OCR | |
 | Old tales of a young country Clarke, Marcus Andrew Hislop (1846-1881) A digital text sponsored by Australian Literature Electronic Gateway University of Sydney Library Sydney 2002 |
| http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/oztexts © University of Sydney Library. The texts and Images are not to b[...]arks are retained as data. First Published: 1871 A823.9l/C599/E2/2 setis austl‘alian etexts early settlement short stories 1870-1889 Old tales of a young country by Secretary to the Trustees of the Public Library, Museums, &c,, Melbourn[...] |
| [...]per. They were dug out by me at odd times during a period of three years, from the store of pamphlets, books, and records of old times, which is in the Public Library; and in the[...]belongs to the compiler. The fact, that, being in a measure themselves records of bye-gone days, they have tickled the memories of old colonists, and so attracted an attention altogether out of proportion to their literary merits, is my reason for publishing them in a collected form. I have done my best to secure ac[...]dates, and minute particulars; but the meagreness of the early colonial newspapers, the wanton destruction or mutilation of many of the early colonial official documents, the jealou[...]ors, and the fact that the rude, adventurous life of those early colonial days prevented the registration of the very romances which it induced, render it difficult to obtain correlative evidence of many statements quoted, and have compelled me in[...]pt the narrative as correct on the sole authority of the first and only narrator. I shall therefore b[...]formation than I possess, on the subjects treated of in the following pages. MARCUS CLARKE. Th[...] |
| Contents PAGE THE SETTLEMENT OF SYDNEY 1 GEORGE BARRINGTON, PICKPOCKET AND HISTORIAN 8 WILLIAM BUCKLEY, THE “WILD WHITE MAN” 1‘) A LEAF FROM AN OLD NEWSPAPER 31 THE RUM-PUNCHEON REVOLUTION 38 THE RULE OF THE BUSHRANGER 53 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN JORGENSON 66 GOVERNOR RALPH DARLING'S IRO[...]TLER IN TASMANIA FIFTY YEARS AGO 1 17 THE SEIZURE OF THE “CYPRUS” 133 THE LAST OF MACQUARIE HARBOUR 141 THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN[...] |
| Old Tales of a Young Country |
| The Settlement of Sydney. AT daylight on the 13th May, 1787, His Majesty's ship “Sirius” made signal to sail to a little fleet that had been lying off the Mother Bank since the 16th of March. This little fleet was destined to carry Governor Phillip to take formal possession of Botany Bay, a place recommended to the Government as suitable for a convict station. The fleet was not a large one. It consisted of His Majesty's ships “Sirius,” “Supply,” and “Hyena” (the latter only acting as convoy for a certain distance), three victualling ships with t[...]soldiers, together with 775 convicts, consisting of 565 men, 192 women, and 18 children. The list of the military force, as given by Captain Watkin French, of the Marines (from whose account of the expedition the minuter details of this paper are derived), is worth noting—4 capt[...]60 private marines; and he adds that the majority of the prisoners were mechanics and husbandmen specially selected by order of the Government. Having got through the Needles with a “fresh leading breeze,” the convicts began to repine at their lot; but on the morning of the 20th, getting their irons knocked off by order of the commandant, and sending a few messages to England by the “Hyena,” which parted company that afternoon, matters began to assume a more cheerful aspect. Let us glance for a moment at the state of affairs in Europe. It was seven years after the Gordon riots and the burning of Newgate. American independence had been already d[...]e blood shed at Bunker's Hill had caused the tree of liberty to blossom and bud. Admiral Kempenfelt an[...]gone down at Spithead. William Pitt was 29 years old, and had been Premier of England for four years. The steam- engine had sup[...]one at Warren Hastings. Washington was on the eve of his presidency, and the Convocation of Notables was waiting to be convoked. It was the age of mail coaches, knee-breeches, frogs, Frenchmen, ta[...]struggle with her colonies, and the thundercloud of revolution hung over France. Napoleon had[...] |
| After touching at Teneriffe on the 3rd June—where a convict made a desperate attempt to escape by seizing a boat in the night and rowing off to a small cove, from which he intended to “cross to[...]t, the fleet cast anchor in Table Bay on the 13th of October, and found the harbour crowded with shipping. At the Cape they remained until the 12th of November, and took on board 2 bulls, 7 cows, 3 ho[...]hogs, besides goats and poultry, for the purpose of stocking the settlement. A few officers also purchased live stock, but found[...]ng to the expedition to be informed by the master of an American ship, 140 days from Boston, on a trading voyage to the East Indies, and rescuer of the officers and crew of the “Harcourt,” wrecked on the Cape de Verde Islands, that “if a reception could be secured, emigration would take place to New South Wales, not only from the old continent but the new one, where the spirit ofof the fleet. On the 25th, therefore, the separation[...]Supply,” in order that His Excellency might get a few buildings run up by the time the fleet should[...]was put into two divisions, the first, consisting of three transports, under the command of Lieutenant Bird; and the second, comprising the victuallers and remaining transports, was left in charge of Captain Hunter, of the “Sirius.” Sailing in this order, then, on the 7th January, 1788, the expedition sighted the shore of New South Wales, but the westerly wind dying away[...]lled to hold off the shore, and did not get sight of it again until the 19th, and on the morning of the 20th—a dull, heavy, and cloudy day—the last division c[...]r. The voyage had taken exactly 35 weeks, and out of 112 marines His Majesty had lost but one, making up for it, however, by the death of 24 out of the 700 convicts. The stay in the bay was not of long duration. The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor (Mr. Robert Ross) started to explore the country the next morning, and getting into an opening cal[...]rt Jackson,” were so struck with the advantages of the place that it was determined instantly to remove thither. On setting sail the next morning, however, a great alarm spread through the fleet: two large ships were seen standing in for the mouth of the bay! All sorts of rumours were afloat. It |
| was the vanguard of a Dutch fleet come to dispossess them. It was an armed vessel of war, and her consort. It was a store-ship from England. Governor Phillip, howeve[...]strange sail were French ships under the command of M. de La Perrouse. The next morning the two natio[...]ssed with flags flying in the solitary bay. After a few hours run to Port Jackson, during which time the party admired the luxuriant prospect of its shores, among which many of the “Indians” were frequently seen, they anchored in a snug cove, and on the next day commenced to disem[...]es, set up the tents, and mark out the dimensions of their future home, the expedition passed away som[...]Governor fixed his residence on the eastern side of a small rivulet at the head of the cove, with a large body of convicts encamped near him; and on the western side were stationed the remaining body of prisoners, with guards posted over them night and day. The pressure of business—that is to say, the making of huts and daubing of wattles—prevented the immediate reading of the commissions, but on the 7th of February the colony was taken possession of in due form. On that day the officers of the guard took post in the Marine battalion, whic[...]nor and Captain-General in and over the territory of New South Wales and its dependencies. Upon this His Excellency made a judicious speech to the convicts, assuring them of his desire to treat them fairly and kindly, and read an Act of Parliament for the establishment of laws, and patents for holding civil and criminal[...]s Excellency, the day's proceedings winding up by a “cold collation” in His Excellency's newly-erected tent, and the “drinking of many loyal and public toasts.” We can imagine the happy little picnic party in the cool of the evening drinking prosperity to Port Jackson,[...]in the adjoining bush, and about 1200 square feet of cleared land round about them, all unwitting of goldfields, Bathurst rushes, separation of Victoria, land acts, universal suffrage, and the like. The extent of the Governor's authority by this commission is de[...]10° 37' south; and commencing again at the 135° of longitude east of Greenwich, it proceeds in an easterly direction, |
| and includes all islands within the limits of the specified latitudes in the Pacific Ocean.‘[...]convicts were brought to trial. One was convicted of striking a marine with a cooper's adze, and received 150 lashes for his pa[...]ing island, and kept there on bread and water for a week; while a third, sentenced to receive 50 lashes, was pardoned by the grace of the Governor. On the 28th of February a “mutinous plot” was discovered among the conv[...]executed—the ringleader, Thomas Barrett, “an old and desperate offender, who died with a hardy spirit.” He was swung off the limb of a big tree, near which were assembled the whole body of convicts, guarded by the battalion of marines. The constitution of the court by which these fellows were tried was rather peculiar. The number of members, including the judge-advocate, was limited to seven, who are expressly ordered to be officers of either army or navy. The court being met in milit[...]ion is directed to be given according to the laws of England, “or as nearly as may be, allowing for the circumstances and situation of the settlement,” by a majority of votes. In capital cases, however, five out of the seven members must concur to make a verdict. During the sitting of the court, the court- house was surrounded by a guard under arms, and admission granted to any on[...]bruary Lieutenant Bull sailed for Norfolk Island, a place concerning which the “Ministry” had hea[...]and took with him Lieutenant King as commandant, a surgeon, a midshipman, a weaver, two marines, and sixteen convicts, of whom six were women. Events went on quietly enoug[...]ith astonishment the white skins and shaven chins of the new comers. Governor Phillip seems to have pr[...]asserting their freedom by knocking in the skull of some aggressive convict. They were a poor set of creatures going entirely naked, |
| sleeping in a sort of coffin of bark, eating roots and refusing rum; but when rou[...]n swords, spears, and clubs. The dingo, that pest of the early squatters, was quite domesticated in those days. Governor Phillip had one given to him as a present by a friendly native, and thought it something like a fox. With the aspect and appearance of the colony the settlers seemed more than satisfied, but they complained bitterly at first of the bad grain of the wood. Snakes were plentiful, and the emu and[...]y the garrison grew very successfully. The notion of “mines,” which it would appear had possessed the brain of some wild dreamer in England, was speedily laughed to scorn, although Governor Phillip observed a “prodigious chain of mountains,” running north and south, at a distance of some 60 miles inland, which he thought might be worth exploring. In the middle of March the French departed on the prosecution of their voyage. Their ships—under the command of M. de La Perrouse—had sailed from France on the[...]on, died, and was buried on the north shore, with a plate of copper attached to a tree above his grave. On the 20th March the “S[...]rguing badly for the future commercial prosperity of the colony from that circumstance. Winter now coming on, the erection of barracks was set about with great vigour, and the privates of each company undertook to build for themselves tw[...]mpelled to abandon the undertaking and proceed on a more limited scale. The plan of the town, moreover, was drawn out, and it being agreed that “to proceed on a narrow confined scale in a country of the extensive limits we possess would be unpardonable, extent of empire commanding grandeur of design,” the principal street was laid down 200[...]expedition into the interior. His party consisted of eleven persons, but at the end of four days, provisions growing scarce, it w[...] |
| [...]ed to live almost entirely on salt provisions. As a natural consequence, scurvy broke out: vegetables[...]ell sick. It drew near the time for the departure of the ships for Europe, and earnest representations were made concerning the supply of fresh meat. But there was a hopeful spirit abroad. On the anniversary of the King's birthday all the officers dined with the Governor, and among other toasts drunk was that of “Prosperity of Sydney Cove, in Cumberland County.” At daylight[...]and answered by three volleys from the battalion of marines. Each prisoner received an allowance of grog, and— glorious day—“every non-commissioned officer and private soldier had the honour of drinking His Majesty's health in a pint of porter, served out at the flag-staf .” Three da[...]indulgence, however, was followed by ill effects. A prisoner named Samuel Peyton, twenty years of age, broke open an officer's marquee, with intent[...]orbett, who had attempted to escape. On the 14th of July, 1788, the ships, with the exception of the “Sirius” and the “Supply,” which had[...]report to the British Government that the colony of Port Jackson had been successfully established. Looking back—while a boy yells latest Sydney telegrams under my window—from the new story of 1871 to this old story of 1788, it seems worth the retelling. * Cap[...] |
| [...]Pickpocket and Historian. MOST people have heard of George Barrington, the pickpocket. His name has b[...]emanly larceny. Bulwer has dished up an imitation of him in Paul Clifford, and Lever has introduced him bodily into The O'Donoghue. I read once a highly-spiced romance called by his name, and purporting to be an account of his doings, in that oracle of nurserymaids the London Journal, and I came very near to seeing a sensation drama in five acts, of which he was the intelligent hero. I have heard his name mentioned with almost as much admiration as that of Jack Sheppard by pipe-smoking “old hands,” yarning while the sheep were camped; and I have seen a picture of him— Claude Duval dashed with Almaviva—presiding at a banquet as the Prince of Prigs. That he was the prince of prigs in the age of the first gentleman in Europe, there can be no do[...]e eighth commandment with an air. He was not such a grand speculator as Price, otherwise Old Patch; he did not ride so dashingly as Claude Duval; he had not the more solid qualities of M. Vidocq, nor the enterprising financial ability of Sir John Dean Paul; but he was, in his way, as smart a fellow as any of them. He lived merrily all his life, and having been transported, made the best of his altered circumstances, took the goods the gods provided him, became superintendent of convicts at Parramatta, wrote a history of his adopted country, and died in the odour of respectability. It is on account of his latter exploit in the way of authorship that I have elected to tell the true story of his life in these pages. Strangely enough, however, though Messrs. Sherwood, Neily, and Jones, of 5 Newgate-street, London, published, in the year 1810, in two volumes quarto, a History of New South Wales, by George Barrington, superintendent of convicts, the literary fame of its author was not much enhanced. His speeches, a[...]ent, but his writing is execrable. The History is a very slip-slop piece of work; and is, moreover, according to Dr. Lang, untrustworthy.* As a thief, Mr. Barrington was not above suspicion. As[...]ontempt. One would have thought that so ingenious a stealer of other men's property could not but have succeeded[...]nd his parents seem to have occupied the position of respectable cottagers. They were themselve[...] |
| not his precocious talents attracted the attention of a benevolent clergyman, who placed the lad at schoo[...]money by his patron, who announced his intention of starting him in life. At sixteen years of age, however, he quarrelled with another lad, and stabbed him with a penknife. For this, Waldron was severely flogged, and smarting as much from wounded vanity as from loss of cuticle, he determined to run away. The same nigh[...]lothes, stole twelve guineas from his master, and a gold repeater from his master's sister, and scaling the school wall, set out in the middle of the night to seek his fortune. Such as it was, he soon found it. Putting up the next evening at a small inn in the town of Drogheda, he heard that a company of strolling players were to perform that night, and, boy-like, went to see them. The manager of this company was a man named Price. He was of gentlemanly exterior, of reputed good family, and agreeable figure, but having been detected in the commission of some fraud, was outlawed to Ireland. Price fell in with the boy, took a fancy to him, heard his story, and enrolled him as a member of his company. Burning with theatrical ambition, Barrington—as he now called himself—essayed the part of Jaffier in Venice Preserved, and made a hit. He had a speaking eye, a good figure, a handsome face, some talent, and a prodigious memory. The last two qualities gave hi[...]s new réle; the first three gained him the heart of the Belvidera of the night. This was a young girl of respectable connections and some education, who had been seduced and deserted by a lieutenant of marines, and thrown upon her own resources for a livelihood. She appears, however, to have been mo[...]d for her. Into this liaison Barrington, like the young gentleman in the “Disowned,” fell—or jumped[...]ife seemed cheery enough. With love in the person of the lively actress, and fame in the shape of the thumpings of the thick sticks of an Irish audience, Barrington was satisfied. But soon there came a change. At Londonderry, Manager Price announced t[...]the twelve guineas had quickly melted in the sun of Belvidera's smiles. The “company” poor devils—had not a sou amongst them. In this dilemma Mr. Price sugge[...]at with pocket-picking and play-acting the winter of 1771 passed pleasantly enough, but falling sick of a fever, Barrington was left behind by the ungratef[...]r, refused to desert her lover, and nursed him to a recovery. A few weeks after, the |
| [...]d found him at Cork, picking pockets. He told him of his loss. “Join your fortunes with mine, lad!” says Price over a bowl of punch. “Fools were made for men like us to live[...]e compact was soon made. Barrington took the part of a young gentleman of fashion, and Price that of his tutor. They frequented assemblies, balls, and races, and by the end of the year made £1000. Emboldened by success, Pric[...]ning his head from the card-table, saw the arrest of his friend, and with a plausible excuse, rose, slipped out, and took hor[...]t wind, he wisely started for London. Now begins a new phase in his career. He had been the Bohemian, the strolling player, the bon camarado of bully-rooks and swindlers. He would take a new line of action. He would be the gentleman, the gamester, the man of fashion. He sailed in the “Dorset” yacht (which had on board the Duke of Leinster), and there he made the acquaintance of a Mr. H. Mr. H. was a pigeon of admirable feather. Rich, and of good family, he was well worth the plucking. Young, vain, and innocent, he was easy to be plucked. To this young man Barrington introduced himself as a man of fortune “travelling for his health,” and they soon became firm friends. With the remnant of his Irish booty, Barrington rivalled his friend i[...]ce, and the two seem to have seen the usual round of London dissipation. When Mr. H. wanted money, he drew a cheque on his bankers; when Mr. Barrington's funds were low, he picked a pocket. Meanwhile, the dice-box rattled, and the cards were dealt frequently. Ecarté was a favourite game of the fashionable Mr. Barrington, and he had a knack of “turning the king” that was both curious and[...]ing in his usual depredations, he was accosted by a stranger. “I know you,” said this man; “I c[...]. I saw you pick that gentleman's pocket. You are a scoundrel, sir; and unless you divide, I hand you[...]the virtuous stranger was firm. They adjourned to a tavern, and Barrington divided the spoil. The stranger turned out to be a swindler named James, who had been the |
| possessor of £300 a-year; but having ruined himself at the gaming-table, had turned highwayman. A bullet wound received on Finchley Common incapaci[...]avern” at Temple Bar were the favourite resorts of the two friends, and they soon became famous for[...]stocratic pockets without detection. The noblemen of his acquaintance bewailed their losses to him, an[...]hours' notice stood him in stead in his new part of gentleman of quality. He read largely, and remembered what he[...]ble; he was Barry Lyndon varnished; he wanted but a touch of genius to become Vautrin. In the summer ofof its Georgian blossom—he fell in with Lord Ancas[...]ames, who acted as jackal to the more noble beast of prey, and found out his game for him. Moreover, in his late profession of high toby man, Mr. James had become acquainted with that useful creature, a “fence,” or receiver of stolen goods, who purchased the commodities which[...]r—jackal as he was— retained the lion's share of the booty, for in the beginning of the next spring I find him employing a Mr. Lowe as his chancellor of the exchequer. Lowe had been a livery-stable keeper, landlord of a sporting public- house, and usurer. His last spec[...]it enriched him considerably, enlarged his circle of acquaintance. He took a respectable house in Bloomsbury, lived like a man of easy fortune, and “put away” large quantities of stolen goods. To him Barrington linked his fortun[...]tired into private life. Like the wicked marquise of the old, or the Becky Sharpe of the modern Balzac, he “sought the consolations of religion.” He retired to a monastery, and left all his earnings to the Churc[...]ay, was not so fortunate. He was tried for firing a hospital at Kentish Town, of which he was treasurer, and poisoned himse[...] |
| [...]erable snuff-boxes and purses, cut off the collar of an Order of the Carter, and sold the diamonds to a Dutch Jew who came over from Holland each year to[...]snuff-box, at Covent-garden Theatre. This box was of gold, thickly studded with brilliants, and was pr[...]re Sir John Fielding, the wily prisoner set forth a sad case with such semblance of truth that the good- natured Prince declined to press the charge, and he escaped with a caution. This exposure, however, ruined his social reputation, and being turned out of his old haunts he was compelled to hunt smaller game. In 1777 he was detected picking the pocket of a trull at Drury-lane Theatre, and was sentenced to[...]ch, and sentenced for five years. The “hulks” of those days was a terrible place. Men and women were crowded togeth[...]behaved like beasts. The lash cut the manhood out of them. Here Barrington seems to have suffered seve[...]rts. His misery, however, attracted the attention of a wealthy associate of former days, who, exerting his influence with the[...]on condition that he should exile himself, as his old patron, manager Price, had done, to Ireland. Here he resumed his old occupation, until Dublin was too hot to hold him;[...]at York, and 500 guineas at Bath. He was the chat of the coffee-houses, the scandal of the wells. His person was well known. He was the hero of a hundred stories. He achieved a reputation for gallantry. Fine ladies were in lov[...]bbed the King's coach, and to have intrigued with a royal duchess. He was captured once or twice, but always escaped. He had plenty of money, and turnkeys—in those days, at all event[...]from one disguise to another with the nimbleness of a harlequin. Now he was here, now there. One day he would be a quack doctor at Bath, the next a |
| [...]races on Monday, and on Tuesday borrowed £20 as a Methodist missionary desirous of turning heathen souls to God. Even when arrested,[...]quibble. At last he was caught and held tight. A Mr. Henry Hare Townsend having entered a nag for the Enfield races, had gone down to see h[...]ding his horse down the course, he was jostled by a person in light-coloured clothes, from whom he demanded, with an oath, what he wanted, but got no reply. A few moments after a Mr. Blades—a sporting friend of his—came up, and asked him if he had not been r[...]ng his hand to his pocket, he discovered the loss of his watch, and instantly suspected the awkward ge[...]f. This was Barrington. Seeing him the other side of the course, Townsend and Blades went round and se[...]ascal, you've got my watch!” They took him into a booth, and there several witnesses of credibility swore that they saw him drop the stol[...]e unfavourable opinion which the jury entertained of him, and the facts that no one saw him taks the w[...]that he dropped it. Referring to his expectation of a death sentence, he said that he should bear it wi[...]ve hung him if they chose. On Wednesday, the 22nd of September, the Recorder pronounced sentence on him, and the accomplished scoundrel took leave of him in the following neat and appropriate speech, to which Mr. Owen Suffolk,* late of this colony, could perhaps alone supply a parallel:— “My Lord—I have a great deal to say in extenuation of the crime for which I now stand convicted at this[...]on consideration, I will not arrest the attention of the honourable Court too long. Among the extraord[...]an nature, it is the peculiar and unfortunate lot of some devoted persons to have their best wishes and their most earnest endeavours to deserve the good opinion of the most respectable part of society frustrated. Whatever they say, or[...] |
| [...]e light, and is distorted from the real intention of the speaker or the actor. That this has been my u[...]d much confirmation. Every effort to deserve well of mankind, that my heart bore witness to, its recti[...]s these, and consequently rendered abortive. Many of the circumstances of my life, I can, without any violation of the truth, declare to have therefore happened absolutely in spite of myself. The world, my lord, has given me credit f[...]rward and said—‘Barrington, you are possessed of talents which may be useful to society. I feel for your situation, and as long as you act the part of a good citizen, I will be your protector; you will[...]d opportunity to rescue yourself from the obloquy of your former conduct.’ Alas, my lord, George Barrington had never the supreme felicity of having such comfort administered to his wounded s[...]is, I have resigned to my fate without one murmur of complaint.” Being shipped off to his new home,[...]f with propriety, but did the State some service. A mutiny broke out on board the convict-ship. The c[...]rica, “where,” says Barrington in his account of the voyage, “they expected to not only attain their liberty, but receive a tract of land from Congress.” The plot was laid with som[...]ain and officers were below examining the stowage of the wine, the mutineers attempted to get possession of the ship; but Barrington, snatching up a handspike, kept the hatchway until the officers c[...]convict to receive some attention. He had the run of the store- room on board, and was recommended to[...]d him with kindness, appointed him superintendent of convicts, and in November, 1792, he entered upon that office by virtue of one of the first warrants of emancipation granted in the colony. From this ti[...]with propriety, and to have given up the follies of his youth. It is possible, |
| [...]olice were more plentiful than purses in the land of his adoption. However, he made an admirable superintendent of convicts, and would address his petty officers in tones which yet faintly smacked of the Phoenix and Ranelagh. At the expiration of his sentence he was but 44 years old, but he settled in Parramatta, and lived to a good old age, though I cannot find the precise date of his death. The author of a little book called Australian Discovery and Colon[...]he interesting thief was still remembered by some of the early residents as a very gentlemanly old man, scrupulously neat in dress and courteous in[...]ous Majesty,” Barrington was the reputed author of the celebrated prologue to the “Revenge,” spo[...]given in the colony, and which from the neatness of the couplet-— “True patriots we, for be it understood, We left our country for our country's good” — has been often quoted. There is more reason, however, to suppose that some officer of literary ability and cultivated tastes was the author. No convict would have written such a cutting satire upon colonial society and his own pretensions to respectability. Moreover, the neatness of the prologue is in striking contrast to the slovenliness of the history. It is impossible to imagine that the[...]attraction. West's Tasmania, vol. ii., p. 145. * A convict who, after many imprisonments, wrote an account of his misdeeds, which under the title of “Days of Crime, and Years of Suffering” was published in the Australa[...] |
| William Buckley, The “Wild White Man.” EVERY country can claim for itself a Robinson Crusoe of home manufacture. He of Australia is William Buckley. As the majority of reading Australians are aware, Victoria—or, as[...]d, secondly, by Batman and Fawkner. The first was a forced, the second a voluntary colonisation. Governor Collins came in[...]tion, and, the only white man who remained in the country, he lived long enough to see the second. He was one of the convicts brought out by Governor Collins, and[...]perhaps few persons are familiar with the details of his life and adventures, this sketch [compiled from an account of his wanderings written by himself] may not prove[...]shire. His parents were poor folk, who cultivated young William upon a little oatmeal. He had two brothers and a sister, but at sixteen years of age he left them, and never saw them more. Apprenticed to a bricklayer, he scorned the hod, and longed, like[...], “Heaven soon granted what his sire denied.” A sergeant in the Cheshire militia, assisted by ten[...]advice, and William enlisted. He was at that time a prize for any recruiting sergeant. His height was[...]gth excessive, and his brain-powerfeeble. He made a capital soldier. Getting into the King's Own [4th Foot] he was sent to Holland, and fought there, receiving a wound in the hand. On his return to England he obtained leave of absence, and indulged in “riotous habits.” His Dutch experiences did not appear to have been of an improving kind. Possibly the army swore as terribly in Flanders in the days of Buckley as it did in those of Captain Tobias Shandy. However, be that as it may, Buckley would seem to have borne rather aof Woolwich, he was ordered on board the “Calcutta[...]be said to commence. Lieutenant-Colonel Collins, of the Royal Marines (who had previously |
| been Judge-Advocate to the colony of New South Wales at its establishment by Governor Phillip), had been compensated for loss of legitimate promotion by the governorship of the projected colony of Van Diemen's Land. He was placed in command of the ships “Calcutta” and “Ocean,” with instructions to form a convict settlement on the south-east coast of New Holland, and on the 27th April, 1803, left England for that purpose. A journal kept by the Rev. R. Knopwood, chaplain on board the “Calcutta,” gives us some particulars of the adventure. After a somewhat stormy voyage the expedition sighted Port Phillip Heads at 5 a.m. on the 9th October, and moored in the bay. After some prospecting of the adjoining land, it was resolved to go higher up the bay, and eventually near Point Lonsdale a site was fixed on for the new city, and the stores were disembarked. On the 25th of October, at 8 a.m., the British flag was hoisted; and it being the King's birthday into the bargain, some waste of powder was occasioned. The convicts were then divided into gangs, and put to work; and after a skirmish or two with the blacks, the colonists be[...]selves down. Our hero Buckley was by this time in a position of some importance, and Mr. Knopwood records that on the 2nd November a complaint was made to him by the future Crusoe th[...]defranded Buckley, the ‘Governor's servant,’ of a waistcoat.” Hearing the case in his capacity of magistrate, the worthy chaplain upheld Buckley's[...]scontented. He complained that the rope's-end was a little too freely administered, and that the work was too hard. A magazine and store-house were the first public bu[...]d, and upon these Buckley—in virtue, I suppose, ofof the continent, and that Sydney was within easy wa[...]The prisoners were not very closely watched; some of them were employed at some distance from the barracks, and escape was not difficult; but the character of the surrounding country made any projected stroll to China or California a serious matter, and in the majority of cases the poor ignorant fellows returned with gau[...]gged and fed. The Rev. Knopwood's journal is full of attempted escapes, but he usually records one of two results—a return or a death. The soldiers shot at any escaping convict,[...]with the surety proved by sad experience, that in a few days he would return to the camp, or his dead |
| [...]brought in by some exploring party. On the 27th of December, one of these “escapes” took place. At 9 p.m. six convicts endeavoured to make their escape, of whom Buckley was one. They were beset by a look-out party, and one man was shot. His name was Charles Shaw. The next night great fires were seen at a distance, and were supposed to he lit by the runaways. On the 6th of January a search was made, the worthy chaplain himself arme[...]ny effect. The colony became alarmed. The absence of four men in the bush was a bad example. The next day the drums beat to arms, and a select body of marines were sent in pursuit of the fugitives; but though they were tracked for f[...]and refrained from further exertions. On the 16th of January, one of the party, named M'Allender, came in and surrendered, giving up a gun which he had stolen. He said that all the oth[...]the situation and the climate. It was the height of summer. The thermometer averaged 110° in the sun. Fires were frequent; once, indeed, the huts of the officers of marines and the marquees themselves were nearly consumed. The soil was sandy and uninviting, the surrounding country barren and grim. Water was not too abundant, and as yet no river of any importance had been discovered. Collins had n[...]e inhospitable soil, he yielded to the entreaties of his officers, and broke up the settlement. The 24th, 25th, and 26th of January were spent in re-embarking the convicts, stores, and soldiers, and by daylight of the 30th Port Phillip was deserted. It had been colonised for the space of three months, and during that time one child had[...]chaplain, “Sergeant Thomas's wife was delivered of a boy, the first child of European parents born at Port Phillip.” This boy was named Hobart. The record of the chaplain's experiences, as far as it is necessary to follow it, ends at 3 o'clock on the afternoon of the day of the desertion. “At 3 p.m.,” says he, “I din[...]that dinner was not without reference to the fate of Buckley and his companions. I can imagine the goo[...]poor runaways now. Even if, by some wild chance, a hardier absconder |
| [...]n deserted and unfinished buildings, bared spaces of ground, and all the melancholy ruin of abandoned habitations. Convict M'Allender himself, snugly disposed in the lower deck of the “Ocean,” might feel not uninclined to plu[...]une which had preserved him from the hideous fate of his unhappy companions. Let us see what that fate was. On the evening of the 27th of December this had occurred. At sunset, the hour of returning to the sheds, four men—one of whom had possession of a gun obtained from the Governor's garden—sneaked[...]tially- finished buildings, and took to the bush. A sentry challenged, and, receiving no reply, fired, and shot the last of the party. The others ran for the best part of four hours, and though pursued, were not recaptured. That night they camped on the bank of a creek, and in the morning pushed on again with re[...]solved to head for Sydney; and in happy ignorance of intervening dangers, the adventurers set their fa[...]erness and made straight towards the present site of Melbourne. They crossed the Yarra, and reached t[...]n the third day's journey. Here the last particle of the treasured bread and meat was consumed, Sydney[...], and starvation imminent. Buckley, who by virtue of his size and courage had been elected leader of the party, ordered a retreat to the sea coast, where mussels and limpe[...]nd, Buckley says, thirty-two years afterwards, by a ploughing settler. By this time they had made the circuit of the bay, and from their lair could see the “Cal[...]ide. Maddened by hunger, and desperate with dread of death, the grim philosophy of the lash and loaf overtook them. They lighted fires by night to attract the attention of the settlement, and hoisted their ragged garments on trees by day. Once a boat—probably the one with our armed chaplain—was seen to approach, and a rescue was hailed with a sort of dismal delight; but she returned without seeing t[...]days the miserable wretches starved within sight of their prison home, and at last plucked up courage to make a last effort for life. They |
| [...]ills, seemed not so terrible as the death-in-life ofof Sydney. “How I could have deceived myself into a belief of reaching it,” he says, “is astonishing. . . . The whole affair was in fact a species of madness.” For seven days he travelled, swimming[...]nation. He lived on shell-fish, gum, and the tops of young plants. On the sixth day the climate grew warmer.[...]en them in despair. The rising tide drove him out of his miserable refuge, and climbing to the top, he[...]een and heard the natives. Buckley had twice swum a creek to escape from them, and at night the fores[...]three days, and was at the last gasp—came upon a smouldering log. The sight gave him new energies.[...]some berries, roasted and ate them, and searching a little further found a “great supply of shell-fish.” At this place he remained for more than a week,* and then coming to a big rock, sheltered by an overhanging cliff, from which a plentiful stream of fresh water continually gushed, he made himself a sort of hut. Here he lived in rude contentment, and feeding on shell-fish and a sort of wild berry,T began to experience the delights of freedom. He was soon disturbed. One day three natives appeared, and took possession of his home. They did not seem terrified at his appe[...], or he would have escaped. In the morning, after a vain attempt to obtain such remnants of his woollen stockings as time and the shingle had left him, they went away, and he, frightened at the chance of their return, took to the bush. For some months he wandered about, living the life of a wild man, and subsisting on roots, berries[...] |
| [...]d, or shelter, and his sleep was broken by terror of the natives. The physical instinct of life-preservation must have been very strong in the man; a less stolid animal would have got rid of its burden long ago. One day, crawling rather than walking through the scrub, he saw a mound of earth with a spear sticking up out of the top of it, and, being in want of a walking-stick, he pulled up the weapon. That spear saved his life. Having lain down that night under a tree, at grips with his last enemy, and not expecting to see the light of another morning, he was perceived by two lubras,[...]s—with that intelligence which is the privilege of the male sex—saw the state of the case at a glance. A great warrior had been buried at the mound. Great[...]s, change into white men after death. Buckley was a white man; and, moreover, he had in his hand the[...]and saluting the half-starved convict by the name of Murrangurk, they bore him off to their huts, with much shouting and demonstrations of joy. Luckily for the restored Murrangurk, this joviality soon took the practical form of gum-water and chrysalids, upon which he dined heartily. After a terrific corroboree, in which the women beat skin[...]d, Buckley was duly received into the black bosom of the people, and presented with a nephew. This ready-made relative proved attentive[...]nephew was not very wise, “there was no chance of his uncle having to pay his tailor's or other bills. Aof his rescuers, and for the next thirty years lived with them as one of themselves, joining in their fights, and taking a prominent part in their councils. He was married to a charming but faithless woman, who, unmindful of the honour done her, eloped with a young warrior of her own race a fortnight after her marriage. Her justly indignan[...]knocked her on the head, and upheld the sanctity of the marriage tie. Despite his ill-success in the[...]ars to have found considerable favour in the eyes of the lubras. He relates with calm satisfaction man[...], and pauses frequently in his narrative to heave a tender sigh at the recollection of the many ladies who were waddied for his sake. He became at last a sort of father of the people, presiding in the council and issuing[...]st totally destroyed in battle, and he then found a home among the |
| friends of one of his wives. His account of his wanderings is not particularly interesting. T[...]ns, no calumets, and no buffalo. They were simply a set of repulsive, filthy savages, who daubed themselves with mud, and knew no pleasure save that of gorging. I am afraid that Mr. Buckley's narrative shows the beautiful fallacy of the “poetical” native theory. An Australian Romeo would bear his Juliet off with the blow of a club, and Juliet would prepare herself for her br[...]ing herself from head to foot with the kidney-fat of her lover's rival.” Poor Paris! However, here and there we get amusing hints of primitive innocence. In happy ignorance of cookery, Mr. Buckley's friends eat “all kinds of beasts, fish, fowl, reptile, and creeping thing.” They have no notion of mechanical appliance, and a rude dam that Buckley makes astonishes them great[...]r wombats. No genius among them has ever invented a net or a snare. They keep count of time by chalk-marks on the arm. They paint themse[...]ones. Affectionate wives preserve the knee-joints of their dead husbands as relies, and wear them roun[...]ept within reasonable bounds by judicious weeding of an extensive family. A child every two years is considered enough for an[...]we see,—not even Social Science. Cannibalism is a luxury, not an ordinary practice; but Buckley mentions a tribe called the Pallidurgbarrans, who eat human flesh whenever they get a chance, and employ human kidney fat, not as a charmed unguent for the increase of their valour, but as a sort of Dundee marmalade, viz., “an excellent substitut[...]r at breakfast.” These gentlemen are the colour of “light copper, their bodies having tremendously[...]was declared, and some inglorious Pelissier drove a few hundred of them into a cave, and setting fire to the surrounding bush, suffocated them with great success. When a girl is born she is instantly promised in[...] |
| [...]earth is supported on props, which are in charge of an old man, who lives at the most remote corner of the earth. Occasionally this old man sends a message to say, that unless he gets a supply of tomahawks and rope wherewith to cut and tie more[...]the run, and all hands will be smothered.” One of these messages arrived while Buckley was there, a[...]iled, and tomahawks galore were sent on to the “old man.” “Who this knowing old juggling thief is,” says Buckley, “I could never make out. However, it is only one of the same sort of robberies which are practised in the other countries ofof savage life, Buckley met two natives, one of whom carried a flag over his shoulders. He had long given up all hope of meeting with white men; he had forgotten his language and almost his name, but the sight of the flag gave him a strange shock. The natives told him that they had seen a vessel at anchor in Port Phillip Bay, near the Indented Heads, and, all hands having left her on a boat expedition up the river, they had climbed on[...]seize the cargo. Now for the first time the hope of escape from the hideous liberty he had sought aro[...]e every effort to privately attract the attention of the new comers. But he had forgotten the English[...]only make hoarse and unintelligible noises. Twice a boat approached him, and twice, hearing his frant[...]heir bodies bound. There were many such mysteries of the sea in those times. In a few days more the vessel departed, and poor Buckl[...]spot where he had last seen her crew land, found a white man's grave— grim answer to his hopes and prayers. A few months after this he found a boat stranded on the shore, and learned that two[...]us and ill at ease, had gone off in the direction of the Yarra. There they were savagely murdered. A vessel would seem to have been wrecked somewhere on the coast, for barrels were found. One of these contained what Buckley, who found it[...] |
| [...]At last his “good time” arrived. One day two young natives met him, and waving coloured handkerchief[...]hree white and six black men had been landed from a ship which had gone away again, and that they had[...]obbery, and told Buckley that they were in search of another tribe in order to fall upon the white men[...]y its name,” and as he did so, Buckley says, “a cloud appeared to pass from over my brain, and I[...]nd meat. He showed them the initials W. B. on one of his arms, and they regarded him as a shipwrecked seaman. Little by little he recovered the use of his tongue, and could speak with them. They told[...]had landed them would be back from Launceston in a few days with more people and a fresh supply of tools; that they were about to settle in the country, and had already bought land of the native chiefs. “This,” says Buckley, “I[...]r right over the soil, theirs being only as heads of families.” The natives now began to assemble in great numbers, and announced to Buckley their intention of killing the new settlers, desiring him to aid the[...]with the weaker party if he refused. Buckley was a little frightened at this, but succeeded in persuading his old friends to wait until the return of the ship, when, he said, the amount of plunder would be increased. The ship not returnin[...]ided with the white men, and, arming himself with a gun, vowed he would shoot through the head the first man who flung a spear. This threat, and a promise of unlimited presents, kept them quiet, and at last[...]ned next day to Van Diemen's Land with an account of Buckley, and a solicitation from Mr. Wedge for a free pardon for him. He was installed in the mean[...]d, Batman went on board, and fired off his gun as a |
| [...]ust, 1835, exactly thirty-two years from the date of his landing from the ship “Calcutta.” By this vessel instructions were brought to the directors of the company to proceed to the right bank of the Yarra, and in three days the site of Melbourne was marked out. The next vessel brought Mr. Gellibrand and a number of settlers, to whom Buckley was engaged as interpreter, at a salary of £50 a-year and rations. He accompanied them in an exploring expedition, and on his return built the chimney of Mr. Batman's house, on Batman's Hill, the “first habitation regularly formed at Port Phillip.” The tide of immigration now poured into the new settlement, and Melbourne became a township. Captain Lonsdale (of Buckley's old regiment) came over with a detachment of the 4th to assume the command of the colony, and made Buckley his personal attendant. He was now in clover, was well-dressed, well-fed, and a man of no small importance. He quarrelled with a Mr. Fawkner,* from Launceston, “who had been an old settler, but had no connection with the company.” He acted as constable, and hunted down and apprehended a black-fellow for killing a shepherd. Governor Bourke with several officers of the New South Wales Government visiting the place, Buckley received him at the head of 100 natives “ranked in line, and saluting him b[...]and showing him the lions. On his return he heard of the loss of Mr. Gellibrand and Mr. Hesse, and volunteered to look for them. The loss of these gentlemen threw the settlement into a great state of consternation. They had attempted to ride from Ge[...]ended about this time, Buckley was sent in charge of him to Launceston, and returned in a steam-vessel, having on board Captain Fyans, who[...]sons were always throwing difficulties in the way of my interests, and not knowing what might be the result, I determined on resigning office, and on leaving a colony where my services were so little kn[...] |
| “Yarra Yarra,” and landed in Hobart Town on the 10th of January following. Here he was made much of; public-houses were open to him, and strangers st[...]One gentleman took him to the theatre, and “one of the performers came to ask me if I would like to[...]go “behind the scenes” which thirty-two years of barbarism had not shaken out of him, said that he would like it much. Next day, however, he discovered the reason of his friend's kindness. He was to be exhibited as the Anglo-Australian giant! “I soon,” says he, “gave a denial to any such display, very much to the mortification, as I afterwards understood, of the stage manager, who had publicly notified my a[...]ublic taste accurately— Buckley would have been a “good draw.” Shortly afterwards a Mr. Cutts, one of his old shipmates in the “Calcutta,” who had now become a wealthy and respectable settler near Green Ponds,[...]the Immigrants' Home he “became acquainted with a family, consisting of a respectable mechanic, his wife and daughter,” a[...]s he was paid off by the Convict Department, with a pension of £12 a-year, and on this, and a subscription raised by his friends, he lived unti[...]d in February, 1856, when he had attained the age of seventy-six. * “It may have been two or three,[...]John Fawkner, J.P., who claimed to be the founder of the colony. He died on the 4th of September, 1869, aged seventy-seven years. |
| A Leaf from an Old newspaper. ON Saturday, the 23rd of September, 1820, the free residents of Hobart Town, on opening the moist folio of the Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter found a startling proclamation. The Hobart Town Gazette,[...]rnment, and assisted by those agreeable evidences of patronage, Government advertisements. It was publ[...]y,” and printed by Mr. Andrew Bent—the father of the Tasmanian press, who was at that time the lea[...]to attack the Government, was summarily deprived of his office, and eventually ruined. In the year 1[...]e persons to whom they may relate. “By command of His Honour, “E. ROBINSON, Secretary.” The proclamation which greeted the readers of this issue of the 23rd of September, fifty years ago, was nothing less than an announcement of the death of the late “Sovereign Lord, King George III., and accession to the crown of that High and Mighty Prince George, of Wales,” and ran to the effect that William Sorrell, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor of the settlements of Van Diemen's Land, together with several other di[...]he magistrates, clergy, and principal inhabitants of the colony generally, did publish and proclaim, “with one Voice and consent ofof all sorts of things, and Supreme Liege Lord of Van Diemen's Land among the rest. The paper in which this piece of news appears is lying before me as I write. It is a broadsheet of the coarsest character, and, with its flourish of Royal Arms at the head of it, looks not unlike a corpulent playbill. The paper is rough in texture[...]not as clear as it might be. The whole matter is of course surrounded with a deep black border as mourning for poor old George Tertius. A glance at its columns will give us a glimpse into a curious condition of |
| society. In the first sheet is the Police Fund of Van Diemen's Land “in account current with John[...]nt-house. Mr. R. W. Fyett charges £1 for the use of his cart and bullocks. The superintendent of police receives £6 as “a reward for capturing three absentees,” also £5[...]reward advertised” (Blackmore, I presume, being a convict illegally at large). Mrs. Cullen is paid[...]ernor's orderly, and Mr. Lord charges £50 “for a horse supplied to Government.” The Government w[...]Immediately after this financial statement comes a paragraph that may perhaps surprise one or two of the inhabitants of Hobart Town who think their church has been named in honour of the patron saint of Wales. “The Lieutenant-Governor directs that the new Church of Hobart Town shall be called ‘St. David's Church,’ out of Respect to the memory of the late Colonel David Collins, of the Royal Marines, under whose Direction the Sett[...]amemnon and Colonel David Collins. Though to name a church after a colonel of marines does seem rather a liberty with the Calendar. The Lieutenant-Governor orders a “general muster of inhabitants” (civil officers and military alone[...]in days. This proclamation is interesting because of its pleasant tyranny. It commands all “free men[...]ther with “male and female prisoners and ticket-of- leave men,” to come together at certain places, at certain dates, for the purpose of being counted, like sheep; and further orders tha[...]absolute or conditional pardon, and by expiration of sentence, are to give in the names and ages of their children.” What a strange sight this “muster” must have presented! Any colonial Frith desirous of painting a picture of the sensational school might choose a worse subject than that of “A General Muster in 1820.” Let us imagine for a moment the old town, the old-fashioned dresses, the striving of the “tawdry yellow” of the convict garb with the “dirty red” of His Majesty's uniform, the intermingling of faces, the strong contrasts and curious juxtapositions. There seems room for powerful painting in such a picture. The “Town Talk” is not very important. An account is given of a procession which took place on Sunday, and was composed of the |
| [...]ficers and magistrates, and principal inhabitants of the settlement, all in deep mourning, and it is s[...]nute guns, in number corresponding with the years of his late Majesty were fired from Mulgrave Battery[...]r the Gazette remarks also that the ceremony left a deep impression of the veneration and respect which were felt toward[...], “which was much strengthened by the discourse of the Rev. R. Knopwood, M.Aof the deceased monarch cannot fail to live while Ro[...]e roi! The next paragraph relates how the reading of the Proclamation of the new king was received. The document— which is printed at the head of the paper— was read “in front of Government-house under a Royal salute from Mulgrave Battery, and three volleys from a detachment of the 48th Regiment.” Commerce goes hand in hand[...]street Grinds remarkably well.” The mill-stones of this remarkable structure are specially mentioned[...]first yet used in this settlement the production of Van Diemen's Land.” A vaguely-worded but well-meant support of native industries. That portion of a paper which Punch called the Hatches, Matches, an[...]ied by special licence by the Rev. R. Knopwood, M.A., on Monday the 11th inst., John Beamont, Esq., Provost Marshal, to Harriett, second daughter of G. W. Evans, Esq., Deputy Surveyor-General.” But close upon the heels of the marriage follows an amusing exposition of the intentions of a Mr. Fergusson. “Mr. Fergusson hereby Begs leav[...]to those who stand Indebted to him his intention of Looking for the same in the next sitting of the Lieutenant-Governor's Court, and no Favor or[...]acquaints the public that though deeply desirous of “affording them every Facility for discharging[...]oreable beef and mutton to the extent in quantity of 250,000 lbs. weight, at 6d. per Ib., in liquidation of their debts. |
| [...]g this liberal offer, however, Mrs. Lord feels it a duty belonging to her agency to state, “that if[...]reditors, she will not allow the expected Circuit of the Supreme Court to pass without resorting to th[...]s Court as the case may require to Compel Payment of the several obligations.” A courteous but a severe lady, Mrs. Lord, evidently, and one who wi[...]“nonsense,” but have her lawful bond or pound of flesh, as the case may be. Here is a curious advertisement:—“Mr. Reiby has the pleasure of informing the public that he has received by the[...], wafers, ink-powder, tortoiseshell combs, spices of all sorts, snuff, ball- cotton, threads, white an[...]various other Useful and Valuable articles. Also, a capital One-horse Gig, with harness complete.” Rather a miscellaneous collection of Mr. Reiby's! The newspapers of that day contained items which would rather startle a modern Tasmanian. For instance:— “One Hundre[...]ber 28, 1820. “Whereas, Thomas Kenny (No. 73), a convict, 5ft. 33/4 in. high, brown hair, dark-grey eyes, 18 years of age, a blacksmith by trade, was tried in the county of Dublin in 1818, was sentenced to be transported for life, born in the county of Westmeath, has a crucifix above the elbow on the right arm, T.K. o[...], charged with divers capital felonies, broke out of His Majesty's gaol at Hobart Town on the night of the 27th of November.” And so on. Beneath this Mr. James Blay puts a “Caution to the Public. “Whereas several of my One Shilling promissory Notes have been lately[...]er or offenders to public justice, I hereby offer a reward of Five Pounds sterling to any person or persons who will be the means of apprehending them. |
| “JAMES BLAY.” A glance at the police reports and trials shows a healthy condition of severity: — Daniel Eachan, charged with forgin[...]John Griffiths, alias Frog, charged with stealing a pocket-book, value 15s., and attempting to steal a watch, are sentenced to 50 lashes and transportat[...]d 12 months in the gaol-gang. Here are specimens of female absconders:— “Ann Darter. May. 5ft. 1[...]hair, brown eyes; aged 36; servant. Tried at the Old Bailey, April, 1822—life. Native place, St. Sepulchre's. Absconded from the service of Dr. Bromley, 17th February.” “Janet Ceflude.[...]to escape were not merely reprimanded or reduced. A sterner punishment was meted out to them, as thus— “Thomas Trueman, a Constable, was charged with negligently suffering[...], who were confined in the County Gaol on charges of a very serious nature, to Escape, which was clearly proved by various witnesses, and he was sentenced, being a prisoner, to be Dismissed his Office and to recei[...]is custodiel ipse custodes? Amongst other duties of constables was that of seeing to the safe housing of all ticket-of-leave men by a certain hour, and the ancient institution of curfew, or something very like it, was in force. A notice in the issue ofof things. Gentlemen are constantly advertising their domestic troubles in the Southern Reporter, and scarcely a day passes without some husband being left lamenting by his frail spouse. Ladies seem to have been at a premium. I extract two plaints which are t[...] |
| [...]rticles” are few and far between in the columns of our journal. Government advertisements, “local news,” and lists of “prisoners tried” exhausted the balance of reading matter, which is made up of such items as these —“Indian marriage in high life,” “Singular discovery of a murder by dreaming,” “New method of seasoning mahogany,” “The honest cook,” and “A jest by Mr. Curran.” The “jest” is so exqui[...]rth extracting— “Mr. Curran, cross-examining aa great bite!” Let me close the Hobart Town Gazette of 1820 with the account of a thunderstorm, during which an intrusive “Electric Fire-ball” entered a “dormant window” in the roof of Government House. This impertinent manifestation of nature descended from floor to floor, knocked doors off their hinges, scattered plates, pulverised panes of glass, walked down the grand staircase, melted th[...]time absent on his tour through the North-Western Country”], shattered His Excellency's umbrella, and passed through the wall, leaving the house nearly a wreck, and full of a suffocating smell of sulphur. “Most providentially” it so happened[...]be attributed their almost miraculous escape.” A distinction between the providential and t[...] |
| The Rum-Puncheon Revolution. THE social condition of Sydney in 1807 was somewhat curious. The place be[...]controlled by military officers, the army was at a premium. The Governor was a sort of proconsul with absolute power, and his officers monopolised all the good things of the colony. Among the principal of these good things was the rum-trade. From the first settlement of New South Wales the unrestrained importation of ardent spirits had prevailed to an alarming exten[...]ived as payment for purchases. Rum at last became a colonial currency. The governor, clergy, and offi[...]bartered rum. The New South Wales Veteran Corps (a regiment of pensioners tempted by promise of privilege to emigrate) was called the “Rum-Punc[...]about to open) says in his evidence on the trial of Major Johnston, that such barter “was universal. Officers, civil and military, clergy, every description of inhabitants, were under the necessity of paying for the necessaries of life, for every article of consumption, in that sort of commodity which the people who had to sell were i[...]ithout it.” This being the case, one may judge of the disgust that prevailed among the rum-storers when it was reported that a new Governor was to replace Governor King—a bluff sailor, who loved rum—with strict injunct[...]Government to put down the monopolists. The name of this new Governor was Captain Bligh, a bold and daring, though somewhat pig-headed post-captain, who had gained some notoriety by reason of the famous mutiny of the “Bounty.” This story is so well known tha[...]at it. The “Bounty” was sent to collect seeds of the breadfruit tree of the South Sea Islands, for the purpose of planting them in the West Indies. Tired of this botanical exploration, and seduced by the black eyes of the Tahitian damsels, the crew of the “Bounty,” led by a lazy old reprobate named John Adams, mutinied, and putting Bligh and his officers adrift in a longboat, gave themselves up to unrestrained licentiousness on one of the lovely islands of the South Pacific. Here they lived for some years[...]y, and preached the gospel to his numerous family of half- caste children. Although it is more than probable that he never heard of Byron, the old gentleman verified the poet's statement an[...] |
| religion,” for he tried the charms of both, and died in the odour of sanctity. His companions, ultimately found, were given the convict settlement of Norfolk Island as a residence. They—with Adams at their head—have[...]Church missionary story-books, and the “Mutiny of the ‘Bounty’ ” was for some time the strong point of the Sunday at Home. Bligh displayed much ability in navigating his boat to safety, and as a sort of recompense for the sufferings he had endured, was made Governor of New South Wales. His previous history was a good one. He had been for nineteen years a post captain; had fought under Parker, Howe, and[...]quarter-deck for his services. He was said to be a tyrant, and to have ill-treated the crew of the “Bounty.” It is possible he did so, but it is also possible that they deserved it. The expectations of the colonists were realised. Bligh landed in 1806, and forthwith announced his intention of travelling through the colony in order to ascertain the condition of its inhabitants. Now, but four months before his arrival, occurred the great March flood of 1806, and the colony was suffering from scarcity of grain. According to Dr. Lang.‘ maize-meal and c[...]hs together.” Bligh riding round, like the King of Yvetot, made personal inquiries into the condition of each settler, and volunteered to take from each a certain quantity of wheat or produce, giving in payment orders in adv[...]o the settlers, did not accord with the interests of the military and civil importers of rum and tobacco. No settler who could obtain tea,[...]ould sell his crop for the fiery Jamaica compound of the monopolists, or accept as part payment the usual puncheon of strong waters at the usual high rate of valuation. The merchants of Sydney were most indignant, and their indignation[...]ed by the publication on February the 14th, 1807, of a general order prohibiting the rum-puncheon trade[...]at once crushed. Bligh prohibited “the exchange of spirits or other liquors as payment for grain, an[...]ring apparel, or any other commodity whatever.” A prisoner convicted of such sale or purchase rendered himself liable to 100 lashes and twelve months' hard labour. A settler, free by servitude, pardon, or emancipation, was deprived of all indulgences from the Crown, fined £20, and imprisoned for three months. Free settlers and masters of ships were fined £50, and deprived of indulgences from the Crown. This sledge-ha[...] |
| knocked to shivers the brittle pot of profitable monopoly which had hitherto boiled so briskly, and the merchants and trading members of the New South Wales Corps began to mutter curses against the popular despot of Government-house. At last a spark from an unexpected quarter fired the train.[...]wo large stills, one addressed to Captain Abbott, of the New South Wales Corps, and the other to Mr. Macarthur. It seems that Mr. Macarthur was part- owner of the “Dart,” and that the agent to whom Captai[...]the still, thinking that the speculation would be a profitable one, took upon himself to send another to the owner of the vessel. The vapours from these stills, when c[...]led Rebellion. According to custom, the manifest of the “Dart” was exhibited to the Governor, who[...]irst opportunity. It so happened that the coppers of the stills had been filled with drugs, and the naval officer to whom the execution of the Governor's mandate was entrusted, retained on[...]s. Mr. Macarthur, formerly captain and paymaster of the New South Wales Corps, and then a merchant of respectability, was not on good terms with the Go[...]. Indeed, he was bound to the “opposition” by a threefold band. As an old member of the military corps he possessed all the camaraderie by which a regiment hangs together, and resented the proclamation of the Governor as injurious to the interests of his old companions. As a merchant, with whom the rum-puncheon trade was necessarily a source of income, he saw himself deprived of large and sure profits. As a private gentleman of wealth and station, holding a position universally admitted to be only inferior to that of the Governor himself, he had imagined himself injured by the action of Bligh with reference to an appeal from the law co[...]ed to visit at Government-house. At this distance of time, and in the absence of anything like satisfactory evidence, it is impossible to decide how far the conduct of Macarthur was dictated by petulance or vanity. Mr. Flanagan, in his History of New South Wales, warmly supports the course he to[...]he people but veiled his quarter-deck detestation of all interference, and that he tyrannised grossly[...]well-meaning man, who opposed himself sturdily to a monstrous system of mercantile robbery. |
| [...]e with Dr. Lang. Macarthur, annoyed at the order of the Governor, was yet to be subjected to another act of oppression. The “Duke of Portland” being about to sail for London, it wa[...]n Abbott's still, and that he intended to dispose of his own to some ship going to India or China; but[...]objected to, the head and worm could be disposed of as His Excellency thought fit, and that he would[...], and after some complication and correspondence, a Mr. Campbell was sent to “take the stills.” T[...]thur prosecuted him instantly for illegal seizure of property, asking in court “if an Englishman in[...]property wrested from him on the mere sign-manual of the Governor?” The rebellion against despotism had begun. Now another complication arose. In the month of June, a convict named Hoare had escaped in the “Parramatta” to Tahiti. Macarthur was part- owner of this vessel, and the English inhabitants of Tahiti (that is to say, a few missionaries who had usurped the lands of the natives under the pretence of converting them) complained to the Governor. Proceeding were taken against Macarthur by the governor, and a bond of £900, given by the owners of the “Parramatta” to the Government, declared[...]and thereupon refused to pay the fine. In default of payment the vessel was seized, and Macarthur, hearing of the seizure, informed the captain and crew that a[...]he men were therefore compelled to make affidavit of their owners' procedure. In consequence of this affidavit, the Judge-advocate sent a summons commanding the appearance of Macarthur at court on the following day. Unfortu[...]s then pending between them. Moreover, Atkins was a man of intemperate habits and profligate character. He is characterised by Dr. Lang as “the broken- down relative of a person in power,” and was notoriously incapable of fulfilling his legal duties. Governor Bligh, indeed, having been desired by the Secretary of State to inform him privately of the characters of |
| individuals holding office, wrote thus of Mr. Atkins: —‘He is accustomed to inebriety. He has been the ridicule of the community. Sentence of death has been pronounced in moments of intoxication. His determination is weak, and his opinion floating and infirm. His knowledge of the law is insignificant, and subject to private inclination; and confidential causes of the Crown, where due secresy is required, he is not to be trusted with.” The result of this mingled ignorance and intemperance on the part of Atkins was, that he was obliged to have recourse to a convict named Crossley in order to prepare his in[...]thur in his quarrel was supported by the majority of the officers under Government. Desirous of pushing matters to a crisis, and, I am afraid, not without a certain malice prepense against his enemy, the Go[...]arthur replied to the Judge-advocate's summons by a cold and stinging letter, briefly refusing to att[...]tkins committed an error. Galled by the contumacy of the wealthy merchant, he determined to put a slight upon him which he would not easily forget. He issued a warrant for his arrest. The execution of this warrant was entrusted to a man named Francis Oakes, who had been a “missionary” to Tahiti, but was now head-constable at Parramatta. Oakes, having thus from a fisher of souls become a fisher of bodies, repaired to Macarthur's residence on the[...]d it, and—remarking to Oakes that “if he came aof ten thousand pounds,” said he; “but let them alone, and they will soon make a rope to hang themselves.” Poor Oakes then reque[...]h the warrant you have now shown me, and given me a copy of, that I never will submit to the horrid ty[...] |
| (doubtless chuckling at the speedy humiliation of his superior) recapitulated all that had passed.[...]or; and Mr. Oakes's deposition having been taken, a warrant was issued for Macarthur's arrest. The ne[...]es, apprehended the “monopolist” in the house of Mr. Grimes, the Surveyor-general, and he being brought on the 17th before a bench of magistrates, was duly committed for trial for “high misdemeanours” before a special criminal court to be summoned for the pur[...]ts this intelligence was as startling as the news of the arrest of the Five Members had been to their ancestors. The despot had accomplished a coup d'état. Macarthur, however, was liberated on bail, and in the interim between the 17th of December and the 25th of January the greatest excitement prevailed. The il[...]himself was not idle. He enlisted the sympathies of the New South Wales corps, and seems to have info[...]s not unfounded. The officers rallied round their old comrade, and it is on record that the night before the trial Macarthur's son and nephew and two of the bailsmen dined at a public mess-dinner of the corps. The colours of the regiment were displayed and the regimental ba[...]nd listening to the music. History again suggests a distant parallel in the “white cockade” Opera-house dinner of bodyguards at the OEil de Boeuf. It is, I am afr[...]the six jurors would acquit him, to the confusion of the Government party, determined to strike a final blow at his old enemy the Judge-advocate; nay, it is possible tha[...]tion, he meditated nothing less than the downfall of Governor Bligh himself. On the 25th of January, 1807, the court was crowded not only with civilians, but with many soldiers of the Veteran Corps, muttering discontent, and fing[...]as generally understood that the prisoner had, in a letter addressed to the Governor, protested against the presence of the Judge-advocate; and as it was evident that the Judge-advocate was about to preside, the action of Macarthur was anxiously looked for. The indictmen[...]as argued, and Atkins declaring that by the terms of the patent the court could not be formed w[...] |
| [...]ied that the Judge-advocate was nothing more than a juror, and Lieutenant Lawson desired the prisoner[...]ed that he had been brought to trial in ignorance of the charge against him, that he had in vain attempted to obtain from Atkins a copy of the indictment, and that he objected to him on six grounds:—First, that a suit was pending between them. Second, that Atkins cherished a “rancorous inveteracy against him.” Third, th[...]nd combined with that well-known dismembered limb of the law, George Crossley,” to accomplish his de[...]ecause Atkins knew that should he fail to procure a conviction he would be prosecuted for false impri[...]eady pronounced sentence against him at the bench of magistrates, and consequently came into court with the intention to convict. This speech contained a quotation of eight “authorities” on the question of challenge, and ended with an ad captandum appeal to the New South Wales corps. At the conclusion of the harangue Atkins swore he would commit the spe[...]soldiers began to cheer, and Atkins, apprehensive of violence, called out that he adjourned the court,[...]old the people not to disperse, saying, “We are a court. Tell them not to go out.” The Judge-adv[...]rotection, stating that he had been informed that a force of armed ruffians had been prepared against him, and begging for a military guard. As perhaps had been previously ag[...]st- marshal, however, considering this proceeding a rescue, left the court in search of Atkins and three magistrates, in order to get a warrant for the apprehension of Macarthur. The six, thus left masters of the situation, desired to proceed pro formd, and solemnly then and there concocted a letter to the Governor, requesting that another Judge-advocate might be appointed in the place of Atkins. At half-past twelve the reply came. The G[...]Atkins, however, had not been idle. He, too, sent a memorial to the Governor, giving his version of the story, and complaining that the six had impounded his papers. Upon the receipt of this letter, the Governor, at a |
| [...]ary, Mr. Edmund Griffin, to the court- house with a peremptory order to bring away all papers. The si[...]pleased to appoint another Judge-advocate.” At a quarter to four the Governor played his last card. He sent a letter “finally demanding an answer in writing” as to the intentions of the six, and with italics “repeating that they[...]urned to the following day. That evening was one of intense excitement in Sydney. The recalcitrant six were in some tremor as to the result of their proceedings, and one may not unreasonably think that the mess-table talk was not of the brightest. Mr. Macarthur, snatched out of the hands of the fowler, and exultant in his temporary triumph, could not but be alarmed as to the ultimate issue of the struggle; Richard Atkins, Esq., and Crossley[...]while His Excellency, Governor Bligh—whose fits of rage were notorious—paced the dining-room of the verandah-cottage called “Government-house,” waiting with furious impatience for the arrival of his allies. The Prussians of this Waterloo were represented by Major Johnstone[...]uth Wales corps; and immediately upon the receipt of the last manifesto of the six, Bligh had sent a despatch commanding his appearance. If the presence of their commander-in-chief did not quell the rebell[...]g. Unluckily, Major Johnstone had been thrown out of his chaise some time before, and was unable to come. He lived four miles from town, and returned merely a verbal message, regretting his inability to compl[...]er to the Governor, asserting that the deposition of the provost marshal was false, and that the priso[...]d do next. They were soon informed. In the course of the afternoon Bligh had decided upon war, and before dinner each of the six received a letter summoning him to Government-house o[...] |
| Johnstone had received another letter, containing a tacit threat that, unless he appeared to support[...]urged that Bligh intended to set aside all forms of law, and ignoring the powers and jurisdiction of the Criminal Court, would seize upon his enemies in virtue of his untempered despotism. The barracks were in a ferment. Officers and men were alike ready for resistance. In the midst of the turmoil, at five p.m., a chaise containing the injured Johnstone drove up[...]. Lafayette's white horse could not have produced a greater sensation. The crowd on the barracks-steps received him with open arms, and, amid a storm of mingled cheers and hisses, demanded whether he wa[...]e. Johnstone, whose action would seem to point to a foregone conclusion, vowed that he had no intention of injuring his old companions in arms, and his utterance was receive[...]g mob outside the gates, eager to know the result of the noisy council within, were gladdened by a visible sign of power. Two merchants, Messrs. Bloxcell and Bayley, appeared flourishing a folded paper, and took the way to the gaol. Major[...]elease, and was ready to back it with the muskets of the regiment under his command. Presently Macarth[...]than an hour the council deliberated, and at last a strange noise was heard in the barrack-yard. The soldiers were getting under arms. It was more than a revolt—it was a revolution. At half-past six the drums beat hard[...]s flying and fixed bayonets. Government-house was a verandahed-cottage in O'Connell-street (in 1852 it was still standing), and was guarded by the usual guard of honour, under Lieutenant Bell. As the regiment ap[...]dynasty had fallen. Major Johnstone was Governor of New South Wales. The entrance of the revolutionary army was opposed by but one person— and that a woman. Mrs. Putland, the widowed daughter of the Governor, ran down to the gate and endeavoure[...]hnstone from entering, but she was put aside, and a search was made for the Governor. It has been stated that Bligh took refuge under a bed, and was dragged thence in a condition of craven terror; but this statement is stoutly deni[...]seems, indeed, almost impossible to suppose that a man of |
| Bligh's well-known courage would be guilty of such an act of gross cowardice. All that we know of his past life militates against such a supposition. In times of danger he had always been found brave to rashness[...]th strong personal courage. It is not likely that a captain who had fought his ship so as to merit the thanks of Nelson, and had lived through such a voyage as that which followed upon the mutiny of the “Bounty,” would hide beneath a bed to escape from the violence of officers who had dined at his own table. Moreover, there was nothing in the aspect of affairs to warrant such a display of timidity. The “revolution” was after all but a civil matter. There was no infuriated mob waiting to tear him in pieces. No threats of personal violence had been used, and Bligh must h[...]life was never in danger. Apart from the evidence of “character,” which is directly opposed to the supposition of rank cowardice, there is not the shadow of motive for such a dastardly act as that with which he is charged, while the story is in itself precisely one of those coarse lies which are so easily invented, a[...]r sort. Bligh and his bed is only another version of James II. and his warming-pan. What really took[...]or pens and paper, composed in Bligh's diningroom a formal letter of dismissal. This letter stated that Bligh “having been charged by the respectable inhabitants of (sic) crimes that render him unfit to exercise supreme authority,” it was the painful duty of the writer to require him, “in His Majesty's sa[...]ligh, in the meantime, had resolved on his course of action. Seeing that resistance was hopeless, he c[...]as to escape from the house and get to the region of the Hawkesbury, where he believed that the people[...]behalf. While standing on the stairs, waiting for a servant who had gone for his sword, be was surprised by a number of soldiers with fixed bayonets, who made their way[...]wished to take him prisoner, he stepped back into a bedroom adjoining, and attempted to get from a cupboard some papers which he wished to de[...] |
| him in the name of the king. Minchin brought his prisoner into the[...]” says Bligh, “with soldiers under arms, many of whom appeared to be intoxicated.” The letter wr[...]Lieutenant Moore, and while Bligh was in the act of reading it, the new Governor appeared in the door[...]by officers, and verbally confirmed the contents of the letter. Martial law was then proclaimed, all[...]commission as governor, and the “great seal” of the colony, were seized, and Bligh was left with[...]angely enough, this eventful evening was the 26th of January, 1805, the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the colony. On the 27th a general order was published, headed with the foll[...]onourable path, and you will establish the credit of the New South Wales Corps on a basis not to be shaken. God save the king!” By the general order all the officers of the late Government were deposed, Atkins heading the list. The ring-leaders of the revolution were appointed magistrates, and Mr[...]stood before the memorable 26th inst. On the 2nd of February Mr. Macarthur was tried over again befor[...]r. Grimes Acting as Advocate-general in the place of Atkins, and was unanimously acquitted. Ten days a[...]arthur, was imprisoned for nearly three months on a charge of perjury, and finally sent for four months[...] |
| the Government went the length of prohibiting all public meetings, fearing lest a demonstration might be got up in favour of Bligh. Notwithstanding this, however, a memorial was drawn up, signed by a large number of persons, and forwarded secretly to England. This[...]which the rumpuncheoners had hailed the accession of Major Johnstone (bonfires had been blazing in all[...]fected mustered largely, and it was rumoured that a conspiracy was afoot to reinstate Bligh. The illustrious prisoner was the white elephant of the Johnstone Government. He was kept at Government House, and followed by a sentry wherever he went; but upon these rumours gaining ground, was with his daughter placed as a close prisoner in the military barracks. At last[...]Britain, and did not attempt to land on any part of the Australian coast. Bligh gave his word to this[...]nded at Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land being then a dependency of New South Wales. His coming created considerable[...]enture Bay, where he had been lying when the news of the arrival came to him, and was received with du[...]cquarie. The former officers were reinstated, and a special act passed to legalise proceedings taken[...]ollowed by Johnstone and Macarthur, together with a cloud of witnesses of all kinds. The Government—caring but little for[...]e Right Hon. Charles Manners- Sutton (grandfather of the present Lord Canterbury), being Judge-advocate |
| [...]ing rider was added:— “The Court, in passing a sentence so inadequate to the enormity of the crime of which the prisoner has been found guilty, have apparently been actuated by a consideration of the novel and extraordinary circumstances which by the evidence on the face of the proceedings may have appeared to them to have existed during the administration of Governor Bligh.” Colonel Johnstone returned to[...]ere, universally respected, during the government of Macquarie. Mr. Macarthur, after a compulsory absence of eight years, also returned, and did better than poor J ohnstone—he founded a family. So ended the rum-puncheon revolution. To us it may seem something like a storm in a teapot, but to the worthy residents of New South Wales in 1807 it was a very terrible hurricane indeed. *History of New South Wales. |
| The Rule of the Bushranger. IN the year 1820, a writer in the Quarterly, speaking of a book given him to review, says—‘It is the gre[...]riosity that has come before us—the first child of the press of a State only fifteen years old. It would of course be reprinted here, but our copy, pene-nos, is a genuine Caxton. This little book would assuredly be the Reynarde Foxe of Australian bibliomaniacs.” A copy of this wonderful work is now lying before me. It is a ragged and dirty little pamphlet of 36 pages. The paper is old and yellow, the letter- press in some places ille[...]t, and is called Michael Howe, the Last and Worst of the Bushrangers. The popularity of the volume is unquestionable. It is quoted by Mr. West in his History of Tasmania, and is extracted bodily into a History of Van Diemen's Land by one Syme, who was a settler there in 1846. Mr. Bonwick, writing in 1856, calls Syme the “historian of Howe,” Syme however merely reprinted Bent's pam[...]worth and West, Commissioner Bigge's Reports, and a pleasant collection of stories called The Military Sketch-book, written by an “Officer of the Line,” and published by Colburn in 1827, al[...]have been used by me to supplement the curiosity of the Quarterly Reviewer. From the year 1813—the[...]ived as Lieutenant-Governor—to 1825, the colony of Van Diemen's Land was overrun with bushrangers. The severe punishments of lash and chain urged the convicts to escape, the paucity of the military force assisted them in their attempts, and the mountainous nature of the country aided to baffle efforts at recapture. In those da[...]g pipe with rifle placed ready to his hand. Bands of escaped convicts ranged the mountains, descending[...]ish. They rode about in gangs, they held councils of war, they posted sentries, and took oaths of secrecy. They attacked the gaol, and liberated th[...]ms to the Governor himself. Indeed, the condition of affairs in Hobart Town was not encouraging to the[...]permost. Felons were to freemen in the proportion of ten to one. Concubinage with convict women was customary. The very ships that brought a mingled herd of male and female criminals were the scenes of unbridled license. Each sailor or soldier[...] |
| to ally himself to a female, and the connection often terminated in a marriage which manumitted the convict. “The mad[...]e Australian shore. With rich dresses, bonnets d /a mode, ear pendants, brooches, long gorgeous shawl[...]ey are assigned as servants. The settler expected a servant, but receives a princess.” The children of these rakings of the London bagnios were not unworthy of their race. Their paramours vied with each other[...]avey himself was not too curious as to the morals of his domestics, and gentlemen in Hobart Town witne[...]ted,” says Mr. West, “nourished every species of crime. Tattered promissory notes, of small amount and doubtful parentage, fluttered ab[...]angers and burglars, was melted down and disposed of . . . They burnt the implements of husbandry for the iron, they robbed the gibbet of the chains, they even wrenched the plate from the coffin of an opulent merchant, and stripped him of his shroud.” In addition to the cheerful condition of affairs at home, armed bandits, mounted on stolen horses, rode abroad, and defied all attempts of capture. Of these gentry the most noted was Michael Howe. In[...]oor devils whom she carried was one Michael Howe, a native of Pontefract, transported for seven years, for robbing a miller on the king's highway. The robber seemed tractable and goodnatured, though cursed with a most pernicious love of liberty. He attempted to escape before the vessel[...]n arrival in Van Diemen's Land he was assigned to a Mr. Ingle, a store-keeper, but the life did not appear to suit him. He had been a sailor, had served on board a man-of-war, and owned (according to Mr. West) a small collier. A man of determined character and somewhat romantic notion[...]ved to escape and take to the bush. At that time, a scoundrel named Whitehead, with a band of twenty-seven desperadoes, ranged the country; to these worthies Howe made his way, and was received with acclamations by the troop. The first exploit of the gang was to attack New Norfolk—then a small but flourishing township—and to plunder the inhabitants of all their portable property. From New Norfolk the[...]and burnt the wheat-stacks, barns, and out-houses of Mr. Humphrey, the police magistrate, affixing to the gate of the ruined barn a paper, on which was |
| drawn—in the same spirit as the coffin and cross-bones of the Irish rent- receipts—a gun firing a gigantic bullet at the head of a man. Mr. Humphrey appears to have taken his loss quietly, but on the ruflians plundering the house of a Mr. Carlisle, the settlers thought it time to bestir themselves. A neighbour of Carlisle's, a Mr. M'Carthy, who owned a schooner, the “Geordy,” then lying in the river, determined to make a push for a general capture of the gang. Howe, when a servant at Ingle's, had gained the affections of a native girl, and had induced her to accompany him to the bush. This young woman was only seventeen years of age, and is described as being of some considerable personal attractions. She was a[...]ouse, Black Mary and Howe were encamped with some of the gang on heights above the plain. According to the girl's statement, the bushranger in high glee filled a “goblet” (probably a pannikin), and as the twilight closed, cried to h[...]tical Mary, eager to please her lord, rose to get a firestick from the embers; but Howe laughed loudl[...]xclaimed, “Sit down, girl! Whitehead's lighting a match for us!” Presently “a tremendous flame arose from two different points below, which threw a glare over all the plain.” “There,” cried Howe; “these fires have cost a pretty penny. Here's success to the bushman's tinder-box, and a blazing fire to his enemies!” Mary relates that Howe was kind to her—after the manner of his sex—whenever “things went right with him;” but that if anything “crossed his temper, he was like a tiger.” He was very jealous of her, she says; and when Edwards, one of his gang, gave her a shawl which he had stolen from Captain Tonnson, Howe pistolled him on the spot. M'Carthy organised a party, consisting of some eleven men, among whom were Carlisle, O'Birne, the master of the schooner, and an old convict of sixty years of age, named Worral. This old man had been one of the mutineers of the Nore, and though he vows in his narrative (gi[...]he took in the proceedings was the writing “in a fair hand” several papers for the mutineers, he[...]nd. This party, armed to the teeth, and guided by a native, set out upon the track of the bushrangers. By-and- by they heard the report of a musket-shot, and creeping stealthily up behind a huge hollowed log, came upon the bandits pleasant[...]. The scene as described by Worral must have been a picturesque one. “Some were cooking pieces of mutton; others lolling on the grass, smoking and drinking; and a pretty, interesting-looking native girl sa[...] |
| long and bushy black ringlets of a stout, wicked-looking man seated by her. He had pistols in his belt, wore a fustian jacket, aa tall, ill-looking villain”—was asleep on the[...]Instantly the gang were on their feet. But before a shot was fired, Whitehead called a parley. “We don't want to shed blood,” said h[...]when Howe roared, “Slap at the beggars!” and a tearing volley from guns and pistols rattled among the branches. Five of the attacking party fell, and, “keeping up a brisk hedge-firing,” they were forced to retreat, leaving one of their number—a man named Murphy— dead on the grass. Mr. Carlis[...]y vengeance, and applied for military protection. A detachment of the 73rd Regiment were sent out to scour the country, and M'Carthy's homestead was garrisoned by a party of the 46th. The bushrangers, unwitting of the ambush, attacked the farm, and a sort of siege commenced. The soldiers, however, gained the day, and a shot from Worral mortally wounded Whitehead. The[...]ing his piece, observed Howe bend over the corpse of his captain as if to comply with his request. He[...], and there lay on the ground the mutilated trunk of Whitehead. In pursuance of an agreement made between them, Howe had hacked o[...]he gang got clear away to the mountains. The body of Whitehead was gibbeted on Hunter's Island, and Howe became the leader of the troop. The atrocity and daring of the scoundrel now almost surpasses belief. His head-quarters were about fifteen miles west of Oatlands, in a place yet known as “Michael Howe's Marsh.” He instituted there a sort of rude court of justice, and would subject such of his band as displeased him to punishment. Says Mr. West “The tone assumed by this robber was that of an independent chief, and in the management of his men he attempted the discipline of war. He professed the piety of the quarter-deck, and read to them the Scriptures.” His style and title was “Governor of the Ranges,” and he addressed the King's representative as “Governor of the Town.” He |
| [...]rd labour if they disobeyed him; and when one day a man named Bowles fired a blank shot over his head in jest, the chief tied[...]s out. He compelled his adherents to take an oath of fidelity upon a (stolen) Bible, and sent insolent messages to the authorities. In a journal called the Bengal Hurkaru occurs the foll[...]sworn, states—About five o'clock in the evening of November 27th (1816), I fell in with a party of bushrangers—about fourteen men and two women. Michael Howe and Geary were the only two of the gang I knew personally. I met them on Scantli[...]d to see every man sworn to abide by the contents of a letter. I observed a thick man writing, as I suppose, to the Lieutenant-Governor. Geary was the man who administered the oath on a prayer-book, calling each man for the purpose regularly. They did not inform me of the contents of the letter. Michael Howe and Geary directed me to[...], and Mr. Wade, the chief constable, to take care of themselves, as they were resolved to have their l[...]ld thrash more in one night than he could reap in a year. They said they would set the whole country on fire with one stick. I was detained about three-quarters of an hour, during which time they charged me to be[...]en. On my return from Port Dalrymple, I called at a hut, occupied by Joseph Wright, at Scantling's Plains. William Williams and a youth were there, who told me the bushrangers had been there a few days before, and forced them to a place called Murderer's Plains, which the bushran[...]they made them remain three days for the purpose of rendering down a large quantity of beef-fat, which Williams understood was taken fro[...]supply them with information. Howe affected to be a sort of Robin Hood—indeed it is probable that the marauder of Sherwood Forest was just such another greasy ruff[...]ration and the Poet's dream”—the consecration of that lecherous butcher, Henry the Eighth—the poet's dream of that beer-swelling termagant, Virgin Elizabeth—the light that gilds the shameless robberies of the glorious Reformation—may shine upon Michael Howe in the character of a romantic outlaw. The people certainly |
| admired him; and though a reward of 100 guineas and a free passage to England was set upon his head, he[...]—came very near taking him on one occasion. The old sailor was buying some powder and shot in the store of one Stevens, when a man “dressed like a gentleman” entered. The moment Worral heard him speak, he recognised the voice of the “fellow who had cut off the head of Whitehead,” and grappled with him. A furious struggle took place, and just as poor Wor[...]0 guineas and free passage were safe, he received a violent blow on the back of his head, and fell senseless. When he recovered, Stevens the storekeeper was holding a pannikin of rum to his lips, and Howe had gone. Stevens swore that “a strange man had rushed into the store, and knocked Worral down with a bludgeon.” The bethumped old fellow had his suspicions, but like a wise man said nothing, until one day Stevens was[...]he blow—“I wish I'd killed him,” he added. A regular campaign was now commenced against the free-booters, and one day a party of the 46th, among whom as a volunteer was the indefatigable Worral, stumbled upon a hut on the banks of the Shannon. The bushrangers had chosen their camping-ground with an eye to the picturesque. “It was a flat piece of green land, covered with wild flowers, and over-looking the most beautiful country that can be imagined: a precipice in our front, from which we hurled a stone that rolled over half-a- mile of steep hill down to river, all studded with island[...]and the blue mountains far away gave one the idea of an earthly paradise, yet no human being ever claimed it—none ever trod over this fair country but a few lawless brigands.” Remaining in ambush for[...]pot, they at last perceived four men approaching, of whom one was Howe. The native girl before mentioned was with him, clad in a dress of skins, feathers, and white calico. The instinct of the savage detected the trap: she pointed, gestic[...], closely followed by the girl, gained the summit of a hill, turned round and fired, but missed, and ran on. For more than a mile the chase continued, the bushranger gaining[...]rged her to further exertion. The pursuers set up a great shout at this, and |
| [...]rise. The soldiers were within five hundred yards of him, and gnashing his teeth with rage, the monste[...]ted girl, fired. He then turned, and plunged into a ravine, “where pursuit was hopeless.” Howe d[...]tly wounded, and justly incensed at the brutality of her lover. She volunteered to aid her rescuers to track him to his hiding- place. After a march of three hours, the party arrived at some huts on th[...]nk. These were deserted, but on the opposite side of the river stood Geary—the lieutenant of the gang—with levelled musket. He fired, missed[...]them to another place, and as they “arrived at a high rock which overhung the waters of the creek,” a shot was heard; a wild figure burst out of the bush, and darted past them. The cliff was ste[...]utlaw's retreat. It was Hillier, the most brutal of the band. He turned and faced them for an instant[...]-first from the rock into the river. The drop was a hundred feet, and all thought him a dead man. He rose to the surface, however, and swam for the opposite bank. The two soldiers quickly ran to a narrow ravine formed by the over-hanging rocks, a[...]ok to the water again, but on reaching the middle of the creek, and seeing musket-muzzles menacing him[...]instantly. So he came ashore and was bound. Now a very horrible discovery was made. Guided by the native girl, they reached a hut, in which lay a body with the head nearly severed from the trunk.[...]you villain!” Hillier protested innocence, but a few paces further the party came upon another bleeding wretch, with his hand shattered by a bullet, and his throat partially severed.[...] |
| [...]er on Hunter's Island, beside the whistling bones of Whitehead. Howe was now reduced to despair. The capture of the huts had deprived him of his ammunition and his dogs—the two sources of life in the bush. He resolved to surrender himsel[...]to assist the Government in capturing the remnant of his own band. Such was the state of the country, and the terror his deeds had inspired, that Gove[...]he offer made him, and despatched Captain Nairns, of the 46th, as an ambassador to the bushranger. How[...]permitted to walk about the city attended only by a single constable. In the meantime the robbers received reinforcements of several escaped convicts, for whom large rewards[...]en George Town and Launceston, they sent messages of defiance to the government, and openly offered an[...]. Encouraged by these successes, or perhaps weary of civilisation, Howe eluded his guardian constable, and having received arms and provisions, made for his old haunts. This was too much for human patience. The Governor made a personal appeal to the settlers, and troops of volunteers were despatched in all directions. Con[...]ese excursions, and such exertions were made that of the twenty only three remained at large, Howe, Wa[...]were offered:—For Howe, one hundred guineas and a free pardon; for Watts, eighty guineas and a free pardon; for Browne, fifty guineas and a free pardon. Brown, surrendered, but Howe was not to be taken. A convict named Drewe, otherwise called Slambow, was shepherding for a Mr. Williams, and determined to make a push for the reward. This Drewe had, it appears, with the majority of the convict storekeepers, often assisted Howe in[...]ling in with Watts, he pointed out the advantages of freedom, and suggested that the two together migh[...]ented, and proposed to Howe that they should send a message to Hobart Town through Slambow. Howe agreed, and the three met at dawn, at a place called Longbottom, on the banks of the Derwent. Howe ordered Watts to shake t[...] |
| unarmed. The bushranger then lighted a fire, and busied himself in preparing a breakfast for his guest. Watts seized a favourable moment, and, leaping upon him, secured[...]d assistance from his master, when Howe, watching a favourable moment, slipped his hands from the loosened cords, drew a concealed knife, and stabbed Watts in the back. Drewe was clambering up a bank, and saw nothing; but, when he reached the t[...]is work, but made off into the bush. Watts got to a settler's house, and, being sent to Sydney, three days after his arrival, died of his wounds. Villain as Howe was, one cannot but a[...]heir deserts. The double murder, however, caused a proclamation from Government, offering, in addition to the reward and pardon, a free passage to England for any one who should bring in the dreaded bushranger dead or alive. Our old friend Worral determined to make a final effort. Alone in the wilderness, Howe seems to have lived for some time the victim of a despairing conscience. His nature was never without a touch of rude romance, and the recollection of his crimes went far to turn his brain. In his sol[...]red to him and promised him happiness. The ghosts of his victims arose, and threatened despair. He kept a journal of his dreams—a journal written with blood, on kangaroo skin. It is possible that, in a land of fruits and game, he might have lived a hermit, and died a penitent. But the barren beauty of the bush afforded no sustenance. He was compelled to descend from his hut— an eyrie built on the brink of a cataract, and surrounded by some of the sublimest scenery of the Tasmanian mountains—to plunder the farms for food and ammunition. Armed bands, incited by the hope of the reward, lay in wait for him at every turn. Mr. Bonwick describes the condition of the man in the following picturesque passage:—“Clad in kangaroo skins, and with a long, shaggy, black beard, he had a very Orson-like aspect. Badgered on all sides, he chose a retreat among the mountain fastnesses of the Upper Shannon—a dreary solitude of cloudland—the rocky home of |
| [...]e crater-formed recesses in ancient days torrents of liquid fire poured forth upon the plains of Tasmania, or rose uplifted basaltic masses, like frowning Wellington, within sight of lofty hills of snow, having the peak of Teneriffe to the south, Frenchman's Cap and Byron[...]iller's Bluff to the east, and the serrated crest of the Western tier to the north; entrenched in dense woods, with surrounding forests of dead poles, through whose leafless passages the wind harshly whistled in a storm—thus situated, amidst some of the sublimest scenes of nature, away from suffering and degraded humanity[...]e this hunted outlaw was the task and the fortune of Worral. He allied himself with a man named Warburton, a kangaroo-hunter and confidant of Howe's, and one Pugh, a soldier of the 48th. The three proceeded to Warburton's hut, situated in a lonely spot on the Shannon Bank; and Worral and P[...]went out to seek Howe. At last, the sun striking a tier of the opposite hills showed two figures approaching[...]autiously out. The bushranger was standing within a hundred yards of him, talking to the traitor. He drew back, and pr[...]with almost poetic imagery, “Howe ran off like a wolf.” I give the story of the capture in the sailor's own words:—“T fir[...]ran after Howe; Pugh also pursued; Warburton was a considerable distance away. I ran very fast; so d[...]h him. He was on his legs, and preparing to climb a broken bank, which would have given him a free run into a wood, when I presented my pistol at him and desir[...]ith astonishment, and to tell you the truth I was a little astonished at him, for he was covered with patches of kangaroo-skins, and wore a long black beard, a haversack and powder-horn slung across his shoulders. I wore my beard also—as I do now—and a curious pair we looked like. After a moment's pause he cried out, ‘Blackbeard against Grey-beard for a million!’ and fired. I slapped at him, and I be[...]im and me when Pugh ran up, and with the butt end of |
| [...]d battered his brains out, just as he was opening a clasp-knife to defend himself.” Such was the end of Michael Howe. His captors cut off his head and br[...]wn, terrifying poor Dr. Ross, who, proceeding up- country a newly-arrived immigrant, met the ghastly processi[...]settlers subscribed nearly double the amount, and old Worral was “sent home free, with the thanks of the Governor and the public.” |
| The Adventures of Captain Jorgenson. IN Ross's Van Diemen's Land Annual for 1835 appears the first part of a “Shred of Autobiography, containing various anecdotes, pers[...]is autobiography is anonymous, and was written by a manumitted convict. The second part appeared in t[...]h. The writer's name was Jorgenson, and the story of his life reads more like a romance than a record of fact. He was a seaman, explorer, traveller, adventurer, gambler, spy, man of letters, man of fortune, political prisoner, dispensing chemist, and King of Iceland, and was transported for illegally pawning the property of a lodginghouse-keeper in Tottenham Court road. His “autobiography” is written in a vain and egotistical strain, with much affectation of classical knowledge, and is rambling and disconnected. It occupies 195 closely-printed pages of the Annual, and readers who prefer their informat[...]and read for themselves. My apology to the shade of the author must be that, as the publication in which his lucubrations appeared is long since out of print, and copies are extremely rare, it is just possible that such a course of action would—on the part of a few thousand readers—be absolutely impossible.[...]nson's own language wherever practicable. This “old tale,” therefore—to appropriate a jest made concerning a plagiarising writer of colonial notoriety—may be divided into two part[...]that which ought to be. “Who so able to write a man's life as the living man himself?” cries Captain Jorgenson. “The age of intellect has merged into the autobiographical. A Homer is no longer wanted to immortalise an Agamemmon. For where sound the trumpet of his own exploits? or who, like myself, would suffer the sad but instructive vicissitudes of his fate to pass by unwept and unrecorded, or as Horace says—illacrymabiles? No; having been promised a niche in Ross's Van Diemen's Land Annual—the only sanctuary and safe retreat of great names, the sole Westminster Abbey which the[...]ons can yet boast—I hasten to fill it up before a greater man steps in to occupy the ground.” After this peroration—repeated in the second part as a gem too bright to be lost—Captain Jorgenson pro[...]n in Copenhagen in the year 1780, and was the son of a mathematical-instrument maker. He received a good education, but, though his parents ap[...] |
| [...]the boy must needs “go to sea.” “When I saw a Dutch Indiaman set sail, with its officers on dec[...]ms, my heart burned with envy to be like them.” Old Jorgenson, however, did not approve of his son's notions, and, with a view to sicken him of a sea-faring life, bound him apprentice to an Engli[...]inning to think for myself (for we in Denmark are of age at sixteen),” he quitted the collier, and shipped on board the “Fanny,” a South Sea whaler, bound with stores to the Cape of Good Hope. At the Cape he made another engagement with Captain Black, of the “Harbinger,” bound for Algoa Bay. Black h[...]rison ship). The prisoners and soldiers concerted a plan of mutiny, and, seizing the vessel, took her to Buen[...]p got to the West Indies. The “Harbinger” had a narrow escape of being taken by a French ship of 44 guns (this was in the year 1798), but beat off[...]er voyage without mishap. Returning to the Cape, young Jorgenson joined a brig of 65 tons. This was the “Nelson,” commanded by Lieutenant Grant, and was sent as a tender to the “Investigator,” commanded by Captain Flinders, on a surveying voyage round the Australian coast. Dr. Bass, originally surgeon of HMS. “Reliance,” had got down to Western Port from Sydney in a whale boat, and gave it as his opinion that “so[...]y to ascertain this point, but, before the result of his expedition was known in England, the “Lady[...]d was admirably fitted. Jorgenson says she had “a remarkable sliding keel, the invention of Commissioner Shanks, of the Navy Board, which answered so well that I hav[...]ot come into more general use.” It was composed of three parts or broad planks, fitted into correspo[...]nks could be let down or drawn up at pleasure, to a depth of 8ft., according as the vessel went into deep or s[...]ers to shape his course for the western extremity of what was then believed to be the peninsula of Van Diemen's Land. The first point he made was King's Island (named after Captain King, third governor of New South Wales). From King's Island they went |
| to Sydney, and then returned and completed the survey of Port Phillip, Western Port, Port Dalrymple, and t[...]as named after the doctor, and Bass's Straits are a sufficiently credible witness that Van Diemen's Land is not part of New Holland. On her return to Sydney, the “Lad[...]efs, and was obliged to steer for the main island of the chain,” and eventually returned to Sydney.[...]ly, botanists (the latter sent out at the expense of Sir Joseph Banks), M. Bauer, and Westall, the landscape painter. The account of the voyage is well known, as it is written at length in the chronicles of the early explorers, but some particulars given by Jorgenson may find a place here. Having accomplished her task, the “Investigator” was condemned as unseaworthy—a condemnation which Jorgenson disputes—cut down, and sent home under the charge of Captain Kent, nephew (by marriage) to Hunter, the late Governor of New South Wales. Flinders placed his crew and himself on board the “Porpoise” man-of-war, and was wrecked in Torres Straits, in compan[...]to have left her consorts to their fate. The crew of the “Porpoise” got on to the reef, but all on[...]he ship's boat, leaving the survivors “building a schooner of the wreck.” They were ultimately saved, but the botanical collection of “unknown Australian plants” was lost. Nothing[...]s, Flinders, being anxious to complete the survey of the continent, and to take the news of his discoveries to England, induced King to place at his disposal the “Cumberland,” a small craft of 30 tons burden. Running short of provisions, and relying on his passport, he saile[...]detained by the French Government under suspicion of being a “spy.” His charts and papers were never more heard of, and poor Flinders was kept a prisoner for six years. “He was at last liberated,” says Jorgenson, “by the peremptory order of Napoleon, and died on the 14th July, 1814, the very day that the ‘account of a voyage to Terra Australis’ was published.” Dr. Bass met with even a worse fate. That worthy, having completed his survey of the “strait,” returned home, but, being unabl[...]etly, came out again as supercargo and part owner of the brig “Venus,” Captain Bishop, intending t[...]Sydney, Bishop went mad, and Bass, “who, though a surgeon and physician, was a skilful navigator,” took command of the ship. He went to |
| Valparaiso and endeavoured to “force a trade.” That is to say, “Either buy my goods or I storm the place.” Such amenities of commerce were not unusual in those days. The Span[...]rew being on shore, “relaxing from the fatigues of the voyage,” and drinking rum and lime juice, t[...]and cargo, and, capturing Bass and his men after a deperate resistance, sent them to the quicksilver[...]ned. I fancy that this little episode in the life of the discoverer of “Bass's Straits” is but little known to the many good folks who sail across them twice a year. There were some things done in those days not unworthy of Salvation Yeo and the dogs of Devon. Sydney was a tolerably strange place. It was a sort of South Sea city of refuge, and the French war gave a good excuse for gallant gentlemen with more blood[...]was the great place for gold and glory, and many a sly privateer of the “Venus” class sailed from Sydney harbour. Jorgenson mentions two—a “Captain M'Clarence, of the brig ‘Dart,’ ” who met with death or the mines at Coquimbo; and “Captain Campbell, of the East India brig ‘Harrington.’ ” Campbell, being in Sydney during the year 1803, got news of the peace of Amiens. Being a calculating, long-headed fellow, he guessed that a rupture would soon take place, and prepared to take advantage of the temporary calm. Getting together a crew of desperadoes like himself, he sailed for the Spani[...]he town, and, landing, sword in hand, at the head of his men, he plundered, burnt, and ravished, despo[...]ydney, however, contrary to his expectation, news of war had not yet arrived, and, fearful of Governor King's wrath, he buried his plunder in one of the many islands of the straits. His fears were not unfounded. Stern old King—he was an eccentric, homely, honest man—[...]and “Captain Campbell” having but served his country, was honourably set free. It is not absolutely s[...]tumble upon it. But it is more than probable that a good deal of it found its way into the pockets of Sydney taverners. These gentry must have made large sums. Owing to the frequent failure of supplies from England, provisions were very dear.[...]ing,” says Jorgenson “to give ten guineas for a gallon |
| of rum. Tobacco was proportionately dear, and tea was never under a guinea a pound. Money itself sympathised with the general[...]es passed for two pence, and halfpence for pence. A large quantity of copper was in consequence brought out by the masters of vessels, who thus realised a profit of 100 per cent. The colony was ultimately most inco[...]ded with copper money. It was worse than the days of Wood's halfpence, which Dean Swift so ably put do[...]elled to put his veto on the further introduction of such money, and speedily settled the point by red[...]ail from Sydney with Captain Bowen, R.N., to form a settlement at the Derwent. “The late Dr. Mountg[...]ition. They were disembarked on the “north bank of the Derwent, at Risdon,”* and then went on to Port Phillip, where Collins had endeavoured to form a settlement. During their absence the station at R[...]ndoned, and the tents pitched on the present site of Hobart Town. Speedily tired of His Majesty's service, erratic Jorgenson now took charge of a small vessel going on a sealing voyage to New Zealand, and then shipped as chief officer of a whaler. They sailed for the Derwent, and our author “can boast of having stuck the first whale in that river.” Fr[...]duced to Sir Joseph Banks. Sir Joseph took charge of them, paid their expenses, and placed them under the care of the Rev. Joseph Hardcastle, “in order that by initiating them in the truths of the Christian religion they might be able to confer a similar boon on their own countrymen.” The poor fellows died in a twelvemonth. Jorgenson now went back to Copenhag[...]h great rejoicings. He seems to have become quite a “lion,” for next year (1807) we find him in a position of some importance. By dint of stories about the Australias and the Spanish main[...]r. Oxenham, would appear to have fired the hearts of the honest Copenhagen burghers. Old Jorgenson and seven other merchants of Copenhagen, “touched with a spirit of reprisal against the English,” subscribed to purchase a small vessel, armed with 28 guns, and presented h[...]nment, and our hero placed in command. Now begins a new epoch in his life. Our hero's vessel,[...] |
| the ice “a month before it was expected that any vessel coul[...]ged by this success, and relying on his knowledge of the coast, Jorgenson stood over to England. His c[...]ff Flamborough Head he came plump upon two sloops of war, the “Sappho” and the “Clio.” The for[...]mpossible, the Danish privateer determined to put a bold face on it and give battle. Notwithstanding[...]ad 120 men, he kept her at bay for three-quarters of an hour, making shift to fire 17 broadsides. At l[...]taken in triumph to Yarmouth. That the action was a pretty severe one, is confirmed by the fact that Longford was made a post-captain for his “services” on the occasion. It would appear that Jorgenson had, like a wise man, secured a retreat. When at Copenhagen, the year before, he had “chanced to obtain an interview” with a “public officer connected with the British Mini[...]don, where Jorgenson delicately hints at an offer of secret service employment. Fairly established in the city, and introduced to “several of the high official characters of that eventful period,” Jorgenson suggested a scheme for the relief of Iceland. That island, being in the very midst of the Danish and English combatants, came rather badly off. The inhabitants derived their means of support chiefly from the export trade ofa state of famine. The miseries of the islanders had attracted the attention of English merchants, who—doubtless with a shrewd eye to the main chance—cast about for so[...]ng to run the blockade. Jorgenson called upon his old acquaintance, Sir Joseph Banks, and represented h[...]s obtained from the British Government to freight a ship with provisions, and Jorgenson, taking the command, sailed from Liverpool on the 29th of December. Many predictions were made as to the failure of the expedition, the danger being increased by inc[...]te,” and it was held “madness to attempt such a voyage, which from the high latitude of the country, must necessarily be made at that season of the year almost in the dark.” The bold fellow, however, arrived in safety, and found “the hours of the night brighter than those of the day, owing to the brilliant reflection of the |
| [...]turned out well, he left the provisions in charge of the supercargo, and hastened back to Liverpool, i[...]owever, the governor, Count von Tramp, had issued a proclamation prohibiting all communication with t[...]eem that Count von Tramp did not disdain to trade a little himself, for a Danish vessel was in the habit of running small cargoes of rye, which were sold—as Jorgenson hints, to the advantage of the authorities—at 40s. per 200 lbs. Here was a dilemma. The two vessels, anchored in the port wi[...]e at church” good souls—he landed with twelve of his men, and, making straight to the governor's r[...]e on any one who should interrupt him. Then, with a brace of pistols in his belt, he walked into the Count's c[...]imself deposed. The Count, “who was reposing on a sofa,” made an attempt at resistance, but, as t[...]house but the cook, one or two domestics, and “a Danish lady,” he was speedily overpowered, carr[...]g the iron chest,” and when the people came out of church they found that aof nations was ever more adroitly, more harmlessly, or more decisively effected than this. The whole government of the island was changed in a moment. I was well aware of the sentiments of the people before I planned my scheme, and I knew I was safe.” The next day he issued a proclamation stating that the people, tired of Danish oppression, had called him to the head of the Government. This proclamation seemed to satis[...]ecured his position, our hero issued laws, all “of course of a popular description.” He relieved the people of half the taxes, ingeniously supplying their place by a duty levied on the “British goods” which he h[...]e released all people from debts due to the Crown of |
| [...]vate estates, and advanced moneys for the benefit ofof the clergy. Some of these gentry had but £12 a year to live upon, and, as the acute Jorgenson ex[...]signation and contentment under the present order of things.” Having thus provided for wants temporal and spiritual, he erected a fort of six guns, raised a troop of cavalry, and hoisted the ancient and independent flag of Iceland. The inhabitants appeared to enjoy this novel condition of things, and when the king made a tour of his dominions received him with acclamations. Ind[...]t they should do so, for one contumacious fellow, a magistrate or head-man of one of the northern villages, some 150 miles from Reykav[...]Jorgenson had written to New York requesting that a ship might be sent to Iceland with tobacco, and soon after his return to the capital he had the satisfaction of seeing a vessel enter the harbour “with a valuable cargo from New York,” which cargo he r[...]sh licenses to import grain,” and set sail with a fleet of two ships, one the vessel which had brought him from London, and the other a Danish ship belonging to the deposed Von Tramp.[...]he water's edge with all her cargo. “The firing of the 10 guns, with the flames blazing along the shrouds and sails, had,” says the king, “a sublimely grand effect upon the water; and when the hold and cargo took fire—the latter consisting of wool, feathers, oil, tallow, and tar—the effect[...]an immense copper cauldron, long after the shades of night had come on.” Indeed, in that latitude an[...]have inaptly called to mind the celebrated story of the old Viking and his floating funeral-pyre. Thi[...] |
| the representations of the English captain might do him injury, he hurri[...]ever, justly incensed at the extraordinary breach of trust of which his privateer captain had been guilty, refu[...]having meanwhile got into port, the captain made a statement of the “Iceland affair” to the Government. He said that King Jorgenson had “established a republican government in Iceland, for the purpose of making that island aof a kingdom, because he had been an apprentice on boa[...], and had served as midshipman in an English ship of war.” Hearing of this statement, and fearing the consequences, the king went into hiding for a week or so, but one day, while dining at the Spre[...]pleaded that he was really acting in the interest of England; the Lord Mayor had no taste for romance,[...]on, there to console himself by the recollections of other monarchs who had been placed in similar positions. Had Voltaire been alive, he might have given him a seat at the supper-table in Candide. After five[...]l Fields, where he “met with persons the effect of whose intimacy steeped his future life in misery’—notably Count Dillon, then a political prisoner—he was removed to the hulk appointed for the reception of Danish prisoners, and kept there for nearly twelve months, at the end of which time he was permitted to reside at Reading[...]le. Here he cultivated literary tastes, and wrote a little work, entitled The Copenhagen Expedition Traced to other Causes than the Treaty of Tilsit. | have no doubt he knew as much about the subject as most people. After a ten months' residence at Reading, he received a permission to return to London, and was “soon p[...]ly initiated into all the horrors and enticements of the gaming-table.” He appears to have lived his fair share of life in Bohemia, being now rich, now poor, now strolling in the parks, now lurking in a garret. At last, stripped of every penny, “including a 16th share of a £20,000 prize in the State lottery,” he took his passage in a vessel bound for Lisbon. Even here his ill fortun[...]ingham had assassinated Mr. Perceval in the lobby of the House of Commons, and meddlesome Jorgenson must nee[...] |
| [...]and, as Jorgenson could give no very good account of himself, sent him back to England. Determined to go to Spain— doubtless, like Ancient Pistol, with a View to the plunder obtainable at the seat of war—he engaged as a mate of a merchant vessel, was discharged at Lisbon, passed[...]e to keep from play, however, he was again robbed of his gains, and, selling his clothes, and retaining only a jacket and trousers, entered as seaman in a gunboat which was “going home with the mail.”[...]Vincent. Here Jorgenson assisted in the capture of several privateers, and gained promotion. On arri[...]guns, stationed as an invalid-hulk. The berthing of the invalids would not appear to be conducive to[...]not have afforded moderate accommodation for half of them, even had they been in good health. As it wa[...]main on deck and below alternately night and day, a most trying vicissitude, which occasioned the death of many.” J orgenson, not liking his position, wrote a letter to the Admiral requesting to be allowed to go ashore. But, this coming to the ears of the captain and the doctor, they were indignant,[...]ould “teach him to apply to the Admiral instead of to him.” Upon this Jorgenson reflected—the small vanity of the captain was hurt at his authority being sligh[...]hat the captain was only responsible to the Lords of the Admiralty and not to him.” This touched the Admiral on a sore point. He ordered the captain and the patien[...]ment. In his leisure moments, he wrote an account of the Icelandic revolution, which he presented to Sir Joseph Banks. He seems to have become quite a “lion” among the curious at this period. His[...]travagance,” and soon became little better than a sharper. He tells here a curious anccdote. Being one day at a coffee-house in the |
| [...]l Fields prison. Dillon, thinking him an “enemy of England,” began to talk freely; and Jorgenson,[...]onest penny, did not scruple to draw him out with a view to giving information to the Government. Dillon told him of a plot then concerted between the Americans and the[...]end out an armed expedition” to take possession of the Australias. This idea originated from the reports given by Boudin, commodore of the “Geographe” and the “Naturaliste,” wh[...]rer in Sydney, but had at that time no suspicions of his intentions. He recalls, however, that, “on the occasion of his making an exploring tour into the interior of New South Wales, I was induced to accompany him,[...]iles from Sydney, and had ascended the Hawkesbury a considerable way, some marked tree or remains of a temporary hut giving constant indications that a European had been there at some former period. I[...]trating further, with so futile an object as that of returning to Paris and boasting that he had been where no traveller had been before him, that, espying a large white rock projecting from a little eminence, I ran forward, and, standing upon it, called out to him with a show of exultation that that was the point beyond which n[...]uite satisfied.” The expedition was to consist of two armed French and American vessels, which, meeting at a certain rendezvous, were to sail together into the South Seas, and “participate in the plunder of the colonies.” Immediately on hearing this, Jor[...]onial Office, and laid his intelligence before “a gentleman high in office.” The information was, however, disregarded, the Government considering it a “wild scheme,” and unlikely to be carried into effect “while the whole energies of Europe were drawn to a vortex in the Continental contest.” Jorgenson s[...]“for they already cost the Government £100,000 a year!” The expedition, however, sailed in 1813[...]ice. Upon this circumstance, and the indifference of the British Government to the smaller |
| [...]gretted that the navigation, fisheries, and trade of these seas has so long been looked over by the authorities at home. The immense archipelago of the Pacific is studded with islands, and inhabited by millions of friendly-disposed people, ready and anxious to ex[...]es for British manufactures. The benign influence of the Christian religion, which is rapidly extending itself by the aid of our gospel missionaries, is doing much to raise these people in the scale of civilised society; and although the Americans are hourly taking advantage of our comparative supineness, the approach of an English flag is always, and we trust ever will[...]o be more profitable and less hazardous than that of the sperm whale, and the sandalwood and beche-de-[...]are produced so abundantly on the northern coasts of our New Holland, are known to yield the Dutch, through the medium of the Malays, an immense revenue. Nothing surprised Captain Flinders more, in the course of his navigation of these countries, than the immense fleets of Malay proas extensively engaged in this traffic which he met with in the Gulf of Carpentaria.” Just at this time, the adviser of the Government was arrested and sent to the Fleet for two years, and, when the intelligence of the destruction of the British whaling ships was brought, did not fail to remind His Majesty's Ministers of the service he had rendered. He was supplied with[...]s his passion for the gaming-table, that, instead of discharging his liabilities, he went to a hazard-table and lost every penny. Being now securely locked up, without hope of release, Jorgenson “amused himself’ by writin[...]atly written in manuscript,” to several persons of rank, he made enough money to live upon, and too little to allow him to gamble. He enjoyed the “liberties of the Fleet,’ and became a sort of “patron,” a Danish Dorrit, a “father of his people.” This Arcadian life, however, was s[...]Office, and “had the pleasure to be engaged on a foreign mission to the seat of war;” in other words, he took service as a “spy.” Amply supplied with money for his pre[...]Jorgenson at last had fallen on good days. He had a “career,” such as it was, before him, and cou[...]ling was, however, too much for him, and, instead of going to Dover, he went to a “silver-hell,” and lost, not only his[...] |
| provided for his journey. Totally destitute of the means of living, and ashamed to apply to “the gentleman[...]is, our poor hero was at his wits' end. But, with a determination and impudence worthy of Lazarillo.de Tormes or the more famous Gil Blas of Santillane, Jorgenson resolved to seize his chance of advancement with his naked hands. Repairing to the friend of debtors, vagabonds, thieves, and adventurers— the old-clothes man, that great “dresser” for the Beggar's Opera—he exchanged his only suit for a sailor's jacket and trousers, walked to Gravesend, and embarked on board a transport bound for Ostend. At Ostend he met an o[...]the Foreign Office was cashed without difficulty. Of his business on the Continent our friend speaks l[...]“sent to ascertain what effect the subjugation of Napoleon was likely to have on British Commerce,” but, as he arrived in Ghent some weeks before the Battle ofa “silent spectator of the three days,” and, wandering over the field of Waterloo after the battle, may perhaps have seen M. Thenardier (like Diogenes with his lantern), seeking for a man honest enough to be worth robbing. How the father of Eponine, and the saviour of the Baron Pontmercy would have fraternised with such a comrade! The life of a spy in those days was not an unpleasant one. Jorg[...]ught him in contact with several celebrated names of that day,” and in particular he had “the pleasure to form an acquaintance with a French general, a great favourite of Bonaparte, and now a marshal of France,” and, being liberally supplied with mon[...]ers, enjoyed himself much. Paris at that time was a kaleidoscope of uniforms— Germans, English, French, and Russian[...]to study human nature. He could attend the balls of Madame Roni (née Rooney); comment on the conduct of Captain Gronow's ferocious duellist; gaze at a distance on Madame Firmiani; or lend the natural vigour of his arm to the assistance of Arthur O'Leary, Esq., beleagured in the gaming-house of the Palais Royal. This last conjecture is[...] |
| of Mr. Sala) did not beggar himself with greater bonhomie. Notwithstanding that he was ordered on a special mission to Warsaw, he played until he had nothing to sell but his shirt, and, disposing of that garment for seven francs to a sergeant, he buttoned up his coat, and, leaving P[...]t along the north road on foot. It was the month of December, and bitterly cold. Arriving at Joncheri[...]wor out with fatigue and reduced to the last sou of the seven francs. He dare not draw upon the F. O.[...]he best dinner they could give him. The hotel was a cabaret of mean pretensions, and the dinner bacon and eggs. Jorgenson turned up his nose with the air of a prince, and determined to make the best of it. As he was very hungry, this was not so difficult. Meanwhile the news of the illustrious stranger in the buttoned-up coat had gone the rounds of the village, and the mayor called to see the stranger's passport. In the course of a lofty conversation with the host, Jorgenson had l[...]ling his passport from his pocket, pulled with it a letter from the Duchess d'Angouléme. The mayor picked it up. “Ha!—oh, a letter!—see!” “From my friend the Duchess d[...]he bacon, and graciously forgave the impertinence of M. le Maire's inquiries. He was an Irishman going to the Holy Land—poor, like many of his countrymen, but of excellent family, like all of them. “Then,” cries the mayor, “you must se[...]be most glad to receive any person going on such a mission!” Jorgenson visited the baroness—some[...]get as far as Rheims, and there resolved to make a bold stroke for fortune. “The politics of this ancient city,” says he, “were of a very opposite description from those of my last resting place.” The prefect was a zealous Bonapartist, and Jorgenson, who, like St.[...]been “all things to all men,” avowed himself a zealous adherent of that banished potentate, and further informed the perfect of a plot formed by the English to rob the commissariat. The plot was not discovered, but the letter procured a personal interview, and the perfect was so charmed with the stranger that he not only gave him a supply of money, but a fine horse, and a “billet,” which entitled him to a certain sum per mile to defray expenses. |
| Armed with these useful evidences of the prefect's political sentiments, Jorgenson rea[...]traveller. “Though,” remarks Jorgenson; with a degree of self-complacency only equalled by that of the bashful Plumper, “I have always found it an up-hill sort of thing for myself to get over, I have found almost on all occasions, both in the old world and the new, that a certain degree of ‘modest’ assurance was a great help to a man in getting through life.” Acting on this no[...]h) into the surly mayor's hand, and remarked with a low bow, “You will see, sir, by that document w[...]n all he wished. Another mayor, however, received a specimen of what Frank Smedley called “Oaklands’ quiet manner.” He refused to do anything, and told the bearer of the “billet” that he was “a lazy vagabond.” Jorgenson, whose Icelandic expe[...]aviter in modo, promptly knocked him down, seized a horse, and galloped off amid a demonstration of pitchforks from the inhabitants. Arrived in Frankfort in a storm of rain, he began to wonder how he should get on, an[...]Jew, however, remarked that he had taken him for a rich Polish merchant, and, waggishly laying a finger along his nose, departed. The recollection of his good fortune at Joncherie now came upon Jorgenson, and, “entering a good inn,” he ordered “a sumptuous meal, and went to bed.” In the mornin[...]he had no money, but expected some in the course of the day, and that if he would permit him to go ou[...]e buttoned up, Jorgenson roamed the town in hopes of meeting with a friend. But Frankfort was large, and friends were few and far between. From the scanning the faces of passers-by, he at last took, like Balzac, to stud[...]s, and, also like Balzac, was at last rewarded by a name which “embodied his idea.” This name, however, was not Z. Marcas, but Fraser, and its owner was not a cobbler, but a watchmaker. In goes Jorgenson. “Good morning. M[...]The honest Fraser looked. Sure enough it was so. A conversation began which ended by the watchmaker taking the waistcoatless son of his fellow tradesman to the house of Lord Clancarty, the British Minister. Jorgenson s[...]His Lordship! His fate hung in the balance, when a side door opened and “a gentleman attached to the Foreign Office” came |
| out, like Horace's god of the go-cart, and recognised him. All was now put[...]r his dinner. Mr. Fraser, who seems to have been a man of intelligence and position, gave him a letter to the secretary of the Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, and on presenting it Jorgenson h[...]and spent some time in admiring the ducal gallery of paintings. When he took his departure the Duke made him a handsome present. Encouraged by these compliments[...]gan to take his proper position, and travelled in a carriage to Berlin, calling on all the celebritie[...]introduced to Goethe. “I saw him in the library of the Duke—a magnificent collection of books, containing upwards of 700,000 volumes. Goethe was a member of the privy council, as well as filling the office of librarian to the Duke, a situation more congenial to his literary habits. Though upwards of seventy, he was full of life and spirits. He wore the dress of a privy councillor, a blue coat with gold facings. He was stout and por[...]r adventurer surveyed the battle-field, and, like a premature Childe Harold, moralised there. In Berl[...]stance,” and there is little doubt that he held a position of some confidence as a secret agent. He visited Niebhur and Bernstoff (the latter being Minister of Foreign Affairs), and appears to have been on terms of acquaintanceship with Prince (then Count) Puckler Muskau. He gives an entertaining description of the Prince's ascent in a balloon, in company with “a female aéronaut, to whom he presented 500 crowns.” He p[...]ed. In two days all his money was swallowed up by a “set of sharpers.” His false despatches were detected,[...]s pressing him, he was compelled to leave without a passport, and thus had to “dodge” his way to[...]nstance which he relates will serve as an example of the tricks to which he resorted. One night the |
| gatekeeper at the gate of a small fortified town refused to let him pass. He was cold, hungry, and in despair. The noise of the altercation brought out the gatekeeper's wife[...]k handkerchiefs, gave her one, and avowed himself a smuggler expecting hourly the arrival of his cart from the frontier. The gatekeeper's wife[...]ious. The smuggler was asked in to supper, passed a pleasant night, and after a hearty breakfast went out to look after his cart,[...]to emigrate to Spanish America, the natural home of adventurers like himself. But, “venturing a small stake” in the hope of adding to the small store he had already with him, he soon lost every penny, and for the next three years of his life was engaged in a “continual whirl ofa copper-captain, the swashbuckling bully of the gaming-house. In the year 1820 he was arrested for pawning certain articles of bed-furniture belonging to his landlady in Totten[...]even years' transportation. Pending the execution of his sentence, he was placed under the surgeon of Newgate, Mr. Box, as assistant in the hospital. H[...]eeded. Permitted, doubtless through the influence of his former employers, to retain his post as dispe[...]nd it being found that the articles for the theft of which he had been sentenced were pawned in the name of one of his fellow-lodgers, he received his pardon, on condition that he should quit the kingdom within a month from the day of his liberation. Unfortunately, however, having a considerable sum in his pockets, the savings of his “gratuities,” he again sought the gaming-table, and in the excitement of play overstayed his leave. At last, being several weeks over his allotted time, he resolved to ship on board a man-of-war, and was on his way to the tender in the river, when he fell in with an old acquaintance on Tower Hill, who asked him to dinn[...]aw he had outraged. Jorgenson calls this betrayer of social confidence a “scoundrel,” and there are few who wil[...] |
| [...]spital—during which time he revised the account of his Continental tour, and wrote a religious work, The Religion of Christ the Religion of Nature—he was at last sent out to Van Diemen's[...]ch “sailed from Sheerness with 150 convicts and a detachment of military,” with their wives and children, in November, 1825. Some of his experiences of Newgate are curious, as examples of convict discipline of that epoch. He says that “cards were often smuggled in,” and that “as there is a standing rule against the admission of any female, unless a prisoner's wife, the majority of prisoners declare themselves married in order to[...]their former associates.” This declaration is, of course, recorded in the books of the gaol, and transmitted in the lists sent to th[...]were conducted with indecent rapidity, and it was a common thing for prisoners to plead guilty “in[...]n were arraigned at the bar, the four most guilty of whom, being asked their plea by the court, answer[...]ion, ‘Guilty, my Lord,’ and were sentenced to a few months' imprisonment, while the fifth, sensible of his comparative innocence, pleaded ‘Not guilty,’ occupied the time of the court with his defence for three-quarters of an hour, and was sentenced to seven years' transp[...]t was frequent, and apparently but little feared. A man named Madden, under sentence of death, “malingered” for hospital comforts in[...]in his bed, and thinking, I verily believe, more of the respect that was due to the sheriff than of his own dreadful situation, touched respectfully with his hand a little tuft of hair that stuck out on his brow from under his nightcap, in lieu of his hat, and, bending his head, merely said, ‘V[...]inutes.” At the same time, he mentions the case of an old man who was under sentence, and whose wife, being[...]d begging him to give her some—“if it was but a single sixpence.” The miser refused, and “act[...]n his trousers pocket.” Jorgenson speaks highly of Dr. Box, and cites, in support of his assertion of that gentleman's probity, a story to the effect that a gentleman of good family was condemned to death, and, as by his |
| decease his relatives would lose a valuable lease of certain Crown lands, his two sons offered Box a bribe of £4000 to declare their father insane. Box would[...]s scrupulous, the prisoner escaped. He tells also a very strange story of a clerk in the Transfer Office of the Bank of England, who, being committed for forgery, attempted to escape through the window of a third storey, but fell, and broke his jaw-bone, his hip-bone, and one of his arms. The case was clear, but the accident caused a postponement of the trial until the next sessions, and the prisoner, being then brought into court, “carried on a litter and bandaged all round,” was again reman[...]his friends set vigorously to work, and, by dint of high bribery, suborned witnesses, and destroyed v[...]as his opinion that convicts were in great terror of “transportation,” and regarded it in many instances as a punishment worse than death. “I have known,”[...]n death as less severe than being torn from their old friends and associates. The very remoteness of the scene, and the uncertainty (not-withstanding every representation) of the fate they are to meet with, affects them with a species of horror inconceivable to those who have not been similarly situated . . . The idea of reforming a person who has been convicted of never so small an offence at home seems never to be entertained .. . When in gaol, it is a common boast among themselves, and a spirit of emulation exists among them to show who has commi[...]and most daring offences, from which they derive a sort of consequence over each other.” Previous to his[...]ar to like his situation. The hulks were hot-beds of infamy and blackguardism. The authority possessed by the officers was often abused, and the most vicious of the criminal class, herded together without prope[...]h comparative impunity. Jorgenson speaks bitterly of his sufferings; and, admitting that it is possibl[...]ith him when he characterises the English galleys of that time as “schools of abominable pollution,” and avers that “those[...]. “Each prisoner was supplied with new clothing of the coarsest description,” and each, without exception, had a pair of double-irons placed on his legs . . . Swea[...] |
| [...]eal all that came in their way, boxes and parcels of tea and sugar were torn from those who possessed any, and in case of resistance life was endangered . . . Those who we[...]d active in these exploits were looked up to with a great deal of respect by their less hardened fellow convicts .[...]k.” The surgeon- superintendent is described as a good-hearted man, as is also Mr. Leary, a lieutenant in the navy, who commanded the vessel. Jorgenson's description of the voyage is somewhat minute, but too lengthy to[...]ent up on deck in gangs. In the tropics four died of fever, and several were placed in hospital. This[...]odman” arrived in Hobart Town, the usual muster of prisoners took place. The convicts in their pris[...]had rendered desirable. Jorgenson had “letters of recommendation” from two of the directors of the Van Diemen's Land Company to their principal[...]r hero had been enthralled by the representations of a Mr. Rolla O'Farrell, “a gentleman of fashionable appearance, who spoke a little French,” and had made application to be[...]ranted, and Jorgenson found that he had committed a great error, the Government pay being small and the work arduous. “A prisoner clerk,” he says, “received only 6d. a day and 1d. for rations; the former paid quarterl[...]ended some mercy towards him, not only on account of his period of imprisonment in Newgate, but because of his services on board the “Woodman.” But he w[...]ours concerning him were afloat. Some said he was a political pamphleteer, imprisoned for having written against the Government; others, that he had been a political spy, employed against the |
| [...]Those reports Jorgenson stigmatises as “devoid of truth,” adding, with some tolerable degree of that modest self-assurance which he alleges is so needful to success in life, that “a system of espionage is of so abominable a character, that no man possessed of the least particle of honour would engage in it.” At last there was[...]employment more suited to his ambition than that of copying letters in a Government office. A party having been formed to explore the company's land, and to trace a road from the River Shannon to Circular Head, he was placed in command. It was the early part of September, and the rivers were much swollen with[...]d until their arrival at the Big Lake, north-west of the ford of the Shannon, they got on well enough. At the Rive[...]e than thirty miles Jorgenson followed the course of the stream, searching in vain for a crossing-place. Being now nearly fifty years of age, and in nowise re-invigorated by his travels[...]Jorgenson was becoming knocked up, and meditated a retreat. Reaching, however, a “cataract pouring down between perpendicular and impracticable rocks,” the party were brought to a ford by the accident of their dogs pursuing a kangaroo, which “led them through an opening”[...]ck to Dr. Ross's farm, situated on the confluence of the Ouse and Shannon. From this place Jorgenson despatched a man to Hobart Town, with letters for Mr. Curr, and himself explored the country round, “armed with a ponderous sword given him by Dr. Ross.” The messenger having returned after an absence of some weeks, the adventurers made another more suc[...]tracing their steps they penetrated to the source of the Derwent, and ascending the mountains—foot-deep with snow—had hopes of reaching Circular Head, when the desperate nature of the country again barred their progress. The hills were rifte[...]nson avowed his ability to lead his companions to a stock-hut, and to his astonishment succeeded in d[...]een the river-beds, the party found themselves in a country of a different aspect, and traversing some |
| broad cattle-tracks leading down a series of gentle slopes, arrived at the banks of Lake Echo. A distinct view of the Table Mountain on the Clyde now cheered their spirits, and by the afternoon of the next day they reached “a stock-hut.” The stockmen, observing the tattered clothes, long beards, and portentous firearms of the travellers, took them for bushrangers; and un[...]shelter. Bushrangers swarmed at that time in the country districts, and the fear of the good folks was not without warrant. Jorgenson's good fortune—now bringing him in contact with a scholar, and now with a “shipmate”—protected him until he reached H[...]plorers reached the Bluff they must all have died of starvation. In the early part of January, 1827, he was again employed by the company on a like service. It was decided to send a party along the western coast of the island from Circular Head to the Shannon. Pro[...]enson did good service in “talking over” some of the most dissatisfied of the convicts—a mutiny had just been put down by force of arms—and with three others, including Mr. Lorymer, one of the company's surveyors, set out from Cape Cameron to Pieman's River. This expedition was a more disastrous one than the first. The coast was[...]s on their weary journey they fell in with wrecks of beached vessels—melancholy memorials of former visitors. The sand-hills rivalled those of Jutland—‘“in one place,” says Jorgenson, “a mountain of sand had been reared which, after ascending with[...]Timber was scarce—it was even difficult to find a cross-pole for their tent. Climbing at last with immense toil the almost perpendicular banks of Pieman's River, a scene of appalling desolation burst upon them. “It was a[...]ad rent the earth asunder, and sported with trees of enormous length and circumference, tearing them u[...]with centuries back.” Beyond this wild stretch of mountain land towered the Frenchman's Cap and the Traveller's Guide, the two landmarks of that dreary spot, Macquarie Harbour. Descending the gullies, with the hope of finding a road through what seemed to be a huge plain stretching away to the westward, they found themselves in a desert of six- wire scrub, so dense that they could not cut their way through it quicker than at the rate of 200 yards a-day. This was the “desert” where so ma[...] |
| provisions were reduced to two bags of flour, determined to retreat to Circular Head. A[...]wed by the quick-sands on the seashore. They made a raft, and poor Lorymer was drowned in attempting[...]uck River. Wet, exhausted, and fainting from want of food, the three survivors at last came upon “the tail of a dog-fish, at which the crows and gulls were greedily picking,” and saw in this “savoury morsel a new lease of life.” Concealing their firearms in the scrub, and flinging away all unnecessary burden of accoutrements, they pushed on with the energy of desperation, and at last reached Circular Head in[...]covered. This was his last expedition on the part of the Van Diemen's Land Company. Arrived at Hobart Town once more, he received his ticket-of- leave, and occupied himself in assisting in editing aof the paper” not at all to his taste. This worthy man, it appears, “kept him starving,” and also, after a fashion which has been found uncongenial to men of letters in every age, “insisted that every one in the house should attend prayers three times a day, and as these prayers were unusually long, and delivered in a tone and dialect extremely disagreeable,” Jorgenson was “glad to get rid of the connection.” A new field for enterprise awaited him. As I have already stated in a previous article, the country at that time (1827-29) was infested with desperad[...]nson had reached Dr. Ross's house on the occasion of his first expedition to the Big Lake, the place had been “visited by Dunn,” a notorious ruffian, whose name yet lives in prison story. This gentleman was a mate of the more infamous wretch Brady, and was the terror of the district. He is reported to have shot down al[...]in his Bushrangers, tells how he cut off the head of a native and tied it round the neck of a lubra as a token of esteem; on this occasion he merely made one of the stockmen tie up the other two, and then fry h[...]caught and hung, not long after; and the compiler of the Bushrangers states that he appeared on the scaffold in “a long white muslin robe, with a huge black cross marked thereon before and behind.” Such monsters as these were numerous, and a formidable gang, consisting of |
| upwards of sixty in different parts of the colony, acted in concert, in stealing sheep,[...]nt had determined to put down these villains with a strong hand. Up to that time it had been the cust[...]stant this was done crime began to decrease. When a man had no chance of escape from the gallows whatever he confessed, he[...]d his tongue and confessed nothing; but when hope of mercy was held out, many betrayed their associates. As go-betweens of the Crown and the convict, some few daring and trusted agents were employed, and Jorgenson was chosen one of these. Given a letter from the Colonial Secretary to Mr. Thomas Anstey, of Anstey Barton, police magistrate in the Oatlands[...]eman's house, and was soon installed as constable of the field police and assistant-constable to the p[...]trate. His duties were arduous. The circumference of the Oatlands district alone is more than 150 mile[...]ting many murders and depredations, the situation of a constable was not without its difficulties and da[...]sit all the farms and stock-huts in the districts of Oatlands, Clyde, Campbell Town, the great and lit[...]nd slept out among such suggestive names as those ofof this life, during which he several times narrowly[...]vation, Jorgenson took part in the celebrated war of extermination against the blacks. The aboriginals had for a long time harassed the settlers, reprisals took place, and a mutual distrust was engendered. At this time thin[...]8 inquests were held by one coroner on the bodies of people murdered by aboriginals. As an instance of the sort of amusement that had been going on for the previous eight years, Jorgenson cites an official report made by a settler named Robert Jones, “residing at Pleasa[...]ole's Marsh, on the River Jordan, in the district of the Upper Clyde.” This report gives so vivid a picture of “squatting” life at that period of Tasmanian history that I proceed to quote it nearly at length. “On the evening of the 17th and 18th day of March, in the year 1819,” says Mr. Jones, “I resided in a stock-hut under a stony sugar-loaf, about |
| two miles to the westward of the Macquarie River, then called the Relief River. There were three inmates, of whom one went out on the Relief Plains to look af[...]ng this man came running to the hut, seemingly in a very exhausted state. He said that the natives we[...]y saw him they pursued him until he came in sight of the hut. We seized our firearms, consisting of two muskets, and went in pursuit, but they were in so bad a state as to be almost useless. After proceeding a[...]tempted to get up with them, but they ran up into a high tier, where they were joined by a great number of others. They did not offer to disperse, but on the contrary, some of the most daring came up to us quivering their spears and making a hideous noise. We presented our pieces with an idea of frightening them, but they heeded us not; and wha[...]me quite dark. “The following morning, at dawn of day, I went down on the plains, about a quarter of a mile from the hut; I heard a kind of gibberish, and on looking round I saw a great number going towards the hut. I might have made my escape, for they seemed to take no notice of me; however, I ran with all speed to the hut, for[...]e prepared ourselves against an attack. They made a most formidable appearance; some were making along a valley at the back of the hut with lighted bark in their hands, whilst a far greater number took up a position on the side of the hill, whence they could safely throw spears, waddies, and stones at us. They now gave a great shout, and commenced operations, so we were obliged to take shelter under the far end of the hut. They continued to assail us for a length of time; and finding that our pieces would not go of[...]ve since been informed, that when so daubed it is a sure sign of hostile determination. The whole strength of the tribe present could not have been less than 200 in number. I observed one of a portly stature, who appeared to stand six feet in height. He was smeared all over with red ochre, carrying a spear of peculiar make, different to those of the rest, and much longer; he had no other sort of weapon, and even of that he made no use; he stood aloof from the rest[...]mplicitly obeyed. They now formed themselves into a half-moon ring, and attacked us with great[...] |
| of defence that we could. One of our men stood at the door of the hut with a waddy in his hand, while myself and the third man armed ourselves with shovels, and, in a state of desperation almost, attacked the two wings. This made a momentary impression on them, and they retreated up the hill, being closely pursued by us. On a sudden they made a halt, and again commenced darting their spears, waddies, and stones; one of our men received a spear-wound on the shin-bone. We endeavoured to w[...]ould at last be expended. They now rushed down in a most furious manner, so we were obliged to make o[...], having first secured our fire-arms. We ran down a small valley, with a small rise on each side. I observed a wild cow running with a spear in her, and several kangaroo-dogs were also speared. We were now completely surrounded, and in a very disadvantageous situation. We were obliged t[...]hrough my right cheek, another through the muscle of my right arm, and a third in my right side. I endeavoured to pull out the spears, but could not succeed, and one of my comrades came to my assistance. This man himself now received a spear wound in the back, whilst the third, who wa[...]knocked off several times, our trousers were full of spear-holes, and the blacks now came rushing down within a few yards with uplifted waddies to knock out our[...]d in utter stupefaction, and we gave up all hopes of escape. At that moment a most fortunate accident occurred, which I have ever considered as an act of Providence. One of the pieces, which would not for a length of time go off, now happily did execution, and the chief, the portly man spoken of above, received a ball, which killed him on the spot. The natives g[...]avoured to make the chief stand on his legs, made a frightful noise, looked up to heaven, and smote their breasts. With the help of my comrades we made towards the plains, but about[...]eached them, when they abandoned further pursuit. A man now came up with a gun in his hand, who asked us what was the matter. He conducted us to a fire by the river-side, and gave us some warm tea. I became very faint; my comrades disincumbered me of my jacket, and sprinkled me over with cold water. We had now upwards of ten miles to travel before we could obtain any as[...]ry frequently. At length we reached the stock-hut of Mr. Rowland Walpole Loane, where we were r[...] |
| [...]was with difficulty conveyed to Hobart Town. “A party afterwards went in quest of the hostile tribe, and found that they had burned the hut down, after having taken out a bag of sugar, sheep- shears, a tomahawk, a hat, and jacket. All these things they had scatte[...]pe Mr. Jones had from the blacks. In another part of his report he says :—‘In November, 1826, I was attacked by a numerous tribe of the aborigines, at my residence at Pleasant Place, in the parish of Rutland, in the county of Monmouth. On a Thursday morning I left my wife and family at home, proceeding myself in search of some sheep, and returned about ten o'clock of the forenoon. I had scarcely entered my dwelling[...]y wife was at the time standing at our door, with a loaded pistol in her hand, and called to me to co[...]stantly to run forwards and backwards. The centre of them worked down when they saw an opportunity. It had been a high flood the day before, and the water had scar[...]rest, and seemed to be their chief, exclaimed in a great passion, in English—‘As for you, ma- am[...]you in the b—y river, ma-am,’ and then he cut a number of capers. We had then with us a courageous and faithful little girl, who proposed to go upon a scrubby hill, about a mile distant, to tell the sawyers who were at wor[...]by the men. The native women on the tier gave out a signal, and the blacks all fled. We pursued them,[...]ry close to one, when he stooped under the boughs of a fallen tree, and I could see no more of him. We came up to a spot where we found a fire, |
| [...]tives lasted about four hours.” This statement of Mr. Jones gives a very accurate notion of the condition of affairs in the colony. Jorgenson quotes it with expressions of resentment against the aboriginals which need not[...]—rude, hot-tempered, and blood-thirsty, as many of them were—often made unprovoked attacks upon th[...]y avenged on the first opportunity. “The career of the blacks in Van Diemen's Land,” says Jorgenso[...]ated their cause and fed them.” In consequence of repeated outrages of this nature, the Government resolved to bestir it[...]ently unwilling to commence hostile operations on a “grand scale,” contented itself by forming a committee of deliberation, which should take into consideration the whole question. The sitting of this committee resulted in the establishment of an armed band—a sort of land privateer force—in each district. Mr. Gilbert Robertson, the chief constable of the Richmond district, had in November, 1828, been sent in pursuit of an aggressive tribe, and had captured six of them without injury to his own men. Upon the strength of this exploit the Government engaged him to go in quest of the blacks for twelve months on a salary of £150 per annum, and in case of success he was to receive a grant of 2000 acres of land. Robertson does not appear to have been particularly successful, for in the spring of 1829 Mr. Anstey received a commission from Colonel Arthur to undertake the superintendence of all the roving parties. Four bands were thereupon sent out, and the direction of these guerillas was assigned to Jorgenson. Mr. Ba[...]n the New Norfolk district, five apiece. The duty of these bands was to range the country, and, while executing vengeance for outrage committed, to keep the natives within their assigned limits. A bounty of £5 was given for every one of the aborigines taken alive. The settlers roundabout meantime did yeoman service. Mr. George Anstey, “then a mere youth,” headed a party of his father's servants, and captured a small tribe; and Mr. Howell, of the Shannon, captured another, and, forwarding them to head-quarters, received a grant of 1000 acres of |
| [...]ever, were bold and united. Arranging their plans of action, they would creep through the country by twos and threes, and suddenly uniting at a given spot, would slaughter women and children, a[...]plough without “placing their firearms against a stump in the field.” The nature of the country favoured these sudden attacks. Mr. Frankland, the Surveyor-General, in a report prepared for the express purpose of assisting Colonel Arthur in a campaign which he was then meditating against the[...]fty mountains rise in basaltic order in all parts of the territory, piercing in their upheaval the mor[...]and leaving round their bases the various strata of sandstones and fossilliferous rocks. Independent of these great ranges, the whole country is broken into a sea of minor elevations, sometimes extending in long rid[...]’ sometimes in unconnected hills.” The nature of the ground thus rendered anything like concerted action of a disciplined body almost impossible, and the gueri[...]following their footsteps like Indian warriors on a war-trail. The conduct of the scouting parties, however, was so far unsatisfactory that Colonel Arthur determined to put in practice a notion which had been long simmering in his brain—he would draw a cordon round the recalcitrant blacks, and drive them into one corner of the island. The natives, irritated rather than cowed by the constant pursuit of the armed force, had committed some daring reprisals. Watching until their enemies had been betrayed by a false alarm into some fruitless errand, they woul[...]tants. So bold had they grown that in one case— a peculiarly atrocious one—six of them climbed the fence of a settler's house, and entering by the back door ki[...]ed to the highest pitch; and upon the proposition of Colonel Arthur being mooted, an extraordinary demonstration took place. By a Government order issued from the Colonial Secreta[...]on the 9th September, 1830, the whole population of the island was called to arms. “The Lieutenant-[...]every settler, whether residing on his farm or in a town, who is not prevented by some overruling nec[...]assitance, and place himself under the direction of the police-magistrate of that district in which his farm is situate[...] |
| likely to be encountered. The north side of the island was placed under the care of Captain Donaldson, of the 57th Regiment. Captain Wellman, of the same corps, commanded from “Ross, north-east of St. Patrick's Head, and north-west to Auburn and[...]hwell district was occupied by Captain Wentworth, of the 63rd, whose cordon extended north-west to the[...], south-east to New Norfolk, was under the charge of Captain Vicary, 63rd Regiment. The force at Crossmarsh, and the borders of the Oatlands, Richmond, and Bothwell districts, w[...]Barrow, 63rd, commanded the force in the district of Richmond, “extending north to Jerusalem, north-[...], and east to the coast;” and Lieutenant Aubin, of the 63rd, commanded the force in the district of Oyster Bay, extending south to Little Swan Port, north to the head of the Swan River, and west to Eastern Marshes, whil[...]thus employed was placed under the general charge of Major Douglas, 63rd, who was stationed at Oatland[...]own were urged to join the force in the districts of New Norfolk, the Clyde, or Richmond; and those fr[...]ected to close in with the police to the westward of Norfolk Plains, or in the country between Ben Lomond and George Town; “while,”[...]to intercept the natives if driven into that part of the country; and any enterprising young men, who may have been accustomed to make excursions in the interior, and to endure the fatigues of the bush, will most beneficially promote the comm[...]ng patrol expeditions with them, and the services of all such will be readily accepted by the military officers in command of the several stations.” The roving parties were[...]nor desired that “all prisoners holding tickets of leave, who are capable of bearing arms, report themselves to the police magistrate of the district in which they reside, in order that[...]oyed in the public service under the instructions of their respective employers.” This announcement[...]vigour. Colonel Arthur placed himself at the head of the forces; the “peace” of Hobart Town and Launceston was left to the care of the principal inhabitants, who could not attend t[...]Champ, and Murray, placed themselves at the head of their |
| respective divisions. The whole field police, all ticket-of-leave men, and a multitude of convicts, either in assigned service or otherwise at the disposal of Government, were ordered to join the line; and this immense force, consisting of more than 2000 armed men, moved slowly across the island, driving the natives before them. A glance at the map of Tasmania will show the effect of this manoeuvre. The blacks were to be “driven” like deer into the south-east corner of the island, to be forced over that narrow strip ofof Port Arthur. Nature had made for Colonel Arthur a[...]by inch, and the natives, entrapped in the point of land that runs out between Pittwater and Marion B[...]to retreat towards East Bay Neck—the first gate of the stockyard. From East Bay Neck it was proposed[...]ible Eagle Hawk Neck—yet seen in dreams by many a manumitted convict—down to the last point of dry land, the basalt cliffs at whose jagged base breaks unchecked the fury of the Southern Sea. It was as though the blacks, like rats driven to the utmost extremity of a quay, should be compelled to take to the water.[...]leave to return to their homes “to prepare for a second series of operations,” which ultimately resulted in something very like the complete destruction of the native race. The disarmed convicts, strange t[...]ere nipped in the bud, and the Van Diemonians, in a fever of joy, presented a congratulatory address to the Governor. It was reported that the natives had broken the cordon, and papers of the day hint that the expedition was a failure. There is no doubt that, when we take into consideration the state of the country, the feeling of the population, and the fact that a large body of the vilest scoundrels were entrusted with arms wh[...]turned against their leaders, the undertaking was a brilliant success. But the second expedition was even more wonderful than the first, and the story of Mr. Robinson, the “apostle of the blacks,” who, unarmed and alone, went into the midst of them, and by dint of argument brought whole tribes into submission, is in itself a romance. Jorgenson wanders from his own history |
| to relate some of the exploits of this extraordinary man, but as the history of the final subjugation of the native race and the labours of their missionary is worthy of a place to itself, I will reserve further account of them.* But Jorgenson's adventures were drawing to a close. One afternoon at Anstey Barton, in turning over the leaves of the Gazette just brought by the mail-boy, Jorgens[...]d freedom was strange to him. Moreover, he was in a worse plight free than as a bondsman, for he had to keep himself. The roving bands, of which he was leader, were broken up in the spring (1831), and he was left without employment. He received a grant of 100 acres of land, but with a touch of his olda swash-buckler like himself; and even had there be[...]dition had brought with it altered feelings. When a convict, Jorgenson was fearless to desperation; as a freeman he could appreciate the value of life: “Prior to my receiving a pardon I had fearlessly plunged into rapid rivers, up to the armpits, with a knapsack on my back, containing a weight of 60 lbs. to 70 lbs. When in quest of the blacks, I spent one night at Mr. Kemp's farm[...]he floods were down. Here, across the Jordan, is a post and rail-fence, where persons may cross, alt[...]nger, the fence trembling from the heavy pressure of the current. I went down, and although I had ofte[...]as completely under water, and that there was now a clear rail, 1 would not venture to cross. Mr. Esp[...]hension. I replied, ‘Yes, Mr. Espie, I was then a prisoner, and life of little matter; but now that I am free, I must take more care of myself.’ ” The month after he got his pardon[...]” He seems to have got married also, and speaks of his wife, “who volunteered to take charge of a dairy farm;” but as Jorgenson knew nothing abou[...]nvict, constable, and explorer, bethought himself of a ninth profession—letters. He had lived i[...] |
| [...]ieved, and by-and-by our hero calmly publishes “aA letter from the Danish envoy in London to Lord Gl[...]nel Arthur, with an intimation that the “mother of J. Jorgenson, a prisoner of the Crown,” was dead, and that he had come into a comfortable little fortune. The curtain falls upon him petitioning the Government for a further grant of land, in consideration of his services in 1829-30-31. Here is one of the “testimonials” out of many he gives as having been attached to the docu[...]ars under my orders when I was police- magistrate of the Oatlands district, during which period he acted successively as my assistant-clerk, constable of the field-police, leader of several roving bands in quest of the aborigines, and one of the directors of the Oatland volunteers, in the /evy en masse agai[...]T have,” says he, “now come to the conclusion of the second part of my autobiography. It is not for me to speculate upon whether I shall ever be able to write a third portion. This must be left to the will of that Being who rules man's destiny. I have had my full share of days! little is there in this world to care for. The joys of human life are fleeting and transient; they may be likened to two friends meeting each other on a hasty journey, who ask a few questions, and then part, perhaps for ever, leaving nothing behind but a tender regret. Such is it with the joyous hours of our transitory existence. These pages had probably never appeared, had I merely consulted the state of my own feelings; for I am not, like Jean Jacques Rousseau, fond of thrusting myself on the public with unnecessary confessions: I have been swayed by motives of a higher character. My youthful readers may derive a lesson from the history of my life. All human wisdom is vanity if not regula[...]s sure to entangle the strayed sheep in the mazes of a labyrinth.” Poor strayed sheep! I can fancy wo[...]e editor, saying, “Jorgenson, you must have had a strange life of it. Can't you jot down |
| some of those yarns you are always spinning for the Annua[...]n” replies, as he shifts his pipe from one side of his mouth to the other. Write romances! Why, this poor old convict, who has been resting in his nameless gra[...]ty years, has /ived one beside which the “story of Cambuscan bold,” the adventures of Gil Blas, or the doings of that prince of scoundrels, Mr. Barry Lyndon himself, dwindle int[...]raven-haired, hot-headed, supple-wristed soldiers of fortune that ever diced, drank, duelled, kissed,[...]ted. * Otherwise Restdown. * An amusing account of this transaction appeared, some years back, in Household Words. It gives more particulars of the seizure of the Count than I can find space for here. * Since the above was written, a full account of the aborigines and their extermination has been given by Mr. Bonwick in his Last of the Tasmanians. |
| [...]. At the Sydney Quarter Sessions held on the 8th of November, 1826, two soldiers of the 57th Regiment were indicted for stealing calico from the shop of a Jew named Michael Napthali, and sentenced to seven years' transportation. The circumstances of the offence were peculiar. In December, 1826, Lie[...]l Sir Ralph Darling succeeded to the governorship of New South Wales, and was clever enough to become[...]onths the most unpopular personage in the colony. A detailed disquisition upon his character would be out of place here, but a very excellent and brief summary of it is given by Mr. Sidney in his Three Colonies of Australia:— “He was a man of forms and precedents of the true red-tape school—neat, exact, punctual,[...]ary, spiteful, and commonplace.” Impressed with a marvellous sense of his own importance, and obstinate to desperation,[...]tary discipline to bear upon the social relations of governor and governed. He was Sir Oracle, and if[...]ere open, instant annihilation was the punishment of his temerity. He ruled the convicts with a rod of iron, and surrounded by a tribe of parasites, flatterers, and knaves, stretched the authority he possessed to the verge of abuse. A violent opposition to Government-house and its belongings had been growing ever since the days of Bligh, and the bureaucratic despotism of the military Governor gave to this opposition a weapon which it was not slow to use. The more he[...]overnor become; and at last he perpetrated an act of tyranny which went near to bracket him in history with Governor Wall. The condition of the military forces in the colony was not an enviable one. The privates of the 57th Regiment saw around them many wealthy me[...]by the Governor's orders. The convict population of Sydney was, in 1827, in one of two positions. A prisoner of the Crown was either better or worse treated than his deserts. The cat was used unsparingly. A county magistrate was “permitted to award any number of lashes for insolence, idleness, and other indefin[...]il they committed suicide to escape the weariness of living. The newly- established settlement of Moreton Bay rivalled the infamies of Macquarie Harbour, and was only exceeded in terror by that lowest of deeps, Norfolk |
| Island. But nevertheless the corrupt condition of officialdom rendered immunity from punishment sufficiently easy to a patient and designing convict. Money could do everything, and instances are not wanting of murderers and thieves who succeeded in establishi[...]t upon convict prisoners, and the bon camaraderie of the chain-gang and the hulks was not invariably forgotten. The military, not always composed of the best materials— viewed with disgust the social success of the men whom they had in former times helped to guard, and a pernicious and dangerous feeling ran current in the garrison that to be a soldier was not always to be better off than a convict. During the residence of the 57th Regiment in the colony more suicides too[...]emselves for the same purpose. Darling was aware of this notion, and unreasonably irritated at what he considered an insult to his own judgment, instead of lightening the military yoke, caused it to press[...]hat he would take dire vengenance on any exponent of the rebellious doctrine. Sudds and Thompson were fated to be the martyrs of a military reformation. Discontented with their position, and eager for their discharge from a service which the peddling tyranny of the Governor had made worse than penal, the two s[...]ven years, secure them their discharge at the end of that time. Thompson, who bore a good character in the regiment, appears to have been drawn into the scheme by the arguments of Sudds, who had a wife in England, and was doubly anxious to escape from the bondage of the Barrack-square. Sudds had been for a long time discontented, and was regarded as a “loose fellow” by his officers; that is to say, his discontent took the usual shape of rebellion against constituted authority. The mili[...]too tight for Sudds and Thompson. On the evening of the 20th of September, 1826, the two men determined to put their project in execution. They went into the shop of a Jew named Napthali, and asked to see some shirtin[...]ere shown them, and Sudds, selecting twelve yards of calico, placed the bundle under his arm, and walked out of the shop, remarking that his companion would pay. Thompson chatted with the shopman for a while, and being at last certain that Sudds was b[...]lico about their persons, and awaited the arrival of the constables. They did not wait long. As[...] |
| [...]laughingly told the officer that they were weary of military service, and had taken this means of quitting it. On the 8th of November they were tried, and sentenced to seven[...]oped, and Thompson on leaving the dock said, with a smile, “I hope your Honour will let me take my[...]nduct,” and “robbery in open day,” the case of the two men passed unnoticed. But on the 21st of November it began to be rumoured that General Darling intended to make “an example of the two prisoners,” and that some extraordinary punishment was in store for them. On the 22nd of November a general order was issued, which stated that “The Lieutenant-General, in virtue of the power with which he is invested as Governor-i[...]rked in chains on the public roads for the period of their sentence, after which they will rejoin thei[...]son has been assembled to witness the degradation of these men from the honourable station of soldiers to that of felons doomed to labour in chains. It is ordered that the prisoners be immediately stripped of their uniform in the presence of the troops, and be dressed in felon clothing. Tha[...]chains, and delivered in charge to the overseers of the ‘chain gangs,’ in order to their being re[...]n the mountain roads, being drummed as rogues out of the garrison.” Now the usual way to “drum a man out of garrison” is to put a rope round his neck, cut off the facings of his uniform, and place on his back a piece of paper on which is written the name of the offence which the culprit has committed; and[...]d in regard to Sudds and Thompson. On the evening of the 22nd of November (Thursday), however, the officers and soldiers of the garrison began to let fall hints respecting s[...]dinary punishment which had seriously injured one of them. These rumours gained ground until Monday, t[...]pposition papers published an exaggerated account of ironing, chaining, and flogging, and after some b[...]combined dropsy and bronchitis. Mr. Wentworth —a native-born Australian barrister, of some eloquence and intense |
| [...]this explanation, and little by little the facts of the case leaked out. Sudds and Thompson had been[...]necks spiked iron collars attached by another set of chains to the ankle fetters. The projecting spike[...]ent them from standing upright. Under the effects of this treatment Sudds had died. Public fury now k[...]met the Governor on all sides, and he was accused of wilful murder. A full investigation of the case was demanded, and granted, but in the me[...]ites had made away with the irons. At the sitting of the Executive Council lighter ones were substituted. A Captain Robinson, however, had, unluckily for him[...]at the Government station at Emu Plains, and gave a full description of them. Shortly after this he was sent to Norfolk I[...]fter many harassing changes, finally cashiered by a court-martial convened by Darling, on a frivolous pretence. Wentworth published in England a series of pamphlets containing an account of the whole transaction, and it is from these pamphlets (taken in connection with the Parliamentary papers of the day) that I have attempted to compile an impartial history of the case. While awaiting trial, Sudds had complained of illness. On the 8th of November the two prisoners were removed to the gaol. On the 11th, Sudds, being in irons, complained of pains in the bowels, and was admitted as an out-patient of the gaol hospital. A few days after, he was brought into the sick ward[...]hompson, the gaol attendant, ordered fomentations of hot water, which removed the pain in the bowels,[...]ought back worse than before. “My belly is like a drum,” he said. Medicines were given to him, an[...]the hospital with gaol irons on until the morning of the 22nd. On the 22nd the order arrived for the t[...]e sent down to the parade-ground. The day was one of extreme heat, and most oppressive. Sudds was unable to stand, and was supported by a man under each arm while the order was rea[...] |
| the ceremony, says of Sudds, “His whole body was much puffed and swol[...]read, the regimentals were stripped off the backs of the two men, and replaced by the yellow convict clothing, while a set of irons was placed upon each of them. During this operation Sudds was obliged to sit upon the grass. “These irons,” says the editor of the Australian, “were of a peculiar kind. The rings from the ankles are made after a peculiar fashion, and are of an uncommon size. In place of having chains attached to them in the common way, they are connected by means of long and slender chains with another ring, which is put round the neck, and serves as a collar. Two thin pieces of iron, each about eight inches long, protrude from[...]r, in front under the chin, behind under the nape of the neck. This is the position of the pieces of iron (they are not spikes, not being sharp at the[...]intended. From this it is evident that the degree of ease or torture experienced by the wearer must depend entirely upon the length of the several chains. He can't lie down on his back[...]side. If the chains be not longer than that part of the body between the ankles and the neck, he neve[...]rtly doubled up, and become cramped in the course of a short time; for in turning the collar in order to lie down, the chains wind and form a curvature round the body, thus diminishing in effect their length.” The weight of these irons was, according to Captain Robison, be[...]against the wall, and complained that the basils of the fetters cut his legs. Being placed in the cel[...]t would admit nothing between it and the neck but a cotton handkerchief.” As for Thompson, he says,[...]ld not stand upright with the irons on; the basil of the irons would not slip up my legs, and the chai[...]stand upright.” This was the “little case” of the Tower, or the stone cage of the Bastille over again. We can imagine without m[...]would be produced by such compulsory contraction of the body. That night Sudds was taken so ill that Thompson borrowed a candle from |
| [...]He also gave him some tea which he had purchased. A little after midnight the poor wretch became so bad that Thompson, thinking he was dying, asked a fellow-prisoner to come and look at him. The man[...]he would wish to write. Sudds replied that he had a wife and child at Gloucester, and begged Thompson[...]Thompson, worn out with fatigue, fell asleep, and a man named Moreton, who was in gaol for a murderous assault upon his mother undertook to si[...]d, at twelve o'clock. That day he ate nothing but a piece of fish. Mr. M'Intyre, the surgeon, said to him, “You have brought yourself into pretty disgrace. You will be a fine figure with those irons, at work.” To whic[...]ever work in irons.” “You would be better out of the world,” says M'Intyre; and the poor creature with a groan said, “I wish to God I was.” His wish was fulfilled on Sunday night. Had he died in the precincts of the gaol, an inquest could have been demanded, and General Darling, hearing of the precarious condition of the prisoner; absolutely ordered him to be remove[...]to the General Hospital, whither he was taken in a small cart about an hour before he expired. The n[...]obviated, and Mr. M'Intyre, the assistant-surgeon of the gaol, went down to the hospital to make a post-mortem examination of the body. He found the organs healthy, but “discovered in the throat mucus of a slimy, frothy description. The wind-pipe was rather inclined to a reddish colour.” It is tolerably clear that thi[...]r's pleasure, obligingly considered it the effect of bronchitis. The Australian newspaper, however, t[...]st, wrote to the editor and put him in possession of what he was pleased to term the “facts of the case,” to wit, that the punishment inflicted was, in reality, a mitigation of the original sentence; that Sudds died from drops[...]Public feeling was still rampant, and on the Sth of December Darling brought the case under the consideration of the Executive Council. At this meeting Mr.[...] |
| that “this was a case which the rascally newspapers would take up.[...]ngineer, and son-in-law to the Governor, produced a set of 13-lb. irons, and said they were the ones worn by Sudds. A soldier of the 57th, named Jesse Geer, who was in waiting, w[...]nor remarking that Geer was as nearly as possible of the same size and stature as Sudds, ordered the i[...]Everything now seemed explained, and Darling as a last precaution wrote to Earl Bathurst on the 12th, reporting the case and the decision of the council, and adding that “being satisfied from what had occurred that the conduct of the hospital requires investigation, he would immediately appoint a board to ‘inquire into the management and syste[...]ut tenacious Wentworth still held on to the facts of the case, and was presently gratified by a piece of important information. Captain Robison, of the Veteran corps, had seen the original irons which had been placed on Thompson, and had tried them on out of curiosity. To that gentleman, on the Ist of January, does Wentworth write, requesting a full account of the circumstance. Robinson replied on the 3rd, an[...]e “drumming out” already quoted, says—‘“A few months after Sudds's punishment and death (May or June, 1827), I was returning from the command of the Bathurst district in company with Lieutenant Christie, of the Buffs, and we stopped a night at the Government station on Emu Plains. Th[...]at Emu, and were brought for us to see. They were of a very unusual description, and the iron collar reminding me of those I had seen on condemned slaves, &c., in Sou[...]n my own person, as did also Lieutenant Christie, of the Buffs. We had but one opinion as to the tortu[...]as riveted round the neck, which put it quite out of my power to turn over to the other side; independently of which there were two chains on either side extend[...]t, calling at Government House with Colonel Mills a few days prior to the punishment of Sudds and Thompson, he saw on the right hand of the hall after entering the door “either one or two sets of irons, having collars and iron spikes projecting |
| [...]fresh information, Wentworth succeeded in getting a sort of Commission to examine Thompson. This Commission, consisting of M'Leay, the Colonial Secretary, W. H. Moore, the[...]h he had been subjected. The day before the death of Sudds, Thompson could endure the torture of the collar no longer. On Saturday, the 25th Novem[...]irons put on him. It so happened that the chains of these were a little longer than the others, and Thompson, being a smaller man than his companion, could straighten[...]in the gaol until Tuesday, when he was placed in a boat and taken to the prisoners' barracks at Parramatta. On Wednesday he was taken in a bullock-cart to Penrith gaol, and on Thursday mor[...]party,” on Lapstone-hill, being the first range of the Blue Mountains. At three o'clock the same day[...]udds on his neck the whole time. After eight days of this work he gave in. It was very hot weather, and the heat of the iron collar became intolerable, “compelling[...]to gaol, where he could get “rest from the heat of the sun.” To gaol he went accordingly, and on t[...]he collar was removed by Mr. M'Henry, “by order of the Governor.” Having had his irons removed, he[...]ing the collar, &c., with him, and on the arrival of the gang at Emu Plains was invested with “the usual irons of the gang.” A week after this he refused to work, and being lodged in gaol fell sick of dysentery, and was finally sent on board the hulks. What became of him at last I do not know, and cannot discover. H[...]His exit is doubtless noted in the prison records of New South Wales. Thus informed, Wentworth wrote to Sir George Murray, the Secretary of State, and forwarded to him a long bill of indictment against the detested Governor. On the 8th July, 1828, Mr. Stewart, a member of the British House of Commons, rose to move for “papers connected with the case of Joseph Sudds and Patrick Thompson.” Sir.[...] |
| excellent and humane character of the Governor of New South Wales,” but the motion was agreed to.[...]lly newspapers” had not been idle. “Miles,” a correspondent of the Morning Chronicle, at that time edited by Bla[...]Wentworth, and commented severely on the conduct of the Tory Governor of New South Wales. The Tory papers retaliated, and, after some fierce fighting, Darling seems to have received a hint to resign. The facts of the case came out but too clearly, and the motion of Mr. Stewart was fatal. But the struggle lasted fo[...]icton would have been an ill- used hero, and Wall a murdered man. The crowning stroke was delivered in a letter published in 1832. On Wednesday, the 14th December, 1831, a savage letter from “Miles” in the Chronicle called forth a silly and abusive reply in the John Bull from Lieutenant-Colonel Darling, the brother of Sir Ralph. The writer averred that “Miles” would not dare to attack the Governor of New South Wales when that much-injured man arrive[...]waited quietly until June, and then came out with a clear exposition of the whole case, couched in the most bitter language, and gives a little bit of information which goes far to set the question of Governor Darling's veracity at rest. John Head, w[...]arrived, he was desired by Plumley, the overseer of the gang (he not being able to read), to read to him a letter which the said Plumley had received purpor[...]Alexander M'Leay, Colonial Secretary, by command of the Governor, and that it directed the said Pluml[...]y did accordingly take the chains and put them in a bag, which the deponent Head carried on his back above half a mile to the Government- house at Emu, and deliver[...]expressed itself fully satisfied with the conduct of Sir Ralph, who was Tory to the backbone. R[...] |
| [...]up the records for 1826, he may solve the mystery of poor Thompson's fate. * Of course, not as a prisoner. |
| [...]ove,” says Dr. Ross, writing in 1836 an account of his landing fourteen years before at Hobart Town,[...]e last hour or two had been doing our best, after a long voyage, to make ourselves decent, in order to pay our respects to the Governor.” Dr. Ross was a gentleman of ability and taste, who had emigrated from England with a view of settling as a farmer in Tasmania—as it was then called, Van D[...]rded in the following narrative, he became editor of a Government paper, and starting the Hobart Town Chronicle and Van Diemen's Land Annual, occupied a prominent position in the colony until his death. To his exertions the historians of Tasmania have been largely indebted for the material of their books. His Annual is—apart from the scarce newspapers of the day—the almost only record left of the earlier days of the colony, and his experiences may be read with[...]“last new London-made dress coat” in the bows of the boat, eagar to be among the first to call at Government-house. His fellow-passengers were of a motley character, and he describes with some humour the incidents of the landing:— “The boat was just shoving off when we were desired to stop (in a stentorian voice, which none of us dared to disobey), in order to take on board a[...]get down, for both arms were loaded with articles of the heaviest kind. One embraced a steel mill, on the excellent machinery of which he had enlarged almost every day since he h[...]Oxford-street. The other held, linked together in a bullock-chain, a huge iron maul, a broad axe, and another very long felling or rathe[...]is instance, too truly proved to be. For in spite of all our cries—‘No room, no room!’ ‘Keep b[...]oot impressed, with all the superincumbent weight of himself and his iron ware, on the gunwale of the boat, which he at once brought down to the edge of the water, and, with the help of the passenger who sat beside me, and by the sweep of his arm, trying to preserve his equilibrium, deprived me of mine. I was as suddenly precipitated about ten |
| or a dozen feet below the water. Thanks to the aquatic acquirements of my early days, however, I was soon again at the surface, where I swam until I caught the end of a rope, by which I returned on board, with the mortification of having my fine /evée coat steeped in salt water, and seeing the rest of the passengers paddling smoothly on shore to get the first blush of the Governor's patronage. The only consolation I had under my catastrophe was the finding that the whole of the heavy articles which had contributed to it, were now lying snug, four fathoms under water, at the bottom of the Derwent.” This unlucky accident, however, procured him the pleasure of a private interview with the Governor, Colonel Sorrell, who seemed to be much pleased at the intention of the new-comer to settle in Van Diemen's Land instead of going on to Sydney. He was assured that the colony was in urgent need of settlers like himself, and was promised all the a[...]to accommodate some other passengers, to take out of the ship a large quantity of goods, and as grants of land were only made in consideration of, and in proportion to, real property, he could no[...]nable to come to town or see after the fulfilment of the promise. This state of things continued until a change of Governors took place, and when Colonel Arthur arr[...]o think it necessary to carry out the suggestions of Sorrell in every particular. Poor Ross was inform[...]the matter, and—“I have, in consequence, for a series of years been struggling with every colonial difficulty to maintain a numerous family; I have seen many other settlers,[...]ertainly no higher claims, enjoying the advantage of maximum and additional maximum grants, and rapidl[...]pendent fortunes.” Hobart Town in 1822 was not a very cheerful place. The population, inclu[...] |
| [...]just marked out, and consisted for the most part of thinly- scattered cottages standing in the midst of unfenced allotments, while the roots and stumps of primeval gum-trees tripped up the unwary foot- pa[...]h (then but just built), and the Macquarie Hotel, a store where Ross expended the first money he laid out in the colony in “the purchase of a razor-strop for two dollars.” The streets were[...]ing home one night he witnessed the sudden plunge of the military band into a mud-hole, and the consequent stoppage of the martial music which they were discoursing. The “old market-place,” where “Mr. Fergusson's granary[...]he Ship Inn—the last-named being at this moment of writing the best hotel in Hobart Town—and the remainder of the town was principally composed of two-roomed cottages, having aof the city. This bridge was the * “Under the Verandah” of Hobart Town, and many admirable plans for spoilin[...]assembled, especially towards evening, gentlemen of various classes, and from various parts of the world—those who had recently left the pocket-picking purlieus of the great metropolis, and those who had added to that experience a few years’ sojourn in these colonies. Numerous[...]antled and dilapidated stores, and other symptoms of ‘freedom’ in a foreign land.” Mount Wellington over-hung the city in all his primeval and barbarous beauty. The forest of gum-trees reached down to the edge of the town, and “people cut cart-loads and barrow-loads of wood for their fires not a hundred yards from their own doors.” It so hap[...]this astonishing and unusual circumstance created a profound sensation. Lodging-house keepers, as rap[...]rices, and Ross found it most difficult to obtain a resting-place for himself and his family. “After a weary search,” he succeeded in “hiring a hut of two apartments, in one of the principal |
| streets, at the weekly rent of 4dol., or 20s. currency. “Each room had a glazed window, and one of them a fire-place. It had no other floor but the mother[...]gum shingles, nor door but the entrance one. Such a building, at a moderate estimate, I think could have been put up in any part of Middlesex for 40s., or two months' rent. Indeed,[...]and that I should have it for £20, or not quite a half-year's rent.” This pleasant and cheap domicile was situated about a quarter of a mile from the town, and Ross set out to find it,[...]ittle ones walked by his side—surely as forlorn a picture of immigration as could be well imagined. Presently, however, a man, decently dressed in blue trousers and jacket[...]ervant,” and eked out his living by this method of charity. Ross gave him “the only English shilli[...]en at Cox's Quay. Unluckily, English money was at a discount, and the convict did not like the look of it. “He turned it from side to side, between h[...]in Van Diemen's Land, and he flatly told me that a pillar dollar of the then oppressed country of Spain was the only coin he approved of; which, as I did not choose to give him, he would make me a compliment of the shilling and the job together. As my pride at[...]nd so we parted, never to meet again.” By dint of using one box as a table, and another as a bed, the new settler contrived to give the “hut” a homely look; and, getting out his crockeryware, a[...]two servants—the seductive “married couple” of the advertisements— but, like many deluded sett[...]importations were worse than useless. The man was a lout, and the wife a ninny, and disgusted Ross was compelled to get rid of them both. Being awakened by the cold of the morning air, he got up to stroll around his new premises, and inspected more particularly a little inn which was opposite his door. Th[...] |
| of last night's feast, and stared so hard at the new[...]im. The description he gives is so characteristic of the time that I extract it bodily:— “A country settler, whose cart stood before the house, and w[...]sofa-seat, as it is colonially called, serving as a drinking-bench by day and bed by night, on which he lay half-undressed, and covered only with a kangaroo rug. I then inspected the garden of this hostelry, for though it had been once enclosed with a paling fence, many panels were already gone or lying prostrate on the ground, and, though so young in existence, it was already bearing the appearance of antiquity and decay. A goat was grazing in the farther corner, and no vestiges of horticulture were apparent, except a sweetbrier bush, a few marigolds in full yellow blossom, and the remains of two cabbage stalks, which had been nibbled by the[...]storing them in the town. He had brought with him a small box of dollars for current expenses, and the conveyance of this box to his house cost him infinite pain. Some half-dozen fellows— “some in the garb of gentlemen, others in grey and yellow”—followe[...]e the specie was stowed. Ross, however, purchased a bull-mastiff of one of the soldiers of the 48th, and hung his “trusty Manton,” loaded, on a couple of pegs in his bedroom. Having thus provided for home cares, he determined to fix on a locality for his future farm. Getting letters of introduction from the Governor, he clubbed with three of his fellow-passengers in the hire of a ticket-of-leave man, who would guide the party to its destination. This gentleman was civil and attentive. He had been a burglar, and informed Ross that his last offence—for the commission of which he was then suffering—was the robbing of the picture gallery of a nobleman in England, and that he had received £400 as his share in the booty. Winding along the foot of the Wellington range, with the Derwent on their right hand, Ross took the road towards the present township of New Norfolk, and kept his eye open for farmland.[...]ut met with something that frightened him instead of pleasing him. Surmounting the hill where is now the cottage of Beauly-lodge, he was met by three men, one of whom carried a blue bag on which the stains of blood were very conspicuous. Curiosity induced th[...]ngers good-naturedly opening the bag, showed them a human head. “Taking it by the hair, he[...] |
| exultation imaginable, and for a moment we thought we had indeed got amongst murderers, pondering between resistance and the chance of succour or escape, when we were agreeably relieve[...]eeding head had belonged two days ago to the body of the notorious bushranger, Michael Howe, for whom,[...]rewards had been offered.* He had been caught at a remote solitary hut on the banks of the River Shannon, and in his attempt to break aw[...]hrough the back, so that the painful disseverment of the head and trunk, the result of which we now witnessed, had been only a postmortem operation.” After a pleasant journey, with numerous pauses at hospitable settlers’ houses, Ross arrived at a beautiful spot on the banks of the Shannon, which he determined to make his future home, and returned to Hobart Town for the purpose of making the necessary arrangements to purchase it.[...]veral attempts had been made to carry off the box of dollars. Robberies at that time were absurdly fre[...]s inefficient, and the thieves numerous. Scarcely a night passed without some robbery being committed[...]ighbours. They would cut away boards, or pull out a brick from the chimney bottom, and so work a hole large enough to admit their bodies. A foot-passenger walking the streets at night was almost certain to be attacked. “Tt was a very common practice to run up behind a well-dressed person, and whipping off his hat, to[...]This was called “‘unshingling,' or taking off a man's roof. To say nothing of the jeopardy in which a watch and other little valuables were placed on such occasions, I have known instances of persons having the very cout taken off their backs, especially if it happened to be a good one. For my part, I could never discover wha[...]bly put these stolen articles to; for in so small a population, not only were the face and person of every individual well-known, but the shape and colour of his coat, and even of his hat, were equally familiar. Unquestionably if[...]een it on any man's head in Hobart Town next day. A man much more readily identifies an old friend of this kind, however great the similarity of black hats may be, when encountered in the open air, and in the bright light of day, than he can possibly do in an ante-room by candle- light after the dazzle of a dancing-party. I say this with the more confidence, because one of my fellow-passengers, who had lost his hat in this manner, actually recognised it on the head of a dashing fellow, |
| [...]treet.” The rogue was apprehended and convicted of the theft, and enjoyed as a reward for his “‘unshingling’ propensities the pleasure of what is called in these ingenious countries a ‘second lagging.’ ” Tired of these city joys, and having obtained his grant, and purchased tools, a plough, and bullocks, our immigrant started up the country to begin his farmer's life. The account of the journey “up the country” does not much vary from the accounts which hav[...]ted places, the same astonishment at the beauties of nature as she appears at dusk, and the same raptu[...]admits, with grief, that swearing is, after all, a necessary evil. He finds the same difficulty in u[...]with more or less success by every “settler” of any pretensions to scholarship. But an element enters into Dr. Ross's narrative which is wanting in that of the Canadian back woodsman, or the Victorian “pioneer of civilisation.” In addition to straying bullocks[...]convicts, and their manners and customs were not of the most elegant nature. The spot he selected fo[...]s from Hobart Town, and was situated in the midst of a “howling wilderness.” To reach it, a pilgrimage had to be made with “assigned servan[...]lgrims. He purchased two carts, made to order, at a cost of 31 guineas each, and with two bullock-teams and s[...]valcade had proceeded two miles, Mrs. Ross, tired of the jolting and the flies, determined to walk a little. With the terrible exception of the nursemaid and the baby, the party dismounted,[...]ursed the bullocks, and disappeared over the brow of the hill. “TI feel the exertion I made on that[...]lessen the acclivity. It was to my mind as steep a ridge as any Dame Nature ever left |
| [...]emoan my fate, and the still worse uncertain fate of my torn- away infant? No, such a course would have been unworthy of a man born beyond the Tweed—of a man who had had the courage to transport himself. I carried the younger of my two little ones under my right arm, led the ot[...]in several ways. At one time, carried by the side of the younger child, I supported it across my arm; at another, with a portion of the fingers of my right hand, while I led the elder with the oth[...]e weight which Eneas escaped with from the flames of Troy was quite light compared with mine; for after a few steps accomplished in this manner, my anxiety to get to the summit of the hill, from whence I thought I might at least[...]orn also in my right arm—and now the difficulty of the Manton was greater than ever. It is almost as[...]I did it as it was then to carry it. To the best of my memory, I contrived to support it in the loop of my shot-belt, stuffed, as the latter was, as full of heavy shot as it could hold, while I balanced the[...]r, he found the drays upset, and the nursemaid in a state of unwonted hilarity. This lady was a convict, and had but one eye. She consigned all the settlers in the colony to a place which Ross suggestively hints is “warmer than Siberia.” This hand-maiden—like a transported Miriam—burst into jubilee. “Free[...]nd should belong, to prisoners only! It was their country, and their country it should be. Ducks and green peas for ever ! Hur[...]hat astonished the good doctor, and the behaviour of the nymph was still more astonishing. “As she s[...]wave, and her Dunstable bonnet had just received a new shape from the impression of the cart-wheel under which it had fallen. But she waved her hand in the joy of her heart, and would have sent my then only son a[...]to inherit the noble estate on the romantic banks of the Shannon, had not his mother happily caught him by the clothes, while the rump of my newly-bought gigantic bullock ‘Strawb[...] |
| [...]g on the ground.” The cause was soon apparent. A bottle of rum which Ross had, “for his stomach's sake,” conserved in the bottom of the dray, had been espied by the single eye of his Hobart Town exportation, and she had drunk it[...]to say, that its main feature was the employment of the abilities of convicts in that groove in which they were best fitted to run. Any free settler who desired a servant could, by complying with certain conditions, hire a well- conducted convict from the superintendent's[...]whose soft hands had touched nothing harder than a handkerchief or a watch-chain, were sent to grub roots and drive bu[...]valet, whose skill in hairdressing was the boast of Portman- square, and whose adroitness in assistin[...]fracture to the seventh commandment rivalled that of Leporello himself, was too often condemned to hew wood and draw water for the use of some commonplace person, who never had intrigued with another man's wife in the whole course of his plebeian existence. Hobart Town society was composed at that period of but three classes—free settlers, and that male[...]aid to have populated Yorkshire. The “condition of things” was the most primitive in the world. Literature, as might be expected, was at a discount. “Tt will appear strange,” interjec[...]an Diemen's Land General Advertiser, printed once a fortnight on one leaf, sometimes of white, sometimes of coloured paper, as Mr. Bent happened to get it, was at that time the only species of periodical literature which the colony could boast. It contained, however, a very full and circumstantial account of the goods for sale in the town, and the various a[...]considerable assistance. It detailed the measures of Government, the appointments of public officers, general notices and _ regulation[...]ural meetings, and indeed almost everything which a settler required or wished to know. Nevertheless it had no more claim to compete with the newspapers of the present day than Tom Thumb has with Tom Paine. Up to the time I am speaking of, and some years after, there was not a word of slander or defamation put in print in the colony, unless, indeed, the announcements of the Provost Marshal or Sheriff of that period, injurious as they sometimes w[...] |
| ‘free press,’ or great fourth estate—the palladium ofa fifth power, ‘the abuse of the press,’ paramount of all others, such is the rapidity of advancement in new countries, was almost simultan[...]od Doctor Ross, I may observe, in parenthesis, is a little warm on this point. Governor Arthur having[...]our author. Ross being Government publisher, and a Scotchman, had more sense than to risk his positi[...]nt with the tide,” and supported the Government of the day by taking occasion now and then to give poor Melville a sly dig in the editorial ribs. As thus:— “By the sanction of one of the slanderous journals with which this literary colony now abounds, you may enter the house of the most retired individual—you may turn his dw[...]d his children—make his servants insult instead of serving him—give him a large nose or no nose at all, just as it suits yo[...]se to write home with the consent and concurrence of this glorious, this tremendous autocratic, politi[...]existence. That great engine for the blowing off of private steam not being yet established, the residents of the city were forced to vent their private malice in manuscript. “These were the days of ‘pipes.’ Certain supposed home truths or live[...]ions were indited in clear and legible letters on a piece of paper, which was then rolled up in the form of a pipe, and being held together by twisting at one end, was found at the door of the person intended to be instructed on its first opening in the morning.” Nor was the expression of private opinion confined to personalities. A considerable dislike towards the country itself was manifested. Sydney was the place, and[...]'s Land was looked upon as but little better than a madman. The same objections were urged by the same class of people who urge similar objections now. “Sydne[...]ere. The colony is ruined, sir. There is not even a drop of good water in the whole island, sir. It is[...] |
| [...]p here, sir.” Having crossed the solitary vale of Bagdad, and camped at Constitution- hill, bogged[...]dence were rapid. He cut down some poles and made a “wigwam,” and dwelling in this wigwam for some weeks, set boldly to work to construct a “slab hut,” in the midst of a landscape which he thought would have afforded scope for the employment of the pencil of Morland, and “does now, I trust,” says he, “to the equally immortal one of my friend Mr. Glover.” The “hut” was built after the following manner:— “Having first erected a snug hut for my men, with a good sleeping-loft above—which was very easily done by making the frame proportionately higher, and laying a floor of thinly-split logs neatly across the joists—I added a very good kitchen, with a fireplace almost as big as a small room behind, a storeroom, a bedroom for my children, with two pretty little four- pane windows looking on the river, a study with a long bench or desk, which served as a library, a workshop, a schoolroom, and spare bedroom by turns (this plac[...]t, was lined with shelves all round, stuffed full of old books), a small apartment for my nursemaid and youngest child, and a verandah with a porch in the centre, supported on four real Doric columns, formed of equal-sized barrels of trees set upright with flutes and other carving of bark as nature gave them. They were, though I say[...]thed the whole, inside and out; and with the help of the sand and loam which I found at my door, mixed with chopped grass, I gave it two coats of plaster, that hardened and stuck, and sticks to t[...]ceiled up to the rafters in the roof, giving them a lofty and arched appearance. They were 14ft. or 1[...]from falling, as I have known ceilings in houses of far higher pretensions often do—and especially at the most inopportune times, when the fumes of the dinner on the table informed the treacherous[...]r that the guests were assembled below. There was a very beautiful grass plat or lawn, of two or three acres in extent, a little to the right in front of my cottage, and elevated not more than two yards above the margin of the river. I took a great deal of pains with this little spot. I fenced it very car[...]ing on all sides, except towards the river, which of itself was a sufficient fence; |
| [...]asaltic, perpendicular rocks, with here and there a tuft of flowering shrubs growing out from the crevices. A long straight path, of four yards in width, stretched from end to end, on the borders of which grew several English flowers, from seeds I[...]from the bush.” But the settler's life was not a bed of roses. Bushrangers and blacks swarmed about him, and the immigrant was often shot dead on the threshold of that home which he had but just snatched from the[...]hat elapsed between their final removal by Mr. G. A. Robinson to Flinders Island, and the time of my own removal with my own family to Hobart Town,[...]one belonging to it.” But the bushrangers were of a different nature. John Cook, Ross's assigned servant, is a good example of the class. This fellow was surly, drunken, and ob[...]or some time, poor Ross returned him to the hands of the Government. Three days after he was with his new employer he absconded, and was strongly suspected of being concerned in a murder and robbery perpetrated in the neighbourhood. Some weeks after this Ross missed a gun, ammunition, and an iron pot from his hut; an[...]saw Cook, armed with the stolen weapon, sneak out of the back door. Ten days afterwards, a party of the 48th, who were out “bushranger hunting,” caught sight of him, and then he disappeared. “I never more heard of him alive,” says Ross; “but about a year after, a skeleton, which some articles of dress, especially the kangaroo jacket, with the i[...]he had stolen from me, identified as the remains of poor Cook, and a gun-shot entering under his left blade bone showe[...]beside our swamped cart before dawn on the banks of the Fat Doe river. I learned from very good thoug[...]misguided man having on one or two occasions for a small reward aided and assisted a sheep- stealer who possessed some pasture[...] |
| [...]cies, had subsequently shown some little symptoms of disapprobation of a small sheep robbery committed by the same individual, being a neighbour, on my own flock, and in consequence a schism or quarrel ensued. The sheep-stealer then became uneasy from the fear of Cook on some future occasion coming forward or being called on, should detection and a trial ensue, to give evidence against him. He and[...]alled, one poor man similarly circumstanced as to a knowledge of their doings, to join him once more in the bush under a cloak of friendship, and by sending him unawares and unprepared out of the world, to deprive him of all power to give evidence against them in a witness-box.” The “name and fame” of Cook continued, however, for several years afterw[...]published in Hobart Town and Bow-street. Apropos of the death of Cook, Ross tells a story of the untimely end of a friend of his, which, as an illustration of the “manners of the age,” is curious enough. Riding over one da[...]urprised to find him “salting down the carcases of six sheep, which he had just killed. He said it was a very convenient plan, as it saved time, and obviated the necessity of bringing home the flock, to kill one every second day for the use of the family. Besides, he added, the six sheep's heads and plucks served his people for more than a day, as, though they would throw away one head or give it to the dogs, they could not have the face to waste a whole half-dozen at a time. I was simple and unsuspecting enough to bel[...]idual, however, was afterwards tried for stealing a whole flock of about 400 sheep, convicted, and executed with sev[...]bushrangers at Hobart Town. I stood at the bottom of the ladder as he mounted to the seaffold. He had[...]ind his back, and after stooping his head to suck a Sydney orange, which he was unable otherwise to reach to his mouth, he placed it by a rose which he held in his other hand, and shaking[...]me farewell, saying, as he looked in my face with a most altered countenance, which I shall never for[...]’ ” Amid such scenes did the first ten years of our “pioneer's” settlement pass. Each day, however, brought an increase of civilisation, and, says happy Ross, “I now saw[...]ly increasing; I could readily sell the former at a pound a head, and the latter from £8 to £10. Every day was adding something to the value of ” |
| [...]Government was making to put down the aggressions of both the black and white invaders of life and property, although yet abortive, I looke[...]oved, triumphantly successful.” * The verandah of the Hall of Commerce, the Melbourne Stock Exchange. *[...] |
| The Seizure of the “Cyprus.” ON the 9th of August, 1829, the “Cyprus,” a vessel which was employed by the Government of Van Diemen's Land to carry prisoners from Hobart[...]ts and carried into the South Seas. The story is a romantic one, and if it does not equal in interest the story of the capture of the “Frederick,” of which I shall by-and-by have occasion to speak, it is remarkable as showing the condition of convict discipline in the early days of the colony. Macquarie Harbour—abandoned in 1833—was in these days the Ultima Thule of convict settlement. Established in 1821 by Governor Sorrell as a station for the most irreclaimable of the desperadoes who were sent in shiploads from E[...]d gradually increased in severity until it became a hideous terrorism, which often drove its victims to seek death as a means of escape. The picture of the place, as drawn by Mr. Backhouse, the mission[...]harbour, opposes sometimes for days the departure of the convict vessels. This place was the last home—but one—of the felon. Once sent to “the Hell,” as the abode of doom was termed by the prisoners, return was all[...]ain ranges, combined to render escape impossible. Of the many unfortunates who made the attempt to reg[...]some eight or nine died or were retaken. The life of a convict at this hideous place of punishment was one continual agony. In those times, the notion of reclaiming human creatures by reason and kindness[...]in Van Diemen's Land for his severity or strength of will— dealt with the men under his charge as th[...]insensibility were marooned on rocks within view of the prison barracks. The work was constant and |
| [...]he gigantic trees which grew in the neighbourhood of the harbour. Chained together like beasts, and ke[...]drag him after the main body until he rose again. A visitor to the place in 1831 says that he saw “something which he took for a gigantic centipede, which moved forward through the bush to the clanking of chains and the cracking of the overseer's whip.” This was a log borne by a convict gang. Treated like beasts, the men lived the life of beasts. All the atrocities that men could commit[...]de was frequent. Men drowned themselves to be rid of the burden of their existence. Three wretches once drew lots as to who should get a sight of Hobart Town. One was to murder the other, and the[...]lated each other on their holiday on the scaffold of Hobart Town gaol. To this place Lieutenant Carew[...]helter. The prisoners were all desperate men. Two of them had been before at “Hell's Gates,” and detailed the horrors of the place to their companions. In the semi-darkness of the lower deck, where, chained in gangs of four, the miserable wretches speculated on their doom, it was proposed to seize the ship. A prisoner named Fergusson was the ringleader. “At the worst,” said he, “it is but death; and which of us wishes to live?” But the others were not so[...]chained—hope to succeed? But with Fergusson was a man named Walker, who had been a sailor, and he urged them on. “Once free, he co[...]nd six times did their courage fail them. At last a favourable opportunity presented itself. Lying a[...]soldiers and their muskets, thought he would take a little fishing excursion. His wife was on board,[...]as eager for some amusement, and taking with them a soldier and convict, the two lowered a boat and |
| [...]t so happened that on this morning it was the tum of Fergusson and Walker's gang. Fergusson, Walker, P[...]ns, and clanked up and down under the supervision of the loaded muskets. Fergusson saw his chance—if[...]an oath. “If you don't join me now, I'll inform of your former plots.” This threat terrified them into compliance. A rush was made. The two soldiers idly staring over[...]nd knocking off their irons, the six were masters of the ship. But the captain and soldiers below did not intend to surrender without a struggle. They fired up the hatchway, but without[...]st their nailed bars and joined their companions. A parley now ensued, the convicts promising to spare the lives of the soldiers if they gave up their arms. A volley was the only answer, and then two prisoners, by Fergusson's directions, got buckets of boiling water from the galley and poured them dow[...]were at liberty on the deck, and that the seizure of the vessel was only a matter of time, the scalded soldiers surrendered and passed[...]ommanded the mutineers to return to their prison. A gun presented at his head was the not unnatural reply. Fergusson, however, had ordered the priming of the soldiers' pieces to be wetted before they wer[...]parley. Carew, anxious, doubtless, for the safety of his wife, promised that if the men would give up the ship he would say nothing of their conduct to the authorities at Hell's Gates;[...]ome foreign port, where they could defy the wrath of the Governor and the commandant. The prospect of the sheds and the cat, as contrasted with freedom[...]ting. As might have been expected, they refused. A muster was now held upon the deck, and Fergusson[...]to join him. All but thirteen consented, and one of the sailors, possibly an exconvict himself[...] |
| [...]the now armed convicts on the barren coast. With a generosity which to those acquainted with convict[...]ren, was restored to her husband unharmed. Secure of safety, Fergusson ordered rations to be given to[...]d party,” says Mr. Bonwick, “received 60 lbs. of biscuit, 20 lbs. of flour, 20 lbs. of sugar, 4 lbs. of tea, and 6 gals. rum.” The boats were taken bac[...]three cheers for their bloodless victory. After a hearty supper and a pannikin of rum apiece, the seventeen set to work to organise[...]some for India, and two men proposed to go to one of the islands of the South Seas, sink the ship, and settle among t[...]for six months for 400 men, arms, ammunition, and a sailor captain, the mutineers felt that fortune had befriended them at last. A mid one knows not what wild thoughts ofof the harbour. Then began the sufferings of the conquered party. They were on a desolate part of the coast; impenetrable scrub and impassable mountain ranges lay, for many a weary mile, between them and Hobart Town. It was[...]ate with the settlement at Macquarie Harbour; the country on that side was even more desolate and barren th[...]that some passing vessel, either driven by stress of weather or urged by want of water, would put into the channel and take them off. The party in all consisted of more than 40 souls, and their slender stock of provision melted away like snow in the sun. Mr. C[...]the victuals in equal shares, keeping the rum as a last resource. The soldiers were divided into wat[...]rest. Day after day passed with the same monotony of silence. The allowance of provisions was decreased, and despair bega[...] |
| [...]er-bellowing ocean, and again The scarlet shafts of sunrise, but no sail.” At last hunger broke th[...], and with but two days' provisions left, Popjoy, a convict, determined to try and make a boat. Assisted by a man named Morgan, he framed a sort of coracle of young wattle trees, and covered it with sailcloth. Over this a mixture of soap and resin was poured, to keep out the water.[...]nd propelled by paddles. During the last two days of its construction the party were without food. In this rude craft Carew embarked the remnant of his party, and, hoping against hope, got out to sea. Luckily, at a distance of twenty miles, they fell in with the “Oxelia,”[...]opjoy, who had been transported when eleven years old for stealing a hare, received a free pardon, and returned to England. In the mea[...]e them, and all were in high spirits. Getting out of their course, however, they came to Japan. Here, in spite of Fergusson's orders, seven deserted, and cast in their lot with the natives of that lovely spot. Fergusson went on, but seems to[...]to lose his prestige among the men. One Swallow, a seaman and convict, now appears to have assumed t[...], but on the way out saved the ship at the hazard of his life. Allowed to roam the deck and assist the[...]away with him. The crew gave him rations. Despite a rigorous search, he was not found until after som[...]at Rio, and he was soon again in London. There an old companion “peached” upon him, and he was sent[...]once more to freedom. To this man was the charge of the vessel entrusted, and he took her to |
| China. On the way a boat with the name of “Edward” on its stern was seized, and Swallow[...]t account for the “Cyprus,” determined to try a new plan. There was a sextant in the cabin which had on it the name “[...]be Captain Waldron, and exhibited his sextant as a proof of his story. The English merchants in Canton got up a subscription for them, and paid their passage home. Suspicion, however, was excited by the appearance of four more of the party, who did not know the captain's name, b[...]ere brought before the Thames Police Court, where a few days before a curious incident occurred. Popjoy, having been landed by the mercy of the Crown in London, was cast upon the streets to[...]gaol or starvation. Imprisoned from eleven years old, and knowing nothing save how to roll logs and cr[...]ound about the docks. Begging, like stealing, was a crime, and he was brought before the Thames Police Court. There he told the story of the mutiny and the boat-building. Though there was not criminating evidence, the appearance of “Captain Waldron” was somewhat strange, and the story of poor Popjoy—who had been honoured with several[...]n the newspaper town-talk— recurred to the mind of the bench. The suspected men were remanded. This remand cost three of them their lives. Strangely enough, a Mr. Capon, who had been gaoler at Hobart Town, was in London, and, attracted by the report of the case, he strolled down to the police court. O[...]tried to escape, but in vain. At last the weight of his doom broke his spirit, and he submitted to hi[...]d died—still in yellow livery—at Port Arthur, a melancholy instance of a brave man crushed into brutality by a senseless system of punishment. Five years later Popjoy died also. He made some endeavour to procure a pension from the Government, and only waited the arrival of documents from Hobart Town, formally attesting hi[...]Carew, to obtain it. In the meantime he obtained a seaman's berth in a merchant- vessel, married, and seemed to h[...] |
| Quebec in a timber ship, however, he was wrecked off B[...] |
| The Last of Macquarie Harbour. FIVE years after the seizure of the “Cyprus” it was resolved that Macquarie Harbour should be abandoned. The difficulty of access and the barren nature of the surrounding country combined to render the spot inadequate to the growing necessities of the colony. Prisoners were arriving in shiploads,[...]ssary to find for them some more convenient place of settlement. Moreover, Governor Arthur seemed to h[...]s officers were too far from his control. Rumours of gross abuse of power among the resident officers were current in[...]ed by the revelations incident upon the execution of two men for the murder of their companion, “in order to get a holiday.” The accounts of the conduct of the establishment were perhaps highly coloured, b[...]applauded. I have already given some description of the settlement itself; let me here add an account of the voyage to it. In 1832, James Backhouse, the g[...]r the voyage, Henry Herberg, the mate, David Hoy, a ship's carpenter, Jno. A. Manton, George W. Walker, and myself. Ten private soldiers and a sergeant, as a guard, occupied a portion of the hold, in which there were also provisions for the penal settlement, and a flock of sheep. Two soldiers' wives and five children were in the midships. Twelve seamen, several of whom were convicts, formed the crew; and eighteen[...]t completed the ship's company. The last occupied a gaol, separated from the hold by wooden bars, filled with nails, and accessible only from the deek by a small hatchway. One of the soldiers on guard stood constantly by this ha[...]rection; and two were in the hold, seated in view of the gaol. The prisoners wore chains, and only two of them were allowed to come on deck at a time for air; these were kept before the windlass[...]seamen. This was rigidly observed in consequence of two of these men having, at a former period, been parties in the seizure of a vessel named the ‘Cypress’ (sic) making the same voyage, which was carried off to the coast of China or Japan. . . . The gaol occupied by[...] |
| [...]r, on which they slept, being each furnished with a blanket.” When the vessel, after a tedious voyage, had reached the entrance to the harbour, the main difficulty of the passage really commenced. The Doom- rock lay within the jaws of a sandy, barren bight, and the “league-long rollers” of the Southern Ocean broke unchecked upon the bar.[...]k for shelter to Port Davey we were descried, and a signal to enter was hoisted. We immediately stood in, and in a few minutes the opportunity to return was past. T[...]hat if we were lost I should like to see the last of it, for the sight was awfully grand. Laying hold of a rope at the stern, he said, “Then put your arm round this rope, and don't speak a word.’ To my companion he gave similar instructions, placing him at the opposite quarter. A man was sent into the chains on each side with th[...]and nothing was now to be heard through the roar of the wind and waves but his voice calling to the helmsman, the helmsman's answer, and the voices of the men in the chains, counting off the fathoms a[...]would have run over her, and have driven her upon a sandbank a mile from the shore, on which they were breaking[...]homs decreased, and the men counted off the feet, of which we drew seven and a half, and there were but seven in the hollow of the sea, until they called out eleven feet. At this moment a huge billow carried us forward on its raging head[...]. The pilot's countenance relaxed; he looked like a man reprieved from under the gallows, and coming[...]ands with each individual, congratulating them on a safe arrival in Macquarie Harbour.” Such was t[...]Baylee, 63rd Regiment, embarked the prisoners in a vessel sent specially for them, and accompanied them to Hobart Town, leaving behind him a man named Taw, who was the pilot at the settlement, to complete the work of demolition, and bring away such matters as might have been overlooked in the hurry of the departure of the main body. |
| Taw was in command of the “Frederick,” a brig that had been built at the settlement, and he had as a crew, Mr. Hoy, the shipwright, a man named Tate, and ten convicts, together with a guard of three soldiers and a corporal. The names of the ten—as given in their own narrative, written while under sentence of death in Hobart Town—were John Barker, Charles[...]iemen's Land Annual for 1838, and forms the basis of this twice-told tale. On the 11th of January, 1834, everything of value had been placed on board the brig, and the[...]eigh ancher, and leave Hell's Gates for ever. One of the prisoners, however, was still “in confineme[...]t to his wrath, and inveighed against the tyranny of Taw. He probably guessed what awaited him in Hoba[...]ous any attempt to pass the gates. On the morning of the 12th, at daybreak, Taw ordered out the whaleb[...]towards evening he would risk it. Now the evils of forced inaction began to show. The men grumbled.[...]wn and civilisation. Why keep them still in sight of their dismal prison-house? Doubtless with a view to employing them, Taw gave permission for t[...]All went except Hoy's servant, and while on shore a plot was concocted. At half-past three p.m. the men returned, and the corporal, a soldier, and a prisoner took the whaleboat and went fishing, so[...]the cabin, and Tate and two soldiers on deck. One of the convicts—Porter, the narrator of the story—began to sing, and a soldier came below to listen. While he listened,[...]her, listened with increased attention. Suddenly, a prisoner came down the hatchway and trod upon the toe of Shiers. This was the signal. Shiers presen[...] |
| [...]hatch to be secured, and placed Porter over it as a guard, while Lesly and Russen, armed with the sol[...]t them back, but did not fire. All was silent for a while until Cheshire, creeping to the skylight, t[...]ts were levelled down the skylight. Crouched out of reach of the muskets, the captain and Hoy gave no reply, and then some one of the mutineers fired. Shiers rushed to the skylig[...]hen, as did Carew before, promised to say nothing of the escapade if they would give up the brig. Bar[...]oat, together with the mate and the two soldiers; a bottle of rum was given to Taw, whose hands were tied, and two bottles of wine and a peajacket to Hoy, “as he had been indisp[...] |
| [...]selves on not abusing their newly-found liberty. A musket fired over the stern brought the whaleboat[...]d the soldiers and the prisoners were ordered out of her into the jolly-boat. The soldiers were then o[...]ing, one steering, and four armed with muskets as a guard— accompanied them in the whaleboat. Havin[...]s, the jolly-boat was towed back to the ship, and a watch was set all night to prevent surprise, so great was their dread of the resolute Taw. Next morning a council of war was held as to the disposition of provisions. Shiers—referring to the seizure of the “Cyprus,” which would seem to have made a great impression on the minds of convictism—said, “Don't let this affair be li[...]we'd used them cruelly.” The notion was deemed a good one; the meat was divided as nearly as possi[...]biscuit; and Shiers, taking with him another pair of shoes and bandages and plaister for Mr. Hoy, who seems to have been a favourite, got out of the whaleboat and rowed to the shore. Hoy and two men received the stores, three of the mutineers standing armed in the sternsheets t[...]isions, and, while commenting upon the difficulty of the task before them, to have wished them success in their enterprise. This at least is the statement of Porter's narrative, but as that gentleman intersp[...]esses to Providence and reflections on the bounty of Heaven unusual to convict minds, we may not unrea[...]ed conversations are not given verbatim, and that a great deal of rude language is omitted. Moreover, the poor devil was lying in Hobart Town Gaol under sentence of death, and had a chaplain for his amanuensis. Under such circumstances he was likely to restrain the natural vigour of his descriptive powers. Having been blessed—if we believe our convict—by the pious Hoy, a touching adieu took place, and the mutineers retu[...]ght cargo which was in the hold, and then ran out a small kedge anchor with about 100 fathoms of line. The tide being slack, they kedged along until they came to the Cap and Bonnet, and there observing an old whaleboat ashore they destroyed it, lest it should offer means of pursuit to the terrible Taw. It being calm they t[...]rederick” in safety over the dangerous bar, and a light breeze springing up from the south-e[...] |
| [...]r,” was made mate; but Barker, in consideration of his superior sagacity and a smattering of navigation, received the rank of captain. He, “with what few instruments he had,[...]irst watch.” At half-past nine that night came a heavy gale from the S.W., which compelled them to[...]r work cut out for them. The morning dawned upon a raging sea and a cloudy sky. Lesly sounded the well and found the hold three-parts full of water, and all hands were set to the pumps. The gale lasted for two nights and a day, and then moderated. But the convict-built ve[...]principally,” says Porter, “by carrying such a press of canvas during the gale,” and only one pump coul[...]ho still suffered from violent sea-sickness, took a meridian, and altered the course of the vessel to E. by S., desiring to “run to the southward of New Zealand, out of the track of shipping.” On the 20th a vast quantity of seaweed appeared, and the men grew frightened, th[...]eck and take an observation, urging the necessity of keeping the crew in good heart. At first the poor[...]ship might go to the bottom for all he could stir a hand to save her. By dint of persuasion, however, he was got on deck, supporte[...]even though I had no quadrant aboard, by keeping a dead-reckoning.” At noon—still supported by h[...]to inform the men that he would run to the south of New Zealand, and not sight it, as had been his fi[...], and Barker not appearing on deck for nine days, a deputation was sent to beg him to consider the position of the vessel. Roused by this the “captain[...] |
| [...]th January, and on that day he altered the course of the vessel to N. by B, being anxious “to make a landfall between Chili and Valdivia.” The crew were now well-nigh exhausted. The old sailors had to do duty for the raw hands, and to[...]to blow harder than they had yet experienced it. A white squall threw the brig on her beam ends, and[...]ker boom; but notwithstanding the leaky condition of the craft, Fair persisted in carrying on sail. The more chicken- hearted began to despair of reaching land. They now sighted a French whaler, hull down to windward, and despera[...]aution, however, was not needed. After nine days of rough weather the gale abated, and Fair, giving o[...]s the topgallant yards and make sail, on the 25th of February they made the South American coast, abou[...]and they were at least “500 miles off the coast of Chili.” Fair, however, put no faith in his asse[...]ve orders to shorten sail. At daylight they found a rocky shore close under their lee, and hauled off[...]ldivia. This was the 24th February, six weeks and a day from the time when the captured “Frederick” left Hell's Gates. Now arose a discussion as to the best course of action. Some advised landing at once in the launc[...]nd that they should coast in their boat in search of a landing-place. This plan was at last adopted. The launch was a big, seaworthy boat; moreover, she had been raised a plank higher, had been decked after a fashion, and fitted with mast, boom, and a suit of sails, while the badweather cloth that Taw had used for the whaleboat would answer the purpose of bulwarks. Putting on board her the scanty remnant of provisions, together with firearms, ammunition, and—notable item—a Government cat that had unconsciously cast in its lot with theirs, four of them got aboard the launch, and the others commenced to batten down the hatches of the brig. These amateur carpenters had indeed bu[...]. The pumping being stopped, they found four feet of water in the hold, and hastily flinging over two breakers of water and such provisions as they could scrape to[...]delay. It was time, for as the sun went down in a lowering and angry sky, the ill- |
| [...]vering with cold—they had been sitting by turns of four in the stern-sheets all night, with their ba[...]t. At three o'clock in the afternoon they entered a small bay, and at half-past four came to anchor under the lee of a barren reef. Some went ashore, but met with “no sign of human habitation.” They slept there that night, having set a watch of two men in case of attack by wild beasts, and in the morning set to work to gather shell-fish. Having made such a breakfast as this somewhat meagre fare afforded, they again set sail, determining to make for a distant point, in the hope of meeting with human beings. Reaching this point in[...]ped rocks, and running in between them, came upon a stream of fresh water. Near this was a deserted Indian hut, but no “Indian;” and so, securing the boat and setting a watch, the castaways passed the second night since the abandonment of the brig. All the next day they sailed from bay to bay in search of inhabitants, and casting anchor in a little inlet at night, prepared to sup on a seal which they had killed ere they started in the morning; but a heavy swell arising carried their boat violently[...]rse with despairing hearts. Camping that night in a snug nook, the cat which they had brought from th[...]at hand. Running down the coast all that day with a fresh breeze, they weathered a point which John Barker said was “Tweedle-point,” and ran for a bluff far down the shore. Half-an-hour before dar[...]ed an almost unparalleled escape. They had seized a prison-ship under the very noses of the guards, and under all disadvantages ha[...] |
| [...]ddenly,” says Porter, “we heard the bellowing of a bullock on the shore.” Did their ears deceive t[...]ewed vigour they tugged at the oars, and rounding a low-lying reef that projected into the black water, came in sight of large fires. Against the glare of these fires—which had the appearance of blazing rubbish- heaps—gigantic shadows moved. These shadows were men and women. Out of the darkness the escaped convicts hailed the shore, but received for a reply only a confused murmur, which seemed to denote alarm. The full swell of the ocean rolled in upon the rocky shore, and it[...]nd. So keeping out to sea, but still within sight of the cheering fires, they let go their anchor in nineteen fathoms of water, and lay outside the reefs waiting for the[...]t night they kept awake, conversing on the chance of safety. Perhaps the people they had seen were can[...]four men, taking with them needles and thread and a loaded pistol, jumped ashore, and followed the na[...]ery friendly and partly civilised. The chief wore a poncho—a square cloth, with hole for the head in the middle—and a pair of blue worsted trousers. The poncho was embroidered; the fellow carried a large hilted knife (probably a Spanish machete), for defensive or offensive purposes. They gave this warrior a hatchet, “of which he well knew the use,” and he did the honours of the village to them. Porter says that the huts we[...]ll built, and the people industrious. He observed a man and boy ploughing with four bullocks yoked by the horns. The ploughshare was of wood hardened in the fire. Both sexes wore their[...]a. At three o'clock in the afternoon they reached a point of land to which their attention had been drawn, and |
| perceived a flagstaff and twelve-gun battery. They had made their port at last. Valdivia is the chief town of the most southern province of Chili, and is situated nine miles up the river wh[...]t was founded in 1551, by Pedro de Valdivia—one of the gentlemen adventurers of that stormy time—who gave it his name, and grew[...]ified by the Spaniards. The harbour, at the mouth of which our convicts were now resting, is one of the most spacious on the coast. Three years after the date of our story—in 1837—it was ruined by an earthquake. Pulling in under the guns of the battery, Barker harangued his comrades, and e[...]ll their story, and throw themselves on the mercy of the Governor. Barker then gave each of the men half a sovereign, and divided all the clothing and valuables equally, with the exception of two watches, which he kept for himself. They then[...]Shiers, Lesley, Russen, and Cheshire should hire a canoe to go up to the town, and lay their case be[...]r. This was done, and on the next day (March 7th) a party of soldiers came down, and took the remaining five u[...]en's Land, and he remanded them until the arrival of the Governor. They remained in prison five days. The mate was allowed a dollar per day, the boatswain half-a-dollar, and the rest a quarter dollar, “and provisions being very chea[...]n them, but asked them why they came to that part of the coast. Whereupon Barker, with unblushing effr[...]ence; and we throw ourselves under the protection of your flag, relying on your clemency.” Upon this[...]on, and remain there peaceably. In the meantime, a Captain Lawson, their interpreter, “a gentleman,” says Porter, “of great respectability,” drew up a petition praying for their |
| release, and got the principal inhabitants of the town to sign it. On the following day they we[...]berate them at once were he not fearful that some of the number would make their escape. Upon this the ever-ready Barker made a melodramatic speech, begging His Excellency to ra[...]Government. The Governor, who seems to have been a good-humoured fellow, and who had doubtless been regaled with a highly-coloured description of the horrors of Hell's Gates—bad enough, in sober truth, Heaven knows—promised to protect them, vowing that out of respect to their heroic journey he would not give[...]he, “if you will promise not to escape, should a vessel come to-morrow to demand you, you will fin[...]as my word.” He then advised them to “beware of intemperance,” and to pay back to the Governmen[...]s in the town, and next day assisted in launching a vessel of 100 tons burden—a ceremony which was performed with the aid of a band of music, and in the presence of the Governor in person. The owner expressed himself much satisfied with the behaviour and talent of the Englishmen, and declaring— so says Porter—that “he would rather have them than thirty of his own countrymen,” engaged them to “fit her out” at 15 dols. a month and provisions. The adventurous ten now se[...]nies were forgotten. They cast away recollections of their past dangers and crimes, and appear to have[...]rrived in port, sent for them and told them to be of good cheer, that he would not deliver them up to[...]t marry. Spanish America is noted for the beauty of its women—the Chilian ladies are even now the belles of the seaboard—and our adventurers jumped at the offer. The attraction of the gossip by the fountains, the chatter of the quaint old market-place, the dances by night under the orang[...]too strong to be resisted. The fierce black eyes of the manolas; for in those days there were yet man[...]in and griselles in France; the more golden glory of the Malaguena, transplanted from the sultry seaport of Old Spain two generations back; the sparkling purity of the Andalusian granddaughter of some brilliant adventurer of Seville, |
| conspired to capture the hearts of the escaped prisoners—all honest English sensualists, I have no doubt. Five of them were immediately married, and at the wedding of that lucky scoundrel, John Barker, the Governor a[...]e carried off in the night to the guard-house. In a terrible fright, they speculated on the cause of their arrest, when suddenly the ubiquitous Govern[...], and have been all slain by the Indians. Here is a letter that I have just received.” This letter[...]desired them to come on board and give an account of themselves. The ten upon this fell into great trepidation. “If we go,” cried one of them, “we shall never return.” “I thought s[...]ernor (let us remember that this is the statement of a convict under sentence of death). “T will protect you. Should they force their way here, I will send you up the country under escort to an Indian chief of my acquaintance, who will protect you. If the captain of this vessel wishes to speak with you, he shall do[...]This worthy man, Don Fernando Martelle, doubtless a Spaniard of mettle, who, having given his word, meant to keep it, proved a true friend; for a cutter from the frigate attempting to pass the battery, the Spaniards fired a 32Ib. shot over the heads of the crew, and presently the frigate departed, bearing up in the direction of Valparaiso. So far, so good, but more evils were in store. On the 2nd May, 1835, the “Achilles,” a 21-gun brig of war, arrived with a new Governor. This gentleman was coolly received[...]r Porter, “had heard but an indifferent account of him,” and the refugees began to dread lest a new Pharaoh had arisen who knew not Joseph. The old Governor, however, gave them an excellent charact[...]soon discovered, however, that his promises were of little value. Don Fernando left on the 20th of May, and as soon as he had gone hostilities were[...]Jones, Fair, and Dady had wisely taken service in a brig, and had got away from the place) wer[...] |
| [...]t had been hitherto strictly kept—the departure of the fortunate three was permitted by Don Fernando[...]venturous voyage had been long moored at the back of Government House; but the old Governor, tempted by an offer of 40 dols., had at last sold her, “mast, oars, sails, and all,” to one of the Spanish merchants. In the month of June, Barker, enlarging upon the excellent qualities of the old boat, offered to build one for the Governor. This proposition met with a ready approval, but when the boat was finished, Barker, pretending that she was too small, offered to build a larger one, if the Governor would permit him to g[...]three weeks. Barker, Lesley, and Russen completed a three-oared whaleboat, and fitted her with sails[...]night, the 4th July, Barker, Lesley, Russen, and a man named Roberts, “formerly mate of a brig,” crept out under cover of the darkness, and, slipping down the river, got o[...]their flight was discovered, and the Governor, in a furious rage at being outwitted, despatched six soldiers and a crew, with orders “to bring back the Englishmen, dead or alive.” This was easier said than done, and in a week the soldiers returned, without having even s[...]is Excellency with the proverbial Spanish freedom of popular speech, for he seems to have determined t[...]ur were ironed together, and thrown in the prison of Valdivia, and the English consul at Valparaiso having been communicated with, a schooner was sent which brought them to Callao—a port not altogether unknown to several illustriou[...]ed in the Leviathian hulk, and then shipped (with a fresh batch of convicts) on board the “Sarah,” and se[...] |
| [...]magination does not refuse to suggest the stories of the horrors of Hell's Gates with which they would beguile the time and attention of the convict “new chums.” A “prison-ship” in those days was an excellent[...]rney, their strange adventures, their three years of freedom in the old Spanish town, resulted only in a change of prisons. Port Arthur was substituted for Macquarie Harbour. Barker, Lesley, and Russen, were never heard of again. Whether they were wrecked on that stormy coast, killed by Indians, picked up by a stray ship, and returned to civilisation,[...] |
| The South Australian Bubble. AMONG the many bubbles of speculation that, reflecting in their shining sides prismatic worlds of fortune, have been destined to burst in the most commonplace of soapsuds, it would be unfair to class the speculation-born colony of South Australia. But, though neither so magnificently blown as its prototype of the South Seas, nor reflecting such elegant fooli[...]s quite as flimsy and quite as dangerous. Luckily a fact, unsuspected by its blower, saved it from bu[...]p-suds were made with mineral water; the pursuers of the floating globe fell into a quagmire, but found a copper mine. In the year 1829, Captain Sturt, exploring the Murrumbidgee, came to Lake Alexandrina—a shallow sheet of water, 60 miles long by 40 in breadth—and discovered the future province of South Australia. Almost simultaneously with his discovery was published in London a little book entitled, A Letter from Sydney, edited by Mr. Robert Gouger,[...], still less to comment at length upon the system of Mr. Gibbon Wakefield, but a slight sketch of the scheme laid down by that ingenious theorist m[...]er from Sydney” produced, as it deserved to do, a profound sensation upon speculators in England. Its author was a man of ability, and wrote with taste and elegance. Placi[...]nts side by side with the most brilliant sketches of place and people, he covered the fallacy of his argument by the brilliance of his wit. The catherine-wheels flashed so dazzling[...]ed. The “Letter from Sydney” was written with a purpose. It purported to be from the pen of a gentleman of taste and fortune, who, emigrating to Australia u[...]d prove remunerative, found himself poor for want of the means to develope his riches—for want of men to hew down his magnificent forests of timber, tenants to rent his fat and fertile farm land, and miners to bring to the surface his wealth of iron, coal, and copper. Interspersed with exquisite descriptions of scenery and humorous sketches of colonial discomfort and colonial society, he draws a succession of pictures of the misery which would befall the landowners whenever the cessation of convict-shipping should leave them depende[...] |
| Having thus prepared the mind of his reader for some sweeping reform, Mr. Wakefield proposes his modest remedy—to raise the price of land. Cheap land makes dear labour, for the worki[...]and industry accumulates enough money to purchase a “house and home,” will decline to hire himsel[...]endence is fatal to individual wealth. The author of a “Letter from Sydney” pointed out with dismay that in a country where “common” labourers could maintain thems[...]by “gentlemen” in all ages. In this wretched country ofof purposeless novels and the lettered leisure of the idle wealthy—were altogether at a discount, and that the “common” folk, such as[...]ngly in the over-populated agricultural districts ofof a “Letter from Sydney” being a capitalist, desired to increase his capital. He l[...]ll these fine things might share in the enjoyment of them, but that he himself might become in Austral[...]and. The method he advised for the accomplishment ofa wealthy man could purchase by main force of his wealth, and compel the poor man to hire himself in order to till and reap. A portion of the money thus invested in land by the rich man was to go into a fund for the bringing out of emigrants, who might “further benefit the capitalist” by lowering the price of labour, and who were to consist of healthy young married couples. Thus the rich man would be spared the pain of contributing a moiety of his wealth to support the aged and the sick. A succession of “common” young men and women arriving by a succession of ships, would compete with each other for the honour of hewing his trees and drawing his water; and to such young men and women was held out the delightful prospect of earning, by an artificially-enforced servitude, t[...]which they could obtain now for the mere trouble of tilling it. This system was termed the “[...] |
| [...]athetic. It touched at once the souls and pockets of men. The rich man saw an easy method of getting richer; the agricultural schemer saw a virgin field for his experiments; the middle-class farmer was enchanted with the notion of rivalling the lord of the manor, and becoming the “squire” of a respectful Australian tenantry; while the philanthropist admitted that to remove the starving population of St. Giles to a greater Britain, situated somewhere in the South Seas, was a suggestion of a most excellent character, and that Mr. Wakefield[...]t. During the agitation caused by the Reform Bill of 1832, public attention was diverted from Mr. Wakefield, and a company formed, under the title of the South Australian Land Company, failed to float. In 1833, however, a second company was formed, which included Grote, the historian, and Henry Bulwer; and, after some changes of constitution, the company, under the title of the South Australian Association, was finally established. By an act passed in 1834, the tract of country discovered by Sturt was created a province, the minimum price of land fixed at 12s. an acre, and the business of colonisation deputed to eight members, with Colonel Torrens (proprietor of the Globe) as chairman. Thus established, the mo[...]made by the Association to ensure the popularity of their enterprise. Mr. Gibbon Wakefield, placed virtually in command, attended the rooms of the Association at the Adelphi, and by sheer force of talk caught bishops, mill- owners, and journalists. The rooms were crowded with members of Parliament, mouth-orators, and pamphleteers, all eager to give to the world the realisation of Utopia “at a sufficient price.” The post of Governor was offered to Colonel Charles James Nap[...]ts as Sir James Hurtle Fisher), received the post of Resident Commissioner. Colonel Light was despatc[...]mber the “Africaine” arrived with Mr. Gouger, a banking association, and the South Australian Gazette, a paper first published in London, and taken out wh[...]the future capital. “Adelaide” was built upon a creek leading out of St. Vincent's Gulf. The port was a mangrove swamp, seven miles from the city; and the piano of Mrs. Hindmarsh was floated ashore, through the surf, to a mud bank covered with the débris of immigrants' furniture. Hindmarsh having “read his commission under a |
| gum-tree, in the presence of about 200 immigrants and officials,” entered upon his duties by attempting to change the site of the city. As the fortunate first-comers had already purchased “eligible town lots” for a price upon which they hoped to realise large profits, his efforts received determined opposition, and a quarrel arose between Mr. Fisher and His Excellen[...]Gawler, who united in his own person the offices of Governor and Resident Commissioner, and reconcile[...]s. Immigrants now began to arrive wholesale, and aof capital and 120 acres of country land. The order of this selection was governed by the chances of a lottery, conducted on the principle of those which recently became so notorious in Victo[...]omers having made their selections, the remainder of the 12,000 acres of “city” was put up to auction and sold to the highest bidder. The majority of these “orders” were in the bands of the South Australian Company. A gigantic “land swindle” was now inaugurated. Instead of South Sea stock, or John Law's paper-money, the speculators trafficked in blocks of country which should be farms, and stretches of turf which would soon be terraces. Mr. Davenport[...]sed, and the “watering-place” was sold before a hut had been built upon it. It will be easily seen that in this lottery the holders of “preliminary orders” had the best of the game. They held virtual pre-emptive rights, a[...]last moment his next-door neighbour would produce a “preliminary” order, and swoop upon the section he had hoped himself to secure. A traffic took place similar to that which had made[...]uncil. The “orders” were sold like scrip, and a class of speculators and enthusiasts, of whom Lord Lytton's “Cousin Jack” may be taken as a favourable type, swarmed in the “nine square miles” of the unbuilt city. Colonel Gawler arrived just pr[...]d-jobbing was at its height, and when the reports of the colony's prosperity had turned the heads of all the “intending immigrants” in England. No[...]t undone by the Association to secure the success of their infant country. Mr. Gibbon Wakefield was in his glory. He was the apostle of this new gospel of universal happiness at a “sufficient price,’ and members of Parliament, bitten with the desire to “do somet[...]ed around him, eagerly proclaiming the excellence of his teaching and the purity of his motives. Colonel Torrens himself did n[...] |
| the propriety of emigrating at once to Adelaide, and is reported t[...]held the same position with regard to the valley of the Murray as New Orleans did to the valley of the Mississippi. There was, however, no one to dispute these assertions, and ship-load after ship load of gentlemen and ladies left England for this Arcadia in the mangrove swamp of St. Vincent's Gulf. To the new comer the condition of the infant colony was astonishing. The town was formed of iron huts and wooden shanties, in which well-dres[...]strolling up Pall Mall, or lounging in the stalls of the opera- house, waded in patent-leather boots across the sand to leave cards upon newly-arrived families of distinction, who—until their parks and palaces[...]weatherboard cottages. While labour was in course of becoming cheap, provisions became dear. Eight shillings and ten shillings were charged for a coarse meal, and “servants” were not to be ha[...]y supplied money as fast as it was needed, and “young pioneers of civilisation,” having unpacked their fashionabl[...]ts, and got their blood horses conveyed ashore at a cost that nearly equalled that of the animals themselves, sold their “preliminary[...]nds, and as the bank readily discounted the paper of notable purchasers, the sellers found their sections transmuted from barren blocks of unexplored country into cash and credit, both of which seemed illimitable. Into the current madnes[...]lic buildings with ruinous rapidity. He organised a police at a rate of expenditure which seems altogether incommensurate with the then value of such a body. He built roads, wharfs, and hospitals, and erected a Government-house at a cost of £20,000. It was so evident that the colony was going to become a second Carthage, that to do less would have seemed mean in the eyes of the colonists. Having done this he sat down in comfort, guarded by a volunteer corps, and surrounded by a little court, consisting of the white-handed gentlemen and ladies who were to be the aristocracy of this mighty city of the mangrove swamp. But this happy state of things was not long to last. Immigration began to check itself, and the price of land to decrease. Wool-growing was found to be mo[...]Port Phillip and New South Wales. The “healthy young married couples,” owning such prepostero[...] |
| [...]grow scarce, and the Carthaginians felt the pangs of famine. It is probable that the place would have[...]for the “overlanders.” “Overlanding” was a profitable and, withal, romantic occupation. Young men of spirit, wearied of the capital, and prompted by love of gain and adventure, purchased cattle and sheep in[...]rove them “overland” to the “New Orleans” of Colonel Torrens. The journey was not without its[...]cked these Australian caravans, and the hot winds of the north were no insufficient substitute for the simoom of the Arabian deserts. The scanty streams of the interior were too often dry, and the adventurers, wandering from the track in search of water, were lost in the barren wilderness that bo[...]rms. The life was free and vigorous. The trammels of conventionality slipped from off the limbs of these wrestlers with the power of the desert, and they felt the joy of an almost savage independence. Traversing the great grey forests, or camped by the edge of some friendly waterhole, that, sheltered beneath its solitary clump of trees, at once invited and forbade the journey into the limitless plains ahead of it, the purveying patriarchs of this Australian land felt that wonderful and subtle happiness which is born of solitude and silence. Alone with their flocks an[...]uality which they had lost amid the buzz and roar of the crowded capitals of Europe. There 10,000 items went to swell the sum total of their importance. They were recognised and respected by virtue of a million accidents. Their tailors and boot-makers,[...]uncles, all contributed to make them famous. Even a man who owned the “nattiest groom in London” had a sort of personal reputation, and many a worthy gentleman climbed into notoriety on the shoulders of a cook or a coachman. But in the cattle-yards and the camping[...]alone availed the ingenuous youth, who sought for a place among the “overlanders.” Unless he had[...]egrets, he reined his horse one day on the summit of some mountain-spur, and seeing beneath him the wide waste of the untrodden “bush,” awoke suddenly to the consciousness that he was the lord of that wilderness, that in it he could live unmolested and secure, that he could find there a home and a subsistence, with no aid but that of his |
| [...], then for the first time did he discover to what a heritage of power his birthright as a “man” entitled him. The sleek “Downing-street colonists” of Adelaide were astonished at the arrival of these sons of the wilderness. The “trapper” of the Rocky Mountains found a parallel in the bearded, embrowned overlander, with his keen eye and ragged defiance of formulae. But with the rags and keenness the para[...]elations to Rube Rawlins than was Rube Rawlins to a gold-stick-in-waiting. Once arrived at Adelaide,[...]nate enough to be admitted to the evening parties of a lady of ‘the highest tin,’ were astonished to find, when, to fill up basso in an Italian piece, she called upon a huge man with brown hands, brown face, and a flowing beard, magnificently attired, in whom they recognised the individual they had met the day before, in a torn flannel Jersey, with a short black pipe in his mouth.” Perhaps the life of an overlander was at that time one of the most agreeable in the colony. The force of endurance and intelligence not only received due acknowledgment in the shape of praise and party-giving, but was substantially recognised in current coin of the realm. Such a combination of circumstances is rare. The banditti-like gentleme[...]o were regarded by the Adelaidians with something of the feeling which greeted “the arrival of a party of successful buccaneers in a quiet seaport with a cargo to sell, in old Dampier's time,” had not only the gratification of being the cynosure of neighbouring eyes, but of making considerable profits on their original outlay. But in the midst of this picturesque extravagance came the final crash. In order to meet the expenses of Utopia—in the way of buildings, roads, and bridges—Colonel Gawler ha[...]the commissioners and association losing credit, a series of drafts to the amount of £69,000 was dishonoured. As soon as this direful intelligence became known, the bubble burst. A rapid exodus took place. The “working men,” p[...]s upon the Government for support. The population of the city “diminished in twelve months to the extent of 3000 souls.” The price of food, rent, and wages fell fifty per cent. Adelai[...]d, and, like the owls and the bats in the palaces of Palmyra, police horses grazed in the gardens of the Governor. Gawlor was dismissed, and Mr. Gibbon Wakefield and his friends endeavoured to put the burden of disgrace upon his shoulders. That they at the time succeeded in doing this, there is not a shadow of doubt, and until |
| very lately Colonel Gawler has been held the scapegoat of South Australian colonisation. Lord Stanley, the Colonial Secretary, knocked the last hole in the bottom of this sinking ship In 1842, that far-seeing statesman brought in and passed two Acts, one of which fixed the minimum price of land at £1 per acre, while the other handed over the colony to the Government of the Colonial Office. The effect of these measures was immediate. As a land-speculating colony. South Australia was ruin[...]over, that agriculture could not be carried on at a profit with hired labour, and the only paying pursuit in the country was wool-growing. The despised “interior” was[...]t even this wealth was long in arriving. The port of Adelaide was deserted, and the visits of the “overlanders” had ceased. The shipment of wool was attended with difficulty and expense, an[...]g resembling its pristine glory. “The promoters of the colony,” says Mr. Samuel Sidney (to whom, together with Mr. Forster, I am indebted for the materials of this sketch), “had placed coals, marble, slate,[...]a,” and Mr. Kingsley has already told the story of the second speculation-mania. Application was made to the Governor for a special survey of 20,000 acres, at £1 an acre. The application was granted, and a day and hour fixed for the payment of the £20,000 in cash. Now, cash was scarce, and l[...]sh. To add to the perplexity, arrived from Sydney a party of speculators well supplied with gold, and announced their intention of buying up the “survey.” A flash of the old gambling spirit reanimated Adelaide. Sydney should not thus snatch the prize from the grasp of the colonists. On the last day for payment a desperate struggle was made to obtain the needful amount ofold women were even tempted to draw their £1 and £2 from the recesses of old stockings. Almost at the last minute the money wa[...]er mine in the world rewarded the long sufferings of the South Australians.” |
| But the whirligig of time brought in his revenges. The “gentlemen”[...]common” labourers should come between this wind of good fortune and their own dilapidated nobility. Was this to be the end of the “sufficient price” system? Forbid it, Torrens! A lottery was proposed by which either section of the community should win or lose a chance in the unopened mine. The “common” peo[...]the “Princess Royal.” In 1850 the £50 scrip of the “gentlemen's” section was not worth £12,[...]bubble, cast in copper, may now be likened to one of those contrivances of the domestic cistern which, let the tap tu[...] |
| An Australian Crusoe. ON the 22nd of May, 1796, Henry Goodridge, the landlord of the Crown and Anchor Commercial Inn, in the town of Paignton, near Torbay, in Devon, took an additional horn of ale because that a son was born to him. The Goodridges are a well-known and respected family in Paignton. Indeed, that village consists—to speak generally —of but three families— the Goodridges, the Hunts,[...]re so intermingled by marriage, that there is not a Hunt or a Browse that is not in some way related to a Goodridge. The birth of young Charles, therefore, was the cause of some festivity, and gossips predicted great things of him. The brat, however, did not appear likely to[...]ribly, moreover, and Mr. Thompson, the “surgeon of the village,” despaired of him. As he grew he gained strength, and under the tuition of Mistress Lome, the village “school madam,” became an expert in the arts of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Paignton, comm[...]visited by sailors “ashore” for the spending of their pay, and the reckless jollity of these fellows begat in Charles Goodridge a desire for a seafaring life. As Mr. Oldmixon descended with his crew of valiant mariners upon the staid seaport of Bideford, and inflamed the minds of the wondering fishers with tales of glory on the Spanish main, so did the tars from the “fleet” heat the imaginations of the honest men of Devon with their yarns, anent thrashing the “Mo[...]s father kept an inn on the Western-road, and was a warm man, with his stocking comfortably lined— must needs go to sea, and at the age of thirteen hired himself as cabin-boy on board the “Lord Cochrane,” a hired armed brig stationed off Torbay to protect[...]d for “three months on trial,” and at the end of that time he was bound apprentice to the owners,[...]he had chosen for himself, Goodridge experienced a fair share of the adventures current at that epoch. He fought a Portingallo with knives, and, to the honour of Devon, thrashed him soundly. He came nigh to losing his life in a storm off the coast of Wexford, and took part in an action with a French privateer. In 1813 he shipped on board the “Trial,” Captain Woolcott, of Dartmouth, engaged to transport parts of the 20th and 38th regiments of foot to St. Sebastian, thence to fight the[...] |
| [...]home French prisoners, and Goodridge hints darkly of the horrors of the passage. The “Trial” then returned to Spa[...]for the army, but Goodridge did not sail in her. A fortunate circumstance for him, as she was totall[...]ng and hot blooded—vowed that he would ship for a longer voyage than any he had hitherto attempted,[...]filled with interest. Going to London on the Ist of May, 1820, he found a cutter of 75 tons, the “Princess of Wales,” commanded by Captain William Veale, about to sail on a sealing trip to the South Seas, and instantly, full of hope of adventure, entered on board her. The date of this turning point in his fortune was rendered re[...]ng pressed to death in the crowd. The “Princess of Wales” had formerly been a Margate hoy, and was bought by Messrs. Barkworth and Brook, of 80 Old Broad-street, London, specially for this expedition. The crew consisted of the commander, the mate (Mathias Mazora, an Itali[...]ambergris, each mariner to have his share one out of every ninety skins procured, the boys proportionately less, the officers proportionately more.” So, with a fair wind, they sailed from Limehouse Hole on the 9th of May, and arrived at Torbay on the 16th. Being wea[...]l to his family at Paignton, and leaves them with a sorrowful heart, his only sister being ill of consumption, and not expected to recover. On the 3rd of July the “Princess of Wales” arrives at St. Jago, and having watered, crosses the line on the 19th of July makes for the banks of Brazil, and meeting the westerly gales steers for[...]on the African coast. Here they explore in search of water, and fall in with “500 savages all naked,[...]d not come to enslave them—their sad experience of white men—grew friendly, and a barter was begun. Says Goodridge, “For small quantities of iron hoop, bread, and tobacco, we obtained[...] |
| They round the Cape in boisterous weather towards the end of September, and failing to make the islands of Marsaven and Diana, steer for Prince Edward's Isl[...]g. 38 deg. 3 min. E), which they sight on the 1st of November. Next day they set to work. The operation of sealing as pursued by these mariners is not child[...]ore provided with provisions, while the remainder of the crew look after the vessel and salt the hides[...]that scarcely having made all snug under the lee of the island, they would be compelled to slip cable and stand out to sea. The land, barren of tree or shrub, affords no shelter for the shore-g[...]and their boat bauled upon shore serves them for a dwellinghouse.* Their provisions are salt pork, b[...]y that the ship might be driven out to sea by one of the constantly recurring gales, and that they should see her no more. The fortune of the party was so dismal, that it was resolved to[...]eldom visited. They are five in number, and form a sort of irregular triangle, the largest being about 25 miles in circumference. Barren of herbage, and almost iron- bound, these rocks of mid-ocean serve only as a home of seals, or a roosting-place for wandering sea-birds. The “rookeries” of the king- penguin and the booby-bird abound, extending sometimes for half a mile along the shore, while the rocks, at low tide, are resorted to by large numbers of sea-elephants—a larger kind of seal. In this wild and desolate spot did Captain[...]to make the fortune which should rejoice the eyes of his young wife in Devon. The sight of the seals along the shore, the incessant cry of the flocks of gannets and petrels that darkened the air, and the ludicrous aspect of the penguin waddling affrightedly to their nests, inspirited the crew of the cutter, and they landed with high hope. On the 5th of February, having already collected about 700 skin[...]six should, under his command, take the vessel to a bay in the island first touched at, where[...] |
| [...]alting those already obtained. The last time such a visit was made was on the 10th of March, in very boisterous weather. On the 17th, a gale came on from the S.E. Veale thought it advisable to gain an offing, and the “Princess of Wales” slipped her cable accordingly, and stood out to sea. Before she had proceeded any distance it fell a dead and ominous calm, the swell still continuing. It was impossible to launch a boat in that heaving sea, and equally impossible[...]ave no bottom. The island presented to their view a perpendicular cliff, with numerous jagged rocks p[...]ting. It was midnight and moonless. There was not a breath of air, and the only sound that met their ears was the roar of the surf that was soon to engulf them. Says Goodr[...]ms; for on such occasions the persevering spirits of Englishmen will struggle with the elements, even[...]er. All was calm above us; around us, the surface of the sea, although raised into a mountainous swell, was comparatively smooth; but the distant sound of its continual crash on the breakers, to which we[...]ppeared inevitable destruction.” [Readers fond of coincidences can compare Poe's account of the noiseless storm at the end of Arthur Gordon Pym.]| At length, at a little after 12, the cutter struck with great violence, and was instantly ashore, exposed to the full fury of the waves. Veale desperately got out the boat, and each one flinging into her something he deemed of value, the seven scrambled out of the sinking vessel. A fine rain was falling, the boat was surrounded by rocks, masses of floating kelp impeded their progress, and the nearest shore was a perpendicular cliff of |
| great height. To add to the terror of their situation, an enormous whale, driven in by[...]se to them, and began beating the water “within a few yards of the stern of the boat.” From this sea-giant their good fortune preserved them, and by dint of tugging at the oars they succeeded, after four hours' incessant labour, in effecting a landing on the beach. So great was the violence of the surf, that the boat was swamped and nearly carried out to sea. All clinging to her at imminent risk of their own lives, they got her on shore, and turni[...], and hungry.” In the morning they held review of their possessions, and found that in addition to[...]which each one carried in his belt, they had but a kettle and frying-pan. The fire-bag, as it is termed, is a necessary to a sealer. It consists of a tinder-box and cotton, secured from the damp in a tarpaulin case. In this lamentable state of affairs, they sallied forth to procure food, and speedily despatched a sea-elephant, with whose blubber they kindled a fire by which to cook the more toothsome portions of his carcase. Thus warmed and fed, an expedition[...]ut it was seen at the first glance that all hopes of saving her must be abandoned. She was lying on the rocks on her beam ends, with a large hole gaping in her lower planks, and the st[...]rs must now be addressed to saving such fragments of wood, nails, bolts, &c., as might be made service[...](19th March), the boat was launched, and despite a rough sea, they succeeded in picking up the capta[...]t. The next day they were rejoiced by some crusts of bread, but, as if to mock them, the bread appeare[...]table. They found also on this day the only shred of paper, or printed matter, saved from the sea. Captain Cox, the agent of the Merchant Seaman's Bible Society, had visited the “Princess of Wales” at Gravesend, and had presented the captain and crew with one of the Bibles provided by the society for distributi[...]ething floating in the water, recognised the gift of good Captain Cox, and crying out lustily, “Pull[...],” says Goodridge, “was, that although we had a variety of other books on board, such as our navigation books, journals, log-books, &c., this was the only article of the kind that we found, nor did we discover the smallest shred of paper of any kind except this Bible; and still equa[...] |
| [...]s so little injured, that its binding remained in a very servicable condition, and continued so as long as I had an opportunity of using it.” The Bible, which was afterwards to afford those pious men of Devon much consolation, was the last thing saved from the wreck. The next day nothing remained of her but the topmast, which was entangled with som[...]do to procure food for themselves, but at the end of that time, collecting the materials they had saved, they set about erecting for themselves a sort of hut. They sank a foundation, and rolled fragments of rock together, piling them one upon the other until a rude wall was obtained. This being thatched with grass—let it be remembered that there was not a tree or bush on the whole island—made a tolerable housing-place, and to render it the mor[...]uld be covered, where practicable, with the skins of the sea- elephants, which was done. The hut was divided into bunks with strips of planks, and one long plank nailed at the foot of these bed-places stood them in lieu of chairs. Their table was the ground. Veale erected for himself a separate sleeping-place at the end of the hut towards the sea. While this rude cabin was in course of construction, they discovered traces of a party of Americans who were known to have visited the islands some sixteen years before, and to have built a hut and other conveniences, but the sea elephants[...]d. John Soper, however, searching for eggs, found a pick-axe, which he brought home in great glee. Wi[...]arth around the ruined hut, and found some pieces of timber, together with several nails, and—most glorious discovery—a part of a pitch-pot, which would hold about a gallon. By aid of a piece of hoop, this relic was made to do duty as a frying pan, and upon finding a “broad axe, a sharpening-stone, a piece of shovel, and an auger,” the party considered themselves over-burdened with ironmongery. The handle of the old frying-pan, which was worn so thin from constant use that it was nearly worn out, was affixed to a handle, and being ground sharp, made a formidable weapon for the killing of seals. Let us now consider what productions the[...]ed to these Crusoes. The first and great mainstay of their necessities was the sea- elephant. This creature, which appears from Goodridge's account of it to be a sort of walrus, abounded. The largest elephants were abou[...]bber was not unfrequently seven inches thick. One of these huge brutes “boiled down” would yield, |
| according to Goodridge's estimation, nearly a ton of oil. The males made their regular appearance about the middle of August, assembling in great numbers along the bea[...]Blucher, and Bonaparte.” The females have their young early in September, and suckle them for about fiv[...]two or three miles, and, sometimes to the number of more than a hundred, live amicably together until December. By that time— reduced almost to skeletons by reason of their long fast—they return to the sea. In Febr[...]was not unpalatable, and the flippers boiled into a jelly, together with some eggs and a pigeon or two, made a soup that might not be despised by a gourmét. For the “washing tub” they turned t[...]y, and washed their linen dipped in the blood, as a washerwoman would in soap suds. After rinsing it[...]best soap for the purpose. “Grates” were made of the bones placed crosswise, upon which pieces of blubber were laid. Lighted “lamps” were constructed of pieces of rope yarn drawn through lumps of blubber (which could be obtained in masses of a foot square) and it was found that the firm grease melted slowly. “Shoes” were composed of strips of skin cut to the shape of the foot, and drawn round the ankle with thongs,[...]t achievement—excellent tobacco-pipes were made of the elephant's hollowed teeth as bowls, perforated by the wing-bones of the water-fowl as stems. As a substitute for tobacco they smoked dried grass.[...]alled Wigs, the female seals Clapmatches, and the young seals Pompeys. Anybody with a taste for research can amuse himself by discovering the origin of these remarkable expressions. |
| There was no lack of fish or fowl upon the island. Sea-birds frequented the place in vast numbers. Four varieties of penguin are mentioned, to which Goodridge gives the names of King Penguins, Macarooneys, Johnnies, and Rock Ho[...]named are described as being somewhat larger than a duck, build their nests among the cliffs and rocks, congregating in numbers of three or four hundred together. The Johnnies and Rock Hoppers suffered themselves to be robbed of their eggs without attempting resistance. The Kin[...]s winglets as flappers, wherewith to box the ears of the assailant of its nest. In addition to these were “Nellies’ a sort of goose—albatrosses, petrels, eaglets, divers, te[...]uild their nests on the plains, and live in clubs of about 200 members. If the ground be at all marshy, they raise their nests about two feet, by digging a trench round them and throwing up the earth in the middle. It is to be presumed that none of the castaways had read The Ancient Mariner, or that if they had, they did not share the superstition of that single-speech sailor. “On Sundays,” says Goodridge, “our dinner consisted of giblet soup, prepared from the heads, feet, &c., of the albatross, which were first scalded in boilin[...]mallee hen. The only vegetable on the island was a plant resembling a cabbage in appearance. William Hooper, who had sailed in the South Seas, thought this plant a great prize, having eaten one resembling it when on his whaling trips, but on a first trial of the enticing vegetable it proved bitter and uneat[...]le to vary their flesh diet by fish. “Our mode of fishing,” says the narrator, “was certainly a novel one. One party used to take long strips of the sea-elephant's blubber, and, putting one end close to the water, a fish resembling a gurnet would come and nibble at it, and then, by[...]er person, watching his opportunity, to strike it a smart blow with a club, and thus knock it sufficiently far up the r[...]le him to secure it. They had, however, in course of time, become so shy, that they were not to be taken in this way, and we were obliged to have recourse to a more scientific method; for this purpose we took[...]ted them in the fire, we bent them into the shape of fishing-hooks, and then gave them good points wit[...]ous visitors to the island had formed their hut. a |
| [...], and this we soon managed by untwisting portions of the cordage we had saved from the wreck; and by r[...]war on the finny tribe; the blubber also forming a very enticing bait, we had soon a plentiful supply; and fish, flesh, and fowl frequ[...]an epicure could have found but little fault with a dinner where two of the courses were soup and fish.” Imagining the[...]tolerable accuracy, and marked out for themselves a course of life suitable to their condition. They rose at ei[...]g, and break-fasted at nine. After breakfast some of the party went catering for the day's provisions,[...]a about five.” “Tea” was simple, consisting of raw eggs beaten up in water. This mess they calle[...]and occasions they added to their Mocoa the brain of the sea-elephant, which was very sweet and palatable. A chapter of the Bible having been read by Veale, they retired to rest at ten. Even in this society of outcasts, religious differences found a place. Mathias Mazora, the mate, was a “professed atheist,” and set himself to deride and make sport of the religious exercises of his honest comrades. It is gratifying, however, to find that the atheism of Mr. Mazora was promptly snuffed out. The free-thinker laboured under the disadvantage of not knowing much English, and therefore, however[...]neral harmony that reigned among us.” Moreover, a “marvellous conversion” is related of this atheistical mariner. It is probable that his[...]xiety did not tend to strengthen it. He is either a great liar, or his atheism—which one can presume him to have professed, as being a less troublesome creed than any with which he was[...]tening to Scripture, he strove to enact the story of Saul of Tarsus in his own person, and forthwith indulged in a “vision” of a most orthodox and gratifying nature. One evening,[...]ld reach the But; the ground round about was full of huge pits of slime made by the sea-elephants, and Mazora, being afraid of tumbling into one of |
| [...]needs, he betook himself vigorously to prayer. In a few moments a bright light appeared about him, and he was enabl[...]add, that from that moment Mathias Mazora became a true believer. Thus with superstition, or impost[...]phants and lived monotonously on for nine months. A fire, which nearly burnt their boat-hut, was their only diversion. On the 13th of December, however, they were unexpectedly cheered[...]-party—left, it will be remembered, on the 10th of March— had come to the conclusion that the “Princess of Wales” had been wrecked in the storm. Moving from place to place, as the fortune of food compelled them, they had at last determined[...]d the new comers having, not silver and gold, but a frying-pan, nails, and hammer, the comfort of the little colony was materially increased. Before the two parties had met, the terror of death in that solitude had seized the marooned men, and they had solemnly marked out a grave-yard, and fixed each upon his own grave. Now life stirred strong within them. They resolved to build a ship! This was an arduous undertaking, for save[...]by an earthquake) they had no timber. Their stock of nails was scanty, and they had but their boat sai[...]o destroy their boat, they determined to make use of the logs of wood, and after many long consultations, resolved on their course of action. The vessel should be 29ft. long, of 12 tons burden, and lugger-rigged. They would build her out of the wood used for the huts and the timber left by the American party. They would make sails for her of sealskin. When she was completed, a solemn casting of lots should be had with prayer, and the five thus chosen should put to sea in the hope of falling in with some ship and bringing succour to[...]hile the other worked. The poor fellows presented a strange appearance. Their clothes had worn out, and they had attempted to make themselves garments of sealskin. These were little more than bags buttoned on, in true bush and sailor fashion, by slips of wood in lieu of buttons. The all-purveying sea-elephant supplied these, as well as oakum for the boat and stores of provisions for the voyage. The topmast of the |
| cutter formed the keel of this wonderful vessel, and her sides were patched with heaven knows what artfulness of planking, cut with iron hoops, burnt out with fire of seal-blubber, nailed with wooden rivets, and caul[...]to say in January, 1823, the “vessel” was in a fit state for launching. “Such as she was,” s[...]ty, returning to the huts in their boat, met with a storm which beat in the stern of their craft, and cast them ashore. It was necessa[...]erly man, left them to stroll along the shore. In a short time he returned gesticulating with vehemen[...]and at last comprehends that Spesinick, being on a high point of land, has seen a vessel. The party had been so often deceived by the appearance of large birds, which, sitting on the water, had all the form of a distant ship, that they declined to believe the story, and, afraid of the cruel disappointment, refused to follow Spesi[...]ided that John Soper should go with him, carrying a tinder-box in order that he might make a fire if necessary, and attract the notice of the crew. The pair started. Night fell and they d[...]ons, affirmed that the vessel was but the phantom of the old man's brain, and that he would return with his we[...]wever, upon that sleepless night, and yet no sign of the scouts. “It's all a dream of his,” said Veale; “we had better go and look[...]long the shore when Millechant gives utterance to a wild shout, and runs whooping like a madman along the sand. A boat full of men cheering in English is coming straight to the[...]stumbling forward, caper and weep in extravagance of joy. Spesinick and Soper had chased the phantom all night. The old man sank at last overpowered with fatigue at the summit of a cliff, from which they could both see a schooner sailing smartly from the island.[...] |
| kindle a fire, but fails; runs down into a valley, and loses sight of the vessel; finally fires the fern in despair, and sends up a smoke like tna. The schooner lays to, and sends a boat; but sees no one. The sailors go ashore to explore, and on returning find a wild figure clad in skins clinging to the sides of the boat. It is old Spesinick. The schooner is an American, the “P[...]aac Perceval, master, bound for the South Seas on a whaling and trading voyage. Perceval receives the[...]that the rescued men should be landed on the Isle of France, and that in the meantime they should assist the crew of the “Philo” in seal-fishing. This arrangement[...]Paul's Island (about 1100 miles to the north-east of the Crozets), and arrived there on the 3rd of February. The venture of the “Philo” was successful. The coast abounde[...]tiful. They continued at their work until the Ist of April. Towards the end of March the shipwrecked men began to feel the restraints of such rude civilisation as they had imposed upon t[...]oper and Newbee, indeed, desired to remain on one of the islands, offering to take their chance of a vessel arriving to rescue them. As Amsterdam Island is situated in the direct track of all vessels going to New South Wales, there was n[...]. Captain Perceval agreed, making them first sign a document stating that they were so left by their[...]iners having been then left to their own devices, a dispute arose between the refugees and the crew.[...]he would report the negligence to the authorities of the Isle of France. The captain, justly incensed at this ingratitude, took a severe course: he put Master Mazora ashore. The sympathies of the refugees being with their comrade, nine of them came aft in a body, and said that if Mazora was put ashore they[...]nd Petheridge left the schooner. Thus landed for a second time upon a desert island, the plucky fellows did not despair. There was for them a tolerable house, built by former seal- fishers, and the island was not far out of the usual track of shipping. They hoped to be soon picked up by a passing vessel, and to have in the meantim[...] |
| Some former occupant of the place had sown turnips, the tops of which served to flavour their soup. On the 3rd of June, at daybreak, as seven of them were lying in their hut, John Piller, who lay opposite the door, started up, crying, “A sail! a sail!” They kindled a signal fire, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing the vessel approach the land. The weather was boisterous, and it was not until the next day that a boat came ashore. The vessel was the “Success,” a sloop of 28 tons burthen, and was tender to the “King Ge[...]It had previously been agreed between the masters of the two vessels, that if they lost each other they should steer for St. Paul's or Amsterdam as a rendezvous. The “Success” having missed her mate, was now fulfilling her part of the contract. Mr. Anderson, the master of the sloop found upon examination of his provisions that he could feed but three more[...]ay fishing, but the remaining seven cut up pieces of paper, and having marked three of the pieces with the letter “P,” put them into[...]two latter, however, feared to embark in so small a craft for so long a voyage, and gave up their chance to Hooper and Wa[...]was eager to go, recognising in the “Success” a craft which he himself had helped to build in Sou[...]ome years before. The “Success” brought news of Soper and Newbee. Soper, who had been a wild fellow in his youth, and had run away to sea, took a notion in his head that his grandmother, who live[...]ng in sight, he and his companion nailed together a few boards, and put off to her. Anderson agreed t[...]ess” watched them until near the shore, and saw a monstrous wave suddenly engulph them. The fury of the surf forbade all attempt at rescue, and the adventurous pair perished. After a stormy passage, during which provision and fuel ran so short that the eleven months had but 51/2 ozs. of pork and a raw potato apiece daily, the “Success” arrived at Hobart Town. Hooper recognised a shipmate of his named Richard Sands, who had been transported[...]im for assistance. Sands being in the boat's crew of the port officer, Dr. E. F. Bromley, begged that gentleman to aid the shipwrecked mariners. Dr. Bromley—a good Samaritan—fed and clothed them, and[...] |
| the sale of their sealskins placed them in tolerable comfort. Goodridge now began to write a narrative of his adventures, and was in the midst of his work when a curious incident occurred. Mr. Brooks, one of the owners of the “Princess of Wales,” arrived from England. Brooks was asked to dinner with Dr. Bromley, and happening in the course of conversation to mention that he had lost a vessel in the South Seas, Bromley slapped his fist on the table, and bid a servant call up the men who were below. Goodridge[...], as it gave him an opportunity to prove the loss of the vessel, and thus recover the insurance.” The captain of the vessel that brought out Brooks offered to tak[...]but Walters only accepted the offer. Walters had a wife in London, but upon reaching home discovered[...]im dead. The vulgar Enoch Arden did not die. Like a prosaic man, he returned again to sea, and left t[...]Bromley's for two months, when Hooper shipped on a whaling voyage, and Goodridge hired a boat from Mr. Bethune and began trading in fire-wood. The Crusoe had now settled down to earn a civilised livelihood, and his story for seven years is that of an industrious and hard-working man. He entered into the service of Mr. Austin (who kept the Roseneath Ferry), near N[...]ney. He became acquainted with Mr. Austin through a man named Davis, who was transported for robbing a dwellinghouse at Torbay, and had been employed in Austin's service. Mr. Austin proved a firm friend to Goodridge, who became a sort of retainer of the Austin family, and in the year 1831 went home[...]he same vessel with Mr. Josiah Austin, the nephew of his patron. Goodridge gives some interesting particulars of the kindness and shrewdness of the Austins, and ends by remarking that the nephew of the ferry proprietor had in 1838 “settled at Port Phillip, New South Wales, where he had flocks of sheep to the amount of 8000 or 10,000.” The gentlemen who talk at public dinners about “pioneers of civilisation,” might with propriety study the history of Goodridge's worthy patron.* Little more remains[...]ll health and seems to have subsisted by the sale of the book from which I have compiled this paper. The Veales and Petheridge were landed in the Isle of France, and finally made their way to England. An account of their shipwreck and adventures is given in the Morning Herald of November, 1823. The elder Veale went |
| again to sea. A gentleman whom I met the other day told me that some years ago he saw him in a shipping-office in London—“A regular old sea- dog!” Jarvis Veale went to America, where he married. Petheridge, in 1852, was sailing a small craft in and out of Dartmouth. The others who had been left at Paul's[...]cted sufficient skins in twelve months to freight a vessel that happened to call at the island. In her they proceeded to South America, and with the proceeds of the sale formed a settlement on an island near Japan, and cultivate[...]s thought that Millechant eventually became owner of the property, and died a rich man. So much for the fortune that befel the captain and crew of the “Princess of Wales.” * The method of thus turning a boat into a house is called “tussicking.” The boat is tur[...]ne gunwale is raised three or four feet, by means of a sort of turf wall, leaving an opening sufficiently large for a man to crawl in or out, as a doorway. A fire of sea-elephant blubber is made at this opening, and[...]n retiring, takes his station between the thwarts of the boat, where he usually rows. * Mr. Austin—the present representative of the family—is the owner of Barwon Park, one of the finest estates in Victoria. He is noted for h[...]ved hares, pheasants, and deer on his square mile of purchased land. The Duke of Edinburgh was entertained by Mr. Austin, a[...] |
| The First Queensland Explorer. ON Friday, the 27th of February, 1846, the barque “Peruvian,” bound for China with a cargo of hardwood, left Sydney Harbour. The “Peruvian” was commanded by George Pitkethly, and had a full complement of passengers and crew. The captain's brother was fi[...]d the captain's wife was also on board. The names of the other passengers were Mr. and Mrs. Wilmot, ch[...]daughter. The breeze was fresh, and all had hopes of a successful passage. On Sunday night, however, the wind increased to a gale, and on Tuesday the “fineweather” sails were blown out of the bolt- ropes. On Friday every stitch of canvas was taken off, and the vessel drove under bare poles. On Saturday, however, the weather moderated a little, and that night, during the first watch, t[...]nsultation with his brother, and calmed the fears of his wife and the lady passengers by telling them the worst of the danger was now over. It seemed, however, that during the gale the ship had been driven out of her course, for Pitkethly said that she was in the neighbourhood of the Horseshue Reef, and desired the hands to keep a look-out for broken water. Thus, having got all t[...]orning, however, an unexpected calamity happened. A man named James Murrell had been at the helm from[...]he eldest apprentice. The second mate was officer of the watch, and the brothers Pitkethly were below asleep in their bunks. The night was cloudy, and from out of the dusk a—head of them the second mate saw suddenly rise something that was “either land or a dark cloud.” He ran down to the captain and ret[...]ust as he reached the deck the vessel struck upon a rock, and a terrific sea sweeping over her stern, carried him[...]eat confusion, many still in their night-clothes. A glance explained the position of the ship. The “Peruvian” was fast on the rock[...]is the shivering wretches, crouched under the lee of the cuddy, resolved to do. When day broke, the full danger of their position became apparent. No land was in view, but as far as the eye could reach, the points of the rocks pierced the white surf. The “Peruvian” had run upon the very centre of an impassable reef. The captain ordered the boats[...]roken water she went to pieces. The long-boat was old and |
| [...]d bale out the water, they refused. The condition of the old and battered boat was such that none would risk t[...]ted the second bucket to the gunwale, the heaving of the sea jerked the stern-post out of the boat, and the fore-tackle getting adrift, she[...]d his brother's wife, sat down in the bows beside a live sheep that had been penned there, and calmly waited for his death. It was not long. In a few minutes the long-boat sank, and he went down in her without a cry. Upon this—the last chance being gone—th[...]all hands into the cabin and prayed. This course of conduct was productive of good. The spectacle of women and children who needed their aid calmed an[...]e women and children were encouraged by the sight of so many sturdy and brave men ready and willing to help them. Going on deck again, the propriety of making a raft was discussed, and though it was gloomily admitted that the chance of being picked up was an extremely remote one, it w[...]und together first the mizen, then the mainmast—a difficult task, for, says Murrell, “they came down with the sails all flying.” Working in imminent peril of his life from every sea that washed over the wrec[...]masts and spars lashed together, and braced with a sort of platform in the middle, formed a rude raft, and with infinite toil they got the un[...]hat the poor wretches could muster were nine tins of preserved meat, a small keg of water, and a little brandy. This scanty store being stowed in the safest portion of the raft, with the captain's instruments a[...] |
| [...]wife), Mrs. Wilmot, and the nurse-girl. The rest of the crew were Wilmot and Quarry, the captain, the[...]ey Heads. It was intended to hold by the ship for a day or so, and if possible build a boat out of the boat-planks aboard; but in the middle of the first night the strength of the current swept the raft from her moorings, and[...]eir lee, with the wreck sticking on its back like a slug on a black bough. Left thus face to face with the ocean and their fate, the little company made a compact among themselves. The stores should be divided equally, and there should be no drawing of lots “to take each other's lives.” At first m[...]rather cheerful. The captain directed the course of the raft, and by the aid of their sail they made forty miles a-day. They were in high hopes of reaching land. Three tablespoonfuls of preserved meat a-day were served out to each person, and the water was measured in the neck of a glass bottle—four such drams—one in the morning, two in the middle of the day, and the other in the evening—being allowed to each. Occasionally a few birds came on board, and the raw flesh and ho[...]ual agony began. On the twenty-third day they saw a sail, which kept in sight for four hours, but fin[...]preserved meat began to run short. The allowance of water was decreased day by day. The poor women, crouched under the lee of the platform, were told that in a few days there would be no meat and no water. The[...]still no land appeared. Mr. Quarry, who had been a long time ailing, told the man next him that he w[...]ive, and cried over the corpse. Fearfully mindful of their “compact,” the survivors stripped the b[...]eir eyes, and the captain, who seems to have been a God-fearing man, read the burial service over the[...]d on which they floated. That evening they caught a rock cod-fish with a line and hook baited with white rag, and cut it up into equal parts. Two more days passed, and they caught a fish each day. Then it rained, but the exhausted creatures seem to have neglected to secure as large a supply of water as they might have done. The two children n[...]took off what clothing she had on, which was only a |
| [...]we were men we would not look at her.” The body of this poor lady floated near the raft for more tha[...]I was so exhausted myself that I forget the order of their names.” The condition of the survivors was terrible, yet, true to their pr[...]from cannibalism. The captain, however, suggested a method of procuring food that seems to well-dined folks sit[...]e sharks swarmed around the raft; if they had but a bait they could catch them. There was really bait enough. They cut off the leg of a man who had died, and tied it to the end of an oar. Half-way up the oar was a running bowline, through which the fish must put[...]us fishing-rod, while the other held the bowline. A shark came, and was caught. The carpenter killed[...]xe, and cutting the monster into strips they made a hearty meal of him. This plan was pursued with success for some[...]e forty-second day since they abandoned the wreck of the “Peruvian,” they landed on what is now known as the southern point of Cape Cleveland. Of the twenty-two souls who had left the wreck, only[...]t, James Gooley, John Millar (the sailmaker), one of the boys, James Murrell (the narrator), the capta[...]on the sand and fell asleep. That astonishing run of good fortune which had followed them during their[...]o rain in the night, and in the morning the holes of the rocks were full of fresh water. When the sun got up, the captain took a glass out of a telescope which he had preserved, and lighting by its means a piece of rag, kindled a fire, at which lumps of shark were boiled and greedily devoured. In the course of the day oysters were found by the captain, who ap[...]might was right, and the captain had the axe. In a few days Mr. Wilmot and Gooley gave up the fight.[...]o crawl to the oyster-bed, “so they lay down by a waterhole and died, nobody being equal to[...] |
| rambles,” came across a native canoe containing lines and spears. Millar,[...]rades attempt to dissuade him. He was determined. A quick death in the breakers was preferable to a long torture on the barren reef. He started and t[...]m up. His body was afterwards found on the shores of the next bay. The little company, now diminished by three, received a still further shock. As Murrell and the captain were crawling over a hill into the adjoining bay, they saw a fullrigged ship running down the inside channel. They had no means of signalising her, and sitting down on the rocks watched her slowly disappear—with what bitterness of spirit one can easily guess. They then came upon the tracks of natives, and followed them as far as they could,[...]inexperienced eyes, and after dragging themselves a little further they returned wearily to camp. Tw[...]and jabbering round about her;” but she was in a very low state of health, and her assertion was treated as the hysterical fancy of a nervous woman. She was right, however. It appears[...]believe that falling stars indicate the presence of an hostile tribe, and that over the place where t[...]rving this circumstance—the wandering shepherds of old would have called it a “miracle’—came down to the rocks, and one of the boys, who was lamed by boils on his legs, was[...]to see for herself. On the cliff above them were a number of natives. “Oh. George,” cried the poor soul to[...]here are the wild blacks!” But the intentions of the natives were friendly. They came down holding out their hands in token of amity, and snuffing curiously round the strangers[...]So affectionate did they become indeed, that ten old men insisted on sleeping in the cave with them. In the morning a further discussion arose. Murrell and the lad were claimed as “jumped up whitefellows” belonging to a tribe at Mount Elliot, while poor Pitkethly and his wife were similarly claimed by a tribe living at Cape Cleveland. This dispute seem[...]n awkward quarrel, but was ultimately adjusted by a division of the spoil of the raft. The natives— as usual—dressed thems[...]from the wreck, and some even tore the leaves out of the few books and fastened them in their hair. Having thus seized everything of value, they commenced to strip the prisone[...] |
| [...]etain her scanty garments. Some roots, seemingly of the truffle order, were now brought, and the nati[...]eir desire for the strangers to join with them in a corrobboree. This was impossible, but Murrell, by way of compromise, as gentlemen at evening parties transmute the “singing a song” into the “telling a story,” sang them a hymn— “God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform”— at which they were much pleased. The sight of the grinning savages surrounding the four poor shipwrecked creatures singing a hymn about the providence of God must have been a strange one. Received into the camp, they gradua[...]ded from all parts to see them. Murrell expressed a wish to go back to his white friends, and it was agreed that the natives should let him know whenever a ship was seen near the coast. Yet their kindness[...]e shown to the best advantage, and the attendance of the “white men” was demanded at every corrobbioree. Murrell gives an interesting description of the ceremony of the Boree, or making the lads men, which is too l[...]d to test courage. Cane rings are put on the arms of the youths, and tightened so as to impede the circulation of the blood. “Their arms swell very much, which p[...]fingers spread out on the ground, with the heels of their feet pressed closely on them. In the morning they are brought out in the presence of their mothers, sisters, and relatives, and just above and below the mark of the cane ring on their arms they make small incisions to let the blood flow”—a curious way of celebrating a coming of age, and, if possible, more unpleasant than the m[...]to differ but little in their customs from others of like race. They burn their dead, and carry the ashes about in a sheet of bark for twelve months, when they throw them into a waterhole. |
| Their religious belief is of the most negative character. They say that their forefathers witnessed a great flood, and all the people in the world were drowned except some half-dozen, who went up into a high mountain— Bibbiringda (inland to the north bay of Cape Cleveland). Murrell thinks that this is some dim recollection of the Noachian deluge. It is strange that aboriginals who have no tradition of their many wars, and whose memory is so slight as[...]d invariably hold the most orthodox recollections of the Noachian deluge. They live on roots, fish, fr[...]e men have several wives, and imitate the example of the sententions Cato in their treatment of them. For seventeen years Murrell lived among th[...]o longer. He and his wife were there in the midst of savages, almost without clothes, and compelled to conform to the barbarous practices of the country. He seems to have felt more for his unhappy wife[...]lf. “Up to this time,” says Murrell, speaking of two years from the date of the landing, “she managed, by dint of great difficulty, to keep herself partially cover[...]ew it could not last much longer; and the thought of her having to come so low, and her utter helpless[...]er. Unhappy creatures! It is difficult to imagine a more dreadful death for a carefully-nurtured woman. The slow years rolled[...]own language, his own name—all save the memory of his native land. At last ships began to appear. A vessel came to the shore while Murrell was absent[...]panion's wish, attempted to attract the attention of the crew; but the Englishmen, not understanding t[...]t them, and drove them away. Not long after this a white man with two horses came upon some natives lamenting the death of an old man, and raising his gun shot the old man's son, who was lying on his father's body. For this act of treachery he was, not unjustly, massacred by the tribe. Murrell says that this man was a Mr. Humphreys, of Port Denison, who was out looking for a “new track.” After this several white men were seen, and also tracks of cattle, and Murrell determined to make an[...] |
| approach a white man's hut, which they had discovered some miles down the coast. Getting clear of the scrub, the exile saw the smoke of the chimney, and the sheep feeding on the grass. The sight of these strange animals so terrified the gin, that she ran back alone. Murrell went into a waterhole, where he washed himself as white as he[...]ther one came out, and one cried, “Bill, here's a yellow man standing on the rails, naked. He's not a black man—bring the gun.” Poor Murrell, in terror, cries, “Don't shoot! I am a British object, a ship-wrecked sailor.” “Of course,” he adds, “I meant subject, but in the excitement of the moment I did not know what I said.” The two[...]lded his plans. He would go back to the blacks as a sort of ambassador of peace and goodwill. The three white men accepted this conclusion, adding, as a sort of rider to Murrell's original proposition, that if[...]protectors to promise an “equitable division” of the country. The natives implored him to remain with them, but he reminded them of the threat of the “trackers,” and was firm. The parting, as[...]urst out crying; so did his ‘gin’ and several of the other ‘gins’ and men. It was a wild, touching scene. The remembrance of their past kindness came full upon me, and quite overpowered me. There was a short struggle between the feeling of love I had for my old friends and companions, and the desire once more to live a civilised life, which can be better imagined than[...]othed, and returned to his right mind. At the end of a fortnight he was taken into the newly-made town of Bowen, where a subscription was raised for him. Thus snatched from barbarism, he ran the usual little round of tea-parties. People were eager to hear this newly[...]on, and from Rockhampton to Brisbane. At Brisbane a pious Baptist got hold of him, and “publicly baptised him on a profession of faith in Christ.” He was received as a “lion” at Government House, and eventually accepted an official crumb in the shape of a keepership of bonded stores. Upon the |
| strength of this appointment he married, and lived comfortably, becoming possessed of freehold property. He was a general favourite with the inhabitants, and was p[...]he was short and thick set, with sunken eyes, and a wide mouth. His teeth were wom down to the gums,[...]less, he was active and cheerful, and not without a hankering after his old life. He offered his services to the Leichhardt p[...]ted—the Port Denison Times thinks to the injury of the expedition. He was born at Heybridge, near Ma[...]ort Denison on the 30th October, 1865, at the age of 41, leaving a wife and one child. His death was considered almost a public calamity, and was thus spoken of by the local press: “Tt is our mournful duty,” says the Port Denison Times, “to record the death of the pioneer white man in the north —James Murre[...]October. For some time he had been suffering from a wound received in the knee during his sojourn amo[...]ing his late illness, when his mind passed, as in a dream, through the scenes of misery and care of his exile, he always returned to his wife and chi[...]hat they should in future be provided for. He was a general favourite throughout the district, and when his death became known in the town on Monday, the whole of the flags at the ships in harbour, and at the var[...]funeral took place yesterday, and was attended by a large number of mourners, including many of our influential citizens. The men belonging to th[...]nd obtained permission to act as bearers to their old comrade's remains. The police also attended, and[...]the mayor and the police magistrate, followed by a long string of vehicles, horsemen, and pedestrians.” Such is the strange story of the first Queensland explorer, and it is given—with details necessarily omitted here—in a pamphlet, edited by Mr. Gregory, and publi[...] |
| [...]n Diemen's Land. AT two o'clock in the afternoon of the 7th of April, 1850, the convict ship “Neptune” cast anchor in the Derwent. The fortunes and freight of the “Neptune” were uncommon. She had come from Bermuda to the Cape with convicts, but the inhabitants of Cape Town refused to allow the prisoners to land,[...]read, which, “in compensation for the hardships of their long voyage and detention,” graciously ex[...]seventeen days' cruise in the “Neptune,” land of any sort is pleasant), and twelve of the most powerful ruffians are straightway made c[...]ner, “William Smith O'Brien.” The sufferings of the “prisoner Mitchel” up to this point are i[...]arge upon them. Suffice it to say that he was one of those Irish exiles, those “rash and most unfortunate men,” who, agonised at the struggles of their unhappy country choking in the red-tape bonds of English misgovernment, attempted to cut the knot with the sword, and failed. The Alexander of Ireland had not yet come. Yet, looking back for a moment upon that most miserable time, I cannot see what else remained to the Young Ireland party. They had carefully planned a revolution of moral force. Ireland was to be regenerated. Irishmen were to be educated out of their prejudices. Ireland was to recover what she had lost by the Union, and claim for herself the right of legislation. The Nation (brilliant meteor, now quenched in the blackest of Irish hogs) was the lever by which the world was to be moved. The Nation spoke the voice of the leaders of the people, and, conducted with surprising ability, made itself a power almost before men were aware of its existence. Like the infant Hercules, it began[...]usly shook with revolution, and in the excitement of the time the prudent leaders of the Irish people lost sight of prudence and “moral |
| suasion.” If ever there was a time to strike for Ireland, it would seem to have[...], all planned. France and America both gave hopes of assistance; the people, famished and despairing,[...]the minutest intelligence concerning the projects of the Confederation was borne to the English Cabine[...]th English bank-notes. Having made itself master of the designs of the “rebels,” the English Parliament determined to force the Revolution to a premature birth, and so abort it without further trouble. The instrument used was a Treason and Felony Bill, which, passed through bo[...]smitted to Ireland by the next packet. The arrest of the conspirators was resolved upon. The tallest p[...]st men plucked from its midst and lodged in gaol. A hurried council of war was held in the cell of the Enjolras of this Irish Rue St. Denis, and it was resolved to[...]as withheld; the stores, dependent on the harvest of September, were not yet arrived; the very leader was a makeshift. Mr. Smith O'Brien, a country gentleman of moderate fortune and high social standing, was forced into the position of general of these ragged forces. He was brave and enthusiastic, but utterly unfitted for the position in which the turn of fortune had placed him. It was necessary, however, to have a name at the head of the movement, and “O'Brien” was a watchword as dear to Irish hearts as had been “Stewart” or “Montrose” to the Highlanders of Scotland. Thus the “revolution” began—we know how it ended amid a savage horse-laugh from all in England. There is[...]them that title—had been shot down in the heat of battle, or executed on the scaffold, the world wo[...]but to raise an insurrection which is put down by a corporal's guard, to light the torch of revolution only to see it extinguished by a bucket of water, to be captured in a gooseberry garden and put in a Tasmanian corner like a naughty boy— most miserable! Poor Irelan[...] |
| the sensitive, the torture of merited ridicule is of all tortures the greatest. In the day of defeat there was scarce a writer of any note in England who had the manliness to refrain from a sneer at the defeated. Even Thackeray— whose ge[...]im—rhymed in stinging couplets about “Meagher of the swoord,” and “Shmith O'Brine.” Everythi[...]t labours, patriotic enthusiasm, and unhappy fate of these men, seemed to the English press the best j[...]lies even, and to this hour the malignant fiction of poor Smith O'Brien's cabbage-bed is devoutly believed by a variety of respectable Philistines. But to return. John Mitchel, originally an attorney practising in the north of Ireland, had by some writings of his attracted the attention of the editor of the Nation, who invited him to Dublin, and placed him on the staff of that journal. The reckless impetuosity of the man—unable to recognise that moderation, wh[...]re damaging to an enemy than ill-judged outbursts of futile anger—could not understand the apparent sloth of the Nation's movements. He quarrelled with the ed[...]nited Irishman, which became the recognised organ of the headstrong, and which, I am afraid, assisted[...]icking against the pricks to exhaust the strength of the Young Ireland party. When the blow fell, he was among the first of the captured, and was sent to Bermuda, where he w[...]consideration, but put into solitary confinement. A man of ardour, taste, and education, his soul sickened a[...]s kind, and he would have become as insane as one of the hermit-saints. His nature was fiery, impetuou[...]rative is in part compiled), though drenched with a perverse conceit, is a remarkable production. Though in style slavishly imitative of Carlyle, and overlaid with that tawdry ornamentation which is at once the blot and the brilliancy of Irish eloquence, the book is marked by passages of extreme beauty of imagination and vigour of thought. The fact that it was evidently written w[...]to publication, and that the writer, in the midst of his most unreasoning outbursts of passion and savagest denunciation of British tyranny, has ever before him his own figure bowing in the character of a martyred man of genius to an admiring reader, tends to raise a doubt as to the trustworthiness of the information conveyed. In this journal the slo[...]at Bermuda are all set down. I take up the thread of |
| [...]d to reside at large in the police districts, out of communication with each other, on condition of reporting themselves to the police magistrate once a month. “This condition of existence,” says Mitchel, “is, I find, called a ticket-of- leave. I may accept it or not, as I think proper, or having accepted I may resign it; but first of all I must give my promise that so long as I hold[...]not think it necessary to emulate the self-denial of Smith O'Brien, and so was sent to Bothwell, a charming village on the Clyde, there to reside on parole. The reason of Mr. O'Brien's apparent Quixotism was this. It was[...]the poor fellows that they would treat England as a hostile power, and instead of protesting against the severity of their sentence, exclaim with all power of body and breath against what they considered the injustice of their trial. “The whole of the proceedings are monstrous,” was in effect t[...]criminals by purchasing indulgence at the expense of submission. We regard ourselves illegally in dure[...]rous, and Smith O'Brien was twice nearly torn out of Maria Island. The treachery of those who should have befriended him, however, caused the failure of the best-laid scheme, and he was removed to Port Arthur, where a little hut was set apart for his reception. The story of this attempted escape makes a pendant to that of Mitchel himself. The friends of O'Brien in Hobart Town had bargained with a man named Ellis, the captain of a small schooner, to hover about the island until a fitting opportunity arose for the sending on shore a boat which should pick off the prisoner. O'Brien[...]n Francisco. Ellis, however, had sold the details of this desperate plot to the Government, and the gaolers at Maria Island were in full possession of every particular. Every step of O'Brien's daily walk was watched, and his eager glances towards the sea-board noted with grins and jerkings of elbows. At last the boat appeared, and O'B[...] |
| [...]invited him on board, where he instantly took up a hatchet—no doubt provided by the ship for that[...]is was caught afterwards at San Francisco by some of the O'Brien party, and being brought out of his ship by night, was tried then and there by Lynch law, with a view to instant hanging, but was “acquitted for want of evidence.” John Mitchel having got over the first agonies of separation and contumely, found life in Van Dieme[...]d, fished, shot, and hunted. Around him were many of his old friends; Martin, Meagher, and Doherty were living within a day's journey of his house, and forbidden meetings were frequent.[...]political prisoners” with respect. When passing a chain-gang of poor devils who, failing the dignity of revolution, had earned their misery by shooting a hare or snaring a partridge, the overseers “touched their hats”[...]les. Yet the fact that they were prisoners—that a slight deviation from the rules laid down for them, that a momentary outbreak of passion against a “man in authority”—would condemn them to share the fate of the ruffianly hare- shooters, and desperate snarers of pheasants, rendered the thinking hours of the Irishmen heavy with angry regrets. They were[...]rry, but the fabled sword yet hung suspended, and a caprice might at any time give them over to the coal mines of Port Arthur, or the travelling sheds of the road-gangs. That fortune had not cursed them with the companionship of those monsters among whom the poachers and rick-b[...]r detention as infamous and unjust, nothing short of absolute freedom would content them. At every hour, in every place, the thought of their captivity embittered their pleasures. Did Mitchel ride afield, or read at home, gallop (in the company of the wife who had joined him) through the summer bush, or float with Meagher and Doherty on the bosom of the crater-lake Sorell in the fastnesses of the mountains, the same thought was present— he was a prisoner. Every page of |
| into bloom, loading the warm air with a rich fragrance which a European joyfully recognises at once as a well-remembered perfume. It is precisely the fragrance of the Queen of the Meadows ‘spilling her spikenard.’ At about ten miles distance we descend into a deep valley, and water our horses in the Jordan.[...]tween Bothwell and the Oatlands districts, stands a police station. Two constables lounge before the door as we pass, and, as usual, the sight of them makes us feel once more that the whole wide[...]umed dungeon.” Again—“We approach the brow of a deep glen, where trees of vast height wave their tops far beneath our feet, and the farther side of the glen is formed by a promontory that runs out into the bay, with steep[...]ch as in European seas would have been consecrate of old to some Undine's love—caves whither Ligeia, if[...]o comb her hair; and over the soft swelling slope of the hill above, embowered so gracefully in trees, what building stands? Is that a temple crowning the promontory as the pillared portico crowns. Sunium, or a villa carrying you back to Baiae? Damnation! it is a convict barrack.” But help was nigh at hand. On the 3rd of January, 1853 (three years out of the fourteen having passed), the following entry appears in the journal:—“A new personage has appeared amongst us, dropped do[...]Hobart Town two or three days ago, I went first, of course, to St. Mary's Hospital, where I found St.[...]opened his eyes wide when he saw me, drew me into a private room, and bid me guess who had come to Van Diemen's Land. Guessing was out of the question, so I waited his revelation. “Pat[...]Irish Directory in New York to procure the escape of one or more of us, O'Brien especially, and with abundant means to secure a ship for San Francisco, and to provide for rescuing us if necessary out of the hands of the police magistrate after withdrawing the parol[...]By-and-bye the coach arrived, and amongst others a young man alighted. Mitchel guessed that the stranger must be the Smyth of whom he had heard, so walking round the coach, he abruptly accosted him. Smyth at first took him for a spy, but |
| soon was convinced that he was one of the men he had been sent to seek. The next evenin[...]ed friends and money, and now adventured his head a second time in the noose. He was well provided with letters ofa ship in such a cause, and by dint of bribery and stratagem it would be easy to get the exiles aboard her. But Smith O'Brien would hear of but one mode of escape—to resign the parole, and then trust to[...]sts that the four should place themselves in such a position as to be arrested all together, and then rescue themselves by force ofof the services ofof the liberty it afforded him to assist his escape.[...]on, Smyth departed for Melbourne, there to obtain a ship and crew. John Mitchel began also to make his preparations. Mr. Davis, the police magistrate of the district, owned a white horse, “half Arab, full of game, and of great endurance.” Mitchel hearing that this hor[...]purchase at Nant, and waits for news. On the 18th of March came a letter from Melbourne, and on the 24th Nicaragua[...]igantine “Waterlily,” owned by John Macnamara of Sydney, was to come to Hobart Town, clear thence[...]d, and then coast to Spring Bay (on the east side of the island, about seventy miles from Bothwell), a[...]llop on his new horse midway to Spring Bay, where a relay would be provided, and reach the shore by midnight. A boat sent by Macnamara would pick him up, and if the police at the Spring Bay Station attempted a rescue, so much the worse for them. On Sunday evening, however, a friendly resident at Bothwell informed |
| the six that “all was known,” the Governor had for a fortnight been informed of Nicaragua's intentions, the “Waterlily” was purposely allowed to clear out of Hobart Town, the police force at Spring Bay had b[...]e party dispersed with heavy hearts. On the 12th of April an incident occurred which, appearing at th[...]cape together. It was not, however, until the 6th of June that such opportunity offered itself. Then Smyth found a ship about to sail for Sydney, the captain of which would receive his friend on board. A week after this, Mitchel and Smyth started from N[...]ture. Nicaragua rode Donald the Arab, and Mitchel a half-bred mare named Fleur-de-lis. A quarter of a mile from the house, Mitchel's boy coming at full gallop from Bothwell met them. He bore aa means of escape presented itself. With this last hope, then, the two galloped to Bothwell. They overtook a Mr. Denniston, who chatted agreeably about agricultural matters, and asked Mitchel if he meant to put any of his land in crop for the ensuing season. Mitchel[...]ere eight or nine constables armed, “undergoing a sort of drill,” while at the door was as usual a constable on guard. A Mr. Barr, “a worthy Scotch gentleman and magistrate of the district,” was standing close to the gate.[...]office. Mr. Davis, the magistrate, was sitting at a table in the court-room. His clerk was with him, and a constable was in the police- office itself. “Mr. Davis,” says Mitchel, “here is a copy of a note which I have sent to the Governor.” Davis[...]caragua planted himself at his friend's side with a menacing gesture, one hand thrust into his breast feeling the butt of his revolver. Mitchel held in his hand a heavy riding-whip, and had two pistols in[...] |
| [...]t.-Gov., &c. “Sir—I hereby resign the ticket-of-leave, and withdraw my parole. I shall forthwith present myself before the police-magistrate of Bothwell, at his office, show him a copy of this note, and offer myself to be taken into cust[...]he movement, which probably brought the hands out of those dangerous breast-pockets, broke the spell.[...]nothing and knew nothing, saw only the “ticket-of-leave prisoner, Mitchel,” accompanied by his fr[...]he pair leaped into their saddles, and nodding to a few “grinning residents of Bothwell,” who “knew the meaning of the performance in a moment,” dashed down the street at full gallop. A mile deep in the forest the fugitives changed hor[...]ands, and thence by coach to Launceston. Mitchel, a mile further, met a friend, T—H—, who undertook to guide him to L[...]r way in the thick darkness, and camp on the edge of a precipice in the wildest part of the ranges. In the morning they reach the hut of “old Job Sims,” the friendly shepherd of Mr. Russell (Job had assisted already at the escape of Meagher), and there Mitchel wrote to his wife telling her of his fortune. The next day he fell in with friends, and received the hospitality of a gentleman who had a “large and handsome house at the base of the Western Tier.” Mitchel calls him “Wood,” and says in a foot-note that “Wood is a fictitious name.” At the farmhouse of a Mr. Burke, six miles from “Wood's,” he lay concealed, waiting for news of Nicaragua and a chance of escape. In the meantime Nicaragna had don[...] |
| [...]gerly for “horses to Spring Bay,” slipped out of the hotel, climbed the wall, got round to the roa[...]ounted police despatched by Davis to “scour the country” find Mitchel's Fleur-de- lis reeking with sweat in the stable at Oatlands, and hearing that a gentleman had been asking for horses to Spring Ba[...]Mitchel has left the island; Davis is laughed at a good deal; Sir William Denison repudiates all notion of the prisoner's letter; the constable who was on d[...]dly expresses his hope that Mitchel is safely out of the island. In the meantime a strict watch is kept upon all “suspected persons.” So matters shape themselves until the 20th, when a friend, riding to Burke's farm-house by night, brings a letter from Nicaragua. That indefatigable conspir[...]ut unarrested, and is negotiating with Macnamara, of the “Don Juan,” brigantine. Two days after th[...]ce constables furnished with written descriptions of the prisoner Mitchel. In this dilemma a new arrangement is effected. A trusty messenger hurries to Launceston, there to tell the captain of the “Don Juan” to lie off a “solitary beach” to the west of the mouth of the Tamar, somewhere between West-head and Badger[...]crossing any river but the Meander. On the night of the 24th a start was made. The weather was gloomy and foreboding, the flooded meres and marshes now sheets of thin ice. Mitchel having despatched two letters,[...]mother in New York, gives himself into the hands of his guides and body-guard. This last is of considerable number, consisting of the two Burkes, Mr. “Wood,” and his brother O'K—, O'Mara, Burke's brother-in-law, and Foley, “a gigantic Tipperary boy.” All day long prudent M[...]ciously casts bullets. After two days and nights of the flooded bush, scrambling up mountain-[...] |
| [...]t determined to place him for safety in the hands of a Mr. Miller, who owned a station on the shores of Port Sorell. Miller—a hater of Sir William Denison—promised to do his best for[...]ys, waiting for the “Don Juan.” Sick to death of this hand-to-mouth liberty, he urges upon Miller a variety of desperate schemes, and at last hits upon one that seems to have in it some gleam of sense. Four miles down the river lies the “Wave,” about to sail for Melbourne with a cargo of sawn timber, and Mitchel shall sail in her as Mil[...]le who “clears” the vessel unsuspicious, when a message arrives that changes all their plans. Mr. Dease, a merchant of Launceston, has secured for Father Macnamara a passage in the steamer to Melbourne. So Father Macnamara, in the person of Mitchel, bids farewell to the Millers, and in the dress of a Catholic priest gets to Launceston through pourin[...]his trip. But the haven is far from won. Rumours of the fugitive's midnight rides are afloat, and the captain of the steamer says that the rigour of searching has been so much increased of late that he durst not take the holy father aboar[...]k his cloth and life in an open boat to the mouth of the Tamar, there to lie until the steamer in pass[...]despairing, Macnamara arrived just before dawn at a point of the river seventeen miles from George Town. There a man named Barrett was to take him aboard another boat, and get him to the steamer. Lying hid on the banks of the Tamar, the false priest saw the steamer pass,[...]t up steam. Father Macnamara sitting in the stern of Barrett's returned boat, and pulled by four stron[...]and shrieked; nothing was visible but the glimmer of the white foam on the water. Four times wa[...] |
| walked coolly down the street to the house of a friend, and having eaten, took passage as Father[...]d his journey safely, notwithstanding that he had a fellow-passenger, the Hon. T. M'Dowell, then Atto[...]s, where every creature knew him by sight, he had a narrow escape. The chief-constable, on “special[...]est door- handle, and the other grasping the butt of a pistol hidden beneath his cassock, met the inquir[...]Blake alighted, feeling that to brave the “door of the Ship Inn in Hobart Town, crowded with detecti[...]by the night coach to Hobart Town. In the centre of the town he made the coachman pull up, and walked[...]ey had met since they changed horses on the banks of the Clyde five weeks before. Father Blake was amo[...], so Mitchel, as “Mr. Wright,” was to lie for a week at the house ofa special boat. On the 19th of July the “Emma” cleared out of Hobart Town, and the next day a Mr. Wright, who has appeared on board; makes casual acquaintance with Nicaragua and some of the other passengers, and sits down to smoke and chat. Mrs. Mitchel with her children—the object of compassion to many worthy souls aboard—watches Mr. Wright eagerly, but does not speak to him. On the 23rd of July Mr. Wright, under the name of “Warren,” is domiciled at the house of James Macnamara, in Sydney, waiting for a vessel, and in the meantime lionises Sydney, “a seaport town of 80,000 inhabitants,” says he, “and there's an end.” At length a cabin passage is secured for Mr. Warren in the “Orkney Lass,” bound for Honolulu, and on the 2nd of August that good ship was cleared at Sydney Heads[...]at five o'clock in the evening, saw the “coast of New South Wales a hazy line upon the purple sea, fading into a dream.” Of his further adventures, until he landed on the 29th of November, 1853, in Brooklyn, it is not my[...] |
| A word, however, about the manner of escape. It is hard to say that Mitchel broke his parole, but I am afraid that at best his escape was due to a melodramatic quibble. He certainly gave up his “ticket-of—leave” before he attempted escape, but he made all the arrangements for escape by virtue of the liberty which that ticket-of-leave afforded him. His parole obtained him inter[...]m to plot, money, horses, and arms. To march like a stage hero into a police-office, and with hand on pistol (purchased by virtue of the parole) disdainfully ask an unarmed police ma[...]ke him into custody, was not an honest withdrawal of his plighted word. To fulfil the terms of his contract with the Government, he should have placed himself in the hands of the constables in the condition he had been in when the parole was granted him—namely, unarmed, a prisoner, with bars and stone walls around him, a[...]ell at Maria Island, better understood the nature of the promise of a gentleman. I am willing to believe, however, that Mitchel—perpetually posing as a hero—was blinded by the melodramatic heroies of the proceeding to a true comprehension of its merits. |
TXT | |
| Old tales of a young country Clarke, Marcus Andrew Hislop (1846-1881) A digital text sponsored by Australian Literature Electronic Gateway University of Sydney Library Sydn[...] |
| [...]© University of Sydney Library. The texts and I[...]First Published: 1871 A823.91/C599/E2/2 setis australian etexts early set[...]1870-1889 Old tales of a young country by Secretary to the Trustees of the Public Library, Museums, &c., Melbourn[...] |
| [...]er. They were dug out by me at odd times during a period of three years, from the store of pamphlets, books, and records of old times, which is in the Public Library; and in the[...]belongs to the compiler. The fact, that, being in a measure themselves records of bye-gone days, they have tickled the memories of old colonists, and so attracted an attention altogether out of proportion to their literary merits, is my reason for publishing them in a collected form. I have done my best to secure a[...]dates, and minute particulars; but the meagreness of the early colonial newspapers, the wanton destruction or mutilation of many of the early colonial official documents, the jealou[...]ors, and the fact that the rude, adventurous life of those early colonial days prevented the registration of the very romances which it induced, render it difficult to obtain correlative evidence of many statements quoted, and have compelled me in[...]pt the narrative as correct on the sole authority of the first and only narrator. I shall therefore[...]formation than I possess, on the subjects treated of in the following pages. MARCUS CLA[...] |
| [...]PAGE THE SETTLEMENT OF SYDNEY 1 GEORGE BA[...]EY, THE “WILD WHITE MAN” 19 A LEAF FROM AN OLD NEWSPAPER 31 THE RUM-PUNCHEON REVOLUTION 38 THE RULE OF THE BUSHRANGER 53 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN JORGENSON 66 GOVERNOR[...]A FIFTY YEARS AGO 117 THE SEIZURE OF THE “CYPRUS” 133 THE LAST OF MACQUARIE HARBOUR 141[...] |
| Old Tales of a Young Country |
| The Settlement of Sydney. AT daylight on the 13th May, 1787, His Majesty's ship “Sirius” made signal to sail to a little fleet that had been lying off the Mother Bank since the 16th of March. This little fleet was destined to carry Governor Phillip to take formal possession of Botany Bay, a place recommended to the Government as suitable for a convict station. The fleet was not a large one. It consisted of His Majesty's ships “Sirius,” “Supply,” and “Hyena” (the latter only acting as convoy for a certain distance), three victualling ships with t[...]soldiers, together with 775 convicts, consisting of 565 men, 192 women, and 18 children. The list of the military force, as given by Captain Watkin French, of the Marines (from whose account of the expedition the minuter details of this paper are derived), is worth noting—4 capt[...]60 private marines; and he adds that the majority of the prisoners were mechanics and husbandmen specially selected by order of the Government. Having got through the Needles with a “fresh leading breeze,” the convicts began to repine at their lot; but on the morning of the 20th, getting their irons knocked off by order of the commandant, and sending a few messages to England by the “Hyena,” which parted company that afternoon, matters began to assume a more cheerful aspect. Let us glance for a moment at the state of affairs in Europe. It was seven years after the Gordon riots and the burning of Newgate. American independence had been already d[...]e blood shed at Bunker's Hill had caused the tree of liberty to blossom and bud. Admiral Kempenfelt an[...]gone down at Spithead. William Pitt was 29 years old, and had been Premier of England for four years. The steam- engine had sup[...]one at Warren Hastings. Washington was on the eve of his presidency, and the Convocation of Notables was waiting to be convoked. It was the age of mail coaches, knee-breeches, frogs, Frenchmen, ta[...]struggle with her colonies, and the thundercloud of revolution hung over France. Napoleon had[...] |
| After touching at Teneriffe on the 3rd June—where a convict made a desperate attempt to escape by seizing a boat in the night and rowing off to a small cove, from which he intended to “cross to[...]t, the fleet cast anchor in Table Bay on the 13th of October, and found the harbour crowded with shipping. At the Cape they remained until the 12th of November, and took on board 2 bulls, 7 cows, 3 ho[...]hogs, besides goats and poultry, for the purpose of stocking the settlement. A few officers also purchased live stock, but found[...]ng to the expedition to be informed by the master of an American ship, 140 days from Boston, on a trading voyage to the East Indies, and rescuer of the officers and crew of the “Harcourt,” wrecked on the Cape de Verde Islands, that “if a reception could be secured, emigration would take place to New South Wales, not only from the old continent but the new one, where the spirit ofof the fleet. On the 25th, therefore, the separation[...]Supply,” in order that His Excellency might get a few buildings run up by the time the fleet should[...]was put into two divisions, the first, consisting of three transports, under the command of Lieutenant Bird; and the second, comprising the victuallers and remaining transports, was left in charge of Captain Hunter, of the “Sirius.” Sailing in this order, then, on the 7th January, 1788, the expedition sighted the shore of New South Wales, but the westerly wind dying away[...]lled to hold off the shore, and did not get sight of it again until the 19th, and on the morning of the 20th—a dull, heavy, and cloudy day—the last division c[...]r. The voyage had taken exactly 35 weeks, and out of 112 marines His Majesty had lost but one, making up for it, however, by the death of 24 out of the 700 convicts. The stay in the bay was not of long duration. The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor (Mr. Robert Ross) started to explore the country the next morning, and getting into an opening cal[...]rt Jackson,” were so struck with the advantages of the place that it was determined instantly to remove thither. On setting sail the next morning, however, a great alarm spread through the fleet: two large ships were seen standing in for the mouth of the bay! All sorts of rumours were afloat. It |
| was the vanguard of a Dutch fleet come to dispossess them. It was an armed vessel of war, and her consort. It was a store-ship from England. Governor Phillip, howeve[...]strange sail were French ships under the command of M. de La Perrouse. The next morning the two natio[...]ssed with flags flying in the solitary bay. After a few hours run to Port Jackson, during which time the party admired the luxuriant prospect of its shores, among which many of the “Indians” were frequently seen, they anchored in a snug cove, and on the next day commenced to disem[...]es, set up the tents, and mark out the dimensions of their future home, the expedition passed away som[...]Governor fixed his residence on the eastern side of a small rivulet at the head of the cove, with a large body of convicts encamped near him; and on the western side were stationed the remaining body of prisoners, with guards posted over them night and day. The pressure of business—that is to say, the making of huts and daubing of wattles—prevented the immediate reading of the commissions, but on the 7th of February the colony was taken possession of in due form. On that day the officers of the guard took post in the Marine battalion, whic[...]nor and Captain-General in and over the territory of New South Wales and its dependencies. Upon this His Excellency made a judicious speech to the convicts, assuring them of his desire to treat them fairly and kindly, and read an Act of Parliament for the establishment of laws, and patents for holding civil and criminal[...]s Excellency, the day's proceedings winding up by a “cold collation” in His Excellency's newly-erected tent, and the “drinking of many loyal and public toasts.” We can imagine the happy little picnic party in the cool of the evening drinking prosperity to Port Jackson,[...]in the adjoining bush, and about 1200 square feet of cleared land round about them, all unwitting of goldfields, Bathurst rushes, separation of Victoria, land acts, universal suffrage, and the like. The extent of the Governor's authority by this commission is de[...]10° 37' south; and commencing again at the 135° of longitude east of Greenwich, it proceeds in an easterly direction, |
| and includes all islands within the limits of the specified latitudes in the Pacific Ocean.* As[...]convicts were brought to trial. One was convicted of striking a marine with a cooper's adze, and received 150 lashes for his pa[...]ing island, and kept there on bread and water for a week; while a third, sentenced to receive 50 lashes, was pardoned by the grace of the Governor. On the 28th of February a “mutinous plot” was discovered among the conv[...]executed—the ringleader, Thomas Barrett, “an old and desperate offender, who died with a hardy spirit.” He was swung off the limb of a big tree, near which were assembled the whole body of convicts, guarded by the battalion of marines. The constitution of the court by which these fellows were tried was rather peculiar. The number of members, including the judge-advocate, was limited to seven, who are expressly ordered to be officers of either army or navy. The court being met in milit[...]ion is directed to be given according to the laws of England, “or as nearly as may be, allowing for the circumstances and situation of the settlement,” by a majority of votes. In capital cases, however, five out of the seven members must concur to make a verdict. During the sitting of the court, the court- house was surrounded by a guard under arms, and admission granted to any on[...]bruary Lieutenant Bull sailed for Norfolk Island, a place concerning which the “Ministry” had hea[...]and took with him Lieutenant King as commandant, a surgeon, a midshipman, a weaver, two marines, and sixteen convicts, of whom six were women. Events went on quietly enoug[...]ith astonishment the white skins and shaven chins of the new comers. Governor Phillip seems to have pr[...]asserting their freedom by knocking in the skull of some aggressive convict. They were a poor set of creatures going entirely naked, |
| sleeping in a sort of coffin of bark, eating roots and refusing rum; but when rou[...]n swords, spears, and clubs. The dingo, that pest of the early squatters, was quite domesticated in those days. Governor Phillip had one given to him as a present by a friendly native, and thought it something like a fox. With the aspect and appearance of the colony the settlers seemed more than satisfied, but they complained bitterly at first of the bad grain of the wood. Snakes were plentiful, and the emu and[...]y the garrison grew very successfully. The notion of “mines,” which it would appear had possessed the brain of some wild dreamer in England, was speedily laughed to scorn, although Governor Phillip observed a “prodigious chain of mountains,” running north and south, at a distance of some 60 miles inland, which he thought might be worth exploring. In the middle of March the French departed on the prosecution of their voyage. Their ships—under the command of M. de La Perrouse—had sailed from France on the[...]on, died, and was buried on the north shore, with a plate of copper attached to a tree above his grave. On the 20th March the “[...]rguing badly for the future commercial prosperity of the colony from that circumstance. Winter now coming on, the erection of barracks was set about with great vigour, and the privates of each company undertook to build for themselves tw[...]mpelled to abandon the undertaking and proceed on a more limited scale. The plan of the town, moreover, was drawn out, and it being agreed that “to proceed on a narrow confined scale in a country of the extensive limits we possess would be unpardonable, extent of empire commanding grandeur of design,” the principal street was laid down 200[...]expedition into the interior. His party consisted of eleven persons, but at the end of four days, provisions growing scarce, it w[...] |
| [...]ed to live almost entirely on salt provisions. As a natural consequence, scurvy broke out: vegetables[...]ell sick. It drew near the time for the departure of the ships for Europe, and earnest representations were made concerning the supply of fresh meat. But there was a hopeful spirit abroad. On the anniversary of the King's birthday all the officers dined with the Governor, and among other toasts drunk was that of “Prosperity of Sydney Cove, in Cumberland County.” At daylight[...]and answered by three volleys from the battalion of marines. Each prisoner received an allowance of grog, and— glorious day—“every non-commissioned officer and private soldier had the honour of drinking His Majesty's health in a pint of porter, served out at the flag-staff.” Three da[...]indulgence, however, was followed by ill effects. A prisoner named Samuel Peyton, twenty years of age, broke open an officer's marquee, with intent[...]rbett, who had attempted to escape. On the 14th of July, 1788, the ships, with the exception of the “Sirius” and the “Supply,” which had[...]report to the British Government that the colony of Port Jackson had been successfully established. Looking back—while a boy yells latest Sydney telegrams under my window—from the new story of 1871 to this old story of 1788, it seems worth the retelling. * Cap[...] |
| [...]ckpocket and Historian. MOST people have heard of George Barrington, the pickpocket. His name has b[...]emanly larceny. Bulwer has dished up an imitation of him in Paul Clifford, and Lever has introduced him bodily into The O'Donoghue. I read once a highly-spiced romance called by his name, and purporting to be an account of his doings, in that oracle of nurserymaids the London Journal, and I came very near to seeing a sensation drama in five acts, of which he was the intelligent hero. I have heard his name mentioned with almost as much admiration as that of Jack Sheppard by pipe-smoking “old hands,” yarning while the sheep were camped; and I have seen a picture of him— Claude Duval dashed with Almaviva—presiding at a banquet as the Prince of Prigs. That he was the prince of prigs in the age of the first gentleman in Europe, there can be no do[...]e eighth commandment with an air. He was not such a grand speculator as Price, otherwise Old Patch; he did not ride so dashingly as Claude Duval; he had not the more solid qualities of M. Vidocq, nor the enterprising financial ability of Sir John Dean Paul; but he was, in his way, as smart a fellow as any of them. He lived merrily all his life, and having been transported, made the best of his altered circumstances, took the goods the gods provided him, became superintendent of convicts at Parramatta, wrote a history of his adopted country, and died in the odour of respectability. It is on account of his latter exploit in the way of authorship that I have elected to tell the true story of his life in these pages. Strangely enough, however, though Messrs. Sherwood, Neily, and Jones, of 5 Newgate-street, London, published, in the year 1810, in two volumes quarto, a History of New South Wales, by George Barrington, superintendent of convicts, the literary fame of its author was not much enhanced. His speeches, a[...]ent, but his writing is execrable. The History is a very slip-slop piece of work; and is, moreover, according to Dr. Lang, untrustworthy.* As a thief, Mr. Barrington was not above suspicion. As[...]ontempt. One would have thought that so ingenious a stealer of other men's property could not but have succeeded[...]nd his parents seem to have occupied the position of respectable cottagers. They were themselve[...] |
| not his precocious talents attracted the attention of a benevolent clergyman, who placed the lad at schoo[...]money by his patron, who announced his intention of starting him in life. At sixteen years of age, however, he quarrelled with another lad, and stabbed him with a penknife. For this, Waldron was severely flogged, and smarting as much from wounded vanity as from loss of cuticle, he determined to run away. The same nigh[...]lothes, stole twelve guineas from his master, and a gold repeater from his master's sister, and scaling the school wall, set out in the middle of the night to seek his fortune. Such as it was, he soon found it. Putting up the next evening at a small inn in the town of Drogheda, he heard that a company of strolling players were to perform that night, and, boy-like, went to see them. The manager of this company was a man named Price. He was of gentlemanly exterior, of reputed good family, and agreeable figure, but having been detected in the commission of some fraud, was outlawed to Ireland. Price fell in with the boy, took a fancy to him, heard his story, and enrolled him as a member of his company. Burning with theatrical ambition, Barrington—as he now called himself—essayed the part of Jaffier in Venice Preserved, and made a hit. He had a speaking eye, a good figure, a handsome face, some talent, and a prodigious memory. The last two qualities gave hi[...]s new rôle; the first three gained him the heart of the Belvidera of the night. This was a young girl of respectable connections and some education, who had been seduced and deserted by a lieutenant of marines, and thrown upon her own resources for a livelihood. She appears, however, to have been mo[...]d for her. Into this lioison Barrington, like the young gentleman in the “Disowned,” fell—or jumped[...]ife seemed cheery enough. With love in the person of the lively actress, and fame in the shape of the thumpings of the thick sticks of an Irish audience, Barrington was satisfied. But soon there came a change. At Londonderry, Manager Price announced t[...]the twelve guineas had quickly melted in the sun of Belvidera's smiles. The “company”—poor devils—had not a sou amongst them. In this dilemma Mr. Price sugge[...]at with pocket-picking and play-acting the winter of 1771 passed pleasantly enough, but falling sick of a fever, Barrington was left behind by the ungratef[...]r, refused to desert her lover, and nursed him to a recovery. A few weeks after, the |
| [...]d found him at Cork, picking pockets. He told him of his loss. “Join your fortunes with mine, lad!” says Price over a bowl of punch. “Fools were made for men like us to live[...]e compact was soon made. Barrington took the part of a young gentleman of fashion, and Price that of his tutor. They frequented assemblies, balls, and races, and by the end of the year made £1000. Emboldened by success, Pric[...]ning his head from the card-table, saw the arrest of his friend, and with a plausible excuse, rose, slipped out, and took hor[...]wind, he wisely started for London. Now begins a new phase in his career. He had been the Bohemian, the strolling player, the bon camarado of bully-rooks and swindlers. He would take a new line of action. He would be the gentleman, the gamester, the man of fashion. He sailed in the “Dorset” yacht (which had on board the Duke of Leinster), and there he made the acquaintance of a Mr. H. Mr. H. was a pigeon of admirable feather. Rich, and of good family, he was well worth the plucking. Young, vain, and innocent, he was easy to be plucked. To this young man Barrington introduced himself as a man of fortune “travelling for his health,” and they soon became firm friends. With the remnant of his Irish booty, Barrington rivalled his friend i[...]ce, and the two seem to have seen the usual round of London dissipation. When Mr. H. wanted money, he drew a cheque on his bankers; when Mr. Barrington's funds were low, he picked a pocket. Meanwhile, the dice-box rattled, and the cards were dealt frequently. Ecarté was a favourite game of the fashionable Mr. Barrington, and he had a knack of “turning the king” that was both curious and[...]ing in his usual depredations, he was accosted by a stranger. “I know you,” said this man; “I c[...]. I saw you pick that gentleman's pocket. You are a scoundrel, sir; and unless you divide, I hand you[...]the virtuous stranger was firm. They adjourned to a tavern, and Barrington divided the spoil. The stranger turned out to be a swindler named James, who had been the |
| possessor of £300 a-year; but having ruined himself at the gaming-table, had turned highwayman. A bullet wound received on Finchley Common incapaci[...]avern” at Temple Bar were the favourite resorts of the two friends, and they soon became famous for[...]stocratic pockets without detection. The noblemen of his acquaintance bewailed their losses to him, an[...]hours' notice stood him in stead in his new part of gentleman of quality. He read largely, and remembered what he[...]ble; he was Barry Lyndon varnished; he wanted but a touch of genius to become Vautrin. In the summer ofof its Georgian blossom—he fell in with Lord Ancas[...]ames, who acted as jackal to the more noble beast of prey, and found out his game for him. Moreover, in his late profession of high toby man, Mr. James had become acquainted with that useful creature, a “fence,” or receiver of stolen goods, who purchased the commodities which[...]r—jackal as he was— retained the lion's share of the booty, for in the beginning of the next spring I find him employing a Mr. Lowe as his chancellor of the exchequer. Lowe had been a livery-stable keeper, landlord of a sporting public- house, and usurer. His last spec[...]it enriched him considerably, enlarged his circle of acquaintance. He took a respectable house in Bloomsbury, lived like a man of easy fortune, and “put away” large quantities of stolen goods. To him Barrington linked his fortun[...]tired into private life. Like the wicked marquise of the old, or the Becky Sharpe of the modern Balzac, he “sought the consolations of religion.” He retired to a monastery, and left all his earnings to the Churc[...]ay, was not so fortunate. He was tried for firing a hospital at Kentish Town, of which he was treasurer, and poisoned himse[...] |
| [...]erable snuff-boxes and purses, cut off the collar of an Order of the Carter, and sold the diamonds to a Dutch Jew who came over from Holland each year to[...]snuff-box, at Covent-garden Theatre. This box was of gold, thickly studded with brilliants, and was pr[...]re Sir John Fielding, the wily prisoner set forth a sad case with such semblance of truth that the good- natured Prince declined to press the charge, and he escaped with a caution. This exposure, however, ruined his social reputation, and being turned out of his old haunts he was compelled to hunt smaller game. In 1777 he was detected picking the pocket of a trull at Drury-lane Theatre, and was sentenced to[...]ch, and sentenced for five years. The “hulks” of those days was a terrible place. Men and women were crowded togeth[...]behaved like beasts. The lash cut the manhood out of them. Here Barrington seems to have suffered seve[...]rts. His misery, however, attracted the attention of a wealthy associate of former days, who, exerting his influence with the[...]on condition that he should exile himself, as his old patron, manager Price, had done, to Ireland. Here he resumed his old occupation, until Dublin was too hot to hold him;[...]at York, and 500 guineas at Bath. He was the chat of the coffee-houses, the scandal of the wells. His person was well known. He was the hero of a hundred stories. He achieved a reputation for gallantry. Fine ladies were in lov[...]bbed the King's coach, and to have intrigued with a royal duchess. He was captured once or twice, but always escaped. He had plenty of money, and turnkeys—in those days, at all event[...]from one disguise to another with the nimbleness of a harlequin. Now he was here, now there. One day he would be a quack doctor at Bath, the next a |
| [...]races on Monday, and on Tuesday borrowed £20 as a Methodist missionary desirous of turning heathen souls to God. Even when arrested,[...]bble. At last he was caught and held tight. A Mr. Henry Hare Townsend having entered a nag for the Enfield races, had gone down to see h[...]ding his horse down the course, he was jostled by a person in light-coloured clothes, from whom he demanded, with an oath, what he wanted, but got no reply. A few moments after a Mr. Blades—a sporting friend of his—came up, and asked him if he had not been r[...]ng his hand to his pocket, he discovered the loss of his watch, and instantly suspected the awkward ge[...]f. This was Barrington. Seeing him the other side of the course, Townsend and Blades went round and se[...]ascal, you've got my watch!” They took him into a booth, and there several witnesses of credibility swore that they saw him drop the stol[...]e unfavourable opinion which the jury entertained of him, and the facts that no one saw him taks the w[...]that he dropped it. Referring to his expectation of a death sentence, he said that he should bear it wi[...]ve hung him if they chose. On Wednesday, the 22nd of September, the Recorder pronounced sentence on him, and the accomplished scoundrel took leave of him in the following neat and appropriate speech, to which Mr. Owen Suffolk,* late of this colony, could perhaps alone supply a parallel:— “My Lord—I have a great deal to say in extenuation of the crime for which I now stand convicted at this[...]on consideration, I will not arrest the attention of the honourable Court too long. Among the extraord[...]an nature, it is the peculiar and unfortunate lot of some devoted persons to have their best wishes and their most earnest endeavours to deserve the good opinion of the most respectable part of society frustrated. Whatever they say, or[...] |
| [...]e light, and is distorted from the real intention of the speaker or the actor. That this has been my u[...]d much confirmation. Every effort to deserve well of mankind, that my heart bore witness to, its recti[...]s these, and consequently rendered abortive. Many of the circumstances of my life, I can, without any violation of the truth, declare to have therefore happened absolutely in spite of myself. The world, my lord, has given me credit f[...]rward and said—‘Barrington, you are possessed of talents which may be useful to society. I feel for your situation, and as long as you act the part of a good citizen, I will be your protector; you will[...]d opportunity to rescue yourself from the obloquy of your former conduct.’ Alas, my lord, George Barrington had never the supreme felicity of having such comfort administered to his wounded s[...]is, I have resigned to my fate without one murmur of complaint.” Being shipped off to his new hom[...]f with propriety, but did the State some service. A mutiny broke out on board the convict-ship. The c[...]rica, “where,” says Barrington in his account of the voyage, “they expected to not only attain their liberty, but receive a tract of land from Congress.” The plot was laid with som[...]ain and officers were below examining the stowage of the wine, the mutineers attempted to get possession of the ship; but Barrington, snatching up a handspike, kept the hatchway until the officers c[...]convict to receive some attention. He had the run of the store- room on board, and was recommended to[...]d him with kindness, appointed him superintendent of convicts, and in November, 1792, he entered upon that office by virtue of one of the first warrants of emancipation granted in the colony. From this[...]with propriety, and to have given up the follies of his youth. It is possible, |
| [...]olice were more plentiful than purses in the land of his adoption. However, he made an admirable superintendent of convicts, and would address his petty officers in tones which yet faintly smacked of the Phoenix and Ranelagh. At the expiration of his sentence he was but 44 years old, but he settled in Parramatta, and lived to a good old age, though I cannot find the precise date of his death. The author of a little book called Australian Discovery and Colon[...]he interesting thief was still remembered by some of the early residents as a very gentlemanly old man, scrupulously neat in dress and courteous in[...]ous Majesty,” Barrington was the reputed author of the celebrated prologue to the “Revenge,” spo[...]given in the colony, and which from the neatness of the couplet— “True patriots we, for be it understood, We left our country for our country's good”— has been often quoted. There is more reason, however, to suppose that some officer of literary ability and cultivated tastes was the author. No convict would have written such a cutting satire upon colonial society and his own pretensions to respectability. Moreover, the neatness of the prologue is in striking contrast to the slovenliness of the history. It is impossible to imagine that the[...]attraction. West's Tasmania, vol. ii., p. 145. * A convict who, after many imprisonments, wrote an account of his misdeeds, which under the title of “Days of Crime, and Years of Suffering” was published in the Austral[...] |
| William Buckley, The “Wild White Man.” EVERY country can claim for itself a Robinson Crusoe of home manufacture. He of Australia is William Buckley. As the majority of reading Australians are aware, Victoria—or, as[...]d, secondly, by Batman and Fawkner. The first was a forced, the second a voluntary colonisation. Governor Collins came in[...]tion, and, the only white man who remained in the country, he lived long enough to see the second. He was one of the convicts brought out by Governor Collins, and[...]perhaps few persons are familiar with the details of his life and adventures, this sketch [compiled from an account of his wanderings written by himself] may not prove[...]shire. His parents were poor folk, who cultivated young William upon a little oatmeal. He had two brothers and a sister, but at sixteen years of age he left them, and never saw them more. Apprenticed to a bricklayer, he scorned the hod, and longed, like[...], “Heaven soon granted what his sire denied.” A sergeant in the Cheshire militia, assisted by ten[...]advice, and William enlisted. He was at that time a prize for any recruiting sergeant. His height was[...]gth excessive, and his brain-powerfeeble. He made a capital soldier. Getting into the King's Own [4th Foot] he was sent to Holland, and fought there, receiving a wound in the hand. On his return to England he obtained leave of absence, and indulged in “riotous habits.” His Dutch experiences did not appear to have been of an improving kind. Possibly the army swore as terribly in Flanders in the days of Buckley as it did in those of Captain Tobias Shandy. However, be that as it may, Buckley would seem to have borne rather aof Woolwich, he was ordered on board the “Calcutta[...]said to commence. Lieutenant-Colonel Collins, of the Royal Marines (who had previously |
| been Judge-Advocate to the colony of New South Wales at its establishment by Governor Phillip), had been compensated for loss of legitimate promotion by the governorship of the projected colony of Van Diemen's Land. He was placed in command of the ships “Calcutta” and “Ocean,” with instructions to form a convict settlement on the south-east coast of New Holland, and on the 27th April, 1803, left England for that purpose. A journal kept by the Rev. R. Knopwood, chaplain on board the “Calcutta,” gives us some particulars of the adventure. After a somewhat stormy voyage the expedition sighted Port Phillip Heads at 5 a.m. on the 9th October, and moored in the bay. After some prospecting of the adjoining land, it was resolved to go higher up the bay, and eventually near Point Lonsdale a site was fixed on for the new city, and the stores were disembarked. On the 25th of October, at 8 a.m., the British flag was hoisted; and it being the King's birthday into the bargain, some waste of powder was occasioned. The convicts were then divided into gangs, and put to work; and after a skirmish or two with the blacks, the colonists be[...]selves down. Our hero Buckley was by this time in a position of some importance, and Mr. Knopwood records that on the 2nd November a complaint was made to him by the future Crusoe th[...]defranded Buckley, the ‘Governor's servant,’ of a waistcoat.” Hearing the case in his capacity of magistrate, the worthy chaplain upheld Buckley's[...]scontented. He complained that the rope's-end was a little too freely administered, and that the work was too hard. A magazine and store-house were the first public bu[...]d, and upon these Buckley—in virtue, I suppose, ofof the continent, and that Sydney was within easy wa[...]The prisoners were not very closely watched; some of them were employed at some distance from the barracks, and escape was not difficult; but the character of the surrounding country made any projected stroll to China or California a serious matter, and in the majority of cases the poor ignorant fellows returned with gau[...]gged and fed. The Rev. Knopwood's journal is full of attempted escapes, but he usually records one of two results—a return or a death. The soldiers shot at any escaping convict,[...]with the surety proved by sad experience, that in a few days he would return to the camp, or his dead |
| [...]brought in by some exploring party. On the 27th of December, one of these “escapes” took place. At 9 p.m. six convicts endeavoured to make their escape, of whom Buckley was one. They were beset by a look-out party, and one man was shot. His name was Charles Shaw. The next night great fires were seen at a distance, and were supposed to he lit by the runaways. On the 6th of January a search was made, the worthy chaplain himself arme[...]ny effect. The colony became alarmed. The absence of four men in the bush was a bad example. The next day the drums beat to arms, and a select body of marines were sent in pursuit of the fugitives; but though they were tracked for f[...]and refrained from further exertions. On the 16th of January, one of the party, named M'Allender, came in and surrendered, giving up a gun which he had stolen. He said that all the oth[...]the situation and the climate. It was the height of summer. The thermometer averaged 110° in the sun. Fires were frequent; once, indeed, the huts of the officers of marines and the marquees themselves were nearly consumed. The soil was sandy and uninviting, the surrounding country barren and grim. Water was not too abundant, and as yet no river of any importance had been discovered. Collins had n[...]e inhospitable soil, he yielded to the entreaties of his officers, and broke up the settlement. The 24th, 25th, and 26th of January were spent in re-embarking the convicts, stores, and soldiers, and by daylight of the 30th Port Phillip was deserted. It had been colonised for the space of three months, and during that time one child had[...]chaplain, “Sergeant Thomas's wife was delivered of a boy, the first child of European parents born at Port Phillip.” This boy was named Hobart. The record of the chaplain's experiences, as far as it is necessary to follow it, ends at 3 o'clock on the afternoon of the day of the desertion. “At 3 p.m.,” says he, “I din[...]that dinner was not without reference to the fate of Buckley and his companions. I can imagine the goo[...]poor runaways now. Even if, by some wild chance, a hardier absconder |
| [...]n deserted and unfinished buildings, bared spaces of ground, and all the melancholy ruin of abandoned habitations. Convict M'Allender himself, snugly disposed in the lower deck of the “Ocean,” might feel not uninclined to plu[...]une which had preserved him from the hideous fate of his unhappy companions. Let us see what that fate was. On the evening of the 27th of December this had occurred. At sunset, the hour of returning to the sheds, four men—one of whom had possession of a gun obtained from the Governor's garden—sneaked[...]tially- finished buildings, and took to the bush. A sentry challenged, and, receiving no reply, fired, and shot the last of the party. The others ran for the best part of four hours, and though pursued, were not recaptured. That night they camped on the bank of a creek, and in the morning pushed on again with re[...]solved to head for Sydney; and in happy ignorance of intervening dangers, the adventurers set their fa[...]erness and made straight towards the present site of Melbourne. They crossed the Yarra, and reached[...]n the third day's journey. Here the last particle of the treasured bread and meat was consumed, Sydney[...], and starvation imminent. Buckley, who by virtue of his size and courage had been elected leader of the party, ordered a retreat to the sea coast, where mussels and limpe[...]nd, Buckley says, thirty-two years afterwards, by a ploughing settler. By this time they had made the circuit of the bay, and from their lair could see the “Cal[...]ide. Maddened by hunger, and desperate with dread of death, the grim philosophy of the lash and loaf overtook them. They lighted fires by night to attract the attention of the settlement, and hoisted their ragged garments on trees by day. Once a boat—probably the one with our armed chaplain—was seen to approach, and a rescue was hailed with a sort of dismal delight; but she returned without seeing t[...]days the miserable wretches starved within sight of their prison home, and at last plucked up courage to make a last effort for life. They |
| [...]ills, seemed not so terrible as the death-in-life ofof Sydney. “How I could have deceived myself into a belief of reaching it,” he says, “is astonishing. . . . The whole affair was in fact a species of madness.” For seven days he travelled, swimming[...]nation. He lived on shell-fish, gum, and the tops of young plants. On the sixth day the climate grew warmer.[...]en them in despair. The rising tide drove him out of his miserable refuge, and climbing to the top, he[...]een and heard the natives. Buckley had twice swum a creek to escape from them, and at night the fores[...]three days, and was at the last gasp—came upon a smouldering log. The sight gave him new energies.[...]some berries, roasted and ate them, and searching a little further found a “great supply of shell-fish.” At this place he remained for more than a week,* and then coming to a big rock, sheltered by an overhanging cliff, from which a plentiful stream of fresh water continually gushed, he made himself a sort of hut. Here he lived in rude contentment, and feeding on shell-fish and a sort of wild berry, began to experience the delights of freedom. He was soon disturbed. One day three natives appeared, and took possession of his home. They did not seem terrified at his appe[...], or he would have escaped. In the morning, after a vain attempt to obtain such remnants of his woollen stockings as time and the shingle had left him, they went away, and he, frightened at the chance of their return, took to the bush. For some months he wandered about, living the life of a wild man, and subsisting on roots, berries[...] |
| [...]d, or shelter, and his sleep was broken by terror of the natives. The physical instinct of life-preservation must have been very strong in the man; a less stolid animal would have got rid of its burden long ago. One day, crawling rather than walking through the scrub, he saw a mound of earth with a spear sticking up out of the top of it, and, being in want of a walking-stick, he pulled up the weapon. That spear saved his life. Having lain down that night under a tree, at grips with his last enemy, and not expecting to see the light of another morning, he was perceived by two lubras,[...]s—with that intelligence which is the privilege of the male sex—saw the state of the case at a glance. A great warrior had been buried at the mound. Great[...]s, change into white men after death. Buckley was a white man; and, moreover, he had in his hand the[...]and saluting the half-starved convict by the name of Murrangurk, they bore him off to their huts, with much shouting and demonstrations of joy. Luckily for the restored Murrangurk, this joviality soon took the practical form of gum-water and chrysalids, upon which he dined heartily. After a terrific corroboree, in which the women beat skin[...]d, Buckley was duly received into the black bosom of the people, and presented with a nephew. This ready-made relative proved attentive[...]nephew was not very wise, “there was no chance of his uncle having to pay his tailor's or other bills. Aof his rescuers, and for the next thirty years lived with them as one of themselves, joining in their fights, and taking a prominent part in their councils. He was married to a charming but faithless woman, who, unmindful of the honour done her, eloped with a young warrior of her own race a fortnight after her marriage. Her justly indignan[...]knocked her on the head, and upheld the sanctity of the marriage tie. Despite his ill-success in the[...]ars to have found considerable favour in the eyes of the lubras. He relates with calm satisfaction man[...], and pauses frequently in his narrative to heave a tender sigh at the recollection of the many ladies who were waddied for his sake. He became at last a sort of father of the people, presiding in the council and issuing[...]st totally destroyed in battle, and he then found a home among the |
| friends of one of his wives. His account of his wanderings is not particularly interesting. T[...]ns, no calumets, and no buffalo. They were simply a set of repulsive, filthy savages, who daubed themselves with mud, and knew no pleasure save that of gorging. I am afraid that Mr. Buckley's narrative shows the beautiful fallacy of the “poetical” native theory. An Australian Romeo would bear his Juliet off with the blow of a club, and Juliet would prepare herself for her br[...]ing herself from head to foot with the kidney-fat of her lover's rival.” Poor Paris! However, here and there we get amusing hints of primitive innocence. In happy ignorance of cookery, Mr. Buckley's friends eat “all kinds of beasts, fish, fowl, reptile, and creeping thing.” They have no notion of mechanical appliance, and a rude dam that Buckley makes astonishes them great[...]r wombats. No genius among them has ever invented a net or a snare. They keep count of time by chalk-marks on the arm. They paint themse[...]ones. Affectionate wives preserve the knee-joints of their dead husbands as relies, and wear them roun[...]ept within reasonable bounds by judicious weeding of an extensive family. A child every two years is considered enough for an[...]we see,—not even Social Science. Cannibalism is a luxury, not an ordinary practice; but Buckley mentions a tribe called the Pallidurgbarrans, who eat human flesh whenever they get a chance, and employ human kidney fat, not as a charmed unguent for the increase of their valour, but as a sort of Dundee marmalade, viz., “an excellent substitut[...]r at breakfast.” These gentlemen are the colour of “light copper, their bodies having tremendously[...]was declared, and some inglorious Pelissier drove a few hundred of them into a cave, and setting fire to the surrounding bush, suffocated them with great success. When a girl is born she is instantly promised in[...] |
| [...]earth is supported on props, which are in charge of an old man, who lives at the most remote corner of the earth. Occasionally this old man sends a message to say, that unless he gets a supply of tomahawks and rope wherewith to cut and tie more[...]the run, and all hands will be smothered.” One of these messages arrived while Buckley was there, a[...]iled, and tomahawks galore were sent on to the “old man.” “Who this knowing old juggling thief is,” says Buckley, “I could never make out. However, it is only one of the same sort of robberies which are practised in the other countries ofof savage life, Buckley met two natives, one of whom carried a flag over his shoulders. He had long given up all hope of meeting with white men; he had forgotten his language and almost his name, but the sight of the flag gave him a strange shock. The natives told him that they had seen a vessel at anchor in Port Phillip Bay, near the Indented Heads, and, all hands having left her on a boat expedition up the river, they had climbed on[...]seize the cargo. Now for the first time the hope of escape from the hideous liberty he had sought aro[...]e every effort to privately attract the attention of the new comers. But he had forgotten the English[...]only make hoarse and unintelligible noises. Twice a boat approached him, and twice, hearing his frant[...]heir bodies bound. There were many such mysteries of the sea in those times. In a few days more the vessel departed, and poor Buckl[...]spot where he had last seen her crew land, found a white man's grave— grim answer to his hopes and prayers. A few months after this he found a boat stranded on the shore, and learned that two[...]us and ill at ease, had gone off in the direction of the Yarra. There they were savagely murdered. A vessel would seem to have been wrecked somewhere on the coast, for barrels were found. One of these contained what Buckley, who found it[...] |
| [...]At last his “good time” arrived. One day two young natives met him, and waving coloured handkerchief[...]hree white and six black men had been landed from a ship which had gone away again, and that they had[...]obbery, and told Buckley that they were in search of another tribe in order to fall upon the white men[...]y its name,” and as he did so, Buckley says, “a cloud appeared to pass from over my brain, and I[...]nd meat. He showed them the initials W. B. on one of his arms, and they regarded him as a shipwrecked seaman. Little by little he recovered the use of his tongue, and could speak with them. They told[...]had landed them would be back from Launceston in a few days with more people and a fresh supply of tools; that they were about to settle in the country, and had already bought land of the native chiefs. “This,” says Buckley, “I[...]r right over the soil, theirs being only as heads of families.” The natives now began to assemble in great numbers, and announced to Buckley their intention of killing the new settlers, desiring him to aid the[...]with the weaker party if he refused. Buckley was a little frightened at this, but succeeded in persuading his old friends to wait until the return of the ship, when, he said, the amount of plunder would be increased. The ship not returnin[...]ided with the white men, and, arming himself with a gun, vowed he would shoot through the head the first man who flung a spear. This threat, and a promise of unlimited presents, kept them quiet, and at last[...]ned next day to Van Diemen's Land with an account of Buckley, and a solicitation from Mr. Wedge for a free pardon for him. He was installed in the mean[...]d, Batman went on board, and fired off his gun as a |
| [...]ust, 1835, exactly thirty-two years from the date of his landing from the ship “Calcutta.” By this vessel instructions were brought to the directors of the company to proceed to the right bank of the Yarra, and in three days the site of Melbourne was marked out. The next vessel brought Mr. Gellibrand and a number of settlers, to whom Buckley was engaged as interpreter, at a salary of £50 a-year and rations. He accompanied them in an exploring expedition, and on his return built the chimney of Mr. Batman's house, on Batman's Hill, the “firs[...]n regularly formed at Port Phillip.” The tide of immigration now poured into the new settlement, and Melbourne became a township. Captain Lonsdale (of Buckley's old regiment) came over with a detachment of the 4th to assume the command of the colony, and made Buckley his personal attendant. He was now in clover, was well-dressed, well-fed, and a man of no small importance. He quarrelled with a Mr. Fawkner,* from Launceston, “who had been an old settler, but had no connection with the company.” He acted as constable, and hunted down and apprehended a black-fellow for killing a shepherd. Governor Bourke with several officers of the New South Wales Government visiting the place, Buckley received him at the head of 100 natives “ranked in line, and saluting him b[...]and showing him the lions. On his return he heard of the loss of Mr. Gellibrand and Mr. Hesse, and volunteered to look for them. The loss of these gentlemen threw the settlement into a great state of consternation. They had attempted to ride from Ge[...]ended about this time, Buckley was sent in charge of him to Launceston, and returned in a steam-vessel, having on board Captain Fyans, who[...]sons were always throwing difficulties in the way of my interests, and not knowing what might be the result, I determined on resigning office, and on leaving a colony where my services were so little kn[...] |
| “Yarra Yarra,” and landed in Hobart Town on the 10th of January following. Here he was made much of; public-houses were open to him, and strangers st[...]One gentleman took him to the theatre, and “one of the performers came to ask me if I would like to[...]go “behind the scenes” which thirty-two years of barbarism had not shaken out of him, said that he would like it much. Next day, however, he discovered the reason of his friend's kindness. He was to be exhibited as the Anglo-Australian giant! “I soon,” says he, “gave a denial to any such display, very much to the mortification, as I afterwards understood, of the stage manager, who had publicly notified my a[...]ublic taste accurately— Buckley would have been a “good draw.” Shortly afterwards a Mr. Cutts, one of his old shipmates in the “Calcutta,” who had now become a wealthy and respectable settler near Green Ponds,[...]the Immigrants' Home he “became acquainted with a family, consisting of a respectable mechanic, his wife and daughter,” a[...]s he was paid off by the Convict Department, with a pension of £12 a-year, and on this, and a subscription raised by his friends, he lived unti[...]d in February, 1856, when he had attained the age of seventy-six. * “It may have been two or three,[...]r I seemed hence-forward to have lost all record of time.” Probably the cherry. * John Fawkner, J.P., who claimed to be the founder of the colony. He died on the 4th of September, 1869, aged seventy-seven years. |
| A Leaf from an Old newspaper. ON Saturday, the 23rd of September, 1820, the free residents of Hobart Town, on opening the moist folio of the Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter found a startling proclamation. The Hobart Town Gazette[...]rnment, and assisted by those agreeable evidences of patronage, Government advertisements. It was publ[...]y,” and printed by Mr. Andrew Bent—the father of the Tasmanian press, who was at that time the lea[...]to attack the Government, was summarily deprived of his office, and eventually ruined. In the year[...]ersons to whom they may relate. “By command of His Honour, “E. ROBINSON, Secretary.” The proclamation which greeted the readers of this issue of the 23rd of September, fifty years ago, was nothing less than an announcement of the death of the late “Sovereign Lord, King George III., and accession to the crown of that High and Mighty Prince George, of Wales,” and ran to the effect that William Sorrell, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor of the settlements of Van Diemen's Land, together with several other di[...]he magistrates, clergy, and principal inhabitants of the colony generally, did publish and proclaim, “with one Voice and consent ofof all sorts of things, and Supreme Liege Lord of Van Diemen's Land among the rest. The paper in which this piece of news appears is lying before me as I write. It is a broadsheet of the coarsest character, and, with its flourish of Royal Arms at the head of it, looks not unlike a corpulent playbill. The paper is rough in texture[...]not as clear as it might be. The whole matter is of course surrounded with a deep black border as mourning for poor old George Tertius. A glance at its columns will give us a glimpse into a curious condition of |
| society. In the first sheet is the Police Fund of Van Diemen's Land “in account current with John[...]nt-house. Mr. R. W. Fyett charges £1 for the use of his cart and bullocks. The superintendent of police receives £6 as “a reward for capturing three absentees,” also £5[...]reward advertised” (Blackmore, I presume, being a convict illegally at large). Mrs. Cullen is paid[...]ernor's orderly, and Mr. Lord charges £50 “for a horse supplied to Government.” The Government w[...]Immediately after this financial statement comes a paragraph that may perhaps surprise one or two of the inhabitants of Hobart Town who think their church has been named in honour of the patron saint of Wales. “The Lieutenant-Governor directs that the new Church of Hobart Town shall be called ‘St. David's Church,’ out of Respect to the memory of the late Colonel David Collins, of the Royal Marines, under whose Direction the Sett[...]amemnon and Colonel David Collins. Though to name a church after a colonel of marines does seem rather a liberty with the Calendar. The Lieutenant-Governor orders a “general muster of inhabitants” (civil officers and military alone[...]in days. This proclamation is interesting because of its pleasant tyranny. It commands all “free men[...]ther with “male and female prisoners and ticket-of- leave men,” to come together at certain places, at certain dates, for the purpose of being counted, like sheep; and further orders tha[...]absolute or conditional pardon, and by expiration of sentence, are to give in the names and ages of their children.” What a strange sight this “muster” must have presented! Any colonial Frith desirous of painting a picture of the sensational school might choose a worse subject than that of “A General Muster in 1820.” Let us imagine for a moment the old town, the old-fashioned dresses, the striving of the “tawdry yellow” of the convict garb with the “dirty red” of His Majesty's uniform, the intermingling of faces, the strong contrasts and curious juxtapositions. There seems room for powerful painting in such a picture. The “Town Talk” is not very important. An account is given of a procession which took place on Sunday, and was composed of the |
| [...]ficers and magistrates, and principal inhabitants of the settlement, all in deep mourning, and it is s[...]nute guns, in number corresponding with the years of his late Majesty were fired from Mulgrave Battery[...]r the Gazette remarks also that the ceremony left a deep impression of the veneration and respect which were felt toward[...], “which was much strengthened by the discourse of the Rev. R. Knopwood, M.Aof the deceased monarch cannot fail to live while Ro[...]e roi! The next paragraph relates how the reading of the Proclamation of the new king was received. The document— which is printed at the head of the paper— was read “in front of Government-house under a Royal salute from Mulgrave Battery, and three volleys from a detachment of the 48th Regiment.” Commerce goes hand in han[...]street Grinds remarkably well.” The mill-stones of this remarkable structure are specially mentioned[...]first yet used in this settlement the production of Van Diemen's Land.” A vaguely-worded but well-meant support of native industries. That portion of a paper which Punch called the Hatches, Matches, an[...]ied by special licence by the Rev. R. Knopwood, M.A., on Monday the 11th inst., John Beamont, Esq., Provost Marshal, to Harriett, second daughter of G. W. Evans, Esq., Deputy Surveyor-General.” But close upon the heels of the marriage follows an amusing exposition of the intentions of a Mr. Fergusson. “Mr. Fergusson hereby Begs lea[...]to those who stand Indebted to him his intention of Looking for the same in the next sitting of the Lieutenant-Governor's Court, and no Favor or[...]acquaints the public that though deeply desirous of “affording them every Facility for discharging[...]oreable beef and mutton to the extent in quantity of 250,000 lbs. weight, at 6d. per lb., in liquidation of their debts. |
| [...]g this liberal offer, however, Mrs. Lord feels it a duty belonging to her agency to state, “that if[...]reditors, she will not allow the expected Circuit of the Supreme Court to pass without resorting to th[...]s Court as the case may require to Compel Payment of the several obligations.” A courteous but a severe lady, Mrs. Lord, evidently, and one who wi[...]“nonsense,” but have her lawful bond or pound of flesh, as the case may be. Here is a curious advertisement:—“Mr. Reiby has the pleasure of informing the public that he has received by the[...], wafers, ink-powder, tortoiseshell combs, spices of all sorts, snuff, ball- cotton, threads, white an[...]various other Useful and Valuable articles. Also, a capital One-horse Gig, with harness complete.” Rather a miscellaneous collection of Mr. Reiby's! The newspapers of that day contained items which would rather startle a modern Tasmanian. For instance:— “One Hun[...]er 28, 1820. “Whereas, Thomas Kenny (No. 73), a convict, 5ft. 33/4 in. high, brown hair, dark-grey eyes, 18 years of age, a blacksmith by trade, was tried in the county of Dublin in 1818, was sentenced to be transported for life, born in the county of Westmeath, has a crucifix above the elbow on the right arm, T.K. o[...], charged with divers capital felonies, broke out of His Majesty's gaol at Hobart Town on the night of the 27th of November.” And so on. Beneath this Mr. James Blay puts a “Caution to the Public. “Whereas several of my One Shilling promissory Notes have been lately[...]er or offenders to public justice, I hereby offer a reward of Five Pounds sterling to any person or persons who will be the means of apprehending them. |
| “JAMES BLAY.” A glance at the police reports and trials shows a healthy condition of severity:— Daniel Eachan, charged with forgin[...]John Griffiths, alias Frog, charged with stealing a pocket-book, value 15s., and attempting to steal a watch, are sentenced to 50 lashes and transportat[...]12 months in the gaol-gang. Here are specimens of female absconders:— “Ann Darter. May. 5ft.[...]hair, brown eyes; aged 36; servant. Tried at the Old Bailey, April, 1822—life. Native place, St. Sepulchre's. Absconded from the service of Dr. Bromley, 17th February.” “Janet Ceflude[...]to escape were not merely reprimanded or reduced. A sterner punishment was meted out to them, as thus— “Thomas Trueman, a Constable, was charged with negligently suffering[...], who were confined in the County Gaol on charges of a very serious nature, to Escape, which was clearly proved by various witnesses, and he was sentenced, being a prisoner, to be Dismissed his Office and to recei[...]s custodiel ipse custodes? Amongst other duties of constables was that of seeing to the safe housing of all ticket-of-leave men by a certain hour, and the ancient institution of curfew, or something very like it, was in force. A notice in the issue ofof things. Gentlemen are constantly advertising their domestic troubles in the Southern Reporter, and scarcely a day passes without some husband being left lamenting by his frail spouse. Ladies seem to have been at a premium. I extract two plaints which are t[...] |
| [...]rticles” are few and far between in the columns of our journal. Government advertisements, “local news,” and lists of “prisoners tried” exhausted the balance of reading matter, which is made up of such items as these —“Indian marriage in high life,” “Singular discovery of a murder by dreaming,” “New method of seasoning mahogany,” “The honest cook,” and “A jest by Mr. Curran.” The “jest” is so exqui[...]th extracting— “Mr. Curran, cross-examining aa great bite!’” Let me close the Hobart Town Gazette of 1820 with the account of a thunderstorm, during which an intrusive “Electric Fire-ball” entered a “dormant window” in the roof of Government House. This impertinent manifestation of nature descended from floor to floor, knocked doors off their hinges, scattered plates, pulverised panes of glass, walked down the grand staircase, melted th[...]time absent on his tour through the North-Western Country”], shattered His Excellency's umbrella, and passed through the wall, leaving the house nearly a wreck, and full of a suffocating smell of sulphur. “Most providentially” it so happened[...]e attributed their almost miraculous escape.” A distinction between the providential and t[...] |
| The Rum-Puncheon Revolution. THE social condition of Sydney in 1807 was somewhat curious. The place be[...]controlled by military officers, the army was at a premium. The Governor was a sort of proconsul with absolute power, and his officers monopolised all the good things of the colony. Among the principal of these good things was the rum-trade. From the first settlement of New South Wales the unrestrained importation of ardent spirits had prevailed to an alarming exten[...]ived as payment for purchases. Rum at last became a colonial currency. The governor, clergy, and offi[...]bartered rum. The New South Wales Veteran Corps (a regiment of pensioners tempted by promise of privilege to emigrate) was called the “Rum-Punc[...]about to open) says in his evidence on the trial of Major Johnston, that such barter “was universal. Officers, civil and military, clergy, every description of inhabitants, were under the necessity of paying for the necessaries of life, for every article of consumption, in that sort of commodity which the people who had to sell were i[...]thout it.” This being the case, one may judge of the disgust that prevailed among the rum-storers when it was reported that a new Governor was to replace Governor King—a bluff sailor, who loved rum—with strict injunct[...]Government to put down the monopolists. The name of this new Governor was Captain Bligh, a bold and daring, though somewhat pig-headed post-captain, who had gained some notoriety by reason of the famous mutiny of the “Bounty.” This story is so well known tha[...]at it. The “Bounty” was sent to collect seeds of the breadfruit tree of the South Sea Islands, for the purpose of planting them in the West Indies. Tired of this botanical exploration, and seduced by the black eyes of the Tahitian damsels, the crew of the “Bounty,” led by a lazy old reprobate named John Adams, mutinied, and putting Bligh and his officers adrift in a longboat, gave themselves up to unrestrained licentiousness on one of the lovely islands of the South Pacific. Here they lived for some years[...]y, and preached the gospel to his numerous family of half- caste children. Although it is more than probable that he never heard of Byron, the old gentleman verified the poet's statement an[...] |
| religion,” for he tried the charms of both, and died in the odour of sanctity. His companions, ultimately found, were given the convict settlement of Norfolk Island as a residence. They—with Adams at their head—have[...]Church missionary story-books, and the “Mutiny of the ‘Bounty’ ” was for some time the strong point of the Sunday at Home. Bligh displayed much ability in navigating his boat to safety, and as a sort of recompense for the sufferings he had endured, was made Governor of New South Wales. His previous history was a good one. He had been for nineteen years a post captain; had fought under Parker, Howe, and[...]quarter-deck for his services. He was said to be a tyrant, and to have ill-treated the crew of the “Bounty.” It is possible he did so, but i[...]ossible that they deserved it. The expectations of the colonists were realised. Bligh landed in 1806, and forthwith announced his intention of travelling through the colony in order to ascertain the condition of its inhabitants. Now, but four months before his arrival, occurred the great March flood of 1806, and the colony was suffering from scarcity of grain. According to Dr. Lang.* maize-meal and coa[...]hs together.” Bligh riding round, like the King of Yvetôt, made personal inquiries into the condition of each settler, and volunteered to take from each a certain quantity of wheat or produce, giving in payment orders in adv[...]o the settlers, did not accord with the interests of the military and civil importers of rum and tobacco. No settler who could obtain tea,[...]ould sell his crop for the fiery Jamaica compound of the monopolists, or accept as part payment the usual puncheon of strong waters at the usual high rate of valuation. The merchants of Sydney were most indignant, and their indignation[...]ed by the publication on February the 14th, 1807, of a general order prohibiting the rum-puncheon trade[...]at once crushed. Bligh prohibited “the exchange of spirits or other liquors as payment for grain, an[...]ring apparel, or any other commodity whatever.” A prisoner convicted of such sale or purchase rendered himself liable to 100 lashes and twelve months' hard labour. A settler, free by servitude, pardon, or emancipation, was deprived of all indulgences from the Crown, fined £20, and imprisoned for three months. Free settlers and masters of ships were fined £50, and deprived of indulgences from the Crown. This sledge-ha[...] |
| knocked to shivers the brittle pot of profitable monopoly which had hitherto boiled so briskly, and the merchants and trading members of the New South Wales Corps began to mutter curses against the popular despot of Government-house. At last a spark from an unexpected quarter fired the train.[...]wo large stills, one addressed to Captain Abbott, of the New South Wales Corps, and the other to Mr. Macarthur. It seems that Mr. Macarthur was part- owner of the “Dart,” and that the agent to whom Captai[...]the still, thinking that the speculation would be a profitable one, took upon himself to send another to the owner of the vessel. The vapours from these stills, when c[...]ed Rebellion. According to custom, the manifest of the “Dart” was exhibited to the Governor, who[...]irst opportunity. It so happened that the coppers of the stills had been filled with drugs, and the naval officer to whom the execution of the Governor's mandate was entrusted, retained on[...]. Mr. Macarthur, formerly captain and paymaster of the New South Wales Corps, and then a merchant of respectability, was not on good terms with the Go[...]. Indeed, he was bound to the “opposition” by a threefold band. As an old member of the military corps he possessed all the camaraderie by which a regiment hangs together, and resented the proclamation of the Governor as injurious to the interests of his old companions. As a merchant, with whom the rum-puncheon trade was necessarily a source of income, he saw himself deprived of large and sure profits. As a private gentleman of wealth and station, holding a position universally admitted to be only inferior to that of the Governor himself, he had imagined himself injured by the action of Bligh with reference to an appeal from the law co[...]ed to visit at Government-house. At this distance of time, and in the absence of anything like satisfactory evidence, it is impossible to decide how far the conduct of Macarthur was dictated by petulance or vanity. Mr. Flanagan, in his History of New South Wales, warmly supports the course he to[...]he people but veiled his quarter-deck detestation of all interference, and that he tyrannised grossly[...]well-meaning man, who opposed himself sturdily to a monstrous system of mercantile robbery. |
| [...]with Dr. Lang. Macarthur, annoyed at the order of the Governor, was yet to be subjected to another act of oppression. The “Duke of Portland” being about to sail for London, it wa[...]n Abbott's still, and that he intended to dispose of his own to some ship going to India or China; but[...]objected to, the head and worm could be disposed of as His Excellency thought fit, and that he would[...], and after some complication and correspondence, a Mr. Campbell was sent to “take the stills.” T[...]thur prosecuted him instantly for illegal seizure of property, asking in court “if an Englishman in[...]property wrested from him on the mere sign-manual of the Governor?” The rebellion against despotism had begun. Now another complication arose. In the month of June, a convict named Hoare had escaped in the “Parramatta” to Tahiti. Macarthur was part- owner of this vessel, and the English inhabitants of Tahiti (that is to say, a few missionaries who had usurped the lands of the natives under the pretence of converting them) complained to the Governor. Proceeding were taken against Macarthur by the governor, and a bond of £900, given by the owners of the “Parramatta” to the Government, declared[...]and thereupon refused to pay the fine. In default of payment the vessel was seized, and Macarthur, hearing of the seizure, informed the captain and crew that a[...]he men were therefore compelled to make affidavit of their owners' procedure. In consequence of this affidavit, the Judge-advocate sent a summons commanding the appearance of Macarthur at court on the following day. Unfort[...]s then pending between them. Moreover, Atkins was a man of intemperate habits and profligate character. He is characterised by Dr. Lang as “the broken- down relative of a person in power,” and was notoriously incapable of fulfilling his legal duties. Governor Bligh, indeed, having been desired by the Secretary of State to inform him privately of the characters of |
| individuals holding office, wrote thus of Mr. Atkins:—“He is accustomed to inebriety. He has been the ridicule of the community. Sentence of death has been pronounced in moments of intoxication. His determination is weak, and his opinion floating and infirm. His knowledge of the law is insignificant, and subject to private inclination; and confidential causes of the Crown, where due secresy is required, he is not to be trusted with.” The result of this mingled ignorance and intemperance on the part of Atkins was, that he was obliged to have recourse to a convict named Crossley in order to prepare his in[...]thur in his quarrel was supported by the majority of the officers under Government. Desirous of pushing matters to a crisis, and, I am afraid, not without a certain malice prepense against his enemy, the Go[...]arthur replied to the Judge-advocate's summons by a cold and stinging letter, briefly refusing to att[...]tkins committed an error. Galled by the contumacy of the wealthy merchant, he determined to put a slight upon him which he would not easily forget. He issued a warrant for his arrest. The execution of this warrant was entrusted to a man named Francis Oakes, who had been a “missionary” to Tahiti, but was now head-constable at Parramatta. Oakes, having thus from a fisher of souls become a fisher of bodies, repaired to Macarthur's residence on the[...]d it, and—remarking to Oakes that “if he came aof ten thousand pounds,” said he; “but let them alone, and they will soon make a rope to hang themselves.” Poor Oakes then reque[...]h the warrant you have now shown me, and given me a copy of, that I never will submit to the horrid ty[...] |
| (doubtless chuckling at the speedy humiliation of his superior) recapitulated all that had passed.[...]or; and Mr. Oakes's deposition having been taken, a warrant was issued for Macarthur's arrest. The ne[...]es, apprehended the “monopolist” in the house of Mr. Grimes, the Surveyor-general, and he being brought on the 17th before a bench of magistrates, was duly committed for trial for “high misdemeanours” before a special criminal court to be summoned for the pur[...]ts this intelligence was as startling as the news of the arrest of the Five Members had been to their ancestors. The despot had accomplished a coup d'état. Macarthur, however, was liberated on bail, and in the interim between the 17th of December and the 25th of January the greatest excitement prevailed. The il[...]himself was not idle. He enlisted the sympathies of the New South Wales corps, and seems to have info[...]s not unfounded. The officers rallied round their old comrade, and it is on record that the night before the trial Macarthur's son and nephew and two of the bailsmen dined at a public mess-dinner of the corps. The colours of the regiment were displayed and the regimental ba[...]nd listening to the music. History again suggests a distant parallel in the “white cockade” Opera-house dinner of bodyguards at the OEil de Boeuf. It is, I am af[...]the six jurors would acquit him, to the confusion of the Government party, determined to strike a final blow at his old enemy the Judge-advocate; nay, it is possible tha[...]tion, he meditated nothing less than the downfall of Governor Bligh himself. On the 25th of January, 1807, the court was crowded not only with civilians, but with many soldiers of the Veteran Corps, muttering discontent, and fing[...]as generally understood that the prisoner had, in a letter addressed to the Governor, protested against the presence of the Judge-advocate; and as it was evident that the Judge-advocate was about to preside, the action of Macarthur was anxiously looked for. The indictmen[...]as argued, and Atkins declaring that by the terms of the patent the court could not be formed w[...] |
| [...]ied that the Judge-advocate was nothing more than a juror, and Lieutenant Lawson desired the prisoner[...]ed that he had been brought to trial in ignorance of the charge against him, that he had in vain attempted to obtain from Atkins a copy of the indictment, and that he objected to him on six grounds:—First, that a suit was pending between them. Second, that Atkins cherished a “rancorous inveteracy against him.” Third, th[...]nd combined with that well-known dismembered limb of the law, George Crossley,” to accomplish his de[...]ecause Atkins knew that should he fail to procure a conviction he would be prosecuted for false impri[...]eady pronounced sentence against him at the bench of magistrates, and consequently came into court with the intention to convict. This speech contained a quotation of eight “authorities” on the question of challenge, and ended with an ad captandum appeal to the New South Wales corps. At the conclusion of the harangue Atkins swore he would commit the spe[...]soldiers began to cheer, and Atkins, apprehensive of violence, called out that he adjourned the court,[...]old the people not to disperse, saying, “We are a court. Tell them not to go out.” The Judge-ad[...]rotection, stating that he had been informed that a force of armed ruffians had been prepared against him, and begging for a military guard. As perhaps had been previously ag[...]st- marshal, however, considering this proceeding a rescue, left the court in search of Atkins and three magistrates, in order to get a warrant for the apprehension of Macarthur. The six, thus left masters of the situation, desired to proceed pro formd, and solemnly then and there concocted a letter to the Governor, requesting that another Judge-advocate might be appointed in the place of Atkins. At half-past twelve the reply came. The G[...]Atkins, however, had not been idle. He, too, sent a memorial to the Governor, giving his version of the story, and complaining that the six had impounded his papers. Upon the receipt of this letter, the Governor, at a |
| [...]ary, Mr. Edmund Griffin, to the court- house with a peremptory order to bring away all papers. The si[...]pleased to appoint another Judge-advocate.” At a quarter to four the Governor played his last card. He sent a letter “finally demanding an answer in writing” as to the intentions of the six, and with italics “repeating that they[...]rned to the following day. That evening was one of intense excitement in Sydney. The recalcitrant six were in some tremor as to the result of their proceedings, and one may not unreasonably think that the mess-table talk was not of the brightest. Mr. Macarthur, snatched out of the hands of the fowler, and exultant in his temporary triumph, could not but be alarmed as to the ultimate issue of the struggle; Richard Atkins, Esq., and Crossley[...]while His Excellency, Governor Bligh—whose fits of rage were notorious—paced the dining-room of the verandah-cottage called “Government-house,” waiting with furious impatience for the arrival of his allies. The Prussians of this Waterloo were represented by Major Johnstone[...]uth Wales corps; and immediately upon the receipt of the last manifesto of the six, Bligh had sent a despatch commanding his appearance. If the presence of their commander-in-chief did not quell the rebell[...]g. Unluckily, Major Johnstone had been thrown out of his chaise some time before, and was unable to come. He lived four miles from town, and returned merely a verbal message, regretting his inability to compl[...]er to the Governor, asserting that the deposition of the provost marshal was false, and that the priso[...]d do next. They were soon informed. In the course of the afternoon Bligh had decided upon war, and before dinner each of the six received a letter summoning him to Government-house o[...] |
| Johnstone had received another letter, containing a tacit threat that, unless he appeared to support[...]urged that Bligh intended to set aside all forms of law, and ignoring the powers and jurisdiction of the Criminal Court, would seize upon his enemies in virtue of his untempered despotism. The barracks were in a ferment. Officers and men were alike ready for resistance. In the midst of the turmoil, at five p.m., a chaise containing the injured Johnstone drove up[...]. Lafayette's white horse could not have produced a greater sensation. The crowd on the barracks-steps received him with open arms, and, amid a storm of mingled cheers and hisses, demanded whether he wa[...]e. Johnstone, whose action would seem to point to a foregone conclusion, vowed that he had no intention of injuring his old companions in arms, and his utterance was receive[...]g mob outside the gates, eager to know the result of the noisy council within, were gladdened by a visible sign of power. Two merchants, Messrs. Bloxcell and Bayley, appeared flourishing a folded paper, and took the way to the gaol. Major[...]elease, and was ready to back it with the muskets of the regiment under his command. Presently Macarth[...]than an hour the council deliberated, and at last a strange noise was heard in the barrack-yard. The soldiers were getting under arms. It was more than a revolt—it was a revolution. At half-past six the drums beat har[...]s flying and fixed bayonets. Government-house was a verandahed-cottage in O'Connell-street (in 1852 it was still standing), and was guarded by the usual guard of honour, under Lieutenant Bell. As the regiment ap[...]dynasty had fallen. Major Johnstone was Governor of New South Wales. The entrance of the revolutionary army was opposed by but one person— and that a woman. Mrs. Putland, the widowed daughter of the Governor, ran down to the gate and endeavoure[...]hnstone from entering, but she was put aside, and a search was made for the Governor. It has been stated that Bligh took refuge under a bed, and was dragged thence in a condition of craven terror; but this statement is stoutly deni[...]seems, indeed, almost impossible to suppose that a man of |
| Bligh's well-known courage would be guilty of such an act of gross cowardice. All that we know of his past life militates against such a supposition. In times of danger he had always been found brave to rashness[...]th strong personal courage. It is not likely that a captain who had fought his ship so as to merit the thanks of Nelson, and had lived through such a voyage as that which followed upon the mutiny of the “Bounty,” would hide beneath a bed to escape from the violence of officers who had dined at his own table. Moreover, there was nothing in the aspect of affairs to warrant such a display of timidity. The “revolution” was after all but a civil matter. There was no infuriated mob waiting to tear him in pieces. No threats of personal violence had been used, and Bligh must h[...]life was never in danger. Apart from the evidence of “character,” which is directly opposed to the supposition of rank cowardice, there is not the shadow of motive for such a dastardly act as that with which he is charged, while the story is in itself precisely one of those coarse lies which are so easily invented, a[...]r sort. Bligh and his bed is only another version of James II. and his warming-pan. What really took[...]or pens and paper, composed in Bligh's diningroom a formal letter of dismissal. This letter stated that Bligh “having been charged by the respectable inhabitants of (sic) crimes that render him unfit to exercise supreme authority,” it was the painful duty of the writer to require him, “in His Majesty's sa[...]ligh, in the meantime, had resolved on his course of action. Seeing that resistance was hopeless, he c[...]as to escape from the house and get to the region of the Hawkesbury, where he believed that the people[...]behalf. While standing on the stairs, waiting for a servant who had gone for his sword, be was surprised by a number of soldiers with fixed bayonets, who made their way[...]wished to take him prisoner, he stepped back into a bedroom adjoining, and attempted to get from a cupboard some papers which he wished to de[...] |
| him in the name of the king. Minchin brought his prisoner into the[...]” says Bligh, “with soldiers under arms, many of whom appeared to be intoxicated.” The letter wr[...]Lieutenant Moore, and while Bligh was in the act of reading it, the new Governor appeared in the door[...]by officers, and verbally confirmed the contents of the letter. Martial law was then proclaimed, al[...]commission as governor, and the “great seal” of the colony, were seized, and Bligh was left with[...]angely enough, this eventful evening was the 26th of January, 1805, the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the colony. On the 27th a general order was published, headed with the foll[...]onourable path, and you will establish the credit of the New South Wales Corps on a basis not to be shaken. God save the king!” By the general order all the officers of the late Government were deposed, Atkins heading the list. The ring-leaders of the revolution were appointed magistrates, and Mr[...]tood before the memorable 26th inst. On the 2nd of February Mr. Macarthur was tried over again befor[...]r. Grimes Acting as Advocate-general in the place of Atkins, and was unanimously acquitted. Ten days a[...]arthur, was imprisoned for nearly three months on a charge of perjury, and finally sent for four months[...] |
| the Government went the length of prohibiting all public meetings, fearing lest a demonstration might be got up in favour of Bligh. Notwithstanding this, however, a memorial was drawn up, signed by a large number of persons, and forwarded secretly to England. This[...]which the rumpuncheoners had hailed the accession of Major Johnstone (bonfires had been blazing in all[...]fected mustered largely, and it was rumoured that a conspiracy was afoot to reinstate Bligh. The illustrious prisoner was the white elephant of the Johnstone Government. He was kept at Government House, and followed by a sentry wherever he went; but upon these rumours gaining ground, was with his daughter placed as a close prisoner in the military barracks. At last[...]Britain, and did not attempt to land on any part of the Australian coast. Bligh gave his word to this[...]nded at Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land being then a dependency of New South Wales. His coming created considerable[...]enture Bay, where he had been lying when the news of the arrival came to him, and was received with du[...]cquarie. The former officers were reinstated, and a special act passed to legalise proceedings taken[...]ollowed by Johnstone and Macarthur, together with a cloud of witnesses of all kinds. The Government—caring but little for[...]e Right Hon. Charles Manners- Sutton (grandfather of the present Lord Canterbury), being Judge-advocate |
| [...]ng rider was added:— “The Court, in passing a sentence so inadequate to the enormity of the crime of which the prisoner has been found guilty, have apparently been actuated by a consideration of the novel and extraordinary circumstances which by the evidence on the face of the proceedings may have appeared to them to have existed during the administration of Governor Bligh.” Colonel Johnstone returned t[...]ere, universally respected, during the government of Macquarie. Mr. Macarthur, after a compulsory absence of eight years, also returned, and did better than poor Johnstone—he founded a family. So ended the rum-puncheon revolution. To us it may seem something like a storm in a teapot, but to the worthy residents of New South Wales in 1807 it was a very terrible hurricane indeed. *History of New South Wales. |
| The Rule of the Bushranger. IN the year 1820, a writer in the Quarterly, speaking of a book given him to review, says—“It is the gre[...]riosity that has come before us—the first child of the press of a State only fifteen years old. It would of course be reprinted here, but our copy, pene-nos, is a genuine Caxton. This little book would assuredly be the Reynarde Foxe of Australian bibliomaniacs.” A copy of this wonderful work is now lying before me. It is a ragged and dirty little pamphlet of 36 pages. The paper is old and yellow, the letter- press in some places ille[...]t, and is called Michael Howe, the Last and Worst of the Bushrangers. The popularity of the volume is unquestionable. It is quoted by Mr. West in his History of Tasmania, and is extracted bodily into a History of Van Diemen's Land by one Syme, who was a settler there in 1846. Mr. Bonwick, writing in 1856, calls Syme the “historian of Howe,” Syme however merely reprinted Bent's pam[...]worth and West, Commissioner Bigge's Reports, and a pleasant collection of stories called The Military Sketch-book, written by an “Officer of the Line,” and published by Colburn in 1827, al[...]have been used by me to supplement the curiosity of the Quarterly Reviewer. From the year 1813—t[...]ived as Lieutenant-Governor—to 1825, the colony of Van Diemen's Land was overrun with bushrangers. The severe punishments of lash and chain urged the convicts to escape, the paucity of the military force assisted them in their attempts, and the mountainous nature of the country aided to baffle efforts at recapture. In those da[...]g pipe with rifle placed ready to his hand. Bands of escaped convicts ranged the mountains, descending[...]ish. They rode about in gangs, they held councils of war, they posted sentries, and took oaths of secrecy. They attacked the gaol, and liberated th[...]ms to the Governor himself. Indeed, the condition of affairs in Hobart Town was not encouraging to the[...]permost. Felons were to freemen in the proportion of ten to one. Concubinage with convict women was customary. The very ships that brought a mingled herd of male and female criminals were the scenes of unbridled license. Each sailor or soldier[...] |
| to ally himself to a female, and the connection often terminated in a marriage which manumitted the convict. “The mad[...]ey are assigned as servants. The settler expected a servant, but receives a princess.” The children of these rakings of the London bagnios were not unworthy of their race. Their paramours vied with each other[...]avey himself was not too curious as to the morals of his domestics, and gentlemen in Hobart Town witne[...]ted,” says Mr. West, “nourished every species of crime. Tattered promissory notes, of small amount and doubtful parentage, fluttered ab[...]angers and burglars, was melted down and disposed of . . . They burnt the implements of husbandry for the iron, they robbed the gibbet of the chains, they even wrenched the plate from the coffin of an opulent merchant, and stripped him of his shroud.” In addition to the cheerful condition of affairs at home, armed bandits, mounted on stolen horses, rode abroad, and defied all attempts of capture. Of these gentry the most noted was Michael Howe. I[...]oor devils whom she carried was one Michael Howe, a native of Pontefract, transported for seven years, for robbing a miller on the king's highway. The robber seemed tractable and goodnatured, though cursed with a most pernicious love of liberty. He attempted to escape before the vessel[...]n arrival in Van Diemen's Land he was assigned to a Mr. Ingle, a store-keeper, but the life did not appear to suit him. He had been a sailor, had served on board a man-of-war, and owned (according to Mr. West) a small collier. A man of determined character and somewhat romantic notion[...]ved to escape and take to the bush. At that time, a scoundrel named Whitehead, with a band of twenty-seven desperadoes, ranged the country; to these worthies Howe made his way, and was received with acclamations by the troop. The first exploit of the gang was to attack New Norfolk—then a small but flourishing township—and to plunder the inhabitants of all their portable property. From New Norfolk the[...]and burnt the wheat-stacks, barns, and out-houses of Mr. Humphrey, the police magistrate, affixing to the gate of the ruined barn a paper, on which was |
| drawn—in the same spirit as the coffin and cross-bones of the Irish rent- receipts—a gun firing a gigantic bullet at the head of a man. Mr. Humphrey appears to have taken his loss quietly, but on the ruflians plundering the house of a Mr. Carlisle, the settlers thought it time to bestir themselves. A neighbour of Carlisle's, a Mr. M'Carthy, who owned a schooner, the “Geordy,” then lying in the river, determined to make a push for a general capture of the gang. Howe, when a servant at Ingle's, had gained the affections of a native girl, and had induced her to accompany him to the bush. This young woman was only seventeen years of age, and is described as being of some considerable personal attractions. She was a[...]ouse, Black Mary and Howe were encamped with some of the gang on heights above the plain. According to the girl's statement, the bushranger in high glee filled a “goblet” (probably a pannikin), and as the twilight closed, cried to h[...]tical Mary, eager to please her lord, rose to get a firestick from the embers; but Howe laughed loudl[...]xclaimed, “Sit down, girl! Whitehead's lighting a match for us!” Presently “a tremendous flame arose from two different points below, which threw a glare over all the plain.” “There,” cried Howe; “these fires have cost a pretty penny. Here's success to the bushman's tinder-box, and a blazing fire to his enemies!” Mary relates that Howe was kind to her—after the manner of his sex—whenever “things went right with him;” but that if anything “crossed his temper, he was like a tiger.” He was very jealous of her, she says; and when Edwards, one of his gang, gave her a shawl which he had stolen from Captain Tonnson, Howe pistolled him on the spot. M'Carthy organised a party, consisting of some eleven men, among whom were Carlisle, O'Birne, the master of the schooner, and an old convict of sixty years of age, named Worral. This old man had been one of the mutineers of the Nore, and though he vows in his narrative (gi[...]he took in the proceedings was the writing “in a fair hand” several papers for the mutineers, he[...]nd. This party, armed to the teeth, and guided by a native, set out upon the track of the bushrangers. By-and- by they heard the report of a musket-shot, and creeping stealthily up behind a huge hollowed log, came upon the bandits pleasant[...]. The scene as described by Worral must have been a picturesque one. “Some were cooking pieces of mutton; others lolling on the grass, smoking and drinking; and a pretty, interesting-looking native girl sa[...] |
| long and bushy black ringlets of a stout, wicked-looking man seated by her. He had pistols in his belt, wore a fustian jacket, a kangaroo-skin cap and waistcoat, with leather gai[...]This was Michael Howe. Whitehead, the leader—“a tall, ill-looking villain”—was asleep on the[...]Instantly the gang were on their feet. But before a shot was fired, Whitehead called a parley. “We don't want to shed blood,” said h[...]when Howe roared, “Slap at the beggars!” and a tearing volley from guns and pistols rattled among the branches. Five of the attacking party fell, and, “keeping up a brisk hedge-firing,” they were forced to retreat, leaving one of their number—a man named Murphy— dead on the grass. Mr. Carlis[...]y vengeance, and applied for military protection. A detachment of the 73rd Regiment were sent out to scour the country, and M'Carthy's homestead was garrisoned by a party of the 46th. The bushrangers, unwitting of the ambush, attacked the farm, and a sort of siege commenced. The soldiers, however, gained the day, and a shot from Worral mortally wounded Whitehead. The[...]ing his piece, observed Howe bend over the corpse of his captain as if to comply with his request. He[...], and there lay on the ground the mutilated trunk of Whitehead. In pursuance of an agreement made between them, Howe had hacked o[...]he gang got clear away to the mountains. The body of Whitehead was gibbeted on Hunter's Island, and Howe became the leader of the troop. The atrocity and daring of the scoundrel now almost surpasses belief. His head-quarters were about fifteen miles west of Oatlands, in a place yet known as “Michael Howe's Marsh.” He instituted there a sort of rude court of justice, and would subject such of his band as displeased him to punishment. Says Mr. West—“The tone assumed by this robber was that of an independent chief, and in the management of his men he attempted the discipline of war. He professed the piety of the quarter-deck, and read to them the Scriptures.” His style and title was “Governor of the Ranges,” and he addressed the King's representative as “Governor of the Town.” He |
| [...]rd labour if they disobeyed him; and when one day a man named Bowles fired a blank shot over his head in jest, the chief tied[...]s out. He compelled his adherents to take an oath of fidelity upon a (stolen) Bible, and sent insolent messages to the authorities. In a journal called the Bengal Hurkaru occurs the foll[...]sworn, states—About five o'clock in the evening of November 27th (1816), I fell in with a party of bushrangers—about fourteen men and two women. Michael Howe and Geary were the only two of the gang I knew personally. I met them on Scantli[...]d to see every man sworn to abide by the contents of a letter. I observed a thick man writing, as I suppose, to the Lieutenant-Governor. Geary was the man who administered the oath on a prayer-book, calling each man for the purpose regularly. They did not inform me of the contents of the letter. Michael Howe and Geary directed me to[...], and Mr. Wade, the chief constable, to take care of themselves, as they were resolved to have their l[...]ld thrash more in one night than he could reap in a year. They said they would set the whole country on fire with one stick. I was detained about three-quarters of an hour, during which time they charged me to be[...]en. On my return from Port Dalrymple, I called at a hut, occupied by Joseph Wright, at Scantling's Plains. William Williams and a youth were there, who told me the bushrangers had been there a few days before, and forced them to a place called Murderer's Plains, which the bushran[...]they made them remain three days for the purpose of rendering down a large quantity of beef-fat, which Williams understood was taken fro[...]supply them with information. Howe affected to be a sort of Robin Hood—indeed it is probable that the marauder of Sherwood Forest was just such another greasy ruff[...]ration and the Poet's dream”—the consecration of that lecherous butcher, Henry the Eighth—the poet's dream of that beer-swelling termagant, Virgin Elizabeth—the light that gilds the shameless robberies of the glorious Reformation—may shine upon Michael Howe in the character of a romantic outlaw. The people certainly |
| admired him; and though a reward of 100 guineas and a free passage to England was set upon his head, he[...]—came very near taking him on one occasion. The old sailor was buying some powder and shot in the store of one Stevens, when a man “dressed like a gentleman” entered. The moment Worral heard him speak, he recognised the voice of the “fellow who had cut off the head of Whitehead,” and grappled with him. A furious struggle took place, and just as poor Wor[...]0 guineas and free passage were safe, he received a violent blow on the back of his head, and fell senseless. When he recovered, Stevens the storekeeper was holding a pannikin of rum to his lips, and Howe had gone. Stevens swore that “a strange man had rushed into the store, and knocked Worral down with a bludgeon.” The bethumped old fellow had his suspicions, but like a wise man said nothing, until one day Stevens was[...]e blow—“I wish I'd killed him,” he added. A regular campaign was now commenced against the free-booters, and one day a party of the 46th, among whom as a volunteer was the indefatigable Worral, stumbled upon a hut on the banks of the Shannon. The bushrangers had chosen their camping-ground with an eye to the picturesque. “It was a flat piece of green land, covered with wild flowers, and over-looking the most beautiful country that can be imagined: a precipice in our front, from which we hurled a stone that rolled over half-a- mile of steep hill down to river, all studded with island[...]and the blue mountains far away gave one the idea of an earthly paradise, yet no human being ever claimed it—none ever trod over this fair country but a few lawless brigands.” Remaining in ambush for[...]pot, they at last perceived four men approaching, of whom one was Howe. The native girl before mentioned was with him, clad in a dress of skins, feathers, and white calico. The instinct of the savage detected the trap: she pointed, gestic[...], closely followed by the girl, gained the summit of a hill, turned round and fired, but missed, and ran on. For more than a mile the chase continued, the bushranger gaining[...]rged her to further exertion. The pursuers set up a great shout at this, and |
| [...]rise. The soldiers were within five hundred yards of him, and gnashing his teeth with rage, the monste[...]ted girl, fired. He then turned, and plunged into a ravine, “where pursuit was hopeless.” Howe[...]tly wounded, and justly incensed at the brutality of her lover. She volunteered to aid her rescuers to track him to his hiding- place. After a march of three hours, the party arrived at some huts on th[...]nk. These were deserted, but on the opposite side of the river stood Geary—the lieutenant of the gang—with levelled musket. He fired, missed[...]them to another place, and as they “arrived at a high rock which overhung the waters of the creek,” a shot was heard; a wild figure burst out of the bush, and darted past them. The cliff was ste[...]tlaw's retreat. It was Hillier, the most brutal of the band. He turned and faced them for an instant[...]-first from the rock into the river. The drop was a hundred feet, and all thought him a dead man. He rose to |