Building Construction Practice in the Colony of New South Wales from the Arrival of the First Fleet to the End of the Primitive Era and Its Influence in Later Time
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Building Construction Practice in the Colony of New South Wales from the Arrival of the First Fleet to the End of the Primitive Era and Its Influence in Later Time John L Guy The first European settlement of Australia commenced at Sydney Cove, a small bay in Port Jackson on the East Coast. This little patch of land now flanked by two of Australia’s great icons; the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House; was the site of the first colony – the world’s largest outdoor prison. INTRODUCTION Australian architecture began from nothing; there was no architect in the expedition, no one skilled in the organisation and integration of building techniques. Men from all walks of life had to adapt themselves as best they could to a set of circumstances that could scarcely have been worse, for not only was there little or no architectural skill, but implements and materials were of poor quality[….] Trial and error was man’s first method of learning building technique, and so it was in Australia. Although,[…], substantial buildings were commenced straight away, the majority of shelters were so primitive that it was only after several attempts that they could be made to stand up at all. Ignorance of the most elementary principles of building caused disaster after disaster until the rough lessons were learnt. (Herman 1954, pp. 3-4) Commencing on 26th January 1788 the settlement was initially formed by the transportation of convicts, marines as their guards and seamen from Great Britain. By 1800 the colony had begun to include free settlers out to seek their fortune. Of the 212 marines and 775 convicts who embarked (Clark 1950, p. 42) 1 marine and 24 convicts died on the voyage (Tench 1789, p. 46). Considering that the convicts were “emaciated from confinement and in want of clothes and almost every conveniency to render so long a passage tolerable” Tench regarded the voyage as an “unhoped for success” (1789, pp. 46-7). Its formation differed from that of other British colonies in regard to its needs: "It was assumed that adequate supplies of suitable timber, which would constitute the material for the first houses, would be found locally, as they had been in all the newly settled American colonies." (Cowan, 1998, p. 3) 1475 Supplies sent out with the fleet included 2 years provision of food, tents, a range of tools, a portable hut for the Governor, a small amount of lime and up to 10,000 bricks as ballast (Cowan 1998, p. 3). Food and shelter were the two immediate challenges. Although there was a small core of people with building skills the majority lacked or had limited skills in building construction. As a result, although a few selected buildings were erected using the technology of the times, the majority were built by people relatively unskilled in construction techniques. Materials presented problems. Limited supplies of lime, made from local sea shells, were available. Although brick moulds were included in the cargo of the First Fleet, brick making was an art which still had to develop. The characteristics of the local timbers were very different and it took several months before their problems became apparent. The group arrived in a country with no obvious tradition of building construction. Native life required few building skills and no permanent buildings. Their bark covered shelters were seen as being inferior and it took several years before bark was adopted as a roofing material by the settlers. This time in the evolving new colony, known as the Primitive Period, was one of trial and experiment. Figure 1. View of Sydney Cove, August 1788. (Garran (ed), 1886, p. 17) Its end coincided with the arrival of Governor Macquarie on 1st January, 1810. By now the early lessons had been learnt. The Sydney town which greeted him was neat and well- manicured. There were many two and three storey buildings “of stone, brick, and lath and plaister; 1476 weatherboarded; and the houses durable.” There were two churches, and a chapel with a school and, of course, two jails “and a great number of extensive and handsome houses, the property of private individuals” (Mann 1979, p. 56). Governor Macquarie was a man with vision and strong determination and a requirement for an architect “with ideas, taste, and a drawing board complete” to be sent out. He eventually got his wish, with the arrival of Mathew, Greenway, Watts and Kitchen (Herman 1954, pp. 29, 39-43), ushering in the second phase of Sydney’s development, the Colonial Period. I now propose to examine the labour skills, equipment and tools, materials, early experience, construction techniques and look at some surviving examples of this primitive period of Australian building construction in detail. LABOUR SKILLS Previous English experience of convict transportation was to America, where the local free population provided the infrastructure and required only unskilled labour. These colonies had been founded by enthusiastic voluntary emigrants who included a fair proportion of people with agricultural and building skills. However proposals to include skilled free settlers in the new colony of Sydney were rejected. Exacerbating the problem was the fact that convicts selected for transportation had been confined in the prison hulks for two or more years prior to transportation and then subjected to a voyage of 8 months before arriving in Sydney Cove on 26th January, 1788. They were unlikely to be fit for hard manual exertion by the time of their arrival. Also, as Herman observed, although “the convicts built snug little huts for themselves with alacrity they barely exerted themselves beyond what was necessary to avoid punishment for idleness when employed on public works” (1954, p.7). Arriving convicts included some tradesmen, totalling 12 carpenters, 2 brickmakers, 2 bricklayers and a plasterer. Phillip described the situation at this time in his first dispatch, written on 15th May, 1788 to London in the following words: As there are only 12 convicts who are carpenters, as many as could be procured from the ships have been hired to work on the hospital and store-houses. The people were healthy when landed, but the scurvy has, for some time, appeared amongst them, and now rages in a most extraordinary manner. Only sixteen carpenters could be hired from the ships, and several of the convict carpenters were sick (HRA Series 1 Vol 1, p. 20). 1477 One marine was a mason. Phillip had also hired two men with whom he had worked before, Augustus Alt, appointed Surveyor-General, and Henry Brewer, a clerk of works. An artillery officer, Lt. William Dawes was a skilled draftsman. Also artificers from the Marine Detachment were employed on a part-time basis. These included 10 carpenters, 5 masons, 7 shinglers, 5 sawyers and 2 file cutters. Over the period from 17th May to 30th September, 1788 they worked an average of 106 days out of a possible 137 days on construction work for the new colony (HRA Series 1, Vol 1, p. 81). In his dispatch of 9th July, 1788 Phillip wrote to Lord Sydney: I should hope that few convicts will be sent out this year or the next, unless they are artificers, and after what I have had the honour of observing to your Lordship I make no doubt but proper people will be sent to superintend them. (HRA Series 1 Vol 1, p.47). The need for skilled people was finally met. The Rt. Hon. W. W. Grenville, in a dispatch to Phillip on 24th August, 1789 informed him that: Your proposal of sending out a few artificers you will find upon the arrival of the Guardian has been attended to, by the embarkation of twenty-five convicts of that description. (HRA Series 1, Vol 1, p.130). Unfortunately the Guardian, carrying both the wanted artificers and badly needed stores, struck an iceberg and sank off the Cape of Good Hope on the Christmas eve of 1789. (Clark 1962, p. 119). From this humble beginning in January 1788, a general return of male convicts and their employment on 23rd July, 1790 listed the following: 40 brick and tile makers. 50 brick carters. 19 bricklayers and labourers. 8 carpenters. 14 axemen assisting the carpenters. 14 sawyers. 1478 9 smiths. 18 timber carters. 4 stonemasons. 3 thatchers. (Hunter 1793, p. 304) The settlement continued to grow despite the continuing hardships of famine and poor tools. EQUIPMENT AND TOOLS The First Fleet arrived with a broad range of provisions and equipment. These included saws, axes, hatchets, nails, hinges and hooks, wheel barrows, bellows, grindstones, glass, hammers, augers, gimlets, files, chisels, box rules, smith’s tools, pit saws, wedges, brick moulds and mason’s chisels. However their quality was found wanting. Referring to the tools sent with the First Fleet, in his 28th September, 1788 dispatch Phillip stated: “The tools and articles in the inclosed lists will be much wanted by the time they can be sent out, and I cannot help repeating that most of the tools were as bad as ever were sent out for barter on the coast of Guinea.” (HRA Series 1, Vol 1, p. 86). MATERIALS There were local supplies of timber and rushes, stone, as a freestone and clay suitable for brickmaking. Phillip’s description of the materials found is: The timber is well described in Captain Cook’s voyage, but unfortunately it has one very bad quality, which puts us to great inconvenience; I mean the large gum-tree, which splits and warps in such as manner when used green, and to which necessity obliged us, that a store-house boarded up with this wood is rendered useless.