The _Speedy_ sails and returns
Excursion to the western mountains
The _Francis_ returns from Norfolk Island
Corn bills not paid
The _Britannia_ sails for the Cape, and the _Speedy_ on her fishing voyage
Notification respecting the corn bills
The _Resolution_ and _Salamander_ arrive from England
Irish prisoners troublesome
Gales of wind
Natives
_Daedalus_ sails for Norfolk Island
Emancipations
_The Fancy_ sails
A death
Bevan executed
A settler murdered at Parramatta
The _Mercury_ arrives
Spanish ships
Emancipation
Settlers and natives
Civil Court
The _Surprize_ arrives
Deaths
_Resolution_ and _Salamander_ sail
Transactions
The _Daedalus_ returns from Norfolk Island
The _Mercury_ sails for America
The Lieutenant-Governor leaves the Settlement
The _Daedalus_ sails for England, and the _Surprize_ for Bengal
The Experiment arrives
Captain Paterson assumes the government _pro tempore_
Ration
Deaths in 1794
August.] Mr. Melville sailed on his intended fishing voyage on the second
of this month. He talked of returning in about fourteen days, during
which time he meant to visit Jervis and Bateman Bays to the southward, as
well as to try once more what fortune might attend him as a whaler upon
the coast. He returned, however, on the 8th, without having seen a fish,
or visited either of the bays, having experienced a constant and heavy
gale of wind at ESE since he left the port, which forced him to sail under
a reefed foresail during the whole of its continuance.
In the evening of the day on which he sailed hence, the people at the
South Head made the signal for a sail; but it was imagined, that as they
had lost sight of the _Speedy_ in the morning, they had perhaps seen her
again in the evening on another tack, as the wind had shifted. But when
this was mentioned to Mr. Melville at his return, he said that it was not
possible for the _Speedy_ to have been seen in the evening of the day she
sailed, as she stood right off the land; and he added, that he himself,
in the close of the evening, imagined he saw a sail off Botany Bay. No
ship, however, making her appearance during the month, it was generally
supposed that the people at the Look-out must have been mistaken.
A passage over the inland mountains which form the western boundary of
the county of Cumberland being deemed practicable, Henry Hacking, a
seaman (formerly quarter-master in the _Sirius_, but left here from the
_Royal Admiral_), set off on the 20th of the month, with a companion or
two, determined to try it. On the 27th they returned with an account of
their having penetrated twenty miles further inland than any other
European. Hacking reported, that on reaching the mountains, his further
route lay over eighteen or nineteen ridges of high rocks; and that when
he halted, determined to return, he still had in view before him the same
wild and inaccessible kind of country. The summits of these rocks were of
iron stone, large fragments of which had covered the intermediate
valleys, in which water of a reddish tinge was observed to stagnate in
many spots. The soil midway up the ascent appeared good, and afforded
shelter and food for several red kangaroos. The ground every where bore
signs of being frequently visited by high winds; for on the sides exposed
to the south and south-east it was strewed with the trunks of large
trees. They saw but one native in this desolate region, and he fled from
their approach, preferring the enjoyments of his rocks and woods, with
liberty, to any intercourse with them. These hills appearing to extend
very far to the northward an impassable barrier seemed fixed to the
westward; and southward, and little hope was left of our extending
cultivation beyond the limits of the county of Cumberland.
On the following day the _Francis_ schooner returned from Norfolk Island,
having been absent about eight weeks and three days. Her passage thither
was made in ten days, and her return in thirty-eight days, having met
with very bad weather.
From Mr. King we learned that his harvest had been prodigiously
productive. He had purchased from the first crops which the settlers
brought to market upwards of eleven thousand bushels of maize; and bills
for the amount were drawn by him in favour of the respective settlers;
but, requiring the sanction of the lieutenant-governor, they were now
sent to Port Jackson. Mr. King had been partly induced to make this
provisional kind of purchase, under an idea that the corn would be
acceptable at Port Jackson, and also in compliance with the conditions on
which the settlers had received their respective allotments under the
regulations of Governor Phillip; that is to say, that their overplus
grain and stock should be purchased from them at a fair market price.
Being, however, well stocked with that article already, the
lieutenant-governor did not think himself justifiable in putting the
crown to so great an expense (nearly three thousand pounds sterling) and
declined accepting the bills.
Had we been in want of maize, Mr. King could have supplied us with twenty
thousand bushels of it, much of which must now inevitably perish, unless
the settlers would, agreeably to a notification which the governor
intended to send them by the first opportunity, receive their corn again
from the public stores.
Mr. King had the satisfaction to write that every thing went on well in
his little island, excepting that some discontent appeared among the
marine settlers, and some others, on account of his not purchasing their
second crops of corn. As some proof of the existence of this
dissatisfaction, one marine settler and three others arrived in the
schooner, who had given up their farms and entered into the New South
Wales corps; and it was reported that most of the marine settlers
intended to follow their example.
This circumstance naturally gave rise to an inquiry, what would be the
consequence if ever Government should, from farming on their own account,
raise a quantity of wheat and maize sufficient for the consumption of
those in the different settlements who were victualled by the crown. If
such a system should be adopted, the settler would be deprived of a
market for his overplus grain, would find himself cut off from the means
of purchasing any of those comforts which his family must inevitably
require, and would certainly quit a country that merely held out to him a
daily subsistence; as he would look, if he was ordinarily wise, for
something beyond that. It might be said, that the settler would raise
stock for the public; but government would do the same, and so prevent
him from every chance of providing for a family beyond the present day.
As it was desirable that those settlers who had become such from convicts
should remain in this country, the only inducement they could have would
be that of raising to themselves a comfortable independence for the
winter of their own lives and the summer of their progeny. Government
must therefore, to encourage the settler, let him be the farmer, and be
itself the purchaser. The Government can always fix its own price; and
the settler will be satisfied if he can procure himself the comforts he
finds requisite, and lay by a portion of his emoluments for that day when
he can no longer till the field with the labour of his own hands. With
this encouragement and prospect, New South Wales would hold out a most
promising field for the industrious; and might even do more: it might
prove a valuable resource and acceptable asylum for many broken and
reduced families, who, for want of it, become through misfortunes
chargeable to their respective parishes.
Notwithstanding the weather was unfavourable during the whole of this
month, the wheat every where looked well, particularly at the settlement
near the Hawkesbury; the distance to which place had lately been
ascertained by an officer who walked thither from Sydney in two minutes
less than eight hours. He computed the distance to be thirty-two miles.
The weather during the whole of this month was very unpleasant and
turbulent. Much rain, and the wind strong at south, marked by far the
greatest part of it. On the 25th, the hot land-wind visited us for the
first time this season, blowing until evening with much violence, when it
was succeeded (as usually happened after so hot a day) by the wind at
south.
September.] On the 1st of September the _Britannia_ sailed for the Cape
of Good Hope, on a second voyage of speculation for some of the civil and
military officers of the settlement. In her went, with dispatches, Mr.
David Wake Bell, and Mr. Richard Kent (gentlemen who arrived here in the
_Boddingtons_ and _Sugar Cane_ transports, charged with the
superintendance and medical care of the convicts from Ireland). The
_Speedy_ also sailed on her fishing voyage, the master intending not to
consume any longer time in an unsuccessful trial of this coast. Several
persons were permitted to take their passage in these ships; among
others, Richard Blount, for whom a free pardon had some time since been
received from the secretary of state's office.
Soon after the departure of these ships, the lieutenant-governor, having
previously transmitted with his other dispatches an account of the
transaction to the secretary of state, thought it necessary to issue a
public order, calculated to impress on the minds of those settlers and
others at Norfolk Island who might think themselves aggrieved by his late
determination of not ordering payment to be made for the corn purchased
of them by Lieutenant-governor King, a conviction that although he should
on all occasions be ready to adopt any plan which the lieutenant-governor
might devise for the accommodation or advantage of the inhabitants
at Norfolk Island, yet in this business he made objections, because he
did not consider himself authorised to ratify the agreement.
He proposed to those who held the bills to take back their corn; or, if
they preferred leaving it in the public stores until such time as an
answer could be received from the secretary of state, he assured them
that they might depend on the earliest communication of whatever might be
his decision; and that if such decision should be to refuse the payment
of the bills, he promised that grain should be returned equal in quantity
and quality to what had been received from them.*
[* Governor Hunter on his arrival ordered the bills to be paid, which was
afterwards confirmed by the secretary of state.]
How far the settlers (who in return for the produce of their grounds
looked for something more immediately beneficial to them and their
families, than the waiting eighteen months or two years for a refusal,
instead of payment of these bills) would be satisfied with this order,
was very questionable. It has been seen already, that they were
dissatisfied at the produce of their second crops not being purchased;
what then must be their ideas on finding even the first received indeed,
but not accounted for; purchased, but not paid for? it was fair to
conclude, that on thus finding themselves without a market for their
overplus grain, they would certainly give up the cultivation of their
farms and quit the island. Should this happen, Lieutenant-governor King
would have to lament the necessity of a measure having been adopted which
in effect promised to depopulate his government.
On the 10th and 11th of this month we had two very welcome arrivals from
England, the _Resolution_ and _Salamander_ storeships. They were both
freighted with stores and provisions for the colony; but immediately on
their anchoring we were given to understand, that from meeting with
uncommon bad weather between the Cape of Good Hope and Van Dieman's Land,
the masters apprehended that their cargoes had sustained much damage.
The _Resolution_ sailed in company with the _Salamander_ (from whom she
parted in a heavy gale of wind about the longitude of the islands
Amsterdam and St. Paul's) on the 20th of March last; anchored on the 16th
of April at the Isle of May, whence she sailed on the 20th; crossed the
equator on the 3rd of May; anchored on the 25th of the same month in the
harbour of Rio de Janeiro; left it on the 10th of June, and, after a very
boisterous passage, made the southern extremity of New Holland on the
30th of August, having been ninety-three days in her passage from the
Brazils, during which time she endured several hard gales of wind, three
of which the master, Mr. Matthew Lock, reported to have been as severe as
any man on board his ship had ever witnessed. He stated, in the protest
which he entered before the judge-advocate, that his ship was very much
strained, the main piece of the rudder sprung, and most of the sails and
rigging worn out. The _Salamander_ appeared to have met with weather
equally bad; but she was at one time in greater hazard, having broached-to
in a tremendous gale of wind; during which time, according to the tale of
the superstitious seamen, and which they took care to insert in their
protest, blue lights were seen dancing on each masthead and yard in the ship.
By these ships we learned that the _Surprise_ transport, with male and
female convicts for this country, was left by them lying at Spithead
ready for sea, and that they might be shortly expected. The _Kitty_,
which sailed from this place in June 1793, had arrived safely at Cork on
the 5th of February last, not losing any of her passengers or people in
so long a voyage and in such a season.
His Majesty's appointment of John Hunter esq to be our governor, in the
room of Captain Phillip who had resigned his office, we found had been
officially notified in the London Gazette of the 5th of February last.
Mr. Phillip's services, we understood, were remunerated by a pension of
five hundred pounds per annum.
The Irish prisoners were now again beginning to be troublesome; and some
of them being missing from labour, it was directly rumoured that a plan
was in agitation to seize the boat named the _Cumberland_, which had
recently sailed with provisions for the settlers at the Hawkesbury. By
several it was said, that she had actually been attacked without the
Heads, and carried. Notice was therefore immediately sent overland to the
river, to put the people in the boat on their guard, and to return should
she reach that settlement safely: an armed long-boat was also sent
to protect her passage round. After a few days suspense we found,
that while providing against any accident happening to the _Cumberland_,
some of the Irish prisoners at Parramatta had stolen from the wharf at
that place a six-oar'd boat belonging to Lieutenant Macarthur, with which
they got without the harbour undiscovered. She was found however, some
days after, at Botany Bay. The people who were in her made some threats
of resistance, but at length took to the woods, leaving the boat with
nearly every thing that they had provided for their voyage. From the
woods they visited the farms about Sydney for plunder, or rather for
sustenance; but one of them being fired at and wounded, the rest thought
it their wisest way to give themselves up. They made no hesitation in
avowing that they never meant to return; but at the same time owned that
they supposed they had reached Broken Bay instead of Botany Bay, ignorant
whether it lay to the northward or southward of this harbour. The man who
had been wounded died at the hospital the next day; and his companions
appeared but very ill able to provide for themselves, even by those means
which had occasioned our being troubled with them in this country.
On the 17th, we were visited by a violent gale of wind at southwest,
which blew so strong, that the _Resolution_ was at one time nearly on
shore. At Parramatta, during the gale, a public granary, in which were
upwards of two thousand four hundred bushels of shelled maize or Indian
corn, caught fire, through the carelessness of some servants who were
boiling food for stock close to the building (which was a thatched one),
and all the corn, together with a number of fine hogs the property of an
individual, were destroyed.
Some severe contests among the natives took place during this month in
and about the town of Sydney. In fact, we still knew very little of the
manners and customs of these people, notwithstanding the advantage we
possessed in the constant residence of many of them among us, and the
desire that they showed of cultivating our friendship. At the Hawkesbury
they were not so friendly; a settler there and his servant were nearly
murdered in their hut by some natives from the woods, who stole upon them
with such secrecy, as to wound and overpower them before they could
procure assistance. The servant was so much hurt by them with spears and
clubs, as to be in danger of losing his life. A few days after this
circumstance, a body of natives having attacked the settlers, and carried
off their clothes, provisions, and whatever else they could lay their
hands on, the sufferers collected what arms they could, and following,
them, seven or eight of the plunderers were killed on the spot.
This mode of treating them had become absolutely necessary, from the
frequency and evil effects of their visits; but whatever the settlers at
the river suffered was entirely brought on them by their own misconduct:
there was not a doubt but many natives had been wantonly fired upon; and
when their children, after the flight of the parents, have fallen into
the settlers hands, they have been detained at their huts, notwithstanding
the earnest entreaties of the parents for their return.
On the 26th, the _Daedalus_ sailed for Norfolk Island, having on board a
quantity of the stores and provisions lately received from England, and a
detachment of officers and men of the New South Wales corps to relieve
those on duty there.
Two female natives, wishing to withdraw from the cruelty which they, with
others of their sex, experienced from their countrymen, were allowed to
embark in the _Daedalus_, and were consigned to the care of the
lieutenant-governor. One of them was sister to Bennillong; the other was
connected with the young man his companion. Perhaps they wished to wait
in peace and retirement the arrival of those who were bound to protect
them.
At the latter end of the month some warrants of emancipation passed the
seal of the territory, and received the lieutenant-governor's signature.
The objects of this indulgence were, Robert Sidaway, who received an
unconditional pardon in consideration of his diligence, unremitting good
conduct, and strict integrity in his employment for several years as the
public baker of the settlement; and William Leach, who was permitted to
quit this country, but not to return to England during the unexpired term
of his sentence of transportation, which was for seven years. Eight
convicts were pardoned on condition of their serving in the New South
Wales corps until regularly discharged therefrom. James Larra, James
Ruffler, and Richard Partridge (convicts for life), received a conditional
pardon, or (as was the term among themselves on this occasion) were made
free on the ground, to enable them to become settlers; as were also
William Joyce and Benjamin Carver for the same purpose. Joyce had been
transported for fourteen years, and Carver for life. Freedom on the
ground was also given to William Waring, a convict for life.
It was pleasing to see so many people withdrawing from the society of
vice and wretchedness, and forming such a character for themselves as to
be thought deserving of emancipation.
On the 29th, the _Fancy_ snow left this port. Mr. Dell, the commander,
purposed running to Norfolk Island, but affected a secrecy with respect
to his subsequent destination. It was generally surmised, however, that
he was bound to some island whereat timber fit for naval purposes was to
be procured; and at which whatever ship Mr. Bampton should bring with him
might touch and load with a cargo for India. The snow was armed, was
about one hundred and seventy tons burden, had a large and expensive
complement of officers and men, a guard of sepoys, and a commission from
the Bombay marine*. New Zealand was by us supposed to be the place; as
force, or at least the appearance of it, was there absolutely requisite.
[* Mr. Dell had likewise on board a much greater number of cross-cut saws
than were necessary to procure wood for the mere use of the vessel.]
The wife of Griffin the drummer, whose hoarded guineas were supposed to
have been stolen by Charles, or (as he was more commonly named) Pat Gray,
killed herself with drinking, expiring in a fit of intoxication while the
husband was employed in the lower part of the harbour in fishing for his
family. She left him four children to provide for.
October.] This month opened with an indispensable act of justice: John
Bevan, a wretched convict, whose name has been frequently mentioned in
this narrative, broke into the house of William Fielder at Sydney, and
being caught in the fact, it was substantiated against him beyond the
chance of escape; he was of course fully convicted, and received sentence
of death. The trial was on the 1st, and at nine in the morning of the 6th
he was executed. At the tree he confessed nothing, but seemed terrified
when he found himself so near the ignominious death that he had so long
merited. On being taken to hear divine service the Sunday preceding his
execution, he seemed not to be in the smallest degree affected by the
clergyman's discourse, which was composed for the occasion; but was
visibly touched at the singing of the psalm intitled the 'Lamentation of
a Sinner.'
On the evening preceding the day of his execution, information was
received from Parramatta, that Simon Burn, a settler, had been stabbed to
the heart about eight o'clock in the evening before, of which wound he
died in an hour. The man who perpetrated this atrocious act was a convict
named Hill, a butcher by trade. It appeared on the trial, which lasted
five hours, that Hill had borne the deceased much animosity for some
time, and, having been all the day (which, to aggravate the offence,
happened to be Sunday) in company drinking with him, took occasion to
quarrel with a woman with whom he cohabited, and following her into an
empty house, whither she had run to avoid a beating, the deceased,
unhappily for him, interfered, and was by Hill stabbed to the heart;
living, as has been said, about an hour, but having just strength enough
to declare in the presence of several witnesses, that the butcher had
killed him. The prisoner attempted to set up an alibi for his defence;
but the fact of killing was incontrovertibly fixed upon him, as well as
the malice which urged his hand to take away the life of his
fellow-creature, and to send him, with the sin upon his head of having
profaned the Lord's day by rioting and drunkenness, unprepared before his
Maker.
This poor man was buried by his widow (an Irish woman) in a corner of his
own farm, attended by several settlers of that and the neighbouring
districts, who celebrated the funeral rites in a manner and with orgies
suitable to the disposition and habits of the deceased, his widow, and
themselves.
Hill was executed on the 16th, and his body dissected according to his
sentence.
On the 17th the _Mercury_, an American brig, commanded by Mr. William
Barnet, anchored in the cove from Falkland's islands. He had nothing on
board for sale, but brought us the very welcome information of his having
seen the officers of the Spanish ship _Descuvierta_ at that place. Being
in want of biscuit, he made application to the commodore Malaspina for a
supply, proffering to settle the payment in any manner that he should
choose to adopt; but the commodore, after sending him a greater quantity
than he had required, assured him that he was sufficiently satisfied in
having assisted a ship whose people, whether English or American, spoke
the language of those gentlemen from whom himself and the officers of the
ships under his command had received, while in New South Wales, such
attention and hospitality. Mr. Barnet understood the _Atrevida_ was in
the neighbourhood, and that no loss or accident had happened in either
ship since their departure from Port Jackson. The _Mercury_ was bound to
the north-west coast of America, and her master purposed quitting this
port as soon as his people, who were all afflicted with that dreadful sea
distemper the scurvy, should be sufficiently recovered.
The period of probation which had been allotted by the late governor to
the services of William Stephenson (one of the people serving in the
stores) expiring this month, his pardon was delivered to him accordingly.
No one among the prisoners could be found more deserving of this
clemency; his conduct had been uniformly that of a good man, and he had
shown that he was trustworthy by never having forfeited the good opinion
of the commissary under whom he was placed in the provision-store.
From the Hawkesbury were received accounts which corroborated the opinion
that the settlers there merited the attacks which were from time to time
made upon them by the natives. It was now said, that some of them had
seized a native boy, and, after tying him hand and foot, had dragged him
several times through a fire, or over a place covered with hot ashes,
until his back was dreadfully scorched, and in that state threw him into
the river, where they shot at and killed him. Such a report could not be
heard without being followed by the closest examination, when it appeared
that a boy had actually been shot when in the water, from a conviction of
his having been detached as a spy upon the settlers from a large body of
natives, and that he was returning to them with an account of their
weakness, there being only one musket to be found among several farms. No
person appearing to contradict this account, it was admitted as a truth;
but many still considered it as a tale invented to cover the true
circumstance, that a boy had been cruelly and wantonly murdered by them.
The presence of some person with authority was becoming absolutely
necessary among those settlers, who, finding themselves freed from
bondage, instantly conceived that they were above all restrictions; and,
being without any internal regulations, irregularities of the worst kind
might be expected to happen.
On the morning of the 25th a civil court was assembled, for the purpose
of investigating an action brought by one Joyce (a convict lately
emancipated) against Thomas Daveny, a free man and superintendant of
convicts at Toongabbie, for an assault; when the defendant, availing
himself of a mistake in his christian name, pleaded the misnomer. His
plea being admitted, the business was for that time got over, and before
another court could be assembled he had entered into a compromise with
the plaintiff, and nothing more was heard of it.
In the evening of the same day the _Surprise_ transport arrived from
England, whence she sailed on the 2nd of last May, having on board sixty
female and twenty-three male convicts, some stores and provisions, and
three settlers for this colony.
Among the prisoners were, Messrs. Muir, Palmer, Skirving, and Margarot,
four gentlemen lately convicted in Scotland of the crime of sedition,
considered as a public offence, and transported for the same to this
country.
We found also on board the _Surprise_ a Mr. James Thompson, late
surgeon of the _Atlantic_ transport, but who now came in quality of
assistant-surgeon to the settlement; and William Baker, formerly here a
sergeant in the marine detachment, but now appointed a superintendant of
convicts.
A guard of an ensign and twenty-one privates of the New South Wales corps
were on board the transport. Six of these people were deserters from
other regiments brought from the Savoy; one of them, Joseph Draper, we
understood had been tried for mutiny (of an aggravated kind) at Quebec.
This mode of recruiting the regiment must have proved as disgusting to
the officers as it was detrimental to the interests of the settlement. If
the corps was raised for the purpose of protecting the civil
establishment, and of bringing a counterpoise to the vices and crimes
which might naturally be expected to exist among the convicts, it ought
to have been carefully formed from the best characters; instead of which
we now found a mutineer (a wretch who could deliberate with others, and
consent himself to be the chosen instrument of the destruction of his
sovereign's son) sent among us, to remain for life, perhaps, as a check
upon sedition, now added to the catalogue of our other imported vices.
This ship touched only at Rio de Janeiro, between which port and the
south-west cape of this country the winds which they met with very much
favoured, in the idea of Mr. Campbell the master, the opinion of a
passage being readily made to the Cape of Good Hope, or to India, round
by Van Dieman's Land.
Among other articles of information now received, we learned that
Governor Hunter, with the _Reliance_ and _Supply_, two ships intended to
be employed in procuring cattle for the colony, might be expected to
arrive in about three months. The governor was to bring out with him a
patent for establishing a court of criminal judicature at Norfolk Island.
The two natives in England were said to be in health, and anxious for the
governor's departure, as they were to accompany him. They had made but
little improvement in our language.
The _Surprise_ anchoring in the cove after dark, she saluted at sunrise
the following morning with fifteen guns.
A theft was committed in the course of the month in one of the out-houses
belonging to Government House, used as a regimental storeroom; the
articles stolen were fifteen shirts and seventeen pair of shoes. In
searching among the rocks and bushes for this property, three white and
two check shirts, one pair of trousers, and one pair of stockings, were
found; but so damaged by the weather as to be entirely useless. These
must have been planted (to use the thiefs phrase) a considerable time;
for every mark or trace which could lead to a discovery of the owner was
entirely effaced.
The storeships being cleared of their cargoes, a survey was made upon
such part of them as was damaged, which was found to be very
considerable. A serving of slops was immediately issued to the male and
female convicts; the men receiving each one jacket, one waistcoat, one
shirt, one hat, and one pair of breeches; the women one petticoat, one
shift, one pair of stockings, one cap, one neck-handkerchief, one hat, and
one jacket made of raven duck. A distinction was made in the articles of
the slops served to watchmen and overseers, each receiving one coat
instead of a jacket, one pair of duck trousers instead of a pair of
breeches, and one pair of shoes.
On the 21st died an industrious good young man, Joseph Webb, a settler at
the district named Liberty Plains. He had been working in his ground, and
suddenly fell down in an apoplectic fit. We have seen that another
settler was murdered, and two male convicts were executed. Burn had been
an unfortunate man; he had lost one of his eyes, when, as a convict, he
was employed in splitting paling for government; his farm had never
succeeded; himself and his wife were too fond of spirituous liquors to be
very industrious; and he was at last forced out of the world in a state
and in a manner shocking to human nature.
November.] Since our establishment in this harbour but few accidents had
happened to boats. On the 1st of this month, however, the longboat of the
_Surprise_, though steered by one of the people belonging to the
settlement, was overset on her passage from the cove to Parramatta, in a
squall of wind she met with off Goat Island, with a number of convicts
and stores on board. Fortunately, no other loss followed than that
occasioned by the drowning of one very fine female goat, the property of
Baker the superintendant.
On the following day died Mr. Thomas Freeman, the deputy-commissary of
stores and provisions employed at Parramatta. He was in his fifty-third
year, and in this country ended a life the greater part of which had been
actively and usefully employed in the king's service. His remains were
interred in the burial-ground at Parramatta, and were attended by the
gentlemen of the civil department residing in that township.
On the morning of the 9th the ships _Resolution_ and _Salamander_ left
the cove, purposing to sail on their fishing voyage; soon after which, it
being discovered that three convicts, Mary Morgan and John Randall and
his wife, were missing, a boat was sent down the harbour to search the
_Resolution_, on board of which ship it was said they were concealed. No
person being found, the boat returned for further orders, leaving a
sergeant and four men on board; but before she could return, Mr. Locke
the master, after forcing the party out of his ship, got under way and
stood out to sea. Mr. Irish, the master of the _Salamander_, did
not accompany him; but came up to the town, to testify to the
lieutenant-governor his uneasiness at its being supposed that he could
be capable of taking any person improperly from the colony.
On the day following it appeared that several persons were missing, and
two convicts in the night swam off to the _Salamander_, one of whom was
supposed to have been drowned, but was afterwards found concealed in her
hold and sent on shore. The _Resolution_ during this time was seen
hovering about the coast, either waiting for her companion, or to pick up
a boat with the runaways. On the 13th, the _Salamander_ got under way,
with a southerly wind; but it falling calm when the ship was between the
Heads, she drifted, and was set with the ebb tide so near the north head
of the harbour as to be obliged to anchor suddenly in eighteen fathoms
water. When anchored they got a kedge-anchor out, and began to heave; but
the surf on the head and the swell from the sea were so great, occasioned
by the late southerly winds, that in heaving the cable parted.
Fortunately the stream-hawser hung her; and a breeze from the northward
springing up, she was brought into the harbour with the loss of an
anchor. This loss being repaired by her getting another from the
_Surprise_, she was enabled to sail finally on the 15th.
The impropriety of the conduct of the _Resolution's_ master was so
glaring, that the lieutenant-governor caused some depositions to be taken
respecting it, which he purposed transmitting to the navy-board. This man
had been permitted to ship as many persons from the settlement as he
stated to be necessary to complete his ship's company; notwithstanding
which, there was not any doubt of his having received on board, without
any permission, to the number of twelve or thirteen convicts whose terms
of transportation had not been served. No difficulty had ever been found
by any master of a ship, who would make the proper application, in
obtaining any number of hands that he might be in want of, but to take
clandestinely from the settlement the useful servants of the public was
ungrateful and unpardonable. It was to be hoped that government, if the
facts could be substantiated against him, would make his person a severe
example to other masters of ships coming to this port.
On the 23rd, after an absence of eight weeks and two days, the _Daedalus_
returned from Norfolk Island. Ten days of this time were passed in going
thither, and sixteen in returning; the intermediate time was consumed in
landing one, and receiving on board the other detachment, with their
baggage.
Several persons, whose sentences of transportation had expired, and who
preferred residing in New South Wales, together with ten of the marine
settlers, who had given up their grounds in consequence of the late
disappointment which they experienced in respect of their corn bills, and
had entered into the New South Wales corps, arrived in this ship.
We understood that Phillip Island had been found to answer extremely well
for the purpose of breeding stock. Some hogs which were allowed to be
placed there in August 1793, the property of an individual, had increased
so prodigiously, as to render the raising hogs there on account of
government an object with the lieutenant-governor.
The _Daedalus_ immediately began preparations for her departure for
England; and Lieutenant-governor Grose signified his intention of
quitting the settlement by that opportunity.
The lieutenant-governor having set apart for each of the gentlemen who
came from Scotland in the _Surprise_ a brick hut, in a row on the east
side of the cove, they took possession of their new habitations, and soon
declared that they found sufficient reason for thinking their situations
'on the bleak and desolate shores of New Holland' not quite so terrible
as in England they had been taught to expect.
The _Surprise_ was discharged this month from government employ, and
Mr. Campbell began to prepare for making his passage to Bengal (whither he
was bound) by the south cape of this country. Of the female prisoners who
came out in this ship one was buried on the 21st; she had lain in of a
dead child, and died shortly after of a milk fever. Her husband, a free
man, came out with her to settle in the country.
Reaping our wheat-harvest commenced this month.
December.] The people of the _Mercury_ being perfectly recovered from the
disorder which afflicted them when they arrived, that vessel sailed on
the 7th of December for the north-west coast of America. The master had
permission to ship five persons belonging to the colony, and on the day
of his sailing several others were missing from the labouring gangs, and
were supposed to have made their escape in her; but on the following
morning they were all at their respective labours, not having been able
to get on board.
Some of the seamen belonging to this vessel, preferring the pleasures
they met with in the society of the females and the free circulation of
spirituous liquors which they found on shore, to accompanying Mr. Barnet
to the north-west coast of America, had left his vessel some days
previous to her sailing. Application being made to the lieutenant-governor,
several orders were given out calculated to induce them to return to their
duty, informing them, that if they remained behind they would be
certainly sent to hard labour, and the persons who had harboured them
severely punished. But our settlements had now become so extensive, that
orders did not so readily find their way to the settlers, as runaways and
vagrants, who never failed of finding employment among them, particularly
among those at the river.
On the 8th a farm of twenty-five acres of ground in the district of
Concord was sold by public auction for thirteen pounds. Four acres were
planted with Indian corn, and half an acre with potatoes; there was
beside a tolerable hut on the premises. This farm was the property of
Samuel Crane, a soldier, who, too industriously for himself, working on
it on the Sunday preceding his death, received a hurt from a tree which
fell upon him, and proved fatal.
Every preparation for accommodating the lieutenant-governor and his
family being completed on board the _Daedalus_, he embarked in the
evening of the 15th. Previous to his departure, such convicts as were at
that time confined in the cells, or who were under orders for punishment,
were released; several grants of lands were signed, conveying chiefly
small allotments of twenty-five acres each to such soldiers of the
regiment as were desirous of, and made application for that favour; and
some leases of town lots were given.
With the lieutenant-governor went Mr. White, the principal surgeon of the
colony; Mr. Bain, the chaplain, in whose absence the Rev. Mr. Marsden was
to do his duty; Mr. Laing, assistant-surgeon of the settlement, and mate
of the New South Wales corps; three soldiers; two women, and nine men.
The master of the transport had permission to ship twelve men and two
women, whose sentences of transportation had expired.
The _Surprise_ sailed on the 17th. Mr. Campbell, being in want of hands,
was allowed to receive on board sixteen men. He had shipped a greater
number; but some, regardless of their own situation, and of the effect
such an act might have on others, had been detected in the act of robbing
the ship, and were turned on shore.
Mr. Campbell at his departure expressed his determination of trying his
passage to Bengal by the south cape of this country. The route of the
_Daedalus_ was round the southern extremity of New Zealand.
The lieutenant-governor took with him all the documents which were
necessary to lay before government to explain the state of the different
settlements under his command; such as the commissary's accounts, returns
of stock, remains of provisions, etc, etc.; vouchers, in fact, of that
true spirit of liberality which had marked the whole of his administration
of the public affairs of this settlement.
Our society was much weakened by this departure of our friends; they
carried with them, however, letters to our connexions, and our earnest
wishes for their speedy, pleasant, and safe passage to England.
The number of small boats at this time in the settlement was considerable,
although wretchedly put together. Two of them were stolen during the
month by several Irish prisoners, accompanied by some who came out
in the _Surprise_. In it they went down to the Southhead, whence they
took what arms they could find, and made off to sea. In a very few days
they were all brought in from the adjacent bays, and punished for their
rashness and folly. No example seemed to deter these people from thinking
it practicable to escape from the colony; the ill success and punishment
which had befallen others affected not them, till woeful experience made
it their own; and then they only regretted their ill fortune, never
attributing the failure to their own ignorance and temerity.
In the morning of Wednesday the 24th the signal was made at the
South Head for a vessel (which they had seen the day before). She came in
about three o'clock, and proved to be the _Experiment_, a snow from
Bengal, laden with spirits, sugar, piece-goods, and a few casks of
provisions; the speculation being suggested by Mr. Beyer, the agent for
the _Sugar Cane_ and _Boddingtons_. Those ships had arrived safely at
Bengal, and had sailed thence for England.
The _Experiment_ had had a passage of three months from Calcutta, one
month of which she had passed since she saw the southern extremity of
this country.
We learned from Mr. E. McClellan, the master, that a large ship named the
_Neptune_ had been freighted with cattle, etc in pursuance of the
contract entered into with Mr. Bampton, and had sailed from Bombay in
July last, but was unfortunately lost in the river by sailing against the
monsoon. When Mr. Bampton might be expected was uncertain.
The direction of the colony during the absence of the governor and
lieutenant-governor devolving upon the officer highest in rank then on
service in the colony, Captain William Paterson, of the New South Wales
corps, on Christmas Day took the oaths prescribed by his Majesty's
letters patent for the person who should so take upon him the government
of the settlement. This officer, expecting every day the arrival of
Governor Hunter, made no alteration in the mode of carrying on the
different duties of the settlement now entrusted to his care and
guidance.
At the latter end of the month a general muster was ordered of all the
male convicts, together with the persons who had served their several
terms of transportation, as well those residing at Sydney and Parramatta,
as those on the banks of the river Hawkesbury. The following ration was
also ordered, the maize being nearly expended, viz.
To Civil, Military, Free People, and Free Settlers
8 lbs of flour, 7 lbs of beef, or
4 lbs of pork, 3 pints of peas,
6 oz of sugar.
To Male Convicts
4 lbs of flour 7 lbs of beef, or
4 lbs of pork, 3 pints of peas,
6 ozs of sugar, and 3 pints of rice.
Women and children were to receive the usual proportion, and a certain
quantity of slops was directed to be issued to the male and female
convicts who came out in the _Surprise_ transport, they being very much
in want of clothing.
A jail gang was also ordered to be established at Toongabbie, for the
employment and punishment of all bad and suspicious characters.
Wheat was this month directed to be purchased from the settlers at ten
shillings per bushel. Much of that grain was found to have been blighted
this season. The ground about Toongabbie was pronounced to be worn out,
the produce of the last harvest not averaging more than six or seven
bushels an acre, though at first it was computed at seventeen. The
Northern farms had also failed through a blight.
Our loss by death in the year 1794 was, two settlers; four soldiers; one
soldier's wife; thirty-two male convicts; ten female convicts; and ten
children; making a total of fifty-nine persons.