Watkin Tench's 1788 (10 page)

Thus situated, the scurvy began its usual ravages and extended its baneful influence, more or less through all descriptions of persons. Unfortunately the esculent vegetable productions of the country are neither plentiful nor tend very effectually to remove this disease. And the ground we had turned up and planted with garden seeds, either from the nature of the soil, or which is more probable, the lateness of the season, yielded but a scanty and insufficient supply of what we stood so greatly in need of.

During the period I am describing, few enormous offences were perpetrated by the convicts. A petty theft was now and then heard of and a spirit of refractory sullenness broke out at times in some individuals. One execution only, however, took place. The sufferer, who was a very young man, was convicted of a burglary, and met his fate with a hardiness and insensibility which the grossest ignorance and most deplorable want of feeling alone could supply.

†
The Blue Mountains.

14

From the beginning of June, to the departure of the ships for Europe

H
OURS
of festivity, which under happier skies pass away unregarded and are soon consigned to oblivion, acquire in this forlorn and distant circle a superior degree of acceptable importance.

On the anniversary of the King's birthday all the officers not on duty, both of the garrison and His Majesty's ships, dined with the governor. On so joyful an occasion, the first too ever celebrated in our new settlement, it were needless to say that loyal conviviality dictated every sentiment and inspired every guest. Among other public toasts drunk was prosperity to Sydney Cove, in Cumberland county, now named so by authority. At daylight in the morning the ships of war had fired twenty-one guns each, which was repeated at noon and answered by three volleys from the battalion of marines.

Nor were the officers alone partakers of the general relaxation. The four unhappy wretches labouring under the sentence of banishment were freed from their fetters to rejoin their former society; and three days given as holidays to every convict in the colony. Hospitality, too, which ever acquires a double relish by being extended, was not forgotten on the 4th of June, when each prisoner, male and female, received an allowance of grog; and every non-commissioned officer and private soldier had the honour of drinking prosperity to his royal master, in a pint of porter served out at the flagstaff, in addition to the customary allowance of spirits. Bonfires concluded the evening and I am happy to say that excepting a single instance which shall be taken notice of hereafter, no bad consequence or unpleasant remembrance flowed from an indulgence so amply bestowed.

About this time (June) an accident happened which I record with much regret. The whole of our black cattle, consisting of five cows and a bull, either from not being properly secured or from the negligence of those appointed to take care of them, strayed into the woods and in spite of all the search we have been able to make, are not yet found. As a convict of the name of Corbett, who was accused of a theft, eloped nearly at the same time, it was at first believed that he had taken the desperate measure of driving off the cattle in order to subsist on them as long as possible, or perhaps to deliver them to the natives. In this uncertainty, parties to search were sent out in different directions and the fugitive declared an outlaw, in case of not returning by a fixed day. After much anxiety and fatigue, those who had undertaken the task returned without finding the cattle. But on the 21st of the month Corbett made his appearance near a farm belonging to the governor, and entreated a convict who happened to be on the spot to give him some food, as he was perishing for hunger. The man applied to, under pretence of fetching what he asked for, went away and immediately gave the necessary information, in consequence of which a party under arms was sent out and apprehended him. When the poor wretch was brought in he was greatly emaciated and almost famished. But on proper restoratives being administered he was so far recovered by the 24th as to be able to stand his trial, when he pleaded guilty to the robbery with which he stood charged, and received sentence of death. In the course of repeated examinations it plainly appeared he was an utter stranger to the place where the cattle might be, and was in no shape concerned in having driven them off.

Samuel Peyton, convict, for having on the evening of the King's birthday broke open an officer's marquee with an intent to commit robbery, of which he was fully convicted, had sentence of death passed on him at the same time as Corbett; and on the following day they were both executed, confessing the justness of their fate and imploring the forgiveness of those whom they had injured. Peyton at the time of his suffering was but twenty years of age, the greatest part of which had been invariably passed in the commission of crimes that at length terminated in his ignominious end. The following letter, written by a fellow convict to the sufferer's unhappy mother, I shall make no apology for presenting to the reader. It affords a melancholy proof that not the ignorant and untaught only have provoked the justice of their country to banish them to this remote region.

Sydney Cove, Port Jackson,
New South Wales, 24th June, 1788
.

My dear and honoured mother!

With a heart oppressed by the keenest sense of anguish, and too much agitated by the idea of my very melancholy condition, to express my own sentiments, I have prevailed on the goodness of a commiserating friend to do me the last sad office of acquainting you with the dreadful fate that awaits me.

My dear mother! with what agony of soul do I dedicate the few last moments of my life to bid you an eternal adieu: my doom being irrevocably fixed, and ere this hour tomorrow I shall have quitted this vale of wretchedness to enter into an unknown and endless eternity. I will not distress your tender maternal feelings by any long comment on the cause of my present misfortune. Let it therefore suffice to say that impelled by that strong propensity to evil, which neither the virtuous precepts nor example of the best of parents could eradicate, I have at length fallen an unhappy, though just, victim to my own follies.

Too late I regret my inattention to your admonitions, and feel myself sensibly affected by the remembrance of the many anxious moments you have passed on my account. For these and all my other transgressions, however great, I supplicate the Divine forgiveness; and encouraged by the promises of that Saviour who died for us all, I trust to receive that mercy in the world to come, which my offences have deprived me of all hope, or expectation of, in this. The affliction which this will cost you, I hope the Almighty will enable you to bear. Banish from your memory all my former indiscretions, and let the cheering hope of a happy meeting hereafter console you for my loss. Sincerely penitent for my sins; sensible of the justice of my conviction and sentence, and firmly relying on the merits of a Blessed Redeemer, I am at perfect peace with all mankind, and trust I shall yet experience that peace which this world cannot give. Commend my soul to the Divine mercy. I bid you an eternal farewell.

Your unhappy dying Son,

Samuel Peyton.

After this nothing occurred with which I think it necessary to trouble the reader. The contents of the following chapters could not, I conceive, be so properly interwoven in the body of the work. I have, therefore, assigned them a place by themselves with a view that the conclusions adopted in them may be more strongly enforced on the minds of those to whom they are more particularly addressed.

15

The face of the country, its productions, climate, etc
.

T
O
the geographical knowledge of this country supplied by Captain Cook and Captain Furneaux we were able to add nothing. The latter explored the coast from Van Diemen's Land to the latitude of 39° south; and Cook from Point Hicks, which lies in 37° 58′, to Endeavour Straits. The intermediate space between the end of Furneaux's discovery and Point Hicks is therefore the only part of the south-east coast unknown, and it so happened on our passage thither, owing to the weather, which forbade any part of the ships engaging with the shore, that we are unable to pronounce whether or not a strait intersects the continent hereabouts: though I beg to say that I have been informed by a naval friend that, when the fleet was off this part of the coast, a strong set offshore was plainly felt.

At the distance of sixty miles inland, a prodigious chain of lofty mountains runs nearly in a north and south direction further than the eye can trace them. Should nothing intervene to prevent it, the governor intends shortly to explore their summits, and I think there can be little doubt that his curiosity will not go unrewarded. If large rivers do exist in the country, which some of us are almost sceptical enough to doubt, their sources must arise amidst these hills; and the direction they run in, for a considerable distance, must be either due north or due south. For it is strikingly singular that three such noble harbours as Botany Bay, Port Jackson and Broken Bay alike end in shallows and swamps filled with mangroves.
^†

The general face of the country is certainly pleasing, being diversified with gentle ascents, and little winding valleys, covered for the most part with large spreading trees which afford a succession of leaves in all seasons. In those places where trees are scarce a variety of flowering shrubs abound, most of them entirely new to an European and surpassing in beauty, fragrance and number, all I ever saw in an uncultivated state. Among these, a tall shrub bearing an elegant white flower which smells like English May is particularly delightful, and perfumes the air around to a great distance.
^††
The species of trees are few and, I am concerned to add, the wood universally of so bad a grain as almost to preclude a possibility of using it. The increase of labour occasioned by this in our buildings has been such as nearly to exceed belief. These trees yield a profusion of thick red gum (not unlike the
sanguis draconis
) which is found serviceable in medicine, particularly in dysenteric complaints, where it has sometimes succeeded when all other preparations have failed. To blunt its acrid qualities, it is usual to combine it with opiates.

The nature of the soil is various. That immediately round Sydney Cove is sandy, with here and there a stratum of clay. From the sand we have yet been able to draw very little, but there seems no reason to doubt that many large tracts of land around us will bring to perfection whatever shall be sown in them. To give this matter a fair trial some practical farmers capable of such an undertaking should be sent out; for the spots we have chosen for experiments in agriculture, in which we can scarce be supposed adepts, have hitherto but ill repaid our toil, which may be imputable to our having chosen such as are unfavourable for our purpose.

Except from the size of the trees, the difficulties of clearing the land are not numerous, underwood being rarely found, though the country is not absolutely without it. Of the natural meadows which Mr Cook mentions near Botany Bay, we can give no account. None such exist about Port Jackson. Grass, however, grows in every place but the swamps with the greatest vigour and luxuriancy, though it is not of the finest quality and it is found to agree better with horses and cows than sheep. A few wild fruits are sometimes procured, among which is the small purple apple mentioned by Cook, and a fruit which has the appearance of a grape, though in taste more like a green gooseberry, being excessively sour.
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Probably were it meliorated by cultivation it would become more palatable.

†
The mouth of the Hawkesbury was not yet discovered.

††
Tench was encountering of course the distinctive and diverse heathland flora of the Sydney Sandstone. The shrub with white flowers is probably tea-tree or melaleuca.

†††
The former was probably a lilly pilly
Syzygium
, and the latter possibly a geebung
Persoonia
.

Fresh water, as I have said before, is found but in inconsiderable quantities. For the common purposes of life there is generally enough, but we know of no stream in the country capable of turning a mill; and the remarks made by Mr Anderson, of the dryness of the country round Adventure Bay,
^†
extends without exception to every part of it which we have penetrated.

Previous to leaving England I remember to have frequently heard it asserted that the discovery of mines was one of the secondary objects of the expedition. Perhaps there are mines, but as no person competent to form a decision is to be found among us, I wish no one to adopt an idea that I mean to impress him with such a belief when I state that individuals, whose judgments are not despicable, are willing to think favourably of this conjecture, from specimens of ore seen in many of the stones picked up here. I cannot quit this subject without regretting that someone capable of throwing a better light on it is not in the colony. Nor can I help being equally concerned that an experienced botanist was not sent out, for the purpose of collecting and describing the rare and beautiful plants with which the country abounds. Indeed, we flattered ourselves when at the Cape of Good Hope that Mason, the King's botanical gardener (who was employed there in collecting for the royal nursery at Kew) would have joined us, but it seems his orders and engagements prevented him from quitting that beaten track to enter on this scene of novelty and variety.

To the naturalist this country holds out many invitations. Birds, though not remarkably numerous, are in great variety and of the most exquisite beauty of plumage, among which are the cockatoo, lory, and parakeet; but the bird which principally claims attention is a species of ostrich, approaching nearer to the emu of South America than any other we know of.
^††
One of them was shot at a considerable distance with a single ball by a convict employed for that purpose by the governor. Its weight, when complete, was seventy pounds, and its length from the end of the toe to the tip of the beak, seven feet two inches, though there was reason to believe it had not attained its full growth. On dissection many anatomical singularities were observed. The gall-bladder was remarkably large, the liver not bigger than that of a barn-door fowl, and after the strictest search no gizzard could be found. The legs, which were of a vast length, were covered with thick, strong scales, plainly indicating the animal to be formed for living amidst deserts, and the foot differed from an ostrich's by forming a triangle instead of being cloven.
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