An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales Volume II Part 4

Another boat seized and carried off Order in consequence The criminal court thrice a.s.sembled Particulars Three men stand in the pillory Perjury explained to the convicts Natives very troublesome; seize a boat Various works in hand An attempt to seize another boat frustrated Prospect of a fine harvest Wilson gives himself up Is made use of Two mares stolen The clergyman's servant attempts to rob him Information sent to India respecting the boats An amphibious animal discovered Description Accident Works Police Weather

October.] The month of October opened with a repet.i.tion of the vexatious circ.u.mstances that marked the opening of the preceding month. In the night of the 2nd, a boat was taken from Parramatta by some people who got un.o.bserved out of the harbour. The three men who were put on sh.o.r.e from the _c.u.mberland_ at the time she was seized upon, from an unwillingness to accompany them, being in this party, it was supposed they were connected in some way with those who were in that boat, and whom they might know where to find. An armed boat from the _Supply_ was immediately dispatched after them; but in three days returned, as unsuccessful as Lieutenant Shortland had unfortunately been in his search.

From this circ.u.mstance there was reason to suppose that they had stood off from the land; in which case, as the weather since their departure had been unusually bad, the wind blowing a gale from the southward, with much rain, and their boat being a very bad one, it was probable they had perished.

In these two boats 15 convicts had made their escape from the settlement; six of whom had been transported for life; six others were from Ireland, of whose term of transportation no account had been sent out; and of the remainder, one had to serve until the 23rd of May 1799, another until the 2nd of April 1801, and the third until the 15th of April 1804.

Whatever might be the fate of these people, the evil was of great extent; since all that could be known of them to their fellow prisoners was, that they had successfully effected their escape. Had Bryan and his party, who went off with one of the King's boats in the year 1791, instead of meeting with the compa.s.sion and lenity which were expressed in England for their sufferings, been sent back and tried in New South Wales, for taking away the boat, and other thefts which they had committed, it was probable that others might have been deterred from following their example.

On this occasion an order was published, stating that, as, for the private convenience of various individuals, permission had been granted for the building of boats under certain dimensions, yet those boats had been frequently found so improperly secured in the night, and left by their respective owners in situations so favourable to the views of those ignorant beings who were perpetually looking out for means to escape from the settlement, the governor therefore found it expedient positively to prohibit the building of a boat of any kind without having previously obtained his express permission; and to declare, that if any of the boats then in use in the settlement should thenceforward be found improperly secured at night, or left with oars, rudder, masts, or sails on board, they would be laid on sh.o.r.e and burnt.

Such was the increase of crimes, that thrice in this month was the court of criminal judicature a.s.sembled. The offences that came under their cognisance were those of murder, perjury, forgery, and theft.

Two men were tried for having killed a native youth, well known in the settlement*; but it appearing to the court that he had been accidentally shot, they were acquitted. The natives certainly behaved ill, and often provoked the death which they met with; but there was not any necessity for wantonly destroying them, a circ.u.mstance which it was feared had but too often occurred. On the acquittal of these prisoners, they were a.s.sured by the governor, that he was determined to make an example of the first person who should be convicted of having wantonly taken the life of a native.

[* By the name of Tom Rowley (after one of the officers of the regiment).

He had accompanied Mr. Raven, in the _Britannia_, to Bengal, in the year 1795.]

Another prisoner, John Morris, was tried for the murder of Charles Martin, by violently kicking and beating him, so that he died the following day. He was found guilty of manslaughter, and sentenced to be burned in the hand and imprisoned for 12 months.

One man was found guilty of uttering a bill knowing it to be forged, and adjudged to suffer death; and two others, for theft, were ordered to be transported to Norfolk Island, one for the term of his life, and another for seven years.

It appearing on one of these trials, that three of the witnesses had manifestly and wilfully committed the crime of perjury, they were brought to trial; and, being found guilty, were sentenced to stand in the pillory; to which, as an additional punishment, their ears were to be nailed. Their sentence was put in execution before the public provision store, when the mob, either to display their aversion to the crime, or, what might be more probable, to catch at any thing that wore the form of amus.e.m.e.nt, pelted them with rotten eggs and dirt.

These people were three of the worst characters in the colony, Luke Normington, John Colley, and William Osborne. It amounted nearly to a mockery and profanation of religion to administer an oath to such hardened and unprincipled wretches; yet their testimony could not be refused when called for by a prisoner who was standing under the weight of a capital charge; but of the credibility of such testimony it was always in the breast of the court to judge.

On this occasion the governor deemed it advisable to explain, in public orders, the nature of this dreadful offence, an offence so certainly ruinous both to their temporal and eternal welfare. He pointed out to them, that, as every man who stood convicted of this dangerous breach of the law was thereby rendered infamous ever after, no one who had a character to lose (alas! how few were there who would feel themselves affected by this observation) would a.s.sociate with such criminals, lest he should endanger his own reputation, and be considered as a voluntary approver and partaker in the infamy.

It may be some relief to turn from the contemplation of such iniquity, though it should be only to the transactions of savages, differing from these wretches but in complexion.

On the 20th of this month the settlement were spectators of a severe contest which took place between two parties of natives; one of which was desirous of revenging the death of a friend, who had been killed by some native of a part of the country from which a young man had just then accidentally come amongst them. He was therefore immediately devoted to their vengeance. Finding their determination, he most gallantly stood up, and, being attacked by numbers, defended himself with the greatest bravery and address, until, being wounded in several places, he fell. As he lay upon the ground, several of his opponents treacherously rushed in upon him, and stabbed him repeatedly with a pointed stick, which they call a Doo-ul. In this situation he endeavoured to cover himself with his s.h.i.+eld, on which, having risen from the ground, and being again attacked, he received their spears for some time with great dexterity, until some one, less brave and more treacherous than the rest, took a station un.o.bserved on one side, and launched a spear, which went into his back and there remained. Seeing this, they were proceeding a second time to rush in upon him, when he had just strength enough left to make his escape into an adjoining house, where he received shelter, and from the severity of his wounds immediately fainted.

The spear was withdrawn, and his wounds dressed, by one of the surgeons who happened to be present; and in a few days he was able to walk about again. His brother, who had accompanied him to the field of battle, stood up in his defence, and was wounded in the leg and thigh.

The princ.i.p.al sufferer in this affair was known in the settlement by the name of William and Ann (corrupted by their p.r.o.nunciation to Wil-lam-an-nan) which he had adopted from a s.h.i.+p of the same name that arrived here in the year 1791.

Several of their women attended upon this occasion, and, as is common with them, howled and cried alternately during the most of the time; but when they were enraged, which often happened, they danced, and beat their sides with their arms; a certain proof of their pa.s.sions being wrought up to the highest pitch.

Shortly after this, these people again exhibited themselves to the notice of the settlement, but in a very different point of view. On the 31st, an open boat arrived from the Hawkesbury, with a cargo of Indian corn, having been boarded in her pa.s.sage down by a party of natives in canoes.

a.s.suming an appearance of friends.h.i.+p, they were suffered to come into the boat, when, watching an opportunity, they threw off the mask, and made an attempt to seize the small arms. This occasioned a struggle, in which the boat's crew prevailed, but not before some of these unexpected pirates had paid for their rashness with their lives.

It was now discovered, that a boat belonging to a settler, which had been for some time missing, and was supposed to have been driven out to sea and lost with her crew and cargo of Indian corn, had actually been taken by the natives in the river, after murdering the men who were in her. The boat, on searching, was afterwards found in the possession of some of these people.

This was so novel a circ.u.mstance that it could scarcely be credited; but it was no less true; and there was but little doubt, that the white people who were living amongst them had been the unseen instigators of this mischief.

During this month a strong and durable bridge, capable of sustaining any weight which it might have occasion to bear, was erected over Duck river, for the convenience of land carriage between the towns of Sydney and Parramatta.

The military hospital which stood on the west side of the Cove was taken to pieces; and, a stone foundation (it had been hitherto fixed on blocks of wood) having been laid farther from the road side, it was removed during this month, and put together again in its new situation.

The wheat every where wore the most promising appearance, and the weather had been very favourable for bringing it to maturity.

Decreasing daily as did the number of working men in the employ of government, yet the governor could not refuse granting certificates to such convicts as had served their respective times of transportation; and no less than 125 men were at this time certified by him to be free. Most of these people had no other view in obtaining this certificate, than the enabling them when an opportunity offered to quit the settlement, or following their own pursuits until that time should arrive.

November.] There being a scarcity of wheat in the public stores, owing to some local disappointments, the governor was obliged to make a reduction in the weekly allowance of that article, until the present crops should be gathered.

The facility with which the seizure of the _c.u.mberland_ had been accomplished, and the subsequent escape of two parties of convicts.

induced 14 others to form a plan for taking away a boat, and making a similar attempt at liberty. Having made a depot of all the stores which they meant to carry with them, at a place convenient for the purpose, the night was fixed for their departure; and they were on the point of embarking, when, to their great surprise, they found themselves surrounded by a party of magistrates and constables armed, who took them and their property into custody. They had not proceeded with all the caution necessary for such an enterprise, and a hint was given in time to defeat the execution of their project.

The following day these unthinking people, instead of being at large on the ocean, in possession of their fancied freedom, found themselves severely punished, and sent up to Parramatta there to be set to hard labour.

On the subject of these mad and hazardous schemes, the governor first addressed the convicts in person, and afterwards published in order, wherein he pointed out the risk that must ever attend such ill-judged enterprises; into which, he was of opinion, a few weak and ignorant people had been led by the deep and wicked designs of some who pretended to a greater share of wisdom, and who would not hesitate to sacrifice any that might be thought of less consequence to the general design, or less capable of rendering themselves useful when embarked, by forcing them on sh.o.r.e, if near the land, among a savage people where death must be inevitable; or by throwing them overboard, if at sea, to lighten their miserable vessel, and prevent, if possible, her drowning the whole.

The Irish convicts who arrived in the last s.h.i.+p manifesting daily a propensity to desert from their work, a party of soldiers, under the command of a sergeant, was sent up to Toongabbie, where they were to remain during the harvest, which commenced in this month at that place and at Const.i.tution Hill.

On the 24th, an order was published, in which the people employed in agriculture were reminded of the many accidents that happened last year by fire; strongly recommending more attention to the security of their present crops when taken off the ground, at the same time directing them to seize and secure as early as possible all such vagrants as they might meet with, who, being at large at this season, might do them much injury.

Nine hundred bushels of the last year's crop were brought round from the Hawkesbury in the _Francis_, and deposited in the public store.

Nothing could promise better than the appearance of the wheat of this season; but it had ripened suddenly, owing to some heavy rains having been followed by very hot weather. In the want of sufficient strength the military were hired to a.s.sist in reaping, it being absolutely necessary that no time should be lost in securing the produce of this year.

Toward the latter end of the month, James Wilson, who had for some time taken up his abode in the woods, and was one of those named in the proclamation of the 13th of May last, surrendered himself to the governor's clemency. He had been herding with the savages in different parts of the country, and was obliged to submit to have his shoulders and breast scarified after their manner; which he described to have been very painful in the operation. He made his appearance with no other covering than an ap.r.o.n formed of a Kangaroo's skin, which he had sufficient sense of decency remaining to think was proper.

The governor, well knowing, from his former habits, that if he punished and sent him to hard labour, he would quickly rejoin his late companions, thought it more advisable to endeavour to make him useful even in the mode of living which he seemed to prefer; he therefore pardoned him, and proposed his attempting, with the a.s.sistance of his friends, to take some of the convicts who were at large in the woods; two of whom had, just before Wilson's appearance, stolen two mares, the property of private individuals, but which were allowed to be kept during the night in a stable belonging to government.

Wilson, among other articles of information, mentioned, that he had been upwards of 100 miles in every direction round the settlement. In the course of his travelling he had noticed several animals, which, from his description, had not been seen in any of the districts; and to the northwest of the head of the Hawkesbury, he came upon a very extensive tract of open and well-watered country, where he had seen a bird of the pheasant species, and a quadruped, which he said was larger than a dog, having its hind parts thin, and bearing no proportion to the shoulders, which were strong and large.

It is not improbable, that Wilson invented these circ.u.mstances in the hope of obtaining some attention, and thereby averting the punishment which he expected, and well knew that he had long deserved.

If it be painful to the writer of these sheets to find little else than crimes and their consequences to record, how much more painful must it have been to have lived where they were daily committed. Particularly so must it have proved to the gentleman who was in the chief direction of the settlement, who found himself either obliged to punish with severity, or to be fearful even of administering justice in mercy, lest that mercy should prove detrimental in the end, by encouraging others to offend in the hope of impunity.

There can scarcely be recorded a stronger instance of human depravity, than what the following circ.u.mstance, which happened in this month, exhibits. A convict, who had formerly been a school-companion with the Rev. Mr. Johnson, had been taken by that gentleman into his service, where he reposed in him the utmost confidence, and treated him with the kindest indulgence. He had not been long in his house before Mr. Johnson was informed that his servant, having taken an impression of the key of his storeroom in clay, had procured one that would fit the lock. He scarcely credited the information; but, being urged to furnish him with an opportunity, he consented that a constable should be concealed in the house, on a Sunday, when all the family, this servant excepted, would be attending divine service. The arrangement succeeded but too well.

Concluding that all was safe, he applied his key, and, entering the room, was proceeding without any remorse to plunder it of such articles as he wanted; when the constable, seeing his prey within his toils, started from his concealment, and seized him in the act of taking the property.

Thus was this wretched being without 'one compunctious visiting of nature,' detected in the act of injuring the man, who, in the better day of his prosperity, had been the companion of his youth, and who had stretched out his hand to shelter him in the present hour of his adversity!

The _Deptford_ brig sailing this month for the coast of Coromandel, the governor took the opportunity of transmitting to Admiral Rainier, or the commander in chief of his Majesty's s.h.i.+ps in the East Indies, a list of the deserted convicts, and a description of the two boats which had lately been taken from the colony. As it was, probably, the intention of those people to steer along the coast of New South Wales to the northward, until they should reach some of the Dutch settlements among the Molucca islands, there was a possibility of their being picked up by some of the King's cruisers; in the event of which, the governor forcibly urged their being forwarded, by any opportunity which might offer, to his government, there to be made an example that should, if possible, deter others from making the like attempts.

The widow of Ensign Brock's, who died in July last, availed herself of this opportunity to get, with her family, partly on her way to England.

Although the settlement had now been established within a month of ten years, yet little had been added to the stock of natural history which had been acquired in the first year or two of its infancy. The Kangaroo, the Dog, the Opossum, the Flying Squirrel, the Kangaroo Rat, a spotted Rat, the common Rat, and the large Fox-bat (if ent.i.tled to a place in this society), made up the whole catalogue of animals that were known at this time, with the exception which must now be made of an amphibious animal, of the mole species, one of which had been lately found on the banks of a lake near the Hawkesbury. In size it was considerably larger than the land mole. The eyes were very small. The fore legs, which were shorter than the hind, were observed, at the feet, to be provided with four claws, and a membrane, or web, that spread considerably beyond them, while the feet of the hind legs were furnished, not only with this membrane or web, but with four long and sharp claws, that projected as much beyond the web, as the web projected beyond the claws of the fore feet. The tail of this animal was thick, short, and very fat; but the most extraordinary circ.u.mstance observed in its structure was, its having, instead of the mouth of an animal, the upper and lower mandibles of a duck. By these it was enabled to supply itself with food, like that bird, in muddy places, or on the banks of the lakes, in which its webbed feet enabled it to swim; while on sh.o.r.e its long and sharp claws were employed in burrowing; nature thus providing for it in its double or amphibious character. These little animals had been frequently noticed rising to the surface of the water, and blowing like the turtle.

The subjoined engraving is from a drawing made on the spot by Governor Hunter.

Among the few circ.u.mstances that occurred out of the common course of events, must be mentioned that of a man belonging to the hospital, who, in endeavouring to get hold of a boat which was close to the sh.o.r.e, over-reached himself and fell into deep water, where he was drowned. The body being immediately found, the means recommended by the Humane Society in such cases were made use of, but without the desired effect.

The barracks for the a.s.sistant surgeons, and the tower of the intended church, were nearly completed during this month, and the paling round the new store-house was begun. The _Reliance_, whose leaks had been discovered, was strengthened with riders, several people being employed to bring in timber for that purpose. These formed some of the public works at Sydney. At Parramatta, Toongabbie, and the other interior settlements, all were actively employed in securing the abundant crops which every where promised to reward the industry of the settler and the labourer.

The annual election of constables took place in this month. These munic.i.p.al regulations were attended at least with the advantage of introducing something like a system of regularity into the settlement, than which nothing was more likely to check the relaxation which had lately prevailed in it.