditions as were imposed on settlers in this country.
The _Supply_ sailed the following morning, carrying an instrument under
the hand and seal of the governor, restoring to the rights and privileges
of a free man John Ascott, a convict at Norfolk Island, who had rendered
himself very conspicuous by his exertions in preventing the _Sirius_ from
being burnt soon after she was wrecked.
On Monday the 28th the _Waaksamheyd_ transport sailed for England, having
on board Captain Hunter, with the officers and crew of his majesty's late
ship _Sirius_. By Captain Hunter's departure, which was regretted by
every one who shared the pleasure of his society, the administration of
the country would now devolve upon the lieutenant-governor, in case of the
death or absence of the governor; a dormant commission having been signed
by his majesty investing Captain Hunter with the chief situation in the
colony in the event of either of the above circumstances taking place.
In the course of the night of the 28th, Bryant, whose term of
transportation, according to his own account, expired some day in this
month, eluded the watch that was kept upon him, and made his escape,
together with his wife and two children (one an infant at the breast) and
seven other convicts, in the fishing-boat, which, since the accident at
the latter end of the last month, he had taken care to keep in excellent
order. Their flight was not discovered until they had been some hours
without the Heads.
They were traced from Bryant's hut to the Point, and in the path were
found a hand-saw, a scale, and four or five pounds of rice, scattered
about in different places, which, it was evident, they had dropped in
their haste. At the Point, where some of the party must have been taken
in, a seine belonging to government was found, which, being too large for
Bryant's purpose, he had exchanged for a smaller that he had made for an
officer, and which he had from time to time excused himself from
completing and sending home.
The names of these desperate adventurers were,
Came in the first fleet,
William Bryant, His sentence was expired.
Mary Braud his wife, and two children, She had 2 years to serve.
James Martin, He had 1 year to serve.
James Cox, He was transported for life.
Samuel Bird, He had 1 year and 4 months to serve.
Came in the second fleet,
William Allen, He was transported for life.
Samuel Broom, He had 4 years and 4 months to serve.
Nathaniel Lilly, He was transported for life.
William Morton, He had 5 years and 1 month to serve.
So soon as it was known in the settlement that Bryant had got out of
reach, we learned that Detmer Smith, the master of the _Waaksamheyd_, had
sold him a compass and a quadrant, and had furnished him with a chart,
together with such information as would assist him in his passage to the
northward. On searching Bryant's hut, cavities under the boards were
found, where he had secured the compass and such other articles as
required concealment: and he had contrived his escape with such address,
that although he was well known to be about making an attempt, yet how
far he was prepared, as well as the time when he meant to go, remained a
secret. Most of his companions were connected with women; but if these
knew any thing, they were too faithful to those they lived with to reveal
it. Had the women been bound to them by any ties of affection, fear for
their safety, or the dislike to part, might have induced some of them to
have defeated the enterprise; but not having any interest either in their
flight, or in their remaining here, they were silent on the subject. For
one young woman, Sarah Young, a letter was found the next morning,
written by James Cox, and left at a place where he was accustomed to work
in his leisure hours as a cabinet-maker, conjuring her to give over the
pursuit of the vices which, he told her, prevailed in the settlement,
leaving to her what little property he did not take with him, and
assigning as a reason for his flight the severity of his situation, being
transported for life, without the prospect of any mitigation, or hope of
ever quitting the country, but by the means he was about to adopt. It was
conjectured that they would steer for Timor, or Batavia, as their
assistance and information were derived from the Dutch snow.
The situation of these people was very different from that of Tarwood and
his associates, who were but ill provided for an undertaking so perilous;
but Bryant had long availed himself of the opportunities given him by
selling fish to collect provisions together, and his boat was a very good
one, and in excellent order; so that there was little reason to doubt
their reaching Timor, if no dissension prevailed among them, and they had
but prudence enough to guard against the natives wherever they might
land. William Morton was said to know something of navigation; James Cox
had endeavoured to acquire such information on the subject as might serve
him whenever a fit occasion should present itself, and Bryant and Bird
knew perfectly well how to manage a boat. What story they could invent on
their arrival at any port, sufficiently plausible to prevent suspicion of
their real characters, it was not easy to imagine.
The depredations committed on the Indian corn at Rose Hill were so
frequent and so extensive, that it became absolutely necessary to punish
such offenders as were detected with a severity that might deter others;
to this end, iron collars of seven pounds weight were ordered as a
punishment for flagrant offenders, who were also linked together by a
chain, without which precaution they would still have continued to
plunder the public grounds. The baker at that settlement absconded with a
quantity of flour with which he had been entrusted, belonging to the
military on duty there, and other persons. He was taken some days
afterward in the woods near Sydney. It must be remarked, however, that
all these thefts were for the procuring of provisions, and that offences
of any other tendency were very seldom heard of.
Some time in this month, James Ruse, the first settler in this country,
who had been upon his ground about fifteen months, having got in his crop
of corn, declared himself desirous of relinquishing his claim to any
further provisions from the store, and said that he was able to support
himself by the produce of his farm. He had shown himself an industrious
man; and the governor, being satisfied that he could do without any
further aid from the stores, consented to his proposal, and informed him
that he should be forthwith put in possession of an allotment of thirty
acres of ground in the situation he then occupied.
To secure our fresh water, which, though very low, might still be
denominated _a run_, the governor caused a ditch to be dug on each side
of it at some distance from the stream, and employed some people to erect
a paling upon the bank, to keep out stock, and protect the shrubs within
from being destroyed.
April.] The supplies of provisions which had been received in the last
year not warranting the continuing any longer at the ration now issued,
the governor thought it expedient to make a reduction of flour, rice, and
salt provisions. Accordingly, on the first Saturday in this month each
man, woman, and child above ten years of age, was to receive:
3 pounds of flour, 1 pound being taken off;
3 pounds of rice, ditto;
3 pounds of pork, ditto;
or when beef should be served,
4½ pounds of beef, 2½ pounds being taken off.
A small proportion was to be given to children under ten years of age;
and this ration the commissary was directed to issue until further
orders. Of this allowance the flour was the best article; the rice was
found to be full of weevils; the pork was ill-flavoured, rusty, and
smoked; and the beef was lean, and, by being cured with spices, truly
unpalatable. Much of both these articles when they came to be dressed
could not be used, and, being the best that could be procured at Batavia,
no inclination was excited by these specimens to try that market again.
It having been reported to the governor, that Bryant had been frequently
heard to express, what was indeed the general sentiment on the subject
among the people of his description, that he did not consider his
marriage in this country as binding; his excellency caused the convicts
to be informed, that none would be permitted to quit the colony who had
wives or children incapable of maintaining themselves and likely to
become burdensome to the settlement, until they had found sufficient
security for the maintenance of such wives or children as long as they
might remain after them. This order was designed as a check upon the
erroneous opinion which was formed of the efficacy of Mr. Johnson's
nuptial benediction; and if Bryant had thought as little of it as he was
reported to do, his taking his wife with him could only be accounted for
by a dread of her defeating his plan by discovery if she was not made
personally interested in his escape.
This order was shortly after followed by another, limiting the length of
such boats as should be built by individuals to fourteen feet from stem
to stern, that the size of such boats might deter the convicts from
attempts to take them off.
About this time some information being received, that it was in agitation
to take away the sixteen-oared boat belonging to the colony, or some one
or two of the smaller boats, a sentinel was placed at night on each
wharf, and the officer of the guard was to be spoken to before any boat
could leave the cove. In addition to this regulation, it was directed,
that the names of all such people as it might be necessary to employ in
boats after sun-set should be given in writing to the officer of the
guard, to prevent any convicts not belonging to officers or to the public
boats from taking them from the wharfs under pretence of fishing or other
services.
Mr. Schaffer, who came out from England as a superintendent of convicts,
finding himself, from not speaking the language (being a German)
inadequate to the just discharge of that duty, gave up his appointment as
a superintendant, and accepted of a grant of land; and an allotment of
one hundred and forty acres were marked out for him on the south side of
the creek leading to Rose Hill. On the same side of the creek, but nearer
to Rose Hill, two allotments of sixty acres each were marked out for two
settlers from the _Sirius_. On the opposite side the governor had placed
a convict, Charles Williams, who had recommended himself to his notice by
extraordinary propriety of conduct as an overseer, giving him thirty
acres, and James Ruse received a grant of the same quantity of land at
Rose Hill. These were all the settlers at this time established in New
South Wales; but the governor was looking out for some situations in the
vicinity of Rose Hill for other settlers, from among the people whose
sentences of transportation had expired.
During this month the governor made an excursion to the westward, but he
reached no farther than the banks of the Hawkesbury, and returned to Rose
Hill on the 6th, without making any discovery of the least importance. At
that settlement, the Indian corn was nearly all gathered off the ground;
but it could not be said to have been all gathered in, for much of it had
been stolen by the convicts. So great a desire for tobacco prevailed
among these people, that a man was known to have given the greatest part
of his week's provisions for a small quantity of that article; and it was
sold, the produce of the place, for ten and even fifteen shillings per
pound. The governor, on being made acquainted with this circumstance,
intimated an intention of prohibiting the growth of tobacco, judging it
to be more for the true interest of the people to cultivate the
necessaries than the luxuries of life.
The public works at Rose Hill consisted in building the officers
barracks; a small guardhouse near the governor's hut; a small house for
the judge-advocate (whose occasional presence there as a magistrate was
considered necessary by the governor), and for the clergyman; and in
getting in the Indian corn.
At Sydney, the house for the surveyor-general was covered in; and the
carpenters were employed in finishing that for the clergyman. Bricks were
also brought in for a house for the principal surgeon, to be built near
the hospital on the west side.
Many thefts, and some of money, were committed during the month at both
settlements. A hut belonging to James Davis, employed as a coxswain to
the public boats, was broken into; but nothing was stolen, Davis having
taken his money with him, and nothing else appearing to have been the
object of their search. His hut was situated out of the view of any
sentinel, and a night was chosen for the attempt when it was known that
he was on duty at Rose Hill.