The _Queen_ sails for Norfolk Island
Whalers on their fishing voyages
Convicts missing
Various depredations
Dispensary and bake-house robbed
Proclamation
A criminal court held
Convict executed
Transactions
The _Pitt_ with Lieutenant-Governor Grose arrives
Military duty fixed for Parramatta
Goods selling at Sydney from the _Pitt_
The _Pitt_ ordered to be dispatched to Norfolk Island
Commissions read
Sickness
The _Pitt_ sails
Mr. Burton killed
Stormy weather
Public works
Regulations respecting persons who had served their terms of transportation
Natives
1792.]
January.] Early in this month sixty-two people, settlers and
convicts, with Mr. Bayne, the chaplain of the New South Wales corps, who
offered his services, as there never had been a clergyman there, embarked
on board the _Queen_ transport for Norfolk Island, the master of that
ship having engaged to carry them and a certain quantity of provisions
thither for the sum of £150. Of the settlers twenty-two were lately
discharged from the marine service, and the remainder were convicts; some
of the latter, whose terms of transportation had expired, had chosen
Norfolk Island to settle in, and others were sent to be employed for the
public.
This ship, with the _Admiral Barrington_ for India, sailed on the 6th;
and the _Salamander_ and _Britannia_ whalers on the 7th, the masters of
the two latter ships signifying an intention of cruising for three months
upon this coast; at the end of which time, according to their success,
they would either return to this port, or pursue their voyage to the
northward.
Several convicts attempted to escape from the settlement on board of
these ships, some of whom were discovered before they sailed, and, being
brought on shore, were punished; but there was great reason to suppose
that others were secreted by the connivance of the seamen, and eluded the
repeated searches which were made for them.
In addition to this exportation, the colony lost some useful people whom
it could ill spare; but who, their terms of transportation having
expired, would not be induced to remain in the settlement, and could not
be prevented from quitting it.
By the commissary's report of the muster it appeared, that forty-four
men and nine women were absent and unaccounted for; among which
number were included those who were wandering in the woods, seeking for a
new settlement, or endeavouring to get into the path to China! Of these
people many, after lingering a long time, and existing merely on roots
and wild berries, perished miserably. Others found their way in, after
being absent several weeks, and reported the fate of their wretched
companions, being themselves reduced to nearly the same condition, worn
down and exhausted with fatigue and want of proper sustenance. Yet,
although the appearance of these people confirmed their account of what
they had undergone, others were still found ignorant and weak enough to
run into the woods impressed with the idea of either reaching China by
land, or finding a new settlement where labour would not be imposed on
them, and where the inhabitants were civil and peaceable. Two of these
wretches at the time of their absconding met a convict in their way not
far from the new grounds, whom they robbed of his provisions, and beat in
so cruel a manner that, after languishing for some time, he died in the
hospital at Parramatta. He described their persons, and mentioned their
names, with the precise circumstances attending their treatment of him,
and it was hoped that they would have lived to return, and receive the
reward of their crime; but one of their companions who survived them
brought in an account of their having ended a wicked and miserable
existence in the woods.
Depredations being nightly committed at the skirts of the town, and at
the officers' farms, by some of these vagrants, who were supposed to lurk
between this place and Parramatta, it was thought necessary to send armed
parties out at night for a certain distance round the settlement, with
orders to seize, or fire on, all persons found straggling; and several
were detected by them in the act of robbing the gardens at the different
farms. Indeed neither the property nor the persons of individuals were
safe for some time. Two villains came to a hut which was occupied by one
Williams a sawyer, and which he had erected at a spot at some distance
from the town where he could have a little garden ground, and attempted
to rob him; but the owner surprised them, and, in endeavouring to secure
them, was wounded so severely in the arm with a tomahawk, that the tendon
was divided; and it was supposed that he never would recover the perfect
use of the limb. They even carried their audacity so far, as to be
secretly meditating an attempt upon the barrack and storehouse at
Parramatta; at least, information of such a plan was given by some of the
convicts; and as there had been seen among them people silly enough to
undertake to walk to the other side of this extensive continent,
expecting that China would be found there, it was not at all improbable
that some might be mad enough to persuade others that it would be an easy
matter to attempt and carry the barracks and stores there. But no other
use was made of the report than the exertion of double vigilance in the
guards, which was done without making public the true motive. To the
credit of the convicts who came out in the first fleet it must be
remarked, that none of them were concerned in these offences; and of them
it was said the new comers stood so much in dread, that they never were
admitted to any share in their confidence.
As the Indian corn began to ripen the convicts recommenced their
depredations, and many were punished with a severity seemingly calculated
to deter others, but actually without effect. They appeared to be a
people wholly regardless of the future, and not dreading any thing that
was not immediately present to their own feelings. It was well known that
punishment would follow the detection of a crime; but their constant
reliance was on a hope of escaping that detection; and they were very
rarely known to stand forward in bringing offenders to punishment,
although such rewards were held out as one would imagine were sufficient
to induce them. It being necessary to secure four dangerous people, who,
after committing offences, had withdrawn into the woods, a reward of
fifty pounds of flour was offered for the apprehension of either of them,
but only one was taken.
The easy communication between Sydney and Parramatta had been found to be
a very great evil from the time the path was first made; but since the
numbers had been so much augmented at Parramatta, it became absolutely
necessary to put a stop to the intercourse. The distance was about
sixteen miles; and, unless information was previously given, a person
would visit Sydney and return without being missed: and as stolen
property was transferred from one place to another by means of this quick
conveyance, orders were given calculated to cut off all unlicensed
intercourse.
A report having been falsely propagated at Parramatta, that it was
intended by the governor to take the corn of individuals on the public
account, the settlers and convicts who had raised maize or other grain,
and who were not provided with proper places to secure it in, were
informed, that they might send it to the public store, and draw it from
thence as their occasions required; and farther, that they were at
liberty to dispose of such live stock, corn, grain, or vegetables, which
they might raise, as they found convenient to themselves, the property of
every individual being equally secured to him, and by the same law,
whether belonging to a free man or a convict. Such of the above articles
as they could not otherwise dispose of, they were told, would be
purchased by the commissary on the public account at a fair market-price.
Toward the latter end of the month some villains broke into the
dispensary at the hospital, and stole two cases of portable soup, one
case of camomile flowers, and one case containing sudorific powder. These
articles had been placed in the dispensary on the very evening it was
broken into, to be sent to Parramatta the following morning. The cases
with the camomile and sudorific powder (which perhaps they had taken for
sugar or flour) were found at the back of the hill behind the hospital;
and, in order to discover the persons concerned in this theft, as well as
those who maimed the sawyer, as before related, a proclamation was
published, offering to any person or persons giving such information as
should convict the principal offenders, a free pardon for every offence
which he, she, or they might have committed since their arrival in this
country; and that a full ration of provisions should be issued to such
person or persons during the remainder of their respective terms of
transportation.
Several people died at Parramatta, some of whom were at labour,
apparently in health, and dead in twenty-four hours. An extraordinary
circumstance attended, though it was not the cause of the death of one
poor creature: while dragging with others at a brick cart he was seized
with a fainting fit, and when he recovered was laid down under a cart
which stood in the road, that he might be in the shade. Being weak and
ill, he fell asleep. On waking, and feeling something tight about his
neck, he put up his hand, when, to his amazement and horror, he grasped
the folds of a large snake which had twined itself round his neck. In
endeavouring to disengage it, the animal bit him by the lip, which became
instantly tumid. Two men, passing by, took off the snake and threw it on
the ground, when it erected itself and flew at one of them; but they soon
killed it. The man who had fainted at the cart died the next morning,
not, however, from any effect of the bite of the snake, but from a
general debility.
At Parramatta the public bakehouse was broken into, and robbed of a large
quantity of flour and biscuit. The robber had made his way down the
chimney of the house, and, though a man and woman slept in the place,
carried off his booty undiscovered.
The convicts having assembled there at the latter end of the last month
in an improper and tumultuous manner, the governor now thought proper to
issue a proclamation, directing that 'in case of any riot or disturbance
among the convicts, every one who was seen out of his hut would (if such
riot or disturbance should happen in the night, or during the hours of
rest from labour, or if he were absent from his labour during the hours
of work) be deemed to be aiding and assisting the rioters, and be
punished accordingly.'
The convicts were strictly forbidden ever to assemble in numbers under
any pretence of stating a complaint, or for any other cause whatever, all
complaints being to be made through the medium of the superintendants or
overseers.
A disobedience to this proclamation was to be punished with the utmost
severity; and any person who, knowing of any intended riot or tumultuous
and unlawful assembly among the convicts, did not take the first
opportunity of informing either the commanding officer of the military or
one of the superintendants thereof, would be deemed and punished as a
principal in such riot.
An instance of the profligacy of the convicts which occurred at this time
is deserving of notice: a woman who had been entrusted to carry the
allowance of flour belonging to two other women to the bakehouse, where
she had run in debt for bread which she had taken up on their account,
mixed with it a quantity of pounded stone, in the proportion of
two-thirds of grit, to one of flour. Fortunately, she was detected before
it had been mixed with other flour at the bakehouse, and was ordered to
wear an iron collar for six months as a punishment.
February.] A criminal court was held at Parramatta on the 7th of this
month for the trial of James Collington, who, as before mentioned, had
broken into the public bakehouse at that place by getting down the
chimney in the night. It appeared that he had taken off about fifty
pounds of flour, which he tied up in an apron that he found in the room,
and the leg of a pair of trousers. He deposited the property under a
rock, and occasionally visited it; but it was soon seized by some other
nocturnal adventurer, and Collington then broke into another hut, wherein
eight people were sleeping, and took thereout a box containing wearing
apparel and provisions, without disturbing them, so soundly did fatigue
make them sleep; but he was detected in a garden with the property, and
secured. Being found guilty, he received sentence of death, and was
executed early the following morning. At the tree he addressed the
convicts, warning them to avoid the paths he had pursued; but said, that
he was induced by hunger to commit the crime for which he suffered. He
appeared desirous of death, declaring that he knew he could not live
without stealing.
Information having been received, that a great body of convicts at the
new grounds intended to seize some arms which had been given to the
settlers for their protection against the natives, and (after robbing
their huts) to proceed to the sea-coast, where, destroying every person
who should oppose them, they were to build a vessel, a convict who was
said to be a ringleader was taken up, and, upon the information which he
gave, five others were apprehended and chained together; in which
situation they continued for some time, when their scheme having been
defeated, and other steps taken to prevent their putting it in execution,
they were liberated, and returned to their usual labour.
Information would have been at all times more readily procured from these
people, had they not been constantly apprehensive of receiving
ill-treatment not only from the parties concerned, but from others who
were not; and although every assurance of protection was given by those
who were authorised to hold it out, yet it was not found sufficient to do
away the dread they were said to labour under. Accident, or a quarrel
among themselves, sometimes furnished information that was not otherwise
to be procured; and in general to one or other of these causes was to be
attributed every information that was received of any malpractices among
them.
A person who had been employed under one of the superintendants at
Parramatta, and in whom, from an uniformity of good conduct during his
residence in this country, some trust was at times placed, was detected
in giving corn to a settler from the public granary, to which he had
occasional access. The offence being fully proved, he was sentenced to
receive three hundred lashes, and the person to whom he had given the
corn two hundred lashes. It was seen with great concern, that there were
but few among them who were honest enough to resist any temptation that
was placed in their way.
A convict who had absconded five weeks since was apprehended by some of
the military at the head of one of the coves leading from Parramatta. He
had built himself a hut in the woods, and said when brought in, that he
had preserved his existence by eating such fish as he was fortunate
enough to catch, rock oysters, and wild berries; and that the natives had
more than once pursued him when employed in these researches. But very
little credit was given to any account he gave, and it was generally
supposed that he had lived by occasionally visiting and robbing the huts
at Sydney and Parramatta. He had taken to the woods to avoid a punishment
which hung over him, and which he now received.
Early in the month eight settlers from the marines received their grants
of land situated on the north side of the harbour near the Flats, and
named by the governor the Field of Mars.
The convicts employed in cultivating and clearing public ground beyond
Parramatta, having been landed in a weak and sickly state, wore in
general a most miserable and emaciated appearance, and numbers of them
died daily. The reduced ration by no means contributed to their
amendment; the wheat that was raised last year (four hundred and
sixty-one bushels) after reserving a sufficiency for seed, was issued to
them at a pound per man per week, and a pound of rice per week was issued
to each male convict at Sydney.
On Tuesday the 14th the signal was made for a sail, and shortly after the
_Pitt_, Captain Edward Manning, anchored in the cove from England. She
sailed the 17th of last July from Yarmouth Roads, and had rather a long
passage, touching at St. Iago, Rio de Janeiro, and the Cape of Good Hope.
She had on board Francis Grose, esq the lieutenant-governor of the
settlements, and major-commandant of the New South Wales corps, one
company of which, together with the adjutant and surgeon's mate, came out
with him.
She brought out three hundred and nineteen male and forty-nine female
convicts, five children, and seven free women; with salt provisions
calculated to serve that number of people ten months, but which would
only furnish the colony with provisions for forty days. The supply of
provisions was confined to salt meat, under an idea that the colony was
not in immediate want of flour, and that a supply had been sent from
Calcutta, which, together with what had been procured from Batavia, that
which had been sent before from England, and the grain that might have
been raised in the settlements, would be adequate to our consumption for
the present. The dispatches, however, which had been forwarded from this
place by the _Justinian_ in July 1790 having been received by the
secretary of state, what appeared from those communications to be
necessary for the colony were to be sent in one or more ships to be
dispatched in the autumn of last year, with an additional number of
convicts, and the remaining company of the New South Wales corps. A sloop
in frame, of the burden of forty-one tons, was sent out in the _Pitt_; to
make room for which, several bales of clothing, and many very useful
articles, were obliged to be shut out.
By this conveyance information was received, that the _Daedalus_ hired
storeship, which was sent out to carry provisions to the Sandwich islands
for two ships employed in those parts on discovery, was directed to
repair to this settlement after performing that service, to be employed
as there should be occasion, and that she might be expected in the
beginning of the year 1793.
The _Pitt_ brought in many of her convicts sick; and several of her
seamen and fifteen soldiers of the New South Wales corps had died shortly
after her leaving St. Iago, owing to her having touched there during an
unhealthy season.
The whole of the New South Wales corps, except one company, being now
arrived, the numbers requisite for the different duties were settled; and
one company, consisting of a captain, two lieutenants, one ensign, three
sergeants, three corporals, two drummers, and seventy privates, was fixed
for the duty of Parramatta; a like number for Norfolk Island, and the
remainder were to do duty at Sydney, the head quarters of the corps.
Permission having been obtained, a shop was opened at a hut on shore for
the sale of various articles brought out in the _Pitt_; and
notwithstanding a fleet of transports had but lately sailed hence,
notwithstanding the different orders which had been sent to Bengal, and
the high price at which every thing was sold, the avidity with which all
descriptions of people grasped at what was to be purchased was
extraordinary, and could only be accounted for by the distance of our
situation from the mother country, the uncertainty of receiving supplies
thence, and the length of time which we had heretofore the mortification
to find elapse without our receiving any.
March.] It being necessary to send to Norfolk Island a proportion of what
provisions were in store, the Pitt was engaged for that purpose; and for
performing this service her owners were to receive £651, a sum equal to
six weeks demurrage for that ship. From Norfolk Island she was to
proceed, upon her owners account, to Bengal; and her commander was
charged with duplicates of the letters and instructions given to
Lieutenant Bowen. In the event of any accident having prevented the
arrival of that officer at Calcutta, Captain Manning was to cause the
service with which he was entrusted to be executed, by applying to the
governor-general, and the house of Messrs. Lambert, Ross, and company,
for the supply of provisions, which the _Atlantic_ was to have brought,
to be forwarded to this country either by the _Pitt_, or by vessels to be
hired by that house at Calcutta.
This precaution was taken rather to guard against the worst that might
happen, than from any probability that the _Atlantic_ would not have
reached Calcutta, that ship being well fitted for such a voyage, strong,
well manned, and under the direction of an able and an active officer. To
her arrival, however, we looked forward at this period with some anxiety,
as the flour and salt provisions in the settlement already occupied but a
small portion of the stores which contained them, there being only
fifty-two days flour, and twenty-one weeks salt meat in store at the
ration now issued.
On the morning of Saturday the 17th the marines and New South Wales corps
formed under arms on the parade in front of the quarters, when his
Majesty's commission appointing Francis Grose, Esquire, to be
lieutenant-governor of this territory, and the letters patent under the
great seal for establishing the civil and criminal courts of judicature,
were publicly read by the judge-advocate. The governor and the principal
officers of the settlement attended, and his excellency received from the
corps under arms the honours due to his rank in the colony. At the
conclusion of the ceremony, the _Pitt_, by a well-concerted signal, saluted
with fifteen guns, as a compliment to the lieutenant-governor.
A person who came out to this country in the capacity of a carpenter's
mate on board the _Sirius_, and who had been discharged from that ship's
books into the _Supply_, having been left behind when that vessel sailed
for England, offered his services to put together the vessel that arrived
in frame in the _Pitt_; and being deemed sufficiently qualified as a
shipwright, he was engaged at two shillings _per diem_ and his provisions
to set her up. Her keel was accordingly laid down on blocks placed for
the purpose near the landing-place on the east side. As this person was
the only shipwright in the colony, the vessel would much sooner have
rendered the services which were required of her, had she been put
together, coppered, and sent out manned and officered from England; by
these means too the colony would have received many articles which were
of necessity shut out of the _Pitt_ to make room for her stowage.
About this time a malady of an alarming nature was perceived in the
colony. Four or five of the convicts were seized with insanity; and, as
the major part of those who were visited by this calamity were females,
who on account of their sex were not harassed with hard labour, and who
in general shared largely of such little comforts as were to be procured
in the settlement, it was difficult to assign a cause for this disorder.
April.] With a dreadful sick list, and with death making rapid strides
among us, the month of April commenced: a lamentable circumstance to
those who had to provide by their labour for the support of a colony, in
which, from its great distance, not only from the parent country, but
from every port where supplies could be procured, it became an object of
the first magnitude and importance to endeavour speedily, and by every
possible exertion, to place its inhabitants in a situation that accident
or delay might not affect. His Majesty's ship _Guardian_ afforded a
melancholy recollection how much this colony had already felt from
misadventure, and the delay which occurred in the voyage of the _Lady
Juliana_ transport had proved equally calamitous. The recent circumstance
of a ship arriving without a supply of flour, and other contingencies,
spoke with a warning voice, and loudly demanded that every arm which
could be raised should be exerted to make provision against the hour of
want. Few, however, in comparison with the measure of our necessities,
were the numbers daily brought into the field for the purpose of
cultivation; and of those who could handle the hoe or the spade by far the
greater part carried hunger in their countenances; but it was earnestly
hoped and anxiously expected, that by the speedy arrival of supplies from
England the full ration of every species of provisions would be again
issued, when labour would be renewed with additional vigour and effect;
health and strength be seen residing among us; and the approaches of
independence on Great Britain be something more than a sanguine hope or
visionary speculation.
The convicts, and such stores and provisions as the governor thought it
necessary to send to Norfolk Island, being embarked, the _Pitt_ sailed on
the 7th. Previous to her departure, a female convict was found secreted
on board, who declaring in her justification that the fourth mate of the
ship had assisted her in her escape, he was tried by the civil court of
judicature for taking a convict from the settlement, but, for want of
sufficient proof, was acquitted.
The practicability of being secreted on board of ships would always
operate as an inducement to wretches who saw a long term of servitude
before them to attempt their escape; but it certainly behoved every
master of a merchantman bound from this port to be very vigilant and
sedulous to prevent their succeeding, as the safety of the ship might be
very much endangered by having numbers of such people on board mixing
with their ship's company.
On Friday the 13th died Mr. David Burton, of a gunshot wound which he
received on the preceding Saturday. This young man, on account of the
talents he possessed as a botanist, and the services which he was capable
of rendering in the surveying line, could be but ill spared in this
settlement. His loss was occasioned by one of those accidents which too
frequently happen to persons who are inexperienced in the use of
fire-arms. Mr. Burton had been out with Ensign Beckwith, and some
soldiers of the New South Wales corps, intending to kill ducks on the
Nepean. With that sensation of the mind which is called presentiment he
is said to have set out, having more than once observed, that he feared
some accident would happen before his return; and he did not cease to be
tormented with this unpleasant idea, until his gun, which he carried
rather awkwardly, went off, and lodged its contents in the ground within
a few inches of the feet of the person who immediately preceded him in
the walk through the woods. Considering this as the accident which his
mind foreboded, he went on afterwards perfectly freed from any
apprehension. But he was deceived. Reaching the banks of the river, they
found on its surface innumerable flocks of those fowl of which they were
in search. Mr. Burton, in order to have a better view of them, got upon
the stump of a tree, and, resting his hand upon the muzzle of his piece,
raised himself by its assistance as high as he was able. The butt of the
piece rested on the ground, which was thickly covered with long grass,
shrubs, and weeds. No one saw the danger of such a situation in time to
prevent what followed. By some motion of this unfortunate young man the
piece went off, and the contents, entering at his wrist, forced their way
up between the two bones of his right arm, which were much shattered, to
the elbow. Mr. Beckwith, by a very happy presence of mind, applying
bandages torn from a shirt, succeeded in stopping the vast effusion of
blood which ensued, or his patient must soon have bled to death. This
accident happened at five in the afternoon, and it was not till ten
o'clock at night of the following day that Mr. Burton was brought into
Parramatta. The consequence was, such a violent fever and inflammation
had taken place that any attempt to save life by amputation would only
have hastened his end. In the night of the 12th the mortification came
on, and he died the following morning, leaving behind him, what he
universally enjoyed while living, the esteem and respect of all who knew
him.
A person of a far different character and description met with an
accidental death the following day. He had been employed to take some
provisions to a settler who occupied a farm on the creek leading to
Parramatta, and was killed by a blow from the limb of a tree, which fell
on his head and fractured his skull, without having allowed him that time
for repentance of which a sinful life stood so much in need. His
companions and fellow prisoners (for he was a convict) declared him to
have been so great a reprobate, that he was scarcely ever known to speak
without an oath, or without calling on his Maker as a witness to the
truth of the lie he was about to utter.
The weather had been for some days extremely bad, heavy storms of wind
and rain having generally prevailed from Monday the 9th till Friday the
13th, when fair weather succeeded. At Parramatta the gale had done much
damage; several huts which were built in low grounds were rendered almost
inaccessible, and the greater part of the wattled huts suffered
considerably. A large portion of the cleared ground was laid under water,
and such corn as had not been reaped was beaten down. At Sydney the
effects of the storm, though it had been equally violent, were not so
severe. Most of the houses were rendered damp, and had leaks in different
parts; seeds which had been recently sown were washed out of the ground,
and the bridge over the stream was somewhat injured. In the woods it had
raged with much violence; the people employed to kill game reported that
it was dangerous to walk in the forests; and the ground, covered with
huge limbs or whole trunks of trees, confirmed the truth of their report.
The bricklayers were immediately sent up to Parramatta, to repair the
damages effected by the storm; and the bridge at Sydney was not only
repaired, but considerably widened.
On Saturday the 13th an alteration took place in the ration. Three pounds
of flour, and two pounds of maize, with four pounds of pork, were served
to each man, and three pounds of flour, and one pound of maize, with four
pounds of pork, were served to each woman in the settlement.The children
received the usual proportion. To such alterations the settlement had now
for some years been habituated; and although it was well known that they
never were imposed but when the state of the stores rendered them
absolutely necessary, it was impossible to meet the deduction without
reflecting, that the established ration would have been adequate to every
want; the plea of hunger could not have been advanced as the motive and
excuse for thefts; and disease would not have met so powerful an ally in
its ravages among the debilitated and emaciated objects which the gaols
had crowded into transports, and the transports had landed in these
settlements.
The works in hand were, building brick huts at Sydney for convicts,
consisting of two apartments, each hut being twenty-six feet in front,
and fourteen feet in width, and intended to contain ten people, with a
suitable allotment of garden ground; completing tanks for water; widening
the bridge, etc. One day in each week was dedicated to issuing
provisions, and the labour of the other five (with interruptions from bad
weather, and the plea of the reduced ration) did not amount in all to
three good working days.
At Parramatta the principal labour was the getting in and housing the
maize, and preparing ground for the next year's grain. The foundations of
two material buildings were laid, a town-hall and an hospital. The
town-hall was intended to include a market-place for the sale of grain,
fish, poultry, live stock, wearing apparel, and every other article that
convicts might purchase or sell. An order establishing this regulation
had been given out at Parramatta, and a clerk of the market appointed to
register every commodity that was brought for sale or barter; directing,
in the case of non-compliance, the forfeiture both of the purchase-money
and of the article, to be given, one moiety to the informer, and the
other to the hospital for the benefit of the sick.
This order was meant to prevent the selling or interchanging of stolen
goods among the convicts; a measure that appeared to be daily becoming
more necessary. The depredations which were committed, hourly it might be
said, upon the maize, were very serious, and called for the interposition
of some measure that might prevent them, as punishments, however severe,
were not found effectually to answer the end. A convict who lived as a
servant with an officer was tried by the criminal court for robbing his
master, and being found guilty was sentenced to receive three hundred
lashes.
The colony had now been so long established, that many convicts who had
come out in the first fleet, and might be termed the first settlers in
the country, had served the several terms of transportation to which they
had been sentenced. Of the people of this description, some had become
settlers; some had left the country; others, to use their own
expressions, had taken themselves off the stores, that is to say, had
declined receiving any farther provisions from the public stores or doing
any public labour, but derived their support from such settlers or other
persons as could employ and maintain them; while others, with somewhat
more discretion, continued to labour for government, and to receive
their provisions as usual from the commissary. Of the latter description,
fourteen who were indulged with the choice of the place where they were
to labour, preferred the settlement at Sydney, and there had one hut
assigned to them for their residence. To prevent any imposition on the
part of those who professed to be supported by settlers, they were
directed to render an account at the end of each week of their respective
employments; for people who had not any visible means of living would
soon have become nuisances in the settlement.
It required something more than common application to adapt remedies to
the various irregularities which from time to time grew up in the
settlement, and something more than common ingenuity to counteract the
artifices of those whose meditations were hourly directed to schemes of
evasion or depredation.
The natives had not lately given us any interruption by acts of
hostility. Several of their young people continued to reside among us,
and the different houses in the town were frequently visited by their
relations. Very little information that could be depended upon respecting
their manners and customs was obtained through this intercourse; and it
was observed, that they conversed with us in a mutilated and incorrect
language formed entirely on our imperfect knowledge and improper
application of their words.