Watkin Tench's 1788 (29 page)

July 1791
. If, however, the good people of this ship delighted us with their benevolence, here gratification ended. I was of a party who had rowed in a boat six miles out to sea, beyond the harbour's mouth, to meet them; and what was our disappointment, on getting aboard, to find that they had not brought a letter (a few official ones for the governor excepted) to any person in the colony! Nor had they a single newspaper or magazine in their possession; nor could they conceive that any person wished to hear news; being as ignorant of everything which had passed in Europe for the last two years as ourselves, at the distance of half the circle. ‘No war—the fleet's dismantled,' was the whole that we could learn. When I asked whether a new parliament had been called they stared at me in stupid wonder, not seeming to comprehend that such a body either suffered renovation or needed it.

‘Have the French settled their government?'

‘As to that matter I can't say; I never heard; but, damn them, they were ready enough to join the Spaniards against us.'

‘Are Russia and Turkey at peace?'

‘That you see does not lie in my way; I have heard talk about it, but don't remember what passed.'

‘For heaven's sake, why did you not bring out a bundle of newspapers? You might have procured a file at any coffee house, which would have amused you and instructed us.'

‘Why, really, I never thought about the matter until we were off the Cape of Good Hope, when we spoke with a man of war, who asked us the same question, and then I wished I had.'

To have prosecuted inquiry farther would have only served to increase disappointment and chagrin. We therefore quitted the ship, wondering and lamenting that so large a portion of plain undisguised honesty should be so totally unconnected with a common share of intelligence, and acquaintance with the feelings and habits of other men.

By the governor's letters we learned that a large fleet of transports, with convicts on board, and His Majesty's ship
Gorgon
(Captain Parker), might soon be expected to arrive. The following intelligence which they contained was also made public.

That such convicts as had served their period of transportation were not to be compelled to remain in the colony; but that no temptation should be offered to induce them to quit it, as there existed but too much reason to believe that they would return to former practices; that those who might choose to settle in the country should have portions of land, subject to stipulated restrictions, and a portion of provisions assigned to them on signifying their inclinations; and that it was expected that those convicts, who might be possessed of means to transport themselves from the country, would leave it free of all encumbrances of a public nature.

The rest of the fleet continued to drop in, in this and the two succeeding months. The state of the convicts whom they brought out, though infinitely preferable to what the fleet of last year had landed, was not unexceptionable. Three of the ships had naval agents on board to control them. Consequently, if complaint had existed there, it would have been immediately redressed. Exclusive of these, the
Salamander
(Captain Nichols), who, of 155 men lost only five; and the
William and Anne
(Captain Buncker), who of 187 men lost only seven, I find most worthy of honourable mention. In the list of convicts brought out was Barrington, of famous memory.
^†

Two of these ships also added to our geographic knowledge of the country. The
Atlantic
, under the direction of Lieutenant Bowen, a naval agent, ran into a harbour between Van Diemen's Land and Port Jackson, in latitude 35° 12' south, longitude 151° east, to which, in honour of Sir John Jervis, Knight of the Bath, Mr Bowen gave the name of Port Jervis.
^††
Here was found good anchoring ground with a fine depth of water, within a harbour about a mile and a quarter broad at its entrance, which afterwards opens into a basin five miles wide and of considerable length. They found no fresh water, but as their want of this article was not urgent, they did not make sufficient researches to pronounce that none existed there.
^*
They saw, during the short time they stayed, two kangaroos and many traces of inhabitants. The country at a little distance to the southward of the harbour is hilly, but that contiguous to the sea is flat. On comparing what they had found here afterwards, with the native produce of Port Jackson, they saw no reason to think that they differed in any respect.

The second discovery was made by Captain Wetherhead, of the
Matilda
transport, which was obligingly described to me, as follows, by that gentleman, on my putting to him the underwritten questions.

‘When did you make your discovery?'

‘On the 27th of July 1791.'

‘In what latitude and longitude does it lie?'

‘In 42° 15' south by observation, and in 148 ½ east by reckoning.'

‘Is it on the mainland or is it an island?'

‘It is an island, distant from the mainland about eight miles.'

‘Did you anchor?'

‘Yes, and found good anchorage in a bay open about six points.'

‘Did you see any other harbour or bay in the island?'

‘None.'

‘Does the channel between the island and the main appear to afford good shelter for shipping?'

‘Yes, like Spithead.'

‘Did you find any water on the island?'

‘Yes, in plenty.'

‘Of what size does the island appear to be?'

‘It is narrow and long; I cannot say how long. Its breadth is inconsiderable.'

‘Did you make any observations on the soil?'

‘It is sandy; and many places are full of craggy rocks.'

‘Do you judge the productions which you saw on the island to be similar to those around Port Jackson?'

‘I do not think they differ in any respect.'

‘Did you see any animals?'

‘I saw three kangaroos.'

‘Did you see any natives, or any marks of them?'

‘I saw no natives, but I saw a fire, and several huts like those at Port Jackson, in one of which lay a spear.'

‘What name did you give to your discovery?'

‘I called it, in honour of my ship, Matilda Bay.'
^{††â€} 

November 1191
. A very extraordinary instance of folly stimulated to desperation occurred in the beginning of this month among the convicts at Rose Hill. Twenty men and a pregnant woman, part of those who had arrived in the last fleet, suddenly disappeared with their clothes, working tools, bedding, and their provisions for the ensuing week, which had just been issued to them. The first intelligence heard of them was from some convict settlers, who said they had seen them pass and had enquired whither they were bound. To which they had received for answer, ‘to
China
' The extravagance and infatuation of such an attempt was explained to them by the settlers; but neither derision nor demonstration could avert them from pursuing their purpose. It was observed by those who brought in the account that they had general idea enough of the point of the compass in which China lies from Port Jackson, to keep in a northerly direction.

An officer with a detachment of troops was sent in pursuit of them; but after a harassing march returned without success. In the course of a week the greatest part of them were either brought back by different parties who had fallen in with them, or were driven in by famine. Upon being questioned about the cause of their elopement, those whom hunger had forced back did not hesitate to confess that they had been so grossly deceived as to believe that China might easily be reached, being not more than 100 miles distant and separated only by a river. The others, however, ashamed of the merriment excited at their expense, said that their reason for running away was on account of being overworked and harshly treated, and that they preferred a solitary and precarious existence in the woods to a return to the misery they were compelled to undergo. One or two of the party had certainly perished by the hands of the natives, who had also wounded several others.

I trust that no man would feel more reluctant than myself to cast an illiberal national reflection, particularly on a people whom I regard in an aggregate sense as brethren and fellow-citizens; and among whom I have the honour to number many of the most cordial and endearing intimacies which a life passed on service could generate. But it is certain that all these people were
Irish
.

†
George Barrington was a celebrated pickpocket who became chief constable of Parramatta in 1796.

††
Jervis Bay.

*
Just before I left the country, word was brought by a ship which had put into Port Jervis that a large freshwater brook was found there.

†††
Probably Wine Glass Bay on the Freycinet Peninsula which Captain Wetherhead mistook for an island.

16

Transactions of the colony until the 18th of December 1791, when I quitted it, with an account of its state at that time

T
HE
Gorgon
had arrived on the 21st of September, and the hour of departure to England, for the marine battalion, drew nigh. If I be allowed to speak from my own feelings on the occasion, I will not say that we contemplated its approach with mingled sensations: we hailed it with rapture and exultation.

The
Supply
, ever the harbinger of welcome and glad tidings, proclaimed by her own departure that ours was at hand. On the 26th of November she sailed for England. It was impossible to view our separation with insensibility: the little ship which had so often agitated our hopes and fears, which from long acquaintance we had learned to regard as part of ourselves, whose doors of hospitality had been ever thrown open to relieve our accumulated wants, and chase our solitary gloom!

In consequence of the offers made to the non-commissioned officers and privates of the marine battalion to remain in the country as settlers or to enter into the New South Wales corps, three corporals, one drummer and 59 privates accepted of grants of land, to settle at Norfolk Island and Rose Hill. Of these men, several were undoubtedly possessed of sufficient skill and industry, by the assistance of the pay which was due to them (from the date of their embarkation, in the beginning of the year 1787, to the day on which they were discharged), to set out with reasonable hopes of being able to procure a maintenance. But the only apparent reason to which the behaviour of a majority of them could be ascribed was from infatuated affection to female convicts, whose characters and habits of life, I am sorry to say, promise from a connection neither honour nor tranquillity.

The narrative part of this work will, I conceive, be best brought to a termination by a description of the existing state of the colony, as taken by myself a few days previous to my embarkation in the
Gorgon
, to sail for England.

December 2nd, 1791
. Went up to Rose Hill. Public buildings here have not greatly multiplied since my last survey. The storehouse and barrack have been long completed; also apartments for the chaplain of the regiment, and for the judge-advocate, in which last, criminal courts, when necessary, are held; but these are petty erections. In a colony which contains only a few hundred hovels built of twigs and mud, we feel consequential enough already to talk of a treasury, an admiralty, a public library and many other similar edifices, which are to form part of a magnificent square. The great road from near the landing place to the governor's house is finished, and a very noble one it is, being of great breadth, and a mile long, in a straight line. In many places it is carried over gullies of considerable depth, which have been filled up with trunks of trees covered with earth. All the sawyers, carpenters and blacksmiths will soon be concentred under the direction of a very adequate person of the governor's household. This plan is already so far advanced as to contain nine covered sawpits which change of weather cannot disturb the operations of, an excellent workshed for the carpenters and a large new shop for the blacksmiths. It certainly promises to be of great public benefit. A new hospital has been talked of for the last two years, but is not yet begun. Two long sheds, built in the form of a tent and thatched, are however finished, and capable of holding 200 patients. The sick list of today contains 382 names. Rose Hill is less healthy than it used to be. The prevailing disorder is a dysentery, which often terminates fatally. There was lately one very violent putrid fever which, by timely removal of the patient, was prevented from spreading. Twenty-five men and two children died here in the month of November.

When at the hospital I saw and conversed with some of the
Chinese travellers
; four of them lay here, wounded by the natives. I asked these men if they really supposed it possible to reach China. They answered that they were certainly made to believe (they knew not how) that at a considerable distance to the northward existed a large river, which separated this country from the back part of China; and that when it should be crossed (which was practicable) they would find themselves among a copper-coloured people, who would receive and treat them kindly. They added that on the third day of their elopement, one of the party died of fatigue; another they saw butchered by the natives who, finding them unarmed, attacked them and put them to flight. This happened near Broken Bay, which harbour stopped their progress to the northward and forced them to turn to the right hand, by which means they soon after found themselves on the sea shore, where they wandered about in a destitute condition, picking up shellfish to allay hunger. Deeming the farther prosecution of their scheme impracticable, several of them agreed to return to Rose Hill, which with difficulty they accomplished, arriving almost famished. On their road back they met six fresh adventurers sallying forth to join them, to whom they related what had passed and persuaded them to relinquish their intention. There are at this time not less than thirty-eight convict men missing, who live in the woods by day, and at night enter the different farms and plunder for subsistence.