The Present Picture of New South Wales (1811) Part 1

The Present Picture of New South Wales (1811).

by David d.i.c.kinson Mann.

To JOHN HUNTER, ESQ.

VICE-ADMIRAL OF THE BLUE AND LATE CAPTAIN-GENERAL AND GOVERNOR IN CHIEF IN AND OVER HIS MAJESTY'S COLONY OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND ITS DEPENDENCIES, etc. etc. etc.

SIR,

During the period of your government, the settlements of New South Wales beheld the suns.h.i.+ne of their prosperity. The liberal and enlightened measures adopted by you, consolidated the happiness, and increased the security of the colony; and the tears which were shed at your departure were the most grateful tributes which could be paid to your exalted worth.

These considerations justify my selection of you as the Patron of this sketch; but, if a stronger motive were necessary, I have only to retrace the numerous and weighty instances in which you have displayed the most marked attention to my personal interests, and which will ever induce me to avow myself,

With every sentiment of respectful admiration,

SIR,

Your very obliged, and faithfully devoted servant,

D. D. MANN.

35, Queen-Street, Edgware-Road,

Oct. 13, 1810

NEW SOUTH WALES

Chapter I.

Discovery of New South Wales.--Arrival of a Colony there from England.--Obstructions calculated to r.e.t.a.r.d the Progress of the Settlement.--Departure of Governor Phillip.--Intervening Governors, until the Arrival of John Hunter, Esq. and his a.s.sumption of the Government.--Printing Press set up.--Cattle lost, and Discovery of their Progeny in a wild State.--Playhouse opened.--Houses numbered.--a.s.sessments for the building of a Country Gaol.--Town Clock at Sidney.--Natives.--Convicts.--Improvement of the Colony.--Seditious Dispositions of the Convicts.--Departure of Governor Hunter.--His Character and Government.--Comparison of Stock, etc.--Governor King a.s.sumes the Command of the Settlement--Table of Specie Vessel laden with Spirits sent away.--Earthquake.--Inundation at the Hawkesbury.--First Criminal for Forgery executed.--Atlas struck by Lightning.--Tempests.--Desertions of the Convicts.--Newspaper established.--Murders.--Singular Execution.--Lieutenant--Governor Collins forms a new Settlement.--Insurrection of the Convicts.--The Introduction and Progress of Vaccination, and its subsequent Loss.--Influx of the Sea at Norfolk Island.--Limits of Counties defined.--s.h.i.+p overset in a Tempest.

The discovery of the eastern coast of New Holland was the result of that laudable and beneficial spirit of enterprize and investigation, which conferred on the name of Captain Cook so just a claim to posthumous grat.i.tude and immortal renown. Four months of his first voyage round the world, this celebrated circ.u.mnavigator dedicated to the exploration of this. .h.i.therto unknown tract of the universe, stretching, from the north-east to the south-west, to an extent of nearly two thousand miles, to which he gave the name of _New South Wales_. After hovering about the coast for some time, he at length came to an anchorage in the only harbour which appeared to him commodious; and which, in consequence of the innumerable varieties of herbage which were found on sh.o.r.e, he called _Botany Bay_. In this spot he remained some days, employing himself in making those observations which suggested themselves to his capacious mind; and, from his report of the situation of the country--of its apparent extent, climate, and surface, the British Government was induced to relinquish those intentions which had been previously entertained, and to fix upon this spot, as the best adapted for the establishment of a settlement, whither those unhappy delinquents might be conveyed, whose offences against the laws had rendered their further residence in their native land, incompatible with the welfare of society.

According to this determination, Governor Phillip was sent to this new continent, where he arrived on the 20th of January, 1788, with eight hundred convicts, and a portion of marines, and laid the foundation of the new settlement, which continued gradually to improve under his government, until the close of the year 1792. Numberless obstructions existed, during this early period, to check the growth of the colony; amongst the princ.i.p.al of which may be remarked:--1st, the discordant materials of which the settlement was to be constructed; 2dly, the disputes with the natives; and 3dly, the occasional pressure of want, which, for a long time, was unavoidable, on account of its remoteness from the European quarter. The continual disorders amongst the convicts, which no lenity could a.s.suage, no severity effectually check, were injurious to the well-doing of the colony, whose true interests required a combination of reciprocal confidence and mutual exertion; but on men inured to crime, and hardened in guilt--on men almost divested of the common principles and feelings of their species--on those whom a course of depravity had rendered obnoxious to every other pursuit, it was not possible to make impressions of a liberal and enlightened nature.

Their intentions uniformly tended to vice, and no good was to be expected from them, except such as was the effect of compulsory measures; so that the task which industry might have achieved with comparative ease, proved, under existing circ.u.mstances, a work of difficulty, requiring time and perseverance to bring it to the desired perfection. It was not to the commission of depredations upon each other that the restless and dishonest dispositions of the convicts confined themselves, even the poor and miserable natives of the country were made the dupes of a system of knavery which they could not penetrate; and their spears, their s.h.i.+elds, their canoes, and their persons, were equally exposed to the violence of the new settlers. It was easy to foresee the consequences of such conduct: the natives at first discovered symptoms of justifiable reserve, and subsequently adopted steps of an hostile complexion, several unfortunate convicts being found murdered in the woods. In vain did the governor issue order after order, and proclamation after proclamation; insults still continued to be offered to the natives, and such acts of retaliation ensued as circ.u.mstances would allow. Governor Phillip, himself, was wounded by a spear which one of the savages threw at him, under the influence of a momentary apprehension. Another evil to which the colony was subjected, arose from the pressure of occasional scarcity, which relaxed the sinews of industry, where it did exist, or strengthened the pretexts of indolence: when men were reduced from a plentiful allowance, to a weekly ration, which scarcely sufficed to preserve existence; when the storehouses were almost empty of provisions, and the boundless ocean presented no object of relief to the aching and strained eyes of the sufferers; and when the busy mind painted to itself the dangers, inseparable from a voyage of such length, which might intervene to delay the arrival of succours, until horror and wretchedness should have been heightened to the utmost; no inclination to laborious exertion existed, and no hand had the power to wield and employ the implements of toil. The progress of the settlement towards maturity was necessarily r.e.t.a.r.ded; and the operations which proceeded, at these periods of general debility, were compelled to move with a slowness which afforded but a faint promise of speedy perfection. Under this combination of disadvantages, it affords proof of no common perseverance to find, that the settlement had been scarcely established four years, before two towns were formed, and the colony seemed rapidly advancing to the appearance of maturity.

Governor Phillip sailed to England on the 11th of December, 1792, when Lieutenant-Governor Grose succeeded to the government; and, during his period, the improvements in the settlement a.s.sumed a more decisive and favourable aspect. The settlers were now enabled to sell corn to the public stores, all of which the commissary received directions to purchase at a given price: pa.s.sage-boats were licensed and established between the towns of Sydney and Parramatta, and the number of settlers began to increase in a rapid portion. On the 15th of December, 1794, Lieutenant-Governor Grose left the colony for England, and Captain Paterson, of the New South Wales corps, a.s.sumed the government until the arrival of Governor Hunter, who came out in the Reliance, on the 7th of September, 1795, and entered upon the functions of his important office without delay.

One of the first acts of the new governor was the establishment of a printing-press, the advantages of which soon became obvious, in the more ready communication of all orders for the regulation of the settlement.

The bulls and cows which had been originally brought over to the new continent had, by the carelessness of their keeper, been suffered to stray into the woods, and every subsequent search after them had proved ineffectual until this period, when a fine and numerous herd of wild cattle was discovered in the interior of the country, which was evidently the progeny of the animals which had been so long lost to the colony. The protection of this wild herd and its increase became a matter of public interest, since it would, hereafter, serve as a valuable resource, in case of necessity; and measures were accordingly adopted to prevent any encroachment on that liberty which it had preserved above seven years.

In the commencement of the year 1796, a play-house was opened at Sydney, under the sanction of the governor, who, while he laboured to promote the public weal, was not less anxious to extend to individuals the enjoyments and privileges which were compatible with the good of the colony. Towards the close of the same year, the houses in Sydney and Parramatta were numbered, and divided into portions, each of which was placed under the superintendance of a princ.i.p.al inhabitant. The county of c.u.mberland was a.s.sessed, a few months afterwards, for the erection of a country gaol; and the peaceable inhabitants of the colony had the speedy satisfaction to perceive a building of such utility put into hand; for such had been the recent increase of crimes, and so greatly had the settlement been annoyed by the desperate and atrocious conduct of the disorderly part of the community, that it became an object of necessity to adopt some stronger measures than those which had hitherto been put in force, to secure the prosperity and tranquillity of a community which was now so rapidly growing in extent and importance. A town-clock was also erected in Sydney, a luxury which had been hitherto unknown, and affords evidence of the gradual maturation of the settlement; and, indeed, the whole of this enumeration is calculated to impress the reader with an idea of the rapid strides which the few last years had enabled the colonists to make in the path of respectability. The natives had been, of late years, perfectly reconciled to their new countrymen; and, although their attachment to their accustomed habits and situations induced them to abstain from taking up new residences, and from mixing indiscriminately with the Europeans, they had become comparatively social, and commenced an intercourse which was calculated to rivet the prosperity of the colony. Those insulting attacks and sanguinary recriminations which had disgraced the earlier years of the establishment, no longer existed, to disturb the tranquillity and excite the alarms of the settlers; many of the convicts had reformed their lives, and, instead of being examples of depravity, had turned to habits of industry, and endeavoured to benefit that society on which they had formerly preyed; while the apprehensions of famine had entirely vanished before the improvements in the agriculture of the country: the stock had increased wonderfully; the granaries and storehouses were amply supplied; and the ground brought forth more produce, as its nature became better understood, and the most advantageous methods of tillage were discovered.

The peace of the colony was threatened, however, in the year 1800, by the seditious conduct of a number of Irish convicts who had recently arrived in this country, and who had laboured, with ceaseless exertions, to disseminate their pernicious and absurd doctrines amongst the prisoners. They had a.s.sembled frequently for the purpose of accelerating their diabolical views, and a Roman Catholic priest, named Harold, who was discovered to be one of the instigators and originators of the scheme of insurrection, was taken into custody. Voluntary a.s.sociations were embodied, and every measure of prudent precaution was promptly adopted, to prevent the expansion of principles which are totally subversive of all order, and of the best interests of civilized society. It may easily be supposed, that amongst such characters as composed the colony, there must be numbers to whom these sentiments of insubordination must be congenial, and who would eagerly grasp at any projects, however absurd and impracticable, the proposed object of which was their emanc.i.p.ation from the punishment which their crimes had drawn upon them. Men who have obtained a proficiency in crime, and are callous to the voice of conscience, science, are seldom very choice as to the degree of the criminality which they are inclined to commit; and it is highly creditable to Governor Hunter's prudence and skilful management, that the settlement was at this moment preserved from the horrors and consequences of internal commotion.

In September, 1800, Governor Hunter quitted the colony, having exercised the functions of government for the s.p.a.ce of five years; during which his attention to the interests of the settlement was most unremitted; his humanity and condescension rendered him inestimably dear to every bosom, which confessed the influence of grateful feelings; and his cheerful vivacity and private worth caused him to stand highly in the estimation of those who were honoured by a partic.i.p.ation in his hours of recreative enjoyment. The necessary consequence of his abstracted devotion to the service of the settlement, for a long period, was the obtainment of a thorough knowledge of every subject connected with its welfare; and in the application of that knowledge to the practical improvement of the settlement, no man could have been more happy, none more eminently successful. A more forcible ill.u.s.tration of the truth of this remark will, however, be found in the following statements of the situation of the colony before and after Governor Hunter's residence there, in an official capacity; and I am the more readily induced to give these details, as the reader may thence be enabled to form a judgement, by comparison, of the progressive prosperity of the colony, subsequent to that period, until the commencement of the year 1809, the date and termination of the facts which I shall elicit in the succeeding pages.

At the close of the year 1795, the public and private stock of the colony consisted of 57 horses and mares, 101 cows and cow-calves, 74 bulls and bull-calves, 52 oxen, 1531 sheep, 1427 goats, and 1869 hogs: exclusive of this statement, the poultry was exceedingly numerous. The total of the land in cultivation amounted to 5419 acres; the quant.i.ty of which sown was somewhat below 3000 acres. At this period the storehouses were exhausted so completely, that, on the arrival of Governor Hunter, there were no salt provisions left in store, and the allowance of other food was much reduced; the state of the colony seemed about to a.s.sume a retrograde movement, and it was only the speedy arrival of a stores.h.i.+p at this critical and distressing moment, which saved it from destruction, in the eighth year of its establishment.

But at the commencement of the nineteenth century, the state of the settlement was abundantly more prosperous. The live stock at this period, in the public and private possession, amounted to the following numbers:--60 horses, 143 mares; 332 bulls and oxen, 712 cows; 2031 male sheep, 4093 females; 727 male goats, 1455 females; 4017 hogs--a prodigious multiplication of the means of subsistence in about five years! The quant.i.ty of land sown with wheat was 46653/4 acres, of Indian corn 2930, and of barley 82 acres. In New South Wales and Norfolk Island the numbers of the colony had been swollen to the amount of six thousand, and the general prosperity appeared rapidly increasing.

The moment of the governor's departure was a moment of sorrowful agitation: loved and honoured by all, he was attended by a numerous train of civil and military officers, as well as a long concourse of the grateful inhabitants, who, at this distressing instant, marked in the most unequivocal manner the sense they entertained of his public worth and his private benignity.

On the secession of Governor Hunter, the government of the settlement devolved to Governor King, who had arrived from England in the Speedy, a few months previous to this time. Soon after his accession to this dignity, a quant.i.ty of copper coin was received from England and put into circulation, upon which occasion the following table of specie was issued:--A guinea, one pound two s.h.i.+llings, a johannes, four pounds; a half ditto, two pounds; a ducat, nine s.h.i.+llings and sixpence; a gold mohur, one pound seventeen s.h.i.+llings and sixpence; a paG.o.da, eight s.h.i.+llings; a Spanish dollar, five s.h.i.+llings; a rupee, two s.h.i.+llings and sixpence; a Dutch guilder, two s.h.i.+llings; an English s.h.i.+lling, one s.h.i.+lling and one penny: a copper coin of one ounce, two pence; a ditto of half an ounce, one penny; and a ditto of a quarter of an ounce, a halfpenny. No sum exceeding five pounds, in the copper coin, was to be considered as a legal tender; and the exportation or importation of copper coin above that amount, was prohibited under a penalty of thrice its value.

The criminal addiction to the use of spirituous liquors had become so rooted, and was productive of such evil consequences, as to require some vigorous exertion to check its still further increase. In the month of December, 1800, two vessels laden with these destructive cargoes arrived in the harbour; but the governor, with a spirit and prudence creditable to his resolution and judgment, refused them permission to land the poisons, and forced them to quit the settlement before any evil consequences could ensue from their arrival. The variety of afflicting casualties consequent upon the immoderate use of these pernicious fluids, and their introduction of dreadful and fatal disorders, were considerations sufficient to justify the governor's conduct in this instance, to every rational mind.

On the 17th of January, 1801, the settlement was menaced with destruction by the shock of an earthquake, which was felt severely through the whole colony, but, providentially, produced no injury. A slight concussion had been felt in the month of June, 1788; but never, until this moment, had the alarm been repeated. The affrighted inhabitants rushed out of their houses, in momentary expectation of destruction; nor did they dare to return until the shock had pa.s.sed by, and the apprehensions which it had produced had entirely subsided.

In the earlier days of the settlement, the settlers on the Hawkesbury (a river of great extent in the interior of the country, the course of which is traced in the annexed chart) had been much annoyed by the frequent overflowings of that capacious river. In the month of March, 1801, the most severe visitation of this nature had occurred, which had destroyed the promise of an abundant harvest, spread desolation through the farms in that district, destroyed numerous habitations, and caused the loss of several of the unfortunate settlers and others. At the melancholy period alluded to, the colony in this quarter was just reaching a degree of ease and comfort, from the judicious plans put into execution by that "father of the people" Governor Hunter, and the a.s.sistance he gave them as an encouragement to industrious exertion. Scarcely, however, had they begun to revive after this calamity--scarcely had they repaired the ravages occasioned by this tremendous inundation--scarcely had the desolated lands once more confessed the power of cultivation, before those ill-fated settlers were doomed to experience a repet.i.tion of the destructive calamity; and on the 2d of March, 1801, the river again overflowed its banks, and rushed impetuously to renew its former devastations. Flocks and herds were swept away by its irresistible influence; the houses, which had been re-built, were once more levelled to the earth; and a settler was deprived of his existence, after witnessing the catastrophe which had robbed him of the whole of his possessions.

The waters of the Hawkesbury, at those periods of inundation, would rise seventy or eighty feet above their accustomed level; and it is easy for the mind to picture to itself the inexpressibly mournful consequences which must necessarily accrue from such a circ.u.mstance. Neither was this overflowing an event of rare occurrence, but was to be constantly expected after a long continuance of the rainy seasons, when the torrents which rushed from the mountainous ridges which overlooked the channel of the river never failed to produce a rapid swelling of its waters, and to cause an inundation of greater or less extent, and injury more or less destructive to the inhabitants of its vicinity.

Amongst the crimes which existed in the settlement, that of forgery had recently made its appearance, and bills of a counterfeit description had been offered in the markets; and, at length, one of these forged draughts was traced to its source, and the delinquent was immediately apprehended and brought to trial for an offence so heinous in its nature, and so fraught with mischief in its consequences. Sufficient proof being adduced to place the prisoner's guilt beyond doubt, sentence of death was pa.s.sed upon him, and the execution took place on the 3d of July; it being considered an act of necessary justice to make a severe example of the offender, in this case, in order to check in its infancy the growth of a practice, pregnant not only with general evil, but with individual ruin. Of all the different species of delinquency which had found their way into the colony, this might be considered as second to none but murder: the house-breaker and the midnight robber might be guarded against, and counteracted or detected immediately, the mischief was at most limited, and might be calculated; but the introduction of a system of forgery threatened more widely-wasting injuries: it required more than common vigilance, more than common perseverance, to discover a fraud of this description; and it was scarcely possible to ascertain the precise extent which it embraced, or to mark the end of its destructive progress. It was therefore, under this impression, considered expedient to make a severe example of the first offender who had been brought to trial, in order, if possible, to deter others from the pursuit of such an iniquitous career. A solitary sacrifice might prove salutary to future thousands.

The storms of thunder and lightning are sometimes particularly terrific, but have seldom been productive of much damage. In some few instances, indeed, individuals had been killed by the electric fires, but these accidents have generally resulted from the too common and dangerous mode of seeking shelter under trees, which attracted and directed the lightning to its object, instead of affording that security which was sought for. A very singular circ.u.mstance happened at the close of the spring of 1802, when the Atlas, a s.h.i.+p commanded by Mr. Thomas Musgrove, was stricken by a flash on the 5th of November, and, although the bottom of the s.h.i.+p was immediately perforated by the stroke, not a man on board received any material injury: such a singular instance is almost without its parallel. At other periods, the tempestuous gales which have been experienced surpa.s.s the conception of those who have never witnessed the boisterous and tumultuous agitation of nature. Hailstones, exceeding six inches in circ.u.mference, have frequently fallen with such violence as to destroy the windows of those habitations which had neglected the adoption of measures of security, to kill the poultry, and lay level with the earth the shrubs and the corn. In fact, storms of this description never fail to occasion the most extensive devastation, and to commit injuries to the settlers, which the labour of months is scarcely sufficient to overcome.

An absurd notion had uniformly existed amongst the convicts that it was possible, by penetrating into the interior, to discover a country, where they might exist without labour, and enjoy sweets. .h.i.therto unknown. This ridiculous opinion had induced numbers, since the establishment of the colony, to desert their employment, and to trust themselves in forests which were unknown to them, and where they generally wandered until the means of supporting further fatigue had failed them, and they perished from want--until they became the victims of the natives who fell in with them--or surrendered themselves to the parties who were sent in pursuit of them. Such was commonly the termination of these chimerical expeditions; yet these consequences were unable to expunge the impression alluded to from the minds of these obstinate people, and, in February, 1803, fifteen convicts once again ventured into the woods from Castle Hill, in search of this undiscovered country. Many of these bigotted fugitives were subsequently re-taken, after enduring every fatigue and privation which human nature is capable of sustaining; after bearing the complicated hards.h.i.+ps of want, weariness, and pain; their feet blistered and bare, their hopes destroyed, their perseverance completely worn out, and their restless dispositions perfectly corrected into submission.

The art of printing had been gradually improving from the period of its establishment, by the judicious care of Governor Hunter, and its advantages became daily more and more obvious. On the 5th of March, "The Sydney Gazette" was inst.i.tuted by authority, for the more ready communication of events through the various settlements of the colony The utility and interest of such an establishment were speedily and universally acknowledged; and its commencement was soon succeeded by the publication of an almanack, and other works calculated to suit the general taste and increase the general stock of amus.e.m.e.nt. The general orders were also issued through the medium of the press, and a vigilant eye was kept upon it, to prevent the appearance of any thing which could tend to shake those principles of morality and subordination, on the due preservation of which depended the individual happiness, and the public security of the settlement; and which could be in no danger of subversion, until the press should become prost.i.tuted to base designs--a period much and sincerely to be deprecated by every real friend to the colony.

In the month of August, a most inhuman murder was committed on the body of Joseph Luken, a constable, who, after going off his watch at the government-house, was beset by some villains who still remain undiscovered, and who buried the hilt of his own cutla.s.s very deeply in his head. I was the second person at the spot, where the body of the unfortunate man was discovered; and, in attempting to turn the corpse, my fore-finger penetrated through a hole in the skull, into the brains of the deceased.

Every possible search was made to discover the vile perpetrators of this diabolical act, but to no purpose, the measures of escape had been too well planned to be thwarted. Even the governor himself attended, and gave directions for the drums to beat to arms; the military to stop all avenues leading from the town, and different officers to search every house; but, although several were apprehended, no conviction could be brought home. Soon afterwards, another murder was committed on the body of a man belonging to one of the colonial craft, named Boylan. It appeared that he had been in a part of the town, called "The Rocks," and had been struck with some heavy weapon on the head, of which he immediately died. Upon this occasion, I sat as foreman of the jury, which was summoned soon after daylight, and continued to sit until nearly one o'clock the next morning, when two men and a woman were committed for trial; and a third man, in the progress of the investigation, was sent to gaol for prevarication. When the prisoners were arraigned at the bar, they all pleaded "Not guilty;" and, after an impartial trial, were acquitted. The singularity and cruelty of this man's murder appeared to be equal to that of Luken. A third murder was committed, nearly at the same time, by a woman named Salmon, on the body of her own child. It appeared that she wished to conceal her pregnancy; and, after delivering herself, had thrown the infant down the privy, where it was smothered. Suspicions of her situation having, however, been entertained by some persons, an investigation took place, and the body of the child was discovered. The woman was too ill to be brought to trial, and her subsequent dissolution rendered that event unnecessary: before her death, however, she made confession of her crime; and her body was afterwards carried to a grave under the gallows, by men belonging to the jail gang, with the greatest ignominy; nor was it without the greatest exertions of the police, that the corpse was permitted to be carried along the streets, so great was the abhorrence expressed by the inhabitants at the idea of such an unnatural, detestable, and abominable offence.

In the month of September, Joseph Samuels, who had been convicted of a burglary, was three times suspended: the rope first broke, in a very singular manner, in the middle, and the suffering criminal fell prostrate on the ground; on the second attempt, the cord unrove at the fastening, and he again came to the ground; a third trial was attended with no better success, for at the moment when he was launched off, the cord again snapped in twain. Thomas Smyth, esq. the provost-marshal, taking compa.s.sion on his protracted sufferings, stayed the further progress of the execution, and rode immediately to the governor, to whom he feelingly represented these extraordinary circ.u.mstances, and his excellency was pleased to extend his majesty's mercy. Samuels was afterwards transported to another settlement, in consequence of his continuance in his dishonest career, and has subsequently lost his life on the coast, in making an attempt to escape from the colony.

In the month of October, Lieutenant-Governor Collins arrived to form and command a settlement at Port Phillip: he was accompanied by detachments of marines and convicts; but the situation being found particularly ineligible, after communicating with the governor in chief, he removed to the river Derwent, where he arrived on the 19th of February, 1804, and a very extensive settlement was speedily formed there; as, in addition to the numbers of persons he took with him, a great many settlers and others went thither from Norfolk Island, since that place had been ordered to be evacuated. In the following April, a new settlement was formed at the Coal River, now called King's Town, Newcastle District, the county of Northumberland, and a short distance to the northward of Port Jackson. Previous to this period, some form of government had been adopted at that place, in order to enable vessels going there to procure cedar and coals with greater facility; but, on account of the increasing trade, the governor considered it expedient to found a regular settlement, and thus to establish a commercial intercourse of greater importance.

At the commencement of the year 1804, the tranquillity of the colony experienced some interruption. I have mentioned in the beginning of this chapter the circ.u.mstances of the importation of Irish convicts in the year 1800, and of their attempts to disseminate amongst their fellow-prisoners the seeds of insubordination and riot. The vigilance and prudence of Governor Hunter, at that time, checked the rapid progress of the flame of sedition; but, although apparently extinguished, the fire was only smothered for a time. Discontent had taken root, and its eradication was a matter of more difficulty than could have been foreseen. The most unprincipled of the convicts had cherished the vile principles of their new companions, and only waited for the maturity of their designs to commence the execution of schemes which involved the happiness and security of the whole colony.

The operations of these disaffected persons had hitherto been conducted with such secrecy, that no suspicion of their views was entertained, until the 4th of March in this year, when a violent insurrection broke out at Castle Hill, a settlement between Parramatta and Hawkesbury, and the insurgents expressed their determination to emanc.i.p.ate themselves from their confinement, or to perish in the struggle for liberty. Information of the extent and alarming appearance of this mutiny having reached the governor, it was deemed necessary, on the following day, to proclaim martial law; and a party of the troops, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel George Johnston, were directed to pursue the rebels. After a long march, the military detachment came up with the insurgents, near the Ponds, about half-way between Parramatta and Hawkesbury, and a short parley ensued, when the Colonel found it necessary to fire upon them; and, after killing several of the misguided rebels, and making prisoners of the princ.i.p.als who survived, the remainder made a rapid retreat.

Ten of the leaders of this insurrection, who had been observed as particularly conspicuous and zealous in their endeavours to seduce the rest, were tried on the 8th of March, and capitally convicted. Three were executed on the same evening at Parramatta, since it was justly concluded, that measures of prompt severity would have a greater effect upon the minds of those who had forsaken their allegiance. On the following day, two other rebels were executed at Sydney, and three at Castle Hill: the two remaining criminals were respited, as they were the least corrupted, and had discovered symptoms of sincere remorse for the part which they had taken in the late operations. On the 9th, martial law was repealed; and from that moment no disturbance has again broken in upon the peace of the settlement of a serious nature, although it would be too much to suppose that the seeds of insubordination and disorder were entirely eradicated by the frustrated event of the first endeavour. Men of such desperate characters as are to be found in this colony, are not to be intimidated by punishment, nor discouraged by failure from the pursuit of that career of depravity, which is become dear to them from habit; nothing short of death can destroy, in those minds, the affection for vice, and the determination to gratify their ruling pa.s.sion, in spite of obstacles, however alarming, or opposition, however strenuous and vigilant. Mr. Dixon, a Roman Catholic priest, who had been sent under an order of transportation from Ireland, for his principles, accompanted Colonel Johnston on this service, and proved to be of some utility in bringing back the insurgents to a proper sense of their duty. It cannot be too much to say, that the conduct of Mr.

Dixon, before and after this business, was strictly exemplary.

In May, the blessings of vaccination were introduced into the settlement, and all the young children were inoculated with success; but unfortunately, by some means as yet unaccounted for, the virtue has been lost, and the colony has been once more left without a protection from that most dreadful of all disorders, the small-pox; of the fatal consequences of which the natives have more than once afforded the most dreadful evidence, their loathsome carcases having been found, while this disorder was prevalent amongst them, lying about the beach, and on the rocks.

In fact, such is the terror of this disorder amongst these untutored sons of nature, that, on its appearance, they forsake those who are infected with it, leaving them to die, without a friend at hand, or a.s.sistance to smooth the aspect of death, and fly into the thickest of the woods. Their superst.i.tion leads them to consider it as an infernal visitation; and its effects are such as to justify this idea, in some degree, for it seldom fails to desolate and depopulate whole districts, and strews the surface of the country with the unburied carcases of its wretched and deserted victims.

In September, the limits of Northumberland, and of Cornwall and Buckinghams.h.i.+re, on Van Diemen's Land, where a settlement had been made during the last year, were defined; and the lines of demarkation were fixed as follow:--The line of demarkation between c.u.mberland and Northumberland is the parallel of 33. 2.

south lat.i.tude; and the line of demarkation between Buckinghams.h.i.+re and Cornwall, on Van Diemen's Land, is the parallel of 42. south lat.i.tude. On the 15th of the following month, Lieutenant-Governor Paterson sailed to make and command a settlement at Port Dalrymple; and, in the course of a short period, the colony had the satisfaction to hear of the foundation of two towns, Yorkton and Launceston, which are making their progress to perfection with considerable rapidity.

During the violence of a tempest in this month, a s.h.i.+p of five hundred tons, named the Lady Barlow, and belonging to Messrs.

Campbell and Co. whilst lying in the Cove at her moorings, was completely overset by the irresistible fury of the gale; but, with some difficulty, she was raised again. Considerable damage also resulted from this tremendous storm in the interior of the settlement, where trees were rooted up, and the forests were almost depopulated of their most ancient tenants. Huts were blown down and houses unroofed, and the loss to numbers of the inhabitants was such as to afford a serious interruption to their prosperity.

In the month of May, 1805, Norfolk Island experienced a considerable influx of the sea, which, from the extraordinary nature of the occurrence, is worthy of mention. The tide first ebbed to a great distance; when, suddenly, an unusual swell was seen coming in, which occasioned considerable alarm to the colony, to whom such a circ.u.mstance was entirely novel: it rose to a great height, and retired to its channel. A second time it revisited the sh.o.r.e, and flowed to a more considerable height than before: a second time it retreated; and once again returned, with a fury surpa.s.sing its former efforts; paralyzing the spectators with terror, who were unable to imagine where the extraordinary swellings might pause. For the last time, however, the ocean left the sh.o.r.es, without having caused any material damage; and, in its regress, it opened the secrets of the deep, and displayed to "mortal ken" rocks which had remained until now undiscovered.

About this period, a mare, belonging to a settler named Roger Twyfield, at Hawkesbury, produced a foal, without any fore-legs, or the least appearance of any: it lived for some time, fed very well, and, exclusive of its natural deficiency, was in every respect a remakably well-made animal. Such a singular phoenomenon in nature has no parallel in my recollection; and I believe it is the only instance of an imperfect or deformed progeny in the settlement. Previous to the death of this singular animal, an appearance of a horn was discovered sprouting from its forehead; a.s.similating it, in some degree, to the supposed unicorn.