Chapter 42

Transactions Information from Norfolk Island A burglary committed The criminal court assembled A man tried for killing a native Two men executed The public gaol burnt Observations Stills ordered to be seized Settlers, their profligacy A man found dead Great drought A flood at the river Two whalers arrive Conduct of the labouring convicts A seaman killed A woman murdered by her husband Natives A Spanish prize arrives Norfolk Island Resources in New South Wales Public works

We must now return to the other concerns of the settlement, from which we have been so long absent.

Some pleas of debt having been decided by the civil magistrates, to relieve them from that duty, and enable them to attend to that only of the justice of the peace, an order was issued, declaring that such pleas belonged to the court of civil jurisdiction solely, as was clearly expressed in the letters patent for establishing that court; but they were at the same time requested to use their utmost endeavours, as far as their influence as magistrates could be effectual, in recommending the settling of trifling debts by arbitration, and thereby prevent much vexatious litigation.

Agricultural concerns wore as unpromising an appearance in this as in the last month. The governor, in a visit which he made to Parramatta, found that the pasture over the whole country had been entirely burnt up; in consequence of which the grazing cattle were in great distress; and, from the lamentable continuance of the drought, the maize was every where likely to fail: a misfortune that would ruin the stock of hogs, and reduce the settlement considerably in the article of bread.

That he might ascertain what quantity of grain he had to depend on, all those who cultivated ground were directed to give in by a certain time a return of the wheat and other grain in their possession.

By the _Diana_ whaler, which arrived from Norfolk Island, information was received, that the wheat harvest had been more productive there than usual; but the maize was likely to fall short from a similar want of rain.

Wheat at this time bore a high price in Norfolk Island, the settlers who had raised refusing to sell it, on account of the high rate of wages, at less than fifteen shillings per bushel.

On the night of the 24th, the acting commissary's house was broken into, and robbed of articles to a considerable amount. The thieves appeared to have got in at the office window, and loosened the bricks of a partition wall; by which opening they got into the store-room, and, forcing the locks off the chests and trunks, carried away every thing that they could manage.

One evil among others which attended the frequent arrival of ships in the port was, the ready market which these plunderers found for disposing of their stolen goods; the seamen not hesitating to become the purchasers on leaving the place.

The criminal court of judicature was assembled at the close of the month; when one man, a sergeant of the New South Wales corps, was condemned for forgery, but recommended to the governor's mercy by the court; another was condemned for a burglary, and a third sentenced to receive a severe corporal punishment, for having shot a native (man) at Botany Bay. Could the evidence of some of these people have been taken, it was supposed that he would have been capitally convicted, in which case he would certainly have suffered, the governor being determined to put that article of his Majesty's instructions in force, which, in placing these people under the protection of the British Government, enjoined the punishing any injury done to their persons or property, according to the degree and nature of the offence.

When this man was brought out to be punished, several of the natives were assembled for the purpose; and he received in their presence as much of his sentence as he could bear, they witnessing his sufferings with the most perfect indifference.

The weather was exceedingly hot during the whole of January.

February.] Deplorable was the catalogue of events that presented itself in this month: executions, robberies, and accidents.

On the 8th a prisoner, who had been condemned to die by the last court, suffered the sentence of the law. The recollection of his untimely end, and his admonitions from the fatal tree, could not have departed from the minds of those who saw and heard him, when another court sent another offender to the same tree and for the same crime. Samuel Wright had been once before respited at the gallows. On the morning of his execution, the wretched man attempted to cut his throat; but as he only very slightly wounded himself, it may be supposed that he merely hoped, by delaying the execution, to gain time to effect an escape.

Before this court, was brought part of a nest of thieves, who had lately stolen property to the amount of several hundred pounds; but none of them were capitally convicted, being sentenced either to be transported to Norfolk Island, or corporally punished.

It might be supposed, that these executions and punishments would have operated as a check to the commission of offences; but they appeared to be wholly disregarded, and enormity had not yet attained its full height.

On the night of the 11th, between the hours of eleven and twelve, the public gaol at Sydney, which cost so much labour and expense to erect, was set on fire, and soon completely consumed. The building was thatched, and there was not any doubt of its having been done through design. But, if this was the fact, it will be read with horror, that at the time there were confined within its walls twenty prisoners, most of whom were loaded with irons, and who with difficulty were snatched from the flames. Feeling for each other was never imputed to these miscreants; and yet if several were engaged in the commission of a crime they have seldom been known to betray their companions in iniquity.

To complete this catalogue of offences, a few days after, some Irish convicts, with their faces blackened, attacked the house of an industrious man (one of the missionaries), whom they severely wounded in several places and plundered of all his property.

Were it not evident that certain punishment awaited the conviction of offenders, it might be supposed that a relaxation of the civil authority had begotten impunity; but far otherwise was the fact: the police was vigilant, the magistrates active, and the governor ever anxious to support them, and with incessant diligence endeavouring to establish good order and morality in the settlement. But, such was the depravity of these people, from the habitual practice of vice, that they were become alike fearless of the punishments of this or of the world to come.

Notwithstanding the settlement had before it the serious prospect of wanting grain, and the consequent destruction of much useful stock, it was known that several people had erected stills, and provided materials for the purpose of distilling spirituous liquors; a pernicious practice which had long been forbidden by every officer who had had the direction of the colony. Former orders on this subject were now repeated, and persons of all descriptions were called upon to use every means in their power, in aid of the civil magistrate, to seize and destroy such stills and materials as they might find.

Presuming on the late inefficient harvest, the settlers requested again to be supplied with seed wheat from the store, but were refused. It was well known, that they sold for spirits, to the last bushel of their crop, and left their families without bread. Then they pleaded poverty and distress, and their utter inability to repay what they had borrowed. When seed has been lent them, they have not infrequently been seen to sell it at the door of the store whence they had received it!

On the last day of the month a man belonging to the military was found dead, sitting upright against the outside of the barrack paling. It was known, that he had been much intoxicated the preceding night; and it was supposed that, being unable to reach his hut, he had sat himself down, and, falling asleep, passed from this life without a struggle.

The great drought and excessive heat had affected the water. Such ponds as still retained any were reduced so very low, that most of them were become brackish, and scarcely drinkable. From this circumstance, it was conjectured, that the earth contained a large portion of salt, for the ponds even on the high grounds were not fresh. The woods between Sydney and Parramatta were completely on fire, the trees being burnt to the tops, and every blade of grass was destroyed.

To defeat as much as possible the intentions of those who were concerned in setting fire to the gaol, a strong and permanent building of stone, with very substantial walls, was begun in this month, and was well calculated to defy every such attempt in future.

March.] The dry weather which had so long prevailed, to the great detriment of the cultivated and pasture grounds, was succeeded by rain for two or three days, which greatly refreshed the gardens that were nearly wholly burnt up, and every where revived the perishing vegetation. At the Hawkesbury, however, an accident occurred, which, although not so ruinous to the colony at large as the drought, proved most destructive to the settlers in that district. This river suddenly, and in the course of a very few hours, swelled to the height of fifty feet above its common level, and with such rapidity and power as to carry every thing before it. The government store-house, which had been erected at the first settling of this part of the country, was not out of the reach of this inundation, and was swept away, with all the provisions that it contained. Many of the inhabitants were taken off from the ridges of their houses, by a few boats which they fortunately had among them, just in time to save their lives; for most of the dwellings were inundated, and the whole country appeared like an extensive lake. Many hogs, other live stock, poultry, with much of the produce of the last unfortunate harvest, and the domestic effects of the people, were hurried away by the torrent. Fortunately only one life was lost.

This was a most serious calamity; and, no cause having appeared to indicate an approaching overflow of the river, the settlers were not prepared for such a disaster. It was said, that the natives foresaw it, and advised the inhabitants; but this wanted confirmation. If true, the trait was a favourable one. There could, however, be no doubt, that, unperceived by our people, a heavy fall of rain had taken place in the interior of the country, among the mountains, and which, from the parched state of the land for such a length of time, had in no part been absorbed, but ran down the sides of the hills, as from mountains of solid rock, filling all the low grounds, and branches of the river, which, being in form suddenly serpentine, could not give vent so fast as the waters descended.

It was hoped and believed, that this uncommon inundation would, in the end, prove highly beneficial to the grounds so overflowed, causing them for a season or more to produce with such abundance as to recover the loss which the sufferers had sustained. In a few days this extraordinary collection of water had found its way to the sea, and, the river regaining its usual level, the settlers set about new cropping their grounds; for which purpose they made application for seed wheat, that certainly could not be refused; their other application, for bedding and clothing, it was not so easy to comply with, from the poverty of the public stores in these articles.

This fertile spot had, in some seasons, produced from fifteen to twenty thousand bushels of wheat, and might justly be termed the granary of New South Wales.

To relieve the inhabitants in some degree from the contemplation of these distresses, the _Rebecca_, a whaler, came into the Cove from the Cape of Good Hope, bringing authentic accounts of Lord Nelson's memorable and brilliant victory over the French fleet at the mouth of the Nile. This decisive battle was announced to the settlement in a public order, and by a discharge of all the artillery in the colony.

The master of the _Rebecca_, having brought out a few articles for sale, chartered the _Nautilus_ to take them to Norfolk island, thinking to find a better market for them there than at this place, where the late unsuccessful harvest had neither filled the granary of the public nor the pocket of the settler. She sailed with this cargo in the course of a few days.

On the 9th, the _Britannia_ whaler came in from sea, to repair some damages which she had sustained in bad weather. She had been rather successful in her fishery, having procured twenty-five tons of spermaceti oil since her departure; and the master reported, that, had the weather been more moderate, he should have been enabled to have more than half filled his ship.

The criminal court was only once assembled during this month; when one man was condemned to death for a burglary, and another* transported for fourteen years to Norfolk Island.

[* This man, Isaac Nichols, an overseer, had been accused of receiving stolen goods; but from some circumstances which occurred on the trial, the sentence was respited until his Majesty's pleasure could be taken.]

The civil court was also assembled for the decision of private causes, in which it was engaged during a week.

Among other public works in hand were, the raising the walls of the new gaol, laying the upper floor of the wind-mill, and erecting the churches at Sydney and Parramatta. Most of these buildings did not advance so rapidly as the necessity for them required, owing to the weakness of the public gangs; and indeed scarcely had there ever been a thorough day's labour, such as is performed by a labouring man in England, obtained from them. They never felt themselves interested in the effect of their work, knowing that the ration from the store, whatever it might be, would be issued to them, whether they earned it or not; unlike the labouring man whose subsistence, and that of his family, depends upon his exertions. For the individual who would pay them for their services with spirits, they would labour while they had strength to lift the hoe or the axe; but when government required the production of that strength, it was not forthcoming; and it was more to be wondered, that under such disadvantages so much, rather than that so little, had been done. The convicts whose services belonged to the crown were for the most part a wretched, worthless, dissipated set, who never thought beyond the present moment; and they were for ever employed in rendering that moment as easy to themselves as their invention could enable them.

Of the settlers and their disposition much has been already said. The assistance and encouragement which from time to time were given them, they were not found to deserve. The greater part had originally been convicts; and it is not to be supposed, that while they continued in that state their habits were much improved. With these habits, then, they became freemen and settlers; the effect of which was, to render them insolent and presuming; and most of them continued a dead weight upon the government, without reducing the expenses of the colony.

These expenses were certainly great, and had been considerably increased. The settlement was at this time much in want of many necessary articles of life; and when these were brought by speculators and traders who occasionally touched there, they demanded more than five hundred per cent above what the same articles could have been sent out for from England, with every addition of freight, insurance, etc. They saw the wants of the colony, and availed themselves of its necessities.

April.] On the first of this month the criminal court sat for the trial of a soldier belonging to the regiment, who had a few days before stabbed a seaman of the _Reliance_, who insulted him when sentinel at one of the wharfs at Sydney. The man died of the wound; the soldier, being called upon to answer for his death, proved to the satisfaction of the court, that it had been occasioned by the intemperance of the seaman, and he was accordingly found to have committed a justifiable homicide.

This accident was the effect of intoxication, to which a few days after another victim was added, in the person of a female, who was either the wife or companion of Simon Taylor, a man who had been considered as one of the few industrious settlers which the colony could boast of. They had both been drinking together to a great excess; and in that state they quarrelled, when the unhappy man, in a fit of madness and desperation, put an untimely end to her existence. He was immediately taken into custody, and reserved for trial.

To this pernicious practice of drinking to excess, more of the crimes which disgraced the colony were to be ascribed than to any other cause; and more lives where lost through this than through any other circumstance; for the settlement had ever been free from epidemical or fatal diseases. How much then was the importation of spirits to be lamented! How much was it to be regretted, that it had become the interest of any set of people to vend them!

Several robberies which at this time had been committed were to be imputed to the same source.

A new enemy to agriculture made its appearance in this month. A destructive grub-worm was discovered in several parts of the cultivated ground; and at the Hawkesbury a caterpillar had commenced its ravages wherever it found any young grain just shooting out of the earth. This occasioned some delay in sowing the government ground.

It having been for several days reported, that the crews of two boats, which had been permitted to go to Hunter's River for a load of coals, had been cut off by the natives, the governor ordered his whale boat to be well armed, and to proceed thither in quest of the boats and their crews; sending in her Henry Hacking, a person on whom he could depend. Upon his return, he informed the governor, that on his arrival he found an attempt had been made to burn the smaller boat, which had had three men in her, who were each provided with a musket. The boat was there, but the men were not to be found. Going immediately in search of them, he fell in with a large body of natives all armed. On desiring them to inform him what was become of the white men, they told him they were gone to Sydney. This did not satisfy him, as he found they had taken away the sails of the boats, the men's blankets, and every thing that they had with them. He then threatened to kill them if they did not instantly inform him, and presented his musket at them. This they laughed at, and said, that if he did not go away, and leave them a small two-oared boat which he had brought with him, and the whale boat, they would destroy every white man there, and poised their spears in a threatening manner. He again levelled his piece at them, and snapped it without priming, in the hope of alarming them; but they were not so easily frightened, and became most noisy and violent. Finding that an attack was almost certain, he charged his gun with buck shot, and ordered them to leave the place; but, their clamour increasing, he fired, and four of them fell, one of whom got up again and ran off, the other three remaining upon the ground, probably mortally wounded. The whole body disappeared, and no more was seen of them, leaving Hacking to fill his boat and effect his retreat unmolested.

Our people having frequently visited this river for coals, and always treating with kindness and civility the natives whom they met, this behaviour was not to be accounted for, except by its being allowed that all savages are under the dominion of a sudden impulse; which renders it impossible to know when to trust them.

As the men belonging to the boat were not heard of for a considerable time, it was feared they had been murdered by the natives; but they fortunately reached the settlement safe.

On the morning of the 24th, the _Nautilus_ returned from Norfolk Island, and with her came in a Spanish ship, a prize to two whalers, which they had captured off Cape Blanco on the coast of Peru. She was bound from Lima to Guiaquill.

A court of vice-admiralty having been assembled, she was condemned as a legal prize, and part of her cargo* was in a few days sold by public auction.

[* This consisted of sugar, flour, and an ardent spirit similar to the _aqua ardente_ of the Brazils. The governor would not allow this article to be sold by auction.]

This was a new circumstance in the annals of the settlement, and wore the appearance of rendering it of more consequence than it had hitherto been. Did it not go to prove, that at some future period, in the event of a Dutch or Spanish war, it might become a place of much importance, by offering a reception to the prizes of our cruisers, a court whereat they could be condemned, and a market for their cargoes?

Two days afterwards the _Norfolk_ returned from Norfolk Island, where the maize harvest had entirely failed, owing to the long drought which had prevailed there.

Every year's experience proved, that this island never would be of the utility which might be expected from the very great expense that was incurred on its account. It was probable, that this expense had not been adverted to in England; for all the bills drawn there were sent to New South Wales to be consolidated into bills upon the treasury; by which means the expenses of the principal settlement appeared to be far more considerable than in fact they were. The boast of its containing timber and flax fit for naval purposes, sufficient to construct and equip a navy, falls to the ground, when it is considered that the whole island does not contain a single harbour, cove, or inlet, fit to shelter a boat, much less a ship; but that it is surrounded by a dangerous coral reef, which has proved the loss of one King's ship, and many lives. Besides, the soil of New South Wales produces timber and flax perfectly calculated for all naval purposes, and in sufficient abundance. The single advantage that this island presents is, as has been mentioned before, its proving a place of punishment to such notorious offenders in the seat of government as there escape the gallows; and for this purpose a small civil and military establishment might be maintained at a much less expense than the present.

If an idea may be hazarded, Van Diemen's Island holds out in every respect a more advantageous spot for a settlement, than this parched, unattainable island; and were it not for the expense already incurred there, it would be advisable to remove the whole of that settlement thither; where, from the account given by Captain Flinders, and Mr. Bass, they would be as likely to remain unmolested by natives as they are at Norfolk Island, and would possess the superior benefits of a temperate climate and capacious harbour.

In addition to the advantages likely to be obtained in New South Wales by the culture of the flax plant, the breed of sheep had been considerably improved by crossing the smaller Bengal with the larger Cape sheep. The fleece produced from this mixture was excellent; and a specimen of woollen cloth fabricated of it was sent to England. One end of a web of linen, wove from the wild flax of the country, was crossed with a thread spun from the bark of a tree; and a web from that bark was crossed, in the specimen sent home, by a thread of wool. All these were made under many difficulties; but they answered the purpose of showing what might be done, with proper tools, at a future period. There was not any doubt, but that the flax plant would considerably improve by cultivation; and the manufacture of woollens promised to be of great benefit to the settlement, whenever a sufficiency of the raw materials was collected. Necessity has been long known as the parent of resources, and the poverty of the public stores in the article of clothing had prompted these experiments of the wool, the flax, and the bark.

The discovery of the vast strata of coal must be reckoned among the new lights thrown upon the resources of the colony. The facility that this presents in working the iron ore* with which the settlement abounded, must prove of infinite utility whenever a dock-yard shall be established here; and the time may come, when the productions of the country may not be confined within its own sphere.

[* Some of this iron ore, which has been smelted in England, has been reported to be equal, if not superior, to Swedish iron.]

In addition to other public works already in hand, the governor directed a piece of ground, consisting of about seventy acres, and three-miles distant from Sydney, to be inclosed for the use of the stock in that district.

The foundation of the walls of a government house at Parramatta was laid, and the sowing the public wheat grounds begun; but, through want of labouring people, less was sown this than in the last year.

The weather had been in general moderate and seasonable.