The Present Picture of New South Wales (1811) by David Dickinson Mann

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THE PRESENT PICTURE OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 1811
ILLUSTRATED WITH
FOUR LARGE COLOURED VIEWS,
FROM DRAWINGS TAKEN ON THE SPOT,
OF
SYDNEY,
THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT:
WITH
A PLAN OF THE COLONY,
TKEN FROM ACTUAL SURVEY BY PUBLIC AUTHORITY.

BY
D. D. MANN
MANY YEARS RESIDENT IN SEVERAL OFFICIAL SITUATIONS.

London, 1811
SOLD BY JOHN BOOTH, DUKE-STREET, PORTLAND-PLACE

* * * * *

CONTENTS
--------

DEDICATION

CHAPTER I

Discovery of New South Wales.--Arrival of a Colony there
from England.--Obstructions calculated to retard the Progress of
the Settlement.--Departure of Governor Phillip.--Intervening
Governors, until the Arrival of John Hunter, Esq. and his
Assumption of the Government.--Printing Press set up.--Cattle
lost, and Discovery of their Progeny in a wild State.--Playhouse
opened.--Houses numbered.--Assessments for the building of a
Country Gaol.--Town Clock at Sidney.--Natives.--
Convicts.--Improvement of the Colony.--Seditious Dispositions of
the Convicts.--Departure of Governor Hunter.--His Character and
Government.--Comparison of Stock, etc.--Governor King assumes
the Command of the Settlement--Table of Specie Vessel laden with
Spirits sent away.--Earthquake.--Inundation at the
Hawkesbury.--First Criminal for Forgery executed.--Atlas struck
by Lightning.--Tempests.--Desertions of the Convicts.--Newspaper
established.--Murders.--Singular Execution.--Lieutenant--Governor
Collins forms a new Settlement.--Insurrection of the
Convicts.--The Introduction and Progress of Vaccination, and its
subsequent Loss.--Influx of the Sea at Norfolk Island.--Limits of
Counties defined.--Ship overset in a Tempest.

CHAPTER II

Abstract of General Orders.--Arrival of Governor
Bligh.--George Barrington.--Blue Mountains.--Journey
thither.--New Market at Sydney.--Vessels seized and carried away
by the Convicts.--Natives.--Cruelty of the Savages in Bateman's
Bay.--Arrival of Masters for the Orphan Schools.--New Storehouse
built.--Murders.

CHAPTER III

Agriculture, etc.
Price of Provisions and Ration
Trade and Manufactures
Population
Natives
Climate
Natural History
Religion
Morals
Amusements
Military Force
Building: with Reference to the particular Houses, etc. of the
Individuals

CHAPTER IV

Hints for the Improvement of the Colony

* * * * *

[LIST OF PLATES
Plan of the Settlements in New South Wales
View of Sydney from the East Side of the Cove
View of Sydney from the East Side of the Cove
View of Sydney from the West Side of the Cove
View of Sydney from the West Side of the Cove]

* * * * *

To
JOHN HUNTER, ESQ.
VICE-ADMIRAL OF THE BLUE
AND LATE
CAPTAIN-GENERAL AND GOVERNOR IN CHIEF IN AND OVER HIS
MAJESTY'S
COLONY OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND ITS DEPENDENCIES, etc. etc. etc.

SIR,

During the period of your government, the settlements of New
South Wales beheld the sunshine of their prosperity. The liberal
and enlightened measures adopted by you, consolidated the
happiness, and increased the security of the colony; and the
tears which were shed at your departure were the most grateful
tributes which could be paid to your exalted worth.

These considerations justify my selection of you as the Patron
of this sketch; but, if a stronger motive were necessary, I have
only to retrace the numerous and weighty instances in which you
have displayed the most marked attention to my personal
interests, and which will ever induce me to avow myself,

With every sentiment of respectful admiration,

SIR,

Your very obliged, and faithfully devoted servant,

D. D. MANN.

35, Queen-Street, Edgware-Road,

Oct. 13, 1810

* * * * *

NEW SOUTH WALES

Chapter I.

Discovery of New South Wales.--Arrival of a
Colony there from England.--Obstructions calculated to retard
the Progress of the Settlement.--Departure of Governor
Phillip.--Intervening Governors, until the Arrival of John
Hunter, Esq. and his Assumption of the Government.--Printing
Press set up.--Cattle lost, and Discovery of their Progeny in a
wild State.--Playhouse opened.--Houses numbered.--Assessments for
the building of a Country Gaol.--Town Clock at
Sidney.--Natives.--Convicts.--Improvement of the
Colony.--Seditious Dispositions of the Convicts.--Departure of
Governor Hunter.--His Character and Government.--Comparison of
Stock, etc.--Governor King assumes the Command of the
Settlement--Table of Specie Vessel laden with Spirits sent
away.--Earthquake.--Inundation at the Hawkesbury.--First
Criminal for Forgery executed.--Atlas struck by
Lightning.--Tempests.--Desertions of the Convicts.--Newspaper
established.--Murders.--Singular Execution.--Lieutenant--Governor
Collins forms a new Settlement.--Insurrection of the
Convicts.--The Introduction and Progress of Vaccination, and its
subsequent Loss.--Influx of the Sea at Norfolk Island.--Limits of
Counties defined.--Ship overset in a
Tempest.

The discovery of the eastern coast of New Holland was the
result of that laudable and beneficial spirit of enterprize and
investigation, which conferred on the name of Captain Cook so
just a claim to posthumous gratitude and immortal renown. Four
months of his first voyage round the world, this celebrated
circumnavigator dedicated to the exploration of this hitherto
unknown tract of the universe, stretching, from the north-east to
the south-west, to an extent of nearly two thousand miles, to
which he gave the name of _New South Wales_. After hovering
about the coast for some time, he at length came to an anchorage
in the only harbour which appeared to him commodious; and which,
in consequence of the innumerable varieties of herbage which were
found on shore, he called _Botany Bay_. In this spot he
remained some days, employing himself in making those
observations which suggested themselves to his capacious mind;
and, from his report of the situation of the country--of its
apparent extent, climate, and surface, the British Government was
induced to relinquish those intentions which had been previously
entertained, and to fix upon this spot, as the best adapted for
the establishment of a settlement, whither those unhappy
delinquents might be conveyed, whose offences against the laws
had rendered their further residence in their native land,
incompatible with the welfare of society.

According to this determination, Governor Phillip was sent to
this new continent, where he arrived on the 20th of January,
1788, with eight hundred convicts, and a portion of marines, and
laid the foundation of the new settlement, which continued
gradually to improve under his government, until the close of the
year 1792. Numberless obstructions existed, during this early
period, to check the growth of the colony; amongst the principal
of which may be remarked:--1st, the discordant materials of which
the settlement was to be constructed; 2dly, the disputes with the
natives; and 3dly, the occasional pressure of want, which, for a
long time, was unavoidable, on account of its remoteness from the
European quarter. The continual disorders amongst the convicts,
which no lenity could assuage, no severity effectually check,
were injurious to the well-doing of the colony, whose true
interests required a combination of reciprocal confidence and
mutual exertion; but on men inured to crime, and hardened in
guilt--on men almost divested of the common principles and
feelings of their species--on those whom a course of depravity
had rendered obnoxious to every other pursuit, it was not
possible to make impressions of a liberal and enlightened nature.
Their intentions uniformly tended to vice, and no good was to be
expected from them, except such as was the effect of compulsory
measures; so that the task which industry might have achieved
with comparative ease, proved, under existing circumstances, a
work of difficulty, requiring time and perseverance to bring it
to the desired perfection. It was not to the commission of
depredations upon each other that the restless and dishonest
dispositions of the convicts confined themselves, even the poor
and miserable natives of the country were made the dupes of a
system of knavery which they could not penetrate; and their
spears, their shields, their canoes, and their persons, were
equally exposed to the violence of the new settlers. It was easy
to foresee the consequences of such conduct: the natives at first
discovered symptoms of justifiable reserve, and subsequently
adopted steps of an hostile complexion, several unfortunate
convicts being found murdered in the woods. In vain did the
governor issue order after order, and proclamation after
proclamation; insults still continued to be offered to the
natives, and such acts of retaliation ensued as circumstances
would allow. Governor Phillip, himself, was wounded by a spear
which one of the savages threw at him, under the influence of a
momentary apprehension. Another evil to which the colony was
subjected, arose from the pressure of occasional scarcity, which
relaxed the sinews of industry, where it did exist, or
strengthened the pretexts of indolence: when men were reduced
from a plentiful allowance, to a weekly ration, which scarcely
sufficed to preserve existence; when the storehouses were almost
empty of provisions, and the boundless ocean presented no object
of relief to the aching and strained eyes of the sufferers; and
when the busy mind painted to itself the dangers, inseparable
from a voyage of such length, which might intervene to delay the
arrival of succours, until horror and wretchedness should have
been heightened to the utmost; no inclination to laborious
exertion existed, and no hand had the power to wield and employ
the implements of toil. The progress of the settlement towards
maturity was necessarily retarded; and the operations which
proceeded, at these periods of general debility, were compelled
to move with a slowness which afforded but a faint promise of
speedy perfection. Under this combination of disadvantages, it
affords proof of no common perseverance to find, that the
settlement had been scarcely established four years, before two
towns were formed, and the colony seemed rapidly advancing to the
appearance of maturity.

Governor Phillip sailed to England on the 11th of December,
1792, when Lieutenant-Governor Grose succeeded to the government;
and, during his period, the improvements in the settlement
assumed a more decisive and favourable aspect. The settlers were
now enabled to sell corn to the public stores, all of which the
commissary received directions to purchase at a given price:
passage-boats were licensed and established between the towns of
Sydney and Parramatta, and the number of settlers began to
increase in a rapid portion. On the 15th of December, 1794,
Lieutenant-Governor Grose left the colony for England, and
Captain Paterson, of the New South Wales corps, assumed the
government until the arrival of Governor Hunter, who came out in
the Reliance, on the 7th of September, 1795, and entered upon the
functions of his important office without delay.

One of the first acts of the new governor was the
establishment of a printing-press, the advantages of which soon
became obvious, in the more ready communication of all orders for
the regulation of the settlement.

The bulls and cows which had been originally brought over to
the new continent had, by the carelessness of their keeper, been
suffered to stray into the woods, and every subsequent search
after them had proved ineffectual until this period, when a fine
and numerous herd of wild cattle was discovered in the interior
of the country, which was evidently the progeny of the animals
which had been so long lost to the colony. The protection of this
wild herd and its increase became a matter of public interest,
since it would, hereafter, serve as a valuable resource, in case
of necessity; and measures were accordingly adopted to prevent
any encroachment on that liberty which it had preserved above
seven years.

In the commencement of the year 1796, a play-house was opened
at Sydney, under the sanction of the governor, who, while he
laboured to promote the public weal, was not less anxious to
extend to individuals the enjoyments and privileges which were
compatible with the good of the colony. Towards the close of the
same year, the houses in Sydney and Parramatta were numbered, and
divided into portions, each of which was placed under the
superintendance of a principal inhabitant. The county of
Cumberland was assessed, a few months afterwards, for the
erection of a country gaol; and the peaceable inhabitants of the
colony had the speedy satisfaction to perceive a building of such
utility put into hand; for such had been the recent increase of
crimes, and so greatly had the settlement been annoyed by the
desperate and atrocious conduct of the disorderly part of the
community, that it became an object of necessity to adopt some
stronger measures than those which had hitherto been put in
force, to secure the prosperity and tranquillity of a community
which was now so rapidly growing in extent and importance. A
town-clock was also erected in Sydney, a luxury which had been
hitherto unknown, and affords evidence of the gradual maturation
of the settlement; and, indeed, the whole of this enumeration is
calculated to impress the reader with an idea of the rapid
strides which the few last years had enabled the colonists to
make in the path of respectability. The natives had been, of late
years, perfectly reconciled to their new countrymen; and,
although their attachment to their accustomed habits and
situations induced them to abstain from taking up new residences,
and from mixing indiscriminately with the Europeans, they had
become comparatively social, and commenced an intercourse which
was calculated to rivet the prosperity of the colony. Those
insulting attacks and sanguinary recriminations which had
disgraced the earlier years of the establishment, no longer
existed, to disturb the tranquillity and excite the alarms of the
settlers; many of the convicts had reformed their lives, and,
instead of being examples of depravity, had turned to habits of
industry, and endeavoured to benefit that society on which they
had formerly preyed; while the apprehensions of famine had
entirely vanished before the improvements in the agriculture of
the country: the stock had increased wonderfully; the granaries
and storehouses were amply supplied; and the ground brought forth
more produce, as its nature became better understood, and the
most advantageous methods of tillage were discovered.

The peace of the colony was threatened, however, in the year
1800, by the seditious conduct of a number of Irish convicts who
had recently arrived in this country, and who had laboured, with
ceaseless exertions, to disseminate their pernicious and absurd
doctrines amongst the prisoners. They had assembled frequently
for the purpose of accelerating their diabolical views, and a
Roman Catholic priest, named Harold, who was discovered to be one
of the instigators and originators of the scheme of insurrection,
was taken into custody. Voluntary associations were embodied, and
every measure of prudent precaution was promptly adopted, to
prevent the expansion of principles which are totally subversive
of all order, and of the best interests of civilized society. It
may easily be supposed, that amongst such characters as composed
the colony, there must be numbers to whom these sentiments of
insubordination must be congenial, and who would eagerly grasp at
any projects, however absurd and impracticable, the proposed
object of which was their emancipation from the punishment which
their crimes had drawn upon them. Men who have obtained a
proficiency in crime, and are callous to the voice of conscience,
science, are seldom very choice as to the degree of the
criminality which they are inclined to commit; and it is highly
creditable to Governor Hunter's prudence and skilful management,
that the settlement was at this moment preserved from the horrors
and consequences of internal commotion.

In September, 1800, Governor Hunter quitted the colony, having
exercised the functions of government for the space of five
years; during which his attention to the interests of the
settlement was most unremitted; his humanity and condescension
rendered him inestimably dear to every bosom, which confessed the
influence of grateful feelings; and his cheerful vivacity and
private worth caused him to stand highly in the estimation of
those who were honoured by a participation in his hours of
recreative enjoyment. The necessary consequence of his abstracted
devotion to the service of the settlement, for a long period, was
the obtainment of a thorough knowledge of every subject connected
with its welfare; and in the application of that knowledge to the
practical improvement of the settlement, no man could have been
more happy, none more eminently successful. A more forcible
illustration of the truth of this remark will, however, be found
in the following statements of the situation of the colony before
and after Governor Hunter's residence there, in an official
capacity; and I am the more readily induced to give these
details, as the reader may thence be enabled to form a judgement,
by comparison, of the progressive prosperity of the colony,
subsequent to that period, until the commencement of the year
1809, the date and termination of the facts which I shall elicit
in the succeeding pages.

At the close of the year 1795, the public and private stock of
the colony consisted of 57 horses and mares, 101 cows and
cow-calves, 74 bulls and bull-calves, 52 oxen, 1531 sheep, 1427
goats, and 1869 hogs: exclusive of this statement, the poultry
was exceedingly numerous. The total of the land in cultivation
amounted to 5419 acres; the quantity of which sown was somewhat
below 3000 acres. At this period the storehouses were exhausted
so completely, that, on the arrival of Governor Hunter, there
were no salt provisions left in store, and the allowance of other
food was much reduced; the state of the colony seemed about to
assume a retrograde movement, and it was only the speedy arrival
of a storeship at this critical and distressing moment, which
saved it from destruction, in the eighth year of its
establishment.

But at the commencement of the nineteenth century, the state
of the settlement was abundantly more prosperous. The live stock
at this period, in the public and private possession, amounted to
the following numbers:--60 horses, 143 mares; 332 bulls and oxen,
712 cows; 2031 male sheep, 4093 females; 727 male goats, 1455
females; 4017 hogs--a prodigious multiplication of the means of
subsistence in about five years! The quantity of land sown with
wheat was 46653/4 acres, of Indian corn 2930, and of barley 82
acres. In New South Wales and Norfolk Island the numbers of the
colony had been swollen to the amount of six thousand, and the
general prosperity appeared rapidly increasing.

The moment of the governor's departure was a moment of
sorrowful agitation: loved and honoured by all, he was attended
by a numerous train of civil and military officers, as well as a
long concourse of the grateful inhabitants, who, at this
distressing instant, marked in the most unequivocal manner the
sense they entertained of his public worth and his private
benignity.

On the secession of Governor Hunter, the government of the
settlement devolved to Governor King, who had arrived from
England in the Speedy, a few months previous to this time. Soon
after his accession to this dignity, a quantity of copper coin
was received from England and put into circulation, upon which
occasion the following table of specie was issued:--A guinea, one
pound two shillings, a johannes, four pounds; a half ditto, two
pounds; a ducat, nine shillings and sixpence; a gold mohur, one
pound seventeen shillings and sixpence; a pagoda, eight
shillings; a Spanish dollar, five shillings; a rupee, two
shillings and sixpence; a Dutch guilder, two shillings; an
English shilling, one shilling and one penny: a copper coin of
one ounce, two pence; a ditto of half an ounce, one penny; and a
ditto of a quarter of an ounce, a halfpenny. No sum exceeding
five pounds, in the copper coin, was to be considered as a legal
tender; and the exportation or importation of copper coin above
that amount, was prohibited under a penalty of thrice its
value.

The criminal addiction to the use of spirituous liquors had
become so rooted, and was productive of such evil consequences,
as to require some vigorous exertion to check its still further
increase. In the month of December, 1800, two vessels laden with
these destructive cargoes arrived in the harbour; but the
governor, with a spirit and prudence creditable to his resolution
and judgment, refused them permission to land the poisons, and
forced them to quit the settlement before any evil consequences
could ensue from their arrival. The variety of afflicting
casualties consequent upon the immoderate use of these pernicious
fluids, and their introduction of dreadful and fatal disorders,
were considerations sufficient to justify the governor's conduct
in this instance, to every rational mind.

On the 17th of January, 1801, the settlement was menaced with
destruction by the shock of an earthquake, which was felt
severely through the whole colony, but, providentially, produced
no injury. A slight concussion had been felt in the month of
June, 1788; but never, until this moment, had the alarm been
repeated. The affrighted inhabitants rushed out of their houses,
in momentary expectation of destruction; nor did they dare to
return until the shock had passed by, and the apprehensions which
it had produced had entirely subsided.

In the earlier days of the settlement, the settlers on the
Hawkesbury (a river of great extent in the interior of the
country, the course of which is traced in the annexed chart) had
been much annoyed by the frequent overflowings of that capacious
river. In the month of March, 1801, the most severe visitation of
this nature had occurred, which had destroyed the promise of an
abundant harvest, spread desolation through the farms in that
district, destroyed numerous habitations, and caused the loss of
several of the unfortunate settlers and others. At the melancholy
period alluded to, the colony in this quarter was just reaching a
degree of ease and comfort, from the judicious plans put into
execution by that "father of the people" Governor
Hunter, and the assistance he gave them as an encouragement to
industrious exertion. Scarcely, however, had they begun to revive
after this calamity--scarcely had they repaired the ravages
occasioned by this tremendous inundation--scarcely had the
desolated lands once more confessed the power of cultivation,
before those ill-fated settlers were doomed to experience a
repetition of the destructive calamity; and on the 2d of March,
1801, the river again overflowed its banks, and rushed
impetuously to renew its former devastations. Flocks and herds
were swept away by its irresistible influence; the houses, which
had been re-built, were once more levelled to the earth; and a
settler was deprived of his existence, after witnessing the
catastrophe which had robbed him of the whole of his possessions.
The waters of the Hawkesbury, at those periods of inundation,
would rise seventy or eighty feet above their accustomed level;
and it is easy for the mind to picture to itself the
inexpressibly mournful consequences which must necessarily accrue
from such a circumstance. Neither was this overflowing an event
of rare occurrence, but was to be constantly expected after a
long continuance of the rainy seasons, when the torrents which
rushed from the mountainous ridges which overlooked the channel
of the river never failed to produce a rapid swelling of its
waters, and to cause an inundation of greater or less extent, and
injury more or less destructive to the inhabitants of its
vicinity.

Amongst the crimes which existed in the settlement, that of
forgery had recently made its appearance, and bills of a
counterfeit description had been offered in the markets; and, at
length, one of these forged draughts was traced to its source,
and the delinquent was immediately apprehended and brought to
trial for an offence so heinous in its nature, and so fraught
with mischief in its consequences. Sufficient proof being adduced
to place the prisoner's guilt beyond doubt, sentence of death was
passed upon him, and the execution took place on the 3d of July;
it being considered an act of necessary justice to make a severe
example of the offender, in this case, in order to check in its
infancy the growth of a practice, pregnant not only with general
evil, but with individual ruin. Of all the different species of
delinquency which had found their way into the colony, this might
be considered as second to none but murder: the house-breaker and
the midnight robber might be guarded against, and counteracted or
detected immediately, the mischief was at most limited, and might
be calculated; but the introduction of a system of forgery
threatened more widely-wasting injuries: it required more than
common vigilance, more than common perseverance, to discover a
fraud of this description; and it was scarcely possible to
ascertain the precise extent which it embraced, or to mark the
end of its destructive progress. It was therefore, under this
impression, considered expedient to make a severe example of the
first offender who had been brought to trial, in order, if
possible, to deter others from the pursuit of such an iniquitous
career. A solitary sacrifice might prove salutary to future
thousands.

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