Travels in New South Wales

Front matter

TRAVELS IN NEW SOUTH WALES, BT ALEXANDER MARJORIBANKS, OF MAKJORIBANKS. ' dot theo out nf thy country/ami from thy kindred, aud from thy father' house, into a land that I will shew thee."— Cknesis. LONDON : SMITH, ELDER, AND CO., CORNHILL ; OLIVER AND BOAT), EDINBUKGH. JIDCCCXLA-II. JAMES WALKER, PltlNTEE, 6. JAMES'S COCKT, EDIXBCIiCH. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL GREY, HER majesty's SECEETARY of STATE FOR THE COLONIES. My Lord, I avail myself of the kind permission you have granted me to dedicate this work to your Lordship. The official situation which you have been called upon to fill, I have always considered the most important of any Avith Avhich a Minister of the CroAvn can be entrusted ; inasmuch as our colonial possessions, from their boundless extent, impart to Great Britain the proud pre-eminence of being called " Queen among the Nations."

The vast amount of knowledge, and of labour, combined with the highest sense of honour, of patriotism, and liberality of sentiment, which your Lordship has brought to bear upon this vast empire, has caused your accession to office to be hailed with the most cordial satisfaction by all classes of the community. I have the honour to be, With the highest consideration, Your Lordship's faithful and very obedient Servant, ALEX. MARJORIBANKS. Balbaedie House, Bathgate. Page 1 33 62 NEW SOUTH WALES. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

Its early History — Despatch of First Fleet — Arrival at Botany Bay — Description of Botany Bay — Serpents — Description of Sydney — Wonderful extent of the Auctioneering System — Prodigious Consumption of Liquors.

Chapter II

AVool the staple commodity — Duties of a Shepherd — Grand discovery that AVeavers make the best Shepherds — Extensive Plains — Rivers — Population Returns — Great demand for AVomen — The Clergy how endowed — Mode of spending the Sunday — Dr Lang's Sermons — Tyranny of the Police — Periodical Droughts — The Climate.

Chapter III

Bathurst — Number of Bullock-Teams crossing the Blue Mountains — Funeral Ceremonies and Consecrated ground — Iron-gangs — Governors Macquarie — Brisbane Darling — Bourke — Gipps — and Fitzroy. CONTENTS. VI Page S2 107 172

Chapter IV

The Aborigines — Their Manners and Customs — Enormous Appetites — Mode of AArarfare — Plurality of AVive3 — Infanticide — Cannibal Propensities — Liverpool Plains Massacre — Their Attacks upon the Settlers — Banishment to Norfolk Island — Description of that Island.

Chapter VIII

Advantages derived by Great Britain from New South AVales — Dreadful Depression in the Colony during the three years preceding 1845 — Rate of AVages How regulated — Pernicious effects of Strikes and Combinations — Socialism in Sydney. . . . . .192 CONTENTS. VII

Chapter IX

Page State of Literature — Cunynghame's Amusements — Annual Procession of Teetotallers — Civil and Military Juries — Disadvantages attending their being required to be unanimous — Speech of Jenkins on the Scaffold — Feelings that arise on witnessing an Execution in a distant land. ......... 212

Chapter X

Female Factory at Parramatta — Liberality of Government in rearing their numerous natural children — The most desirable Emigrants — Colonization in the days of Abram and Lot — Macquarie's liberality to the Emancipists — AVant of Hospitality— Servant of all Work in the Bush. 225

Chapter XI

Port Phillip — The Squatters of Australia — New Squatting Act — Steam betwixt Sydney and London — Dr Leichardt's discovery of aNew Territory — The boiling down of Sheep and Cattle for their Tallow — Recovery from late Depression — Great demand for Shepherds — Present State and Future Prospects of the Colony. Erratum. At page 182, sor " my esteemed friend Mr Gillon," read '* the late Mr Gillon."

Chapter I

Its early History — Despatch of First Fleet— Arrival at Botany Bay — Description of Botany Bay — Serpents — Description of Sydney — AVonderful extent of the Auctioneering System — Prodigious Consumption of Liquors. On leaving New Zealand in 1840, I proceeded to New South Wales, from which it is distant about 1300 miles. The history of this latter country during its infant years is unlike that of any other nation on the face of the globe. The early history of most other countries consists chiefly of wars, intrigues, rebellions, lengthened details of victories, with an occasional apology for a defeat. Whole volumes, for instance, have been Avritten on the Avars in which England has been engaged during the last thousand years, showing the movements of the contending armies ; how the right wing of one army was opposed to the left wing of another ; hoAv one general lost the battle A by extending his wings too far, like those of an eagle ; while the wings of another, like those of a bat, had not been stretched out far enough.

And yet I have seen sensible people sitting down for hours and reading these details with as much gravity as if they really understood them ; when, in fact, even the generals themselves, who were present and directed all their movements, did not understand them themselves, but knew well, from practical experience, that the race was not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, time and chance happening unto all. And even, though they had understood them, it would not have put a single idea into their heads ; so that they might have been employed just as profitably in reading an account of the movements of the men at a game of chess or backgammon. Few historians, in short, record anything that is really useful to mankind. The single historian who mentions, that in the reign of EdAvard the Third a fat sheep was sold for Is. 3d., a fat goose for 3d., and that a labourer got 3d. per day, recorded circumstances more useful to mankind than those other historians who have filled Avhole volumes with the details of the glorious victories of that monarch, not forgetting his wonderful victory at Cressy, in France.

The use of history is, chiefly, to mark the progress of civilization ; of the arts and sciences ; the laws enacted for the benefit of mankind ; useful discoveries ; the mode and expense of living ; the price of labour, and the manners and customs of different ages. These combined enable us to judge in some measure of the progress of society. When a labourer learns that for five days' labour he could have bought a fat sheep in the reign of King Edward, and considers that he must give ten or twelve days' labour for the same animal at the present day, he is enabled to draw the inference that the wages of labour have fallen since that time. It would be infinitely better were historians to adopt the scriptural plan, and merely to say, as in the first chapter of the Book of Chronicles : " And when Belah was dead, Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead.

And when Jobab was dead, Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his stead. And Avhen Husham was dead, Hadad the son of Bedad (which smote Midian in the field of Moab) reigned in his stead." In these few lines you have the history of the reigns of no less than three kings, and one victory. There is nothing here of right Avings or left wings, of strong or Aveak positions, but merely that Bedad smote, that is, obtained a victory over Midian, in the field of Moab ; and this is all that I, at least, wish to know of that victory, and all that the sensible people at that remote period of the world pro bably wished to know also. Those, however, Avho are fond of the romance a of battles will be sadly disappointed with the early history of NeAV South Wales, as they will find no glorious victories recorded, no roaring of cannon nor flourish of trumpets, but they will learn that the first sounds that fell from civilized man on these distant shores were the rattling of the chains of those led into captivity, and the crash of the trees of the forest falling under their stroke.

This country was selected by Brifc&in as an outlet for her numerous criminals, Avhere they would not only be punished by being driven from their native land, and subjected to the most rigid discipline, but also Avhere they might ultimately reform, so that a British colony might, in the course of time, be formed out of those materials Avhich their reformation, joined to the families of free emigrants, might supply. Those sent thither were thus expected to leave behind them the habits and pursuits which had been the cause of their being led captive, and after that just expia tion of past offences which the law imposed, might find shelter and repose, and recover and redeem those rights which every well regulated community finds it necessary to enforce for the protection of its well conducted members.

It thus became one of the noblest experiments that had ever been, made on the moral capabilities of man ; and the Rev. Dr Lang, the celebrated historian of that country, accordingly remarks, " If there is joy in heaven among the angels of God over every one sinner that repenteth, we may well conceive the deep interest Avhich superior intelligences would naturally feel at the esta blishment of the penal colony on the coast of NeAv Holland, all-insignificant and contemptible as it might appear, and the loud burst of joy with which they would have hailed the tidings of its ultimate success." By the transportation system England thus throws off her tainted subjects, securing for them an asylum Avhere they may reform and prosper ; whilst France, by confining her crimi nals within her own natural limits, familiarizes her people to scenes of suffering iniquity, and, by keeping up the continued public exposure of her delinquents, renders their feelings callous, and their reformation almost impracticable.

This system also tends to demoralize the national character ; and hence crime in France, according to Dupin, taken in the aggregate, is greater in its enormity than in England. New Holland or Australia, of Avhich New South Wales forms a part, is by far the largest island in the Avorld, measuring about 2400 geo graphical miles from east to Avest, and 2000 from north to south ; and as it contains an area of 3,000,000 square miles, it is, consequently, within one-fourth of being as large as Europe. It was first discovered in 1(509 by a Spanish nobleman, who called it Australia of the Holy Spirit, and it got the name of New Holland also, from the number of Dutch navigators who afterAvards fre quented it, though it now more generally gets its original name of Australia, and occasionally Australasia, which latter name is generally held to include Tasmania and all the islands in the vicinity of the Australian continent.

It is at present divided into three parts, viz. Eastern Australia or New South Wales, Western Aus tralia or the Swan River, and South Australia. Some have added as a fourth division, a tract of country called Australia Felix, from its being comparatively more fruitful than the others, and in which Port Phillip is situate ; but from being at present under the government of New South Wales, it cannot properly form a separate pro vince till disjoined. The celebrated Captain Cook was the first who explored Australia at all accurately, during his first voyage in 1770, and his third in 1777, and it Avas he who gave the name of New South Wales to its Eastern coast. On his return to England after the last of these voyages, he found the government somewhat at a loss for a pro per place to export criminals, the expense of keeping them at home in jails and penitentiaries being very great, Avhile the acknoAvledgment of American independence prevented their being sent as formerly to that country.

Captain Cook at first recommended New Zealand, from which he had just returned, but the prevalence of can nibalism was considered at that time an insur mountable objection. He then recommended a Bay to which he had paid a transient visit when coasting along the eastern part of Australia, and to which he had given the name of Botany Bay, from the number and variety of plants and flowers Avhich had been discovered there by the celebrated Sir Joseph Banks, who had accompanied him. The Government having resolved to give it a trial, despatched, on 13th May 1787, a fleet of eleven sail, which took out Captain Phillip, of the Royal Navy, as Governor ; who arrived in the end of January 1788, after a voyage of eight months, including the time spent at Tene riffe, Rio de Janeiro, and the Cape of Good Hope, for provisions.

In this fleet there were 600 male and 200 female convicts, with 160 marines, and their officers, to guard them, forming together upwards of 1000 individuals, including forty of the marines' Avives and their children. On arriving at Botany Bay in January 1788, Captain Phillip finding that the Avater over nearly the whole of it, and more particularly near the shore, was extremely shallow, embarked with some of his officers in three boats, and proceeded northward, intending to reach Avhat Captain Cook had called Broken Bay. They observed AVALES. on their way thither a small opening about three leagues to the north, Avhich Captain Cook had named Port Jackson, in honour of the sailor who discovered it, though he had only considered it a boat harbour, and, on entering, found, to their astonishment, one of the finest harbours of the world, — second only to Rio de Janeiro, in the Empire of Brazil, and the fleet was immediately removed to this splendid harbour.

Just as he was ready to set saQ from Botany Bay, tAvo large ships, under French colours, Avere seen beating into the bay. These turned out to be the two ships despatched from France on a voyage of discovery, under the command of the celebrated De la Perouse, which put in there to refit, having lost nine officers, four seamen, and one boy, besides several who were wounded, iu an unfortunate skirmish Avith the inhabitants of the Navigators' Islands, the natives of which La Perouse describes as remarkable for their great height and strength, treachery and feroci ty, though the Avomen were delicately beautiful. This celebrated French navigator remained at Botany Bay for two months, and it is a remarkable circumstance that he was not heard of after wards, till the year 1826, when Captain Dillon discovered that his fleet had been Avrecked on the Manicolo Islands, to the north of Sydney. * A * Dillon's " Discovery of the Fate of La Perouse," published in London in 1829, will be found a remarkably interesting work.

AVALES. 9 French ecclesiastic, of the name of De Lamanon, who accompanied the expedition as a naturalist, died at Botany Bay of the wounds he had re ceived at the Navigators' Islands, and is buried there ; and a monument was erected to La Pe rouse in 1825, on a beautiful spot at the entrance of the bay, by the captains of two French frigates who visited Sydney during that year. Almost all the French who arrive at Sydney pay a visit to this monument. Captain Phillip after sailing about seven miles up the beautiful harbour of Port Jackson, cast anchor; and all hands, soldiers and sailors, male and female convicts, set immediately to Avork, and on 26th January 1788, laid the foundation of a town, to which he gave the name of Sydney, in compliment to Viscount Sydney, then First Lord of the Admiralty.

Such is a brief account of the foundation of this colony. In regard to its subsequent history for five years afterwards, — hoAv the convicts mutinied and deserted into the bush, — how they had various encounters with the natives, who wished to expel them altogether, — hoAv a ship sent to them from England Avith stores was lost, — how many of them in consequence died from starvation ; the Governor himself receiving no more than a convict, — how 221 persons, including 186 convicts, who had been despatched during the famine to Norfolk Island, were saved WALES. from perishing by famine, owing to a flight of aquatic birds alighting on the island to lay their eggs, and, from the length of their wings, with difficulty re-ascending, — how a ship with 222 female prisoners unfortunately arrived in Sydney just at that time, which tended to increase the famine, and many other important events, are they not recorded at greater length in most of the histories of that country ?

The anniversary of the day on which they cast anchor in Port Jackson (the 26th of January 1788) is kept as a holiday in that country, and the natives, like dutiful children, following the good old customs of their forefathers in this the land of their birth, do not fail to close the festivities of the occasion by a grand public dinner, Avhich affords them an opportunity of displaying their astonishing eloquence, their wonderful attachment to their bar ren country, and their profound veneration for the memory of their illustrious ancestors, who had been sent there on account of their exem plary conduct in their native land. The words aborigines and natives are kept up with peculiar strictness in New South Wales; the former, a Latin Avord, signifying the original inhabitants of the country, who, of course, are the blacks ; and the latter signifying those born in the country of Avhite parents ; so that the blacks are never, by any chance, called the natives.

It is necessary to keep up this distinction WALES. 11 in that country, as these two words occur so frequently in the course of conversation. In regard to that celebrated spot called Botany Bay, it Avould not have been necessary for me to have taken any particular notice of it, more than of any of the other numerous bays on that exten sive coast, were it not for the associations with which it is connected, and the ignorance which prevails regarding it. Scarcely two individuals, indeed, in this country, have the same notions concerning it. Some think that the whole country went under that name, others that it was a large prison or penitentiary situated on that bay, having extensive ground for the prisoners to take exercise, and that all of them were confined within its walls, besides similar other absurd notions.

An idea also prevails very extensively even among the higher classes, that the criminals transported from this country within the last fifty years were all actually landed there ; so that it became quite a bye- Avord among the people when one was accused of any crime, — " Oh, he'll be transported to Botany Bay." Noav my readers Avill be startled Avhen I tell them, that of the thousands sentenced to be transported to Botany Bay, none arrived there except those originally sent by the first fleet under Governor Phillip, and these, you will recollect, were never landed at all ; the whole having been taken to Sydney. AA'ALES. I, of course, thought it necessary before leaving New South Wales, to pay a visit to a spot so well knoAvn by name throughout the world as Botany Bay, though few of the Sydney people take that trouble.

I got the loan of a horse for the occasion from a friend, who politely accompanied me. The distance to the spot where La Perouse's monument is erected, on what is called the North Head, is about ten miles from Sydney by land, and fifteen by water. The road to it from Sydney is wretched in the extreme, deserv ing merely the name of a cart-track. Immedi ately on leaving Sydney you enter upon a com plete desert of barren sand, Avith Ioav scrub or brushwood, which continues nearly all the way ; and at one spot in particular, Avhen looking round in every direction, there is not the vestige of a human habitation to be seen, so that one might actually suppose he Avas travelling through the deserts of Arabia. On coming to the bay, and riding for two or three miles along its beautiful banks, covered Avith wood, I looked in vain for the great variety of floAvers from Avhich it ob tained its name.

In fact I saAv more serpents than flowers, so that I should have felt inclined to have called it Serpentine Bay. Talking of serpents, I may mention that the bite of most of them in that country is almost instantaneously fatal, so that the people there, who live in the bush, generally carry a sharp knife or lancet in NEAV SOUTH WALES. their pockets in order to be ready to cut out the bit. The Death Adder, perhaps, possesses the most intense venom of any Australian serpent, and many have died in consequence of its bite, which is most rapidly fatal, — dogs expiring in a very few minutes after they are bitten. It is sel dom more than two feet and a half long, but immensely thick in proportion to its length. It is very sluggish in its habits, and rarely moves out of the way of persons approaching it.

Mr Clement Hodkinson, in his late work on Australia, published in 1845, mentions, that a man at the Williams river was bitten by a brown snake, not larger than the death adder, and died in a quarter of an hour. The poison of the generality of the Australian snakes appears to act differently from that of the rattlesnake of America ; for whereas the poison of the latter creates immediately a marked ef fect on the punctured Avound, causing violent SAvelling, intense pain, and a livid hue over the surface, the bite of the Australian snake does not cause much pain or inflammation in the wound itself, but seems principally to affect the whole nervous system, rapidly causing the pa tient to fall into a comatose state. Lieutenant Breton mentions that a man Avho was bitten by a death adder died in a short period, the blood gushing from his eyes, nose, mouth and ears, and the body becoming instantaneously a mass of putrefaction.

The natives on being bitten immediately suck the wound. The symptoms produced by the bite of a ser pent are, among others, a dreadful degree of drowsiness, though without much pain or uneasi ness ; and this it is necessary for the friends of the person who has been bitten to check, even though they use violence, as when once they fall asleep it is all over. Accidents, hoAvever, from this cause are but of rare occurrence. We rode up to La Perouse's monument, which is erected at a beautiful spot near the Heads, that is, where the bay opens up to the sea. The entrance into the sea is about a mile wide, and the view up the bay is exceedingly beautiful. Considering that it is now approaching a century since Captain Cook landed there, it is rather re markable that there should be so little indication of the work of man, — the country all round, with the exception of a feAv houses and gardens scattered here and there, having still the appear ance of being in a state of nature.

To judge by the eye, I should suppose that the bay might be about ten miles in depth and four in breadth. The banks are chiefly sands, which, when the tide is out, are left dry to a con siderable distance from the shore, so that I don't at all wonder that Captain Phillip Avas glad to escape from them. Had Botany Bay been as good a harbour as Port Jackson, the town of Sydney would no doubt have been built there. The monument to La Perouse is a simple round stone column about fifty feet high, with a short description on its pedestal, mentioning by whom, and to whom it was erected. Such is a brief description of the far-famed Botany Bay, a name which has often struck terror into the criminal's heart in this country, but which only produced in my mind, when standing on its peaceful, serene, and far distant shores, a sensation of solitude, and of dreariness, such as I had seldom experienced before.

On first arriving at Sydney, (which is 15,000 miles from Great Britain, by the Cape of Good Hope,) although all you see are English faces, yet you soon become aware that you are in a country very different from England. The government gangs of convicts marching too and fro in single military file, as they go to or return from their Avork, and the solitary ones straggling here and there, Avith their light woollen Parramatta frocks and trousers, or grey or yellow jackets, all daubed over with broad arroAvs, P. B's. or C. B's., these initials denoting the Prisoners or Carters Barracks, and various nume rals in black, white, and red ; with perhaps the jail-gang straddling sulkily by in their jinglingleg chains, tell a tale too plain to be misunderstood. When strolling through the streets of Sydney on first landing, very singular reflections will naturally intrude upon the mind, on perceiving the perfect safety with which you may jostle through the croAvds of individuals noAV suffering, or who have suffered the punishment awarded by the law for their offences.

Elbowed by some daring highwayman on your left hand, and rubbed shoulders with by even a more desperate burglar on your right hand, — a footpad perhaps stops your Avay in front, and a pickpocket pushes you behind,— all retired from their Avonted vocations, and now peacefully complying Avith the tasks im posed upon them, or following quietly up the even path pointed out by honest industry. But nothing will surprise you more than the quietness and order which prevail in the streets, and the security wherewith you may perambulate them at all hours of the night. Yet a street robbery is a rare occurrence, and even robberies of masters by convict servants are far from being common. I lived for six months in the neighbourhood of Sydney, where there were no houses for half-a mile, and had frequent occasion to return home at a late hour, along this solitary part of the road, but never met Avith any interruption.

I consider, therefore, Sydney a very safe place noAV, though I have heard old residenters say, that thirty years ago people were occasionally attacked in the streets even during the day. But at that time there Avere few police, and few free people, so that the convicts had it all their OAvn way ; and AVALES. prisoners, in general, having a felloAv-feeling towards each other, seldom at that time interfered. Some little interruption to the security of Sydney, no doubt, occurred in 1844 ; and the murder of a respectable gentleman named Noble, in his own house in the very centre of Sydney, at eight o'clock in the evening of Sunday the 26th of May 1844, made a great sensation. A meeting was held on the 8th of June thereafter of the inhabitants of Sydney, for the protection of life and property, at Avhich Captain O'Connell, (son of Sir Maurice O'Connell, Commander in Chief at Sydney, and a relation of the celebrated Daniel O'Connell,) who moved the first resolution, said, after alluding to this murder : " But it was not only these deadly crimes that the citizens of Sydney had to complain of, as innu merable instances of violence, unattended with loss of life, were to be added to the rest.

The hour of dusk had noAV become the hour of danger, and no man was safe." There were five men implicated in this murder, two of whom turned approvers, and one was banished, Avhile the tAvo worst, Vigors and Burdett, Avere executed. They were what are there called Norfolk Island, expirees, or more properly speaking, had been permitted to return to Sydney from that Island, on certificates of bad health. Vigors was thirty eight years of age, by trade a shoemaker, and a native of Devonport, and Burdett forty-three, WALES. and a native of London. Vigors had arrived in 1828, on a charge of stealing, and Burdett had arrived in 1830, having been transported for life for burglary. The judge said, in passing sentence of death, that it had never been his lot to see so fearful a roll of crimes against one man as against Vigors.

Since his arrival he had been convicted of no less than thirty-one offences ; and during that time had been four times sentenced to punishment in irons, and had received for absconding, and various other offences, no less than 1100 lashes. Sydney is certainly a wonderful place, con sidering that its foundation may be said to have been but of yesterday. Indeed, if we keep in view its original history, of which we must never lose sight even for a moment, it must be con sidered perhaps the most extraordinary city in the world. The harbour is reckoned the ne plus ultra of perfection, as ships lie there in deep water, secure from every wind that blows, and to this, no doubt, a great deal of its prosperity must be attributed ; forming in fact the only pos sible inducement for founding it in the midst of so barren a country.

The quantity of shipping always lying at Port Jackson is astonishing, when one takes into consideration that the whole inhabitants of a country nearly as large as Europe amount only at this moment to 200,000, a population not equal to that of some of the provincial towns in England. People from all the different nations of the world now find their way there ; so that in addition to our own countrymen, and a few of the aborigines, one meets almost daily in the streets of Sydney, Tasmanians, Polynesians, Chinese, East Indians, United States Americans, Spanish Americans, New Zealanders, French, Germans, and the natives of the Manillas and Otaheite. To witness, also, the number of gentlemen's orrriages, — some occasionally with four horses, of gigs and tandems, the crowds of people of all sorts on horseback, from the Governor down to the mounted police, or the stock-drivers from the bush, with their long whips ; and to see, above all, at certain seasons of the year, the hundreds of teams from the interior loaded with wool, piled up mountains high, draAvn by ten or twelve large oxen, or, as they are there called, bullock-teams, is calculated to excite absolute amazement, when one reflects that little more than half a century before, the very spot Avhere all this splendour, all this bustle, and all these tokens of wealth and civilization are now displayed, Avas but a dreary and pathless wilder ness, untrodden by the foot of civilized man, and the retreat only of the oppossum, the native dog, or the kangaroo.