A murder committed near Parramatta
The _Francis_ sails for Norfolk Island
Provisions
Storm of wind at Parramatta
Crops
A Settlement fixed at the Hawkesbury
Natives
A burglary committed
Samuel Burt emancipated
Death of William Crozier Cook
The watches recovered
The _Francis_ returns from Norfolk Island
Information
The New Zealand natives sent to their own country
Disturbance at Norfolk Island
Court of inquiry at Sydney
The _Francis_ returns to Norfolk Island
Natives troublesome
State of provisions
1794.]
January.] The report that was spread in April last, of a murder having
been committed on a watchman belonging to the township of Parramatta,
never having been confirmed, either by finding the body among the stalks
of Indian corn as was expected, or by any one subsequent circumstance, it
was hoped that the story had been fabricated, and that murder was a crime
which for many years to come would not stain the annals of the colony. In
proportion, indeed, as our numbers increased, and the inhabitants began
to possess those comforts or necessaries which might prove temptations to
the idle and the vicious, that high and horrid offence might, in common
with others of the same tendency, be expected to exist; but at this
moment all thought their persons secure, though their property was
frequently invaded. On the 5th of this month, however, John Lewis, an
elderly convict, employed to go out with the cattle at Parramatta, was
most barbarously murdered. The cattle, having lost their conductor,
remained that night in the woods; and when they were found, the absence
of Lewis excited an apprehension that some accident had happened to him.
His body was not discovered however until the Wednesday following, when,
by the snorting and great uneasiness of the cattle which had been driven
out for the purpose, it was perceived lying in a hollow or ravine, into
which it had been thrown by those who had butchered him, covered with
logs, boughs, and grass. Some native dogs, led by the scent of human
blood, had found it, and by gnawing off both the hands, and the entire
flesh from one arm, had added considerably to the horrid spectacle which
the body exhibited on being freed from the load of rubbish which had been
heaped upon it.
This unfortunate man had imprudently boasted of being worth much money,
and that he always carried it with him sewed up in some part of his
clothes, to guard against losing it while absent from his hut. If this
was true, what he carried with him certainly proved his destruction; if
not, the catastrophe must be attributed to his indiscreet declarations.
By the various wounds which he had received, it appeared that he must
have well defended himself, and could not have parted with his life until
overpowered by numbers; for, though advanced in years, he was a stout,
muscular man; and it was from this circumstance concluded, that more than
one person was concerned in the murder of him. To discover, if possible,
the perpetrators of this atrocious offence, one or two men of bad
characters were taken up and examined, as well as all the people employed
about the stockyard: but nothing came out that tended to fix it upon any
one of them; and, desirable as it was that they should be brought to that
punishment which sooner or later awaited them, it was feared that until
some riot or disagreement among themselves should occur, no clue would be
furnished that would lead to their detection. The body was therefore
brought in from the spot where it had been concealed, about four miles
from Parramatta, and buried at that place, after having been very
carefully examined by the assistant-surgeon Mr. Arndell.
In tracing the motives that could lead to this murder, the pernicious
vice of _gaming_ presented itself as the first and grand cause. To such
excess was this pursuit carried among the convicts, that some had been
known, after losing provisions, money, and all their spare clothing, to
have staked and lost the very clothes on their wretched backs, standing
in the midst of their associates as naked, and as indifferent about it,
as the unconscious natives of the country. Money was, however, the
principal object with these people; for with money they could purchase
spirits, or whatever else their passions made them covet, and the colony
could furnish. They have been seen playing at their favourite games
cribbage and all-fours, for six, eight, and ten dollars each game; and
those who were not expert at these, instead of pence, tossed up for
dollars. Their meetings were scenes of quarrelling, swearing, and every
profaneness that might be expected from the dissolute manners of the
people who composed them; and to this improper practice must undoubtedly
be attributed most of the vices that existed in the colony, pilferings,
garden-robberies, burglaries, profanation of the Sabbath, and murder.
On the 5th the _Francis_ sailed for Norfolk Island. The last accounts
from thence were dated in March 1793; and as we were uncertain that the
supplies which had been sent in the April following by Mr. Bampton had
been safely landed, we became extremely anxious to learn the exact state
of the settlement there. This information was all the advantage that was
expected to be derived from the voyage; for, whatever Mr. King's wants
might be, the stores at Sydney were incapable of alleviating them. Little
apprehension was however entertained of his being in any need of
supplies, as, at the date of his last letter, he reckoned that his crops
of wheat and maize would produce more grain than would be sufficient for
twelve months consumption.
At this time, an account of the salt provisions remaining in store at
Sydney and Parramatta being taken, it appeared, that there were
sufficient for only ten weeks at the ration then issued, viz three pounds
per man per week. In this situation, every addition that could be made to
the ration was eagerly sought after. Wheat was paid to the industrious in
exchange for labour; and those who were allowed to subsist independent of
the public stores availed themselves of that indulgence to its fullest
extent. It might therefore have been expected, that every advantage was
taken of such a situation, and that no opportunity would be lost from
which any profit could be derived. As an instance of this, one Lane, a
person who had been a convict, and who was allowed to support himself how
he could, was detected in buying a kangaroo of a man employed by an
officer to shoot for him. The game-killer, with the assistance of six or
seven greyhounds, had killed three kangaroos, two of which he brought in;
the third he sold or lent to Lane, but said he had cut it up for his
dogs.
As most of the officers in the colony were allowed people to shoot for
them, it became necessary to make some example of the man who bought,
rather than of him who sold; for it was a maxim pretty generally adopted,
that the receiver was more culpable than the thief. The lieutenant-governor,
therefore, ordered Lane to be punished with one hundred lashes, placed upon
the commissary's books for provisions, and sent up to labour at Toongabbie.
About the middle of the month one small cow and a Bengal steer, both
private property, were killed, and issued to the non-commissioned
officers and privates of two companies of the New South Wales corps. This
was but the third time that fresh beef had been tasted by the colonists
of this country; once, it may be remembered, in the year 1788, and a
second time when the lieutenant-governor and the officers of the
settlement were entertained by the Spanish captains. At that time
however, had we not been informed that we were eating beef, we should
never have discovered it by the flavour; and it certainly happened to
more than one Englishman that day, to eat his favourite viand without
recognising the taste.*
[* We understood that the Spanish mode of roasting beef, or mutton, was,
first to boil and then to brown the joint before the fire.]
The beef that was killed at this time was deemed worth eighteen-pence per
pound, and at that price was sold to the soldiers. The two animals
together weighed three hundred and seventy-two pounds.
About this time accounts were received from Parramatta of an uncommon
storm of wind, accompanied with rain, having occurred there. In its
violence it bordered on a hurricane, running in a vein, and in a
direction from east to west. The west end of the governor's hut was
injured, the paling round some farms which lay in its passage were
levelled, and a great deal of Indian corn was much damaged. It was not
however felt at Sydney, nor, fortunately, at Toongabbie; and was but of
short duration; but the rain was represented as having been very heavy.
The climate was well known to be subject to sudden gusts of wind and
changes of weather; but nothing of this violence had been before
experienced within our knowledge.
It was found that the settlers, notwithstanding the plentiful crops which
in general they might be said to have gathered, gave no assistance to
government by sending any into store. Some small quantity (about one
hundred and sixty bushels) indeed had been received; but nothing equal
either to the wants or expectations of government. They appeared to be
most sedulously endeavouring to get rid of their grain in any way they
could; some by brewing and distilling it; some by baking it into bread,
and indulging their own propensities in eating; others by paying debts
contracted by gaming. Even the farms themselves were pledged and lost in
this way; those very farms which undoubtedly were capable of furnishing
them with an honest comfortable maintenance for life.
No regular account had been obtained of what these farms had produced;
but it was pretty well ascertained, that their crops had yielded at the
least nearly seven thousand bushels of wheat. Of the different districts,
that of Prospect Hill proved to be the most productive; some grounds
there returned thirty bushels of wheat for one. Next to the district of
Prospect Hill, the Northern Boundary farms were the best; but many of the
settlers at the other districts ascribed their miscarriage more to the
late periods at which their grounds were sown, than to any poverty in the
soil; and seemed to have no doubt, if they could procure seed-wheat in
proper time (that is, to be in the ground in April) and the season were
favourable, of being repaid the expenses which they had been at, and of
being enabled to supply themselves and families with grain sufficient for
their sustenance without any aid from the public stores.
The ground in cultivation on account of government, which had been sown
with wheat (three hundred and sixty acres) was found to have produced
about the same quantity as that raised by the settlers. Through the want
of flour, the consumption of this article was however very great; and
toward the latter end of the month half of the whole produce of the last
season (reserving twelve hundred bushels for feed) had been issued. This
afforded but a gloomy prospect; for it was much feared, that unless
supplies arrived in time, the Indian corn would not be ripe soon enough
to save the seed-wheat.
On the 25th, the grain from Bengal being expended, and no more Indian
corn of last year's growth remaining that could be served, the public
were informed, that from that time no other grain than wheat could be
issued; and accordingly on that day the male convicts received for their
week's subsistence three pounds of pork and eight pounds of wheat. One
pound of wheat more than was issued to the convicts was received on the
Monday following by the civil and military.
In this unprovided state of the settlement, the return of Mr. Bampton
with his promised cargo of cattle, salt provisions, rice, and dholl,
began to be daily and anxiously expected. The completion of the
_Britannia's_ voyage was also looked forward to as a desirable event,
though to be expected at a somewhat later period; and every shower of
rain, as it tended to the benefit of the Indian corn then growing, was
received as a sort of presage that at least the seed wheat, the hopes of
next season, would be safe. Some very welcome rain had fallen during this
month, which considerably revived the Indian corn that was first sown,
and improved the appearance of that which had been sown later.
Another division of settlers was this month added to the list of those
already established. Williams and Ruse, having got rid of the money which
they had respectively received for their farms, were permitted, with some
others, to open ground on the banks of the Hawkesbury, at the distance of
about twenty-four miles from Parramatta. They chose for themselves
allotments of ground conveniently situated for fresh water, and not much
burdened with timber, beginning with much spirit, and forming to
themselves very sanguine hopes of success. At the end of the month they
had been so active as to have cleared several acres, and were in some
forwardness with a few huts. The natives had not given them any
interruption.
These people, however, though they had not been heard of where it might
have been expected they would have proved troublesome, had not been so
quiet in the neighbourhood of Parramatta. Between that settlement and
Prospect Hill some settlers had been attacked by a party of armed natives
and stripped of all their provisions. Reports of this nature had been
frequently brought in, and many, perhaps, might have been fabricated to
answer a purpose; but there was not a doubt that these people were very
desirous of possessing our clothing and provisions; and it was noticed,
that as the corn ripened, they constantly drew together round the
settlers farms and round the public grounds, for the purpose of
committing depredations.
Several gardens were robbed and some houses broken into during this
month, the certain effect of a reduced ration. One burglary which was
committed was of some magnitude, and deserving of mention. A sergeant of
the New South Wales corps having been on guard, on his return to his hut
in the morning, had the mortification of finding he had been robbed
during his absence of a large quantity of wearing apparel, and
twenty-seven pounds in guineas and dollars; in fact the thief had stripped
him of all his moveable property, except only a spare suit of
regimentals. The hut stood the first of a new row just without the town,
and ought not to have been left without some person to take care of it.
The spoil, no doubt, soon passed from one hand to another in the practice
of that vice which, as already mentioned, too generally prevailed among
the lower class of the people in the colony.
At Parramatta some people were taken up and punished, on being detected
in issuing to themselves from the stores, where they were employed, a
greater proportion of provisions than the ration. This offence had often
been committed; and though it was always punished with severity, yet
while convicts were employed, it was likely, notwithstanding the utmost
vigilance, to continue. Vigilance seemed only to incite to deeper
contrivances; and perhaps, though discoveries of this practice had often
occurred, yet too many had been guilty of it with impunity, and, being
alarmed, had withdrawn in time from the danger.
But very few appeared deserving of confidence; for, sooner or later,
wherever it had been placed, either temptation was too strong, or
opportunity proved too favourable; and many who had been deemed honest
enough to be trusted ended their services by being detected in a breach
of that duty which they owed to the public as a return for the faith
which had been reposed in them.
This perhaps was owing to the uncertainty of reward for any services that
they might render while in the class of convicts. As an exception to this
rule, however, must be mentioned those people to whom unconditional
emancipation had been held out at the expiration of a certain period, if
then considered as deserving of his Majesty's mercy as at the time of
making the promise. In the hope of this reward they continued to conduct
themselves without incurring the slightest censure; and one of them,
Samuel Burt, was deemed, through a conscientious and rigid discharge of
his duty, to have merited the pardon he looked up to. Accordingly, on the
last day of the month he was declared absolutely free. In the instrument
of his emancipation it was stated, 'that the remainder of his term of
transportation was remitted in consideration of his good conduct in
discovering and thereby preventing the intended mutiny on board the
_Scarborough_ in her voyage to this country in the year 1790, and his
faithful services in the public stores under the commissary since his
arrival.' Independent of his integrity as a storekeeper, he was certainly
deserving of some distinguishing mark of favour for having been the means
of saving the transport in which he came out at the risk of his own life.
At the end of this month nearly four hundred acres were got ready for
wheat at Sydney, and every exertion was making to increase that quantity.
A large number of slops having been prepared, a frock, shirt, and
trousers, were served out to each male convict at Sydney and the interior
settlements. Shoes were become an article of exceeding scarcity; and the
country had hitherto afforded nothing that could be substituted for them.
A convict who understood the business of a tanner had shown that the skin
of the kangaroo might be tanned; but the animal was not found in
sufficient abundance to answer this purpose for any number of people; and
the skin itself was not of a substance to be applied to the soling of
shoes.
Among the number of deaths this month was that of William Crozier Cook,
who expired in consequence of eating two pounds of unground wheat, which
was forced, by his immediately drinking a quantity of water, into the
intestines, whence it could not pass; and though the most active
medicines were administered a mortification took place in the lower part
of his intestines, which put an end to his life. Cook had, for a length
of time after his arrival in this country, been a worthless vagabond; but
had latterly appeared sensible how much more to his advantage a different
character would prove, and had gained the good word and opinion of the
overseers and superintendants under whom he laboured.
February.] On the 4th of this month the watches which had remained so
long undiscovered were brought down from Parramatta by Lieutenant
Macarthur. By a chain of circumstances it appeared that they had been
stolen by John Bevan, who at the time had broken out of the prison hut at
Toongabbie, and coming immediately down to Sydney, in conjunction with
Sutton (the man who was tried for stealing Mr. Raven's watch in October
1792) committed the theft, returning with the spoil to his hut at
Toongabbie before he had been missed from it by any of the watchmen. He
afterwards played at cards with another convict, and exchanged the
watches for a nankeen waistcoat and trousers. From this man they got into
the possession of two or three other people, and were at last, by great
accident, found to be in the possession of one Batty, an overseer, in
the thatch of whose hut they, together with ten dollars, were found safe
and uninjured. The dollars were supposed to be part of the money stolen
at the same time from Walsh at the hospital*, with whom Bevan, some time
before, had made acquaintance, winning from him not only a hundred weight
of flour, which he had almost starved himself to lay by, but deluding him
also out of the secret of his money, with every particular that was
necessary to his design of stealing it.
[* This wretched old man did not long survive the loss of his money.]
This was the information given against Bevan by the people through whose
hands the watches had passed; but as it was entirely unsupported by any
corroborating circumstance, he was discharged without punishment; but
Batty and another man, Luke Normington, of whose guilt there was not a
doubt, received each a severe corporal punishment by order of the
lieutenant-governor. In all the examinations which took place, nothing
appeared that affected Sutton, farther than the unsupported assertions of
one or two other convicts; but if Bevan was assisted by any one, Sutton,
from his general character, having already dealt in the article of
watches, was very probably his friend on the occasion
The constancy of this wretched young man (Bevan) was astonishing. He most
steadily denied knowing any thing of the transaction, treating with equal
indifference both promises of rewards and threats of punishment. Crow,
who was executed in December last, declared a short time before he
suffered, that he had been shown the watches by Bevan in the corn ground
between Parramatta and Toongabbie; but as they had never been found in
his possession, he resolved on obstinately persisting in the declaration
that, however guilty of others, he was at least innocent of this offence;
and he thus escaped this time from justice, to be led, perhaps at no very
distant period, if not sufficiently warned, with surer step to the
gallows that he had so often merited, and in the high road to which he
seemed daily to be walking.
On the 12th the _Francis_ returned from Norfolk Island, having been
absent five weeks and three days.
The information received from that settlement was, that the _Shah
Hormuzear_ and _Chesterfield_ arrived there from this place, on the 2nd
day of May last, when, every article of stores and provisions which had
been put on board of them being safely landed, both ships sailed for
India on the 27th day of the same month; Captain Bampton purposing to
attempt making the passage between New Holland and New Guinea, that was
expected to be found to the northward of Endeavor Straits.
While these ships were off Lord Howe Island, they experienced a heavy
gale of wind, in which the _Shah Hormuzear_ lost her topmasts, and the
_Chesterfield_ was in much danger from a leak which she sprung. Captain
Bampton having, in some bad weather off Norfolk Island, lost his
long-boat, he, with the assistance given him by Lieutenant-governor King,
built, in ten days, a very fine one of thirty-two feet keel, with which
he sailed, and without which it would not have been quite safe for him to
have proceeded on a voyage where much of the navigation lay among islands
and shoals, and where part of it had certainly been unexplored.
Mr. King had the satisfaction of stating, that his crops had been
abundant, plenty reigning among all descriptions of people in the island.
His wheat was cut, the first of it on the 25th of November last, and the
harvest was well got in by Christmas Day. About two thousand bushels were
the calculated produce of this crop, which would have been greater had it
not, during its growth, been hurt by the want of rain. Of the maize, the
first crop (having always two) was gathering while the schooner was
there, and, notwithstanding the drought turned out well; from one acre
and a quarter of ground, one hundred and six bushels had been gathered;
but it was pretty generally established on the island, that thirty-six
bushels of maize might be taken as the average produce of an acre of
ground.
The superior fertility of the soil at Norfolk Island to that of New South
Wales had never been doubted. The following account of last year's crop
was transmitted to Lieutenant-governor King:
From November 1792 to November 1793 the crop of maize amounted to 3247
bushels; wheat 1302 bushels; calavances 50 bushels.
Purchased in the above time from settlers and others, at five shillings
per bushel 3600 bushels. Reserved by them for seed 3000 bushels of maize;
300 bushels of wheat; 300 bushels of calavances; and 50 tons of potatoes.
Which, together with 305 bushels of maize brought from thence with the
detachment of the New South Wales corps at the relief in March 1793, made
a total of 10,152 bushels of maize, 1602 bushels of wheat, 350 bushels of
calavances, 50 tons of potatoes, raised on Norfolk Island in one
twelvemonth, on about two hundred and fifty-six acres of ground.
Of this crop, and of what had been purchased, there remained in the
public stores, when the schooner left the island, forty-three weeks maize
and wheat; in addition to which Lieutenant-governor King supposed he
should have of this season's growth, after reserving five hundred bushels
of wheat for seed, sufficient of that article for the consumption of six
hundred and ninety-nine persons*, the whole number of people victualled
there from the stores for fourteen weeks and a half, at the rate of ten
pounds per man per week; and fifty-eight weeks maize at twelve pounds per
man per week. He had besides, at the established ration, twelve weeks
beef, twenty-nine weeks pork, five weeks molasses, and thirty weeks oi1
and sugar. The whole forming an abundance that seemed to place the evil
hour of want and distress at too great a distance to excite much alarm or
apprehension of its occurring there.
[* The whole number in the settlement amounted to one thousand and eight
persons.]
The settlement had been so healthy, that no loss by death had happened
since we last heard from them; and when the schooner sailed very few
people were sick. There had died, between the 20th of November 1791 (the
date of Lieutenant-governor King's return to the command at Norfolk
Island) and the 27th of January 1794, only one soldier, forty male
convicts, three female convicts, and nineteen children, making a total of
sixty-three persons, in two years and sixty-eight days; and ninety-five*
children had been born. Every description of stock, except some Cape
sheep which did not breed, was equally healthy as the inhabitants, and
were increasing fast.
[* By the commissary's books there were, on the 20th of February 1794,
two hundred and fifty-four children in the three settlements here. On the
30th of January, by Lieutenant-governor King's return, there were one
hundred and forty-eight children at Norfolk; making a total of four
hundred and two children here and at Norfolk Island.]
On the 22nd of October the _Boddingtons_ and _Sugar Cane_ touched at that
island, for the purpose of landing John Cole, a convict who had secreted
himself on board the former of these ships. Many articles of comfort were
sold among the settlers and others from the _Sugar Cane_.
On the 2nd of the succeeding month Mr. Raven called there in the
_Britannia_, in his way to Bengal, to procure a supply of fresh
provisions and vegetables for his people.
The two natives of New Zealand, who had been sent to Mr. King in April
last by the _Shah Hormuzear_, having completed the purpose for which they
had been sent thither, by giving such instruction in the process of
preparing the flax plant, that even with very bad materials a few hands
could manufacture thirty yards of good canvas in a week; and having
manifested much anxiety, on the appearance of any ship, to return to
their friends and native country, though treated with every attention and
kindness that could dispel their fears and conciliate their good opinion;
Mr. King thought this a favourable opportunity of gratifying their
wishes; and that he might himself be a witness of their not experiencing
on the voyage any interruption to the good treatment they had met with
from every one while under his care, he determined to accompany them
himself. He accordingly giving Mr. Raven the necessary order, embarked on
board of the _Britannia_, with a guard from the New South Wales corps,
and sailed for New Zealand on the 9th. Their passage thither was short;
for on the fourth day, having rounded the North Cape, the two natives
were landed among some of their friends and acquaintance, though not
exactly at the district whereat their families and kindred resided (the
Bay of islands); and Mr. King returned to Norfolk Island on the 18th,
having been ten days on board the _Britannia_. Captain Nepean, who was
proceeding in that ship to Europe by the way of India, remained on shore
in the government of Norfolk Island during Mr. King's absence; but, on
his return, reimbarked in the _Britannia_; and on the 20th of the same
month she sailed on the further prosecution of her voyage.
It was not imagined that this delay in the _Britannia's_ voyage would be
of any consequence, as Mr. Raven purposed making what is called the
Eastern Passage; that is, between the south end of Mindanao and Borneo;
and it was known that the eastern monsoon did not set well in, nor was
attended with good weather in those seas before December or January.
Mr. King found himself compelled to send by the _Francis_ ten soldiers of
the detachment of the New South Wales corps on duty there, under a charge
of mutinous behaviour. A jealousy which had grown up between the soldiers
and the free men, settlers and others, occasioned by some acts of
violence and improper behaviour on either side, broke out in the evening
of the 18th of last month, at a place in which the lieutenant-governor
had permitted plays to be represented by the convicts, as an innocent
recreation after labour. Mr. King, who was present, having thought it
necessary to order one of the soldiers into confinement when the play was
ended, the detachment repaired to their own commanding-officer, and
demanded the release of their comrade. On his declaring his inability to
comply with such request, they signified a resolution to release him
themselves; upon which the officer remonstrated with them, and they
dispersed. It did not appear that they made any attempts to release the
prisoner; but on the following morning, when the lieutenant-governor was
made acquainted with the above circumstances, he convened all the
officers in the settlement, and laid before them what he had heard,
together with an account of a determination among the soldiers, to
release from the halberts any of their comrades who should be ordered
punishment for any offence or injury done to a settler; all of which he
had caused to be authenticated upon oath. The result of this meeting was,
that the detachment should be disarmed, and that the settlers late of the
marines, and _Sirius's_ ship's company, should be embodied and armed as a
militia. This resolution was accordingly put in execution on the 21st, by
sending the detachment from their quarters unarmed, upon different
duties; while the new-raised militia took possession of their arms. On
their return, twenty were selected as mutineers to be sent to this place,
the remainder returning to their duty immediately, but of that number ten
were, after a few days confinement, pardoned and liberated; and two days
after Mr. King had restored good order in the settlement the _Francis_
appeared. By her he sent the ten prisoners under a guard of an officer
and as many soldiers as the vessel could conveniently receive.
A court of inquiry, composed of the officers of the regiment present at
Sydney, was assembled immediately after the arrival of the _Francis_, to
inquire into the complaint which had accompanied the soldiers from
Norfolk Island; when, after five days deliberation, and examination of
papers, witnesses, etc. they reported, that the conduct of the soldiers,
in disobeying the orders of their officers, was reprehensible; but, on
considering the provocations which had given birth to that disobedience.
they recommended them to their commanding officer's clemency.
On the 27th the schooner sailed a second time for Norfolk Island, for the
purpose of conveying two officers of the New South Wales corps, and some
non-commissioned officers and privates, in lieu of those who had been
sent hither, and without whom the detachment on duty there would have
been too much weakened.
The natives were again troublesome this month. Two several accounts were
sent down from Parramatta, of their having attacked, robbed, and beaten
some of the settlers' wives who were repassing between their farms and
Parramatta; and great quantities of corn continued to be stolen by them.
One of these women (married to Trace, a settler at the foot of Prospect
Hill) was so severely wounded by a party who robbed and stripped her of
some of her wearing apparel, that she lay for a long time dangerously ill
at the hospital. It was said, that the people who committed this and
other acts of violence and cruelty were occasional visitors with others
at Sydney. Could their persons have been properly identified, the
lieutenant-governor would have taken serious notice of the offenders.
Notwithstanding the woods were infested by these people, numbers of the
male convicts, idle, and dreading labour as a greater evil than the risk
of being murdered, absented from the new settlements, and, after
wandering about for a few days, got at length to Sydney almost naked, and
so nearly starved, that in most cases humanity interfered between them
and the punishment which they merited. They in general pleaded the
insufficiency of the present ration to support a labouring man; but it
was well known that the labour required was infinitely short of what
might have been justly exacted from them, even had the ration been much
less. They mostly wrought by tasks, which were so proportioned to their
situation, that after the hour of ten in the forenoon their time was left
at their own disposal; and many found employment from settlers and other
individuals who had the means of paying them for their labour. At this
period, it was true, the labouring convict was menaced with the
probability of suffering greater want than had ever been before
experienced in the settlement. On Saturday the 22nd (the last
provision-day in this month) there remained in store a quantity of salt
meat only sufficient for the inhabitants until the middle of the second
week in the next month, at which time there would not be an ounce of
provisions left, if some supplies did not arrive before that period. But
even this situation, bad as it certainly was, was still alleviated by the
assistance that the officers, settlers, and others were able to afford to
those whom they either retained in their service or occasionally hired
for labour as they wanted them. Some who were off the store, and who well
remembered their own distresses in the years 1789 and 1791, declared,
that with a little industry, and being allowed the indulgence of going
out in a boat, they could, even at this time, earn a better subsistence
than if they were employed by Government, and fed from a full store.
Nothing was lost; even the shark was found to be a certain supply; the
oil which was procured from the liver was sold at one shilling the quart,
and but very few houses in the colony were fortunate enough to enjoy the
pleasant light of a candle.
The seed-wheat as yet escaped, and might remain untouched for another
fortnight. The Indian corn was ripening; and it was hoped, that by making
some little deduction from the wheat, it would be ready in time to save
all the seed that had been reserved for the next season. To lose the
seed-wheat would be to repel every advance which had been made toward
supporting ourselves, and to crush every hope of independence. All that
had been done in cultivation, every acre which was preparing for the
ensuing crop, would long have remained a memorial of our distress; and
where existed the mind that could have returned to the labour of the
field with that cheerful spirit or energy that would have been necessary
to ensure future success?
The watch at Parramatta, under the direction of Barrington the constable,
ever on the look-out for the murderers of Lewis, detected a man of bad
character in offering a dollar in payment for some article that he had
purchased, and which dollar appeared to have been buried in the ground.
He had been taken up before, and on searching him at that time was not in
possession of any money. As nothing more, however, than this circumstance
was adduced against him, he was discharged, it being admitted that he
might have earned something since that time by his labour.
The foundation of a second barrack for soldiers at Sydney was begun in
the latter part of this month; and Baughan's mill-house was covered in
with tiles.
Mutton was this month sold for one shilling and nine-pence per pound. The
Bengal sheep, by crossing the breed with the Cape ram, were found to
improve considerably in appearance and size.