Old Tales of a Young Country
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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 be used for commercial purposes without permission Source Text: Prepared from the print edition published by Mason, Firth and McCutcheon, General Printers Melbourne 1871 All quotation marks are retained as data. First Published: 1871 A823.91/C599/E2/2 setis australian etexts early settlement short stories 1870-1889 Old tales of a young country by Secretary to the Trustees of the Public Library, Museums, &c., Melbourne. Melbourne Mason, Firth and McCutcheon, General Printers 1871 Preface. THE narratives which follow have, with one exception, already been published in the Australasian weekly newspaper. 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 their narration, I lay claim but to such originality as 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 accuracy in names, 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 jealousy with which colonial families guard the secret histories bequeathed to them by their ancestors, 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 some few instances to accept the narrative as correct on the sole authority of the first and only narrator. I shall therefore be glad to receive any corrections or suggestions from persons whom accident has furnished with fuller information than I possess, on the subjects treated of in the following pages. MARCUS CLARKE. The Public Library, Museums, &c., Melbourne, 30th November, 1871. Contents PAGE THE SETTLEMENT OF SYDNEY 1 GEORGE BARRINGTON, PICKPOCKET AND HISTORIAN 8 WILLIAM BUCKLEY, 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 RALPH DARLING'S IRON COLLAR 106 THE SETTLER IN TASMANIA FIFTY YEARS AGO 117 THE SEIZURE OF THE “CYPRUS” 133 THE LAST OF MACQUARIE HARBOUR 141 THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN BUBBLE 157 AN AUSTRALIAN CRUSOE 167 THE FIRST QUEENSLAND EXPLORER 185 JOHN MITCHEL'S ESCAPE FROM VAN DIEMEN'S LAND 196 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 two years' stores and provisions for the settlement, and six transports with troops and convicts. The major- commandant and his staff were on board the “Sirius,” and the transports carried about 200 officers and 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 captains, 12 subalterns, 24 sergeants and corporals, 8 drummers, and 160 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 declared, and the blood shed at Bunker's Hill had caused the tree of liberty to blossom and bud. Admiral Kempenfelt and the “Royal George” had gone down at Spithead. William Pitt was 29 years old, and had been Premier of England for four years. The steam- engine had supplanted the hand-loom in the cotton mills for nearly three years. Poor Peg Nicholson had just stabbed at George III., and Edmund Burke had thrown the first stone 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, taxation, and wooden shoes. England was yet bleeding from her struggle with her colonies, and the thundercloud of revolution hung over France. Napoleon had just got his commission as sub-lieutenant, and the Bastille had not yet fallen. 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 the Great Canaries”— and at Rio de Janeiro on the 7th August, 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 horses, 44 sheep, 32 hogs, besides goats and poultry, for the purpose of stocking the settlement. A few officers also purchased live stock, but found it an inconvenient proceeding, as hay cost 16s. the hundredweight. It was also gratifying 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 of adventure and thirst for novelty were excessive.” Meeting with contrary winds, Governor Phillip resolved to change his pennant from the “Sirius” to the “Supply,” and proceed on his way without waiting for the rest of the fleet. On the 25th, therefore, the separation took place, several sawyers, carpenters, blacksmiths, and other mechanics being drafted from various ships into the “Supply,” in order that His Excellency might get a few buildings run up by the time the fleet should arrive. The fleet itself 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, the little squadron was compelled 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 cast anchor in the harbour, and was welcomed by the already-arrived “Supply” and her illustrious passenger. 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 called by Captain Cook “Port 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, however, stayed the panic by making public announcement that the strange sail were French ships under the command of M. de La Perrouse. The next morning the two nations saluted each other as they passed 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 disembark. Setting vigorously to work to cut down the trees, set up the tents, and mark out the dimensions of their future home, the expedition passed away some weeks pleasantly enough. The 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.