Skip to main content

Full text of "Australian pioneers and reminiscences (illustrated) : together with portraits of some of the founders of Australia"

See other formats 


7t;'i>''i 


Mi!iii'i!;i:i 


X 


^.=^?^^-'ji 


W     00 


I   ^ 


o    ,, 


AUSTRALIAN 

Pioneers  ?  Reminiscences 

(ILLUSTRATED), 
TOGETHER  WITH  PORTRAITS  OF  SOME  OF  THE 

FOUNDERS     OF     AUSTRALIA. 

BY   THE    LATE 

NEHEMIAH    BARTLEY. 

Edited  r,Y  J.  J.  KNIGHT. 


PRICE  TWELVE  SHILLINGS  AND  SIXPENCE. 


GORDON    AND    GOTCH, 

(For   the   Executrix  and   Children), 

;!tU-ii5baur. 


stack 
Annex 


DO 

PREFACE.  SSy 


IfS-TfERE  it  not  for-  prescribed  custom  and  the  circum- 
|ii)l|j  stances  under  wliich  this  volume  has  been  published, 
"Australian  Pioneers  and  Reminiscences"  would  probably 
have  been  ushered  in  without  further  introduction  than  that 
which  its  title  page  bears.  These  circumstances,  while 
lending  a  melancholy  interest  to  the  book,  appear  to  me  to 
also  make  a  preface  necessary. 

The  work  was  started  by  Mr.  Bartley  with  a  laudable 
endeavour  to  add  to  the  sparse  Australian  literature  a  feAv 
further  facts  concerning  the  pioneering  period,  and  in  fulfil- 
ment of  a  promise  made,  when  he  issued  his  earlier  book,  that 
at  some  future  time  he  would  record  the  reminiscences  of 
forty  years  of  that  new  and  vivid  life  which  came  to  Australia 
with  tlie  gold  discovery.  But  man  proposed  ;  God  disposed  ; 
and  the  hand  which  undertook  this  task  was  stilled  by  the 
levelling  hand  of  Death,  ere  it  could  be  completed. 

Mr.  Bartley  himself  requires  no  introduction.  Added  to 
his  qualifications  as  a  litterateur,  he  was  a  resident  of  the 
four  colonies  and  possessed  peculiar  and  remarkable  advan- 
tages for  the  work  in  which  he  had  embarked.  Extensive 
travel  enabled  him  to  visit  many  scenes  too  far  removed  to 
permit  of  the  ordinary  eye  viewing  them. 

On  the  very  day  on  whicii  Death  overtook  him  with  awful 
suddenness,  he  was  engaged  in  furthering  this  publication. 
It  was  fortunate  that  he  had  collected   his  material ;    all 


11^9938 


that  remained  to  be  done  was  to  arrange  it.  It  was  this 
duty  which  was  allotted  to  me.  This  change  has  necessarily 
caused  delay,  but  this  notwithstanding,  I  feel  confident 
that  the  old  saw,  "  Better  late  than  never "  will  be  the 
verdict  when  subscribers  shall  have  perused  its  pages. 

It  is,  perhaps,  necessary  to  emphasize  the  fact  that,  except 
in  the  matter  of  arrangement,  and  a  few  reminiscences  con- 
tributed by  friends  and  considered  to  be  of  such  historical 
value  to  be  worthy  of  inclusion,  tlie  work  is  wholly  Mr. 
Bartley's.  His  style  has  been  maintained,  and  only  such 
pliotographs  and  pictures  as  were  found  among  his  papers 
and  as  were  identifiable  have  been  used. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  therefore,  that,  beyond  the  permanent 
value  it  may  have,  "  Australian  Pioneers  and  Reminis- 
cences "  will  have  the  additional  recommendation  of  personal 
interest. 

As  has  been  stated,  works  which  enable  us  to  look  into 
the  shadowy  past — to  realise  the  scenes  and  difiiculties 
through  which  the  pioneers  of  this  great  Continent  lived  and 
worked — and  to  learn  the  characteristics  of  Australian  life 
generally,  in  its  earlier  stages,  are  not  too  plentiful  ;  and  if 
this  last  eftbrt  of  a  patriotic  and  zealous  colonist  adds  but 
one  crumb  to  future's  feast,  any  tardiness  in  its  issue  and 
any  little  shortcomings  that  may  be  detected  ought  to  be 
easy  of  forgiveness. 

J.  J.  Knight. 

Brisbane,  189h'. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I.— Half  a  (Jentmy  Back— The  First  Australian 
"Inflation" — Men  and  Matters  in  Sydney — A  Review 
—The  Proud  Forefatliers  of  "Swell"  Sydney — Old 
Camperdown — Memories  of  the  Past — A  Countrified 
Place  —  Sociability  at  Darling  Point  —  Sunday  Ser- 
vices at  St.  Mark's — The  Interim  Darkness  Before  the 
Dawn  —"Caste"'  Superiority — Sydney's  Quaint 
Suburbs 1—20 

CHAPTER  II.— New-born  Lu.Kury — Opening  up  "Way 
Back  " — Pioneers  on  the  Lower  Murrumbidgee  and 
Lachlan — Settlement  on  the  Darling — Overlanding — 
Norbury,  the  Tracker  —  On  the  Murrumbidgee — A 
Martinet  at  Whist — Cliess  and  Draughts — Naviga- 
tion of  the  ^Murray  —  Phelj^s'  of  Canally — The  Old 
Squatting  Men  —  Captain  Cadell  --  The  "  Lady 
Augusta'" — Tyson  Bros,  on  the  Lachlan — A  Risky 
Undertaking — Old  Melbourne — Men  and  Matters — 
The  Cold  Era— New  Melbourne  21 --- 39 

CHAPTER  III — Early  Settlers  on  the  Clarence — Richard 
(Jraig's  Discovei'y  —  Dr.  Doljie's  Days  —  Dr.  Lang's 
Higldand  Immigrants  —  A  Pathetic  Incident — First 
Attempts  at  Sugar  Making  -Initial  Difficulties — 
Crude  Plants — Tlie  French  Baron's  Experiments — 
Scenes  of  Older  Sydney — Memories  of  the  Past — 
vSydney  Banks  and  Banking  —  A  Few  Figures  —  The 
Crumbling  of  the  Big  Institutions — The  Cobra  and 
White  Ant  of  Finance 40—66 

CHAPTER  IV.— The  Curtain  of  Time  drawn  back— Early 
Men  of  Mark  —  Their  Deeds  of  History  —  Major- 
(ieneral  Macquarie — His  Period  of  (Governorship — 
William  Forster — A  Literary  Legislator — A  Marked 
Career  —  Edward  Deas-Thomson — William  (jharles 
Wentworth — The  Father  of  the  Constitution  ...    67  —  88 


VI.  CONTKNTS. 

I'AGE 

CHAPTER  v.  — Early  Men  of  (ieniiis  and  Powei— The 
List  Continued  —  .Sir  Charles  Cowper — The  Anti- 
Transportation  Battle — Sir  Terence  Anbrey  Murray 

—  The  Struggle  for  Popular  Rights  —  Sir  James 
Martin — A  Victim  to  Prejudice — A  Pioneer  of  Pro- 
tection—  Captain  Robert  Johnston,  R.N. — Hon. 
Robert  Towns  —  Tlionias  SutclifFe  Mort  —  Eaidiest 
Meat  Freezing  Effort — "There  shall  be  no  more 

Waste  !" 89-112 

(JHAPTER  VI.— George  Suttor— Early  Sydney— Despotic 
Days — Suttor's  Vain  Appeal  for  Justice — Sir  Francis 
Forbes — A  Heavy  Indictment — The  Liberty  of  the 
Press  Endangered  —  A  Just  Tribute  —  Sir  John 
Robertson — Free  Selection  Before  Survey — Sir  John 
Hay — An  Opponent  to  Sir  John  Robertson's  I^and  Act  llo — 135 

CHAPTER  VIL— Early  Men  of  Cenius  and  Power— The 
List  ('ontinued — Dr.  Lang — A  Blow  to  Convictisni — 
Dr.  Lang  as  a  Reformer  -The  Fight  for  Freedom — 
Dr.  Richard  L.  Jenkins  —  The  Education  of  the 
Masses — William  Cox  —  The  Track  over  the  Blue 
Mountains  —  Hon  Henry  Dangar — ]Myall  Creek  — 
Hon.  James  \Vhite-  Hon.  David  Jones — Alexander 
Berry — William  H.  Hovell — Hon.  Henry  Mort      ...  13G — 165 

CHAPTER  VIII— The  Youngest  Colony— Early  Days  of 
Queensland  —The  Western  ^len — The  First  Squatters 
— The  Leslies — The  Condaniine,  ]\lclntyre  and  Weir 
Rivers  —  The  Incursions  of  the  Blacks  —  A  Western 
Notable  —  Paddy  Macinnon — William  Miles  —  The 
Deai'th  of  Labour —  Rough  Times—  An  Early  Elec- 
tion—  A  Risky  Undei'taking — Beck  and  Brown       ...  166 — 187 

CHAPTER  IX.— North  Queen,sland  Legends  and  Myths 
— A  Daring  "  Duti'er  " — The  Gulf  (Jountrj^ — A  Run- 
Hunting  Expedition  —  Breaking  in  a  "  Brombie  " — 
A  Terror  to  Drovers  —  An  Abandoned  Track  —  Back 
to  the  Early  Forties  —  A  Curious  Mistake  —  Major 
Gox-man  —  Patrick  Leslie  —  D.  C.  McConnel  —  The 
First  Squattei-  on  the  Brisbane — A  Burnett  Pioneer 
—"Blood  for  Blood" 188—208 

CHAPTER  X. — Early  (j»ueenslanders — The  Surviving  Few 
— Once  More  the  Roll  Call — Some  of  the  Old  Hands 

—  John  Petrie  —  George  Thorne  —  Robert  Little  — 
Frederic  Bigge — T.  L.  Murray-Prior — Sir  Joshua  P. 
Bell  —  Edwin  Norris  —  James  Warner  —  Robert 
Douglas — Simeon  Lord — Captain  Taylor  Winship — 

James  S.  Mitchell  209-226 


CONTENTS.  A'll. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XI.— The  Roll  Call— Old  Time  Queenslamlers 
— Additions  to  the  List — Richard  F.  Phelaii — Walter 
Scott — H.  P.  Fox  —  Richard  S.  W^arrj^  —  George 
Harris — W.  .J.  Munce — Thomas  Lade — Robert  Cribb 
—  Henry  .Jordan — T.  B.  Stephens  —  A  New  Genera- 
tion   2'27— 239 

CHAPTER  XII. — The  Capital  of  Queensland — Brisbane- 
Its  Features  and  Characteristics — The  Kirst  .Survey 
— Sir  George  Gipps — Old  Day  Ocean  Travelling — 
Amusing  Incidents  —  McScotty"s  Triumph  —  Road 
Making  Extraordinary — Pliilip  D.  Vigers — Jovial 
Evenings — Early  Sugar  Days — South  Brisbane — Sea 
Sick  Travellers — The  Queensland  Club — Its  Founders 
— The  Financial  Crisis  of  '66 — How  it  all  Happened  . . .  240—261 

CHAPTER  XIII.— Life  by  the  Sea  Shore— Early  Sandgate 
— My  First  Visit — What  the  Wild  \A'aves  were  Say- 
ing— An  Appreciable  Soul — (tooiI  Company — Floods 
in  the  Brisbane — A  Few  Records — Tlie  Weather  and 
tlie  Seasons — Drought  and  Its  Recurrence  —  Mag- 
nificent Queensland         ...         ...         ...  ...  ...262 — 277 

CHAPTER  XIV.— The  Lslunds— At  Tahiti  —  Eimeo — 
Papiete — A  Mountain  Climli  —A  Hearty  Welcome — 
Ladrone  Island  ^^'onders — Among  the  Lonely  Islets 
— Racatu — Hachin — ]3ora  Born — Gems  of  the  South 
Pacific — The  ^lai-quesas — Female  Types — The  Inter- 
national Patrol  —  The  Mountains  of  Raiatea  —  Fear 
Dispelled — Aripah's  Farewell — A  Story        ..  ...278 — 302 

STRAY  PAPERS  303—418 

INDEX 419—421 


■*-^^#^-*"- 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Portraits  of  the  Members  of  the  first  Legishxtive  Assembly  of 

N.  S.  Wales  under  the  Electoral  Reform  Act  of  185S . . .  Frontispiece 

Portraits  of  W.  C.  ^Ventworth,  E.  Deas-Thomsoii,  Major-General 

L.  Macquarie,  Sir  John  Hay,  Sir  Charles  Cowper   ...         ...     64 

Portraits  of  Hon.  Wm.  Forster,  Sir  Francis  Forbes,  Sir  Jame.s 

Martin,  Sir  Jolin  Robertson,  Sir  Terence  A.  Mnrray  ...     96 

Portraits  of  Thomas  Sutcliffe  Mort,  Dr.  John  D.  Lang,  Capt. 

Robert  Johnston,  George  Siittor,  Dr.  Richard  L.  Jenkins...   112 

Portraits  of  Hon.  David  Jones,  Hon.  James  White,  Hon.  John 

Fairfax,  Hon.  Henry  Mort,  (Japt.  O'Reilly 144 

Portraits  of  Hon.  Alex.  Berry,  J.   Lansdale,  W.  H.  AViseman, 

X.  V.  Morrisset,  W.  H.  Ho  veil  160 

Portraits  of  T.  B.  Stephens,  Hon.  R.  U.  W.  Herbert,  Sir  Maurice 

O'Connell,  Samuel  Brown,  John  Beck...         ...  ...         ...   176 

Portraits  of    Hon.   Louis  Hope,   Judge   Lutwyche,  J.  I'urner, 

Colonel  Sandeman,  R.  Little,  Sir  Joshua  Peter  Bell  ...   192 

Portraits  of  Robert  Cribb,  T.  L.  Murray-Prior,  Colonel  Gray, 

James  Warner,  John  Petrie       ...  ...  ...         ...         ...  208 

Portraits  of  Hon.  A.  Macalister,  Hc)n.  John  Douglas,  Sir  Charles 

Lilley,  Hon.  James  Taylor,  Sir  A.  Hodgson  ...         ...         ...  224 

Portraits  of  Christopher  Rolleston,  Sir  A.  H.  Palmer,  G.  E. 
Dalrymple,  Matthew  Goggs,  W.  Bowman,  Sir  R.  R.  Mac- 
kenzie ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  240 

Portraits  of  Capt.  John  Mackay,  Dr.   Dorsey,  F.  Bigge,  T.  de 

Lacy  Moffat,  Hon.  R.  Towns "     256 

Off  the  Islands 273 

.-I  Sheltered  Bay  278 

Women  of  Tahiti  288 

.Samoan  Types   ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  .S05 

Interior  of  Chillagoe  Cave,  N.  Queensland  ...         ...         ...  320 

On  the  Burdekin  .336 

A  Bit  of  Old  Brisbane 352 

A  Queensland  Squattage         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  ...  368 

The  Glasshouse  Mountains — Beerwali  ...  ...         ...         ...  384 

,,  ,,     Ngungun — Crook  Neck — Ti))bt'roowoccum    ...  400 

A  Marquesan  Maiden  ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  ...  416 


[{SBBShS^^ 

M 

^ 

^ 

^ 

M 

^^^ 

E 

CHAPTER   I. 

Half-a-Century  Back — The  First  Australian  "  Inflation  '  — 
Men  and  Matters  in  Sydney — A  Review — The  Proud 
Forefathers  of  "Swell"  Sydney — Old  Camperdown — 
Memories  of  the  Past — A  Countrified  Place — Sociability 
AT  Darling  Point — Sunday  Services  at  St.  Mark's — The 
Interim  Darkness  Before  the  Dawn— "  Caste  "  Superi- 
ority— Sydney's  Quaint  Suburp,s. 


USTRALIA  was  young  in  1842.  Even 
Sydney  was  juvenile ;  while,  as  for  Port 
Phillip,  New  Zealand,  and  IMoreton  Bay,  they 
were  simply  babies.  It  was-  the  season  of 
j^the  first  Australian  "inflation,"  just  before 
the  first  great  Australian  collapse.  There  have 
been  many  a  "  boom  "  and  many  a  crisis  since 
then,  but  '42  and  '43  saw  the  first  of  the  series. 
Let  us  take  a  glance  at  men  and  matters  in  Sydney  at  the 
date  when  London  Punch  and  Charles  Dickens  were  first 
coming  into  public  notice,  when  the  French  were  intriguing 
in  Tahiti,  and  Pritchard  was  the  much  ill-used  English 
consul  there,  when  England  and  the  United  States  had  a 
"tiff"  and  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  a  baby  in  arms.  No 
P.  and  O.  steamers  or  Orient  liners,  then,  in  Port  Jackson, 
but  the  gentle  grandmothers  of  the  pretty  girls  of  the  haut 
ton,  who  now  "  mash  "  the  ofiicers  and  male  passengers  on 
the  street-like  deck  of  the  7000-ton  "  boat,"  as  they  recline 
gracefully  on  the  lounging  chairs  in  the  promenade  bridge 
— endured    all    the    martyxxlom    of    seasickness    (with    the 

B 


2  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

costumes  and  coquetry  left  out)  on  board  the  little  Emma, 
the  fashionahle  bi'ig,  of  some  200  tons,  which  then  traded 
to  Adelaide  and  Hobart,  under  the  command  first  of  Captain 
Sproule  and  afterwards  of  Captain  R.  F.  Pockley  ;  and  the 
"  Waterlily  "  (in  after  days  well  known  in  the  'Fi'isco  trade  of 
'49  and  '50)  sailed,  to  the  Derwent  only,  from  Sydney. 
Moreton  Bay  was  accommodated  with  the  iron  steamship 
'' Shamrock,"  with  her  "powerful"  (80-horse)  engines  ("power- 
ful," that  is,  by  the  side  of  the  old  "  Billy  the  Fourth  "  of 
Wollongong  fame),  and  sent  as  a  favour  to  Brisbane  by  the 
Hunter  River  Company,  then  under  the  management  of 
Francis  Clarke.  The  schooner  "  Edward,"  Captain  Cham- 
bers, used,  in  1842,  to  do  her  famous  "ninety-hour"  trips 
to  the  bar  of  the  Brisbane  River  from  Sydney. 

The  only  ports  in  New  Zealand  which  were,  fifty  years 
ago,  favoured  with  the  Sydney  trade  were  Port  Nicholson, 
Auckland,  and  the  Bay  of  Islands,  and  for  those  places  the 
schooner  "Catherine,"  the  brig  "William  Fulcher,"  and  the 
barques  "Amwell"  and  "Achilles"  were  regularly  sent  by  Isaac 
Simmons,  Ranulph  Dacre,  J.  B.  Metcalfe,  or  William  Tucker. 
Sometimes  the  route  included  the  Bay  of  Islands  and  Tahiti 
only  ;  and  sometimes  Valparaiso  was  also  included  in  the 
trip.  The  "Julia"  and  the  "Jane  Geordie,"  from  R.  Jones's 
wharf,  were  in  the  trade  too.  There  must  have  been  much 
settlement  going  on  then  in  New  Zealand,  for  the  traders 
to  that  place  were  of  the  same  tonnage  as  the  London  wool 
ships  of  1842.  Sydney  used  but  little  sugar  then,  and  the 
"  Charlotte,"  brig,  of  a  modest  96  tons  burden,  was  the 
Mauritius  trader. 

The  Rev.  Ralph  Mansfield  was  then,  and  for  many  a  long 
year  afterwards,  secretary  to  the  Gas  Company.  The  Rev. 
Robert  Allwood  used  to  lecture  for  Church  of  England 
purposes;  and  the  legal  firm  which,  in  1852,  was  Thurlow, 
Dick,   and   Brown  was,   ten  years  earlier.    Chambers   and 


FIFTY    YEARS    AGO.  d 

Thurlow.  Wright's  (the  pioneer)  bi'ewery  was  running  in 
opposition  to  Newnham  and  Tooth's  before  Robert  and 
Edwin  Tooth  came  from  England  in  1843  to  assume  com- 
mand of  affairs.  Eldridge  kept  a  chemist's  shop  in  King- 
street  ;  but  was  tliis  the  Ambrose  Eldridge,  of  Brisbane,  in 
after  years  1  Binnie,  the  saddler,  was  then  in  Parramatta. 
T.  and  M.  Woolley,  of  George-street  and  the  Glebe,  sold 
sheep-shears  and  chaff-cutters,  while  the  fashionable  drapers 
were  Pite  and  Preston,  Joseph  Thompson,  sen.,  David  Jones, 
and  Robert  Bourne  (father-in-law  of  George  Raff,  of  Bris- 
bane, and  the  erstwhile  missionary  for  the  Congregational 
Union  to  Raiatea  and  the  Society  Group  in  1822).  Most 
of  them  were  in  Pitt-street,  where  Sydney  drapers  and 
carpet  men  still  do  mostly  congregate.  In  1842  R.  Camp- 
bell, jun.,  and  Co.  were  general  merchants  in  Bligh-street, 
Sydney  ;  for  R.  Campbell,  sen,,  was  of  the  179.5  era  in  that 
town  ;  they  sold  tea,  rice,  pickles,  spirits,  iron,  and  hemp 
goods.  John  Sands  was  a  stationer  in  George-street ;  R. 
and  T.  Coveny  sold  V.D.  land  produce  ;  MacHattie  was  then 
(even  as  ten  years  later)  a  Aery  prominent  name  and  house- 
hold word  in  Bathurst ;  and  J.  T.  Armitage  and  Co.  bought 
wool  at  the  salt-water  end  of  King-street.  Richard  Rogers 
was  the  imperial  ordnance  storekeeper  for  New  South  Wales, 
and  the  Australian  Club  (in  want  of  repairs  and  alterations 
even  then)  was  situate  in  Bent-street  even  as  it  was  fifty 
years  later.  The  "  boom  "  had  not  in  1842  ended  in  a  crisis, 
for  £30  a  year  was  offered  for  a  good  female  cook  at 
■"  Linthorpe,"  Newtown,  despite  a  plentiful  supply  of  the 
convict  article  in  the  market.  The  Sydney  and  Calcutta  firm, 
which  was  afterwards  Thacker,  Daniell,  and  Co.,  Th acker, 
Spink  and  Co.,  was,  in  1842,  Thacker,  Mason,  and  Co. 
James  Pye  lived  at  Parramatta,  and  the  firm  of  Cooper  and 
Holt  flourished.  Old  Walter  Gray,  of  Ipswich,  Moreton 
Bay,  in  1854,  was,  in  1842,  an  accountant  in  George-street, 


4  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

opposite  the  Commercial  Bank.  The  steamer  "  Maitland  " 
traded  to  Port  Macqnarie,  and,  amongst  other  passengers, 
carried,  in  1842,  Mr.  Tozer,  an  ancestor  of  the  Queensland 
Colonial  Secretary  of  fifty  years  later.  Her  cargo  was 
maize  and  salt  beef  in  tierces. 

The  Legislative  Council  of  the  period  consisted  of  the 
Governor,  Sir  George  Gipps,  the  Bishop,  the  Senior  Military 
Officer,  the  Colonial  Secretary,  Attorney-General,  Collector 
of  Customs,  Auditor-General,  Mr.  Campbell,  Mr.  Berry,  Mr. 
R.  Jones,  Mr.  Blaxland,  Mr.  Hannibal  Macarthur,  and  Sir 
John  Jamison,  and  they  voted  away  the  colony's  money  in 
this  fashion  : — The  Governor,  £.5,000  ;  private  secretary, 
£300 ;  aide-de-camp,  9s.  6d.  per  day  and  forage ;  Clerk  of 
the  Executive  and  Legislative  Councils,  £600  ;  Colonial 
Secretary,  £1500  a  year,  and  his  chief  clerk  £500  ;  Colonial 
Treasurer,  £1000  ;  Auditor-General,  £650 ;  Collector  of 
Customs,  £1000;  the  rent  of  the  Custom-house  was  £250 
first-class  clerks  got  £400,  second-class  £240  to  £300 
occasional  clerks  6s.  per  day  to  make  out  deeds  of  grant 
&c.  ;  Postmaster-General,  £650  ;  Landing  Surveyor,  £400 
Colonial  Storekeeper,  £200  ;  Government  Printer,  £300 
the  museum  got  £200  a  year ;  lighthouse-keeper,  South 
Head,  £80  per  annum  and  £13  13s.  for  rations ;  five 
"  prisoner"  assistants  got  clothed  and  fed  for  Is.  a  day 
each — £91  5s.  a  year  for  the  lot;  while  the  lighthouse 
horse  and  his  shoes  cost  £60  a  year  ! 

The  Law  Courts  sat  as  usual  in  Sydney  in  1842,  and  Mr. 
Broadhurst  pleaded  before  "  the  Chief "  when  Burdekin 
sued  Lyons  or  Barker.  Amongst  the  barristers  in  court 
were  Darvall,  Windeyer,  Foster,  and  Fishei'.  The  Mort 
and  Co.,  the  Richardson  and  Wrench,  the  L.  E.  Threlkeld, 
the  W.  Dean  and  Co.,  the  Purkiss  and  Lambert,  the  Frith 
and  Payten  of  1860  "  were  not "  in  1842,  but  their  places 
were   anticipated   by   Foss.       Was  it  he   who   bought  the 


FIFTY    YEARS    AGO.  5 

chemist's  business  from  Tawell,  the  Quaker  murderer  1 
Foss  and  Lloyd  used  to  sell  wine,  cheese,  flannel,  and  pork 
by  auction,  while  Moore  and  Heydon  were  more  in  the 
pastoral  line.  Stubbs,  the  elder,  was  the  George  Robins  of 
the  earlier  Sydney  land  booms ;  while  Cornelius  Prout  (the 
under  sheriflf  in  1842,  and  many  a  year  after  that)  did, 
officially,  a  larger  general  auction  business  perhaps  than  any 
of  them.  Samuel  Hebblewhite  was  the  importer  of  American 
goods,  ash  oars,  and  rocking  chairs  in  1842  even  as  in  1860. 
Thomas  A  gars  (afterwards  Agars  and  Stabler)  was  a  stock 
and  station  agent,  and  the  Sydney  Sugar  Company  had 
their  works  at  Canterbury  under  W.  Knox  Child,  the 
manager.  Moflitt  (the  millionaire)  had  his  modest  book- 
shop in  Pitt-street  then.  Isaac  Simmons  and  Sam  Lyons 
were  also  leading  auctioneers  in  1842,  while  Mr.  Blacknian 
occupied  the  place  in  the  real  estate  market  which  Richard- 
son and  Wrench  now  do.  "  Cap-a-Pie,"  the  sire  of  so  many 
Australian  racehorses,  had  just  been  advertised  by  Mr. 
Scott,  of  Glendon,  on  the  Hunter,  imported  two  years  before 
by  Mr.  Kater,  bred  by  Mr.  Poyntz  in  1837,  and  sired  by 
The  Colonel  out  of  sister  to  Cactus.  Mr.  Byrnes,  the 
auctioneer,  of  Parramatta,  advertised  the  estate  of  Major 
Wentwoi'th  at  Toongabbee — fifty  eligible  lots  of  30  acres 
each,  suitable  for  nurserymen,  and  away  from  the  "  noise 
and  bustle"  of  Sydney,  in  1842. 

At  this  very  same  time  Sir  Robert  Peel  was  moving  in 
the  Imperial  Parliament  for  his  "  sliding  scale  "  on  imported 
wheat,  the  duty  to  be  20s.,  when  the  market  price  was  50s. 
per  quarter  and  gradually  decreasing  to  zero,  when  the 
price  (from  scarcity)  rose  to  74s.  The  baronet's  argument 
was,  that  a  great  country  like  England  should  be  self- 
supporting  in  wheat  and  should  not  encourage  foreign  grain 
unless  from  dire  necessity.  His  speech  was  closely  criticised 
by  Lord  John  Russell  and  Richard  Cobden,  the   latter  of 


b  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

whom  remarked,  of  Peel,  that  it  was  hopeless  to  expect 
"grapes  from  thorns  or  figs  from  thistles,"  and  who  con- 
verted Sir  Robert,  three  years  later,  to  his  freetrade  views. 

People  who  nowadays  are  "squeamish"  over  the  well-fed, 
well-treated  kanaka  labourer  on  Queensland  plantations- 
should  have  read  Abram  Polack's  or  Sam  Lyons's  advertise- 
ments of  farms  for  sale  fifty  years  ago  near  Sydney,  where 
it  was  announced  that  so  many  convicts  would  remain  on, 
and  go  with,  the  property  to  the  new  purchaser.  It  sounds 
a  bit  chattel  and  slave-like  to  our  modern  ears.  Men, 
transported  for  murdering  their  wives,  acted  as  nursemaids 
(pour  faute  de  mieux)  to  tender  little  girls  in  arms,  and 
were  kinder  than  the  female  convict  would  have  been.  The 
Botany  property  of  the  then  deceased  Simeon  Lord  was  up 
for  sale  in  1842.  Imported  wine  was  auctioned  in  pipes, 
and  the  bottled  beer  wtis  by  Dunbar,  Byass,  and  Marzetti,^ 
for  Foster  and  Guinness  had  not  travelled  to  Australia  then. 
The  girls  danced  in  Sydney  fifty  years  ago,  and  wore  "  kid 
operas  "  and  mock  pearl  coronets ;  and  at  an  auction  room 
next  the  (old)  Bank  of  New  South  Wales  eleven  boxes  of 
artificial  flowers  and  wreaths  were  passed  to  the  highest 
bidder  on  the  10th  August,  1842. 

Enterprise  and  settlement  were  setting  in  strongly  then 
to  New  Zealand,  and  the  Raphaels  and  the  Nathans  and 
the  Barnetts  lielped  to  swell  the  passenger  lists  from  Port 
Jackson  to  Port  Nicholson.  The  larger  ships  which  came 
out  to  Sydney  in  those  days  wei'e  unable  to  fill  up  with  wool 
out  of  the  season,  and  being  too  big  even  for  the  summer 
shipments  were  accustomed  to  go  by  the  Barrier  Reef  and 
the  Raines  Island  Passage  to  Java,  there  to  load  with  rice, 
etc.,  for  London.  A  ship  of  700  or  800  tons  could  "  make 
a  big  hole"  in  the  entire  wool  clip  of  Sydney  in  1840,  or 
of  Melbourne  in  1850. 

But  the  sheep  have  increased  since  then  and  (more's  the 


FIFTY    YEARS    AGO.  7 

pity)  so  also  have  the  rabbits.  The  curator  of  the  Botanic 
Gardens,  Sydney,  got  £140  salary  fifty  years  ago  his 
overseer  3s.  per  day,  and  thirty  convicts,  who  did  the  work, 
were  all  fed  and  clothed  for  £430  per  annum.  The  harbour 
master  got  £300  a  year,  and  most  of  his  subordinates  were 
convicts,  rationed  and  clothed  and  foraged  at  the  stereotyped 
Is.  a  day  each,  and  allowed  2d.  a  day  extra  in  lieu  of  tea, 
sugar,  and  tobacco  for  the  thirty-two  men  on  the  stafi".  The 
floating  light  at  the  "  Sow  and  Pigs  "  was  "  run "  by  a 
superintendent  and  four  sailors  at  £191  12s.  6d.  a  year 
for  the  lot  (rations,  fuel,  and  light  extra),  while  oil  for  the 
light  alone  absorbed  £220  a  year.  HarV)our-masters  and 
pilots  were  run  cheaply  then  ;  the  "  screw  "  at  Newcastle 
was  £100,  with  £40  allowed  yearly  for  coals  for  the 
"  beacon  "  ;  Port  Macquarie,  £75  ;  while  at  WoUongong 
and  Brisbane  Water  they  were  paid  5s.  a  day  each. 

Kemp  and  Fairfax  published  and  owned  the  Sydney 
Morning  Herald  then,  and  got  6d.  a  copy  for  their  paper, 
and  I  can,  in  my  mind's  eye,  still  see  old  Charles  Kemp  and 
his  wife  in  their  carriage,  but  with  no  children,  bowed  to 
and  saluted  as  they  drove  about  South-west  Sydney ;  he, 
short,  stout,  and  with  a  peculiarity  in  one  eye.  They  rest 
now  in  the  old  Camperdown  cemetery,  whei'e  it  looks  out 
on  the  distant  Parramatta  hills,  and  where  also  x'epose  the 
Macleays,  the  Dumaresqs,  the  O'Connells,  and  others  of  the 
"  upper  ten  "  of  bygone  Sydney,  a  list  far  too  numerous 
here  to  catalogue,  beyond  making  the  remark  that  Camper- 
down  shares,  with  St.  Jude's  at  Randwick,  the  honour  of 
being  the  spot  where 

The  proud  forefathers  of  "  swell  "  Sydney  sleep. 

Let  us  stroll  through  this  once  favourite  burying-place  of 
the  old  folk  of  Sydney  ;  where  lie  some  of  Sydney's  greatest. 
A  solitude  in  the  heart  of  business,  it  is  situated  but  a  short 


8  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

distance  from  the  Newtown  railway  station,  and  a  few 
minutes'  walk  down  a  lane-like  street  brings  us  to  St. 
Stephen's  Church,  which  though  of  a  later  date  than  the 
cemetery  itself  stands  within  its  precincts.  Unlatch  the 
wicket  gate  and  enter  the  field  of  graves.  It  is  thickly 
sown.  Flat  stones  and  nameless  mounds  lie  huddled  with 
scarce  a  semblance  of  sectional  order  among  the  rank-growing 
grass.  High  and  lowly  lie  side  by  side  :  for  Death  is  the 
great  leveller  of  all.  Headstones,  crosses,  urns,  uncouth 
attempts  at  sculptured  figures,  mossy  blocks,  hideous  and 
shapeless  ;  monuments  of  lighter  and  more  elegant  design 
and  of  every  conceivable  fashion  crowd  round  on  all  .sides. 
Noteworthy  many  of  them — what  memories  they  do  recall ! 
Near  the  entrance  a  large  white  slab,  rail-protected  and 
carefully  preserved,  covers  the  remains  of  Sir  Thomas  Living- 
stone Mitchell,  surveyor  and  explorer.  Dying  at  Carthona, 
Darling  Point,  4th  October,  1855,  he  was  buried  here,  with 
military  honours,  on  the  9th.  A  stirring  and  a  changeful  life 
was  his  !  The  tumult  of  Badajos  and  Ciudad  Rodrigo  gave 
place  to  the  stillness  of  Australian  forests,  and  the  abilities 
that  had  been  employed  in  furthering  the  art  of  war,  were 
diverted  to  the  nobler  work  of  assisting  to  open  up  the  great 
south  continent  to  settlement  and  civilisation.  Higher  up 
is  the  tomb  of  Sir  Maurice  Charles  O'Connell,  who,  if  his 
services  to  the  country  were  less  distinguished  than  those  of 
Mitchell,  was  still  a  prominent  personage  in  early  colonial 
society.  Known  as  an  officer  signalised  in  his  profession, 
O'Connell  arrived  in  Sydney  with  Macquarie  in  December, 
1809,  as  Colonel  of  the  73rd,  and  Lieutenant  Governor  of 
the  Territoiy,  and  in  May  following  married  Mrs.  Putland, 
the  widowed  daughter  of  e.K-Governor  Bligh,  and  .somewhat 
famous  in  connection  with  the  episode  of  his  arrest.  Accom- 
panying the  73rd,  in  1814,  to  Ceylon,  O'Connell  returned 
to  the  colony  in   1838,  and   was  appointed  Commander  of 


OLD    CAMPERDOWN.  9 

the  Forces  in  New  South  Wales,  a  post  he  occupied  until 

1847.  Military  display  on  a  small  scale  was  a  feature  of 
old  Sydney,  and  women  entering  into  years  now,  are  fond 
of  recalling  the  school-girl  delight  they  took  in  watching  the 
martial  figure  of  Sir  Maurice  at  the  reviews  so  frequently 
held  in  the  Domain.  Relieved  by  General  Wynyard,  he 
was  preparing  to  return  to  England,  when  he  died  in  May, 

1848,  at  his  house  in  Darlinghurst,  on  the  day  that  had 
been  fixed  for  his  sailing  by  the  "Medway."  He  had  taken 
little  part  in  politics,  but  the  concern  of  the  public  for  his 
death  showed  how  deep  the  sense  of  his  private  worth  was 
rooted  in  the  heart  of  the  community.  His  body,  interred 
elsewhere  in  1848,  was  afterwards  removed  hither.  The 
inscription  on  the  stone — cruciform,  resting  on  a  low  plat- 
form— is  short  and  simple. 

A 

CI    GIT. 

Lieutenant-General  Sir  Maurice  O'Connell,  H.M.  80th  Regiment 

of  Foot,  K.C.H. 

Died  May  2.5th,  1818. 

No  recording  of  his  battles,  no  lauding  of  his  virtues — only 
underneath  tlie  words. 

Until  The  Day  Break  And  The 
Shadows  Flee  Away. 

So  the  old  soldier  rests.  Hard  by,  "Two  Sorrowing 
Friends  "  commemorate  Lieut.-Colonel  Charles  Lewis,  also 
of  Her  Majesty's  80th  Regiment.  From  the  Peninsula  to 
Sobraon  he  had  "served  his  country  gallantly  and  faithfully 
for  40  years."  Below  O'Connell's  monument  is  one  to  Sir 
James  Everard  Howe,  "captain  of  the  "Calliope,"  and  senior 
officer  of  the  Australian  Squadron."  (Died  1855,  aged  55). 
Beside  it  is  a  grave  covered  with  an  overgrowth  of  slovenly 
herbage,  through  which  a  pale  rose  feebly  struggles.  The 
stone    is   carved    at  top    with    anchor,    trident,    and  other 


10  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

nautical  emblems,  and,  holding  back  the  long  coarse  grass 
that  has  spread  across  the  face,  we  read  that  William  Ward 
Harvey,  R.N.,  of  the  ship  "Torch,"  and  son  of  an  English 
clergyman,  was  drowned  off  Sydney  by  the  upsetting  of  the 
Torch's  cutter  on  the  24th  December,  1853,  ''aged  nearly 
20  years,"  "  universally  beloved,"  and  "an  officer  of  great 
promise."  We  know  nothing  of  his  friends  save  what  the 
tombstone  tells,  yet  one  sadly  thinks  how  loving  thoughts 
of  the  absent  lad  may  have  gone  out  that  Christmas  season 
from  the  distant  vicarage  home,  and  no  premonition  of  the 
calamity  that  had  befallen  have  clouded  its  Christmas  cheer. 
Not  far  off  sleeps  another  sailor,  Thomas  Raine,  captain  of 
the  "Surry,"  a  merchant  vessel  of  old  colonial  days.  It  was. 
from  the  Surry's  deck  that  Macquarie,  in  1822,  made  his 
last  farewells  to  the  entliusiastic  colonists  who  thronged  to 
bid  him  God  speed  on  his  voyage.  An  ivy-wreathed  stone 
cross  is  inscribed  to  Edward  Broadhurst,  father  of  the  Bar  of 
New  South  Wales  ;  and  there  is  a  cenotaph  to  Dr.  Woolley, 
who  perished  in  the  "London."  Mrs.  Broughton,  wife  of  the 
first  Australian  Bishop,  dying  on  Sunday,  Uie  16th  Sep- 
tembei%  1849,  was  carried  to  her  burial  liere,  four  days 
later,  amidst  sincere  and  general  mourning.  Her  death 
came  with  the  shock  of  a  painful  surprise.  While  the 
serious  nature  of  her  own  illness  had  l)een  unsuspected,  her 
husband  was  lying  at  the  point  of  death  ;  and  when  the 
muffled  bells  tolled  on  the  night  of  the  16th  from  the 
steeple  of  St.  James',  no  doubt  of  the  event  was  felt,  and 
men  meeting  each  other  in  the  morning  spoke  of  the  dead 
bishop,  little  dreaming  that  it  was  his  devoted  wife  who 
had  passed  away.  The  bishop  himself  recovered  for  the 
time,  and  returned  to  England,  where  he  subsequently  died. 
The  visitor  may  chance  to  stumble  over  a  stone  raised  over 
two  children  of  Sir  William  Denison,  11th  Governor  of  New 
South   Wales,  and    here,    indeed,    did    time    avail    for    tlie 


OLD    CAMPEKDOWN.  11 

research,  would  be  found  the  names  of  many  intimately 
associated  with  the  affairs  and  progress  of  the  colony. 

Funeral  offerings  testify  to  the  remembrance  of  the  living. 
A  moment,  parenthetically,  we  pause.  It  is  strange,  this 
decking  of  the  tombs;  and  surely  no  age  so  "  antithetically 
mixed "  as  ours  is  nothing  more  so  than  the  tendency  to 
break  the  fetters  of  old  customs,  and  to  forge  new  ones  in 
their  stead.  We  cast  off  "  the  scenes  and  the  trappings  of 
war  "  to  replace  them  by  the  adjuncts  of  bridal  festivity. 
Certain  aspectsof  the  innovation  wecan  understand.  "When 
I  die,"  said  Dickens'  Little  Nell,  "  put  near  me  something 
that  has  loved  the  light  and  had  the  sky  above  it  always." 
And  so  they  laid  green  leaves  and  winter  berries  by  her. 
We  do  not  cavil  at  the  garlanded  barge  of  poor  Elaine  ;  and 
the  poetess  whose  dreams  had  been  of  dying  young,  that 
she  might  lie  strewn  over  "with  rosemary  and  rue,"  was 
probably  not  singular  in  her  sentimental  fancy  ;  but  the 
prevailing  practice  of  indiscriminately  showeiung  flowers 
upon  the  dead,  strikes  us  at  times  with  a  curious  sense  of 
incongruity.     Each  to  his  liking. 

Touch  the  topic  gently,  I  fancy  I  hear  somebody  whisper. 
So  I  will  :  but  methinks  nothing  can  so  become  a  bier  as 
the  "  white  flower  of  a  blameless  life."  The  signs  of  taste 
and  care  are  but  as  specks  in  the  surrounding  waste.  Note 
the  carpet  of  tangled  grass  catching  tlie  feet  as  in  a  snare, 
which  o'erspreads  the  ground  and  half  conceals  the  spots 
where  we  would  reverently  forbear  to  tread  ;  the  yawning 
earth  holes  ;  the  displaced  and  broken  stones,  the  defaced 
inscriptions,  the  tall  shrub  we  thrust  aside  to  find  perhaps 
an  epitaph  engraven  to  "  a  modest  wife  and  tender  mother  ;" 
the  trees,  planted  at  first  in  token  of  regard,  which  in 
numerous  instances  have  reached  to  such  a  size  as  almost  to 
destroy  the  grave,  a  glimpse  of  mouldering  stone,  corroding 
iron,  or  rotting  paling  discernible  through  the  mass  of  foliage,. 


12  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

alone  declaring  it  is  there.  Verily  the  axe  of  the  woodman, 
as  well  as  the  chisel  of  "  Old  Mortality  "  would  be  needed 
for  the  work  of  restoration  here.  Should  this  work  of 
restoration  be  begun  1  "  Does  it  really  matter  very  much'?" 
I  hear  somebody  ask,  "  Why  solicitous  for  that  which  is 
but  dust  1 "  Ah  !  apart  from  the  belief  in  which  the  term 
"God's  acre"  has  its  root,  care  for  that  dust  has  been  in  all  ages 
an  inherent  instinct  in  the  race,  and  developed  more  or  less 
according  to  the  degree  of  civilisation  attained.  Close  the 
wicket,  leave  the  ruined  tombs  behind,  pass  again  into  the 
busy  street,  and,  "  letting  the  dead  bury  the  dead,"  glance 
once  more  into  the  page  of  the  living. 

And  what  was  doing  in  the  world  in  1832  1  Let's  see. 
William  IV.  was  king,  and  had  for  his  queen  the  prim, 
pretty,  small-featured  Adelaide,  who  was  only  27  years 
younger  than  her  husband.  Earl  Grey  was  Premier,  and 
Lord  Brougham  the  High  Chancellor,  and  Melbourne  and 
Palmerston  ruled  the  Home  and  Foreign  Departments, 
while  Sir  James  Pike  was  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty. 
Judge  Tindel  presided  at  the  Court  of  Pleas,  and  Lynd- 
hurst  at  the  Exchequer  Court.  And  I  may  be  excused  for 
mentioning  there  was  still  reigning  in  1832  the  Emperor  of 
Austria,  born  in  1768,  who  conjointly  had  been  mixed  up 
with  the  awful  Napoleon  Bonaparte  business  at  the  end  of 
last  and  the  beginning  of  this  century.  President  Jackson 
held  office  in  America.  And  now  I  pass  me  on  to  Sydney 
and  New  South  Wales  generally. 

Sydney  was  a  countrified  sort  of  place  in  1832,  and  you 
would  have  missed  75  per  cent  of  the  present  edifices  then. 
No  Union  Bank,  no  Australasian  ;  no  bishop  or  cathedral  ; 
only  the  Bank  of  New  South  Wales  and  the  Bank  of 
Australia,  the  former  far  down  the  street  and  nearer  to 
Davis's  edifice  than  it  now  is.  Two  of  the  most  prominent 
men  of   Sydney   in   1832  were   Richard   Jones   and   James 


MEMORIES    OF    THE    PAST.  13 

Laidley,  men  of  sound  standing,  well  liked,  and  given  to 
hospitality,  and  whose  sons  prospered,  and  their  daughters 
married  well.  One  of  Mr.  Jones'  daughters  married  Robert 
R.  Mackenzie,  Bart,  one  time  a  squatter  in  New  England, 
afterwards  Colonial  Treasurer  of  Queensland.  Another 
married  Captain  Bligh  O'Connell,  son  of  Sir  Maurice  of 
that  ilk,  and  afterwards  of  Mondure,  Queensland.  William 
Laidley's  daughters  married  re.spectivoly,  Thomas  Mort, 
Henry  Mort,  John  Sutherland  Mitchell,  and  Judge  Dowling. 
Richard  Jones,  in  the  early  thirties,  tilled  the  offices  of 
Chairman  of  the  Bank  of  New  South  Wales,  Chairman  of 
the  Sydney  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  Chairman  of  the 
only  marine  insurance  company  then  in  Australia.  He 
was  the  inevitable  president  of  all  Sydney  commercial 
institutions  in  King  William's  time.  He  afterwards  Itecame 
member  for  Moreton  Bay  (alias  all  Queensland),  in  the 
Sydney  Parliament.  At  his  garden  on  New  Farm,  near 
Brisbane,  was  raised  the  tirst  stalk  of  sugar  cane  gi'own 
in  Australia. 

There  was  no  Betty's  Hotel,  no  Kent's  Brewery,  in  Sydney 
in  1832.  They  came  later  on  in  1834.  St.  John's  Church 
was  a  dozen  years  old  in  King-street,  and  St.  Phillip's  had 
stood  still  longer  on  a  spur  of  Flagstaff  Hill.  The  Rev.  R. 
Bourne  still  continued  to  preach  to  the  natives  of  far-otl" 
Raiatea,  in  the  Society  Group,  and  had  not  come  to  cast 
his  lot  in  Sydney,  but  the  Rev.  Ralph  Mansfield  run  the 
official  Sydney  new.spaper  (the  Gazette),  tri-weekly,  first 
born  in  1803.  The  Sydney  Herald  was  founded  in  1832,  a 
weekly  paper,  then  under  the  auspices  of  Stephens  and 
Stokes,  and  it  was  not  a  daily  "  morning  "  Herald  till  long 
after  that.  The  Australian  (weekly)  started  in  1824,  and 
the  Monitor,  a  bi-weekly,  dating  from  182G,  were  the  only 
other  Sydney  journals  in  1832. 

Ah  !   who  shall  tell  of  the  old  ghosts  and  old  interests. 


14  AUSTRALIAN    PIONKERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

old  tales  and  histories  of  the  lives  and  fates  of  Australian 
people  from  1832  to  1852,  locked  up  in  those  worn  out  and 
hoary  old  Sydney  bank  ledgers,  nearly  every  page  being  the 
nucleus  of  a  vivid  three-volume  novel  if  the  whole  sur- 
roundings were  but  tracked  and  delineated.  Dost  think 
there  are  no  ghosts  in  Sydney  1  Beware  it  is  not  London. 
Has  there  been  no  time  since  1788  for  wrong  to  be  done, 
-for  hearts  to  be  broken,  for  mortgages  to  be  foreclosed, 
fortunes  to  be  made  1  Ruin  here  1  Good  luck  there  1 
Happiness  and  joy  1  Misery  and  despair  1  All  told  of 
indirectly  in  the  ledger  columns.  Scrooge  and  Marley  have 
lived  in  Sydney  as  well  as  in  London. 

The  Domain  changeth  not,  nor  doth  Macquarie's  Chair. 
The  odour  of  the  gums  and  the  sea,  the  pines  and  the  fig 
tree  is  wafted  across  just  as  free,  the  same  as  it  was  in 
1852  and  1832,  when  the  demons  now  dead  were  alive  and 
breathed  it  gladly  and  freely  as  we  now  do.  For  Sydney 
then,  as  now,  was  a  place  where  there  was  a  sense  of 
"  company  "  and  companionship  ;  the  one  spot  in  the  lone 
South  hemisphere  where  all  was  not  wilderness,  solitude, 
and  the  desolation  of  isolation. 

There  is  a  grand  old  fig  tree  in  front  of  the  Public  In- 
struction Office  in  Sydney  :  and  thereby  hangs  a  tale.  It 
was  once  ofiicially  proposed  to  cut  that  tree  down  and  build 
public  offices  on  its  site.  Plans  and  specifications  were 
prepared  and  approved.  The  axes  were  sharpened  to  cut 
the  tree  down — by  the  way  the  grinding  of  axes  is  a  great 
Australian  institution,  is  it  not  1 — evei-ything  was  ready 
except  one  thing  in  the  programme,  namely,  the  projectors 
had  omitted  to  take  into  their  confidence  a  certain  old  gentle- 
man (M.  J.  were  his  initials),  who  was  a  great  friend  of  Sir 
John  Robertson.  Coming  upon  the  scene  unexpectedly  he 
spoke  as  follows  : — "  Cut  that  blankety-blank  tree  down  ! 
I'll  kill  the  man  that  lays  a  finger  on  it.     Many   a  happy 


SOCIABILITY    AT    DARLING    POINT.  15 

■day  I've  spent  under  it,"  tfcc,  &c.  And  it  came  to  pass 
that  the  old  tree  stands  and  spreads  to  this  day. 

Good  old  early  Sydney  !  What  a  place  it  was  !  There 
was  always  a  halo  of  Captain  Cook  about  it  the  same  as  at 
Tahiti,  both  of  the  classic  and  the  poet.  And  how  curious 
it  was  when  the  delegated  authority  of  the  far  off  King  of 
England  or  Elector  of  Hanover  met  you  at  every  turn ;  the 
lion  and  unicorn  here  ;  the  lion  and  unicorn  there  ;  blue 
coat,  cocked  hat,  epaulets — all  strange  and  incongruous 
amongst  the  blacks  and  the  gum  trees  of  the  great  kangaroo 
land,  to  say  nothing  of  the  branded  curiosity. 

The  old  uniformed  men  of  1830  and  their  stout-waisted 
daughters  of  the  same  era  have  passed  away  from  Sydney, 
and  sleep  peacefully  now.  And  the  little  ballroom 
jealousies  and  questions  of  colonial  procedure  and  official 
etiquette  have  all  gone  to  rest  as  quietly  as  the  folks  who 
raised  them. 

It  is  difficult  for  us  now  to  realise  the  Sydney  of  1838 
with  the  ladies  all  di-essed  as  to  hair  and  contour  like 
Malibran,  and  before  Tom  Mort's  beautiful  garden  was 
laid  out  at  "  Mrs.  Darling's  Point,"  when  Captain  Lamb 
stood  proxy  for  the  navy,  and  Laidley,  dead  only  three 
years  before,  had  represented  the  commissariat  branch  of 
the  Imperial  service  ;  when  R.  R.  Mackenzie  and  Stuart 
Donaldson  were  firm  friends  before  tlie  former's  marriage 
with  the  daughter  of  Richard  Jones  caused  him  to  espouse 
the  latter's  cause  in  the  difference  that  afterwards  arose 
with  Stuart  Donaldson.  Who  does  not  remember  the 
neighbourly  feeling  that  existed  amongst  the  old  residents 
of  Darling  Points  And  Darling  Point,  be  it  understood 
by  those  who  have  never  seen  it,  is  not  very  greatly 
dissimilar  to  a  little  bit  of  the  villa  woodland  of  Jersey  and 
Guernsey  transported  to  the  other  liemisphere,  due  allow- 
ance being  made  for  the  difference  of  latitude  and  climate. 


16  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

One  proof  of  this  neighbourly  feeling  was  seen  every 
Sunday  after  service  at  St.  Mark's  Church.  Mr.  T.  S.  Mort 
had  his  garden  and  grounds  to  the  east  of  this  church,  and 
Mr.  Thomas  Ware  Smart  to  the  west  of  it,  and  each  of 
them  threw  open  his  place  as  a  thoroughfare  and  short  cut 
to  all  those  attending  the  service,  so  as  to  enable  tliem  to 
reach  home  witliout  a  long  and  roundabout  walk  by  the 
public  road.  Mr.  Smart  was  a  wealthy  miller,  and  one  of 
whom  Mr.  Mort  once  said  to  me,  "  It's  nice  to  have  him  on 
a  board  of  directors  with  you,  as  he  always  took  such 
common  sense  short  cuts  through  any  difficulty  that  arose. 

What  memories  does  a  recollection  of  those  who  formed 
the  congregation  of  St.  Mark's  at  this  date  revive  1  There 
were  Whistler  Smiths  of  "  Glenrock,"  the  McCarthys  of 
"  Deepdene,"  the  Skinners,  Rotherys,  S.  H.  Sniythes, 
Robert  Tooth  of  "  Brooksby  "  or  "  Ecclesbourne,"  Croft  of 
"  Mt.  Adelaide,"  Edye  and  William  Manning,  and  Edwin 
Tooth  of  "  Waratah  " 

Neither  "  Cranbrook  "  nor  the  mansions  of  Dalley  and 
Holdsworth,  near  the  lighthouse,  were  yet  built.  But 
"  Potts's  Point  "  was  well  "settled."  There  was  "  Tuscu- 
lum,"  where  Mr.  Young,  the  wine  merchant  lived ;  the 
fine  mansion  of  old  Thomas  Barkei',  the  miller.  The  oldest 
residents  of  tlie  "  Point,"  perhaps,  were  the  Macleays,  who 
had  for  neighbours  John  Gilchrist  and  Challis  (Flower, 
Salting,  &  Co.)  Neither  McQuade's  house  on  the  shores  of 
Woolloomooloo  Bay,  nor  J.  D.  McLean's  "Quiraing"  on 
the  Edgecliffe-road  had  been  brought  into  existence  ;  but  Mr. 
Henry  Prince  occupied  a  splendid  house  that  looked  on  E. 
Tooth's  "Waratah."  I  i-emember  E.  Tooth  with  Captain 
Georoe  Harrison,  R.N.  (a  surveying  shipmate  of  Captain 
Wickham,  and  afterwards  of  Castlemaine  and  Melbourne), 
and  myself  resolved,  one  Sunday,  to  walk  to  the  lighthouse 
and  back  before  dinner  for  an  appetite.     The  Captain  was 


"caste"  superiority.  17 

50,  and  I  20,  and  as  he  put  it  he  felt  proud  of  a  10-niile  spin 
with  me. 

And  talking  of  dinners  on  Sundays  reminds  me  that  on 
one  Sunday  in  1853,  at  Edwin  Tooth's,  there  were  present 
his  three  brothers — Robert,  Frederick,  and  Charles — when 
we  were  startled  by  the  news  that  the  Kent  Brewery  was 
ablaze.  Off  we  all  went  post  haste  ;  found  Donald  Larnach 
and  plenty  of  people  there  at  rescue  work.  Malt  and  hops 
burned  freely  ;  and  the  rebuilding  of  the  stone  work,  origin- 
ally put  up  in  1834-,  was  costly  in  1853;  with  mason's 
wages  verging  on  =£1  a  day,  "all  along  of"  the  gold  time. 
Such  sympathy  and  assistance  were  shown  by  the  neighbours 
that  it  became  imperative  to  publicly  advertise  the  firm's 
thanks  therefor ;  and  herein  I  made  a  proposal,  namely, 
that  each  of  the  brothers  and  myself  should  write  out  a 
notice — expressive  of  gratitude — for  publication  ;  also  that 
the  form  should  be  duly  submitted  to  a  committee  of  ladies 
(their  wives),  and  the  most  aptly  worded  one  of  the 
four  should  be  accepted.  The  ladies  unanimously  pro- 
nounced for  mine,  and  it  duly  appeared  ;  but  it  must  be 
remembered  that  /  had  nothing  at  stake  and  wrote  much 
more  deliberately  than  they  could  be  expected  to  in  their 
flurry. 

Business  iras  brisk  then.  I  remember  that  Robert  Tooth, 
finding  that  the  scarcity  of  copper  change  in  Sydney 
seriously  affected  the  consumption  of  the  ale  in  the  expan- 
sion of  trade  that  took  place  between  '51  and  '53,  offered 
£10,000  for  £5,000  worth  of  copper  if  landed  in  Sydney 
by  a  certain  date. 

The  convict  system  was  at  its  full  height  in  1838.  Never 
were  class  and  caste  distinctions  more  strongly  drawn.  A 
post-captain  in  the  Royal  Navy  was  as  high  and  far  re- 
moved above  a  "broad-arrow"  prisoner  as  a  Brahmin  above 
a  pariah  or  the  King  of  England  above  the  hang- 
c 


18  AUSTRALIAN    PIOXEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

man.      It    was    the    interim    darkness    before    the    dawn. 

It  was  absurd  to  note  in  the  early  convict  days  of  Aus- 
tralia the  airs  assumed  by  some  ladies  related  to  the  humbler 
grades  of  the  army  and  navy  oflficers  :  and  tlie  daughter  of 
a  half-pay  lieutenant  or  petty  officer  in  either  branch 
scantily  educated  herself,  in  many  cases,  would  be  so  inflated 
with  pride  at  her  "  caste  "  superiority  over  the  actual  con- 
victs and  their  people,  as  to  deem  any  lady,  even  of  the 
Iiighest  and  free  mercantile  class,  below  her  ;  also,  there 
were  tremendous  attempts  made  in  those  early  days  to  make 
the  antipodean  "  aristocracy  "  consist  entirely  of  the  families 
of  government  officials  of  all  grades,  deeming,  no  doubt, 
that  a  government  commission  or  post  was  the  sole  and  only 
guarantee  or  diploma  of  absolute  solvency  on  the  one  hand, 
and  freedom  from  convict  taint  on  the  other.  If  Sir 
Francis  Burdett  had  only  been  sent  to  Australia,  in  place 
of  to  the  Tower,  he  would  probably  have  encountered  some 
colour-sergeant's  daughter  tui'ning  up  her  nose  at  him,  had 
they  met  in  a  quadrille. 

This  was  the  era  when  James  Paterson,  of  the  A.S.N. 
Co.,  Sydney,  and  Captain  Tilmouth  J.  Dye,  of  the  Hunter 
River  New  Steam  Co.,  used  to  smile  at  each  other  in  the 
street,  and  (metaphorically),  "  cut  each  other's  throats  "  with 
their  opposition  and  reduced  fares  and  freights ;  this  was 
the  time  when  the  Howsons  and  Carandinis  and  Miss  Hart 
delighted  the  gallery  gods  at  the  old  "  Vic."  theatre  in 
Sydney,  when  Torning  danced  his  hornpipe  and  sang  his 
*'■  patter  "  songs ;  this  was  the  era  also  when  Mr.  William 
Barton,  the  sharebroker,  of  Sydney,  father  of  tlie  subsequent 
Speaker  and  Attorney-General,  did  a  flourishing  business  ; 
arriving  in  Sydney  in  1827,  as  secretary  to  the  Australian 
Agricultural  Company,  at  Port  Stephens,  he  left  their 
employ  in  1830,  and  became  the  first  "bull"  and  "bear" 
south   of  the  equator ;    helped  to  float  many  of  the  early 


Sydney's  quaint  suburbs.  19 

Sydney  banks  and  insurance  companies,  now  towers  of 
wealth,  and  not  of  the  1892  fungoid,  mushroom,  and  liqui- 
dation type.  He  was  on  the  London  Stock  Exchange  in 
1810,  and  served  his  time  to  old  Mr.  Barwise  there,  a 
venerable  relic  of  the  bygone,  who,  born  in  1740,  still  wore 
in  1810  his  hair  powdered,  pigtail,  black  knee  breeches,  and 
silver  buckles  of  George  II.  days. 

Yes,  the  old  Sydney  streets  and  stony  walls,  old  nooks 
and  corners  of  the  young  old  city  talk  to  me  in  a 
language  that  is  all  unheard  by  the  present  generation,  and 
tell  me  tales  to  make  me  doubt  whether  to  laugh  or  weep. 

How  that  great  dead  metal  clock,  that  towers  high  above 
the  city  life  of  restless  Sydney  does  continue  to  ring  its 
voice  up  ]  and  with  a  semblance  of  living  interest  in  all 
that  transpires  below  it,  warning  every  one  that  another 
"  giant  of  time  "  has  just  skipped  away  for  ever,  and  that 
there  is  only  so  much  or  so  little  time  now  left  till  that  next 
little  episode  in  one's  daily  work  and  life  comes  off,  and 
wliich  must  be  attended  to  or  else . 

And  I  have  called  it  a  dead  clock,  too.  But  is  it  ?  When 
"we  drowsily  turn  us  over  in  the  night  there  is  that  great 
sleepless  giant  still  at  his  work  the  same  as  if  it  were  high 
noon  in  George-street  ! 

There  are  some  quaint  old  suburbs  in  Sydney  :  not  pic- 
turesque, but  full  of  memories  and  associations.  Their  gum 
trees  were  cleared  off  about  the  time  of  the  Battle  of 
Waterloo,  and  the  old  mansions  and  villas  (of  1838  or  so), 
that  followed  later  on  and  had  fifty  acres  of  "grounds" 
and  paddocks  round  them  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Pitt- 
street  trader,  who  built  and  lived  there  through  the  stages 
of  schools  and  hotels  ;  and  streets  sprang  up  all  round  the 
scene  till  at  last  the  old  houses  had  their  bricks  carted  away 
and  left  no  record  except  that  the  large  suburbs  took  the 
name  that  the  old  family  mansion  once  had.     All  this  takes 


20  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

US  back  to  the  days  when  the  wild  flowers  grew  close  up  to 
where  the  post  oiSce  tower  now  is  ;  when  the  grandfathers 
of  modern  Sydney  were  young  ;  when  first  Sydney  found 
out  that  it  could  wield  a  cricket  bat  on  the  level  swards  of 
Port  Jackson  ;  and  that  fishing  down  the  harbour  was  not 
the  worst  way  of  spending  a  day's  or  a  week's  holiday. 
But  all  this  was  long  ago,  and  the  then  people,  male  and 
female,  whose  hair  was  not  gray,  and  who  were  in  their  full 
prime  in  1840,  now  only  have  a  name  in  the  cemeteries,  or 
on  old  deed-boxes  on  lawyers'  shelves,  or  in  trust  accounts, 
or,  perchance,  some  street  or  square,  embalms  their  name 
and  memory  for  ever. 

Yes,  the  town  air  was  pure  and  fresh  in  early  Sydney 
1844  days,  and  one  could  travel  overland  from  the  top  of 
the  hill  in  William-street  to  Shepherd's  nursery  past  the 
Kent  Breweiy  and  find  what  a  native  would  call  "  good 
juberry  and  fine  corn  country,"  the  whole  way.  For  the 
benefit  of  the  uninitiated  English  reader  it  may  be  explained 
that  juberries  are  a  wild  nut  fruit  which  do  duty  for  black- 
berries, and  grew  in  the  suburbs  of  Sydney  as  do  the 
blackberries  over  in  the  suburbs  of  London. 


CHAPTER  IL 


New-born  Luxury— Opening  up  "Way  Back" — Pioneers  on 
THE  Lower  Murrumbidgee  and  Lachlan — Settlement 
ON  the  Darling — Overlanding — Norbury,  the  Tracker — 
On  the  Murrumbidgee — A  Martinet  at  Whist — Chess 
AND  Draughts — Navigation  of  the  Murray — Phelps  of 
Canally — The  Old  Squatting  Men— Captain  Cadell— 
The  "  Lady  Augusta" — Tyson  Bros,  on  the  Lachlan — 
A  Risky  Undertaking  —  Old  Melbourne— Men  and 
Matters— The  Gold  Era— New  Melbourne. 


HAT  new-born  luxury  flooded  Sydney 
after  1852  !  Tlie  refinements  of  Regent- 
street  and  Bond-street  appeared  in  the 
^s^Jsliop  windows.  New  fabrics,  new  con- 
'>ifectionery,  gloves  and  shoes,  velvets  and 
plushes,  brooches  and  necklets,  furniture 
^  and  pictures,  chef  wines  and  liqueurs, 
carriages  and  buggies  of  a  class  unknown 
in  the  forties,  abounded,  and,  "  never  mind,  we  can  afford 
it  noiv"  was  the  cry  and  the  feeling  all  round. 

Where  now  are  the  belles  of  1852,  the  blondes  and 
brunettes  who  blossomed  at  the  time  when  the  gold  fruit 
budded  in  Australia,  and  who,  with  their  lovers  and  hus- 
bands and  children,  partook  of  the  newborn  fatness  and 
pleasures  of  the  era  of  expansion  and  plenty  "?  Where  are 
they  all  now  1  Comely  dames,  most  of  them.  A  very  few, 
in  the  sear  and  yellow  leaf  of  life,  have  lived  to  see  their 
grandchildren    spring    up    under    auspices    and    conditions 


22  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

greatly  and  sadly  contrasted  with  those  of  the  '52  era. 
Verily  the  folk  who  were  born  about  1830  had  more  to  be 
thankful  for  than  the  babes  of  1870  now  have. 

And  where  are  the  brave  men  who  sacrificed  what  little 
"  sociability  "  there  was  in  Sydney  and  sought  to  open  up 
the  territory,  even  now  sometimes  spoken  of  as  "  way 
back?"     Let  us  "review"  a  few  of  them. 

The  first  to  take  up  country  on  the  Lower  Murrumbidgee 
and  Lachlan  was  Mr.  Hobler,  who,  with  his  family,  settled 
at  Nap  Nap.  He  it  was  who  also  took  up  Yanga  and 
Paika.  Then  John  Scott  occupied  Canally,  which  he  after- 
wards sold  to  Phelps  and  Chadwick  ;  while  at  the  junction 
of  the  Murrumbidgee  and  the  Murray  the  Jackson  Bros, 
took  up  a  cattle  station.  Next  in  order  of  time  and  below 
the  Junction,  William  Ross  formed  Mailman  Station,  and 
at  the  same  time  (in  May,  1846),  Boomiaricool,  or.  as  it  is 
now  known,  Euston,  was  taken  up  by  E.  Morey.  Plucky 
men  both  these  latter  selectors  were,  for  neither  of  them 
was  yet  20  years  of  age  !  Eight  months  later  the  country 
below  Boomiaricool  was  taken  up  by  John  McKinlay,  and 
then  gradually  Kilcool,  Mildura,  and  other  stations  followed 
— Kilcool  by  Ebden  and  Keene,  and  Mildura  by  Jamison 
Bros.  At  this  time  the  Fletcher  family  occupied  Tapio, 
near  the  junction  of  the  Darling  with  the  Murray,  and  a 
number  of  thrifty  Scots  settled  themselves  on  country  on 
the  Lower  Darling. 

During  1850,  John  McKinlay,  John  MacCallum,  and  the 
selector  of  Boomiaricool  explored  the  country  above  the 
settlement  on  the  Darling,  and  eventually  stocked  it — 
MacCallum  at  Menindee  with  sheep,  McKinlay  at  Pooncaree 
and  Pamameroo  with  cattle,  and  Morey  at  Tintanallogy 
and  Lake  Terawanea  with  cattle. 

It  was  in  1853  that  the  influenza  scourge  passed  over 
Sydney.     I  was  one  of  the  victims,  and  this,  combined  with 


OVERLANDING.  23 

the  high  pressure  which  characterised  the  work  of  a  bank- 
teller  in  those  days,  caused  me,  on  the  advice  of  my  medical 
man,  to  once  more  seek  the  fi'esh  air.  So  I  arranged  with 
my  kind  uncle  in  Sydney  the  introduction  which  enabled 
me  to  travel  overland  with  10,000  sheep  from  Dubbo,  on 
the  Macquarie  River,  to  Paika,  on  the  Murrumbidgee.  The 
two  companions,  who  threw  up  their  billets  to  come  vvith 
me,  were  Felix  Neeld  Burne  and  G.  V.  James.  We  left 
Sydney  in  June,  1853.  We  met  our  "  super,"  Mr.  L.,  at 
Dubbo,  and  he  of  course  travelled  with  us.  This  was  a 
twelve-hundred  mile  trip.  Burne,  by  the  way,  afterwards 
took  up  Lansdowne,  on  tlie  Barcoo  (Queensland).  This  trip 
with  me  was  his  introduction  into  squatting  life,  which  he 
afterwards  followed  up  in  partnership  with  the  master  of 
the  Sydney  Mint  and  Captain  Mayne.  We  had  with  us  a 
blackboy,  "  Norbury,"  a  tracker  and  a  native  of  the  Bar- 
won  and  Namoi  Rivers,  in  the  Mclntyre  country.  He  and 
I  used  to  go  out  on  the  dewy  grass,  at  day  dawn,  to  track, 
and  bring  in,  the  bullocks  and  horses  which  had  strayed  in 
the  night.  /  could  see  a  track  in  the  soft  ground,  and  so 
could  any  white  fool ;  but,  when  it  came  to  the  stony  ground, 
it  was  "  Norbury,  you  bet."  Often  have  I  seen  him  (he  had 
but  one  eye,  and  that  was  a  "  piez'cer  ")  jump  suddenly  on 
one  side,  where  the  scent  and  track  grew  dim,  and  "  spot " 
a  place  on  the  hard  sandstone  rock,  and,  when  I  asked  him 
to  show  me  what  he  saw,  he  would  point  to  one  grain,  a 
mere  speck,  of  sand,  dislodged,  by  a  horny  hoof,  from  the 
main  mass  of  rock,  and,  presto  !  we  were  full  on  the  track 
again. 

This  was  a  great  trip,  full  of  adventure  and  incident  for 
us  all.  I  remember  that  before  we  got  to  Bendigo  we  heard 
from  people  we  met,  of  a  story,  that  certain  American  diggers, 
lately  come  from  California,  told  of  gold  in  immense  quan- 
tities existing  near  some  mountains  on  the  other  side  of  the 


24  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Lachlan,  away  from  us ;  gold  which,  they  said,  would  eclipse 
anything  on  Ballarat  or  the  Turon,  but  for  the  one  fact  that 
there  was  no  water  anywhere  near  it.  I  have  often  won- 
dered since  whether  the  Lambing  Flat,  and  other  rich 
fields,  which  came  to  light  many  a  year  after  our  trip, 
were  foreshadowed  in  the  flying  prospecting  trips  of  solitaiy 
and  scattered  miners  in  those  dim  and  early  days  of  auriferous 
discovery.  But  none  of  us  had  wanted  to  cross  the  ditch- 
like Bogan,  still  less  the  muddy  canal-looking  Lachlan,  both 
so  contrasted  with  the  clear  waters  of  the  Macquarie,  Mur- 
rumbidgee,  and  Murray ;  our  ideas  were  purely  pastoral, 
and  of  the  money  to  be  made  by  stock-farming  and  the 
magnificent  wild  oats  through  wliich  we  travelled  on  August 
19th,  1853,  together  with  blue  forget-me-nots  and  pleasant 
scented  yellow  and  white  flowers,  were  suggestive  of  good 
country,  a  good  season,  fat  banking  accounts,  high  profits, 
and  gold  diggings  butchers  purchasing  fat  stock  and  paying 
for  it  in  "  dust."  One  Saturday  in  August  we  camped  by 
a  large  lake,  which,  somehow,  in  point  of  size  at  any  rate, 
reminded  me  of  Rose  Bay  in  Port  Jackson  ;  it  swarmed 
with  ducks,  teal,  and  wild  geese  then,  and  there  were 
abundance  of  turkeys  and  emus  handy. 

Norbury,  the  black  boy,  captured  a  small  opossum,  and 
sold  it  to  James  for  half-a-pound  of  tobacco.  It  was  about 
this  time,  that  I  had  a  chance  of  witnessing  this  black  boy's 
tracking  powers.  He  was  small  and  slim,  and,  as  I  have 
said,  had  but  one  eye,  which  glowed  like  a  lamp.  He  and 
I  went  out  after  the  bullocks  early  one  morning  on  stony 
ground,  where  I  could  not  perceive  the  ghost  of  a  track, 
though  now  getting  used  to  picking  up  a  trail.  But  Nor- 
bury  would  jump  from  side  to  side  as  we  journeyed  on,  and 
would  "  spot  "  a  slight  abrasion  freshly  made  on  a  piece  of 
sandstone  by  a  hoof  or  horn,  and  that,  too,  ten  or 
twelve  feet  aside  from   our  straight  line  of   march — abra- 


ON    THE    MURRUMJilDGEE.  25 

«ions  and  small  scratches  on  the  stone,  that  I,  though  with 
excellent  sight  for  a  white,  should  need  a  lens,  and  that  at 
«lose  quarters,  in  order  to  determine. 

One  day  Mr.  L.  decided  to  push  on  in  tlie  afternoon  by 
himself  to  try  and  find  out  Nicholas  Chadwick's  station, 
called  Povvpruck,  which  laid  in  the  angle  of  the  confluence 
of  the  Lachlan  and  Murrumbidgee.  Chadwick  was  a 
partner  of  John  Leckie  Phelps,  of  Canally,  on  the  Murrum- 
bidgee, close  to  Wyndomel,  its  junction  with  the  Murray. 
But  L.  got  lost  this  time,  and  came  back  at  8  p.m.,  guided 
to  us  only  by  the  light  of  our  camp  fire,  and  he  did  not  find 
Chadwick's  place  that  day.  Next  day  we  bore  to  the  left 
through  an  opening,  and  made  in  towards  the  main  river. 
Chadwick's  storekeeper  saw  us,  and  made  for  us  after  dark. 
I  lent  my  horse  to  Mr.  L.,  who  went  on  and  found  a  shep- 
herd lambing  a  flock.  Chadwick's  blacks,  the  lower  Lachlan 
tribe,  came  up  to  us  next  morning  in  great  numbers  ;  one 
of  them,  Anthony,  a  huge  fellow  nearly  seven  feet  in  height, 
threw  a  reed  spear  with  a  "  woomera  "  some  four  hundred 
feet  into  the  air  ;  it  seemed  to  wriggle  its  way  up  right  out 
of  sight.  Mr.  Chadwick — or  Shadwick,  as  they  all  called 
him — gave  us  a  call  this  day,  and  piloted  us  safely  along 
clear  of  his  own  flocks.  Burne,  James  and  I  were  asked 
up  to  his  hut,  where  we  found  the  almost-forgotten 
^grement  of  reading  some  newspapers.  The  walls  were 
plastered  with  cuts  from  the  Ilhistrated  Xews,  and  we 
who  felt  like  people  ott"  a  sea  voyage  in  having  been  shut 
out  from  the  world  for  some  weeks,  read  in  the  Sydney 
Morning  Herald,  and  with  some  interest,  about  the  heroic 
sti^uggles  of  W.  C.  Wentworth  and  other  citizens  in  the 
direction  of  securing  Responsible  Government  and  repre- 
sentative institutions  for  New  South  Wales.  How  tlie 
boon  has  worked,  let  those  who  read  of  tlie  debates  and 
•deadlocks  of  1877,  declare. 


26  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

When  we  left  the  lake,  we  travelled  through  a  veiy  dense 
and  sandy  scrub,  and  one  of  the  shepherds  and  his  flock  got 
lost.  We  camped  in  the  thick  jungle,  which  we  did  not 
get  quite  through,  as  the  horses  w^ere  found  very  late  in 
the  morning.  Norbury  and  I  had  our  usual  very  wet  early 
tramp  after  them.  Burne  and  James  set  out  next  day  after 
breakfast  to  find  Paika.  I  got  entangled  in  another  thick 
scrub  for  two  hours  with  a  flock.  Spied  the  clear  plain  at 
last,  and  picked  up  the  dray  tracks. 

Mr.  Kii'by,  the  superintendent  of  Paika,  came  and  met 
us  with  his  trusty  blackfellow,  Martin,  an  eagle-eyed  Aus- 
tralian chief.  He  camped  with  us  that  night,  and  discussed 
the  Louisa  Creek  gold  mania.  I  piloted  a  flock  on  to  the 
Paika  run  next  day,  and  we  camped  by  the  banks  of  Lake 
Tauri,  a  beautiful  sheet  of  water,  with  grassy,  flowery, 
well-wooded  banks,  and  a  higli  red  sand  ridge  on  one  side 
of  it.  This  was  one  of  a  series  of  lakes  fed  by  the  waters 
of  the  Murrumbidgee  River ;  dry  in  some  years,  but 
generally  full  from  the  overflow  of  the  stream  through  its 
ana  branches. 

On  the  following  day  Mr.  L.,  Norbury,  and  a  shepherd,, 
went  on  to  Paika  head  station,  leaving  me  with  the  sheep  by 
Tauri.  I  went  through  my  usual  round  of  washing  and 
mending  clothes  whenever  a  spell  offered.  I  cut  out  the 
sheep  into  two  flocks.  I  took  a  few  lessons  in  the  noble  art 
of  cracking  a  stockwhip ;  explored  the  country  round  and 
found  some  very  tolerable  green  substitute  for  cabbage.  On 
the  last  day  in  August  I  set  to  work  and  made  a  brush  fence 
and  gateway  for  the  purpose  of  counting  the  sheep.  On 
the  1st  September  Mr.  Kirby  came  and  counted  them, 
and  found  them  to  be  9,924,  which,  with  six  crawlers  left 
on  the  road,  and  the  skins  on  the  dray  of  those  killed  for 
rations,  just  made  up  our  tally. 

We  left  two  shepherds  in  charge  at  Lake  Tauri,  and  rode 


A    MARTINET    AT    WHIST.  27" 

on  to  Lake  Cai'andulke.  Norbury  and  Mr.  Kirby  went 
thence  to  Paika.  Mr.  L.  and  James  made  for  our  Tauri 
camp,  which  I  guessed  better  at  the  position  of,  than  he  did, 
for  w^e  differed  as  to  the  direction  in  which  it  lay,  and  my 
course  proved  to  be  the  right  one.  On  September  2nd  we 
rode  on  to  the  Paika  head  station ;  distributed  our  four 
shepherds,  6ach  to  an  outstation,  re-put  the  drayload  over 
tlie  ana  brancli  of  Paika  Lake  in  a  canoe  ;  found  Mr.  Easton 
at  the  house  and  enjoyed  a  civilized  game  of  chess  in 
the  evening. 

And  talking  of  chess  calls  to  mind  that  towards  the  end 
of  1865  I  was  made  an  honorary  member  of  the  Victoria 
Club,  in  Castlereagh-street,  and  there  met,  at  whist  and 
pool,  many  whom  I  had  not  known  before.  George  Thorn- 
ton, Dan.  Egaii,  Ted  Lee,  Fred.  Cape,  D.  Melhado,  Archie 
Thompson,  Alec  Dick,  Cheeke,  Grundy,  and  William  Jolly  ;. 
and  there  was  the  owner  of  Yattendon,  too,  whose  name  I 
forget,  and  a  terrible  old  judge,  whose  name  I  also  "  dis- 
remember,"  but  not  so  his  prowe.ss  at  whist.  He  was- 
considered  the  greatest  martinet  in  Sydney  at  that  game.. 
I  was  his    partner  one  evening. 

I  was  dealer,  and  turned  up  the  nine  of  hearts ;  I  also- 
had  the  ten.  In  playing  I  put  down  the  nine  first, 
and  afterwards  the  ten.  His  Honour  cross-examined  me  :- 
"  Why  did  you  not  play  the  ten  first  in  place  of  the  nine  ! "' 
"  Because  no  other  card  could  come  between  them,  and  it 
was  immaterial  which,"  I  replied.  "  You  ai*e  mistaken,"' 
retorted  the  judge,  "  it  was  anything  but  immaterial ;  it  is- 
a  player's  business  to  let  his  partner  know  all  that  he  fairly 
can  about  the  cards  he  holds,  I  knew  you  had  the  nine,, 
the  turn  up,  but  not  about  the  ten,  therefore  you  missed  a 
point  by  playing  the  nine  first,  and  it  might  have  made  a 
difference  both  to  me  and  to  the  game."  I  saw  he  was  right, 
and  that  what  seemed  terribly  high-class  whist  to  me  might 


"28  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCKNCES. 

be  the  mere  alphabet  of  the  game  to  such  a  Regius  professor 
thereof  as  His  Honour.  But  I  never  could  give  my  mind, 
nor  have  the  patience  to  bring  intellect,  to  bear  on  any  game 
•where  the  competitors  do  not  start  on  exactly  equal  terms, 
Avhich  they  seldom  or  never  do  at  cards. 

It  is  only  at  chess  and  draughts  that  one  starts  level,  and 
only  here  is  it  worth  while  to  bring  the  brain  to  bear  on 
the  struggle ;  unfortunately,  however,  chess  is  so  intricate 
as  to  be  only  fit  for  people  who  have  nothing  else  to  study 
if  it  is  to  be  really  played  ;  and  the  games  which  amateurs 
contest  in  their  recreation  houi's  in  the  intervals  of  business 
are  only  chess  strongly  diluted,  a  mere  parody  on  the  real 
scientific  game.  Draughts  is  more  to  the  purpose.  Both 
these  intellectual  games  originated  in  the  strong  brains  of 
the  eastern  races,  who  first  gave  us  arithmetic  and  algebra, 
only  draughts  is  about  1,500  years  the  older  of  the 
two.  And  it  has  other  advantages  over  chess.  At  the 
latter  game,  if  you  make  a  silly  move,  you  can  recall  it  next 
time,  and  so  not  icaste  hco  moves  in  place  of  making  one.  All 
this  is  impossible  at  draughts ;  you  must  bravely  move  on 
and  on  only,  and  take  the  consequences  of  all  folly.  "  Vestigia 
nulla  refrorsnm "  is  the  motto  ;  move  on  and  no  liberty 
to  retreat  till  you  have  "  won  your  spurs "  by  piercing 
through  to  the  enemy's  back  squares.  Again  at  chess 
capture  of  a  piece  en  2')'>'ise  is  not  compulsory,  but  it  is  so  at 
draughts,  and  this  opens  the  way  to  some  of  the  subtlest 
strategy  and  brilliantly  ingenious  combinations  of  which 
the  human  intellect  is  capable.  A  skilful  player  can  sacrifice 
his  men  and  thereby  "  spread  eagle  "  his  adversary's  more 
numerous  ones  into  a  helpless  and  losing  position,  past  all 
power  of  retrievement.  The  startling  development  of  a 
skilfully  constructed  combination  in  a  draughts  problem  is 
one  of  the  most  engrossing  and  pleasurable  fillips  to  a  keen 
intellect  that  can  be  "iven  to  it. 


THE    MURRAY    NAVIGATED.  29" 

But  goodness  me  how  diverting  are  these  memories  !  I 
was  far  away  at  Paika  when  the  thought  of  cliess  carried 
me  back  to  the  old  Victoria  Club.     To  resume. 

I  have  elsewhere  described,  at  greater  length,  this  memo- 
rable journey  to  Paika.  On  reaching  Paika,  Burne,  James, 
and  I  were  sunjmoned  back  to  civilisation,  all,  however,  on 
different  errands.  I  shall  never  forget  the  times  we  had 
there.  Among  otlier  things  more  vividly  impressed  upon 
me  was  the  fact  that  we  ran  short  of  flour,  and  so  serious 
did  things  become  that  we  often  were  put  on  short  allowance. 

Tala,  Yangar,  and  Paika,  W.  C.  Wentworth's  great 
stations,  were  near  the  junction  of  the  Murray  and  Mur- 
rumbidgee.  Up  to  1851  all  went  well  there.  The  supplies 
of  flour  and  sugar,  tfec,  were  hauled  overland  800  miles  or 
3,000  miles  from  Sydney  or  Melbourne,  save  as  might  be 
by  bullock  drays,  and  the  wool  ti-avelled  back  the  same  road. 
To  provide  for  contingencies,  Wentworth  kept  20  tons  of 
flour  ahvays  in  stock,  and  other  supplies  in  proportion ;  but, 
when  the  "  gold  broke  out,"  no  Melbourne  teams  would  go 
beyond  Bendigo,  nor  Sydney  teams  beyond  Bathurst.  They 
could  get  more  per  ton  for  the  short  trip,  with  loading  for 
the  gold  fields,  than  any  squatter  could  afford  to  pay  them 
for  the  long  trip  ;  so,  when  I  was  at  Paika,  in  1853,  no 
teams  had  been  up,  or  down,  for  two  years.  There  were  two 
seasons'  wool  stored  in  the  sheds  ;  the  remaining  flour  was 
awfully  musty  ;  boots,  saddles,  tinware,  "  slops,"  and  the 
like,  had,  long  since,   "  given  out  "  in  the  store. 

I  remember  we  used  to  boil  "  fat  hen  "  (a  weed  which 
resembles  dandelion)  for  vegetables,  and  we  bore  the  musty 
flour  as  best  we  could,  when,  presto  !  all  the  muddle  came 
to  an  end.  One  tine  day,  as  Mr.  J.  Lecky  Phelps,  of  Canally, 
rode  by  the  banks  of  the  Murray,  he  espied  an  unwonted 
sight  breaking  in  on  the  bush  and  watery  solitude.  Stranger 
and  more  wonderful  than   the   fabled   bunyip,  there  lay  a. 


30  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEKRS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

steamer  moored  to  the  bank  ;  the  energetic  explorer,  Cadell, 
had  brought  up  the  "  Lady  Augusta,"  with  Sir  Henry  Young, 
the  Governor  of  South  Austi'alia,  on  board.  Had  pierced 
the  shoals  that  beset  the  sea  mouth  of  the  river,  and  van- 
quished the  inland  wilderness  of  Australia  by  means  of  its 
waterway,  till  then  only  thought  of  as  a  drinking  reservoir. 
And,  what  was  best  of  all,  there  were  100  tons  of  goods 
tumbled  out  on  the  river  bank.  The  two  years'  siege  was 
raised.  50-lb  bags  of  pure  white  flour,  fresh  from  the  mills 
■of  Adelaide  ;  spick  and  span  boxes  of  loaf  sugar,  and 
equally  spick  and  span  cases  of  Val  Martell's  brandy,  and 
sperm  candles,  all  so  clean,  and  other  goods  "  too 
numerous  to  mention."  Xot  covered  with  the  dust  and  mud 
of  800  miles  and  three  months  of  weary  bush  travel ;  viot 
doled  out  in  occasional  dray  loads  of  30  cwt.  at  a  time, 
but  fresh  and  clean  only  a  week  ago  from  the  Adelaide 
stores  and  from  the  hold  of  the  steamer  and  her  roomy 
satellite  barges.  Here  was  a  metamorphosis  with  a  ven- 
geance, and  the  congested  wool  stores  soon  afforded  ample 
return  loading  for  the  steamer  and  her  barges.  And  station 
property  round  those  parts  known  as  "  Riverina  "  at  once 
I'ose  100  per  cent,  in  the  market.  Phelps  and  I  went  on 
board,  and,  in  a  glass  of  brandy  "  pawnee,"  drank  success 
to  the  Murray  River  navigation,  and  its  bold  pioneer.  Cap- 
tain Cadell. 

Mr.  John  Lecky  Phelps,  of  Canally,  was  a  man  much  in 
advance  of  his  time.  While  other  people  for  1.50  miles 
round  had  no  vegetables,  he  cultivated  a  half-acre  on  the 
river  bank  \\ith  potatoes,  green  j)eas,  French  beans,  and 
cabbages,  and  he  kept  it  irrigated  by  a  very  simple  process, 
for  rain  was  uncertain  in  that  far  inland  spot.  He  had  a 
Californian  wooden  pump,  about  6  inches  square,  with  its 
■end  fixed  in  the  river,  and  about  1-50  feet  of  "  osnaburgh  " 
hose  from  it  to  the  top  of  the  garden,  which  was,  perhaps. 


THE    OLD    SQUATTING    MEN.  31 

"three  feet  higher  than  the  lower  end  by  the  river,  and  lialf- 
an-hour  of  hand  pumping  every  morning,  sent  the  water 
flowing  zig  zag  backwards  and  forwards  and  in  and  out 
through  all  the  well-kept  furrows  and  beds  of  the  enclosure, 
and  the  vegetation  was  always  fresh  and  green  at  Canally 
garden. 

F.  N.  Burne  returned  to  Sydney,  via  Wagga  Wagga, 
to  see  after  and  sell  some  consignments  sent  out  by  an  uncle, 
while  I  resolved  to  cut  the  land  journey  as  short  as  possible 
by  going  home  via  Melbourne.  To  this  end  I  made  over 
to  Lakes  Tala  and  Yangar,  a  short  distance  from  which  I 
joined  the  party  of  Messrs.  W.  J.  Buchanan  and  Hugh 
Harper,  who  had  just  delivered  cattle  from  New  England, 
on  the  Murrumbidgee,  and  were  bound  also  to  the  metropolis 
of  Victoria.  It  was  December,  1853,  and  we  had  to  face 
some  hot,  waterless  plains,  and  mallee  country,  where  we 
had  to  carry  hogsheads  of  water  on  the  dray  for  the  bullocks 
aiid  horses,  and  to  travel  by  night  in  place  of  day  over  the 
burning  hot  shadeless  levels  ere  we  got  clear  of  Poon  Boon, 
the  Wakool,  and  the  Edwards  rivers  and  sighted  the  reed- 
bed  environs  of  Swan  Hill,  on  the  Murray,  where  a  bottle 
of  ale  at  8s.  was  most  welcome  and  tonic  after  the  eternal 
relaxing  tea  of  the  preceding  six  months. 

Here  I  noticed  the  difference  between  the  Victorian  and 
New  South  Wales  squatting  man  of  the  period.  The  former 
usually  dressed  in  a  plaid  "jumper,"  the  latter  in  the  fawn- 
coloured  tweed  of  his  native  Parramatta.  They  looked  as 
distinct  as  the  denizens  of  two  different  countries,  and  the 
difference  was  apparent  directly  the  border  Murray 
River  was  passed.  Our  party  made  onwards  past  the  Reedy 
Lake  and  Lake  Boyd,  and  at  last  we  saw  mountains  in  the 
distance,  the  first  to  be  seen  since  we  left  the  Upper  Lachlan 
River.  These  were  Mount  Pyramid  and  Mount  Hope. 
Mount  Korong  (the  golden)  came  in  sight  later  on.     We 


\ 


32  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

were  now  in  Sir  Thomas  Mitchell's  "Australia  Felix."  We 
recognised  the  fact,  for  anon  we  passed  (with  joy)  the  last 
solitary  small  lonely  clump  of  the  detested  "  mallee  "  scrub  ,•: 
the  Loddon  river,  renowned  for  its  pasture,  and  the  "  Dur- 
ham Ox,"  a  famous  roadside  inn  of  the  golden  era,  were 
amongst  our  next  experiences,  and  we  passed  on  and  drew 
nigh  to  Bullock  Creek  and  Bendigo,  and  I  now  pushed 
ahead  of  the  rest  of  the  party,  which  travelled  too  slowly 
for  me. 

The  story  of  how  the  na^-igation  of  the  Murray  was- 
l)rought  about  is  worth  repeating. 

There  were  really  two  staunch  advocates  of  the  navigation 
of  the  Murray — Mr.  E.  Morey  and  Mr.  Samuel  Macgregor. 
There  were  likewise  two  obstacles  in  the  way,  for  Melbourne 
was  jealous  of  the  trade  going  to  her  southern  neighbour, 
Adelaide,  and  it  was  difficult  to  find  money  with  which  to 
give  effect  to  the  venture. 

The  idea,  like  most  other  out-of-the-way  propositions,  was 
laughed  at  by  business  men.  However,  Morey  saw  Captain 
Stuart,  the  explorer,  who  had,  on  his  last  journey,  pulled 
down  the  Murray,  and  had  introduced  him  to  Sir  Henry 
Young,  then  Governor.  The  Governor  requested  Morey  to- 
furnish  an  estimate  of  the  probable  trade,  a  request  which 
was  speedily  complied  with  ;  for  Morey  recognised  that  it 
was  advisable  to  strike  the  iron  while  it  was  hot.  Then 
Captain  Cadell  pulled  down  the  Murray  from  Swan  Hill  to^ 
Lake  Alexandria,  and  the  impressions  made  on  him  are 
shown  by  the  fact  that  shortly  afterwards  he  took  up  what 
was  the  first  steamer  that  ever  traversed  the  waters  of  the 
great  waterway.  The  craft  was  a  rough-decked  boat,  with 
improvised  engines,  fitted  by  an  enterprising  miller  from 
the  Adelaide  side.  It  took  her  a  month  to  make  Swan 
Hill,  for  her  maximum  speed  was,  stemming  the  current, 
but  three  or  four  miles  an  hour.     After  the  vice-reaal  visit. 


NAVIGATION    OF    THE    MURRAY.  33 

for  Governor  Young  travelled  on  the  pioneer  vessel — which,, 
out  of  compliment  for  the  efforts  His  Excellency  had  put 
forth,  was  named  after  his  lady — trade  quickly  grew. 
Steamers  and  their  satellite  barges  were  multiplied,  and  the 
Murrumbidgee  and  the  Darling,  as  well  as  their  minor 
branches,  suffered  their  fresh  water  shallows  to  be  invaded, 
conquered,  and  explored  by  a  flotilla  of  mercantile  business- 
feeders  of  the  flat-bottomed  type. 

The  Tyson  brothers  were,  in  184:6,  occupying  the  country 
at  the  extreme  lower  end  of  the  Lachlan,  where  its  muddy 
waters  unite  with  the  pellucid  Murrumbidgee.  They  were 
keen  business  men,  living  in  bark  huts,  of  their  own  build- 
ing, and  always  open  to  a  "  deal  "  in  the  way  of  cattle. 
The  Lake  Paika  station  was,  afterwards,  purchased  by  one 
of  them,  with  12,000  cattle,  at  £8  per  head,  the  time  and 
the  proximity  to  a  market  being,  alike,  favourable  to  such 
a  high  price  ruling.  When  the  "  Lady  Young  "  first  came 
up,  and  was  tied  to  a  tree  below  Euston,  a  drunken  bush- 
man  came  on  board,  and,  pushing  his  head  into  the  cabin 
where  His  Excellency  was  shaving,  shouted  "give  us  a 
passage  up  the  river.  Governor."  Captain  Cadell  put  him 
ashore  vi  et  armis,  when  the  fellow  turned  round  and  said 
to  him,  "  Well  !  you  are  a  hugly  man."  The  crew  laughed, 
but  the  bushman  did  not,  for  Cadell  was  a  two-handed 
bruiser,  and  soon  left  the  bushman  nothing  to  complain  of 
on  the  score  of  beauty,  when  once  he  had  stepped  on  shore 
to  him.  The  Murray  explorer  was  brave  to  foolhardiness, 
whereof  witnesseth  the  fact  that  he  once  drove  up  the 
Darling  River,  in  a  buggy,  for  200  miles,  with  a  view  to 
learn  its  eligibility  for  navigation.  Having  done  so,  he,  in 
place  of  coming  back  the  same  route,  conceived  the  strange 
idea  of  cutting  straight  across  country  to  the  Murrumbidgee, 
overland,  and  away  from  the  river  ! 

Now,   anyone   who   knows  the   "  Old   Man "  plain,  near 

D 


34  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Hay,  the  dread  of  bushmen,  can  appreciate  what  a  task  it 
is  to  face  a  waterless  prairie  between  two  comparatively 
approximate  rivers  ;  and,  still  more,  what  it  must  be  like 
to  attempt  to  negotiate  the  third  side  of  a  triangle  in  water- 
less country,  when  the  other  two  sides  consist  of  two  such 
widely  divergent  and  lengthy  streams  as  the  Murrumbidgee 
and  Darling  are.  Cadell's  black  boy  tried,  in  vain,  to 
dissuade  him  from  the  attempt,  which  was  made,  with  the 
result  that  the  two  of  them  nearly  perished  from  thirst  and 
hunger.  But  what  was  so  akin  to  a  tragedy,  had  an  element 
of  comedy  imported  into  it  by  the  freely  circulated,  if  not 
truthful,  report,  that,  but  for  the  abundant  supply  of  hair 
pomade  which  the  gallant  explorer  always  carried  with  him, 
he  and  the  black  boy  would  have  been  unable  to  soften,  and 
eat,  the  leather  leggings,  straps,  valise,  &c.,  which,  it  is 
coolly  stated,  alone  saved  them  from  starvation.  How 
much  "bush  chaff,"  and  what  residuum  of  fact,  there  may 
be  in  this,  I  am  unable  to  tell  with  certainty. 

On  the  way  back  from  Paika,  I  had  as  a  companion  Con- 
stable Lalor.  I.  started  on  December  10th,  1853,  walking, 
as  I  have  said,  from  Canally  to  Yangan,  there  to  pick  up 
Buchanan's  teams,  for,  though  the  steamer  was  up  the 
Murray,  I  heard  she  wasn't  to  return  to  Goolwa  until 
January.  We  arrived  in  Melbourne  two  days  after  Xmas, 
our  yule  tide  festivities  being  partly  spent  at  the  Porcupine 
Inn.  The  traffic  here  was  something  tremendous.  We  met 
200  drays,  which  was  so  strange  after  all  the  months  of 
solitude.  We  camped  at  "  Sawpit  Gully  "  on  Xmas  night, 
and  on  the  27th  made  our  destination,  about  which  my  diary 
says  :  "Arrived  at  Melbourne  at  half-past  one  ;  tents  now  all 
the  way  from  Prince's  Bridge  to  Liardet's  boat  shed." 

I  lind  on  consulting  my  diary  again  that  I  did  write 
Melbourne.  At  this  date  even  I  am  led  to  wonder  why  I 
didn't  call  the  place  by   its  proper  name ;  for   Melbourne 


OLD    MELBOURNE.  35 

wasn't  the  name  most  people  knew  Sydney's  great  neighbour 
by.  It  was  then,  and  for  years  afterwards,  invariably  spoken 
of  as  Port  Phillip.  But  I  said  Melbourne  in  my  jottings, 
and  I  suppose  I  had  some  special  reason  for  so  designating 
it,  though  for  the  life  of  me  I  cannot  now  conjure  up  the 
reason  why.  Falling  across  that  little  entry  has  revived 
memories  of  Melbourne,  for  Melbourne  has  a  past,  just  as 
Sydney  has. 

Oh  !  don't  you  remember  old  Melbourne,  Ben  Bolt, 

When  gold  nuggets  first  were  found  out? 
When  mid  five  feet  of  mud  on  the  wharves  and  the  streets 

And  all  night  "  stickers-up  "  roamed  about  ? 
Ah  !  those  were  the  days,  you  just  bet,  Ben  Bolt, 

When  dollars  could  quickly  be  made  ; 
You  might  buy  what  you  liked,  in  both  market  and  store, 

For  you  "couldn't  go  wrong  "  in  a  trade. 

Victoria  and  Van  Diemen's  Land  were  both  a  little  like 
old  England  in  climate  ;  the  elms  and  the  hawthorn  and  the 
sweetbriar  grew  all  about ;  and,  in  Tasmania,  the  swallows 
came  back  in  the  spring  just  as  they  do  "at  home."  But 
the  difference  between  the  two  colonies  was  in  population 
and  bustle,  for  Melbourne  in  1853  was  like  a  little  London, 
while  Tasmania  was  as  dull  as  ever.  Old  mother  Sydney 
■began  to  wake  up,  rub  her  eyes,  and  note  the  strides  that 
her  eldest  daughter  was  taking,  under  the  stimulus  of  nine 
millions  of  gold  per  annum  (increased  to  twelve  millions  in 
1856),  in  a  population  of  less  than  300,000. 

Miscamble,  the  veterinary  surgeon,  kept  his  place  of 
business  at  the  corner  of  Little  Bourke  and  Elizabeth- 
streets.  Melbourne  proud  to  mimic  London  in  everything 
-and  remembering  her  famous  old  inn  yards  whence  country 
carriers  used  to  start — places  like  Girard's  Hall,  in  Basing- 
lane  ;  the  Swan  with  Two  Necks,  in  Carter-lane  ;  and  all  and 
sundry  those   square  court  yarded   old   inns  with   wooden 


36  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

galleries  all  round  their  inner  sides,  so  famous  in  the  pages- 
of  Chaucer  and  of  Dickens;  common  alike  to  South wark,. 
Bishopsgate,  and  the  lanes  about  Thames-street — Melbourne, 
I  say,  remembering  all  those  old  institutions,  and  their 
"neat  wines,"  and  ordinaries,  and  lemon  nets,  started  one 
for  herself  named  after  the  old  "Blossoms  "  inn  in  London, 
In  Elizabeth-street  at  the  "  Blossoms  "  yard  one  could,  in 
the  "  early  fifties,"  book  luggage  and  parcels  per  carrier 
in  the  ante-railway  days  for  Bendigo,  Castlemaine,  "Simp- 
sons," Mount  Blackwood,  Ballarat,  Creswick's  Creek,  and 
Beech  worth,  to  say  nothing  of  St.  Kilda,  Prahran,  Richmond, 
and  Emerald  Hill.  And,  oh  dear  me,  what  a  big,  noisy, 
bustling,  public  house  was  Mat.  Caution's,  the  Bull  and 
Mouth,  in  Bourke-street,  in  those  days. 

What  a  job  it  was  to  get  even  a  shakedown  there  ;  and' 
how  full  the  place  was  of  fellows  who  appeared  to  have  but 
two  alternative  missions  in  life  since  they  returned  gold- 
laden  from  Ballarat  or  Castlemaine  ;  for  they  wanted  to 
pay  for  everybody's  liquor,  or,  in  default  of  that,  to  fight 
everybody.  They  seldom  ate,  bathed  still  less  frequently,, 
and  never  seemed  to  go  to  bed  at  all,  but  passed  their  time 
over  "  sherry  spiders,"  "  sparkling  'ock,"  and  similar  money- 
melters.  Peoj^le  dined  with  their  hats  on  at  Cantlon's,  and 
with  their  pipes  by  the  side  of  their  plates.  Outside  in  the 
streets  the  gold  brokers  outbid  each  other  by  3d.  or  6d.  per 
ounce  in  the  price  for  the  heavy  metal,  as  could  be  seen 
by  reading  the  placards  outside,  and  in  the  windows  of 
each  office  ;  and  the  same  could  be  seen  in  the  windows 
at  Ballarat  and  Castlemaine.  Instead  of  "  rags,  bones,, 
and  bottles,"  as  in  England,  or  "  wheat,  wool,  bark,  barley,, 
tallow,  and  hides,"  as  in  Hobart  Town,  it  was,  here,  "high- 
est price  given  for  gold  "  ;  and  over  it  all  hung  somehow  aa 
ever  present  and  indefinable  flavour  of  the  Crimean  War^ 
that  permeated  the  mental  atmosphere,  for  it  took  away  all 


THE  GOOD  OLD  GOLD  DAVS.  37 

the  steamers  of  any  size,  and  made  public  interest  concen- 
trate on  the  English  mails  brought  by  the  "  Black  Ball " 
liners — "  Red  Jacket,"  "  Blue  Jacket,"  Donald  McKay, 
.and  the  rest  of  them  ;  for  the  G.S.S.  Co.'s  boats  were  at 
Balaclava  in  place  of  Williamstown,  and  even  the  "  Great 
Britain  "  herself  was  not  a  constant  visitor  after  her  first 
trip  in  1852. 

And  though  it  was  noisy  and  disorderly  and  unconven- 
tional at  Cantlon's  Bull  and  Mouth  hotel,  and  all  over 
Melbourne,  too,  for  that  matter,  yet  what  absolute  '■^ money" 
there  was  in  it  all !  None  of  your  credit  and  inflation  ! 
How  the  money  fed  commerce  and  fertilized  the  avenues  of 
trade  !  Never  was  the  like  before  or  since  in  the  world,  when 
native  gold,  fresh  and  rough  from  the  earth,  came  pouring 
in  at  the  rate  of  £40  a  year  for  every  man,  woman,  and 
baby  in  the  colony  of  Victoria,  and  nearly  -£400  a  year  for 
every  individual  man,  woman,  child,  and  infant  in  the  town 
of  Melbourne.  No  wonder  that  matters  were  (more  or  less 
pleasantly)  unhinged.  It  was  all  uncouth  enough,  no  doubt, 
but  it  was  good  solid  "  financing  "  on  one  side,  at  any  rate, 
and  if  there  are  any  who  doubt  this — well,  let  them  ask  the 
millionaire,  Cantlon,  in  his  West  End  London  villa,  of  later 
years,  to  say  nothing  of  other  retired  plutocrats,  who 
skimmed  the  cream  of  the  teeming  gold  yield,  and  caught 
it  in  the  vessels  of  trade. 

Ah  !  those  good  old  days  of  redundant  Australian  pros- 
perity, when  the  gold  of  1853  came  teeming  out  of  the 
earth,  and  no  one  knew  its  value,  and  everyone  was  afraid 
to  touch  it,  and  thought  it  would  fall  in  price  like  silver  in 
1892.  The  days  when  there  were  no  Australian  mints, 
and  but  few  assayers  ;  and  no  one  could  tell  properly  whether 
the  rough  alluvial  dirt-stained,  ponderous  yellow  metal, 
lying  in  heaps  in  all  directions,  was  worth  £3  or  £4  the 
ounce.     The  days   when   the   Bank   of   New  South   Wales 


38  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

settled  the  matter  (pro.  tern.)  by  offering  its  pajjer  notes  at 
the  rate  of  £2  10s.  per  ounce  for  all  the  £3  15s.  gold  it 
could  secure  far  and  wide,  and  when  no  other  buyer  was 
"game"  even  to  give  "that  much."  The  glorious  old  days 
when  Khull,  of  Melbourne,  and  John  Godfrey  Cohen,  of 
Sydney  (besides  others)  flourished  as  "gold  brokers  "  (where 
is  the  need  in  1892?)  and  skimmed  the  cream  and  shaved 
the  edges  of  profit  on  this  metal  of  then  unknown  assay  and 
unknown  value ;  the  days  when  that  notorious,  rascally 
gold  buyer  at  the  Turon,  held  the  powerful  magnet  per- 
petually sewn  up  in  his  coat  sleeve,  for  the  l^enefit  of  the  steel 
beam  of  his  scales  as  he  poised  them  in  air  with  the  gold  side 
of  the  beam  just  under  his  wrist ;  and  whose  troy  weights, 
though  often  suspected,  challenged,  and  tested,  could  never 
be  found  wanting  by  the  keenest  inspector,  but  who  robbed 
the  diggers  none  the  less  to  a  fearsome  extent  with  the  aid 
of  the  loadstone  ;  the  days  when  Australia  did  without 
"loans,"  and  the  digger  could  stand  a  lot  of  "robbing," 
and  not  feel  it,  as  Dame  Nature  was  his  banker,  and  he  got 
her  gold  by  the  pint  and  quart,  and  cared  not  whether  it 
was  18  or  22-carat  stuflf;  the  days  when  the  professional 
politician  loafer  had  not  come  into  play,  nor  sold  his  con- 
science to  Satan  for  a  few  loaves  of  bread,  and  left  Australia 
l)urdened  with  debt  for  uselessly  duplicated  political  log- 
lolling  railways. 

Before  I  bid  adieu  to  Melbourne,  let  me  say  a  few  more 
words  about  it.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  hours  spent 
there  in  passing  through  in  18-53,  I  never  saw  Melbourne 
from  early  1851  to  late  1888,  when  I,  of  course,  approached 
by  the  railway  and  Albury  route,  and  not  via  Swan  Hill. 
Heavens  !  what  a  metamorphosis  was  there  in  those  thirty- 
eight  years  of  gold-fostered  development  1  Long  ere  I  got 
to  Spencer-street,  and  after  I  got  out  into  Hobson's  Bay 
also,  there   loomed   the  domes   of  the  Supreme  Court  and 


I 


NEW    MELBOURNE.  3^ 

the  Exhibition  Building.  Heavenvvard  pointed  the  tall 
steeples  in  Collins-street ;  towering  buildings  and  factory 
chimneys  marked  the  site  of  a  city,  indeed  ;  where  all  was 
dull,  tame,  flat  and  empty,  in  1851.  St.  James's  Church, 
which  stood  out  boldly  across  a  grassy  flat  in  1851,  was  now 
stowed  away  somehow  behind  a  mass  of  bewildering  build- 
ings, and  I  had  to  hunt  for  it.  And  I  saw  the  glorious, 
garden  -  strewed,  flower  -  decked,  tram  and  train-served 
suburbs,  where,  in  1851,  a  punt  and  a  dusty  desolate  road 
alone  marked  the  site.  St.  Kilda,  where  some  cottages,  a 
gravel  pit,  and  a  waterhole  did  duty  in  1851,  was  "  some 
pumpkins  "  in  1888  ;  but  I  cannot  continue  the  list.  Mel- 
bourne seen  from  the  plains  to  the  north,  or  from  the  lofty 
upper  deck  of  a  mail  steamer  in  the  bay,  was  a  royal  city 
then  in  every  sense  of  the  word.  But  then,  the  other 
changes,  which  do  not  appear  on  the  surface,  but  which  all 
bore  their  part !  The  Governors,  from  Latrobe  and  Hotham 
to  Loch  and  Hopetoun  ;  the  premiers  and  cabinets,  from 
the  days  of  Ebden,  Ireland,  O'Shanassy,  Michie,  Fellows, 
Haines,  Nicholson,  through  the  times  of  Richard  Heales, 
McCulloch,  Francis,  and  Berry,  down  to  the  modern  times  of 
Gillies  and  Munro.  What  a  chapter  on  or  rather  of  Victorian 
history  do  they  represent !  The  social  growths,  the  "  ups 
and  downs  "  of  fate,  the  constant  onward  progress  since  the 
good  old  days  when  Thomas  Howard  Fellows,  and  his  col- 
leagues of  the  Victorian  Bar,  took  part  in  those  glorious, 
witty,  social  circuit  dinners  and  suppers  of  that  by-gone 
time — well  on  in  this  same  nineteenth  century,  perhaps, 
but  still  far  back  in  the  growth  of  the  young  giant  known 
as  the  colony  of  Victoria. 


CHAPTER  III. 


Eakly  Settlers  on  the  Clarence— Richard  Craig's  Discovery — 
Dr.  Dobie's  Days — Dr.  Lang's  Highland  Immigrants — 
A  Pathetic  Incident — First  Attempts  at  Sugar  Making — 
Initial  Difficulties — ('rude  Plants— The  French  Baron's 
Experiments — Scenes  of  Older  Sydney — Memories  of  the 
Past — Sydney  Banks  and  Banking — A  Few  Figures — 
The  Crumbling  of  the  Big  Institutions— The  Cobra  and 
White  Ant  of  Finance. 


■^v^  T  the  time  that  Cook,  in  coasting  the  eastern 
shore  of  Australia,  discovered  and  named 
Shoalwater  Bay,  he  had  no  idea  t)iat  it  was  the 
estuary  of  an  important  river,  and  it  was  not 
P  till  the  New  England  tableland  was  occupied  by 
^  pioneer  squatters  that  the  coast  country  began 
to  be  explored.  There  were  obstacles  to  be 
overcome.  The  country  did  not,  at  first 
sight,  look  inviting.  The  landing  was,  nearly  everywhere, 
difficult  and  dangerous.  The  long  stretches  of  sandy  beach 
were  lashed  by  the  vast  rollers  of  the  Pacific.  The  few 
streams  had  their  mouths  more  or  less  completely  closed 
by  sand-bars,  on  which  the  surf  never  ceased  to  beat,  and 
it  was  neither  safe  to  seek,  nor  easy  to  find,  the  few  narrow 
and  tortuous  channels  by  which  they  could,  when  wind  and 
tide  served,  be  passed.  Then,  when  the  bar  had  been  safely 
crossed,  there  was  little  to  be  seen  but  endless  ranges  of 
mangrove  swamps — fetid  mud  below,  and  twisted  roots  and 


EARLY   SETTLERS    ON   THE    CLARENCE.  41 

branches  above.  There  was  nothing  to  be  got  to  compen- 
sate for  the  risk  and  trouble  of  such  risky  and  troublesome 
navigation.  Hence  settlement  progressed  from  the  interior 
coastwards. 

The  first  report  of  the  existence  of  a  great  river  flowing 
into  the  Pacific  from  the  eastern  mountain  fringe  of  the 
New  England  tableland,  was  given  by  Richard  Craig,  an 
assigned  servant  of  Dr.  Dobie,  of  New  England.  Craig 
either  took  to  the  bush  voluntarily,  as  many  others  did,  or 
got  lost  in  the  ranges  while  out  shepherding— the  latter 
was  his  own  story — and  was  carried  down  towards  the  coast 
by  the  blacks.  He  apparently  got  tired  of  such  companion- 
ship, finding  that  he  had  even  less  liberty  than  as  an  assigned 
servant,  and  made  his  way  back  over  the  range,  where  he 
was  forgiven  in  consideration  of  the  information  he  had  to 
give. 

Just  then  a  drouglit  was  raging  in  New  England,  and 
Dr.  Dobie  started  him  off  with  a  flock  of  sheep  to  the  low 
country,  where  he  reported  grass  and  water  to  be  abundant. 
Craig  said  he  had  seen  a  river  a  mile  wide,  with  its  banks 
clothed  with  a  dense  cedar  scrub,  and  good,  sound,  lightly 
timbered,  and  well-grassed  ridges,  with  abundant  well-filled 
creeks  running  between  them.  Such  a  pastoral  paradise 
was  not  to  be  despised,  and  the  Doctor  followed  with  more 
stock.  Others  were  not  slow  to  imitate  so  good  an  example. 
Dr.  Dobie  took  up  countiy  close  to  the  present  township  of 
Grafton.  The  Ogilvies  made  their  way  through  the  ranges 
— almost  impassable  even  now — -from  the  Upper  Hunter, 
and  took  up  Yulgilba.  They  endured  almost  incredible 
hardships  on  their  journey;  but  the  Hon.  E.  D.  Ogilvie, 
now  the  only  survivor  of  the  party,  has  reaped  a  rich  reward. 

Eatanswill,  which  had  its  home  station  at  a  point  over- 
looking the  first  crossing-place  over  the  river  above  Grafton, 
was  taken  up  soon  after  the   "  Pickwick  Papers "  reached 


42  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Australia,  and  the  adventures  of  Mr.  Pickwick  at  the 
Eatanswill  election  so  tickled  the  original  settlers,  that  they 
incontinently  named  their  new  station  after  the  immortal 
rotten  borough.  It  is  now  a  thriving  village,  with  numliers 
of  farming  settlers  round  it,  but  the  inhabitants  are  ashamed 
of  the  old  name,  and  have  euphonised  it  into  Eatonsville. 
What  would  Dickens  think  of  the  change  1 

It  was  not  long  before  Sydney  got  news  of  the  fine 
northern  river,  and  of  the  apparently  inexhaustible  cedar 
scrub  on  its  banks.  The  yield  of  cedar  from  the  Shoalhaven 
brushes  had,  for  some  years,  been  falling  off.  The  easily 
accessible  timber  had  almost  all  been  cut,  and  it  was 
necessary  for  the  sawyers  to  go  long  distances  to  find 
passable  logs,  and  expend  a  great  deal  of  time  and  labour 
in  getting  them  out  of  the  gullies  where  they  had  been  cut. 
Mr.  Small,  of  Kissing  Point,  determined  to  try  what  could 
be  done  on  the  newly-discovered  river.  He  fitted  out  a. 
schooner,  the  "  Elizabeth,"  to  look  for  a  shipment  of  cedar, 
put  on  board  a  cargo  of  such  supplies  as  he  knew  would  be 
wanted,  together  with  a  party  of  timber-getters,  and  sent 
her  to  seek  her  fortune.  The  late  Mr.  Freeburn,  for  many 
years  pilot  at  the  Clarence  Heads,  was  one  of  the  schooner's 
crew.  According  to  him,  the  entrance  to  Shoal  Bay  was 
then  much  wider  than  at  present,  and  the  schooner  entered 
over  what  is  now  dry  land,  occupied  Vjy  the  township  of 
Iluka,  on  the  North  Head. 

The  "  Elizabeth "  anchoi'ed  near  the  little  island  that 
now  bears  her  name,  and  the  saws  and  axes  went  merrily 
to  work.  So  plentiful  was  the  cedar  that  there  was  little 
difliculty,  as  soon  as  she  had  discharged  her  cargo  of  supplies, 
in  filling  her  up  with  cedar  logs.  It  was  necessary  to  do 
little  more  than  fell  the  trees  on  the  bank,  bark  them,  cross- 
cut them,  roll  the  logs  into  the  water,  and  float  them 
alongside,  to  be  hoisted  on  board  by  the  schooner's  tackle. 


EARLY   SETTLERS    ON    THE    CLARENCE.  43< 

The  timber  trade  was  a  most  lucrative  one,  since  the  surplus- 
supplies  taken  to  the  river  by  the  schooners  were  eagerly 
bought  up  by  the  squatters  of  the  upper  river,  who  gladly 
availed  themselves  of  the  chance  of  replenishing  their  stocks- 
of  tea,  sugar,  flour,  &c.,  by  sea,  rather  than  by  the  long 
land  route  round  by  New  England,  from  the  Hunter  or  Port 
Stephens. 

It  was  not  long  before  a  farming  population  settled  on 
the  rich  lands  of  the  lower  river.  The  tirst  were  station 
hands,  who,  having  completed  a  term  of  service  under 
indenture,  had  saved  money  enough  to  buy  small  farms. 
These  men  did  not  generally  profit  by  tlie  experience  of  the 
Illawarra  and  Hawkesbury  settlers,  who  had  learned  the 
superior  fertility  of  the  brush  lands.  They  dreaded  the' 
labour  of  clearing  the  heavy  brush  on  the  river  bank,  and 
settled  on  the  less  fertile  forest  lands  at  the  back. 

The  first  settler  on  the  scrub  lands  on  the  river  bank,  was 
Mr.  William  Amos,  who,  after  occupying  a  farm  on  the 
Williams  River  for  several  years,  had  migrated  to  the 
Manning,  and,  subsequently,  at  a  land  sale  in  Sydney, 
bought  80  acres  at  Ulmarra.  Tliere  he  made  his  home, 
and,  long  after,  used  to  tell  how  he  sold  his  first  crop  of 
maize,  planted  with  the  hoe  among  the  logs  and  stumps, 
before  the  land  was  sufficiently  cleared  to  get  the  plough 
through  it,  for  £1  per  bushel.  Mr.  Amos  prospered  exceed- 
ingly, and,  subsequently,  bought  another  and  larger  farm, 
on  Swan  Creek,  a  few  miles  higher  up  the  river,  where  he 
had,  as  a  neighbour,  Mr.  William  Small,  one  of  the  sons  of 
the  owner  and  builder  of  the  historic  schooner  "  Elizabeth." 
Another  of  Mr.  Small's  sons,  John,  settled  on  Woodford 
Island.  Mr.  Amos  died  a  few  years  ago  at  a  good  old  age, 
universally  respected.  He  furnished  a  striking  illustration, 
of  the  truth  that  illiteracy  is  no  bar  to  success  in  life.  He- 
could  never  do  more  than  write  his  signature   to  a  cheque,. 


44  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

but  was  an  excellent  farmer,  and  a  good  clear-headed  man 
of  business. 

In  the  fifties  the  lower  river  was  settled  by  a  number  of 
Highlanders  imported  by  Dr.  Lang.  They  made  excellent 
•colonists,  steady,  shrewd,  and  industrious.  A  large  pro- 
portion of  the  first  generation  never  learned  to  speak  English, 
and  for  years,  even  in  the  late  seventies,  Gaelic  was  the 
most  prevalent  language  of  many  neighbourhoods,  especially 
the  islands  of  Shoal  Bay.  Many  Germans,  too,  chiefly  from 
the  Rheinland  and  Bavaria,  settled  on  the  river.  These 
also  formed  a  most  valuable  element.  They  introduced  the 
cultivation  of  the  vine,  and  if  the  vineyards  of  the  Clarence 
■cannot  pretend  to  vie  in  reputation  with  those  of  Albury, 
tlie  Hunter,  and  Inverell,  they  are  certainly  neither  less 
productive  nor  less  profitable  to  their  owners.  The  mixture 
of  Celtic  and  Teutonic  blood  ought,  combined  with  the  warm 
East  Australian  climate,  to  produce  a  race-type  which,  in  a 
oentury  or  so,  will  be  worth  the  notice  of  ethnologists,  and  will 
reward  their  study  by  supplying  some  newfacts  and  inferences. 

Before  the  passing  of  Sir  John  Robertson's  "  Land  Act 
of  1861,"  the  settlement  on  the  Clarence  and  adjacent  river 
basins  was  sparse ;  but  the  district  was  one  of  those  in 
which  free  selection  did  most  good  and  least  harm.  There 
was  no  clashing  between  the  interests  of  selectors  and  the 
pastoral  tenants.  The  good  lands  were  so  heavily  timbered 
^s  to  be  useless  for  grazing  purposes.  But  the  rich  deep 
soil,  when  the  timber  is  once  cleared  off,  is  just  what  the 
agricultural  settler  wants,  and  when  the  Act  of  '61  came 
into  force,  it  was  taken  up  freely,  to  the  great  profit  of  the 
selectors,  and  the  immense  gain  of  the  country  as   a  whole. 

The  basin  of  the  Clarence  is  divided  from  that  of  the 
little  river  Bellinger,  or  "  Bellingen,"  as  the  blacks  call  it, 
by  a  low  volcanic  range,  which  is  clothed  with  a  dense  cedar 
.scrub,  the  trees  bound  together  by  an  almost  inextricable 


PENETRATING    THE    INTERIOR.  45" 

tangle  of  vines  and  "  lawyer  canes."  This  formerly  exten- 
ded right  across  the  Bellinger  valley,  and  up  into  the 
mountains  almost  to  the  Guy  Fawkes  Mountain,  It  was, 
when  first  settled,  a  mine  of  wealth  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  many  sawyers'  camps  which  dotted  the  country,  shipping 
their  timber  from  the  river  by  small  vessels  that  regularly 
came  for  it  when  they  could  get  into  the  river — which  was 
not  by  any  means  always  possible,  for  the  bar  was,  and  is 
now,  as  capricious  as  any  fair  lady.  There  is  a  story  that 
a  certain  eminent  politician  and  one  time  Premier  of  New 
South  Wales,  once  at  low  water  waded  across  the  Bellinger 
bar  from  South  Head  to  North  Head.  It  will  be  readily 
believed  that  the  river  was  then  hermetically  closed  to  navi- 
gation, and  it  has  often  been  in  the  same  condition  both 
before  and  since.  In  such  cases  the  population  had  no 
resource  but  to  wait  as  patiently  as  they  could  for  a  flood 
to  come  down  and  sweep  the  obstructive  sand  into  deep 
water.  In  times  when  the  river  was  closed,  the  people 
were  forced  to  live  on  boiled  maize,  beef,  and  kangaroo,  with 
an  occasional  supply  of  tea,  sugar,  and  flour  brought  on 
pack-horses  from  the  Macleay. 

The  sawyers  and  timber-getters  had  a  hard  life  on  the- 
Bellinger  in  the  old  times,  and  well  into  the  sixties.  It 
was  alternately  a  feast  and  a  famine. 

When  the  small  craft  from  Sydney  got  in  with  their 
cargoes  of  rations,  drapery,  tobacco,  and  rum,  their  arrival 
was  celebrated  with  a  wild  orgie.  Every  man  tapped  his 
keg  of  fiery  spirit,  and  men  and  women  alike  drowned  their 
sorrows  in  the  lethe  of  intoxication.  Hard  work  and 
hard  fare  were  alike  forgotten  for  a  time  ;  but  the  saturn- 
alia did  not  last  more  than  a  day  or  two.  The  schooner 
liad  to  be  loaded,  and  soon  the  hardy  fellows  braced  them- 
.selves  to  their  work.  The  logs  from  the  upper  river  were 
generally    rolled    into    the  water,    and    left   to  float  dowi> 


46  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

■without  any  further  interference  than  was  necessary,  when 
they  got  aground,  to  roll  or  push  them  into  deeper  water. 
At  the  head  of  boat  navigation,  some  five  or  six  miles  from 
the  sea,  the  logs  of  each  party  would  be  formed  into  a  "boom" 
(i.e.,  chained  together  end  to  end),  or  a  "  raft  "  (chained  side 
by  side),  and  anchored  under  the  bank.  Then,  Avhen  the 
schooner  has  discharged  lier  stores,  the  rafts  and  booms 
■destined  to  form  her  cargo  would  be  guided  alongside,  and 
the  logs  detached,  and  hoisted  on  boai'd.  There  were  cases 
in  which,  when  the  bar  was  bad,  the  vessels  would  lie  to  in 
the  offing,  and  rafts  and  booms  would  be  taken  out  to  them 
by  boats  and  shipped  in  the  same  way.  This  was  a  trouble- 
some and  dangerous  opei'ation  requiring  great  skill  and  care, 
and  particularly  fine  weather  for  its  successful  accomplish- 
ment. In  some  cases,  however,  considerable  cargoes  of 
timber  have  been  shipped  from  open  beaches ;  but  in  one  of 
these  instances,  at  least,  the  attempt  resulted  in  the  loss  of 
the  vessel,  which  was  driven  ashore  and  wrecked. 

Just  one  episode  to  illustrate  life  in  the  cedar-country 
some  five-and-twenty  years  ago.  It  was  on  the  Richmond 
River.  A  sawyer  named  Jones,  who  was  working  in  what 
was  called  the  Big  Scrub,  had  pulled  down  the  river  with 
his  wife  and  their  three-month's-old  baby  to  meet  the  weekly 
steamer  from  Sydney  at  the  heads.  It  was  a  long  pull,  and 
the  heat  of  the  day — -it  was  in  December — was  made  none 
the  more  tolerable  by  the  scrub,  which  lined  both  banks  of 
the  river,  excluding  every  breath  of  air.  Jones  did  his 
business,  and  next  morning  they  started  for  the  long  20- 
miles'  pull  home  against  the  stream. 

Jones  pulled  away  bravely,  with  an  occasional  spell  for 
Si  rest  and  a  drink.  His  wife  sat  in  the  stern-sheets  with 
the  baby  sleeping  quietly  in  her  arms.  Her  parcels  from 
the  steamer  were  arranged  around  her.  She  heard  the 
rippling  murmur  of  the  water  on  the  boat's  side,  and  the 


FIRST    ATTEMPTS    AT    SUGAR    MAKING.  47 

rattle  of  the  sculls  in  the  rowlocks.  She  felt  the  impulse  of 
«ach  stroke,  and  she  knew  the  distance  to  the  little  slab  and 
bark  hut  they  called  home  was  lessening.  But  it  was  hot ! 
The  shining  water  below  seemed  to  reflect  the  heat  of  the 
pitiless  blazing  sky  above.  Suddenly  the  monotonous  rattle 
of  the  sculls  in  the  rowlocks  stopped.  The  boat  ceased  to 
move.  The  current  was  slowly  carrying  her  down  the  river. 
The  woman  in  the  stern-sheets  looked  up  quickly,  and  saw 
her  husband.  He  sat  limply  on  the  thwart.  His  hands 
still  grasped  the  sculls.  His  eyes  were  open,  but  there  was 
no  light  in  them.  There  was  foam  on  his  bloodless 
lips.  She  sprang  up  and  seized  the  sculls,  while  his  body 
fell  forward  into  the  bottom  of  the  boat.  He  was  dead  ! 
The  widow  disposed  the  corpse  as  well  as  she  could,  closed 
the  eyes,  and  then  pulled  the  boat  home  with  one  hand, 
while  she  clasped  her  child  to  her  breast  with  the  other. 
There  were  no  coroners  or  inquests  in  those  days,  and  two 
or  three  compassionate  neighbours  buried  the  dead  man. 

It  was  not  until  1864  that  the  idea  of  growing  sugar-cane 
for  profit  was  seriously  entertained  in  New  South  Wales. 
It  was  found  that  cane  would  grow  as  far  south  as  the 
Manning  River,  but  the  cost  of  machinery  was  a  serious 
difficulty.  In  the  year  named,  a  French  creole,  from  the 
Mauritius,  made  his  appearance  on  the  Manning,  and 
induced  some  of  the  richer  settlers  to  plant  cane  and  put  up 
a  mill.  He  called  himself  a  "  Baron,"  and  boasted  of  his 
experience  and  skill  in  sugar-making  and  distilling.  The 
mill  was  a  curiosity  in  its  way.  The  "  liquor  "  (cane  juice) 
was  pumped  up  from  the  rollers  to  the  upper  floor  of  the 
building,  and  was  there  clarified  and  boiled  in  deep  copper 
pans  holding  some  300  gallons  each.  The  result  was  that 
the  syrup  would  not  granulate,  and,  not  having  been  properly 
clarified,  had  a  most  unpleasant  taste.  A  very  few  trials 
sufliced  to  show  that  "  the  Baron  "  was  a  hopeless  incompe- 


48  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

tent,  if  no  worse.  He  had  managed  to  get  a  good  fat  salary 
from  his  dupes  for  the  twelve  months  or  so  that  the  delusion 
lasted  ;  and,  when  the  exposure  came,  he  took  himself  off 
before  worse  came  of  it.  The  farmers  ploughed  out  their 
cane,  and  disposed  of  their  mill  and  its  costly  appliances  for 
what  they  would  fetch.  Of  course  the  whole  thing  was  a 
transparent  fraud  from  beginning  to  end. 

The  sugar-boom  was  louder,  and  lasted  longer  at  Port 
Macquarie.  The  humid  climate,  and  rich  volcanic  soil  of 
that  locality  were  evidently  specially  suited  for  sugar-cane, 
just  as  they  also  are  for  the  production  of  a  rich,  full-bodied, 
coarse-flavoured  red  wine  very  like  some  of  the  vintages  of 
the  Ionian  Islands  and  Southern  Italy.  Sugar  was  sui^posed 
to  be  a  very  profitable  crop.  It  was  well  known  what  large 
returns  the  West  Indian  plantations  once  gave  with  really 
very  primitive  appliances,  and  there  seemed  really  no  reason, 
why  the  same  thing  might  not  be  done  in  Australia  if  skilled 
overseers  and  sugar-boilers  could  be  got  from  the  West  Indies 
or  elsewhere.  At  Port  Macquarie  a  very  considerable  area 
was  planted,  chiefly  with  the  rank-growing,  juicy  Bourbon 
cane.  Some  small  mills  were  put  up,  and  worked  with 
horse-power.  Sugar  was  made  too,  and  it  is  quite  possible 
that,  if  the  enterprise  had  been  persevered  in  under  proper 
scientific  direction,  if  experiments  had  been  made  to  find  a 
variety  of  cane  really  suited  to  the  soil  and  climate,  and 
proper  appliances  had  been  used  for  the  extraction  of  the 
sugai-,  something  might  have  come  of  it.  As  it  turned  out, 
the  Bourbon  cane  was  a  dismal  and  unmitigated  failure,  as- 
it  afterwards  proved  in  Queensland.  It  grew  and  flourished 
exceedingly,  up  to  a  certain  point ;  but  it  proved  extremely 
susceptible  to  the  attacks  of  disease.  Winter  and  wet  weather 
were  equally  destructive,  and  it  was  financially  ruinous. 

The  people  of  the  Macleay  River  caught  the  sugar  fever 
like  the  rest,     Mr.  Sydney  Verge,  a  then  wealthy  landowner 


INITIAL    DIFFICULTIES.  49 

of  the  district,  put  up  a  large  sugar-mill  on  the  river,  and 
the  Colonial  Sugar  Refining  Co.  there  erected  their  first 
Australian  mill,  which  was  subsequently  removed  to  the 
Clarence.  Nearly  every  one  was  bitten  with  the  sugar 
mania,  and  all  burned  their  fingers.  It  was  not  seen  that 
the  successful  prosecution  of  that,  or  any  other  industry  re- 
quired knowledge  and  experience,  and  nobody  had  it.  A 
few  partial  successes  were  achieved,  but  it  was  found  that 
the  cane  suffered  much  from  the  winter  frosts  which  stopped 
its  growth,  if  they  did  not  cut  it  down  altogether.  Perhaps, 
if  the  truth  were  known,  the  plants  came  in  the  first  place 
from  a  diseased  stock  ;  but  there  was  little  room  for 
selection.  It  was,  in  most  cases,  Hobson's  choice,  and  any- 
one who  wanted  to  grow  cane  had  to  take  such  plants  as 
were  offered  to  him  or  none,  and  in  any  case  no  one  had  the 
necessary  knowledge  and  experience  to  guide  him  in  making 
a  selection. 

It  would  not  be  easy  to  overrate  the  services  rendered  to 
the  Colony  by  the  Colonial  Sugar  Refining  Company.  When 
they  erected  their  first  mill  on  the  Macleay,  they  were 
absolutely  without  experience  in  the  treatment  of  cane  and 
cane  liquor.  They  began  by  trying  to  make  "  concrete  " — • 
boiling  the  syrup  till  it  was  a  solid  mass  This  was  shipped 
to  their  Sydney  works  (then  situated  in  Parramatta-street). 
It  was  soon  found  that  the  system  did  not  pay,  and  it  was 
abandoned.  However,  the  Company  was  not  discouraged. 
Ir  persevered  in  its  efforts,  making  new  experiments  when 
the  old  ones  failed,  and  accumulating  experience,  the  only 
source  of  real  knowledge.  The  Macleay  River  mill,  however, 
was  soon  removed  to  the  Clarence,  where,  it  was  found,  the 
cane  would  really  thrive.  All  who  had  attempted  growing 
cane  on  the  Macleay  soon  came  more  or  less  heavily  to  grief  ; 
some,  who  had  proceeded  cautiously,  only  lost  the  produce 
of  a  year  or  two's  work  ;  but  others,  lured  on  by  the  hope 


60  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

of  sudden  wealth,  and  the  idea  that  they  would  be  able  to 
play  the  part  of  the  old-fashioned  West  India  planters  of 
the  pre-emancipation  days,  had  not  only  given  time,  labour, 
and  land,  but  they  had  spent  every  penny  at  their  command, 
and  pledged  their  credit  far  beyond  their  means  of  repay- 
ment. Many  were  totally  ruined  beyond  hope  of  redemp- 
tion. It  all  resulted  from  the  connnon  folly  of  letting  go  the 
substance  and  grasping  at  the  shadow.  If  the  old  West 
India  planters  had  not  had  the  advantage  of  slave  labour 
with  a  monopoly  of  the  English  market  for  their  sugar  they 
would  not  have  realised  such  splendid  returns  from  their 
plantations,  and  the  proof  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  utter 
collapse  of  West  India  values  when  emancipation  and  free- 
trade  came  to  take  away  slave  labour  and  monopoly. 

Further  north  the  results  were  better.  On  the  Bellinger, 
one  small  sugar-mill,  owned  by  a  farmer  named  Williams, 
survived  till  1880.  It  was  a  curiosity  in  its  way,  made 
entirely  by  Williams  himself,  who  was  a  blacksmith  by 
trade,  and  a  most  ingenious  man  to  boot.  The  rollers  (a  set 
of  three,  placed  upright)  had  been  cast  and  turned  for  him 
in  Sydney  ;  but  he  had  himself  made  the  strong  iron  frames 
in  which  they  were  set.  The  clarifiers  and  boiling-pans  he 
made  out  of  half  tanks,  and  he  built  the  furnace,  flue,  and 
chimney.  He  worked  the  farm  and  mill  with  the  help  of 
his  numerous  family,  and  it  would  have  been  very  wonderful 
if,  under  such  circumstances,  with  the  most  unremitting 
industry,  the  concern  had  not  been  made  to  pay.  There  was 
a  similar  example  of  industry  and  ingenuity  combined  on  the 
Lower  Clarence  in  John  Bale,  who  lived  on  one  of  the 
islands  of  Shoal  Bay.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to  plant  cane, 
and  as  there  was  no  mill  to  crush  it  for  him,  he  resolved  to 
make  his  own.  As  he  had  even  less  money  than  Williams, 
he  could  not  buy  iron  rollers.  He  therefore  turned  them 
out   of  a  bean-tree  log  (the  hardest  of  Australian  woods). 


CRUDE    PLANTS.  51 

He  even  had  to  make  his  own  lathe  for  the  purpose.  In 
fact,  with  the  exception  of  a  number  of  cog-wheels,  and 
odds  and  ends,  which  he  had  bought  as  old  iron,  the  whole 
mill  was  the  work  of  John  Bale's  own  hands. 

The  first  sugar-mill  on  the  Clarence  was  a  co-operative 
aflfair  at  Ulmarra.  It  was  opened  by  the  Earl  of  Belmore, 
the  tlien  Governor,  during  his  visit  to  the  Clarence  in  1868. 
The  capital  was  subscribed  by  the  farmers  of  the  neighbour- 
hood, but  it  was  an  utter  and  very  costly  failure.  It  never 
made  a  pound  of  sugar.  It  was  designed  by  a  local  genius, 
and  was  of  much  the  same  type  as  "The  Baron's  "  brilliant 
conception  on  the  Manning.  For  many  years  it  remained 
closed  and  useless;  but  in  1875,  Mr.  William  Small,  of 
Swan  Creek,  and  his  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Edward  Creer,  of 
Grafton,  bought  it  from  the  co-operators,  who  were  not  sorry 
to  get  some  of  their  money  back.  A  manager  from  the 
Mauritius  or  West  Indies  was  engaged,  and  the  old  building 
"was  newly  equipped  with  rational  appliances.  The  new 
manager  was  considered  a  failure.  He  could  not  make  sugar, 
^nd  the  management  was  entrusted  to  Mr.  Grey,  who  had 
just  arrived  as  chief  engineer  of  the  new  steamer  "  City  of 
Grafton,"  from  the  Clyde.  He  worked  tlie  mill  most  suc- 
cessfully, till  it  was  closed  for  want  of  cane  to  operate  on. 
The  C.S.R.  Co.'s  mill  at  Southgate,  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  river,  being  also  closed,  and  removed  about  the  same 
time,  and  for  the  same  reason^ — the  persistent  failure  of  the 
cane  crops  on  the  upper  course  of  the  stream. 

There  were  others  who  entered  on  the  business  with 
various  degrees  of  success.  The  farmers  of  Carr's  Creek  and 
Carr's  Island,  a  few  miles  above  Grafton,  established  a  very 
well  equipped  little  mill.  But  it  shared  the  fate  of  almost 
all  attempts  at  co-operation  in  Australia,  and  ultimately 
became  the  property  of  Mr.  Thomas  Bawden,  of  Grafton, 
who    then    represented    the    Clarence    in    the    Legislative 


52  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Assembly.  Mr.  Martin,  of  Great  Marlow,  had  a  small  mill 
worked  by  horse-power.  These  were  the  only  two  sugar- 
mills  ever  worked  above  Grafton,  and  they  had  to  contend 
with  that  curious  climatic  influence  which,  in  Australia, 
seems  to  forbid  the  sugar-cane  to  thrive  anywhere  beyond 
the  influence  of  the  sea  breeze.  At  Southgate,  Mr.  William 
Leeson  had  a  small  mill,  and  did  fairly  well  for  many  years 
till  the  cane  crops  began  to  fail  in  his  neighbourhood,  though 
he  was  heavily  handicapped  by  the  near  neighbourhood  of 
"  The  Company's "  large  mill.  Mr.  Alec.  Meston  had  a 
sugar-mill  at  Ulmarra.  He  was  a  son  of  Archibald  Meston, 
one  of  the  earliest  among  the  pioneers  of  the  New  England 
and  Clarence  districts.  Alec.  Meston  has  since  removed  to 
the  Richmond  River.  One  of  his  neighbours  at  Ulmarra 
was  a  Mr.  Chowne,  an  old  Plymouth  shipwright,  who  had 
been  in  tlie  West  Indies,  and  had  there  seen  enough  to  show 
him  how  sugar  is  made.  His  little  mill  was  the  nearest 
copy  he  could  manage  of  a  West  India  sugar-house,  and  he 
succeeded  in  making  a  very  fair  yellow  sugar.  There  were 
many  others  who  tempted  fortune  in  the  same  way  with 
varying  success  ;  but  the  recital  would  be  wearisome.  It 
is  only  interesting  where  the  examples  cited  are  typical  of 
classes,  or  characterised  by  some  special  peculiarity. 

One  such  case  is  that  of  Mr.  Kinnear,  of  Chatsworth 
Island.  Like  Mr.  Chowne,  he  was  a  shipwright.  He  hailed 
from  Clydesdale.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  selectors  on 
th^  Clarence,  taking  up  the  full  area  of  320  acres  allowed 
under  Sir  John  Robertson's  Act.  In  those  days  timber 
was  plentiful  and  good,  and  Mr.  Kinnear  made  money  by 
ship  and  boat  building,  and  farming  as  a  sort  of  recreation. 
When  sugar  promised  to  be  a  success,  he  planted  cane  and 
put  up  a  mill.  He  soon  found,  however,  that  if  his  mill 
was  to  pay,  he  must  have  a  great  deal  more  cane  to  crush 
than  he  could  grow,  without  employing  more  labour  than  he 


SCENES    OF    OLDER   SYDNEY.  53 

could  profitably  superintend  or  could  well  afford  to  pay  for. 
He  let  most  of  his  uncleared  land  on  improving  leases, 
paying  for  the  timber  when  cut  up  and  split  for  firewood. 
He  bound  the  tenants  to  grow  a  certain  area  of  cane,  which 
he  crushed  for  them  "  on  the  halves,"  and  thus  he  killed 
several  birds  with  one  stone — got  his  land  cleared  and  cul- 
tivated, firewood  cut,  and  his  mill  supplied  with  cane  on 
terms  mutually  advantageous  to  all  concerned. 

These  instances  prove  the  truth  that  West  Indian 
-experience  is  almost  useless  in  dealing  with  Australian  sugar. 
All  the  really  good  Australian  managers,  with  perhaps  two 
exceptions,  have  been  men  with  exclusively  Australian 
experience.  Even  the  rare  exceptions  referred  to,  have  had 
to  unlearn  all  they  knew,  and  begin  afresh  to  learn  an 
entirely  new  mode  of  manipulation.  Australian  bushmen, 
like  the  Mestons  ;  shipwrights,  like  Messrs.  Chowne  and 
Kinnear,  are  examples  in  point.  Then  there  is  Mr.  Grey, 
the  newly-arrived  engineer  from  the  Clyde,  and  many 
another  like  example.  There  is  also  the  example  of  the 
C.S.R.  Co.,  which  has  always  steadily  set  its  face  against 
the  rule  of  thumb  expert  from  over  the  sea,  and  has  trusted 
to  nothing  but  their  own  practical  local  experience  and  skill 
with  genuine  scientific  knowledge,  to  guide  them. 

But,  to  return  to  the  scenes  of  older  Sydney  !  Why  do  they 
so  persistently  refuse  to  fade  from  my  memory  ?  Here  I  find 
myself  once  more  in  1852,  in  the  old  Bank  of  New  South 
Wales,  in  that  dark,  low  and  dismal  building  on  the  east 
side  of  George-street,  with  the  dingy  grass  plot  in  front  of 
it ;  how  unlike  a  modern  bank  it  is  to  look  at !  and  yet 
they  made  money  there.  Once  more  do  I  pore  over  those 
ghostly  old  ledgers,  rich  in  memories  of  embryo  Australia 
— crammed  with  bygone  names,  each  folio  with  its  little 
story  of  surname,  each  one  mingles  somehow  with  the  warp 
and  weft  of  early  Sydney  family  life.     Trustees  of  Launce- 


54  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

lott  Iredale,  William  Ranken  Scott,  Rueben  XJthar,  George 
Swinnerton  Yarn  ton,  R.  and  E.  Tooth,  John  Yates  Ruther, 
R.  A.  A.  Morehead,  T.  S.  Mort,  Herbert  Salwey,  VV.  C. 
Wentworth,  R.  R.  C.  Robertson,  of  Wellington  Vale ; 
John  Smith,  of  Wallerawang  ;  C.  R.  and  W.  D.  G.  Haly ; 
and  time  would  fail  me  to  tell  of  the  Paytons,  the  Tittertons, 
and  of  Tom  Kite  and  of  Elizabeth  Beard,  and  of  the  times 
when  the  wild  red  and  white  epacris  could  be  found  growing 
two  miles  nearer  to  the  General  Post  Office  than  they  now  can  be. 
Days  when  brave,  manly,  old  family  picknickers  rowed 
heavy  boats  full  of  girls  in  the  teeth  of  north  easters  and 
of  southerly  busters  up  and  down  the  harbour,  where  steam 
launches  now  save  all  the  work ;  brave  old  fellows  who  posted 
bank  ledgers  in  the  day-time,  and  made  their  wives  and 
daughters  happy  with  music  in  the  evening,  and  who  could 
pull  an  oar  and  sail  a  boat  with  the  best  ;  when  they  used 
to  give  concerts  in  the  big  room  of  the  Royal  Hotel,  and 
when  Tom  Mort  would  be  the  funny  man  of  his  party  there. 
When  "  Simon  the  Cellarer "  was  the  latest  sensation  in 
bass  songs,  vice  "  The  Standard  Bearer  "  superseded  (j^ro 
tern.)  Where  is  this  race  and  breed  of  the  Sydney  bank 
clerk  now  1  It  is  extinct.  You  may  search  for  it  in  vain 
in  Parramatta-street  or  in  Redfern,  for  it  sleeps  at  Camper- 
down,  looking  out  on  the  Ryde  Hill ;  sleeps  at  Devonshire- 
street  ;  sleeps  at  Waverley  and  Rookwood.  1852  has  passed 
away.  Forty  odd  years  are  not  much,  perhaps,  in  the  history 
of  a  place  like  England,  but  in  Sydney,  ye  heavens,  what  a 
tale  they  tell  ! 

Old  Times,  what  sort  of  memories  round  them  cling  ! 
Of  hopes  that  blossom,  warped,  and  died,  in  life's  delightful 
spring  ; 

The  time  of  my  childhood,  the  land  of  my  prime, 
All  the  passions  and  scenes  of  that  rapturous  time 
When  the  feelings  were  young  and  the  world  was  new. 
Like  the  fresh  bowers  of  Eden  unopening  to  view. 


SVDXEY  BANKS  AND  BANKING.  55 

1852  seems  500  years  ago  when  one  notes  all  the  changes, 
the  progress,  improvements,  births,  deaths,  and  marriages, 
which  have  effaced  so  many  old  social  and  physical  land- 
marks. Quaint,  hut-like  cottages,  set  solitary  in  the  sand, 
snake-haunted  scrub  of  Botany  and  North  Shore,  neatly 
furnished,  and  inhabited  by  faded  ladies  of  the  Bourke  and 
Gipps  era,  have  all  been  swept  away  to  make  room  for 
modern  terraces.  How  bright  a  Sydney  Sunday  was  in 
1852.  The  clear  sun,  the  chiming  bells,  the  streams  of  well- 
dressed,  pretty  girls,  no  matter  whether  it  was  winter  at 
Christchurch,  with  Canon  Walsh,  or  summer  with  the  Rev. 
G.  r.  McArthur,  at  St.  Mark's,  Darling  Point.  The  smell 
of  flowers  was  in  the  air.  The  bank  ledgers  were  closed  for 
the  day,  and  it  was — Sydney  !  Sydney  !  that  happy  medium 
between  the  chills  of  Hobart  and  the  heats  of  Brisbane. 
Sydney,  with  a  remote  touch  of  the  tropics  in  its  air  at 
times,  and  yet  able  to  grow  lilac  and  apples,  and  be  akin  to 
the  oak  and  elm-bearing  lands  of  the  earth. 

To  return  to  our  dear  old  bank.  The  accountant,  H.  B. 
Cotton,  was  a  tall,  thin,  mercurial  gentleman,  who  in  office 
hours  wore  a  sort  of  long  coat,  and  by  way  of  relief  to  the 
tedium  of  eternal  figui'es  he  would  at  times  strike  an  attitude 
and  quote  Shakespeare,  a  proceeding  which  failed  to  meet 
the  approval  of  John  Hunter  Bailey,  our  Scotch  Secretary, 
a  clever  earne.st  man,  a  connection  of  Dr.  Lang's,  but  fore- 
doomed by  the  phthisis  to  a  too  brief  career  of  usefulness. 
He  checked  his  banking  cough  one  day  as  he  saw  Cotton  in 
a  Shakespearian  attitude,  and  uttered  the  words,  "  Is  this 
sober  earnestness  in  an  accountant  when  there  is  a  dis- 
crepancy in  the  balance  1 "  alluding  to  some  calling  over 
that  yet  remained  to  be  done  over  an  undiscovered  error, 
and  which  Bailey  thought  should  take  precedence  even  of 
Shakespeare. 

Old   John   Black,   the   manager,   lived  on   the    premises. 


56  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

which  had  not  been  constructed  with  that  eye  to  the  due 
separation  of  banking  and  domestic  concerns  which  obtains 
now  in  the  palatial  banking  houses.  And  it  fell  out  one 
day  that  Mr.  Bailey,  while  absorbed  in  writing  letters  of 
great  importance  to  the  London  office,  had  his  nerves  shaken 
by  feeling  a  something  unknown  and  decidedly  out  of  its 
place  playing  between  his  legs.  The  startled  Secretary 
(who  was  childless  himself),  suspended  his  pen  in  mid  air, 
dived  under  the  office  table,  and  beheld  a  half  clothed  cherub 
(one  of  the  junior  Blacks)  playing  with  the  waste-paper 
basket.  How  it  ever  got  there  was  a  mystery,  but  it  evoked 
this  severe  remark  from  the  stern  Scotch  banking  discip- 
linarian— "  Ye  little  neekid  savage  !  what  are  ye  doing 
here  1 "  Old  Mr.  Black  at  times  took  the  counter  himself 
if  a  teller  were  ill,  and,  as  his  eyesight  was  none  too  good, 
he  generally  on  those  rare  occasions  paid  away  some  odd 
pounds  too  much  to  some  dishonest  cheque-cashers  in  the 
course  of  a  day,  which  loss  he  balanced  with  a  sigh  and  a 
dive  into  his  own  pocket  for  the  sovereign  ;  for  he  cared  not 
to  keep  dinner  waiting,  had  plenty  of  money  and  property, 
and  was  not  one  to  cry  over  spilt  milk.  I  can  see  his  wry 
face,  white  hair  and  cravat,  black  dress  suit  and  spectacles 
(he  never  varied  his  costume)  before  me  now  as  vividly  as 
in  the  earlier  half  of  the  century,  a  representative  of  the 
old  Sydney  school  that  we  shall  never  see  again. 

In  that  dingy  old  den  of  a  bank,  there  was  actually  a 
board  room  stowed  away  somewhere,  and  therein  sat  Rich- 
ard Jones  and  Robert  Firth  ;  Donald  Larnach  and  George 
Home  ;  William  Rankin  Scott  and  Joseph  Scaif  Willis  j 
and  they  were  men  of  "  pluck,"  for  they  bought  over  four 
tons  of  gold  for  50s.  an  ounce,  well  worth  75s.  ;  and  this, 
too,  at  a  time  when  no  one  else  in  Australia  would  give 
even  that  for  it,  for  Australian  and  Californian  people  lost 
their  heads  (outside  of  that  board  room)  and  felt  sure  that 


A    FEW    FIGURES.  57 

gold  was  going  to  be  as  plentiful  as  copper  ;  and  the  Adelaide 
merchants  packed  up  their  wares,  shut  their  warehouses, 
and  took  the  contents  to  Melbourne,  and  came  back  laden 
with  the  yellow  metal.  At  the  dingy  old  den  we  kept  a 
weird-looking  foreigner  down  in  the  cellar,  who  melted  the 
dust  into  bars  for  us.  (I  often  played  with  the  golden 
dumb-bells  to  stretch  my  arms  after  too  much  ledgers.) 

It  was  then  that  John  Godfrey  Cohen,  in  Sydney,  Edward 
Khull,  in  Melbourne,  and  a  set  of  mining  speculators 
blossomed  out  as  "gold  brokers  "  and  "highest  price  given 
for  rags,  bones  and  bottles,"  or  for  "  wool,  wheat,  tallow, 
hides,  and  wattle-bark  "  were  superseded  by  notices  of  an 
extra  3d.  here  or  6d.  there  per  ounce  for  gold  from  com- 
peting brokers  so  as  to  snap  up  parcels  for  shipment  and 
•save  exchange  on  bank  drafts. 

What  a  lot  of  the  "  old  "  early  original  Sydney  there  was 
still  left  in  1852  !  And  the  faces  that  one  then  saw 
across  the  counter  that  are  now  missing  I  Richard  Jones,  of 
Moi'eton  Bay,  and  Hovenden  Hely  ;  Bob  Fitzgerald  and  F. 
B.  Stephens  ;  Rev.  Ralph  Mansfield,  Irving  and  R.  M. 
Roley ;  Father  K.  Mann  ;  R.  A.  Hunt  and  Major  Christie  ; 
E.  Broadhurst,  and  E.  Deas.  Thomson — ^why  go  on  1  This 
is  not  a  directory  ;  and  yet,  primitive  as  the  old  Bank  was 
in  1852,  it  had  grown  a  bit  since  1849  ;  in  the  first  quarter 
of  which  its  modest  record  stood  thus  : — Notes  circulated, 
X34,519  ;  deposits,  £225,767;  coin,  £157,564;  land,  etc., 
£12,579  ;  debts  due  for  bills  discounted,  etc.,  £225,793  ; 
and  its  assets  were  to  its  liabilities  £401,528,  to  £260,286. 
The  "  Union"  and  the  Australasia  both  more  than  doubled 
this  record,  and  the  "  Commercial  "  was  a  good  second  to 
the  New  South.  The  Joint  Stock  was  not  born  till  1852. 
"The  "  New  South "  paid  £50  to  an  8  per  cent,  dividend. 
The  Commercial,  £3,237  to  a  10  per  cent,  one,  and  the 
Union  £25,317   to  a  6  per   cent,  one  ;  their   reserve  funds 


58  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

being — New  South,  £17,l;iO;  Commercial,  £993  (how  these 
two  boys  have  grown  since  3 1st  Marcli,  1849) ;  Australasia, 
£53,451  ;  and  Union,  £77,930.  In  the  early  days  coin  was 
kept  more  in  the  Colonial  Treasury  and  the  Military  chest 
(as  it  was  called)  than  in  the  banks,  and  up  to  1837  the 
banks  were  in  the  minority  for  coin  holding,  for  in  that 
year  the  Colonial  Treasury  held  £245,250  in  coin,  against  a 
total  of  £182,182  held  by  all  the  banks. 

Talking  of  banks,  the  Union  of  Australia  started  in 
1837  (twenty  years  after  the  "New  South,")  and  was  so 
well  supported  in  London  that  every  share  was  taken  up 
without  even  being  publicly  advertised.  Its  first  essay  was 
a  junction  with  the  Tamar  Bank,  at  Launceston  (V.D.L  ), 
then  a  branch  at  Hobart.  Then  followed  branches  at 
Sydney,  Melbourne,  and  New  Zealand,  in  the  order  named. 
The  Australasia  started  in  1835,  but  its  early  progress 
was  marred  by  the  insolvent  Bank  of  Australia  getting 
heavily  into  its  debt  in  1843  ;  but  by  1849  it  was  far  ahead 
of  all  other  banks  in  the  magnitude  of  its  transactions, 
though  it  still  could  pay  no  dividend  owing  to  the  cause 
just  mentioned.  As  a  proof  of  the  "  booms  "  and  collapses 
that  occurred  even  in  the  early  days,  I  may  mention  that 
from  1834  to  1848  a  duty  of  30  per  cent,  was  charged  in 
Sydney  on  auction  sales,  which  jumped  from  £513,388  in 
1839  to  £1,246,742  in  1840,  and  down  to  £310,831  in  1844. 
Liens  on  wool  and  mortgages  on  stock  shewed  equally  curious 
fluctuations  between  '43  and  '46. 

Enough  of  statistics.  Let  us  return  to  the  old  Bank. 
Abram  Black  and  P.  W.  Flower  banked  there  and 
elsewhere  too,  for  they  had  plenty  of  spare  money  to 
lodge,  albeit  that  one  "  strong  room  "  was  a  mere  iron  box, 
or  room  with  thin  walls,  and  thieves  would  have  found  it 
without  fire  or  thief-proof  doors  had  it  been  attacked,  and 
John   Russell   (brother  of  Peter  Nicol  R.,  iron-founder,  of 


CRUMBLING   CONCERNS.  59" 

that  ilk),  often  carae  over  to  it  and  fixed  it  up.  He  it  was- 
who  went  to  a  fancy  ball  in  Sydney  in  a  suit  of  armour  of 
his  own  make.  Our  bank  staff  then  included  Robert 
Woodhouse,  John  Ponsford,  Luke  Clarence  Garling, William 
CoUey  Lang,  Samuel  Nasmith,  John  Evans,  and  so  on  down 
to  old  Byron  Drury,  the  night  watchman,  who  had  seen 
some  bayonet  charges  in  his  young  days,  and  feared  no  mid- 
night burglars,  though  there  were  none  in  18.52,  for  money 
was  too  easily  got  then  for  people  to  want  to  thieve  much. 

Trade  expanded  enormously.  One  big  firm  who  supplied 
most  of  the  public  houses  in  Sydney  used  to  pay  in  £1000 
a  day  in  greasy  bank  notes,  gold,  silver,  and  copper,  and 
they  had  another  account  at  the  Australasia  as  well,  or 
(as  we  clerks  used  to  call  it  in  those  days),  the  Goliath,  and 
huge  bank  drafts  for  £30,000  and  the  like  found  their  way 
from  us  to  foreign  parts,  and  came  back  in  the  shape  of 
cargoes  of  tea  and  sugar  from  China  and  Manilla,  sent  for 
by  people,  too,  who  never  before  had  been  in  that  line,  but 
who  were  not  going  to  miss  the  golden  chance  of  coining 
money  at  that  busy  season ;  all  done  on  bills,  too,  which 
were  punctually  met  at  maturity  later  on.  You  could  not 
go  wrong  then  in  buying  anything,  land,  houses,  merchan- 
dise, or  what  not,  it  all  went  up  and  up  in  price,  the  exception 
being  station  property,  for  there  was  no  carriage  for  wool, 
all  teams  being  taken  up  for  the  diggings,  and  all  hands  all 
clearing  to  the  gold  fields. 

The  crumbling  of  these  big  banks  has  been  a  matter  of 
slow  and  sure  growth.  For  many  years  the  cobra  and  white 
ant  of  finance  have  been  secretly  at  work  where  all  looked 
sound  and  stout  outside ;  in  the  days  of  the  bygone,  John 
Smith,  squatter,  of  New  South  Wales  (we  will  say),  wanted 
to  buy  some  .50,000  acres  of  his  run,  and  it  was  managed 
by  a  stroke  of  the  pen ;  no  money  passed,  but  a  debit  went 
in   the   bank  ledger  to  John   Smith,   and   a   credit   to  the 


'60  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

"Colonial  Treasurer ;  and  this  sort  of  thing  was  repeated  in 
the  case  of  Thomas  Brown,  another  *'  pastoral  tenant  of  the 
Crown,"  and  many  more  of  them,  but  still  no  coin  passed, 
Tt  was  all  on  paper,  so  to  speak,  till  at  last  one  day  the 
Colonial  Treasurer  wanted  some  of  his  million  sterling,  and 
then,  you  see,  John  Smith's  security  was  not  quite  so  sale- 
able as  it  might  have  been,  and  it  became  necessary  to  sell 
up  some  country  storekeepers,  who  had  sperm  candles, 
galvanised  iron,  American  axes,  flour,  and  other  articles 
that  really  were  convertible  into  money.  And  then  meet- 
ings of  creditors  and  liquidators  by  arrangement  swarmed 
in  the  land,  and  people  said  "  times  are  bad,  but  we  have 
touched  bottom  now."  Yet  it  was  not  so.  The  rabbits, 
drought,  and  compound  interest  had  a  "  cut  in "  at  the 
game,  but  still  the  assets  and  advances  looked  well  on  paper, 
and  then,  by  Jove,  you  know  !  the  labour  party  took  a  hand 
in  the  deal,  and  foreign  depositors  at  last  began  to  "  look 
askew "  in  real  earnest.  Another  presto !  something 
happened  which  made  all  hands,  except,  perhaps,  bank 
shareliolders,  squirm.  If  the  crash  liad  come  mercifully 
ten  years  earlier,  when  assets  were  more  marketable,  and 
when  Baring  Brothers  and  others  were  still  "  riglit  side  up," 
it  would  have  been  all  right.  Everyone  wished  that 
advances  had  been  more  "  spread "  and  distributed,  only 
on  securities  which  came  in  from  one  to  four  times  in  each 
year.     And  now  let  us  review  matters  a  little. 

In  1851  gold  was  discovered,  and  gazetted  on  May  10th, 
in  Sydney.  Capital  and  labour  had  worked  together  up  to 
then,  but  labour  cleared  out  at  once  and  left  his  master's 
sheep  and  calves  to  the  dingoes  and  eagle  hawks.  The 
sailor  left  his  ship,  the  carpenter  his  bench  and  his  contract, 
and  capital  was  left  lamenting  without  warning,  considera- 
tion, or  apology,  and  "capital"  never  forgot  it.  Afterwards 
— when  the  wheel  of  fortune  had  made  anotlier  round — he. 


FACING    THE    MUSIC.  61 

in  turn,  grew  selfish;  he  was  "on  top"  in  1853.  On  a  popu- 
lation of  some  200,000  Victoria  raised  £9,000,000  sterling 
in  gold,  and,  in  1856,  £12,000,000,  or  equal  to  £40  for 
every  soul  of  her  then  population.  This  was  more  than  she 
needed  for  currency,  and  it  went  home.  But  this  did  not 
last,  and  now  N.  S.  Wales  could  barely  find  her  own  gold- 
field,  or  supply  her  own  coin  x'equirements  ;  but  Queensland 
raised  £5  worth  of  gold  yearly  for  every  soul  in  her  borders, 
and  should  certainly  try  to  keep  enough  of  it  on  hand  to 
vary  the  monotony  of  too  much  paper  and  greenbacks  in 
the  near  future.  Trade  is  not  what  it  was,  and  the  English 
"rings  "  have  "  sat  upon  "  Australia.  Tin  was  worth  £130 
a  ton  till  we  found  it  here,  and  the  "  ring  "  dropped  it 
permanently  to  £90  ;  copper  from  £90  to  £45.  Bismuth 
and  silver  fell  also,  for  fear  that  Australia  should  grow  too 
rich,  and  wool  travelled  from  Is.  6d.  down  to  7d.,  flour 
from  £50  to  £11,  and  white  sugar  can  now  be  got  for  the 
price  we  once  paid  for  dark. 

Everything  that  Australia  produces  except  gold  has 
shrunk  terribly  in  value,  and  we  must  "  face  the  music  " 
and  meet  the  altered  times  with  some  better  weapons  than 
strikes,  phantom  reserve  funds,  reconstruction,  on  the 
"  family  party  system  "  and  other  modern-time  blunders  ; 
and  we  must  especially  pray  to  be  delivered  from  all 
reconstruction  that  only  covers  up  old  sores  and  that  fails 
to  use  a  surgical  knife  that  would  cut  right  off  with  heroic 
fortitude  all  bad  debts,  and  start  fair  and  square  again. 
If  not  we  sliall  break  down  and  pull  up  lame  before  we  are 
once  round  the  course.  Heaps  of  capital  and  confidence 
were  both  annihilated  wholesale  in  years  gone  by  througli 
an  idiotic  anti-kanaka  crusade. 

And  so  it  has  come  to  pass  at  the  close  of  the  nineteenth 
century  we  witness  the  spectacle  of  men  who   have  toiled 

Note. — The  above  was  penned  at  the  time  of  the  financial  crisis  of  1893. — Editor. 


•62  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

all  their  lives  to  amass  a  little  current  business  money  being 
asked  to  convert  it  into  shares,  and  pay  the  impounders 
thereof  interest  for  the  use  of  it ;  the  said  impounders 
having  now  murdered  all  the  confidence  which  once  "greased 
the  wheels  "  of  commerce,  and  giving  nothing  whatever  by 
way  of  substitute  for  it.  They  asked  people  to  convert 
their  current  business  cash  into  the  shares  of  a  new  "bank" 
that  has  neither  written  off  the  bad  debts,  nor  foresworn 
tlie  sins  of  its  parent  and  progenitor  bank  ;  and  what  is 
perhaps  still  worse,  our  Australian  parliaments  do  not  care 
to  face  the  task  of  probing  the  piled  up  banking  blunders 
of  the  past  twenty-five  years,  the  result  being  that  the 
facilities  which  at  one  time  helped  trade  along  have  dis- 
appeared, and  without  any  removal  of  the  old  cancers  to 
■compensate  tlie  loss.  How  will  it  all  end  1  We  .should  pull 
through  it  all,  terrible  as  the  amount  of  dirt  in  the  stable 
is,  if  people  kept  the  ten  commandments  within  the  next 
twenty-five  years,  and  refrained  from  coveting  and  stealing, 
and  laboured  for  six  days  in  the  week,  and  so  on.  But — 
will  they  1     We  shall  see. 

I  can  understand  bad  times  in  a  place  like  England, 
which  cannot  grow  all  its  own  meat  and  meal  ;  or  I  could 
understand  bad  times  in  early  Australian  days,  before  the 
wilderness  was  subdued,  and  in  the  last  century.  But  when 
I  came  to  Australia  in  the  "forties"  a  man  with  £100  a 
year  was  "passing  rich,"  with  bread  and  meat  at  Id.  a  lb., 
eggs  and  butter  4d.  the  dozen  and  lb.,  and  so  forth,  and 
plenty  of  good  colonial  tweed  and  leather  to  make  clothing 
from.  There  were  no  "  Boards  of  Health  "  or  "  zymotic 
diseases,"  or  poison  germs  with  long  scientific  names  ending 
in  "  oid  "  floating  around  in  those  days.  It  was  all  gum 
trees  and  ozone.  "  Homespun  "  was  the  style  both  indoors 
and  out,  and  as  with  Australia  so  with  America.  In  the 
primitive   days  when  men   lived  on  pork  and  beans,  there 


THE    REMEDY.  63 

■were  no  dreadful  social  and  political  problems  to  solve,  no 
terrible  suicides  and  embezzlements  to  report  and  shudder 
at.  But  when  $100  broadcloth  suits  and  .$1000  diamond 
rings  came  into  fashion,  and  whisky  bars  to  boot,  then  the 
*'  trouble  "  began. 

The  gold  discovery  in  California  in  1849,  and  in  Aus- 
tralia in  1851,  sent  the  whole  civilised  world  on  a  new  track 
of  luxury  such  as  the  fathers  of  that  generation  never 
■dreamt  of.  I  was  one  of  the  early  rush  to  California  from 
these  colonies  in  1849  with  a  cargo  of  produce,  and  of  course 
all  the  sailors  Vjolted  on  arrival,  and  I  had  to  employ  five 
American  ship  captains  to  unload  my  lot.  They  had  all 
lost  their  own  crews,  and  had  nothing  to  do  meantime,  and 
so  they  worked  like  men  for  $10  a  day  in  unloading  boxes 
of  Australian  potatoes  and  planks  of  Australian  timber  into 
the  steam  scow.  They  were  not  proud.  They  were  of  the 
old  American  Connecticut  stamp,  and  they  wore  jackets  of 
green  baize  such  as  bakers'  hot  I'olls  are  covered  with  afc 
home.  They  belonged  to  the  "  pork  and  beans  "  section 
and  era  of  the  American  community,  and  my  money  was  as 
good  to  them  as  any  other  man's.  We  talk  of  bad  times  in 
Australia,  yet  the  country  grows  all  the  food  we  eat  and 
clothes  we  wear,  or  could  do  so,  or  ought  to  do  so,  or,  if 
this  be  not  the  case  yet,  let  us  then  learn  to  consume  less 
variety,  or  else  to  make  Australia  grow  it  all.  England 
never  could  do  this  for  herself.  We  talk  of  bad  times  while 
the  champagne  and  sardines  class  of  luxuries  figure  so 
largely  in  our  list  of  imports  !  It  is  clear  we  cannot  afford 
to  pay  for  these  things,  so  let  us  leave  off  importing  super- 
fluities, and  then  see  how  soon  the  bad  times  would 
disappear. 

There  has  been  too  much  of  the  sudden  "jump  up"  in 
Australia — the  mother,  for  instance,  at  the  wash-tub  and 
the  daughter  at   the  piano,  the   father  shouldering   the  hod 


64  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

of  bricks  and  the  son  driving  a  buggy  and  "  putting  on 
side."  One  generation  is  not  enough  to  carry  over 
such  a  metamorphosis  ;  it  would  need  to  filter  through  three 
or  four  of  them  in  order  to  be  a  plant  to  take  permanent 
root.  The  very  fact  of  our  importing  our  domestic  female 
servants  is  a  proof  and  outward  sign  of  our  unsoundness 
in  political  economy ;  the  daughters  of  the  small  yeoman 
class,  born  in  the  country^  should  form  its  domestic  servants 
the  same  as  they  do  in  Great  Britain,  and  are  the  only  good 
sort  obtainable.  As  to  the  quality  of  the  imjDorted  article, 
you  can  search  the  pages  of  the  various  Australian 
"Punches."  But  it  is  the  old  story  with  most  of  us ;  we 
miust  have  luxuries,  and  cannot  be  content  with  necessaries 
only.  Take  the  burglar  who  breaks  into  our  house ;  does 
he  (in  one  case  out  of  500)  do  it  to  feed  starving  babies  at 
home  %  Not  he,  he  does  it  in  order  to  spend  the  proceeds 
(heavily  discounted  beforehand  by  the  receiA^ng  "  fence  ") 
in  some  wretched  orgie  in  a  den  of  infamy.  Our  very  bur- 
glar must  have  his  "  luxuries."  If  people  would  but  dispense 
with  all  superfluities,  be  they  ever  so  "good  for  trade  ;"  if 
men  in  bush  and  town  would  but  take  their  wages  home  on 
Saturday  nights  and  not  want  to  be  pulled  home  by  their 
wives  at  11  p.m.  ;  if  people  would  eschew  imported  luxuries 
and  till  their  bellies  and  clothe  their  backs  solely  with  the 
rich  and  glorious  abundance  of  colonial  produce,  we  should 
not  need  to  care  to  know  how  the  bullion  stood  in  the  bank, 
or  whether  that  terrible  institution  had  any  contidence  in 
us  or  did  the  other  thing ;  whether  the  "  balance  of  trade  " 
or  "  drain  of  bullion "  were  with  us  or  against  us.  We 
should  laugh  at  "  panics,"  knowing  that  we  could  not 
possibly  eat  sovereigns  and  bank  notes,  but  that  with  plenty 
of  Adelaide  flour,  Albury  wine,  Ipswich  tweed,  and  so  forth^ 
we  were  enjoying  blessings  which  we  should  be  a  great  deal 
more  grateful  foi",  if  those  confounded   phases  of  style  con- 


Hon.  W.  C.  Wentwokth.  Hon.  E.  Deas-Thomson. 

Major-Generai.  L.  Macquarie. 
Sir  John  Hay.  Sir  Charles  Cowter. 


THE    REMEDY,  65 

sequent  on  the  gold  era  had  not  so  unsettled  our  brains  that 
we  don't  know  when  we  are  well  off,  and  sigh  for  all  sorts 
of  unattainable  and  needless  luxuries ;  the  dulness  of  our 
small  colonial  townships  forms  a  much  greater  grievance  for 
a  man  of  intellect  to  contend  with,  than  any  sameness  of 
food  question  does,  and  to  it  alone  can  be  attributed  the 
extent  to  which  many  a  good  man,  who  would  hold  his  own 
in  Sydney  or  London,  or  any  other  centre  of  intellect,  and  , 
never  fall,  flies  to  the  arms  of  Dr.  Martell  or  Dr.  James 
Hennessy  for  consolation,  and  learns,  too  late,  what  kind  of 
an  article  in  that  line  they  dispense.  And  yet,  a  country 
town  in  Australia  is  no  duller  than  one  in  England. 

The  gold  discovery  Imsiness  is  about  played  out  now  in 
America  and  Australia  ;  M'e  have  derived  some  solid  benefits 
from  it  in  the  shape  of  vested  wealth,  so  let  us  hold  on  to 
them  all  we  can,  and  not  let  them  go  ;  and  the  best  way 
to  do  this,  is  to  drop,  at  once  and  for  ever,  all  the  habits 
of  luxury  that  came  in  with  the  zenith  of  the  gold  times, 
and  return  to  the  primitive  days  of  1849  as  regards  our 
ideas  of  style  and  expenditure.  We  should  then  soon  think 
and  see  hoiv  rich,  not  how  poor,  we  are. 

Where  is  the  enchantress  so  potent  as  Memory  1  Not 
Circe,  nor  Thalaba,  nor  Ormandine  can  weave  so  sweet  a 
spell  around  us.  In  a  moment,  in  a  dream,  a  few  music 
notes  of  an  old  sweet  simple  tune,  unheard  and  forgotten 
since  the  dear  dead  mother  or  grandam  sang  us  to  sleep 
with  it  half-a-century  before — come  back  unbidden,  and  lo  ! 
a  veil  is  lifted.  The  shifted  scene  of  old  Father  Time  slides 
back  again  for  a  brief  space,  and  the  lump  in  our  throat 
rises  simultaneously  with  a  delicious  and  reckless  excite- 
ment and  glamour  as  we  are  once  more  intoxicated,  in  sober 
old  age,  with  one  maddening  glimpse  of 

The  home  of  our  chiUlhood,  the  haunts  of  our  prime, 
P 


66  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

And  then  the  young  wife  takes  up  the  parable  of  music 
for  us  where  the  mother  and  grandam  have  dropped  it,  and, 
despite  the  baby,  her  skilled  fingers,  trained  by  constant 
"  exercises,"  render  us  the  masterpieces  of  the  French  and 
German  school,  with  Italy  and  Hungary  thrown  in. 

Why  should  Memory  die  1  Why  should  the  past  glide 
from  us  and  be  forgotten  1  How  dearer  now  it  seems  than 
it  did  when  it  was  with  us  and  was  called  "  the  present !  " 
Long  live  Memory,  say  I,  for  nought  else  in  heaven  or  earth 
can  compare  with  its  sweet  litheness,  its  tender  magic,  with 
the  music  that  comes  to  us  again  in  dreams ;  music  which 
in  warm  life  played  to  us  in  the  years  that  glowed  and 
faded  so  long  ago.  Enough.  Let  me  pass  from  the  general 
to  the  particular — from  the  abstract  to  the  concrete,  and 
regard,  with  my  mind's  eye,  the  men  whom  Wentworth's 
genius  decreed  should  form  the  first  real  Parliament  of 
Australia,  drawn  from  all  the  eastern  half  of  the  continent. 
How  bright  and  young  were  Australia  and  ourselves  then  ! 
Can  it  be  that  so  many  of  them  are  now  not  here  1  Plun- 
kett,  Murray,  Martin,  Lang,  Darvall,  Arnold  Holt,  Henry 
Piddington,  Nicholson,  Cowper,  Donaldson — not  to  mention 
the  northern  men  :  Macalister  and  CribVj.  Ay,  the  inexor- 
able scythe  hath  been  mowing,  and  old  Sydney  sufFereth  a 
change ;  and  the  sepulchres  are  fuller  and  the  living  who 
sprang  from  the  dead  abound  and  are  more  and  more  with 
us.  Above  all  Memory -still  lives,  and  they  live  with  her, 
God  bless  Memory,  say  I,  for  what  were  life  without  her. 
But  what  of  these  early  men  whose  genius  and  ability  are 
in  memory  green  spots  of  the  past !  Draw  back  the  curtain 
of  time,  and  let  us  see. 


->^^M-<^ 


CHAPTER  IV.  "^ 

The  Curtain  of  Time  drawn  back— Early  Men  of  Mark — 
Their  Deeds  of  History — Major-General  Macqctarie — 
His  Period  of  Governorship — William  Forster— A 
Literary  Legislator — A  Marked  Career — Edward  Deas- 
Thomson — William  Charles  Wentworth— The  Father 
OF  THE  Constitution. 


Major-General   Lachlan   Macquarie,    Fifth  Governor 
OF  New  South  Wales. 


ACHLAN  MACQUARIE  was   born  in 

Scotland  in  1768.  He  Joined  the  army 
at  the  early  age  of  eighteen  ;  in  course 
of  time  he  became  lieutenant-colonel  in 
the  73rd  regiment.  When  news  reached 
, .  u,  the  Secretary  for  the  Colonies  of  the 
<vJ.^doings  of  the  New  South  Wales  Corps  and 
-'  the  deposition  of  Governor  Bligh,  Lord 
■Castlereagh  looked  about  for  a  man  possessed  of  firmness 
and  decision  to  take  up  the  reins  of  Government  of  New 
South  Wales,  then  in  a  state  approaching  anarchy.  His 
choice  fell  upon  Lieutenant-Colonel  Macquarie.  Mac- 
quarie took  up  his  new  office  on  December  28th,  1809, 
and  one  of  his  first  acts  was  to  despatch  the  New 
South  Wales  Corps  to  India  with  a  detachment  of  the 
73rd  regiment.  After  this  he  bent  his  energies  to  put 
the  institutions  of  the  country  in  fair  working  order. 
This  proved  no  easy  task,  for  he  had  to  fight  against 
vested  interest,  which  had  arisen  under  the  rule  of 
former  governors.     At  this  time  the  colony  was  in  a  sad 


68  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

state  of  poverty.  Sydney  practically  consisted  of  a  number 
ojp  huts  and  tents,  and,  as  might  be  expected  from  the  class 
of  people  who  then  formed  the  population,  vice  of  every 
kind  was  rampant.  The  population  totalled  11,590  persons,, 
nearly  the  whole  of  them  being  made  up  of  officials  and 
convicts.  He  declared  null  and  void  all  the  actions  of  the 
officers  of  the  New  South  Wales  Corps  in  connection  with 
the  deposition  of  Governor  Bligh.  Floods  on  the  Hawkes- 
bury  had  brought  destitution  on  the  farmers  in  that  district. 
The  Governor  paid  the  district  a  visit  and  took  active 
measures  to  relieve  the  distress,  distributing  relief  where 
necessary,  and,  by  his  assistance  and  sympathy,  revived  the 
spirits  of  the  settlers.  He  had  marked  out,  sites  for  town- 
ships, and  gave  the  settlers  allotments  for  residences  as  well 
as  for  cultivation.  He  supplied  them  too  with  stock  on 
the  easiest  terms.  He  then  commenced  the  making  of  roads- 
and  the  erection  of  bridges  wherever  they  were  likely  to  be 
of  use,  and  might  lead  to  settlement.  At  this  time  there 
existed  a  beaten  track  between  Sydney  and  Parramatta,  a 
portion  of  which  is  now  George-street.  This  road  was  sub- 
sequently continued  on  to  Windsor,  and  from  being  a 
miserable  cart  track  was  soon  made  into  as  fine  a  road  as 
could  be  desired  anywhere.  He  then  commenced  the  road 
over  the  Blue  Mountains  from  Sydney  to  Bathurst,  a  distance 
of  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles — a  stupendous  work  at  that 
time,  and,  indeed,  would  be  considered  a  work  of  considerable 
magnitude  in  the  present  day.  It  may  be  mentioned  that 
it  was  not  until  181.3  that  the  feat  of  crossing  the  Blue 
Mountains  was  accomplished  by  William  Charles  Went- 
worth,  Gregory  Blaxland,  and  William  Lawson,  and  the 
famous  Bathurst  plains  thereby  opened  up  for  settlement. 
If  Governor  Macquarie  was  more  remarkable  for  one  thing 
than  another,  it  was  for  the  way  in  which  he  caused  public 
buildings  to  be  erected,  not  only  in   Sydney,  but  in  all  the 


GOVERNOR    MACQUARIE.  69 

towns  of  the  colony.  Courtliouses,  churches,  hospitals, 
gaols,  barracks — all  were  built  under  his  direction.  The 
present  Parliament  houses  of  New  South  Wales,  the  Sydney 
mint,  Hyde  Park  barracks,  now  used  for  various  court 
purposes,  and  the  present  Supreme  Courthouse  among  the 
rest.  In  fact  he  erected  no  less  than  two  hundred  and 
three  public  buildings  in  the  colony,  in  addition  to  forty- 
seven  built  in  Van  Diemen's  Land. 

Governor  Macquarie's  manner  of  dealing  with  the  convict 
population  was  humane  in  comparison  with  his  pi'ede- 
cessors.  He  believed  that  punishment  should  be  meted  out 
to  the  convict  with  a  view  to  deter  him  from  crime  as  well 
as  to  punish  him  for  the  commission  of  it.  A  parliamentary 
committee  appointed  to  inquire  into  transportation,  in  1812, 
paid  a  high  tribute  to  the  efforts  made  by  the  Governor  in 
this  direction.  He  had  to  suffer,  it  is  true,  the  enmity  of 
the  class  who  had  resigned  their  posts  in  the  New  South  Wales 
Corps  when  that  body  was  ordered  to  India— a  class  who 
thought  that  the  colony  and  the  convicts  were  made  for 
their  special  use,  and  abuse  too.  Before  his  departure  from 
the  colony,  this  section  of  the  community  preferred  certain 
complaints  against  him.  But  his  manly  and  straightforward 
defence  was  a  complete  refutation  of  the  charges.  He 
described  the  condition  of  the  colony  on  his  arrival,  explained 
what  he  had  done,  and  then  set  out  the  state  in  which  he 
had  left  the  colony.  The  population  had  increased  more 
than  threefold,  and  prosperity  and  progress  existed  every- 
where. Property  and  stock  had  increased  tenfold.  The 
revenue  increased  nearly  fourfold,  and  public  buildings  and 
roads  were  to  be  seen  in  all  parts  of  the  colony.  These 
facts  were  plain  and  unanswerable. 

Before  his  departure  from  the  colony  he  became  Major- 
General,  and  was  presented  with  a  gold  cup  by  the  inhabi- 
tants as  a  protest  against  the   calumnies  of  a  few  of  their 


70  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

number,  and  as  evidence  of  the  popularity  and  esteem  in 
which  he  was  held.  Governor  Macquarie's  rule  commenced 
28th  December,  1809,  and  ended  1st  December,  1821.  He 
left  Sydney  loth  February,  1822,  and  died  in  London  1st 
July,  1824. 

The  Honourable  William  Forster. 

Among  the  men  who,  in  the  early  days  of  responsible 
government,  formed,  and  moulded  the  public  life  of  the 
colony,  none  is  more  deserving  of  notice  than  that  of  the 
late  William  Forster. 

William  Forster  was  born  at  Madras  in  1818 ;  he 
arrived  in  Sydney  when  eleven  years  old.  He  was,  like 
most  of  the  leading  men  of  his  day,  educated  by  Mr.  W. 
T.  Cape.  After  completing  his  education  he  went  into  the- 
interior  of  the  colony,  and  entered  on  squatting  pursuits. 
While  thus  engaged  he  followed  up  his  literary  work,  and 
supplied  many  contributions  to  the  Sydney  press  dealing 
with  the  political  questions  which  then  agitated  the  public 
mind.  He  took  the  side  of  the  squatters,  and,  in  an  able 
and  most  effective  way,  defended  their  rights.  He  strongly 
opposed  the  action  of  Sir  George  Gipps  and  his  regulations 
respecting  the  pastoral  interests.  About  this  time  Sir 
James  Martin  was  editor  of  the  Atlas,  and  Mr.  Forster 
published  a  clever  satire,  entitled,  "  The  Devil  and  the 
Governor."     In  it  the  following  passage  occurred  : — 

"  I  grant  you  the  praise  you've  fairly  won 

By  the  deeds  you  do  and  the  deeds  you've  done  ; 

I  know  that  as  causes  corrupt  the  mind 

Like  the  chains  hy  which  tyrants  have  crushed  mankind. 

That  the  blighting  touch  of  a  despot's  rod 

Kills  in  man's  spirit  the  breath  of  God. 

Tliat  the  pui-pose  he  bade  your  race  fulfil 

Is  not  for  the  meek  slave's  fettered  will, 


WILLIAM    FORSTER.  71  ' 

That  the  cherishing  light  of  the  holy  skies 

Falls  barren  and  vain  upon  servile  eyes, 

That  the  weeds  of  evil  will  thrive  their  best 

^Yhere  the  fair  shoots  of  nature  are  clipped  and  drest  ; 

Yes,  under  those  climes  where  the  poisonous  brood 

Of  error  is  nursed  by  solitude — 

Where  souls  are  bowed  by  the  weight  they  bear. 

Where  their  moral  sky  looks  dark,  and  their  air 

Is  thick  with  the  filth  that  bondage  breeds, 

I  scatter  my  foul  and  fertile  seeds — • 

Where  most  I  am  bent  on  man's  undoing 

The  tyrant  assists  my  work  of  ruin." 

This  at  once  brought  him  into  prominence  as  a  man 
possessed  of  no  mean  critical  ability,  and  it  bore  testimony  to 
a  cultured  and  refined  literary  cast  of  mind.  He  wrote, 
among  other  poems,  a  sonnet  on  Russia : — 

"  'Twixt  east  and  west  a  giant  shape  she  grew, 

To  both  akin,  and  making  both  afraid. 
Casting  a  lurid  shadow  on  the  new 

And  ancient  world,  her  greedy  eyes  betrayed 
The  tiger's  heart,  and  ominously  surveyed 

The  people  destined  for  her  future  prey  ; 
From  Polar  steppes  and  ice-encumbered  seas 

To  where  the  warm  and  blue  Symplegades 
Darken  the  splendour  of  a  ( Irecian  day. 

She  stretched  her  long  grasp,  conquering  by  degrees  ; 
And,  when  at  length  the  banded  nations  rose 

In  armed  resistance,  their  combined  array 
With  equal  arms  she  shrunk  not  to  oppose, 

But  bravely  stood,  as  still  she  stands,  at  bay." 

On  the  attainment  of  Responsible  Grovernment,  Mr.  Forster 
sat  in  the  House  as  member  for  the  Murray  electorate.  At 
other  times  he  represented  East  Sydney,  St.  Leonards,  The 
Hastings,  Queanbeyan,  Illawarra,  The  Murrumbidgee,  and 
Gundagai.  He  commenced  as  a  supporter  of  the  Cowper 
Ministry.     He,   however,   opposed   their  education   policy, 


72  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

being  in  favour  of  a  purely  secular  system.  Having 
ousted  the  Administration,  he  was  called  upon  to  form  a 
Government.  He  succeeded  in  getting  together  a  Ministry, 
in  which  Mr.  Saul  Samuel  (now  Sir  Saul)  became  Colonial 
Treasurer,  Mr.  John  Black,  Minister  for  Lands;  Mr.  Geoffrey 
Eagar,  Minister  for  Works,  Mr.  E.  Wise  (afterwards  Judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court)  Attorney-General,  and  Mr.  J.  F.  Har- 
grave  (afterwards  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court)  Solicitor- 
General.  M  r.  Forster's  cabinet  remained  in  power  till  March, 
1860.  It  was  then  defeated  on  its  Upper  House  Electoral 
Bill,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  Robertson-Covvper  Ministry. 
When  Sir  James  Martin  formed  his  Ministry  in  1863,  Mr. 
Forster  was  offered  and  accepted  the  position  of  Colonial 
Secretary.  The  Ministry  lasted  until  February,  1865,  when 
they  were  defeated  on  their  protectionist  proposals.  In 
October,  1868,  he  is  found  taking  office  as  Minister  for 
Lands  under  Sir  John  (then  Mr.)  Robertson,  when  he 
resigned  in  1870.  He  again  took  office  with  Sir  John 
Robertson  in  February,  1875,  In  October  of  that  year  he 
left  for  England  as  Agent-General,  an  office  then  held  by 
Sir  Charles  Cowper,  vvhose  health,  however,  had  incapacita- 
ted him  from  fully  performing  the  duties.  He  was  tendered 
a  banquet,  which  took  place  at  the  Town  Hall,  a  large  num- 
ber of  his  fellow  colonists,  of  all  shades  of  opinion,  being 
present  to  do  him  honour. 

Sir  Charles  Cowper  having  died  in  1876,  Mr.  Forster 
received  the  appointment,  which  position  he  held  till  the 
end  of  1880,  when  he  was  recalled  by  the  Parkes  Govern- 
ment. Sir  Saul  Samuel,  the  present  Agent-General,  was 
appointed  to  the  post.  Mr.  Forster  returned  to  Sydney  in 
the  early  part  of  1881.  He  found  on  his  arrival  that  he 
had  been  elected  to  a  seat  in  the  Legislative  Assembly  for 
the  electorate  of  Gundagai.  He  took  his  seat  on  the  oppo- 
sition side  of  the   House,  the  Parkes   Ministry  being  then 


WILLIAM    PORSTER.  73 

in  office.  Some  time  before  his  return  to  the  colony,  the 
question  of  his  removal  from  tlie  office  of  Agent-General 
was  debated  in  the  House,  as  it  was  considered  by  a  large 
section  of  the  people  and  parliament  that  a  great  injustice 
had  been  done  to  him  by  his  removal  from  the  Agent- 
Generalship.  It  was  said  that  the  principal  cause  of  his 
removal  was  a  bold,  if  imprudent  letter  which  he  addressed 
to  Sir  Henry  Parkes.  It  was  at  the  same  time  acknow- 
ledged by  even  liis  political  opponents  that  he  filled  the 
office  in  a  most  efficient  manner.  During  the  later  years 
he  attended  to  his  parliamentary  duties,  and  although  recog- 
nised as  the  leader  of  tlie  Opposition  he  never  asserted  the 
right  to  the  position.  The  question  of  the  opening  of  the 
museum  and  library  on  Sunday  came  up  for  discussion  at  this 
time.  Mr.  Forster  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  debate,  being 
a  champion  of  secular  education.  In  his  speech  on  a  motion 
affirming  the  desirability  of  opening  these  institutions  on 
Sundays,  he  said,  "  I  do  not  record  the  vote  which  I  am 
about  to  give  on  any  religious  sanction.  I  do  not  say  but 
that  I  respect  them,  or  that  I  am  without  religious  sanction 
for  the  votes  which  I  am  about  to  give ;  but  it  seems  to  me 
that  in  this  particular  case  a  view  more  consistent  with 
public  opinion,  and  the  tendency  of  the  colony  may  be 
taken.  It  appears  to  me  that  the  main  object  of  this  reso- 
lution is  that  it  proposes  to  make  use  of  the  Government 
and  of  our  public  institutions  to  enforce  dogma — to  enforce 
a  particular  view  of  a  religious  question.  I  am  not  one  of 
those  who,  as  it  has  been  assumed,  repudiate  the  institution 
of  tlie  Sabbath  as  a  day  of  rest  for  the  working  man,  but  I 
do  protest  against  a  particular  view  of  this  day  of  rest  being 
enforced  by  the  authority  of  the  Government  or  of  Parlia- 
ment ;  and  it  is  upon  this  ground  that  I  protest  against 
this  resolution.  I  object  to  the  House  or  the  Govei'nment 
being  called  upon  to  enforce,  through  the  authority  of  public 


74  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

bodies,  any  doctrine  so  inconsistent  with  our  previous  ten- 
dency— with  the  course  which  we  have  taken  in  public 
affairs  from  the  time  responsible  government  was  instituted. 
We  have  abolished  State  aid — we  have  announced  to  the 
world  that  we  have  no  national  religion — that  religion  is  a 
thing  to  be  left  to  the  consciences  of  the  people,  and  not  to- 
be  controlled  by  the  authority  of  the  State.  We  have,  I 
am  told,  adopted  secularism  in  our  national  schools,  though 
I  do  not  think  they  are  thoroughly  secular.  It  seems  to 
me  that  the  teaching  in  the  public  schools  embodies  a  good 
deal  of  dogmatic  theology ;  and  I  hope  the  time  will  come 
when  we  shall  go  on  in  the  path  in  which  we  have  hitherto 
trodden,  and  that  we  shall  make  our  public  schools  thoroughly 
secular.  A  country  which  has  adopted  this  policy,  which 
boasts  that  it  has  gone  ahead  of  the  mother  country  in 
lilieral  views,  would  be  thoroughly  disgraced  by  adopting  a 
resolution  of  tliis  kind.  To  carry  this  resolution  would 
simply  be  a  triumph  of  narrow  sectarianism,  of  a  spirit 
altogether  opposed  to  that  of  our  institutions,  to  the  course 
which  the  colony  has  taken  hitherto.  I  hope  the  House  will 
not  take  this  retrogade  step,  but  if  honourable  members 
should  assent  to  the  motion,  I  have  no  doubt  that  their 
action  will  be  reversed  before  long.  Any  Government 
which  relies  for  support  upon  narrow  sectaiian  feeling  will 
rely  on  a  broken  reed  ;  and  however  strong  the  present 
Government  may  be,  they  will  put  their  strength  to  a  very 
dangerous  test  if  they  venture  to  base  it  on  any  support 
like  this."  Although  in  favour  of  secular  education,  he 
strongly  championed  denominational  independence,  which 
he  considered  "  the  only  bulwark  we  had  against  the  very 
worst  despotism — the  despotism  of  democracy." 

When  the  news  of  his  death  was  announced  to  the  House^ 
regret  for  the  event  and  admiration  for  his  high  character 
and  great  abilities  were  expressed  from  all  sides  of  the  House^ 


WILLIAM    FORSTER.  75- 

Sir  Henry  Parkes,  who  was  Premier  at  the  time,  and  a  most 
uncompromising  opponent  of  the  deceased,  spoke  as  fol- 
lows : — "  It  is  my  painful  duty  to  move  what  had 
become  the  practice  of  this  House — that  the  House  adjourn 
in  respect  to  his  memory.  The  name  of  Mr.  William 
Forster  had  been  before  the  public  of  the  colony  for  over 
thirty  years.  I  think  it  is  thirty  yeai's  since,  sitting  in  that 
gallery,  I  heard  Mr.  Wentworth,  in  one  of  his  great  speeches,, 
make  a  long  quotation  from  one  of  Mr.  Forster's  satires. 
I  became  acquainted  with  Mr.  Forster  on  the  very  tirst  day 
of  the  meeting  of  the  tirst  Parliament,  and  though  it  might 
surprise  younger  and  newer  members  of  that  House, 
for  several  years  I  lived  on  the  most  cordial  terms  of  rela- 
tionship with  him  as  a  member  of  the  House  together  with 
my  honourable  friend  behind  me — Sir  John  Robertson. 
We  worked  together  in  the  early  years  of  responsible 
government,  and  our  votes  were  recorded  on  the  same  side 
in  almost  every  struggle.  I  therefore  had  opportunities  of 
judging  of  the  value  of  the  late  member  equal  to  those  of 
any  other  meml)er  of  the  House.  I  heard  his  first  speech, 
I  saw  all  his  early  struggles,  I  witnessed  all  his  actions  on  both 
sides  of  the  House  from  first  to  last.  Mr.  Forster  had  now 
passed  away  across  that  dividing  line  which  effaces  all  per- 
sonal dissensions,  and  in  watching  his  figure  retiring  into  the 
land  of  shadows,  we  can  only  remember  the  services  he  has 
rendered  here.  Not  only  was  he  a  contributor  to  our  public 
political  literature  of  very  considerable  eminence,  but  when 
he  tirst  l)ecame  a  member  of  this  House  in  1856  he  devoted 
himself  to  the  movement  for  the  extension  of  political  privi- 
leges. It  is  not  generally  known  in  our  day,  but  it  is  a  fact 
known  to  many,  that  he  was  the  originator  of  the  Electoral 
Act.  It  was  he  who  suggested  nearly  all  the  most  essential 
provisions  of  the  measure,  which  afterwards,  under  the  aus- 
pices of  Mr.  Cowper  and  my  honourable  friend  behind  me — Sir 


76  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

John  Robertson — passed  into  law.  We  all  of  us  know  with 
what  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  circumstances  of  the 
country,  with  what  a  fearless  examination  of  the  public 
business  of  parliament,  with  what  fearless  opposition  to  all 
abuses,  with  what  steadiness  of  purpose,  he  supported  every 
cause  which  he  once  espoused  ;  with  what  sleepless  vigour 
he  opposed  anything  which  he  believed  to  be  wrong.  We 
all  know  those  striking  distinguishing  qualities  in  the  late 
member.  We  all  of  us  see,  I  am  quite  sure,  and  acknow- 
ledge, that  there  cannot  be  higher  qualities  in  a  representa- 
tive of  the  people  in  this  or  any  other  land.  Mr.  Forster 
has  now  passed  for  ever  from  our  ranks,  and  neither  this 
House  nor  any  other  Legislature  can  well  afford  to  lose  a 
member  so  distinguished  in  education,  so  distinguished  in 
practical  knowledge  of  this  country,  and  so  distinguished 
by  ability  to  give  effect  to  what  he  believed.  We,  there- 
fore, not  only  deplore  his  sudden  death,  and  offer  our  best 
consolation  to  his  bereaved  friends,  but  we  mourn  what  is 
indeed  a  great  public  loss,  and  a  loss  to  the  representative 
quality  of  this  House."  This  graceful  tribute  was  well 
received  by  the  House. 

The  leader  of  the  Opposition,  the  late  Sir  Alexander 
Stuart,  followed,  and  said: — "I  rise  with  no  ordinary  feel- 
feelings  of  sorrow  to  second  the  motion  of  the  Colonial 
Secretary.  In  the  death  of  Mr.  Forster  we  are  called  upon 
to  mourn  one  who  can  be  ill  spared  at  this  juncture.  Even 
those  who  have  most  keenly  felt  his  invective  or  his  caustic 
sarcasm  will  acknowledge  that  in  the  loss  of  Mr.  Forster 
we  lose  a  man  of  great  ability,  a  man  of  cultured  intellect, 
and  a  man  who  could,  and  did  make  himself  heard  on  every 
question  affecting  the  public  welfare  of  the  colony  since 
ever  he  took  part  in  public  life.  If  such  are  the  feelings 
■of  his  public  foes,  1  can  hardly  express  the  feelings  with 
which  we,  on  this  side  of  the  House,  learned  of  the  depar- 


EDWARD    DEAS-THOMSON.  77' 

ture  of  our  friend.  We  feel  that  we  have  lost  our  brightest 
ornauient.  Our  greatest  champion  is  laid  low  ;  his  voice  is 
no  longer  heard  ;  and  we  feel  that  our  greatest  debater  has 
gone  from  us — one  whom,  not  only  we,  but  the  whole  country, 
can  ill  afibrd  to  lose." 

Although  Mr.  Forster  was  a  politician — indeed  the  title 
of  statesman  might  be  applied  to  him  more  than  to  most  of 
the  politicians  of  New  South  Wales — still  it  cannot  be  said 
that  he  was  a  'p7-actical  politician.  He  was  most  difficult  to 
deal  with  in  a  ministry.  He  was  more  a  critic  than  an 
administrator. 

Sir  Edward  Deas-Thomson,  C.B.,  K.C.M.G. 

Generally  speaking,  the  old  Imperial  officials  who  practi- 
cally governed  the  colony  in  its  early  days,  proved  themselves 
antagonistic  to  the  inhabitants  and  threw  obstacles  in  the 
way  whenever  the  people  endeavoured  to  obtain  some  of 
the  popular  privileges  to  which  they  considered  themselves 
entitled.  It  is  pleasing  now  to  look  back  upon  the  work  of 
Sir.  E.  Deas-Thomson,  who  could  not  by  any  means  be  in- 
cluded in  this  category.  Whilst  scrupulously  fulfilling  the 
duties  imposed  upon  him  by  his  high  and  responsible  office, 
he  never  forgot  that  the  people  had  rights.  Sir  Edward. 
Deas-Thomson  was  born  in  Edinburgh  June  1st,  1800,  and 
was  educated  at  the  high  school  of  that  city  ;  he  also  spent 
some  time  at  Harrow,  and  finished  at  Caen,  in  France.  He 
was  for  a  few  years  in  a  mercantile  house,  and  at  a  later 
period  he  introduced  the  system  of  double  entry  into  the 
book-keeping  accounts  in  the  office  of  the  Accountant-General 
of  the  Navy,  his  father  holding  that  position  at  tlie  time.  In 
1828  he  was  appointed  to  the  position  of  Clerk  of  the  Council 
in  New  South  Wales.  He  arrived  in  Sydney  on  the  24th 
December,  1828.  Five  years  after,  he  married  the  second- 
daughter  of  Sir  Richard   Bourke,  who  was  then  Governor- 


78  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

of  the  colony.  In  1837  he  was  appointed  to  the  position 
of  Colonial  Secretary  and  Registrar  of  Records,  at  the 
same  time  he  was  made  a  member  of  the  Legislative  Coun- 
cil, also  a  member  of  the  Executive  Council  The  first 
Council  under  the  "Constitution  Act  of  1842-43"  was 
inaugurated  by  Mr.  Deas-Thomson.  From  this  up  to  the 
time  of  the  new  constitution,  he  held  the  position  of  Colonial 
Secretary,  giving  the  greatest  satisfaction  to  all  parties  in 
the  country. 

Considering  that  Mr.  Deas-Thomson  held  almost  despotic 
power,  being  next  to  the  Governor,  it  is  evident  that  he 
filled  the  ofiice  which  he  held  with  the  utmost  impartiality. 
It  can  be  said  of  him  that  he  made  no  enemies  throughout 
the  whole  course  of  his  career.  When  the  committee  was 
appointed  to  draw  up  the  draft  of  the  New  Constitution, 
Mr.  Deas-Thomson's  name  was  found  alongside  that  of  W. 
C.  Wentworth,  and  throughout  the  whole  of  the  agitation 
it  is  remarkable  that  he  took  the  side  of  the  people  in  their 
endeavours  to  obtain  the  privileges  they  sought.  And  on 
the  passing  of  the  "  Constitution  Act  "  by  the  Legislative 
Council,  he  was  chosen,  with  Mr.  Wentworth,  to  proceed  to 
England  and  watch  its  passage  through  the  British  Parlia- 
ment. At  this  time  he  obtained  two  years'  leave  of  absence 
from  the  colony,  and  was  appointed  a  commissioner  to  the 
Paris  exhibition  in  1855.  He  retired  from  ofiice  just  after 
his  arrival  from  the  old  country  in  1856.  At  the  first 
election  under  the  "  New  Constitution  Act,"  Mr.  Deas- 
Thomson  was  one  of  the  first  requisitioned  to  come  forward 
for  one  of  the  city  constituencies.  But  his  health  not  being 
good  he  declined  the  honour  sought  to  be  conferred.  He 
however  accepted  a  seat  in  the  Upper  House,  and  was 
appointed  the  representative  of  the  Government  in  that 
cliamber.  Mr.  Deas-Thomson  took  an  active  part  in  the 
passing  of  the  Act  founding  the  University  of  Sydney,  and 


WILLIAM    CHARLES    WENTWORTH.  79 

was  one  of  its  first  senators.  Those  appointed  to  act  with 
hiui  in  1854  were  A.  J.  Hamilton,  E.  Broadhurst,  J.  B. 
Darvall,  Stuart  A.   Donaldson,  A.   Denison,  J.  Macarthur, 

F.  L.  S.  Merewether,  B.  O'Brien,  J.  H.  Plunkett,  W.  C. 
Wentworth,  Justice  Therry,  Rev.  W.  B.  Boyce,  Right  Rev. 
C.  H.  Davis,  and  Sir  Charles  Nicholson,  the  first  Chan- 
cellor being  Sir  Charles  Nicholson.  The  first  degrees  were 
conferred  in  1857,  A.  Renwick,  C.  Sutling,  and  W.  Sutling 
receiving  the  degree  of  B.A.  In  1859  Messrs.  M.  Burdekin, 
W.  C.  Curtis,  R.  M.  Fitzgerald,  E.  Lee,  D.  S.  Mitchell,  W. 
C.  Windeyer,  T.  W.  Johnson,  and  T.  Kinloch  had  conferred 
upon  them  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  In  1866  the 
LL.D.  degree  was  conferred  on  Messrs.  J.  S.  Patterson  and 

G.  H.  Stanley  ;  the  LL.B.  degree  in  1867  on  Mr.  F.  E. 
Rodgers  ;  that  of  MB.  in  1867  on  Mr.  P.  Smith  ;  and  that 
of  M.D.  in  1868  on  Mr.  C.  F.  Goldsbrough.  In  1865  Sir 
Edward  Deas-Thomson  was  elected  Chancellor  of  the  Uni- 
versity, which  position  he  retained  till  April,  1878,  retiring- 
then  owing  to  failing  health.  He  received  the  honour  of 
knighthood  in  1874,  having  been  made  a  Commander  of 
the  Bath  in  1856.     His  death  took  place  IGth  July,  1879. 

William  Charles  Wentworth. 

William  Charles  Wentworth  has  sometimes  been  alluded 
to,  as  incomparably  the  greatest  man  appearing  in  the 
annals  of  Australian  politics,  and  one  of  the  few  men 
mentioned  in  Nev/  South  Wales  history  worthy  the  title  of 
"  statesman."  Certainly,  considering  the  circumstances  of 
his  surroundings  during  his  public  career,  the  greatness  of 
the  man  must  be  acknowledged.  The  immense  amount  of 
labour  which  he  gave  to  the  crowning  work  of  his  life— the 
founding  of  the  Constitution — is  striking  testimony  to  this. 
William  Charles  Wentworth  was  born  at  Norfolk  Island  in 
1791,  his  father  being  at  the  time  the  surgeon-superintendent 


80  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

of  that  Island.  He  was  sent  to  England  when  seven  years- 
old  to  be  educated.  Young  Wentworth's  father  left  Norfolk 
Island  in  1805 — at  the  time  of  the  breaking-up  of  the 
establishment  there.  He  was  appointed  principal  surgeon 
on  his  arrival  in  New  South  Wales,  and  afterwards  held, 
the  position  of  Road  Trustee,  Treasurer  and  Superintendent 
of  Police,  and  Magistrate  of  the  Colony.  When  young. 
Wentworth  was  twenty -two  years  of  age  he  joined  Messrs. 
Lawson  and  Blaxland  in  that  exploring  expedition  which 
led  to  the  discovery  of  the  pass  over  the  Blue  Mountains 
and  the  Bathurst  Plains.  The  young  pioneers  suffered  con- 
siderable hardships  while  exploring  the  pass  and  the  then, 
unknown  regions  beyond.  The  great  benefits  bestowed  on 
the  colony  by  the  opening  up  of  the  vast  interior  can 
scarcely  be  adequately  gauged  at  the  present  day.  He  left 
the  colony  for  England  in  1817  with  a  view  of  reading  for 
the  Bar.  He  entered  as  a  student  at  Cambridge,  and  whilst 
there  he  published  his  "  Description  of  New  South  Wales," 
which  drew  the  attention  of  the  British  public  to  the  young 
colony.  The  book  was  well  written,  and  ran  through  several 
editions  in  a  few  years.  About  four  years  later  he  competed 
for  the  Chancellor's  Medal  for  the  best  English  poem  on 
Australasia.  This  production  took  only  second  place,  W. 
Mackworth  Praed,  afterwards  so  well  known  in  literary 
circles,  taking  first  honours.  On  leaving  Cambridge  he  was 
called  to  the  Bar,  and  returned  to  Sydney,  being  admitted 
there  in  1824.  It  may  be  well  to  mention  in  this  con- 
nection that  up  to  the  time  of  Mr.  Wentworth's  admission 
to  the  Bar,  both  branches  of  the  legal  profession  had  right 
of  audience  in  the  Supreme  Court,  but,  on  his  admission,  he 
and  Dr.  Wardell  moved  for  a  division.  Messrs.  Norton, 
Allen,  Chambers,  Garling,  Rowe,  and  Moore  appeared  for 
the  other  branch,  and  Chief  Justice  Forbes  ruled  in  favour 
of  the  lower  branch.     In  1827  the   division   was  made   by 


W.    C.    WENTWORTH.  81 

the  judges  allowing  all  practising  to  choose  which  branch 
they  preferred  to  follow.  Mr.  Wentworth  brought  out  with 
him  from  England  material  for  the  printing  of  a  news- 
paper, which  he  called  the  Australian,  Dr.  Wardell  and 
himself  being  co-editors.  The  first  number  of  this  paper 
appeared  on  October  14th,  1824,  At  that  time,  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind,  there  were  simply  two  classes  in  the  colony 
— the  Governor,  with  Crown-appointed  officials  who  were 
practically  responsible  to  nobody,  and  the  convict  class. 
The  generous  young  Australian  and  future  statesman  on 
many  occasions  sided  with  the  oppressed.  In  October,  1824, 
the  first  civil  jury  was  empanelled  at  Liverpool  by  Chief 
Justice  Forbes.  In  the  month  of  February,  1825,  the  first 
jury  was  empanelled  in  the  Supreme  Court,  when  Mr.  Went- 
worth and  Dr.  Wardell  appealed  for  the  Emancipasts  against 
the  compilation  of  the  lists.  The  application  was  disallowed, 
being  irregular.  In  1827  a  great  meeting  was  held  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Patriotic  Association.  Mr.  Wentworth 
spoke  strongly  on  the  question,  and  moved  the  adoption  of 
the  petition  in  favour  of  the  principle.  The  petition  was 
entrusted  to  Sir  James  Macintosh,  but  he  was  unsuccessful. 
On  the  accession  of  William  IV.,  an  address  of  congratula- 
tion to  the  Throne  was  moved  by  public  meeting.  Mr. 
Wentworth  moved  an  amendment  that  full  participation  in 
the  benefits  and  privileges  of  the  British  Constitution  should 
be  asked  for  New  South  Wales.  Mr.  Lethbridge  seconded 
the  amendment,  which  was  unanimously  adopted  by  the 
meeting.  The  Full  Court  decided,  three  years  later,  that 
under  the  statute  of  6th  George  IV.,  all  free  persons  were 
entitled  to  all  the  privileges  of  freedom.  This  decision 
settled  the  question  of  the  right  of  Emancipasts  to  sit  on 
juries,  and  put  an  end  to  the  military  jury  system,  which 
up  to  that  time  obtained  in  the  colony.  Mr.  Wentworth 
came    into     collision     with      Governor     Gipps     in     con- 


82  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

nection  with  the  purchase  of  a  large  tract  of  land  in  New 
Zealand.     In  concert  with  the  Consul  there,  Mr.  Busby  and 
others  had   acquired  ten   millions  of  acres  in  the   Middle, 
and    two  hundred   thousand  in   the  North   Island,   paying 
£200  each,  and   life  annuities  of  £100,  to  the  chiefs  who 
ceded.     In  1840  a   Bill  was  introduced  to  deal  with  these 
claims,  which   resulted  in  their  disallowance,  it  being  lield 
that  British  subjects  had  no  right  to  form  colonies  of  them- 
selves,    and    that    the    Maoris,    as    an    uncivilised    people, 
had   no   proprietary   privileges  or  right  of    legal  transfer. 
The  Bill  was  passed,  although  Mr.  Wentworth  personally  advo- 
cated his  claims  as  well  as  his  partner's  in  the  transactions. 
Undoubtedly  the  principal  work  of  Mr.  Wentwortli's  public 
career  was  the  working  out  of  the  Constitution,  the  great 
Act  whicli   handed  his  name  for  ever   down  to   posterity. 
In  October,  182.5,  the  first  public  meeting  held  in  New  South 
"Wales   bearing  on   the   popular  privileges,     the   names    of 
D'Arcy  Wentworth   and   William  Charles  Wentworth  are 
among  the  very  first  mentioned.     The  meeting  was  held  to 
prepare  an   address  to  Governor  Brisbane  on  his  departure 
from  New  South  Wales.     Mr.  Wentworth  being  one  of  the 
persons  present  appointed  to  present  the  address,  took  the 
opportunity  of  claiming  for  the  colony  the  right  of  repre- 
sentation with  taxation,  and  suggested  the  establishment  of 
a  House  of  Assembly  of  one  hundred  members.     In  1827 
another  meeting  was  held,  at  which  an  address  was  adopted 
and  sent  home  through  Mr.  Blaxland  for   presentation  to 
both    Houses    of    Parliament.       Two  years  later  a  further 
fight  was  made  for  Constitutional  privileges,   at  a  meeting 
held  in  the  Sydney  Court  House.     A  motion  was  moved  by 
Mr.  Wentworth,  and  seconded  by  Mr.  Lawson,  asking  for  a 
House    of  fifty  members,    and    asserting  the  right    of  the 
colonies  to  dispose  of  their  own  revenue. 

It  was   at  this  meeting  that  the  first  mention  was  made 


W.    C.    WENTWORTH.  83 

of  a  paid  Agent-General,  the  Governor  being  memorialised 
to  appropriate  £1,000  for  the  purpose.  Another  meeting 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Patriotic  Association  was  held  in 
1835  to  discuss  the  proposed  Constitution,  and  the  qualifi- 
cations of  meniV)ers  and  voters.  A  proposition  was  made 
to  have  an  Upper  and  Lower  House  ;  another  proposal  was 
that  there  should  be  one  House  of  fifty  members,  forty  to  be 
elective.  In  1841  still  another  meeting  was  held  to  petition 
the  Queen  to  extend  the  constitutional  privileges  of 
representation  to  the  colony,  alleging  that  the  existing 
legislature  was  neither  capable  nor  desirous  of  re- 
presenting the  community.  This  meeting  was  presided 
over  by  Dr.  Bland.  Several  other  meetings  were  held 
throughout  the  colony,  and  similar  resolutions  carried. 
On  January  5th,  1843,  news  was  received  in  Sydney  that, 
yielding  to  the  demands  of  reason  and  justice,  and  the 
clearly-expressed  desire  of  the  people,  the  Imperial  Parlia- 
ment had  passed  an  Act  (July  29th,  1842)  conferring  a 
Constitution  on  New  South  Wales  ;  so  that,  after  fifteen 
years'  agitation  on  the  part  of  the  colonists,  headed  by  Mr. 
Wentworth,  a  Representative  Council  was  granted,  The 
Council  consisted  of  fifty-four  members,  thirty-six  of  whom 
were  elective,  and  eighteen  nominated  by  the  Crown.  Four 
of  the  elective  members  were  to  represent  Port  Phillip,  and 
of  the  nominated  members  six  were,  by  virtue  of  their  offices — 
the  Colonial  Secretary,  Colonial  Treasurer,  Auditor-General, 
Attorney-General,  Commander  of  the  Forces,  and  the  Col- 
lector of  Customs.  A  freeholder  of  £200,  or  a  householder 
of  £20,  enjoyed  the  electoral  privilege  ;  £2,000,  or  an  annual 
income  of  £100,  was  the  qualification  of  member  of  Coun- 
cil, the  term  of  office  being  for  five  years.  Seven  years 
afterwards,  Tasmania,  South  Australia,  and  West  Australia 
were  likewise  allowed  the  elective  rights,  while  Port  Phillip 
was  erected  into  a  separate  colony  under  the  name  of  Vic- 


84  AUSTRALIAN    PIONKERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

toria.  The  Act  reduced  tlie  electoral  qualification  in  New 
South  Wales  and  Victoria.  In  18-1:3  the  first  election 
under  the  Constitution  took  place  in  Sydney,  five 
candidates  being  nominated.  On  June  15th,  Messrs. 
Wentworth  and  Bland  were  returned  by  a  large 
majority  over  Messrs.  O'Connell,  Cooper,  and  Hustler,  the 
other  candidates.  Open  voting  at  elections  was  then  in 
vogue,  and  great  damage  was  done  to  both  life  and  property 
owing  to  the  rioting  which  resulted.  In  the  month  of 
August  following,  the  first  Parliament  was  convened,  and 
was  inaugurated  by  Mr.  Deas-Thomson,  Colonial  Secretary. 
Mr.  Macleay  was  chosen  Speaker.  Amongst  legislation 
passed  during  this  first  session  were  an  Act  to  inquire  into 
the  working  of  the  Land  Laws,  a  Debtors'  Act,  Liens  on 
"Wool,  and  one  regulating  mortgages  of  live  stock.  At  this 
time  it  was  evident  that  Mr.  Wentworth's  liberalism  was 
on  the  wane  ;  that  he  was  slowly  becoming  more  con- 
servative. This  was  discernible  towards  the  latter  part  of 
the  movement  for  Responsible  Government.  Under  the 
"  Imperial  Act  of  1843  "  it  will  be  seen  that  the  members 
of  the  Ministry  were  nominees  of  the  Crown,  and  virtually 
irresponsible  to  either  Parliament  or  the  electors.  In  1851 
Mr.  Wentworth  tabled  a  motion  in  the  Council,  in  which  a 
petition  to  the  Queen  was  adopted,  praying  for  a  Constitu- 
tion similar  to  that  of  Canada,  and  requesting  the  entire 
surrender  of  all  revenues  and  legislative  rights  to  the 
Colonial  Legislature.  And  it  was  placed  on  the  Minutes 
of  the  House  that  all  offices  of  trust,  except  that  of  Gover- 
nor, should  be  conferred  by  the  colonists ;  that  the  public 
lands  and  all  the  departments  should  be  subject  only  to  the 
Colonial  Legislature  ;  that  the  Imperial  Parliament  had  no 
right  to  tax  the  colonists ;  and  that  plenary  powers  should 
be  conferred  on  the  Colonial  Legislature.  A  committee  was 
appointed  in  1852  to  prepare  a  Constitution ;  the  first  name 


W.    C.    AVENTAVORTH.  85 

on  that  committee  was  that  of  W.  C.  Wentworth.  Next 
year  a  despatch  was  received  from  the  Secretary  of  State 
for  the  Colonies,  ratifying  the  1851  resolution  of  the  Council, 
and  conveying  Her  Majesty's  wish  that  the  Council  should 
■establish  a  new  legislature  on  the  basis  of  an  elective 
Assembly,  and  a  nominee  Council.  A  second  committee 
to  frame  a  Constitution  was  then  appointed,  on  the  motion 
of  Mr.  Wentworth.  It  consisted  of  the  mover,  Messrs.  E. 
Deas-Thomson,  J.  Macarthur,  J.  H.  Plunkett,  C.  Cowper, 
J.  Martin,  C.  S.  Donaldson,  Macleay,  Thurlow,  and  Murray. 
On  the  report  being  brought  up,  it  was  found  to  contain  a 
recommendation  that  the  members  of  the  Upper  House 
should  receive  hereditary  titles,  and  constitute  a  colonial 
nobility,  whose  descendants  should  have  the  privilege  of 
electing  members  from  among  their  own  class.  Large  meet- 
ings of  protest  were  held.  The  Bill  was  condemned  as 
defective.  The  people  appeared  determined  to  have  no  con- 
stitution other  than  one  based  on  popular  suffrage.  Mr. 
Wentworth,  being  the  chief  mover  in  the  matter,  brought 
in  the  Bill,  making  a  powerful  and  statesmanlike  speech  in 
sujDport  of  it,  and  carried  it,  peerage  clause  and  all,  by  a 
large  majority.  The  debate  lasted  seven  days,  the  numbers 
being  :  for  the  Bill,  thirty-four,  and  against  it,  eight.  Three 
■days  after,  a  great  meeting  was  held  at  the  Circular  Quay 
in  condemnation  of  the  measure,  and  to  petition  the  Queen 
to  refuse  assent  to  the  Bill.  When  the  Bill  got  into  com- 
mittee in  the  Council,  the  peerage  clause  was  eliminated, 
and  the  nomination  of  members  for  life  was  inserted.  The 
measure  passed  its  third  reading  on  21st  December,  amid 
great  cheering,  by  twenty-seven  to  six.  During  the  suc- 
ceeding year,  Mr.  Wentworth  and  Mr.  Deas-Thomson  were 
commissioned  to  proceed  to  England  to  watch  the  passage 
of  the  Bill  through  the  British  Parliament.  Before  leaving 
for  England,  Mr.  Wentworth  was  the  recipient  of  a  great 


86  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

public  demonstration,  A  full  length  portrait  of  him  was 
placed  on  the  walls  of  the  Legislative  Assembly,  and  a 
service  of  plate  was  presented  to  him  by  the  people. 

A  sketch,  published  in  the  Australian  Portrait  Galleryy 
speaking  of  Mr.  Wentworth  after  the  meeting  of  the  first 
Parliament  under  Resi^onsible  Government,  said  : — "While 
the  subject  of  this  memoir  was  thus  occupied  in  building 
up  in  the  legislative  records  of  this  colony,  a  monument  to 
himself,  which  should  last  beyond  the  dreams  of  prophecy, 
he  was  also  engaged  from  time  to  time  in  other  labours  in 
the  public  interest.  His  life  was  a  compact  of  these  labours, 
and  it  may  be  justly  said  that  his  every  thought  and  energy 
were  expended  in  tlie  service  of  his  native  land.  In  1842 
the  great  woi-k  of  the  establishment  of  the  University  of 
Sydney  was  conceived  by  his  active  and  far-seeing  mind, 
and  with  that  ardour  which  he  threw  into  all  his  under- 
takings, and  the  electric  power  which  he  possessed  of 
influencing  his  contemporaries,  he  pushed  that  labour  on  to 
an  ultimate  success."  On  October  2nd,  in  the  year  named, 
he  made  an  eloquent  speech  in  his  place  in  the  Council  in 
favour  of  tne  project,  and  saw  the  Bill  passed  in  1850. 
His  services  in  this  connection  were  worthily  recognised  by 
the  wealth  and  culture  of  the  colony,  a  splendid  life-size 
statue  of  Mr.  Wentworth  being  placed  within  the  Great 
Hall  of  the  University  to  mark  the  public  appreciation  of 
his  efforts.  The  statue  was  unveiled  in  1862,  while  the 
person  thus  unusually  honoured  was  still  alive.  On  that 
occasion  Sir  James  Martin,  who  was  then  Premier,  delivered 
an  eulogistic  address  on  the  life  and  work  of  the  recipient  of 
the  distinction,  in  the  course  of  which  he  spoke  as  follows  : — 
"  The  next  and  the  last  of  his  public  acts,  I  shall,  on  this 
occasion  advert  to,  is  the  establishment  of  the  Sydney 
University.  With  that  noble  institution,  his  name  is  for 
ever  associated  as  its  founder.     Whatever  may  be  the  fate 


W.    C.    WENTWORTH.  87 

of  our  political  institutions,  how  great  soever  may  be  their 
vicissitudes,  here,  at  all  events,  is  an  institution  likely  to 
endure.  Hitherward,  in  future  times,  will  turn  the  steps 
of  those  who  feel  the  promptings  of  a  generous  ambition. 
Conquerors  in  the  realms  of  mind  they  will  go  forth  into 
the  world,  vivifying  the  dull  elements  around  them,  and 
arousing,  as  by  an  electric  shock,  the  sons  of  toil  and  trade 
and  commerce  to  a  conception  of  the  true  glories  of  the 
universe.  To  the  man  who,  in  this  early  stage  of  our  history, 
placed  these  splendid  oppoi'tunities  within  our  reach,  it 
cannot  be  thought  remarkable,  even  if  he  had  done  nothing 
more,  that  the  honour  of  a  public  statue  should  be  offered. 
Accordingly,  eight  years  ago,  his  friends,  comprising  not 
only  those  who  had  witnessed,  but  some  who  had  aided  him 
in  his  labours,  met  together  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  from 
the  colony  for  a  time,  and  determined  that,  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  his  many  services,  that  the  honour  should  be 
conferred  upon  him.  The  announcement  was  made  at  the 
moment  of  his  embarkation  amidst  the  cheers  of  his  friends 
and  the  disapprobation  of  a  few  who  regarded  him  as  the 
enemy  of  his  country.  He  who  had  done  so  much  for  the 
people,  and  had  often  been  greeted  with  their  loudest  huzzas, 
had  before  that  encountered  their  hootings  and  revilings ; 
but  no  one  knew  better  than  he  the  inconstancy  of  popular 
favour.  But  although  they  break  their  idols  as  often  as 
tliey  make  them,  the  people  in  the  long  run  learn  to  do 
justice  to  their  benefactors,  and  Mr.  Wentworth  has  enjoyed 
the  singular  good  fortune  of  living  to  see  conferred  on  him 
an  honour  which  is  usually  witnessed  only  by  a  man's  pos- 
terity, and  to  see  it  conferred  with  the  assent,  not  only  of 
those  who  have  ever  been  his  friends,  but  of  those  who  were 
the  most  bitter  of  his  opponents.  He  has  outlived  the  envy, 
hatred,  and  malignity  which  inevitably  cross  the  path  of 
every  man  who  becomes  eminent  in  public  life ;  and  now 


S8 


AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 


in  liis  green  old  age,  with  his  mind  still  clear,  and  his 
faculties  still  unclouded,  he  has  been  allowed  a  foretaste  of 
the  posthumous  renown  which  awaits  him."  Mr.Wentworth 
returned  in  T861.  He  was  received  with  another  popular 
demonstration,  political  opponents  as  well  as  friends  meet- 
ing to  do  him  honour.  He  remained  until  the  latter  part 
of  1862.  During  his  stay  he  was  appointed  President  of 
the  Legislative  Council.  His  family  went  to  England  with 
him  in  1862.  He  died  at  Merleigh  House,  Wimbourne, 
Dorsetshire,  March  30th,  1872.  In  accordance  with  his 
oft  expressed  wish  during  his  lifetime,  that  he  should  be 
buried  in  Australian  soil,  his  remains  were  brought  to  the 
colony,  and  a  public  funeral  accorded  him  May  6th,  1873. 
An  immense  concourse  of  people  attended  the  funeral.  Sir 
James  Martin  delivered  a  burial  oration,  the  remains  being 
interred  at  Vaucluse,  a  few  miles  from  the  city  of  Sydney, 
on  the  shores  of  the  harbour  of  Port  Jackson. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Early  Men  of  Genu's  and  Power — The  List  Continued — Sir 
Charles  Cowper  —  The  Anti-Transportation  Battle  — 
Sir  Terence  Aubrey  Murray— The  Strugcjle  for  Popu- 
lar Rights— Sir  James  Martin — A  Victim  to  Prejudice — 
A  Pioneer  of  Protection — Captain  Robert  Johnston, 
R.N. — Hon.  Robert  Towns — Thomas  Sutcliffe  Mort — 
Earliest  Meat  Freezing  Effort  —  "There  shall  be  no 
MORE  Waste  ! " 


The  Hon.  Sir  Charles  Cowper,  K.C.M.G. 


IR  CHARLES  COWPER,  although  born 
in  England,  may  almost  be  claimed  as  a 
native  of  the  colony,  having  come  to  Aus- 
tralia with  his  parents  when  only  two 
>  years  old.  He  was  born  at  Drypool,  York- 
(■rfXWi'''^f\i  ^'^"'®'  ^^^  April  26th,  1807.  He  was 
.ii^^Jf^cM,  educated  by  private  tutors.  His  first 
''^s^^  start  in  life  was  in  the  Commissariat 
Department,  the  Governor,  Sir  Thomas  Brisbane,  appoint- 
ing him  as  a  clerk,  young  Cowper  being  then  only 
eighteen  years  of  age.  In  the  following  year,  Governor 
Darling  appointed  him  Secretary  to  the  Church  and 
■School  Lands  Corporation,  which  position  he  held  until 
that  body  was  done  away  with  in  1833,  the  lands  reverting 
to  the  Crown  in  accordance  with  the  charter  under  which 
the  corporation  existed.  He  declined  an  appointment 
offered  him  by  Sir  Richard  Bourke.  He  then  entered  on 
pastoral  pursuits,  taking  up  stations  in  the  Argyle  district, 


90  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

and  others  on  the  Murray.  He  followed  this  business  for 
a  considerable  time.  He  had  such  a  liking  for  political 
warfare  that  it  somewhat  distracted  him  from  his  squatting 
pursuits.  He  contested  the  electorate  of  Camden  in  1843, 
being  opposed  by  Mr.  Roger  Therry,  who  was  then  Attorney- 
General,  the  latter  receiving  the  suppoi't  of  Mr.  James. 
Macarthur,  a  gentleman  who  wielded  great  influence  in  that 
electorate.  Notwithstanding  this,  Mr.  Cowper  was  only 
beaten  by  ten  votes.  Mr.  Macarthur  was  nominated  for 
Cumberland,  his  election  being  considered  certain.  Mr. 
Cowper's  friends,  being  displeased  with  his  opposition  to  his. 
candidature,  placed  him  in  nomination  against  Mr.  Macar- 
thur, and  secured  Mr.  Cowper's  return  by  a  large  majority. 
For  brilliancy  of  intellect  and  great  political  forethought, 
and  oratorical  ability,  the  men  who  composed  our  early  par- 
liaments and  those  who  held  the  reins  of  power  as  ministers, 
would  bear  fair  comparison  with  any  legislative  body  in  the 
world,  not  even  excepting  that  "  first  assembly  of  gentle- 
men in  the  world " — the  British  House  of  Conmions. 
Among  this  assemblage  of  talent,  Mr.  Cowper  always  held 
his  own,  as  is  abundantly  shown,  not  only  by  the  number 
of  times  he  was  Premier,  but  that  he  was  called  upon  to 
form  the  second  Ministi-y  under  Responsible  Government. 
Mr.  Cowper  took  a  leading  part  in  the  anti-transportation 
agitation.  He  was  a  most  uncompromising  opponent  of  the 
revival  of  transportation  to  any  of  the  colonies.  Altliough 
the  agitation  lasted  nearly  twenty  years,  Mr.  Cowper  never- 
departed  from  determined  opposition  to  convictism.  On 
1st  August,  1840,  Governor  Gipps  announced  to  the  Coun- 
cil that  transportation  to  the  colony  had  ceased.  Two  years 
afterwards  a  meeting  was  held  to  advocate  the  revival  of 
transportation,  and  soon  after  a  committee  was  appointed 
in  the  Council  to  consider  the  question.  This  committee 
reported  in  favour  of  the  revival.     The  first  meeting  of  the 


CHARLES    COWPER.  9lf 

public,  condemnatory  of  the  committee's  recommendation,, 
was  held  in  the  old  City  Theatre,  Sydney,  in  1846.  Mr. 
Cowper  presided,  and  moved  a  resolution,  "  that  the  meet- 
ing had  heai'd  with  the  deepest  feelings  of  alarm  and  regret 
that  it  was  proposed  to  renew  transportation  to  this  colony," 
and  that  they  "  could  not  conceive  any  circumstances  under- 
which  such  a  measure  would  be  desirable  or  justifiable."' 
The  Venerable  Archdeacon  McEncroe,  who  always  took  the 
humane  and  popular  side  in  the  early  struggles  for  the 
improvement  of  the  colony,  seconded  the  motion  in  an 
eloquent  speech,  and  a  petition  for  presentation  to  the  Coun- 
cil was  drawn  ujp.  The  petition  was  presented  on  the  last 
day  of  the  session,  and  the  motion  that  it  be  printed  was 
negatived.  In  February,  1849,  another  monster  meeting 
was  held  in  the  Victoria  Theatre  to  protest  against  the 
revival  of  transportation.  The  Venerable  Archdeacon 
McEncroe,  and  Mr.  Robert  Lowe  (afterwards  Lord  Sher- 
brooke),  addressed  the  meeting,  as  well  as  Mr.  Cowper,, 
and  a  petition  was  adopted  stating  that  "  they  felt  bound, 
humbly  but  tirmly,  to  represent  to  Her  Majesty,  that  it  was. 
their  duty  and  their  determination,  by  every  legal  and  con- 
stitutional means,  to  oppose  the  revival  of  transportation 
in  any  shape."  On  the  9th  March,  another  meeting  was 
held  in  the  Victoria  Theatre,  the  Mayor  presiding  on  this, 
occasion,  and,  as  at  the  previous  meeting,  the  principal 
speakers  were  the  Rev.  John  McEncroe,  Mr.  Cowper,  andl 
Mr.  Lowe.  In  June,  1849,  a  large  meeting  was  held  at  the 
Circular  Quay,  to  protest  against  the  misrepresentation  of 
the  Council  in  the  matter  of  transportation.  On  June  8th, 
1849,  the  "Hashemy,"  a  convict  ve.ssel,  arrived,  being  the- 
first  for  ten  years.  There  were  some  two  hundred  convicts. 
on  board.  The  meeting  referred  to  was  held  on  the  11th. 
June,  Mr.  Robert  Campbell  being  chairman.  There  was 
great  excitement  on  the  occasion,  the  guards  at  Government 


"92  AUSTRALIAX    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

House  being  doubled,  and  the  guns  of  a  man-of-warship 
made  ready  for  firing  on  the  crowded  meeting.  Mr.  Lamb 
moved  a  resolution  "  that  the  people  of  the  colony  protested 
^igainst  the  transportation  of  British  criminals  on  the  ground 
that  the  will  of  the  majority  was  against  it ;  that  numbers 
had  immigrated  on  the  assurance  of  the  British  Government 
that  the  custom  had  ceased  for  ever  ;  that  it  was  unjust  to 
sacrifice  the  social  and  political  interests  of  the  colony  for 
the  pecuniary  profit  of  the  few  ;  and  that  the  revival  of  the 
practice  would  tend  to  alienate  the  loyalty  of  the  British 
subjects  in  Australia."  Mr.  Lowe  seconded  the  resolution, 
and  Messrs.  Henry  Parkes,  G.  A.  Lloyd,  J.  R.  Wilshire, 
Grant  Peek,  Flood,  and  Dr.  Fullerton  were  among  those 
who  addressed  the  meeting.  A  deputation  presented  the 
petition  to  the  Governor,  and  requested  that  the  convict 
ship  be  sent  back  to  England.  This  request  was  refused, 
and  a  meeting  was  held  on  the  18th  June,  at  which  a  reso- 
lution was  passed  praying  for  the  removal  of  Earl  Grey 
from  her  counsels.  The  following  day  the  convicts  were 
landed,  and  were  drafted  to  the  different  parts  of  the  colony 
outside  the  County  of  Cumberland.  At  a  meeting  held  at 
the  old  barrack  square,  16th  September,  18-50,  the  Anti- 
Transportation  Association  was  formed.  Meetings  also 
took  place  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  at  which  strong 
expressions  of  opinion  were  voiced  on  the  question.  On 
July  29th,  18.51,  yet  another  meeting  was  held,  under  the 
presidency  of  Mr.  Cowper.  A  petition  was  adopted  stating 
that  "  the  petitioners  felt  compelled,  humbly  but  firmly,  to 
represent  to  Her  Majesty  in  person,  that  the  subterfuges, 
-evasions,  equivocations,  and  breaches  of  faith  practised 
towards  these  colonies  by  Earl  Grey,  had  unhappily  des- 
troyed all  confidence  in  His  Lordship's  administration  of 
colonial  aff'airs."  Messrs.  Cowper,  Parkes,  Kemp,  Arch- 
deacon McEncroe,  among  others,  spoke  on  the  occasion. 


THE    ANTI-TRANSPORTATION    BATTLE.  9$ 

Transportation  to  Tasmania  ceased  February  10th,  1853, 
and  on  26th  January,  1865,  the  announcement  was  made- 
that  in  three  years,  transportation  to  all  the  colonies  would 
end.  The  last  convict  ship  arrived  in  Western  Australia 
on  January  10th,  1868.  On  the  defeat  of  the  Donaldson 
Ministry,  in  1856,  Mr.  Cowper  was  entrusted  with  the- 
formation  of  a  new  Ministry.  It  was  composed  of  the 
following  gentlemen  : — Mr.  Robert  Campbell,  Colonial 
Treasurer  ;  Terence  Aubrey  Murray,  Minister  for  Lands- 
and  Works ;  Mr.  James  Martin,  Attorney-General  ;  and 
Mr.  Lutwyche,  Solicitor-General.  The  new  Ministry  were 
immediately  met  by  a  motion  of  censure,  which  was  moved 
by  Mr.  John  Hay,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  appointment 
of  Mr.  Martin  to  the  Attorney-Generalship,  he  having  been 
only  admitted  to  the  Bar  a  few  days  before.  The  vote  of 
censure  was  carried,  and  the  first  Cowper  Ministry  resigned) 
on  October  2nd,  1856.  Mr.  Watson  Parker  formed  the 
next  Government,  Mr.  John  Hay,  the  mover  of  the  resolu- 
tion which  ousted  the  Ministry,  taking  the  position  of 
Minister  for  Lands  and  Works,  and  Mr.  Donaldson  that  of 
Treasurer.  In  September,  1857,  the  Parker  Ministry  went 
out  of  office,  Mr.  Cowper  coming  in  again  as  Premier  and 
Colonial  Secretary ;  Mr.  Richard  Jones  was  Colonial 
Treasurer;  Mr.  Murray,  Lands  and  Works;  Mr.  Martin,. 
Attorney  -  General ;  and  Mr.  Lutwyche  Solicitor-General.. 
Mr.  Jones  afterwards  retired,  and  Mr.  Robert  Campbell 
again  rose  to  the  Treasurership.  On  Mr.  Campbell's  death, 
Mr.  E.  C.  Weekes  becoming  Treasurer,  Mr.  Murray  and. 
Mr.  John  Robertson  took  the  Lands,  and  Mr.  Flood  became 
Minister  for  Works.  Mr.  Martin  also  resigned  the  Attorney- 
Generalship,  Mr.  Lutwyche  becoming  Attorney  -  General ;. 
he,  in  turn,  being  succeeded  Ijy  L.  H.  Bayley  ;  Mr.  W.  B. 
Dalley  and  Mr.  Hargrave  as  Solicitors  -  General.  This 
Ministry  passed  the   "  Electoral  Act  of  1858,"  giving  man- 


'94  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

hood  suffrage,  vote  by  ballot,  and  the  division  of  the  colony 
into  electorates  on  a  population  basis.  In  October,  1859, 
the  Ministry  was  defeated  on  a  vote  of  censure  moved  by 
Mr.  William  Forster  relative  to  the  education  question. 
Mr.  Forster  formed  a  Ministry,  which  was,  however, 
defeated  in  March  following,  on  its  Upper  House  Electoral 
Bill.  Mr.  Robertson  formed  the  next  Ministry,  Mr.  Cow- 
per  being  Colonial  Secretary.  In  a  short  time  Mr.  Robertson 
'handed  over  the  Premiership  to  Mr.  Cowper,  whose  Ministry 
remained  in  office  from  January  10,  1861,  to  October  1.5, 
1863.  This  latter  consisted  of  Elias  Carpenter  Weekes, 
Colonial  Treasurer  ;  John  Robertson,  Minister  for  Lands  ; 
Mr.  W,  M.  Arnold,  Secretary  for  Public  Works;  J.  B. 
Darvall,  Attorney-General ;  J.  F.  Hargrave,  Solicitor-Gene- 
ral ;  and  Charles  Cowper,  Junior  Clerk  of  the  Executive 
'Council.  It  was  during  their  term  of  office  that  the  "Free 
Selection  before  Survey  Land  Act "  was  passed.  The 
"  Abolition  of  State  Aid  to  Religion  "  was  another  measure 
•enacted  by  this  Ministry,  which  when  defeated  in  October, 
1863,  was  succeeded  by  the  Martin  Ministry,  it,  in  turn, 
being  defeated  on  its  Protectionist  proposals  in  186.5. 
Mr.  Cowper  then  again  took  up  the  reins  of  office,  his 
colleagues  being  Messrs.  Smart,  Samuel,  and  Burdekin 
successively  as  Colonial  Treasurers  ;  Darvall  and  Plunkett 
successively  as  Attorneys-Genei'al  ;  Robertson,  Secretary 
for  Lands,  succeeded  by  W.  M.  Arnold ;  Arnold  and  Smart 
succeeding  each  other  as  Secretaries  for  Works,  and  J.  A. 
Cunneen  Postmaster-General.  The  Ministry  lasted  till 
•Januai'y,  1866,  when  Mr.  Henry  Parkes  defeated  them  on 
a  question  of  the  new  duties.  Mr.  Cowper  at  this  time 
retired  from  politics  for  some  four  years.  Mr.  Robertson 
then  invited  him  to  come  forward  and  assume  the  position 
of  Premier.  Thus  he  was  Premier  from  January  13th  to 
December  15th,  1870;  his  colleagues  were  Messrs.  Samuel  and 


TERENCE    AUI3REY    MURRAY.  95 

Forster,  succeeded  by  Messrs.  Robertson,  Sutherland,  Man- 
ning, Salomons,  Egan,  and  Robert  Owen.  He  took  the  post 
of  Agent-General  for  the  Colony  in  December,  1870,  start- 
ing for  England  immediately  to  enter  on  the  duties  of  that 
office,  which  he  held  until  1875,  when  his  health  broke  down. 
He  died  in  England  on  October  ■20th,  1875.  He  married 
in  1831,  Eliza,  second  daughter  of  Daniel  Sutton,  of 
"Wivenhoe,  near  Colchester,  England.  He  had  six  child- 
ren, the  present  Sheriff  of  New  South  Wales  being  his 
eldest  son.  His  brother  is  Dean  Cowpei",  a  leading  figure 
■among  the  members  of  the  Church  of  England  in  Australia. 
Sir  Charles  Cowper  was  knighted  in  1872,  an  honour  which 
the  recipient  highly  merited,  and  which,  at  that  time,  was 
rarely  bestowed.  Probably  there  has  been  no  political 
leader  in  the  colony  of  New  South  Wales  who  filled  the 
position  of  Premier  with  such  marked  success  at  all  times. 
He  not  only  had  the  faculty  of  making  friends,  but  also  of 
keeping  them. 

Sir  Terence  Aukkey  Murray,  Kt.   B. 

Terence  Aubrey  Murray  was  born  in  Limerick,  Ireland, 
in  1810.  His  father  accepted  an  official  appointment  in 
New  South  Wales.  After  a  residence  of  about  seven 
years,  he  paid  a  visit  to  the  old  country,  and,  on  his  return 
to  the  colony,  he  brought  with  him  his  son,  who,  up  to  that 
time,  had  been  educated  at  home.  Soon  after  his  arrival 
he  went  to  Lake  George,  and  started  sheep-farming  on  his 
father's  land.  He  returned  to  Sydney  in  1833.  He  was 
gazetted  a  magistrate  of  the  territory  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
three,  Avhen  he  took  an  active  part  with  Mr.  Waddy  in  the 
efforts  put  forth  against  the  bushrangers,  who  at  that  time 
were  very  active  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  When 
the  New  Constitution  was  granted  in  18-13,  Mr,  Murray 
was  elected  to  represent  three  counties — Murray,  King,  and 


96  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Georgiana,  From  this .  time  up  to  his  death  he  was 
closely  connected  with  the  political  life  of  the  colony. 
Amongst  the  names  of  those  who  were  elected  ta 
the  first  Council  were  those  of  Wentworth,  Bland,  Cowper, 
Forster,  Macleay,  Nicholson,  Lang,  and  Murray.  On  the 
motion  of  Mr.  Murray,  immediately  after  the  Council  met, 
a  committee  was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  provisions  of 
Lord  Stanley's  Land  Act,  as  it  related  to  New  South  Wales. 
Mr.  Murray  was  appointed  president  of  this  committee.  Sir 
Thomas  Mitchell,  the  Surveyor-General,  was  examined,  and 
his  answer  to  a  question  as  to  how  far  the  land  policy  tended 
to  develop  the  resources  of  the  colony,  was,  "In  no  way 
whatever,  so  far  as  the  pi'ogress  of  colonisation  goes.  The 
colony  is  now  available  to  temporary  occupants  only,  and 
what  they  earn  goes  elsewhere,  leaving  nothing  to  make  a 
colony  with."  Mr.  Icely  was  also  examined;  he  said  "he 
had  not  known  of  anyone  really  settling  on  the  land  since 
the  auction  system  commenced."  After  this  the  Orders-in- 
Council  were  passed  leasing  the  land  to  those  who  wished  to 
apply  for  it.  An  Act  for  the  "  Better  Government  of  the 
Australian  Colonies  "  received  the  Royal  assent  in  1850. 
This  conferred  legislative  independence  on  Victoria,  and 
introduced  tlie  elective  principle  into  Tasmania,  Western 
Australia,  and  South  Australia.  It  reduced  the  franchise 
in  New  South  Wales  and  Victoria  to  a  £100  freehold  oi" 
£10  household  qualification,  and  gave  Her  Majesty  power 
to  erect  other  colonies.  Mr.  Murray's  name  appears  promi- 
nently in  all  the  struggles  for  popular  rights ;  indeed  it  is. 
found  on  the  very  first  draft  proposals  to  give  free  institu- 
tions to  the  colony.  Mr.  Murray  was  among  the  first 
members  who  were  elected  to  the  first  parliament  under 
Responsible  Government,  which  met  in  Maccjuarie-street  oni 
May  22nd,  1856.  He  sat  as  member  for  the  Southern 
Boroughs.     When  Sir  Charles  Cowper  formed  his  second 


I 


Hon  Wm.   Forster.  Sir  Francis   Fori;e.s. 

Sir  James  Martin. 
Sir  John  Robertson.  Sir  Terence  A.  Murray, 


SIR    JAMES    MARTIN.  97 

Ministry,  Mr.  Murray  accepted  the  position  of  Secretary 
for  Lands  and  Works,  and  for  a  short  period  he  acted  as 
Auditor  -  General.  The  Ministries  of  the  early  days  of 
Responsible  Government  were  very  short-lived,  and  this 
Ministry  only  lasted  about  two  months.  Mr.  Murray  held 
the  office  of  Lands  and  Works  from  7th  Septemljer,  LS57, 
to  12th  January,  1858,  when  he  resigned.  In  1860  he  was 
elected  Speaker  of  the  Legislative  Assembly.  Two  years 
later  he  was  appointed  to  a  seat  in  the  Upper  House,  and 
was  elected  President  of  the  Council  in  1862,  in  succession 
to  W.  C.  Wentworth.  He  was  created  Knight  Bachelor 
in  1869,  and  held  office  as  President  of  the  Legislative 
Council  until  his  death  (at  the  age  of  sixty-three),  which 
occurred  on  the  22nd  June,  1873. 

The  Hon.  Sir  James  Martin,  Kt.  B.,  Chief  Justice. 

The  advent  of  Responsible  Government  in  New  South 
Wales  drew  out  in  a  marked  degree,  not  only  the  talent  of 
those  gentlemen  who  had  the  advantage  of  a  high  scliolastic 
and  sometimes  university  training  in  the  old  country,  but 
also  some  young  men  natives  of  the  soil,  as  well  as 
those  who  were  brought  here  by  their  parents  at  an  early 
age,  and  who  received  their  education  in  the  colony.  The 
latter,  in  brilliance  and  abilities,  outshone  the  former  class. 
Amongst  all  the  names  of  our  greatest  men  there  is  none 
which  stands  higher  for  intellectual  power  than  that  of  Sir 
James  Martin. 

James  Martin  was  born  in  the  town  of  Middleton,  County 
of  Cork,  Ireland,  May  14,  1820.  In  1821  his  parents 
emigrated  to  Sydney,  and  immediately  settled  at  Parra- 
matta,  where  they  remained  till  1834.  They  then  removed 
to  Sydney.  Young  James  went  to  a  primary  school  at 
Parramatta,  and  on  his  removal  to  Sydney  he  studied  under 
Mr.  Cape.     On  leaving  the  Sydney  Grammar  School,  where 


98  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

he  spent  some  time,  he  was  ai'ticled  to  Mr.  G.  R.  Nichols, 
who  was  then  the  leading  attorney  in  Sydney.  Mr.  Martin 
was  himself  admitted  as  an  attorney  in  May,  184.5.  He 
commenced  practising  for  himself.  He  also  edited  the  Atlas 
some  time  after,  and  became  a  contributor  to  the  Emjnre  iu 
1851.  In  1848  he  was  elected  to  represent  the  counties  of 
Cook  and  Westmoreland  under  the  old  Council ;  he  was, 
however,  unseated  on  petition.  A  fresh  election  was  held, 
when  he  was  returned  without  opposition.  He  was  re- 
elected in  1851.  In  1852  he  was  appointed  one  of  the 
committee  to  draft  a  Constitution  for  the  colony.  At 
the  election  in  1856  Mr.  Martin  was  again  taken  on  by  his 
old  constituents.  He  was  then  a  liberal  of  the  liberals, 
and  at  once  joined  the  Opposition  against  Mr.  Donaldson's 
Cabinet.  On  the  defeat  of  the  Ministry  Mr.  Martin  became 
Attorney  -  General  in  the  first  Cowper  Administration, 
having  only  been  called  to  the  Bar  a  day  or  two  prior  to 
his  taking  the  portfolio.  The  Conservatives  were  at  once 
up  in  arms  against  the  young  advocate,  and  so  successfully 
did  they  wage  their  war  that  the  Ministry  was  defeated  in 
a  little  over  a  month  from  the  time  of  taking  office.  On 
that  occasion  Mr.  Martin  made  a  splendid  defence.  He 
said  he  was  surrounded  by  those  who  had  raised 
themselves  to  high  position  by  their  own  lionorable  exer- 
tions— true  sons  of  the  soil,  not  in  the  narrow  sense  in 
which  the  term  is  generally  understood,  but  in  the  sense  of 
the  old  Roman  satirist,  who  applied  the  expression  to  those 
who  owed  their  success  in  life  neither  to  wealth,  nor  pedigree, 
nor  fortune.  Between  them  there  were  many  things  in 
common.  He  asked  them,  and  he  asked  them  confidently, 
not  ungenerously  and  unjustly  to  desert  him  on  that  occasion. 
From  his  outset  in  life  till  that  time,  he  had  to  achieve 
everything  for  himself,  and  from  the  humblest  beginning 
he  had  fought  his  way  almost  to  the  highest  point  to  which, 


A    VICTIM    TO    PREJUDICE.  99 

in  this  colony,  it  was  possible  to  attain.  At  every  step  he 
had  been  met  with  opposition,  and  had  been  compelled  to 
make  good  his  ground,  and  whatever  he  had  achieved  he 
owed  not  to  the  favour  or  affection  of  any  man.  He  had 
never  cringed,  nor  fawned,  nor  played  the  sycophant,  and 
if  his  conduct  was  open  to  condemnation,  it  certainly  was 
in  a  contrary  direction.  The  lesson  of  self-reliance,  of 
which,  he  trusted,  he  might  be  pardoned  in  regarding  him- 
self as  an  example,  would  not,  he  hoped,  be  shorn  of  its 
value  by  an  unmerited  reverse  in  tlie  moment  of  triumph. 
As  he  liad  borne  up  against  and  overcome  many  obstacles 
of  greater  magnitude  than  the  present,  he  trusted  tliat  he 
should  successfully  bear  up  against  this  one  also,  and  that, 
in  the  stand  which  he  then  took,  the  generous  and  spon- 
taneous sympathies  of  the  House  would  go  along  with  him, 
and  that  the  only  effect  of  the  present  storm  would  be,  like 
those  of  the  physical  universe,  to  leave  the  atmosphere  of 
public  life  purer  than  before."  But  his  colleagues  held  to 
him,  though,  by  doing  so,  they  received  defeat.  The  Minis- 
try which  succeeded  the  Cowper  Administration,  were, 
however,  thrown  out  in  September,  1857,  and  Mr.  Martin 
again  took  office  in  the  second  Cowper  Ministry.  He 
resigned  in  November,  1858,  and  was  again  elected  under 
the  "New  Electoral  Act"  in  1859  as  one  of  the  metro- 
politan members.  After  this  he  devoted  most  of  his  time 
to  the  practice  of  his  profession  until  1863,  when  he  was 
found  at  the  head  of  a  Cabinet.  This  was  the  first  Pro- 
tectionist Government  in  the  colony.  The  protectionist 
motion  was  passed  by  the  Assembly,  but  was  rejected  by 
the  Upper  Chamber,  a  general  election  following.  The 
greatest  excitement  prevailed  all  over  the  colony.  But  Mr. 
Martin  was  defeated.  Speaking  before  the  event,  on 
Protection,  he  said : — "  I  think  this  most  magnificent 
territory,     teeming    with    the  elements    of   every  kind   of 


100  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEKRS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

wealth — mineral,  pastoral,  agricultural^was  intended  for 
other  purposes  than  a  sheep-walk,  like  a  vast  Asiatic 
steppe,  or  a  mere  commercial  emporium,  like  some  small 
city  of  the  middle  ages.  "With  a  territory  larger  than 
the  greatest  kingdom  of  Europe,  and  a  population  no 
greater  than  a  sixth-rate  European  town,  I  thought  there 
was  an  ample  field,  to  which  the  starving  thousands  of  the 
mother  country  might  be  removed — to  the  great  relief  of 
that  country — to  the  great  advantage  of  this.  I  knew  that 
the  skilled  artizan  of  Britain  could  not  be  honestly  asked 
to  come  to  a  country  where  the  necessaries  of  life  were 
dear,  and  the  articles,  in  the  manufacture  of  which  he  was 
an  adept,  were  imported  at  a  price  with  which  he  could  not 
compete  ;  and  I  felt  that  his  position  was  not  mended  by 
the  opportunity  afforded  of  taking  his  wife  to  some  remote 
gunyah  on  the  Namoi  or  the  Darling,  or  settling  down  on 
some  alluvial  patch,  the  fruits  of  which  might,  at  any  time, 
be  reduced  in  price  below  the  cost  of  their  production  by 
imports  from  foreign  countries.  There  is  a  limit  to  the 
number  of  shepherds  and  bullock  drivers,  dock  labourers, 
porters,  wai'ehousemen,  and  mercantile  clerks  required,  and 
there  are  many  other  occupations  equally  desirable  and 
equally  ennobling.  I  knew  that  the  greatness  of  England 
arose  not  from  commerce,  not  from  manufactures,  not  from 
agriculture  alone — -but  from  all  combined.  By  the  oppor- 
tunities which  a  wise  legislation  afforded  for  every  kind  of 
industry  and  enterprise,  those  small  islands  became  the 
habitation  of  the  greatest  and  wealthiest  people  on  the 
globe.  The  coal,  the  iron,  the  copper,  the  lead,  the  wool, 
the  fertile  soil,  which  constitute  the  foundation  of  England's 
greatness,  are  here  as  well  as  there,  and  in  a  larger  measure  ; 
but  while  the  British  Islands  supports  thirty  millions,  this 
colony  is  unable  to  maintain  in  comfort  four  hundred  thou- 
sand.    I  knew  that  such  a  state  of  things  was  most  unnatural. 


A    PIONEER    OP    PROTECTION,  101 

I  knew  that  however  lucrative  it  might  be  to  supply  cotton 
silks  to  the  nobility  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  shoddy 
cloth  and  Brummagem  rubbish  of  all  kinds  to  the  simple 
savages  of  Oceania,  but  a  very  small  number  could  partici- 
pate in  those  advantages.  We  miglit,  by  trade  of  that  kind, 
constitute  a  rude,  barbaric,  bastard  sort  of  Antipodean 
Venice,  with  nothing  of  the  greatness  or  grandeur  of  its 
prototype  ;  but  we  could  never  by  those  means  reproduce 
here  a  manly,  vigorous,  numerous  British  population.  I 
wished  to  see  this  country  largely  peopled  with  such  a  popu- 
lation. And  with  that  object  I  strove  rather  that  everyone 
should  be  comfortable  than  that  a  few  should  be  rich — that 
there  should  be  fair  scope  for  every  man  to  elevate  himself, 
or  to  bring  up  his  children  to,  that  pursuit  to  which  his 
judgment  or  his  fancy  inclined  him  ;  and  that  no  man 
should  be  found  starving  in  a  land  of  plenty,  or  begging  and 
begging  in  vain — 

A  brother  of  the  earth 
To  give  him  leave  to  toil." 

But,  with  all  the  eloquence  and  force  brought  to  bear  on  the 
question  by  Mr.  Martin,  the  Ministry  was  defeated  at  the 
polls.  Mr.  Cowper  again  came  into  office.  It  was  this 
Ministry  which  passed  the  ad  valorem  duties.  Mr.  Martin 
again  came  into  power  in  1866,  coalescing  with  Sir  Henry 
Parkes,  who  had  strongly  opposed  him  in  1863.  Mr.  Mar- 
tin was  Premier  at  the  time  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh  visited 
the  colony  in  1868  ;  on  that  occasion  he  received  the  honour 
of  knighthood.  He  retired  from  office  consequent  upon  a 
vote  of  censure  moved  by  Sir  John  Robertson  in  1868.  In 
December,  1870,  he  again  became  Premier,  Mr.  Robertson 
taking  office  under  him.  This  Ministry  remained  in  power 
till  May,  1872.  In  November,  1873,  Sir  Henry  Parkes 
being   then   Premier,   appointed   Sir    James    Martin   Chief 


102  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Justice  of  the  colony.  Sir  James  Martin  was  three  times 
Premier,  five  times  Minister  of  the  Crown,  on  each  occasion 
holding  the  office  of  Attorney-General.  It  was  he  who 
established  the  Sydney  branch  of  the  Mint,  which  has 
proved  of  great  advantage  to  the  colony.  As  leader  of  the 
House  he  showed  himself  somewhat  autocratic,  and  he 
always  displayed  great  and  almost  overwhelming  power  in 
debate.  As  a  lawyer,  Sir  James  Martin  in  his  day  stood 
far  above  every  man  at  the  Bar  in  Australia. 

He  died  after  a  brief  illness  on  4th  November,  1886,  at 
his  residence,  "  Clarens,"  Potts'  Point,  Sydney,  and  was 
buried  at  St.  Jude's,  Randwick. 

Captain  Robert  Johnston,  R.N. 

The  name  of  Captain  Johnston  takes  us  back  to- 
stirring  scenes  in  the  early  history  of  the  colony.  The 
family  has  indeed  been  identified  with  the  interests  of  New 
South  Wales  since  the  foundation  of  the  colony. 

His  father  was  the  late  Colonel  Johnston,  who  landed 
with  Governor  Phillip,  being  then  a  lieutenant  of  marines. 
He  afterwards  took  a  leading  part  in  deposing  Governor 
Bligh. 

Captain  Robert  Johnston  was  born  in  N.S.Wales  on  the 
9th  March,  1790.  When  seven  years  old  he  was  taken  to- 
England  by  his  father,  and  was  educated  at  Newington 
Butts,  Surrey,  remaining  there  for  six  years.  One  day  at 
school  he  was  passing  the  Admiralty  yard,  when  he  saw  a 
one-armed  officer  talking  to  a  sailor  with  a  wooden  leg. 
When  the  officer  had  passed  on,  the  boy  asked  the  sailor 
who  the  officer  was.  "  Lord  Nelson,"  was  the  reply.  At 
that  time  Lord  Nelson  was  at  the  height  of  his  fame,  and 
the  incident  left  an  impression  on  the  mind  of  the  lad  which 
during  his  life  was  never  effaced.     Not  long  after,  he  saw 


CAPT.  ROBERT  JOHNSTON.  103 

the  funeral  of  tlie  greatest  naval  commander  England  ever 
knew  pass  through  the  streets  of  London.  On  that  occasion 
the  boy  narrowly  escaped  being  crushed  to  death  by  the 
crowd.  He  was  saved  by  taking  i-efuge  under  the  horse  of 
one  of  the  horse  guards.  On  leaving  school  he  entered  the 
navy  as  a  boy  volunteer  of  the  first  class  on  board  the  50- 
gun  ship  "Malabar."  He  served  during  the  blockade  of 
the  French  and  Dutch  fleets  in  the  Texel  ;  joined  the 
"  Namure  "  as  a  midshipman,  being  afterwards  transferred 
to  the  36-gun  frigate  "  Semiramis,"  commissioned  for  active 
service  off  the  coast  of  Spain  and  Portugal.  He  was  present 
at  the  battle  of  Corunna,  and  afterwards  joined  the  "Norge" 
as  master's  mate.  He  was  present  at  the  storming  of  Cadiz 
by  the  French  under  Marshal  Soult,  and  took  part  in  the 
attack  on  St.  Mary's,  where  he  was  in  command  of  a  rocket 
boat.  While  so  engaged  the  boat  was  struck  by  a  round 
shot,  and  immediately  sank,  those  who  were  not  killed  being 
rescued  by  the  other  boats.  Some  time  after,  he  and  another 
with  150  men  took  the  captured  80-gun  French  ship  "Nep- 
tune "  to  Majorca  ;  later  on  he  rejoined  the  "  Norge,"  and 
returned  in  that  ship  to  England.  Subsequently  he  joined 
H.M.S.  "Asia,"  the  flagship  of  Vice- Admiral  Sir  Alexan- 
der Cochrane,  bound  for  the  American  station.  While  at 
Bermuda  he  was  promoted  to  a  lieutenancy,  and  placed  in 
command  of  a  despatch  boat,  which  procured  him  an  intro- 
duction to  the  captain  of  Lord  Nelson's  ship  "  Victory," 
Sir  Thomas  Hardy.  While  still  a  lieutenant  he  was  present 
at  the  capture  of  the  City  of  Washington,  and  afterwards 
joined  Sir  Peter  Parker,  Bart.,  who  was  engaged  blockading 
Baltimore  with  the  "  Menelaus  "  frigate.  He  also  fought 
in  the  attack  on  Moorfields,  in  which  engagement  Sir  Peter 
Parker  was  killed.  At  a  later  date  we  find  him  in  the  New 
Orleans  expedition,  and  when  peace  was  concluded  he  was 
appointed  second  lieutenant  to  the  "Asia,"  under  Captain 


104  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Alexander  Skeene.  When  the  "  Asia  "  was  paid  off,  Lieu- 
tenant Johnston  applied  to  the  Admiralty  for  active  service, 
but  this  position  not  being  available,  he  asked  for  and 
obtained  leave  of  absence,  in  order  to  visit  his  family  in 
Australia.  He  arrived  in  Sydney  in  October,  1816,  being 
then  twenty-six  years  of  age,  and  his  services  were  at  once 
claimed  by  Governor  Macquarie  for  purposes  of  navigation 
and  exploration.  It  was  he,  may  be  remarked,  who  dis- 
covered the  Clyde  Rivei',  and  the  source  of  the  Warragamba. 
His  leave  of  absence  having  expired,  he  was  about  return- 
ing to  England,  but,  his  elder  brother  having  died,  he  found 
it  necessary  to  remain  to  look  after  the  family  interests. 
He  then  went  in  for  agricultural  and  pastoral  pursuits  with 
his  brother,  Mr.  David  Johnston.  In  1831  he  married  the 
eldest  daughter  of  Mr.  Wellen,  of  Hammershaw,  Bucks, 
England,  by  whom  he  had  a  family  of  seven  sons  and  two 
daughters.  Once,  when  returning  to  Sydney  from  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  in  command  of  the  "Queen  Charlotte," 
the  vessel  was  saved  from  utter  wreck  at  King's  Island, 
Bass's  Straits,  by  his  (Captain  Johnston's),  presence  of  mind. 
In  the  night-time,  during  a  heavy  gale,  a  cry  of  "  breakers 
ahead  "  was  raised.  The  crew  begged  the  captain  to  order 
the  helm  a-starboard.  He,  however,  rushed  to  the  helm 
himself,  and  sent  it  hard  a-port.  When  daylight  broke  it 
was  clearly  seen  that  his  action  was  the  only  one  that  could 
have  saved  the  ship.  On  one  occasion  Captain  Johnston 
went  out  alone  to  capture  two  bushrangers,  who  were 
reported  to  be  asleep  in  the  bush  on  George's  Hill  Estate. 
He  was  severely  wounded  on  the  face  and  thigh  with  a 
sheath-knife  during  the  encounter.  He,  however,  succeeded 
in  capturing  one  of  the  men — the  other  fled.  In  1822  he 
was  "  stuck  up  "  by  Tennant,  a  bushranger,  who  came  to 
ask  Captain  Johnston  to  intercede  for  him  with  the  authori- 
ties to  obtain  a  mitigation  of  punishment  if  he  gave  himself 


ROBERT    TOWNS.  105 

■up.  Captain  Jolinstou  succeeded  in  gaining  the  consent  of 
the  authorities,  and  Tennant  surrendered.  In  186-5  Cap- 
tain Johnston  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Commander  in 
the  Royal  Navy.  He  preserved  his  strong  vitality  to  the 
end  of  his  old  age.  Four  years  before  his  death,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-eight,  he  made  a  voyage  to  New  Zealand,  and  he 
was  to  be  seen  driving  about  the  city  up  to  within  a  few 
days  of  his  death,  whicli  event  took  place  at  Annandale,  on 
the  8th  September,  1882,  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  ninety-two. 
His  funeral  was  attended  by  a  large  concourse  of  mourn- 
ers, and  a  party  of  sailors  from  H.M.S.  "Nelson"  fired  a 
farewell  volley  over  tlie  grave  of  the  grand  old  sailor  who 
lived  and  took  part  in  some  of  the  most  stirring  events 
of  England's  naval  history. 

The  Hon.  Robert  Towns,  M.L.C. 

Among  the  men  of  large  commercial  influence  in  the 
early  days  of  N.  S.  Wales,  none  was  more  honoured  by  all 
classes  than  Robert  Towns,  or,  as  he  was  more  familiarly 
called,  "  Bobby  Towns."  For  fifty  years  he  was  closely 
identified  with  the  commercial  life  of  Australia. 

Robert  Towns  was  born  at  Langhorsley,  Northumberland, 
on  10th  November,  1794.  What  education  he  received  was 
at  the  village  school  of  his  native  place.  When  quite  young- 
he  was  placed  on  board  a  collier  running  between  Shields 
and  London.  While  so  employed  he  took  every  opportunity 
to  improve  himself  and  gain  knowledge,  more  particularly 
about  shipping  matters.  If  his  vessel  were  in  port  he  would 
attend  a  night-school  kept  by  an  old  sailor,  from  whom  he 
learnt  something  about  navigation.  At  the  age  of  sixteen 
he  was  appointed  mate,  and  at  eighteen  he  was  placed  in 
command  of  a  vessel.  Soon  after  he  was  sent  to  the  Medit- 
erranean, as  commander  of  a  brig.  While  in  this  trade,  he 
■managed  to  save  enough  money  to  build  a  vessel  for  himself, 


106  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

which  he  named  "The  Brothers."  With  this  vessel  he 
commenced  the  colonial  passenger  trade,  and,  although  the 
traffic  at  that  time  was  not  very  heavy.  Captain  Towns  got 
the  lion's  share  of  it.  His  ship  was  the  best  managed,  as 
well  as  the  fastest  sailer,  then  trading  between  England  and 
Australia,  and  many  of  those  who  afterwards  became  leaders 
in  every  walk  of  life  in  the  colonies,  journeyed  out  in  Cap- 
tain Towns'  vessel.  In  1833  he  married  a  sister  of  William 
Wentworth,  and,  nine  years  after,  he  settled  in  Sydney 
and  established  the  large  mercantile  business  of  Robert 
Towns  and  Company.  He  employed  a  large  number  of 
vessels  in  the  Island  trade,  collecting  beche-de-mer,  cocoanut 
oil,  sandalwood,  and  other  products.  The  late  Sir  Alex- 
ander Stuart  was  at  one  time  a  partner  in  the  business. 
In  1851  the  Bank  of  New  South  Wales  was  greatly  assisted 
by  Captain  Towns,  he  being  then  a  large  capitalist.  He 
not  only  increased  its  capital,  but  also  aided  to  reorganise 
it  on  a  much  larger  basis,  and  place  it  in  a  position  to  cope 
with  the  altered  conditions  of  the  colony  after  the  discovery 
of  gold.  He  was  a  Director  of  the  Bank  up  to  the  time  of 
his  death.  Although  he  was  possessed  of  a  large  fortune 
at  this  time,  he  went  largely  into  pastoral  pursuits,  and 
held  numbers  of  stations  in  various  parts  of  Queensland, 
especially  in  the  northern  portion  of  that  colony.  Towns- 
ville,  in  that  colony,  was  named  after  him.  He  formed  a 
large  cotton  plantation  of  2,000  acres,  where  he  employed 
between  two  and  three  hundred  South  Sea  Islanders,  and 
spent  £20,000  on  the  venture.  He,  in  conjunction  with 
Sir  John  Robertson  and  Sir  Charles  Cowpei-,  held  immense 
tracts  of  pastoral  country,  called  the  "  Plains  of  Promise, '" 
on  the  Norman  and  Albert  Rivers,  near  the  Gulf  of  Car- 
pentaria. On  the  passing  of  the  Constitution,  in  1856, 
Mr.  Towns  was  appointed  a  life  member  of  the  Legislative 
Council.     Long  after  he  retired   from  business  he   took  a 


THOMAS    SUTCLIFFE    MORT.  107 

deep  interest  in  the  shipping  and  commercial  affairs  of  the 
colony.  To  the  "Patriotic"  and  Lancashire  cotton  funds 
he  was  a  very  liberal  contributor.  He  died  at  Cranbrook,. 
Rose  Bay,  Sydney,  on  4th  April,  1873. 

Thomas  Sutcliffe  Mort. 

Prominent  among  the  men  who  have  made  New  South 
"Wales  what  it  is,  was  the  late  Thomas  Sutcliife  Mort.  No 
name  stood  higher  in  the  commercial  life  of  the  colony  than 
his.  No  man  of  his  time  worked  harder  to  enlarge  the  indus- 
tries of  the  country  than  he  ;  no  man  had  a  wider  grasp  of  the 
great  possibilities  of  the  country,  and  certainly  no  man 
spent  so  much  time  and  capital  in  developing  its  resources. 

Thomas  Sutcliffe  Mort  was  born  on  December  23rd,  1816, 
in  Bolton,  Lancashire,  England.  After  receiving  a  com- 
mercial education,  he  entered  the  counting  house  of  a  firm 
of  warehousemen  in  Manchester.  He  arrived  in  Sydney 
in  1838,  having  accepted  an  appointment  in  the  house  of 
Aspinwall,  Brown,  ifc  Co.  He  remained  with  this  firm  and 
their  successors.  Gosling,  Brown,  &  Co.,  for  some  five  years- 
— till  the  year  of  1843 — when  the  house  was  involved  in 
the  financial  crash  which  then  occurred.  This  disaster  was 
mainly  due  to  over  speculation,  more  especially  in  land  and 
all  kinds  of  stock,  the  banks  having  advanced  money  for 
these  purposes  with  a  lavish  hand.  The  Bank  of  Australia 
was  the  first  to  close  its  doors,  and  as  it  was  the  first 
monetary  institution  in  the  country,  it  pulled  down  nearly 
all  the  leading  business  houses  who  did  business  with  it, 
Mr.  Justice  Burton  brought  in  a  new  Insolvency  Bill  to 
meet  the  times.  This  measure  was  known  afterwards  as 
"  Burton's  Purge,"  and  was  intended  to  relieve  the  great 
distress  amongst  the  commercial  houses  of  the  city.  During 
the  first  year  of  its  operation,  some  seven  hundred  persons 
took  advantage  of  the  Act.     A  large  public  meeting  was. 


108  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

held  during  this  year  to  take  into  consideration  the  depressed 
state  of  the  monetary  affairs  of  the  country.  Mr.  Went- 
worth  took  an  active  part  in  the  matter,  and  it  was  resolved 
that  the  Bank  of  Australia  should  be  allowed  to  realise  its 
securities  by  holding  a  public  lottery  for  that  purpose. 
When  the  firm  of  Messrs.  Gosling  and  Brown  failed,  he 
made  up  his  mind  to  start  business  on  his  own  account, 
which  he  did,  opening  as  an  auctioneer.  His  connection 
with  the  firm  of  Gosling,  Brown,  &  Co.,  had  brought  him 
into  contact  with  a  large  number  of  the  pastoralists  of  the 
country,  this,  together  with  his  winning  and  straightforward 
manner,  brought  him  many  patrons,  and  his  business 
consequently  increased  rapidly  with  profit  to  Mr.  Mort, 
and  great  and  many  advantages  to  the  squatters  of  the 
country.  Mr.  Mort  was  one  of  the  promoters  of  the  first 
railway  in  N.  S.  Wales  :  the  Sydney  and  Parramatta  line. 
He  also  held  shares  in  the  Australian  Steam  Navigation 
Company.  The  gold  discovery  of  1851,  which  revolution- 
ised the  whole  of  the  affairs  of  the  country,  found  Mr.  Mort 
ready  to  take  advantage  of  these  altered  conditions  to 
improve  his  own  interest  as  well  as  those  of  the  country. 
It  was  he  who  formed  the  first  company  for  working  gold- 
reefs — the  "  Great  Nugget  Vein  Mining  Company."  Very 
primitive  ideas  of  mining  existed  at  that  time,  so  that  people 
who  invested  their  money  in  quartz  mining  expected  an 
immediate  return  upon  the  capital  so  invested.  In  conse- 
quence of  these  mistaken  notions,  discontent  prevailed 
amongst  the  shareholders.  Mr,  Mort  called  them  together, 
and,  after  explaining  matters,  offered  to  take  up  the  shares 
of  any  one  who  felt  dissatisfied.  The  explanation  was  so 
satisfactory  that  not  one  of  the  shareholders  took  advantage 
of  his  generous  offer.  A  few  years  after  the  discovery  of 
gold,  Mr.  Mort,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Hawdon,  purchased 
14,000  acres  of  land  in  the  Moruya  district,  about  200 


THE    EARLIEST    MEAT    FREEZING    EFFORT.  109' 

miles  from  Sydney,  on  the  South  Coast.  In  1860  he  bought 
out  his  partner,  having  up  to  that  time  expended' 
on  the  property  £100,000,  The  extensive  dairying  business- 
of  Bodalla,  the  largest  in  the  colonies,  is  well  known 
throughout  Australia,  and  the  products  are  said  to  equal 
the  best  English.  The  estate  at  the  present  time  consists- 
of  38,000  acres.  The  returns  from  the  place  are  very  large, 
as  might  be  expected  from  so  well  managed  a  business.  In 
1857,  Mr.  Mort  requiring  rest  after  years  of  constant  toil,, 
paid  a  visit  to  England,  where  he  remained  two  years, 
returning  to  the  colony  in  1859.  On  his  return,  he  entered 
into  the  cultivation  of  silk,  cotton,  and  sugar.  He  sank 
al)0ut  £20,000  in  the  sugar  industry.  Soon  afterwards  he 
found  himself  involved  in  the  celebrated  lawsuit,  Went- 
worth  versus  Lloyd,  Mr.  Wentworth  moving  that  the  sale 
should  be  declared  void  on  the  ground  that  the  auctioneer, 
Mr.  Mort,  had  an  interest  in  the  transaction.  On  appeal  it 
was  held  by  the  Master  of  the  Rolls  in  England,  that  Mr. 
Wentworth  was  aware  of  Mr.  Mort's  interest  at  the  time- 
of  the  sale,  the  verdict  clearing  Mr.  Mort's  character  in  the 
matter.  Mr.  Mort  also  took  a  leading  part  in  the  copper 
and  coal  industries  of  the  colony.  It  need  only  be  men- 
tioned here  that  he  was  the  founder  of  Mort's  Dock  and 
Engineering  Company,  the  largest  of  the  kind  in  the 
southern  hemisphere. 

The  last  undertaking  of  magnitude  to  which  Mr.  Mort 
bent  his  energies,  was  the  exportation  of  Australian  beef 
and  mutton  to  England.  In  1843  Mr.  Mort  made  an 
attempt  to  export  meat  cured  in  the  ordinary  way,  but  in 
this  he  was  not  successful.  He  now  made  an  effort  to 
land  meat  fresh  on  the  home  market.  In  this  undertaking 
he  was  assisted  by  Mr.  E.  D.  Nicolle,  who  was  possessed  of 
high  scientific  ability.  Mr.  Mort's  knowledge  of  the  prospects 
of  pastoral  industry  enabled  him  to  forecast  a  magnificent 


110  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

future  for  a  trade  of  this  sort.  Mr.  Nicolle's  experiments 
were  constant,  and  he  received  from  Mr.  Mort  a  generous 
confidence  which  placed  all  this  gentleman's  resources  at  his 
disposal.  The  first  point  was  to  invent  a  cheap  means  of 
producing  artificial  cold,  and  this  difiiculty  was,  after  many 
trials,  overcome  by  the  experimentalists  in  discovering  the 
possibility  of  the  repeated  use  of  the  same  ammonia.  In 
this  respect  Messrs.  Mort  and  Nicolle  went  ahead  of  Euro- 
pean science.  According  to  the  first  authorities  in  the  old 
world,  "  meat  frozen  was  meat  spoiled."  But  partial 
freezing,  it  was  found,  would  never  do,  the  meat  becoming 
so  rapidly  bad  when  exposed.  Mr.  Nicolle  at  last  demon- 
strated that  in  Australia,  at  any  rate,  meat  could  be 
thoroughly  frozen — that  its  quality  was  not  thus  injured — 
and  that  it  kept  longer  after  thawing  than  did  other  meat 
after  being  killed.  Feeling  convinced  that  the  results  of 
Mr.  Nicolle's  experiments  in  this  respect  had  made  the  pro- 
ject practicable,  Mr.  Mort  entered  upon  it  with  enthusiasm. 
A  large  establishment  rose  upon  the  margin  of  Darling 
Harbour,  and  it  was  connected  with  the  railway.  Costly 
machinery,  in  duplicate,  was  erected,  and  the  "  freezing 
chamber "  was  covered  with  five  miles  of  iron  piping, 
through  which  the  liquid  ammonia  was  kept  in  circulation. 
A  series  of  most  interesting  experiments  showed  that  the 
freezing  power  could  be  successfully  applied  to  game,  fish, 
and  various  sorts  of  fruits,  as  well  as  to  meat,  and  it  was  a 
novel  sensation  to  find  one's  self  suddenly  transferred  from 
the  sultry  atmosphere  of  an  Australian  summer's  day  to  a 
region  of  ice  and  snow,  abounding  with  oxen  and  sheep, 
poultry,  wild  game  and  fish,  butter  and  milk,  all  as  hard  as 
rock,  their  natural  qualities  kept  in  complete  suspension 
until  the  time  would  come  to  thaw,  cook,  and  consume  them. 
The  belief  that  the  process  injured  their  quality  was  shown 
over  and   over   again   to   be  unfounded.      Mr.    Mort  then 


"there  shall  be  no  more  waste!"  Ill 

erected  slaughter-houses  in  the  Lithgow  Valley,  amongst  the 
Blue  Mountains,  on  the  Great  Western  Line  of  Railway, 
96  miles  from  Sydney.  This  site  was  chosen  to  save  cattle 
their  journey  over  the  mountains,  which  much  injured  their 
quality.  The  buildings  and  yards  were  on  the  most  com- 
plete plan  conceivable.  When  both  establishments  were 
■finished,  Mr.  Mort  invited,  on  September  2nd,  1875,  a  large 
number  of  colonists  to  make  an  excursion  to  Lithgow  Valley, 
beginning  with  an  inspection  of  the  freezing  works  at  Dar- 
ling Harbour.  The  party  proceeded  by  special  train  from 
the  freezing  works  to  the  Valley,  and  there  sat  down  to  a 
luncheon  composed  of  varieties  of  fish,  game,  and  meat,  all 
of  which  had  been  frozen  for  considerable  periods  before 
being  cooked.  The  whole  repast  was  a  thorough  success, 
and  congratulations  were  showered  upon  the  chairman  and 
Mr.  Nicolle  from  all  sides.  The  Premier,  Sir  John  Robert- 
son, made  a  speech  full  of  laudation  of  the  undei'taking. 
Sir  John  Hay  proposed  "  Success  to  the  Enterprise "  in 
terms  similarly  enthusiastic.  In  reply  to  these  congratula- 
tory speeches,  Mr,  Mort  said  : — "  There  shall  be  no  more 
waste !  Yes,  gentlemen,  I  now  feel  that  the  time  has 
arrived,  or,  at  all  events,  is  not  far  distant,  when  the  various 
portions  of  the  earth  will  give  forth  their  products  for  the 
use  of  each  and  all ;  that  the  over-abundance  of  one  country 
shall  make  up  for  the  deficiency  of  another ;  the  super- 
abundance of  the  year  of  plenty  serving  for  the  scant 
harvests  of  its  successor;  for  cold  arrests  all  change.  Science 
has  drawn  aside  the  veil,  and  the  plan  stands  revealed. 
Faraday's  uiagic  wand  gave  the  keynote,  and  invention  has 
done  the  rest.  Climate,  seasons,  plenty,  scarcity,  distance, 
will  shake  hands,  and  out  of  the  commingling  will  come 
enough  for  all,  "  for  the  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the  fulness 
thereof ; "  and  it  is  cei-tainly  within  the  compass  of  man  to 
ensure  that  all   His  people  shall  be  partakers  of  that  ful- 


112  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

ness."  The  next  stage  was  the  fitting  up  of  a  vessel — the 
"  Northam  " — to  take  home  a  shipment  of  Australian  beef 
and  mutton  for  the  London  market.  Together  with  the 
sura  of  £80,000  which  Mr.  Mort  had  expended  in  the  costly 
enterprise,  the  squatters  of  the  colony  who  were  interested 
in  the  result  of  his  experiment  subscribed  £20,000  to  carry 
the  project  out.  Owing,  however,  to  the  action  of  the 
chemical  matter  employed,  the  machinery  broke  down,  and 
the  undertaking  had  to  be  abandoned  for  the  time,  after  the 
many  years  of  toil  and  the  princely  fortune  sunk  in  it  by 
Mr.  Mort  The  failure  affected  Mr.  Mort  very  much,  and 
he  did  not  long  survive  it.  A  few  months  after  the  failure 
of  the  "  Northam  "  he  caught  a  cold  while  attending  a 
funeral  at  Bodalla,  where  he  was  then  staying.  He  died  on 
May  9th,  1878.  His  death  was  mourned  throughout  Aus- 
tralia by  all  classes  of  the  conmiunity.  Some  time  after 
liis  death,  a  statue  was  erected  to  his  memory  in  Macquarie 
Place,  in  recognition  of  the  services  rendered  by  him  to  his. 
adopted  country. 


Mr.  Thomas  Suicliffe  Mort.         Dr.  John  D.  Lang. 

Capt.   Robert  Johnston. 
Mr.  George  Suttor.  Dr.  Richard  L.  Jenkins. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Georoe  Suttor  —Early  Sydney— Despotic  Days — Suttor's  Vain- 
Appeal  FOR  Justice— Sir  Francis  Forbes — A  Heavy  In- 
dictment— The  Liberty  of  the  Press  Endangered— A 
Just  Tribute  —  Sir  John  Robertson —  Free  Selection 
Before  Survey — Sir  John  Hay — An  Opponent  to  Sir  John 
Robertson's  Land  Theory. 


George  Suttor. 


"  v»  O  book  dealing  with  the  lives  of  tlie  pioneers  of 

y.-'^  New  South  Wales  would  be  complete  without  some 

»r\«l  I'^ference  to  one  of  the    sturdiest  representative 

^T^  colonists  who  ever  set  foot  on  Australian  soil  — 

""iiri^  George  Suttor. 

George  Suttor  was  born  on  the  11th  June,  1776, 
at  Chelsea,  where  his  father,  a  young  Scotchman,  carried  on 
the  business  of  a  gardener  and  fanner,  renting  land  from  Lord 
Cadogan.  The  grandfather  of  George  Suttor  was  a  member 
of  the  Edinburgh  University,  from  which  fact  it  may  be 
inferred  he  held  a  good  social  position  if  not  an  affluent  one, 
while  his  grandmother  was  said  to  be  a  sister  of  the  Countess 
of  Linlithgow.  His  father  was  a  witness  of  the  battle  of 
Preston  Pans.  All  his  family  followed  the  Stuarts,  and, 
consequently,  became  much  reduced  in  circumstances. 
Suttor,  senior,  liad  studied  botany  under  Mr.  Lee,  of  Ham- 
I 


114  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

mersmith,  who  acclimatised  the  fuschia.  In  1796,  having 
read  "  Cook's  Voyages,"  and  become  acquainted  with  several 
ships'  officers  who  had  visited  Sydney,  and,  besides,  being 
engaged  to  marry,  he  was  determined  to  try  what  a  future 
in  the  far  off  colony  would  bring  forth.  He  obtained  an 
introduction  to  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  who  did  all  he  could  to 
further  his  interest.  On  the  occasion  of  one  of  his  visits, 
in  1798,  Sir  Joseph  showed  him  the  camellia,  just  intro- 
duced by  Lord  Macartney  from  China,  with  the  remark  that 
"  he  had  been  very  ill  when  the  plants  arrived,  and,  when 
somewhat  recovered,  he  went  to  see  them,  and  the  sight 
made  him  quite  well."  As  they  were  walking  through  the 
garden,  the  Tower  guns  were  heard  announcing  Nelson's 
victory  at  the  Nile.  Sir  Joseph  introduced  the  intending 
emigrant  to  some  members  of  the  Ministry,  who  approved 
of  him  as  a  collector  of  plants  to  be  sent  from  England  to 
the  colony,  and  to  take  charge  of  them  on  the  voyage. 
This  was  an  honorary  position,  but,  on  his  arrival,  he  was 
to  have  a  free  grant  of  200  acres,  a  house  built  for  him,  and 
five  or  six  assigned  servants  of  the  better  class.  The  plants 
consisted  chiefly  of  grapes,  apples,  pears,  and  hop  vines. 
Two  years  and  one  month  elapsed  after  the  collection  was 
made  before  the  colony  was  reached,  some  of  the  plants 
were  lost,  but  some  of  the  best  sorts  of  grape  vines  were 
Ijrought  to  Sydney.  In  September,  1879,  he  sailed  for 
Sydney  with  his  wife  and  shipment  of  plants  in  the  old  sliip 
"  Porpoise."  Governor  King  and  George  Caley,  the  botan- 
ist, were  fellow-passengers.  When  the  Bay  of  Biscay  was 
reached,  a  storm  came  on  which  damaged  the  "Porpoise" 
so  much  that  she  had  to  put  back.  The  vessel  proved  to 
be  unfit  for  further  use,  so  Suttor  had  to  remain  till  March 
17th,  1800,  before  another  start  could  be  made  for  Aus- 
tralia. This  he  did  in  a  vessel  recently  taken  from  the 
Spaniards  and  refitted  and  called   the   "  Porpoise."     They 


EARLY    SYDNEY.  115 

arrived  at  the  Cape  of   Good  Hope  in  the  end  of  May, 
remained  there  till  the  15th  September,  and  reached  Sydney 
in  November,  1800.     Sydney  at  that  time  looked  more  like 
a  camp  than  a  town — the  streets  liaving  dead  trees  and 
stumps  in  them.     The  New  South  Wales  Corps  occupied  a 
large  space,  living  in  huts.     All  the  houses  were  tliatched, 
the  walls  being  made  of  wattle  and  plaster,  whitewashed 
inside  and  out.     After  landing,  he  sought  advice  of  Gover- 
nor King,  who  told  him  "  he  could  not  be  troubled  with  his 
affairs,  and  that  he  had  better  go  to  Parramatta."     He  went 
to  Parramatta,  where  he  met  his  old  friend  Caley,  and  the 
Rev.  S.  Marsden.     On  their  advice  and  with  tlieir  assistance 
he  settled   at  Baulkham   Hills,  and   took  his  grant  of  land 
there.     This  grant  remains  in  the  hands  of  his  family  up 
to  the  present  time.     In  1801  Colonel  Paterson,  of  the  New 
South  Wales   Corps,   gave   him   three  young  orange  trees. 
They  were  the  first  orange  trees  planted  at  Baulkham  Hills. 
This  district  is  now  celebrated  for  the   production   of  the 
fruit.     Mr.  Suttor,  like  all  the  early  settlers,  had  to  suffer 
many  hardships,  and  often  wished  himself  back  in  his  native 
land.     He,  however,  persevered  in  cultivating  his  orchard 
and  farm.     He  found  it  very  difficult  to  educate  his  family, 
but  he  and  his  wife  imparted  all  the  instruction  they  could. 
In  a  written  memoir  of  his  the  following  passage  occurs  : — 
"I  had  by  this  time  (1805)  become  reconciled  to  the  colony 
and  to  the  part  of  life  I  had  chosen  with  my  beloved  part- 
ner, in  whose  sweet  society,  and  of  our  dear  children,  and 
of  a  few  choice  friends,  I  felt  happy,  though  I  yet  retained 
a  longing  after  my  native  land.     I  now  saw,  with  my  in- 
creasing young  family,  the  necessity  of  perseverance  and 
industry  to  succeed  and  become  the  founder  of  a  family  in 
Australia.     The  early  days  of  the  colony  presented  many 
difficulties.     Want  of  roads  and   bridges,   and   better  pro- 
tection from   the  vicious  portion   of  the  convicts,  who,  at 


116  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

times,  inflicted  terrible  evils  on  the  unprotected  settlers, 
particularly  the  free  settlers,  for  whom  they  generally  ex- 
pressed hatred.  The  convicts  believed  the  colony  to  have 
been  founded  for  them  alone."  On  the  26th  January,  1808, 
being  in  Sydney,  Mr.  Suttor  followed  the  troops  through 
the  streets  to  Government  House,  as  they  marched  to  seize 
Governor  Bligh.  He  has  left  a  bold  account  of  that  affair, 
he  says  : — 

"This  year  (1808)  was  marked  by  a  memorable  epoch  in 
the  history  of  the  colony.  The  officers  of  the  New  South 
Wales  Corps,  who  had,  many  of  them,  been  nearly  twenty 
years  in  the  colony,  and  who  were  magistrates  and  extensive 
dealers  in  rum  and  other  articles,  and  who  monopolised  all 
influence  and  power,  which  they  exercised  with  tyrannic 
insolence,  and  deposed  the  Governor  and  assumed  the 
Government.  They  did  this,  headed  by  Colonel  Johnston, 
who  was  the  dupe  and  catspaw  of  a  triumvirate.  The  whole 
affair  was  conducted  by  the  military  in  a  most  lawless  man- 
ner. As  a  consequence,  anarchy  and  idleness  spread  over 
the  land,  the  cultivation  of  which  was  neglected,  and,  this 
state  of  things  continuing  for  two  years,  many  families 
were  involved  in  ruin.  This  event  was  productive  iilti- 
mately  of  much  benefit  to  the  colony,  as  it  became  rid  of 
the  New  South  VVales  Corps,  who  had  been,  for  twenty  years, 
masters  and  monopolists,  and  generally  set  a  very  immoral 
example." 

It  was  about  this  time  that  his  real  troubles  began.  He 
was  asked  to  sign  an  address  to  Colonel  Johnston,  calling 
upon  him  to  seize  the  Government  and  the  Governor.  This  he 
refused  to  do,  as  he  considered  the  document  a  most  treason- 
able one.  This  act  of  loyalty  to  the  King's  representative 
made  him  very  obnoxious  to  those  who  had  deposed  thtf 
Governor.  Soon  after,  two  of  his  assigned  servants  wei'e 
prevailed   upon   to   bring   accusations    against    him    before 


DESPOTIC    DAYS.  117 

Ensign  Bell,  of  the  102nd  regiment,  recently  appointed 
magistrate  by  the  rebel  Government.  The  cliarge  was  to 
the  effect  that  he  (Suttor)  had  said  that  "those  who  had 
usurped  the  Government  were  a  set  of  scoundrels,  and  they 
should  all  be  hanged,  and  their  property  given  to  the  poor." 
A  summons  was  issued  by  the  Judge  Advocate  appointed 
by  Johnston,  and  Suttor  appeared  at  Sydney  to  answer  the 
charge.  There  was  no  proof  that  these  servants  had  ever 
heard  him  use  such  words,  whatever  he  may  have  thought ; 
so  he  was  discharged,  but  his  two  servants  were  taken  from 
him,  to  the  injury  of  liis  farm.  After  the  mutiny  he  was 
asked  to  sign  addresses  recognising  the  necessity  of  what 
had  been  done.  This  he  emphatically  refused  to  do.  He 
was  threatened  with  further  persecution.  Colonel  Foveaux 
arrived  in  the  colony  on  the  28th  July,  and,  on  the  31st, 
issued  a  proclamation  declaring  his  assumption  of  supreme 
authority,  although  he  knew  that  Governor  Bligh  was  within 
the  territory,  and  was  forcibly  withheld  from  the  authority 
which  he  alone  held  from  the  King.  On  the  20th  Novem- 
ber, Foveaux  issued  an  order  requiring  all  free  settlers  or 
others  occupying  or  cultivating  land  in  the  colony,  to  attend 
and  be  mustered  before  such  persons,  and  at  such  places, 
as  he  should  appoint.  Suttor  took  no  notice  of  this  order, 
which  he  looked  upon  as  illegal,  and  stayed  at  home  attend- 
ing to  his  business.  On  Sunday,  the  25tli  of  November,  a 
convict  visited  his  house,  and,  in  a  most  insolent  manner, 
demanded  to  see  him,  saying,  "he  came  by  order  of  Colonel 
Foveaux  to  know  why  Mr.  Suttor  had  not  attended  the 
muster."  Suttor  considered  a  message  of  that  kind,  and 
by  such  a  person,  as  a  personal  affront.  He  told  the  con- 
vict "  he  would  hold  no  communication  with  a  person  of  his 
kind,"  and  ordered  him  ofi'  his  premises.  On  the  8th  Dec- 
ember, Foveaux  sent  an  order  to  all  persons  at  Suttor's 
house,    citing    them    to    appear    on    Saturday    morning    at 


118  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Government  House,  Parramatta.  Sutter  had  previously 
received  a  summons  from  Captain  Kemp,  the  new  Judge 
Advocate,  requiring  him  to  appear  in  Sydney  to  answer  the 
charge  of  non-attendance  at  the  muster.  He  feared  the 
ruin  of  his  family,  and,  in  the  disturbed  state  of  the  country, 
hesitated  to  leave  his  family  and  property.  He  wrote  to 
the  Colonel,  appealing  to  his  humanity  in  the  following 
terms  : — - 

"  I  am  informed  that  you  have  given  orders  for  the  men 
in  my  employment  to  attend  at  Government  House  at  six 
o'clock  to-morrow  morning.  But  I  beg  you  will  suffer  me 
to  tell  you  that  one  of  them  was  indented  to  me  by  His 
Excellency  Governor  King,  and  the  other  was  indented  to 
me  by  His  Excellency  Govei-nor  Bligh.  If  you  mean  to 
deprive  me  of  their  servitude,  I  shall  consider  it  an  invasion 
of  my  rights  by  taking  an  advantage  of  the  exigencies  of 
the  moment  so  as  to  terminate  in  my  ruin.  The  treatment 
I  have  met  with  since  the  command  was  taken  from  Gover- 
nor Bligh,  gives  me  reason  to  believe  that  conscience  has 
something  to  do  in  the  business.  If,  by  the  present  instance, 
my  family  should  come  to  destruction,  the  charge  must  lay 
at  your  door,  and  I  shall  be  under  the  painful  necessity  of 
representing  my  case  to  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  under  whose 
auspices  I  came  to  this  country,  and  in  whom  I  have  every 
hope  my  injured  family  will  find  a  pi'otector."  This  letter 
was  delivered  by  one  of  ISIr.  Suttor's  servants  to  Colonel 
Eoveaux,  who  seized  the  servants  and  arrested  Suttor,  who 
was  committed  to  gaol  by  some  of  the  magistrates  appointed 
by  Foveaux,  to  take  his  trial  for  the  contents  of  his  "threat- 
ening letter."  Being  allowed  bail,  he  appeared  before  the 
court  on  the  15th  December  to  the  charge  preferred  against 
him — that  of  writing  a  "contumelious"  letter.  He  declined 
to  plead  either  "guilty"  or  "  not  guilty,"  as  he  considered 
the  court  was  illegally  constituted.     When  pressed  to  plead 


A    VAIK    APPEAL.  119 

he  addressed  the  court  as  follows  : — "  Gentlemen  I  bow  to 
you  with  respect,  but  the  same  motives  which  induced  me 
to  decline  mustering  induce  me  to  deny  the  authority  of 
this  court ;  I  stand  here  a  British  subject  and  a  freeborn 
Englishman,  and  I  claim  the  protection  of  my  King  and 
country.  To  His  Excellency  Governor  Bligh  my  allegiance 
is  due,  and  to  him  alone  as  the  lawful  and  rightful  Governor 
of  this  territory,  appointed  as  such  by  our  Most  Gracious 
Sovereign.  As  to  my  person  it  is  in  your  power,  to  that 
power,  therefore,  I  must  submit.  My  unprotected  wife  and 
children  I  leave  to  Almighty  God  till  such  time  as  the  peace 
of  this  country  shall  be  restored."  He  was  again  urged  to 
plead,  but  refused.  The  court  was  then  cleared  ;  he  was 
again  taken  in  ;  no  evidence  being  taken.  He  was  sen- 
tenced by  the  Judge  Advocate,  who  had  taken  his  seat  for 
the  first  time  on  this  occasion,  and  the  military  officers,  of 
whom  the  court  was  wholly  composed,  to  be  imprisoned  in 
the  gaol  at  Sydney  for  six  calendar  months,  and  to  pay  a 
fine  of  one  shilling.  He  was  confined  in  the  old  gaol  in 
George-street,  Sydney,  in  a  cell  appropriated  for  convicts 
under  sentence  of  death,  without  any  sustenance  being 
allowed  him,  and,  only  for  the  humanity  of  his  friends,  he 
might  have  lain  on  the  stones  and  died  from  want.  He 
was  detained  a  close  prisoner  from  the  15th  December,  1808, 
until  5th  June,  1809,  on  which  day  he  was  set  at  liberty. 
On  reaching  home  he  found  everything  in  the  greatest  con- 
fusion, and  his  family  in  great  distress.  On  17th  February, 
1810,  Mr.  Suttor  was  directed  by  letter  from  the  Secretary 
of  the  Colony,  John  Thomas  Campbell,  to  hold  himself  in 
readiness  to  proceed  to  England  to  give  evidence  in  the 
charges  preferred  against  Colonel  Johnston  and  Mr.  McAr- 
thur  l)y  Governor  Bligh.  On  the  13tli  April  he  embarked 
on  board  the  "  Industan,"  and  arrived  at  Spithead  on  the 
23rd  October.     Suttor  considered  from  Bli^h's  conduct  on 


120  AUSTRALIAN    PIONKERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

the  voyage  home  that  "he  was  very  pleasant  and  agreeable, 
very  attentive  to  the  women  and  soldiers  in  the  ship,  and 
a  very  humane  man."  The  trial  over,  Johnston  was  cashiered, 
and  Suttor  returned  to  Sydney.  On  arrival  he  says : — 
*'  No  words  can  express  the  anxiety  of  my  mind  when  we 
entered  the  harbour,  to  learn  my  beloved  wife  and  children 
were  alive  and  well.  But  soon  I  heard  from  Mr.  R.  Camp- 
bell, who  came  on  board  as  deputy  harbour-master,  that, 
three  days  before,  he  had  seen  and  spoken  to  her  in  good 
health.  In  1814  he  was  offered  the  appointment  of  Super- 
intendent of  the  Lunatic  Asylum  at  Castle  Hill,  an  office 
hitherto  held  by  the  Rev.  S.  Marsden.  He  did  not  find  the 
position  a  happy  one ;  on  the  contrary  it  was  vexatious  and 
troublesome.  In  1820  he  retired  from  the  position  and  went 
back  to  his  farm.  About  this  time  the  colony  was  visited 
by  a  scourge  of  caterpillars,  which  ate  up  the  pasture, 
causing  a  number  of  live-stock  to  perish  for  want  of  food. 
Suttor  was  desirous  of  crossing  the  Blue  Mountains,  but 
Governor  Macquarie  refused  him  the  desired  permission, 
although  other  persons  were  allowed  to  do  so.  However, 
he  received  permission  from  Governor  Brisbane,  and  started 
with  a  few  hundred  breeding  ewes  and  a  few  cattle ;  this 
was  in  1822.  And  soon  prosperity  smiled  upon  his  labours. 
In  a  few  years,  under  his  son's  management,  the  hundreds 
of  sheep  became  thousands,  and  the  tens  of  his  cattle  became 
hundreds.  He  built  a  house  in  Sydney  at  a  cost  of  £2,000, 
where  Allan  Cunningham,  the  botanist,  lived  with  him,  and 
where  Leichhardt,  the  explorer,  was  a  frequent  visitor.  On 
the  completion  of  the  education  of  one  of  his  sons  at  Cam- 
bridge, in  1839,  he  went  with  his  wife  and  daughter  to 
England,  in  a  ship  laden  with  much  of  his  own  wool.  He 
visited  Ireland  and  Scotland,  and  the  Continent,  and,  while 
at  Edinburgh,  revised  the  article  in  Chambers'  "Information 
for   the   People,"    which   related   to   Australia.      While  in 


SIR   FRANCIS    FORBES.  121 

France  he  investigated  viticulture,  recording  his  o1)serva- 
tions  in  a  Vjook  published  by  Smith,  Elder,  &  Co.,  under  the 
title  "The  Culture  of  the  Grape  Vine  in  Australia  and 
New  Zealand."  While  in  London  he  had  the  lienor,  on  the 
motion  of  that  eminent  botanist,  Robert  Brown,  of  being 
•elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Linnoean  Society.  While  in  France 
his  wife  died,  and  she  lies  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  Rouen. 
He  returned  to  the  colony,  and,  after  living  a  short  time  at 
Parramatta  and  Sydney,  he  took  up  his  I'esidence  at  Bath- 
urst,  where  he  died  in  18.59,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three, 
leaving  behind  him  a  record  and  a  name  which  commands 
the  respect  and  admiration  of  every  Australian  on  the 
continent.  He  Avas,  indeed,  a  worthy  type  of  a  sterling 
Australian  pioneer. 

Sir  Francis  Forbes, 
First  Chief  Justice  of  New  South  "Wales. 

Looking  back  to  the  days  of  those  whose  names  are  inti- 
mately connected  with  the  growth  of  the  Australian  colonies, 
few  will  be  found  to  stand  out  more  prominently,  and  certainly 
no  more  honorably,  than  that  of  Sir  Francis  Forbes,  the 
first  Chief  Justice  of  New  South  Wales.  The  leading  events 
in  the  career  of  the  late  Sir  Francis  Forbes  stand  out  in 
bold  relief.  On  his  arrival  in  the  colony  in  1824,  a  new 
order  of  things  was  introduced  by  the  promulgation  of  the 
new  Charter  of  Justice,  by  which  the  old  convict  system 
was  done  away  with.  The  British  institution  of  Trial  by 
•Jury  took  the  place  of  martial  law,  and,  what  may  be 
<;onsidered  a  matter  of  still  greater  importance,  the  liberty 
■of  the  Press  was  secured.  Chief  Justice  Forbes  held  office 
for  only  twelve  years,  but,  during  that  time,  much  social 
progress  was  made,  and  legislative  freedom,  as  well  as 
freedom  of  the  Press,  became  accomplished  facts.  It 
should  be  here  remembered  that  Sir  Francis  Forbes  was  a 


122  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Liberal  at  a  time  when  Liberalism  did  not  exist  in  England 
as  it  does  to-day.  He  stood  up  against  officialdom  to  battle 
for  the  rights  of  the  people,  and  paved  the  way  for  the 
Constitution  which  W.  C,  Wentworth  and  his  colleagues 
brought  soon  after  to  so  successful  an  issue.  Francis  Forbes 
was  born  in  the  Bermudas  in  1784.  He  was  sent  to  Eng- 
land at  an  early  age  to  be  educated.  After  going  through 
the  usual  course,  he  entered  the  chambers  of  Mr.  Sugden, 
afterwards  the  famous  Lord  St.  Leonards,  as  a  student-at- 
law,  in  1803.  Nine  years  later  he  was  called  to  the  Bar  at 
the  age  of  twenty-six,  and  the  following  year,  1813,  was- 
appointed  Attorney  and  Advocate-General  at  Bermuda.  He 
remained  there  for  three  years,  and  was  then  appointed  Chief 
Justice  of  Newfoundland.  He  remained  in  this  position 
until  he  was  appointed  Chief  Justice  of  New  South  Wales 
on  1st  June,  1823.  He  arrived  in  Sydney  with  his  family 
on  5th  March,  1824. 

Up  to  1800  the  colony,  as  has  been  stated,  was  governed  by 
martial  law.  For  the  first  six  years  of  settlement  a  large 
number  of  persons  suffered  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law,  yet 
only  sixteen  of  those  executed  were  charged  with  murder. 
The  first  victim  under  this  martial  law  was  a  youth  of  seven- 
teen, who  was  executed  for  petty  theft  two  months  after  the 
arrival  of  the  first  fleet.  The  lash  was  much  in  exidence, 
and,  for  about  forty  years,  every  magistrate  had  the  power 
to  order  a  flogging  for  the  most  trivial  offence.  One  woman, 
suspected  of  stealing  a  flat-iron,  hanged  herself  through 
sheer  terror  of  the  law.  In  1839  a  man  was  hanged  for 
receiving  stolen  property,  and,  a  few  yeai-s  before,  six  men 
were  hanged  together  for  being  mixed  up  in  an  uprising 
against  the  brutal  treatment  of  their  master,  whose  name 
was  struck  off  the  Commission  of  the  Peace  for  his  atroci- 
ties. Owing  to  the  horrible  cruelties  inflicted  on  the  convicts 
by  some  of  the  masters,  large  numbers  of  them  took  to  the 


A    HEAVY    INDICTMEXT.  123- 

bush.  This  went  on  to  such  an  extent  that,  at  the  Criminal 
Sessions  in  October,  1822,  thirty-four  persons  were  placed 
in  the  dock  and  sentenced  to  death  for  bushranging.  In, 
1800,  Judge- Advocate  Richard  Atkins  arrived  in  the  colony. 
This  gentleman  had  not  received  any  legal  training.  His 
appointment  was  procured  for  him  through  influence. 
Amongst  Governor  Bligli's  papers,  after  his  deposition,  a 
letter  addressed  to  the  Secretary  of  State  was  found,  recom- 
mending his  dismissal.  Here  is  a  passage  from  the  letter — 
"He  has  been  accustomed  to  inebriety;  he  has  been  the 
ridicule  of  tlie  community  ;  sentence  of  death  has  been 
pronounced  in  moments  of  intoxication  ;  his  determination 
is  weak,  his  opinion  floating  and  infirm  ;  his  knowledge  of 
the  law  is  insignificant,  and  subject  to  private  inclination, 
and  confidential  causes  of  the  Crown,  where  due  secrecy  is 
required,  he  is  not  to  be  trusted  with."  His  conduct  during 
the  trial  of  John  Macarthur  no  doubt  had  a  good  deal  to 
do  with  the  deposition  of  Governor  Bligh.  He  was  called 
to  England  to  give  evidence  on  the  court  martial  held  on 
Major  Johnston,  in  connection  with  the  deposition  of  Bligh, 
and  another  Judge- Advocate  was  appointed,  in  the  person 
of  Elias  Bent,  who  arrived  with  Governor  Macquarie,  in 
1809.  During  his  term  of  office  a  new  Charter  of  Justice 
was  issued,  by  which  three  regular  courts  were  established. 
The  first  court  consisted  of  the  Judge- Advocate  and  two 
magistrates,  taking  cognisance  of  "  pleas  of  land  or  subject 
matter  of  action  that  did  not  exceed  £50."  The  Supreme 
Court  consisted  of  a  judge  appointed  by  a  commission 
under  the  King's  Royal  Manual,  and  two  magistrates 
appointed  by  the  Governor ;  and  the  Lieutenant-Governor's 
Court,  which  sat  in  Tasmania.  Judge  Baron  Field  arrived 
in  Sydney  in  1817.  The  foundation  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
King-street,  Sydney,  was  laid  on  4th  June,  1819,  and,  in 
1822,  the  first  attorney,  Mr.   George  Allen,  father  of  the 


124  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

^ate  Sir  Wigrani  Allen,  was  admitted  to  practice.  Three 
imonths  after  the  arrival  of  Chief  Justice  Forbes,  Mr.  Saxe- 
Bannister,  the  Attorney-General,  landed,  and  brought  with 
him  a  new  Charter  of  Justice,  which  was  promulgated  at 
<TOvernment  House,  the  Court  House,  and  the  Market-place 
by  the  Chief  Justice.  In  1824  the  first  Sheriff,  Mr.  John 
Mackaness,  was  appointed.  Mr.  F.  S.  Mills  was  elected 
first  Registrar  of  the  Supreme  Court.  The  first  ofiicials 
were  :  Master-in-Chancery,  Mr.  J.  Carter  ;  Solicitor-General, 
Mr.  John  Stephen.  Mr.  Judge- Ad vocateWylde  was  appoint- 
ed temporary  Judge  during  that  year.  The  new  Supreme 
Court  of  criminal  jurisdiction  was  opened  by  Chief  Justice 
Forbes  on  10th  June,  1824.  He  had,  of  course,  to  organise 
all  the  courts.  It  was  through  and  by  him  that  "trial  by 
jury  "  was  first  introduced  at  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions, 
held  at  Liverpool,  14th  October,  1824.  The  first  Supreme 
Court  jury  was  sworn  in  the  case  of  King  versus  Cooper, 
12th  February,  182.5,  on  Avhich  occasion  the  emancipists 
first  made  their  appearance  as  a  distinct  class,  demanding 
their  right  to  be  enrolled  on  the  jury  lists.  To  test  the 
■question  an  order  was  served  on  the  Sheriff,  requiring  him 
to  show  cause  why  certain  names  submitted  to  him  should 
not  be  included  in  these  lists.  The  Solicitor  -  General 
appeared  for  the  Sheriff,  Mr.  Wentworth  and  Dr.  Wardell 
representing  the  emancipists.  The  Chief  Justice  decided 
that  the  application  on  afiidavit  was  irregular,  and  that 
when  a  simple  remedy  —  open  in  the  present  case — was 
available,  the  "  high  prerogative  writ  of  mandarmis  could 
not  be  applied  for."  The  application  was  disallowed,  and 
the  privileges  asked  for  were  not  granted  till  1833.  Mean- 
while, in  1827,  a  great  meeting  had  been  held  in  Sydney 
by  the  Patriotic  Association  to  consider  the  question. 
On  that  occasion  Mr.  Wentworth  spoke  strongly  in  favour 
of  the  principle,  and  moved  the  adoption  of  a  petition  in 


i 


THK    LIBERTY    OF    THE    PRESS.  125 

favour  of  it.  SlierifF  Mackaness  presided  at  the  meetings 
and  was  subsequently  removed  from  his  office  for  not  exer- 
cising his  right  and  stopping  "  language  offensive  to  church 
and  State."  The  petition  was  forwarded  to  Sir  James 
Macintosh  for  presentation,  but  he  was  unsuccessful. 
Another  unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  next  year,  on  the 
accession  of  William  TV.  Three  years  later  the  Full  Court 
decided  that  under  the  statute  of  6th  George  IV.,  all  free- 
persons  were  entitled  to  the  privileges  of  freedom  ;  this,  of 
course,  settled  the  question.  Chief  Justice  Forbes,  who- 
had  reconmiended  Sir  James  Macintosh's  petition  on  the 
ground  that  "  New  South  Wales  was  fully  as  ripe  for  such 
a  change  as  any  other  dependency  of  the  British  Crown,"" 
presided  on  the  bench  on  that  occasion,  Judges  Burton  and 
Dowling  assisting.  It  may  not  be  considered  out  of  place- 
to  here  touch  briefly  on  the  battle  waged  for  the  liberty  of  the 
Press  in  this  colony.  Sir  Thomas  Brisbane,  through  an 
official  letter  addressed  by  Secretary  Goulburn  to  the  editor 
of  the  Sydney  Gazette,  15th  October,  1824,  recognised  the- 
liberty  of  the  Press.  This  liberty  was  threatened  in  1826 
by  Governor  Darling.  Sir  Ralph  Darling  was  then  two' 
years  in  the  colony.  Two  soldiers  named  Sudds  and  Thomp- 
son had  committed  an  offi^nce  in  order  that  they  might 
be  convicted,  and,  on  their  discharge,  have  an  oppor- 
tunity of  improving  their  condition  in  life.  After  their 
conviction  and  sentence,  Sir  Ralph  Darling  issued  ani 
order  by  which  tlie  two  men  were  taken  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  civil  power,  and  returned  to  the  ranks.  They  were 
stripped  of  their  uniform  on  parade,  in  presence  of  all  the- 
soldiers ;  clothed  in  the  convict  garb,  and  iron  collars,  with 
spikes  and  chains  made  especially  heavy,  were  rivetted  on 
their  necks  and  legs.  They  were  then  drummed  out  of  the 
regiment,  and  then  marched  back  to  gaol  to  the  tune  of  the 
"  Rogue's  March."     Sudds  died  a  few  days  afterwards  fronii 


126  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

exposure  in  the  sun  and  the  heavy  chains,  but  chiefly  from 
the  torture  of  mind  he  was  subjected  to  before  liis  comrades, 
Thompson  became  insane.  This  action  of  the  official  was 
condemned  by  both  Press  and  people.  Wentworth  wrote  a 
pamphlet  on  the  subject,  called  "  The  Impeachment,"  in 
which  he  said  he  would  follow  the  Governor  to  the  foot  of 
tlie  gallows  with  the  accusation.  The  editor  of  the  Monitor 
(Mr.  E.  S.  Hall),  was  sentenced  to  twelve  months'  imprison- 
ment for  libelling  Governor  Darling.  The  editor  of  the 
Austrahan  was  sentenced  to  six  months'  imprisonment  and 
fined  £100  for  a  similar  offence.  It  was  at  this  time  that 
Governor  Darling  attempted  to  re-establish  the  censorship 
of  the  Press,  and  Sir  Francis  Forbes  distinguished  himself 
by  so  strongly  protesting  against  it.  The  result  was  that 
the  Governor  had  to  abandon  the  proposal.  This  was  the 
last  attack  made  upon  the  liberty  of  the  Press.  In  1827  a 
measure  was  proposed  by  Governor  Darling  in  the  Council 
imposing  a  heavy  duty  on  all  newspapers  published  in  the 
colony.  Under  the  Constitution  Act,  all  measures  passed 
Iiad  to  receive  the  certificate  of  the  Chief  Justice  that  they 
were  in  accord  with  English  law.  This  measure  was  sub- 
mitted to  him  in  blank,  and  was  so  certified.  The  Council 
subsequently  filled  in  the  blank  with  figures  I'epresenting 
the  proposed  duty.  It  was  proposed  by  one  member  that 
one  shilling  per  copy  should  be  charged,  but  a  stamp  duty 
of  fourpence  was  adopted.  Tlie  Chief  Justice  at  once  re- 
fused his  certificate  to  this  imposition,  which,  he  urged, 
would  eflectually  crush  out  of  existence  every  newspaper  in 
the  colony.  This  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  Chief  Justice 
entailed  the  bitter  enmity  of  the  Governor,  Sir  Ralph 
Darling,  who  made  grave  charges  against  him.  These, 
however,  were  easily  repelled.  The  address  presented  to 
Chief  Justice  Forbes  on  his  departure  from  the  colony, 
remarked,   among   other  things : — "  To  you,   Sir,  the  first 


A    JUST   TRIBUTE.  127 

Chief  Justice   that   was  ever   appointed   to  preside   in  our 
courts,  was  delegated  on  your  arrival  the  arduous  duty  of 
organising  those  courts,  so  as  to  render  them  the  means  of 
dispensing  justice  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  colony,  in  con- 
formity,   as    far    as  then    lay    in    your    power,     with    the 
constitutional   rights  of  our  fellow   subjects  in  the  mother 
country.     This  was  the  object  submitted  to  your  care,  wlien, 
although  Chief  Justice  of  the  colony,  you   had  no  brother 
judge  to  aid  you  in  your  arduous  undertaking,  and  so  well 
did   you   perform   this   duty,    that   you    at  once  raised  the 
Judgment   seat   in  the   estimation   of  the  colonists  to  that 
state  of  respect  from  which  it  has   never,  on  any  occasion 
since,  been  sufiered  to  descend — an  object  of  admiration  for 
the  ability  with  which  its  difficult  and  arduous  duties  have 
been   so  efficiently  performed,   and  of  veneration   for,   and 
implicit  confidence  in,  the  undeviating  purity  of  its  decisions. 
As  a  legislator  and  member  of  the  colonial  Government, 
your  character  is  entitled  no  less  to  our  unqualified  regard, 
more  particularly  your  uncompromising  maintenance  of  the 
constitutional  rights  of  the  colonists,  as  far  as  those  rights 
have  been  hitherto  extended  to  this  colony.     Nothing  but  the 
highest   moral  firmness  and  integrity,   combined  with  that 
genius  and  learning,  for  which  you  are  so  eminently  dis- 
tinguished, could  have  overcome  the  opposition  and  tlie  diffi- 
culties which  you  have  had  to  encounter."   Dun  ngChief  Justice 
Forbes'  residence  in  the  colony,  he  applied  himself  so  closely 
to  his  duties,  that  his  health  gave  way  under  the  strain.      He 
left  for  England  in  1836.     While  in  England  lie  received  the 
honor  of  knighthood  (6th  Api'il,  1837).     At  the  expiration 
of  his  leave  he  found  his  health  not  sufficiently  restored,  so  he 
resigned  his  appointment  in  July,  1837.     In  the  same  year 
he  returned  to  Sydney,  where  he  resided  until  his  death,  which 
took  place  on  9th  November,  1841.     He  married,  in  1813, 
Amelia  Sophia,  daughter  of  David  Grant,  M.D.,  of  Jamaica. 


128         australian  pionkkrs  and  reminiscencks. 

The  Hon.  Sir  John  Robertson,  K.C.M.G. 

There  is  no  name  in  Australian  history  more  honored  and 
venerated  by  all  classes  of  persons  than  that  of  Sir  John 
Robertson.  During  his  lifetime  he  rallied  round  him  the 
best  spirits  of  his  day,  and  assuredly  if  ever  a  man  departed 
from  this  earth  leaving  no  enemies  behind,  that  man  was 
John  Robertson,  "  the  father  of  free  selection,"  as  he  was. 
popularly  designated. 

Sir  John  Robertson  was  born  at  Bow,  Essex,  on  15th 
October,  1816.  His  father  was  a  Scotchman,  his  mother 
English.  When  he  was  four  years  old  his  father  emigrated 
to  Australia.  He  received  his  education  at  Dr.  Lang's 
college,  in  Jamieson- street,  and  at  Mr.  Cape's  school,, 
the  boy  being  one  of  the  tirst  to  enter  Scot's  College. 
Finishing  his  education,  he  proceeded  to  his  parents'  resi- 
dence on  the  Hunter,  where  they  were  engaged  in  pastoral 
pursuits.  He  spent  a  portion  of  his  time  near  Boggabri, 
leading  the  usual  life  of  a  squatting  youth  in  those  days. 
He  did  not  take  too  kindly  to  this  kind  of  life.  Thus, 
while  still  a  mere  youth,  we  find  him  working  his  passage 
to  England  on  board  the  ship  "  Sovereign."  He  remained 
at  sea  for  al)out  two  years,  when  he  returned  to  the  colony, 
and  started  in  pastoral  pursuits.  He  married  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one.  While  attending  to  the  duties  which  his  mode 
of  life  required  of  him,  his  active  brain  dwelt  a  good  deal 
upon  political  matters  as  affecting  the  young  colony,  and 
he  was  looked  upon  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  north  western 
portion  of  the  colony  as  their  leader.  He  pleaded  the  cause 
of  the  squatters  before  the  Governoi",  Sir  George  Gipps,  who 
was  at  the  time  curtailing  the  rights  of  Crown  tenants. 
Young  Robertson's  pleading,  and  clear  and  forcible  state- 
ment of  the  case,  proved  successful.  Still  a  few  years  later 
he  was  found   urging  tlie  cause  of  the  free  selectors  against 


SIR    JOHN    ROBERTSON.  129 

his  own  class,  which  shows  the  rectitude  of  his  mind  when 
he  saw  the  interests  of  the  people  lay  one  way,  and  the 
interest  of  the  class  to  which  he  belonged  on  the  other  side. 
He  never  hesitated,  but  took  the  side  which  he  considered 
beneficial  to  the  general  public.  After  the  passing  of  the 
"Constitution  Act,"  in  1856,  Mr.  Robertson  was  one  of 
the  first  to  be  requisitioned  to  stand  for  a  constituency,  and 
his  was  the  first  address  issued  to  the  constituencies.  He 
lived  to  see  most  of  the  subjects  laid  down  in  that  address 
become  the  law  of  the  land.  Amongst  the  measures  alluded 
to  we  may  mention  the  Public  Lands,  Electoral  Reform, 
National  Education,  and  Abolition  of  State  Aid  to  Religion. 
He  was  elected  for  the  Bligh,  Brisbane,  and  Phillip  con- 
stituencies to  the  first  Parliament  under  Responsible 
Government.  Daniel  Henry  Deniehy,  Thomas  Holt,  W. 
Macleay,  W.  B.  Dalley,  and  James  Martin  were  elected  at 
the  same  time  for  other  constituencies.  Some  two  years 
after  he  became  Minister  for  Lands  in  Mr.  Cowper's 
administration.  When  Sir  John  Robertson  first  brought 
in  his  motion  for  free-selection  before  survey,  he  only  found 
nine  members  supporting  him.  When  Sir  Charles  Cowper 
formed  his  second  Ministry,  in  1857,  Sir  John  Robertson 
joined  him  as  Minister  for  Lands  and  Works,  which  office 
he  held  from  January  13,  1858,  to  September  30,  1859. 
The  chief  measure  which  that  Ministry  passed  was  the 
Electoral  Bill  ;  soon  after,  they  were  defeated  on  their 
Education  Bill.  The  Forster  Ministry,  which  succeeded 
them,  lasted  only  a  few  months.  Taking  office  again  in 
March,  1860,  Mr.  Robertson  brought  in  his  famous  Land 
Bill,  which  was,  however,  defeated  by  a  small  majority  on 
a  motion  brought  forward  by  Sir  John  Hay.  Mr.  Robert- 
son at  once  appealed  to  the  people,  and  came  back  with  a 
large  majority,  all  the  members  of  the  Cabinet  being  re- 
elected. The  Bill  was  re-introduced,  and  was  carried  easily 
J 


130  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

in  the  Legislative  Assembly.  The  measure,  however,  met 
with  the  most  determined  opposition  in  the  Legislative 
Council.  Mr.  Robertson  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Lower 
Chamber,  and  had  himself  appointed  to  the  Council,  where, 
notwithstanding  the  Conservative  opposition,  he  secured  the 
passing  of  the  bill  into  law. 

Sir  John  Robertson  was  five  times  Premier  :  March  9, 
1860;  January  12,  1870;  February  9,  1875,  and  August 
17,  1877.  He  was  Minister  for  Lands  and  Works  in  the 
Cabinet  of  Sir  Charles  Cowper,  January  13,  1858;  Secre- 
tary for  Lands  in  the  fourth  Cowper  Ministry,  February  3, 
1865,  and  in  the  fifth  Cowper  Ministry,  August  17,  1870; 
he  was  Colonial  Secretary  in  the  Martin  Ministry,  Decem- 
ber 16,  1870;  he  also  represented  the  Parkes  Ministry  in 
the  Upper  House,  1878  ;  he  became  Minister  for  Public 
Instruction  in  June,  1880.  He  again  became  Premier  and 
Colonial  Secretary  on  December  22,  1885.  This  Ministry 
was  only  a  sort  of  scratch  Ministry,  and  retired  from  office 
25th  February,  holding  oftice  for  two  months.  In  1877  Sir 
John  Robertson  was  honored  by  a  knighthood,  in  recog- 
nition of  his  eminent  services  to  the  colony,  he  receiving 
the  title  of  K.C.M.G.  at  the  same  time  as  Sir  Henry  Parkes. 
A  writer  in  the  Australian  Portrait  Gallery,  some  years  before 
Sir  John  Robertson's  death,  thus  sketched  his  career  : — "  Sir 
John  Robertson's  career  has  proceeded  pari  passu  with  the 
development  of  our  constitutional  history.  The  dates  of 
its  chief  events  are  epochs  in  his  public  life,  and  the  one 
lends  light  and  shade  to  the  other.  That  public  life  has 
been  full  of  colour  and  character,  presenting  very  few  half 
tones,  and  no  neutral  tints  whatever.  All  things  about  the 
man,  even  his  mistakes,  are  clear  and  well  defined.  It  is 
difficult  to  gauge  with  strict  accuracy  the  vast  influence  for 
good  of  such  tough  fibre,  interwoven  so  completely  as  it  has 
been    through    and    through    the    variegated    woof  of    our 


SIR    JOHN    ROBERTSON.  131 

colonial  political  life.  The  national  character  of  a  young 
country  like  this  is  widely  tinged  and  deeply  impregnated 
with  that  of  its  political  rulers.  Their  individuality  insen- 
sibly impresses  the  public  spirit  which  commits  itself  to 
their  care.  The  strong  virility  of  Sir  John  Robei'tson  has 
established  liim  from  the  first  in  the  front  rank,  and  his 
individual  personality  has  never  since  failed  to  impress 
itself  on  the  opinions  and  political  faith  of  his  followers,  as 
well  as  on  the  entire  political  life  of  the  country.  On  the 
whole,  it  must  be  admitted  that  his  general  influence,  apart 
from  his  acts,  has  been  for  good.  He  has  ever  been  a 
staunch  friend,  always  in  the  face  of  expediency  or  pru- 
dence, though  sometimes  in  the  teeth  of  justice.  As  a 
political  leader  he  has  never  committed  himself  to  those 
mock  oracular  deliverances,  meaningless  and  vapid  in  them- 
selves, by  which  some  politicians  defraud  the  popular  faith 
and  throw  dust  in  the  eyes  of  the  people.  He  has  never 
stirred  up  class  differences  to  bolster  up  a  weak  position, 
nor  revived  those  rabid  sectarian  cries  and  old-world  bitter- 
nesses, so  much  out  of  place  in  Australia,  to  strengthen 
failing  political  power.  His  liberality  has  been  consistent 
throughout,  and  his  disregard  of  class  differences  is  only 
equal  to  his  contempt  for  those  who  profited  by  them. 
Though  never  despising  party  tactics,  his  career  has  been 
singularly  free  from  petty  subterfuges  and  whining  cant, 
ever  taking  his  reverses  and  defeats  manfully.  As  a  speaker 
he  has  always  been  eloquent,  prompt,  and  effective.  Through- 
out his  life  and  work,  Sir  John  Robertson  has  amply  justified 
the  popular  choice  of  a  leader  in  the  very  beginning  of 
Responsible  Government.  In  reviewing  both  from  their 
commencement,  the  observer  cannot  but  recognise  the  great 
and  varied  use  both  have  been  to  our  political  history,  at 
a  time  when  it  was  of  the  first  importance,  that  the  general 
character  of  its  impressions  should  be  good.     In  sounding 


132  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

the  heart  of  the  country  he  will  find,  far  down  in  its  depths, 
a  deep  strain  of  tenderness  for  the  noble  veteran  whose 
face  and  form  are  so  familiar  to  every  unit  in  the  com- 
munity. When  most  of  the  callow  statesmen  and  immature 
politicians  of  to-day,  who  essay  to  gain  a  perilous  notoriety 
by  criticism  of  his  work,  have  found  their  proper  and  native 
level,  the  feeling  of  the  country  will  be  glad  to  glance  back 
at  the  history  of  the  past,  illustrated  as  it  was  by  the  virile 
life  and  manful  efforts  of  this  fearless  and  intrepid  leader 
of  the  people." 

After  his  retirement  from  public  life.  Parliament  voted 
him  £10,000  in  recognition  of  his  public  services.  When 
the  Federation  movement  was  foremost  in  men's  minds,  Sir 
John  Robertson  always  took  up  a  most  determined  stand  in 
opposition,  and,  on  the  very  day  of  his  death,  a  letter,  written 
by  him  the  previous  day,  was  published  in  the  Herald  in 
opposition  to  the  Commonwealth  Bill.  He  was  present  at  a 
picnic  at  Vaucluse  the  day  before  his  death,  at  which  he  made 
a  speech  against  Federation.  His  death  took  place  at  his 
home,  "Clovely,"  Watson's  Bay,  on  8th  May,  1891.  His 
funeral,  which  was  a  public  one,  was  attended  by  all  classes 
and  all  creeds.  The  Governor  (Lord  Jersey),  His  Eminence 
Cardinal  Moran,  the  Admiral,  and  all  the  high  dignitaries, 
both  civil  and  military,  attended.  Speaking  at  a  meeting 
held  at  the  Cathedral  on  the  Sunday  evening  of  the  funeral, 
Cardinal  Moran  made  the  following  reference  to  the  late 
statesman : — "Within  the  last  few  hours  he  had  the  privilege 
of  assisting  at  the  great  and  well-deserved  tribute  paid  by 
the  citizens  of  Sydney  to  the  veteran  statesman  who  had 
been  summoned  by  death,  and  relieved  from  all  the  troubles 
and  trials  of  the  field  of  politics,  and  all  the  cares  and 
anxieties  of  our  daily  life.  The  veteran  who  had  passed 
away,  had  not  among  his  compeers  during  his  long  and 
eventful  public  career,  one  more  remarkable  for  his  whole- 


SIR   JOHN    HAY.  133 

heartedness  in  the  building  up  and  preservation  of  those 
rights  which  he  believed  to  be  so  essential  to  the  greatness 
of  Australia.  None  had  more  faithfully  served  the  colony 
than  he,  none  had  been  more  jealous  of  the  guardianship, 
and  none  more  courageous  in  the  defence  of  the  liberties  he 
had  helped  to  win  for  the  people  of  this  fair  land.  It  was 
the  duty  of  all  true  citizens  and  all  true  colonists  to  cherish 
and  guard  the  great  liberties  which  were  Australia's  boast, 
and  the  honor  which  had  been  paid  that  day  to  the  remains 
of  their  veteran  statesman  and  champion,  was  but  a  fitting 
manifestation  of  their  grateful  appreciation  of  Sir  John 
Robertson's  services  in  defence  of  their  rights  and  liberties. 
During  his  long  public  life,  the  distinguished  statesman 
recognised  and  respected  both  the  political  and  religious 
rights  of  all  classes  in  the  community,  and  it  was  a  cheering 
thing,  now  that  he  had  passed  away,  to  be  able  to  say  of 
him,  as  one  of  their  representative  Australian  statesmen, 
that  he  had  never  used  his  high  position  and  great  oppor- 
tunities save  for  the  public  good  ;  that  he  had  never  lent  his 
aid  to  the  creation  of  discord  in  the  community,  or  to  the 
stirring  up  of  the  embers  of  religious  strife.  Recognising, 
as  a  statesman  having  the  country's  welfare  at  heart,  that 
peace  and  concord  were  essential  to  Australia's  prosperity, 
he  did  his  best,  and  for  many  years,  to  foster  and  extend 
the  growth  of  a  broad  and  generous  spirit  in  the  land." 

Sir  John  Hay,  K.C.M.G. 

The  name  of  John  Hay  is  thoroughly  representative  of 
the  pastoralist  class.  Upon  his  arrival  in  the  colony  he  com- 
menced his  squatting  career,  and,  during  the  whole  of  that 
life,  he  always  stood  up  for  the  claims  of  his  class,  both  in 
and  out  of  Parliament.  John  Hay  was  born  in  Scotland, 
at  Little  Ythsie,  Aberdeenshire,  and  was  educated  at  King's 
College,  Aberdeen.     He  proved  a  successful  student,  carry- 


134  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

ing  off  the  highest  honors  every  year.  In  1834  he  took  his 
degree  at  the  University,  and  then  went  to  Edinburgh  to 
study  law.  He  spent  two  or  three  years  in  Edinburgh,  when 
he  heard  such  good  accounts  of  the  colony  that  he  gave  up  his 
studies  and  took  passage  for  Australia.  He  arrived  in 
Sydney  in  1838,  and  during  that  year  he  went  into  the 
country  and  settled  at  Weleragang,  above  Albury,  on  the 
Upper  Murray.  Mr.  Hay  remained  there  about  eighteen 
years,  working  hard  for  success  all  the  time.  Although 
living  so  far  from  the  seat  of  Government,  Mr.  Hay  studied 
all  the  political  questions  which  agitated  the  colony.  Con- 
sequently it  was  no  surprise  to  find  him  offering  himself  for 
a  seat  in  Parliament  at  the  first  election  under  Responsible 
Government  in  1856.  Before  this  he  uncompromisingly 
opposed  the  Border  Duties  over  the  Murray.  He  was  looked 
upon  as  one  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  this  Parliament, 
as  was  shown  by  his  being  chosen  to  move  the  vote  of 
censure  on  the  Cowper  Ministry,  17th  September,  18-56, 
the  vote  being  carried.  Mr.  Cowper  having  failed  to  induce 
Governor  Denison  to  grant  a  dissolution,  Mr.  Hay  was  sent 
for  to  form  a  new  administration.  But  he  declined  the 
responsibility.  Mr.  Watson  Parker  was  then  sent  for. 
This  gentleman  was  at  one  time  Private  Secretary  to  Sir 
George  Gipps.  Mr.  Parker  was  successful  in  forming  a 
Ministry,  Mr.  Hay  taking  the  position  of  Minister  for  Lands 
and  Works.  Mr.  Stuart  Donaldson,  who  had  formed  the 
first  Ministry  under  Responsible  Government,  took  the 
Treasurership.  Mr.  Manning  and  Mr.  Darvall  assumed  the 
posts  of  Attorney -General  and  Solicitor -General  respect- 
ively, Mr.  Deas-Thomson  being  Vice-President  of  the 
Executive  Council.  This  Ministry  remained  in  office  for 
about  eleven  months,  when  they  brought  in  a  new  Electoral 
Bill.  They  were  defeated  by  Mr.  Cowper,  who  moved  that 
the  Bill  be  read  that  day  six  months,  which  motion  was 


FREE    SELECTION    BEFORE    SURVEY    DEFEATED.  135 

carried  by  twenty-six  to  twenty-three.  The  Government 
tendered  their  resignation.  Mr.  Cowper  again  took  office. 
In  1858,  under  the  new  Electoral  Act,  the  Murrumbidgee 
electorate  was  divided,  Mr.  Hay  sitting  as  member  for  the 
Murray  until  18G4.  In  this  year  he  was  elected  for  Central 
Cumberland,  which  constituency  he  represented  till  1867, 
when  he  was  appointed  to  the  Legislative  Council. 

During  the  agitation  for  free-selection  before  survey,  Mr. 
Hay  took  a  determined  stand  on  behalf  of  the  squatters, 
and  raised  the  greatest  opposition  to  the  principle.  His 
resolution  against  the  clause  was  carried  by  thirty-three 
votes  to  twenty-eight.  The  Ministry  appealed  to  the  con- 
stituencies, and  came  back  with  a  large  majority.  But  such 
was  Mr.  Hay's  personal  popularity,  that,  notwithstanding 
his  pronounced  opposition  to  the  free-selection  before  survey 
clause,  he  was  again  returned  by  his  constituents.  On 
October  14,  1862,  Mr.  Hay  was  elected  Speaker  of  the 
Legislative  Assembly,  in  succession  to  Sir  Terence  Aubrey 
Murray.  He  held  the  position  till  October  21st,  1865. 
He  remained  in  the  Assembly  until  his  appointment  to  the 
Legislative  Council  on  June  26th,  1867,  and,  on  the  death 
of  Sir  Terence  Aubrey  Murray,  Mr.  Hay  was  appointed  to 
the  position  of  President  of  the  Council,  which  position  he 
held  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  which  took  place  at  Rose 
Bay,  on  January  20th,  1892. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Early  Men  of  Genius  and  Power —The  List  Continued — Du. 
Lang — A  Blow  to  Convictism — Dr.  Lang  as  a  Reformer— 
The  Fight  for  Freedom— Dr.  Richard  L.  Jenkins— The 
Education  of  the  Masses — William  Cox — The  Track  over 
the  Blue  Mountains  —  Hon.  Henry  Dangar  —  Myall 
Creek — Hon.  James  White  —  Hon.  David  Jones  —  Alex- 
ander Berry — William  H.  Hovell — Hon.  Henry  Mort. 


The  Rev.  John  Dunmore  Lang,  D.D. 


N  the  early  days  of  settlement  in  New 
South  Wales,  clergymen  of  different  de- 
nominations took  a  very  active  part  in 
■f  shaping  the  affairs  of  the  colony.  But  none 
I  (X  of  them  were  more  active  than  Dr.  Lang. 
|;  »/>This  was  so  not  only  in  the  political  move- 
ments of  his  time,  but  in  the  work  of  settling 
a  desirable  class  of  settlers  on  the  lands  of 
Similarly  was  he  energetic  in  prosecuting  all 
movements  taken  to  obtain  free  institutions.  From  the  day 
he  first  set  foot  on  Australian  soil,  his  life  may  be  said  to 
have  been  directed  towards  advancing  the  various  interests 
of  his  adopted  country.  There  is  no  doubt  that  there  were 
blemishes  in  his  method  of  attaining  the  ends  which  he 
fought  for.      But  who  can  be  said  to  be  entirely  free  of 


Australia. 


REV.    J.    D.    LANG,    D.D.  137 

fault"?  One  thing  must  be  said  of  John  Dunmore  Lang: 
his  faults  were  faults  of  the  head,  and  not  of  the  heart. 
To  use  his  own  words,  "  Although  my  course  may  have 
been  somewhat  unusual  and  erratic,  the  candid  reader  will 
•come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  has  been  uniformly  the  result 
of  a  sincere  desire  to  promote  the  best  interests  of  the 
Australian  colonies." 

John  Dunmore  Lang  was  born  at  Greenock,  in  Scotland, 
August  25th,  1799.  His  parents  were  Scotch,  and  true 
adherents  of  the  Kirk,  and  had  suffered  in  earlier  years  for 
the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant.  His  parent  moved  to 
Largs,  in  Ayrshire,  when  the  subject  of  this  memoir  was 
seven  years  old.  He  attended  the  parish  school  until  he 
was  old  enough  to  go  to  the  Glasgow  University.  Like  a 
large  number  of  the  better  educated  of  his  countrymen,  he 
chose  the  church  as  his  calling.  In  1821,  his  brother,  George 
Lang,  came  to  Australia,  and  the  accounts  which  he  sent 
home  of  this  country  directed  the  attention  of  the  divinity 
student  to  Australia,  as  likely  to  give  ample  scope  to  his 
missionary  zeal.  About  a  year  after,  having  been  ordained 
to  the  Ministry  by  the  Presbytery  of  Irvine,  and  taking  his 
degree  as  Master  of  Arts,  he  sailed  for  Australia,  arriving 
in  Sydney  in  May,  1823.  Sir  Thomas  Brisbane  was  then 
Governor  of  the  colony.  He  came  from  the  same  place  as 
the  Langs,  in  the  west  of  Scotland. 

In  the  same  year,  1824,  the  Scots'  Church,  in  Jamieson- 
street,  was  built  and  opened.  Dr.  Lang  officiated  in  this 
place  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  About  five  years  after 
his  arrival  in  the  colony,  he  was  desirous  of  establishing  a 
•college  for  the  education  of  young  men  for  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  as  well  as  for  other  educational  purposes.  He 
•endeavoured  to  obtain  convict  labour  for  the  purpose,  but 
■Governor  Darling  refused  to  assist  the  project  in  any  way. 
In   1830,   Dr.   Lang   went   to  England,  and,   whilst    there, 


138  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND     REMINISCENCES. 

obtained  from  Lord  Goderich,  who  was  then  Secretary  of 
State  for  the  Colonies,  an  order  on  the  colonial  Government 
for  <£3,500,  on  condition  that  a  similar  amount  was  pre- 
viously spent  by  the  promoters  on  the  undertaking.  £1,500 
of  this  were  allowed  by  Lord  Goderich  to  be  applied  to  the 
payment  of  passages  of  a  party  of  Scotch  mechanics,  to  be 
selected  by  Dr.  Lang,  the  party  to  consist  of  fifty  or  sixty. 
Those  mechanics  were  to  be  employed  in  the  erection  of  the 
buildings,  and  the  cost  of  their  passages  was  to  be  deducted 
from  their  wages.  About  sixty  Scotch  families — black- 
smiths, carpenters,  stonemasons,  plasterers — arrived  in  the 
colony  by  the  "Stirling  Castle"  in  October,  1831.  Dr. 
Lang  had  another  object  in  view  in  bringing  out  this  class- 
of  immigrants,  which  he  expressed  at  the  time.  He  says  : — 
"  Previous  to  this  period,  there  were  only  two  classes  in  the 
colony — the  free  emigrant  gentlemen  settlers,  with  their 
large  grant  of  land  of  from  one  to  two  thousand  acres  and 
upwards,  their  flocks  and  herds,  and  their  numerous  convict 
servants.  These  were,  in  their  own  estimation  at  least,  the 
aristocracy  of  the  colony.  The  other  class  consisted  exclu- 
sively of  the  emancipated  convict  labourers  and  mechanics, 
who  were  congregated  chiefly  in  the  towns.  In  such  cir- 
cumstances it  appeared  to  me  that  the  formation  of  a  middle 
class  in  the  colony  was  indispensably  necessary  to  its  moral 
welfare  and  social  advancement." 

This  project  met  with  great  opposition,  and  Dr.  Lang  took 
another  trip  to  England  in  1833.  He  returned  to  Sydney 
in  1835,  and  started  the  Colonist  newspaper,  "for  the 
furtherance  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  development  of 
the  colony."  He  conducted  this  paper  with  his  usual  vigour, 
and  it  was  not  long  ere  he  was  called  upon  to  defend  more 
than  one  libel  action.  One  of  the  actions  was  taken  against 
him  by  the  emancipists,  a  class  of  persons  whom  he  steadily 
opposed,  from  the  first,  with  all  the  talent  and  influence 


DR.    LANG    AS    A    REFORMER.  139* 

which  he  could  possibly  command.  In  this  case  the  writer 
defended  himself  in  an  address  of  remarkable  strength 
and  point,  which  resulted  in  the  withdrawal  of  the  prosecu- 
tion. Subsequently  the  Colonist  commented  upon  some  of 
the  vices  of  the  day,  coupling  with  them  the  names  of  some 
well-known  members  of  the  community.  For  this  he  was 
fined  £100,  which  was  promptly  subscribed  and  paid  by  the- 
public.  In  1851  Dr.  Lang  was  sentenced  to  four  months 
imprisonment,  and  a  tine  of  ,£100,  for  criminally  libelling 
Mr.  Thomas  Icely.  In  this  case  his  fine  and  legal  expenses 
were  paid  by  a  shilling  subscription. 

In  1836  Dr.  Lang  made  another  voyage  to  England,^ 
bringing  back  with  him  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  vine- 
dressers for  New  South  Wales,  under  engagement  to  his 
brother,  Mr.  Andrew  Lang.  However,  on  the  way  out,  they 
altered  their  determination  and  settled  at  Rio  de  Janeiro. 
A  numl)er  of  missionaries  from  Berlin  came  out  with  the 
Doctor,  and  established  an  aboriginal  mission  at  Nundah, 
near  Brisbane,  in  1838.  During  this  visit  he  arranged  for 
the  bringing  out  to  the  colony  about  four  thousand  Scotch. 
artizans  and  herdsmen.  Dr.  Lang  was  elected  in  1843  as 
member  for  Port  Phillip  in  the  first  Legislative  Council. 

On  the  motion  of  Dr.  Lang,  a  select  committee  was 
appointed  in  1844  to  consider  the  subject  of  franchise  and 
representation  ;  Dr.  Lang  was  appointed  chairman.  The 
committee  recommended  that  the  franchise  be  extended  to 
farmers  and  squatters ;  the  recommendations  were  not, 
however,  carried  into  effect.  He  was  the  first  to  move  for 
the  adoption  of  a  twopenny  postage  rate  for  the  colony,. 
which  was  vetoed  by  Sir  George  Gipps.  It  became  law 
during  the  reign  of  his  successor.  It  was  he,  too,  who  moved 
that  Port  Phillip  should  be  erected  into  a  separate  and 
independent  colony.  At  that  time  six  members  repre- 
sented what  is  now  the  colony  of  Victoria,  and,  from  among 


140  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

all  the  members  repi^esenting  New  South  Wales,  only  one 
solitary  vote  was  cast  in  favour  of  the  motion  for  separation, 
and  that  vote  was  given  by  Mr.  Robert  Lowe.  Dr.  Lang 
recommended  that  the  members  for  Port  Phillip  should  send 
to  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  a  petition  on  the  subject  through 
the  Governor.  He  drew  up  the  petition,  which  was  for- 
warded in  due  course,  and,  about  nine  months  after,  a 
reply  came  from  Lord  Stanley,  then  Secretary  of  State 
for  the  colonies,  favourable  to  the  petition.  It  was  not, 
however,  till  July  1st,  1851,  that  Port  Phillip  was  pro- 
claimed a  separate  colony  under  the  name  of  Victoria.  In 
1846  Dr.  Lang  took  another  trip  to  England,  for  the  purpose, 
he  acknowledged,  of  counteracting  the  eifects  of  the  inflow 
into  the  colony  of  large  numbers  of  Irish  immigrants.  He 
considered  this  could  only  be  checked  by  bringing  out  larger 
numbers  of  protestant  immigrants.  The  only  thing  he 
accomplished  in  this  direction  was  that  he  selected  a  number 
of  Scotch  immigrants,  with  a  view  to  settling  them  in  the 
northern  portion  of  the  colony,  on  a  cotton  plantation  which 
he  proposed  starting.  This  project  fell  through  owing  to 
the  fact  that  land  grants,  which  he  expected  to  be  given  to 
the  immigrants,  were  refused.  Most  of  the  immigrants  were 
landed  and  settled  in  the  Moreton  Bay  country,  and  they 
assisted  largely  in  making  that  colony  what  it  is  to-day. 
Many  of  them  rose  to  eminence  in  the  young  colony,  and 
became  wealthy  as  time  went  on. 

Shortly  after  his  return  to  the  colony  in  1850,  he  was 
■elected  to  represent  the  city  of  Sydney.  He  was  accused 
of  having  made  money  out  of  his  immigration  scheme,  by 
the  Parliament  and  the  Press.  He  issued  an  address  to  his 
constituents,  offering  to  resign  his  seat  if  they  approved  of 
the  course  taken  by  his  accusers.  His  supporters  held  a 
public  meeting,  at  which  they  expressed  their  entire  satis- 
faction with  their  representative.     This  induced  him  to  hold 


THE    FIGHT    FOR    FREEDOM,  141 

his  seat.  At  the  next  elections,  1851,  he  was  serving  four 
months'  incarceration  in  Parramatta  gaol  for  the  Icely  libel. 
He  was  nevertheless  elected  at  the  head  of  the  poll,  Messrs. 
Wentworth  and  Lamb  being  his  colleagues,  Messrs.  Long- 
more  and  Charles  Cowper  being  defeated.  After  his 
release  he  made  a  speech  in  the  following  terras  : — "  He 
congratulated  his  fellow  citizens  on  the  position  which  the 
city  had  taken  up  as  the  heart  of  the  whole  Australian 
group.  The  heart  of  the  colony  was  in  right  action,  and 
the  blood  it  would  send  into  the  limbs  and  branches  of  the 
otlier  colonies  would  infuse  life  into  the  whole  political 
system.  Personally  he  thanked  them  for  the  certificate  of 
character  which  they  had  given  him,  and  which,  he  doubted 
not,  would  serve  a  future  purpose,  not  only  in  tlie  colony, 
but  in  England,  if  it  should  be  his  fate  to  go  once  more 
home.  They  were  all  aware  of  his  eftbrts  to  arouse  public 
feeling  at  home,  in  order  to  obtain  justice  for  the  colonists 
of  the  empire  generally ;  but  in  making  those  efforts  he 
had  aroused  the  wrath  of  the  Colonial  Ofiice  against  himself. 
Some  comments  had  appeared  in  the  London  Daily  News,. 
stating  his  election  last  year  had  been  accidental,  and  that 
the  constituency  took  no  part  in  the  extreme  views  he  held, 
particularly  as  to  the  right  of  a  colony  to  entire  freedom 
and  independence.  He  had  risked  his  present  election,, 
however,  on  a  strong  expression  of  that  opinion.  It  was 
from  no  feeling  of  disloyalty  that  he  professed  these  opinions. 
God  forbid  that  he  should  feel  disrespect  for  the  authorities 
of  the  old  Fatherland  !  But  while  he  yielded  to  no  man  in 
respect,  in  veneration,  for  the  constituted  authorities  of  the 
mother  country,  he  would  never  hesitate  to  express  his 
conviction  of  the  right  of  any  colony  of  the  Crown  as  soon 
as  it  could  stand  on  its  own  legs,  to  entire  freedom  and 
independence.  He  held  that  a  common  language,  a  common 
literature,  a  common  law,  and  a  common  religion,  constituted 


142  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

an  inBnitely  stronger  and  more  binding  tie  than  those  which 
kept  them  now  under  the  domination  of  Downing-stroet, 
and  whenever  the  day  came  that  they  should  have  a  flag 
of  their  own  floating  over  the  splendid  series  of  colonies 
founded  in  Australia,  he  felt  confident  that  Great  Britain 
would  rejoice  with  them,  and  would  say,  '  Many  daughters 
have  done  virtuously,  but  thou,  Australia,  hast  excelled 
them  all. ' "  In  the  following  February  he  resigned  his  seat 
in  the  Council,  and  paid  another  visit  to  England.  Dr.  Lang 
died  8th  August,  1878,  the  immediate  cause  being  a  rupture 
of  a  vessel  in  the  brain. 

Liberty  may  be  taken  here  to  give  a  few  extracts  from 
a  speech  delivered  by  Sir  Henry  Parkes  at  a  meeting  held 
at  St.  Leonard's,  on  the  first  anniversary  of  Dr.  Lang's 
death,  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the  erection  of  a  statue 
to  his  meiiiory.  The  well-known  statesman  said  "  he  came 
to  Australia  with  an  expansive  intellect,  a  brave  spirit,  a 
■capacity  for  work  and  mastering  the  details  of  life,  and  with 
a  quality  which  has  been  accounted  the  greatest  of  all  human 
qualities — the  power  of  gentleness.  It  has  been  said  that 
the  quality  of  all  others  that  wins  a  man's  way  in  the  world 
— that  conquers  difliculties,  that  makes  friends,  that  plants 
a  reputation — is  not  brilliant  attainments  in  science,  not 
great  learning,  not  the  endowment  of  an  eloquent  tongue, 
but  tenderness  of  disposition.  .  .  .  He  attended  to 
public  matters,  promoted  public  movements,  all  of  which 
had  a  tendency  to  dispel  the  midnight  darkness  of  those 
days,  and  teach  the  people  to  fit  themselves  for  the  good 
time  which  was  in  store  for  them,  and  which,  full  of  all  the 
liberties  of  true-born  Britons,  was  sure  to  come,  which  was 
iervently  believed  in,  and  which,  in  the  fulness  of  time, 
•came  with  all  its  plentitude  of  power  and  privilege.  A 
man  who  presented  this  noble  figure  in  those  early  days, 
and  struggled  ever  with  a  brave  heart,  and  a  loving  dispo- 


A     PLEASING    TRIBUTE.  143 

sition  towards  his  fellow  men,  his  one  object  being  to  place 
his  fellow-colonists  safely  and  deeply  in  the  land,  to  educate 
them  and  tit  them  for  the  making  of  a  great  nation — a  man 
who  did  all  this  is  worthy  pf  some  testimony  to  his  un- 
doubted greatness,  and  the  fruits  which  have  flowed  from 
his  exertions,  it  is,  I  am  afraid,  and  I  must  say  it,  hardly  a 
compliment  to  the  well-to-do  citizens  of  this  part  of  the 
metropolis  that  they  stay  at  home,  even  on  a  night  like  this, 
on  such  an  occasion  as  the  present.  A  man  moving  in  that 
circle  of  thoughtfulness  and  cultivated  men  who  form,  as  it 
were,  a  kind  of  zone  between  the  privileged  and  aristocratic 
classes  and  the  mercantile  and  working  classes  of  England 
— that  zone,  if  I  may  use  the  word,  of  intellectual  force 
which  is  so  attractive  to  us  all  in  the  mother  country — a 
man  conspicuous  in  that  band  of  intellectual  progress  has 
said  that  great  men  grow,  like  grapes,  in  bunches.  It  is  a 
homely  expression,  but  one  with  a  wonderful  power  of  truth. 
In  the  history  of  the  world  we  see  periods  of  barrenness — 
the  period  of  little  minds.  The  history  of  England  gives 
you  many  such  sterile  and  une\entful  periods  ;  and  occasion- 
ally a  group  of  men  arise,  and  they  nearly  always  do  arise 
in  groups,  fitted  in  the  most  supreme  manner  for  the  work 
of  forming  society  and  directing  its'  movements,  and  con- 
structing the  machinery  of  government.  Such  a  group  of 
men,  in  an  eminent  degree,  appeared  in  England  in  the  time 
of  the  Stuarts — Pyni,  Hampden,  and  their  great  associates. 
Such  a  group  of  meii,  by  something  like  a  miracle,  appeared 
in  the  throes  of  the  American  revolution — Washington, 
Franklin,  Adams,  Jeiferson.  Probably  never  on  the  face 
of  the  earth  was  there  a  company  of  great  minds  more  tit 
for  laying  the  foundation  of  a  great  nation.  Though  the 
population  of  the  American  colonies  in  that  day  did  not 
excel  in  numbers  the  population  in  Australasia  to-day,  still 
in  that  population  appeared  a  group  of  men  who  have  no 


>■ 


144  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

superiors  in  the  work  of  government  in  all  the  range  of 
human  history.  In  a  less  remarkable  manner  there  appeared 
in  tliis  country,  in  its  early  days,  a  group  of  men  who  cer- 
tainly were  eminently  fitted  to  struggle  with  the  dark  times. 
Of  those  the  very  father  of  the  Australian  Press  was 
Edward  Smith  Hall.  If  there  ever  was  a  journalist  with 
a  true  conception  of  his  great  functions,  it  was  this  early 
•conductor  of  a  Sydney  newspaper.  There  was  William 
Bland,  a  man  who  had  all  the  faculties  for  conceiving  the 
true  position  and  the  true  duties  of  a -free  citizen.  Then 
thei^  was  William  Charles  Wentworth,  who  had  a  colossal 
power  which  has  seldom,  been  equalled.  And  then  there 
was  John  Dunmore  LtCiig,  who  p.erhaps  excelled  them  all 
in  the  combination  of  the  qualities  which  form  real  human 
greatness — that  is,  his  bravery,  ready  to  face  anything  if  he 
thought  he  was  right,  his  grasp  of  intellect,  his  untiring 
capacity  for  work,  and,  above  all,  that  tenderness  of  spirit, 
that  power  of  gentleness,  without  which  it  has  been  said, 
and,  I  believe,  truly  said,  that  no  man  can  ever  be  truly 
great." 

Richard  Lewis  Jenkins,  M.R.C.S.  Eng.,  L.S.A.  London. 

One  feels  privileged  in  placing  on  record  even  what  must 
be  an  imperfect  sketch  of  such  a  man  as  the  late  Dr.  Jen- 
kins. He  was  a  man  of  gentle  birth  and  high  culture, 
broad  views,  advanced  ideas,  and  of  a  hvimane  and  philan- 
thropical  mind.  He  paid  much  attention  to  the  subject  of 
popular  education  for  the  masses.  He  favoured  compulsory 
and  free  education.  Some  of  his  views  were  regarded  as 
quite  eccentric.  Yet  they  have  since  been  embodied  in  the 
"  Public  Instruction  Act."  But  while  advocating  compul- 
sory and  free  education,  he  did  not  forget  to  point  out  that 
the  religious  training  of  the  children  should  be  attended  to 
as  well  as  the  training  of  the  intellect. 


\ 


Hon.  David  Jones.  Hon.  James  White. 

Hon.  John  Faikkax. 
Hon.   Henky  Mori  Cai-t.  O'Keili.v, 


I 


DR.    R.    L.    JENKINS.  145 

Richard  Lewis  Jenkins  was  the  fourth  son  of  Richard 
Jenkins,  of  Newport,  Monmouthshire,  and  Elizabeth,  his 
wife,  eldest  daugliter  of  the  late  William  Vaughan,  of  Caer- 
philly, Glamorganshire.  He  was  descended  from  the  Jenkins 
family  of  Panty  Nawell,  members  of  which,  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  frequently  since,  held  the  office  of  High  Sheriff 
of  Glamorganshire.  After  receiving  his  diplomas  he 
practiced  for  some  time  at  home,  but,  his  health  becoming 
impaired,  he  was  obliged  to  leave  England  and  seek  a 
warmer  clime.  He  came  to  this  colony  in  1841  as  medical 
officer  on  board  the  ship  "James  Moran."  The  passengers 
of  that  vessel  presented  him  with  an  address  and  testimonial 
expressing  their  gratitude  for  the  kindness  and  services 
rendered  by  their  medical  officer  to  every  one  on  board.  He 
practiced  his  profession  for  some  time  on  the  Hunter  River, 
and  afterwards  turned  his  attention  to  pastoral  pursuits. 
He  gradually  accumulated  stock,  and  soon  became  the  owner 
of  several  stations  on  the  Peel  and  Namoi  Rivers.  Being 
possessed  of  great  energy  and  tact,  he  forced  that  success 
which  always  comes  to  him  who  exercises  those  qualities. 
In  1857  he  removed  to  Sydney,  where  he  took  a  very  active 
part  in  the  political  life  of  the  colony,  and  was  soon  elected 
to  represent  a  large  constituency.  At  this  time  Responsible 
Government  was  just  commencing  in  the  colony,  and  Dr. 
Jenkins'  fitness  for  public  life  being  acknowledged,  he  was 
at  once  elected  to  a  seat  in  Parliament.  His  chief  desire 
was  to  elevate  the  masses,  and  he  worked  hard  to  bring  this 
about.  He  delivered  a  lecture  in  the  hall  of  the  Mechanics' 
School  of  Arts  on  the  subject  on  21st  November,  1859. 

Sir  Charles  Nicholson  occupied  tlie  chair  on  the  occasion, 
and  among  those  present  were  Professors  Woolley  and  Smith, 
of  the  Sydney  University,  the  Hon.  Saul  Samuel,  Messrs. 
Plunkett,  Parkes,  and  Macarthur.  In  the  course  of  his 
lecture  Dr.  Jenkins  remarked  : — ■"  A  few  years  ago  a  friend 

K 


146  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

of  mine  who  had  not  paid  much  attention  himself  to  public 
education,  hearing  me  advocate  my  views  in  perhaps  rather 
an  earnest  manner,  observed  that  he  thought  I  was  rather 
mad  on  the  subject.  Taking  leave  to  differ  from  my  friend, 
I,  on  the  contrary,  am  more  disposed  to  believe  that  I  have 
a  mission  in  the  matter- — -a  mission  inconceivably  grand — 
of  no  less  magnitude  than  to  assist  you  fellow-colonists,  in 
placing  within  the  reach  of  every  child  an  intellectual,  a 
moral,  and  a  i-eligious  education.  If  this  be  madness,  then 
my  desire  is  that  not  only  my  friend,  but  that  all  present 
and  all  absent  should  become  equally  touched,  and  that 
there  should  be  no  sanity  in  this  community  until  the  cause 
of  the  madness  is  removed,  or,  in  other  words,  until  we  have 
universal  education." 

This  quotation  indicates  the  state  of  public  opinion  at 
that  time.  Liberal  and  advanced  as  were  the  views  of  Dr. 
Jenkins,  few  persons  at  that  time  were  prepared  to  go  so 
far  in  the  matter  of  education.  Most  of  those  of  the  old 
school  believed  more  in  the  lash  and  the  hangman  than  in 
the  ameliorative  policy  as  laid  down  by  Dr.  Jenkins.  The 
old  leaven  of  the  Imperial  regime  had  not  died  out.  It 
takes  a  long  time  to  forget  the  teachings  of  the  school. 
Further  on  in  the  same  lecture  Dr.  Jenkins  said  : — "  Ex- 
perience has  but  too  often  proved  that  the  best  way  to  make 
a  confirmed  villain  of  a  young  thief  is  to  sentence  him  to  a 
common  gaol.  Many  a  young  rogue  would  be  restored  to 
society  through  the  agency  of  a  reformatory  school  who 
would  otherwise  have  had  his  evil  habits  confirmed  if  allowed 
to  mix  with  older  prisoners  in  gaol.  It  must  be  apparent 
that  both  reformatory  and  industrial  schools  are  well  adapted 
to  dry  up  the  Aery  sources  of  crime." 

These  words  contain  a  principle  which  is  now  acknow- 
ledged, and  voiced  through  the  statute  book  of  the  colony,  and 
no  doubt  as  occasion  arises  will  be  even  more  fully  recognised 


DR.    R.    L.    JENKINS.  147 

and  acted  upon.  Reformatory  schools  have  been  established 
and  have  done  a  vast  amount  of  good  ;  still  there  is  plenty 
of  room  for  far  greater  developments  in  this  direction. 

After  three  years  work  in  Parliament  he  retired  from 
political  life,  partly  through  having  purchased  the  Nepean 
Towers  Estate,  near  Penrith,  and  partly  owing  to  failing 
health.  At  Nepean  Towers  he  carried  out  to  perfection  the 
breeding  of  shorthorn  cattle,  for  which,  at  the  shows  held 
in  the  principal  towns  in  the  colonies,  he  received  the  high- 
est prizes.  In  1873  he  read  before  the  Agricultural  Society 
a  valuable  paper  on  the  "  Considerations  which  should  guide 
the  graziers  and  breeders  in  New  South  Wales,"  Sir  Hercu- 
les Robinson,  the  Governor  of  the  colony  and  President  of 
the  Society,  being  in  the  chair.  This  paper  caused  a  good 
deal  of  discussion,  and  contained  a  large  amount  of  valuable 
information.  Dr.  Jenkins  was  a  leading  churchman,  and  a 
regular  attendant  and  speaker  at  the  annual  meetings  of 
the  Synod.  He  died  at  Brisbane  on  the  13th  August,  1883. 
He  left  a  wife  and  eight  children,  three  sons  and  tive 
daughters.  The  second  son  is  Dr.  Edward  Johnstone 
Jenkins,  born  24th  October,  1854,  and  educated  at  Mac- 
quarie  Fields,  and  King's  school,  Parramatta.  At  King's 
school  he  took  the  Broughton  and  Campbell  scholarships. 
He  went  from  there  to  Trinity  College,  Oxford,  taking 
degrees  as  Bachelor  and  Master  of  Arts,  with  honors 
in  natural  science  and  Doctor  of  Medicine.  He  was  House 
and  Ophthalmic  Surgeon  at  St.  Bartholomew's,  London, 
and  qualified  M.R.C.S.  in  1881,  and  M.R.C.P.  and  L.S.A. 
in  1883.  He  arrived  in  Sydney  in  February,  1884,  where 
he  has  practiced  his  profession.  His  elder  brother  married 
a  niece  of  the  present  Earl  of  Powis,  and  of  the  Dean  of 
Hereford.  Dr.  Jenkins  was  married  in  Sydney  on  1st 
January,  1852,  to  Mary  Rae,  eldest  daughter  of  the  late 
Major  Edward  Johnstone,  of  H.M.  50th  Regiment.     Tlie 


148  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

tidings  of  his  death  caused  a  feeling  of  profound  sorrow  in 
Sydney,  vA'here  he  was  universally  honored  and  respected. 
But  the  good  work  he  did  has  left  enduring  traces.  His 
influence  was  an  elevating  one. 

William  Cox. 

The  name  of  William  Cox  takes  us  back  to  the  early  days 
of  the  colony ;  to  the  beginning  of  this  century.  The 
history  of  the  Cox  family,  if  written  at  length,  would,  in 
many  respects,  be  the  history  of  the  colony.  William  Cox 
came  to  the  colony  in  the  first  year  of  the  present  century. 
He  occupied  both  a  military  and  official  position,  a  position 
he  held  with  credit  to  himself  and  benefit  to  the  land  of  his 
adoption.  As  a  magistrate  of  the  territory  he  fulfilled  his 
duties  most  efficiently,  always  remembering  that  his  lot  was 
cast,  as  well  as  the  lot  of  his  family,  with  the  colony  and 
its  future.  As  a  contractor  in  the  time  of  Governor  Mac- 
quarie,  Mr.  Cox  also  did  good  work.  Later  on  he  started 
in  pastoral  pursuits  with  such  energy  and  success  as  to  place 
him  in  the  front  rank  of  the  wool  growers  of  the  colony. 
He  took  special  interest  in  the  breeding  of  fine-woolled  sheep 
at  Mudgee,  and  spared  neither  time  nor  expense  to  improve 
the  staple  of  the  wool  until  he  placed  the  name  of  his  station 
(Clarendon)  at  the  head  of  the  list. 

Mr.  Cox  was  born  in  1764,  at  Devizes  Wilts,  being  the 
second  son  of  Robert  Cox,  of  Wimbourne,  Dorset.  He 
joined  the  army  as  a  commissioned  officer  in  179.5,  and  came 
to  New  South  Wales  in  1801  as  paymaster  of  the  New  South 
Wales  Corps.  Mr.  Cox  succeeded  Mr.  John  MacArthur  at 
the  time  the  corps  was  ordered  to  India  for  its  part  in 
the  Bligh  episode  in  1810.  Mr.  Cox  and  other  officers 
resigned  their  commissions  and  remained  in  the  colony. 
He  first  settled  at  Brush  Farm,  on  the  Parramatta  River, 
and  afterwards  at   Clarendon,   on   the   Hawkesbury.      He 


OVER   THE    BLUE    MOUNTAINS.  149 

gave  all  his  time  to  agricultural  pursuits  for  some  years,  and 
made  large  profits.  At  Brush  Farm  he  had  the  notorious 
General  Holt  as  manager.  Holt  had  been  transported  for 
his  share  in  the  Irish  rebellion  of  1798.  Holt  published 
his  recollections,  which  throw  a  light  on  the  manner  in 
which  things  were  conducted  in  those  early  days  of  the 
colony.  The  detachment  of  the  corps  to  which  Mr.  Cox 
belonged  had  charge  of  some  of  the  deported  Irish  "patriots" 
who  had  been  concerned  in  the  uprising — ^Holt  being  one  of 
tlie  leaders.  In  his  position  of  manager,  Holt  proved  himself 
thoroughly  efficient.  In  1814,  when  Went  worth,  Blaxland, 
and  Lawson  discovered  the  track  across  the  Blue  Mountains 
to  Bathurst  Plains,  Mr.  Cox  was  chosen  by  Governor  Mac- 
quarie  to  construct  the  road.  He  had  command  of  unlimited 
labour,  and  his  aptitude  in  selecting  and  his  ability  to  direct 
men,  enabled  him  to  form  an  excellent  road  in  a  very  short 
space  of  time  over  this  very  rough  and  dangerous  pass. 
The  road,  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  in  length,  crossed 
the  Blue  Mountains  from  Sydney,  bridged  Cox's  River, 
which  was  thei^eby  connecting  Bathurst  Plains  with  the 
coast.  Governor  and  Lady  Macquarie,  the  year  after  its 
formation,  drove  in  a  carriage  over  this  road,  which  was 
highly  spoken  of  by  Surveyor  Oxley  in  his  published  reports. 
For  this  service  Mr.  Cox  received  a  grant  of  land  on  the 
Bathurst  Plains,  which  he  called  Hereford.  He  next  went 
into  pastoral  pursuits,  and  purchased  some  of  the  first  ship- 
ments of  merinos  from  the  Cape,  the  progeny  of  which  now 
form  the  celebrated  Mudo;ee  flocks.  He  L'ave  considerable 
time  and  attention  to  the  staple  of  wool  and  breeding  of 
colonial  sheep,  with  the  best  results.  Later  on  Mr.  Cox 
took  up  land  in  the  Mulgoa  Valley,  his  three  sons,  George, 
Henry,  and  Edward,  following  in  his  footsteps,  his  eldest 
son  settled  at  Hobartville,  Richmond.  His  second  son 
"  sat  down  "  in  Tasmania,  where  he  acquired  a  large  estate 


150  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEKRS    AND    RKMINISCENCES. 

called  Clarendon.  He  also  formed  stations  on  the  Mac- 
quarie  River,  naming  them  Burrendong,  and  on  the  Coolah 
Creek.  In  1833  he  removed  from  Clarendon  to  Fairfield, 
near  Windsor,  where  he  resided  up  to  the  time  of  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  1837.  He  was  buried  in  the  fcimily  vault 
of  St.  Matthew's  Church. 

A  i^ecently  published  memoir  says  of  Mr.  Cox  ; — "  There 
is  nothing  in  his  career  either  questionable  or  unmanly,  and 
his  name  does  not  occur  in  connection  with  any  of  the  old 
records  of  misused  influence  or  abused  power  that  tell  the 
reader  of  our  history  of  to-day  how  little  fit  many  of  the 
early  official  military  officers  were  to  conduct  the  delicate 
experiment  which  the  home  authorities  heedlessly  committed 
to  their  care.  Mr.  Cox  fought  his  way  in  the  open,  and 
what  he  won  was  the  fair  reward  for  his  personal  energy 
and  sound  practical  sense.  His  influence  over  men  in  his 
employ  as  a  contractor  and  agriculturist,  was  largely  the  out- 
come of  his  manliness  towards  them.  Treating  them  as  men, 
he  earned  from  them  the  respect  and  regard  which  such  treat- 
ment always  produces,  with  the  effect  that  they  never  shirked 
work,  and  the  detachments  under  his  command  were  always 
noticeable  for  their  results  in  the  shape  of  honest  labour.  As 
a  consequence  his  contracts  were  numerous,  and  he  was 
deservedly  held  in  high  estimation  by  the  different  Governors 
who  held  office  during  his  time.  Mr.  Cox  was  a  magistrate 
of  the  territory,  and  was  looked  upon  as  the  local  represen- 
tative of  the  Government  in  the  district  in  which  he  lived." 

Henry  Dangar. 

Mr.  Dangar  was  descended  from  a  French  protestant 
family,  which  settled  in  Jersey  at  the  time  of  the  revoca- 
tion of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  The  family  came  over  to 
Cornwall  early  in  the  eighteenth  century.  His  father  owned 
a  farm  at  Neots,  in  that  county.     Here  Mr.  Dangar  was 


HENRY  DANGAR.  151 

born  in  1798.  Being  of  an  adventurous  turn  of  mind,  lie 
and  his  brothers  came  to  Australia.  He  was  then  about 
twenty-three  years  of  age,  and  was  blessed  with  a  robust 
constitution.  He  obtained  a  situation  as  assistant  Govern- 
ment sur\'eyor,  and  was  occupied  for  about  six  years  in  a 
survey  of  the  Hunter  River  district.  In  those  days  land 
was  easily  obtained  from  the  Government,  the  one  condition 
being  that  a  portion  of  the  grant  should  be  cultivated.  In 
this  way,  in  182G,  he  obtained  seven  liundred  acres,  which 
now  forms  portion  of  the  Neotsfield  Estate,  one  of  the  finest 
in  the  district.  It  is  related  how  Mr.  Dangar  was  chased 
over  this  very  land  by  wild  blackfellows.  During  the  time 
Mr.  Dangar  was  employed  as  a  surveyor  he  laid  out  the 
town  of  Newcastle.  In  1828  Mr.  Dangar  returned  to  Eng- 
land for  the  purpose  of  publishing  his  map  of  the  Hunter 
district,  and  a  directory  or  immigrants'  guide  in  connection 
with  it.  Both  of  these  works  are  now  obsolete,  but  the 
accuracy  of  their  topographical  observations  were  never 
questioned.  He  returned  to  the  colony  in  1830,  and  was 
for  two  years  under  Sir  Edward  Parry,  the  Arctic  explorer, 
who  was  then  general  manager  of  the  Australian  Agricul- 
tural Company  at  Carrington,  their  headquarters.  It  was 
at  this  time  Mr.  Dangar  took  up,  for  that  Company, Warrah, 
Liverpool  Plains.  In  1832  Mr.  Dangar  ascended  the  Hun- 
ter in  a  boat,  and  settled  at  Neotsfiekl,  devoting  himself 
from  that  time  to  pastoral  pursuits.  At  this  time  he  fitted 
out  an  expedition  under  the  charge  of  William  Gostwyck 
Cann,  about  as  fine  a  specimen  of  the  Australian  bushman 
as  ever  trod  the  soil.  After  encountering  many  obstacles, 
and  suffering  many  privations,  they  came  upon  the  country 
now  known  as  Armidale,  close  to  the  city  of  that  name,  now 
the  capital  of  New  England.  Mr.  Dangar's  sons  still  retain 
large  and  valuable  tracts  of  magnificent  land  in  that  part 
of  the  colony.     About  the  year  1836,  pushing  their  way  in 


152  AUSTRALIAN   PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

a  north-westerly  direction,  tliey  took  up  the  splendid  tract 
of  country  known  as  Myall  Creek — the  scene  of  a  terrible 
massacre  in  the  early  times.  The  true  motive  for  this  histori- 
cal occurrence  may  never  be  known.  Mr.  Dangar  unavailing- 
ly  exerted  himself  in  behalf  of  the  perpetrators  of  the  crime. 

In  1845  he  was  elected  as  the  representative  of  Nor- 
thumberland in  the  first  partly  elective  and  partly  nominated 
Legislative  Council.  Previous  to  this,  in  conjunction  with 
Messrs.  Wentworth,  Macarthur,  and  others,  he  espoused  the 
unpopular  side  by  supporting  Earl  Gi'ey  in  his  policy  of 
continuing  transportation  to  the  colony.  As  is  well  known 
the  agitation  led  to  the  total  cessation  of  transportation. 
He  was  re-elected  in  1848,  but,  beyond  opposing  the  land 
policy  of  Sir  George  Gipps,  he  abstained  from  party  strife. 
Mr.  Dangar  was  one  of  the  first  in  this  colony  who  practi- 
cally tested  the  tinning  of  meat  as  a  paying  industry.  He  es- 
tablished a  factory  at  Newcastle  for  the  purpose,  and,  although 
the  mode  of  preserving  was  a  success,  the  cost  of  labour  and  the 
uncertain  market  led  eventually  to  the  closing  of  the  works. 

After  speiiding  some  twenty-five  years  improving  his 
property  and  his  stock,  he  visited  England  in  1853,  where 
he  remained  three  years,  but,  his  health  failing,  he  returned 
to  Sydney.  After  five  years  of  continuous  infirmity,  he  died 
on  2nd  March,  1861.  "Mr.  Dangar  (says  a  late  writer), 
was  a  favourable  sjDecimen  of  one  of  tiie  numerous  sturdy 
young  sons  of  England  who  seemed  specially  formed  for  the 
creation  of  a  Greater  Britain  in  Australia.  Favoured  by 
none  of  the  special  gifts  of  intellect  or  fortune,  but  possess- 
ing the  pai'ticular  qualities  essential  to  the  attainment  of 
success — strong  common  sense  and  resolute  energy — he 
availed  himself  of  the  opportunities  of  the  times,  and,  in 
gaining  a  moderate  share  of  that  success,  he  had  the  grati- 
fication of  contributing  to  the  development  of  a  great  colony, 
within  the  limits  of  which   his  name   was  well  known. 


james  white.  153 

The  Hon.  James  White,  M.L.C. 

The  Hon.  James  White's  reputation  stands,  both  as  owner 
and  racer,  absolutely  above  reproach.  His  successes  on  the 
course,  as  well  as  at  the  stud,  were  simply  phenomenal.  As 
a  pastoralist  and  large  station  owner  lie  was  equally  well- 
known.  Indeed,  in  every  walk  of  life  in  which  he  moved, 
he  was  honored  and  respected  by  all  classes  of  the  com- 
munity. James  White  was  born  at  Stroud,  near  Port 
Stephens,  New  South  Wales,  on  19th  July,  1828,  being  the 
eldest  .son  of  Mr.  James  White,  of  that  place,  and  after- 
wards of  Edenglassie,  near  Muswellbrook,  Hunter  River. 
James  White  was  educated  at  tiie  King's  School,  Parramatta, 
-during  the  head-mastership  of  the  late  Rev.  Robert  Forrest. 
He  studied  at  the  King's  School  for  four  years,  and  for 
another  four  years  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  McGregor,  at  West 
Maitland.  At  this  time  his  father  died,  and  he  left  his 
studies  somewhat  earlier  than  he  would  have  done  but  for 
his  father's  demise.  His  father  owned  the  estates  of  Eden- 
glassie, Timor  (which  is  a  propei'ty  on  the  Isis,  a  tributary 
of  the  Hunter),  and  Baroona,  on  the  Barwon  River,  about 
forty  miles  below  the  junction  of  the  Namoi,  and  above  the 
junction  of  the  Castlereagh.  Mr.  White  had  to  commence 
the  management  of  these  estates  at  the  early  age  of  sixteen 
years,  residing  at  Edenglassie.  A  few  years  later  he  took 
up  the  Narran  Lake,  a  fine  stretch  of  country  some  twenty 
or  thirty  miles  from  the  Barwon  Station.  In  those  days 
the  aboriginals  were  numerous,  and,  in  many  parts  of  the 
country,  hostile  to  the  settlers.  They  gave  no  trouble  to 
Mr.  White  though,  a  fact  which  bears  testimony  to  the 
statement  that  they  were  always  well  treated.  Some  time 
after,  he  purchased  Belltrees,  a  large  freehold  estate  on  the 
Upper  Hunter.  This  he  bought  from  Mr.  W.  C.  Wentworth. 
He  also  purchased  the  Waverley  Estate,  the  two  forming 


154  AUSTRALIAN    PIONKERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

perhaps  the  finest  estate  in  the  settled  districts  of  the  colony. 
He  stocked  all  these  properties  with  cattle,  horses,  and 
sheep.  Belltrees  wool  fetched  the  highest  price  in  the 
English  market.  Later  on  Mr.  White  purchased  Martin- 
dale,  below  the  junction  of  the  Hunter  and  Goulburn  Rivers. 
Afterwards  he  bought  Merton  and  Dalowinton,  opposite 
Martindale,  and,  while  on  a  visit  to  England,  he  secured 
Segenhoe,  one  of  the  largest  freehold  estates  in  the  colony. 
All  these  properties  were  extensively  improved.  The  fat 
cattle  from  Martindale  always  took  the  highest  prizes  at  the 
different  shows  on  the  Hunter.  Bando  Station,  on  Cox's 
Creek,  Liverpool  Plains,  and  Ferridgerie  (near  Coonamble),. 
on  the  Castlereagh,  were  also  added  to  his  properties. 

In  1866  Mr.  White  was  returned  to  Parliament  for  the 
Upper  Hunter,  which  he  represented  for  three  years,  when 
he  resigned  prior  to  leaving  for  England  and  the  continent. 
He  was  absent  for  some  years,  visiting  the  principal  cities 
of  Europe  and  America.  He  purchased  Cranbrook,  Rose 
Bay,  on  his  return  from  this  trip. 

In  1876  Mr.  White  bought  tlie  fine  racehorse  Chester 
from  Mr.  E.  K.  Cox,  of  Mulgoa.  Chester  was  by  Yatten- 
don,  a  son  of  the  famous  Sir  Hercules.  His  new  owner 
won  with  him  the  Melbourne  Cup  and  Derby,  known  as 
"  the  great  double,"  and  several  other  races.  Mr.  White- 
kept  his  breeding  stud  at  Kirkham,  and  his  racing  stables 
at  Rand  wick.  He  never  had  fewer  tlian  ten  to  fifteen  horses 
in  training  at  one  time,  and  with  one  or  other  of  his  horses 
he  won  every  important  race  in  the  colonies.  In  1888,  at 
the  Autumn  Meeting,  he  won  nine  principal  races  in  Vic- 
toria, the  prizes  in  all  amounting  to  about  £8,000.  Hales,, 
the  well-known  jockey,  rode  on  these  occasions.  Mr.  White 
was  nominated  to  the  Upper  House  in  1874,  a  seat  in  which 
he  held  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  which  took  place  at 
Cranbrook,  on  July  12,  1890. 


david  jones.  155 

The  Hon.   David  Jones,  M.L.C. 

The  name  of  David  Jones  is  a  household  word  all  over 
Australia.  It  required  no  small  amount  of  energy  and 
enterprise  to  lay  the  foundation  and  continue  the  super- 
structure of  one  of  the  very  first  business  houses  in  a 
country.  David  Jones  was  born  in  Caermarthen,  South 
Wales,  in  the  year  1792.  At  that  time  the  English  language 
was  not  much  used  in  Wales.  Young  David  was  brought 
up  quite  ignorant  of  English,  and  when  he  left  Wales  he 
could  only  speak  in  Cymric.  While  still  young  he  went  to 
London  and  obtained  employment,  and  soon  mastered  tlie 
language.  By  steady  application  and  much  industry  he 
made  himself  useful  to  his  employers,  Messrs.  Nicholls^ 
wholesale  drapers.  After  some  years  spent  in  London, 
finding  his  prospects  not  up  to  his  desires,  he  looked 
elsewhere  for  advancement.  Thus  it  was  that,  in  1834, 
he  determined  to  leave  England,  and  sailed  with  the 
other  members  of  his  family  for  Hobart  Town,  Tasmania. 
He  there  opened  a  drapery  establishment  under  the  name 
of  "Appleton  and  Jones."  He  did  not  long  remain  there. 
In  the  following  year  he  reached  Sydney.  He  opened  a 
retail  drapery  establishment  on  the  site  now  occupied  by 
Farmer  &  Co.,  and  for  some  years  did  a  large  and  increasing- 
business.  The  partnership  with  Appleton  was  dissolved  in 
1838.  Mr.  Jones  removed  to  premises  at  the  corner  of 
George  and  Barrack  -  streets,  where  the  business  is  still 
carried  on.  Mr.  Appleton  remained  in  the  old  shop  in  Pitt- 
.street,  Mr.  Jones  carrying  on  under  the  style  of  David 
Jones  &  Co.  He  continued  in  the  management  of  the 
business  up  to  1857.  when  he  retired  into  private  life.  But 
he  soon  after  went  back  into  business.  His  successors,  from 
various  causes,  were  unable  to  carry  on.  At  the  age  of 
seventy  years  he  started  to  rebuild  the  old  business,  and,  in 


156  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

a  few  years,  succeeded  in  doing  so,  and  was  in  a  position  to 

retire  into  private  life   with   an   assured    income    for    the 

remainder  of  his  days.       Mr.  Jones  was  always  ready  to 

acknowledge  and  reward  merit  in  others.     During  his  busi- 
ed o 

ness  career  he  took  into  partnership  nine  of  his  employees. 
He  was  at  one  time  an  alderman  of  the  city,  and  for  years 
s,  member  of  the  Legislative  Council. 

Mr.  David  Jones  died  on  29th  March,  1873,  at  Lyons- 
terrace,  Sydney,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty  years.  The 
leading  Sydney  print  made  the  following  observations  on  his 
demise  : — "  As  the  head  of  a  numerous  family  and  large 
establishment,  he  exercised  a  valuable  influence,  always  on 
the  side  of  religion,  order,  and  progress.  Thougli  for  some 
years  a  member  of  the  Legislative  Council,  he  did  not  take 
a  conspicuous  part  in  politics,  but  during  many  years  he 
maintained  a  high  commercial  reputation,  chequered  indeed 
by  the  vicissitudes  which  no  one  could  escape.  An  event 
so  long  expected,  and  at  so  late  a  date,  must  confine  the 
sense  of  bereavement  to  immediate  connections  and  friends. 
But  the  loss  of  a  citizen  who  has  always  done  his  part  in 
advancing  the  welfare  of  the  city,  and  assisted  in  every 
beneficent  undertaking,  must  always  produce  a  sense  of 
regret.  Mr.  Jones  held  the  office  of  deacon  in  the  Congre- 
gational Church,  in  Pitt-street,  for  five  and  thirty  years. 
The  religious  denomination  to  which,  by  conviction,  he 
iDelonged,  shared  largely  in  the  donations  and  subscriptions; 
but  he  was  generous  to  other  churches,  and  contributed  con- 
siderably to  our  public  charitable  institutions." 

Alexander  Berry. 

The  strong  personality,  the  physical  strength,  the  in- 
•domitable  will  and  energy,  together  with  the  liigh  scholastic 
training,  fitted  Alexander  Berry  in  every  way  to  achieve 
the  success  which  he  attained.     The  impress  of  the  man's 


ALEXANDER  BERRY.  157 

powerful  personality  is  visible  to-day  in  that  part  of  the 
country  over  which  he  held  sway  for  so  many  years.  For 
productiveness,  wealth,  and  contentedness,  it  may  be  truly 
said  that  the  Shoalhaven  district  will  bear  the  most  favour- 
able comparison  with  any  disti'ict  in  Australia. 

Alexander  Berry  was  born  in  Fifeshire,  Scotland,  in  the 
year  1781.  He  received  his  earlier  education  in  the  county 
town,  the  late  Sir  David  Wilkie  and  Lord  Campbell  being 
his  school  mates.  Later  on  he  studied  at  St.  Andrew's,  and 
at  Edinburgh.  At  the  latter  university  lie  studied  with  a 
view  to  take  his  degree  in  medicine.  On  leaving  the  Uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh  he  entered  the  East  India  Company's 
service,  and  was  a  passenger  from  England  to  India  in  the 
same  ship  as  Colonel  Despard,  who,  at  a  later  date,  was  in 
command  of  the  17th  Regiment  in  Sydney.  Mr.  Berry 
having  left  the  East  India  Company's  service,  settled  in  New 
South  Wales  during  the  administration  of  Governor  Mac- 
quarie,  and  commenced  mercantile  pursuits.  He  made 
several  voyages  to  New  Zealand  and  other  parts  of  the 
South  Pacific,  which  turned  out  profitable  to  him.  For  this 
description  of  work  he  was  well  qualified,  being  possessed 
of  high  courage  as  well  as  great  intelligence.  It  was  in 
1808  that  he  first  visited  Port  Jackson  as  master  of  the 
"  City  of  Edinburgh."  In  1809  he  was  in  command  of  this, 
vessel  at  the  Bay  of  Islands,  New  Zealand,  to  obtain  a  cargo 
of  spars  for  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  While  obtaining  his 
cargo  of  spars  he  distinguished  himself  by  rescuing  the  sur- 
vivors of  the  "Boyd."  In  December,  1809,  the  Maoris  at 
the  Bay  of  Islands  came  to  Captain  Berry  and  told  him 
tliat  a  British  ship  had  been  taken  by  the  natives  at  Whan- 
garoa,  a  harbour  some  fifty  miles  south  of  where  he  then 
was.  After  he  finished  taking  in  his  cargo,  he  determined 
to  go  round  to  Whangaroa,  with  a  view  to  saving  any  of  the 
missing  crew.     He  started  with  three  armed  boats,  leaving 


158  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

only  a  small  number  of  his  men  to  look  after  his  vessel. 
Very  bad  weather  overtook  the  party,  and  they  were  obliged 
to  return  to  the  ship.  However,  he  made  a  second  attempt, 
which  brought  him  to  the  harbour  of  Whangaroa,  where  he 
found  the  "  Boyd  "  in  shoal  water,  with  her  cables  cut,  and 
burned  to  the  water's  edge.  In  her  hold  were  the  remains 
of  her  cargo — coals,  salted  sealskins,  and  planks.  Her  guns, 
iron  standards,  etc.,  were  lying  on  top,  having  fallen  in  as 
tlie  vessel  burned. 

Captain  Berry  was  very  popular  among  the  Maoris,  and 
to  this  popularity  he  undoubtedly  owed  his  life  on  this 
occasion.  He  opened  direct  communication  with  the  native 
chiefs  and  their  people.  He  soon  learned  the  fate  of  the 
captain  and  most  of  the  crew,  the  mate  being  the  last  man 
killed  about  a  fortnight  after  the  vessel  had  been  seized,  the 
Maoris  holding  a  high  cannibal  feast  during  the  time.  Only 
four  Europeans  escaped — one  woman,  two  female  children, 
and  a  ship's  boy  named  Davies.  It  was  only  by  the  deter- 
mined stand  Captain  Berry  took  in  dealing  with  the 
chief,  Tipahi,  and  other  chiefs,  that  he  succeeded  in  getting 
possession  of  the  four  survivors,  and  taking  them  off  in  the 
boats  to  his  own  ship  and  away  from  New  Zealand.  The 
mother  of  one  of  these  two  girls  had  been  a  passenger  from 
New  South  Wales  to  England,  and  was  brutally  murdered 
by  the  Maoris.  The  child  was  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Com- 
missary Broughton,  of  Appin.  The  woman  who  was  saved 
died  at  Lima.  The  rescued  lad  Davis  was  given  work 
by  Mr.  Brown,  the  owner  of  the  "  Boyd,"  but  was 
drowned  at  sea  some  years  later.  It  would  appear  that  the 
master  of  the  "  Boyd  "  was  not  blameless  in  the  matter,  as 
he  had  unnecessarily  provoked  the  natives.  Captain  Berry 
wrote  from  Lima  to  Mr.  Brown,  20th  December,  1810, 
reporting  the  loss  of  the  "  Boyd  "  and  the  rescue  of  the 
survivors.     He  afterwards,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Archibald 


EXPLORING  THE  SHOALHAVEN.  159 

Constable,  published  a  further  and  more  extended  account 
of  the  affair.  From  this  it  appeared  that  the  chiefs,  Tupi 
and  Tarra,  took  Captain  Berry  with  them  to  where  the 
wreck  was  lying,  and  caused  the  survivors  to  be  handed 
over,  seeing  them  safely  placed  on  board  the  "  City  of 
Edinburgh."  Those  who  had  been  concerned  in  the  outrage, 
frankly,  and  not  without  pride,  confessed  to  their  participa- 
tion in  the  massacre.  The  natives  alleged  that  the  ship  was 
attacked  because  the  master,  Captain  Thompson,  had  sub- 
jected a  chief  to  some  degrading  punishment  for  a  theft 
committed  by  one  of  his  people.  Having  succeeded  in 
rescuing  the  survivors  of  the  "Boyd,"  and  completing  his 
cargo.  Captain  Berry  finally  sailed  from  New  Zealand  on 
the  6th  January,  1810.  Captain  Berry  returned  to  Sydney 
and  settled  in  the  colony.  In  those  early  days  he  was 
also  a  cultivator  of  the  land  in  a  large  way,  and  received 
a  large  grant  of  land  in  the  Shoalhaven  district,  which 
he  discovered  and  explored  about  the  year  1820.  His  clear 
and  active  mind  was  alive  to  the  fact  that  it  would  greatly 
improve  the  district  if  the  tShoalhaven  River  could  be  opened 
out  to  the  sea,  instead  of  terminating  in  a  sand  bar  over 
which  shallow  water  washed.  The  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
carrying  out  such  an  enterjDrise  in  the  early  days  of  the 
colony  were  looked  upon,  by  most  people,  as  practically  in- 
surmountable. But  the  determined  and  educated  Scotchman 
set  to  work  and  started  the  cutting  of  a  channel  from  the 
lower  end  of  the  Shoalhaven  Biver,  near  Coolangatta,  to 
the  Crookhaven  River.  Having  obtained  a  large  number 
of  assigned  servants,  the  work  was  proceeded  vvith  until  the 
waters  of  the  Shoalhaven  flowed  into  the  Crookhaven,  thus 
making  the  Shoalhaven  a  navigable  river. 

In  a  paper  read  before  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Aus- 
tralia, in  the  year  1822,  Mr.  Berry  gives  a  description  of 
his   first  trip   to  the   Shoalhaven   River.      He   went  there 


160  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

with  Lieutenant  Johnson.  They  got  across  the  sandy 
isthmus  of  the  mouth  of  the  river  into  the  deep  waters 
of  tlie  I'ivei',  and  pulled  twenty  miles  up  the  stream  until 
stopped  by  a  rapid.  This  paper  was  published  in  1825  by 
Baron  Field,  in  his  geographical  memoirs  of  Australia.  Mr. 
Berry  was  a  man  of  extensive  knowledge,  thoroughly  well 
read  in  most  subjects,  and  was  possessed  of  a  wonderful 
memory.  He  was  literally  brimful  of  anecdotes  of  the  early 
days  of  the  colony.  Some  years  before  his  death  he  was 
assailed  in  an  objectionable  manner  by  a  colonial  news- 
paper. The  Berry  tenants,  by  way  of  marking  their  sense 
of  the  absolute  injustice  of  such  an  attack,  entertained  Mr. 
Berry  and  his  two  brothers,  David  and  John  Berry,  at  a 
great  dinner  at  Numba,  nearly  every  person  in  the  district 
being  present. 

Mr.  Berry  was  one  of  a  numerous  family.  He  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Elizabeth  Wolstoncroft,  sister  to  Mr.  Edward 
Wolstoncroft,  who  was  at  one  time  in  partnership  with  Mr. 
Berry,  and  who  died  in  Sydney  on  the  7th  December,  1832. 
Mrs.  Berry  died  on  11th  April,  1845,  aged  63.  She  left 
no  children.  She  is  buried  with  her  brother  at  the  St. 
Leonard's  cemetery. 

Mr.  Beny  was  a  member  of  the  Legislative  Council  at 
the  time  when  there  were  only  three  non-official  members, 
and,  after  the  modification  of  that  body,  lie  retained  a  seat. 
In  May,  1856,  he  was  re-appointed  a  member  of  the  Upper 
House,  and  remained  there  till  May,  1861,  when  he  re- 
signed in  consequence  of  failing  health.  He  resided  for 
some  time  before  his  death  at  the  "  Crow's  Nest,"  St.  Leon- 
ards. He  died  on  17th  September,  1873,  at  the  ripe  age  of 
92.  He  is  buried  beside  his  wife  at  the  cemetery,  St. 
Leonard's. 


Hon.  Ai.ex.  Berry.  Mr.  J.  Lansuale. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Wiseman. 
Mr.  N.  V.   MoRRissET.  Capt.  W.  H.  Hovell. 


I 


W.    H.    HOVELL.  161 


William  Hilton  Hovell. 


Scarcely  sufficient  prominence  has  been  given  by  writers 
of  our  early  historical  events,  to  the  work  performed  by 
Hume  and  Hovell,  in  the  first  days  of  the  colony's  history. 
It  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  in  those  times  there  were  no 
camels  with  elaborate  appointments  to  carry  comparatively 
large  supplies  long  and  swift  journeys.  On  the  contrary 
the  equipments  were  both  rude  and  limited. 

W.  H.  Hovell  was  born  at  Yarmouth,  April  26th,  1786. 
He  became  a  master  mariner,  and  arrived  in  Sydney,  accom- 
panied by  his  wife  and  two  children,  in  the  year  1813.  He 
followed  the  sea  for  about  six  years,  trading  to  New  Zealand 
and  along  the  coast  until  1819,  when  he  retired  from  the 
sea  and  settled  on  a  farm  at  Narellan.  From  his  home  he 
made  several  short  exploratory  trips.  In  1824  he  joined 
Mr.  Hamilton  Hume  on  the  great  journey  overland  to 
Western  Port,  or  Port  Phillip.  The  party  consisted  of  Mr. 
Hamilton  Hume,  Mr.  W.  H.  Hovell,  and  six  convicts  ;  three 
horses,  and  two  carts  drawn  by  four  bullocks.  The  party 
started  from  Appin  on  October  2nd,  1824,  and  arrived  at 
Hume's  station.  Lake  George,  on  the  13th  of  that  month, 
starting  on  the  17tli  towards  Yass.  Space  will  not  permit 
a  lengthy  notice  of  the  trip.  Here  is  a  description  of  how 
they  crossed  the  Murrumbidgee  : — They  determined  to 
make  the  attempt,  without  further  delay  and  whatever 
the  risk,  of  crossing  tlie  river — an  operation  no  sooner  deter- 
mined on  than  effected.  The  body  of  a  cart  being  substituted 
for  a  punt  or  boat,  and  the  end  of  the  tow-rope  having  been 
conveyed  across  the  I'iver,  in  the  course  of  four  or  five  hours 
the  whole  of  the  supplies,  including  the  cart,  were  landed, 
without  loss  or  injury,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Murrum- 
bidgee. The  horses  and  bullocks  were  then  conducted  sepa- 
rately across  the  stream,  though  not  without  considerable 

L 


I 


162  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

risk,  by  means  of  the  tow-rope.  "The  details  of  the  crossing 
are  given  thus  : — "  The  green  timber  not  being  sufficiently 
buoyant,  and  not  being  the  season  of  the  year  when  the 
bark  could  be  peeled  off  the  trees,  a  raft  or  boat  could 
not  be  made.  One  was,  however,  improvised  out  of  one  of 
the  carts,  which  was  stripped  of  its  axle,  wheels,  and  shafts, 
and  covered  with  a  tarpaulin.  The  next  step  was  to  convey 
tlie  stout  end  of  a  stout  rope  to  the  opposite  bank,  for  the 
purpose  of  plying  their  boat  backwards  and  forwards  across 
the  stream,  to  effect  which  object,  Mr.  Hume,  with  one  of 
the  men,  undertook  the  dangerous  enterprise  of  swimming 
across  the  rivei",  taking  with  them  a  small  line  of  about  six 
feet  long,  which  they  carried  between  their  teeth,  and  to 
the  middle  of  which  was  attached  a  line  of  a  similar  des- 
cription, but  of  sufficient  length  to  reach  across  the  stream. 
This  was  not  done  without  great  difficulty  and  some  danger, 
both  from  the  rapidity  of  the  torrent  and  the  great  pressure 
of  water  on  a  length  of  line  so  considerable,  the  weight  of 
the  latter  not  only  retarding  the  progress  of  the  swimmers, 
but  at  times  dragging  them  almost  under  the  water,  so  that 
they  were  swept  down  the  river  a  considerable  distance  ere 
tliey  could  reach  the  opposite  bank.  One  of  the  ends  of 
their  intended  tow-rope  was  now  conveyed  across  the 
river  by  means  of  the  line,  and,  everything  being  in 
readiness,  and  the  boat,  not  carrying  less  than  six  or 
seven  cwt.,  made  its  first  trip.  The  bullocks  and  horses 
were  then  conducted  across  separately,  some  of  the  bullocks 
being  in  a  state  of  almost  complete  submersion  during  the 
operation,  and,  one  of  them  becoming  turned  upon  its  back, 
remained  in  that  position  a  considerable  part  of  the  passage. 
These  difficulties  were  attributable  partly  to  the  cattle  not 
being  accustomed  to  swimming,  and  partly  to  the  dangerous 
rapidity  of  the  stream,  which,  with  tlie  roughness  of  the 
weather,   and   the  coldness   of    the    water,    contributed    to 


DISCOVERY    OF    THE    MURRAY.  163 

render  this  undertaking,  to  the  swimmers  at  least,  not  less 
unpleasant  than  it  was  evidently  hazardous."  Following 
the  Murrumbidgee  down  some  distance  they  steered  a  south- 
westerly course,  passing  over  very  good  country.  On  8th 
November  they  came  in  sight  of  snow-capped  mountains, 
this  being  the  first  time  that  snow  had  been  seen  by  white 
men  in  Australia.  After  eight  days  further  travelling  they 
came  upon  a  large  river,  which  they  called  the  Hume,  after 
Mr.  Hamilton  Hume's  father,  but  which  is  now  known  as 
the  Murray,  the  king  of  Australian  rivers.  This  river  was 
crossed  in  somewhat  the  same  fashion  as  the  Murrumbidgee, 
minus  the  dray.  On  the  24th  they  crossed  the  Ovens  River, 
on  3rd  December  they  came  upon  another  river,  which  they 
named  the  Hovell,  which  is  now  known  as  the  Goulburn. 
On  the  16th  December  they  arrived  at  the  sea  shore,  close 
to  where  the  town  of  Geelong  is  now  built.  After  two  days 
rest  the  party  started  back  and  arrived  at  Lake  George,  on 
the  18th  January. 

This  trip  led  to  the  settlement  of  Victoria,  and  it  is 
pleasing  to  note  that  the  party  was  led  by  a  young  native- 
born  Australian.  Tlie  only  regrettable  feature  was  that 
unpleasantness  should  have  arisen  between  Hume  and 
Hovell  as  to  which  was  the  leader  of  the  party.  The  results 
of  the  expedition  were  ample  to  cover  both  with  sufficient 
honor  to  gratify  most  men.  In  1826  Mr.  Hovell  accom- 
panied Captain  Wright,  of  the  Buffs,  to  form  a  settlement 
at  Western  Port.  They  sailed  in  H.M.S.  "Fly,"  October 
9th,  1826.  In  1829  Mr.  Hovell  went  to  reside  at  Goulburn. 
He  died  in  Sydney  in  1876. 

The  Hon.  Henry  Mort,  M.L.C. 

One  of  the  men  instrumental  in  a  large  degree  in  develop- 
ing the  vast  resources  of  Australia  is  Henry  Mort.  He 
was  born  at  Willow  Field,  near  Bolton,  Lancashire,  England 


164  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

on  31st  December,  1818.  He  was  educated  at  Manchester, 
Ills  youth  was  spent  there,  in  fact  he  lived  there  up  to  the 
age  of  twenty-three.  In  1838  his  brother,  Thomas  SutclifFe 
Mort,  who  had  been  engaged  in  that  city,  came  to  New 
South  Wales.  Henry  followed  three  years  later,  in  1840. 
Soon  after  his  arrival  he  went  up  country.  In  1842  he 
went  to  Moreton  Bay,  where  he  engaged  in  pastoral  pursuits,, 
that  country  being  at  the  time  part  of  New  South  Wales. 
He  remained  there  for  fourteen  years,  and  saw  the  successes 
and  reverses,  the  good  seasons  and  the  bad  ones,  the  floods 
and  the  droughts,  the  liigh  prices  and  the  low  prices  of  wool 
which  ruled  during  those  early  days  of  Moreton  Bay.  He 
was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Queensland,  in  fact,  and  was  acquain- 
ted with  the  country  long  before  its  great  prospects  could 
be  gauged,  or  its  untold  wealth  dreamt  of  by  the  most 
sanguine  well-wishers.  In  1855  he  returned  to  Sydney.  A 
year  later  he  joined  the  great  wool-broking  firm  of  Moi't 
and  Company,  which  was  founded  by  his  brother  in  1843. 
At  this  time  the  market  for  the  sale  of  the  squatters'  wool 
was  most  precarious.  The  starting  of  the  Messrs.  Mort  in 
this  business  gave  them  a  reliable  and  assured  outlet  for 
their  produce,  having  regular  public  sales  in  Sydney  instead 
of  sending  the  wool  to  England  thi'ough  middlemen,  they 
could  sell  for  cash  on  the  spot,  thereby  saving  the  heavy 
charges  made  by  the  middlemen,  as  well  as  heavy  banking 
interest  on  advances. 

Thus  commenced  the  great  wool-broking  business  of  Mort 
and  Co.,  so  well  known  throughout  Australia,  and,  for  that 
matter,  all  over  the  mercantile  world.  Within  the  last  few 
years  Goldsbrough  and  Co.,  of  Melbourne,  amalgamated  with 
Mort  and  Company,  the  firm  being  now  known  as  Golds- 
brough, Mort,  and  Co.,  the  largest  wool-broking  business  in 
the  southern  hemisphere.  Attention  to  business  concerns 
has  not  withdrawn  Henry  Mort  from  other  duties  of  citizen- 


I 


HENRY    MORT.  165 

ship.  In  the  second  Parliament  of  the  country  he  occupied 
a  seat  as  member  for  West  Moreton.  On  tlie  separation  of 
the  colony  of  Queensland  in  1859,  he  threw  in  his  lot  with 
the  mother  colony,  where  his  chief  interests  lay,  and  was 
elected  member  for  West  Macquarie.  In  1861  he  stood  for 
Paddington,  but  was  defeated  by  Mr.  John  Sutherland,  who 
was  elected  for  many  years  a  member  for  that  electorate  without 
opposition.  In  1879  Mr.  Henry  Mort  was  appointed  a  life 
member  of  the  Legislative  Council  of  New  South  Wales,  a 
position  which  he  still  holds.  He  married,  in  1846,  Mai'ia, 
the  third  daughter  of  Commissary-General  Laidley,  by  whom 
he  had  issue  three  sons  and  three  daughters.  In  1878  he 
married  a  second  wife,  the  widow  of  Dr.  Rowland  Traill. 

And  now,  having  looked  into  the  past,  and  by  memories 
of  men  of  genius  and  power  who  helped  to  make  the  Pres- 
ent, viewed  the  gradual  uplifting  of  the  mother  colony,  let 
us  peep  into  the  antecedents  of  her  youngest  offspring — 
■Queensland. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Youngest  Colony  —  Eakly  Days  of  Qdeensland  —  The 
Western  Men— The  First  Squatters — The  Lesliks — The 
Condamine,  McIntyre  and  Weir  Rivers — The  Incursions 
of  the  Blacks — A  Western  Notable — Paddy  Macinnon  — 
William  Miles — The  Dearth  of  Labour — Rough  Times — 
An  Early  Election — A  Risky  Undertaking  —  Beck  and 
Brown. 


Early  Days  of  Queensland. 


OOK  in  1770,  and  Flinders  about  1802,  were 
the  earliest  of  our  own  countrymen  to  touch 
g)  the  shores  of  Queensland,  and,  in  1822,  con- 
victs were  sent  up  from  Sydney,  Moreton  Bay 
being  made  a  sort  of  a  "  chapel  of  ease  "  for 
Port  Jackson  in  that  line  of  merchandise. 
Brisbane  succeeded  Humpybong  as  the  "settle- 
ment," and  a  fence  was  put  across  the  neck 
of  land  where  our  metropolis  now  is,  with  slip  rails  at 
Petrie's  Bight  and  the  North  Quay,  and  when  the  bullock 
teams  meandered  in  at  one  and  out  at  the  other,  they  made 
a  track  which  afterwards  became  Queen  -  street.  Allan 
Cunningham  found  his  way  later  on  over  the  Main  Range 
from  the  west,  and  then  the  Leslies  and  others  ch-ca  1840 
over  from  the  Darling  Downs. 

The  area  of  pastoral  occupation  was  extended  yet  more 
into  the  blackfellows'  territory,  but  not  without  bloodshed. 
Many  a  terrible  melee  took  place,  with  a  whiz  of  brutal 
spears  and  the  ominous  hum  of  the  boomerang  and  nullah 
mingling  with  the  sharp  report  of  the  double-barrelled  gun 


THE    DAYS    OF    THE    PIONEERS.  167 

and  I'iflecl  carbine,  with  now  and  then  a  rush  and  a  vicious 
dash  in  the  open,  and  anon  a  crafty  ambush  behind  some 
huge  rock  or  tree,  and  bore  witness  to  the  l)loodshed, 
and  many  a  life  in  God's  image  on  both  sides  was 
quenched  ere  the  dusky  warriors,  all  red  and  white  ribbed 
alternately  in  their  battle  paint,  yielded  up  their  hunting 
grounds  to  the  whites.  Many  a  pretty  bush  station,  where 
ladies  in  muslin  and  silks  now  safely  dwell,  and  walk  or 
ride  as  they  please,  has  its  humble  mound  neatly  fenced 
where  sleeps  the  stockman  or  shepherd  untimely  slain  by 
spear,  boomerang,  or  tomahawk,  between  '43  and  '55. 

Yes  !  Time  was  when  the  blacks  of  Queensland  used 
their  spears  and  boomerangs  on  the  whites.  Now  that  is 
all  changed.  You  see  warlike  King  Jacky,  of  Caboolture, 
in  the  streets  of  the  city  with  a  brass  plate  hung  by  a 
chain  round  his  neck,  setting  forth  his  name  and  birth.  He 
carries  a  bundle  of  clothes-props,  while  his  wife  bears  an 
assortment  of  some  of  the  loveliest  and  most  stately  ferns 
from  distant  scrubs,  which  you  can  buy  at  3d.  and  6d.  a-piece. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  who  were  the  first  white  men  who 
roamed  northwai-ds  over  the  border  that  now  separates 
Queensland  from  New  South  Wales.  Most  probably  it  was 
some  nameless  runaway  and  unrecorded  convicts  ;  but  Major 
(Sir  Thomas)  Mitchell  and  Allan  Cunningham  were  the  first 
recognised  white  men  over  the  line,  followed,  some  years 
later,  by  Mr.  Patrick  Leslie,  in  March,  1840. 

I  believe  the  late  John  Campbell,  of  Redbank,  Ipswich, 
was  the  first  man  to  take  up  pastoral  country  and  form  a 
cattle  camp  in  what  is  now  known  as  Queensland  territory, 
on  the  north  side  of  the  Dumaresq  or  Severn  River.  That 
was  in  Januai-y,  1S40.  He  was  quickly  followed  by  Patrick 
Leslie,  in  March  of  the  same  year,  who  struck  out  still 
further  north  on  Allan  Cunningham's  track,  guided  by  a 
chart  of  his  route.     Toolburra  was  his  first  location,  a  neat 


168  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCKNCES, 

little  station  not  far  from  Warwick.  The  Upper  Conda- 
mine  and  its  boggy  affluents  watered  this  splendid  country, 
where  experienced  station  hands  asked  £100  to  £150  a-year 
and  their  food  as  the  lowest  price  at  which,  in  1840,  they 
would  work  for  the  "boss,"  and  face  the  plentiful  wild  blacks 
as  well.  New  South  Wales,  of  course,  at  this  period,  inclu- 
ded Victoria  and  Queensland,  up  to  the  South  Australian 
border,  and  the  enterprising  "pushing  out"  spirit  was  just 
as  active  westerly  as  northerly,  for  at  this  time  Mr.  Samuel 
Macgregor,  afterwards  of  Brisbane,  was  helping  to  take  up 
Eumarella,  near  the  South  Australian  border,  in  Western 
Yictoria,  for  Hughes  and  Hosking,  of  Sydney,  a  station 
which,  in  after  years,  was  owned  by  Ben.  Boyd,  of  Twofold 
Bay.  But,  to  return  to  the  northern  pioneers.  Joe  King 
and  Sibley  followed  George  and  Patrick  Leslie  on  the  march, 
and  "sat  down"  on  another  of  the  Condamine  affluents,  and 
called  it  King's  Creek,  now  the  Clifton  run.  Arthur  Hodg- 
son and  his  partner,  Elliot,  took  up  Eton  Vale.  Never 
before  nor  since  was  a  choicer  district  for  pasture  lotted  out 
amongst  plucky  even  if  not  always  lucky  explorers.  Joe 
King  was  a  brother-in-law  of  the  late  Hon.  James  Taylor, 
M.L.C.,  of  Cecil  Plains,  both  having  married  sisters  of  Martin 
Boulton,  another  early  Downs  man.  Cecil  Plains,  I  believe, 
were  named  after  Cecil  Hodgson,  a  brother  of  Sir  Arthur, 
of  that  ilk.  John  Campbell  pushed  out  and  took  up  that 
magnificent  run  "  Westbrook,"  while  Henry  Hughes  and 
Fred  Isaac  "  collared  "  "  Gowrie  "  from  the  Crown,  two  as 
faultless  and  flower-carpeted  ranches  for  slieep  and  cattle  as 
wide  Australia  holds,  and  the  summer  and  the  winter  made 
up  the  year  1841  when  all  these  events  happened.  R.  Scou- 
gall,  of  Liverpool  Plains,  near  the  Upper  Hunter  country, 
sent  Henry  Dennis  up  north  exploring,  and  the  huge  Jim- 
bour  run  was  tlie  prize  that  fell  to  his  lot.  Dennis  took  up 
Jondaryan  (smaller  but  richer  than  Jimboui),  for  himself. 


THE    LESLIES.  169 

Tfvingdale,  which  adjoined  it,  was  named  after  Mr.  Irving, 
for  whom  the  Warra  run  (afterwards  Thorn's),  was  taken 
up  by  Dennis,  who  also  secured  Myall  Creek  (Dalby),  for 
Charles  Coxen,  a  nephew  of  Gould,  the  great  ornithologist 
■of  Australia.  Yandilla  and  Tumniav^ille,  two  huge  princi- 
palities like  average  English  counties  in  size,  were  taken  up 
\>y  the  Gores  in  those  early  days,  and  they  were  richly 
grassed  like  all  the  rest  of  the  Downs.  There  was,  however, 
fl,nother  direction  from  which  the  Darling  Downs  were  being 
approached,  viz.,  from  the  east.  Sir  Thomas  MacDougall  Bris- 
bane, of  Makerstown  (N.B.),  an  old  lieutenant  of  Sir  Arthur 
Wellesley  in  the  Peninsular  wai',  had  come  to  succeed 
Lachlan  Macquaine  as  Governor  of  New  South  Wales  in 
1822,  and  gave  his  name  to  the  deepest  navigable  river  in 
Australia,  on  the  banks  of  which  a  penal  settlement,  to 
relieve  Sydney  and  Port  Macquarie,  was  founded.  Traces 
of  him  and  his  are  to  be  found  on  that  river.  He  had  a 
young  officer  named  Ovens  in  his  suite,  whose  youthful  wife 
died  soon  after  her  arrival  in  Australia,  and  "  Ovens'  "  Head 
(as  that  point  on  the  Brisbane  River  where  the  picturesque 
Boggo  cemetei-y  lies  used  to  be  called  in  the  olden  days), 
was,  no  doubt,  named  after  Lieutenant  Ovens.  The  lion- 
hearted  Patrick  Leslie,  a  Bayard  amongst  explorers,  was 
accompanied  only  by  one  man,  a  "prisoner  of  the  Crown," 
named  Peter  Murphy,  in  his  dauntless  strike  out  into  the 
wilderness  of  the  then  unknown  Downs.  "  Darkey  Flat " 
(near  Warwick),  where  they  get  gold  now,  is  the  only  place 
where  the  blacks  came  near  Pat.  Leslie,  and  a  shot  fright- 
ened them  away.  Peter  Murphy,  at  Leslie's  intercession, 
got  his  freedom  from  Sir  George  Gipps,  and  died  a  sergeant 
of  police  at  Bowen,  Port  Denison,  a  few  years  later. 

The  Leslies,  Patrick,  Walter,  and  George,  came  from 
county  Al)erdeen,  where  their  father  was  a  "  laird  "  or  land- 
holder, and  their  first  effort  in  Australian  life   was  dairy 


170  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

farming  near  Parramatta.  Their  father  sent  out  his  groom, 
George  Macadam  (who  afterwards  kept  the  Sovereign  Hotel, 
in  Queen-street,  Brisbane),  to  help  and  work  for  them,  as 
well  as  other  of  his  Scottish  servants,  as  being  more  reliable 
than  the  convict  labour  then  available.  Mrs.  P.  Leslie, 
who,  as  well  as  Mrs.  Geo.  Leslie,  was  a  Macarthur — a  name 
mixed  up  as  inseparably  with  the  first  wool  growth  of 
Australia  as  is  the  name  of  Leslie  with  the  exploration 
of  Darling  Downs.  His  wife  was  the  first  white  woman 
who  set  foot  on  the  said  Downs.  The  Leslies  never  had  any- 
trouble  with  the  blacks,  for  they  kept  them  at  a  distance, 
and  never  allowed  them  to  hover  about  the  station  and  the 
men's  huts,  which  is  how  most  quarrels  originate  that  end 
in  the  use  of  spear,  boomerang,  and  carbine  bullet.  Patrick 
Leslie  sold  Goomburra  to  Robert  Tooth,  of  the  Kent  Brewery, 
Sydney,  in  1856,  and  went  home  to  Scotland,  but  afterwards 
came  out  again  and  1)0Ught  an  estate  at  Waikato,  in  New 
Zealand,  where  he  was  in  1877,  and,  after  selling  that,  he 
settled  and  died  in  Sydney,  a  "  white  man  "  to  the  end  of 
his  days — modest,  brave,  chivalrous,  fearless  of  danger,  and 
ready  to  face  any  odds  at  all  times. 

Yes,  Patrick  Leslie  was  as  white  a  man  as  ever  walked 
the  earth.  He  was  a  Scotsman,  too ;  at  any  rate  he  was 
a  native  of  Aberdeen,  and  I  doubt  whether  Scotsmen  will 
quarrel  with  this  qualification.  He  came  out  in  the  interests 
of  his  uncle  Davidson,  a  banker,  of  London,  to  manage  a 
station  property  near  Cassillis,  on  the  Hunter.  This  uncle 
Davidson,  I  might  mention,  was  father  of  Gilbert  and  Wal- 
ter Davidson,  who  once  owned  Canning  Downs.  "  Darkey 
Flat,"  near  Warwick,  owes  its  name  to  Patrick  Leslie,  who 
so  named  it  because  it  was  the  only  place  the  niggers  would 
approach  in  those  days,  and  then  a  shot  in  the  air  would 
frighten  them  away. 

But  let  us  go  more  into  detail  and  discover  the  pioneers 


THE    DOWNS    SETTLERS.  171 

out  of  whose  efibrts  has  sprung  the  great  staple  industry  of 
the  colony. 

In  1850  the  settlers  on  the  Condamine,  M 'In tyre,  and 
Weir  Rivers  were,  as  I  have  already  mentioned,  Patrick 
Leslie  (Canning  Downs),  Fred.  Bracker  (manager  for  the 
Rosenthal  Company,  at  Rosenthal  Station,  near  Warwick 
township),  John  Crowther,  general  manager  for  the  Com- 
pany at  St.  Ruth,  Lochinvar,  and  other  runs  in  New  South 
Wales.  Bracker  shortly  afterwards  selected  on  his  own 
account  at  Warroo,  on  the  M'Intyre  Brook,  when  John 
Deuchar  became  manager  of  Rosenthal  and  St.  Ruth.  The 
Downs  men  were — ^John  Gammil,  of  Clifton  and  Talgai ; 
Captain  Mallard,  at  Felton  ;  Hughes  and  Isaacs,  of  Gowrie 
and  Westbrook  ;  Andrews,  of  Jondaryan ;  Russell  and 
Tayloi",  Cecil  Plains  (James  Taylor  residing  on  the  station) ; 
Gore  and  Co.,  Yandilla,  with  Willis  as  manager  ;  Captain 
Vignolles,  Western  Creek  ;  Thomas  De  Lacy  MofFatt,  at 
Stonehenge ;  Michael  Daisey,  Mclntyre  Brook.  Canal 
Creek  Station  was  then  owned  by  Ben.  Boyd,  and  was 
without  stock.  Beck  and  Brown's  sheep  were  on  Hamil- 
ton. Morris,  Young,  and  Goodfellow  were  the  owners  of 
Callandoon.  T.  De  Lacy  Moftatt  at  this  time  stocked 
Wyaga  with  sheep,  Chas  E.  S.  Bowler  being  in  charge. 
Canal  Creek  Township,  or,  as  we  know  it,  Leyburn,  was 
just  forming,  and  Graham's  inn  was  hardly  completed.  In 
January,  1850,  Paddy  Murrin's  blacksmith's  shop  and  Mar- 
tin Boulton's  had  just  been  opened,  and  in  March  of  the 
following  year  Harry  Kirby  had  completed  and  opened  the 
second  public  house  in  the  mushroom  township. 

From  Myall  Creek  (now  Dalby)  down  the  Condamine, 
the  country  was  occupied  something  in  this  way  :— Finlay 
Ross  on  Greenbank,  J.  P.  Wilkie  on  Daandine,  Sir  Joshua 
Peter  Bell  on  Jimbour,  R.  R.  Mackenzie  on  Warra  Warra 
(or  Cobble  Cobble),  Matthew  Goggs  on   Chinchilla,   J.   G. 


172  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Ewar  on  Wombo.  and  Leonard  Edward  Lester  on  Tieryboo. 
Lester  brought  about  10,000  sheep  from  Eundarra,  New 
South  Wales,  to  stock  this  run,  which  stock  reached  the 
station  at  the  end  of  1850  or  early  in  1851.  The  former 
owner,  Perrier,  of  Tieryboo,  had  sheep  there,  but  had  to 
remove  them  and  abandon  the  run  on  account  of  tlie  blacks. 
Edwards  also  had  sheep  on  the  Dogwood  at  the  same  time 
as  Perrier  was  at  Tieryboo,  but  he  also  had  to  remove  the 
sheep  and  quit  the  run,  afterwards  named  Bindian  by 
Charles  Coxen,  who  took  it  up  and  foi'med  the  station,  stock- 
ing it  with  sheep  in  June,  1851.  About  the  same  time 
Beck  and  Brown's  sheep  settled  on  a  part  of  Bindian  run 
-(about  six  miles  down  the  Dogwood  Creek,  below  the  spot 
where  Bindian  head  station  was  then  forming).  Beck  and 
Brown's  sheep,  with  Brown  in  charge,  remained  on  Bindian 
run  about  a  year  or  so,  being  the  furthest  out  sheep.  A 
■couple  of  Wallan  shepherds  were  killed  by  the  blacks  just 
^fter  the  native  police  settled  at  their  barracks  at  Wanda- 
ganba,  on  Channing  Creek,  about  the  end  of  1851.  The 
former  police  barracks  were  at  Callandoon.  The  police, 
with  John  Ferritt,  went  southerly  with  the  view  to  capturing 
the  murderers,  but  failed.  Later  on,  however,  the  police 
went  out  again  and  brought  back  a  black  known  as  Simpson, 
who,  according  to  some  accounts  at  least,  had  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  business.  But  the  police  in  those  days  were 
by  no  means  particular.  It  was  only  a  hlackfellow  after 
all  !  Brown,  who  had  named  the  blackfellow,  urged  that 
•Simpson  was  innocent,  and  declared  that  he  had  never  left 
his  camp  for  days  before  the  murders  were  committed,  having 
•during  that  time  been  minding  lambs.  But  Brown's  plead- 
ing was  useless.  That  night.  Beck  (Brown's  partner),  ai'rived 
■at  the  camp,  and  was  told  of  what  had  happened,  and  that 
the  police  had  gone  on  with  the  unfoitunate  blackfellow  in 
•charge.     Beck  at  once  decided  to  follow   up  the  tracks  of 


THE  SOUTH  WEST  COUNTRY.  173 

the  police,  which  he  did  by  the  aid  of  a  black.  Beck  pulled 
up  the  police  in  the  scrub,  making  for  Wallan,  with  Simpson 
in  irons.  Beck  explained  the  circumstances  connected  with 
Simpson,  who  was  liberated,  and  accompanied  his  rescuer 
back  to  Brown's  camp.  Simpson  was  never  able  to  clearly 
express  himself  in  plain  English,  but  he  several  times  gave 
a  practical  demonstration  of  the  fact  that  he  had  not  for- 
gotten those  who  had  saved  his  life. 

Dulacca  country  was  taken  up  by  John  Crowder,  of 
Weranga,  but  it  was  not  occupied  till  about  1^854.  All  the 
country  for  hundreds  of  miles  west  from  Beck  and  Brown's 
sheep  camp  on  Dogwood  Creek  had  been  taken  up  some 
years,  but  not  a  single  acre  at  this  date  was  occupied  with 
the  exception  of  Noorandoo,  taken  up  by  the  Halls,  of 
Dartbrook,  and  stocked  with  cattle.  Weribone  was  also 
taken  up  and  occupied  by  cattle  of  Dartbrook.  Talavera 
was  secured  by  Joseph  Flemming,  and  stocked  with  cattle. 
Yaniboogle  was  then  close  to  Talavera,  and  not  very  far 
from  the  present  town  of  Surat.  It  was  occupied  by  the- 
Crown  Lands  Commissioner,  whose  name  for  the  moment 
escapes  me.  Noorandoo,  Weribone,  Talavera,  and  Yam- 
boogie  were  all  formed  about  1849,  the  occupiers  coming  in 
by  the  Maitland  route  from  the  New  South  Wales  side  by 
what  is  now  known  as  St.  Geoi'ge,  but  which  at  that  time 
had  never  been  approached  from  Moreton  Bay. 

About  1849  James  Alexander  Blythe(Blytheand  Chauvel,. 
the  latter  a  son  of  Major  Chauvel,  of  Sydney  and  Clarence), 
took  out  sheep  to  settle  on  the  fine  country  west,  and  "  sat 
down  "  for  a  time  on  what  is  now  known  as  Bungewarra  or 
Mount  Abundance,  and  for  a  time  at  what  is  now  known 
as  Blythedale.  But  the  blacks  proved  too  many  for  them. 
Blythe  was  speared  in  the  thigh,  and,  as  he  said,  only  saved 
himself  by  having  a  good  horse.  After  this  they  cleared 
out,  selling  their  sheep.     Blythe,  however,  took  up  UnduUa 


174  AUSTRALIAN    PIONKERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

after  this — a  well  watered  place,  but  very  poor  country. 
Blythe  knew  from  previous  experience  what  the  want  of 
water  was,  and,  if  anything,  was  a  too  great  believer  in 
watered  country.  He  often  erred  in  this  respect,  but,  in 
1851,  had  settled  down  at  Undulla,  or  Palmy  Creek,  which 
he  stocked  with  cattle.  One  of  the  stories  told  of  Blythe 
and  Chauvel  shows  the  sort  of  stuff  both  pioneers  were  made 
of.  They  had  been  reduced  to  the  last  piece  of  dried  damper, 
wliich,  on  being  cut,  stuck  to  the  two  table  requisites.  One 
of  theni  then  closed  his  eyes,  and  was  asked  by  the  other 
which  he  would  have  —  knife  or  fork  —  and  thus  it  was 
decided  who  should  have  the  best  or  largest  piece,  if  there 
was  anything  to  choose  between  them.  There  are  good  men 
now,  but  I  question  whether  mankind  hasn't  degenerated 
considerably  since  the  Blythe  and  Chauvel  days.  The  old 
lot  were  stickers  in  eveiy  sense  of  the  term,  and,  ah  !  so 
unlike  the  "  pioneers  "  of  the  present  day,  who  have  had 
the  country  opened  up  for  them,  and  in  reality  have  only 
to  walk  in  and  make  themselves  at  ease.  Many  of  the  old 
hands  deserved  better  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  more 
recent  generation.  Poor  old  Blythe  died  in  Sydney  some 
ten  years  ago,  the  only  friend  to  watch  over  him  in  his  last 
moments  being  Ewar,  at  one  time  of  Wombo. 

McPherson  formerly  took  up  Bungeworgorai,  and  had 
cattle  on  it,  aVjout  the  time  that  Blythe  and  Chauvel  were 
out  (1849),  but  he,  too,  abandoned  all,  and  made  Paddy 
Macinnon  a  present  of  the  cattle  remaining.  Paddy  was  bul- 
lock driver  or  stockman  for  McPherson ;  a  second  blackfellow 
in  nature,  something  like  Duramboi.  He  lived  with  the 
blacks  for  years,  but  managed  to  keep  a  few  cattle  and 
quiet  milkers  with  plenty  of  fat  beef  for  all  hands. 
Every  year  or  oftener,  when  he  wanted  a  spree,  he 
brought  down  a  few  of  his  herd  and  disposed  of  them  at  Dalby 
or  Drayton.     He  seldom,  however,  got  farther  than  Dalby. 


A    WESTERN    NOTABLE.  175 

He  travelled  down  with  the  bhacks,  and  with  a  cart  loaded 
with  gins  and  piccaninnies  of  all  sorts.  He  would  return 
perhaps  with  a  bag  of  flour,  and  drapery  for  his  family  of 
blacks,  and  with  cotton  and  silk  handkerchiefs,  twill  shirts, 
mole  and  tweed  trousers  for  himself  as  a  turn  out  for 
his  next  trip,  but  spending  most  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sale 
and  not  infrequently  leaving  a  good  score  at  the  pub  to  pay 
next  time.  I  believe  Paddy  Macinnon  died  at  Forster's  inn, 
in  the  Condamine  township,  about  1860,  and  with  him  died 
also  M'Pherson's  legacy.  Reus  Bingham  and  Macdonald 
took  up  CoUingull  Lagoons  (novv  Myall  Grove  Station), 
and  had  just  formed  the  head  station  in  1851 — somewhere 
near  where  the  Condamine  township  now  is — which  township 
was  formed  about  18.57  or  1858. 

Early  in  1852,  Henry  William  Coxen  arrived  at  his  uncle's 
station,  "  Bindian."  W.  P.  Gordon  was  then  managing  for 
Charles  Coxen,  at  Bindian,  and  stocked  Wallambilla  with 
slieep  during  this  year,  Charles  Coxen  took  up  the  run. 
Gordon  sold  out  well  in  1861  or  1862.  Henry  Coxen  also 
took  up  Alderton,  and  stocked  it  with  sheep.  Some  years 
afterwards  he  likewise  stocked  Bendemere,  selling  out  to 
Macfarlane  Bros,  in  1866,  at,  I  think,  £1  a  head  for  the 
sheep — and  bad  sheep  too — at  any  rate  Macfarlane  Bros. 
"went  bung"  about  two  years  afterwards.  This  year  Rens 
Bingham  and  Macdonald  drew  sheep  from  their  CoUingull 
station  for  the  Workin  run,  while  Beck  and  Brown  took  up 
1,100  square  miles  of  country  on  the  Moonie  fall  of  water 
on  the  creeks.  This  country  was  previously  unknown,  and 
Beck  and  Brown  only  came  to  a  knowledge  of  it  through 
the  blacks.  Acting  under  their  guidance  they  set  out,  and, 
after  viewing  a  portion  of  it,  took  steps  to  secure  it.  It 
turned  out  that  the  greater  portion  of  it  was  beautiful 
open  undulating  blue  grass  country,  with  myall  and  salt- 
bush  running  through  it,  and  with  plenty  of  good  water, 


176  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

though  Beck  and  Brown  did  not  consider  it  of  a  permanent 
nature.  This  country  remained  long  hidden  owing  to  the 
frontage  being  scrubby  and  sandy,  consequently  that  at  the 
back  on  the  small  creeks  escaped  the  eagle  eye  of  the  explora- 
tion parties  which  went  out  from  time  to  time.  Beck  and 
Brown  did  not  stock  until  1S56,  but  paid  the  rent  from  the 
time  they  found  it. 

In  this  year  (1852)  things  began  to  look  up,  and  many 
surprises  were  occasioned  by  what  were  considered  the  high 
prices  station  properties  realised.  For  instance  J.  D. 
M'Lean  purchased  Westbrook  with  about  12,000  sheep  at 
something  like  12s.  6d.  per  head,  with  the  run  given  in. 
James  Taylor,  about  the  same  time,  purchased  a  large 
portion  of  the  swamp  (now  Toowoomba),  it  was  said,  for 
.£10,000.  John  Deuchar  secured  Canal  Creek  station  at 
10s.  a  head  for  tlie  sheep.  Gillespie,  of  Sydney,  afterwards 
bought  this  run  from  Deuchar.  Logan  sold  Dunmore,  on 
Weir  River,  during  this  year  or  early  in  1853,  to  James 
Taylor,  of  Cecil  Plains,  and  Watson  Bros,  purchased  Halli- 
ford  and  Wa-Wa  with  sheep  at  good  prices.  John  Crowder, 
at  Weranga,  on  the  head  of  Moonie  River  station  (which 
was  formed  in  181:8  or  1849),  stocked  with  sheep  in  '52,  and 
put  John  Miller  in  charge.  John  Crowder  was  formerly 
general  manager  for  Lochinvar,  Rosenthal,  and  St.  Ruth 
company.  Alfred  Crowder,  brother  to  John  Crowder,  died 
at  Commissioner  Roleston's,  at  Cambooya,  in  1850,  and  was 
buried  close  to  the  road.  A  tombstone  and  iron  railings 
marked  the  spot,  but  it  was  sadly  neglected  and  became 
a  wreck.  It  was  Alfred  Crowder  who  formed  Weranga, 
where  he  resided  until  his  illness.  John  Crowder  sold 
out  Weranga  in  1856  to  James  Hook  and  Campbell.  Some 
years  afterwards  Weranga  was  purchased  by  Mort  and 
Laidley  from  Hook.  Dulacca  was  another  station  taken 
up  by  John  Crowder,  but  it  was  not  formed  or  stocked  by 


-Mk.  T.   H.  Stephens.  Hon.   k.  G.   \V.   Hekkert. 

Sir.   Maurice  O'Connei.l. 
Mr.  Samuel  Uroavn.  Mr.  John  Beck. 


WILLIAM    miles'    START.  177 

hiui,  John  Miller  —  mentioned  as  an  early  manager  of 
Weranga — having  purchased  4,000  sheep  and  formed  it  in 
1855.  Miller  held  the  station  on  his  own  account  until 
1857,  when  he  took  William  Miles  in  as  a  partner  in  Dulacca, 
Miles  bringing  his  7,000  sheep  from  Kinnoul,  on  the 
Dawson,  which  he  had  previously  rented  from  Miller  and 
Turnbull,  together  with  the  sheep.  Both  Miller  and  Turn- 
bull  took  a  trip  home  during  the  two  years  of  Miles' 
lease.  Miles  about  1860  bought  John  Miller's  share  of 
Dulacca.  Dulacca  was  a  small  run,  its  capabilities  being 
about  15,000  sheep,  and,  being  about  fully  stocked,  it 
enabled  the  owner  to  make  an  annual  sale  of  sheep  equal 
to  the  increase.  Just  at  this  time  a  demand  for  stocking 
the  western  country  arose  Sheep  were  then  fetching  from 
20.S.  for  maidens,  and  averaging  15s.  for  breeding  ewes.  This 
gave  William  Miles  his  start.  Magechie  Brothers  had  taken 
up  Retreat,  on  the  Weir  River,  about  1848,  and  in  this 
year  (1852)  stocked  it  with  breeding  mares.  These  may  be 
said  to  have  been  the  ancestors  of  the  wild  brombies  which 
afterwards  swarmed  the  whole  country  from  the  M'Intyre 
to  the  Condamine,  and  even  to  the  north  of  the  latter  stream. 
Tarawinnabar,  which  had  been  formed  by  Smith  contempo- 
raneously with  Retreat,  was  stocked  just  about  the  same 
year,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  Easton  and  Robertson's 
Billa  Billa,  both  runs  being  devoted  to  sheep.  Paddy  Clyres 
put  cattle  on  Tallwood,  and  Atkins,  Jarrott,  and  Gardner, 
in  January  of  1852,  arrived  from  Goulburn,  and  rented 
MuUeelee  run  on  the  Moonie  River,  as  well  as  the  sheep 
tliat  were  on  it. 

In  1853  Beck  and  Brown  moved  their  sheep  from  the 
head  of  Undullah  Creek  from  a  block  of  country  named 
Tara,  which  was  within  eighteen  miles  of  Weranga,  and 
took  them  down  the  Moonie  to  Gideon  Lang's  country. 
This    country    was    then    owned    by  Atkins,  Jarrott,    and 


178  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND     REMINISCENCES. 

Gardner,  and  had  never  been  occupied  until  Beck  and 
Brown's  sheep  were  put  on  it.  The  sheep  remained  on 
Tartha  until  1856.  Working  country  then  was  no  easy 
task,  for  without  shepherds  it  was  impossible  to  keep  sheep 
or  anything  else  on  it — the  blacks  were  so  bad.  And  shep- 
herds were  not  so  plentiful.  The  two  shiploads  of  German 
immigrants  who  arrived  in  the  "Aurora"  and  the  "Merbz" 
in  1855  were  a  perfect  godsend.  They  had  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty in  getting  here.  These  immigrants  were  the  result  of 
a  special  effort  put  forward  by  the  squatters  and  paid  for  by 
them  too.  Kirchner,  one  of  the  firm  of  Kirchner  &  Co  , 
merchants,  of  Sydney,  went  to  Germany  and  engaged  them 
under  an  agreement  for  two  years,  the  squatters  paying  on 
arrival  here  £16  for  each  man.  The  immigrants  had, 
according  to  the  agreement,  to  pay  off  the  £16  during  the 
two  years,  but  only  a  few  of  the  squatters  deducted  the 
amount.  I  remember  Beck  and  Brown  engaged  thirteen  of 
these  people,  and  did  not  deduct  anything  from  their  earn- 
ings. The  majority  of  the  men  turned  out  to  be  excellent 
servants.  Many  of  them  remained  in  the  service  of  the 
squatters  for  years  after  their  term  had  expired,  and,  in 
some  cases,  they  took  up  land  themselves.  They  certainly 
tilled  a  gap  which  sadly  wanted  bridging  at  the  time.  Fi-om 
this  out,  things  went  better  so  far  as  the  labour  was 
concerned,  for  the  two  ship  loads  acted  as  a  sort  of  adver- 
tisement, and  others  were  only  too  glad  to  immigrate  on 
their  own  accord.  At  any  rate  there  was  never  the  same 
dearth,  for  bye  and  bye  English  immigrants  were  also 
attracted  to  the  colony.  Generally  speaking  these  latter 
were  a  good  class,  too,  being  drawn  principally  from  the 
farming  districts  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland.  Like 
the  Germans,  many  of  these  remained  in  the  service  of  the 
squatters  for  as  long  as  fifteen  years,  and  developed  into 
some  of  the  best  selectors  that  have  ever  taken  up  their 


HIE  DEARTH  OF  LABOUR.  179 

residence  in  any  country.  When,  however,  the  system  of 
immigration  was  so  changed  as  to  cover  practically  only 
artisans,  things  changed  for  the  worse  so  far  as  the  squatters 
were  concerned,  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  neither  the  colony 
nor  the  immigrants  themselves  profited  much.  Many 
a  lot  of  these  artisans  were  got  up  to  the  stations  at 
a  deal  of  expense  to  the  Crown  lessees,  who  voted  them 
a  nuisance,  and  who,  in  many  cases,  were  only  too  glad 
to  get  rid  of  them.  In  1857,  Beck  and  Brown,  who,  like 
many  others,  had  become  thoroughly  sick  of  what  was 
termed  the  "riffraff  of  London,"  got  sev'en  hands  up  from 
Ipswich  by  the  drays  which  were  taking  up  loading.  This 
season  was  a  most  extraordinary  one  :  rain,  rain,  little  else 
but  rain  ;  it  prevailed  from  that  August  to  the  following 
August.  And  a  nice  time  these  men  had.  They  were  six 
months  on  the  road.  The  carrier  (Marks)  got  £2  10s.  per 
man,  the  squatters  providing  them  with  rations  for  the 
period  as  well  as  paying  their  wages,  which  had  been  going 
on  for  seven  weeks  before  they  started.  When  they  set  out 
it  was  thought  that  five  weeks  would  see  them  at  their 
journey's  end,  and,  on  this  basis,  Walter  Gray,  who  was 
then  the  squatter's  man — forwarding  and  receiving  their 
wool — acted.  Of  course  when  these  rations  were  done  the 
men  attacked  the  loading,  a  very  considerable  "  hole "  in 
•which  was  made  before  they  got  to  the  station.  But  the 
greatest  loss  was  perhaps  caused  by  the  waste.  What  all 
this  meant  may  be  better  understood  when  it  is  stated  that 
the  rate  to  Beck  and  Brown's  station  from  Ipswich  was 
18s.  per  100  lbs.  Add  to  this  the  interest  on  cost  of  rations 
and  the  fact  that  wool  had  to  be  kept  on  hand  for  as  long  as 
nine  or  twelve  months  before  there  was  any  prospect  of  a 
return,  and  the  reader  will  observe  how  very  different 
squatting  was  in  those  days  as  compared  with  what  it  is 
now — and  there  is  enough  trouble  even  now,  goodness  knows. 


180  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

After  Walter  Gray's  death  in  1862,  G.  H.  Wilson  became 
the  squatter's  man,  and  a  worthy  successor  to  Gray  he  proved. 

In  185i  or  1855  John  S.  Scott  took  over  Magechie's 
Retreat  station,  on  the  Weir  River,  and  stocked  it  with 
sheep.  The  year  following,  Beck  and  Brown  moved  their 
sheep  from  Tartha  (about  18,000)  to  form  the  1,100  square 
miles  of  country  taken  up  by  them  in  1852.  Brown  in  the 
same  year  took  down  about  1,800  old  ewes  to  Flemniing's 
boiling-down  works,  near  Ipswich,  but  the  unusually  wet 
season  was  against  them,  and  they  lost  fat  in  travelling  and 
in  swimming  the  creeks.  The  returns  of  tallow  was  on 
this  account  vei'y  poor,  and  made  the  squatters  wonder  why 
they  bothered  with  the  sheep  at  all.  Owing  to  this  con- 
tinued wet  weather,  nearly  the  whole  of  the  stations  ran 
out  of  rations,  even  those  on  the  Downs,  which,  by 
comparison,  were  close  to  Ipswich.  Some  of  the  drays  were 
fourteen  months  on  the  roads,  and,  in  order  that  those  on 
the  stations  might  not  die  of  starvation  altogether,  small 
quantities  of  flour  were  carried  periodically  from  the 
benighted  drays  to  the  stations  on  pack  horses.  Even  then 
on  some  of  the  runs  the  squatters  did  not  touch  flour  for 
three  weeks  at  a  time.  There  was  practically  nothing  but 
mutton.  From  morning  to  night  the  iron  pot  was  on  the 
fire,  the  greasy  chops  in  it  being  stirred  around  with  a  long 
stick.  This  really  was  the  only  food  they  had  ;  there  was 
not  even  a  pinch  of  tea  to  be  had  at  most  of  the  places. 
When  at  length  the  drays  did  turn  up  there  was  great  jolli- 
fication.    Damper  and  scones  never  tasted  sweeter. 

In  1858  J.  B.  Atkins  formed  Kooroon  station,  on  the 
Moonie  River,  stocking  it  with  a  mixture  of  sheep  and 
cattle.  About  two  years  later  Captain  M'Carthy  joined 
Atkins,  but  in  1863  both  fell,  owing  to  the  bank  putting  on 
the  screw  on  other  parties,  through  whose  failure  the  two 
collapsed.     After  this  Atkins  got  the  management  of  Worn- 


ROUGH    TIMES.  181 

blebank  (in  the  Maranoa)  into  his  hand,  while  his  partner 
dropped  into  the  more  congenial  position  of  a  Government 
servant  in  Brisbane. 

Gideon  Lang  had  been  the  tirst  to  take  up  the  country, 
over  which  Atkins  had  the  management,  but  never  occupied 
it,  and  eventually  threw  it  up.  Atkins  then  came  into 
possession  of  it,  paying  rent  for  it  from  1856,  and  form- 
ing it  in  1858.  Beck  and  Brown  liad  in  1859  estab- 
lished their  country,  Canmaroo,  Coomrith,  Ingleston,  and 
Cooroora  as  a  going  concern,  and  quickly  stocked  up, 
getting  good  increases  of  lambs.  These  were  rough  times 
for  the  two  pioneers,  for  with  sheep  here,  there,  and  every- 
where, they  were  constantly  on  the  travel.  Indeed  Brown 
has  often  related  that  in  three  years  he  was  not  at  the  head 
station  of  any  one  of  the  runs  a  week  on  a  stretch. 

As  showing  how  elections  were  conducted  in  these  times 
it  may  be  stated  that  in  1859  Beck,  Brown,  and  two  or  three 
men  whom  they  took  over,  went  to  record  their  vote  at  the 
Condamine  township.  D.  M'Lean,  of  Westbrook,  and 
William  Handcock,  of  Drayton,  were  the  candidates.  It 
was  thought  that  Beck  and  Brown's  five  votes  would  just 
about  run  M'Lean  in,  but  they  were  out  of  their  reckoning, 
for  Handcock  crept  in  and  took  his  seat  in  the  old  Sydney 
Parliament. 

Murilla  station  was  formed  about  1859,  and  stocked  with 
sheep  by  Joshua  Peter  Bell,  of  Jimbour,  and  about  the  same 
time  Barton  and  Beck  Bros.  "  sat  down  "  at  Wandungal, 
on  the  Dogwood.  These  Becks  were  not  related  to  the 
partner  of  Brown,  but  Barton  was  a  brother  of  the  medico 
of  that  ilk  in  the  early  days  of  Brisbane,  and  the  same  man 
who  in  partnership  with  Lamb  owned  squattages  on  the 
Burnett  and  the  Dawson. 

Roma  was  in  process  of  formation  in  this  year,  Spencer 
settling  on  Bugyuagorie,   and  an  inn,  kept  by  one  Ware, 


182  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

was  opened  at  Surat.  Lloyd  Bros.,  of  Tasmania,  too,  were 
forming  a  station  near  Noorindoo,  while  Yankee  Brown  was 
doing  something  in  the  same  line  close  by.  The  latter, 
however,  did  not  long  remain,  for  he  went  over  to  Maitland, 
and,  as  a  speculation,  bought  dogs  and  goats  for  shipment 
to  California  ! 

Donald  Ross,  of  Noondaroo,  manager  for  and  a  relative 
of  the  Halls,  became  the  owner  of  Yankee  Brown's  station, 
Cambarngo.  In  the  same  year  the  country  on  Donga  Creek,, 
owned  by  Jacob  and  Low,  was  being  formed  and  partially 
stocked  with  cattle,  though  some  time  afterward  these  wei'e 
withdrawn  and  sheep  substituted,  and  the  run  re-named 
"  Glenearn."  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  country  down 
the  Balonne  from  Surat,  and  also  down  the  Moonie  River, 
while  at  St.  George  it  had  been  decided  that  they  had  become 
sufficiently  civilised  to  warrant  the  erection  of  a  wayside 
house. 

In  1860,  Dr.  Kelson  bought  Tartha  from  Beck  and  Brown,, 
and  remained  there  a  couple  of  years,  and,  in  1866,  Brown 
bought  the  run  back  from  F.  A.  Forbes  and  John  Pettigrew,. 
of  Ipswicli.  This  was  a  good  deal  for  Brown,  for  the  run 
was  without  stock,  and,  as  a  severe  drought  was  being 
experienced,  and  there  was  plenty  of  grass  on  Tartha,  he 
was  able  to  weather  the  trouble  tolerably  well.  When  this 
drought  came  to  an  end  he  sold  again  to  William  Dockrill, 
who  for  years  had  worked  with  Brown  as  a  horse  driver 
and  as  a  shearer. 

In  1862  Beck  and  Brown  dissolved  partnership,  the  former 
taking  Canmaroo,  and  Brown  Coomrith,  the  40,000  sheep 
being  equally  divided.  The  floods  of  two  years  later,  how- 
ever, played  sad  havoc  with  both,  as  indeed  they  did  with 
otlier  pastoral  lessees.  In  one  fell  swoop  Brown  lost  1,700^ 
the  flock  being  swept  away  down  the  Condamine. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  William  Miles  came  politically 


AN    EARLY    ELECTION.  183 

into  prominence,  being  returned  for  the  Maranoa  l)y  either 
two  or  three  votes.  The  squatters  travelled  far  and  wide 
to  record  their  votes.  Brown  travelled  to  Surat,  some 
seventy  miles  from  his  station,  and  took  with  him  three  men 
to  vote  for  Miles,  whom  Brown  had  up  to  this  time  known 
very  intimately.  He  afterwards  expressed  himself  as  sorry 
for  having  taken  so  much  trouble,  for  he  averred  that 
althougli  his  votes  had  practically  put  Miles  in,  that  gentle- 
man always  avoided  him  and  never  so  much  as  noticed  him. 
But  such  are  politics. 

186G  saw  another  drought,  and,  profiting  by  past  experi- 
ence, Brown  got  rid  of  29,000  sheep  at  an  average  of  9s.  6d., 
the  buyers  being  Youll  and  Francis,  of  Melbourne.  From 
this  to  1872  sheep  went  down  to  any  price,  and,  in  the 
meantime.  Brown  re-stocked  at  something  like  half-a-crown 
a  head. 

This  may  be  said  to  bring  me  down  to  the  railway  days, 
which  rapidly  opened  the  country  westwards  for  hundreds 
of  miles.  How  many  of  these  old  pioneers  are  left,  and  how 
many  of  those  who  are  living  still  hold  the  stations  on 
which  they  spent  the  best  part  of  their  lives,  and  the  whole 
of  their  hard-earned  money  1  And  let  me  ask  how  many 
have  actually  fallen  into  the  hands  of  those  who  were  ser- 
vants for  the  then  holders.  I  am  afraid,  however,  that  the 
individual  squatter  is  nowadays  a  relic  of  the  past,  for, 
with  few  exceptions,  the  stations  are  held  either  by  banks, 
or  by  combinations  of  so-called  squatters  who,  in  the  early 
days  at  all  events,  had  not  even  been  heard  of.  I  have 
been  fortunate  in  securing  a  few  particulars  of  Beck  and 
Brown,  who  formed,  in  the  early  days,  one  of  the  best  known 
squatter  firms  of  the  back  country. 

John  Beck  arrived  in  Sydney  in  1843  or  1844,  and 
immediately  took  the  management  of  one  of  Benjamin 
Boyd's  stations — "  Capartel,"  Bathurst  district,  New  South 


184  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Wales.  In  1847-48  Beck  purchased,  on  his  own  account, 
some  two  or  three  thousand  sheep,  principally  ewes,  and 
started  the  slieep  for  Moreton  Bay  in  charge  of  Mr.  Thomas 
Nicholson,  ultimately  reaching  Canal  Creek,  where  they 
settled  down  until  early  in  1851  on  a  block  of  country  named 
*'  Hamilton,"  within  three  miles  of  what  is  now  the  town- 
ship of  Leyburn.  On  4th  April,  1849,  Samuel  Brown 
arrived  in  Melbourne.  Brown  was  then  a  youth  approach- 
ing the  age  of  twenty-one  years.  He  immediately  went  up 
to  his  brother's  station,  "  Mopianimum,"  Wardy  Yallock, 
Geelong  district.  Samuel  Brown  i^emained  at  Mopiani- 
mum, learning  "colonial  experience"  till  December,  1849, 
—  about  nine  months  —  when  he  proceeded  to  Sydney 
to  join  Beck,  his  brother-in-law.  Both  went  on  to  Moreton 
Bay,  and  landed  at  Kangaroo  Point  on  1st  January,  1850. 
From  Ipswich  they  went  on  to  Canal  Creek  on  horseback. 
Brown  became  full  partner  by  purchasing  and  paying  Beck 
in  cash  for  half  share  of  the  sheep,  etc.  The  firm  of  Beck 
and  Brown  thus  commenced  in  January,  1850.  The  part- 
nership continued  till  March,  1862.  In  March,  1851,  Mr. 
Nicholson  got  the  management  of  Stonehenge  station  from 
Thomas  De  Lacy  Moffatt,  who  was  then  residing  there. 

In  May,  1851,  Brown  started  from  Canal  Creek  with 
sheep,  travelling  down  the  Condamine  (Beck  with  his  family 
remaining  at  Canal  Creek  for  a  time,  but  afterwards  removed 
and  resided  at  Kangaroo  Point,  Brisbane).  Brown  pulled 
up  at  Dogwood  Creek,  on  Charles  Coxen's  "  Bindian  "  run. 
Brown  was  then  the  farthest  out  with  sheep.  However, 
shortly  after.  Walker,  with  the  native  police,  came  from 
Callandoon  and  settled  their  barracks  on  Channing  Creek. 
Brown  had  hardly  got  the  yards  up  for  the  sheep  on  the 
Dogwood  when  he  was  surprised  by  the  arrival  of  a 
special  messenger  from  Beck  at  Canal  Creek  requesting  him 
to  return  with  the  sheep  at  once,  in  consequence  of  the 


A    RISKY    UNDERTAKING.  185 

gold  discoveries  in  the  south  having  caused  much  alarm 
among  the  settlers  on  the  Downs.  John  Gammil,  of  Talgai, 
Clifton,  etc.,  was  talking  of  boiling  down  all  sheep  except 
the  veiy  best  quality  for  wool,  as  the  scarcity  of  labour  of 
all  kinds,  and  especially  shepherds,  with  consequent  extra- 
vagant demand  for  wages  would,  it  was  then  generally 
thought,  compel  the  squatters  to  succumb  altogether.  How- 
ever, in  the  face  of  these  prognostications,  Brown  refused 
to  return  with  the  sheep.  Brown  had  one  man  at  least 
— "  John  Davies  " — a  trustworthy,  good  shepherd  whom  he 
could  depend  upon  By  forming  two  flocks  into  one,  and 
with  the  assistance  of  the  blacks  as  shepherds,  he  considered 
lie  would  be  all  right,  especially  as  the  native  police  had 
settled  within  twenty  miles  of  him.  And  so  it  turned  out. 
He  got  two  blacks  shepherding,  with  all  the  assistance  he 
required  for  lambing.  The  blacks  did  their  work  well. 
Brown  said  of  them — "  I  always  found  the  blacks  reliable 
if  reliance  were  placed  in  them,  and  were  treated  fairly  and 
kindly,  though  firmly,  and  as  human  beings.  In  the  course 
■of  a  year  or  so  the  gold  fever  abated  a  little,  though  shep- 
herds and  shearers  were  actually  masters  for  throe  or  four 
years  after.  The  Chinese  who  were  afterwards  introduced 
assisted  somewhat  in  forcing  white  labour  down  to  a  work- 
able level. 

In  1852  Beck  and  Brown  took  up  about  1,100  square 
miles  of  country  on  the  creeks  falling  into  the  Moonie 
River,  but  being  then  isolated,  with  no  neighbours  nearer 
than  100  miles,  with  a  scarcity  and  high  rates  of  labour, 
they  could  not  occupy  the  country  for  some  years  after  they 
had  taken  it  up  and  paid  rent  for  it.  In  the  meantime 
Brown  wandered  about  from  place  to  place  with  tlie  sheep 
— a  year  or  so  here,  a  year  or  so  there — but  gradually  work- 
ing towards  the  country  they  had  taken  up.  He  settled  for 
about  two  years  on  the  country  secured  by  Gideon  Lang, 


186  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

but  then  unoccupied,  and  in  a  natural  state,  on  the  Moonie 
River,  about  fifty  miles  from  Weranga  (then  John  Crow- 
ther's).  There  was  no  road  down  Ijeyond  a  track  from. 
Weranga  to  the  farthest  out  sheep  station  of  Crowther's. 
All  beyond  to  Lang's  country  Brown  named  "  Tartha,"  a 
black's  name,  one  which  still  clings  to  it. 

In  1856  Beck  and  Brown  first  formed  the  1,100  square 
miles.  They  placed  two  fiocks  on  it,  then  another  two  flocks, 
and  so  on  as  the  yards  were  ready  to  receive  them,  until  thfr 
whole  of  the  sheep  were  removed  from  Lang's  country, 
"Tartha" — in  all,  approaching  18,000.  They  thus  formed 
Canmaroo  head  station  (commenced  May,  1856).  The  1,100 
square  miles  taken  up  and  formed  by  Beck  and  Brown  are 
now  in  four  stations,  known  as  Canmaroo,  Coomrith,  North 
Ingleston,  and  Cooroora. 

In  March,  1862,  Beck  and  Brown  dissolved  partnership,. 
Beck  taking  Canmaroo,  and  Brown  Coomrith,  dividing  the 
sheep  equally — about  40,000 — or  about  20,000  sheep  each. 
Beck  died  at  Coomrith  in  1866.  Brown  sold  part  of  Coom- 
rith, with  27,000  odd  sheep,  in  1873,  to  William  Graham 
(Hon.  William  Graham  and  Daniel  Williams,  railway  con- 
tractor). The  other  part  of  Coomrith  was  reserved  by  him 
with  part  also  of  Cooroora,  which  he  held  up  to  the  end  of 
'86 — the  wind-up  of  the  two  years'  drought.  During 
this  time  there  was  practically  no  rain — in  fact  from 
July,  1884,  to  May,  1886.  Brown  lost  quite  two- 
thirds  of  his  sheep,  and  the  greater  part  of  his  casli,  in 
endeavouring  to  keep  alive  those  he  saved.  Bi-own  had  been 
equally  unfortunate  in  other  droughts.  In  1875  he  lost 
11,000  sheep,  what  with  drought  and  the  results  of  three 
days'  continuous  rain  immediately  after  being  shorn  when 
the  drought  broke  up.  Other  droughts  followed,  but  Brown 
has  often  remarked  that  the  one  of  1885  was  the  worst  he 
ever  experienced.     In  the  sixties,  stock  was  a  very  uncertain 


BECK    AND    BROWN.  187 

quantity.  From  I860  to  1867,  sheep  were  restricted  fronn 
crossing  into  Queensland  from  New  South  Wales.  At  this 
time  there  was  a  demand  from  the  nortliern  parts  of  the 
colony,  which  was  then  being  stocked  ;  and  what  with  the 
short  supply  and  the  heavy  demand,  values  jumped  up 
tremendously.  Maiden  ewes  fetched  £1  a  head,  average 
breeding  ewes  about  15s.,  and  other  classes  in  proportion. 
Unfortunately  many  of  the  southern  men  were  unable  to 
foresee  events  sufficiently  well  to  sell.  Most  of  them  stocked 
up  their  country  instead  of  selling.  With  remarkable 
suddenness  sheep  then  fell  to  half-a-crown,  and  few  sales  at 
that,  and,  in  addition,  from  '67  to  '72,  wool  had  fallen  so 
terribly  that  it  was  scarcely  worth  while  cutting  it  off  the 
sheep's  back.  Prices  ruling  in  Sydney  ran  from  5^d.  to 
lid.  per  lb. 

After  1872  the  price  of  wool  improved  much,  and  con- 
tinued to  fetch  a  fair  price,  but  the  droughts  became  more 
general  after  then,  and  the  quality  of  country  got  worse 
and  worse  every  year,  consequent  upon  the  heavy  stocking 
and  the  eating  out  of  the  roots  of  all  the  good  blue  grass 
and  natural  herbage.  It  is  questionable  whether  the 
wethers  bred  on  the  same  country  now  average  40  lbs., 
much  less  70  lbs.,  which  was  regarded  there  twenty  years 
ago  as  a  fair  average. 

Both  Beck  and  Brown  were  born  in  the  parish  of  Borgue,. 
Kirkcudbrightshire,  Scotland.  Beck  was  the  youngest  son 
of  the  late  William  Beck,  of  Balmangan.  Brown  is  the 
youngest  son  of  the  late  Alexander  Brown,  of  Ingleston  and 
Casleton,  Borgue,  and,  strange  to  say,  both  were  educated 
at  the  same  academy  in  the  latter  town.  As  has  been 
stated,  Beck  died  at  Coomrith  in  April  of  1866,  at  the  age 
of  about  57  years.  Brown,  though  over  60  years  of  age, 
is  still  hale  and  hearty — as  he  describes  himself:  "T  am. 
still  a  bushranger." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

North  Queensland  Legends  and  Myths — A  Daring  "Duffer" 
—The  Gulf  Country — A  Run-Hunting  Expedition  — 
Breaking  in  a  "Brombie" — A  Terror  to  Drovers — An 
Abandoned  Track  —  Back  to  the  Early  Forties  —  A 
Curious  Mistake — Major  Gorman — Patrick  Leslie — D. 
C.  McConnel — The  First  Squatter  on  the  Brisbane — 
A  Burnett  Pioneer — "Blood  for  Blood." 


ORTH  QUEENSLAND  is  not  without 
its  legends  and  myths,   chiefly  criminah 
There  are  still  a  few  men  living  who  are 
, --^M      .-  ^^-^     the  heroes  of  some  stories  which  would 
h^^^l^^^^"':-''  compare  with  the  fabled  exploits  of  many 


1/ ■*!'■' fe;  a  Highland  cateran  or  border  mosstroop- 
er^ ^^  Si  er — Rob  Roy  or  William  of  Deloraine. 
I  have  a  few  particulars  of  one  of  them 
which  are  worth  giving.  One  of  his  most  daring  feats  was 
the  taking  of  over  1,000  cattle  from  a  station  on  the  Thomp- 
son, and  travelling  them  overland  to  Adelaide  by  way  of 
Cooper's  Creek  and  the  Barcoo.  Fortune  favoured  the  enter- 
prising cattle  lifter  more  than  he  deserved,  for  he  had  to  fear 
something  more  than  the  peril  of  the  law.  There  was  the 
more  terrible  danger  of  dying  of  thirst.  There  were  really  no 
means  of  learning  that  when  one  waterhole  was  left  in  the 
morning,  the  next  and  the  next  again  would  not  be  found  to 
be  dry.  One  wonders  wliat  could  have  been  this  man's 
thoughts  as  he  and  his  companions  went  on  day  after  day  with 
their  lives  in  their  hands.  Of  course,  if  the  worst  had  come  to 
the  worst,  and  the  drought-fiend  had  descended  on  them  in 


A    DARING    "DUFFER."  189" 

all  his  terrors,  they  would  have  left  the  cattle  to  their  fate,, 
and  tried  to  save  their  own  lives  by  hard  riding.  But  could 
they  have  saved  themselves  1  The  question  is  not  easy  to 
answer.  A  single  shower  might  make  all  the  difference  for 
them  between  prolonged  life  and  a  miserable  death.  At 
that  time  the  pioneer  squatter  had  not  pushed  out  very  far 
into  the  dry  interior.  The  cattle  were  i-egularly  auctioned 
in  Adelaide,  and,  probably,  the  enterprising  drover  would 
have  escaped  scot  free  if  he  had  been  content  to  take  only 
herd  cattle,  and  left  behind  a  very  remarkable  white  stud 
bull,  which  was  bought  and  sent  to  the  Darling  Downs, 
where  he  was  promptly  recognised.  The  result  was  the 
arrest  of  the  enterprising  drover  aforesaid,  who  had  spent 
his  share  of  the  proceeds  of  the  cattle  in  riotous  living  in 
Sydney.  He  was  tried  in  the  Roma  Circuit  Court,  and 
acquitted  on  the  clearest  evidence  (of  his  guilt).  Thereuponi 
Roma  was,  on  the  report  of  the  presiding  judge,  sentenced 
to  lose  its  Circuit  Court.  This  story  has  furnished  the 
groundwork  for  an  episode  in  a  well  known  Australian* 
romance  ;  but  the  novelist  has  made  the  drover  get  into  gaol, 
and  come  generally  to  grief,  which  did  not  happen,  and,  as  a 
rule,  seldom  does  in  real  life,  where  the  greatest  rascals 
commonly  "  flourish  like  a  green  bay  tree,"  so  long  as  their 
rascality  is  tempered  with  a  proper  amount  of  discretion. 
The  above  overlanding  exploit  was  not,  however,  the  first 
of  its  kind.  A  person,  now  dead,  was  instructed  by  an 
Adelaide  squatting  firm  to  take  delivery  of  2,000  Darling 
Downs  cattle,  and  drive  them  over  to  Adelaide.  Men  were 
engaged,  horses  and  supplies  bought,  and  a  start  was  made- 
All  would  proVjably  have  gone  well  if  Mr.  X,  as  we  will 
call  the  leader  of  the  party,  had  chosen  to  follow  the  then 
usual  route  down  the  Darling  and  Murray.  For  very 
excellent  reasons  of  his  own,  however,  he  preferred  to  keep- 
away  from   the  rivers  in  the  interior,  where  he  knew  there- 


190  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

had  been  good  rains,  the  cattle  would  have  feed  and  water, 
and  be  less  liable  to  interference  than  on  the  frontage.  It 
was,  at  the  time,  a  bold  thing  to  do,  and  the  men  who  had 
been  engaged  for  the  trip,  finding  that  the  cattle  were  not 
being  headed  for  the  Barwon  frontage,  got  panic-stricken, 
and  one  night  after  they  had  passed  the  last  outpost  of 
civilisation  on  the  Maranoa,  fairly  bolted  in  a  body.  Mr. 
X  was  in  a  predicament.  Out  in  the  wilderness  with  2,000 
cattle,  and  only  one  blackboy  to  help  him  with  them  ! 
There  were  certainly  plenty  of  supplies  on  the  dray,  and  a 
superabundance  of  horseflesh.  There  were  several  good 
dogs,  too,  and  their  help  was  not  to  be  despised  under  the 
circumstances.  X  determined  to  go  on.  He  knew  there 
were  no  serious  obstacles  in  his  way,  no  rivers  to  cross,  or 
station  cattle  "to  box"  with  his  ovvn.  The  blackboy,  who  had 
been  with  him  on  exploring  trips,  was  not  afraid,  and  the 
glory  of  succeeding  in  such  an  attempt  was  by  no  means  to 
be  despised.  So  on  they  went.  Of  course  the  travelling 
was  slow.  The  cattle  could  not  be  hurried.  They  iiad  to 
be  allowed  to  feed  leisurely  along  all  day,  spreading  a  mile 
or  two  wide  when  tlie  grass  or  herbage  was  abundant.  That 
ensured  their  camping  at  night.  When  the  feed  was  bad 
they  were  driven  fast,  and  compensated  with  a  good  rest 
when  there  was  feed  to  justify  it.  The  result  of  this  care- 
ful management  was  that  very  few  of  the  cattle  were  lost, 
and  they  had  actually  improved  in  condition  when  they 
arrived  near  Adelaide.  So  much  for  careful,  steady  droving. 
Live  stock  fetched  good  prices  in  the  early  seventies,  when 
the  country  south  of  the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria  began  to  be 
taken  up  in  earnest.  It  was  nearly  all  taken  up  in  the  first 
instance  as  "  unwatered,"  in  consequence  of  the  absurd  then- 
existing  law  which  required  all  "  watered "  country  to  be 
stocked  before  being  applied  for.  Of  course  this  law,  like 
many    others,   was  simply  productive  of  perjury.     A  wise 


A    RUN-HUNTING    EXPEDITION.  191 

legislature,  in  deference  to  popular  clamour,  decided  that 
the  "  cormorant  squatter  "  should  not  be  allowed  to  take  up 
new  country  and  keep  it  unstocked  for  sale  as  a  speculation 
unless  it  absolutely  would  not  carry  stock.  The  legislature 
did  not  apparently  know  that  a  man  looking  for  new  counti-y 
did  not  usually  take  his  flocks  and  herds  and  family  about 
with  him — that  he  often  had  neither  flocks  nor  herds  to 
speak  of  of  his  own  ;  but  went  out  with  two  or  three  horses 
into  the  wilderness  to  hunt  for  a  run  that  he  could  sell  to 
somebody  else  who  had  flocks  and  herds  to  stock  it.  The 
consequence  was  that,  as  the  run  was  not  a  saleable  pro- 
perty till  the  rent  was  paid  and  the  license  to  occupy  issued, 
the  discoverer  had  to  declare  that  it  was  unwatered  even  if 
a  river  ran  through  the  middle  of  it.  Nobody,  not  even  the 
ofiicials  of  the  Lands  Office,  regarded  these  little  filis 
seriously. 

A  gentleman  who,  in  company  with  a  friend  named  Wil- 
son, was  once  on  a  run-hunting  expedition  to  the  far  north- 
west, related  to  me  the  following  : — "  We  had  three  pack- 
horses,  but  the  travelling  had  been  bad,  and  feed  and 
water  scarce.  We  found  nothing  like  good  available  country  ; 
and  the  horses  were  visibly  giving  out.  At  last  we  made 
up  our  minds  to  leave  all  but  the  two  best  on  a  few  acres  of 
good  grass  which  surrounded  a  small  waterhole  fed  by  a 
spring.  Next  morning  we  started  as  lightly  loaded  as 
possible.  All  day  we  rode,  but  there  was  no  sign  of  water, 
though  the  country  improved  a  little.  That  night  we  gave 
the  horses  a  pannikin  of  water  each  from  our  bags,  and 
camped  on  the  desolate  lonely  downs.  The  next  day  was 
much  the  same,  and  as  the  sun  declined  in  the  west  I  said 
to  Wilson,  '  we  might  as  well  look  out  for  a  place  to  camp.' 
'  Ye.s,'  he  said  ;  'it's  no  u.se  knocking  up  the  horses.'  Just 
then  the  ground  gave  way  under  his  horse's  forefeet,  and 
out   rushed   a   little   brown   bandicoot.      Wilson   drew   the 


192  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

revolver  he  carried,  and  shot  it.  He  dismounted,  and  picked 
it  up.  It  was  vei'y  fat,  I  was  just  going  to  dismount  when 
the  horses  raised  their  heads,  pricked  their  ears,  sniffed  the 
air,  and  mine  began  to  walk  briskly  on.  Wilson  mounted 
and  followed,  carrying  his  bandicoot.  We  crossed  the  next 
low  ridge,  and  then  tlie  horses,  tired  and  weak  though  they 
were,  broke  into  a  shambling  trot,  and  began  to  pull.  Over 
the  next  ridge,  and  then  we  saw  before  us  a  long  line  of 
huge  gums,  with  the  glitter  of  water  between  their  ghostly 
white  trunks.  It  was  a  long  lagoon,  and  we  could  hear  tiie 
ducks  (they  must  have  been  in  millions)  feeding.  We 
camped,  lit  a  tire,  and  roasted  our  bandicoot.  Our  horses, 
having  satisfied  their  thirst,  revelled  in  the  rich  Mitchell 
grass  around." 

"When  we  had  rested  ourselves  and  our  horses,  and 
marked  out  the  boundaries  of  our  run,  we  set  out  on  our 
return.  We  found  a  way  through  better  country  ;  but  still 
there  were  one  or  two  stages  on  which,  with  stock,  it  would 
be  necessary  to  depend  on  clay  pans.  The  country  was  duly 
taken  up  as  "  unwatered,"  and  offered  for  sale  by  our  agents 
as  "  unstocked,  but  well  watered  by  numerous  permanent 
creeks  and  lagoons."  We  soon  found  a  purchaser,  a  j\Ir. — 
say  Stokes — from  Adelaide.  Mr.  Stokes  wanted  to  go  at 
once  to  his  new  run,  taking  w-ith  him  1,.500  mixed  cattle  he 
had  bought.  He  had  engaged  a  newly-arrived  immigrant, 
a  hard-headed,  resolute-looking  Yorkshire  farming  man,  and 
I  picked  up  a  blackboy  who  had  already  been  with  me  on 
two  droving  trips." 

"We  got  on  allright  till  we  were  well  out  of  the  settled 
country.  I  had  warned  Mr.  Stokes  of  the  two  or  three 
possibly  dry  stages  we  should  have  to  pass,  but  he  was 
inclined  to  make  little  of  them.  We  got  over  one  of  them 
well  enough,  and  came  to  a  good  permanent  spring.  There 
were  two  stages  beyond  that  where  the  only  water  was  in 


Hon.  Louis  Hope. 
Mr.  J.  Turner. 
Mr  R.  Little, 


Judge  Lutwyche. 

Mr.  Gordon  Sandeman. 

Sir  Joshua  P.  Bell. 


I 


A    RUN-HUNTING   EXPEDITION.  193 

clay  pans,  and  there  had  apparently  been  little  or  no  rain 
since  "Wilson  and  I  had  been  there  some  months  before.  I 
went  forward,  and  found  both  the  pans  dry.  It  would  be 
nearly  a  fifty-mile  stage  to  the  next  permanent  water — too 
much  for  the  cattle — and  I  went  back  and  reported.  I 
advised  that  the  cattle  should  be  camped  for  a  few  weeks, 
as  they  were  on  good  and  plentiful  feed.  Next  morning 
Mr.  Stokes,  taking  one  of  the  best  horses,  started  out  to 
look  for  water,  declaring  he  would  take  the  cattle  on  at  all 
hazards.  That  night  he  did  not  return.  The  next  morning 
I  rode  out  with  the  blackboy  to  follow  Mr.  Stokes'  track. 
It  led  us  to  a  patch  of  stony  desert,  the  whole  covered  with 
flat  waterworn  pebbles  of  red  sandstone.  Tracking  was 
impossible  there.     We  returned  to  camp." 

"  Mr.  Stokes  was  never  again  seen  alive  or  dead.  He  got 
out  into  the  stony  desert,  and  must  have  pushed  on  till  his 
horse  fell  exhausted,  and  perished  witli  his  rider.  In  such 
country  there  can  be  no  hope  of  escape  for  man  or  beast. 
I  and  the  blackboy  did  not  spare  ourselves  in  the  efibrt  to 
find  traces  of  the  lost  man.  We  went  out  day  after  day, 
but  failed  to  find,  in  the  stony  waste,  any  sign  of  a  track. 
At  last,  after  waiting  a  fortnight,  a  heavy  thunderstorm 
came,  and  the  next  day  we  pushed  on.  The  two  clay  pans 
were  full  of  a  thick  yellow  fluid,  which  sufficed  for  the  cattle, 
and  on  the  third  day  we  got  to  the  fifty-mile  spring.  Thence 
to  our  destination  the  stages  vvere  short  and  easy. 

"  We  proceeded  to  settle  the  cattle  on  the  run.  I  found 
the  Yorkshireman  a  treasure.  He  was  taciturn,  and,  per- 
haps, a  little  surly  in  manner,  but  readily  learned  the  work 
of  a  stockman,  and  became  a  good  and  bold  horseman.  He 
willingly  agreed  to  remain  in  charge  of  the  new  station 
when  I  returned  to  Brisbane,  as  I  must  needs  do,  as  soon 
as  I  had  put  things  in  order,  to  communicate  with  Mr. 
Stokes'  representatives.     It  was  clearly  a  case  of  natural 


194  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

inborn  fitness  for  life  in  a  new  country.  The  blackboy  was, 
for  all  the  purposes  of  station  work,  far  less  useful  than  the 
new  arrival.  Not  only  was  he  less  industrious  and  less 
inured  to  labour,  but  he  really  knew  less  of  the  ways  of 
cattle,  and,  in  everything  except  tracking,  the  new  chum, 
in  a  month,  was  his  master." 

In  '73,  when  some  of  the  cattle  stations  on  the  Belyando 
were  being  stocked  with  sheep,  a  mob  of  10,000  ewes  was 
started  from  the  Dawson  for  one  of  these  runs.  They  were 
to  travel  through  the  abandoned  Tierywoomba  and  Wandoo 
country,  across  Funnel  and  Denison  Creeks,  and  round  the 
head  of  the  Isaacs.  When  camped  near  Nebo,  the  party, 
consisting  of  "the  boss,"  five  shepherds,  and  a  Chinese  cook, 
heard  of  the  gold  discovery  on  the  Palmer.  The  shepherds 
at  once  told  the  overseer  they  would  go  no  further  unless 
their  wages  were  raised  to  30s.  a  week.  He  simply  told 
them  he  would  do  nothing  of  the  sort.  They  promptly  rolled 
up  their  blankets,  got  their  cheques,  and  went  off  to  the 
township.  (They  were  originally  engaged  for  £1  a  week, 
and  the  increase  of  10s.  was  a  serious  matter).  It  might 
have  been  worse,  however,  if,  for  instance,  they  had  chosen 
to  strike  when  further  on,  where  men  could  not  be  got  at 
any  price.  The  Chinese  cook  remained,  and  made  a  few 
strong  remarks  on  the  folly  of  men  who  were  actually 
travelling  in  the  direction  they  wanted  to  go,  and  being  paid 
for  it,  throwing  away  their  chance.  He  then  said  he  could 
get  five  of  his  countrymen  to  take  the  place  of  the  strikers, 
and,  being  told  to  get  them,  soon  brought  the  required  relief. 
They  were  evidently  men  accustomed  to  the  work,  which 
some  of  the  strikers  were  not,  and  all  had  good  dogs.  They 
agreed  to  go  through  for  25s.  a  week — not  an  unreasonable 
demand  under  the  circumstances. 

A  little  earlier  some  of  those  same  Belyando  cattle,  which 
were  to  be  replaced  by   sheep,   were  being  moved  to  new 


BREAKING    IN    A    "BROMBIE."  195 

country  on  the  Mitchell  River.  The  horses  sent  with  them 
were  collected  without  much  regard  to  anything  but  con- 
dition and  cheapness,  and  they  were,  in  some  cases,  notorious 
for  vice.  One  in  particular,  a  fine,  powerful  grey,  which 
had  come  from  no  one  knew  where,  soon  distinguished  him- 
self by  throwing  in  succession  all  the  best  riders  of  the 
party,  till  no  one  would  attempt  to  back  him.  When  the 
party  came  to  the  Burdekin  crossing,  they  determined  to 
try  an  experiment.  The  terrible  grey  was  run  into  an  old 
stockyard  near  the  river,  roped,  and  thrown.  A  strong 
pack-saddle  was  put  on  his  back,  and  two  strong  canvas 
pack-saddle  bags,  filled  with  sand,  were  securely  attached 
to  it.  A  greenhide  rope  was  then  passed  round  everything, 
and  the  grey  was  let  go.  He  got  up  and  made  one  or  two 
vigorous  attempts  to  buck,  but  they  were  useless.  It  had 
hitherto  been  as  impossible  to  keep  an  ordinary  pack  as  a 
rider  on  the  brute's  back ;  but  this  pack,  which  could  not 
have  been  less  than  four  hundredweight,  Avas  too  much.  A 
smart  application  of  the  stockwhip  sent  the  grey  forward 
among  the  other  horses.  There  was  a  mile  of  deep  sand 
before  the  water  was  reached,  then  two  miles  more  sand  to 
the  firm  ground  on  the  other  bank.  That  night  the  grey 
came  quietly  to  be  relieved  of  his  pack.  Anyone  could  ride 
him  or  do  anything  with  him  after  that ;  but  his  spirit  was 
utterly  broken.  He  turned  out  an  unmitigated  slug.  It 
was  impossible  to  get  a  gallop  out  of  him,  and  he  was  good 
for  very  little  except  carrying  a  pack.  That  is  always  the 
result  of  breaking  a  really  bad  buckjumper,  or  any  other 
vicious  horse.  The  vice  may  be  apparently  cured  for  the  time 
being  by  firmness,  or  kindness,  and  judicious  management,  but 
if  thehorse  changes  hands,  and  comes  underthecontrolof  some- 
one who  is  not  firm  and  judicious,  it  will  break  out  again. 

In  the  old  times,  when  Hodgkinson  reigned  at  Burketown, 
the  Gulf  country  was  a  terror  to  drovers.      The  Norman 


196  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

especially,  flowing  through  what  had  been  most  unjustly- 
named  the  Plains  of  Promise,  acquired  a  most  unenviable 
notoriety  for  its  sudden  and  capricious  floods  which,  in  an 
hour  or  two,  would  convert  the  wide  level  plains  on  either 
bank  into  an  impassable  sea  of  mud  and  water.  The  eastern, 
or  right  bank,  was  timbered,  but  the  tall  straight  stems  of 
the  vast  gum  trees  were  inaccessible  to  anybody  but  a  black- 
fellow  with  a  tomahawk,  and  the  best  mounted  horseman 
would  try  in  vain  to  keep  ahead  of  the  advancing  flood, 
while  sheep  or  cattle  would  be  at  once  swallowed  up.  The 
western,  or  left  bank,  was  entirely  destitute  of  trees,  and 
the  daring  bushman  who  ventured  into  those  solitudes  had 
to  boil  his  tea  with  a  wisp  of  grass,  while  there  was  not  a 
tree  for  miles  to  afford  him  a  refuge  in  flood  time.  After 
the  crisis  of  1866,  pastoral  settlement  on  the  Gulf  receded 
instead  of  advanced.  Money  was  of  course  scarce,  the 
coasting  steamers  in  those  days  did  not  go  beyond  Bowen, 
and  very  rarely  got  so  far,  while  the  rates  for  carriage  either 
from  Rockhampton  or  that  port  were  prohibitive.  Flour 
could  not  be  bought  on  the  Gulf — when  it  could  be  bought 
at  all — for  less  than  Is.  per  lb.  Under  such  conditions  the 
harassed  squatter  could  not  hope  to  make  ends  meet,  and 
he  succumbed,  or,  in  other  words,  sold  his  stock  for  what  it 
would  fetch,  and  returned  to  civilisation,  or  as  near  it  as  he 
could  earn  a  living  for  himself.  True,  a  few  hardy  old 
bushmen  held  on  with  grim  determination,  living  on  beef 
and  pigweed,  and  hoping  for  better  times. 

When  things  were  at  the  worst,  a  southern  capitalist,  who 
had  managed  for  a  trifle,  to  buy  a  half-stocked  cattle  run 
on  the  Flinders,  thought  it  worth  his  while  to  send  up  a 
small  mob  of  well-bred  shorthorns  to  improve  the  stock 
which,  even  on  the  seller's  showing,  was,  to  say  the  least, 
indifferent,  consisting  chiefly  of  the  very  roughest  culls  from 
the  old  down-country  herds.     The  mob  were  mustered  at 


A    TERROR    TO    DROVERS.  197 

Tooloomba,  near  Broadsound,  and  placed  in  charge  of  an 
overseer  with  two  half-castes,  one  as  bullock-driver,  the  other 
as  stockman.  There  were  250  breeders,  including  fifty  good 
herd  bulls,  and  there  were  added  twenty  working  bullocks, 
a  good  dray  heavily  laden  with  stores,  twenty  horses,  and  a 
spring  cart.  The  deep  and  boulder-strewn  crossing  of  Salt- 
water Creek  came  near  wrecking  the  dray,  and  lamed  many 
of  the  cattle  ;  but  gentle  driving  and  good  management  put 
them  nearly  right  when  the  climb  over  the  Connor's  Range 
had  to  be  faced.  There  was  no  time  to  lose,  as  the  range 
must  be  crossed  in  a  day,  and  Collaroy  run  in  another. 
The  cattle  were  in  a  woful  plight  by  the  time  they  got  on 
to  the  unoccupied  country  beyond ;  but  there  was  then  no 
need  to  hurry.  The  grass  was  good  and  sweet,  and  there 
was  plenty  of  water,  and  a  week's  spell  put  things  right. 
The  mob  slowly  fed  their  way  northward,  passed  in  view  of 
the  remarkable  table-topped,  perpendicular-sided  hill  of  Fort 
Cooper,  named  after  Sir  (then  Mr.)  Daniel  Cooper,  of  Sydney. 
Then  on,  without  any  adventure  worth  recording,  to  Rich- 
mond Downs. 

It  was  the  old  track  from  Bowen  to  the  Thomson,  chosen 
in  preference  to  that  from  Rockhampton  by  the  Peak  Downs 
on  account  of  the  shortness  of  the  land  carriage.  Two  stages 
from  Richmond  Downs  began  the  dreaded  dry  stage — forty 
miles  of  stony  desert,  without  grass  or  water.  At  the 
eastern  end  of  this  desert  track  was  a  fine,  well  grassed 
plain,  watered  by  springs  which  gushed  from  a  great  isolated 
mass  of  rock.  Beyond  was  the  stony  desert,  as  sharply 
divided  from  the  grassy  plain  as  is  a  well  kept  gravel  path 
from  the  lawn  beside  it  in  an  English  pleasure  ground. 
Here  the  cattle  were  allowed  a  three  days'  spell,  for  there 
could  be  no  rest  in  the  desert.  Then,  just  before  sunset  on 
the  third  day,  the  bullocks  were  yoked,  the  unwilling  cattle 
rounded  up,  and  headed  for  the  pebble-strewn  desert.     On 


198  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

they  went,  and  the  rising  sun  found  them  still  moving.  The 
horses  were  changed,  each  being  refreshed  with  a  pannikin 
of  water  squirted  into  his  nostrils  from  the  mouth  of  his 
rider.  The  team  was  changed  too.  Then  on  through  the 
scorching  heat  of  the  day.  The  cattle  begun  to  hang  their 
heads,  and  their  tongues  lolled  out,  but  forward  they  must 
go.  Again  the  men  changed  horses.  The  cool  night  air 
seemed  to  refresh  the  animals,  but  only  cruel  flogging  made 
some  of  them  keep  up — that  and  the  dogs,  which  had  been 
allowed  to  drink.  But  before  dawn  a  change  came.  Horses 
and  cattle  raised  their  heads,  and  the  pace  mended.  The 
loose  horses  started  at  a  gallop,  the  cattle  followed,  and  even 
tlie  bullocks  got  up  a  lumbering  trot.     What  was  it  1 

It  was  the  scent  of  water,  still  some  miles  away,  but 
plainly  perceptible  to  the  senses  of  the  thirsty  tired  beasts. 
No  flogging  or  cruel  biting  at  their  heels  was  now  needed 
to  keep  the  stragglers  up  with  the  mob.  Even  the  footsore 
and  lame  forgot  their  pain,  and  made  the  pace  hotter  and 
hotter  as  the  welcome  scent  became  more  distinct.  Then 
the  surface  of  the  desert  began  to  gently  rise,  and  soon  the 
flat  pebbles  disappeared,  and  the  hoofs  of  the  animals  no 
longer  clattered  over  them,  but  trod  with  a  dull  dead  sound 
the  grassy  soil.  In  front  were  dimly  seen  a  long  line  of 
gum  trees,  and  the  rising  sun  showed  the  cattle  and  horses 
rushing  pell  mell  to  quench  their  burning  thirst  in  a  gently 
flowing  creek.  It  was  no  easy  task  to  restrain  the  team 
from  rushing  after  their  companions  with  the  yokes  and 
chains  still  on  them.  However,  by  the  strenuous  exertions 
of  all  three  men,  they  were  at  last  released,  and  took  their 
share  of  the  refreshing  element.  Then,  thirst  allayed, 
hunger  was  to  be  satisfied  ;  and  the  whole  of  the  animals 
began  greedily  to  crop  the  rich  succulent  herbage.  The  men 
made  their  camp,  and,  after  a  refreshing  meal  of  dried  beef, 
damper,  and  tea,  prepared  to  enjoy  the  rest  they  so  much 


AN    ABANDONED    ROUTE.  199 

needed.  Two  nights  and  a  day  without  sleep,  and  with 
constant  demands  on  their  care  and  vigilance,  had  tried 
their  powers  of  endurance  to  the  utmost.  Sleep  was  a 
necessity,  and  it  may  well  be  believed  that  the  sun  was 
declining  in  the  west  before  any  of  the  three  showed  signs 
of  returning  animation. 

The  overseer,  sensible  of  the  responsibility  of  his  position, 
was  the  first  to  rise  and  look  round  him.  The  cattle,  their 
hunger  allayed,  had  evidently  gone  into  camp  in  the  heat  of 
the  day,  and  were  just  stringing  out  in  long  files  to  begin 
feeding  again  for  the  evening.  The  horses  were  nibbling 
daintily  at  the  short  grass  round  the  camp.  The  overseer 
caught  and  saddled  one  of  them,  and  rode  round.  He 
satisfied  himself  that  all  was  right,  rode  back  to  camp,  made 
up  the  fire,  and  got  a  bucket  of  water.  Then  the  camp 
woke  in  earnest.  The  tent  was  pitched,  and  cooking  went 
on  merrily,  for  there  was  to  be  another  three  days'  halt,  to 
rest  and  refresh  the  cattle  after  their  passage  of  that  terrible 
dry  stage.  The  route  has  long  been  abandoned.  Then 
teams  were  paid  for  at  the  rate  of  £J1  per  ton  for  each  hun- 
dred miles.  A  saving  of  one  hundred  miles  in  carriage  was 
a  consideration  not  to  be  despised.  The  case  was  entirely 
altered  when  enterprising  carriers  with  good  horse-teams 
would  do  the  round  trip  from  Rockhampton  and  back  in  a 
fortnight  for  less  than  a  third  of  the  money  each  way. 
Then  the  railway  was  extended  by  degrees  to  the  Dawson, 
the  Comet,  and  finally  to  Emerald,  and  beyond  into  what 
used,  in  the  memory  of  men  still  young,  to  be  called  the 
Never  Never.  The  teams  became  things  of  the  past,  and 
Bowen,  which  once  believed  itself  destined  to  a  great  future 
as  a  seaport,  became  a  very  small  factor  in  the  progress  of 
the  colony. 

There  is  little  more  to  record  of  the  journey.  There  were 
no  serious  difficulties  to  surmount  after  the  dry  stage  was 


200  AUSTRALIAN   PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

passed.  The  overseer  was  an  intelligent  and  careful  man, 
and  his  charge  being,  for  those  days,  a  valuable  one,  he 
handled  it  tenderly.  A  few  days  more  or  less  were  of  little 
consequence  in  comparison  with  the  imperative  necessity  of 
bringing  the  cattle  on  to  the  station  in  good  condition  and 
with  undiminished  numbers.  The  country  he  had  to  pass 
over  was  then  unfenced.  The  few  stations  were  worked  in 
the  old  -  fashioned  way,  and  were  very  lightly  stocked. 
Therefore  there  was  little  trouble  with  the  occupiers,  and  it 
was  possible  to  make  short  stages,  and  let  the  cattle  spread 
and  feed  freely  as  they  went  along. 

When  their  destination  was  at  last  reached,  the  overseer 
found  that  the  deplorable  account  he  had  received  of  the 
property  he  was  to  work  had  been  by  no  means  exaggerated, 
but  very  much  the  reverse.  Those  who  remember  what 
many  of  the  Riverina  cattle  stations  were  like  in  the  forties, 
will  have  no  difficulty  in  forming  a  faint  conception  of  what 
he  saw.  The  home  station  consisted  of  two  small  and 
ill-built  bark  huts,  and  a  stockyard  of  logs.  A  cockatoo 
fence  enclosed  a  small  horse  paddock,  and  the  river  ran 
swiftly  by,  bordered  by  high,  steep  banks.  Such  of  the 
cattle  as  could  be  seen  were  of  the  worst  kind  possible 
for  profit,  and  miserably  bred.  When  the  stores  had 
been  put  under  cover  an  attempt  was  made  to  muster  ; 
but  it  was  soon  apparent  that  the  cattle  were  too  wild  to 
be  properly  worked.  Many  of  them,  indeed,  were  excess- 
ively fat,  but  if  disturbed  they  would  charge  with  such 
fury  and  determination  that  it  was  clear  they  had  run  wild. 

The  run  was  fortunately  not  very  heavily  timbered,  and 
there  was  no  scrub.  It  was  therefore  not  difficult  to  accus- 
tom the  cattle  to  the  presence  of  horsemen.  The  men 
always  carried  rifles,  and  when  an  old  bull  with  horns  like 
scythes  refused,  as  often  happened,  to  respond  to  the  per- 
suasive eloquence  of  the  stockwhip  and  go  into  camp  with 


A    CURIOUS    MISTAKE.  201 

his  harem,  he  usually  found  his  career  cut  short  by  a  bullet. 
The  old  bulls  were  shot,  and  the  young  ones  so  dealt  with 
as  to  be  harmless.  Then  those  which  had  been  brought 
from  the  south,  were  gradually  distributed  to  the  different 
mobs,  and  a  small  stud  herd  was  formed  in  a  paddock  which, 
with  much  labour,  the  three  men  managed  to  fence  for  it. 
In  this  way  was  established  one  of  the  best  of  the  North 
<^ueensland  herds,  not  exclusively  of  pure  shorthorn  cattle, 
but  of  inferior  stock  gradually  improved  by  a  judicious 
infusion  of  shorthorn  blood.  It  is  a  typical  example  of 
what  can  be  done  by  a  well  arranged  admixture  of  breeds 
when  carried  out  under  competent  guidance,  with  a  very 
small  expenditure  of  money.  The  Australian  merino  owes 
its  existence  to  much  tlie  same  combination  of  skill,  good 
fortune,  and  judgment.  Nothing  could  be  more  unpromis- 
ing than  the  progenitors  of  some  of  the  best  Australian 
flocks. 

But  to  go  back  to  the  early  forties.  In  1840  Major 
Gorman  was  commandant  of  the  military  at  the  penal  estab- 
lishment at  Brisbane,  where  Captain  Clunie  of  the  17th 
Regiment  had  been  in  charge  with  102  rank  and  file  eight 
years  before.  And  it  was  reported  to  the  Major  by  the  blacks 
that  "plenty  white  fellow  sit  down."  And  so  up  went  the 
troops  over  the  mountains  explored  years  before  by  Major 
Mitchell  and  Allan  Cunningham,  and  on  Goomburra  Creek 
they  captured  Walter  Leslie  and  two  of  his  men,  and  the 
mistake  was  not  rectified  till  at  Canning  Downs  head  station 
some  credentials  were  forthcoming  which  set  the  blunder 
right,  and  over  some  real  "fighting  rum"  the  Major's  health 
was  pledged  again  and  again.  This  serves  to  remind  me  of 
what  happened  in  Moreton  Bay  some  twenty  years  later. 
Constable  Boe,  stationed  at  Sandgate,  had  been  instructed  to 
keep  a  sharp  look  out  for  some  runaway  sailors  who  had  stolen 
a  ship's  boat  out  in  the  Bay  and  deserted,  and  could  not  be 


202  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

traced.  Constable  Boe  therefore  kept  a  bright  watch,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  his  zeal  was  to  be  rewarded.  It  happened  unfor- 
tunately, however,  that  Boe  was  at  times  given  to  the  habit 
of  "looking  upon  the  wine  when  it  was  red,"  and  on  those 
occasions  his  views  on  all  subjects  were  apt  to  be  too  positive 
and  decided,  and  not  so  answerable  to  argument  as  should 
be.  It  often  happens  so  when  people  are  "bemused  with 
beer,"  being  confused,  they  also  become  irritable  and 
obstinate,  for,  as  one  of  our  poets  has  happily  expressed  it, 

"  'Tis  enough  to  put  a  climax  on  the  patience  of  a  saint 
When  no  clearer  seems  the  things  that  are,  than  are  the  things 
that  aint." 

A  man  does  get  angry  when  he  can't  manage  to  distinguish 
substance  from  shadow.  Constable  Boe  saw  a  boat  approach- 
ing the  shore,  and  in  it  was  Captain  Claudius  Buchanan 
Whish,  a  well-set,  handsome,  aquiline  man,  who  looked  not 
one  bit  like  a  runaway  sailor,  but  what  he  really  was, 
namely,  an  ex-officer  of  Hussars.  Still  all  this  availed 
nothing  when  John  Boe,  of  the  "  foorce,"  had  made  up  his 
mind  on  a  certain  course  impelled  by  inner  potations,  so 
he  arrested  Captain  Whish  and  took  him  (disciplined,  and 
of  course,  unresisting),  to  Brisbane,  where,  in  place  of  pro- 
motion, the  only  result  was  that  Boe  was  told  that  the  police 
authorities  would  not  need  his  valuable  but  too  zealous 
services  any  longer. 

What  brought  Mr.  Patrick  Leslie  out  to  Australia  at  all 
was  the  fact  that  his  uncle,  Mr.  Davidson,  an  English  banker — 
and  the  father  of  Gilbertand  Walter  Davidson,  subsequently  of 
Canning  Downs — sent  him  out  to  manage  an  estate  atCassilis, 
in  the  Upper  Hunter  district,  in  New  South  Wales.  Thence 
he  cast  longing  eyes  northward  towards  the  terra  incognita 
that  lay  beyond  the  Dumaresq.  David  Cannon  McConnel 
was  the  first  pastoral  settler   on   the   head   waters   of   the 


THE    FIRST    SQUATTER    ON   THE    BRISBANE.  20.3 

Brisbane.  That  was  in  1841.  Born  in  Manchester,  o£ 
Scotch  extraction,  in  1818,  he  was  educated  for  a  chemist 
and  calico  printer ;  but,  attracted  by  the  glowing  reports  of 
Australian  prosperity  before  the  collapse  of  1843,  he  sailed 
for  Sydney,  and  arrived  there  in  June,  1840.  He  explored 
south  to  the  Moruya  River,  and  north  to  New  England, 
and  decided  to  commence  squatting  life  to  the  north. 
He  had  heard  of  the  Leslie's  progress  to  Darling  Downs, 
and  of  the  facilities  which  the  Brisbane  River  presented 
for  shipping  produce.  So  he  determined  to  strike  out  in 
that  direction,  and  to  locate  himself  and  his  stock  in 
swue  equable  climate  near  the  sea  coast,  where  the  rain- 
fall could  be  depended  on.  He  had  brought  plenty  of 
money  into  Australia  with  him,  so,  purchasing  sheep  and 
cattle  on  the  Williams  and  Gloucester  Rivers,  in  New  South 
Wales,  he  pushed  on  to  the  Severn,  at  which  point  he 
diverged  from  the  track  taken  by  the  Leslies,  Denis,  and 
other  pioneers,  and  passed  to  near  the  present  sites  of  Ten- 
tertield  and  Stanthorpe,  and  followed  up  the  creek  on  which 
Stanthorpe  is  now  built,  hoping  to  find  a  suitable  run  on 
the  heads  of  the  Clarence  River  or  the  Logan.  But  the 
country  was  very  broken,  and  not  tempting ;  so  the  table- 
land was  followed  till  the  Upper  Condamine  was  reached. 
Thence  he  travelled  northward  and  eastward  over  the  Great 
Dividing  Range,  and,  settling  on  Cressbrook  Creek,  a  ti'ibu- 
tary  of  the  Upper  Brisbane  River,  he  became  the  first 
man  to  settle  with  stock  on  a  run  to  the  east  of  the 
Main  Range  in  Queensland.  He  marked  his  trees  on 
Cressbrook  on  15th  July,  1841,  as  the  country  appeared 
to  offer  all  the  advantages  he  had  sought  for,  and  he 
never  had  occasion  to  subsequently  alter  his  opinion  on 
the  merits  of  the  run.  He  now  went  south  again  and 
brought  up  some  splendid  pedigree  shorthorn  bulls  from  the 
Australian  Agricultural  Company's  place  at  Port  Stephens,. 


■204  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

to  which  stock  he  added  some  more  of  the  same  class  shipped 
from  England  to  Brisbane,  and  the  herd  enriched  from 
time  to  time  with  new  blood,  is  still  in  full  excellence 
at  Cressbrook.  Weathering  the  monetary  crisis  of  1843, 
Mr.  McConnel,  in  1847,  returned  to  England  and  married 
Miss  McLeod,  of  Edinburgh,  since  well  known  in  connection 
with  hospitals  and  charitable  institutions  in  Brisbane.  This 
was  in  1848,  and  for  a  year  Mr.  McConnell  studied  farming 
in  one  of  the  leading  farming  counties  in  England,  and 
sailed  for  Brisbane  in  1849  in  the  "  Chaseley,"  a  ship  that 
brought  so  many  well  known  colonists,  such  as  Dr.  Hobbs, 
to  Queensland.  He  then  bought  the  point  of  land  in 
Brisbane  on  the  river  now  known  as  Bulimba,  built  a  fine 
two-story  brick  house  there,  and  farmed  the  point  with 
lucerne,  Italian  rye  grass,  sweet  potatoes,  maize,  and  cotton, 
and  made  them  all  pay.  Mr.  D.  McConnel  helped  from 
1849  to  1853  to  form  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Brisbane, 
first  erected  on  the  south  side  July  15,  1850.  The  clearing 
of  the  Bulimba  scrub  injuring  his  wife's  health,  he  sold  the 
property,  which  was  afterwards  occupied  by  Sir  R.  R.  Mac- 
kenzie and  Donald  Coutts.  He  was  always  of  opinion  that 
a  shorter,  cheaper,  and  better  railway  line  from  Ipswich  to 
Toowoomba  could  have  been  made  by  crossing  the  Little 
Liverpool  Range  some  miles  to  the  east  of  the  present  site 
and  where  the  range  is  lower  and  narrower ;  thence  over 
Lockyer's  Creek,  near  Tarampa,  and  up  easily  graded  spurs 
to  near  Crow's  Nest,  and  so  over  the  Main  Range  direct 
to  Cowrie,  which  would  have  commanded  Toowoomba  just 
as  well,  and  avoided,  in  his  opinion,  the  sharp  turn  now 
in  use. 

I  have  been  thus  lengthy  in  writing  of  David  McConnel, 
because  he  combined  the  triple  character  of  a  pioneer  squat- 
ter, farmer,  and  philanthropist.  He  united  the  agriculturist 
and  pastoralist,  and  showed  how  they  could   be  combined. 


A    BURNETT    PIONEER.  205 

He  was  one  of  the  earliest  advocates  of  inoculation  for 
pleuro-pneumonia,  and  was  very  kind  to  young  and  inex- 
perienced colonists,  many  of  whom  he  assisted  with  advice 
and  maintenance,  and  who  now  remember  him  gratefully, 
and,  as  one  of  them  remarked  (now  in  a  high  position  in 
Central  Queensland),  "  the  example  of  David  McConnel's 
life  as  a  christian  gentleman  always  fully  before  the  public 
amongst  whom  he  moved,  proved  clearly  how  a  man  may 
"fear  God,  and  keep  His  commandments,"  and  yet  be  an 
active  practical  Morker  in  new  fields  of  enterprise.  He 
became  the  first  director  of  the  first  bank  that  started 
business  in  Queensland  —  a  branch  of  the  Bank  of  New 
South  Wales,  in  Brisbane  ;  Captain  R.  J.  Coley  (Lloyd's 
agent),  being  his  colleague.  Mr.  William  Richardson,  a 
brother-in-law  of  Dr.  Hobbs,  was  the  first  manager ;  and 
Mr.  A.  L  Knowles,  of  Kangaroo  Point,  the  first  account- 
ant. A  bank  note,  No.  1,  dated  May  1st,  1852,  may  be 
seen  (framed  and  glazed),  in  the  inspector's  room  in  the 
Brisbane  oflice,  being  the  first  bank  note  ever  issued  in 
Queensland. 

A  pioneer  of  the  Burnett  district  was  Mr. William  Harvey 
Holt,  one  of  the  many  men  from  the  great  public  schools  of 
England  who  have  made  their  mark  in  early  Australia. 
Born  at  Eton  in  1833,  and  educated  at  its  college,  he  found 
himself,  in  1851,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  getting  his  "  colonial 
experience "  at  Yendah,  near  Gayndah,  with  Mr.  Robert 
Wilkin,  with  whom,  in  1859,  he  entered  into  partnership, 
and  formed  Kolonga  station  for  cattle,  about  thirty  miles- 
up  from  the  mouth  of  the  Kolan  River,  near  the  Talkiberau 
Creek,  a  famous  and  mysterious  rocky  wild  spot  where  gold 
and  copper  lie  plentifully  concealed  in  reefs  and  ledges  that 
are  not  workable  by  the  ordinary  unskilled  miner.  He 
removed,  in  1872,  to  "Glen  Prairie,"  in  Broad  Sound, 
whicli  he  worked  most  successfully  with  cattle,  and  whence 


206  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

in  a  fine  and  specially  fitted  steamer,  called  the  "Yeoman," 
sailing  alternately  from  Gladstone  or  Port  Clinton,  he 
shipped  cattle  abundantly  to  New  Zealand  and  other  places. 
Another  pioneer  of  what  was  then  the  "  north  countree " 
Avas  Mr.  William  Young,  who,  on  the  29th  May,  1855,  took 
up  country  with  sheep  near  Mount  Larcombe,  in  the  Port 
Curtis  district,  just  before  the  Archers,  in  August,  1856, 
began  on  the  Fitzroy  River,  at  Gracemere,  Mr.  Young's 
nearest  neighbors  being  the  Archers  on  that  side,  and  Mr. 
Blackman,  some  seventy  miles  away,  in  the  other  direction ; 
and  as  Mr.  Young  and  his  people  gave  no  provocation  to 
the  blacks,  he  forms  a  good  example  of  how  the  early 
pioneers  had  to  suffer  the  "  manner  and  customs "  of  the 
aborigines. 

One  day  a  man  in  Mr.  Young's  employ  was  accidentally 
drowned  while  bathing  in  a  waterhole  on  the  run,  and  the 
master  had  to  go  on  to  the  nearest  township  (a  far  ride, 
indeed),  to  report  the  matter.  Taking  advantage  of  the 
absence  of  the  boss,  the  blacks  fell  upon  the  run,  killed  five 
shepherds,  raided  the  sheep,  rifled  the  store  and  house,  and 
when  Mr.  Young  returned  he  had  only  a  couple  of  wool- 
packs  for  bed  and  blanket  that  night,  but  that,  of  course, 
was  the  least  part  of  his  trouble.  The  nearest  police  and 
magistrates  were  at  Captain  O'Connell's  place,  at  Gladstone, 
and  the  course  of  orthodox  law  all  over  New  South  Wales 
was,  in  such  a  case,  for  the  sufferer  to  ride  to  the  settlement 
and  procure  a  warrant  for  the  offenders,  and  take  a  con- 
stable with  him  to  execute  the  same,  having,  of  course,  to 
be  careful  to  identify  the  real  offenders  (whom  he  had  never 
seen,  and  whom  the  dead  victims  could,  of  course,  never 
testify  against).  This  farcical  style  of  business  was  fully 
explained  to  nie  in  1853,  when  I  was  overlanding,  and  by 
old  Donald  Macrae,  a  settler  on  the  Lower  Lachlan  River, 
near  Balranald,  in  which  he  referred  to  the  absurdity  and 


'  BLOOD    FOR    BLOOD."  207 

"  disconvenience  "  of  riding  250  miles  to  Bathurst  or  else- 
where for  a  warrant  and  a  constable  for  a  black  who  had 
stolen  sheep  or  killed  a  shepherd,  and  Macrae  hinted  that 
the  business  was  often  settled  in  a  much  more  summary 
style.  The  statute,  supine  as  to  black  men's  sins,  was, 
however,  keenly  alive  when  a  white  man  (even  by  deputy) 
crossed  the  border  line  between  law  and  its  breach.  One 
early  settler  "  up  north  "  had  his  run  raided  and  eight  of 
his  men  killed  without  provocation,  and  his  sheep  in  their 
charge  were  driven  off  for  slaughter  and  feasting. 

He  was,  of  course,  very  angry,  and,  with  two  friendly 
half  civilized  natives  from  another  part  of  the  colony  whom 
he  employed  as  stockmen  (the  whole  three  having  loaded 
carbines,  and  the  "  boss  "  a  revolver  as  well),  set  out  to 
track  the  ringleader  of  the  massacre,  one  "Billy,"  who  had 
"cleared  out  "  and  was  just  then  comfortably  camped  with 
some  "  tame  "  blacks  at  a  police  depot  fifty  miles  away  till 
the  matter  should  "  blow  over,"  the  depot  being  due  to  the 
residence  of  the  Crown  Lands  Commissioner  for  the  district. 
And  here  was  "  Billy "  sure  enough ;  and  when  he  was 
asked  for,  the  gins  replied  "here  Billy,"  and  he,  seeing  the 
game  to  be  "up,"  at  once  made  for  the  water  nearest  at 
hand,  which  happened  to  be  an  arm  of  the  sea.  But  as 
soon  as  he  plunged  and  was  about  to  dive,  the  two  black 
stockmen  who  had  followed  him  up  emptied  their  carbines 
into  him,  and  killed  him  on  the  spot. 

Their  idea  was  "  blood  for  blood,"  after  seeing  the  corpses 
of  the  shepherds,  whom  they  knew  so  well.  But  the  "  out- 
rage "  of  a  white  squatter  thus  allowing  "  lynch  law  "  by 
his  servants  under  the  very  nose  and  almost  under  the  very 
verandah  of  a  Crown  Lands  Commissioner,  was  a  matter 
not  to  be  overlooked,  and  a  warrant  was  issued  for  the  said 
pastoralist,  and  he  duly  appeared  before  a  bench  consisting 
of  the  Police  Magistrate  and  two  squatters  named  T.    L. 


208  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

M.  Prior  and  R.  R.  Mackenzie,  the  latter  of  whom,  at 
all  events,  had  known  what  it  was  in  New  England  to  be 
robbed  of  shepherds  and  sheep  by  the  blacks  in  the  by-gone 
days.  The  Police  Magistrate,  who  had  once  been  a  school- 
master, and  never  owned  any  sheep,  was  all  for  refusing 
bail,  but  he  was  overruled  by  the  majority,  and  it  was 
granted  with  a  remand  to  the  place  where  the  shooting 
occurred.  The  news  of  the  trouble  soon  spread,  and  our 
grazier  found  himself  "  shadowed  "  at  every  little  bush  place 
on  his  way  up  to  the  locus  in  quo  wherever  there  was  an 
inn,  a  lockup,  a  blacksmith's  shop,  and  a  few  people ;  but 

the  magic  words  "  out  on  bail  till  the  30th  at "  made 

the  police  fall  back  at  once  on  each  occasion,  and  when 
finally  before  the  bench  at  the  place  of  remand  he  was 
"  discharged  for  lack  of  evidence."  And  so  ended  the 
matter  of  that  tragedy. 


Mr.  Robert  CiuiiB.  Mr.  T.  L.  Murray-Prior. 

Col.  Gray. 
Mk.  James  Wakner,  Mr.  John  Peirie. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Early  Queenslanders — The  Surviving  Few— Once  More  the 
Roll  Call — Some  of  the  Old  Hands — John  Petrie  — 
Ctkorge  Thorne — Robert  Little — Frederic  Bigge— T,  L. 
Murray-Prior — Sir  Joshua  P.  Bell — Edwin  Norris — 
James  Warner — Robert  Douglas — Simeon  Lord— Captain 
Taylor  Winship— James  S.  Mitchell. 


LD  residents  of  soutli  Queensland,  those 
with  good  memories  for  the  past,  live  in  a 
world  of  their  own,  with  sympathies  and 
associations  peculiar  and  unique,  into  which 
modern  Queensland  cannot  enter  any  moi'e 
than  New  South  Wales  or  Victoria  could. 
Ours  was  a  strange  early  history.  We 
were  a  happy  limited  community  set  down 
in  a  strange,  new,  and  wonderful  part  of  the  world,  and  our 
sorrows  took  their  colour  from  the  dear  old  but  then  new 
locality,  so  unlike  any  other  place  that  any  one  of  us  had 
come  from,  but  in  which  we  found  we  had  to  live  and  work 
out  our  destinies,  and  where  we  soon  grew  only  too  content 
to  dwell.  Some  soon  passed  from  us — passed  away  in  the 
early  days ;  scriptural  names  like  Moses  Adsett  and  others, 
suggestive  of  quiet  Sabbath  afternoons  at  chapel  or  school  in 
the  wattle-scented  bush  ;  others,  again,  like  "honest  delving" 
Thorpe  Riding  (our  early  agriculturist),  who  passed  away 
near  their  three  score  years  and  ten,  and  all  of  whom  will 
leave  their  pioneer  names  behind  them  in  the  persons  of  their 
o 


210  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

descendants,  even  as  did  the  Rouses  in  the  sister  colony 
after  they  landed  in  the  good  ship  "Nile,"  in  1801.  Fore- 
most in  all  the  list  stands  John  Petrie,  identified  alike  with 
the  old  past  and  the  developed  present  of  our  new  country, 
and  conspicuous  by  his  good  work  all  through. 

John  Petrie. 

When  I  first  knew  him  he  was  "  young  Petrie,"  for  old 
Andrew,  his  father,  the  foreman  of  works  under  Colonel 
Barney,  was  the  family  head  —  sightless,  but  clever,  old 
Andrew.  Other  sons  there  were,  not  to  name  the  ancestral 
cockatoo,  rival  of  "  Grip  the  raven,"  and  who  lived  for  45 
years  with  the  Petries  and  was  only  excelled  by  the  70-year- 
old  "  sulphur  crest  "  who  domiciled  with  the  Sydney  Went- 
worths,  patriarchs  there  like  the  Petries  were  here,  a  bird 
who  lived  till  his  bald  chest  made  him  fain  in  the  wintry 
July  to  singe  his  featherless  bosom  by  the  hearth  fire  logs. 
Many  are  the  memories  of  those  who,  long  ago,  came  to  us 
consumptive — some  in  time,  and  some  too  late ;  Anglican 
clergymen  who  came,  married,  and  died,  all  within  three  or 
four  years  of  their  arrival.  Others,  like  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Mowbray,  who  came  intending  to  die,  but  altered  his  mind 
and  lived  for  thirty  years  in  the  kindly,  healthy  air  of  Bris- 
bane, as  it  was  in  the  forties  and  fifties,  before  local  sanitary 
science  (?)  was  invented.  Young  John  Petrie  was  then  only 
2.5  years  old — no  gray  hairs,  and  an  honest  "sonsie"  Scotch 
face,  redolent  of  the  "bluid"  of  the  auld  land,  where 
generations,  full  of  hard  work  and  self-respect,  had  prepared 
a  race  fit  to  battle  with  all  the  labours  and  problems  of  a 
new  country,  be  it  Queensland,  India,  or  what  not.  But 
lie  who  formed  the  one  strongest  link  that  bound  us  to  the 
fast  fleeting  bygone  days  has  gone  with  the  rest — an  inevi- 
table, but  none  the  less  painful,  rending  of  ties  which  have 


THE    SURVIVING    FEW.  211 

been  long  growing,  and  are  now  severed  for  ever,  save  for 
memory's  sad  offices. 

Yes,  leading  and  prominent  survivors  of  early  Queensland 
are  now  few  and  far  between.  They  were  good  men  who 
lived  forty  years  ago,  and  who  settled  this  land.  I  wonder 
do  those  who  have  come  after  them  and  pushed  on  the  place 
the  pioneers  really  made,  ever  think  of  those  who  did  the 
hard  work  1     I  wonder,  indeed  ! 

The  old  hands  of  1822  are  all  gone.  Tom  Brookes  and 
"  Red  "  Smith  at  86  years  old  were  the  last  survivors  of 
them,  and  only  the  men  of  the  late  thirties,  the  forties,  and 
the  early  fifties  are  left,  and  the  youngest  of  them  is  at 
least  60  years  old.  Conspicuous  at  the  head  of  the  list 
stands  Thomas  Petrie,  dating  back  to  1837.  The  early 
Burnett  and  Brisbane  River  settlers  are  only  represented 
now  by  Gordon  Sandeman  (an  absentee),  and  C.  R.  Haly 
(unless  the  Logan  can  be  said  to  claim  him).  Tlie  Logan 
men  who  are  left  are  considerably  more  numerous — P. 
Pinnock,  A.W.Compigne,  Collins,  of  Mundoolan,  and  Pollett 
Cardew,  of  Mount  Flinders.  The  clergy  one  only,  in  the 
person  of  Canon  Glennie.  Turning  to  the  Darling  Downs, 
we  find  H.  W.  Coxen,  J.  F.  M'Dougall,  and  John  Ferrett ; 
while  Sir  Arthur  Hodgson,  H.  S.  Russell,  and  Arnold  Wienholt 
(of  the  same  place)  are  absentees  in  England.  W.  Tillman, 
a  sui'vivor  of  the  German  Mission  at  Nundah  introduces  us 
to  another  department.  Messrs.  P.  O'Sullivan,  R.  Gill, 
Christopher  Gorry,  H.  M.  Reeve,  and  Wm.  Vowles,  date  far 
back  into  the  early  history  of  the  colony.  J.  S.  Turner  and 
Wm.  Brookes  recall  the  early  Union  Bank  in  Brisbane,  and 
R.  A.  Kingsford,  Sir  Chas.  Lilley,  E.  B.  Southerden,  W. 
Southerden,  John  Hardgrave,  James  Collins,  George  Appel, 
Reuben  Oliver,  A.  RafF,  John  Little,  Joseph  Baynes,  John 
Leckie,  C.  J.  Trundle,  are  some  of  the  metropolitan  represen- 
tatives, to  whom  must  be  added  Pilot  Bousfield.     Sir  Arthur 


212  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Palmer,  E.  Morey,  John  Scott,  and  P.  Sellheim,  now  of  this 
colony,  are  all  colonists  of  ancient  dates,  but  whether  ever  in 
Queensland  before  1855  is  unknown  to  the  writer ;  when 
the  present  century  has  waned  there  will,  doubtless,  be  an 
annual  reunion  of  the  survivors  of  the  early  life  battle  of 
old  "  Moreton  Bay,"  and  perhaps,  all  things  considered,  and 
King  David's  dictum  about  "  three  score  years  and  ten,"  it 
■would  be  hardly  advisable  to  postpone  the  "gathering"  of 
the  fossils  till  the  year  1900,  or  "  Auld  Lang  Syne"  will 
have  faded  quite  away  into  the   "Land  of  the  Leal." 

Let  us  call  the  roll.  Let  us  lift  the  veil  which  hides  from 
the  present  the  past,  and  those  who  made  the  present — the 
good  old  have-beens.  What  of  Little,  "  Bobby "  Cribb, 
George  Harris,  Frederick  Bigge,  T.  L.  Murray  Prior,  James 
Warner,  George  Thorn,  Robert  Douglas,  Taylor  Winship, 
and  all  the  others  *?     Gone  !  eh  gone.     Like  Tom  Moore, 

When  I  remember  all 

The  friends  so  linked  together 
I've  seen  aroand  me  fall 

Like  leaves  in  wintry  weather  ; 
I  feel  like  one  who  treads  alone 

Some  banquet  hall  deserted, 
Whose  lights  are  fled,  whose  garlands  dead, 

And  all  but  he  departed. 

George  Thorn. 

George  Thorn  left  us  some  years  ago.  He  was  the 
oldest  free  resident.  Older  even  than  Andrew  Petrie  as  a 
Moreton  Bay  settler ;  and  unless  it  was  Tom  Brooks,  who 
came  here  in  1822,  George  was  the  oldest  white  inhabitant. 
Pleasant,  genial  old  George  !  the  exploring  associate  of  rol- 
licking Arthur  Hodgson  in  many  a  midnight  camp  about 
the  time  when  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  a  baby,  and  when 
the  disciples  of  Bright  and  Cobden  had  begun  to  multiply 
in  the  land.     'Twas  then,  and  even  earlier  still,  that  he  first 


GEORGE   THORN.  213 

crossed  that  serrated  limestone  backbone,  dotted  with  grass- 
trees,  which  overlooked  the  basin  of  fair  Ipswich,  nigh  unto 
the  site  where  Challinor's  paddock  now  commands  a  full 
sight  of  the  hoary  battlements  of  the  Main  Range,  the  portal 
of  Darling  Downs ;  and  there,  under  the  name  we  have 
mentioned,  sprung  up  a  town  that  could  a  tale  unfold,  if  its 
old  ironbark  plates,  sills,  and  slabs  would  but  speak.  A  tale 
of  nights  of  Avit,  when  Gore  Jones,  Frank  Lucas,  and  many 
more,  bandied  flashes  of  fun,  that  recalled  the  Nodes  of  old 
Blackwood's  Magazine ;  for  there  was  bone  and  vitality  in 
the  limestone  waters  of  our  town,  and  men  ate  and  drank 
of  the  best.  George  Holt  made  bread  of  the  flour  of  Hart, 
and  the  volcanic  pastures  of  Mount  Flinders  sent  in  the 
purest  butter.  Faircloth  saw  that  the  Club  cellars  were 
replete  with  Venve  Clecpiot^  and  Yaldwyn  was  responsible 
for  the  four-year-old  turkeys ;  and  what  even  if  Lightfoot 
and  Van  Tromp  would  now  finish  considerably  in  the  ruck 
of  Richmond  and  Goldsbrough  %  We'll  warrant  you  their 
hearts  were  none  the  less  right,  and  even  if  double  distanced 
they  would  rush  in  with  open  mouths  and  extended  tails ; 
and  as  the  racehorses  were  gallant,  so  the  women  who  came 
to  see  theni  compete  were  aye  fair  to  view,  and  many  a 
Queensland  love-match  was  cemented  in  old  Ipswich,  where 
the  hard  water  would  never  make  good  tea.  "We  never  seem 
to  have  such  sunsets  and  sunrises  now-a-days  as  used  to  be 
witnessed  from  that  old  Limestone  Ridge,  between  1855  and 
1860.  Perhaps  it  is  that  we  are  getting  older  and  cannot  see 
them  so  well ;  and  the  early  cup  of  coffee,  too,  on  the  old  race- 
course about  5  a.m.,  at  the  end  of  May,  tastes  quite  differently 
in  1876  from  what  it  used  to  in  1859,  in  the  year  of  Mincemeat 
and  Lizard's  match  \  for  things  and  people  grow  quickly  and 
fade  quickly  in  27°  south  latitude,  and  the  babies  of  yesterday 
are  the  brides  of  to-day,  and  the  bridegroom  of  that  hour  has 
perchance  his  will  proved  by  a  proctor  in  this  one. 


214  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

How  well  do  I  remember  one  sunset.  It  certainly  was  a 
glorious  one,  and  of  the  real  Australian  type,  too.  First  of 
all  the  sky  generally  was  cloudless,  with  blue  above  and 
golden-yellow  in  the  west  to  about  5°  above  the  horizon  and 
from  thence  to  the  zenith  was  a  dense  cloud  of  brown,  umber, 
red,  and  gold,  the  background  being  an  iron  grey  tinted 
with  chocolate  everywhere,  and  the  light  red  that  lit  it  up 
had  its  brown  and  its  gold  also  insepai^ably  blended  with  it, 
a  delicious  brown,  too,  that  was  wedded  to  the  red  and 
wedded  the  grey  impartially  and  improved  them  both.  And 
the  dark  cloud  looked  like  curtain  after  curtain,  brilliant 
edged  and  hung  each  behind  and  a  little  below  the  other  in 
endless  terraces,  and  the  vanished  sun  had  tipped  each  hang- 
ing edge  with  this  red  gold  light  on  the  brown.  And  there 
vs  ere  places  and  patches  where  a  whiter  cloud,  flecked  with 
the  all-pervading  red,  looked  like  a  blood-stained  half-washed 
cloth.  And  away  to  the  east,  where  the  nearly  full  moon 
had  risen,  were  more  but  isolated  patches  of  the  iron  grey, 
brown  tinted,  and  with  the  warm  blood-red  glow  in  the 
centre  of  each  one  of  them.  Then  red-brown  wavelets  of 
colour  broke  across  the  western  grey-brown  sky  field,  like 
parallel  ripples  on  a  sea  beach  ;  and  these  four  items,  brown, 
red,  gold,  and  grey,  made  up  a  sunset  effect  unsurpassable, 
even  if  approachable  for  beauty,  but,  alas  !  so  short-lived, 
One  had  to  drink  it  in  and  engrave  it  sharply  on  the  memory, 
for,  anon,  the  bright  brilliant  and  beautiful  reds  and  golds 
and  browns  had  all  departed  with  their  father,  the  sun,  and 
the  iron-grey  reigned,  solitary  and  unattractive,  by  itself 
once  more. 

Robert  Little. 

Robert  Little  was  something  more  than  a  local  solicitor  ; 
he  was  a  man  of  tact  and  benevolence,  a  consistent  Church- 
man, and  served  the  office  of  warden  at  St.  John's  befoi'e 


ROBERT    LITTLE.  215 

"separation,"  He  was  not  unknown  in  athletics  forty  years 
ago,  and  many  were  the  pair-oared  contests  on  our  river 
before  it  could  be  finally  decided  whether  "  Bob "  Little 
cum  "  Harry  "  Buttanshaw  were  or  were  not  superior  to 
"Tom"  Jones,  of  Burambah,  and  another  oarsman  whose 
name  I  forget.  Another  sculler  and  friend  of  Mr.  Little's 
was  Mr.  Bigge,  of  Mount  Brisbane,  and  local  wits  rang  the 
changes  on  Mr.  "  Big  "  and  Mr.  Little.  Indeed,  the  little 
impromptu  Saturday  afternoon  regattas  from  some  private 
house  or  other  on  the  river  bank  were  a  feature  in  the  social 
life  of  early  Brisbane  days,  when  "  everybody  knew  every- 
body," and  there  was  no  ceremony.  Pair-oared  contests 
were  in  vogue,  and  the  contestants  drew  in  a  hat  for  boats 
and  partners,  and  the  ladies'  delight  was  supreme  when  a 
tall  young  man  of  list,  was  in  some  "tub,"  mated  with 
and  outweighed  by  a  short,  fat,  elderly  one  of  J  5  ditto,  and 
the  boat  with  a  heavy  "  list "  all  the  way  round  the  course, 
for  the  sex  are  mischievous,  and  fun  was  the  one  element 
sought  for  at  these  little  meetings.  It  need  hardly  be  said 
that  everyone  manfully  accepted  his  position,  and  pulled  to 
the  bitter  end,  be  the  task  what  it  might,  for  there  were  no 
Sybarites  among  the  early  "  Moreton  Bay  "  men.  A  proof 
of  Little's  tact  and  quick  wit  was  furnished  in  the  early  '50 
days,  when  squatters  and  immigrants  took  opposite  political 
views.  A  noisy  crowd  of  "  Liberals "  vociferated  near  a 
house  where  a  lady  lay  sick.  Out  came  Little  with  another 
lady  on  his  arm,  and  being  a  known  "  squatters'  man,"  they 
followed  him  up  with  their  noise,  which  was  all  he  wanted— 
namely,  to  draw  the  disturbance  away  from  the  place  where 
the  patient  was  lying.  When  the  first  court  was  established 
here  in  1857,  with  Mr.  Milford  as  Judge  and  Mr.  Pring  as 
Crown  Prosecutor,  Little  was  appointed  Crown  Solicitor,  and 
the  extra  work  necessitating  a  partner,  Mr.  William  Rawlins 
joined  him.     The  Brisbane  climate  did  not  suit  Mrs.  Raw- 


216  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

lins,  who  was  a  daughter  of  Captain  Murchison,  of  South 
Australia,  and  Mr.  Rawlins  left  for  New  Zealand.  After 
this,    in  1860,    Mr.  E.  I.  C.   Browne  joined    the    business. 

Frederic  Bigge. 

Frederic  Bigge  died  in  England.  He  was  one  of  our 
Moreton  Bay  pioneer  squatters  of  the  early  days.  A  good 
oarsman,  his  muscle  was  as  often  proved  as  that  of  his  friend, 
the  late  Mr.  Robert  Little.  "Bigge's  Camp"  (renamed  "Grand- 
chester"  by  the  classic  Sir  George  Bowen)  derived  its  title  from 
the  deceased  gentleman,  and  Mr.  Henry  Mort  (afterwards  of 
Franklyn  Vale)  was  at  one  time  manager  for  the  Messrs. 
Bigge  (Frederic  and  Francis).  The  Mount  Brisbane  station, 
managed  by  Mr.  William  Bowman,  a  son  of  Dr.  Bowman, 
of  the  Hawkesbury,  New  South  Wales,  was  another  pro- 
perty of  the  same  firm's,  and  famous  for  the  Westminster 
and  Touchstone  strains  of  racing  blood  in  the  horses  bred 
there.  Many  a  Queensland  turf  winner  came  from  the 
pretty  station  near  Wivenhoe.  "Bigge's  Folly,"  a  con- 
spicuous building  in  the  "early  fifties"  at  Cleveland — the 
great  seaport  and  Brisbane  extinguisher  that  was  to  have 
been,  and  where  wool  in  abundance  really  was  shipped  during 
the  days  of  the  Crimean  War — is  another  memento  of  the 
name  that  forms  one  more  of  the  very  few  now  left  of  the 
early  band  of  pioneers  who  cleared  the  way  for  us  in  More- 
ton  Bay. 

T.  L.  Murray-Prior 

T.  L.  Murray-Prior  was  a  Moreton  Bay  man  of  the  early 
Leslie  and  Gamraie  days,  and  one  whose  name  is  inseparably 
mixed  with  all  its  pleasantest  memories.  His  father.  Colonel 
Prior,  was  a  genial  Irishman,  and  the  inevitable  returning- 
otficer  and  chairman  of  hospital  and  similar  election  meetings 
in  the  infant  days  of  Brisbane ;  for  tact  and  good  temper 


JOSHUA  PETER  BELL.  217 

■were  essential  in  those  days  of  open  voting,  and  it  was  often 
"a  hard  row  to  hoe,"  even  then,  ere  the  peaceful  ballot 
system  came  in.  The  son  inherited  the  father's  suavity,  and 
■would  smile  under  the  most  trying  circumstances  in  the  bush, 
"the  Senate,  or  the  drawing-room.  I  well  remember  one  even- 
ing after  a  pleasant  dance  at  James  Warner's,  on  Kangaroo 
Point,  Prior  and  I  from  pure  jollity  indulged  in  a  fistic  open- 
handed  spar  in  the  presence  of  two  or  three  ladies,  who  had 
not  yet  put  on  their  cloaks,  and  who  were  highly  amused  at 
the  harmless  fun.  Nearly  forty  years  later  I  met  him  stroll- 
ing on  the  North  Quay.  He  told  me  he  had  been  walking 
to  the  old  Milton  Cemetery,  and  I  remarked  casually  that 
Robert  Little's  first  wife  was  buried  there,  and  Prior  said, 
"Yes ;  and  by  the  way,  do  you  know  there  is  news  by  cable 
that  Robert  Little  himself  is  dead  in  Ceylon?"  I  was  the 
:first  one  to  tell  him  of  the  awful  wreck  of  the  "  Quetta," 
where  so  many  of  his  friends  were  lost,  and  I  shall  not 
readily  forget  his  change  of  countenance  at  the  sad  news. 
The  last  time  I  saw  Mr.  Prior  was  at  his  rooms  in  Parlia- 
ment House,  when  he  spoke  of  H.  Stuart  Russell,  who 
wrote  the  "Genesis  of  Queensland,"  and  whom  Prior  saw 
shortly  before  at  Adelaide,  en  route  to  London,  and  so  altered 
from  the  Russell  of  the  "  fifties  "  that  he  did  not  recognise 
bim  until  he  began,  as  Prior  said,  to  "  talk  Queensland." 
Mr.  Prior  was  certainly  the  most  courtly  and  polished  of 
the  early  pioneers  here,  and  spoken  disloyalty  about  the 
•Queen  was  one  of  the  few  matters  that  had  power  to  make 
him  openly  angry. 

Joshua  Peter  Bell. 

And  Sir  Joshua  Peter  Bell.  His  death  was  an  awfully 
sudden  one.  How  well  I  remember  the  shock  which  was 
occasioned  the  community  when  the  news  of  the  death  of 
the  one  man  whom  everybody  admired  and  respected  was 


218  AUSTRALIAN    PIOXEERS    AND     REMINISCENCES. 

circulated.  His  demise  occurred  on  the  20th  December, 
1881.  He  had  a  day  or  two  before  returned  from  a  trip  to 
the  South,  and,  if  anything,  was  apparently  in  a  better  state 
of  health  than  usual.  On  the  day  of  the  sad  event  he  was 
engaged  in  finishing  whatever  business  he  had  to  do  in 
Brisbane,  in  order  that  he  might  spend  Christmas  with  his 
family  at  his  home — Jimbour.  Thus  engaged,  he  called  afc 
the  Bank  of  Australasia,  and,  while  there,  spoke  to  Mr, 
Dixon,  the  manager,  of  a  passing  sensation  of  illness.  It 
seemed  to  be  nothing  serious,  however,  and  both  gentlemen 
got  into  a  cab  to  drive  up  Queen-street.  They  had  hardly 
gone  a  hundred  yards  when  Sir  Joshua's  head  drooped  for- 
ward, and  he  became  partly  unconscious.  The  cab  was  of 
course  stopped,  and  everything  possible  done,  but  it  was  of 
no  avail,  and  he  expired  shortly  afterwards. 

Sir  Joshua  was  born  in  Kildare,  Ireland,  on  the  19th  of 
January,  1827,  and  had  therefore  nearly  completed  his  55th 
year  at  the  time  of  his  death.  Although  not  actually  a 
native  of  this  continent,  he  was  virtually  an  Australian, 
having  been  brought  to  Sydney  as  a  child  four  years  old 
and  educated  in  that  city.  He  came  to  Queensland  in  1847, 
and,  in  conjunction  with  other  members  of  his  family,  became 
part  owner  of  what  was  then  the  magnificent  station  Jim- 
bour, which  has  remained  his  home  ever  since.  When 
Queensland  was  separated  from  New  South  Wales,  Mr. 
Bell's  prominent  position  as  a  leading  squatter  naturally 
induced  him  to  enter  public  life,  and  he  was  first  elected  to 
the  Assembly  as  one  of  the  members  for  West  Moreton  in 
1863.  He  soon  made  his  mark  in  Parliament,  and  in 
December,  1864,  was  offered  and  accepted  tlie  position  of 
Treasurer  in  the  Herbert  Ministry.  He  kept  the  position 
when  that  Ministry  merged  into  the  Macalister  Government, 
the  last-named  gentleman  taking  the  departments  of  Lands 
and  Works,  Mr.  Mackenzie  that  of  Colonial  Secretary,  and 


JOSHUA    PETER    BELL.  21J) 

Mr.  Lilley  becoming  Attorney-General.  In  further  reorgani- 
sations of  the  Government,  Mr.  Bell  took  charge  of  the 
Lands  Office  in  August,  1866,  and  became  Acting-Minister 
for  Works  in  May,  1867.  At  the  general  election  of  June, 
1867,  Mr.  Bell  was  again  returned  for  West  Moreton  in 
conjunction  with  Messrs.  P.  O'Sullivan  and  G.  Thorn.  Next 
year,  1868,  Mr.  Bell  was  elected  for  Northern  Downs,  and 
continued  to  sit  for  that  constituency  for  some  years.  In 
March,  1871,  he  again  accepted  the  position  of  Treasurer 
in  the  Ministry  formed  by  Mr.  Palmer,  and  held  it  till  that 
gentleman  resigned  in  January,  1874.  At  the  general 
election  of  the  preceding  year,  1873,  under  the  new  Act 
which  had  re-distributed  and  increased  the  number  of  electo- 
rates, Mr.  Bell  was  returned  for  Dalby  (the  seat  now  held 
by  Mr.  Joshua  T.  Bell — a  worthy  son  of  a  worthy  father), 
which  seat  he  held  till  the  general  election  of  1878,  when 
he  was  again  returned  by  Northern  Downs.  On  the  3rd 
April,  1879,  he  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Assembly  to  accept 
the  position  of  President  of  the  Legislative  Council,  which 
he  held  till  his  death.  About  three  weeks  prior  to  his  death 
he  received  the  honour  of  knighthood  from  Her  Majesty. 

Mr.  Bell's  career  as  a  public  man  was  characterised  by 
the  strictest  integrity  and  honourable  dealing.  Though  not 
a  brilliant  orator,  his  words  were  well  chosen,  and  he  always 
commanded  the  respect  and  attention  of  Parliament.  As 
Treasurer  he  displayed  a  good  deal  of  practical  ability,  and 
as  a  politician  he  was  liked  and  respected,  even  by  those 
divided  from  him  by  the  broadest  lines  of  party  demarcation. 
As  a  citizen  he  was  a  thoroughly  popular  man.  The  senti- 
ment entertained  for  him  was  not  merely  respect  and  esteem,, 
but  positive  personal  liking  among  thousands  who  hardly 
even  knew  him  by  sight.  This  was  due  in  great  part  to  the 
unfailing  courtesy  which  he  always  displayed  in  his  inter- 
course with  high  and   low.     It  was  a  courtesy  which  was 


220  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

natural,  the  index  to  a  kindly  disposition.  He  had  the  rare 
gift  of  being  able  to  maintain  his  own  views,  and  take  his 
own  part  in  politics  and  business,  without  making  enemies 
of  his  opponents.  Always  freely  tolerating  those  who 
differed  from  him,  he  earned  from  them  the  same  considera- 
tion. It  is  a  significant  fact  that,  although  a  squatter  whose 
run  was  in  part  given  up  to  selection,  and  although  associated 
in  politics  with  what  was  known  as  the  squatting  party,  he 
was  always  on  the  best  of  terms  with  the  selectors.  So 
great  was  his  personal  popularity  and  influence  that  the 
electorates  in  his  own  district  furnished  seats  which  might 
almost  be  said  to  have  been  at  his  disposal.  And  bushmen 
from  one  end  of  Queensland  to  another  spoke  of  Jimbour 
as  the  place  where  the  old-fashioned  Australian  hospitality 
was  to  be  found  in  its  perfection.  Enterprising  in  business, 
ready  to  take  part  in  all  schemes  for  the  industrial  advance- 
ment of  the  colony.  Sir  Joshua  was  equally  active  in  the 
encouragement  of  its  sports  and  pastimes.  He  was  a  great 
patron  of  the  turf,  and,  as  owner  of  racing  stock,  had  made 
a  reputation  throughout  Australia  for  honourable  dealing. 

Sir  Joshua  Peter  Bell  was  a  singularly  fortunate  man. 
Blessed  with  an  even  temper,  possessed  of  everything  which 
was  calculated  to  lend  zest  to  existence,  in  the  full  strength 
and  vigour  of  manhood,  surrounded  by  friends  and  com- 
panions not  one  of  whom  ever  grudged  him  for  a  moment 
the  honour  and  the  distinction  which  had  come  to  him,  what 
mortal  man  could  have  been  deemed  more  fortunate  ?  If 
at  times  there  were  difficulties  to  be  overcome,  they  were 
met  with  an  even  mind,  which  maintained  its  supremacy 
and  asserted  its  superiority  with  confident  ability.  Sir 
Joshua  Peter  Bell  was  not  an  ambitious  man  in  the  sense 
of  putting  forward  any  great  efforts  to  attain  the  rewards 
of  ofiice  or  of  political  position.  Equably  and  unostenta- 
tiously he  went  on  his  way,  without  apparently  attempting 


EDWIN    NORRIS.  221 

to  win  anything,  and  yet  he  won  many  things  which  are 
regarded  as  well  worth  having — wealth,  honour,  distinction, 
and,  more  than  all  these,  the  unaffected  regard  and  esteem 
of  his  countrymen.  He  was  a  typical  representative  of  the 
first  generation  of  his  Australian  countrymen.  He  was  a 
public-spirited  man,  patriotic  in  the  best  sense,  a  man  who 
would  make  no  ostentatious  professions,  but  one  who  would; 
dare  a  good  deal,  one  who  would  have  done  much  and  sacri- 
ficed much  if  he  had  been  called  upon  to  do  so  in  the  path 
of  duty. 

'Twas  ever  &o  ;  and  those  we  least  would  spare 
Are  taken  from  ns  in  what  seems  their  prime 
But  is  not  ;  in  a  life  like  his  has  been 
Years  fifty-five  stand  good  for  three-score  ten. 
For  there  was  work  to  do  in  those  old  days 
When  youthful  Joshua — he  of  Jimbour — stirred 
And  laid  foundation  of  those  princely  farms 
Which  dazzle  moderns  with  their  wealth  of  fleece. 
A  genial  Celt  ;  he  spared  not  himself  ; 
Rode  hard,  by  night  or  day  'twas  all  the  same, 
For  he  had  cattle  good,  and  ne'er  could  creep 
Nor  planned  to  lengthen  out  a  slippered  age. 
Peace  to  him,  gentles  :  we  who  knew  him  young, 
And  watched  him  as  he  journeyed  to  mid-age, 
Swear  knighthood  added  nothing  to  his  shield. 
He's  passed  :  a  pioneer  of  Darling  Downs, 
Gone  to  join  Deuchar,  Kent,  and  good  men  true  ; 
And  maids  and  children  of  that  region  fair, 
In  days  to  come,  shall  speak  of  Joshua  Bell. 
We,  holding  faith  in  the  uidiurried  past. 
Will  trust  the  unhurrying  future  and  its  God 
To  do  what  seems  Him  best  in  His  good  time, 
Whose  centuries  are  but  n)oments  to  the  wise. 

Edwin  Norris. 
Edwin  Norris,   solicitor,    died   at   Townsville.     He  was, 
nevertheless,  an  old  Bri)<hane  identity,  and  was  once  in  the 
office  of  Mr.  Robert  Little.     He  was  an  enthusiastic  yachts- 


222  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

man  and  astronomer,  and  purchased  the  telescope  and 
observatory  fittings  of  the  late  Captain  O'Reilly.  He  was 
one  of  the  few  now  left  of  those  who  took  part  in  the 
historical  cricket  match  between  Brisbane  and  Ipswich, 
played  at  Chuwar,  the  "  North  Shore  "  of  Ipswich,  during 
the  June  race  week  of  1859,  when  Dr.  Cannan,  Shepherd 
Smith,  Edwin  Norris,  Colin  Munro  (now  of  the  Burdekin 
River),  C.  F.  Bell,  Walter  Birley  (of  Kangaroo  Point),  and 
others  made  up  the  Brisbane  team,  and  the  Ipswich  eleven 
were  recruited  from  a  host  of  batting  and  bowling  talent 
then  newly  imported  by  the  Banks  of  Australasia  and  New 
South  Wales  in  the  shape  of  tellers  and  accountants  from 
those  two  "  hives  "  of  cricket — Maitland  and  Launceston  ; 
Coulson,  Manighan,  Logan,  Harry  Glassford,  T.  O.  Bryant, 
&c.  Mr.  Sladen,  M.L.A.,  of  Melbourne,  was  a  spectator, 
and  the  scores  were  :  Ipswich,  99  and  43 ;  Brisbane,  65  and 
44,  Shepherd  Smith  getting  crippled  hy  a  blow  on  the  ankle 
early  in  the  game.  The  return  match  came  off  in  October, 
in  Brisbane,  near  the  North  Quay.  It  was  a  hollow  win 
for  the  metropolis  with  322  runs  on  the  first  innings — Bol- 
ger,  top  score  with  118,  including  an  8,  hit  into  the  river 
from  the  back  of  Aubigny. 

James  Warner. 

James  Warner  was  one  of  the  three  surveyors — Dixon 
(chief),  Warner,  and  Staplyton,  the  latter  being,  with  a 
man  named  Tuck,  cruelly  butchered  near  Mount  Lindsay — 
who,  about  the  year  1839,  were  sent  by  Governor  Gipps  to 
Moreton  Bay,  first  to  make  a  coastal  survey,  and  afterwards 
to  survey  the  place  prior  to  free  settlement.  He  also 
assisted  in  the  survey  of  Ipswich  and  other  towns  now 
included  in  Queensland,  and  played  an  important  part  in 
the  attempted  settlement  of  "  Northern  Australia "  about 
1847,  when,  owing  to  the  dearth  of  labour,  it  was  sought 


ROBERT    DOUGLAS.  223 

to  revive  convicts  and  ticket-of- leave  immigration.  This 
scheme,  however,  as  most  colonists  know,  was  rudely  shat- 
tered by  the  striking  of  the  "  Lord  Auckland  "  on  a  rock 
just  prior  to  landing — in  fact  while  an  impressive  ceremony 
of  landing  was  being  arranged.  Up  to  1884  the  deceased 
gentleman  filled  the  position  of  a  surveyor  in  the  Lands 
Department,  and  on  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Douglas  was,  on 
on  the  recommendation  of  the  then  Speaker,  appointed 
Sergeant- at -Arms.  Tliis  position  he  filled  up  to  his 
death.  A  better  man  never  left  us;  full  of  genial  fun  and 
jokes.  He  could  read  aloud  the  Bible  to  youthful  hearers 
with  a  pathos  and  heartfelt  intonation  which  some  arch- 
bishop might  envy.  He  learned  to  sail  a  boat  in  early  life 
on  dark  stormy  nights  in  the  English  Channel,  and  could 
handle  one  with  anybody  in  Moreton  Bay.  During  the  fifty 
years  he  was  connected  with  the  Survey  Office  he  got 
through  an  incredible  amount  of  field  and  office  work  in 
connection  with  his  profession.  He  married  the  widow  of 
Captain  Lindo,  of  the  merchant  service,  and  his  hospitable 
home  on  Kangaroo  Point  will  be  long  remembered  by  those 
who  wei'e  young  in  1850-60,  when  a  dance  at  Warner's  was 
the  best  in  Brisbane.  He  left  several  daughters,  one  married 
to  Mr.  W.  V.  Brown,  M.L.A.,  of  Townsville  ;  another  to 
Mr.  F.  Lord,  of  Eskdale,  and  a  third  to  Mr.  A.  Briggs,  of 
Darling  Downs.  His  genial  good  humour  was  with  him  to 
the  last.  He  comically  complained  to  the  writer  that  he 
was  getting  old  and  cross,  for  he  found  that  if  after  spend- 
ing three  weeks  at  a  map,  some  one  upset  the  ink  over  it, 
he  was  apt  to  lose  his  temper,  as  he  would  not  have  done 
thirty  years  ago. 

Robert  Douglas. 

Robert  Douglas  was  in  Brisbane  over  fifty  years  ago.     He 
began  life  in  his  new  home  as  a  farmer  near  Ipswich,  and 


224  AUSTRALIAN    PIONKERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

afterwards  established  the  first  complete  soap-boiling  plant 
in  Moreton  Bay,  A  huge  boiler,  rolled  over  before  being 
put  in  position  at  his  works  on  Kangaroo  Point  in  1854,  by 
its  noise  caused  terrified  people  in  North  Brisbane  to  imagine 
that  a  Russian  and  English  frigate  were  fighting  in  the  Bay, 
and  to  contemplate  sending  the  women  and  children  to  the 
back  of  Mount  Coot-tha  for  safety  in  case  of  the  worst. 
Mr.  Douglas  had  a  happy  knack  of  making  all  friends  and 
no  enemies  through  life,  and  his  breezy  waterside  place  on 
Kangaroo  Point  was  (in  any  year  that  began  with  185 — ) 
the  scene  of  those  pleasant  Saturday  afternoon  reunions,, 
when  "every  one  knew  evei'ybody  "  in  Brisbane,  and  when 
impromptu  pulling  races  and  quoits  for  the  gentlemen? 
assisted  by  "  square  gin,"  with  tea  and  music  for  the  ladies,, 
and  a  round  game  or  dance  in  the  evening,  used  to  finish 
the  week's  work  pleasantly,  and  "round  off'"  the  Saturday 
afternoons  all  the  year  round  in  a  satisfactory  manner. 
Ehe^i  fugaces,  &c.  Mr,  Douglas  was  Sergeant-at-Arms  in 
the  Legislative  Assembly  of  Queensland  from  1874  till 
1884,  when  he  resigned. 

Simeon  Lord. 

Simeon  Lord,  of  Brisbane,  was  not  merely  an  old  resident 
of  Brisbane,  but  also  of  Tasmania  in  bygone  days.  He  was 
the  father  of  the  late  Roljert  Lord,  one  time  member  for 
Gympie,  and  he  owned  the  tine  pastoral  property  known  as 
Eskdale,  on  the  Upper  Brisbane  River.  The  name  of  Lord 
is  borne  by  a  large  number  of  disconnected  families  in  Aus- 
tralia ;  there  was  Mr.  Edward  Lord,  of  Drayton,  in  this 
colony,  a  pioneer  of  1841,  and  father  of  Mrs,  George  Raff*;, 
they  are  numerous  also  in  Sydney,  where  a  Mr.  Lord  was 
city  treasurer  at  one  time ;  while  in  Tasmania  there  were 
three  or  four  distinct  families  of  the  name  :  Edward  Lord, 
of    Lawrenny ;    Lord,   of  Orielton ;    and    Simeon    Lord,  of 


Hon.  a.  Macalister.  Hon.  John  Douglas. 

Sir  Charles  Lilley. 
Hon.  James  Taylor.  Sir  A.  Hodgson. 


TAYLOR   WINSHIP.  225 

Avoca;  another  Simeon  Lord,  who  owned  property  at 
Botany,  near  Sydney,  died,  more  than  fifty  years  back,  in 
that  city.  The  Simeon  Lord,  of  Brisbane,  was  a  man  of 
business  energy  and  sterling  integrity,  in  whom  the  healthy 
climate  of  Tasmania  laid  (as  it  has  done  with  many  others) 
the  foundation  of  a  long,  useful,  and  busy  life. 

Taylor  Wixship. 

Captain  Taylor  Winship,  of  Cleveland,  was  one  of  the 
oldest  residents  in  Brisbane.  He  arrived  here  before  IS-iS, 
and  one  of  his  first  tasks  was  the  building,  for  Messrs.  James 
Reid  and  Thomas  Boyland,  of  the  river  steamer  "  Hawk," 
the  successor  to  James  Canning  Pearce's  "  Experiment," 
and  which,  unlike  the  latter  boat,  was  a  financial  success. 
In  the  building  of  the  "  Hawk,"  Mr.  James  Barr,  ship- 
wright, assisted.  Boyland  commanded  her,  and  her  "bones" 
now  lie  in  a  river  of  North  Queensland  after  some  twelve 
or  fifteen  years  of  successful  trade  on  tlie  Brisbane  and 
Bremer  Rivers.  Mr.  Reid  afterwards  had  Camboon  station, 
on  the  Dawson  River.  Mr.  Barr  rebuilt  Harris's  wharf 
in  1855,  when  it  slid  one  morning  into  the  river  through 
one  of  those  vexatious  landslips  for  which  the  North 
Quay  has  always  been  so  notorious.  Captain  Winship 
and  his  family  had  a  beautiful  orangery  and  garden  on 
the  river  bank  in  1853  and  1854,  near  the  south  end  of 
Victoria  Bridge.  He  was  one  of  the  marine  experts  who, 
with  Captain  Richard  James  Coley  (Lloyd's  agent  and 
surveyor),  ofiicially  visited  the  wreck  of  the  "Phoebe  Dun- 
bar," immigrant  ship.  Captain  Tucker,  in  the  South  Passage 
in  May,  1856.  He  was  one  of  the  few  remaining  types  of 
the  old  school  of  Australian  master  mariners,  and  was  a 
sailor  and  agriculturist  in  one.  Captain  Winship  also  built 
the  "  Swallow  "  and  the   "  Bremer." 


226  australian  pioneers  and  reminiscences. 

James  Sutherland  Mitchell. 

James  Sutherland  Mitchell  died  in  Sydney  a  year  or  two 
ago.  He  was  a  very  old  Australian  colonist,  and  connected 
to  some  extent  with  Queensland  also.  He  was  originally, 
in  the  "forties,"  in  the  Commissariat  Department  at  Hobart, 
and  married  a  daughter  of  Commissary  James  Laidley,  who 
died  at  Sydney  in  1835.  Mr.  Mitchell  was  consequently  a 
brother-in-law  of  Messrs.  T.  S.  Mort  and  Henry  Mort.  He 
subsequently  became  manager  of  a  fire  insurance  company 
in  Sydney,  and  in  the  year  18.56  the  managership  of  the 
Kent  Brewery  was  offered  to  the  author,  and  on  his  declining 
it  in  favour  of  the  then  brighter  prospects  of  the  projected 
new  colony,  Mr.  Mitchell  was  offered  and  accepted  the 
position,  and  died  extremely  wealthy.  He  was  a  director 
of  the  Joint  Stock  Bank  and  Peak  Downs  Copper  Mine  in 
1872,  and  visited  Queensland  in  1863  with  Mr.  Abraham 
Fitzgibbon,  the  projector  of  the  first  local  railway  from 
Ipswich  to  Toowoomba.  After  the  death  of  his  first  wife 
Mr.  Mitchell  married  a  sister  of  the  late  Sir  George  Wigram 
Allen,  Speaker  of  the  New  South  Wales  Assembly.  He 
was  a  gifted  and  scientific  man,  and  author  of  some  very 
valuable  experiments  on  the  strength  and  tenacity  of  Aus- 
tralian timber ;  while,  as  a  wood  carver,  his  amateur  efforts 
in  the  way  of  gigantic  picture  frames,  reproducing  bird.s, 
fruits,  and  flowers  with  marvellous  fidelity,  would  almost 
vie  with  the  masterly  productions  of  artists  like  Grinling 
Gibbons.  He  was  a  genial  and  large-hearted  man,  and  left 
a  stainless  record  behind  him  as  one  more  of  the  now  fast 
sundering  links  left  us  with  the  Australia  of  the  "quiet 
forties." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Roll  Call— Old  Time  Queenslanders— Addition's  to  the 
List— Richard  F.  Phelan — Walter  Scott — H.  P.  Fox — 
Richard  S.  Warry  —  GEORfiE  Harris  —  W.  J.  Munce  — 
Thomas  Lade— Robert  Cribb  —  Henry  Jordax  —  T.  B. 
Stephens— A  New  Generation. 


Richard  Fitzgerald  Phelan. 


-'. Vis's.  i^L-y 


ICHARD    FITZGERALD    PHELAN 

eoulcl  claim  to  be  one  of  the  pioneer 
colonists  of  Brisbane  ;  and,  by  "pioneers," 
I  mean  those  wlio  were  here  not  only 
before  separation,  but  before  the  Crimean 
War.  Mr.  Phelan  was  one  of  the  early 
storekeepers  of  Brisbane,  and  built  his 
"^'^J,^'^  Avooden  warehouse  and  carried  on  business 

where  the  valuable  "Australian"  corner  now  is.  He 
subsequently  sold  the  building  and  land  to  the  late 
Henry  Buckley  for  £900  ( a  fair  price  in  those  days ), 
and  Charles  Trundle,  sen.,  carried  on  the  business  till 
Thomas  Hayes  V)ought  the  corner  from  Mr.  Buckley.  Mr. 
Piielan  afterwards  held  office  for  many  years  in  the  local 
branch  of  the  Bank  of  New  South  AVales,  and  must  have 
been  well  advanced  in  years  at  the  time  of  his  death,  his 
brother,  in  the  sheriff's  office  at  Sydney,  having  passed  away 
fully  eighteen  years  ago.  Mr.  Phelan  married  a  lady  from 
Philadelphia,  and  was  a  prominent  and  zealous  member  of 
the  Anglican  Church  in  Brisbane,  and  highly  esteemed  for 


228  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND     REMINISCENCES. 

his  genuine  and  sterling  integrity.  Tlie  men  who  linked 
ancient  with  modern  Brisbane  are  rapidly  passing  from  us, 
and  none  were  more  respected,  or  more  worthy  of  it,  than 
the  late  R.  F.  Phelan. 

Walter  Scott. 

The  death  of  Walter  Scott,  of  Taromeo  station,  removed 
the  last  survivor  of  the  old  resident  pioneer  squatters  of  the 
Upper  Brisbane  River  and  South  Burnett  districts,  all  so 
well  known  in  "  Brisbane  town,"  in  the  "  forties  "  and  the 
"fifties."  All  have  now  passed  away.  Balfour  and  Forbes, 
of  Colinton,  and  Donald  Mackenzie,  of  the  same  ;  Barker, 
of  Nanango  ;  David  M'Connel  and  Alpin  Cameron,  of  Cress- 
brook  ;  Ivory,  of  Eskdale ;  Mortimer,  of  Manumbar ;  Clap- 
perton,  of  Tarong ;  Mactaggart,  of  Kilkivan ;  Lawless,  of 
Boobyjan  ;  T.  Jones,  of  Barambah ;  and  D.  M.  Jones,  of 
Boonara,  are,  one  and  all,  mere  memories  now ;  as  is  also 
Tooth,  of  Widgee,  where  Gympie  now  is.  It  will  be  noted 
how  most  of  the  above  were  from  the  land  of  the  tartan 
and  "pibroch,"  the  very  cradle  of  pioneers  and  explorers 
—time-honoured  old  Scotland  !  Mr.  Scott  lived  for  forty 
years  at  Taromeo,  longer  than  is  usual  on  most  Queensland 
stations  by  their  occupants ;  though  in  New  South  Wales, 
the  older  colony,  the  Suttors  held  Wyagden  for  sixty-five 
years,  and  the  Rouses,  of  Guntawang  (whose  grandparents 
landed  in  Sydney  in  1801),  could  possibly  show  a  still  longer 
holding.  Turning  from  the  past  to  the  future,  it  is  probable 
that  in  another  fifty  years'  time  Widgee,  Glastonbury, 
Nanango,  Kilkivan,  Boobyjan,  Manumbar,  and  other  places 
in  the  "golden  belt"  of  the  South  Burnett  district,  will 
employ  more  hands  in  mining  operations  than  in  pastoral 
and  agricultural  work  combined,  when  time,  capital,  and 
labour  shall  have  brought  their  mineral  capabilities  more 
into  notice  than  at  present. 


RICHARD    S.    WARRY.  229 

H.  P.  Fox. 
H.  P.  Fox,  of  New  Farm-road,  was  also  a  very  old  colo- 
nist, one  of  the  arrivals  in  the  forties.  He  belonged  to  an 
old  Kentish  family,  and  was  a  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  Wm, 
Bailey  (another  of  the  Kentish  waterside  boat  -  building 
fraternity),  who  used  to  "  fix  up "  yachts  and  skiffs  for 
Thomas  Jones,  of  Barambah  and  New  Farm  (brother-in-law 
of  Sir  R.  R.  Mackenzie),  in  1856  and  thereabouts,  in  the 
early  boat-racing  days  of  Brisbane,  and  when  the  better 
classes  of  Brisbane  who  lived  by  the  river  side  used  to  come 
to  town  as  often  in  a  boat  as  in  a  buggy,  for  the  river  was 
always  a  well-kept  road,  which  the  other  one  was  not.  Mr. 
Fox  was  father  of  Mr.  Fox  the  lithographer  to  the  Survey 
Department,  and  of  Mr.  Fox  the  partner  of  Mr.  Unmack, 
the  solicitor.  He  belonged  to  a  class,  happily  numerous  in 
Queensland — the  noncomformist  teetotaller  one.  He  had 
daughters,  as  well  as  sons,  of  whom  were  Mrs.  Carvosso, 
Mrs.  G.  J.  Walker,  and  Mrs.  Buck,  of  Sandgate,  and  his 
descendants  must  be  pretty  numerous.  Like  all  Kentish 
people  he  was  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  cricket,  and  could 
be  seen  every  Saturday  in  the  Queen's  Park  on  the  same 
seat,  year  after  year,  till  near  his  death,  when  his  failing 
eyesight  rendered  him  unable  to  distinguish  his  favourite 
bats,  and  he  had  to  part  with  that  long  enjoyed  pleasure. 

Richard  S.  Warry. 

Richard  S.  Warry  began  business  in  Queen-street,  Bris- 
bane, about  the  year  1853.  He  afterwards  built  that  tine 
brick  store  next  to  the  Royal  Hotel,  and  subsequently  the 
Q.N.  Bank's  first  office.  When  first  erected,  in  1862,  it 
was  the  most  substantial  edifice  in  Queen-street.  The 
deceased  gentleman  long  survived  his  brothers.  Thomas, 
who  died  in  1864,  was  a  chemist,  on  the  site  of  Mr.  Beesley's 
present  establishment,  and  Charles  Warry  was  a  chemist  in 


230  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Ipswich,  and  died  at  the  early  age  of  38.  Soon  afterwards, 
their  father,  when  hale  and  hearty  at  the  age  of  78,  lost  his  life 
by  a  slip  between  a  steamer  and  wharf  down  the  river,  and  the 
consequent  shock  to  the  system.  The  sisters,  Mrs.  Hugh  Bell 
and  Mrs.  G.  L.  Pratten,  are  now  the  only  local  survivors  of 
the  family,  which  came  from  Dorset,  in  the  old  country. 

George  Harris. 

George  Harris  spent  his  early  youth  in  Victoria  and  New 
South  Wales,  and,  like  most  Australian  young  men  of  spirit, 
worked  at  the  diggings  in  the  former  place,  his  "  mates " 
(if  I  remember  rightly)  being  Captain  Sholl  and  the  late 
Donald  Coutts,  of  Jondaryan  and  Bulimba.  Mr.  Harris, 
with  his  brother  John,  his  sister  and  mother,  arrived  in 
Brisbane  about  1847,  and  carried  on  business  first  at  South 
Brisbane,  and  after-wards  at  Short-street,  on  a  site  purchased 
from  James  Gibbon.  George  Harris  was  a  gentleman  of 
great  vital  business  energy  and  hospitality.  The  writer  has 
known  him  in  1855  and  1857  to  clear  out  and  pile  up  the 
merchandise  in  his  capacious  store  at  the  Short-street  wharf, 
cover  it  up  with  red  and  blue  blankets  and  white  calico  in 
a  decorative  style,  and  give  a  grand  dance  and  supper  on 
the  premises  to  the  leading  people  of  Brisbane,  the  proceed- 
ings lasting  till  4  a.m.,  when  he,  having  shaken  hands  with 
the  last  guest,  would  set  to  work,  replace  the  merchandise, 
and  be  at  full  swing  of  business  again  at  9  a.m.,  without 
one  minute  of  sleep,  and  without  having  lost  a  moment  of 
the  working  business  hours  in  the  twenty-four.  But  "  sani- 
tary "  science  (from  a  municipal  standpoint)  was  then 
unknown  in  Brisbane,  and  every  one  was  strong  and  healthy. 

W.  J.  Munce. 

W.  J.  Munce  was  an  "old  identity  "  alike  of  Sydney  and 
of  Brisbane,      Bott,   one  of    the   shipping  and   mercantile 


THOMAS    LADE.  231 

pioneers  of  Sydney,  left  his  property  at  death  to  his  old 
friend  Munce,  who  arrived  in  Brisbane  in  October,  1859, 
to  open  business  for  Christopher  Newton  and  Co.,  of  Syd- 
ney. He  was  an  ardent  and  practical  supporter  of  the 
Volunteer  movement,  which  sprung  into  existence  in  Brisbane 
and  all  over  the  British  Empire  in  1860.  He  purchased 
from  me  the  land  on  Wickham-terrace,  where  he  built  the 
house  successively  occupied  by  Dr.  Fullerton,  Sir  James 
Garrick,  Mr.  Alexander  Stewart,  and  Dr.  Rendle.  Messrs. 
Christopher  Newton  and  Co.'s  store  in  Eagle-street,  where 
that  of  Messrs.  D.  L.  Brown  and  Co.'s  now  stands,  was  the 
only  building  in  Brisbane  which,  in  1868,  was  considered 
large  enough  and  safe  enough  to  give  a  ball  to  the  Duke  of 
Edinburgh  in,  when  H.R.H.  proposed  the  health  of  "The 
Ladies." 

Thomas  Lade. 

Thomas  Lade,  of  Upper  Kedron  Brook,  was  a  vetei'an 
colonist,  and  died  in  his  89th  year,  after  forty-two  years  of 
residence  here.  A  farmer  in  Kent,  he  was  a  farmer  here 
also,  and  in  the  early  days  his  IsaV)ella  grapes,  poultry, 
honeycomb,  and  butter  were  famous.  Had  there  been  a 
"  social  column  "  in  those  days  we  should  have  read  of  the 
pleasant  riding  parties  organised  amongst  the  "upper  ten" 
to  "Lade's"  which  used  to  be  the  fashion  in  Brisbane  in 
the  afternoon  of  a  summer's  day  in  the  "fifties  and  sixties," 
the  pleasure-seekers  coming  back  laden  with  grapes  or  other 
spoil,  which  gave  an  object  to  the  "outing."  Mr.  Lade 
delighted  to  climb  in  summer  time  to  the  level  summit  of 
Mount  Bartley,  a  big  hill  which  extended  from  Upper 
Kedron  to  The  Gap,  and  he  used  to  say  that  it  was  at  mid- 
summer "  a  blanket  and  a  suit  of  clothes  cooler  than 
Brisbane  was."  His  "young  friend,"  Mott,  another  ancient, 
missed  him  like  many  more  of  us  did,  and  he  was  the  last 


232  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

of  the  aged  trio  who  held  out  so  long,  the  others  being  W. 
Duckett  White  and  Robert  Cribb.  Mr.  Lade  was  the 
father  of  Mr,  J.  J.  Lade,  and  uncle  of  the  late  Mr.  N.  Lade. 

Robert  Cribb. 

The  death  of  Robert  Cribb  would,  in  the  mind  of  an 
ordinary  modern  Queenslander,  only  give  rise  to  a  passing 
feeling  of  wonder  that  any  one  could  live  to  be  88  in  such 
an  enervating  climate.  But,  to  the  old  residents  of  the 
"fifties,"  the  well  known  and  time-honoured  name  recalls 
the  days  when  Brisbane  was  sylvan,  primitive,  and  sweet- 
aired,  up  to  its  very  heart  in  Queen-street.  The  "  Pascoe 
Fawkner  "  of  Queensland  remembered  the  battle  of  Water- 
loo, and  was  alive  when  Nelson  breathed  his  last  in  the 
cockpit  of  the  "  Victory,"  the  last  surviving  "  youths "  of 
Trafalgar  (such  as  Sartorius  and  Tynmore)  being  now  for 
some  time  dead  and  aged  high  up  in  the  "  nineties."  How 
well  I  remember  "  Bob  "  Cribb  on  the  paddle  box  of  the 
old  "  Yarra "  (September,  1859)  eating  his  basin  of  bread 
and  milk  in  the  open,  as  he  voyaged  to  take  his  seat  for 
Moreton  Bay  in  the  Sydney  Parliament.  He  was  "aye  sound" 
on  the  subject  of  coolies  and  convicts  in  South  Queensland, 
for  North  Queensland  and  its  wants  did  not  then  exist.  He 
held  that  £\  an  acre  was  the  lowest  sensible  price  for 
land,  to  keep  the  Jay  Goulds  at  bay.  And  the  Courier 
spoke  of  him  as  "that  indefatigable  old  'die-hard,'  honest 
Bob  Cribb  "  during  the  hot  political  separation  days.  His 
simplicity  and  kindness  in  rendering  assistance  to  others,  to 
his  own  detriment  at  times,  were  only  paralleled  by  what 
another  old  resident  once  did.  Walking  with  a  friend,  he 
was  accosted  by  a  borrower,  who  asked  for  £12  and  tendered 
a  £20  diamond  ring  as  security.  The  £12  was  handed  over, 
and  the  ring  as  well.  When  the  borrower  had  gone  the 
friend  said,   "  Why  did  you  part  with  the  ring  1  you  have 


HENRY    JORDAN.  233 

now  no  security."  "Oh!  (said  the  lender,  with  exquisite 
simplicity)  if  I  had  taken  his  ring  I  should  have  stopped 
him  from  getting  more  money  when  he  wanted  it." 

Henry  Jordan, 

Henry  Jordan,  who  represented  South  Brisbane  so  long 
and  so  well,  and  than  whom  no  man  was  better  or  more 
favourably  known  in  Queensland  politics,  was  the  son  of  a 
Wesleyan  minister,  and,  although  born  at  Lincoln,  was 
■descended  from  an  old  Devonshire  family,  who  possessed  a 
■considerable  estate  in  Dartmoor,  which,  though  long  since 
passed  into  Chancery,  still  bears  the  family  name.  In  early 
life  he  had  unusual  advantages  in  the  tuition  of  his  father, 
a  man  of  broad  views  and  scholarly  attainments,  who  com- 
bined with  the  studies  of  languages  and  science,  that  of 
political  economy.  He  was  for  some  time  at  Kingswood 
College,  Bristol,  and  afterwards  studied  medicine  with  Dr. 
Body,  of  London.  His  health  failing,  he  went  to  America, 
and  after  seeing  and  enjoying  the  wonders  of  the  New 
World,  returned  to  work,  choosing  dentistry  as  his  profession. 
He  studied  at  the  London  Institution,  and  also  under  Mr. 
Orampton  and  Sir  Edwin  Saunders,  and  practised  success- 
fully in  the  good  old  town  of  Derby  for  ten  years.  Being 
a  man  of  deep  religious  feeling,  he  felt  at  length  compelled 
to  offer  himself  for  the  Church,  and  thought  of  taking  orders 
under  the  Bishop  of  Nottingham,  but  the  Wesleyan  Mission- 
ary Society  urged  his  coming  to  Australia.  Uncertain  of 
his  health,  he  came  out  at  his  own  expense  (not  wishing  to 
burden  the  Society)  and  entered  upon  mission  work  in  a 
country  district  at  Mount  Barker,  South  Australia,  where 
the  unusual  fatigue  and  exposure  were  too  great  for  him, 
and  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  the  work  for  which  he 
had  given  up  his  practice,  his  country,  and  his  home. 

He  then  went  to  Sydney,  and  resumed  his  old  profe.ssion, 


234  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

entering  into  partnership  with  Mr.  David  Fletcher,  the  well- 
known  dentist  of  that  city.  In  1856  he  came  to  Brisbane. 
He  at  once  entered  heartily  into  all  the  interests  of  the 
young  colony,  ever  ready  to  sacrifice  his  own  for  his  country's 
good.  He  was  a  member  of  the  first  Parliament.  For 
several  successive  Parliaments  he  represented  important 
constituencies,  and,  as  Agent  -  General  for  Immigration,, 
Registrar  -  General,  and  Minister  for  Lands,  did  faithful 
service,  and  his  enthusiasm,  self  -  sacrifice,  and  great 
success  in  the  cause  of  immigration  are  historical  records. 
In  religion  he  was  a  member  and  lay  preacher  of  the 
Wesleyan  Church,  though  greatly  deploring  her  secession 
from  the  mother  Church,  and  her  many  unhappy  divisions. 
He  called  himself  "  an  old  Church  Methodist."  At  the 
request  of  Bishop  Hale,  for  more  than  two  years  he  acted 
as  chaplain  to  the  Brisbane  Gaol.  In  private  life  Mr. 
Jordan  was  reserved  and  somewhat  exclusive,  and  possessed 
the  old-fashioned  courtesy  and  high  code  of  honour,  too  rare,, 
unhappily,  in  these  modern  days.  It  may  be  claimed  for 
him  that  he  was,  to  use  the  words  of  his  early  friend,  Sir 
Charles  Nicholson,  the  first  President  of  the  Queensland 
Legislative  Council,  "  A  scholar,  a  gentleman,  and  a  Chris- 
tian." He  married  a  daugliter  of  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Turner,, 
whose  name,  as  one  of  the  earliest  missionaries  to  New 
Zealand  and  the  South  Seas,  is  well  known  and  revered. 

Mr.  Jordan  was  also  a  member  of  the  first  Board  of 
Education  in  Queensland,  and  represented  the  city  of  Bris- 
bane in  the  first  session  of  the  first  Parliament.  He  was 
Commissioner  and  Agent- General  for  Immigration  from. 
January,  1861,  to  December,  1866  ;  and  subsequent  to  his 
return  from  England  engaged  in  sugar  planting  in  the  Logan 
district.  Mr.  Jordan  sat  in  the  Legislative  Assembly  as 
representative  of  East  Moreton  from  1868  to  1871  ;  and 
four  years  later  was  appointed  Registrar-General,  an  office 


HENRY    JORDAN.  235- 

which  he  held  till  1883.  In  that  year  he  was  elected  junior 
member  for  South  Brisbane,  his  colleague  being  the  late  Mr. 
Simon  Fraser.  On  the  death  of  the  Hon.  W.  Miles  (Minis- 
ter for  Works),  the  Hon.  C.  B.  Dutton,  then  Minister  for 
Lands,  was  transferred  to  the  Department  of  Mines  and 
Works,  and  Mr.  Jordan  was  intrusted  with  the  care  of  the 
Lands  Department.  At  the  general  election  of  1888  Mr. 
Jordan  was  elected  senior  member  for  South  Brisbane,  which 
position  he  held  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  In  1889  he 
was  offered  a  seat  in  the  Upper  House,  but  declined  it. 

Henry  Jordan  was  a  good  man.  There  is  a  spot  in  one 
of  the  lobbies  of  the  House,  where  he  paused  for  a  moment 
or  two  every  day  when  on  his  way  to  the  Legislative  Cham- 
l)er,  to  ask  Divine  aid  and  blessing.  The  one  action  in  all 
his  Parliamentary  career  on  which  he  looked  back  with 
satisfaction,  was  his  motion  for  opening  the  House  with 
prayer,  thus  laying  the  foundation  stone  of  the  new  colony 
on  Christian  principles.  One  other  mistake  he  would  not 
have  wished  uncorrected,  and  that  was  his  statement  that 
his  want  of  success  in  sugar-planting  was  "the  result  of 
white  labour."  The  white  labour  was  highly  successful. 
He  employed  thirty  or  forty  men  at  good  wages ;  these  men 
were  chiefly  farmers  or  sons  of  farmers  around,  who  came 
to  him  season  after  season,  and  a  feeling  of  mutual  goodwill 
and  esteem  was  then  formed,  which  has  lasted  as  long  as  his 
life,  and  to  .some  of  tliese  men,  or  their  children,  he  owed 
his  frequent  return  to  Parliament.  He  has  stated  that  he 
made  more  money  in  one  year's  sugar-growing  than  in  any 
other  one  year  of  his  life.  Insufficient  capital,  high  rate  of 
interest,  and  three  successive  years  of  frost,  induced  him 
to  discontinue  the  work.  He  gave  up  good  practice  and 
prospects  to  go  home  in  the  cause  of  emigration,  for  an 
inadequate  allowance,  whicli  he  had  to  supplement  with  his 
own  private  means.     He  was  afterwards  reimbursed  by  the 


:236  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

'Government,  but  not  until  after  great  loss  and  anxiety. 
When  the  Australian  Land  and  Mortgage  Company  offered 
3iim  the  position  of  their  first  manager,  with  a  salary  of 
£1500  per  annum  and  other  emoluments,  he  refused,  and 
kept  his  faith  with  his  adopted  country.  He  has  had  pre- 
sented to  him  many  means  of  enriching  himself,  but  these, 
Avith  his  sensitive  code  of  honour,  he  deemed  questionable, 
and  he  steadfastly  declined  them  all.  He  kept  his  hands 
pure  to  the  end.  He  was  content  to  live  and  die  a  com- 
3)aratively  poor  man,  but  he  left  to  his  children  a  rich  legacy 
— the  record  of  a  noble,  patient,  self-denying  life. 

T.  B.  Stephens. 

T.  B.  Stephens  !  Yes  !  we  remember  him,  a  long  time 
ago;  as  far  back  as  18.52.  It  was  our  lot,  then,  to  stand 
behind  the  counter  of  the  old  Bank  of  New  South  Wales 
in  Sydney,  a  "  crib  "  long  since  pulled  down,  and  the  site 
covered  with  busy  offices.  We  used  to  stand  behind  the 
counter  and  take  the  money,  and  "  T.  B."  (then  of  the  firm 
of  Maude  and  Stephens,  and  in  the  wool  line)  used  to  come 
to  pay  plenty  of  it  in.  He  looked  young  enough  then,  but 
'he  always  affected  the  same  quiet  suit  of  homespun-looking 
-colonial  tweed.  We  were  destined  to  meet  again  and 
live  in  the  same  house,  and,  a  couple  of  years  later,  Bris- 
bane was  the  scene  of  our  operations,  at  the  time  when 
the  Siege  of  Sebastopol  was  in  its  infancy,  which  we  used 
to  discuss  as  mortals  now  do  the  Shipka  Pass.  He  was 
seldom  without  his  faithful  pipe,  even  then  forming  perhaps 
"the  only  weakness  alike  in  his  character  and  constitution. 
His  pungent  Lancastrian  dialect  was  unmistakeable,  and 
he  sought  out  his  countrymen  clannishly ;  and  Grimes 
"the  elder  —  one  of  those  wiry  men,  who  never  show  age 
till  the  final  moment  comes  —  was  an  early  quest  in 
'Stephens'  rambles  in  those  bygone  days.    We  had  no  politics, 


T.    B.    STEPHENS.  237' 

no  caste,  no  officials  here  during  the  Crimean  War,  and  it 
was  both  amusing  and  amazing  to  hear  Robert  Ramsay 
Mackenzie,  circa  1856,  a  high  Australian  Tory  of  the  day,^ 
knowing  chiefly  such  ultra  men  as  Stuart  Donaldson,  tiie- 
first  Premier  of  New  South  Wales — it  was  "  immense," 
we  repeat,  to  hear  R.  R.  M.  say,  of  the  homespun,  plain 
spoken,  tweed  clad  T.  B.  S.,  and  after  a  short  and  sharp 
confab  on  the  wharf — Where  was  it,  by  the  way  1  Raff's  1 
Ah  !  we  forget  now  :  n'importe — that  he  had  never  met  with 
a  more  respectable  man  in  his  life,  nor  one  who  had  so 
mightily  convinced  and  surprised  him  as  did  the  earnest, 
broad-tongued,  Chartist  sort  of  individual  he  had  encount- 
ered so  casually,  R.  R.  M.  never  entered  the  Sydney 
Parliament.  He  drew  the  line  "  somewheres  "  you  know,, 
but  in  his  Queensland  politics  we  fancy  there  was,  perhaps, 
just  a  soup^on  of  the  Stephens  proselyting  leaven.  Well  I 
the  world  kept  on  moving  round,  and  we  got  "  separation," 
and  T.  B.  was  grievously  "licked"  by  John  Watts,  at  Too- 
woomba  first  election,  but  the  Lancaster  man,  like  more  of 
his  race,  was  not  to  be  denied.  He  came  again  and  was, 
for  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  more  before  the  public  and  less 
with  the  writer  than  of  yore.  We  ourselves  don't  like  to 
pester  Colonial  Treasurers  and  Ministers  for  Lands.  Good- 
ness knows !  they  have  enough  of  it  with  others ;  and  we 
like  to  leave  them  alone,  no  matter  how  well  we  may  have 
previously  known  them,  as  we  would  not  willingly  be  even 
suspected  of  requiring  Government  office  or  patronage.  Not 
that  "  T.  B.'"  would  have  been  a  bad  friend,  if  one  had  been 
so  situate ;  for  he  never  forgot  an  old  chum.  We  first  met 
and  lived  at  M'Cabe's  old  hotel  in  South  Brisbane  in  1854, 
and  he  remained  faithful  to  his  first  love  till  the  last,  bought 
land  and  built  and  made  his  workshops  on  that  side  of 
the  river.  He  was  not  the  stutt'  of  which  poets  or 
painters  are  made,  but  neither  England  nor  Australia  would 


"238  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

be  what  they  are  without  the  aid  and  presence  of  such  men, 
and  in  abundance,  too.  Happy  is  the  man  who  knows  his 
own  faults  and  his  own  perfections,  for  we  all  have  some  of 
botli,  though  variedly  dealt  out.  Happy  the  man  who  cul- 
tivates tlie  possible  in  his  chai'acter,  and  lets  the  impossible 
^'  rip,"  and  who  does  not  blindly  mistake  his  faults  for  his 
perfections,  as  too  many  of  us  are  apt  to  do.  And  now  for 
the  subject  of  our  discourse,  we  will 

"  No  longer  seek  his  merits  to  disclose, 

Nor  draw  his  frailties  from  that  dread  abode 

Where  both  alike  in  trembling  hope  repose  — 
The  Ijosom  of  his  Father  and  his  God." 

From  the  archives  of  the  not  very  distant  past,  I  could 
take  down  the  records  of  many  more  pioneers.  But  neces- 
sity knows  no  law^ ;  especially  that  necessity  which  takes 
the  shape  of  a  printer's  fiat,  which  demands  that  you  shall 
say  what  you  have  to  say  in  so  many  pages  and  no  more. 

The  old  folks  go,  and  the  young  generation  of  youths  and 
maidens  spring  up  in  Brisbane  and  elsewhere  in  Queensland, 
but  the  steamy  torrid  Decembers  never  change  nor  fail  with 
the  damp  breeze ;  and  the  saturating  heat  and  the  strong 
tremendous  resultant  life  that  shoots  forth  in  every  scion  of 
the  tree  and  vegetable  kingdom.  And  the  ferry  boats  carry 
over  the  gay  and  smartly  dressed  folk  to  church  in  1894  even 
as  they  did  in  l>^bi,  only  it  is  not  the  same  river,  nor  the 
same  boat ;  and  it  is  the  grand-children  of  the  grand-parents 
who  figure  on  tlie  scene  to-day.  Two  generations  have 
passed,  and  cemeteries  have  been  filled  and  biographies  have 
been  written  since  the  fifties  you  know.  Yes  !  old  Job 
Pratten,  Tom  Benin,  Geo.  Thorn  (shall  I  mention  the  list?) 
were  with  us,  and  the  twang  of  the  "Zummerzetsheer"  and 
the  "Hampsheer"  man  echoed  time  and  again  in  the  tropic 
scrub  mid  the  orchids  and  staghorns  of  Queensland,  where 
erst  "Biro"  and  Yarran  and  Weurum-neurum  were  the  only 


A    NEW    GENERATION.  239 

sounds.  But  now  both  tongues  are  silent,  and  English  as 
she  is  spoke  in  mother  Queensland  by  the  new  generation 
reigns  in  their  stead. 

How  delightful  were  the  early  mornings  ?  How  pure  the 
mountain  air  on  the  neutral  ground  between  the  Darling: 
Downs  above,  and  Tent  Hill  and  Helidon  below  the  range  ■? 
What  strong  life  it  put  into  one  even  to  breathe  it  1  How 
the  girls  of  '43  who  were  grandmothers  in  '93  used  to  "  set 
their  caps"  at  the  comely  youths  of  the  manly  "cross- 
country "  breed,  but  generally  married  the  other  fellow 
after  all.  For  though  money  was  scarce  and  fortunes  few, 
and  business  matters  seemed  petty  by  comparison  with 
present  expansion,  yet  life  was  never  since  the  creation  more 
thoroughly  enjoyed  than  it  was  by  "  boys  and  girls  "  alike 
in  the  scanty  settled  districts  country  of  early  Australian 
days.  For  indeed  it  was  life  I  life  !  life  !  that  thrilled  and 
pulsated  through  every  fibre  of  the  body,  and  every  idea 
and  aim  of  the  mind  as  well. 


...-M<^5^... 


CHAPTER    XII. 

The  Capital  of  Queensland  —  Brisbane —Its  Features  ani> 
Characteristics — The  First  Survey — Sir  George  Gipps — 
Old  Day  Ocean  Travellino  —  Amusing  Incidents  —  Mc 
Scotty's  Triumph — Road  Making  Extraordinary — Philip 
D.  Vigers— Jovial  Evenings— Early  Sugar  Days— South 
Brisbane — Sea  Sick  Travellers — The  Queensland  Club  — 
Its  Founders — The  Financial  Crisis  of  '66 — How  it  ali^ 
Happened. 


RISBANE  cannot  be  said  to  head  the  list  of 
Australian  cities  in  point  of  beauty,  but  still  it 
is  equally  far  from  being  at  the  tail  of  the  race. 
It  lacks  two  great  essentials  in  scenery,  viz., 
church  spires  and  snow-topped  mountains. 
There  is  plenty  of  water,  an  element  without 
which  no  scenery  is  perfect  ;  and  divested  of 
which  the  finest  landscape  is  but  as  a  beautiful 
woman  with  her  eyes  put  out.  Brisbane  is  little,  if  any, 
inferior  to  Hobart  and  Sydney,  as  we  will  presently  prove, 
and  far  surpasses  Melbourne  and  Adelaide  from  the  artists' 
point  of  view.  Hobart — with  its  clean,  sharp-cut,  wliitey- 
brown  stone  streets,  rising  in  terraces  from  the  harbour,  its 
open  blue  bay  and  its  lofty  but  lesser  hill  sites,  which  would 
be  reckoned  giants  anywhere  near  Brisl)ane,  but  which  nestle 
dwarfed  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Wellington  4, 196feet  high, snow- 
topped,  with  a  broad  saddle  summit  ;  and  a  noble  overhung 
basaltic  cliff,  700  feet  sheer,  near  the  summit,  and  which  looks 


Mr.  Christopher  Rolleston. 
Mr.  G.  E.  Dalrymple. 
Mr.  W.  Bowman. 


Sir  a.  H.  Palmer. 
Mr.  Matthew  Goggs. 
Sir  R.  R.  Mackenzie. 


i 

I 


i 


BRISBANE.  241 

more  like  seventy  feet  poised  up  there  in  the  air — sits  supreme 
in  ostentatious  beauty  amongst  her  Australian  sisters.  This 
splendid  background  of  mountain,  only  some  three  or  four 
miles  from  the  city,  is  to  Hobart  what  Vesuvius  is  to 
Naples,  and  the  Table  Mountain  to  Cape  Town,  except  that 
old  "  Wellington "  is  a  cool  thousand  feet  or  so  over  the 
heads  of  the  pair  of  these  lesser  lights.  Sydney,  again,  with 
its  harbour,  like  a  delicious  sandy  beached  Highland  loch, 
embosomed  in  bold,  shrub-clad  hills ;  and  its  church  spires 
and  dense  city  glimmering  in  the  haze  of  the  setting  sun  as 
seen  from  the  heights  over  Vaucluse  at  eventide,  and  backed 
up  by  the  distant  sandstone  gorges  and  trackless  defiles  of 
the  Blue  Mountains,  is  almost  a  perfect  picture,  and  the 
"  almost "  could  be  rewritten  "  quite "  were  there  a  snow- 
clad  peak  handy  to  the  spot,  for  everything  else  about  it  is 
complete.  But  Melbourne,  with  all  its  fine  public  buildings 
and  broad  streets,  its  handsome  suburbs  and  grand  shops, 
lies  too  flat  by  the  banks  of  the  Yarra  ditch  ;  and  with 
never  a  mountain  to  swear  by  save  distant  solitary  Macedon, 
a  mere  dwarf  of  some  2,400  feet  or  so,  and  the  still  lower 
ranges  of  the  Plenty  and  Dandenong.  Melbourne,  there- 
fore, must  look  for  her  laurels  in  some  other  line  than  the 
picturesque.  Adelaide,  too,  with  all  its  well-built  streets 
and  busy  marts,  can  raise  no  admiration  for  its  dried  up 
little  brooklet  of  a  Torrens  River.  And  Geelong,  despite 
its  "Station  Peak,"  its  blue  mud  bay,  and  its  rising  terrace 
site,  fails  somehow  to  catch  and  fill  the  eye  as  such  a  place 
ought  to  do.  Brisbane  is  more  comparable  with  Launceston 
than  with  any  other  Australian  town.  There  is  the  same 
fine  broad  tidal  river,  tapping  the  up-country  and  stretching 
away  in  time  to  the  blue  water.  But  the  Bremer  hardly 
can  rank  with  the  lovely  South  Esk,  neither  is  there  any 
roaring  cataract  of  100  feet  at  Brisbane;  nor  would  the 
highest  bank  on  the  Brisbane  River,  viz.,  Mount  Ommanney, 


242  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

barely  200  feet  high,  near  Woogaroo,  make  any  show  by  the 
side  of  the  bold  hills,  900  feet  high,  which  border  the  Tamar 
below  Launceston,  near  where  is,  or  was,  the  seat  of  Captain 
Niley.  Neither,  again,  does  the  Brisbane  ever  spread  out 
into  such  a  noble  lake  as  Swan  Bay,  on  the  Tamar.  But 
Brisbane  can  crow,  too ;  for  her  river  is  navigable  higher 
up,  while  Launceston  is  at  the  very  head  of  hers,  and  the 
scenery  of  Brisbane  proper  surpasses  that  of  Launceston 
almost  as  much  as  the  climate  of  the  latter  is  preferable  to 
the  other  ;  in  proof  of  which,  let  us  ascend  Wick  ham-terrace 
by  way  of  a  commencement,  and  make  a  few  notes.  "We  find 
tliat  Brisbane  city  proper  lies  chiefly  on  a  bend  of  the  river, 
wliich  makes  a  cape  pointing  to  the  south-east.  And  the 
city  is  well  provided  with  "lungs,"  for  on  the  north-west 
are  the  Wickham-terrace  reserves  ;  on  the  south-east  are  the 
Queen's  Park  and  Botanic  Gardens ;  and  on  the  north-east 
and  south-west  lies  the  river,  fully  a  thousand  feet  wide. 
These  four  breathing  spots,  which  encircle  a  straggling  built 
city  of  less  than  a  hundred  acres  in  area,  should  give  it  air 
enough  in  all  conscience.  And,  looking  from  Wickham- 
terrace,  to  the  south-west  are  just  visible  the  Darling  Downs, 
those  famous  pastoral  reservoirs  of  nutritious  herbage,  which 
have  filled  so  many  purses  ;  made  fat  so  many  bank  accounts  ; 
caused  so  many  lawsuits;  engendered  so  much  political  "bile," 
and  rancour;  loroken  so  many  hearts  and  firms  in  early  pioneer 
clays ;  but  which  are  still,  for  all  that,  the  brightest  gem  for 
their  size  in  the  mammoth  crown  of  our  Queensland.  And 
before  proceeding  any  further  we  will  briefly  dwell  on  the 
one  particular  advantage  which  Brisbane  possesses  over  any 
other  city  in  Australia.  She  is  environed  by  scattered 
irregular  hills,  which  vary  fi'om  150  feet  to  2,000  feet  in 
height,  and  all  within  a  radius  of  fifteen  miles  of  the  General 
Post  Oflice  ;  then,  secondly,  she  has  a  very  wide  and  very 
winding  river ;  and,  thirdly,  the  sea  in  all  its  glory  is  only 


BRISBANE.  243 

ten  miles  away.  Now,  to  any  one  who  knows  what  scenery 
is,  these  three  elements  of  beauty  will  tell  a  tale  of  ever- 
changing  and  diversified  arrangements  of  forest,  water,  farm, 
ocean,  buildings,  mountain,  gardens,  as  the  point  of  view  is 
shifted  from  hill  to  hill.  You  can  see  the  beauty  of  Sydney 
and  Hobart  by  standing  close  in  front  of  them  ;  but  the 
beauties  of  Brisbane  (and  they  are  far  beyond  what  any 
stranger,  or  casual  visitor,  would  suppose),  must  be  seen 
from  the  surrounding  points  of  view  ;  when  so  viewed,  they 
are  unequalled  by  any  city  or  town  inland  or  seaboard  in  the 
colonies. 

The  surveyor  who  laid  out  Brisbane  had  been  to  Batavia, 
and  wanted  to  make  each  allotment  half-an-acre  in  this  warm 
climate,  so  as  to  allow  of  fresh  air  and  a  garden  round  each 
building,  but  Sir  George  Gipps,  the  Governor  of  New  South 
Wales,  who,  poor  man  !  was  but  mortal  and  could  not  have 
been  expected  to  foresee  that  in  ten  years  more  the  destiny 
of  Australia  would  be  revolutionized  by  a  gold  discovery, 
protested  against  this  "  waste  of  Her  Majesty's  land,"  and 
ordered  the  lots  to  be  five  to  the  acre,  put  up  in  Brisbane 
at  £100  per  acre  upset,  and  £8  per  acre  in  Ipswich.  It 
will  be  useful  for  local  I'esidents  to  remember  that  all  the 
female  named  streets  in  Brisbane  have  lots  of  66  feet  front- 
age by  150  feet  deep,  while  in  the  male-named  streets  the 
frontage  is  74  feet  by  132  feet  deep.  Allotments  now  worth 
£50,000  each  in  Queen-street  were  then  bought  at  £20  over 
and  over  again  ;  £2  dej)osit  paid  and  forfeited  repeatedly, 
as  not  worth  the  money.  Notably  those  where  the  Joint 
Stock  Bank  now  is. 

INIodern  residents  of  Brisbane  cannot  realise  the  intense 
calm  and  quiet  which  reigned  in  our  simple  village  forty 
years  ago.  So  let  me  try  to  bring  it  home  to  them  now. 
There  are  several  hundreds  of  constables  to  keep  the  peace 
in  Brisbane  in  1892,  but,  in  1853  and  1854,  there  were  six 


244  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

only :  one  at  Kangaroo  Point,  two  at  South  Brisbane,  the 
chief  (Sam.  Sneycl),  and  two  in  North  Brisbane,  one  of  whom 
was  the  lock-up  keeper,  Mr.  A.  S.  Wright.  Sneycl  was 
inspector  of  slaughter-houses,  and  went  to  see  one  of  P. 
INEayne's,  where  "Kingsholme"  is  now, and  he  blew  his  whistle 
there,  and  the  lockup-keeper  in  Queen-street  heard  and  replied 
to  it.  Fortitude  Valley  was  mostly  bush,  and  had  no  con- 
stable, while  Ipswich,  Gayndah,  Warwick,  Maryborough, 
Drayton,  and  Dalby  were  allowed  one  or  two  constables  each 
by  the  Sydney  headquarters  people :  proud  metropolitan 
Brisbane  revelling  in  a  whole  six  of  them.  No  doubt  the 
time  has  been  when  a  loud  whistle,  aided  by  the  wind,  could 
have  been  heard  in  London  from  St.  Paul's  to  the  Elephant 
and  Castle,  or  in  Sydney  from  Dawe's  Point  to  the  Hay- 
market.     But  those  days  have  long  since  passed. 

There  was  always  a  great  difference  in  the  style  of  the 
departure  by  steamer  from  Sydney  and  Brisbane  in  the  olden 
days.  The  Sydney  boats  left  at  night,  and  friends  who  came 
to  see  you  off,  lined  the  staircase  and  the  cabin  for  the  sake 
of  the  light,  and  took  their  farewells  standing,  and  in  haste, 
for  the  steamer  had  to  call  in  at  Newcastle  and  fill  up  with 
coal.  Many  of  the  northern  passengers  followed  her  on 
later ;  so  late  that  an  extra  three  hours  could  be  spent  at 
the  theatre,  the  Brisbane  boat  being  picked  up  by  1 1  o'clock 
by  the  Newcastle  one,  and  then  they  would  get  aboard  the 
Brisbane  jjacket  long  before  she  got  away.  This  coaling  at 
Newcastle  took  place  regularly  in  the  185.5-65  era,  before 
the  Ipswich  coal  had  begun  to  assert  itself  properly.  But, 
to  return.  How  different  was  the  departure  by  steam  from 
Brisbane  to  Sydney.  All  daylight  work,  and  there  was 
often  a  few  hours  anchorage  at  the  bar,  waiting  for  the  tide. 
None  of  your  transition  in  a  single  short  hour  from  perfect 
repose  to  wretched  sea-sickness  as  when  coming  out  of  Syd- 
ney, but  a  jolly  sit-down  dinner  for  all  hands  in  mild  water, 


OLD    DAY    OCEAN    TRAVELLING.  2.45 

lulled  by  the  rattle  of  the  I'udder-chaius ;  the  sweets  and 
viands  and  fruit  lit  up  in  the  spink  saloon  by  brilliant  lamps. 
All  the  well-dressed  ladies  were  in  full  view,  and  for  the 
men  New  Zealand  hit  on  with  Clermont  and  the  Condamine, 
while  Eathurst  fraternised  with  Adelaide,  and  so  on.  All 
Australia,  as  it  were,  welded  into  one  under  the  introductory 
auspices  of  the  genial  skipper,  who  knew  everybody,  of 
course.  Never  on  shore  at  any  time,  or  anywhere  where 
such  rare  social  meetings,  such  bringing  together  of  the 
representative  people  as  were  consummated  in  the  old  More- 
ton  Bay  coasting  days  in  the  saloons  of  the  "Yarra,"'  "City  of 
Brisbane,"  "  Telegraph,"  and  other  of  the  "  primeval " 
boats — passed  away  like  the  good  captains  who  sailed  them, 
and  the  busy  passengers  who  travelled  in  them. 

A  comic  event  happened  after  Separation.  A  parliamen- 
tary commission,  consisting  of  some  half-dozen,  or  more,  of 
members,  was  appointed  to  travel,  per  rail,  up  country,  and 
report  on  a  question  that  affected  the  interior  of  the  colony. 
I  mention  no  names  except  two,  and  those  will  be  borrowed 
ones.  There  were  McScotty,  the  astute,  and  Rathmoyle, 
the  jovial  amongst  the  number.  On  the  way  up  in  the 
train,  and  in  a  carriage  in  which  the  former  party  was  not, 
his  character  for  drinking  at  other  people's  expense,  and 
never  "shouting"  himself,  was  freely  discussed.  Good  old 
Rathmoyle,  against  whom  no  such  indictment  could  lie,  took 
the  absent  one's  part,  and  contended  that  he  might  not, 
perhaps,  be  as  bad  as  he  seemed,  and  his  triumph  was  com- 
plete when,  at  the  roadside  inn  at  "  Bigge's  Camp,"  a  whole 
case  of  champagne  was  ordered  in  by  McScotty,  to  be 
drunk  on  the  way  up.  Great  was  the  triumph  of  Rathmoyle 
over  the  detractors.  "  There  now,  boys,"  said  he,  "  what 
did  I  tell  ye  ?  Ye'll  believe,  now,  that  McScotty's  not  a 
bad  fellow."  The  commission  were  silenced,  and  all  went 
well  up  the  country,  where  they  duly  performed  their  task, 


246  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

and  returned  to  Brisbane.  It  was  noticed  that  McScotty, 
before  they  got  back  to  "  Bigge's  Camp,"  had  hurried  on  in 
advance  of  the  rest,  pleading  urgent  business  in  Brisbane. 
The  landlord  at  that  place  called  Rathmoyle  privately  on 
one  side,  and  asked  him  in  a  low  voice  those  cabalistic 
words  :  "  How  about  that  there  case  of  champagne,  sir "? " 
"  What  case  1 "  said  R.  "  Why,  the  one  you  gents  had  on 
the  way  up.  Mr.  McScotty  said  as  how  it  was  to  be  booked 
to  you  and  no  one  else,  Sir."  There  was  no  photographer 
by  to  perpetuate  the  expression  on  poor  Rathmoyle's  visage 
at  that  supreme  moment,  and  it  is  a  great  pity,  too.  It 
would  have  made  a  picture  indeed. 

A  Mr.  Philip  Doyne  Vigers  was,  in  1855,  an  official  of 
the  New  South  Wales  Government  in  Brisbane.  He  had 
been  an  army  lieutenant,  a  fact  which,  in  early  Australian 
dnys,  seemed  to  be  held  sufficient  qualification  for  a  man  to 
fill  any  office  outside  of  the  church.  He  was  appointed 
Superintendent  of  Roads  for  Moreton  Bay,  and  set  to  work 
to  clear  the  road  between  Brisbane  and  Ipswich.  But,  in 
place  of  stumping  and  clearing  the  trees  off  in  the  old 
orthodox  fashion,  he  put  men  on  with  crosscut  saws  to  shave 
the  trees  down  at  the  level  of  the  earth,  and  the  ungrateful 
bushmen,  who  used  the  road,  used  to  complain  that  iii  wet 
weather  these  wooden  "tables  "  were  more  slippery  than  a 
wood  pavement  to  a  galloping  horse,  besides  tripping  him 
up  as  the  earth  washed  away  from  the  edge  of  the  stump. 
The  experiment  was  not  a  success,  as  the  trees  soon  grew 
up  again,  and  a  bit  of  straight  road  near  Ipswich,  got  up  in 
this  fashion,  was  known,  long  afterwards,  as  "  Virger's 
AAenue."  He  was,  of  course,  known  by  the  witty  young 
ladies  of  the  period  as  "Poor,  dear  Virger,"  and  nothing 
else ;  but  there  was  nothing  remarkable  in  that,  seeing  that 
Peter  Dalgarno  Anderson,  from  up  north,  was  also  known 
as  "Poor,   dear  Andei'son."     "P.  D."  was  an  undesirable 


JOVIAL    EVENINGS.  247 

initial  to  bear  in  those  days,  I  first  met  Vigers  at  Jerry 
Laidley's,  at  Franklyn  Vale,  where  Jerry  used  to  whistle 
the  "  Dewdrop "  waltz,  which  he  had  newly  learned,  and 
evidently  much  admired.  C.  F.  D.  Parkinson  made  the 
fourth  at  whist  with  us  in  the  evenings.  The  blacks  were 
still  dangerous  outside  Brisbane  then.  Sylvester  Diggles 
and  a  clerk  of  Harris's,  named  Kerfoot,  were  in  185.5  each 
with  a  double-barrelled  gun  across  Breakfast  Creek  beyond 
where  Bowen  Bridge  now  is,  and  up  near  the  present  Eildon 
Hill,  when  fifty  blacks  came  up  to  them,  not  armed  with 
spears,  but  wlio  took  up  stones  in  such  a  threatening  manner 
that  the  guns,  which  liad  been  brought  out  to  shoot  birds 
for  stuffing,  were  levelled  at  the  mob,  who  took  the  hint  and 
did  not  "operate."  One  could  get  dollar  birds  and  other 
rare  specimens  in  plenty  tlien  all  around  Brisbane.  Wild 
ducks  and  those  named  could  be  got  at  Kingsholme  and 
Bowen  Hills.  But  ^^ nous  avons  change  toitt  cela"  now. 
Even  as  have  some  Brisbane  greybeards  of  the  present  day 
who  used,  as  squatters,  in  the  February  of  1855,  to  sit  up 
till  5  a.m.  discussing  politics  and  talking  "bullock,"  but 
■who  keep  much  earlier  hours  now.  I  mention  no  names. 
At  this  time  G.  C.  M'Donald  and  John  Crowder  had  not 
started  on  the  grand  tour  to  Europe,  but  they  did  go  not 
long  afterwards. 

Godfrey  Gammon  was  a  thick  -  headed  city  drayman, 
Hawkeye  Boss  was  an  astute  and  refined  city  gentleman. 
Hawkeye  had  a  "  farm  "  on  the  Logan,  which  he  had  bought 
in  error  for  the  next  lot,  and,  sad  to  say,  it  contained  fifty 
acres  all  stones  and  swamp,  not  worth  a  shilling  an  acre. 
Ha%vkeye  badly  wanted  to  "plant"  this  "farm,"  not  tvith 
sugar,  you  know,  but  on  to  some  one.  But  he  could  not  hit 
on  a  plan.  Godfrey  Gammon  owned  a  really  nice  little  five- 
acre  bit  on  the  south  side,  worth  £50,  but  no  more.  Godfrey 
wanted  to  knock  out  £150  for  it,  so  he  smoked  a  pipe,  and 


248  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

he  did  hit  on  a  plan.  Result :  Enter  Granmion  to  Hawkeye, 
and  loq.  :  "  Please,  sir,  ain't  you  got  a  nice  farm  on  the 
Logan  to  sell  1 "  To  him  Boss,  fixing  his  eyeglass  :  "  Very 
much  so,  my  man."  G.  G.,  in  reply  :  "  Please,  sir,  I  want 
to  buy  it,  but  I  ain't  got  no  money,  l)ut  I'll  give  you  =£150 
if  you'll  take  my  paddock  in  South  Brisbane  in  payment." 
Rapid  mental  debate  goes  on  behind  Boss's  eyeglass,  and 
resolution  silently  carried  n.eni.  con.  that  ,£50  worth  of  pad- 
dock will  do  well  for  50s.  worth  of  Logan  swamp.  Bargain 
clenched,  thei'e  and  then  ;  Gammon  speaks  again,  "  You 
see,  sir,  I  ain't  no  scollard,  so  the  best  plan  will  be  for  you 
and  me,  both  on  us,  to  sign  the  deeds,  and  a  three  months' 
bill  each,  and  leave  the  deeds  in  the  Ijank  till  such  time  as 
the  bill  is  paid."  Hawkeye  has  no  fault  to  find  with  this 
idea  either,  and  the  job  is  duly  perpetrated.  Sti'ange  to 
relate,  it  fell  out  that  Godfrey  Gammon,  the  thick-headed 
drayman,  discounted  Boss's  bill,  and  left  the  colony  a  week 
after.  Boss  met  his  own  bill,  of  course,  and  had  to  take 
up  the  levanting  Gammon's  P.N.  as  well,  and  so  somehow 
he  finds  himself  minus  £150  in  cash,  plus  a  £50  lot  in  South 
Brisbane,  and  with  his  Logan  farm  still  on  hand.  He  poked 
his  stick  savagely  into  the  front  garden  bed,  and  muttered 
something  about  a  "plant,"  but  whether  a  horticultural  one 
or  otherwise  we  leave  the  reader  to  detei'mine. 

The  Queensland  sugar  industry  is  hardly  as  old  as  that 
of  New  South  Wales.  The  first  experimental  plantings 
M^ere  on  the  Brisbane  River,  and  in  East  Moreton.  The 
first  considerable  plantation  was  that  of  the  Hon.  Louis 
Hope,  at  Cle\eland,  and  he  was  succeeded  by  Colonel  Mac- 
kenzie, at  Tingalpa.  The  latter  had  extraordinary  difliculties 
to  contend  with,  for  his  land,  though  it  had  a  very  rich 
volcanic  soil,  was  so  stony  that  it  could  never  have  been 
ploughed,  and  could  only  be  worked  with  the  hoe.  Still  the 
returns  were  good  so  long  as  the  rank-growing  bourbon  cane, 


THE  EARLY  SUGAR  DAYS.  249 

which  was  first  introduced,  remained  free  from  disease;  but 
the  number  of  small  farmers  in  East  Moreton  required  the 
introduction  of  a  system  analogous  to  that  of  the  central 
mills,  which  are  supposed  to  be  a  quite  recent  invention. 
Mr.  Day,  at  Oxley,  and  the  Messrs.  Grimes  i^ut  up  mills  with 
a  capacity  far  in  excess  of  the  requirements  of  their  own 
small  farms,  and  either  bought  cane  from  their  neighbours, 
or  crushed  it  for  them  "  on  halves."  The  latter  was  long 
the  favourite  plan.  Mr.  Day  increased  Ids  plant  till  he  had 
one  of  the  largest  mills  with  vacuum  pan,  and  all  the  newest 
devices  for  manufacture.  The  first  attempt  at  co-operation 
was  made  by  the  settlers  on  Doughboy  Creek — many  of 
them  Germans — who  put  up  a  mill  to  crush  the  cane  grown 
on  their  own  farms,  and  entrusted  its  management  to  a  Mr. 
Burrell,  who,  like  many  of  tlie  best  and  most  succe.ssful 
Australian  sugar  men,  was  an  engineer  with  a  good  clear 
head,  and  a  smattering  of  chemical  knowledge. 

The  settlers  on  the  Mary  River,  chiefly  through  the  capital 
and  enterprise  of  Messrs.  Tooth  and  Cran,  early  gave  this 
district  a  leading  position,  and  kept  it  till  the  almost  greater 
climatic  advantages  of  the  northern  districts  brought  them 
to  the  front.  Bundaberg  and  the  Lower  Burnett,  which 
now  contribute  so  largely  to  Queensland's  total  sugar  yield, 
long  lagged  behind.  In  1874  there  wei^e  hardly  a  dozen 
houses  in  North  Bundaberg,  and  Stewart  Brothers  had  only 
just  finished  their  sugar-mill,  the  first  on  the  Burnett.  The 
Rubiana  Estate,  with  all  its  improvements  was,  in  that  year, 
sold  for  about  £1  an  acre.     What  is  it  worth  now  1 

I  first  landed  in  Brisbane  in  February  of  1854,  when  the 
steamers  always  berthed  near  the  present  Parbury's  wharf, 
on  the  south  side.  Stanley-street  of  now  was  scrub  tlien. 
There  were  a  few  business  hou.ses  round  about.  There  was 
McCabe's  wooden  hotel  close  to  the  wharf,  and  next  door 
Daniel   Peterson,   storekeeper,    held    sway.       Orr    was   the 


250  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

butcher,  and  was  located  on  the  site  of  the  present  "Graziers." 
Close  by  was  George  Appel,  John  Ocock,  the  solicitor,  and 
M'Conolly  (pater  to  the  late  Colonial  Architect),  who  had 
a  wharf.  Appel  was  the  official  inspector  of  stock.  I 
remember  a  flock  of  about  300  slieep  were  landed  affected 
with  scab.  These  were  ordered  to  be  killed,  and  burnt,  at 
once,  which  was  done  in  an  open  allotment,  in  front  of  Orr's 
place,  in  sight  of  all,  females  and  children,  who  passed  by. 
Volunteers  (to  save  time)  were  pressed  into  the  service,  and 
even  the  butcher's  clerk,  a  college  man,  had  to  wield  a  knife, 
and,  oh !  how  he  did  perspire  under  the  unwonted  exertion, 
so  different  from  ordinary  quill  driving.  And  the  wood  to 
burn  such  a  heap  of  carcases  was  another  heavy  drain  on 
the  limited  resources  of  "  our  village,"  in  order  to  be  up  to 
time  with  it.  Then  there  was  Kent,  the  chemist,  Toppin, 
the  baker,  and  Thomas  Grenier's  well-kept  hostelry.  These, 
with  J.  and  George  Harris'  store,  just  about  filled  the  bill. 

There  was  noWoolloongabba;  it  was  "the  one  mile  swamp;" 
and  a  dense,  sweet,  wattle-scented  grove  extended  the  whole 
way  round  what  is  now  River-terrace.  How  the  place  has 
grown  during  the  last  twenty  years  ! 

Whoever  would  have  thought  that  the  mere  994  feet  6 
inches  (be  the  same  a  little  more  or  less)  of  muddy,  brackish 
water,  which  sepai'ates  North  from  South  Brisbane,  marked 
the  boundary  of  two  townships  so  closely  dissimilar  in  all 
respects  ?  Joined  thougli  they  may  be  by  a  bridge,  the 
intervening  water  seems  to  forbid  any  assimilation  in  charac- 
ter between  the  two  places.  Is  it  a  fact  that  crossing  water 
changes  character,  either  in  long  or  short  voyages ;  or  what 
is  if?  Be  this  as  it  may,  we  must  confess,  that  when  we 
visit  the  south  side,  we  feel  at  once  as  if  transported  all  the 
way  to  Ipswich,  or  Maitland,  or  Balranald,  or  some  other 
bush    township    1000    miles    away    from    Queen-street. 

The  smaller  hotels  of  South  Brisbane  were,  in  1875,  all 


SOUTH    DRISBANE.  251 

of  the  same  kind  of  houses  you  find  scattered  thirty  miles 
apart  in  the  bush,  and  whose  hospitable  doors  you  arrive  at 
after  a  long,  dusty,  weary  day's  ride.  Tliei'e  was  a  fine  old 
work-a-day  bush  twang  of  the  stockwhip  and  bullock  yokes, 
the  branding  iron  and  stock-yaixl,  still  left  about  fSouth 
Brisbane,  and  which  was  totally  unknown  in  finicking  North 
Brisbane,  sacred  more  to  wealthy  tradesmen,  German  mis- 
sionaries, and  the  "Fortitude"  immigrants,  the  very  I'ace 
of  people,  in  short,  whom  a  "  true  blue  "  blacksoil  squatter 
hated  (politically,  of  course)  like  poison,  even  as  his  cattle 
would  their  sour  sea  grass  paddocks.  The  little  boys  of 
South  Brisbane  would  (at  a  surprisingly  tender  age  of 
infancy)  energetically  and  successfully  track  and  chase  for 
you  the  active  working  bullock  and  the  shy  sweet  milking 
cow  alike  from  their  secret  forest  lairs  to  your  very  doors^ 
and  would  wield  the  resonant  stockwhip,  and  sit  "to  tlie 
manner  born"  the  propping  stock-horse  in  a  way  and  a  style 
which  no  efieminate  North  Brisbane  boy  could  attain  under 
double  the  age  of  the  miraculously  precocious  South  side 
infant  Hercules. 

And  then  the  gentle  ladies  too,  and  the  healthy  children 
one  met  with  in  the  grassy  suburban  streets,  outside  their 
cottage  gates,  around  the  outskirts  of  South  Brisbane  and 
Kangaroo  Point.  They  didn't  resemble  the  North  Brisbane 
ladies  one  bit.  There  was  more  of  the  garden  glove,  thick 
veil,  sunshade  style  about  them.  They  were  just  as  prettily,, 
but  less  fashionably,  attired.  They  were  more  like  the  ladies 
and  children  one  meets  with  at  a  comfortable  30,000  sheep 
station  up  country.  There  was  a  primitive,  shy,  kindly,, 
healthy  look  about  them,  and  nothing  in  the  least  degree 
civic  or  urban  in  their  manner  or  appearance.  Provided 
always,  and  be  it  understood,  that  none  of  these  remarks 
be  held  in  any  way  to  apply  to  Kangaroo  Point  Proper, 
which,  in  the  year  of  which  I  write  (1875)  was  more  like  a 


'252  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES, 

tiny  colony  from  Darling  Point,  Sydney,  than  anything  else. 
We  are  speaking  now  rather  of  the  sylvan  Shafston,  the 
rural  Norman's  Creek,  the  beauteous  River-terrace  with  its 
unrivalled  coup  d'ceil  of  the  great  city  ;  we  are  writing  now 
more  of  grassy  Coorparoo,  and  of  the  aspiring  crest  of  lofty 
Highgate  Hill.  And  so,  dear  old  South  Brisbane,  farewell 
for  the  present.  Our  wish  was  that  the  days  be  many  and 
long  withal,  ere  branch  banks  and  shilling  ordinaries,  free 
counter-lunches  and  typhoid  fever,  railways  and  cab-stands, 
and  all  the  other  delightful  agremens  of  "  civilisation  "  in- 
vade thy  quiet  precincts  and  primitive  haunts.  We  would 
fain  have  had  thee  remain  as  thou  wert,  innocent  of  all 
"  progress,"  for  it  was  indeed  not  everywhere  that  one  could 
travel  500  miles  from  home,  by  simply  crossing  a  short  bridge 
with  a  penny  toll. 

In  1854  the  ferries  of  Brisbane  were  only  two  in  number, 
one  kept  by  William  Baxter,  which  plied  to  the  foot  of  the 
next  street  parallel  to  Melbourne-street,  and  the  other,  car- 
ried on  by  Carter,  from  the  Custom  House  to  Kangaroo 
Point.  The  latter  was  the  first  to  treat  his  passengers  to 
an  awning  for  the  sun  in  the  boat.  Mr.  John  Stephen 
Ferriter,  R.N.,  was  the  agent  for  immigration  then,  and 
lived  in  the  cottage  adjacent  to  the  stone  barracks,  between 
George  and  William  -  streets,  wliich  were  afterwards  the 
Queensland  Colonial  Treasurer's  office.  He  was  somewhat 
addicted  to  bad  puns,  but,  otherwise,  of  a  kind  and  genial 
disposition.  I  i-emember  one  hot  Sunday  when  he  arrived 
at  St.  John's  Church  and  sat  in  front  of  me,  he  turned  round 
and  remarked  to  me  as  he  wiped  his  heated  face,  "  Well ! 
if  a  man  gets  no  other  promotion  by  coming  to  church  in  this 
weather,  he,  at  all  events,  gets  made  a  Knight  of  the  Bath." 

The  old  commissariat  stores  of  1822,  and  Pettigrew's  saw 
mills,  were  the  only  places  besides  Tom  Dowse's  and  a  small 
public  house  on  that  part  of  the  river  bank  in  1854,  and  the 


SEA    SICK    TRAVELLERS.  253 

Botanic  Gardens,  barring  the  old  bunya  and  lebeck  trees^ 
were  in  a  very  premature  state  till  Walter  Hill  came  along 
in  1855  to  put  a  new  face  on  them.  York's  hollow,  below 
the  present  site  of  Gregory-terrace,  was  a  pleasant  glade, 
full  of  clear  water  lagoons. 

I  remember  a  sea  trip  about  this  time,  with  A.  H.  Yald- 
wyn  and  Mark  Farrell,  the  contractor  for  Cape  Moreton 
lighthouse,  as  fellow  passengers.  I  was  down  at  once,  of 
course,  when  Cape  Moreton  was  cleared,  and  the  south-easter 
freshened  up,  but  they  were  case-hardened,  and  sat  below 
out  of  the  rain  at  night  and  amused  themselves  with  brandy 
pawnee  and  by  trying  whose  gold  repeater  had  the  most 
musical  bell.  I  think  Farrell's  watch  had  a  little  the  best 
of  it.  And  here  a  word  or  two  about  that  miserable  affliction 
of  sea  sickness.  How  that  eternal  "beam  sea"  which  rolls 
in  on  the  east  coast  of  Australia  is  responsible  for  bilious 
misery  !  Why,  oh  !  why  does  everything  you  have  eaten  for 
the  previous  six  months  appear  to  rise  in  judgment  against 
you  all  at  once,  as  you  wrestle  with  your  agony  in  the  creak- 
ing "state  room,"  where  your  coats  and  "belongings"  swing 
mournfully  from  the  hooks  1  Why  do  young  people,  with, 
their  strong,  vital,  biliary  organs,  suffer  so  much  more  than 
the  aged  do  1  Who  can  tell  1  It  is  certain  that  those  who 
do  not  suffer  at  sea  are  not  any  longer  lived  (but  rather  the 
contrary)  than  those  who  do  so  suffer.  It  is  a  mystery.  I 
remember  one  sturdy  scion  of  the  Yorkshire  Lumleys,  who, 
with  his  ancestors,  I  suppose,  had  known  neither  dyspepsia 
nor  starvation  for  800  years,  and  whose  stomach  was  of  cast 
iron  strength.  I  remember  him  in  a  frightful  gale,  whei'e 
even  the  seasoned  captain  and  stewards  were  all  sick.  He 
came  up  smiling  and  alone  at  each  meal ;  but  every  one  is 
not  so  gifted  as  this.  But,  as  Shakspeare  says,  "  there  is  a 
soul  of  good  in  all  things  evil,  would  men,  observingly,. 
distil  it  out,"  and  so  I  used  to  construct,  as  I  lay  on  my 


254  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

back,  rules  of  diet  to  be  observed  on  shore  based  on  what 
experience  I  get  in  the  hours  of  agony  at  sea.  What  to 
take  and  what  to  avoid  were  learnt  there.  Oranges  before 
breakfast  were  grateful  at  sea.  Memorandum  :  To  continue 
the  habit  and  freshen  the  mouth  with  them  on  rising  through 
life,  when  on  shore  ;  to  avoid  vinegar  always  and  salads 
sometimes,  and  so  forth. 

I  was  heartily  amused,  once,  on  board  steamer,  with  John 
Tait  and  his  racehorses.  To  see  a  worthy  old  member  of 
Parliament,  from  the  Maneroo  district,  very  sea-sick,  and 
saying  to  his  wife,  "  My  dear,  I  can't  think  what  ails  me, 
for  all  I  had  for  breakfast  was  a  plate  of  tinned  lobsters  and 
a  black  pudding."  I  wonder  how  he  could  have  proposed  to 
improve  upon  this  1  And,  then,  'mid  the  giant  waves  that 
roll  off  Flat  Top  Island,  on  the  Queensland  coast,  was  a 
steamer  which  carried  an  objectionable  fellow,  the  manager 
of  a  "variety  ti^oupe."  He  was  noisy  and  voluble,  and 
bragged  that  he  was  never  sea-sick  in  his  life,  as  the  mail 
boat  anchored  off  the  island,  and,  to  prove  it,  he  ate  an 
enormous  breakfast  of  raw  onions  and  similar  horrors.  But 
old  "Flat  Top"  has  a  habit  of  "  fetching 'em  "  when  a  boat 
is  at  anchor  there,  which  the  boaster  had  never  bargained  for, 
and  I  am  proud  to  say  that  it  asserted  itself  on  this  occasion, 
and  the  onions,  etc.,  went  to  the  fishes  in  due  course — for  the 
first  time  on  record,  no  doubt,  in  his  case. 

I  once  tried  the  heroic  remedy  of  two  grains  of  tartar 
emetic,  and  one  scruple  of  ipecacuanha  the  night  before  going 
to  sea  from  Melbourne  in  1851,  and  the  precious  emetic  kept 
me  all  right  and  hungry  in  Bass'  Straits,  in  the  month  of 
May.  But  the  same  reduced  to  half,  only  aggravated  the 
seasickness  sailing  cut  of  Brisbane  in  1857.  The  best 
remedy  I  know  is  physic  before  you  go  to  sea.  Drink  sea 
water  as  soon  as  you  feel  you  are  "  in  for  it."  Take  a  dose 
after  this  (not  before)  of  a  chloroform  and  camphor  mixture, 


THE    QUEENSLAND    CLUB.  255 

which  any  chemist  can  make  up.  Lie  doivn  ;  eat  bananas 
and  sponge  cake,  which  require  little  chewing  or  digesting ; 
drink  soup,  the  salt  in  which  keeps  the  stomach  from  con- 
verting it  into  vinegar,  as  it  does  all  drinks.  And  the  orange 
in  the  early  morning  removes  the  nasty  taste  in  the  mouth. 
My  fellow  passengers  on  one  trip  were  Mr.  Robert  Cribb, 
then  one  of  our  members  in  the  Sydney  Parliament,  and 
Judge  B.  (the  "  genial ")  was  also  on  board,  and  my  cabin 
mate.  He  it  was  who  used  to  go  circuit  out  west,  and,  at 
one  township  far  out  in  the  "  never  never  "  country,  where 
there  was  no  church,  chapel,  or  parson,  but  only  a  court 
house,  public  houses,  stores,  etc.,  the  Judge  was  asked  by  a 
deputation  to  read  the  Anglican  prayers  at  the  court  house 
on  the  following  Sunday,  and  on  no  account  to  omit  the 
prayer  for  rain,  as  there  had  been  a  twelve  months'  drought 
out  there.  The  Judge  promised  compliance,  and  duly  officia- 
ted on  the  Sunday,  but  somehow,  in  place  of  reading  the 
prayer  for  rain,  he  turned  over  the  wrong  leaf  and  substi- 
tuted the  "  thanksgiving  for  rain."  The  subject  was 
mentioned  to  him  after  church.  His  only  rejoinder  was 
"  Look  here,  boys ;  it's  never  a  good  plan  to  open  a  fresh 
account  before  you've  squared  off  the  old  debt :  I'll  be  bound 
now  ye  never  thanked  Providence  for  the  last  batch  of  rain 
ye  got,  and  ye  owed  for  it  still,  and  now  I've  squared  that 
bill  for  ye  and  ye  can  ask  for  more  with  a  clear  conscience!" 
He  left  the  crowd  cogitating. 

A  gentleman  (now  no  more)  once  wrote  me  to  ask  if  I 
could  give  him  a  list  of  the  original  or  foundation  members 
of  the  Queensland  Club.  I  was  surprised  at  the  request, 
for  I  concluded  that  the  early  archives  and  books  of  the 
club  would  have  afforded  the  information  required,  but  when 
I  learnt  that  they  had  all  been  destroyed  by  an  accidental 
fire,  I  told  him  that  I  knew  something  of  the  subject, 
feathered  from  old  diaries  and  memoranda.     In  the  month 


256  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

of  December,  1859,  the  great  success  of  the  "North  Aus- 
tralian "  Club  in  Ipswich  made  Brisbane  people  think  of 
starting  a  club  here,  and  a  preliminary  meeting  of  those 
interested  was  held  at  the  office  of  the  Hon.  D.  F.  Roberts, 
and  several  working  sub -committees  were  appointed.  It 
was  resolved  to  ask  the  newly-arrived  Governor,  Sir  George 
Bo  wen,  to  become  the  patron,  to  name  the  club  after  the 
new  colony,  and  to  secure  temporary  premises  at  once  at 
Mr.  W.  A.  Brown,  the  sheriff's  house,  in  Mary-street.  The 
first  House  Committee  were  Shepherd  Smith,  E.  S.  Elsworth 
(of  the  Joint  Stock  Bank),  and  N.  Bartley.  These  drafted 
the  rules,  bought  the  furniture,  and  engaged  the  first  staff 
of  servants,  after  which  R.  G.  W.  Herbert  and  J.  Bramston 
were  added  to  the  committee.  Those  members  who  were 
willing  to,  and  had  been  invited  to  join,  came  in  during 
January  and  February,  1860,  and  the  first  ballot  for  the 
election  of  members  was  held  on  the  1st  of  March,  1860, 
after  which,  of  course,  there  were  no  more  "  originals." 
About  the  j^ear  1876,  and  dui'ing  the  secretaryship  of  Mr. 
Davidson,  and  before  the  fire,  I  remember  seeing  a  list  of 
members,  with  the  foundation  ones  printed  in  red  in  place 
of  black  letters.  The  original  members,  of  whom  I  am  quite 
certain,  were  R.  Little,  R.  Douglas,  J.  Little,  W.  D.  White, 
D.  F.  Roberts,  A.  A.  May,  J.  W.  Jackson,  E.  S.  Elsworth, 
N.  Bartley,  Shepherd  Smith,  J.  J.  Galloway,  R.  G.W.  Her- 
bert, J.  Bramston,  and,  I  think,  the  following  might  also  be 
included  :  Dr.  Cannan,  F.  E.  Roberts,  W.  Rawlins,  W. 
Thornton,  W.  Pickering,  and  J.  F.  M'Dougall. 

Full  often  in  the  long,  weary  flood  throughout  the  years 
of  bad  times  does  the  struggling  man  wish  for  death  as  a- 
release,  when  he  views  his  haggard  wife  and  foredoomed 
children — doomed  to  scant  education,  social  extinction,  and 
early  trouble.  It  is  the  old-told  story  repeated  every  genera- 
tion  in   Australia — a   spurt  of  prosperity,   a  great  money 


/  ..4^~***V 


Capt.  John  Mackay.  Dr.  Dorsey. 

Mr.  F.  Bigge. 

Mr.  T.  De  Lacy  Moffatt.  Hon.  R.  Towns. 


THE    CRISIS    OF    '66.  257 

scramble,  a  wide-spread  game  of  "  puss  in  the  corner  " — at 
the  end  of  which  the  wise  ones  who  have  picked  up  and 
hugged  the  fleeting  money  shower,  are  all  on  the  snug 
corners,  and  decline  to  leave  them ;  while  the  poor  fools 
left  out  in  the  middle  of  the  room  are  stuck  there  for  ever ; 
and  the  lessons  forgotten  by  half  the  community  when  the 
next  era  of  money  plenty  comes  round  again. 

There  was  a  nice  financial  crisis  in  Brisbane  in  1866.  In 
the  month  of  July,  the  Bank  of  Queensland,  without  a 
warning  of  any  kind,  without  a  run  or  panic,  put  up  its 
shutters  one  morning.  True  there  had  been  a  firm  of  bill 
brokers  in  London,  called  Overend,  Gurney  &  Co.,  who  had 
failed  for  nine  millions  just  before  that,  and  the  Agra  and 
Masterraan's  Bank,  forgetting  the  old  tx'aditions  of  Master- 
man,  Peters,  Mildred  &  Co.,  had  joined  forces,  and  not 
succeeded  thereby.  But  no  one  expected  trouble  here  from 
it  all  till  it  came  like  a  thunderclap,  and  then  everyone  of 
course  had  foreseen  it,  only  they  forgot  at  the  time  to 
mention  it,  you  know.  But  mistrust  soon  spread.  The 
Union  of  Australia  was  the  Government  bank  then,  and 
there  was  a  weakness  about  Government  cheques,  and  a  run 
on  the  bank  itself,  which  was  then  in  Elizal>eth-street,  near 
where  W.  Steele  &■  Co.  lately  were.  It  was  a  comical  and 
suggestive  sight  to  see  the  fools  drawing  out  their  sovereigns 
at  the  front  door  of  the  bank,  and  rushing  off  with  them  to 
the  other  banks,  which  were  quietly  all  the  time  carting 
more  and  more  sovereigns  in  at  the  hack  door  of  the  Union. 
The  run  could  have  been  withstood  for  ever.  But  Queens- 
land was  in  a  bad  way.  The  pace  had  been  fast  since  1862, 
and  there  was  bound  to  be  a  pull  taken,  and  it  was  a  real 
pull  and  a  dead  halt,  that  lasted  for  six  long  weary  years 
afterwards.  A  land  boom  had  sprung  up  in  1862.  Up  to 
that  time  land  had  been  subdi\  ided  and  sold  in  moderation 
as  wanted,  but  generally  sold  privately,  and  in  this  way  a 


258  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

good  deal  of  Fortitude  Valley  and  Spring  Hill  (so  called) 
had  been  built  on.  But  in  1862,  a  ship  came  from  Scotland 
to  Brisbane,  called  the  "  Helenslee,"  with  many  more.  The 
"  Helenslee "  passengers  brought  out  £30,000  with  them, 
an  average  of  £100  per  passenger,  and  on  the  strength  of 
this  and  similar  arrivals,  a  "  land  boom  "  was  organised. 
One  enterprising  firm  of  auctioneers  found  out  that  "  there 
was  money  "  in  the  feat  of  buying  suburban  land  wholesale 
at  £1  an  acre,  and  selling  it  retail  in  32-perch  lots  at  £2 
each  (half  cash,  and  half  at  three  months),  and  "  estates " 
on  the  Enoggera  ranges  and  elsewliere  found  buyers  who 
paid  up  but  never  claimed  their  land  to  this  day.  One 
astute  agent  persuaded  people  that  the  Ipswich-road  was 
^lestined  to  be  lined  with  shops  on  both  sides,  and  a  rush  for 
land  took  place  thither,  and  he  led  them  just  as  easily  else- 
where when  that  "fad"  was  exhausted.  The  town  of  Bowen, 
at  Port  Denison,  originally  sold  by  the  Crown  in  1861,  was 
"boomed"  in  the  same  way  about  1863  and  1864.  £10 
lots  for  £200  and  so  on,  to  the  disaster  and  grief  of  buyers, 
who  died  despairing. 

A  four  million  loan  had  been  raised  and  spent  partly  on 
railways,  and  the  country,  as  usual,  seemed  all  the  poorer 
in  place  of  richer  for  the  expenditure.  The  panic  did  not 
extend  in  the  other  colonies  nor  England  as  it  did  in  the 
nineties.  It  was  foretold,  in  1867,  by  myself,  that 
Queensland  would,  in  her  vigorous  growth,  emerge  from  the 
1.S66  trouble,  and  think  it  and  its  four  million  loan  a  flea 
bite,  and  I  hoped  it  would  be  a  warning.  She  did  so  emerge, 
and,  in  one  generation,  as  usual,  it  and  all  its  lessons  had 
been  forgotten,  and  a  new  crash — with  thirty  millions  in 
place  of  four  millions— with  loans  laughed  at  in  London  for 
all  Australia — with  things  queer  and  unsettled  all  over  the 
financial  world  —  came  to  pass.  Queensland,  still  in  its 
infancy,   teeming   with    natural   wealth,    will   outgrow   this 


HOW    IT    ALL    HAPPENED.  259 

crisis  also,  but  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  people  of 
1915  will  have  overlooked  the  traditions  of  the  previous 
generation,  and  brought  on  a  third  cataclysm.  The  world 
never  does  learn  wisdom  by  experience,  and  the  chances 
are  that  collapse  will  then  follow  inflation  as  in  1825, 
1843,  and  1866.  Every  evil  that  led  here  and  else- 
where to  the  affair  of  1866  was  repeated  with  aggravation, 
and  on  a  larger  scale,  between  1884  and  1889,  and  the 
inevitable  eruption  followed.  I  recall  how  in  Sydney  in  1877 
gigantic  estate  auctions  in  allotments  would  last  three  days, 
and  realize  £20,000  a  day  ;  how  in  Brisbane  in  1884  and  1885 
a  land  agent  with  no  auction  at  all  would  book  land  all  day 
long  in  his  day-book  privately.  A.B.,  Dr.  to  CD.,  for  land 
at  Fortitude  Valley,  Cleveland,  &c.,  £500,  £350 ;  booking 
and  selling  huge  lots  like  the  Civil  Service  Store  books 
groceries,  and  with  no  trouble  of  putting  string  round  them 
or  sending  them  out  in  a  cart,  in  order  to  earn  the  com- 
mission on  them.  But  it  all  came  to  an  end,  and  no  wonder. 
Tlie  astute  land  broker  who  started  the  game  in  1862,  held 
on  bravely  at  it  for  twenty-five  years,  till  the  numerous  land 
banks  arose  and  snuffed  out  the  private  land  shark,  and  then 
he  retired  sniffing  the  coming  financial  cyclone  before  anyone 
else  did,  and,  with  topmasts  down  and  twenty  anchors  out, 
each  of  a  thousand  pounds  sterling  weight  and  more,  he  rode 
out  the  cyclone  snugly  in  harbour.  He  is  one  type.  Now 
for  another  and  equally  (up  to  a  certain  point)  successful 
land  broker.  He,  in  place  of  converting  all  into  cash  (like 
the  party  quoted),  used  to  put  all  his  profits  and  commissions 
into  land.  He  showed  me  his  safe  one  day  crammed  full  up 
of  his  title  deeds,  all  clear  of  lien  or  mortgage.  "  Very 
good,"  said  I ;  and  have  you  any  money  as  well."  "  No," 
said  he.  "Then,"  I  replied,  "you  are  in  a  very  unsafe 
position.  Everyone  should  have  a  third  of  his  total  assets 
in  liquid  form,  gold  or  notes.     Cash  at  call.      It  is  not  '  idle 


260  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

money,'  for  it  helps  to  in'otect  all  the  rest  of  his  property, 
and  save  it  from  loss  and  depreciation  and  forced  sale  to  an 
extent  far  beyond  the  mere  loss  of  interest  on  the  (so-called) 
'  idle  money,'  "  He  could  not  see  it,  and  when  the  financial 
cyclone  did  come,  if  he  and  his  condition  had  been  repre- 
sented by  a  ship  with  all  sail  set  (the  sails  being  his  parchment 
deeds),  and  his  sole  small  anchor  out,  represented  by  his 
slender  stock  of  cash,  you  will  have  a  full  idea  of  how  the 
tempest  wrecked  Aim,  who  put  his  faith  in  all  land  and  no 
money.  I  have  spoken  of  the  land  brokers  so  far,  let  me 
now  dwell  on  private  land  speculators.  Class  No.  1  buy 
and  hold  twenty  or  thirty  properties  at  a  time,  make  by- 
sales,  and  secure  large  profits.  But  when  the  crash  comes 
they  are  "left"  with  heavy  interest  to  pay,  and  to  face 
the  "  shrinkage  "  on  thirty  properties.  Result :  the  absorp- 
tion of  all  past  profits.  A  more  careful  class  of  operatoi"s 
would  never  buy  a  second  piece  till  they  had  sold  the  first 
one,  and  so  only  hold  one  piece  at  a  time,  with  the  result 
that,  when  the  crisis  came,  they  held  on  to  all  past  profits, 
and  only  had  to  face  the  loss  on  one  piece  of  land  ;  a  much 
better  position  than  the  other  class  held. 

In  order  to  illustrate  how  the  1866  crash  afiected  me 
personally,  I  must  go  back  a  few  years.  My  grandfather 
was  chief  clerk  in  the  Ordnance  Department,  and  had  an 
oflicial  residence  in  the  Tower  of  London.  He  was  born  in 
1779,  and  died  in  1842,  and  left  me  something  handsome  in 
his  will.  I  became  of  age  when  in  Australia,  and  the  money 
was  sent  out  to  me  in  Queensland.  Mr.  Robert  Little  pre- 
pared the  identification  papers,  and  the  money  came  out 
through  the  Bank  of  New  South  Wales.  Contrary  to  the 
advice  of  all  my  southern  friends,  who  looked  upon  Brisbane 
theyn  as  we  now  should  at  Tongatabu  as  a  field  for  land 
investment.  I  resolved  to  spend  it  all  in  land.  I  bought 
it  from  the  Crown  at  Wickham-terrace,  Bowen  Hills,  village 


ONE    OF    ITS    EFFECTS. 


261 


of  Lutwyche,  Highgate  Hill,  etc.,  besides  odd  lots  at  Rock- 
hainpton,  Maryborough,  Toowoomba,  Bowen,  Cleveland,  and 
Tiugalpa.  Before  the  crash  of  1866,  these,  which  had  not 
cost  nie  £l,oOO,  were  valued  at  £15,000,  but  after  the  Bank 
of  Queensland  put  the  shutters  up,  I  could  not  raise  cost 
price  on  it.  It  long  since  passed  into  other  hands,  and 
then  fetched  hish  values. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

Life  by  tue  Sea  Shore — Early  Sandgate — My  First  Visit— 
What  the  Wild  Waves  were  Saying — An  Appreciable 
Soul— Good  Company — Floods  in  the  Brisbane — A  Few 
Records — The  Weather  and  the  Seasons — Drought  ani> 
Its  Recurrence — Magnificent  Queensland. 


YEN  in  those  days  we  in  r>risl)ane  had  our 
marine    nooks ;     and    whetlier    there    was 
V    plenty  of  money  or  an  absence  of  it,  there 
,/"    was  no  dearth  of  enioyment  either  at  home 
''^'  or    at    those  places  were  folks  used   to  lie 
and  listen  to  what    the    wild    waves    were 
saying.     Of  these  Brisbane  summer  resorts, 
Sandgate  may  be  considered  the  oldest. 

It  is  true  that  as  far  back  as  early  1854,  Brisbane  ladies 
used  to  be  left  at  Moreton  Island  to  recruit,  being  fetched 
up  and  down  by  Sydney  steamers  in  pa.ssing.  And  at  Cleve- 
land, too,  was  a  seaside  resort,  and  Captain  Towns  gave  us 
citizens  of  Brisbane  a  picnic  thither  in  the  steamer  "Bread- 
albane  "  in  1856.  Certain  of  the  upper  families  in  Brisbane 
(well  off  for  buggies  and  horses)  and  their  married  friends 
also,  from  the  Logan,  vised  Cleveland  for  a  summer  sojourn, 
and  many  a  daring  side-saddle  dash  after  the  cows  and  the 
milk  for  breakfast  and  tea  was  made  by  young  married 
ladies  (whose  husbands  were  busy  in  town),  and  to  see  ■whom 


EAKLY    SANDGATE.  263 

dance  would  give  you  no  idea  of  their  skill  in  the  side- 
saddle ;  for  they  had  learned  to  ride  as  children  far  away 
from  Brisbane,  and  their  husbands  were  then  at  a  desk  in 
town,  and  were  not  stockmen,  and  could  not  "  run  in  "  a 
cow  as  their  spouses  could  when  the  children  needed  milk. 
But,  for  all  this,  Cleveland  was  used  only  by  a  fashionable 
and  select  few.  It  was  twenty-two  miles  from  Brisbane, 
and  Sandgate  was  only  twelve,  and  the  latter  soon  became 
the  place  for  all  hands  to  flock  to  in  the  summer  season.  I 
lirst  went  there  in  September,  1858,  in  company  with  Dr. 
Hobbs  and  the  Rev.  George  Wight.  I  remember  how  Lieut. 
Williams,  of  the  native  police,  and  I,  threw  spears  over  the 
fork  of  a  high  gum  tree  near  the  Ein  Bunpin  Lagoon,  in 
a  style  which  Dr.  Hobbs  (who  had  never  been  in  the  bush) 
could  not  emulate.  The  population  of  Sandgate  was  then, 
I  should  estimate,  about  twenty-five  souls.  The  "  hotel " 
was  kept  by  one  Charles  F.  Davie,  a  consumptive  little 
man,  who  came  there  to  try  and  prolong  his  days  on 
earth,  by  the  soft  sea  air.  Butchers  and  bakers  and  shops 
there  were  none,  so  all  the  fare  was  salt  beef  and  damper, 
unless  you  liked  "  to  bring  a  few  pounds  of  steak  with  you 
in  your  valise,"  which  was  just  what  we  did.  Bottled  beer, 
wine,  and  spirits  were  procurable.  We  slept  well,  and,  in 
the  morning.  Dr.  Hobbs  went  for  a  bathe  under  the  very 
hibiscus  tree  which  still  gives  its  grateful  shade  at  the  land 
end  of  the  pier,  after  which  we  strolled  to  "  Shornclifte," 
where  Mr.  Wight  noticed  the  coal  measures  jutting  out  on 
the  beach.  Months  after  this,  again,  the  blacks  from  the 
north  end  of  the  Bay  (Bribie  way)  came  down  and  made 
the  place  uncomfortable.  They  bailed  Tom  Dowse  up  in  a 
slab  hut  which,  fortunately  for  him,  had  no  glass  windows, 
but  only  an  opening  to  which  a  thick  wooden  shutter  fitted 
like  a  hatchway.  This  was  spear-proof,  and  he  escaped,  and 
after  this  Lieut.  Wheeler,  of  the  native  police,  cleared  out 


264  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

the  aboriginals,  who  never  again  troubled  Sandgate,  except 
as  men  and  brothers,  on  the  look  out  for  tobacco  and  pennies, 
and  the  place  soon  became  a  fine  resort  for  children  who 
needed  to  get  rid  of  the  troublesome  tail  end  of  a  whooping 
cough,  measles,  or  scarlet  fever.  Cabbagetree  Creek  was  a 
"teazer"  to  cross  at  high  water,  but,  after  1861,  it  got  a 
bridge,  and  so  that  little  ti'ouble  was  at  an  end,  and  a  picnic 
to  Sandgate  and  back  on  the  same  day  soon  became  a  recog- 
nised institution  in  Brisbane  life,  and  the  little  town  grew, 
and  stores  and  hotels  were  run  up,  and  cottages  were  built 
to  let  for  the  summer  season  furnished.  But  it  was  still 
advisable  to  bring  down  bread  and  poultry,  tkc,  from  time 
to  time,  as  supplies  were  precarious,  and  visitors  came 
unexpected.  "Jordan  Cottage"  was  built  about  1860. 
Loudon's  about  the  same  time.  McConnel's  house  (now  D. 
L.  Brown's),  was  put  up  in  1866. 

There  is,  at  Sandgate,  no  thunderous  roar  of  curling 
breakers  thirty  feet  high,  sounding  forever  by  day  and  night 
in  front  of  your  verandah,  and  only  fifty  feet  away  from 
you.  Your  eye  does  not  range  over  an  open  ocean  unbroken 
and  undefiled  by  so  much  as  a  sandbank  for  ten  thousand 
miles  clean  away  to  distant  Valparaiso.  There  are  no 
beautiful  cone  shells  and  tiger  cowries  and  ear  shells  and 
other  conchological  delights.  In  fact  Sandgate  is  chiefly 
remarkable  for  what  is  not  there.  There  is  no  pier,  no 
yachts,  no  bazaars,  no  German  band,  no  docks,  no  shipping, 
no  circulating  libraries,  no  donkeys  (four  legged  ones  with 
saddles  on,  I  mean),  no  Ethiopian  serenaders,  no  fishwives, 
no  bathing  machines,  no  steamers,  no  society — and  no  scan- 
dal, I  was  going  to  add,  but  I  am  not  so  sure  about  this  last 
item  on  my  first  visit. 

I  had  been  informed  that  mine  ancient  whilom  and  famous 
hostelry,  the  Elephant  and  Shoestrings,  had  fallen  into 
decay  somewhat,  and  that  if  I  wanted  to  be  comfortable  I 


MY    FIRST    VISIT.  "265 

must  transfer  my  patronage  to  the  Goat  and  Compasses 
{strange  how  the  old  Puritan  inn  sign  of  "  God  encompasses 
us,"  should  have  heen  corrupted  into  the  above).  So  to  the 
■"  Goat  and  Compasses  "  I  went.  Alas  !  the  potatoes  there 
were  stone  cold  ;  but,  by  way  of  set  off,  the  claret  was  very 
warm  ;  the  kidneys  were  raw  and  bloody  ;  but  the  leg  of 
mutton  was  done  to  a  cinder,  and  ah  me  !  the  Board  of  'Elth 
had  not  visited  the  premises  very  recently,  I  fear. 

But,  still,  for  a'  that  and  a'  that,  Sandgate  is  not  all  a 
•dreary  waste.  Oh  dear  no  !  Albeit  the  male  strollers  on 
the  beach  are  annoyed  at  times  by  coming  suddenly  upon 
bands  of  female  Naiads  bathing  in  the  surf,  and  although 
the  female  strollers  are  now  and  again  similarly  offended  at 
coming  quite  unexpectedly  upon  a  squad  of  male  Tritons 
disporting  themselves  in  the  rollers,  these  things  will  and 
must  happen  in  primitive  Sandgate,  and  possibly  in  197.'i, 
when  Sandgate  is  very  highly  civilised,  the  people  will  look 
back  Avith  interest  to  the  simple,  early,  Knickerbocker  days 
of  old  Queensland.  No,  indeed  !  Sandgate  is  not  all  a 
waste.  There  is  God's  pure  breeze  laid  on  daily  in  full 
force,  and  nothing  to  pay  for  it ;  the  quality  never  varies. 
There  is  no  adulteration  in  that,  no  municipal  stinks  com- 
mingled with  it.  There  is  the  murmur  of  the  mimic  waves 
on  the  beach,  soothing  you  to  sleep  all  night,  and  seeming 
to  say,  "Take  your  rest,  and  T  will  keep  watch,  for  I  never 
slumber  nor  sleep."  Many  a  sickly  baby,  and  people  of 
larger  growth,  marked  for  disease  and  death  in  Brisbane, 
have  revived  under  the  doses  of  ozone  which  they  must 
inhale  at  Sandgate  whether  they  like  it  or  not ;  for,  with 
all  the  force  of  ten  thousand  punkahs,  the  fresh  sea  air 
fattens  you  and  is  pumped  into  you  to  your  great  and  per- 
manent benefit. 

In  the  year  1872,  when,  for  the  first  time  since  1858  and 
1861  I  stayed  there,  Sandgate  had  grown,  and  in  the  winter 


266  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

I  had  a  bad  cold,  caught  at  the  time  of  the  maddening  tin 
fever  of  the  period,  when  the  amber  and  black  crystals  of 
cassiterite,  of  70  per  cent,  purity,  from  the  3,000  feet  High- 
lands of  Stanthorpe,  drove  Greville's  Rooms  and  Sydney 
Exchange  brokers  into  a  frenzy  of  delight  (rivalling  that  of 
the  simultaneous  Hill  End  gold,  and  Peak  Downs  copper 
mania)  and  liand  rubbing,  at  the  prospective  fortunes  in 
store  for  them,  and  all  skilful  operators,  who  could  "  bull " 
and  "  bear,"  each  in  their  allotted  season.  So,  to  cure  this 
cold,  1  hied  me  to  the  hospitable  home  of  jolly  Frank  Ray- 
mond, of  the  "  Sandgate  Hotel,"  and,  over  a  steaming  glass 
of  "  Burnett's  Old  Tom,"  with  lemon  and  sugar,  and  by  a 
cheerful  fire,  necessitated  by  the  "shrewd"  winds  "of  the 
period,"  I  listened  then — as  I  often  do  now — through  the 
closed  doors  and  windows,  to  "  what  the  wild  waves  were 
saying ; "  and  how  they  did  discourse  and  babble  to  us,  in 
their  own  universal  language,  about  the  former  travels  of 
some  friends ;  about  the  old  woman  who  used  to  sell  the 
polished  pebbles  at  Scarborough  ;  of  the  consumptive  curate, 
with  his  splendidly  handsome  and  healthy  sister  and  nurse 
(in  one)  at  Biarritz ;  of  the  lovely  oysters  and  the  pretty 
milliners  at  Dieppe ;  of  the  heiress  at  old  Bournemouth, 
who  was  so  quiet  and  demure,  and  proved  to  be  no  heiress, 
after  all ;  of  the  natty  fishwives  of  Calais  ;  of  the  "  cavalry 
ofticer,"  who  was  always  so  lucky  at  loo,  at  Brighton  ;  of 
the  plentiful  mackerel  on  the  beach  at  Boulogne,  shot  from 
the  hold  of  the  fishing  smacks. 

Truly  a  prophet  has  no  honor  in  his  own  country,  and  it 
is  not  in  Brisbane  that  Sandgate  is  fully  appreciated — it  is 
too  near  at  hand,  too  easily  got  at  to  be  considered  the  luxury 
it  really  is.  Ebriosus,  that  least  sentimental  of  all  possible 
souls,  is  put  into  a  trap  in  Queen-street  by  his  friends,  and 
they  and  he  "  tool  it "  down  in  one  hour  and  forty  minutes, 
Ebriosus  being  fast  asleep  all  the  while,  and  totally  unaware 


AN    APPRECIABLE    SOUL.  267 

whether  he  is  going  to  South  Brisbane  or  the  "Valley,"  or 
whether  he  has  been  one  minute  or  one  hundred  minutes  en 
route  ;  and  then  he  wakes  up  and  finds  he  has  exchanged 
the  sewer  and  drain  essences  which  distinguish  the  Brisbane 
perfumery  for  the  pure  ozone  and  iodine  of  that  paradise  of 
all  places — a  sea  beach.  But  does  Ebriosus  (who  is  but  a 
type  of  many  spreeish  visitants  to  that  breezy  bluff) — does 
lie  appreciate  his  good  fortune  ?  I  trow  not.  Sandgate  is 
wasted  on  all  such.  Better  were  it  that  some  of  the  sick 
poor,  the  feeble  old  and  the  feeble  young,  who  never  see  the 
ocean  shore,  and  thousands  of  whom  do  live  and  die  in 
Brisbane  without  ever  seeing  it  at  all,  better  were  it  that 
they  who  cannot  afford  to  go  there  should  have  some  of  the 
useless  opportunities  of  Ebriosus  and  Co. 

The  man  to  appreciate  Sandgate  is  the  bushman  ;  the  man 
into  whose  weary  soul  the  iron  of  the  Condamine  Plains 
and  the  brigalow  scrubs  of  the  Dawson  country  has  fully 
entered;  the  man  who  has  tasted  no  vegetable  but  "fat 
hen  "  for  seven  years,  who  has  lived  on  salt  beef  and  damper 
till  his  veins  are  full  of  land  scurvy ;  the  man  who  is  weary 
of  fresh  water,  its  rivers  and  lagoons  and  its  fishes,  its  reeds 
and  its  lilies ;  the  man  to  whom  sheep  and  cattle  are,  for 
want  of  a  change,  a  weariness  and  a  desolation.  Such  a 
one  can  appreciate  that  narrow  zone  of  Paradise  which  lies 
just  where  the  continent  and  the  ocean  meet.  Clap  a  piece 
of  thick  green  seaweed  under  his  nose,  and  the  memory, 
ever  sensitive  to  the  call  of  the  olfactory  nerves,  at  once 
conjures  up  visions  of  the  far-off  Mediterranean  and  Biscayan 
shore,  where  the  starfish  lie  on  the  sands ;  and  eke  of  those 
Norman  and  English  watering-places  where  bufi"  slippers 
and  camp-stools,  organ-grinders  and  fishing  smacks,  lovely 
girls  and  noisy  children,  fill  up  the  motley  but  delightful 
scene.  Nothing  on  earth  equals  the  place  where  land 
and   sea  meet.      How  dreary  is  it   five  hundred  miles  up 


*268  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEKRS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

country,  among  the  sandy  plains,  and  how  equally  dreary 
is  it  five  hundred  miles  out  at  sea  among  the  endless 
tumbling  hillocks  of  indigo  blue  which  fill  up  the  monoto- 
nous scene.  But  any  part  of  the  sea  within  five  miles 
of  a  bold  shore,  or  vice  versa,  how  exquisite  it  is !  I 
hardly  know  which  is  preferable,  to  live  seven  years,  say, 
on  Peak  Downs,  and  then  take  a  couple  of  months  at  Manly 
Beach,  with  its  wild  violets  in  the  rocky  dells,  its  purple 
and  white  sea-flowers  in  the  rock  pools  of  salt  water,  and 
its  snorting  saline  south -easters,  with  the  glass  seldom  rising 
over  70  degrees,  and  the  horizon  enlivened  with  as  many 
passing  steamers  and  ships  as  if  one  were  in  the  English 
Channel,  and  oh  !  the  glory,  on  a  dark  stormy  night,  when 
the  curtained  blackness  has  just  swallosved  up  the  pitching 
and  rolling  steaiier  northward  and  outward  bound  for  dear 
old  Brisbane,  to  see,  after  a  spell  of  ebon  darkness,  the  moon 
rise,  and  send  a  stream  of  silver  drops  dancing  along  the 
floor  of  the  sea  in  a  bee  line  from  east  to  west,  and  lighting 
up  the  scene  where  all  was  Erebus  a  minute  before.  I  am 
undecided  as  to  whether  all  this  is  preferable  to  the  sensa- 
tion experienced  when  after  a  hundred  days  buffeting  with 
tlie  waves  since  leaving  the  Lizard  and  Ushant  lights  behind, 
and  after  getting  "  knocked  into  a  cocked  hat "  amongst 
the  seething  mountains  of  water  which  rage  where  the 
Mozambique  Channel  and  the  Agulhas  bank  currents  meet 
in  dire  conflict  off"  the  Cape  of  Storms — when,  after  all  this, 
the  crippled  barque  comes  within  smelling  range  of  the 
aromatic  hay-fields  of  Tasmania,  and  her  sea-weary  passen- 
gers sniff" the  new  sylvan  odours  of  the  South-west  Cape,  and 
tremble  at  the  black  Mewstone,  a  giant  to  its  English  name- 
sake, and  which  sits  on  the  sea  like  a  lion  in  basalt  as  big 
as  Gibraltar,  and  defies  the  angry  waves  which  clothe  its 
blackness  in  white  foam  ever  and  anon.  Yes,  it  is  truly  a 
toss-up  which  is  the  better,  to  smell  the  sea  after  too  much 


THE  ADVANTAGES  OF  COMPANY.  269 

of    the    land,    or    the    land    after    too    much    of    the    sea. 

Sandgate  is  still  a  place  of  delight  for  the  soul  that  can 
appreciate  Nature,  and  is  in  no  way  fallen  off  (albeit  some- 
what Cockneyfied  now)  from  the  good  old  days  when  we  had 
to  follow  the  marked  tree  line  to  it,  carry  our  own  provisions 
down,  and  tliink  ourselves  lucky  if  no  aboriginal  spear  or 
boomerang  interrupted  the  al  fresco  meal  by  the  sea ;  which 
Avas  too  often  the  case  before  the  energetic  Sicilian  who 
afterwards  officered  the  native  police  thei'e,  taught  the 
darkies  better  manners  and  customs. 

But  Sandgate  is  nothing  without  good  company.  For 
my  part  I  like  that  of  my  cousins  Lucy  and  Laura  down 
there  ;  Lucy  is  a  half-golden,  half-silver  blonde  of  1 9  ;  Laura, 
a  tall,  fair  brunette  of  17;  Lucy  wears  gloves  No.  6,  and 
weighs  9  stone ;  Laura  wears  6|,  and  she  actually  weighs 
1 1  stone,  despite  her  slender  wrists  and  ankles,  for  she  is  of 
that  noble,  vital  type  of  womanhood  which  sculptors  of  the 
first  rank  assign  to  Eve — the  brooding  and  grandly  mys- 
terious mother  of  all  the  nations.  Blondes  are  my  usual 
weakness  ;  yet  am  I  powerfully  affected  by  the  large,  dark, 
deep  eyes  of  my  Laura  and  her  clear,  firm  pi'ofile ;  and  all 
the  little  men,  of  course,  are  mad  after  her,  for  she  is  devoid 
of  conceit  and  sentiment  alike.  What  a  Juno  she  will  be 
in  ten  years  time,  I  vow.  Where  do  they  live,  do  you  say  1 
Why,  on  their  father's  station,  a  hundred  miles,  more  or 
less,  west  or  so  of  Sandgate ;  at  a  spot  where  the  western 
escarpment  of  the  Australian  Cordillera  melts  into  swelling- 
downs  of  rich  herbage — a  place  where  (so  to  speak)  lagoons 
of  treeless  grass  are  environed  by  shores  of  timberland  which 
jut  out  in  picturesque  capes,  points,  and  promontories,  into 
the  said  dry  lagoons  of  grass,  and  enclose  snug  little  bays 
of  verdure — a  place  where  the  eye  and  ear  are  refreshed 
with  the  sight  and  the  sound  of  waters  falling  ovtr  rocks, 
and  where,  at  day-dawn,  the  early  carol  of  the  magpie  rises 


270  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

in  melodious  chorus  to  heaven,  at  the  same  time  as  the 
wholesome  white  wood  smoke  from  the  station  chimneys 
mingles  upward  and  lazily  with  the  pure  ether  overhead  ; 
for  the  breeze  which  sweeps  the  wattle-scented  forest  later 
in  the  day,  as  yet  is  not.  Yes,  the  name  of  the  station  is 
Wyndomel,  and  it  lies  just  under  the  shadow  of  Kunghi, 
that  monarch  mountain  Avhich  marks  the  junction  of  the 
Main  Range,  and  one  which  crosses  it  from  east  to  west — 
a  tine,  venerable  old  swell  of  the  cloud-capt  breed,  in  whose 
heavily-timbered  sides  you  could  easily  get  lost,  yet  whose 
beneficent  peak  catches  all  the  thunder  clouds  on  a  sultry 
day,  and  sends  them  down  in  sliowers  of  cooling  water  and 
ozone  on  the  parched  people  of  the  tableland  and  the  lower 
country  alike,  and  it  then  smiles  like  a  benevolent  giant,  as 
the  setting  sun  gilds  its  head,  and  seems  to  say,  "  There,  see 
how  I've  refreshed  you  all ;  I'm  not  half  so  grim  as  I  look  !  " 

Yes,  that  is  where  Lucy  and  Laura  live  when  they  are  at 
home,  and  every  lamb  and  calf  that  is  born  there  is  uncon- 
sciously adding  a  half-sovereign  or  a  couple  of  pound  notes 
to  the  heritage  of  these  two  charming  girls.  Upon  my 
word,  I  have  a  great  mind  to  write  an  Australian  novel 
about  them  ;  for  I  don't  mean  to  marry  either  of  them, 
they  being  my  cousins,  and  their  father  having  £15,000 
a-year.  But,  bless  my  life  !  how  discursive  I  am.  I  have 
got  I'ight  clear  away  from  Sandgate  altogether,  and  by  the 
same  powers,  I  had  almost  lost  sight  of  Brisbane. 

There  was  considerable  controversy  in  1887  as  to  whether 
the  flood  in  Brisbane  of  that  year  exceeded  those  of  1864 
and  1870.  The  weight  of  evidence  showed  the  1887  one, 
I  think,  to  have  been  more  severe  than  any  since  1841. 
No  one  flood  rises  proportionately  high  at  all  parts  of  the 
river,  and  hence  these  disputes.  In  1841  the  Brisbane  River, 
from  its  heads  above  Colinton  and  Taromeo,  was  in  full 
flood,  as  was  also  its  great  afiluent,  the  Stanley  Creek,  while 


FLOODS    IN    THE    BRISBANE.  271 

at  the  same  time  the  Bremer,  with  its  tributai'ies,  Purga 
and  Warrill  Creeks,  was  in  high  flood  also,  and  the  rivers 
dammed  each  other  back,  and  thus  the  whole  basin  from  the 
Main  Range  on  the  west  to  the  Mary  Range  on  the  south, 
was  inundated.  The  water  rose  70ft.  at  Ipswich,  and  as 
there  were  only  4ft.  at  low  tide  on  the  Brisbane  River  Bar 
at  that  time,  you  may  be  sure  the  water  was  well  kept  back, 
and  no  such  flood  was  again  seen  until  the  1893  trouble. 
In  the  floods  of  1857,  1863,  1864,  and  1870,  the  water  rose 
45ft.  to  50ft.  in  Ipswich.  As  the  Brisbane  River  above  the 
junction  was  not  in  flood  to  any  extent,  the  highest  point 
reached  in  Brisbane  in  any  of  these  was  6ft.  8in.  above  spring 
tide,  and  it  was  marked  on  the  post  at  the  South  Brisbane 
ferry,  the  post  that  carried  the  punt  rope.  Since  1870,  of 
course  the  river  bar  has  much  changed,  and  there  is  a  better 
''get  away"  for  the  water.  The  1887  flood  is  said  to  have 
risen  50ft.  in  Ipswich,  which  is  5ft.  above  1864  and  1870. 
The  flood  of  May,  1857,  was  the  outcome  of  six  weeks'  long 
continued  rather  than  heavy  rain.  That  of  1863  was  a 
February  autumn  one,  15'14in.  of  rain  fell  in  sixteen  days, 
electricity  negative.  August,  1860,  gave  us  12-39in.  of  rain, 
but  no  flood.  February,  1863,  gave  OwOin.  between  the  13th 
and  17th  of  the  month.  In  March,  1864,  an  equinoctial  gale 
brought  the  flood.  The  night  of  the  18th  was  terrific.  A 
hurricane  blew.  The  river  rose  50ft.  in  twelve  hours  at 
Ipswich.  A  heavy  lifeboat  was  blown  over  like  a  hat  for 
200  yards  on  the  beach  at  Moreton  Island.  Steamer  col- 
lisions in  the  river  Avere  plentiful.  Boats  rowed  in  Mary- 
street  opposite  Perkins's  brewery  in  1863  and  J  864.  But 
no  rain  above  7in.  in  twenty-four  hours  fell  this  time.  South- 
east gales  brought  all  these  floods.  The  deluge  of  March, 
1870,  consisted  of  24'25in.  of  rain  in  a  little  over  four  days, 
8-20in.  being  the  maximum  fall  in  twelve  hours.  Mary- 
borough got  14in.  in  twenty -four  hours  at  the  same  time. 


'ItZ  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

On  the  9th  March  the  flood  was  over  Bowen  Bridge,  and 
breast  high  at  that  place  and  the  Waterloo  Hotel ;  a  perfect 
typhoon  blew  from  the  east  all  the  night  of  the  8th  March, 
1870,  in  Brisbane.  The  swamps  had  not  been  much  built 
on  then,  and  there  was  no  "  manure  depot,"  and  it  was  not 
so  bad  as  1887,  on  the  whole.  I  pass  over  the  minor  floods 
of  1873,  '75,  and  '79  as  of  little  consequence,  except  that 
they  killed  the  seafish  in  the  river,  and  made  an  unpleasant 
smell.  Eighteen  inches  of  rain  really  fell  on  21st  January, 
1887.  It  may  fairly  be  inferred  that,  spite  of  the  24ft.  of 
water  at  the  Bar,  such  a  concentrated  fall  of  rain  must  have 
caused  a  worse  flood  than  any  of  those  quoted,  except  1841  ; 
and  when  such  a  one  as  that  year's  flood  comes  again,  as  it 
assuredly  will  do  some  day,  people  who  live  on  the  hills  will 
be  better  ofl"  than  the  swamp  dwellers  of  our  subui'bs.  The 
Brisbane  River,  after  all,  except  for  the  matchless  depth  of 
water  on  its  so-called  "  bar,"  looks  small  by  the  Fitzroy  and 
Burdekin  rivers.  The  Brisbane  drains  a  country  but  little 
larger  than  Yorkshire.  It  is  a  "  soon  up,  soon  down  "  river 
in  flood  time.  The  Fitzroy  and  Burdekin  together  drain  a 
country  the  size  of  France  or  Germany,  and  a  flood  in  them 
rises  slowly  and  keeps  up  for  weeks.  We  have  no  record 
of  the  rainfall  that  led  to  the  1841  flood,  but,  as  we  have 
seen,  a  flood  may  come  on  in  twenty-four  hours,  or  be  six 
weeks  in  brewing,  and  in  the  former  case  little  warning  is 
given.  The  severity  of  the  floods  can  be  safely  reckoned 
by  the  severity  of  the  droughts,  of  which  we  have  had  such 
a  terrible  example  in  1883-86.  And  talking  of  floods  sug- 
gests the  weather. 

The  principle  of  "  compensation,"  of  which  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson  writes  so  ably,  obtains  universally  in  nature.  This 
system  of  material  double  entry,  by  which  every  debit  has, 
so  to  speak,  its  credit,  can  be  traced  far  and  wide  in  the 
physical  world,  and  even  fuither.     Gamblers,  for  instance, 


c4 


i.: 


THE    WEATHER.  273 

with  cards  and  dice  will  tell  you  of  an  ebb  and  tiow  in  luck, 
of  certain  occult  laws  which  govern  the  succession  of  what 
are  called  chances,  and  this  tendency  to  action  and  reaction 
is  observable  wherever  we  turn  our  attention. 

It  is  of  this  irresistible  propensity  in  nature  to  oscillation 
that  I  would  now  speak  more  particularly,  as  it  affects  our 
weather  and  our  seasons  ;  and  here  is  apparent  the  great 
contrast  between  the  European  and  the  Australian  climates. 
In  Europe  the  tendency  to  action  and  reaction  tinds  its 
outlet  in  cycles  of  abnormally  hot  and  of  abnormally  cold 
seasons.  We  hear  of  brandy  frozen  in  cellars  ;  of  frost 
biting  into  the  solid  earth  to  the  depth  of  many  feet ;  and 
anon  we  hear  of  tropical  thunderstorms  in  the  latitude  of 
50  degrees,  and  of  mosquitoes,  where  such  things  ought  not 
to  be.  But  in  Europe,  nevertheless,  there  is  no  startling 
variation  in  the  rainfall,  even  in  the  course  of  a  century. 

All  these  things  are  totally  different  in  Australia.  Nature 
in  this  country  exhibits  her  tendency  to  the  ebb  and  flow 
system  by  cycles  of  abnormally  wet  and  abnormally  dry 
years,  while  the  average  heat  of  one  year  varies  but  little 
from  that  of  another,  at  any  time ;  and  there  are  no  start- 
ling contrasts.  Thus  it  follows  that  the  average  yearly 
rainfall  of  Europe  is  steady,  while  the  average  yearly  heat 
and  cold  vary  much  in  the  course  of  fifty  years  ;  and  at  the 
same  time  in  Australia  the  average  temperature  is  steady, 
while  the  rainfall  varies  greatly.  Such  is  the  marked  and 
great  conti'ast  which  the  two  places  exhibit  as  regards 
weather  and  climate. 

The  power  of  this  great  law  of  nature  in  Australia  is 
exemplified  by  the  fact  that  the  monsoon  itself  which  brings 
rain  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  generally  floods  Northern 
Australia  in  autumn,  has  sometimes  to  pass  over  the  latter 
place  very  lightly.  The  first  three  months  of  the  year  1871 
were  a  notable  instance  of  this.  There  was  little  or  no  wet 
s 


'274  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

season  that  year  in  the  Gulf  country.  The  1875  season 
was  a  very  dry  one ;  clouds  formed,  it  is  true,  but  there  was 
lacking  that  peculiar  elective  condition,  or  quality,  in  the 
upper  air,  which  alone  can  turn  clouds  into  rain,  and  there 
they  hung,  tantalising  us  with  false  hopes.  Sometimes  this 
electric  quality  or  condition  was  in  excess,  and  then  we  had 
in  a  clear  sky  and  without  a  moment's  warning  a  little  black 
is  formed  directly  overhead,  and  apparently  out  of  nothing, 
and  coming  down  like  a  bucket  of  water ;  all  over  in  five 
minutes,  and  the  sky  clear  again.  There  was  plenty  of  this 
weather  in  the  first  three  months  of  1872. 

The  1875  dry  season  somewhat  resembled  that  of  1862, 
and  still  more  so  that  of  1854.  The  dry  spring  of  1862-63 
was  followed  by  a  sickly  wet  autumn,  and  the  most  unhealthy 
weather  ever  known  in  Brisbane  was  in  February,  1863. 
Rain  water,  caught  in  clean  open  vessels,  putrified  the  next 
day,  and  all  in  the  open  air.  The  hills  about  Brisbane  were 
covered  with  new  arrivals  camped  in  tents.  The  rain  and 
heat  were  incessant,  and  the  mortality  great,  the  sea  breeze 
being  almost  entirely  absent.  December,  1854,  mai'ked  the 
end  of  seven  months'  dry  weather.  Great  was  the  scarcity 
of  water  on  the  Darling  Downs.  The  stations  of  Westbrook 
and  "Western  Creek  were  in  especial  straits  just  then.  Well 
sinking  and  dams  were  not  yet  in  vogue,  and  many  an  angry 
squatter  wished  aloud  that  some  of  "Dr.  Lang's  'agricultur- 
ists' were  fai'ming  up  there  just  then."  The  heat  was 
insufferable.  It  ranged  in  Warwick  and  Drayton  between 
105  degrees  and  108  degrees  in  the  shade  for  a  whole  fort- 
night. At  Franklyn  A^ale,  below  the  Downs,  it  was  112 
degrees,  while  on  the  Lower  Condamine  117,  119,  and  122 
degrees  were  the  quotations  in  the  shade.  But  February, 
1855,  brought  refreshing  showers,  and  it  was  all  over.  The 
most  unendurable  months  in  Brisbane  since  regular  observa- 
tions have  been  taken,  were  February,  1863,  and  December, 


THE    DROUGHT    SEASON.  2(0 

1869  ;  the  average  heat  of  the  latter  month  was  the  same 
as  that  of  Calcutta  in  the  hottest  summer  month.  They 
have  punkahs,  however,  and  stone  palaces  in  Calcutta ;  but 
in  Brisbane  we  have  just  half  an  inch  of  hardwood  only 
Vjetween  us  and  the  heat.  At  present  I  have  spoken  only 
of  minor  droughts.  I  come  now  to  the  very  serious  question 
of  the  great  and  terrible  ones  which  about  foiu-  times  in 
each  century  visit  Australia. 

Captain  Flinders,  cruising  about  the  coasts  of  Australia 
at  the  commencement  of  the  present  century,  found,  every- 
where, the  bush  on  fire,  grass  burnt  and  withered,  and  every 
sign  of  great  and  long-continued  drought.  In  1828  and 
1829  came  the  drought  of  the  century,  with  water  at  four- 
pence  a  gallon  in  Sydney — the  great  Murrumbidgee  River 
dried  up,  and  the  fish  dead  in  the  dry  mud  of  it ;  and  yet 
this  river,  in  ordinary  seasons,  overflows  like  the  Nile,  and 
is  ten  miles  across  it  (as  I  have  found  in  a  canoe).  Then 
in  1849  and  1850  came  the  terrible  drought,  which  culmina- 
ted in  "Black  Thursday,"  in  February,  1851,  when  burnt 
leaves  were  blown  across  Bass'  Straits  by  the  fury  of  that 
north  wind,  which  amalgamated  into  one  huge  blaze  the 
previously  scattered  bush  tires  of  "Port  Phillip."  The  rain 
came,  and  the  drought  broke  up  in  May,  1851,  when  the 
streets  of  Melbourne  became  so  many  mud-banks  in  no  time. 

The  question  for  us  now  to  consider  is  this  :  will  the  great 
periodic  droughts,  extending  over  eighteen  months  or  two 
years  at  a  time,  which  has  already  happened  three  times  in 
a  century,  and  at  apparent  intervals  of  twenty-five  years, 
more  or  less ;  will  it  come  again  to  us,  and  how  soon  'i  I 
don't  think  it  is  on  us  yet,  but  I  think  it  is  only  a  year  or 
two  away  from  us — that  is  to  say,  if  past  experience  be  any 
guide,  and  if  any  dependence  can  be  placed  on  statistics. 
It  is  a  serious  matter  to  contemplate ;  we  can  store  water 
but  we  cannot  store  grass.     The  sheep  and  cattle  of  1875 


276  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

will  outnumber  those  of  1825  and  1850  by  an  amount  so  vast 
as  to  render  the  prospect  all  the  more  terrible.  Much  can  be 
done  in  agriculture  by  irrigation.  I  once  lived  at  a  station  on 
an  "ana"  branch  of  the  Murrumbidgee  River.  Tlie  country 
was  flat  for  hundreds  of  miles  round,  and  it  seldom  rained 
there,  for  there  were  no  mountains  to  catch  the  clouds,  but  we 
had  a  garden  on  the  river  Ijank,  and  had  vegetables  and  fruit 
all  the  year  round  by  means  of  a  pump  made  of  four  pieces  of 
wood  and  a  long  hose  of  osnaburgh.  Twenty  minutes  of  pump- 
ing every  morning  sent  the  water  flowing  from  the  top  bed  in 
the  garden,  which  was  about  three  feet  above  the  water  level, 
zigzagging  its  way  back  to  the  river,  and  saturating  all  the  beds 
thoroughly  as  it  runs  backwards  and  forwards,  but  always 
towards  the  river,  and  this  was  all  done  by  white  people,  as 
there  were  no  Chinamen  there  in  1853. 

But  this  relates  only  to  fruit  and  vegetables.  The  ques 
tion  of  food  for  stock  is  another  and  a  terrible  one,  but 
that  phase  of  the  subject  need  not  be  discussed  here.  In  the 
year  1864  I  read  before  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Queens- 
land a  paper  on  Meteorology,  which  had  the  eflfect  of  causing 
the  establishment  of  observing  stations  throughout  the  colony. 
I  remarked  then  that  cycles  of  about  ten  years  of  unusually 
wet  and  dry  seasons,  alternately,  appeared  to  be  about  the 
rule  in  Australia.  The  year  1854:  was  unusually  dry,  1864 
was  unusually  wet,  1874  again  was  dry,  and  1884  wet ;  while 
in  1894  we  had  a  mixture — floods  in  the  north  and  drought 
in  the  west, — thus,  each  decade  appears  to  mark  the  com- 
mencement or  end  of  a  more  than  ordinary  wet  or  dry  epoch. 

Magnificent  Queenslaiad  !  great  storehouse  of  gifts  and 
riches,  how  shall  I  best  describe  thee  1  Where  even  begin, 
wlien  so  many  sterling  claims  to  notice  offer  all  at  once  ? 
Let  me  first  soar,  and  then,  borne  on  wings  calmly  over 
thee,  and  so  look  down  on  thy  domain,  and,  as  I  behold,  I 
perforce  must  own  that  if  I  were  compelled  to  sum  up  thy 
greatness  in  one  word,  that  one  magic  word  would  have  to 


QUEENSLAND.  277 

be  "Basalt" — the  basalt  of  the  columned  cliffs.  The 
volcanic  work  which,  under  various  names  and  disguises, 
"  chums  "  with  the  gold,  and  is  a  guarantee  for  the  plentiful 
presence  thereof,  and  other  rich  metals  galore.  And  the 
dear  old  basalt,  the  mother  of  the  agate,  is  not  confined  to 
the  minerals.  Oh  !  dear  no.  Behold  it  now  decomposed  on 
the  swelling  western  plains,  and  giving  birth  to  the  match- 
less grasses  (world-challengers)  which  fatten  the  beeves 
over  a  space  like  unto  France  and  Germany  combined.  Let 
us  mount  higher  and  take  a  more  comprehensive  view.  Here 
lies  the  champion  colony  spread  out  below  us,  and,  'mid 
ravine  and  tableland,  water  course  and  mountain  chain, 
dark  crag  and  green  savannah,  let  us  mark  the  countless 
citadels  scattered  broadcast  where  Nature  has  her  treasures 
of  gold  locked  up — Charters  Towers  and  the  Cape  River, 
Ravenswood  and  the  Gilbert,  Mount  Morgan  and  Clermont, 
Oympie  and  Kilkivan,  Croydon  and  the  Etheridge — enough  ! 
I  will  not  fill  the  book,  as  I  could  with  all  the  rocky  gold 
fortresses  that  are  dotted  o'er  the  land,  or  speak  of  the 
granites  of  Herberton,  saturated  with  tin  oxide ;  the  scrubs 
of  Bundaberg  and  Mackay ;  the  Johnston,  the  Burdekin, 
and  more,  boiling  over  and  effervescing  with  bright  sugar 
crystals,  or  the  unregarded  and  too  plentiful  coal  and  copper. 
See,  below  us,  Buckland's  Tableland  and  Lake  Salvator, 
memories  of  Sir  Thomas  Mitchell,  the  veteran  Peninsula 
man  and  explorer.  Note  all  the  exquisite  show  scenery  in 
parts  where  pastoral  pursuits  "  don't  pay,"  and  the  turfed 
flats  where  millions  of  quadrupeds  fatten  and  make  money 
for  their  owners.  And  regarding,  too,  the  race  of  men 
which  a  land  like  this  produces,  the  hardy,  free  overlander, 
the  hard,  dogged  miner,  what  matters  it  whether  they  be 
bold  natives  of  the  Victorian  Wimmera,  or  the  Valley  of 
the  Hunter,  or  the  broad  -  loined  sons  of  Staffordshire "? 
Queensland  can  toughen  and  weld  them  all  into  sons  of  her 
own  if  they  only  will  live  the  life  that  she  calls  them  to. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

TiiK  Islands— At  Tahiti — EixMeo — Pai'iete — A  Mouxtain*  Climb 
—  A  Heartv  Welcome  —  Ladroxe  Island  Won'ders  — 
Among  the  Lonely  Islets — Racatu — Hachin — Bora  Boru 
— Gems  of  the  South  Pacific — The  Marquesas— Female 
Types — The  International  Patrol  —  The  Mountains  of 
Raiatea — Fear  Dispelled— Aripah's  Farewell  —A  Story. 


HAVE  read  of  the  view-commanding;  heights 
of  Bellenden-Ker,  its  clear  waters  and  cas- 
cades, its  cool  grassy  dells,  and  it  has 
reminded  me  of  a  similar  mountain  climb  of 
mine  in  exactly  the  same  latitude  as  Bartle 
y^^Vj^y^y^jA  Frere  and   the  famous   Bellenden,  but  far 

<  ^^^^^''-^.•iwflv  tn  thft  past  of  tl 


away  to  the  east  of  them,  in  a  very  different 
longtitude,  beyond  the  fever-smitten  islands, 
^P  whence  we  draw  our  supplies  of  hideous, 

woolly,  not  to  say  sometimes  murderous  kanakas,  beyond 
even  the  distant  and  handsomer  Samoan's  group  of  islets  ; 
in  fact  about  as  far  east  as  you  can  get,  without  losing  Poly- 
nesia altogether.  I  allude  to  Tahiti,  whose  men  had  the  form 
and  beauty  of  Greek  gods,  as  we  see  them  sculptured  in 
marble,  and  w4iose  women,  with  luminous  eyes  (like  amber 
black  fire)  and  faultless  forms,  made  one  regret  that  the 
feminine  discipline  and  culture  of  Europe  had  never  been 
engrafted  on  their  many  innate  good  qualities. 


AT    TAHITI.  279 

Oti'  the  island  of  Eimeo,  near  Tahiti,  I  had  climbed  to 
the  topgallant  crosstrees  of  our  'Frisco-bound  barque,  the 
"Eudora,"  to  see  its  conical,  spiky  peaks  the  better,  and, 
when  I  came  down,  my  example  was  followed  by  young 
Wales,  the  son  of  the  police-magistrate  at  Morven,  Tas- 
mania ;  and  two  of  the  sailors  (not  liking  this  intrusion  on 
their  domain)  followed  him  up  the  rigging,  with  ropeyarns 
round  their  necks  wherewith  to  bind,  till  he  paid  a  forfeit, 
this  too  aspiring  youth  ;  but  he  was  clear  grit ;  "  for,  coolly 
waiting  till  "Johnny  Flatfloot "  was  within  a  few  inches  of 
him,  Wales  slid  like  lightning  down  the  topgallant  backstay 
to  the  deck,  ruining  his  pants  with  tar  and  barking  his 
palms  a  bit,  but  triumphant,  as  a  native  Australian  should 
be,  and  leaving  his  would-be  captors  lamenting  and  laughed 
at  by  all  hands.     The  boy  had   "  been  to  sea  "  before. 

Anon  came  an  outrigger  canoe  alongside  from  the  shore 
of  Eimeo,  bringing  some  young  men,  who,  as  they  sat  on 
our  bulwarks,  had  the  profiles  and  heads  of  Antinous  and 
Achilles,  and  an  air  of  unpretentious  and  unconscious  dignity 
and  manners  only  met  with  in  the  higher  class  of  European 
youth.  They  bartered  with  us  their  beautiful  mother-of- 
pearl  fisiihooks  for  any  trifle  we  could  spare,  and  their  noble 
heads,  bound  with  fillet  and  a  feather,  disappeared  over  the 
side  as  we  sailed  on  towards  Otaheite  and  its  harbour  of 
Papiete,  where  we  were  to  water  ;  for,  be  it  known  to  the 
reader,  eighty  of  us  in  the  "  Eudora,"  calnn,  steerage,  and 
crew  alike,  had  been  on  a  ration  of  l|-pint  of  fresh  water 
per  diem  for  three  weeks  in  the  month  of  February,  south 
of  the  line,  mark  you,  as  well  as  in  and  near  the  tropic,  and 
you  need  only  to  try  this  to  know  what  it  is  like.  There 
was,  of  course,  no  tea,  no  soup,  etc.,  for  the  cook  would  ha\e 
boiled  it  all  away;  no  "'grog,"  either,  for  this  would  have 
caused  thirst,  but  salt-water  .soap  sufficed  us  for  baths.  We 
had  plenty  of  champagne  and  bottled  beer,  yet  it  was  melan- 


280  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

choly  at  night  for  us  bachelors  to  hear  the  thirsty  babes  and 
children  through  the  saloon  bulkheads  talk  in  their  sleep 
and  murmur,  "  Drint  o'  water,  ma."  My  plan  was  to  mix 
a  little  limejuice  and  sherry  with  the  water  and  drink  once 
in  twenty -four  hours.  Nobody  died  ;  some  suffered  and 
some  did  not.  I  was  amongst  the  latter,  for  I  never  even 
carried  a  pannikin  in  my  thousands  of  miles  of  solitary  bush 
rides  in  Queensland  summer ;  but,  if  some  of  us  had  not 
"  subscribed "  a  daily  gill  apiece  of  our  scanty  allowance, 
to  help  the  "  hot  coppers  "  of  the  brandy  drinkers  on  board, 
some  of  them  might  have  gone  under.  We  started  from 
Hobart  short  of  water,  intending  to  fill  up  at  New  Zealand, 
but  deceived,  like  the  captain  of  St.  Paul's  ship,  by  a  spank- 
ing fair  wind,  we  sailed  past  it  for  Tahiti,  and  were  caught, 
half-way,  with  a  ceaseless  north-easter,  and  were  kept  at 
sea  till  we  got  down  to  lOin.  of  water  in  the  last  tank,  a 
tight  fit  for  eighty  people,  as  we  entered  the  harbour  of 
Papiete,  in  Otaheite,  a  semicircular  liay  in  the  shore  like  a 
bow,  the  string  of  which  was  a  coral  reef  with  one  opening 
in  it,  enclosing  a  harbour  smooth  as  the  docks  of  London, 
which  I  had  left  not  long  before,  and  now  found  myself  in 
an  atmosphere  and  temperature  like  the  Palm-house  at  Kew. 
Papiete  was  not  the  dull  place  one  would  have  expected 
forty  years  ago  in  a  remote  Pacific  Island ;  the  French  had 
just  taken  Tahiti  by  force  from  the  nativ^es,  and  there  had 
been  a  fight  on  a  large  scale,  and  under  a  lofty  monument, 
duly  inscribed,  reposed  forty  -  one  men  and  officers  of 
"L'Uranie"  frigate  who  had  fallen  in  the  conflict,  quite  as 
disastrous  as  the  German  loss  in  Samoa.  The  middle-aged 
Queen,  called  by  the  family  and  titular  name  of  "  Pomare," 
had  a  husband  much  younger  and  handsomer  than  herself — 
she  40,  he  30  years  old.  She  dressed  in  a  black  satin  cassock, 
and  the  girls  of  Tahiti  in  the  same,  only  the  material  was 
coloured  print,  and  with  a  flower  in  each  ear  for  an  earring, 


THE    ISLANDS. 


281 


and  some  sweet-scented  native  oil  on  their  straight  black 
hair.  Never  walking  far,  never  carrying  burdens,  always 
swimming  or  canoeing,  they  had  diminutive  hands  and  feet 
to  match  ;  not  so  some  old  chiefs,  who  were  pointed  out  to 
me  as  having  remembered  Captain  Cook's  visit  in  their 
early  childhood,  and  their  white  heads  and  their  legs  and 
feet  swollen  to  the  size  and  shape  of  a  log  of  wood  with 
elephantiasis,  certainly  gave  them  as  they  sat  in  a  row  an 
air  of  great  antiquity.  They  appear  to  be  a  longer-lived  race 
than  the  Sandwich  Islanders,  as  well  as  far  handsomer. 

The  kings  of  Hawaii  follow  each  other  in  quick  succession, 
as  well  as  the  queens.  I  met  one  of  the  latter,  Emma  Rooke, 
a  slender  creole-looking  half-caste  girl  of  14,  in  1850.  I 
sold  to  her  father.  Dr.  Rooke,  of  Honolulu,  a  frame  house, 
ex  "Eudora,"  and  on  calling  to  collect  the  doubloons  she 
officiated  for  him,  as  he  was  out.  She  was  a  granddaughter 
of  John  Young,  and  married  the  fourth  Kamehameha. 
She  became  the  plump  Queen  Emma,  who  was  made  so  much 
of  by  Queen  Victoria  in  England  in  1865-66,  and  who  died, 
untimely,  like  most  Hawaiians  of  rank,  in  1885,  the  death 
of  their  only  child  having  killed  her  husband  with  grief 
many  years  before. 

But  to  return  to  Tahiti.  It  was,  as  I  said  before,  any- 
thing but  dull.  The  military  bands  and  the  men-of-war's 
bands  together  discoursed  evening  music  on  the  beach  such 
as  neither  the  Melboui-ne  nor  the  Sydney,  of  those  days, 
could  match.  The  massive  foreyard  of  the  frigate  "Sybille," 
lifty-two  guns,  lay  on  the  shore  like  a  fallen  gum-tree,  a 
well-kept  tropical-looking  hotel  on  the  sea  strand  dispensed 
claret,  with  a  divine,  rough  bouquet,  and  we  drank  it  out 
of  coffee-cups ;  also  tomatoes,  cunningly  fried  with  vinegar 
and  eschalots ;  bananas,  worked  up  into  all  sorts  of  artful 
pastry ;  and  execrable,  thin,  pale,  sour,  bottled  beer  from 
Paisley,  though  the  parfait  amour  and  other  liqueurs   were 


282  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    KEMINISCKNCES. 

quite  up  to  the  mark — -for  a  Polynesian  island  so  far  from 
all  civilisation.  Queen  Poniare's  70ft.  carved  canoe  was 
sheltered  from  the  sun  under  a  thatched  roof,  on  a  bed  of 
bamboo  leaves,  and  here,  for  the  first  time  in  life,  I  heard 
the  romantic  JEolmn  hum  of  the  tropical  mosquito,  sugges- 
tive of  verandah  courtship  by  starlight  at  80deg.,  what 
time  the  land  breeze  would  cut  off  the  heads  of  every  roller 
that  moaned  on  the  coral  reef  which  bounds  the  harbour, 
and  blew  the  spray  out  to  sea  again. 

We  had  to  stop  several  days  to  get  in  all  the  water  we 
required  with  primitive  appliances,  so  an  excursion  was 
planned  for  three  of  us — namely,  Wales,  Turner  (a  surveyor, 
who  afterwards  settled  at  Oaku),  and  myself,  to  ascend  the- 
mountain  stronghold  of  the  island,  the  last  defence  from 
which  the  natives  had  been  driven,  and  only  then  because 
they  deemed  it  inaccessible,  and  therefore  impregnable,  and 
not  necessary  to  be  guarded  ;  but  they  had  to  deal  with  the 
active  Zouave  breed  of  biped  cats,  who,  five  years  later, 
scaled  the  Malakoff  at  Sebastopol,  a  Niagara  of  irrepressible 
red  breeches  ;  and  the  Taliiti  warriors  (who  had  never  heard 
of  such  things  as  ladders)  found  the  enemy,  armed  to  the 
teeth,  suddenly  in  the  midst  of  their  garrison,  and  all  was 
over.  It  was  to  this  mountain  fastness,  nearly  4,000ft. 
above  the  sea,  that  we  started  to  climb.  Five  times  we  had 
to  ford  a  beautiful  little  pellucid  river,  60ft.  wide  and  5ft. 
deep,  and  didn't  I  get  a  fine  sore  throat  next  day  from  tlie 
wetting,  but  our  doctor  (a  brother  of  Eusebius  Lloyd,  of 
St.  Bartholomew's)  soon  sent  it  flying  with  a  gargle  of  dilute 
sulphuric  acid.  Lovely  was  the  scenery  and  fertile  the  soil, 
as  we  began  the  ascent.  Cones  of  rock,  1,000ft.  high,  rich 
in  lichens  and  veiled  with  flowery  creepers,  towered  by  the 
side  of  our  route.  The  wild  ginger  threw  out  its  gnarled 
tubers  under  our  feet ;  grand  timber  trees,  solid  and  liaid 
as  ebony,  made  up  the  forest,  in   company   with   the  bread- 


A    HEARTY    WKLCOME,  2H:? 

fruit,  guava  (which  scented  the  air),  nianimee  apple,  papaw, 
oranges,  lemons,  bananas,  tkc.  It  will  be  noted  that,  unlike 
the  forest  of  Australia,  nearly  everything  that  grew  here 
was  food  of  some  sort,  and,  with  the  easily-caught  fish  of 
the  country,  made  up  a  bill-of-fare  that  caused  anything  like 
hunting  or  labour  to  be  as  out  of  fashion  as  hunger  or  thirst 
or  want  were. 

We  were  made  heartily  welcome  by  the  Gaelic  lieutenant, 
who,  with  100  soldiers,  kept  the  '•  Pah  Fattawah,"  as  the 
fastness  was  called,  and  some  excellent  cognac,  with  pure 
cascade  water,  made  Turner  and  myself  recollect  our  French,, 
and  find  out  all  the  history  of  the  capture  of  the  place.  Full 
in  view  of  the  officers'  quarters,  was  the  loveliest  waterfall 
imaginable,  not  a  broken  one  or  in  a  mountain  gully  hidden' 
by  scrub,  and  only  visible  here  and  there,  but  a  sheer  fall 
of  700ft.,  over  a  wide,  clean,  perpendicular  white  wall  of  rock 
of  double  that  in  width  ;  and  poised  high  in  air  above  it 
hovered,  clear  out  against  the  sky,  a  beautiful  bird,  called, 
I  think,  the  "frigate"  bird.  Anyway  it  has  one,  and  only 
one,  long  amber  feather  in  its  tail ;  the  feather  from  which 
the  priceless  State  cloak  of  the  Kings  of  Hawaii  has  been, 
for  200  years  a  making,  at  the  rate  of  one  bird,  one  feather, 
and  no  more.  This  wall  of  rock  bounded  our  view  in  that 
direction,  and  the  tumbling  water  became  mere  mist  and 
spray  ere  it  i-eached  the  foot  of  the  fall.  But  it  was  a  sight 
never  to  be  forgotten ;  and  we  dwelt  on  it  as  long  as  we 
could  compatible  with  the  necessity  of  being  back  to  town 
before  "gunfire"  and  on  board  our  ship  again,  for  matters- 
were  strict,  and  martial  law  was  not  quite  in  abeyance,  and 
the  institution  known  in  "nigger"  countries  as  the  "cala- 
boose" (synonym  for  watchhouse)  was  open  for  the  reception 
of  belated  travellers  who  might  be  away  from  their  proper 
domicile  at  night  without  a  passport. 

The  magnificent  and  massive  ruins  in  the  Ladrone  Islands. 


"284  AUSTRALIAN    PIONKERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

•open  up  a  new  and  still  stranger  phase  of  the  mystery  of 
the  mammoth  trilithon  and  other  marvels  of  savage  places 
where  engineering  is  unknown.  The  huge  images  and 
■carvings  on  Easter  Island,  near  the  west  coast  of  South 
America,  are  not  so  wonderful,  being,  most  likely,  on  land 
that  was  once  continental.  The  vast  ruined  temples  and 
carvings  of  Guatemala  and  Central  America  are  exactly  like 
those  of  Hindustan  in  character,  and  totally  dissimilar  to 
those  of  Egypt  and  Asia  Minor,  at  Baalbec,  Luxor,  Palmyra, 
and  Nineveh.  The  mystery  of  these  last  is  somewliat 
■modified  by  the  fact  of  their  having  had  some  sort  of  a 
•contemporary  papyrus  literature,  some  form  of  stone  inscrip- 
tions open  to  interpretation,  left  behind  them.  But  where 
is  the  literature  (if  any  ever  existed)  of  ancient  Guatemala  1 
older  far,  in  its  buildings,  than  Moses  and  Homer  and  their 
■days.  Where  is  the  literary  legacy  of  the  Ladrones  and 
those  other  islands  to  the  north  -  east  of  us,  where  the 
gigantic  cross  stone  rests  high  on  two  upright  monsters,  and 
Avhere,  apparently,  no  human  hands  nor  machinery  could 
ever  have  placed  its  enormous  size  and  weight.  Could  it 
have  been  done  by  people  who  could  engineer  and  reckon 
but  not  read  nor  write  1  But  the  mystery  of  the  Ladrones 
far  surpasses  all  this.  Here  we  have  not  only  the  gigantic 
work  in  masonry,  but  not  a  trace  of  any  similar  kind  of 
work  is  to  be  found  elsewhere  on  the  island,  whence  it 
might  have  been  quarried.  This  brings  us  face  to  face  (on 
the  theory  of  land  submergment)  with  the  carriage  of  massive 
stones  over  an  impossible  distance  by  land  or  water,  in  short, 
we  confront  a  mii'acle,  a  paradox,  which  overstrains  the 
intellect  and  faculty  of  comprehension,  even  as  did  the 
awful  hypnotism,  or  will  -  power,  of  the  Incarnate  Deity, 
eighteen  centuries  back,  in  the  presence  of  diseased  human 
organisms,  which  obeyed  their  Creator's  command,  and 
became  sound  in  a  moment ;  and  even  these  miracles  present 


LADRONE    ISLAND    WONDERS.  285' 

no  stronger  shock  of  the  "  possible-impossible  "  to  the  mere 
reasoning  faculty  than  do  those  wonders  of  the  Ladrone 
Island.  The  evidence  of  the  mere  senses  seem  still  to  be  as- 
incredible,  as  when  the  Infinite  will-power  hypnotises  matter 
and  gives  it  mind,  and  then  hypnotises  mind  and  gives  to  it 
more  than  one  can  speak  of.  For  words  are  all  powerless 
to  paint  some  ideas,  and,  great  as  these  last  may  be,  they 
cannot  even  go  near  to  grasping  the  unlimited,  which  has 
neither  size,  weight,  dimensions,  distance,  nor  any  other 
mere  vulgar  material  attribute.  Yet,  in  the  pride  of  intel- 
lect, one  does  not  like  to  recoil  baffled  from  a  solution  of 
this  lithic  mystery.  The  stone  in  the  Ladrones  ruins  is 
described  as  being  like  basalt,  like  granite,  and  unlike  that  of 
any  on  the  other  island.  Now,  a  "rule  of  thumb"  engineer 
would  account  for  the  trilithon  in  the  "  recruiting  "  islands 
to  the  north-east  of  us  by  supposing  that  the  inhabitants 
(past  or  present)  "  up  ended  "  the  two  upright  stones,  and 
then  filled  in  an  easy  gradient  mound  of  earth  to  the  top  of 
them,  and,  with  rollers,  placed  the  top  stone  in  position 
afterwards  removing  the  earth  again ;  but  this  solution  of 
the  riddle  would  not  apply  in  the  case  of  the  Ladrone  Island 
ruins,  where  the  pillars  and  walls  were  of  an  unknown  and 
non-local  stone.  I  once  went  down  the  Thames  on  an 
excursion  to  Rochester,  and  explored  the  ruins  of  the  castle 
I  found  a  cement,  full  of  flints,  said  to  have  been  the  work 
of  the  Romans,  and  which  time  had  rendered  as  hard  as 
any  granite.  May  there  not  once  have  been  a  "  concrete  " 
or  artificial  stone,  the  secret  of  which  is  as  lost  as  the  art 
of  carving  a  ruby,  or  burning  colours  into  glass,  but  which 
was  known  to  former  inhabitants  of  these  islands,  and  which 
concrete  could  be  put  up  piecemeal  with  wooden  moulds 
while  it  was  soft,  and  then  hardened  gradually  till  it  became 
what  it  now  is,  one  solid  piece  of  work  apparently  %  Failing 
some  such  theory  as  this,  we  are  still  face  to  face  with  a 


■286  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    RKMINISCENCES. 

miracle.  And  a  few  words  on  miracles.  When  a  man 
catches  cold,  the  College  of  Physicians,  being  mere  mortals, 
discourse  learnedly  of  capillaries  and  congestion,  and  counter 
irritants,  and  then  mechanical  remedies,  which  only  touch  the 
outside  of  the  matter,  and  half  cures  it,  Nature  herself  doing 
the  rest ;  while  an  omniscient  and  Creative  Being  sees  the 
other  and  subtle  conditions  (all  unseen  of  man)  both  in  their 
natural  structure  itself  and  in  the  ailmentand  disorder  thereof, 
which  conditions  underlie  and  are  behind,  and  which  cause 
the  outward  signs  seen  by  the  mortal  College  of  Physicians, 
and  He,  the  Maker,  can  wend  also,  and,  with  His  hypnotism, 
calls  on  those  occult  conditions,  and  they  respond  and  obey 
and  return  to  health  as  invisibly  and  irresistibly  as  they  fell 
out  of  it,  and  because  we  cannot  see  the  unseen  and  unsee- 
able work  behind  the  scenes  it  is  called  by  us,  and  very 
naturally,  a  "miracle." 

It  is  not  generally  considered  a  solitary  jDlace,  and  yet  it 
is  really  the  most  far  removed  and  isolated  one  upon  the 
face  of  the  earth.  I  allude  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  where 
lofty  Hawaii,  smaller  than  Yorkshire,  but  tall  as  the  Alps, 
and  snug  Oahu,  with  its  Honolulu  harbour,  and  a  few  more 
clustered  islets,  lie  alone.  The  sole  oasis  in  a  wilderness  of 
ocean,  stretching  eastward  till  Mexico,  nearly  4,000  miles 
off,  is  the  first  land  :  looking  nortliward  till  naught  but 
Kamschatka,  5,000  miles  away,  breaks  the  ocean's  monotony ; 
westward,  the  far  ofi'  shores  of  China,  6,000  miles  distant, 
alone  bar  the  ship's  progress  over  the  water,  while,  to  the 
south,  an  expanse  of  8,000  miles  of  sea  reaches  to  the  Pole 
itself.  There  is  no  continental  spot  so  lonely  as  this,  no 
oasis  in  such  a  desert  of  size,  solitary  as  are  none  of  the 
beautiful  islets  in  the  Southern  Pacific.  These  last  all 
nestle,  more  or  less  closely  and  sociably,  to  each  other  a 
species  of  extended  Venice  with  the  beauties  of  nature  as 
a  good  substitute  for  those  of  art.     From  exquisite  Tahiti, 


AMONG    ■HIE    LOXKLY    ISLETS.  287 

and  moored  down  to  the  low  coi'al  "  atolls  "  where  some 
honest  stalwart  son  of  the  sea  from  the  waterside  tarry, 
Wapping  of  cockney  Sydney,  has  taken  up  his  permanent 
abode  with  the  cocoa-nuts,  and  proved  conclusively  that  the 
male  Caucasian  race  mates  well  with  the  rounded  soft-eyed 
houris  of  the  eastern  cyclades,  whose  kindly  salutation  is 
Yurana  taku  eti  ;  and,  if  you  doubt  it,  behold  his  strapping 
sons  and  winsome  irresistible  creole  daughters,  all  healthy, 
happy,  simple-hearted  workers.  How  suggestive  are  some 
of  the  white  man's  names  for  some  of  the  lonely  islets  in 
the  .South  Pacitic,  to  say  nothing  of  the  beauty  and  euphony 
of  the  native  appellations.  Pylstaart  Island,  for  instance. 
Here  we  have  the  old  Dutch  Vanderdecken  revealed.  He 
was  amongst  the  early  maritime  explorers  of  the  Southern 
Pacific,  one  of  the  first  whites  to  see  the  dusky  syrens  of 
the  palm  groves  and  coral  reefs,  and  "  Starbuck,"  too ! 
What  need  to  trace  this  name  beyond  Nantucket  on  the 
thrifty  north-east  states  of  Uncle  Sam.  English  it  may 
have  been  originally,  or  G-erman  corrupted  with  English, 
but  it  proves  now'  that  the  enterprising  whaler,  of  Maine 
and  Massachusetts,  went  and  poked  his  nose  out  west  from 
Valparaiso,  and  the  "  sparm  wjiale  on  the  coast  of  Pe-ru  " 
till  he  found  the  magnetic  nymphs  who  knew  the  oil  of  the 
cocoanut  better  than  that  of  the  whale. 

Maddalena  and  Dominica,  in  the  Marquesas  group,  are 
as  lovely  amongst  tlie  islands  of  the  world  as  are  Milan  and 
Freiburg  amongst  its  cathedrals ;  while  Hackim  and  Bora 
Boru,  in  the  Society  group,  give  us  glimpses  of  Eden  in 
their  matchless  scenic  beauty  beyond  the  dreams  of  the 
India  drug  smoker ;  and  there  is  health  with  it  all,  too. 
Yes,  and  romance  and  association  to  Byron's  "  Island,"  the 
romantic  tale  of  the  Bounty.  You  are  far  from  baleful 
Asia  and  India,  far  east  and  away  from  them  and  their 
diseases,  those  fearful  clianges  that  are  rung  upon  the  end- 


288  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

less  types  of  disordered  livers,  born  of  heat,  hunger,  and 
malaria.  You  lind  these  in  Java  and  New  Guinea,  and  all 
the  other  tropical  groups  which  hail  old  Asia  for  a  parent 
and  neighbour,  and  peculiar  to  whom  as  are  crocodiles, 
serpents,  and  minerals,  all  quite  unknown  in  our  eastern 
dream  as  lands  of  bliss  ;  for  measles  will  sweep  as  a  scourge 
over  Fiji  and  the  New  Hebrides,  and  a  disease  which  those 
best  able  to  judge  class  as  cholera,  is  not  unknown.  In 
some  of  the  "  atoll  "  islands  which  cluster  near  the  equator 
and  lie  to  the  north  and  east  of  Australia,  there  is  at  times 
a  scarcity  of  water,  and  a  small  and  unwholesome  choice  of 
food.  Stunted  cocoa  nuts,  drought  smitten,  is  not  the  diet 
to  ward  ofi'  depressing  disease,  and  when  the  poor  islanders 
are  taken  to  sea  in  sliips,  to  sail  to  where  they  can  be 
properly  fed,  the  Destroyer  is  at  work  early  amongst  them. 
They  grasp  their  bellies  where  the  pain  is,  and  fail  to  come 
on  deck  ;  putrid  blood  bursts  from  the  mouth,  aggravated 
with  frightful  purging.  Sometimes  even  this  is  surpassed, 
and  you  see  a  "  boy  "  bringing  you  coftee  at  breakfast,  and 
you  miss  him  at  dinner  at  1  j^.m.  Search  for  him  at  4, 
and  tind  him  already  cold,  with  the  froth  at  his  lips,  Ijehind  a 
coil  of  rope.  At  4  p.m.,  overboard  they  go,  half-a-dozen  a-day. 
It  would  take  twelve  doctors,  not  one,  to  keep  the  live  hundred 
of  them  alive  to  the  extent  of  even  60  per  cent.  And  oh  ! 
the  suggestive  smell  that  pervades  the  ship  ;  it  would  break 
down  the  pluck  of  a  buccaneer.  Not  even  the  deadly 
dysenteries  of  China  are  "  in  the  same  street  "  with  this  nigger 
cholera  ;  for  you  can't  keep  men  in  full  stamina  without 
appropriate  diet.  We  grieve  over  the  death  of  a  neighbour, 
and  go  over  all  the  details  of  the  illness,  but  who  notes  the 
pain  and  the  death  of  these  poor  islanders,  each  one  of  whom 
suffers  his  full  martyrdom  alone  and  uncomforted. 

As  regards  the  relative  beauties  of  Racatu,  Hachin,  Bora 
Boru,  and  Eimio,  all  I  can  say  is  that  the  world  does  not 


GEMS    OP    THE    PACIFIC.  289 

hold  the  equal  of  them  elsewhere,  but  if  you  ask  me  to 
decide  which  amongst  them  bears  the  palm,  I  can  only  tell 
you  that  you  might  as  well  set  me  the  task  of  awarding  the 
prize  to  the  best  essay  in  the  various  Epistles  of  Saul,  of 
Tarsus,  each  one  a  glorious  gem  in  itself,  but  all  differing 
like  choice  flowers  in  a  bouquet. 

The  South  Pacific  Islands  round  Tahiti  are,  as  a  rule,  not 
large  enough  to  exhibit  extensive  bays,  but  one  exception 
is  at  Marchard  Island,  or  Nukubera,  discovered  by  Captain 
Ingraham,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  about  1790,  and  lying 
to  the  north  of  the  main  Marquesas  group,  first  made  known 
by  Mendana,  the  Spaniard,  200  years  before  that.  There 
iV  a  real  bay  in  Nukubera,  and  it  makes  a  grand  harbour, 
too.  Like  Rio  Janeiro,  it  has  conical  islands  in  it,  and  two 
of  them,  higher  than  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  guard  the 
entrance,  and  then  it  spreads  out  both  ways  and  forms  a 
nearly  circular  basin  for  anchorage,  from  which  rises  a  green 
amphitheatre,  sloping  upwards  gently  at  first,  but  rising* 
anon  into  steeper  acclivities,  the  green  at  the  water's  edge 
shading  into  deep  blue  Avhere  the  serrated  summit  outline 
cuts  the  sky  and  hems  in  the  view  all  round,  at  a  height  of 
nearly  four  thousand  feet.  But  this  is  only  a  part  of  the 
picture.  Profound  and  picturesque  gorges  radiate  from  the 
bay  and  pierce  up  to  the  dim  sunnnits  of  the  cordon  range. 
Each  glen  with  its  own  particular  tumbling  white  torrent 
appearing  and  disappearing  'mid  the  green,  till  it  at  last 
soberly  enters  the  little  harbour,  which  has  about  nine  miles 
of  circular  frontage.  As  an  amphitheatre,  it  is  about  the 
biggest  and  most  beautiful  in  the  South  Pacific,  and  like  a 
Titanic  coliseum  in  scenery.  Creeping  and  hanging  vines  and 
other  plants  covering,  as  well  as  they  can,  the  rocky  furrows 
and  stony  wrinkles,  all  on  an  enormous  scale,  which  time 
seems  to  have  worn  on  the  aged  face  of  dame  nature  just 
here.     And  the  natives  are  no  mild  vegetarians  ;  they  have 

T 


290  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

not  solved  the  problem  of  how  to  live  solely  on  fruits  of  the 
earth,  as  the  Hindoos  have.  A  keen  lust  for  that  which  once 
had  blood  in  it,  be  it  fish,  fowl,  or  animal,  rules  their  appetite. 
I  do  them  the  justice  to  think  that  cannibalism  first  arose 
through  the  vile  habit  of  human  sacrifices,  originated  by 
the  dominant  priestly  caste,  long  before  the  early  sandal- 
wood hunting  days  of  the  South  Pacific.  A  pro^ws  of  which 
our  sailors  200  years  ago  used  to  sail  from  the  locality  of  the 
present  London  Docks  to  the  Marquesas  for  sandal  wood. 

Isles,  with  the  mystic  spell, 

Tonga  !  Tabu ! 

Lands,  where  pride  rose — and  fell, 
Vauna  !  Levu  ! 

Haunts  of  some  vanished  race 

Lacking  in  God-born  grace, 

Stone  now  —their  only  trace, 

Vengeance  their  due. 

In  speculating  as  to  the  origin  of  these  Pacific  Islands, 
several  matters  strike  us  :  there  are  no  fossil  remains,  and  no 
animal  or  aqueous  survivors  of  the  pre- Adamite  era  such  as 
the  ceratodus  or  ornithorhynchus  of  Australia  ;  there  are  no 
dangerous  beasts,  birds,  or  reptiles  of  any  kind.  Paradise 
itself  was  not  more  free  from  them  nor  more  abounding  in 
edible  fruits  by  the  wayside  ;  the  present  inhabitants  are  not 
of  the  highest  intellectual  type,  such  as  the  arithmetical  and 
mathematical  Arabs  and  Jews  of  old,  though  they  retain  many 
of  their  traditions  and  customs  ;  but,  in  gentle  courtesy  and 
homely  domestic  common  sense,  as  applied  to  political,  re- 
ligious, and  social  daily  life,  they  are  verysimple  and"human," 
even  if  a  little  common-place,  and  not  aspiring ;  still  less  do 
the  present  people  belong  to  the  past  and  vanished  race  who 
could  "up  end"  stones  of  15x12x8  and  place  an  18ft.  one 
across  the  top  of  them  and  mortice  it  in  ;  Polynesia,  I  think, 
must  V>e  geologically  young,  far  behind  Australia,  butethno- 
logically  the  oldest  place  in  the  World  and  inhabited  perhaps 


A    REGION    OF    SCENIC    WONDERS.  291 

before  any  other  spot  was,  and  by  a  race  who  could  carve  and 
hew  stone,  but  of  whose  graving  tools  no  trace  can  now  be 
found ;  the  mystic,  potent,  awful  "Tabu"  being  the  only  frag- 
mentary spirit  and  symbol  now  remaining  of  the  wisdom  and 
the  interdiction  of  those  whom  the  whirlwind  of  Time  hath 
swept  away  for  ever  from  this  planet. 

Tahiti  and  Marquesas  !  A  region  of  scenic  wonders 
indeed  !  Large  gorges  ;  perpendicular  ravines — all  of  giant 
dimensions ;  lilac  and  amber  peaks,  wliose  jagged  points 
pierce  the  sky  and  are  tiecked  and  cut  with  tinted  cloud- 
rings,  hardly  one  round-shouldered  hill  visible  anywhere, 
but  gothic  peaks  of  bright  hues  against  a  darker  back- 
ground ;  mysterious  abysses,  sunlit  cones,  superb  and 
awe-aspiring,  though  made  up  of  basalt  and  other  homely 
geologic  products  of  extinct  volcanic  warriors  of  bygone 
igneous  ages,  and  now  almost  clothed  in  green  vegetation 
beautifully  contrasted  with  a  peep  of  sterile  rock  here  and 
there  ;  and  inhabited  by  a  race  of  women  who  are  beautiful 
and  don't  know  it,  who  are  not  vain,  not  "dressy,"  talk  no 
scandal  and  envy  no  one ;  for  they  have  not  known  the 
temptation  of  the  white  woman  who  is  vain,  and  no  wonder 
for  white  men  make  her  so,  thusly  : — A  beautiful  girl,  not 
vain,  is  approached  by  a  common-place  man  who  seeks  to  at- 
tract her  attention  and  interest.  Well!  there  is  nothing  in 
him  to  do  that,  so  the  animal  resorts  to  strategem  and  begins 
to  tell  her  that  her  hands,  feet,  ears,  eyes,  hair,  ligure,  bonnet, 
mantle,  dress,  gloves,  what  not,  are  perfection  ;  loads  her 
with  fulsome  flattery  in  order  that  he  may  leave  on  her  mind 
that  pleasant  impression  of  himself  which  his  looks,  his  wit, 
or  his  manliness  never  would  or  could  do ;  and  so  it  comes 
to  pass  that  he  .spoils  and  mars  a  fresh  bit  of  Nature's  work, 
in  order,  forsooth  !  that  he  may  feed  in  forbidden  pastures, 
and  she  becomes  vain  from  that  day  forth,  who  never  was  so 
before  he  intruded  on  the  scene. 


292  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

The  girls  at  the  island,  like  Tahiti  where  there  is  a  crowds 
and  where  people  see  hundreds  of  others  and  fresh  faces 
every  day,  are  staid  to  a  certain  extent  in  their  demeanour, 
but  this  is  no  criterion  for  some  of  the  lonely  groups  and 
solitary  islets  where  ever  new  and  varying  types  of  exquisite 
female  loveliness  are  to  be  met  with.  One  would  -wonder 
where  the  variety  came  from  :  for  the  Tahitian  differs  from 
the  Marquesan,  and  both  again  vary  from  the  Samoan,  the 
Prumoto,  and  the  Chain  Island  girl ;  in  one  group,  the  eyes 
and  lashes  surpass  the  world,  in  another  the  sweet  expres- 
sion of  the  features,  in  another  the  littleness  of  the  ears, 
hands,  and  feet,  in  another  the  superb  development  and 
symmetry  of  the  limbs  and  body  ;  but,  in  the  solitary  places 
where  they  rarely  see  a  white  man  in  the  pride  of  his  youth, 
they  are  not  what  Mrs.  Grundy  calls  "modest."  Why  should 
they  be  1  or  rather,  how  can  they  be  1  Did  they  ever  read 
a  book  *?  Is  the  word  "propriety,"  or  its  equivalent,  met 
with  in  their  language ;  did  even  Mother  Eve  ever  hear  it 
spoken,  or  read  of  it  in  a  novel  1 ;  and  what  does  Lukeeha, 
of  the  lonely  "atoll"  know  more  than  Eve  did.  Lukeeha  is 
kind,  she  would  give  you  all,  or  any  of  her  poor  barbaric 
ornaments,  would  feed  you,  nurse  you,  worship  you,  for  she 
never  saw  a  Avhite  young  man  before  and  knows  nothing  of 
him,  or  his  civilization,  except  that  he  is  a  new  ideal  for  her, 
and  she  is  no  more  backward  or  retiring  in  his  presence  than 
would  be  a  London  dehiitmite  in  the  presence  of  a  diamond 
necklace,   that  could  be  got  for  the  asking  and  handling. 

These  islands  form  the  largest  "beat"  in  the  world  for 
police  supervision.  Scattered  cruisers  froni  England  and 
France,  from  Germany  and  the  United  States,  patrol  the 
groups  the  whole  way  from  Espiritu  Santo  to  Nukahiva 
more  or  less,  and  do  what  they  can  where  all  the  fleets  afloat 
could  not  do  what  is  wanted  ;  and  the  Pacific  paradises  are 
mostly  a  "law  to  themselves"  ;  the  long  pennants  cannot  fly 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  PATROL.  293 

everywhere,  and  even  then  "international"  law  is  a  clumsy 
weapon  at  Vjest,  in  the  strange  and  lovely  unannexed  islets, 
so  pirates  and  buccaneers  of  the  "handsome  Hayes'"  type 
do  much  as  they  please,  in  the  way  of  fraud,  "kidnap," 
violence,  and  cajolery  ;  long  before  his  day,  the  fun  went  on, 
and  women's  beauty  and  men's  labours,  and  men's  property, 
the  fruit  of  labour,  were  preyed  upon  as  freely  as  in  the 
lawless  and  unpatrolled  land  ocean  of  Central  Africa. 

The  art  of  committing  sham  suicide  is  not,  as  is  generally 
supposed,  one  of  quite  modern  invention.  True,  we  do  hear 
nowadays  of  young  men  who  have  failed  in  some  praise- 
worthy attempt  to  select  beforehand  the  winner,  say,  of  the 
Caulfield  Cup,  and  who  "borrowed  "  some  money  from  the  till 
over  it,  which  they  could  not  replace  before  its  absence  was 
found  out,  and  wlio  disappeared  from  view,  leaving  no  trace 
beyond  a  suit  of  clothes  on  the  cliffs  or  sea-beach,  and  a 
loaded  revolver  with  two  chambers  recently  discharged. 
The  finder  is  placed  in  a  blissful  state  of  uncertainty  as  to 
whether  the  absentee  had  fired  tlie  two  bullets  into  his  head 
and  then  swam  out  and  drowned  himself,  or  whether  he  first 
of  all  tried  to  drown  himself  and  then  came  back  and  used 
the  revolver,  winding  up  with  a  lead  sinker  and  an  emptied 
air  belt  half-a-mile  out  at  sea,  uncharitable  and  cynical 
folks,  of  course,  asserting  that  no  suicide  at  all  had  taken 
place.  But  these  are  mere  modern  episodes  ;  the  art  itself 
was  invented  hundreds  of  years  ago  at  Raiatea,  a  large  and 
beautiful  island  of  the  Society  Group,  near  Tahiti,  in  the 
dark  ages,  tracing  back  to  the  year  1400  or  so,  when  the 
great  "  Hiro  "  was  reputed  to  be  the  founder  of  the  Pacific 
race,  it  was  customary  for  the  priests  to  select,  from  time 
to  time,  victims  for  human  sacrifice  from  amongst  the  poorer 
and  less  influential  islanders,  who  were  not  acquainted  with 
the  secret  signs,  and,  so  to  speak,  the  freemasonry  which 
the  chiefs  used  in  talking  to  each  other.     The  victim  was 


294  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

never  warned  ;  he  was  only  silently  selected  and  missed  by 
his  friends.  The  stealthy  blow  with  a  stone  axe  from  behind 
did  the  work  in  a  moment,  and  no  one  except  the  priests 
knew  who  was  to  be  the  next  one.  The  result  was  that 
these  poor  islanders  (to  use  a  bootmakers'  phrase)  got  "  full" 
about  this. 

Now  Raiatea  is  a  curious  and  lovely  island,  an  earthly 
Paradise  in  climate,  beauty,  and  scenery.  It  has  the  inevi- 
table beach  all  round  it,  narrow  in  places  where  the 
mountains  come  down  to  the  sea,  wide  and  stretching  back 
into  fertile  plains  where  the  mountains  recede  from  the 
ocean  ;  the  usual  gloi'ious  coral  shallows  environ  it,  of  course, 
and  on  their  edge  ever  beats  the  curling  and  musically  boom- 
ing surf,  the  upper  crystal  drops  of  which  are  blown  out  to 
sea  in  an  opposite  direction  to  the  advancing  waves  by  the 
land  breeze,  and  look  like  lancers'  pennons  when  they 
"  charge  "  to  windward. 

And  then  these  mountains  of  Raiatea  !  How  shall  I 
describe  them  1  Their  sides  are  verdant,  but  unscaleable, 
clothed  with  dense  jungle  and  rich  vegetation,  cleft  with 
narrow  deep  ravines  at  their  outlying  edges,  down  which 
the  cascades  pour  1000  feet  at  a  leap  from  the  terraces  and 
tablelands  above.  High  above  all  this  lies  the  inhabited 
but  inaccessible  "downs"  of  the  interior,  where  a  race 
lives  who  never  visit  nor  are  visited  by  the  dwellers  in  the 
plains  below.  Wild  fowl,  fish,  and  fruit  are  plentiful  on 
this  upper  country,  and  before  describing  it  further,  I  will 
relate  how  it  came  to  be  inhabited.  Smoke  and  fires  had 
been  seen  on  it  with  telescopes,  and  from  passing  ships,  so 
the  existence  of  human  beings  was  a  certainty,  and  this  is 
how  they  originally  got  there.  One  poor  fellow  who  had  lost 
some  of  his  near  and  dear  relatives  by  the  priests  in  the  old 
idolatrous  days  before  Mendana,  the  Spaniard,  in  1594, 
burst  into  the  eastern  Pacific.     This  one  poor  fellow  plotted 


THE    MOUNTAIXS    OP    KAIATEA.  295 

with  the  survivors  of  his  family  tribe  a  happ)'  idea.  They 
took  their  well  -  known  canoes  to  a  distant  point  of  the 
island,  and  there  so  damaged  them  that  they  appeared  to 
have  been  wrecked  on  the  coral,  and  for  themselves  they 
hied  them  to  a  spot  high  up  on  the  mountains,  where  some 
overhanging  lianas  or  vines  gave  access  upwards  by  a  route 
where  no  foot  could  find  a  resting  place. 

Travelling  a  great  distance  along  the  narrow  ledge  of  a 
lofty  eminence,  a  sharp  corner  is  turned,  leading  into  a  ver- 
dant fertile  hollow,  buttressed  all  round  by  sheer  and  awful 
abysses.  In  this  dell  grew  a  profusion  of  the  mountain 
plantain  and  other  fruits,  and  a  herbal  bark  of  great  use  in 
the  mild  fevers  and  skin  eruptions  peculiar  to  the  islands. 
The  only  outlets  to  this  hollow  dell  were  the  ledge  already 
spoken  of  and  some  hanging  vines  which  led  up  a  precipice 
to  safe,  clear,  and  widely  extending  ground  above.  Thither 
came  the  priest  d reading  fugitives,  climbed  the  vines,  drew 
them  up,  and  were  never  seen  again  on  the  island  below. 
Their  canoes  were  found,  and  they  themselves  were  sup- 
posed to  have  been  drowned  at  sea,  and  the  priests  had  to 
travel  further  for  victims.  And  this  is  the  first  case  on 
record  of  "  sham  "  suicide,  of  which  modern  Australia  is 
but  a  feeble  imitation.  The  race  which  sprung  up  on  these 
tablelands  of  Eden  grew  to  be  the  most  expert  climbers 
amongst  the  human  race.  The  eight  or  ten  families  who 
started  this  new  departure  throve  and  multiplied  on  the 
wide-spread  land  of  plenty,  which  tiiey  thus  found  in  those 
glorious  undulating  mountains  of  happinness.  But  the 
vines  being  once  drawn  up,  no  one  could  follow  them,  while 
they  could,  if  they  liked,  make  secret  excursions  below. 
Their  language,  of  course,  remained  the  same  as  that  of  the 
people  below,  but  they  held  no  communication  with  them, 
and  till  the  early  missionaries  brought  telescopes  with  them 
no  unassisted  human  eye  could  scan  the  dim  recesses,  cloud, 


"296  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

peaks,  and  shoulders  of  this  divine  spot,  or  view  the  living 
people  who  there  flitted  about  and  were  happy,  though  as 
invisible  to  those  below  as  the  inhabitants  of  the  planet 
Mars  are  to  us  on  the  earth.  Only  on  two  occasions  up  to 
the  date  of  George  the  Fourth's  death  were  any  of  those 
mountain  people  captured.  On  the  first  occasion,  two  child- 
ren and  one  old  man  were  surprised  in  the  dell  alluded  to. 
The  children  screamed,  and,  like  monkeys,  soon  climbed 
beyond  reach  of  capture.  No  lowlander  could  follow  them. 
The  old  man  in  escaping  slipped  and  fell,  and  fatally  injured 
himself.  He  survived  his  capture  a  week,  and  told  how  liis 
forefathers  had  fled  at  the  season  when  the  one  fruit,  which 
was  always  then  eaten  with  human  sacrifices,  was  known  to 
be  nearly  ripe,  a  season  always  fatal  to  the  poor  islander,  as 
the  green  pea  season  is  to  ducks. 

Mr.  Robert  Bourne,  of  the  Congregational  Union,  went 
out  as  missionary  to  the  Tahiti  and  Society  Group  about  the 
latter  years  of  King  George  the  Third's  life.  His  children 
were  some  of  them  Ijorn  at  Raiatea.  He  was,  twenty  years 
later,  in  the  drapery  business  in  Pitt-street,  Sydney,  and, 
forty  years  later  again,  he  was  secretary  to  the  Board  of 
Public  Education  in  Brisbane.  He  was  the  grandfather  of 
the  Registrar  of  Titles  for  Queensland,  Mr.  J.  Orton  Bourne, 
and  of  Mr.  Robert  Orton  Bourne,  Superintendent  of  Tele- 
graphs for  the  same  colony ;  and  his  son,  George  Bourne, 
was  Landsborough's  colleague  in  that  brave  dash  across  the 
Australian  continent,  in  1862.  But  to  return  to  the  Rev. 
Robert  Bourne.  He,  stationed  as  a  missionary  at  Raiatea, 
was,  previous  to  1822,  told  of  this  legend  of  the  captive  wild 
mountaineer,  and  he  l)urned  with  a  warm  desire  to  get  at 
the  rest  of  this  interesting  community,  and  to  let  them  know 
that  the  murderous  bugbear  of  centuries  was  at  an  end. 
But  all  in  vain.  His  most  active  scouts  could  never  climb 
the  ravine  slopes  that  led  to  the  central  fastness  to  beyond 


FEAR    DISPELLED.  v  297 

a  certain  height,  where  rock  walls  grew  absolutely  perpen- 
dicular, and  the  sides  of  the  gullies  were  much  the  same. 
The  central  upper  Paradise  was  guarded  like  the  gardens  of 
the  Hesperides.  But  after  some  years,  and  when  his  two 
elder  children,  a  boy  (Robert)  and  a  girl  (afterwards  Mrs. 
Chisholm)  were  out  walking  with  him  at  a  new  home  which 
ho  had  made  in  a  far  corner  of  the  island,  his  wife  also  being 
with  them,  he  was  startled  to  see  a  crowd  of  natives,  three 
of  whom  held  a  captive  by  the  hair,  which  flowed  wildly 
about,  and  long,  like  a  womans'.  The  poor  terrified  creature 
was  a  man  from  the  upper  regions;  the  foam  on  his  lips, 
and  exhausted  partly  from  struggling  and  partly  from 
illness  ;  for  he  had  been  pounced  upon  while  gathering  some 
of  the  fever  herb  which  grew  only  on  the  lands  below  the 
summit  centre  of  the  island.  He  stood  trembling  and  with 
dilated  eyes,  as  frightened  as  any  wild  beast  captured  by 
men.  His  terror  was  not  decreased  by  the  sight  of  the 
white  gentleman  and  lady,  another  startling  wonder  for 
him.  "  Do  not  kill  me  !  Do  not  give  me  to  the  priests  !  " 
he  said  ;  and  Mr.  Bourne  was  able  to  reply  to  him  in  the 
same  language.  "  There  are  no  priests  here  now,  and  the 
false  gods  have  left  Raiatea  for  ever,  my  friend,  so  have  no 
more  fear."  The  captive  could  not  grasp  the  meaning  of 
the  words,  but  the  kind  looks  of  Mrs.  Bourne  and  the  two 
little  white  children  spoke  more  reassuringly  than  any  words 
could.  He  had  no  terror  of  them,  but  he  gazed  in  such 
agony  at  Pomare,  who  now  came  up  with  more  natives,  that 
Mr.  Bourne,  as  the  only  way  to  soothe  him,  took  him  away 
from  them  and  to  his  own  home  for  the  night.  When  a  few 
days  had  elapsed  he  grew  calmer,  but  the  slightest  incident 
would  renew  his  fears  and  entreaties  for  mercy.  Not  a 
native  could  come,  even  to  look  at  him,  without  his  dreading 
to  be  murdered.  The  little  white  boy  and  girl  helped  their 
father  to  teach  the   captive  his  letters  and  to  spell  short 


298  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEKRS    AND     REMINISCENCES. 

words  when  his  fears  had  subsided,  and  had  it  been  possible 
to  keep  him  in  sight  of  them  and  them  only,  all  would  have 
been  well,  for  Mr.  Bourne  devoted  all  his  time  to  the  poor 
wild  man.  A  couple  of  weeks  thus  rolled  away,  and  the 
wild  "  Orson  "  seemed  to  be  tame  at  last.  But  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Bourne  and  his  new  home  were  on  a  remote  part  of  the 
island,  and  away  from  the  populated  place  where  whale- 
ships  and  white  men  called  in,  prevented  the  poor  "myall" 
from  realising  by  the  sight  of  chapels,  etc.,  that  "old  things 
had  passed  away."  On  the  fifteenth  day,  Mr.  Bourne  asked 
him  to  come  out  for  a  walk  with  Mrs.  Bourne  and  the  two 
children  (this  was  in  1822).  He  refused  at  first,  Vjut  the 
two  youngsters  seizing  his  hands  playfully,  dragged  him  out. 
All  went  well  till  Aripali  (this  was  the  man's  name)  in  the 
stroll  along  the  beach,  the  only  path  then  in  that  dense 
jungle,  came  in  sight  at  once  both  of  the  dear  mountains 
on  one  side,  and  of  a  mob  of  natives  on  the  other.  The 
crowd  drew  nearer,  and  Aripah  grew  wild  in  the  eyes  again. 
Mr.  Bourne  waved  to  them  to  go  back,  but  curiosity  pressed 
them  on.  In  another  moment  Aripah  broke  from  Mr. 
Bourne,  who  held  him  by  the  hand,  and  fled  like  a  deer  to 
his  beloved  mountain,  pursued  by  the  crowd  of  shouting 
natives,  who  might  have  spared  themselves  the  trouble,  for 
he  was  fleeter  than  they,  and  was  half  way  up  the  mountain 
before  they  got  even  to  the  foot  of  it,  where  its  abrupt  and 
unknown  clifis  forbade  all  further  pursuit  by  them.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Bourne  exchanged  saddened  glances  as  the  cries 
of  the  hunting  pack  died  away  in  the  forest,  afraid  alike  of 
what  might  happen,  and  also  that  in  any  case  they  would 
never  see  Aripah  again.  He  had  a  thirty  yards'  start,  when 
fear  overcame  confidence,  and  he  increased  it  at  every  stride. 
Bye  and  bye  a  great  shout  arose,  and  Mr.  Bourne,  going 
out  to  see  the  cause,  beheld,  on  the  sharp  angle  of  a  precipice 
far  above  them,  Aripah  looking  down  a  farewell  at  him,  and 


aripah's  farewell.  299' 

even  then  he  had  to  send  for  his  telescope  to  be  sure  it  was 
his  lost  one.  Aripah  sat  there  for  thirty  minutes  looking 
at  him,  and  then  got  up  and  vanished — and  for  ever  as  far 
as  the  Rev.  R.  Bourne  was  concerned,  for  up  to  the  year 
1832,  when  he  finally  left  Raiatea,  neither  Aripah  nor  one 
of  his  mates  was  seen  l)y  those  below. 

The  genesis  of  the  South  and  East  Pacific  Islands  is 
shrouded  in  unfathomal>le  impenetrable  mystery,  alike  as  to 
their  geologicial  inception  and  their  ethnological  settlement. 
Serving  for  us  to  recall  the  lines — 

\Vith  what  an  awful  woiM-revolvhig  power 
Were  first  th'  unwielilly  planets  launched  along 
Th'  illimitable  void — tliere  to  remain 
Amid  the  lapse  of  many  thousand  years. 
Which  oft  hath  mvept  the  toilinij  race  of  men. 
And  all  their  boasted  momiments  aioay. 

This  great  ocean,  sighted  first  as  regards  the  earth  and 
by  white  men  —  from  the  mountains  on  the  Isthmus  of 
Darien,  which  Balbon  climbed  in  1513,  and  sighted  in  1520 
by  Magelhan  from  the  other  end  of  the  continent  that  ter- 
minates in  Cape  Horn,  contains  islands  peopled  by  a  race 
that  puzzles  the  wisest  to  trace  back.  And  the  more  their 
customs,  their  features,  and  monuments  are  studied,  the  less 
able  are  the  enquirers  to  discover  what  led  to  present  con- 
ditions. There  was  a  gentle  and  handsome  female  race  kept 
in  bondage  by  a  fetish  called  the  "  tabu,"  and  not  allowed 
the  fi-eedom  and  privileges  due  to  their  sex.  There  were 
habits  and  usages,  analagous  to  those  of  the  ancient  Jews, 
Arabs,  and  Phu3nicians,  there  was  a  cast  of  countenance  of 
the  Gi'eek  and  Caucasian  tyj^e,  and  a  mythology  of  the 
same.  Stone  monuments,  statues,  hieroglyphs,  and  massive 
terraces,  walls,  and  trilithons,  I'ecalling  Central  America,. 
and  the  dimmest,  darkest  ages  of  the  old  world. 


300  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Yes,  the  women  may  well  be  good-tempered  in  Tahiti. 
They  never  have  to  go,  at   11    p.m.  on  Saturday  niglit,  to 
pull  a  drunken  husband  out  of  the  tavern,  and  with  a  baby 
on  one  arm,  and  him  on  the  other,  as  occasionally  happens 
in  the  white  man's  land,  both  north  and  south  of  the  equator. 
These  be  matters  that  shorten  the  temper  and  sharpen  the 
tongue  of  the  white  girl.     They  have  never  happened  in 
Tahiti   since  time    began.      Temperance   people   sometimes 
foolishly  try  to  reckon  up  the   "  drink  bill "  of  the  British 
Empire  by  the  wholesale  money  that  is  paid  for  the  liquor. 
Fudge  !    that  does    not  represent  a  tithe   of  the   real   bill. 
John  Stumps,  of  Australia,  drinks  half-a-crown's  worth  of 
alcohol,    and    becomes    thereby    fearfully   and   wonderfully 
drunk  for  forty-eight  hours.     He  stands  at  the  bar  of  the 
public-house  and  reiterates  the  wearisome  statement  that 
he,  and  he  alone,  is  the  best  (sanguinary)  shearer,  bootmaker, 
saddler  (what  does  it  matter?)  in  the  (gory)  colony.     He 
keeps  this  up  till  3  a.m.,  and,  on  the  third  day,  is   "seedy, 
and   can't  work  for  four  days  more  ;  losing  10s.  a  day  for 
six  days,  or  ,£3  in  all  in  mere  money.     So  that  the  Is.  3d. 
ivholesale  price  of  the  liquor  that  "  knocked  him  out,"  and 
wliich  is  all  that  the  temperance  statisticians  take  note  of 
or  put  in  their  "  drink  bill "  needs  to  be  multiplied   fifty 
times  in  order  to  show  even  the  inere  dollars  lost  for  ever. 
While,  as  for  John  Stumps  and  his  broken  health,  wretched 
family,  ruined  soul  and  prospects,  you  can't  possibly  put 
them  into  practical  numerals  at  all ;  such  things  are  classified 
otherwise  and  elsewhere.      Come,   now,   I    will  tell  you  a 
story  a  fropos  of  all  this.      There  was,  at  the  east  end  of 
London,  a  brilliant  gin  palace,  with  cut  glasses  and  candel- 
abra and  gas  jets,  with  pork  pies  on  the  counter,  and  ham 
sandwiches,  and  stalwart  barmen  to  serve  the  liquor,  and 
ready  to  eject  noisy  customers.     A  young  man    (whom  I 
afterwards  knew  in  Australia)  was  one  of  these.     His  father 


A    STORY.  301 

managed  a  brewery,  and  he  had  a  rich  uncle,  a  retired- 
publican,  who  wanted  him  to  marry  a  pretty  girl  who  would 
have  £5,000  on  her  wedding  day,  and  to  start  in  hotel 
business  for  himself  with  her  money,  and  what  his  uncle 
would  give  him.  He  was  to  meet  her  at  the  "  Licensed 
Victuallers'  Annual  Ball."  She  was  a  partner  (I  can  tell 
you)  worth  dancing  with — with  her  splendid  black  hair 
and  eyes,  her  costly  golden  jewellery,  her  rich  bronze  silk 
dress,  her  bronze  silk  hose,  and  her  neat  bronze  kid  pumps, 
and  with  5,000  sovereigns  and  a  ready-made  business.  She 
was  a  bait  indeed  for  any  young  man  to  snap  at.  Well,  one 
night  some  time  before  the  ball,  was  cold  and  wintry,  and 
our  hero  was  serving  as  usual  behind  the  bar,  when  a  girl 
child  of  ten  years  entered  for  a  jug  of  beer.  The  snow  was 
falling  outside  "underneath  the  gaslight  glitter,"  and  the 
poor  little  waif  had  nothing  on  her-  head  or  lier  feet,  and 
I  am  bound  to  say,  very  little  on  lier  )>ody  The  snowflakes 
as  she  stood  at  the  counter  dripped  from  her  head  and  melted 
betv<een  her  Ijosom  and  the  ragged  garment  which  alone 
covered  it  that  bleak  night.  Yet  her  parents  had  the  money 
to  send  her  for  beer,  poor,  half-frozen  starveling  !  The  sight 
was  too  much  for  our  barman  ;  he  liad  a  heart  inside  him. 
He  savv  the  child's  hungry  eye  and  sliivering  form,  and  he 
forced  half  a  pork  pie  and  some  ham  sandwiches  on  her  and. 
made  her  eat  them,  paying  for  them  himself.  He  made  an 
excuse  to  go  home,  and  swore  to  himself,  that  he  would 
never  serve  a  glass  of  liquor  again,  or  take  wages,  or  make 
profit  that  arose  from,  or  was  in  any  way  connected  witli 
such  sights  and  awful  realities,  as  that  poor  little  snow- 
bathed  victim.  He  went  to  the  ball,  though,  and  danced 
with  Miss  Bronze  Pumps,  inhaled  the  warm  perfume  of  her 
tresses,  admired  her  splendid  physique,  and  could  have  had 
lier,  and  competence,  too,  for  the  asking,  for  he  was  clever,, 
and  could  sing  and  act ;  but,  somehow,  between  him  and  her 


302  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

would  come  that  half-frozen,  fragile,  suow-dabbled  child  of 
half  her  age,  and  he  could  not  make  money  or  enjoy  ease  in 
that  way,  so  he  angered  his  uncle,  threw  up  his  situation, 
and  went  to  sea  as  steward  of  an  emigrant  ship.  There 
was  everything  to  tempt  his  animal  nature  and  love  of 
•comfort  in  this  ballroom  heiress  and  the  ready-made  business, 
but  he  could  not  somehow  "  get  away  from "  this  child- 
Lazarus  "  at  his  gate,"  nor  enjoy  in  peace  money  derived 
from  the  misery  and  wrongs  of  such  pitiful  helpless  innocents. 
But  there  is  none  of  this  in  Tahiti,  you  know.  For  one 
thing,  of  course  it  never  snows  there. 


i 


[EDITOR'S  NOTE.] 

"  Most  of  tlie  following  occasional  papers  were  found  amo^ng 
the  late  Mr.  Bartley's  manuscripts.  They  are  all  moi-e  or  less 
important,  and  are  certainly  interesting,  since  neai'ly  the 
whole  of  them  treat  with  eithei-  Australian  men  or  matterti. 
For  that  reason,  and  with  a  belief  that  the  author  intended 
to  give  them  permanent  value,  they  are  included  in  this  his 
last  work." 

Editor. 


Samoan  Types. 


MEMORIAL  LINES  TO  HARRY  KENDALL. 


HERE  Idumea's  myrtled  hills  frown  dark  on  Judah's 

land, 
Whose  summit  crags  seem  castle  towers  to  many  a 

pilgrim  band, 
Where  Aroer,  by  Arnon's  stream,  'neath  lofty  Pisgah's 

springs, 
On  far-off  Harosheth  doth  gaze,  beyond  the  Gentile 

kings, 
Where    Midian's   dromedaries    bore    their    load    to 
Ephrah's  Vale 
With  Bozrah's  gay-striped  garniture,  like  Afric's  lateen  sail. 
Where  Chaldee  sages  kept  the  stars  on  parchment  scroll  engrossed, 
( When  Guatemala's  hoary  fanes  crowned  Costa  Rican  coast) 
There,  singers  in  the  days  of  old,  heard  Nature's  stirring  call. 
And  r)avid,  Deborah,  enrapt  bade  music's  cadence  fall. 

And  hath  not  this  our  Austral  land,  a  pre-historic  claim  ? 
The  old  world's  elder  brother  it,  in  everything  but  name 
Ceratodus* — -long  since  a  part  of  Britain's  marble  stone — 
8wims  our  free  waters  here  to-day  strong  living  flesh  and  bone. 
And  other  forms,  Pre-Adamite,  attest  it  still  the  same 
Since  long  before  on  earth  man  bore  a  spelt  or  spoken  name. 
And  should  we  not  our  singer  have  to  chant  in  measured  rhymes 
The  weird  and  wond'rous  sights  that  dawn  on  wand'rers  in  these 
climes  ? 

Mazy  gulfs  of  amber  glory,  winding  eastward  to  the  sea, 
When  the  yellow  sunrise  goldens  all  the  mist  that  wraps  the  lea. 
On  Govett's  Leap,  the  stately  Clarence,  Miki  Falls  and  Yulgilbar 
Hanging  Rock  and  steep  Koreelah,  mountain,  river  near  and  far. 
Sandstone  bluff,  basaltic  pillar,  granite  dyke,  deep  waterwom 
Dolomite  and  golden  quartz  reef,  wattle  bloom  and  waving  corn. 
Forest  trees  that  dwarf  Cathedral's  spire  and  bid  it  hide  its  head  t 
(Though  we  own  no  sculptured  cloisters,  urning  earth's  illustrious 
dead). 

Kendall  sang  these,  Kendall  knew  them,  gave  them  each  a  name 

and  form, 
And  ( like  'Peter'  )  sang  them  from  a  true  heart  deep  and  warm 
Yearned,  too,  for  that  mystic  Eden,  above  the  amber  sunsets  hie 
When  they  nightly  fade  in  turquoise  from  a  gold  and  purple  sky. 
Sang  he  once  :  but,  never  more  upon  our  ear  his  note  shall  fall. 
Higher  theme,  on  earth  unspoken,  now  upon  his  soul  doth  call — 
Thankful  may  we  be  he  left  us  plenteous  music  of  his  soul — 
Thankful— for  such  men  as  he  was  ne'er  on  earth  yet  found  their  goal. 

*  The  Burnett  Salmon.  t  Dandenong-  trees  471ft.  high. 

U 


TUmiNG  ON  THE  BARRIER  REEF. 


N  1873,  the  manager  of  the  Lake's  Creek  Meat 
Works,  on  the  Fitzroy  River,  a  little  below  Rock- 
hampton,  learned  that  the  true  green  turtle  was  to 
T^  be  found  in  considerable  numbers  on  the  reefs  and 
islands  of  the  Great  Barrier  Reef.  It  occurred  to 
him  that  it  might  be  worth  his  while  to  tin  and  ex- 
port turtle  as  well  as  beef  and  mutton.  At  the  time  an  old 
fisherman  from  the  Hebrides  was  in  Rockhampton  with  a 
little  25-ton  ketch  which  he  owned.  Donald  was  on  the  look 
out  for  profitable  employment  for  himself  and  his  craft.  He 
had  lately  been  out  of  luck,  and  it  is  more  than  likely  that 
it  was  he  who  had  told  the  meat  works  people  about  the 
turtle,  for  he  knew  more  about  the  coast  from  the  Burnett 
to  Broadsound  than  perhaps  any  other  living  man. 

But  the  ketch  wanted  new  gear,  and  a  number  of  things, 
and  Donald  just  then  had  no  money,  so  he  was  not  sorry 
when,  one  fine  day,  as  he  was  strolling  along  Quay-street, 
he  was  aware,  as  the  old  romances  have  it,  of  an  old 
acquaintance  who  had  shared  in  some  of  his  former  ventures, 
approaching  from  the  opposite  direction. 

"D'  ye  want  a  share  in  a  good  thing,  Mr.  Smith  1"  said 
Donald. 

"What  is  it,  Donald,  and  how  muchi"  asked  the  other. 


TURTLING  ON  THE  BARRIER  REEF.  307 

"  Turtle  from  the  Barrier,  and  I  want  £20  and  yourself," 
said  Donald. 

"What  will  it  return,  and  how  many  are  in  it?" 

"i>10  a  week,  at  any  rate,  and  our  own  two  selves,  if 
you'll  chance  it.  It'll  be  a  third  for  the  hooker,  and  a  third 
apiece  for  ourselves." 

"  That'll  do  ;  come  to  the  bank  and  I'll  give  you  your 
twenty  notes." 

Donald  soon  laid  in  his  supplies,  and  next  morning  the 
ketch  dropped  down  the  river  to  Lake's  Creek.  The  mana- 
ger was  on  the  wharf,  and  when  he  understood  that  Donald 
was  starting  for  the  Barrier,  he  gave  his  final  instructions  : 
"£1  per  cwt.,  but  nothing  under  Icwt.,  but  as  heavy  as  you 
like  above  that."  Then  came  the  weary  beat  down  stream 
against  an  easterly  wind.  The  tide  served,  however,  but 
it  was  far  into  the  afternoon  when  they  passed  Mud  Island, 
and  opened  the  wide  expanse  of  Keppel  Bay.  It  was  nearly 
dark  when  the  light  of  Cape  Capricorn  was  seen  ahead,  as 
the  vessel  came  round  on  the  port  tack.  Then  the  land 
breeze  piped  up,  and  they  were  soon  bowling  along  for  Mast- 
head Island  and  the  Bunker  Group.  It  was  now  necessary 
to  proceed  Avitli  caution,  as  the  reefs  were  near,  and  daylight 
was  necessary  to  enable  them  to  thread  their  way  through 
the  narrow  and  intricate  channels.  Masthead  Island  was 
dimly  visible,  and  they  lay  to,  to  wait  for  morning. 

The  ketch  was  carefully  guided  to  her  anchorage  between 
the  Masthead  Reef  and  the  island.  Donald  was  at  the 
tiller,  and  Smith  in  the  bows  keeping  a  sharp  look-out  for 
the  sharp  points  and  jagged  edges  of  coral  which  could  be 
plainly  seen  beneath  the  surface  of  the  clear  water.  The 
island  is  nothing  more  than  a  sandy  "  cay  "  (as  they  are 
called  in  the  West  Indies)  an  islet  of  sand  overlying  the 
coral,  and  thinly  covered  with  brush^'ood.  It  is  surrounded 
by  reefs,  with  here  and  there  a  cap  of  sand  where  the  coral 


308  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

has  grown  to  the  level  of  the  water,  forming  the  nuclei  for 
other  islets,  which  will  grow  in  time  till  they  rival,  or  even 
excel,  the  patriarch  of  the  little  group.  All  are  haunted  by 
vast  numbers  of  sea-birds,  and  there  is  actually  fresh  water 
to  be  found  on  Masthead  Island,  and  that  was  an  important 
consideration  on  all  accounts.  Many  turtle  were  swimming 
about,  but  they  were  troublesome  and  difficult  to  catch  in 
the  water,  and,  in  any  case,  they  must  not  be  harpooned. 

The  ketch  was  securely  moored  head  and  stern,  with  lines 
from  each  bow  and  each  quarter,  to  ensure  that  she  should 
not  swing  on  to  any  of  the  jagged  points  of  coral  projecting 
around.  The  dingy  was  got  over  the  side ;  lines,  poles,  and 
other  appliances  were  put  into  her,  the  main  boom  topped, 
and  the  standing  block  of  a  tackle  to  hoist  the  turtle  on 
board.  Eating  and  sleeping  filled  up  the  rest  of  the  day, 
for  the  turtles  were  to  be  caught  at  night,  when  they  came 
on  shore  to  bury  their  eggs  in  the  sand. 

At  nightfall  the  dingy  took  on  shore  "  all  hands  and  the 
cook  "  to  catch  turtle.  As  the  two  men  were  lying  quietly 
behind  a  bush,  from  which  they  had  a  view  of  nearly  a  mile 
of  the  beach,  they  noticed  two  turtles  come  ashore  and  push 
their  unwieldy  bulk  along  the  sand  inland  with  their  flip- 
pers. Then  another  pair  landed  a  little  way  off,  and  a  third 
pair  further  off.  There  was  a  vast  deal  of  scuffling  while 
the  night's  quota  of  eggs  was  being  buried.  Then  the  two 
men  rushed  on  the  nearest  pair  of  turtles.  The  larger  was 
seized  as  he  was  trying  to  shuffle  off  to  the  water.  The  long 
poles  were  pushed  under  his  body,  and  while  he  snapped 
viciously,  turning  his  snake-like  head  from  side  to  side,  with 
a  sudden  heave  he  was  turned  over  on  his  broad  back,  and 
left  to  gnash  his  teeth  in  impotent  rage,  while  his  captors 
hurried  off  to  attend  to  the  others.  Only  one  more  prize 
was  made  that  night,  but  it  was  no  easy  task  to  get  the 
monsters  into  the  dingy,  and,  with  the  weight  of  the  two 


TURTLING    ON   THE    BARRIER    REEF,  309 

men,  her  gunwale  was  brought  down  nearly  level  with  the 
water.  It  was  a  relief  when  the  clingy  was  fairly  brought 
alongside  the  ketch,  and  Donald  said  it  was  like  hoisting 
half  a  bullock  on  board  to  lift  either  turtle,  but  both  were 
soon  safe  in  the  hold. 

Next  day  a  respectable  supply  of  the  turtles'  eggs  was 
disinterred  and  cooked  for  breakfast.  They  made  a  welcome 
addition  to  the  larder.  Altogether  the  expedition  had  turned 
out  better  than  was  expected.  The  two  turtle  taken  the 
night  before  were  each  of  them  well  over  3cwt.  The 
cautious  Donald  put  down  their  total  weight  at  7cwt.  at 
least,  and  Smith,  judging  by  the  strain  on  his  arms  when 
hoisting  them  in,  said  that  was  full  Icwt.  too  little. 

The  ketch  was,  in  the  afternoon,  shifted  to  a  new  berth 
between  two  of  the  smaller  islets  of  the  group,  and  that 
night  they  got  three  very  fine  turtles  on  one  of  the  islets, 
and  the  following  night  they  turned  four  on  the  other  ;  but 
that  came  near  ending  all  their  good  fortune,  for  the  smallest 
of  the  captives  was  also  the  most  lively,  and  while  he  was 
on  his  back  he  was  busy  reaching  round  with  his  head,  in 
search  of  something  whereon  to  try  his  teeth.  He  eventu- 
ally succeeded  in  getting  a  good  grip  on  Donald's  leg,  and 
he  held  on  with  such  excellent  good  will  that  his  jaws  had  to  be 
prized  open  with  a  marline-spike,  to  make  him  let  go  his  hold. 
Then  there  was  the  surgery — tea  ring  up  old  shirts  for  band- 
ages, and  nothing  would  please  Donald  till  a  chew  of  tobacco 
had  been  placed  on  each  tooth-mark  on  his  leg.  But  he  would 
not  keep  still,  and  Smith,  who  really  knew  a  little  about  such 
matters,  began  to  get  alarmed  at  the  vagaries  of  his  obstrep- 
erous patient.  However,  as  it  turned  out,  there  was  nothing 
very  seriously  the  matter.  Donald  had  a  stiff  leg,  and 
occasionally  it  gave  him  twinges  that  made  him  explode  with 
blasphemy  in  that  picturesque  half-Scandinavian  dialect  used 
by  the  fisher-folk  of  Scotland's  western  isles. 


310  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

There  was  plenty  of  work  to  do  as  the  ketch  filled  up 
with  turtle.  It  was  necessary  to  give  the  captives  plentiful 
sluicings  with  salt  water,  and  provide  them  with  wet  pillows 
— swabs,  or  gunny  bags,  or  anything  that  came  handy.  The 
weather  was  not  the  best  imaginable.  It  grew  squally, 
and  the  wiiid  piped  up  from  the  eastward  in  a  way  that 
threatened  unpleasantness;  but  it  was  good  for  business, 
nevertheless.  In  the  first  place,  the  turtle  seemed  to  get 
moie  plentiful  in  the  smooth  water  among  the  reefs  and 
islets,  and  they  were  not  small  ones,  either.  But  it  was 
not  by  any  means  easy  always  to  get  them  on  board  in  the 
wind  and  rain,  and  with  the  spray  sometimes  flying  in  sheets 
over  the  outer  encircling  reef,  which  kept  the  little  channels 
within  the  group  smooth  and  still;  but  the  gusts  of  wind 
would  every  now  and  then  catch  the  masts  of  the  little  ketch 
where  she  lay  moored  between  the  two  islets,  and  make  her 
strain  and  tug  at  the  chains  that  held  her,  till  the  kedges 
threatened  to  come  home,  and  her  bottom  became  perilously 
near  becoming  acquainted  with  the  sharp  points  and  knife- 
like edges  of  the  coral  rocks,  that  were  visible  under  the 
clear  water — almost  as  clearly  visible,  except  for  refraction, 
as  if  they  had  been  in  air.  It  is  a  wonderful  thing,  this 
transparency  of  the  tropic  seas,  which,  in  many  cases,  would 
be  almost  unnavigable  without  it. 

In  less  than  a  fortnight  there  were  twenty-nine  large 
turtles  in  the  hold  of  the  little  ketch,  and  both  Donald  and 
Smith  began  to  find  it  inconveniently  crowded.  There  was 
little  room  to  pass  between  the  shelly  monsters  as  they  lay 
in  close  ranks  on  the  dunnage  in  the  boat's  bottom.  It  was 
high  time  to  get  the  kedges  on  board,  and  to  lift  the  anchor; 
but  it  was  no  easy  task  for  two  men  to  work  even  so  small 
a  vessel  through  that  intricate  labyrinth  of  coral,  and  before 
they  were  clear  of  the  outer  reef  a  squall  had  caught  the 
corner  of  the  mizzen,  which  Donald  had  hoisted  in  the  hope 


TURTLING  ON  THE  BARRIER  REEF.  311 

that  it  would  give  her  head  a  cant  through  the  opening.  In 
an  instant  the  ketch's  stern  swung  round  too  far,  and  some 
eight  or  ten  feet  of  her  false  keel  came  up  and  floated  along- 
side. Then  she  came  up  again,  the  squall  passed  over,  and 
the  little  vessel  was  tossing  about  among  the  big  rollers 
outside  the  reef,  with  Donald's  forcible  remarks  on  squalls 
and  coral  patches  as  a  running  commentary.  To  make 
things  worse,  the  loss  of  part  of  her  false  keel  made  the 
ketch  steer  very  much  worse  than  before  ;  but  the  wind  was 
just  abaft  the  beam,  and  it  kicked  the  little  vessel  along  at 
a  famous  rate.  She  went  staggering  and  plunging  through 
Keppel  Bay,  and  up  the  river,  By  sundown  she  had  dis- 
charged her  uncouth  cargo.  The  twenty-nine  turtle  totalled 
93cwt.,  and  Donald  and  Smith,  after  making  all  snug  on 
board,  betook  themselves  in  the  dingy  to  Rockhampton, 
there  to  arrange  for  another  trip. 

The  turtle  speculation  was  an  unfortunate  one  for  the 
Lake's  Creek  Meat  Works.  For  some  inscrutable  reason  the 
tinned  turtle  would  not  keep.  A  considerable  quantity  was 
exported,  but  most  of  the  consignments  went  bad,  and  had 
to  be  destroyed.  The  trade,  while  it  lasted,  was  highly 
profitable  to  the  catchers,  though  in  any  case  it  could  only 
1)6  followed  during  the  three  montlis  in  which  the  turtle 
resort  to  the  lonely  islands  of  the  Great  Barrier  Reef  to 
lay  their  eggs. 

Donald  and  Smith,  being  steady  fellows,  reaped  a  golden 
harvest ;  but  eveiyone  was  not  so  prudent.  A  man,  whom 
we  will  call  Wood,  was  sailing  a  cutter  owned  by  a  Chinese 
merchant  of  Rockhampton.  He  was  a  good  seaman,  but 
of  most  intemperate  habits.  He  went  turtling  in  the  Bun- 
ker Group,  and  was  nearly  as  successful  as  Donald  &  Co. 
When  Wood  got  his  cheque  he  settled  with  the  owner  of 
the  cutter,  and  then  went  on  the  spree,  ino7-e  sno.  After  a 
two  or  three  days'  debauch,  he  and  his  mate  took  the  cutter 


312  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

down  the  river,  having  with  them  only  one  bottle  of  grog 
as  sea  stock.  Wood  exhibited  a  highly  developed  attack  of 
delirium  tremens,  and  the  cutter  was  taken  alongside  a  ship 
lying  in  Keppel  Bay  for  more  gi'og.  A  quite  insufficient 
supply  was  given,  and  Wood's  mate,  being  afraid  to  go  out- 
side with  a  man  in  such  a  state,  and  finding  that  the  tide 
served,  run  the  cutter  through  the  Narrows,  between  Curtis 
Island  and  the  mainland,  into  Port  Curtis,  and  anchored. 
It  was  unfortunate,  as  all  half  measures  are  unfortunate. 
During  the  night.  Wood  became  violent,  and  went  about 
brandishing  a  tomahawk.  His  mate  hid  himself,  and,  next 
morning.  Wood  had  disappeared,  and  so  had  the  cutter's 
dingy.  During  the  day  the  people  in  a  passing  boat  took 
off"  the  other  man.  The  dingy  was  found  among  the  man- 
groves, but,  of  Wood,  no  trace  was  ever  found. 


THE  YELLOW-STONE  OF  QUEENSLAND. 


&  NCE  I  owned  a  copy  of  "  Dampier's  Voyages  to 
Australia."  It  was  published  nearly  200  years 
ago,  and  is  now  in  the  Government  Library  of  the 
Government  Botanist.  In  it  old  Dampier  figures 
the  animals  and  plants  he  saw  on  our  north  coast — 
y"^  iguanas,  bananas,  <kc.- — but  he  never  names  gold  ; 
nor  do  Captains  Cook  or  Flinders,  in  any  of  their  notes 
on  New  Holland,  hint  at  it.  Sir  Thomas  Mitchell  and 
Leichhardt,  whatever  minerals  they  saw  in  their  explora- 
tions, seemed  never  to  have  suspected  the  existence  of  gold, 
though  the  latter  traversed  the  Cape  River  and  the  GiH)ert 
River,  both  the  sites  of  famous  golden  reefs. 

Leichhardt  disappeared  in  1847,  and  it  was  not  until  the 
beginning  of  the  next  year,  when  the  bullets  were  flying 
about  in  Paris  over  the  Louis  Phillipe  revolution,  that 
London  was  startled  by  the  still  more  momentous  news  of 
the  gold  in  California,  then  newly  acquired  by  the  United 
States  from  Mexico. 

This  led,  indirectly,  to  the  discovery  of  the  metal  in 
Australia,  in  1851,  through  Hargreaves  noticing  the  resem- 
blance of  the  formations  in  Australia  with  those  of  California; 
and — strange  to  say — it  was  first  found  in  both  countries 
on  the  land  of  a  Mr.  Suttor.  Mr.  Toms  disputes  with  Har- 
greaves the  merit  of  being  the  first  to  drop  on  to  the  gold 
in  New  South  Wales,  but  the  latter  got  the  reward. 


314  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Neither  of  them,  hovvever,  was  the  first  to  find  it.  I  was 
in  Melbourne  in  March,  1851,  and,  in  the  window  of  a 
jeweller's  shop  in  that  city,  I  saw,  suspended  by  a  thread,  a 
lump  of  pure  gold  the  size  of  a  musket  ball,  and  labelled 
"  from  Clunes."  Knowing  people  in  Collins-street  shrugged 
their  shoulders,  and  said  "  from  California,"  and  pooh- 
poohed  the  Clunes  idea,  or  that  of  gold  in  Australia  at  any 
price ;  but  Clunes  proved  golden  later  on.  However,  on 
10th  May,  1851,  New  Holland  attained  her  majority,  and 
Australia  became  of  age ;  for,  on  this  day,  the  Sydney 
"Government  Gazette"  officially  announced  to  the  world 
that  gold  existed  in  the  colony ;  a  lyrojws  of  which  I  may 
here  be  allowed  to  express  my  surprise  that  such  an  anni- 
versary is  not  kept  regularly  as  a  supreme  holiday,  seeing 
how  much  more  important  a  bearing  the  .£300,000,000  of 
gold  unearthed  in  the  past  has  had  on  the  destiny  and 
expansion  of  Australia,  than  the  few  hundred  of  convicts,, 
landed  on  the  26th  January,  1788,  at  Port  Jackson  have 
had.  Yet  this  latter  event  is  religiously  observed.  But 
we  shall,  I  hope,  grow  wiser  in  time.  I  say  nothing  here 
of  the  £1,000,000,000,000  of  gold  that  has  yet  to  be  dug  out 
in  our  continent.     My  argument  is  sufficient  without  that. 

The  discoveries  in  New  South  Wales  in  1851  were  quite 
eclipsed  by  the  gold  finds  in  Victoria  in  1852,  in  the  Novem- 
ber of  which  year,  the  gold  came  rolling  into  Melbourne  at 
the  regular  rate  of  £400,000  a  week,  enough  to  demoralise 
a  poverty-stricken  city  then  smaller  than  Brisbane,  and 
having  no  export  but  wool,  tallow,  and  hides  up  to  that 
period.  Let  anyone  try  to  imagine  what  would  come  over 
Brisbane,  if  gold  were  found  at  this  rate  within  100  miles 
of  the  General  Post  Office. 

People  now  began  to  wonder  if  "  Moreton  Bay  "  (as  we 
were  then  called)  had  any  gold  ;  but  it  was  voted  in  Sydney 
that  the  Darling  Downs  (the  supposed  garden  of  Australia 


THE    YELLOW-STONE    OF    QUEENSLAXD.  315' 

then)  and  gold  together,  would  be  "  too  much  joy  "  for  any 
one  place,  and  people  there  scouted  the  idea,  as  the  Collins- 
street  men  did  the  Clunes  gold  of  March,  1851.  However, 
at  the  end  of  1853,  Mr.  Stutchbury,  the  Government  Geolo- 
gist of  New  South  Wales,  was  sent  up  here  to  explore,  and 
he,  in  about  December  of  that  year,  found  gold  near  Port 
Curtis,  at  the  Calliope,  and  this  was  the  lirst  authenticated 
discovery  of  gold  in  the  territory  of  Queensland.  The 
Dawson  River  was  at  that  time  the  very  outside  limit  of 
settlement. 

Messrs.  Charles  Moore  (of  the  Sydney  Government  Gar- 
dens) and  P.  L.  C.  Shepherd  (nui'seryman  of  the  same 
place)  were  up  in  Brisbane  about  the  same  time  on  a  botani- 
sing  tour.  They  stayed  at  the  same  hotel  with  me  for  a 
montli,  and  they  informed  me  that,  although  looking  for 
plants  and  not  for  minerals,  they  had  found  gold  by  washing 
in  the  same  locality  that  Mr.  Stutchbury  did. 

The  next  discoveiy  of  gold  in  Queensland  was  in  August, 
1856.  I  was  up  in  Warwick  then,  and  a  shepherd  on  Can- 
ning Downs  brought  in  from  "  Lord  John's  Swamp  "  8  dwts. 
of  gold,  which  I  bought  and  still  have  by  me,  the  oldest 
uncoined  specimen  now  extant  of  Queensland  gold,  I  sup- 
pose. I  had  as  far  back  as  1854  noticed  the  quartz  formation 
at  Talgai,  and  anticipated  the  discovery  of  gold  in  the  reefs 
there.  About  this  time  further  discoveries  of  gold  took 
place.  Brisbane,  a  village,  and  weary  of  waiting  for  separa- 
tion, and  finding  trade  dull,  sent  out  expeditions,  one  of 
which  found  gold  at  Boonoo  Boonoo,  New  South  Wales, 
and  another  at  Emu  Creek,  on  the  way  to  Gympie ;  but 
these  were  small  affairs  by  the  side  of  the  Canoona  rush, 
which  came  off  in  1858,  and  for  a  time  left  Brisbane  cut  off 
from  the  world,  every  northern  steamer  and  schooner  from 
Sydney  being  diverted  to  the  Fitzroy  River  trade  for  the  time 
beino-.     And  in  this  connection  I  remember  writing,  from. 


316  AUSTRALIAN   PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

the  Union  Club,  a  letter  in  1857  to  the  Surveyor-General 
in  Sydney,  asking  him  if  he  knew  that  there  was  a  river  up 
North  named  the  Fitzroy,  as  wide  and  deep  as  the  Thames, 
where  wool  was  produced,  and  which  had  neither  a  wliarf 
nor  a  township.  In  reply,  a  surveyor  was  promised  to  be 
sent  up  to  lay  out  a  township  below  "the  rocks."  Ihe 
panic  in  Brisbane  in  August,  1858,  amongst  the  holders  of 
Brisbane  corner  lots,  during  the  Cauoona  fever,  may  be 
imagined  when  I  state  that  a  full  town  allotment,  corner 
of  Edward  and  Mai-y  streets,  sold  for  £300,  and  the  vendor 
was  only  too  glad  to  "  pull  that  out  of  the  fire,"  as  he 
thought.  However,  Canoona  died  away.  Mount  Morgan 
and  the  Crocodile  as  yet  "  were  not." 

The  Dee  River  and  VVestwood  were  credited  with  copper 
merits  only.  Gold  slept,  pretty  well,  till  1862,  about  which 
period  Peak  Downs,  Gayndah,  and  the  Star  River  were 
lieard  of.  The  Gayndah  people  made  an  effort  and  offered 
.£2,000  reward  to  anyone  who  would  find  a  payable  goldfield 
"whose  trade  would  pass  their  door.  The  ubiquitous  digger 
took  advantage  of  every  shower  of  rain  with  his  tin  dish  ; 
and  it  soon  became  known  that  in  the  country  that  stretched 
eastward  from  Eidsvold  and  Rawbelle  to  Reid's  Creek  and 
Mount  Perry,  alluvial  gold  existed  and  could  be  got  out  in 
wet  weather.  But  nothing  worthy  of  note  occurred  till,  in 
October,  1867,  Gympie,  with  its  wondrous  yield  of  3501b. 
of  gold  from  7cwt.  of  stone,  startled  Queensland  into  a 
knowledge  of  the  fact  that  reef  and  not  alluvial  gold  was 
her  strong  point  in  that  metal.  And  then  the  grand  mineral 
district  that  extends  from  Glenbar  and  Merodian  on  the 
north,  eastward  to  Glastonbury  and  Gympie,  and  through 
Kilkivan  and  the  Black  Snake  southerly  to  the  head  springs 
of  the  Brisbane  River,  began  to  show  forth  its  powers  in 
gold,  cinnabar,  and  copper  production.  Similar  develop- 
ments took  place  up  North,  w^here  the  lamented  Richard 


THE   YELLOW-STONE    OP    QUEENSLAND.  317 

Daintree,  a  geologist  and  explorer,  who  carried  the  camera 
and  lens  on  a  pack-horse  wherever  he  went,  brought  under 
notice  the  golden  capabilities  of  the  Cape,  Gilbert,  and  other 
districts,  and  gave  us  those  undying  realistic  pictures  of  old 
Queensland  life  in  the  bush,  and  still  older  eruptions  of 
subterranean  forces,  that  keep  his  memory  green  amongst 
us.  Ravenswood  and  the  Cloncurry  in  1870,  Charters 
Towers  in  1872,  now  became  known  and  famous,  and  the 
latter  soon  passed  the  more  "patchy"  Gympie  in  the  race 
for  auriferous  honours. 

The  ante-Californian  prophecies  of  Sir  Roderick  Murchi- 
son,  and  especially  the  later  inductions  of  the  Rev.  W.  B. 
Clarke,  found  ample  fulfilment  in  North  Queensland  as  well 
as  further  South  ;  and  whether  it  was  quartz  or  gossan,, 
porphyry  or  limestone,  syenite  or  slate,  that  formed  the 
matrix,  there  lurked  "  El  Oro  "  in  all  his  glory. 

I  need  not  follow  the  subject  down  to  the  Mount  Morgan 
era,  or  tell  of  the  possible  glories  of  the  Mackinlay  Range 
and  other  places  that  now  hide — ^even  as  Mount  Morgan 
once  did — -their  gold  so  well.  Suffice  it  when  I  say  that, 
great  as  we  think  our  development  in  gold  and  gold-extract- 
ing machinery  in  1887,*  the  time  is  near  when  we  shall 
consider  them  as  rudimentary  as  we  do  the  days  of  Canoona 
and  early  Gympie.  Our  yield  will  astonish  the  world  and 
make  us  famous,  when  the  over -inflated,  London -floated 
Queensland  gold  mines  of  1886-87  have  ceased  to  leave  their 
sting  behind  them,  and  have  been  replaced  by  mines  floated 
and  sold  for  fair  value  only,  and  the  grand  struggle  for 
supremacy  that  will  take  place  during  the  next  twenty  years 
between  the  vast  golden  mundic  beds  that  lie  beneath  the 
surface  at  Charters  Towers  and  the  Etheridge  country  in 
North  Queensland ;  in  the  Crocodile,  Cawarral,  Rosewood,. 

*  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  late  Mr.  Bartlej-  penned  the  above  lines  ia 
18S7.     Editor. 


318  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

and  Morinish  districts  south  of  the  Fitzroy,  in  Central 
•Queensland  ;  and  the  equally  mighty  (regarded  in  nature's 
grand  mineral  upheaval)  Burnett  and  Mount  Perry  districts 
in  Southern  Queensland,  will — whichever  of  the  three  comes 
finally  to  the  front — be  all  the  while  tending  to  the  fame 
^nd  prosperity  of  Queensland  ;  for  the  three,  though  seeming 
rivals,  will  be  always  pulling  together,  and  whatever  is  the 
■outcome  of  their  rivalry,  this  will  go  similarly  to  the  credit 
side  of  the  Queensland  ledger. 

It  is  well  known  that  for  hundreds  and  thousands  of 
years  there  has  been  a  steady  export  of  gold  in  the  shape 
■of  alluvial  "  dust "  from  the  continent  of  Africa,  alike  on 
its  west  coast,  and  from  those  parts  that  border  the  Levant 
and  Red  Sea,  and  this  has  held  good  from  before  the  days 
•of  King  Solomon,  Ophir,  and  Tarshish,  until  now.  Statis- 
"tics  are  silent  as  to  the  quantity  of  gold,  but  it  must  have 
been  very  great  indeed.  Then  again,  we  have  it  on  record 
that  the  princes  of  Hindostan  possess  uncounted  treasures 
of  gold  in  coin  and  jewels,  the  produce  of  their  country, 
whose  alluvial  gold  resources  could  alone  have  furnished 
them  ;  for  there  was  neither  there  nor  in  Africa  any  gold 
■quartz  crushing  machinery  fifty  years  ago.  Hence  the  gold 
■exported  from  and  in  use  in  both  places  must  have  been 
both  local  in  origin  and  alluvial  in  character.  The  same 
remark  may  apply  to  Peru  and  Mexico,  where  gold  was  so 
abundant  and  used  for  domestic  utensils  300  years  ago,  and 
which  must  all  have  been  alluvial  in  the  absence  of  the 
stampers  of  our  nineteenth  century.  I  cannot  speak  with 
certainty  of  the  jDroduce  in  gold  of  the  Ural  Mountains  in 
Russia,  but  I  fancy  that  reef  gold  must  predominate  there. 
Some  massive  specimens  that  T  have  seen  show  free  gold 
and  malachite,  exactly  like  the  early  raised  stone  from  the 
^'  Alliance  "  reef  at  Morinish,  near  Rockhampton. 

We  may  fairly  infer  from  what  I  have  here  stated,  that 


THE    YELLOW-STONE    OF    QUEENSLAND.  319 

the  confessedly  rich  alluvial  gold  deposits  of  Peru,  Mexico, 
Africa,  and  India,  must  have  greatly  impoverished  the 
reefs  in  all  these  places.  Indian  and  African  reefs  will 
rarely  "  pay."  No  place,  with  the  exception,  possibly,  of 
Brazil  and  the  country  lying  northward  between  it  and  the 
Spanish  main,  will  ever  come  to  rival  Queensland  in  the 
production  per  ounce  per  ton  of  reef  gold.  California  and 
New  Zealand  can  never  do  it,  for  they  are  both  handicapped 
in  the  alloying  mixture  of  silver  with  their  gold,  to  an 
extent  which  affects  its  value  greatly.  The  colony  of  Vic- 
toria affords  us  a  striking  example  of  the  way  in  which  the 
alluvial  gold  has  "  robbed  "  the  reef.  The  full  yield  of 
alluvial,  so  far,  from  all  Victoria,  may  be  safely  put  down 
as  between  150  and  200  millions  sterling,  and  to  this  extent 
the  reefs  have  suffered,  and  the  result  is  that  something  like 
9dwts.  of  gold  per  ton  is  the  average  reef  produce  of  Vic- 
toria. Contrast  this  with  Queensland,  where,  with  the 
exception  of  the  great  alluvial  deposits  on  the  Palmer  River, 
there  was  no  water-washed  gold  found  in  the  soil  to  a  large 
amount  anywhere,  and  so  it  came  to  pass  that,  in  the  year  of 
which  I  write  (1887),  our  reefs  have  yielded  all  round,  as 
nearly  as  possible,  40dwts.  of  gold  to  the  ton^ — an  average 
result  which  not  only  challenged,  but  (in  racing  phrase) 
■"  distanced  "  all  the  world  besides. 

And  there  is  an  advantage  in  this  to  our  colony  that  does 
not  appear  in  the  surface  of  matters.  Reef  gold  has  to  be 
(very  much)  worked  for,  and  one-half  at  least,  of  its  £3  10s. 
per  ounce  value  has  to  be  spent  and  remain  in  the  colony 
in  the  shape  of  wages,  machinery,  &,c.  We  clearly  gain  by 
every  ounce  of  gold  won  from  the  reef  in  our  vast  territory. 
There  is  none  of  that  system  of  taking  £30,000  worth  of 
gold  in  nuggets  and  water-worn  pieces  out  of  one  hole,  in 
one  week,  that  used  to  obtain  in  the  colony  of  Victoria, 
enaVjling  the  lucky  tinders  to  go  home  to  Europe  with  their 


320  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

plunder,  and  leave  the  colony  only  the  richer  by  their  week's 
rations  and  the  purchase  of  their  mining  tools.  Fortunately 
we  in  Queensland  get  considei'ably  more,  though  indirect 
benefit,    from    our    gold   yield    than    this. 

The  Southern  limit  of  payable  gold  in  Queensland  may  be 
considered  to  be  at  Gympie,  where  it  occurs  in  a  tolerably 
pure  state  in  quartzr  that  traverses  what  miners  call  "slate," 
but  which  more  resembles  diorite  (or  basalt).  There  is  a 
little  galena  and  copper,  and  some  calcspar  with  it,  but  it  is 
much  moi'e  "free"  than  the  gold  at  Kilkivan,  which  is  so 
mixed  up  with  copper,  lead,  and  other  metals  as  to  be  diffi- 
cult to  extract,  though  very  plentiful.  Eidsvold,  in  the 
same  district,  gives  good  "straight"  quartz  and  gold.  Pass- 
ing north  we  come  to  the  Mount  Perry,  Reid's  Creek,  and 
Rawbelle  districts,  where  gold  is  also  plentiful,  but  much 
incorporated  with  the  ores  of  iron,  the  same  as  at  the 
Crocodile  Creek  and  Charters  Towers.  Passing  over  the 
minor  reefs  at  Cania  and  the  Boyne,  we  come  to  that  grand 
"  Central  Emporium "  of  gold  in  Queensland,  that  lies 
grouped  to  the  south  of  the  Fitzroy  River.  Rosewood  and 
Mount  Morgan  produce  the  purest  gold  in  the  colony, 
Clermont  and  Cloncurry  being  "  well  up  "  in  point  of  fine- 
ness also.  Ridglands  and  Blackfellows'  Gully  show  free 
gold  in  decomposed  sulphuret  of  lead,  and  at  Morinish  it 
shows  free  and  very  pure  in  iron  and  copper  ores.  Mount 
Britton  and  Clermont  are  minor  goldfields,  but  Charters 
Towers  is  a  proof  of  the  prolific  nature  of  gold  mundic  in 
the  concealment,  entanglement,  and  useful  reservation  of 
gold  in  wholesale  quantities  free  from  all  risk  of  alluvial 
escape,  or  of  being  cheaply  raised  and  borne  out  of  the 
country  without  benefiting  its  native  land,  as  so  much  of 
the  alluvial  gold  of  Victoria  did.  Ravenswood,  at  the 
Upper  Camp,  carries  some  very  refractory  gold  ores,  as  shaz'e- 
holders  have  found  to  their   cost,   albeit  very  rich  in  the 


Interior  of  Chillagoe  Cave  (o. 


THE    YELLOW-STONE    OP   QUEENSLAND.  321 

precious  metal.  The  Cape  River  reefs  have  very  free,  pure, 
and  thread-like  Blaments  of  gold  in  them,  and  the  Etheridge 
produces  beautiful  waxy,  white  needles  of  cerussite  (car- 
bonate of  lead)  crossing  each  other  in  every  direction,  and 
with  little  "pinheads"  of  pure  gold  adhering  to  every 
intersection,  and  evei'yone  wonders  how  it  came  there. 

At  some  reefs,  such  as  the  Aurora,  so  mixed  is  the  stone 
that  three  distinct  oi^es  of  copper,  one  of  lead,  and  one  of 
iron  may  be  seen  with  the  native  gold  on  a  piece  not  larger 
than  a  boy's  list.  The  Hodgkinson  reefs  are  much  troubled 
with  peacock  copper  ore.  The  Croydon  is  too  vast  an  area, 
and  too  little  explored  for  anyone  to  pronounce  as  to  what 
form  of  stone  predominates  there,  beyond  saying  that  there 
is  plenty  of  iron  in  it,  and  much  silver  with  some  of  the 
gold.  The  Palmer  reefs,  though  much  "  robbed  "  by  the 
heavy  alluvial  deposits,  are  so  well  in  the  tropics  that  there 
is  plenty  of  gold  left  in  them,  for  reefs  and  gems  grow  rich 
as  you  approach  the  equator.  Gold  is  found  to  the  east  of 
our  meridian  in  New  Caledonia  and  New  Zealand,  and  in 
the  former  64  ounces  to  the  ton  has  been  assayed,  but  none 
of  it  is  of  high  purity  ;  and  west  of  our  meridian  we  have 
Kimberley  and  Borneo,  as  gold-producers  of  as  yet  unknown 
value ;  but  nothing  has  been  found  to  surpass  the  Eastern 
Cordillera  of  Australia,  from  Cape  York  to  Gippsland 
latitude,  while  for  "  unrobbed "  reefs  that  will  employ 
labour  and  produce  gold,  locked  up  meantime  in  trust  for 
future  generations,  long  after  the  alluvial  beds  of  Victoria 
have  been  cleaned  out,  we  shall  have  to  look  solely  to  that 
vast  territory  at  present  known  under  the  general  name  of 
Queensland. 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  MAGKAY. 


EPUDIATION  is  the  destiny  which  almost  in 
variably  awaits  the  discoverer.  The  distinction 
which  awaits  the  man  of  enterprise  in  other  paths, 
comes  to  the  explorer  posthumously.  His  labours 
often  unrewarded,  his  perils  unsung,  the  credit 
of  his  success  not  infrequently  accorded  to  the 
clamorous  pretender,  he  too  late,  if  ever,  receives  the  tardy 
recognition  of  a  posterity  which  reaps  the  advantage  of  his 
discovery,  and  awards  him  the  empty  honour  of  a  name. 

That  Captain  John  Mackay  proves  no  exception  to 
what  seems  a  fatality,  is  found  by  a  perusal  of  certain  par- 
liamentary debates,  when  a  motion  was  brought  forward 
by  Mr.  Edward  Palmer,  member  for  Carpentaria,  calling 
upon  the  Government  (Sir  Samuel  Griffith  then  Premier)  to 
confii'm  the  resolution  so  unanimously  affirmed  in  1882,  and 
according  Captain  Mackay  a  grant  of  land  for  his  discover- 
ies. But  the  motion  furnishing  an  opportune  medium  for 
the  conveyance  of  political  feeling  and  resentment,  after 
considerable  discussion  by  an  unusually  small  attendance  of 
members,  was  negatived  by  a  majority  of  one — a  result  when 
viewed  with  the  former  unanimous  expression  of  the  House, 
niust  be  accepted  as  satisfactory  evidence  of  the  justice  and 
equity  of  his  claim,  and  the  willingness  of  the  people  of  Queens- 
land, through  their  representatives,  to  grant  such  claim. 

Sir  Samuel  Griffith  was  one  of  those  who  most  opposed 
the  motion  when  the  question  on  the  last  occasion  came 
before  the  House.  He  asked  "  What  about  the  discoverer 
of  Townsville  (Mr.  Black) ;  I  think  that  a  much  more  valu- 
able discovery  than  Mackay,  and  the  man  who  made  it  is 


THE    DISCOVERY    OF    MACKAY.  323 

deserving  of  more  than  Mackay  1  "What  about  the  dis- 
coverer of  Port  Denison  (Mr.  Stirling)  1  He  got  no  reward, 
and  I  do  not  know  that  the  discoverer  of  Normanton  or 
Burketown  ever  got  anything." 

Apart  from  the  historical  fact  (which  one  would  think 
such  prominent  men  would  be  familiar  with)  that  Cleveland 
Bay  was  discovered  and  named  by  the  immortal  Cook  during 
his  memorable  voyage  in  H.M.S.  "Endeavour,"  Captain 
King,  R.N.,  in  1818,  then  engaged  surveying  the  Inner 
Route,  measured  a  base  line  on  the  sandy  beach  in  shore 
of  Magnetic  Island,  with  the  view  of  triangulating  the  Bay. 
But  observing,  like  his  gifted  predecessor,  the  erratic  deflec- 
tions of  the  magnetic  needle,  and  being  pushed  for  time,  he 
was  reluctantly  compelled  to  abandon  the  project.  Again, 
early  in  1862,  Mr.  G.  Elphinstone  Dalrymple  made  a  journey 
northward  to  Rockingham  Bay  with  the  view  of  discovering 
a  pass  through  the  coast  range  to  the  Valley  of  Lagoons, 
where  his  partners  (Messrs.  Scott)  were  then  forming  a 
station.  On  his  return  to  Bowen  he  found  a  letter  from 
Captain  Robert  Towns,  of  Sydney,  asking  where,  in  his 
opinion,  was  the  most  favourable  site  for  the  erection  of  a 
boiling-down  works,  that  would  be  available  for  the  cattle 
stations  then  forming  on  the  Lower  Burdekin.  In  reply, 
Mr.  Dalrymple  recommended  the  mouth  of  what  is  now 
known  as  Ross  Creek.  This  was  some  months  before  the 
arrival  of  Mr.  Black.  So  much  for  the  Griflitli  version  of 
the  discovery  of  Townsville.  Let  us  see  how  Port  Denison 
came  to  be  discovered. 

On  Dalrymple  leaving  Rockhampton,  in  1859,  he  arranged 
with  Captain  Sinclair,  of  the  schooner  "  Santa  Barbara," 
that  four  months  after  his  departure  he  would  proceed  with 
stores  to  the  mouth  of  the  Burdekin  River,  and  there  await 
his  arrival  coming  south.  Dalrymple,  however,  being  unable 
to  reach  the  appointed  rendezvous,  Sinclair,  after  waiting  a 


324  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

reasonable  time,  returned  to  Rockhampton,  reporting,  on  his 
arrival,  the  discovery  of  Port  Denison.  Besides  the  charter 
money,  I  think  the  Government  gave  him  £100,  and  offered 
him  the  appointment  of  Harbour-Master,  which  he  declined. 

The  discovery  of  the  rivers  flowing  into  the  Gulf  of  Car- 
pentaria cannot  be  claimed  for  any  individual  explorer. 
Leichhardt  crossed  some  of  them  on  his  first  expedition  to 
Port  Essington,  others  were  discovered  from  seaward  two 
years  previously  by  Captain  Stokes,  in  H.M.S.  "Acheron," 
who,  after  carefully  surveying  fully  two  hundred  miles  of  the 
southern  shores  of  the  Gulf,  ascended  the  Albert  River  with 
his  boats  some  distance  above  where  Burketown  now  stands, 
naming  the  flat  land  on  its  banks  the  Plains  of  Promise. 

But,  to  return  to  Mackay.  When  reminded  of  a  promise 
so  frankly  made  by  Sir  George  Bowen,  in  the  presence  of 
Mr.  Gordon  Sandeman,  Sir  Samuel  Griflith,  as  if  conscious 
of  the  absurdity  of  his  arguments,  resorted  to  the  not  un- 
usual professional  alternative  of  adding  insult  to  injury,  with 
the  persistent  rejoinder  of  "  Where  is  the  proof  1  Where  is 
the  proof  ? "  concluding  his  chapter  of  subterfuge  with  the 
illogical  remark  that  by  Captain  Mackay's  acceptance  of  a 
harbour-master's  berth,  he  had  forfeited  all  claim  to  compen- 
sation, apparently  forgetting  that  in  Captain  Mackay's 
absence  someone  equally  competent  would  be  required  to 
perform  the  work. 

The  then  Minister  for  Lands  (Mr.  Dutton)  taking  his 
cue  from  his  chief,  Sir  S.  W.  Griffith,  spoke  as  follows  : — 
"Although  Mackay  must  ever  hold  a  foremost  place  among  his 
contemporary  pioneers,  the  men  who  discovered  the  Burdekin, 
the  Belyando,  the  Mitchell,  and  Warrego,  had  similar  hard- 
ships to  endure,  but  we  never  hear  anything  about  them." 

But  the  Burdekin  and  Belyando  were  discovered  and 
named  by  the  long-lost  Leichhardt,  on  his  first  expedition 
from  Moreton  Bay  to  Port  Essington,  while  in  1845,  Sir 


THE    DISCOVERY    OF    MAOKAY.  325 

Thomas  Mitchell,  Surveyor-General  of  New  South  Wales, 
fitted  out  by  the  Imperial  Government  with  every  necessary 
conducive  to  success,  discovered  the  Mitchell  and  Warrego, 
as  well  as  the  Barcoo  (Victoria,  of  Mitchell)  with  the 
immense  pastoral  area  now  known  as  Central  Queensland. 
What  other  discovery  has  been  so  fraught  to  Queensland 
with  commercial  and  agricultural  prosperity  as  Mackay  and 
district  ■?  When  Captain  Mackay  made  the  discovery  he 
was  in  search  of  pastoral  country,  the  finding  of  which  to 
some  extent,  it  may  urged,  brought  its  own  reward,  but  his 
claim  for  compensation  for  having  solely  at  his  own  expense 
made  known  a  port  and  district  which  in  contemporaneous 
prosperity  (no  matter  liow  indifferent  tlie  former)  has  to-day 
no  rival  in  Queensland,  rests  on  such  just  and  equitable 
grounds  that  it  ill  becomes  anyone  to  dispute  it. 

Captain  John  Mackay  was  born  in  March,  1839,  at  Inver- 
ness, Scotland,  and  received  his  education  at  the  Free  Church 
Academy  in  that  town.  He  first  came  to  Australia  in  the 
ship  "Australia,"  (Captain  Mowbray  Mountain)  arriving  in 
Melbourne  in  1854,  visiting  Sydney  the  following  year 
in  the  ship  "  South  Carolina,"  Captain  Charles  Leisk.  While 
on  the  Rocky  River  diggings,  in  1859,  he  was  chosen  leader 
of  an  expedition  to  northern  Queensland,  the  most  notable 
result  of  which  was  the  discovery  of  Mackay  and  district. 
Having  travelled  overland  from  New  England  to  Rock- 
hampton,  a  final  departure  was  taken  in  March,  1860,  from 
Marlborough  (the  then  furthest  out  station)  from  where 
they  were  absent  some  five  months.  During  the  trip  they 
encountered  dire  privations  from  the  scarcity  of  food,  and 
fever  and  ague,  to  which  one  of  the  party  succumbed,  and 
was  buried  on  the  head  of  Denison  Creek.  They  penetrated 
north  as  far  as  20deg.  south  latitude  on  the  Burdekin  River, 
but,  observing  the  marked  trees  of  Dalrymple's  party  (who 
preceded  them  by  some  iiionths)  they  retraced  their  steps  to 


326  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

the  southward,  deviating  however  more  to  the  eastwai'd, 
then  on  the  outward  journey,  when  the  head  waters  of  the 
Pioneer  River  were  discovered  and  traced  to  the  sea  coast. 
On  the  homeward  journey  they  fell  in  with  a  party  of  three 
white  men,  comprising  Mr.  Andrew  Scott,  of  Hornet  Bank, 
Dawson  River,  a  Mr.  Ross,  and  Mr.  William  Fraser,  whose 
family  had  been  murdered  by  the  blacks  at  Hornet  Bank 
some  years  previous.  Being  destitute  of  food  like  them- 
selves, they  made  common  stock  of  their  meagre  supplies, 
and  travelled  together  to  Rockhampton. 

In  1861  Captain  Mackay  formed  the  station  of  Green- 
mount,  some  fourteen  miles  west  of  where  the  town  now 
stands,  and,  chartering  a  schooner  at  Rockhampton,  he 
ascended  the  river,  and  afterwards  sent  by  her,  to  the  Crown 
Lands  Office,  Brisbane,  a  map  of  the  locality,  correct  position 
of  mouth,  with  soundings  and  directions  for  finding  it,  on 
which  report  the  Mackay  River  was  shortly  afterwards 
(without  any  expense  to  the  Government)  declared  and 
gazetted  a  port  of  entry.  In  1863  Commodore  Burnett 
(afterwards  lost  in  H.M.S.  "  Orpheus,"  on  the  Manakau  bar, 
N.Z.)  visited  Queensland  in  H.M.S.  "  Pioneer,"  and  having, 
in  honour  of  one  of  his  officers,  named  a  stream  flowing  into 
Rockingham  Bay  the  Mackay  River,  he  suggested,  in  order 
to  avoid  geographical  and  other  mistakes  hereafter,  that 
Captain  Mackay 's  discovery  should  be  named  the  Pioneer 
River.  But  the  Queensland  Government,  not  wishing  to 
detract  from  the  merits  of  discovery,  named  the  town  then 
being  surveyed  on  its  banks  Mackay. 

In  1864  Mackay  had  the  pleasure  of  travelling  from  Rock- 
hampton with  the  Hon.  Gordon  Sandeman,  who,  conversant 
with  his  labours  as  a  pioneer,  induced  him,  while  in  Bris- 
bane, to  accompany  him  on  a  visit  to  Sir  George  Bowen, 
who,  with  reference  to  Mackay's  claim,  expressed  himself  as 
follows  : — "  Were  the  Government  now  to  recognise  your 


THK    DISCOVERY    OF    MACKAY.  327 

claim,  many  less  deserving  applicants  would  come  forward 
for  places  of  minor  importance.  But  you  can  rest  assured, 
Mr.  Mackay,  that  if  ever  the  district  becomes  of  any  impor- 
tance, it  will  be  the  bounden  duty  of  the  Queensland 
Government  to  remunerate  you." 

How  Mackay  was  remembered  has  been  seen.  Shortly 
afterwards  he  left  Queensland  and  resumed  a  sea  life.  For 
several  years  he  commanded  vessels  under  the  agency  of  the 
well  known  Sydney  firms  of  Montefiore,  Joseph  &  Co.,  and 
Rabone,  Feez  &  Co.,  trading  to  the  various  groups  of  the 
Pacific,  and  ports  of  the  eastern  seas,  amongst  which  he  has 
experienced  some  hair-breadth  escapes  and  thrilling  adven- 
tures. He  has  also  commanded  vessels  under  the  American 
and  Tahitian  (French  protectorate)  flags. 

It  was  in  October,  1882,  that  a  motion  by  Mr.  John 
Stevenson  (member  for  Clermont)  was  carried  in  the  Queens- 
land House  of  Assembly,  without  division,  awarding  him  a 
thousand  acres  of  sugar  land,  as  compensation  for  the  dis- 
covery of  Mackay  and  district,  which,  a  week  later,  was 
passed  in  committee.  But  parliament  being  shortly  after- 
wards prorogued,  and  a  change  of  ministry  unfortunately 
following,  the  reward  was  never  made  eftective.  Although 
under  the  impression  that  the  grant  was  complete.  Captain 
Mackay  left  promising  and  lucrative  professional  employ- 
ment to  take  possession  of  it,  and,  on  arrival  in  Brisbane, 
was  appointed  harbour-master  at  Cooktown. 

In  1889  Captain  Mackay  was  promoted  as  harbour-master 
to  Brisbane,  which  position  he  now  fills.  For  five  years 
before  coming  to  Queensland  he  commanded  steam  and 
sailing  vessels  between  the  New  Zealand  ports  and  Fiji,  and 
when  on  the  point  of  leaving  was  offered  an  appointment 
by  the  Union  Steamship  Company.  Captain  Mackay  holds 
an  extra  master's  certificate,  and  exemption  for  several  New 
Zealand  and  Australian  ports. 


OLD  MAGKAY. 


^S^^K  IMES  are  changed  since  the  little  steamer 
'^Mi  "Tinonee"  did  the  whole  of  the  A.S.N.  Co.'s 
^g.  business  north  of  Keppel  Bay,  and  sufficed  for 
""  the  traffic,  too.  She  could  get  into  the  Pioneer 
'^i  River,  and  lie  alongside  the  wharf  at  Port 
Mackay.  There  was  then  no  bridge  across  the 
Pioneer,  and  all  who  wanted  to  cross  the  stream  to  the  upper 
plantations  liad  to  wade  it.  Just  beloAv  the  crossing  place 
there  was  a  deep  hole,  in  which  a  very  large  crocodile  used 
to  lurk.  He  could  be  seen  sometimes  lying  on  the  bottom, 
with  his  great  jaws  expanded,  waiting  for  any  nice  morsel 
that  the  current  might  carry  down  to  him  ;  but  he  was 
reputed  to  be  a  peaceable,  harmless  beast,  at  any  rate  he  was 
never  known  to  interfere  with  man  or  beast  on  the  crossing. 

When  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  the  surveyor,  first  took  up  the  land 
which  is  now  the  Meadowlands  Plantation,  few  people  had 
any  idea  of  the  future  in  store  for  the  district.  The  dreaded 
colonial  fever  was  then  rife,  as  it  was  at  first  in  Illawarra, 
and  in  many  other  districts  of  New  South  Wales,  which  are 
to-day  among  the  healthiest  in  Australia.  As  the  land  was 
cleared,  and  cultivation  extended,  the  fever  disappeared, 
and  he  would  be  a  bold  man  who  would  now  assert  that 
there  is  anything  in  the  climate  of  Mackay,  or  its  peculiar 
industry,  inimical  to  the  European  constitution. 

When  Meadowlands  had  been  got  into  full  swing,  Mr. 
Fitzgerald,  in  partnership  with  Mr.  Davidson,  took  up  the 
Alexandra  plantation,  and  added  to  the  sugar  mill  a  large 


OLD    MACKAY. 


329 


•distillery.  Messrs.  Amherst  and  Pocklington,  and  Hewitt 
and  Roniilly,  bringing  into  the  business  large  amounts  of 
English  capital,  also  started  plantations  on  a  substantial  scale, 
and  Mr.  John  Spiller  established  the  Pioneer  Plantation  on 
the  northern  bank  of  the  river,  above  Amherst  and  Pock- 
lington's.  Mr.  Spiller  was  an  excellent  practical  farmer, 
with  a  great  natural  faculty  for  organisation,  and  these 
qualities  more  than  compensated  for  the  want  of  large 
pecuniary  means.  In  his  time  there  was  no  more  economi- 
cally or  efficiently  managed  property  in  the  district  than 
was  the  Pioneer.  He  never  employed  manual  labour  where 
he  could  get  a  machine  to  do  what  he  wanted.  He  never 
really  believed  in  South  Sea  Island  labour  either,  though  he 
employed  it  largely,  not  from  choice,  but  because  he  could 
not  get  enough  of  any  other.  When  he  left  the  district, 
just  before  he  disposed  of  his  plantation,  he  impressed  on 
the  manager  whom  he  left  in  charge  his  conviction  that 
Europeans,  if  they  could  be  got  to  work  steadily,  and  were 
efficient,  were  really  cheaper  than  kanakas.  In  north 
Queensland  the  difficulty  has  always  been  to  get  good,  steady, 
and  capable  European  labour. 

In  the  seventies  old  Mackay  was  an  isolated  place,  only 
accessible  by  land  from  the  west.  Some  daring  bushmen 
had  occasionally  made  their  way  from  the  southward  along 
the  coast ;  but  the  journey  was  full  of  peril,  for  the  blacks 
were  bad  between  Broadsound  and  Saccharopolis,  and  there 
were  only  two  small  cattle  stations  along  the  route,  and 
they  were  emphatically  posts  of  danger  for  the  stockmen  in 
charge  of  them.  At  one  of  them,  Kelvin  Grove,  two  men 
were  murdered  in  one  year.  The  second  of  the  two  was 
speared  in  full  view  of  his  hut,  and  in  the  presence  of  his 
wife,  who  defended  the  hut  for  three  days  against  the  whole 
tribe  of  blacks.  The  husband  had  only  just  gone  out  to 
-catch  his  horse,  with  the  intention  of  riding  to  Clairvaux, 


330  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

the  next  station  to  the  southward,  to  get  men  to  muster. 
The  blacks  were  evidently  waiting  for  him,  and,  before  he 
had  gone  many  yards,  he  had  two  spears  in  his  body,  and 
was  felled  by  the  stroke  of  a  boomerang,  which  struck  him 
on  the  temple.  Then  the  savages  made  a  rush  for  the  hut, 
wliich  was  of  heavy  slabs  loopholed  for  defence,  and  had  an 
iron  roof.  The  wife  slammed  the  heavy  door  in  their  faces, 
and  having  plenty  of  arms  and  ammunition,  began  firing 
from  the  loopholes.  Travellers  were  not  numerous  along 
that  lonely  track  in  those  days,  and  the  siege  might  have 
been  prolonged  indefinitely,  perhaps,  till  the  heroic  woman 
was  compelled,  by  thirst  and  hunger,  to  surrender  herself, 
if  her  husband  had  not  been  expected  at  Clairvaux.  A 
party  of  half-a-dozen  armed  horsemen  was  sent  to  look  for 
him,  and  found  him  dead.  They  drove  away  the  blacks, 
and  relieved  the  widow  from  her  terrible  position. 

On  another  occasion  after  tlie  affair  just  related,  a  man 
with  two  horses  was  making  his  way  northward.  One  of 
the  horses  was  lost  near  Kelvin  Grove,  and  the  stockman 
in  charge  kindly  offered  his  help  to  find  the  animal.  The 
two  men  were  out  all  day,  but  without  success,  and  they 
camped  for  the  night.  The  stranger  sat  by  the  fire,  but  the 
stockman,  who  was  uneasy,  went  away  to  take  a  look  round. 
Before  he  returned,  the  traveller,  who  was  no  stranger  ta 
the  bad  reputation  of  the  district,  became  nervous,  and  stood 
on  his  guard.  A  dim  figure  appeared  through  the  surround- 
ing darkness.  It  proved  to  be  the  stockman,  who  said,  when  he 
came  up  to  the  fire — "  We  shall  have  to  shift  out  o'  this,  mate, 
or  the  blacks  will  be  on  us.     I've  been  yabberin'  with  'em." 

No  sooner  said  than  done.  The  horses,  which  were  feed- 
ing close  to  the  camp,  were  caught  and  saddled,  and  the 
hobbles  taken  off.  The  men  camped  again  about  half-a-mile 
away,  but  did  not  make  a  fire.  In  the  morning  they  returned 
to  their  former  camp.     They  then  saw  how  wisely  they  had 


OLD    MACKAY.  331 

acted  in  removing.  Tliere  were  tracks  of  naked  feet  all 
round,  and  even  the  wood  which  they  had  piled  on  the  fire 
before  they  left  it  was  scattered  about,  as  if  the  blacks  had 
been  searching  among  the  embers  for  the  something  they 
hoped  to  find,  but  could  not.  The  simple  device  of  camping 
without  fire  had  baffled  even  aboriginal  cunning.  It  was 
impossible  to  track  in  the  dark. 

Deep  Creek  used  to  be  by  far  the  worst  and  most  danger- 
ous place  on  the  "  Coast  Track,"  as  it  was  called.  The 
creek  flowed  in  a  narrow  channel  between  high,  steep  banks, 
and  had  a  narrow  fringe  of  scrub  on  each  side.  A  day's 
rain  in  the  range  in  which  it  had  its  rise  would  flood  it 
sufficiently  to  make  it  impassable,  and  delay  the  traveller 
for  a  day  or  two.  That  would  suffice  to  make  him  an  easy 
prey  to  the  blacks,  who  were  always  on  the  lookout  for  such 
chances  of  plunder,  and  generally  murder,  too,  for  they 
were  cruel  and  bloodthirsty,  and  never  spared  a  white  man. 

The  aborigines  all  along  the  coast  of  Queensland  have 
always  been  far  more  dangerous  and  troublesome  than  in 
any  other  part  of  Australia.  They  are  far  superior,  both 
physically  and  mentally,  to  the  aborigines  of  the  interior. 
Their  country  abounded  in  all  the  necessaries  of  savage  life, 
safe  from  the  sufferings  and  losses  entailed  by  the  prolonged 
and  desolating  droughts  of  Central  Australia.  They  were, 
and,  in  the  far  north,  still  are,  an  amphiliious  i^ace.  Fish 
and  game  (the  latter  including  not  only  mammalia  and 
birds,  but  snakes,  lizards,  and  grubs)  abounded,  and  the 
pinch  of  hunger  was  seldom  felt  except  by  the  aged  and 
crippled.  Most  of  the  tribes  were  more  or  less  addicted  to 
the  practice  of  cannibalism.  This  statement  has  sometimes 
been  denied  by  people  who  only  know  the  blackfellow  in  his 
partially  civilised  state  ;  but  those  who  have  come  into  close 
contact  with  him  in  his  native  wilds  will  not  question  it. 

The  coast  blacks  never  used  the  woomera,  or  throwing- 


332  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

stick,  foi'  throwing  their  spear.  The  boomerang  and  nulla 
nulla  were  their  favourite  missiles.  Their  heavily  timbered 
country  made  them  less  dependent  on  such  weapons  than 
the  dwellers  on  the  open  plains  of  the  interior.  They  were 
great  fish  eaters,  and  caught  their  fish  near  the  shore  in 
shallow  water  with  an  ingenious  sort  of  purse-net,  its  mouth 
formed  of  two  wooden  semicircles  hinged  together  at  the 
ends.  This  was  dexterously  passed  under  the  fish,  the  half- 
hoops  closed,  and  the  fish  tossed  on  to  the  bank,  or,  if  that 
was  too  far  off",  into  a  canoe.  Sometimes,  when  there  was 
a  large  extent  of  shoal  water,  the  whole  tribe  would  walk 
into  it,  each  having  one  of  these  nets,  and  enclose  a  slioal 
of  fish,  catcliing  as  many  as  they  could  in  the  nets,  and 
driving  the  rest  on  shore.  The  larger  fish  were  speared, 
and  when  this  was  done  from  a  canoe,  the  sport  was  worth 
watching.  An  athletic  black,  standing  like  a  bronze  statue 
in  the  bow  of  a  fragile  bark  canoe,  paddled  by  his  "  meri," 
whom  he  directed  by  a  scarcely  jjerceptible  motion  of  his 
left  hand,  while  the  right  held  the  bone-pointed  spear  poised 
ready  to  strike,  was  a  sight  to  see.  Then  the  spear  would 
descend  like  lightning,  and  the  struggling  fish  would  be 
transferred  to  the  canoe. 

The  canoe  itself  of  the  aborigines  of  the  coast  was  not 
to  be  despised.  It  was  not,  like  that  of  the  interior  black, 
a  mere  bark  dish  from  the  hump  of  a  crooked  tree-trunk. 
It  was  made  from  a  large  sheet  of  bark,  which  was  first 
flattened  out,  smooth  side  downwards.  Then  the  rough 
outside  was  trimmed  down,  and  the  trimmings,  with  a  quan- 
tity of  dried  leaves,  were  spread  evenly  over  the  outside 
surface,  and  set  on  fire.  When  the  sheet  of  bark  was 
softened  by  the  heat,  the  corners  were  turned  up,  each  end 
was  doubled  on  itself,  holes  were  made  with  a  sliark's-tooth 
awl,  they  were  sewn  with  withes,  and  the  canoe  was  made. 
In  these  little  cockle-shells,  the  blacks  were  accustomed  to 


I 


OLD  MACKAY.  335 

make  quite  long  voyages.  They  would  not  hesitate  to  cross 
over  from  the  mainland  to  the  Percy  and  Northumberland 
Islands,  and  even  to  the  Barrier  Reef.  At  times  they  would 
attack  the  dugong  and  the  porpoise  with  their  spears,  and 
not  unfrequently  they  were  successful.  One  of  these 
monsters  would  provide  a  royal  feast  for  the  whole  tribe, 
and  its  capture  would  be  followed  by  a  scene  of  gluttony 
such  as  the  civilised  imagination  can  hardly  conceive. 

So  much  for  the  coast  aboriginal  and  his  ways.  He 
played  no  small  part  in  the  development  of  old  Mackay,  for 
he  helped  to  supply  the  labour  market  when  the  kanaka 
was  not  available  in  sufficient  force.  Old  John  Jack,  of 
Sandy  Creek,  worked  his  plantation  chiefly  with  aboriginal 
labour.  This  was  the  last  plantation  on  the  Nebo-road,  and 
John  was  a  character.  He  first  appeared  at  Mackay  as  a 
sawyer,  and  made  a  good  deal  of  money  by  providing  boards 
for  the  liuiidings  put  up  by  the  eai^ly  settlers.  In  those 
days  timber  tvas  timber,  and  commanded  a  very  high  price. 
Pine  from  Maryborough  was  scarce  and  dear,  and  besides, 
the  white  ants  made  havoc  among  it,  and  sound  local  hard- 
wood at  double  the  price  was  cheaper  in  the  end.  Jack  was 
soon  able  to  equip  a  sawmill,  and  lower  the  price  of  his 
timber,  without  reducing  his  profits.  Then  he  planted  cane, 
and,  as  he  had  the  engine  and  boiler,  he  added  a  sugar-mill 
to  the  sawmill,  and  crushed  not  only  his  own  cane,  but  that 
of  some  neighbours,  "on  the  halves."  Jack,  however,  was 
by  no  means  a  successful  manager,  and  contrived  to  get  intO' 
difficulties  with  the  financiers,  which  ultimately  cost  him 
the  fruits  of  years  of  industry. 

Many  of  the  men  who  helped  to  make  old  Mackay  have 
vanished,  and  some  of  them  have  declared  that  the  sugar 
industry  had,  in  their  case  at  least,  belied  its  brilliant  pro- 
mise. As  a  matter  of  fact,  too  much  was  expected  from  it. 
The  glamour  of  tradition  surrounded  the  "West  Indian  sugar 


334 


AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND     REMINISCENCES. 


planter  of  the  early  nineteenth  century,  when  his  profits 
were  swollen  by  his  monopoly  of  the  British  market,  by  the 
distillery,  and  the  employment  of  slave  labour.  The  utter 
collapse  of  the  West  India  colonies  between  1840  and  1850 
was  not  understood.  Still,  the  sugar-cane  is  a  profitable 
crop,  though  the  loss  of  waste  products  through  the  Austra- 
lian restrictions  on  distillation  (which,  in  the  West  Indies, 
is  practically  free)  is  heavy,  and  the  richest  soil  will  not 
continue  to  produce  the  same  crop  for  ever.  This  latter 
fact  was  brought  home  to  the  Mackay  planters  some  years 
ago  by  the  "  cane  blight,"  as  they  called  it,  which  brought 
the  richest  of  them  to  the  verge  of  ruin.  Mr.  Davidson,  of 
the  Alexandra  Plantation,  did  excellent  and  unrewarded 
service  to  his  fellow  planters  and  the  public  in  this  emer- 
gency, not  only  by  the  field  experiments  which  he  made  at 
his  own  exjDense  and  risk,  but  by  his  personal  researches  in 
the  laboratory.  That  the  practical  results  were  not  greater 
was  not  his  fault.  Time  and  experience,  guided  by  real 
science,  can  ultimately  solve  the  great  problems  of  practical 
agriculture,  which  affect  equally  the  English  and  Australian 
cultivator. 


BUGKFELLOW   CRIMINALS. 


HEN  "Dundalli"  was  executed  for  the  murder 
of  Mr.  Gregor  on  21st  August,  1854,  a  few- 
blacks  witnessed  the  scene  from  about  the 
present  site  of  Adelaide-street,  for  Wickham ■■ 
terrace  was  not  even  surveyed  till  1856,  and 
it  was  not  until  1859  that  the  dense  forest, 
which  covered  it,  was  sufficiently  cleared  to  afford  a  sight 
from  it  of  what  went  on  in  Queen-street.  Still,  for  all  this 
scanty  aboriginal  attendance,  the  spectators  were  quite  too 
numerous,  for  they  included  the  little  Brisbane  children  who 
were  then  passing  on  their  various  morning  errands,  and  it 
was  not  a  fit  sight  for  them  to  see.  In  the  same  month,  five 
years  later,  there  was  a  big  gathering  of  the  blacks  on  Wick- 
ham-terrace  to  see  the  execution,  on  4th  August,  1859,  of 
"Chamery"  and  "Dick,"  two  Burnett  River  lads,  sentenced 
for  criminal  assault  on  an  old  German  woman,  and  whom  Sir 
William  Denison  refused  to  reprieve  ;  the  authorities — never 
anxious  that  the  blacks  should  see  a  murderer  hanged,  as  "a 
life  for  a  life  "  was  already  a  well-known  rule  with  them — 
caused  all  the  available  aboriginals  to  be  sent  for  to  see  this 
execution  for  rape,  in  order  to  teach  them  that  it  ranked  with 
murder,  a  lesson  they  were  slow  to  learn  at  that  time. 
"  Kipper  Billy,"  two  years  later,  was  another  notorious  black 
criminal,  quite  in  advance  of  the  two  callow  Burnett  boys 
already  named. 

The  Upper  Brisbane  River  was  the  scene  of  his  lawless 


336  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

exploits ;  he  had  an  eye  for  white  female  beauty,  and  one 
handsome  lady,  the  wife  of  a  rich  squatter  there,  carried  a 
small  revolver  for  his  benefit,  after  hearing  how  he  had 
spoken  of  her.  He  was  a  daring  fellow,  and,  after  his  cap- 
ture, he  scaled  the  walls  of  Brisbane  Gaol,  and  would  have 
got  away,  but  a  bullet  from  the  carbine  of  Warder  Arm- 
strong killed  him  when  on  the  top  of  the  wall,  and,  strange 
to  say,  no  hole  could  be  found  in  his  head  or  any  part  of 
his  body,  and  it  was  supposed  that  the  bullet  entered  under 
the  eyeball  and  remained  in  the  skull.  His  head  (like  that 
of  Griflin,  at  Rockhampton,  in  1868)  was  stolen  from  the 
grave,  greatly  to  the  wrath  of  Shepherd  Smith  and  Henry 
Buckley,  the  churchwardens,  or  cemetery  trustees,  of  the 
period,  and  it  were  a  bold  man  who  "  chaffed "  either  of 
them  on  the  subject  till  some  time  after  it  happened. 

But  the  blacks  wei'e  not  always  the  sinners.  There  is  a 
gruesome  legend,  hailing  from  the  Macintyre  Brook,  and 
setting  forth  how  a  bevy  of  convict  stockmen  in  the  early 
pioneer  days,  not  content  with  merely  murdering  a  black- 
fellow,  stripped  off  enough  of  his  skin  to  make  tobacco 
pouches  from,  and  dried  them  in  the  fire  smoke ;  Vjut  they 
had  to  "dree  their  Aveird  "  for  it.  It  is  related  that,  when- 
ever they  camped  near  the  spot  at  night,  they  became  aware 
of  the  figure  of  a  black  man  sitting  in  a  dejected  attitude, 
with  his  hands  hanging  over  his  knees,  at  the  foot  of  a  tree 
on  which  the  light  of  the  camp  fire  shone.  The  figure  was 
distinctly  visible  50ft.  away,  but  faded  altogether  if  you 
approached  within  5ft.  of  it,  and  reappeared  as  you  retreated 
again.  It  was  not  at  all  "canny  "  (about  the  latter  days  of 
Louis  Phillipe)  to  sleep  in  the  next  room,  at  a  primitive  hotel 
of  the  Southern  Downs,  to  that  of  some  old  bushman  whose 
hands  had  taken  human  life.  You  heard  words  that  you 
would  gladly  forget  —  yet  words  enough  to  make  a  man 
thankful  if  he  had  never  known  "drink"  or  "blood." 


Ll.MRSTONE  CmFKS,    BuRDKKIN   lllVER. 


BLACKFELLOW    CRIMINALS.  337 

The  most  beautiful  strip  of  country  in  Australia  is  that 
bounded  on  the  north  by  the  road  from  Warwick  to  Cun- 
ningham's Gap,  on  the  east  by  the  Main  Range,  and  on  the 
south  by  the  border  of  the  colony  ;  a  tract  which,  for  beauty, 
salubrity,  and  fertility  combined,  is  unsurpassed  in  the 
world.  Here  stood  Jubb's  hotel  (pulled  down  in  1859),  the 
scene  of  many  an  old-time  carouse,  joke,  and  yarn.  Jubb 
was  formerly  a  servant  of  the  Leslies,  and  it  was  here  that 
brave  Pat  Leslie  went  down  one  night,  to  fight  or  silence  a 
whole  bar  full  of  noisy  bullock-drivers,  whose  shouts  pre- 
vented Mrs.  Leslie,  at  the  other  end  of  the  house,  from 
sleeping.  It  was  at  Jubb's,  in  1852,  that  the  youthful  Lord 
Ker,  and  Lord  Scott  (a  son  of  the  Duke  of  Buccleugh)  put 
up  when  visiting  this  mountain  scenery  after  a  run  through 
Sydney.  Jubb  once  told  me  a  hideous  ghost  story  of  murder, 
suicide,  and  a  haunted  dairy,  near  Goulburn,  in  New  South 
Wales,  and  how  the  priest  laid  the  ghosts — in  his  early  days; 
but,  as  all  the  parties  were  white  people,  and  this  deals  with 
black  folk,  it  need  not  be  referred  to  further. 


ABOUT   BULLOGK    DRIVERS. 


^T  is  impossible  to  be  "up"  to  aJl  the  tricks  of  the 
bullock  driver  in  Australia,  as  witness  the  folio w- 
"  ing : — An  old  hand  had  often  been  "bowled  out." 
iv  After  sampling  the  contents  of  wine  and  brandy 
'fl  casks,  he  sometimes  filled  uji  the  vacuum  with 
water  and  sometimes  not,  the  result  being  disastrous 
in  either  case.  It  was  to  be  his  last  trip  on  that  route, 
300  miles  from  the  seaport  to  the  copper  mines,  and  they 
determined  to  watch  him  that  time.  The  only  liquor  on 
the  dray  was  a  quarter-cask  of  brandy,  and  Bob  was 
specially  forewarned  not  to  touch  it,  as  he  would  be  found 
out  and  punished  this  time  without  mercy.  He  was  told 
that  the  cask  had  been  weighed,  and  so  any  abstraction 
would  be  noticed,  and  that,  as  far  as  any  attempt  to  fill  up 
his  stealings  with  water,  a  sample  bottle  of  the  brandy  had 
gone  up  in  the  mail  bag  to  the  copper  mines,  and  that  it 
would  be  compared  with  the  cask  as  received  from  him. 
They  thought  they  had  "  stockyarded  "  Bob  this  time.  But 
all  their  precautions,  which  they  were  so  foolish  as  to  reveal 
to  him,  only  enabled  him  to  take  his  own  measures  accord- 
ingly. The  brandy  was  duly  conveyed  300  miles  to  the 
mines,  was  weighed,  and  found  allright,  and  was  sampled 
and  found  to  correspond  with  that  in  the  bottle  which 
had  come  up  in  the  mail  bags  six  weeks  before,  and  so 
Bob  got  his  clear  receipt  for  it  and  departed.  The  brandy 
cask  was  a  30-gallon  one,  and,  after  ten  gallons  had  been 


ABOUT    BULLOCK    DRIVERS.  339 

used,  the  tap  refused  to  yield  any  more.  It  was  supposed 
to  have  got  choked,  as  the  cask  was  clearly  not  empty, 
nor  even  nearly  empty,  as  its  weight  told.  But  all 
attempts  to  make  the  tap  act  proved  useless.  So  the 
bung  was  appealed  to,  and  then  a  tale  of  horror  was  revealed. 
Bob  had  taken  his  precautions  well  at  the  seaside.  He  had, 
after  he  got  the  "  boss's "  warning,  procured  a  dozen  and 
more  of  clean  sheep's  bladders,  and  had  them  on  the  dray 
with  him.  He  spiled  the  cask,  and  partly  filled  a  bladder 
with  brandy,  and  through  the  bung-hole  he  introduced 
another  bladder  with  the  same  quantity  and  weight  of  water 
in  it,  and  so  on  till  he  had  removed  twenty  gallons  of  the 
brandy,  the  cask  on  arrival  containing  ten  gallons  of  spirit 
and  twenty  gallons  of  water  in  sheep's  bladders.  But  Bob 
had  departed  to  distant  shores  before  the  eclair cisse merit  took 
place. 


THE    OLD   "PARRAMATTA." 


EAR  old  ship  "Parramatta  !"  Grand  old  comfort- 
able family  sea-waggon  !  Surely  never  since  the 
days  of  the  Spanish  Armada  were  more  picturesque 
elaborate  quarter-galleries,  figure-head,  or  roomy 
"chains."  I  love  thee,  because  thou  art  built  on 
the  model  of,  and  hast  even  survived,  the  line  of 
battle-ship  of  King  George's  day.  They  are  gone,  but 
thou  remainest,  and  still  dost  swim  and  travel  the  seas,. 
as  they  do  not.  All  our  love  for  Nelson  and  his  ships 
of  the  bygone  now  centres  in  thee,  old  hooker !  so  much 
art  thou  their  image  and  presentment.  Away  with  thy 
modern  sweepers  !  with  no  figure-head  or  galleries  to  speak 
of.  Away  with  modern  utilitai'ianism  !  the  spirit  of  Charles 
Lamb,  of  "Elia,"  ariseth  within  us  and  protesteth  against 
the  sweeping  away  of  old  sea  marks. 

What  to  us  is  theii'  fast  sailing  and  (juick  passages  ? 
Though  other  ships  may  carry  us,  as  fair,  perchance,  as  thou 
With  all  the  fine  lines  of  thy  "  run,"  the  contour  of  thy  "  bow," 
They  never  can  replace  the  bark  our  early  fondness  nurst, 
They  may  be  clippers  in  their  speed,  but  not,  hke  thee,  "The  First." 
"  The  First  !  "  how  many  a  memory  bright  that  one  sweet  word  cau 

brhig 
Of  hopes  that  blossomed,   drooped,   and   died,    in   life's  delightful 

spring— 
Of  halycon  times  all  passed  away,  and  eai-ly  seeds  of  bliss, 
Which  germinate  in  hearts  unseared  by  such  a  world  as  this. 


THE  AUSTRALIAN  SQUATTER. 


\'  HE  typical  Australian  squatter  is  a  man  quite  std 
^^  ijeneris.  You  do  not  meet  with  his  exact  double 
y^^^^l^  anywhere  else  in  the  world.  He  is  generally  tall 
'^'^(^  and  sinewy.  His  hair  and  beard  are  iron  grey, 
^i  and  so  is  often  his  suit  of  clothes.  His  eyes,  too, 
are  frequently  grey,  and  there  is  an  expression  on 
his  face  the  furthest  remove  possible  from  vacant  idiotcy  or 
trifling.  Instead  thereof  is  seen  a  concentrated,  strong, 
purposeful,  earnestness  of  look,  such  as  is  shewn  on  the 
faces  of  a  few  eminent  generals,  but  never  on  those  who 
have  not  seen  real  service  ;  for  the  great  Australian  squatter 
has  to  be  a  general  and  more  than  a  general.  Not  only  has 
he  to  battle  with  savage  nature,  and  give  his  muscles  and 
his  sleep,  his  nerves  and  his  life  to  the  task,  but  also  to  be 
his  own  prime  vizier,  financier,  council  of  war,  and  commis- 
sary general.  To  think  of  (everything,  and  to  build  up 
everything,  from  the  start.  No  adjutants  or  commissaries 
lighten  his  labour,  or  render  needless  much  of  his  fore- 
thought. All  falls  on  him,  and  he  responds  to  the  call  with 
a  bravery  born  of  old  British  blood,  and  of  the  stimulating 
surroundings  of  his  new  life.  He  goes  from  strength  to 
strength,  till,  at  last,  others  wonder  (and  he,  himself,  almost 
does  the  same)  how  one  man  can  face  it  all  and  be  "ready, 
aye  ready  "  for  aught  that  turns  up,  as  he  is.  He  has  all 
the  tenacity  of  the  Transvaal  Boer,  with  education,  savoir 
/aire,  intelligence,  and  world  knowledge  to  crown  and  polish 
it.     See  him  on  his  station  he  is  all  brave  hospitality.     See 


342  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCKNCES. 

him  at  the  club,  in  a  colonial  metropolis,  and  there  is  a  more 
than  military  aplomb  and  precision  about  him.  He  has 
had  his  discipline,  you  can  affirm  at  a  glance,  and  there  is 
the  same  commanding  gleaming  eye  that  directed  that  dan- 
gerous wild  ride  on  the  mountain  side  to  prevent  the  escape 
of  the  cattle  meant  for  a  fine  market.  That  was  one  of  his 
daughters  whom  we  met  yesterday  descending  the  cabin 
steps  of  the  mail  steamer,  with  a  child  leading  in  one  hand, 
and  another  perched  on  her  shoulder.  Her  feet  are  small, 
but  are  in  loose  baggy  boots  far  too  large  for  them,  for  she 
is  no  dresser.  Her  husband  has  a  station  in  far  northern 
Queensland,  and  she  remembers  as  a  child  the  time  when 
father  and  mother  fought  the  wild  blacks  for  seven  hours  in 
their  barricaded  cottage,  100  miles  from  help,  and  beat  them 
off  with  heavy  loss,  both  tiring  and  loading  for  themselves. 
You  might  have  seen  a  look  of  resolution  on  her  pretty  face 
such  as  has  often  taken  the  "  nonsense "  out  of  untamed 
horse  or  bullock,  and  has  luckily  never  been  further  called 
upon ;  yet  it  would  fare  ill  with  anyone  who  menaced  her 
little  ones  even  now.     But  liappily  tliose  days  are  passed. 


'^^{g^^ 


THE  SEXES. 


^ES,  the  relations  between  the  sexes  are  strange 
K  and  wonderful  indeed  !  And  who  really  does  know 
H>^  and  understand  them  1  A  young  man  meets  a 
pretty  girl — he  all  manhood  and  tire,  she  all 
archness  and  demure  coy  coquetry,  with  womanly 
love  underlying  it  all.  They  marry,  they  kiss, 
and  are  familiar  both  before  and  after  that  ceremony. 
They  chaff  and  joke,  and  bandy  wit  with  each  other  all 
through,  and  no  people  (you  would  imagine)  could  be  more 
intimate  than  they  with  one  another,  and  none  could  more 
perfectly  know  and  understand  their  mates'  nature  and 
inmost  soul.  And  this,  too,  from  the  ages  of  20  to  that  of 
70  years.  Companions  by  day,  companions  by  night ;  every 
chance,  every  opportunity,  given  for  inter-knowledge  and 
self  revelation  on  lioth  sides,  this,  too,  for  a  full  half  century 
at  a  time.  The  silver  wedding,  the  golden  wedding,  comes 
and  passes,  and  yet,  I  dare  to  say  it,  those  two  true  lovers 
and  soul-mates  never  really  knew  each  other  at  all,  nor 
would  they  have  done  it  had  their  joint  life  been  doubled 
or  trebled.  For  no  man  ever  yet  fathomed,  or  learnt,  the 
depth  of  a  woman's  real  nature,  any  more  than  any  woman 
ever  yet  did  that  of  a  man.  A  man  learns  more  about 
another  man,  or  a  woman  of  a  woman — each  of  their  own 
sex — in  an  hour,  than  they  could  read  aright  of  one  of  the 
opposite  sex  in  fifty  years.  No  man  can  track  all  the  feel- 
ings of  a  woman  as  another  woman  can,  and  vice  versd. 


344  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

They  are  a  creation  apart  from  one  another  are  these 
mysteries — "  sexes."  The  veil  of  the  flesh  blinds  the  eye 
during  life.  There  is  intimacy,  there  is  love,  there  is  happi- 
ness, there  is  oneness,  there  is  all  this  and  more,  between 
the  man  and  the  woman,  but  they  never  really  see  the  other 
as  the  other  really  is,  and  never  will  do  it  till  Charon  and 
the  Styx  have  been  passed,  and  flesh  is  no  more.  And,  if 
all  this  darkness,  all  these  unexplored  closets,  exist  in  the 
case  of  long  married  and  intimate  mates,  what  must  be  the 
ignorance  of  those  who  merely  flirt  with  the  other  sex  and 
never  yield  their  liberty  ?  And,  if  anyone  doubt  this  line 
of  reasoning  of  mine,  let  him  or  her  recall  some  case  in 
which  they  have  loved  a  person,  whom,  from  some  cause, 
they  could  not  marry.  The  loved  and  loving  one  dies,  and 
then  the  survivor  at  once  recalls  so  many  things  that  he,  or 
she,  might  have  said,  might  have  done,  to  the  lost  one,  if 
they  had  only  but  thought  of  it  and  seen  it  as  plainly  before 
death  as  after  it ;  but  it  never  is  and  never  will  be  so  seen 
in  lifetime,  for  the  veil  of  the  flesh  is  in  the  road,  and  only 
disappears  when  life  also  does,  and  only  then  and  not  till 
then  does  it  cease  to  becloud  the  relations  between  the 
spirits  of  the  sexes.  Does  not  a  man,  does  not  a  woman, 
perpetually  catch  himself  or  herself  in  the  act  of  saying- 
something  to  the  loved  one  of  the  other  gender ;  a  some- 
thing that  they  did  not  mean  and  did  not  mean  to  say  even, 
a  something  that  only  conceals,  in  place  of  revealing,  the 
real  truth  %  Who  can  deny  these  things  %  Yet,  in  spite  of 
this  failure  to  idealise  each  other,  how  intense  is  the  longing 
for  one  another  I  And  what  results  it  leads  to  !  what  sexual 
cruelty  !  Why  !  were  there  no  men  at  all  in  the  world,  no 
woman  would  ever  revel,  as  some  do,  in  the  killing  of  another 
woman.  Killing  her,  I  mean,  with  envy  and  jealousy  and 
mortification  over  some  superior  dress  or  surpassing  beauty, 
or  charm  of  manner  ;  all  of  which  are  matters  often  valued 


TIIK    SEXES.  345 

not  so  much  for  themselves,  as  for  the  pain  they  can  inflict 
on  others  of  tlie  same  sex.  There  would  be  no  active  animal 
■cruelty  in  men  if  there  were  no  women,  but  only  cruelty  of 
the  passive,  neglectful,  and  lieartless  type.  The  only  being 
to  whom,  and  of  whom,  a  woman  never  talks  scandal,  and 
is  never  envious  of  or  spiteful  to,  is  her  baby.  Man  was 
not  originally  created  male  and  female,  like  the  animals  and 
birds  were,  but  created  alone  and  in  the  image  of  God,  and 
woman  was  formed,  not  of  dust,  but  from  the  highly  organ- 
ised flesh  and  bone  of  man.  Hence  the  purity,  the  exquisite 
charm,  the  archness  of  the  retined  delicate  real  woman,  and 
it  hardly  leaves  her  even  when  she  is  a  little  "  off  colour  " 
in  her  behaviour.  As  witness  Abraham's  beautiful  and  oft 
stolen  wife,  in  Genesis  18;  how  she  laughed  and  how  she 
lied  about  it,  in  her  poor  woman's  terror,  when  the  Almighty 
One  announced  to  her  and  her  husband  His  controlling  power 
in  all  creative  and  sexual  matters.  How  grandly,  yet 
mercifully.  He  assumes  His  mantle  of  omnipotence,  as  He 
speaks  to  the  pretty,  but  doubting,  woman,  whom  (in  her 
.mother)  He  created  first  in  Eden. 


ON    LOVE. 


^  OE  to  the  man  who  suppresses  love.  Either 
the  love  that  would  fain  spring  in  his  own 
heart  towards  othei's,  or  the  love  that  would 
fain  spring  in  their  hearts  to  himself.  He 
misses  an  awful  chance,  kills  a  possible  world 
of  good,  and  the  evil  is  perhaps  most  marked 
"when  it  is  the  case  of  a  parent  with  his  children,  or  a  husband 
with  his  wife.  Love  is  a  great  power.  We  cannot  murder 
or  rob  those  whom  we  really  love,  and  God  Himself  cannot 
send  to  hell  one  who  is  all  love,  for  such  a  one  could  find  hell 
nowhere.  Love  would  conquer  pain,  opposition,  hatred,  and 
all  else  in  its  rapt  self  absorption.  Woe  also  to  the  man  who 
is  ashamed  of  being  good,  afraid  to  seem  good,  and  who  would 
be  mean  enough  to  purchase  exemption  from  ridicule  at  the 
price  of  denying  his  actual  master,  and  by  professing  to  know 
nothing  of  that  which  is  really  dear  to  his  good  but  weak  and 
terrified  heart.  God  give  strength  to  all  such,  for  there  comes 
a  time  when  cause  and  effect,  logic  and  science,  length  and 
weight,  definition  and  argument,  money  and  commerce, 
learning  and  knowledge,  and  all  else  that  pertains  to  modern 
thought  and  material  concerns  shall  be  lost,  dimmed,  swept 
away,  and  absorbed  in  the  more  real  though  ineffable  essence 
of  something  that  is  indescribable  in  words,  spoken,  printed, 
or  written,  and  which  thought  can  only  faintly  grasp,  but 
which  is  near  us  and  around  us,  and  must  finally  triumph 
and  be  all  to  us  and  all  of  us,  when  the  planets  themselves 
shall  have  crumbled  to  decay. 


ON   MIRAGLES. 


>  OW  little  is  the  nature  of  the  deeds,  which  bear  the 
^-,  name  "  miracles, "  understood  by  the  world  in 
[■  general  !  No  one  tries  to  imagine  June  they  come 
,'M  about.  Some  sort  of  magic  divination  is  suspected, 
^-^  and  the  operator  is  supposed  to  be  proud  and  vain 
\  ^  of  his  gifts.  How  different,  surely,  must  be  the 
reality  !  When  the  prophet  Elisha  heard  that  the  Shuna- 
uiite's  son  was  dead,  how  did  he  act  *?  Was  there  any 
vainglorious  ceremony,  posturing,  or  attitudes  ?  No  !  any 
more  than  there  was  with  St.  Paul  over  the  dead  body  of 
Eutychus.  A  divine  feeling  of  intense  pity  and  gentle 
sorrow  ;  a  yearning  spirit  of  love  and  sympathy  that  showed 
itself  in  soft  murmurs  of  low-voiced,  earnest  words  (as  if  ta 
a  living  loved  one)  and  rend  itself  in  a  tender  touching  of 
the  dead  loved  one.  A  trance,  a  rapt  ecstacy,  of  speaking 
and  handling,  setting  forth  a  deep  longing,  to  which  no 
rehearsed  or  remembered  words  could  do  justice,  the  sorrow- 
ing one  all  unconscious  of  the  unseen  power  that  was  passing 
involuntarily  from  himself  into  the  lifeless  form  before  him. 
Not  trying,  for  one  moment,  to  work  a  miracle,  or  to  upset 
the  apparently  completed  act  of  God,  but  all  the  time  exert- 
ing an  occult  force  (whether  in  the  spirit,  or  the  body,  one 
can  no  more  tell  than  St.  Paul  once  could)  which  (he  knows 
not  how  or  why)  at  last  rewards  his  tender,  all-powerful 
magnetic  love  and  sympathy,  with  the  sight  of  a  revived 
and  responding  life,  to  turn  and  appreciate  the  love  spent 


348  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

on  it,  the  strong  tender  will,  the  strong  tender  wish,  enrapt 
and  ignorant  of  its  own  power,  unconscious  even  of  what 
it  is  doing  except  that  it  loves  and  yearns,  is  a  retlex,  albeit 
a  faint  one,  of  the  love  and  the  will  that  first  created  all 
things.  These  described  were  but  men's  miracles.  Turn 
we  now  to  the  giant  miracle  performed  by  the  (xod-raan  on 
Lazarus.  Four  days  in  the  grave  bound  hand  and  foot 
with  grave-clothes,  he  still  "  comes  forth "  when  bidden. 
Ho^v  did  he  come  %  What  awful  gait  was  it  that  he  shewed  % 
What  scene  of  terror  and  majesty  did  the  people  witness  '^ 
He  could  not  walk  nor  creep,  for  he  was  pinioned.  He 
"  came  forth  bound,"  and  he  was  not  "  loosed  "  till  he  had 
travelled.  But  travelled  how^  Like  an  awful  shadow  on 
the  wall,  he  must  liave  loomed,  moved  by  no  muscle  or 
limb,  yet  still  moving.  The  terrors  and  the  love  of  that 
spectacle  are  beyond  all  imagination.  The  one  greatest 
manifestation  of  semi-material  power  in  Holy  Writ. 


PROPER   NAMES   IN   AUSTRALIA. 


^r  0  doubt  there  are  some  very  ugly-sounding  native 
yi  names,  but  they  are  the  exceptional  few,  and  the 
jv  'f/((  number,  even  of  these,  would  be  diminished  if  it 
'^Ci\^  were  not  for  the  grotesque  attempts  to  reduce  to 
l^i^  English  spelling  the  delicate  inflections  of  the  Aus- 
tralian tongue  which  we  then  pronounce  as  spelt 
in  English.  People  are  apt  to  forget  that  the  Australian 
names  have  not  been  sj^elt  by  the  natives,  but  only  spoken. 
French  is  a  soft-sounding  language ;  yet  I  should  like  to  see 
the  French  sound  of  the  word  "  Rheims  "  exactly  reproduced 
on  paper,  English  fashion.  The  word  "Enoggera"  sounds 
harsh  enough,  but  the  native  word  is  "Yewoggera" — the?;-,, 
corrupted  to  n,  has  been  now,  to  avoid  confusion  in  title 
deeds,  made  a  recognised  error. 

Gunniga  Mubbur,  in  New  South  Wales,  Toon  doon  gona- 
nige  and  Muttarpilly  in  Queensland,  are  also  harsh  in  sound; 
but  what  can  be  softer  and  prettier  than  the  name  of  Jullula, 
one  of  the  most  elevated,  kingly,  and  beautiful  peaks  of  the 
royal  Muniong  Range  of  Australian  Alps  ;  or  Cowra  Goara, 
a  peak  of  the  Canobolas,  near  Orange  1  Are  Mimmurra, 
Illawarra,  Yatilla,  Peachilba,  Ringarooma,  Yulgilbar,  and 
Koreelah,  unpleasant  to  hear  1  And  that  string  of  beautiful 
lakes  which  runs  out  between  the  Murrumbidgee  and  Dar- 
ling, known  as  Gunarwe,  Macormon,  Makoombi,  Doondo- 
ambli,  Lymbennaroy,  &c  — are  they  badly  named  %  Is  the 
Sclireckhorn  of  the  Alps  better  named  or  better  sounding 


350  AUSTUALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

than  Jullula  1  Has  any  dialect  of  Europe  got  a  more  poeti- 
cal name  than  the  Camillaroy  of  Australia  ?  Even  in 
Victoria,  alongside  of  such  horrid  names  as  Cut  Pau  Pau, 
we  find  the  redeeming  one  of  Bellei'ine.  It  is  quite  impos- 
sible, with  English  letters,  to  print  the  sound  of  Australian 
words.  There  is  Neurum,  or  Deurum,  or  Jeurum,  signifying 
rain,  and  neither  the  N,  the  D,  nor  the  J,  but  all  three 
combined,  conjure  an  idea  of  the  exact  sound  as  pronounced 
by  the  blacks.  Bondi,  near  Sydney  ;  Mildura,  on  the  Lower 
Murray ;  Burranjuhi,  the  north  head  of  Broken  Bay,  are 
all  examples  of  euphonious  names.  The  latter  is  not  unlike 
the  Spanish  Aranjuez  in  sound.  The  Moonbi  Pass  might 
have  had  a  far  uglier  name  if  an  English  one,  such  as  Gap 
Hollow,  or  what  not. 

The  race  of  the  aboriginals  will  soon  be  extinct  in  Aus- 
tralia ;  but  her  beautiful  mountains,  glens,  waterfalls,  and 
other  scenes  of  nature,  pure  air,  and  strong  life  will  never, 
while  the  vvorld  lasts,  receive  more  lovely  and  appropriate 
names  than  those  bestowed  by  these  poor  uninspired  and 
doomed  savages.  The  softest  names  that  Longfellow  writes 
of,  the  liquid  murmurs  of  the  Polynesian  tongue — no  lan- 
guage that  the  world  most  admires  can  ever  more  worthily 
clothe  with  titles  the  scenes  of  Australia  than  has  been 
already  done  by  her  aborigines.  In  this,  as  in  the  power  of 
tracking,  they  stand  unequalled  ;  in  all  the  rest  they  are  as 
nothing.  Away  then  with  the  hundred  and  one  vulgar 
Sandy  Creeks,  Oakey  Creeks,  Stony  Rises,  Devil's  Pinches, 
Scrub  Plats,  Brown's  Waterholes,  and  similar  abominations 
of  bewilderment  and  monotony  which  fill  our  Australian 
gazetteers  at  present,  and  which  will  do  so  in  future  if  some 
people's  taste  is  to  be  allowed  to  prevail  against  better  ones. 


GRIGKET. 


LUBS  may  come  and  clubs  may  go,  but  cricket 
lives  for  ever.  Brisbane  cynics  may  sneer  and 
say  tliat  the  days  are  too  short  from  April  to 
^  October,  and  the  weather  too  hot  from  October  to 
^^~  April  for  cricket  practice,  and  that  all  the  rest  of 
^5  the  year  is  available  for  it.  But  still  the  game 
struggles  for  an  existence,  and  serves  its  purpose,  namely, 
to  keep  the  boys  out  of  mischief.  There  is  the  "allegretto" 
style  of  cricketer,  who  sings  to  the  air  of  "Wet  Sheet  and 
Flowing  Sea  " — 

"  Oh  !  for  a  gently  hopping  ball  " 

You'll  hear  some  "duffer"  cry, 
But  give  to  me  the  "  ripper  "  swift 

No  odds  if  low  or  high  ; 
I'm  bound  to  "  give  it  fits  "  my  boys, 

For,  with  my  bat,  d'ye  see 
I  cut  it  slick  past  "  cover  point," 

And  I  score  another  "tliree." 

his  time  being  changed  to   "  penseroso  "  in  the  following - 

They've  changed  the  bowler,  now,  by  jove, 

And  there's  mischief  in  liis  ''hi," 
And  lie  bares  a  rounded  biceps  hard. 

And  he  aims  one  "  wicious  "  shy. 

How  that  ball  came  I'll  never  know. 

Its  course  I  didn't  see. 
But  it  skied  my  timbers,  "  leg,  mid  off," 

My  fondly  cherished  three. 


352  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Cricket  only  hibernates  in  the  cold  weather.  In  summer 
the  mighty  beaker  of  genial  "  shandygatf "  rewards  the  sun- 
burnt and  (it  must  be  confessed)  somewhat  moist  hero  of 
half-a-hundred  runs  and  not  out;  and  the  "yah!  butter 
fingers,"  the  "  run  it  out,"  and  the  "  played,  sir,"  and  the 
"oh!  good  ball,"  form  the  outward  manifestations  of  the 
inward  emotions  of  the  j^leased,  or  displeased,  spectator,  as 
the  ball  happens  to  be  fumbled,  or  swiped,  or  smothered,  or 
disperses  the  homogeneity  (good  word  that,  but,  I  fear,  of 
doubtful  applicability)  of  the  timbers  and  bails.  Well, 
boys,  let  winners  remember  that  losers  did  their  best,  and 
the  losers  bear  in  mind  that  someone  miost  be  beaten,  and 
let  both  remember  that  the  "  cock-a-doodle-doo  "  business  is 
out  of  place  in  cricket,  and  that  it  is  "  bad  form  "  to  venti- 
late theories  as  to  what  might  have  happened  if  Mufiins 
had  not  missed  Sloggerson  that  time  in  the  "  slips  "  in  the 
third  ball  of  the  second  over,  after  he  had  made  fifty-six 
"without  a  chance."  It  is  unkind  alike  to  Muffins,  who, 
poor  fellow  !  did  all  he  knew,  and  is,  already,  sorrowful 
enough  over  the  mishap ;  and  it  is  rough  on  Sloggerson,  too, 
as  it  takes  half  the  gilt  ofi"  his  gingerbread.  I  must  now 
tell  you  of  two  early  cricket  fights  in  Moreton  Bay — the 
great  match  between  Brisbane  and  Ipswich  in  June,  1859, 
at  the  North  Shore,  the  "Chuwar"  of  Limestone,  and  the 
return  match,  in  the  same  year,  on  the  grassy  flat  at  the 
back  of  where  the  Hon.  P.  Perkins  now  resides  in  Brisbane, 
and,  taken  for  all  in  all,  the  play,  the  lunch,  the  speeches, 
the  to^U  ensemhh,  "  Dingley  Dell  versus  all  Muggleton,"  even 
with  Alfred  Jingle  and  Sii-  Thomas  Blazo  thrown  in,  was 
nothing  to  it.  I  admire  cricket,  and  always  had  a  reverence 
for  it.  It  carries  all  the  ceremonious  gentlemanly  punctilio 
of  the  duel,  but  shorn  of  its  bloodthirsty  drawbacks.  There 
is  the  exactly  measured  ground,  as  in  the  duel ;  the 
uniformity  of  the  weapons  used  on  both  sides,  and  the  strict 


ifc/^..i. 


/:««iai&j 


1 


CKICKET.  353 

care  exercised  to  ensure  fair  play,  and  that  no  advantage 
shall  be  taken  on  either  part.  But,  to  proceed.  Ipswich 
and  Brisbane  were  rival  towns  from  1843  to  1859,  and  the 
former  stole  a  decided  march  on  the  latter  when  the  branch 
Banks  of  New  South  Wales  and  Australasia,  at  Ipswich^ 
imported  some  sterling  cricketing  material  in  the  shape  of 
accountants,  tellers,  and  ledger  -  keepers  (who  were  also 
wicket-keepers)  from  the  classic  recruiting  gi'ounds  of  Laun- 
ceston  and  Mainland — both  centimes  of  cricketing  skill.  So 
the  chance  was  not  lost,  and  poor  Brisbane  was  challenged 
to  come  up  and  play  cricket  during  the  Ipswich  race  week 
of  June,  1859.  Hard  work  we  had  to  collect  a  team,  and 
great  was  the  array  of  talent  against  us.  "We  took  up  Dr. 
K.  Cannan,  Shepherd  Smith,  Colin  Munro  (now  of  the 
Burdekin),  Edwin  Norris  (of  Townsville),  C.  F.  Bell  (mana- 
ger at  D.  F.  Roberts',  solicitor),  Walter  Birley  (of  Kangaroo 
Point),  James  Bolger  (the  Kilkenny  underhand  bowler),  a 
Spring  Hill  cobbler,  who  could  keep  wicket  well,  and  some 
more  whom  I  forget.  We  found  ourselves  faced  by  the 
redoubtable  Captain  George  Maughan,  of  the  "Australasia," 
with  his  piratical  long  black  beard,  red  cap  and  shirt  (a  W. 
G.  Grace  in  miniature)  :  by  Harry  Logan,  of  the  Bank  of 
New  South  Wales;  also  F.  O.  Bryant  (6ft.  Sin.)  of  the 
"Joint  Stock  ; "  and  Harry  Glassford  (of  Gilchrist,  Watt  ik 
Co.),  all  prime  bats;  and  by  an  awful  bowler,  Coulson, 
he  was  from  one  of  the  Maitland  banks,  and  had  an  extra  joint 
in  his  shoulder  (like  a  railway  semaphore),  and  could  send  his 
arm  with  the  ball  backwards  and  upwards  till  it  stood  all 
but  perpendicular.  Then,  like  lightning,  his  arm  would 
be  flat  at  his  side  and  the  ball  impelled  each  time,  swift  and 
true,  at  the  middle  stump.  And  let  me  here  I'emark  that  the 
bowler  who  covers  that  piece  of  timber  with  every  ball  needs 
"playing."  Then  Ipswich  had  A.  D.  Broughton  (afterwards 
Sir  A.  D.  B.,  baronet),  and  a  butcher  was  there,  named  Cleary, 
famous  for  never  sending  any  kind  of  ball  up.     The  fray  began. 


354  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND     REMINISCENCES. 

W.  Sladen,  of  the  Melbourne  parliament,  was  an  interested 
spectator.  Shepherd  Smith  got  a  knock  early,  in  the  ankle, 
which  lamed  him,  and  spoilt  his  bowling,  and  Bolger  bowled 
till  his  shoulder  required  the  chemist,  Eldridge,  and  liniment, 
when  night  fell,  to  fit  him  to  go  on  next  day.  Enough  !  Bris- 
bane was  over-matched — 99  to  65  first  innings ;  second 
innings,  they  43  and  we  44 ;  and  they  beat  us,  and  proposed 
our  healths,  and  banqueted  us.  Then,  next  day,  we  had  a 
mixed  "scratch"  match — Bolger,  Bryant,  Coulson,  Glassford, 
<fec.,  on  one  side,  Maughan,  Arthur  Wienholt,  Birley,  Colin 
Munro,  &c.,  on  the  other.  The  first  lot  won,  and,  at  the  races, 
all  was  forgotten.  Then  came  the  return  match  at  Brisbane, 
about  October,  and  Ipswich  had  not  got  her  crack  team,  all  of 
whom  could  not  leave  ;  but  they  brought  Charley  Fattorini, 
Jemmie  Laidley,  Edwin  Campbell,  and  others  down;  good 
men  all,  but  "not — not  the  six  hundred  " — at  least,  not  cricket- 1 
ers.  The  match  was  played  on  the  forest  flat  at  the  back  of 
the  present  "Aubigny,"  North  Quay.  Bolger  was  in  for  three- 
and-a-half  hours,  made  118,  sent  the  ball  into  the  river  for  8, 
and  Brisbane's  first  innings  closed  for  322  runs,  and  the  game 
was  won,  in  hollow  style,  by  the  future  metropolis.  Club 
matches  have  often  been  played  since  between  tlie  two  places, 
but  I  believe  the  foi'egoing  were  the  only  "town  against  town" 
games  that  ever  took  place.  I  must  plead  guilty,  personally, 
to  a  superstitious  distrust  of  the  article  called  a  cricket  ball. 
How  innocent  but  deceitful  it  looks  in  the  shop  windows  ! 
And  people  tell  me  it  is  mxde  of  cork  and  leather,  and  weighs 
only  5h  ounces.  All  I  know  is  that  when  /  (the  amateur) 
hit  it,  it  seems  to  be  made  of  cobbler's  wax,  by  the  way  it 
sticks  to  the  fielder's  fingers  ;  and  when  I  try  to  catch  it,  after 
someone  else  has  hit  it,  it  feels  slippery  as  ice,  while  hot  as  fire, 
and  to  weigh  about  as  much  as  a  thirty-two  pound  shot  when 
in  motion.  And  the  diabolic  tendency  which  that  same 
impish  ball  has,  to  rise  up  in  the  air,  no  matter  how  I  try  with 
the  bat  to  flatten  it  down  to  the  ground,  surpasses  all  belief. 


BLAGK  LABOUR. 


^|-  N  what  is  called  the  Black  Labour  "question,"  much 
J>,'  print,  time,  and  tongue  have  been  wasted.  There 
^  is  no  more  room  for  debate,  sentiment,  or  politics 
r^,lf  in  it,  than  there  is  in  a  sum  of  arithmetic  with 
.  ,  its  inevitable  and  self-evident  result.  Fahrenheit's 
y^  thermometer  is  the  only  index  or  guide  herein, 
and  it  is  an  instrument  quite  devoid  of  theories,  imagi- 
nation, or  "fads."  Some  kind  or  other  of  "black"  man 
is  bound  to  "hunt"  the  white  man,  in  the  long  run,  out 
of  the  coast  districts  of  North  Queensland  altogether. 
God,  climate,  and  nature  silently  decree  it  with  a  legislation 
louder  than  any  mere  word  declamations  inside  the  walls  of 
parliament ;  the  white  race  can  no  more  thrive  and  be  per- 
petuated (say)  in  Cooktown  than  at  Lahore  or  Demerara  ; 
absentee  white  men  may  own  property  possibly,  and  grow 
rich  on  the  labour  of  alien  races  in  North  Queensland,  but 
the  laws  of  nature  cannot  be  set  aside.  Take  every  coloured 
person,  if  you  like,  out  of  North  Queensland,  and  keep  them 
out ;  try  and  "  run  "  the  place  with  white  men  only,  and  see 
the  result.  At  best.  Nature,  the  wise  dame,  making  the 
best  of  a  bad  job,  would,  in  the  course  of  a  couple  of 
•centuries  (if  they  did  not  become  extinct  altogether),  have 
adapted  and  turned  them  all  into  acclimatised  black  men, 
who  would  (if  a  phase  of  1893  politics  still  obtained  in  2093) 
have  to  be  expelled  once  more  to  make  room  for  the  "  white  ' 
man,  for  Queensland,  you  know,  sir,  is  only  for  the  white. 
What  kind  of  a  degraded,  fiery-tempered,  unnatural,  mur- 


356  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

derous  race  the  white  lower  orders  would  gradually  become 
in  that  climate  can  be  best  judged  by  the  annals  of  America — 
but  with  tenfold  intensity  would  it  be,  for  New  Orleans,  the 
southernmost  and  hottest  city  in  the  United  States,  is  about 
3deg.  further  from  the  Equator  than  is  Brisbane,  the  most 
southerly  and  cool  of  Queensland  coast  towns.  Superficial 
talkers,  when  they  judge  Queensland  by  the  United  States, 
should,  first  of  all,  consult  their  atlas  and  note  the  very 
different  parallels  of  latitude  under  which  the  two  countries 
lie;  one  place  "leaves  off"  about  three  degrees  before  the 
other  "  begins."  Black  labour  is  not  necessary  in  the  States; 
but  it  is  in  Jamaica  and  Demerara,  which  are  under  Queens- 
land parallels  ;  and  let  the  political  side  of  the  (so-called) 
"question"  go  as  it  may,  Dame  Nature  will  in  the  end  jump 
iron-heeled  on  all  and  sundry,  "  Liberal,"  "  Conservative," 
"  Labour  party,"  or  what  not  (with  no  respect  of  persons, 
"  views,"  or  creed)  who  dare  to  set  up  their  penny  trumpet 
against  decrees,  ecliptips,  and  conditions  that  were  and  are 
settled  (not  for  ever,  perhaps,  but  still  for  thousands  of  cen- 
turies before  and  after  our  brief  era  and  strut  on  the  scene 
and  stage).  Why,  and  by  whom,  and  for  what  purpose,  was 
the  coloured  man  ever  created,  and  to  what  place  do  some 
people  propose  to  banish  him  1 


THE   WORD  "SYNDICATE.' 


OR  the  life  of  me,  I  can't  make  out  why  the  luclc- 
less  word  "  syndicate"  should  carry  with  it  and 
r  P  excite  such  feelings  of  suspicion  and  distrust.  I 
don't  profess  to  be  much  of  an  etymologist,  but 
the  word  "syndic"  used  to  mean  the  mayor,  or  the 
p^.  burgomaster,  of  a  Dutch  town,  and  the  syndicate,  I 
presume,  were  the  aldermen  thereof.  And  yet,  mayors  and 
aldermen  are  not,  necessarily,  swindlers.  We  borrow  other 
words  from  the  Dutch.  There  is  the  word  "kop,"  for  in- 
stance, imported  and  much  used  by  low  Dutch  sailors  in  the 
port  of  London  since  the  year  1680  or  so.  It  means  to 
"steal,  thieve,  or  take  possession  of,"  so  the  Wapping 
thieves  took  it  up  as  short  and  expressive,  and  in  time,  an 
arresting  constable  came  to  be  called  a  "  Kop-per."  The 
only  harm  that  I  can  see  in  the  unfortunate  word  "syndi- 
cate "  is  that  it  happens  to  be  spelt  with  almost  exactly  the 
same  letters  as  "  dynamite,"  the  d  y  n  a  i  t  e  being  all 
present  in  it,  and,  perhaps,  that  is  why  so  many  syndicates 
explode,  blow  up,  and  get  shattered  to  pieces.  There  is, 
evidently,  too  much  of  the  detonating  element  in  both  of 
these  words. 


AUSTRALIAN  FISH  AND  FRUIT. 


^  HE  fisli  and  fruit  of  Australia  form  fertile,  and 
also  interesting  topics.  Touching  the  former,  it 
i^s,  may  be  remarked,  by  way  of  introduction,  that 
'  the  sole,  turbot,  and  trout  of  England  are  not 
reproduced  in  Australia.  But  the  "trumpeter,"  of 
Hobart,  is  tlie  champion  smoked  fish  of  the  world, 
salmon,  haddock,  and  herring  being  a  bad  "second."  The 
"butter  fish,"  of  New  Zealand,  is  a  luxury  like  whitebait 
is  in  England.  The  giant  crab,  of  south  Queensland,  has 
all  the  flavour  and  twice  the  digestibility  of  the  English 
lobster,  but  the  great  Australian  crayfish  is  far  behind  it 
in  both  respects.  I  must  here  mention  the  "dugong,"  or 
sea  cow,  of  south  Queensland.  People  who  suffer  from 
lung,  or  bowel  wasting,  or  defective  assimilation  and  nutri- 
tion of  any  kind,  have  been  greatly  relieved  by  the  use  of 
cod  liver  oil,  extracted  from  a  cold-blooded  fish  in  no  way 
analogous  to  the  human  species.  The  dugong  (something 
like  a  porpoise  to  look  at)  is  a  warm-blooded,  mammal,  sea 
animal,  and  its  oil  and  lard  (the  residuum  of  the  oil)  are 
the  most  sovereign  remedy  on  earth  for  defective  assimila- 
tion or  nutrition,  with  all  the  vii'tues  of  the  cod-extracted 
article,  and  a  number  more  of  its  own.  Rich  no  doubt  in 
iodides  and  phosphates  from  the  sea  and  from  a  warm- 
blooded and  milk-bearing,  not  a  cold  fish,  source,  the  white 
flesh  of  the  "dugong"  is  a  combination,  in  flavour,  of  the 
veal  sweetbread,  and  turtle  steak,  and  with  a  "  melt-inthe- 
i  mouth  "  delicacy  that  surpasses  both  of  them.  There  is  not 
one  trace  of  fish  flavour  about  it. 


AUSTRALIAN    FISH    AND    FRUIT.  359 

Let  uie  narrate  some  of  its  most  wonderful  cures,  which 
sound  ahnost  fabulous.  It  must  be  remembered  that  oil 
taken  into  the  stomach  is  not  verj^  digestible,  or  capable  of 
assimilation,  and  can  only  be  "  exhibited  "  a  little  at  a  time. 
So,  it  is  here  that  the  "lard"  comes  in.  Placed  on  "spongio- 
piline,"  like  butter  on  bread,  and  applied  to  the  skin  of 
chest  and  stomach,  and  kept  there,  it  finds  its  way  through 
the  skin  into  the  blood  direct,  without  fatiguing,  or  out- 
raging, the  stomach,  and  does  its  restorative  work  quickly 
and  thoroughly.  If  applied  to  the  skin  of  a  sound  person, 
it  remains  inert  and  unabsorbed  outside,  while  the  skin  of 
a  poor  consumptive  will  suck  it  in  and  dry  the  pad  in  no 
time,  to  his  or  her  lasting  benefit.  I  will  cite  a  few  cases 
of  the  effects  of  dugong  lard,  which  it  is  not  sought  to  "puff," 
as  there  is,  unluckily,  not  enough  of  it  to  be  got,  even  for 
local  wants.  A  boy  fell  into  some  boiling  sugar,  and  scalded 
himself  from  ankle  to  thigh  ;  a  month  in  the  General,  and 
another  in  the  Childrens'  Hospital,  only  found  him  unhealed 
— a  skeleton,  with  his  eyes  deep  in  his  head,  and  dying,  under 
all  ordinary  remedies.  The  lard  was  clapped  on  him  all 
over,  as  a  last  resource,  and  in  less  than  a  month  it  had 
given  him  such  vitality  that  the  scald,  in  place  of  covering 
thigh  and  leg,  had  shrunk  to  the  size  of  a  crown  piece,  the 
rest  being  new  skin,  and  he  had  regained  his  ordinary  ful- 
ness of  flesh.  Another  case  :  An  old  lady  of  73,  wife  of  a 
high  Crown  official,  was  seized  with  paralysis  in  her  bath ; 
doctors  were  called  in ;  she  could  not  sleep,  and  opiates 
maddened  Iier.  The  lard  was  applied,  sleep  came,  and  she 
survived  five  years  more.  Another  cure  :  A  poor  milliner, 
of  23,  stitching  in  a  hot  workshop,  "  nourished  " — save  the 
mark  ! — on  tea,  tepid  water,  and  bread  and  butter,  in  Bris- 
bane, began  to  lose  one  lung,  could  not  sleep  for  the  "night 
sweats,"  could  eat  no  breakfast,  and  was  in  a  bad  way 
generally.     A  pad  smeared  with  lard  was  applied ;  she  fell 


360  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

into  a  sound  sleep,  woke  hungry,  ate  a  breakfast,  found  her 
chest  had  sucked  the  pad  dry  of  lard,  and  kept  on  at  it, 
with  the  result  that  she  gained  seven,  nine,  and  thirteen 
pounds  in  weight  in  the  first  three  months.  She  then  left 
off  the  lard,  for  (as  she  said)  the  oil  was  so  perfectly  absorbed 
through  the  skin  into  the  stomach,  that  it  began  to  rise  in 
her  throat,  as  newly  swallowed  castor  oil  would.  She  needed 
no  more  at  the  time,  but  afterwards,  when  sleepless,  she 
would  resort  to  the  lard  again,  and  procure  renewed  health, 
appetite,  and  sleep.  The  "night  sweats"  never  returned. 
An  overgrown  boy  of  17,  six  feet  high,  seven  stone  weight, 
unable  to  work,  was,  in  one  month,  by  the  lard,  raised  to 
nine  stone,  and  back  to  his  bench  again.  A  little  boy  of 
eighteen  months,  whose  mother  had  just  died  of  consump- 
tion, was  fast  following  her  from  mara>imus.  His  big 
beautiful  eyes  were  surrounded  by  purple  rings,  his  long 
eyelashes  shading  them.  I  saw  and  pitied  him  in  his  sister's 
arms,  she  and  the  rest  of  them  looking  healthy  enough 
in  all  conscience.  His  little  flannel  was  kept  .soaked  in 
dugong  oil  day  and  night,  and  he  was  kept  clean.  At 
the  end  of  a  month  I  saw  him,  not  dead,  but  the  beauty  of 
his  eyes  all  gone.  He  had  come  back  from  the  angels,  and 
was  human  once  more,  and,  at  the  end  of  three  months,  he 
was  all  "  beef,"  like  his  brothers  and  sisters.  A  word  now 
as  to  another  natural  remedy  found  in  south  Queensland. 
A  medical  man  of  Brisbane  suffered  terribly  from  anoemia. 
He  went  to  the  seaside,  and  bathed  daily  in  a  fresh  water 
lagoon  with  ferruginous  sandstone  walls.  At  the  end  of  a 
fortnight  he  noticed  that  the  brown  leather  lining  of  his  hat 
was  turning  quite  black  where  it  touched  his  forehead,  and 
he  at  once  surmised  that  iron  from  his  skin  had  mingled 
with  the  tannin  of  the  leather,  and  he  noticed  that  his  skin 
had  become  red,  in  place  of  white,  and  he  felt  quite  well 
again.     He  put  the  matter  to  the  test,  and  sent  a  keg  of 


AUSTRALIAN    FISH    AND    FRUIT.  361 

the  water  to  be  analysed.  Its  constituents  were  discovered, 
and  packages  of  them  were  artificially  prepared  for  sale 
with  equally  good  results  when  mixed  with  bath  water  and 
so  used.  There  was  a  master  painter  in  one  of  the  southern 
towns  of  Queensland,  who  had  a  family  of  daughters,  most 
of  whom,  at  the  age  of  twelve,  sickened  with  anoemia,  grew 
fretful,  peevish,  and  died.  I  told  him  of  the  remedy.  His 
children  could  not  digest  preparations  of  iron  by  the  mouth 
and  stomach,  nor  take  up  enough  to  be  effectual  in  that  way. 
But  the  absorbing  skin,  in  the  bath,  found  no  such  difficulty. 
As  with  the  lard,  as  much  could  be  taken  into  the  system 
through  the  skin  in  one  day,  as  in  a  month  by  the  mouth 
and  stomach,  and  no  digestion  required,  as  it  went  direct  to 
where  it  was  needed.     The  child  thus  treated  lived. 

Having  discussed  the  fish,  a  woi'd  now  as  to  the  fruits  of 
Australia  and  England.  The  peaches  of  New  South  Wales 
are  as  good  as  the  French.  The  apricots  of  Australia  are 
far  inferior  to  English,  and  only  fit  to  make  jam  of.  Tn 
greengages  and  plums,  sunny  France  and  southern  England 
can  show  Australia  the  road  for  saccharine  development  and 
delicious  juiciness.  These  fruits  do  not  flourish  in  Austra- 
lia, somehow.  The  cherries  of  Hobart  are  quite  equal  to 
the  Kentish  "  bigaroons,"  and  the  strawberries  of  New 
Zealand  to  the  "  British  Queens  "  of  Myatt.  Raspberries 
are  large,  woody,  and  tasteless,  but  make  splendid  jam  when 
the  absent  and  lacking  sugar  is  added.  Chesnuts  and 
walnuts  grow  to  perfection  in  the  France-like  climate  of 
Tasmania.  Ribstone  pippins  are  also  perfect  there  as  in 
Devonshire.  Grapes  and  potatoes,  of  magnificent,  world- 
challenging  merit,  and  that  will  keep  sound  and  good  longer 
than  any  others  in  the  wide  world,  are  exported  from 
Adelaide  and  Hobart  respectively.  The  dry  climate  of 
South  Australia  imparts  a  "  keeping "  quality  to  its  pro- 
ducts, which  those  of  damp  New  Zealand  are  sadly  lacking 


362 


AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 


in.  With  regai'd  to  pears,  Australia  is  "all  there,"  and 
south  of  the  latitude  of  35  degrees,  the  "  Bon  Chretien," 
the  "Marie  Louise,"  the  Bergamot,  and  the  Jargonel,  are 
up  to  the  mark  of  anything  in  Europe.  The  colony  of 
Victoria — while,  in  ordinary  English  fruits  it  vies  with  its 
neighbours,  Tasmania  and  New  South  Wales — is  ahead  of 
them  both  in  the  excellence,  abundance,  and  variety  of  its 
kitchen  vegetables,  tomatos,  asparagus,  and  the  like,  and 
the  Cape  gooseberry,  of  southern  Queensland,  yields,  with 
sugar,  a  jelly  in  whose  presence  the  guava  preparation  can- 
not compete.  Oranges  in  Australia  do  not  defy  the  world, 
those  of  Bahia  and  even  of  Tahiti  are  far  before  them  in 
all  respects. 


LIFE  AND  DEATH. 


e^  T  is  a  melancholy  truism  that  all  bright  things 
must  fade  (diamonds,  possibly,  excepted).  One 
does  not  like  to  realise  the  fact,  for  instance,  that 
tt  Dickens'  charming  wilful  Dolly  Varden,  so  full  of 
refreshing,  wholesome  vitality  and  womanly  sweet- 
ness combined,  was  born  in  the  earthquake  year 
of  1755,  and  would  be  137  years  old  if  now  alive,  and 
consequently  must  have  slept  with  her  most  "Protestant" 
mother  full  sixty  or  seventy  years  ago,  when  the  Reform 
Bill  and  Catholic  Emancipation  were  first  agitating  the 
public  mind.  Nor  is  it  pleasant  to  go  into  figures  and  reckon 
that,  if  dear  old  Pickwick  was  60  years  of  age  when  (a.d. 
1829)  he  read  his  famous  scientific  paper  on  the  "Theory  of 
Tittlebats,"  then  he  must  have  been  born  123  years  ago^ 
and  so  must  long  since  have  "joined  the  majority  ; "  unless, 
indeed,  it  be  (as  some  folks  assert)  that  his  sententious  utter- 
ances, his  rotundity,  his  spectacles,  his  childlike  simplicity 
and  love  of  fair  play,  good  fishing,  and  a  good  social  dinner 
survived  for  a  time  in  all  their  original  perfection,  in  the 
person  of  a  certain  venerable  and  respected  Judge  in  our 
modern  Queensland.  Few  of  us  will  live  to  see  the  Dic- 
kens' Centenary,"  which  is  sure  to  take  place  in  1912,  with 
all  the  character  creatives  of  his  Shakesperian  brain,  mingling 
together  in  full  costume  on  the  stage  at  one  view.  We 
seldom  remember  a  more  beautiful  or  suggestive  sight  than 
a  similar  gathering  of  Shakespeare's  characters,  on  the  old 
Adelphi  stage,  and  particularly   "  Hamlet,"  all  bugles  and. 


364  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

sable,  gracefully  passing  his  playful  rapier  at  the  philosophic 
Touchstone,  to  the  thrilling  music  of  "  Macbeth,"  at  that 
particular  juncture  when  the  witches  all  resolve  nem.  con. 
to  have  "a  dance  upon  the  heath."  Bright  fancies  are  for- 
ever being  elbowed  off  the  stage  of  life  by  stern  realities ; 
and  the  gorgeous  wedding  breakfast  and  blissful  honeymoon 
during  which  the  pretty  bride  trills  out  the  musical  master- 
pieces of  her  maidenhood  on  Pleyel's  grand  pianoforte  are 
succeeded,  at  an  interval  of  twelve  short  months,  by  the 
advent  of  the  serious-minded  monthly  nurse,  and  by  strange 
noises,  unwonted  sounds  in  the  house,  by  sleepless  nights, 
and  the  piano  neglected  for  evermore  in  favor  of  a  new 
musical  instrument — the  baby's  voice.  But  we  venture  to 
say  that,  if  you  were  to  consult  the  young  mother,  she  would 
tell  you  that  baby's  most  incoherent  utterances  are  worth 
whole  volumes  of  Gung'l,  Chopin,  and  Webei",  even  when 
discoursed  by  the  best  of  Pleyel  or  Chickering's  prize  medal 
productions  in  walnut  and  ivory. 


BISMARCK'S  DESIGNS  ON  QUEENSLAND. 


E  once  described  the  terrible  plots  which  are 
hatching  in  our  peaceful  midst,  and  which  even 
our  insignificance  and  remoteness  from  tlie- 
great  world's  haunts  fail  to  shield  us  from. 
We  have  now,  alas  !  to  note  a  further  piece  of 
secret  underhand  treachery  in  our  very  centre, 
and  emanating  on  this  occasion,  niirabile  dictu  !  from  the 
stronghold  of  the  Bismarck  himself  !  We  are,  indeed,, 
Ijetween  two  tires.  The  plot,  this  time,  was  hatched  in 
Berlin,  where  an  emissary  whom  we  will  here  call  Herr 
"Von  Slawkenberg  "  (for  want  of  a  better  name),  received 
his  orders,  packed  his  carpet  bag,  and  made  sail  for  Queens- 
land. Arrived  there,  did  he  play  the  guitar,  or  make  love 
to  the  maidens,  or  call  at  Government  House  in  kid  gloves, 
or  sing  the  "  Watch  on  the  Rhine  % "  "No,  he  was  on  a 
mission,  and  Herr  "Von  S."  did  not  come  all  the  way  just 
to  fool  or  rave  about  Vaterland.  We  know  not  whether  he 
took  the  steamer  to  Maryborough,  or  haply  even  to  Bunda- 
l)erg,  but  anyway,  certes  it  is  that  he  arrived  in  due  time  at 
Gayndah — which  is  a  town  of  Queensland,  quite  unknown  to 
nine-tenths  of  us,  and  never  heard  of  at  all  outside  our 
borders,  that  is  to  say  never  heard  of  in  Australia,  but 
which  is  well  watched  and  cared  for  by  them  of  Berlin. 
Then  did  Herr  "Von  S.,"  for  the  first  time,  relax  his  grim 
onward  Erl  King  speed,  and  took  to  the  Izaak  Walton 
business  —  took  to  fishing  in  the  broad-banked,  sandy- 
bottomed,  deep-pooled  waters  of  the  crystal  Burnett.     Yes 


366  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

the  gentle  angler's  craft  was  now  his  pastime,  for,  be  it 
known  to  you,  reader  dear,  that  "Von  S."  was  an  able 
disciple  of  Cuvier  and  Humboldt,  and  came  hither  to 
look  after  that  which  was  neglected  by  the  savants 
of  Australia  and  England  alike,  but  which  was  valued  in 
Berlin.  He  fished  for,  and  he  found,  and  he  took  back  with 
him,  the  marvellous  ceratodus,  that  piscine  wonder  with  ribs 
and  hi7igs,  that  died  out  in  fossil  ages  long  ago,  wearied  of 
the  hacknied  old  world's  ways,  but  which  still  enjoys  exist- 
ence in  ever  fresh  Australia,  and  so  links  the  era  of  the 
mastodon  with  that  of  the  sewing  machine.  Yes;  "Von 
S."  fished,  and  he  caught  even  new  and  fresh  varieties  of  this 
wonder-fish,  and  he  found,  moreover,  a  new,  or  old,  but  at 
any  rate,  living  monster,  which  supplies  the  link  between 
the  tortoise  and  the  serpent.  Hear  this,  ye  gods  o 
Elephanta  and  of  Hindostan,  and  let  your  so-called  mytho- 
logy be  called  true  science  for  ever  hereafter.  And,  hear 
this  also,  ye  sleepy  ones  of  England  and  Australia,  and 
know  that  this  same  "  Von  S."  was  a  competent  expert  of 
the  first  class,  and  not  a  man  likely  to  make  mistakes  in 
matters  of  science.  Bismarck  chooses  no  bad  tools — that 
you  know,  at  any  rate ;  and  so  here  we  are  again  check 
mated,  outwitted,  outrun,  and  undermined  by  strangers  in 
our  very  midst  in  matters  of  science  as  well  as  of  religion ; 
blind  to  our  own  interesting  position  in  the  scientific  world, 
-and  a  very  laughing-stock  to  the  iron  heroes  of  old  Herey- 
iiia's  Valhalla. 


*-«-^=#^-^ 


QUEENSLAND  REDIVIVUS. 


A>?®*#  USTRALTA  in  1893  was  under  a  cloud  arising 
k^from  various  sources — over-extravagance  and  over- 
^\f,^l5a'  prosperity  in  herself  in  the  past,  combined  with 
(^^jjm!  political  jugglery,  and  the  whole  crowned  by  the 
tactics  of  the  English  financial  press  and  Stock 
^  Exchange  "bears,"  who  "must  live,"  even  though 
Australia's  prosperity  has  to  be  "boiled  down"  to  furnish  the 
feast.  And  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  spectacle  of  bank 
after  bank  shutting  its  doors  in  the  (naturally)  richest 
country  in  the  world  was  a  sorry  and  unseemly  sight. 
Australia  was  warned  thirty  years  ago  not  to  borrow  money ; 
but  she  gave  no  heed,  and  the  day  of  reckoning  came.  Still, 
sarcastic  comments  of  the  English  financial  press  did 
good.  They  roused  a  feeling  of  proud  resolve  in  Australia, 
and  the  time  will  come  when  not  only  will  all  foreign  loans 
be  paid  off,  but  nothing  more  will  ever  be  borrowed.  Aus- 
tralia can  produce  every  mineral,  every  textile  fabric,  every 
article  of  food,  drink,  and  medicine,  every  necessary  and 
every  luxury  in  the  world,  in  a  climate  that  ranges  from 
that  of  Edinburgh  to  that  of  Demerara.  Such  a  country 
should  be  a  lender,  not  a  borrower,  of  money.  New  Zealand, 
when  her  pride  was  hurt  some  years  ago,  led  the  way  in 
ceasing  to  borrow ;  Queensland  followed.  She  exports  9^ 
millions  yearly  to  4;^  millions  of  imports  on  a  population  of 
450,000,  and  no  country  in  the  world  can  surpass  this,  and 
it  is  bound  to  tell  its  tale  soon.  Normanton,  the  Gulf  port, 
will  be  the  Singapore  of  Australia — the  great  outlet  gate  of 


368  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

the  island  continent,  starting  from  a  point  300  miles  nearer 
to  the  heart  of  tlie  Dominion  than  Adelaide  is,  facing  a 
smooth-water  sea  and  showing  by  thousands  of  miles  the 
nearest  way  to  Java,  China,  India,  and  all  the  great  markets 
of  the  East,  for  meat,  gold,  and  other  products,  which  the 
country  at  the  back  of  Singapore  does  not  afford,  but  which 
are  found,  right  up  to  the  gates  of  Normanton,  and  for 
thousands  of  miles  back  and  round  from  it.  A  land  which 
exports  5h  millions  sterling  annually  more  than  it  imports, 
on  the  labour  of  only  450,000  people,  need  not  stand  long 
with  its  hat  (so  to  speak)  in  its  hand.  And  just  look  at 
the  imports,  too,  boots  and  shoes  (to  go  no  further) — how 
much  longer  do  you  suppose  will  the  country,  which  is  far 
and  away  the  largest  cattle  holder — per  head — in  the  world, 
continue  to  import,  and  not  to  export,  leather,  and  boots 
and  shoes  1  And  so  with  other  imports  ;  the  time  is  coming 
when  Queensland  will  need  to  import  nothing  at  all,  except, 
perhaps,  human  beings  and  literature.  So  please  let  us 
have  no  more  sneers  in  the  English  press  at  a  land  which 
has  400  millions  of  unsold  acres,  full  of  grass,  water,  timber, 
gold,  coal,  silver,  tin,  graphite,  pearl  -  shell,  tortoise-shell, 
asbestos,  bismuth,  copper,  chrome,  tellurium,  mica,  anti- 
mony, Avool,  tallow,  sugar,  rum,  wheat,  cotton,  indigo,  rice, 
tea,  coffee,  arrowroot,  hemp,  wine,  fruit,  &c.,  and  to  which 
outsiders  will  one  day  offer  their  loans  in  vain ;  though  I 
must  confess  that  Australia  has  erred  hitherto  in  departing 
from  the  conservative  canons  of  old  Scotch  and  English 
banking  usage. 


— ~^ 


THE  AUSTRALIAN  GEDAR  SGRUB. 


0  anyone  who  knows  how  endless  is  the  range 
of  the  great  plant  kingdom — which  King  Solomon 
is  reported  to  have  so  well  understood,  from  the 
beautiful  cedar  of  Lebanon  down  to  the  wall 
hyssop — no  botanic  gardens  in  the  world  serve 
so  much  to  remind  of  what  is  there  as  of  what 
might  be  but  is  not  there,  and  never  can  be  there.  Speaking 
of  the  cedars  of  Lebanon  leads  us  to  dwell  awhile  on  the  cedars 
of  Australia,  and  the  dense  scrubs  in  which  they  delight ; 
differing  totally  from  the  tangled  beautiful  forests  of  Tahiti, 
away  on  the  east,  and  those  of  the  Malayan  Archipelago  on 
the  north,  and  affording  a  host  of  new  sub-varieties  which 
the  hand  of  man  has  never  yet  gathered,  nor  the  brain  of 
man  ever  yet  classified.  And  if  all  these  strangers  can  be 
met  with  in  the  cedar  scrub  of  Australia,  where  white  men 
and  intelligent  botanists  are  at  hand,  what,  then,  of  the 
vast  and  unexplored  tropical  and  extra-tropical  lands,  where 
only  untutored  savages  dwell  1  And  who  shall  even  guess 
at  their  unknown  riches  in  fruit  and  flower,  timber  and 
foliage,  colour  and  perfume,  medicine  and  art  material. 
And  what  botanic  garden  on  earth  will  ever  display  the 
whole  of  them  1  Less  heated  than  the  forests  of  the  Mar- 
quesas or  Guiana,  there  is  still  a  very  equable  temperature 
and  a  decidedly  tropical  aspect  in  the  dim  green  aisles  of 
the  Australian  "Cedar  Brush."  An  old  volcanic  mountain 
is  often  the  origin  of  the  whole  affair,  and  some  ravine  on 

Y 


370  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS   AND    REMINISCENCES. 

its  sides  gets  full  in  time  of  rich  mould,  replete  with  trachy- 
tic  and  vegetable  elements  in  decomposition,  and  thus  the 
little  plant  colony  is  started  in  life,  and  it  soon  generously 
hides  the  nakedness  of  its  parent.  "  Soon,"  that  is  to  say, 
if  regarded  as  a  term  in  our  planet's  history,  and  not 
measured  by  the  mere  span  of  a  man's  life,  the  rainwater 
in  the  ravine  helps  matters  along,  and  the  scrub  gradually 
spreads  sideways,  as  well  as  up  and  down,  being  fully  proof 
against  bush  fires,  which  cannot  penetrate  its  damp  recesses, 
on  which  the  sun  even  exerts  no  power  of  drought,  and 
but  little  of  heat  either.  And  it  is  only  here  and  there, 
too,  that  the  adventurous  explorer  of  these  realms  of  fairy- 
land can  find  an  open  space  in  which  to  enable  him  to  judge 
of  their  enchanted  beauties.  Their  most  charming  trees, 
like  many  fine  churches  in  crowded  cities,  are  too  much 
hemmed  in  with  dwarf  companions  to  be  visible  in  all  their 
glory  from  any  point  of  view  whatever.  High  up  just 
where  the  translucent  pale  emerald  light  gleams,  unearthly, 
like  a  stained  glass  window  over  some  cathedral  altar,  and 
scarce  breaks  through  the  dense  barriers  of  leafy  canopy ; 
seeming  to  be  derived,  too,  from  almost  any  source  except 
that  of  the  sun  itself.  High  up  there  is  seen  the  great 
staghorn  fern,  gracefully  drooping ;  whilst,  lower  down,  on 
the  irregular  sides  of  the  parent  tree,  its  less  aspiring 
dependents,  the  mosses  and  orchids,  make  up  those  pictures- 
cjue  and  eccentric  bits  of  form  and  colour  which  nature 
so  much  delights  thus  to  hide  away  for  her  own  glory  and 
to  secrete  from  the  vulgar  gaze  of  man.  There  is  none 
of  Australia's  drought  in  these  moist  retreats,  and  their 
pleasant  perfume  and  the  subdued  light  gratify  the  senses 
wonderfully.  So  much  for  the  mere  rambler,  then  !  But, 
alas  !  for  the  botanist.  How  is  lie  to  explore  this  place, 
and  to  remove  all  the  coveted  gems  he  would  like  to  carry 
off ;  unless,  indeed,  he  had  the  aid  of  a  whole  regiment  of 


THE    AUSTRALIAN    CEDAR    SCRUB.  371 

sappers  and  miners,  of  bullocks  and  elephants  ■?  And  who 
shall  decide  as  to  the  species  of  this  or  that  lovely  tree, 
whose  bark  and  trunk  are  so  beautiful  and  gigantic,  but 
whose  top  foliage  is  lost  overhead  in  a  dark  jungle,  inter- 
laced with  its  neighbors  in  such  a  manner  that  you  must 
perforce  cut  all  down,  or  leave  all  alone,  if  you  want  to 
successfully  gratify  your  thirst  of  botanical  research.  Turn- 
ing from  botany  to  commerce,  I  may  state  that  a  single  tree 
of  the  red  cedar,  cedrela  Australis,  will  sometimes  yield 
30,000  feet  of  marketable  timber. 


TAMBOURINE  MOUNTAIN. 


WAS  never  near  Tambourine  Mountain  in  my  life, 
but  I  claim  the  merit  of  being  the  first  to  discover 
its  mission  on  this  earth.  Some  old  residents  of 
"-^  one  class  saw  nothing  but  sugar -growing  there, 
others  wei'e  all  for  saw  mills,  but  both  missed 
the  real  point  of  its  merits — -namely,  that  of 
being  the  finest  climate  on  earth,  and  being  the  premier 
sanatorium  of  Australia.  It  was  this  way  :  I  found  an  old 
Admiralty  chart  of  Moreton  Bay,  and  figured  on  it  inland 
was  a  three-cornered  tabletop  mountain  (unnamed)  showing 
1,850ft.  and  1,790ft.  at  its  angles  and  buttresses.  I  saw  at 
a  glance  what  a  perfect  climate  it  must  possess,  but  where 
was  it  1  and  -what  was  it  called  1  So  I  took  its  Brisbane 
bearings  oii  the  map,  and  ascended  some  of  our  highest 
hills  (Mount  Coot-tha,  etc.)  and  did  the  same  from  there, 
and,  by  a  bit  of  amateur  "  triangulation,"  I  found  the 
mysterious  stranger  was  no  other  than  Mount  Tambourine, 
of  which  I  had  often  heard  in  the  early  Logan  days.  People 
told  me  of  its  wonders,  how  that  folks  who  went  up  for  a 
day  were  enchanted,  and  spent  a  week  instead  ;  how  others 
ate  themselves  out  of  "house  and  home"  and  exhausted 
their  provisions  long  before  their  picnic  time  was  over,  all 
owing  to  the  glorious  appetite  engendered.  I  heard  of  little 
children  residents,  fed  chiefly  on  maize  porridge,  but  rosy- 
faced  as  Kentish  "bairns;"  of  scrub  soil  20ft.  deep;  of 
orange  ti-ees  that  you  could  cut  a  fishing-rod  out  of ;  of 
cedar  trees  that  would  build  two  houses;  of  geraniums  that 


TAMBOURINE    MOUNTAIN.  373 

would  fill  a  room,  and  so  forth  ;  and  it  all  seemed  quite 
credible,  for  Tambourine  Mountain  is  just  where  it  should 
be  for  a  perfect  health  resort.  Were  it  at  Cape  York  it 
would  be  too  hot  with  its  moderate  elevation  ;  if  at  Cape 
Howe  it  would  be  too  bleak ;  if  ninety  miles  from  the  sea, 
like  Toowoomba  (at  the  same  height),  it  would  be  too  vari- 
able ;  if  I'azor-topped  it  would  still  have  a  view,  but  not  be 
habitable ;  but  as  it  is,  it  is  perfection.  In  28deg.  south, 
ten  miles  from  the  sea,  fiat- topped,  only  moderate  in  area, 
and  nearly  ■2,000ft.  high,  it  is  an  exceptional  wonder,  and 
no  other  place  on  earth  like  it ;  but  in  pure  air  from  below 
and  around  its  precipices  it  is  equable  in  climate,  unlike 
what  a  larger  tableland  would  be ;  and  were  there  even  no 
view  at  all  from  it,  it  would  still  be  worth  living  and  dying 
on  for  the  climate  alone,  and  I  envy  the  lucky  people  who, 
fifty  years  hence  (when  it  has  been  "civilised")  will  enjoy 
life  there. 

The  late  Captain  W.  B.  Brown  was  himself  no  poet,  but 
when  he  was  up  Tambourine  he  said,  "Well !  neither  painter 
nor  poet  could  do  justice  to  this,"  as  lie  viewed  the  scene 
from  the  north-east  angle  of  the  mount.  I  have,  myself, 
often  enjoyed  the  view  from  the  passes  that  border 
Mount  Mitchell,  Spicer's  Peak,  and  Cunningham's  Gap,  and 
looking  at  the  chaotic  and  beautiful  peaks,  which  mark  the 
sources  of  the  Clarence  and  Richmond  Rivers,  there  is 
nothing  like  it,  that  I  have  seen,  in  Tasmania  or  Eastern 
Australia.  But,  Tambourine  must  beat  it;  for  you  have 
all  the  grand  mountains  to  the  south  and  west,  and  also 
(what  you  have  not  from  the  Main  Range  sites)  the  bay, 
islands,  and  sea,  and  the  homes  and  settlements  of  civilisa- 
tion. With  a  good  telescope,  or  field  glass,  you  can  discern, 
on  a  fine  day,  the  tawny  north  buttress  of  old  Tambourine 
glowing  in  the  sun,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  much  of  the 
outlyings  of  Brisbane  can  be  seen,  also,  from  there.     Tani- 


374 


AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 


bourine  Mountain  goes  down  pretty  "  sheer  "  on  all  sides, 
though,  of  course,  there  are  leading  spurs  of  access  up  on 
the  north  and  east  sides,  and  this  is  one  of  the  secrets  of  its 
grand  and  unapproached  climate,  which,  it  is  to  be  hoped,, 
will  never  be  marred  by  any  injudicious  and  overdone 
destruction  of  timber,  or  it  will  become  bleak,  and  arid,  and 
unsheltered,  and  lose  half  its  charm  ;  clear  away  the  scrub, 
to  some  extent,  by  all  means,  but  spare  most  of  the  big 
timber  or  you  will  be  sorry.  Tambourine  is  a  place  where 
you  can  enjoy  a  temperature  of  6.5deg.  and  your  blankets  at 
Christmas  time,  and,  if  the  old  Romans  had  had  it,  it  would 
have  been  converted  into  a  magnificent  high-level  irrigation 
reservoir  (by  gravitation),  but  I  fancy  Queensland  will  do 
still  better  with  it  in  the  next  century. 


THE  BRISBANE  BOTANICAL  GARDENS. 


in    their 

susiirrus 


HILE  the  western  up-country  stations  are 
y  sometimes  afflicted  with  an  iron  drouslit,  our 
^  eastern  district  is  generally  emerald  green, 
and  least  of  all  in  our  Botanic  Gardens  is 
there  any  sign  of  the  lack  of  needful  moisture. 
Not  only  pleasing  to  the  eye,  not  only  grateful 
shade,  and  soothing  for  a  lounge  —  while  the 
of  the  sleepless  bamboos  imparts  an  irresistible 
pleasing  drowsiness  to  the  nerves — these  gardens  have  their 
multifarious  and  great  uses,  one  of  the  highest  of  which  is 
the  surrounding  of  many  a  poor  little  bush  hut  in  the 
suburbs  with  allamandas,  lagerstrcemias,  and  other  plants  of 
tropical  beauty,  which  a  duke's  hothouse  in  England  can 
scarcely  bring  into  flower.  People  cannot  all  afford  a  good 
house,  but  they  can  all  afford  lovely  flowei's  in  this  climate ; 
and  slips  from  the  Botanic  Gardens,  planted  about  Brisbane, 
have  grown  into  trees  more  beautiful,  in  some  cases,  owing 
to  richer  soil,  even  than  the  original  ones  they  came  from. 

Although  not  blessed  with  a  tine  outlook  like  that  over 
the  harbour  of  Port  Jackson,  yet  our  gardens  in  themselves 
surpass  those  of  Sydney  and  Melbourne.  We  can  grow  all 
the  temperate  zone  plants  as  well  as  they  can,  while  they 


376  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

cannot  approach  us  in  the  line  of  the  tropical  ones.  They 
can  no  more  raise  the  purple  lilac  in  Sydney  than  we  can 
here,  while  their  attempts  at  the  bamboo  look  ludicrous  to 
a  Queenslander.  One  of  their  greatest  successes  in  Sydney 
gardens  is  the  Manchineel,  a  very  handsome,  but,  we  believe, 
poisonous  tree,  from  Madagascar.  Two  interesting  trees  in 
our  gardens  are  suggestive  of  the  Holy  Land  :  one  of  these 
is  the  fine,  venerable,  hoary  old  olive  tree  in  the  main  avenue, 
the  other  is  the  thorn  of  Judea,  near  the  henna  tree.  A 
fine  shady  evergreen,  well-grown,  noble -looking,  pleasant 
and  profitable  tree  is  this  same  olive ;  and  it  is  a  pity  there 
are  not  wliole  forests  of  it  in  our  colony.  The  then  Collec- 
tor of  Customs,  Mr.  Duncan,  twenty  years  ago,  lectured  on 
this  topic,  and  had  his  advice  been  taken  at  the  time,  the 
trees  would  now  have  been  sometliing  to  look  at  and  to 
reap  the  benefit  of.  A  curious  contrast  is  presented  by 
the  asparagus  of  England  and  the  asparagus  of  Java.  The 
latter  is  a  pretty  flowering,  sweet  -  scented  creeper,  the 
very  thing  for  children  to  weave  garlands  from.  The 
fragrant  and  beautiful  Plumeria  acutifolia,  the  sacred  tomb 
flower  of  Java,  flourishes  as  bravely  as  ever,  and  is  rapidly 
becoming  a  tree  in  its  proportions.  It  keeps  steadily  in 
flower  from  November  to  May,  and  is  clearly  quite  at  home 
in  our  climate.  The  cofiee  berries  are  yet  green,  and 
the  cinnamon  trees  have  not  finished  shooting  out  tender 
leaves  yet.  Passing  near  the  bamboos,  and  the  drinking 
fountain,  we  can  travel,  in  fancy,  from  the  Surrey  lanes, 
where  flaxen-haired,  rosy-cheeked  girls  abound,  to  the  vol- 
canic gorges  of  Honolulu,  where  the  dusky,  yet  symmetrical, 
damsels  are  attired  in  surplices  of  blue  calico,  or  satin, 
according  to  their  rank  in  life,  and  the  imaginary  journey 
is  performed,  in  a  few  seconds,  by  simply  rubbing  a  leaf  of 
tansy  and  holding  it  to  the  nose,  which  at  once  suggests 
Surrey  (or  any  other  county  you  like) ;    and  then  passing 


THE    BRISBANE    BOTANICAL    GARDENS.  377 

on  to  the  big  alocasia,  or  taro,  a  gummy  blue  potato,  or 
turnip,  on  which  nearly  all  Polynesia  manages  to  keep  its 
ribs  clothed  with  fat.  That  most  delicious  fruit,  the  date 
plum,  does  not  appear  to  grow  well  here,  for  we  never  see  a 
specimen  of  it  for  sale  in  any  shop.  The  gardens  show  a 
tine  collection  of  the  Melastonia,  with  its  curious  leaf,  unlike 
Any  other,  and  its  deep  "Humboldt"  violet  Hower.  A  wild 
pretty  variety  of  this,  the  Melastoma  Banksia,  grows  about 
the  hill  side  gullies,  in  the  parish  of  Toombul,  facing  the 
east.  The  Spanish  Annato,  so  useful  to  cheesemakers,  who 
wish  to  send  a  well-colored  article  to  market,  is  only  in 
flower  as  yet ;  it  is  a  very  handsome  tree,  and  its  blossom  is 
fully  to  match  in  point  of  beauty.  The  Clerodendron 
Nutans,  from  India,  is  a  pretty  drooping  flower  of  a  haw- 
thorn type  and  color,  to  the  unbotanical  eye,  but  it  is  quite 
destitute  of  scent ;  not  so,  however,  is  the  Clerodendron 
Fragrans,  which  somewhat  reminds  us  of  the  hydrangea  in 
appearance,  and  possesses  all  tlie  refreshing  fragrance,  and 
none  of  the  pungency  of  the  choicest  smelling  salts. 

Near  the  foot  of  the  hill  some  granadillas  of  eight  pounds 
weight  each,  and  as  big  as  a  man's  hand,  are  hidden  amongst 
the  leaves  of  that  variety  of  the  passion  flower.  The  henna 
tree,  as  useful  to  the  ladies  of  the  east  as  belladonna  and 
kalydor  are  to  our  Western  belles,  diff"uses  a  sweet  perfume 
so  long  as  you  remain  ten  yards  away  from  it,  but  a  very 
close  proximity,  between  its  blossoms  and  the  olfactories, 
discloses  a  sickly  unpleasant  odor.  The  thorn  tree  of  Judea, 
from  which,  it  is  reported  that,  the  crown  of  thorns  was 
plaited,  shows  spikes  of  a  moderate  length  only,  and  desti- 
tute of  much  stifi'ness,  and  we  should  imagine  that  either 
this  is  not  the  same  tree,  as  is  alluded  to  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, or  else  that  it  does  not  take  to  this  climate  kindly. 

The  close  of  the  floral  season  is  at  hand,  but  the  still 
warm  days  enable  the  waterlilies  to  resist  the  increasing 


378  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

cliilliness  of  the  nights.  The  mango  and  jack  fruit  are  in 
good,  full  fruit,  considering  thai  they  are  so  far  away  from 
home,  and  though  they  have  much  of  the  flavor,  they  have 
neither  the  overflowing  juiciness  nor  the  ponderous  weight 
they  attain  to  in  their  native  habitat.  The  Japanese 
camphor  tree  is  growing  to  a  dimension  that  begins  to  rival 
some  of  our  gum  trees,  and  the  aromatic  savor,  of  its  twigs 
and  leaves,  strongly  remind  us  of  the  universal  old  eucalypt 
of  Australia,  with  its  precious  astringent  gums,  pungent 
and  solvent  essential  oils,  and  of  the  valuable  heritage  we 
possess,  in  a  country  where  it  is  so  plentiful.  The  decadence 
of  the  once  splendid  Poinciana  regia,  near  the  round  bed,  is 
being  atoned  for  by  the  vigorous  growth  and  beauty  of  the 
younger  trees ;  one  by  the  Albert-street  gate,  and  the  other 
by  the  aviary,  where  it  stands  just  close  enough  to  the 
Brazilian  rosewood  to  make  us  regret  that  they  do  not 
exactly  blossom  at  the  same  time  of  the  year,  in  order  that 
we  might  make  comparison  of  the  scarlet  and  the  lilac,  side 
by  side,  and  see  which  of  them  bears  the  palm.  On  the 
whole,  we  fancy,  the  Madagascar  red  surpasses  the  Brazilian 
lilac,  for  it  is  set  off  by  a  green,  so  intense,  and  yet  delicate 
in  color,  that  the  somewhat  more  sombre  verdancy  of  the 
jacaranda  leaf  looks  dull  beside  it. 

And  of  the  palms,  we  must  say  a  word  for  the  Cocos 
flexuosa,  of  Brazil,  which  is  equal  to  the  Seaforthia  Elegans 
and  the  Cocos  Plumosa  for  beauty,  and  which  bears  a  fruit 
pendant  in  bunches  like  elongated  ears  of  bright  tawny 
yellow  wheat,  fully  ripe. 

When  the  sun  has  again  crossed  tlie  line  to  the  south. 
Nature  responds  to  his  presence,  and  the  plants  of  the  tropics 
are  unfolding,  and  gladdening  the  eye  with  their  unrivalled 
beauty.  October  brings  out  the  mimosa-leafed  Jacaranda 
tree  of  Brazil,  a  very  gem  of  size  and  beauty  combined. 
It  is  not  alone  that  it  grows  as  tall  as  an  oak,  nor  that  its 


THE    BRISBANE    BOTANICAL    GARDENS.  379 

leaf  vies  with  the  shamrock  for  verdure,  and  with  the  fern 
for  delicacy  of  shape,  but  its  clusters  of  flowers  have  a  color 
that  is  neither  mauve,  lavender,  lilac,  nor  violet,  but  like 
them  all,  and  more  beautiful  than  any.  They  are  marked 
slightly  with  pure  white  inside,  and  I  must  not  forget  to 
describe,  if  possible,  their  shape.  First  of  all,  they  are 
elaborately  "scolloped"  round  the  edges,  and  they  have  a 
curved  cornucopia  shape,  and  droop,  surpassing  in  graceful- 
ness of  outline  any  nepenthe  campanula,  or  ixia  that  I  have 
ever  seen.  This  tree  is  a  conspicuous  object  half -a- mile 
away.  Its  only  rival  in  these  gardens,  the  gorgeous  Poin- 
ciana  Regia,  of  Madagascar,  flowers  in  December.  In 
greenness  and  delicacy  of  its  mimosa-like  leaf,  this  latter 
tree  vies  with,  or  surpasses,  the  Jacaranda  ;  its  foliage  shape 
is  dome-like,  its  spread  great,  and  the  dome-curve  is  observ- 
able from  beneath  as  well  as  from  above.  The  flower  is  a 
glorious  scarlet,  prettily  marked  with  black  and  white,  and,, 
like  the  Jacaranda,  it  appears  in  huge  clusters  or  sprays. 
Either  of  these  noble  trees  would  be  calculated  to  arrest  the 
notice  and  attention  of  people,  who  had  never  in  their  lives 
before  looked  with  interest  at  any  botanic  specimen,  and,  to 
those  who  delight  in  floral  beauty,  they  afford  pleasure 
beyond  all  description.  This  tree  also,  like  the  Poinciana, 
strikes  the  eye  at  a  great  distance  with  its  blaze  of  colour. 
The  cochineal  insect  is  here  at  times  busy  at  the  cacti.  The 
caper  shrub  shows  its  berry  here  as  well  as  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean, The  "wine"  palm  of  Western  Africa  bears  a  fruit 
as  nice  as  the  strawberry,  and  not  unlike  it  in  flavour,  and 
the  talipot  palm  shows  a  sweet-scented  spray  of  flowers. 
The  jutes  and  sunn  hemps  of  India,  are  growing  here  on 
the  same  bed  with  Irish  flax,  and  it  is  hard  to  say  which 
looks  the  best.  The  "travellers'  tree,"  of  Madagascar,  not 
unlike  a  plantain  to  unbotanical  eyes,  affords  a  fine  supply 
of  pure  water  if  tajDped  at  the  root  of  the  leaves.     Nothing 


380 


AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 


can  be  more  soothing  on  a  warm  day  than  the  ceaseless  rustle 
of  the  breeze  shaken  bamboo  clumps,  which  makes  just 
noise  enough  to  sing  one  to  sleep  on 

"  The  sweet  siesta  of  a  summer  day, 
The  tropic  afternoon  of  Moreton  Bay." 

But  we  must  remember  that  Queensland  is  no  country  for 
laziness,  and  this  hive  of  bees  on  the  lawn  is  not  very  sleepy 
at  all  events.  The  sugar-cane,  textile  materials,  coffee, 
cotton,  tea,  etc.,  which  are  growing  all  round,  serve  to 
remind  us  that  repose  is  not  the  sole,  but  only  an  occasional 
phase  of  existence,  even  in  warm  climates  like  ours.  The 
"  silky  oak  "  is  in  yellow  flower,  full  of  honey  and  of  sweet 
scent.  The  honey  from  this  tree  has  an  intoxicating  efiect 
on  some  of  the  little  paroquets,  which  are  easily  caught 
after  a  lone  feast  on  it. 


AUSTRALIA  FEDERATED. 


ERILY,  'tis  a  grand  idea  !  Not  but  that  Dame 
Nature  made  her  all  in  one,  at  the  outset,  but  she 
had  to  be  divided  in  order  to  be  won  and  con- 
quered. Divide  et  impera  is  an  old  adage.  In 
subduing  the  wilderness  we  had  to  save  time  by 
instituting  several  central  saps  and  points  of 
attack,  at  once ;  and  Adelaide,  Melbourne,  Sydney,  Bris- 
bane, Rockhampton,  and  Townsville,  have  each  spread  out 
their  polypous  arms  of  inland  settlement  on  the  more  genial 
southern  and  eastern  shores  of  the  continent,  for  it  would 
have  taken  too  long  to  try  and  radiate  the  light  of  civilisation 
from  one  depot  alone.  Hence  the  disruption  into  "colonies," 
which  system  will  now  soon  have  effected  its  work,  and  then 
Dame  Nature's  sway  must  again  be  resumed — resumed,  that 
is,  so  far  as  unity  of  territory  goes.  For,  be  it  remembered, 
that  the  Darling  andCondamine,  in  their  onward  flow,  neither 
know  nor  care,  nor  pause  to  ask,  which  is  Queensland  and 
which  New  South  Wales.  The  great  Cordillera  throws  out, 
lavishly,  its  gold  reefs  and  its  copper  lodes,  its  veins  of  tin 
and  its  dykes  of  iron,  everywhere  alike,  and  even  as  the 
rain  of  Heaven,  it  recks  not  of  blue  books  or  boundaries ; 
of  orders  in  Council  or  diiferential  tariffs.  Nature  knows 
nothing  of  Border  Customs  or  Legislative  Halls ;    of  local 


382  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

jealousies  or  commercial  wire-pullings;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
and  so  far  from  it,  Tamworth  cries  out  to  the  Barcoo,  and 
the  sound  is  echoed  to  Gippsland  and  AVarrnamhool,  even  as 
the  forty  millions  of  sheep  and  cattle  answer  each  other's 
bleatings  and  lowings,  without  a  break,  over  three  thousand 
miles  of  hill  and  plain. 

The  shepherd  kings,  dwellers  in  bush  palaces,  meet  and 
traffic,  and  exchange  productions  ;  and  beeves  are  bartered 
for  ewes,  and  drovers  travel  from  the  Lynd  to  the  Glenelg, 
swarming  to  and  fro  in  ceaseless  caravans  of  peripatetic 
wealth.  There  is  a  savor  and  a  spirit  of  unison  in  all  this, 
leading  us  up  inevitably  to  federation,  whose  inspiring  angel 
must  eventually  arise  from  the  inland,  when  it  triumphs,  as 
it  must  do  in  the  end,  over  the  schismatic  counsel  of  the  sea- 
board cities,  who  know  not,  as  they  ought  to  do,  of  the 
homogeneous  continent,  lying  vast  at  their  back.  The  sun- 
tanned youthful  heir  of  the  Queensland  cattle  squatter  marries 
the  blonde  daughter  of  the  New  England  sheep  Croesus,  and 
her  fair-bearded  brother  is,  in  turn,  the  husband  of  that  glow- 
ing brunette  who  will,  one  day,  own  half  the  stock  on  the 
Loddon ;  and  shall  their  respective  offspring  have  need  to 
wonder  and  enquire  what  petty  country,  or  little  colony, 
they  belong  to  1  They  would  be  called  Australians,  if 
ti'avelling  in  Rome  or  Vienna ;  so,  why  are  they  to  be 
differently  kno\vn  and  designated  while  under  the  Southern 
Cross  1  The  Castlereagh  and  Talbragar  people  are  allied  to 
the  Snowy  River  folks ;  it  may  be  by  marriage,  by  business 
partnership,  and  by  traffic  in  mild-eyed  oxen  and  woolly 
lambs.  Such  ties  of  blood  and  money  overleap,  and  will 
never  long  brook  the  restraint  of  mere  departmental  admini- 
stration. The  tendrils  of  trade,  of  love,  and  of  matrimony, 
are  stretching  out  and  taking  hold,  and  family  blood  is  inter- 
mingling in  all  directions  in  New  Holland,  for  there  is  an 
interchange  borderwise  of  thoroughbred  people  as  well  as  of 


AUSTRALIA    FEDERATED.  383 

blood  horses,  pedigree  bulls,  and  stud  sheep  ;  and,  where 
these  ties  bind,  who  shall  separate  1  Viewed  in  this  aspect 
our  venerable  continent  is  rapidly  being  federated  already 
by  the  operations  of  daily  human  life,  by  the  interchange  of 
material  wealth,  and  by  the  mutual  alliances  of  well-dowered 
families.  So,  let  our  politicians  coquette  with  the  question 
as  they  please,  still  to  that  complexion  must  it  come  at  last. 
They  will  find  that  nature  and  civilisation  have  combined 
to  forestall,  and  do  their  work  for  them,  and  all  that  Aus- 
tralian cabinets  will  have  to  do  will  be,  like  the  heavy  father 
in  the  play,  to  affirm  gracefully  wiiat  they  can  no  longer 
make  a  show  of  retarding,  and  yield  their  consent  to  the 
union  of  the  young  colonies  who  have,  so  to  speak,  long 
since  travelled  to  Gretna  Green  and  back  again. 


THE  GERATODUS. 


.EARS  ago  I  bathed  daily  in  the  Burnett  River, 
where  the  fish  ceratodus,  that  relic  of  pre- Adamite 
life  still  survives,  and  survives  nowhere  else  in 
(^  the  world.  In  England  you  might  see  the  fossil 
"''''  remains  of  one  imbedded  in  a  marble  mantel- 
piece, part  of  the  marble  itself,  so  long,  long  ago 
has  it  disappeared  from  life  there.  It  has  the  gills  of  a  fish, 
and  lungs  also,  like  a  sheep,  when  it  is  opened.  It  is  rec- 
koned that  the  ceratodus,  a  plump,  full,  round  scaled,  eatable 
fish,  died  out  in  Europe  200,000  years  ago.  He  grows  in 
the  Burnett  to  2|ft.  long,  and  up  to  121bs.  in  weight,  and 
the  simple  villagers  there  at  Gayndah  caught  and  ate  him, 
all  unconscious  of  his  status ;  all  ignorant  that  the  Emperor 
William  of  Germany  had,  as  I  have  related,  sent  a  special 
savant  to  their  village  to  bring  specimens  to  Berlin.  I  saw 
one  dissected  at  the  Brisbane  Museum,  and  saw  the  weird, 
uncanny  lungs  in  the  fish's  chest.  He  is  said  to  belong  to 
the  Jurassic  period,  to  be  contemporary  with  the  awful 
Ichthyosa^irns,  and  still  more  awful  Plesiosaurus  and  the 
"wing  finger"  (beg  pardon,  the  ptm-odactyl),  all  mere  fossils 
now,  of  the  Mesozoic  era.  What  human  pedigree,  dating 
only  half  way  to  Adam,  can  compare  with  this  ceratodus 
family,  which  was  old  and  her/an  to  die  more  than  ttvo  thou- 
sand centuries  ago,  and  had  the  job  complete  by  that  early 
date,  so  far  as  the  world  outside  of  Australia  was  concerned  ? 
Queensland  should  surely  have  this  fish  on  its  coat  of  arms, 
and  no  other  place  on  earth  could  infringe  the  patent.  Talk 
of  ancient  heraldry,  indeed  !  after  this.  The  dread  and 
legendary  mystery  of  the  bunyip,  sacred  to  Australia  only, 
seems  justi6ed  and  half  explained  now  by  the  ceratodus. 


THE  WOMEN  EOLK. 


P  OMELY,  is  she  not*?  in  that  j^retty  uniform,  and 
with  her  smooth  skin,  good  complexion,  and 
rounded,  firm  limbs  !  What  a  partner  she  would 
make  in  a  waltz,  now,  or  companion  for  a  moonlit 
stroll  !  Gently,  gently,  enthusiastic  male  reader, 
don't  be  in  such  a  hurry  to  twine  that  arm  of 
yours  round  her  waist,  she  would  not  appreciate  it.  No  ! 
She  has  seen  too  many  men  of  80,  or  90  years,  swoon  for 
the^^rs;;  time  in  their  long,  strong  lives.  She  has  inhaled, 
too  often,  the  odour  of  wounded  human  flesh  in  the  militaiy 
hospitals,  after  a  great  battle ;  she  has  seen  the  ending  of 
too  many  lives,  the  scared  and  troubled  faces  that  bore  the 
impress  and  memory  of  unrepented  and  unatoned  misdeeds, 
and  so  the  "grand  passion"  is  not  in  her  line.  And  you 
mibst  believe  it,  too,  if  you  take  one  intelligent  glance  at 
that  alert,  kindly,  bright,  beautiful  eye  of  hers.  There  are 
plenty  of  girls  and  women  in  the  world  with  her  eyes,  but 
witliout  the  matchless  expression  which  hers  have  so  well 
earned.  For  that  can  only  be  acquired  and  attained  to  in 
such  a  life  of  devotedness  as  she  has  led.  Many  you  '?  oh  ! 
yes,  I  daresay  she  would,  and  be  a  good  nurse,  too,  when 
needful.  Marry  you  ?  certainly,  if  she  liked  you,  but  you 
would  have  to  open  up  preliminary  negotiations  in  some 
different  fashion  from  passing  your  arm  round  her  waist 
at  the  outset.  Croyez  voits  mon  enfant  ? 
z 


386  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Female  beauty  is  bound  to  come  to  the  front  against  all 
drawbacks.  The  present  style  of  costume  would  have  been 
voted  "theatrical"  by  our  grandmothers  in  1835,  and  it 
certainly  strives  hard  to  set  off  every  feminine  charm  and 
attractiveness  to  the  uttermost,  from  the  high-heeled  shoe — 
with  the  maker's  name  in  gold  letters  on  the  inner  arch  of 
the  sole — up  to  the  little  ears  and  white  neck  nape,  exposed 
to  full  view  by  the  piling  up  of  the  hair  (black,  auburn,  or 
flaxen)  high  on  the  back  of  the  head.  All  tliis  is  permis- 
sible, though  the  said  grandmothers  thought  it  rude  to  even 
expose  the  ears  much,  and  wore  no  heels,  and  covered  their 
arms  up  with  long  gloves,  and  so  forth.  And  how  they 
would  have  shuddered  at  the  awful  triangular  slice  of  nudity 
which  is  cut  out  at  the  back  of  the  modern  ball  dress,  and 
I  believe,  too,  that  future  generations  will  join  in  the  repro- 
bation of  it.  It  is  no  matter  how  nun-like  and  modestly 
and  unfashionably  you  dress  a  pretty  woman  and  her  hair, 
she  ^oill  attract  notice,  and  the  girls  of  1835,  with  their 
high  waists,  short  skirts,  elaborate  sandals  and  lengthy 
gloves,  secured  a  larger  percentage  of  husbands  from  the 
gentlemen  in  plum  -  coloured  swallowtails  and  nankeen 
"tights,"  than  do  the  "theatrical"  damsels  of  the  present 
era  from  their  swains.  Let  the  poor  things  have  their  little 
triumphs  of  dress  by  all  means ;  they  have  plenty  (j^er 
contra)  to  put  up  with.  What  would  the  men  say  if  tlie 
women  turned  out  in  armies  of  20,000  or  30,000,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  fight  and  kill  each  other  with  "arms  of  precision?" 
How  they  would  howl  at  this  "  waste  of  good  material,"  if 
on  no  other  ground.  But  how  little  they  reck  of  or  consult 
the  women's  feelings,  when  they  resolve  to  go  to  war  them- 
selves, and  leave  the  females  bereaved  on  all  sides. 


DESTINY. 


^OW  awful  is  the  roar  of  the  lion,  heard  in  the 
Jy^ forest  at  midnight!  How  impotent,  weary  of 
^1^^'  waitinij,  uncouth,  weird,  eerie,  uncivilized,  uncon- 
^i^v'M^  ventional !  So  destitute  of,  so  different,  and  so  far 
]^^^'  from,  the  trained  and  modulated  accents  of  society 
^\^^  and  diplomacy,  of  the  disciplined  repose  that 
"stamps  the  caste  of  Vere  de  Vere."  How  that  roar  haunts 
one !  rouses  one  up  !  seems  to  stir  the  conscience  with  the 
voice  of  retribution  !  for  it  appears  to  blurt  out  some  terrible 
truth  of  some  unfinished  crime,  unheard  of,  undreamt  of 
Ijefore  ;  and  all  the  more  unwelcome  from  its  startling  new- 
ness of  revelation.  The  heart  feels  frozen  with  a  guilty 
terror  at  the  thunder  of  that  gruesome  voice  of  the  night,  so 
harsh,  abrupt,  so  strong,  yet  so  pitiful  withal  ;  the  cry  of  the 
oppressed  demon.  It  is  not  that  the  tawny  agile  brute 
could  crush  you  with  its  weight,  that  its  muscles  would 
flatten  you  at  a  blow,  that  its  teeth  and  claws  could  rend 
you  like  a  steel  rag  mill — it  is  not  in  all  this  that  the  chief 
horror  lies.  The  inarticulate  loud  cry  of  the  soulless  giant 
cat  is  replete  with  a  sadness,  a  tale  of  long-felt  injustice,  of 
ages  and  aeons  of  dire  suffering  and  oppression.  A  being 
created  by  no  will  and  for  no  wish  of  its  own,  sent  into  a  hard 
world,  armed  only  with  muscle,  teeth,  and  claws,  and  a 
quenchless  hunger,  with  no  gift  of  brains  to  mitigate  the 
doom,  or  reason  to  see  or  hew  a  way  out  of  its  life's  burden 


388  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

and  life  curse.  No  wonder  it  cries  aloud,  and  that  its  voice 
in  that  one  sigh-cry  carries  to  those  who  have  ears  to  hear 
withal  a  whole  volume  of  bitter,  pent  up  remonstrance,  against 
its  cruel  fate.  Terror  is  all  that  it  conveys  to  the  other 
animals,  but  the  demi-god,  semi-animal,  man,  can  pity  the 
lesser  animal  whose  tones  can  thus  be  analyzed  as  its  cries  to 
God  and  man  of  its  intolerable  destiny.  Yes,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  roar  of  the  lion  has  a  subtle  sound  in  it,  a 
mysterious  minor  key  that  accuses  some  one.  "  The  lions 
roaring — do  seek  their  meat  from  God"  (so  says  King  David) 
and  still,  as  one  contemplates  the  massive  red  forearm,  the 
spreading  claws,  the  terrible  teeth,  the  fathomless,  glowing, 
yellow  eyes,  pity  still  holds  her  pride  of  place  against  fear 
in  the  heart  of  the  seer. 

And  it  is  not  the  void  and  hungry  lion  alone  that  raises 
his  awful  voice  in  accusation  and  remonstrance  with  "  Des- 
tiny." The  atheist,  the  scoffer,  the  "  larrikin,"  he,  too,  has 
a  grievance.  His  "bitter  cry"  takes  a  different  sound  from 
the  lion,  but  it  has  the  same  basis.  He  does  not  roar,  but 
he  writes  what  he  thinks.  It  is  useless  to  tell  him  that 
there  is  a  benevolent  design  in  everything  ;  he  laughs  in  your 
face.  What  is  it  to  him  that  the  active  lizard  is  "designed" 
to  catch  the  active  fly  1  "  What  need  "  (he  cries)  "of  either 
of  them"?"  He  sneers  at  the  well-fed  people  who  see 
benevolence  and  purpose  in  all  arrangements  of  Nature. 
He  admits  some  of  it,  of  course,  but  he  has  eyes  only  for 
what  is  "  out  of  joint,"  and  he  wants  to  know  who  per- 
mitted, or  who  caused,  that.  Why  was  he,  the  larrikin,  left 
to  starve,  in  mind  and  body  and  soul,  with  not  an  opening 
or  chance  in  any  direction  that  was  not  blocked  for  him  or 
his  forefathers,  centuries  before  he  was  born.  He  feels  de- 
serted and  "left,"  and  he  summons  his  resolution  and  doubts 
everything,  at  all  events  everything  that  is — or  proposes  to 
be — good.     Let  those  who  are  fed  and  taught  and  instructed 


DESTINY.  389 

testify  as  to  how  evil  ever  got  loose  at  all.  Why  is  a  young  man 
sent  into  the  world  nnarmoured  against  the  wiles  of  women; 
why  does  he  buy  his  armour  and  experience  so  dear  and  so 
late  in  life?  How  much  more  useful  it  would  be  at  17  than 
at  70;  and  so  with  the  girl,  why  is  she  not  born  wiser  about 
the  tricks  of  the  men  1  Why  is  that  bitter,  useless,  school, 
kept  by  Dame  Experience,  the  only  scholastic  establishment 
available  for  youth  of  both  sexes  ?  Why  is  not  sentimental 
Horace  armed  by  Nature  with  the  knowledge  that  pert 
Celia's  pretty  pout  and  toss  of  the  head  are  her  instructive 
methods  of  calling  him,  not  of  I'epelling  him,  and  so  leave 
the  poor  fellow  some  show  in  the  matter,  in  place  of  being 
impelled  and  killed  by  his  "  love  of  approbation,"  to  be 
miserable  aljout  her  imaginary  scorn  ? 


THE  BRITISH  CAPITALIST. 


HE  British  Capitalist,  whom  I  will,  for  shortness 

)  sake,   call   "  John    Bull,"   is   a   strange   fellow   to 

deal  with,   and  it  is  quite  a  miracle  if  any  one 

,    can  get  him  to  invest  in  Australian  mining.     He 
M      .  .  .  .       ? 

'^i  thinks  himself  very  knowing,  but  the  fact  is,  that 

he  generally  "  pitches  on  "  when  he  ought  to  hold 
1>ack,  and  holds  back  when  he  ought  to  "pitch  on,"  as  I 
v.ill  illustrate  j^resently.  If  you  talk  to  him  about  Aus- 
ti-alian  mines  (and  Queensland  is  Victoria,  or  Western 
Australia  "just  over  the  way  "  to  him),  John  Bull  waves 
liis  hand  loftily,  and  tells  you  of  how  utterly  he  failed  in 
tije  one  or  tAvo  solitary  ventures  he  made,  but  you  will  not 
hear  a  word  from  him  about  what  he  made  elsewhere. 

In  1849,  I  saw  a  fine  instance  of  John  BulFs  perspicuity  (*?) 
1  was  among  the  early  voyagers  to  California,  when  gold 
%\  as  discovered.  I  saw  ships  from  all  parts,  except  England, 
pouring  in  and  reaping  a  golden  harvest  in  their  cargoes. 
Erance,  with  her  sardines,  claret,  cognacs,  velvets,  &c.  Spain 
with  her  sherry  and  raisins.  America,  of  course,  foremost 
ii\  the  dance  (no  ad  valorem  on  her  goods)  ;  and  even  Aus- 
tralia well  represented  by  active  little  hardwood  brigs  and 
schooners  from  Sydney,  Melbourne,  Hobart  Town,  cfec,  with 
jams  and  onions,  that  realised,  with  apples  and  potatoes, 
from  2s.  6d.  to  10s.  a  lb. ;  even  Australia  shared  in  the  spoil. 
But  lofty  John  Bull  "knew  bettei',  you  know;    he'd  been 


THE    BRITISH    CAPITALIST.  391 

taken  in  before,  and  wasn't  to  be  done  like  that,"  and  so 
forth.  Well,  if  John  Bull  had  only  been  consistent,  one 
might  have  respected  him,  even  if  disagreeing  with  his 
views ;  but,  alas  !  by-and-by,  John  Bull,  as  soon  as  the  glut 
and  reaction  took  place  in  San  Francisco,  began  to  rub  his 
eyes  and  open  them,  and  think  there  was  something  in  it 
after  all,  and  so  he  shipped  heavily,  and  lost  all,  and  some 
more ;  in  his  usual  nice  way  he  swore,  a  deep  oath,  never  to 
go  into  tliis  sort  of  thing  again,  and  made  the  matter  an 
excuse,  and  a  "  precedent,"  for  holding  back  on  the  next 
opportunity  for  making  money;  but,  of  course,  only  till  the 
unfavorable  time  arrived,  when  he  repeats  the  process. 
John  Bull  was  nearly  as  behind-hand  when  gold  was  found 
in  his  territory  of  Australia,  and  he  was  the  last  person  in 
the  world  to  believe  in  it.  He  always  forgets,  that  those, 
who  venture  early  win  in  commerical  matters.  He  will 
consign  recklessly  to  old-established  and  overstocked  mar- 
kets, but  he  shudders  at  the  idea  of  shipping  to  a  new  and 
untried  one.  Red  tape  is  as  rife  in  the  counting-house  as  at 
the  Admiralty  ;  and  it  is  a  great  pity,  both  for  John  Bull 
and  the  young  markets  of  the  world  for  his  capital,  that  he 
is  at  once  the  richest  and  nearly  the  least  enterprising 
person  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  He  does  not  know,  and 
nothing  possibly  would  drive  it  into  his  head,  that  he  has  a 
dead  certainty  of  making  money  at  Gympie  and  Ravens- 
wood,  if  he  mined  extensively  and  judiciously.  The  poor 
fellow  has,  doubtless,  been  victimised  in  Victoria,  which 
cannot  show  a  coal  or  a  copper  mine,  and  whose  average 
gold  yield  is  below  ours  ;  and  who  has  capital  enough,  of 
her  own,  for  any  really  good  thing  within  her  own  borders, 
and  only  otfers  the  refuse  to  John  Bull ;  but  all  this  is  no 
reason  why  the  old  gentleman  should  mistrust  young 
Queensland,  who  has  not  the  money  to  follow  up  either  gold, 
copper,  or  any  other  mines,  which  would  make  the  fortunes 


392  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

of  the  people,  in  no  time,  if  situated  in  countries  with 
capital  at  command.  Of  what  use  is  a  solid  mountain  of 
.50  per  cent,  copper  ore,  without  plenty  of  nioney  to  begin 
operations  with  1 

But  the  root  of  the  evil  lies  deeper ;  it  is  not  in  the 
alleged  poverty  of  our  gold-spangled  reefs,  or  of  our  thick 
copper  lodes,  both  of  which  challenge  the  world,  that  the 
drawback  is  to  be  sought  for.  Corruption  and  jobbery 
unhappily  obtain  as  freely  in  mining  matters  as  they  do  in 
Government  departments,  and  John  Bull  is  intinitely  more 
deficient  in  skilful  and  trustworthy  professionals  in  the 
mining  science,  whom  he  can  send  forth  with  confidence  to 
study  his  interests  abroad,  than  Queensland  is  deficient  in 
rich  metals,  which,  I  again  repeat,  she  can  challenge  the 
world  for.  It  has  happened  that  John  Bull  has  started  a 
mining  company  in  Australia  (I  will  not  point  out  the 
exact  colony)  entirely  on  his  own  capital,  and  the  company 
never  paid  expenses  whilst  he  was  proprietor ;  but,  as  soon 
as  he  sold  out,  it  began  to  pay  handsomely  to  the  new  and 
colonial  owners. 

Some  wiseacre  would  here  interject  :  "Oh,  but  my  dear 
fellow,  you  know  you  can't  expect  John  Bull  to  venture  in 
16,000  miles  away,  while  your  local  lucky  reefers  on  the 
spot  are  afraid  to  speculate  a  mile  away  from  where  they 
are  for  fear  of  being  robbed  !  "  The  reply  to  this  is  obvious. 
The  lucky  reefer  turns  up  his  nose  at  a  dividend  which 
would  send  John  Bull  wild  with  joy — viz.,  20  per  cent,  per 
annum  on  capital  invested.  The  lucky  reefer  likes  to  buy  a 
claim  for  a  bottle  of  grog  to  day,  and  to  sell  it  a  week  after 
for  £.500.  That's  his  style.  As  for  trusting  your  employes, 
that  is  a  matter  which  any  clever  business  man  can  encom- 
pass, and  the  "  smugging  "  of  an  odd  specimen  or  two  would 
never  affect  the  dividends  much  if  economy  in  working  were 
the  rule. 


THE    BRITISH    CAPITALIST.  393 

America  is  not  frightened  to  risk  capital  in  mining. 
Witness  the  silver  mine  which  has  yielded  millions  in  silver, 
and  to  get  at  which,  more  favorably,  they  had  to  drive  a 
tunnel  many  miles  long  into  the  heart  of  a  mountain,  at 
3,500  feet  from  its  summit,  in  order  to  cut  the  lode. 

Queensland  is  wide  enough,  and  her  laws  ought  to  make 
provision  to  accommodate,  at  the  same  time,  the  small 
reefing  parties  and  the  mammoth  companies,  without  clashing, 
or  interfering  with  each  other.  The  latter  will  require,  in 
return  for  large  investment  of  capital,  the  fi'eehold,  or  long 
lease,  of  mining  areas  some  miles  square,  or  I  fear  we  shall 
not  attract  them  hither,  or  make  it  worth  their  while. 


'^#M- 


BUSH  PUBUG  HOUSES. 


N  Queensland,  the  murders,  properly  so-called, 
occasioned  by  the  grog,  improperly  so-called,  dis- 
1^'  pensed  at  the  "  bush  hells "  where  kegs  of  new 
^  rum  containing  a  ground  tier  of  figs  of  rank 
new  colonial  tobacco,  afford  the  best  and  speediest 
means  of  maddening  the  brain  and  sickening  the 
stomach,  with  all  the  deep  deadly  anguish  of  outraged 
nature,  thus  compelled  to  swallow  and  digest  that  which 
it  is  a  narcotic  poison  even  to  inhale — these  murders, 
coupled  with  a  perusal  of  returns  as  to  the  crowded  state  of 
our  lunatic  asylums,  suggest  enquiries  as  to  how  long  this 
triple  murder  of  body,  mind,  and  soul,  is  to  escape  the  legis- 
lator's lash.  A  bank  robber,  with  crape  mask  and  pistols, 
is  a  gentleman,  an  angel  almost,  by  the  side  of  the  vendor 
of  tobacco  essence,  and  yet  the  former  comes  in  for  his  full 
share  of  police  attention,  proving  thereby  that  "money"  is 
worth  more  than  "  life  "  in  the  eye  of  the  law — in  practice, 
at  any  rate,  if  not  in  theory.  Woogaroo  Asylum  contains 
800  inmates,  and  it  is  not  the  only  place  of  confinement  for 
lunatics  in  the  colony.  More  than  this,  Queensland  is  a 
wide  and  thinly-populated  place,  where  a  mad  person,  unless 
specially  obnoxious  or  dangerous,  would  not  necessarily  or 
readily  be  immured  within  four  walls  for  safety  all  round  ; 
so  that  the  number  of  people,  more  or  less  lunatic,  who  are 
at  large  in  Queensland,  cannot  even  be  approximately  esti- 
mated; while  in  densely-populated  England,  the  nuisance  of 
having  anyone,  ever  so  little  mad,  at  liberty  to  trouble  and 


BUSH    PUBLIC    HOUSES.  395 

annoy  the  busy  working  millions  around,  causes  all  such  to- 
be  kept  locked  up  and  out  of  harm's  way.  Following  up 
this  train  of  reflection,  it  would  naturally  occur  to  anyone 
that  the  lunatic  asylums  of  Great  Britain  should — or  ought 
to — contain  a  much  larger  percentage  of  the  population  than 
those  of  Queensland,  or  Australia,  do.  Yet  we  scarcely 
think  that  it  can  be  proved  that  from  118,000  to  180,000 
people  are  immured  in  mad-houses,  or  asylums  for  the  insane, 
in  England,  and  yet  that  proof  would  have  to  be  adduced 
before  we  could  truthfully  assert  that  our  percentage  of 
lunacy  in  Australia — or  Queensland,  at  least — was  no  more 
than  that  in  England.  We  have  to  face  the  fact  that  nearly 
■2'5  people  of  every  thousand  here  are  mad  enough  to  be 
locked  up  and  kept  at  the  public  expense,  to  say  nothing  of 
those  who  ought  to  be  and  are  not  so  confined,  which  would 
make  the  percentage  look  still  more  ugly  by  comparison. 
Place  these  terrible  figures  side  by  side  with  the  returns  of 
lunatics  confined  throughout  the  United  Kingdom,  and  we 
shall  all  be  startled,  if  anything  in  Heaven  or  earth  can 
startle  a  legislature,  a  matter  which  may  at  times  be  doubted. 
It  is  needless  to  enlarge  upon  the  shai-e,  or  the  monopoly, 
rather,  which  the  tobacco-steeped  "  grog "  of  these  bush 
publics  enjoys  in  the  creation  of  those  shattered  minds, 
dethroned  souls,  and  wild  staring  eyes  of  horror  we  so  often 
meet  witli,  where  reason,  health,  and  industrial  productive 
use  ought  to  sit  supreme  and  reign  in  their  stead. 


BYGONE  QUEENSLAND  PRESSMEN. 


ILLIAM  WILKS,  who,  in  1853,  edited  the 
Courier,  was  a  racy  writer,  and  smart  of  speech 
as  well,  with  a  holy  horror  of  "  High  Church  " 
parsons,  one  of  whom  refused  to  read  the 
burial  service  over  Wilks's  little  girl  (dead  of 
scarlet  fever)  on  the  ground  that  he  attended 
the  "Wesleyan  Chapel.  The  following  is  a  sketch  by  Wilks 
in  the  Courier.  In  the  early  days  of  the  Crimean  war,  a 
sound  was  heard  at  noon  in  Brisbane  as  of  heavy  gun  firing 
down  in  the  Bay  (there  was  no  traffic  to  drown  noises  then). 
It  was  reported  that  an  English  and  Russian  frigate  were 
"fighting  it  out"  somewhere  near  the  Pile  Lighthouse  of 
to-day,  and  expeditions  to  the  back  of  One-tree  Hill  were  at 
once  planned  by  the  more  timorous  villagers,  but  it  was 
only  a  big  boiler  being  rolled  over  at  Kangaroo  Point  after 
all,  and  Wilks  put  the  whole  matter  into  rhyme  in  the 
Courier,  thus  :— 

"  To  arms  !  to  arms  ! "  became  the  cry, 
But  peaceful  cronies  said  "  Not  I, 
To  legs  !  to  legs  !  let  each  one  vie 
With  each,  to  scale  the  mountains  high." 
And  land  shark  speculatoi's  lly, 
And  corner  lots  forego. 


BYGOXE   QUEENSLAND    PRESSMEN.  397 

Till,  ever  true  to  his  warlike  name, 
Terror-dispelling,  the  "Douglas"  came. 
At  Kangaroo  Point,  where  soap  is  made, 
A  monstrous  boiler,  used  in  the  trade. 
Was  rolled  along  by  men  that  I  paid, 
And,  as  it  rolled,  "  Bong  Bong  "  it  gaed. 
Which  I  deem  has  sufficed  to  alarm  the  blade 
Who  has  frightened  each  man,  boy,  wife,  and  ujaid, 
And  so  my  innocent  say  is  said, 

And  you're  done  extremely  brown. 

Sylvester  Doig  edited  the  Free  Press^  and  so  did  Robert 
Me.ston.  There  was  then  no  paper  either  in  Ipswich  or 
Darling  Downs,  and  I  question  if  there  was  another  journal 
nearer  than  the  Maitland  Mercury.  In  1855  Ipswich  started 
a  newspaper  under  the  Bays  Bros.,  and  comic  sketches  ap- 
peared at  the  time  from  the  pen  of  Lieutenant  Nicoll.  A 
midnight  "spree"  of  the  1858  period  at  an  Ipswich  hotel  was 
set  forth  in  verse — 

Three  Benedicts,  of  furious  mein,  were  foremost  in  the  fray. 
Two  Bachelors,  of  aspect  mild,  by  them  were  led  astray. 

and  the  ballad  went  on  to  say  that — 

Not  to  be  beat,  they  brewed  thsir  punch 

In  Jack 's  new  hat 

Made  spatchcock  of  the  parrot  green. 

And  then  clean  shaved  the  cat. 

It  was  a  week  before  the  race  ball,  and  as  they  passed  her 
door  it  is  reported  that  they  heard  a  young  lady  from  the 
Darling  Downs  talking  in  her  sleep  at  2  a.m. 

For  as  they  passed  the  maiden's  door 

She  murmured  in  her  sleep, 
"  Mind  !  nothing  under  twenty  yards, 

And  make  the  flounces  deep," 

which  goes  to  prove,  unless  it  all  be  a  base  fabrication,  that 
the  damsels  of  1858  were  very  like  those  of — a  later  era. 


398  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Separation  soon  followed,  and  newspapers  multiplied.  John 
Kent,  erst  of  the  commissariat  department,  was  at  one  time 
(he  landed  here  about  1S40)  in  a  position  analogous  to  that 
of  Government  Resident  in  Brisbane,  but  in  the  late  "fifties" 
he  edited  the  Ipswich  paper,  and  was  a  pungent  writer  (in 
the  Thady  O'Kane  style).  When  Sir  George  Bowen  first 
landed.  Solicitor  (now  Judge)  Clnibb,  of  Ij^swich,  published 
an  ode  of  welcome  to  him,  which  drew  from  Kent  a  comment 
on  the  needless  cruelty  of  administering  an  emetic  to  a 
recently  seasick  man,  and  wlien  the  first  Upper  House  was 
gazetted  in  1860,  Kent  prefaced  a  terrific  leader  and 
followed  up  a  list  of  them   with  the   line — 

And  the  baldest  held  his  breath  for  a  time 

(from  Campbell's  "Battle  of  the  Baltic"). 

T.  P.  Pugh  was  a  trenchant  political  writer  when  he  edited 
the  Courier,  and  a  vain  attempt  was  made  by  the  Tory  party 
to  prosecute  and  crush  him  at  the  time.  Searle  then 
appeared  upon  the  scene,  and,  writing  under  the  name  of 
"  William  Nutts,"  soon  gave  the  public  a  pr-oof  of  his  comic 
powers.  He  was  specially  happy  in  his  poetic  delineations 
of  the  feud  between  Judge  Lutwyche  and  Colonial  Secretary 
Herbert,  in  one  of  which  the  latter  chafls  the  Judge  on 
being  "sacked"  for  meddling  with  politics,  which  evoked 
from  "  Alfred  James  Peter  "  the  couplet — 

The  subtle  wiles  of  your  revengeful  crew 
Misguided  youth  I  deprived  me  of  my  "  screw." 

I  remember,  one  evening,  at  the  club  in  Ipswich,  during 
circuit  time,  and  when  we  were  alone  after  dinner,  I  "made 
bold"  to  ask  his  Honour  how  he  liked  Searle's  latest  "skit." 
He  (the  Judge)  laughed  heartily,  and  said  that  he  enjoyed 
it  amazingly,  especially  the  line — 

Ye  gods  !  my  wratli  assuage, 


BYGONE    QUEENSLAND    PRESSMEN.  399 

which  he  proceeded  to  recite  with  heroic  intonation.  It  was 
supposed  to  be  spoken  in  reply  to  some  of  Herbert's  cruel 
chaff.  Judge  Lutwyche  always  was  manly  enough  to  take 
a  joke  in  good  part.  Searle  afterwards  came  out  with  a 
duet  parody  on   "  Polly  Hopkins." 

Herbert. 
Well  my  ancient,  portly  buffer, 
How  do  you  do — oo,  how  do  you  do — oo  ? 
Lutwyche. 
All  serene  and  up  to  snuff — ah  ? 
So  are  not  you — oo,  so  are  not  you. 
Herbert. 
If  you  don't  mind  your  p's  and  q's,  sir, 

We'll  dock  your  screw — oo,  we'll  dock  your  screw — oo. 
Lutwyche. 
To  vote  it  now  you  daren't  refuse,  sir, 
Of  thousands  two — oo,  of  thousands  two. 

Herbert  and  Lutwyche  were  enthusiastic  prize  poultry 
breeders,  and  met  on  common  friendly  ground  in  the  halls 
where  black  Spaniards  and  gray  Dorkings  competed ;  and 
the  poem  winds  up  with  a  reconciliation  scene,  of  which  the 
chorus  (still  to  the  same  tune)  is  sung  by  Herbert  and 
Lutwyche  in  a  duet — • 

Let's  go  fee — eed  ! 

And  poultry  bree — eed  ! 

dearie  teas  irresistible  beyond  a  doubt.  Then  blossomed 
out  Walter  Cooper  with  his  comic  sketches  of  the  early 
Queensland  members,  many  of  whom  he  photographed  and 
lampooned  in  print  under  borrowed  names.  He  was  versa- 
tile, and  could  give  a  good  imitation  of  Captain  Feez  in 
"  Come  where  my  love  lies  dreaming,"  picked  up  at  Rock- 
hampton  in  1863.  When  he  went  to  Sydney  he  made 
enemies  by  his  very  epigrammatic  summing  up  of  the  people 


400  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

who  "  saved  their  souls  in  Pitt-street  and  their  bodies  in 
King-street,"  alluding  to  the  chapel  in  one  place  and  the 
Bankruptcy  Court  in  the  other  one.  George  Hall  ("  Bohe- 
mian ")  was  a  man  whom  it  was  a  treat  to  hear  read  aloud 
in  some  of  Artemus  "Ward's  sketches ;  he  always  dryly  put 
the  right  accent  in  the  right  place,  never  laughed  himself, 
but  made  you  and  every  one  else  do  it  very  much.  (I  often 
have  wondered  who  "Zadriel"  was  whom  George  Hall  used 
to  publish  letters  from).  Bohm  was  a  newspaper  man  whom 
one  always  met  at  the  committee  and  betting  meetings  before 
the  races.  He  and  a  certain  lawyer's  clerk  were  admirers- 
of  the  fair  daughter  of  an  Ipswich  hotelkeeper.  Bohm 
married  her  ;  the  other  one  killed  himself.  D.  F.  T.  Jones 
was  on  the  Courier  in  1864,  and  wrote  many  a  racy  article, 
notably  one  of  a  trip  to  Gympie  in  1867.  L.  J.  Byrne,  in 
1863,  was  the  Brisbane  correspondent  of  some  Victorian 
papers. 

Wm.  O'Carroll,  who  left  us  in  the  cold  winter  of  1885, 
was  long  ago  a  conspicuous  and  worthy  figure  in  Queensland 
journalism,  a  genial  editor,  full  of  the  brotherhood  of  the 
craft,  kindly  and  helpful  to  juniors,  bold  as  a  lion,  comic  as 
Punch  ;  his  crisp  and  incisive  "  specialities  "  could  scarce  be 
distinguished  from  the  "  best  brands  "  of  Traill  and  Brun- 
ton  Stephens.  This  review  is  not  meant  to  come  down  to 
later  dates.  There  were  in  the  old  times  other  and  more 
ephemeral  pressmen,  who  cannot  all  be  here  noted.  In 
1855,  the  Rev.  "W.  Smith  (Baptist)  wrote  leaders  for  the 
Courier,  and  headed  one  of  them  "  Blue  Sky,"  in  refei^ence 
to  a  recovery  which  Moreton  Bay  was  then  suffering  from  a 
monetary  collapse.  We  had  our  little  booms  and  reactions 
even  then,  but  it  was  on  a  small  scale,  and  only  when  the 
"New  South"  put  on  the  "screw"  for  a  trifle  of  £20,000 
or  so  that  the  village  of  Brisbane  owed  it.  The  article 
headed   "  Blue  Sky "   was  responded   to   in   the   opposition 


BYGONE    QUEENSLAND    PRESSMEN.  401 

paper  by  one  headed  "  Sky  Blue."  A  very  little  sufficed  in 
those  days  to  get  the  "  screw "  put  on.  In  this  case  the 
owner  of  a  waterside  property  in  South  Brisbane  advertised 
it  for  sale,  with  a  footnote  that  a  portion  of  the  purchase 
money  (naming  a  balance  equal  to  three  times  the  market 
value  of  the  whole)  could  remain  "  on  mortgage."  This 
roused  the  ire  and  jealousy  of  a  Sydney  bank  director  who 
owned  land  near  it,  and  a  travelling  inspector  came  down 
to  call  in  the  money  due  by  "  those  inflated  Moreton  Bay 
fellows,"  and  to  restore  them  to  a  sense  of  the  financial 
realities  of  life,  and  wake  them  from  their  silly  dreams ; 
and  Geoffrey  Eagar  was  the  ambassador  who  came  to  "  fix 
matters  up."  The  "Blue  Sky"  was  the  return  of  the  tide 
after  his  departure. 

Verily,  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun  !  only  our 
creditors  were  all  in  Sydney  in  1855,  in  place  of  being  scat- 
tered over  the  world  as  at  present.  Thomas  Woodward 
Hill  was,  perhaps,  the  last  survivor  of  the  old  "  comps." 
who  wore  the  black  calico  apron  at  the  same  time  that  John 
Fairfax  and  Samuel  Bennett  did,  in  the  days  when  piece 
work  was  introduced,  and  a  draughts  board  was  kept  under 
the  "frames"  to  relieve  the  tedium  of  the  frequent  intervals 
of  work  in  the  long  ago,  when  Sir  George  Gipps  was  the 
Imperial  Proconsul  of  Australia. 


2a 


ON  A  GORAL  ISLE/ 


TART  not  !  Yawn  not  !  This  is  not  going  to 
be  any  hackneyed,  twice-told  tale  of  shipwreck, 
althougii  there  ivere  eighty  of  us  on  board  the 
"  Eudora,"  barque,  bound  from  Hobart  Town, 
December  18th,  1849,  for  the  new  golden  land  of 
California,  then  just  annexed  from  the  Mexicans 
by  Uncle  Sam.  I  had  but  landed  from  London  some  two 
months  before,  and  the  gorgeous  panorama  of  Hobart  Town, 
glowing,  a  la  Naples,  in  the  sun,  backed  up  by  snowy  Mount 
Wellington  and  the  stupendous  "organ  pipes,"  and  looking 
like  some  rich-toned  drop-scene  at  Drury  Lane  or  the  Lyceum, 
had  first  greeted  my  eyesight  in  glorious  mid-October,  and 
almost  made  me  cease  to  regret  the  Regent-street  and  Covent 
Garden,  the  Lea  River  and  Epping  Forest,  and  the  "Ocean" 
(84  guns),  lying,  a  thing  of  beauty  and  of  might,  as  guard- 
ship  two-decker  at  the  limpid  anchorage  of  Sheerness,  all  of 
which  matters  and  more,  I  had  left  behind  me  for  ever.  I 
had  little  time,  however,  for  sentiment  in  those  days,  and 
being  ofi'ered  the  supercargo's  berth  on  board  the  "Eudora," 
laden  with  "notions"  in  the  shape  of  timber,   shop  fronts, 

*  This  paper  is  an  old  friend  in  a  new  dress.  The  event  was  treated  bj'  Mr. 
Bartley  in  his  book  "  Opals  and  Abates,"  lint,  by  comparison,  the  pen  picture  there 
<1epicted  is  but  indifferently  drawn.  "On  a  Coral  Isle"  is  certainly  one  of  Mr, 
Bartley 's  choicest  bits  of  descriptive  writing.— Editor. 


ON    A    CORAL    ISLE.  403 

cottages,  jams,  potatoes,  and  onions  from  thrifty  Hobart 
Town  to  a  market  where  onions — glorious  news  ! — were  a 
dollar,  and  "spuds"  a  "quarter"  per  lb.,  I  took  the  office  at 
once  when  offered,  and  went  in  search  of  fresh  scenes  and 
adventures.  Cabin,  steerage,  and  crew  made  up  eighty  of 
us,  and  we  sailed,  and  we  sailed,  and  we  sailed,  till  we  made 
the  Snares,  the  only  bit  of  New  Zealand  that  has  hitherto 
greeted  my  eyes,  and  forming  the  extreme  south  of  the 
group.  "We  had  left  Hobart  Town  short  of  our  full  supply 
of  water,  intending  to  call  in  at  the  Maori  Land  and  fill  up 
our  tanks,  for  water  is  good  and  plentiful  at  that  shop  ;  but 
there  was  blowing  such  a  spanking  south-wester  and  fair 
wind,  as  we  passed,  that  we  resolved  not  to  lose  it,  but  to 
run  on  to  Tahiti,  and  there  to  get  the  needful  aqua  pura. 

But  not  long  after  this  there  arose  a  tempestuous  wind, 
and,  like  the  Euroclydon,  from  the  north,  with  just  a  taste 
of  easting  about  it,  and  that  too  ere  we  were  far  from  the 
latitude  of  Cape  "Maria  Van  Diemen,"  and  so  we  found  we 
were  "in  for  it."  For  three  weeks  in  the  month  of  January, 
1850,  and  under  a  vertical  sun,  just  within  the  limit  of  the 
Southern  Tropic,  we  were  on  short  allowance  of  water, 
coming  down  at  last  to  a  pint  and  a-half  per  day,  served  out 
on  the  poop  daily  at  9  a.m.  to  all  hands,  fore  and  aft.  I  am 
not  a  thirsty  soul  myself,  and  it  troubled  me  very  little ; 
but  our  doctor,  a  brother  of  Eusebius  Lloyd,  sometime  of 
"Bartholomew's,"  London,  was  a  man  who  liked  his  "pawnee" 
and  he  suffered  greatly  ;  and  some  of  us,  who  were  able  to 
bear  it,  used  to  subscribe  a  few  gills  apiece  daily  to  help  the 
"weaker  brethren."  It  was  rather  melancholy,  though,  to 
hear  the  little  babies  at  night,  through  the  cabin  bulkhead, 
say  in  their  sleep,  "Drint  of  yorter,  ma."  There  came  a 
shower  one  midnight,  and  we  hung  pickle  bottles  on  the 
mizen  belaying-pins  and  caught  some  water  for  the  poor 
doctor's  "hot  coppers."     At  last,  when  but  ten  inches  of 


404  AUSTRALIAN   PIONEERS   AND   REMINISCENCES. 

fluid  remained  in  the  last  tank,  we  sailed  into  Otaheite's 
fairy  bay.  It  was  a  bit  of  a  jump  for  me,  from  Regent- 
street  to  the  land  of  bread  fruit,  Captain  Cook,  and  maitai 
wahinis,  or  beautiful  girls,  not  to  say  gloriously  handsome 
men  too,  all  in  a  few  months.  It  was  just  like  stepping 
into  Loddige's  nursery  at  Hackney,  or  the  Palm  House  at 
Kew,  as  far  as  the  temperature  and  damp,  warm  feeling 
went ;  there  was  a  faint  odour  of  guavas  and  oranges 
hanging  about  everywhere,  a  pleasant  murmur  from  the 
coral  reefs,  and  a  still  fainter  hum  from  the  mosquitos  ; 
there  was  the  full  ti'opical  beauty  of  India,  multiplied  by  at 
least  three,  and  with  all  the  ])er  contra  tiger  and  cobra 
business  totally  eliminated.  Otaheite  was  pronounced  a. 
thorough  success  by  all  hands,  fore  and  aft.  The  music  of 
the  French  men-of-war  and  military  bands  was  good ;  the 
cookery  at  the  hotel  was  masterly,  and  they  had  a  way  of 
putting  tomatoes,  onions,  and  vinegar  together  in  a  frying- 
pan,  in  a  style  that  no  benighted  Britisher  clipf  can  ever 
hope  to  approach.  No  !  the  Frenchman's  mission  is  to  cook, 
and  John  Bull's  department  is  to  eat,  ask  no  questions,  and 
be  thankful.  Bnt  Otaheite  has  its  scenery  as  well  as  the 
handsome  men  and  small-eared  women  of  a.d.  1850.  Those 
last  possibly  are  not  there  now ;  but  the  cascades  and  the 
forests  of  the  interior  remain  for  ever.  So  a  party  of  us  set 
out  to  explore,  and  to  find  the  place  where  the  spry  little 
French  soldiers  had  carried  ladders  unsuspected  to  the  back 
of  the  Otaheitean's  last  central  eyrie  and  fastness  in  the 
island,  erst  impregnable  to  all  Polynesian  warfare,  invulner- 
able also  to  artillery  and  siege,  but  not  so  to  ladders, 
skilfully  used  by  cat-like  Zouaves. 

We  were  four  in  party  :  Wales,  the  son  of  the  police 
magistrate  of  Morven,  Tasmania ;  Turner,  a  surveyor ; 
Tillet,  a  cotton-bi^oker  from  Liverpool,  and  myself.  We 
crossed    and   recrossed,  as   we   ran  it   up   to   its   source,  a 


ON    A    CORAL    ISLE.  405 

beautiful  pellucid  river,  eighty  feet  wide  and  a  yard  deep ; 
we  admired  the  prolific  forest,  full  of  wild  ginger,  sweet 
oranges,  limes,  mammee  apples,  and  noble  timber  trees  of 
unknown  botanical  genera ;  and  we  came  at  last  to  the  Pah 
Fattawah,  the  key  of  the  island,  3,600  feet  above  the  sea, 
garrisoned  by  a  lieutenant  and  a  hundred  men,  and  full  in 
view  of  one  of  the  finest  cataracts  in  the  world,  made  by 
the  aforesaid  river  as  it  leapt,  clean  and  clear,  700  feet  over 
a  straight  wide  wall  of  rock,  on  its  way  down  from  the 
central  peak  of  the  island,  which  we  had  no  time  to  explore, 
and  high  over  which  hovered  a  solitary  tropic  bird  with  its 
single  long  feather  tail.  The  French  officer  ''  shouted " 
cognac,  and  told  us  how  they  took  the  island,  not  without 
heavy  loss,  as  the  monument  of  the  dead  sailors  and  marines 
of  "  L'Uraine "  testifies.  That  was,  I  think,  the  name  of 
the  frigate  which  bore  the  brunt  of  the  fray.  We  got  back 
to  Papieete,  admired  Hort's  store,  and  the  state  canoe  of 
Queen  Pomare,  70  feet  long,  and  also  her  good-looking 
young  liusband.  We  saw  the  land  breeze  cut  ofi:'  and  blow 
seaward  -the  head  of  each  roller,  as  old  ocean  ceased  not, 
day  and  night,  to  assault  the  guardian  reef  of  enchanted 
Tahiti.  We  bought  a  cheap  hogshead  of  divine  claret,  such 
as  in  Sydney  not  even  four  sovereigns  a  dozen  would  secure; 
a  claret  you  could  drink  out  of  tea  cups  and  never  know 
the  difference,  for  it  wanted  no  coddling  in  this,  that,  or 
the  other  shaped  glass.  We  hobnobbed  with  some  ancient 
dep]iantiasis-n.^\cted  chiefs,  who  said  they  remembered 
Captain  Cook  in  their  youth.  Goodne.ss  knows !  they  looked 
old  enough  and  grey  enough  to  have  done  so,  and  it  was 
then  only  seventy-two  years  since  he  had  fallen  mortally 
under  the  shadow  of  Mauna  Loa,  in  Owhyhee,  further 
north.  We  sailed  away  from  Tahiti;  we  met  the  "Herald" 
frigate,  Captain  Kellett,  fresh  from  a  fruitless  search  up 
Behring's  Straits  after  Sir  John  Franklin.     We  met  Ben 


406  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

Boyd  in  his  yacht,  the  "  Wanderer,"  witli  a  long  brass 
eighteen  amidships,  and  with  a  sumptuous  cabin  and  piano, 
curtains  and  sofas,  and  bookshelves,  fore  and  aft  of  the 
Avhole  schooner.  Ben  Boyd  of  the  Royal  Bank  and  Twofold 
Bay  was  the  man  I  mean^ — the  Ben  Boyd  of  184:3 — and  we 
were  about  the  last  white  people  who  saw  him  alive,  for  he 
was  massacred  at  the  Solomon  Islands  before  he  could  see 
Australia  again.  I  climbed  the  topgallant-yard  of  the 
"  Eudora  "  to  admire  the  conical  peaks  of  beautiful  Eimeo, 
sister  island  to  Tahiti,  and  full  of  the  same  sugar-loaf 
rocks — 1,000  feet  high,  and  covered  with  moss  and  wild 
creeping  flowers  from  base  to  summit — which  adorn  the 
road  to  the  Pah  Fattawah.  Noble-looking  young  men  came 
off  to  us  in  canoes  and  traded  us  some  wonderful  pearl  fish- 
hooks, and  we  had  sailed  onward  and  northward  from 
Otaheite  for  eight  degrees,  when  at  night  the  "  shipmen 
deemed  that  we  drew  nigh  to  some  island,"  for,  strange 
sight,  a  very  legion  of  birds,  of  large  size  as  well  as  small, 
loaded  every  yard  and  spar  on  our  barque  ;  and  where  did 
they  come  from  1  was  the  question  asked  on  all  sides.  We 
got  out  the  chart,  and  found  that  "  Caroline  Island,  dis- 
covered by  the  English  in  1795,"  was  just  ahead  of  us.  So 
solitary,  so  out  of  the  usual  track  of  all  ships,  was  the  isle, 
that  the  birds  came  off  to  see  the  unwonted  intruders.  They 
all  went  back  before  morning,  however,  and  by  daylight  the 
island  loomed  green  and  right  ahead  of  us,  and  as  we  were 
short  of  fresh  meat,  though  with  plenty  of  oranges  and 
cocoa-nuts  on  board,  volunteers  were  asked  for  to  go  in  the 
boat  and  shoot  pigs  and  goats,  if  any,  on  this  wonderful, 
lonely,  Robinson  Crusoe  island,  that  had  sent  forth  its  birds 
to  greet  us  so  strangely.  Eight  of  us  embarked  in  the 
dingy,  a  sqnare-sterned,  sixteen-foot  affair,  the  eight  inclu- 
ding three  of  the  crew,  one  of  whom  was  "  Rotumah  "  Tom, 
and  five  passengers,  viz.  : — Mr.  Irwin  (who  had  his  family 


ON    A    CORAL    ISLE.  407 

on  board),  Wales,  Guthrie,  Turner,  and  myself.  We,  and 
our  guns,  made  the  boat  swim  very  deep,  and  well  for  us 
was  it  that  the  sea  was  smooth,  but  we  made  for  the  island 
con  aniore,  and  a  big  roller  at  the  edge  of  the  reef  caught 
us  fairly  on  the  stern,  and  sent  us  flying  up  the  beach.  We 
jumped  out,  and  soon  walked  the  boat  up  to  the  water's 
edge  and  landed.  The  shallow  water  was  all  coral,  and 
beautiful  shells  at  the  bottom  ;  but,  on  shore,  there  were  no 
trees  except  mangroves ;  no  soil,  no  water,  all  coral ;  no 
animals,  but  birds  galore  to  make  up  for  it  all ;  lovely  pure 
white  cranes  with  crimson  rufis  round  their  throats,  birds 
like  small  albatrosses,  thousands  of  birds,  all  so  tame  and 
numerous  that  you  could  run  in  among  them  and  they  would 
scarcely  rise ;  and,  if  they  did  rise,  you  could  catch  one  in 
each  hand  as  easily  as  with  the  gnats,  on  a  summer  eve,  by 
the  brookside,  in  our  buttercup  and  daisy  lanes  of  Waltham- 
stow  and  Essex.  Their  eggs  covered  the  ground  like  hail- 
stones after  a  storm,  and  it  was  clear  that  nothing  tliere 
living  had  ever  seen  man's  face  before. 

Well,  after  a  few  hours  or  so  of  gathering  spoils  and 
curiosities,  we  resolved  to  go  aboard  again,  and  we  faced 
the  rollers  on  a  fallen  tide,  which  we  found  to  be  a  different 
game  from  running  in  before  them,  especially  as  ours  was 
not  a  whaleboat.  The  island  was  one  of  those  solitary 
rings  of  coral,  with  a  shallow  sea  lagoon  in  the  centre,  and 
a  shallow  fringe  of  water  to  the  edge  of  the  circular  reef, 
which  was  here  red  and  hard  as  granite,  and  went  down  to 
the  ocean's  bed  plump  all  round,  perpendicular  a  thousand 
fathoms ;  and  when,  at  low  water,  the  sea  receded  from  the 
edge  of  the  rock,  a  fearful  gulf  yawned  between,  as  the 
returning  thirty-foot  breaker  came  roaring  back  to  cover 
the  dripping,  bright,  red  scarp  once  more.  Imagine,  then, 
our  flat-bottomed,  deep-laden,  square  dingy  facing  this  "little 
lot ! "     At  the  first  essay  we  broached  to,  tilled,  and  had 


408  AUSTRALIAN    PIONKERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

to  go  back  and  bale.  Some  of  us  now  took  off  clothes  and 
boots,  expecting  a  swim  for  life  at  next  attempt.  All  our 
guns,  pistols,  and  powder  were  thoroughly  wet.  and  I  even 
lost  my  hat.  At  the  next  essay  we  nearly  got  through,  but 
one  of  the  oars  broke,  and  again  the  surf  beat  us  back. 
Those  who  had  taken  off  clothes  regretted  it,  for  their  gar- 
ments were  all  washed  away.  I  could  not  swim  a  yard  and 
so  did  not  strip,  but  I  sat  in  the  nose  of  the  boat  at  our 
third  mad  effort  to  break  through  a  coral  surf  at  low-water 
in  a  deep-laden  dingy,  a  task  which  was  only  fitted  for  a 
flying,  light,  and  well-manned  whaleboat,  properly  steered 
with  the  powerful  lever  of  a  thirty-foot  oar,  and  that,  too, 
only  at  high  water ;  but  greenhorns,  you  know,  will  face 
any  danger.  Well,  at  our  third  attempt  we  got  clear,  for  a 
moment,  of  the  reef,  and  as  we  climbed  the  side  of  the  lofty 
roller  that  was  just  going  to  curl  over,  I  looked  with  horror 
at  the  red  coral  edge  high  above  us  behind,  and  the  green 
curler  high  above  us  in  front.  I  realised  our  fearful  position, 
and  the  risk  of  being  crushed  between  tlie  wall  of  water 
and  the  wall  of  rock.  The  tide  was  falling  all  this  time, 
and  nature  seemed  angry  at  our  third  dogged  rush.  Sus- 
pense did  not  last  long,  however  ;  the  wave  rose,  barely 
covered  the  red  bastion,  lifted  us  without  our  striking  the 
rock,  and  turned  us  over  endways,  shooting  us  out,  like  a 
sack  of  coals,  on  the  top  of  each  other  in  the  water.  I  fell 
on  Wales,  who  was  swimming  prettily  on  his  back,  and  kept 
me  up  finely.  Mr.  Irwin,  who  had  lost  almost  all  his 
clothes,  here  caught  his  foot  in  a  crevice  of  the  coral,  and 
was  nearly  overtaken  by  the  next  sea,  but  extricated  him- 
self just  in  time.  The  boat  righted  as  she  came  down,  and 
bumped  a  hole  in  herself  on  a  coral  boulder,  so  there  was, 
happily,  no  more  chance  of  our  renewing  our  mad  tempta- 
tions of  Providence.  W^e  grasped  the  dingy's  gunwale,  let 
each  sea  lift  us  and  float  us  gradually  ashore,  and  were  soon 


ON    A    CORAL    ISLE.  409 

back  at  the  beach  again,  where  we  spread  ourselves  out, 
thirty  feet  apart,  so  that  the  people  on  board  the  "  Eudora," 
which  was  now  standing  close  in,  might,  if  they  chose,  see 
that  we  were  all  safe.  My  light-rowing  experiences  on  the 
placid  Lea — sacred  to  crack  "  rodsters,"  beguiling  fat  bream, 
chub,  and  barbel  under  the  poUared  willows  of  dear  old 
Broxbourne — had  barely  prepared  me  (then  still  in  my 
'*  teens ")  for  this  heavy  boat  work  amongst  coral  reefs ; 
but  I  picked  the  art  up  soon,  and  I  saved — by  towing  a 
longboat  to  the  scene  of  disaster — all  the  sails,  stores,  and 
band  of  a  thousand-ton  New  York  and  Havre  liner,  burnt 
in  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco  not  long  after.  But  all  this  is 
by  the  way.  At  present  we  are  on  Caroline  Island,  and  it 
does  not  appear  by  any  means  clear  how  we  are  to  get  off 
from  it  again. 
I  had  read  of 

The  sweet  siesta  of  a  summer's  day, 
The  tiopic  afternoon  of  Tooboonai  ; 

but  did  not  quite  realise  it  here  ;  still  it  was  evident  that 
we  must  pass  the  night  on  shore,  at  any  rate  ;  our  position 
was  unpleasant ;  we  were  very  thirsty,  having  swallowed 
more  than  quant,  suff.  of  salt  water,  and  yet  there  was 
nothing  to  drink.  We  longed  for  the  claret-cup  of  Black- 
wall  and  Greenwich,  and  even  the  humble  ginger-pop  of 
Hobart  Town  would  have  been  "  accepted  at  sight."  But 
there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  suck  raw  eggs,  which  are 
not  a  thirst-quencher.  Rotumah  Tom  rubbed  sticks  and  lit 
a  fire,  and  we  dug  up  and  roasted  a  few  turtle's  eggs,  but 
they  sadly  wanted  washing  down.  I  slept  in  the  boat,  and 
so  escaped  the  polite  attentions  of  the  land-crabs,  and  had 
only  the  mosquitos  to  deal  with.  Some  of  us  who  had  lost 
boots  and  "  breeks  "  alike,  found  out  that  large  carnivorous 
crabs,  on  the  seabeach  of  a  tropical  island,  experimenting 


410  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

at  night  on  unwonted  human  flesh,  were  worse  than  anj 
fleas  ever  invented.  So  passed  the  darkness  away,  and  in 
the  morning  Guthrie  and  I  had  an  early  bathe  at  day  dawn, 
regardless  of  a  few  minor  seven-foot  sharks  who  swam  near 
us  in  the  shallow  water,  flecked  with  shells  of  Tyrian  purple, 
pink  and  all  hues,  lying  at  the  bottom  of  its  clear  pale  green. 
By  the  way,  how  I  do  love  sea  shells  !  beautiful  fresh  ones  ; 
they  never  grow  old,  but  are  the  same  to-day  on  the  shores 
of  Sandgate,  Manly,  or  Queenseliff,  as  they  were  on  the 
Mediterranean  beach  in  the  gilded  days  of  Antony  and 
Cleopatra.  I  well  remember  a  little  gem  picture,  by  Gerard 
Douw ;  only  three  shells  on  a  strip  of  sand,  with  a  bit  of 
seaweed  among  them  ;  and  yet,  what  an  idyll  they  seemed 
to  sing  about  cool  briny  breezes,  of  green  surges  ever  roaring 
out  their  diapason  lullaby,  with  its  soothing  sense  of  drowsy 
comfort  for  the  nerve-worn  pen-toiler,  or  sick  bushman, 
bidding  him  cast  his  care  to  the  winds,  and  go  in  for  dinner 
at  the  Pier  Hotel,  and  try  the  rock  cod  and  boiled  schnapper 
with  oyster  sauce,  washed  down  by  the  Verdeilho  and 
Reisling  of  Australia,  or  the  Rudesheimer  of  the  Rhine ; 
after  which,  he  might  stroll  forth  once  more,  seat  him  on 
some  weedy  rock,  what  time  the  tide  came  in  ;  and,  as  he 
watched  the  crabs  all  "  skedaddle  "  and  the  octojms  change 
its  matchless  colours,  and  while  he  gazed  to  the  bottom  of 
the  clear  shallow  wavelets  around  him,  he  might  well  raise 
his  hat,  and  ask  himself,  what  great  good  he  had  ever  done, 
or  evil  left  undone,  that  lie  should  be  so  blest  in  his  sur- 
roundings, at  this  most  pleasant  of  all  spots,  that  one  where 
sea  and  land  meet,  and  "  mutually  improve  "  each  other. 
But  I  am  digressing,  and  must  hie  me  to  the  island  again. 
Well  !  after  Guthrie  and  I  had  bathed,  Rotumah  and  I 
went  to  look  for  water.  He  dug  a  hole  in  a  particular  part 
of  the  sand,  and  it  tilled  presently  with  a  milky-looking  sort 
of  fluid,  fresh  enough  to  quench  thirst,  but  still  "  for  a'  that  "" 


( 


ON    A    CORAL    ISLK.  41  li 

not  the  kind  of  drink  which  an  old  Indian  staff-surgeon,  who- 
understood  troops  and  dysentery,  would  prescribe  in  any- 
thing like  quantity.  We  drank  some  shellsful  of  it,  and 
then  returned  to  tell  our  companions  of  the  discovery,  when 
lo  !  we  found  Captain  Gourlay,  of  the  "  Eudora,"  had  come 
ashore  in  the  whaleboat  with  two  hands ;  and  he  wanted 
to  know  why  we  stopped  spreeing  on  shore  all  night.  We 
wanted  to  know  why  he  had  brought  us  nothing  to  eat,  and 
whilst  we  were  palavering  and  telling  him  of  our  mishaps,, 
we  all  became  suddenly  conscious  of  a  group  of  people, 
bearing  a  white  flag,  approaching  us,  and  just  visible  on  a 
point  of  the  island  where  it  trended  north-east.  Here  was 
a  discovery ;  the  island  inhabited,  possibly  by  enemies,  and 
not  an  ounce  of  dry  powder  in  the  crowd  I  But,  as  I  said^ 
th((t  was  no  reason  why  we  should  let  them  know  it,  so  I 
tied  a  red  kerchief  round  my  head,  stuck  two  horse  pistols  in 
my  belt,  gave  my  old  Sierra  Leone  rifle  to  Wales,  who  had  the 
previous  day  been  "potting"  birds  at  long  ranges  therewith^ 
and  we  strode  up,  eleven  in  number,  to  meet  "the  enemy." 

On  Hearing  the  group  we  found  it  to  consist  of  only  three 
persons,  the  principal  one  of  whom  was  a  most  striking  and 
Robinson-Crusoe-looking  personage,  burnt  a  darkcottee  colour 
by  the  sun  ;  his  clothes  in  tatters,  and  kept  on  by  pieces  of 
string  tied  here  and  there  ;  and  with  a  long  beard,  and  boots 
in  the  very  last  stage  of  dilapidation.  We  asked  him  who- 
he  was,  and  how  he  got  there.  He  explained  that  he  was  an 
American  sailor,  named  Lewis,  and  was  left  on  the  island 
by  the  Tahitian  firm  of  Lewsett  and  Colley,  to  make  cocoa 
nut  oil  for  them  ;  they  sent  a  schooner,  once  a  year,  for 
the  produce,  allowed  him  400  dollars  per  annum  for  wages,. 
and  all  his  rations  and  clothes,  needles,  canvas,  <fec. ;  the 
two  men  with  him,  he  said,  were  natives  of  the  Chain  Islands,, 
a  neighbouring  group ;  and  he  had,  at  the  other  side  of  the 
island,  a  cocoanut  plantation  on  fairly  rich  soil. 


412  AUSTRALIAX    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

He  and  his  two  men  had  each  a  girl-wife,  from  the  same 
group,  the  youngest  and  prettiest  being,  of  course,  assigned 
to  the  old  Yankee.  He  accounted  for  his  weather-worn 
attire  by  telling  us  that  the  schooner  would  be  due  in  a 
month  to  take  away  the  oil,  and  bring  him  his  fresh  supply 
of  wages,  rations,  and  clothes ;  he  was  now  "  out  of  every- 
thing except  tobacco  and  tea ;  no  biscuit,  flour,  needles, 
sugar,  canvas,  vinegar,  &c.,  on  hand.  He  said  the  island 
was  a  ring  of  coral  (sometimes  called  an  "  atoll ")  with  a 
shallow  sea  lagoon,  just  wadeable,  in  its  ceritre,  and  that 
there  was,  as  is  usual  on  all  these  islands,  a  smooth  water 
break  in  the  reef  where  a  boat  could  come  in  and  out,  but 
this  was  opposite  his  place  and  near  the  cocoanut  plantation, 
and  away  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  (circular)  island  to 
where  we  now  were  ;  it  was  half  a  mile  "  thick  "  all  round, 
from  inner  to  outer  beach.  His  advice  to  us  was,  that  the 
Captain  should  go  back  aboard  the  "  Eudora  "  and  take  her 
round  to  his  place,  that  two  sailors  should  walk  the  broken 
and  stove  boat  round  by  the  shallow  water  on  the  beach,  to 
the  channel,  and  take  advantage  of  the  smooth  water 
passage  to  tow-  her  out ;  and  that  the  rest  of  us  should  wade 
with  him  across  the  lagoon,  on  a  bee  line  to  his  homestead. 

We  agreed  thereto,  and  set  out  to  wade,  in  the  course  of 
which  proceeding  we  made  some  discoveries;  the  bottom  was 
clearly  visible,  at  a  depth  of  from  two  to  four  feet,  and  con- 
sisted of  the  loveliest  coral,  such  as  we  Brisbanites  buy  to 
put  under  glass  cases ;  brain  coral,  stags'  horns,  lettuce 
coral,  ike. ;  it  had  a  fine  cutting  edge  on  some  of  it,  and 
those  of  us  who  were  bootless  had  to  watch  their  footsteps. 
T  had  Wellington  boots,  my  only  shortcoming  being  in  the 
hat  line,  but  I  was  little,  if  any,  better  off  than  the  bare- 
footed ones,  for  the  labour  of  lifting  some  ten  pounds  of 
water,  at  every  step,  "  totted  up  "  considerably  in  a  five 
mile  wade,  and  seemed  to  wrench  my  legs  off.     Immense 


ON    A    CORAL    ISLE.  413- 

clams  laid  picturesque  at  the  bottom  of  the  water  with  their 
mouths  open ;  a  good  old  sort,  about  400  lbs.  weight  apiece, 
and  equally  ready  to  take  off  the  leg,  or  the  head,  of  any 
unwary  intruder,  between  the  serrated  edges  of  those  bivalve 
Ti'idacnas. 

There  are  heaps  of  these  fellows  on  the  Queensland 
Barrier  Reef.  I  have  one,  myself,  of  three  hundred  weight,. 
the  "oyster"  from  which  weighed  just  forty-five  pounds,, 
but  these  are  as  nothing  to  the  old  gentleman  (from  the 
"  keys "  of  the  West  Indies)  whose  upright  shells  once 
guarded,  like  Gog  and  Magog,  each  side  of  the  doorway  at 
an  oyster  shop  in  Maiden  Lane,  Covent  Garden.  He  weighed 
six  hundred  pounds  in  his  life  time,  and  is,  in  his  turn,  sur- 
passed by  the  king  of  all  the  Tridacnas,  who  holds  his  court 
on  an  island  in  Torres'  Straits,  and  is  estimated  at  fully 
half-a-ton,  and  whom  no  one  has  yet  ventured  to  disturb. 

But,  all  this  time,  we  were  following  Lewis  and  the  two 
Chain  Island  "  boys  "  towards  the  now  fast  nearing,  and 
particularly  welcome,  cocoa  grove,  and  just  as  I  thought  I 
could  not  lift  another  leg,  so  terrible  was  the  strain  of  the 
few  pounds  of  water,  raised  at  every  step,  of  this  weary 
five  miles  in  the  water,  and  with  a  sun  overhead  that  made 
poor  Mr.  Irwin  cry  out  with  the  pain  of  his  blistered  legs 
and  thighs,  just  then  we  emerged  from  the  lagoon  and, 
clasped  the  stems  of  the  cocoa  palms ;  up  went  Rotumah 
Tom,  and  the  two  Chain  Islanders,  and  down  came  the 
green  nuts,  and  "  drinks-round  "  was  the  one  idea. 

We  "  Eudoras  "  were  thirsty,  none  of  us,  except  Tom  and 
myself,  having  drunk  aught  but  half-a-gallon  of  sea  water 
each,  for  nearly  thirty-six  hours.  I  don't  know  how  many 
"  cocoas  "  the  others  emptied,  but  I  know  that  seven  of 
them,  each  with  a  good  tumbler  full  of  milk  inside,  barely 
satisfied  me,  for  that  long  wade  had  been  the  most  killing 
job  of  all  for  us  ;  and  now  we  strolled  over  to  Lewis'  home- 


414  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

stead,  a  comfortable  thatched  abode,  with  a  square  hole  of 
'clear  fresh  water  hollowed  in  the  solid  coral  rock  near  it, 
the  pool  well  garnished  with  wholesome  green  moss,  at  the 
■side  and  top,  and  looking  home-like  and  normal  as  a  reser- 
voir or  tank. 

We  were  next  introduced  to  the  three  voluptuous  looking 
•Chain  Island  girls,  whose  eyes  and  lashes  were  a  "  caution." 
I  have  never  seen  black  fire,  and  yet,  if  fire  could  be  black, 
it  would  shine  through  such  eyes  as  these  ;  and,  if  this 
:should  fail  to  convey  the  idea  of  them,  then  let  the  reader 
imagine  a  clear  amber,  deepening  in  darker  shade,  by  suc- 
cesive  degrees,  till  it  threatens  to  merge  at  last,  in  pure 
Idack,  and  arrested  just  hf^fore  the  beautiful  brown  lustre 
disappears,  and  he  will  have  the  eyes  of  these  girls  before 
him.  The  men's  optics  were  scarcely  less  brilliant,  but 
^mallei',  and  without  the  female  wealth  of  eyelash. 

In  other  respects  these  children  of  the  South  Pacific  were 
less  handsome  in  feature,  and  form,  than  the  perfect  Greek 
gods,  and  fairy-footed  goddesses,  who  were  still  to  be  found 
in  Eimeo  and  Tahiti,  in  1850;  but,  if  you  come  to  eyes,  why, 
then  I  never  saw  dark  eyes,  at  any  rate,  like  those  the  Chain 
Island  girls  had. 

How  great  a  pity  it  is  that  these  nymphs,  who  are  beauti- 
ful, and  look  clever  enough  to  be  the  mothers  of  a  race  of 
Tennysons  and  Byrons,  should,  by  their  generally  libidinous 
nature,  be  the  easy  pi'ey  of  any  low  European  sailor.  But, 
we  were,  now  that  thirst  was  satisfied,  most  confoundedly 
hungry,  a  matter  which  caused  the  untimely  death  of  a 
small  pig,  whom  I  should  most  willingly  have  helped  to  eat, 
but  for  the  fact  of  his  being  cooked  on  that  vile,  smoky, 
Maori,  subterranean  fashion  of  hot  stones  and  leaves, 
^luch  more  palatable,  in  every  way,  were  some  jew  and 
parrot  fish,  which  one  of  the  boys,  taking  his  outrigger 
•canoe  to  the  smooth  water  channel,  hooked  and  brought  in. 


ON    A    CORAL    ISLE  415 

and  for  which  there  was  no  lack  of  lard  to  fry  them,  in  this 
isle  of  pumpkins,  cocoa  palms,  and  pigs.  And  now,  just  as 
we  had  finished,  there  "  arrove "  the  Captain,  who  had 
brought  the  whale-boat  through  the  break  in  the  reef,  and 
eke  a  consignment  of  corned  beef,  bread,  rum,  &c. 

I  did  not  stay  to  witness  the  scene,  though  I  heard,  sub- 
sequently, that  old  Lewis,  overcome  by  the  unwonted  rum, 
"  made  a  night "  of  it,  but  Mr.  Irwin  and  I,  now  that  there 
was  a  respectable  smooth  water  passage,  to  be  availed  of, 
and  a  decent  whale-boat  to  go  in,  responded  to  the  skipper's 
invitation  for  volunteers  to  return  to  tlie  ship.  I  had,  pro 
tern.,  had  enough  of  the  island,  in  brief  I  was  "  full  "  about 
it.  I  longed  for  some  more  congenial  spot,  where  licensed 
watermen's  boats  plied,  and  where  quays  and  jetties  rendered 
embarkation  and  debarkation  somewhat  less  of  a  harlequin 
and  acrobatic  style  of  business,  than  appeared  to  be  the  case 
in  these  intertropical  paradises  of  coral  and  cocoa  palms. 

Captain  Gourlay  had  told  the  chief  mate  to  show  a  lantern 
at  the  gaff  of  the  "  Eudora,"  so  that,  if  any  of  us  came  off 
at  night,  in  the  whale-boat,  we  might  not  miss  the  ship  ;  so, 
believing  all  to  be  right,  we  got  one  of  the  Chain  Island 
boys  to  to  take  a  lamp  in  his  outrigger  and  pilot  us  through 
the  deep  channel,  for  it  was  now  dark,  and  there  we  were, 
Mr.  Irwin  and  myself,  with  Captain  Gourlay  and  a  couple 
of  hands,  out  at  sea  and  making  for  the  old  barque  once 
more.  Poor  Irwin  groaned  sadly  as  the  rolling,  and  pitching, 
of  the  boat  made  his  tender  skin  sensible  of  the  ravages 
tlie  sun  had  made  on  it,  and  then,  to  our  disgust,  the  Cap- 
tain said  he  could  not  see  the  ship's  light,  and  the  other 
light,  carried  by  the  island  boy  pilot,  we  had  long  since  left 
behind  us  ;  and  so,  here  we  were,  out  at  sea,  out  of  sight  of 
the  island  and  sliip  as  well  ;  in  an  open  boat,  at  night,  and 
with  neither  food,  nor  water,  chart  nor  compass,  in  the 
boat. 


416  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

I  began  to  debate,  with  myself,  if  this  little  difficulty 
were  not  worse  even  than  the  island  itself,  and  was  rapidly 
coming  to  the  conclusion  that  we  had,  so  to  speak,  quitted 
the  frying  pan  for  a  tour  into  the  fire,  when  lo  !  the  skipper 
"  spotted  "  for  a  brief  second,  a  light,  far  away  on  the 
horizon,  and  he,  sailor-like,  rapidly  noting  the  star,  which 
sailed  just  above  it,  in  the  sky,  steered  us  for  that  star,  and 
the  result  was  that,  after  a  long  pull,  we  found  ourselves 
right  under  the  beam  of  the  ''  Eudora,"  which  had  just  "put 
about  "  to  stand  in  for  the  island  again. 

The  light,  we  had  seen,  was  Mrs.  Guthrie's  candle  in  the 
starboard  stern  cabin  (mine  was  the  larboard  one).  She 
had  left  the  window  open,  as  the  night  was  warm,  and  but 
for  this  fact,  it  is  doubtful  if  we  five  in  the  whale-boat, 
would  ever  have  seen  island  or  ship  again,  and  our  fate,  in 
a  bare  empty  open  boat  in  that  lonely  ocean,  and  at  that 
time  of  year,  is  not  pleasant  to  speculate  upon  ;  for,  be  it 
known,  that  the  mate  neglected  to  hang  the  lantern  at  the 
gafi^,  thoughtless  of  the  lives  his  disobedience  of  orders 
might  have  cost,  and  it  was  only  Mrs.  Guthrie's  sperm  candle 
illuminating  a  cabin,  that  lit  us  across  the  deep. 

I  don't  know  what  the  Captain  said  to  the  mate  on  the 
subject,  for  I  seized  a  rope  that  hung  over  the  ship's  side, 
pulled  myself  on  deck,  took  a  breakfast  cup  off"  a  hook  in 
the  steward's  pantry,  tilled  it  at  the  claret  tap  in  the  Tahiti 
hogshead,  and  in  response  to  jocose  enquiries  after  my 
general  health,  I  replied  that  I  should  not  care  to  do  it  all 
again  under  five  pounds.  I  slept  soundly,  away  from 
mosquitos  and  land  crabs  tliat  night,  but  it  was  a  long  time 
before  Irwin  and  others  were  healed  of  their  blisters. 
Next  morning,  our  boats  went  ashore  and  came  off"  to  us 
again,  laden  with  the  piled  up  spoils  of  the  island,  in  pigs 
and  pumpkins,  which  were  bartered  cheap  in  that  market, 
where  they  seldom  get  any  customers. 


A  Marouesan  Maiuen, 


ox    A    CORAL    ISLE.  417 

The  whole  afiair  made  such  an  impression  on  me,  that 
when,  later  in  the  year,  and  on  the  return  voyage  from 
California,  we  sighted  the  beautiful  natural  paradise  of 
Norfolk  Island,  a  flowery  open  park,  with  pine  covered  hills, 
and  where,  as  a  great  favour — for  it  was  in  the  days  of 
Price  (afterwards  of  Pentridge)  and  the  convicted  of  all  the 
convicts — we,  being  bound  to  Launceston  and  offering  to 
carry  letters  thither,  were  actually  invited  to  come  ashore,, 
when  all  other  ships  were  warned  off  the  island  prison  witli 
its  garrison  of  soldiers — then  I  felt  inclined  to  resist  the 
temptation  to  view  its  beauties,  and  its  forests,  and  its  diip- 
stone  rocks  more  closely,  and  to  remember  a  vow  I  had 
made  a  few  months  before,  about  licensed  watermen's  boats, 
and  duly  constituted  wharves,  and  quays,  fit  for  Christians 
to  land  on,  and  to  content  myself  with  a  glance  at  the 
monkey-like  eagerness  of  the  longing  mute  appealing  look, 
which  the  prisoner  crew  of  the  shore  boat,  which  brought 
Mr.  Price  on  board  our  ship,  cast  up  at  our  sailors  along 
the  bulwarks,  for  the  convict's  one  solace,  tobacco — a  look 
which  our  Tasmanian  tars  well  interpreted  ;  and  while  Price 
drank  a  glass  of  wine,  to  keep  ofl'  the  sea  sickness,  in  our 
cabin,  they  threw  tigs  of  Barrett's  twist  into  the  huge  surf 
boat  rocking  alongside,  which  treasures  were  caught  by  the 
Norfolk  Island  crew,  as  starving  tigers  might  catch  legs  of 
mutton,  and  were  swiftly  hidden  away  in  the  Itlue  serge  I'e- 
cesses  of  their  shirts,  by  these  scarce  human  faced  wearers 
of  leather  caps.  Poor  creatures  !  /  was  no  smoker,  and  I 
reflected  how  they  might  have  looked  long  at  me  before  I 
should  have  divined  what  they  wanted,  and  so  earnestly- 
asked  for,  in  that  indescribable  monkey-like  look  and 
working  of  the  facial  muscles.  On  the  whole  I  concluded 
not  to  land  on  Norfolk  Island,  though  the  rest  of  us  in  the 
"  Harriet  Rockwell  "  did  ;  but  1  bought  a  dripstone,  and 
some  birds,  and  paid  for  them  with  a  little  of  the  gold  dust, 
2b 


41 S  AUSTRALIAN    PIONEERS    AND    REMINISCENCES. 

of  which,  with  doubloons,  I  1  nought  nearly  twenty  pounds 
weight  baclv  from  the  North  Pacific,  in  barter  for  the 
Ilobart  Town  "  notions,"  named  at  the  commencement  of 
this  true  story,  which  I  must  now  bring  to  a  close  with  a 
hope  that  all  readers  who  may  at  times,  find  themselves,  like 
me,  "  in  a  tight  place,"  will  get  the  same  deliverance  that  I 
did. 

At  any  rate,  I  can  recommend  the  dietary  scale  of  Caroline 
Island,  on  the  side  where  we.  landed,  as  a  sovereign  specific 
for  plethoric  or  gouty  subjects,  whose  only  complaint  is,  too 
much  to  eat. 


3^M^^^S^ 


INDEX. 


■iri.  PAGE 

Adsett,  Moses 209 

Agars,  'riionias        ."> 

Allwoocl,  Rev.  R 2 

Appel,  George 211 

Aniiitage  J.  T 2 

Atkins,  J.  B 180 

Australian  Club      8 

"  Australia  Felix  " 32 

Australia  in  1842    1 

Aiistralian  Newspapers 13 

Australia,  Proper  names  of  ...  349 

B 
Bank  of  N.S.W.      ...  12,  53,  o, 

Bank  of  Australia 

Banks  and  Banking  (Sydney) 

Banking  Statistics 

Bank  in  Brisbane,  First 

Barker,  Thomas      

Barton,  William      

Bartley,  N 

■Baynes,  Joseph        

Beard,  Elizabeth     

Beck  and  Brown     

101,  171,  176,  177,  181 
Bell,  Sir  Joshua  P.  ...  171,  181 
Berry,  Alex,  (biography) 


Bigge,  Frederick     ... 
Bingham,  Reus 
Biographies,  Sydney 
Blood  for  Blood       ... 

Blythe,  J.  A 

Bourne,  R 

Bowler,  Chas.  E.     ... 
Bowen  to  Thompson,  From 


12 


66 


5,57 

12 

55 

57 

205 

16 

18 

256 

211 

54 

-187 

,216 
156 

,  216 
175 
165 
206 
173 

3,13 
171 
197 


¥.> 


Bousfield,  Pilot 
Bowen,  Sir  George.. 

Bracker,  Fred 

Bramston,  J 

Brisljane    

Brisljane,  Early  Survey  of 

Brooks,  Tom    

Brooks,  Williani 

Brown,  W.  A 

Broadhurst,  E. 
Broughton,  Mrs.  (Dr.) 

Burne,  F.  N 

Burnett  Pioneer,  A 
Bullock  Drivers,  About 

c 

Cadell,  Capt 

Campbell,  R.  &  Co. 
Campbell,  John 
Camperdown,  Old  ... 
Cannan,  Dr.  K. 

Cape,  Fred        

Caste  Superiority    . . . 
Chambers,  Capt. 
Chad  wick's  Station 
Chauvel,  Major 
Chess  at  Victoria  Club 
Child,  \V.  Knox 
Christie,  Major 
Clarence,  Early  Settlers 

Clyres,  Paddy 

Cook,  Capt 

Cohen,  J.  G 

Coley,  Capt.  R.  J.  ... 
Collins,  J.  R 


10 


211 

256 
171 
256 
240 
243 
211 
211 
256 
.  57 
10 
23 
205 
338 


31 

3 

167 

7 

256 

27 

17 

2 

25 

173 

27 

5 

57 
40 
177 
166 
;i8,  57 
205 
211 


420 


INDEX. 


PAGE 
..    211 

17,  18 
..  171 
..  3 
..  148 
..  3 
..   148 


Compigne,  A.  W 

Convict  System,  The     ... 
Condamiue,  Settlers  on... 

Cooper  and  Holl     

Cowper,  Clias.  (biography) 
Coveny,  R.  and  T.  .. 
Cox,  William  (biography) 

Coxen,  Chas 169,  172,  175 

Coxen,  H.  VV 175,211 

Crisis  of  1893 61 

Cribb,  R 212,  232 

Criminals,  Blackfellow 335 

Crisis  of  1866,  The 257 

Crowther,  John      ...  171,  173,  176 

Cunningham,  Allan        107 

Cricket      351 


D 

Dacre,  Ranalph       2 

Daisy,  M 171 

Dangar,  Henry  (biography) ...   150 

Darling  Point 15 

Darling  Downs,  Pioneers  of...   168 

Davie,  C.  F 263 

Dean,  W.  &  Co 4 

Dennis,  Henry         168 

Denchar,  John         171 

Dick,  Alec 27 

Dinners  at  Tooths' 17 

Dobie,  Discoveries  of  Dr.      ...     41 

Dockrill,  W 182 

Domain,  The 14 

Donaldson,  Stuart 15 

Doughis,  Robert     ...  212,  223,  256 

Dowse,  Tom     263 

Dowling,  Judge      13 

Dulacca  Country     173 

Droughts 274 

Drought  of  1866     183 

Dye,  Tihnouth^J 17 


E  PAGE 

Egan,  Dan        27 

Eldridge,  Ambrose         3 

Elsworth,  E.  8 256 

Emma,  The  Brig     2 

Ewar,  J.  G 172 

Expedition,  A  Run  Hunting...   189 


Ferritter,  John        172,  211 

Fitzgerald,  Bob       57 

Flemniing,  Joseph 173 

Flinders    166,  275 

Floods  in  the  Brisbane 270 

Foss  and  Lloyd        5 

Forster,  W.  (biography)        ...     70 
Forbes,  Sir  Francis  (biography)  121 

Forbes,  F.  A 181 

Fox,  H.  P 229 

Frith  and  Pay  ten    4 

G 


Gammie,  John         

171,  185 

"Gazette,"  Sydney 

...     13 

Gill,  R 

...  211 

CJlennie,  Canon        

..    211 

Gilchrist,  John        

...     16 

Goggs,  Matthew     

.     ..    171 

Gold  Discovery  (N.S.W. 

)     ...     60 

Gordon,  W.  P 

.     ...  175 

Gorman,  Major       

.     ...  -201 

Gorry,  C 

.     ...  211 

Gray,  Walter 

.      3,  179 

Haly,  C.  R.  and  W.  D.  G.   54,  211 
Harrison,  Capt.  George         ...     16 

Handcock,  W 181 

Hardgrave,  John    211 

Harris,  George        212,230 

Harvey,  Capt.  W.  W 10 

Hay,  Sir  John  (biography)  ...  133 

Hebblewhite,  George     5 

Hely,  Hovenden     57 


INDEX. 


421 


PAGE 

Herbert,  R.  G.  W 256 

Hodgson,  A 168,  211 

Hodgson,  Cecil        168 

Hobbs,  Dr 205,  263 

Holt,  W.  Harvey 205 

Hook,  James    176 

Hovell,  W.  H.  (biography)  ...    133 

Howe,  Sir  J.  E 9 

Hughes,  H 168,  171 

Hunt,  R.  A 57 

Hunter  River  Coy 2 

Hunter  River  8.  N.  (yoy.      ...     17 


Inflation,  First  Australian    ...       1 

Iredale,  Launcelot 54 

Isaac,  F 1(58,  171 

Islands,  The    278-302 


Jackson,  J.  W 256 

Jenkins,  R.  L.  (l)iography)  ...   144 
Johnston,  Capt.  Robt.  (Inogra- 

phy    102 

Jolly,  \Y '27 

Jones,  David  ...         ...  ...       3 

),  ,,        (biography)     ...   155 

Jones,  Richard        12,  57 

Jordan,  Henry         233 

Jovial  Evenings      244 

K 


Kemp  and  Fairfax 

7 

Kendall,     Henry, 

iNIeuio 

ial 

Lines  to     ... 

.      305 

Kent  Brewery... 

17,  20 

Kingsford,  R.  A. 

...  211 

King  and  Sil)ley 

..    168 

Kite,  Tom 

...     54 

Knowles,  A.  L. 

...  205 

KnuU,  E 

38,  57 

PAGE 

178 

22-32 

231 

13 

136 

181 

,  185 

2 

4 

211 

4 

27 

167 

202 

169 

201 

172 

211 

211 

256 

214 

256 

213 

224 

346 

Labour,  Dearth  of 

Lachlan,  Pioneers  on  the 

Lade,  Thomas 

Laidley,  James        

Lang,  Dr.  (biography)  ... 

Lang,  Gideon 177, 

Law  Courts,  Sydney,  184t 

Leckie,  John    

Legislative  Council,  1842 

I-ee,  Ted 

Leslie,  Patrick         

Leslies,  The     

Leslie,  Walter 

Lester,  L.  E 

Lilley,  Sir  Chas 

Little,  John      

Little,  Robert 

Limestone  Old        

Lord,  Simeon 

Love,  On 

Lyons,  Samuel 5 

M 

IMacadam,  George 170 

Mackay,  Discovery  of 322 

Mackay,  Capt.  John      322 

Mackay,  Old    328 

Mackenzie,  R.  R.   13,  15,  171,  208 

Macgregor,  S 32,168 

Macquaries' Chair 14 

Macleays,  The 16 

JVIcLean,  J.  D.         ...    16,  176,  181 
Macquarie,  Govr.  (biography)     66 

Mclnty re,  Settlers  on    171 

McConnell,  D.  C 202 

McDougall,  J.  F 211,  256 

McCabe's  Hotel       249 

Mallard,  Capt 171 

Manning,  Sir  William 16 

Mann,  Father 57 

Mansfield,  Rev.  Ralph  ...  2,  13,  57 
Martin,  Sir  James  (biography)     97 


422 


INDEX. 


182 

177 


PAGE 

May,  A.  A 256 

Melbourne,  Recollections  of  34-39 

Melhado,  U 27 

Merchants,  Early  Sydney     ...       3 

Metcalf,  J.  B 2 

Miles,  William       1 

Millar,  John    

Ministries,  N.S.W.  ...  06,  165 
Mitchell,  Sir  T.  L.   8,  13,  167,  201 

Mitchell,  J.  S 226 

Miracles,  On    347 

Moffatt,  T.  dcLacy        ...  171,  184 

Monitor,  The 13 

Morehead,  R.  A.  A 54 

Moreton  Bay  in  1840     201 

Moray,  E 32,212 

Mort,    Thomas  S.   ...        13,  15,  54 

,,      (biography)  ...   107 

Mort,  Henry...  13  (biography)  163 

Munce,  W.  J 230 

Murray,  Navigation  of  the  ..  29 
Murray,  SirT.  A.  (biography)  95 
Murray-Prior,  T.  L.  208,  212,  216 
Murrumbidgee,  Pioneers  on  22-32 

Murphy,  Peter        169 

Myall  Creek  Settlement        ...   171 

N 

Nelson,  i)r 182 

New  England,  Settlement  of  41-47 
New  England,  First  Settlers  43 
Norris,  Edwin 221 

0 

Ocean  Travelling  in  the  Fifties  253 

O'Connell,  Sir  Maurice 8 

O'Connell,  Capt.  Bligh 13 

Old  Hands  of  '42,  Brisbane  ...  211 

Oliver,  R 211 

O'Sullivan,  P 211 

Overlanding 22 

Overlanding  Exploits    189 


-L  PAGE 

Palmer,  Sir  A.  H 212 

Parramatta,  The  Old     340 

Paterson,  James     17 

Pettigrew,  John      182 

Petrie  John      210 

Petrie,  Walter         211 

Peterson,  Daniel     249 

Phelps,  J.  L 25,  29,  30 

Phelan,  R.  F 227 

Picking,  W 256 

Pike  and  Preston    3 

Pinnock,  P 211 

Pockley,  Capt 2 

Pollett  and  Cardew        211 

Pott's  Point     16 

Prince,  Henrj- 16 

Prout,  Cornelius     5 

Purkiss  and  Lambert     4 

Pye  and  Co.,  James        3 

Q 

Queensland,  Early  Days  of  ...   166 

Queensland       276 

Queensland  North,  Legends  of  188 

Queensland  Club     255 

Queensland,  Pastoral  Occupa- 
tion of       166 

Queensland,    Sugar   Industry 

of        248 

Queensland,  Yellowstone  of       313 

R 

Raff,  A 211 

Raine,  Capt.  Thomas     10 

RaMlins,  VV 256 

Remedy  for  Financial  Trouble     64 

Reeve,  H.  M 211 

Richardson,  W 205 

Riding,  Thorpe       209 

Ricliardson  &  Wrench 4 

Robins,  George       5 

Robertson,  R.  R.  C 54 


INDEX. 


42:3 


Robertson's,  Sir  John,  Act 
(biography) 

Roberts,  D.  F 

Rogers,  Richard      

Roley,  R.  M 

Roll-Call,  The  (Queensland) 
Roma,  Founding  of 

Ross,  Donald 

Run  Hunting  Expedition 

Russell,  H.  S 

Rather,  J.  Y 


PARE 
52 

128 

256 

3 

57 
211 
181 
182 
191 
211 

54 


8ahvey,  H 54 

Sands,  John     3 

Sandeman,  Gordon         211 

Sandgate,  Early      262 

Scougall,  R 168 

Scott,  John      212 

Scott,  \V.  R 54,  228 

Sellheim,  P 212 

Settlers,  Brisbane  and  Burnett  211 

Sexes,  The       343 

Simmonds,  Isaac     2 

Smith,  John     54 

Smith,  Shepherd     256 

Smith,  "Red"        211 

Smythes,  S.  H 16 

Sneyd,  Constable    244 

Southerden,  E.  B 211 

Southerden,  \V 211 

South  Brisbane  in  1854 249 

Sproule,  Capt 2 

Stephens,  F.  B 57 

Stephens,  T.  B 236 

Stuart,  Capt 32 

St.  Stephen's  Church  (Sydney)     8 
St.  John's  ,,  ,,  13 

St.  Phillip's         ,.  ,,  13 

Steam,  Brisbane  to  Sydney  ...  244 
Sugar  Growmg  in  N.S.W.     47-53 


Sugar  Industry  (Queensland)     248 
vSuttor,  George  (biography)  ...    113 

Swinnerton,  George        54 

Sydney  in  18.38        15 

Sydney     Men     and     Matters 

1,  16,  66-165 

Sydney,  Scenes  of  Olden  53-66 
Sydney  Streets  and  Suburbs  19 
Sydney  Morning  Herald  7,  13 
Squatter,  The  Australian  ...  246 
Squatter,  First  on  the  Bris- 
bane   346 


T 


Tait,  John        

254 

Taylor,  James 

168 

,  1 

'1, 

176 

Tillman,  W 

211 

Thorn,  George 

212 

Thornton,  W 

256 

Thornton,  G 

27 

Thomson,    E.    Deas 

57 

(bio- 

graphy      

77 

Thompson  A 

27 

Thompson,  Joseph.. 

3 

Threlkeld,  L.  E.     .. 

3 

Tooth,  R.  and  E.    . . 

3, 

16,  54 

Towns,  Robt.  (biography)     ...   105 
Traders,  Early  N.Z.  and  Islands  2 

Trundle,  C.J 211 

Tucker,  William     2 

Turner,  J.  S 211 

Turtling  on  the  Barrier  Reef  306 
Tyson  Bros 33 


U 


Uthar,  Reuljcn        ...     . 

.     ...     54 

Y 

Vigers,  P.  D 

VignoUes,  Capt 

Vowles,.W 

.     ...  246 
.     ...   171 
.     ...  211 

424 


INDEX. 


W^  PAGE 

Warner,  James       212,  222 

Warry,  R.  S 229 

Weather,  The 272 

Weir,  Settlers  on  the     171 

Wentworth,  W.  C 54 

,,  ,,      (biography)     79 

Weinholt,  A 211 

Western  Notable,  A 174 

White,  W.  D 259 

White,  James  (biography)    ...   153 
Winship,  Taylor     212,  225 


Wight,  Rev.  G.       .. 
Wickhani,  Capt. 

Wilkie,  P.  J 

Wilkin,  Robt. 
Woolley,  T.  and  M. 


y 


Yaldvvyn,  A.  H. 
Yarnton,  G.  S. 
Young,  W^illiam 


PAGE. 

26S 

16 

171 

205 

a 


25S 

54 

20& 


mmMMM^trnxTTri 


3  1158  00891   1314 


jC  southern  regional  library  faciuty 


A     000  162  728     0 


]