A vessel from America arrives
Part of her cargo purchased
George Barrington and others emancipated conditionally
The _Royal Admiral_ sails
Arrival of the _Kitty_ Transport
£1001 received by her
Hospital built at Parramatta
Harvest begun at Toongabbie
Ration increased
The _Philadelphia_ sails for Norfolk Island
State of the cultivation previous to the governor's departure
Settlers
Governor Phillip sails for England
Regulations made by the Lieutenant Governor
The _Hope_, an American Ship, arrives
Her cargo purchased for the colony
The _Chesterfield_ whaler arrives
Grant of land to an officer
Extreme heat and conflagration
Deaths in 1792
Prices of Stock, etc
November.] On the 1st of November, about eleven o'clock at night, the
_Philadelphia_ brigantine, Mr. Thomas Patrickson master, anchored in
the cove from Philadelphia. Lieutenant-governor King, on his passage
to this country in the _Gorgon_ in the month of July 1791, had seen
Mr. Patrickson at the Cape of Good Hope, and learning at that time from
the _Lady Juliana_ and _Neptune_ transports, which had just arrived there
from China, that the colony was in great distress for provisions,
suggested to him the advantage that might attend his bringing a cargo to
this country on speculation. On this hint Captain Patrickson went to
England, and thence to Philadelphia, from which place he sailed the
beginning of last April with a cargo consisting chiefly of American beef,
wine, rum, gin, some tobacco, pitch, and tar. He sailed from Philadelphia
with thirteen hands; but, in some very bad weather which he met with
after leaving the African shore, his second mate was washed overboard and
lost, it blowing too hard to attempt saving him.
The governor directed the commissary to purchase such part of the
_Philadelphia's_ cargo as he thought was immediately wanting in the
colony; and five hundred and sixty-nine barrels of American cured beef,
each barrel containing one hundred and ninety-three pounds, and
twenty-seven barrels of pitch and tar, were taken into store; the expense
of which amounted to £2829 lls.
Notwithstanding the great length of time Captain Patrickson had been on
his voyage (from the beginning of April to November) his speculation did
not prove very disadvantageous to him. A great part of his cargo, that
was not taken by government, was disposed of among the officers and
others of the settlement; and the governor hired his vessel to take
provisions to Norfolk Island, giving him £150 for the run. Captain
Patrickson had formed some expectation of disposing of his vessel in this
country; but the governor, having received intimation that the _Kitty_
might be detained in the service as long as he found it necessary after
her arrival, did not judge it expedient to purchase the vessel.
On the 3rd of the month three warrants of emancipation passed the seal of
the territory: one to John Trace, a convict who came out in the first
fleet; having but three months of his term of transportation remaining,
that portion of it was given up to him, that he might become a settler.
The second was granted to Thomas Restil (alias Crowder) on the
recommendation of the lieutenant-governor of Norfolk Island, on condition
that he should not return to England during the term of his natural life,
his sentence of transportation being _durante vitae_. The third warrant
was made out in favour of one who whatever might have been his conduct
when at large in society, had here not only demeaned himself with the
strictest propriety, but had rendered essential services to the
colony--George Barrington. He came out in the _Active_; on his arrival
the governor employed him at Toongabbie, and in a situation which was
likely to attract the envy and hatred of the convicts, in proportion as
he might be vigilant and inflexible. He was first placed as a
subordinate, and shortly after as a principal watchman; in which
situation he was diligent, sober, and impartial; and had rendered himself
so eminently serviceable, that the governor resolved to draw him from the
line of convicts; and, with the instrument of his emancipation, he
received a grant of thirty acres of land in an eligible situation near
Parramatta.* Here was not only a reward for past good conduct, but an
incitement to a continuance of it; and Barrington found himself, through
the governor's liberality, though not so absolutely free as to return to
England at his own pleasure, yet enjoying the immunities of a free man, a
settler, and a civil officer, in whose integrity much confidence was
placed.
[* He was afterwards sworn in as a peace officer.]
On the 13th the _Royal Admiral_ sailed for Canton. Of the private
speculation brought out in this ship, they sold at this place and at
Parramatta to the amount of £3600 and left articles to be sold on
commission to the amount of £750 more.
Captain Bond was obliged to leave behind him one of his quartermasters
and six sailors, who ran away from the ship. The quartermaster had served
in the same capacity on board of the _Sirius_, and immediately after his
arrival in England (in the snow) engaged himself with Captain Bond for
the whole of the voyage; but a few days before the departure of the ship
from this port, he found means to leave her, and, assisted by some of the
settlers, concealed himself in the woods until concealment was no longer
necessary. On giving himself up, he entered on board the _Atlantic_; but
on his declaring that he did not intend returning to England, the
governor ordered him into confinement. The sailors were put into one of
the longboats, to be employed between this place and Parramatta, until
they could be put on board a ship that might convey them hence.
It was never desirable that seamen should receive encouragement to run
from their ships; they became public nuisances here; the masters of such
ships would find themselves obliged to procure convicts at any rate to
supply their places; indeed, so many might be shipped or secreted on
board, as might render the safety of the vessel very precarious; and as
the governor determined to represent the conduct of any master who
carried away convicts without his approbation, so he resolved never to
deprive them of their seamen. Under this idea, a hut, in which a seaman
from the _Royal Admiral_ was found concealed, was pulled down, and two
convicts who had been secreted on board that ship were sent up to
Toongabbie, as a punishment, as well as to be out of the way of another
attempt.
On the 18th the _Kitty_ transport anchored in the cove from England,
after a circuitous passage of thirty-three weeks, round by the Rio de
Janeiro and the Cape of Good Hope. She twice sailed from England. On her
first departure, which was in March last, she had on board thirty female
and ten male convicts; but being obliged to put back to Spithead, to stop
a leak which she sprung in her raft port, eight of her ten male convicts
found means to make their escape. This was an unfortunate accident; for
they had been particularly selected as men who might be useful in the
colony. Of the two who did remain, the one was a brick-maker and the
other a joiner.
When her cargo was landing, it was found to have suffered considerably by
the bad weather she had experienced; the flour in particular, an article
which could at no time bear any diminution in this country, was much
damaged. The convicts had for a long time been nearly as much distressed
for utensils to dress their provisions, as they had been for provisions;
and we had now the mortification to find, that of the small supply of
iron pots which had been put on board, a great part were either broken or
cracked, having been literally stowed among the provision casks in the
hold.
There arrived in this ship two chests, containing three thousand eight
hundred and seventy ounces of silver, in dollars, amounting to £1001.
This remittance was sent out for the purpose of paying such sums as were
due to the different artificers who had been employed in this country. It
was also applied to the payment of the wages due to the superintendants,
who had experienced much inconvenience from not receiving their salaries
here; and indeed the want of public money had been very much felt by
every one in the colony. When the marines, who became settlers before and
at the relief of the detachment, were discharged for that purpose, they
would have suffered great difficulties from the want of public money to
pay what was due to them, had not the commissary taken their respective
powers of attorney, and given them notes on himself, payable either in
cash, or in articles which might be the means of rendering them
comfortable, and of which he had procured a large supply from Calcutta.
These notes passed through various hands in traffic among the people of
the description they were intended to serve, and became a species of
currency which was found very convenient to them.
The female convicts who arrived in the _Kitty_, twenty-seven in number,
were immediately sent up to Parramatta.
Government had put on board the _Kitty_ a naval agent, Lieutenant Daniel
Woodriff, for the purpose of seeing that no unnecessary delays were made
in the voyage, and that the convicts on board were not oppressed by the
master or his people. This officer, on his arrival, stated to the
governor his opinion that the master had not made the best of his way,
and that he had remained longer in the port of Rio de Janeiro than there
could possibly be occasion for. He likewise stated several disagreements
which had occurred between him and the master, and in which the latter
seemed to think very lightly of the authority of a naval agent on board
his ship. There was also on board this ship, on the part of the crown, a
medical gentleman who was appointed for the express purpose of attending
to such convicts as might be ill during the voyage; so extremely
solicitous were the members of Administration to guard against the evils
which had befallen the convicts in former passages to this country.
At Parramatta a brick hospital, consisting of two wards, was finished
this month; and the sick were immediately removed into it. The spot
chosen for this building was at some distance from the principal street
of the town, and convenient to the water; and, to prevent any improper
communication with the other convicts, a space was to be inclosed and
paled in round the hospital, in which the sick would have every necessary
benefit from air and exercise.
At the other settlement they had begun to reap the wheat which was sown
in April last; and for want of a granary at that place it was put into
stacks. From not being immediately thrashed out, there was no knowing
with certainty what the produce of it was; but it had every appearance of
turning out well. The ear was long and full, and the straw remarkably
good.
December.] On the 3rd of this month, the governor, as one of his last
acts in the settlement, ordered one pound of flour to be added to the
weekly ration, which, by means of this addition, stood on his departure
at 3 pounds of flour, 5 pounds of rice, 4 pounds of pork or 7 pounds of
beef, 3 pounds of dholl, and 6 ounces of oil.
On the 7th the _Philadelphia_ sailed for Norfolk Island, having on board
for that settlement Mr. Grimes, the deputy surveyor; Mr. Jamieson who was
to superintend the convicts employed there in cultivations; Mr. Peat, the
master-carpenter (there being a person* in that situation here of much
ability); a convict who came out in the _Royal Admiral_, to be employed
as a master-tailor; two Convicts sawyers, and one convict carpenter, the
same who came out with his family in the _Kitty_; together with some
provisions and stores. His excellency had always attended to this little
colony with a parental care; often declaring, that from the peculiarity
of its situation he would rather that want should be felt in his own
government than in that dependency; and as they would be generally eight
or ten weeks later than this colony in receiving their supplies, by
reason of the time which the ships necessarily required to refit after
coming in from sea, he purposed furnishing them with a proportion of
provisions for three months longer than the provisions in store at this
place would last: and his excellency took leave of that settlement, by
completing, as fully as he was able, this design.
[* Mr. Thomas Livingstone, at a salary of £50 per annum.]
He was now about taking leave of his own government. The accommodations
for his excellency and the officers who were going home in the _Atlantic_
being completed, the detachment of marines under the command of
Lieutenant Poulden embarked on the 5th, and at six o'clock in the evening
of Monday the 10th Governor Phillip quitted the charge with which he had
been entrusted by his Sovereign, and in the execution of which he had
manifested a zeal and perseverance that alone could have enabled him to
surmount the natural and artificial obstacles which the country and its
inhabitants had thrown in his way.
The colony had now been established within a few weeks of five years; and
a review of what had been done in cultivation under his excellency's
direction in that time cannot more properly be introduced than at the
close of his government.
Previous to the sailing of the _Britannia_ on the 24th of last October,
an accurate survey of the whole ground in cultivation, both on account of
the crown, and in the possession of individuals, was taken by the
surveyor-general, and transmitted to England by that ship; and from the
return which he then made, the following particulars were extracted:
GROUND IN CULTIVATION, THE 16TH OCTOBER 1792
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Acres Acres Acres Ground Total
in in in Garden cleared number
wheat barley maize ground of timber of acres
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
At Parramatta ¾ 7½ 308 - - 316¼
At and leading to 171½ 14 511 - - 696½
Toongabbie
Total public ground 172¼ 21½ 819 - - 1012¾
_Belonging to Settlers and others_
At Parramatta, (1
The governor's garden - ½ 2 (3 vines - 6½
Garden ground belonging to
different people, including
convicts' gardens - - - 104 - 104
At Parramatta, 1 settler 3 - 18 1 7 29
At Prospect Hill, four miles
to the westward of
Parramatta, 18 settlers 11¼ - 84 - - 95¼
At the Ponds, two miles to
the northeast of
Parramatta, 16 settlers 10¼ 2¼ 63 3½ 16½ 95½
At the Northern boundary
farms, two miles from
Parramatta, 5 settlers 3 - 35 2¾ 11 51¾
At the Field of Mars, on
the north shore, near the
entrance of the creek
leading to Parramatta,
8 settlers, (marines) 4 - 44½ 2 31 81½
At the Eastern farms,
12 settlers - - 40½ - 12½ 53
On the creek leading to
Parramatta, 7 settlers 4¾ - 80½ 4 22 111¼
In cultivation by the civil
and military at Sydney - - - - 6½ 6½
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 208½ 24¼ 1186½ 121¼ 162½ 1703
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Of the sixty-seven settlers above enumerated, one, James Ruse, who had a
grant of thirty acres at Parramatta, went upon his farm the latter end of
November 1789; but none of the others began to cultivate ground upon
their own accounts earlier than the middle of July 1791; but many of them
at a much later date. The eight marine settlers at the Field of Mars took
possession of their allotments at the beginning of February 1792. The
conditions held out to settlers were, to be victualled and clothed from
the public store for eighteen months from the term of their becoming
settlers; to be furnished with tools and implements of husbandry; grain
to sow their grounds, and such stock as could be spared from the public.
They were likewise to have assigned them the services of such a number of
convicts as the governor should think proper, on their making it appear
that they could employ, feed, and clothe them. Every man had a hut
erected on his farm at the public expense. At the time of the governor's
departure, many of them, by their own industry, and the assistance he had
afforded them, were enabled to have one or two convicts off the store,
and employed by them at their farms; and such as were not married were
allowed a convict hutkeeper. In general they were not idle, and the major
part were comfortably situated.
At this time the quantity of land which had passed to settlers* in this
territory under the seal of the colony amounted to three thousand four
hundred and seventy acres; of which quantity four hundred and seventeen
acres and a half were in cultivation, and the timber cleared from one
hundred more, ready for sowing; which, compared with the total of the
_public ground_ in cultivation (one thousand and twelve acres and three
quarters) will be found to be by eleven acres more than equal to one half
of it. A striking proof of what some settlers had themselves declared, on
its being hinted to them that they had not always been so diligent when
labouring for the whole, 'We are now working for ourselves.' One material
good was, however, to be expected from a tract of land of that extent
being cultivated by individuals, if at any time an accident should happen
to the crop on the public ground, they might be a resource, though an
inconsiderable one. Fortunately, no misfortune of that nature had ever
fallen upon the colony; but it had been, at the beginning of this month,
very near experiencing a calamity that would have blasted all the
prospects of the next season, and in one moment have rendered ineffectual
the labour of many hands and of many months. Two days after the wheat had
been reaped, and got off the ground at Toongabbie, the whole of the
stubble was burnt. The day on which this happened had been unusually hot,
and the country was every where on fire. Had it befallen us while the
wheat was upon the ground, nothing could have saved the whole from being
destroyed. From this circumstance, however, one good resulted;
precautions against a similar accident were immediately taken, by
clearing the timber for a certain distance round the cultivated land.
[* Some few had been added since the surveyor's return of the 16th
October.]
The stock belonging to the public was kept at Parramatta. It consisted of
three bulls*, two bull calves, fifteen cows, three calves, five
stallions, six mares, one hundred and five sheep, and forty-three hogs.
[* Two from Calcutta, and one which was calved on board the _Gorgon_.]
Of the sheep, the governor gave to each of the married settlers from the
convicts, and to each settler from the marines, and from the _Sirius_,
one ewe for the purpose of breeding; and to others he gave such female
goats as could be spared. This stock had been procured at much expense;
and his excellency hoped that the people among whom he left it would see
the advantage it might prove to them, and cherish it accordingly.
His excellency, at embarking on board the _Atlantic_, was received near
the wharf on the east-side, (where his boat was lying), by Major Grose,
at the head of the New South Wales corps, who paid him, as he passed, the
honors due to his rank and situation in the colony. He was attended by
the officers of the civil department, and the three marine officers who
were to accompany him to England.
At daylight on the morning of the 11th, the _Atlantic_ was got under way,
and by eight o'clock was clear of the Heads, standing to the ESE with a
fresh breeze at south. By twelve o'clock she had gained a considerable
offing.
With the governor there embarked, voluntarily and cheerfully, two natives
of this country, Bennillong and Yem-mer-ra-wan-nie, two men who were much
attached to his person; and who withstood at the moment of their
departure the united distress of their wives, and the dismal lamentations
of their friends, to accompany him to England, a place that they well
knew was at a great distance from them."
One or two convicts also who had conducted themselves to his
satisfaction, and whose periods of transportation were expired, were
permitted by the governor to return to England in the same ship with
himself.
The _Atlantic_ had likewise on board various specimens of the natural
productions of the country, timber, plants, animals, and birds. Among the
animals were four fine kangaroos, and several native dogs.
The _Atlantic_ had been put into excellent condition for the voyage which
she had to perform; she was well found and well manned, and there
appeared no reason to doubt her reaching England in six months from her
departure. A safe and speedy passage to her was the general wish, not
only on account of the governor, whose health and constitution (already
much impaired) might suffer greatly by the fatigues of a protracted
voyage; but that the information of which his excellency was in
possession respecting these settlements, from their establishments to the
moment of his quitting them, might as quickly as possible be laid before
administration.
The government of the colony now devolved, by his Majesty's letters patent
under the great seal of Great Britain, upon the lieutenant-governor.
This office was filled by the major-commandant of the New South Wales
corps, Francis Grose, esq who arrived in February last in the _Pitt_
transport. At his taking upon himself the government, on which occasion
the usual oaths were administered by the judge-advocate, he gave out the
following order, regulating the mode of carrying on the duty at Parramatta:
'All orders given by the captain who commands at Parramatta, respecting
the convicts stationed there, are to be obeyed; and all complaints or
reports that would be made to the lieutenant-governor when present, are
in his absence to be communicated to captain Foveaux, or such other
captain as may be doing duty with the detachment.'
The alteration which this order produced, consisted in substituting the
military for the civil officer. Before this period, all complaints had
been inquired into by the civil magistrate, who, in the governor's
absence from Parramatta, punished such slight offences as required
immediate cognizance, reporting to the governor from time to time
whatever he did; and all orders and directions which regarded the
convicts, and all reports which were made respecting them, went through
him.
The military power had hitherto been considered as requisite only for the
protection of the stores, and the discharge of such duties as belonged to
their profession, without having any share in the civil direction of the
colony*; but as it was provided by his Majesty's commission already
spoken of, that, in case, of the death or absence both of the governor
and lieutenant-governor of the territory, the officer next in rank on
service in the colony should take upon himself and exercise the functions
of the governor, until such time as instructions should be received from
England; under this idea, the lieutenant-governor issued the above order,
placing the captain commanding the detachment of the New South Wales
corps at Parramatta, in the direction of the civil duties of that
settlement.
[* The commanding officer of the corps or regiment serving in the
territory excepted, who held likewise the _civil_ appointment of
lieutenant-governor.]
Similar regulations took place at Sydney, where 'the captain of the day
was directed to report to the commanding officer all convict prisoners,
stating by whom and on what account they might be confined;' and this
order was in a few days after enforced by another, which directed 'that
all inquiries by the civil magistrate were in future to be dispensed
with, until the lieutenant-governor had given directions on the subject;
and the convicts were not on any account to be punished but by his
particular order.'
At Sydney, it had been usual for the magistrates to take examinations,
and make enquiry into offences, either weekly, or as occasion required,
and to order such punishment as they thought necessary, always reporting
their proceedings to the chief authority.
It must be noticed, that at this time the civil magistrates in the colony
consisted of the lieutenant-governor and the judge-advocate, who were
justices of the peace by virtue of their respective commissions; the Rev.
Mr. Johnson; Augustus Alt and Richard Atkins*, Esquires, who had been
sworn in as magistrates by authority of the governor.
[* This gentleman had been appointed registrar of the court of
vice-admiralty by Governor Phillip.]
As no inconvenience had ever been experienced in the mode which was
practised of conducting the business of the settlement, the necessity or
cause of these alterations was not directly obvious, and could not be
accounted for from any other motive than that preference which a military
man might be supposed to give to carrying on the service by means of his
own officers, rather than by any other.
On Saturday the 15th the convicts received their provisions according to
the ration that was issued before the governor's departure; but on the
Monday following, the usual day of serving provisions to the civil and
military, a distinction was made, for the first time, in the ration they
received; the commissary being directed to issue to the officers of the
civil and military departments, the soldiers, superintendants, watchmen,
overseers, and settlers from the marines, six pounds of flour, and but
two pounds of rice per man, per week, instead of three pounds of flour,
and five pounds of rice, which was the allowance of the convicts. This
distinction was intended to be discontinued whenever the full ration
could be served.
The stock which had been distributed among the married settlers and
others by Governor Phillip for the purpose of breeding from (as has been
already observed) appeared to have been thrown away upon them when viewed
as a breeding stock for settlers. No sooner had the _Atlantic_ sailed,
than the major part of them were offered for sale; and there was little
doubt (many of their owners making no scruple to publish their
intentions) that had they not been bought by the officers, in a very few
weeks many of them would have been destroyed. By this conduct, as far as
their individual benefit was concerned, they had put it out of their own
power to reap any advantage from the governor's bounty to them; but the
stock by this means was saved, and had fallen into hands that certainly
would not wantonly destroy it. There were a few among the settlers who
exchanged their sheep for goats, deeming them a more profitable stock;
but, in general, spirits were the price required by the more ignorant and
imprudent part of them; and several of their farms, which had been, and
ought to have always been, the peaceful retreats of industry, were for a
time the seats of inebriety and consequent disorder.
About this time there anchored in the cove an American ship, the _Hope_,
commanded by a Mr. Benjamin Page, from Rhode island, with a small cargo
of provisions and spirits for sale. The cause of his putting into this
harbour, the master declared, was for the purpose of procuring wood and
water, of which he stated his ship to be much in want; thus making the
sale of his cargo appear to be but a secondary object with him.
As the colony had not yet seen the day when it could have independently
said, 'We are not in want of provisions; procure your wood and your
water, and go your way,' the lieutenant-governor directed the commissary
to purchase such part of his cargo as the colony stood in need of; and
two hundred barrels of American cured beef, at four pounds per barrel;
eighty barrels of pork, at four pounds ten shillings per barrel;
forty-four barrels of flour, at two pounds per barrel; and seven thousand
five hundred and ninety-seven gallons of (new American) spirits at four
shillings and sixpence per gallon, were purchased; amounting in all to
the sum of £2957 6s 6d.
This ship had touched at the Falkland Islands for the purpose of
collecting skins from the different vessels employed in the seal trade
from the United States of America, with which she was to proceed to the
China market. From the Cape of Good Hope her passage had been performed
in two months and one day. The master said, he found the prevailing winds
were from the NW and described the weather as the most boisterous he had
ever known for such a length of time. By one sea, his caboose was washed
over the side, and one of his people going with it was drowned. He
observed, when about the South-cape of this country, that the weather was
clear; but after passing the latitude of the Maria Islands, he found it
close, hazy, and heated, and had every appearance of thick smoke. About
that time we had the same sort of weather here; and the excessive heats
which at other times have been experienced in the settlements have been
also noticed at sea when at some distance from the land.
By this ship we were not fortunate enough to receive any European news.
The master saw only one English ship at the Cape, the _Chesterfield_
whaler, commanded by a Mr. Alt, who had formerly been a midshipman in his
Majesty's ship _Sirius_, and who went home on board of the _Neptune_
transport."
In a few days after the arrival of the _Hope_, the signal was again made
at the South Head, and in a few hours the _Chesterfield_, the ship just
mentioned to us by the American, anchored in the cove. She sailed from
the Cape of Good Hope shortly after Mr. Page; and the master said he
touched at Kerguelan's Land, where, some other ship having very recently
preceded him (which he judged from finding several sea elephants dead on
the beach, and a club which is used in killing them) he remained but a
short time, having very bad weather. He supposed the ship which preceded
him to have been the first which had visited those desolate islands since
Captain Cook had been there, as he found the fragments of the bottle in
which that officer had deposited a memorial of his having examined them.
This was conjecture and might be erroneous, as the mere pieces of the
bottle afforded no proof that it had been recently broken.
Mr. Alt spoke of meeting with very bad weather, and of his ship having
thereby suffered such injury, that he was compelled on the representation
of his people to put in here for the purpose of getting repairs. Indeed
her appearance very amply justified their representations; and it was a
wonder how she had swam so far, for her complaints must have been of very
long standing.
To expedite the building of the new barracks, which formed the most
material labour at Sydney, two overseers and forty men were sent down
from Parramatta. One barrack being now completed, towards the latter end
of the month it was occupied by Captain George Johnston, a party-wall
having been thrown down adapting the building to the accommodation of one
instead of two officers.
On the last day of the month, two warrants of emancipation passed the
seal of the territory, together with a grant of twenty-five acres of land
to Ensign Cummings of the New South Wales corps. In the instructions for
granting lands in this country, no mention of officers had yet been made;
it was however fairly presumed that the officers could not be intended to
be precluded from the participation of any advantages which the crown
might have to bestow in the settlements; particularly as the greatest in
its gift, the free possession of land, was held out to people who had
forfeited their lives before they came into the country.
Among the regulations which took place at Sydney, must be noticed the
dispensing with the officer's guard which had always mounted there; and
the changing the hours of labour. The convicts now had more time given to
them, for the purpose not only of avoiding the heat of the day, but of
making themselves comfortable at home. They were directed to work from
five in the morning until nine; rest until four in the afternoon, and
then labour until sun-set.
The _Kitty_, having delivered her cargo, began to prepare for taking some
stores and provisions and a detachment of the New South Wales corps to
Norfolk Island.
The weather during this month was very hot. The 5th was a day most
excessively sultry. The wind blew strong from the northward of west; the
country, to add to the intense heat of the atmosphere, was everywhere on
fire. At Sydney, the grass at the back of the hill on the west side of
the cove, having either caught or been set on fire by the natives, the
flames, aided by the wind which at that time blew violently, spread and
raged with incredible fury. One house was burnt down, several gardens
with their fences were destroyed; and the whole face of the hill was on
fire, threatening every thatched hut with destruction. The conflagration
was with much difficulty (notwithstanding the exertions of the military)
got under, after some time, and prevented from doing any further
mischief. At different times during this uncomfortable day distant
thunder was heard, the air darkened, and some few large drops of rain
fell. The apparent danger from the fires drew all persons out of their
houses; and on going into the parching air, it was scarcely possible to
breathe; the heat was insupportable; vegetation seemed to suffer much,
the leaves of many culinary plants being reduced to a powder. The
thermometer in the shade rose above one hundred degrees. Some rain
falling toward evening, the excessive heat abated.
At Parramatta and Toongabbie also the heat was extreme; the country there
too was every where in flames. Mr. Arndell was a great sufferer by it. The
fire had spread to his farm; but by the efforts of his own people and the
neighbouring settlers it was got under, and its progress supposed to be
effectually checked, when an unlucky spark from a tree, which had been on
fire to the topmost branch, flying upon the thatch of the hut where his
people lived, it blazed out; the hut with all the out-buildings, and
thirty bushels of wheat just got into a stack, were in a few minutes
destroyed. The erecting of the hut and out-houses had cost £15 a short
time before.
The day preceding that of the excessive heat, James Castles, an
industrious and thriving settler at Prospect Hill, had his hut
accidentally burnt down, with all his comforts, and three bushels of
wheat which he had just reaped. The governor ordered his hut to be
rebuilt, and every assistance given which the stores afforded to repair
his loss.
There died between the 1st of January and 31st of December 1792, two of
the civil department, six soldiers, four hundred and eighteen male
convicts, eighteen female convicts, and twenty-nine children; one male
convict was executed; and three male convicts were lost in the woods;
making a decrease by death of four hundred and eighty-two persons.
The following were the prices of stock, grain, and other articles, as
they were sold at Sydney, and at Parramatta, at the close of the year:
AT SYDNEY
Maize per lb. 3d
Rice per lb 3d
Peas or dholl from 1½d to 2d per lb.
Flour 9d per lb.
Potatoes 3d per lb.
Sheep £10 10s each.
Milch goats from £8 8s to £10 10s
Kids from £2 10s to £4
Breeding sows from £6 6s to £7 7s and £10 10s
Young ditto from £3 to £4
Laying hens 10s
Full grown fowls from 5s to 7s 6d
Chickens 1s 6d
Fresh pork per lb 1s
Prime salt pork from 6d to 8d
Salt beef 4d
Eggs per dozen from 2s to 3s
Moist sugar per lb 1s 6d
Tea from 8s to 16s
Soap 1s
Butter from 1s 6d to 2s
Cheese from 1s 6d to 2s
Hams from 1s 6d to 2s
Bacon from 1s 6d to 2s
AT PARRAMATTA
Maize per lb. 3d
Rice per lb. 3d
Peas or dholl 2d per lb.
Flour 6d per lb
Potatoes 2d per lb
Sheep £10 10s each
Milch goats from £5 5s to £10
Breeding sows from £6 6s to £10 10s
Pigs of a month old 12s
Laying hens from 7s to 10s
Full grown fowls from 7s to 10s
Chickens 1s 6d
Fresh pork per lb 1s
Prime salt pork 6d
Salt beef 4d
Eggs per dozen 2s
Moist sugar per lb 1s 6d
Tea from 6s to 16s
Soap 1s
Coffee 2s
Tobacco, American Brazil, 4s
Tobacco of the colony 2s
The price of fish and vegetables varied from day to day; spirits in
exchange were estimated at from twelve to twenty shillings per gallon;
porter was sold from nine to ten pounds per hogshead, or from one
shilling to one shilling and three pence per quart.
It did not appear that the settlers had brought any new wheat or other
grain to market.