Natives under a rock in bad weather
The natives of the coast, whenever speaking of those of the interior, constantly expressed themselves with contempt and marks of disapprobation. Their language was unknown to each other, and there was not any doubt of their living in a state of mutual distrust and enmity. Those natives, indeed, who frequented the town of Sydney, spoke to and of those who were not so fortunate, in a very superior tone, valuing themselves upon their friendship with the white people, and erecting in themselves an exclusive right to the enjoyment of all the benefits which were to result from that friendship. That they should prefer the shelter which they found in the houses of the inhabitants to the miserable protection from weather which their ill-constructed huts afforded, or even to that which they could meet with under a rock, will be allowed to have been natural enough, when we present the reader with a view of a man, his wife, and child, actually sketched on the spot, by a person who met with them thus endeavouring to obtain shelter under a projection of a rock, during a heavy storm of rain and wind.
September.] In the beginning of this month, rumours being circulated, that the prisoners lately sent from Ireland for the crime of sedition, and for being concerned in the late rebellion in that country, had formed a plan for possessing themselves of the colony, that their arms (pikes manufactured since their arrival) were in great forwardness, and their manner of attack nearly arranged; a committee of officers was appointed by the governor to examine all suspected persons, and ascertain whether any such murderous design existed.
In the course of their inquiries, the committee saw occasion to imprison Harold, the Roman Catholic priest, who from his language and behaviour was suspected of being concerned in the intended insurrection. He then confessed, that the reports of it were founded in truth, and engaged to discover where the weapons were concealed, of which it was said many hundreds had been fabricated. In his confession he implicated several of his countrymen, who, on being questioned, in their turn accused several others; and the committee adjudged them all to be deserving of punishment; but Harold was never able to fulfil his engagement of producing the weapons. These he first said were buried in the ground belonging to a settler, which he pointed out; but on minutely searching every part of it, nothing like a pike could be found. Failing in this, he then said they were sunk in the lower part of the harbour; but even here they could not be discovered. He tampered with an Irishman, to make a few that he could produce in support of his assertion; but the man had, unfortunately for him, been transported for having been a dealer in pikes, and declared that he would not involve himself a second time for them. He at last found a man to fabricate one out of an old hinge of a barn door, but this bore too evidently the marks of imposition to go down with every one; and his tale met with little or no credit. There was evidently a design to create an alarm; and this man Harold, from declaring that he alone, through his influence as their priest, was able to come at the facts, was supposed to be aiming solely at making himself of consequence in the colony. He had applied to the governor for permission to officiate as their priest; and if well affected to the government, of which there were but too many doubts, he might have been of much use to the colony in that capacity.
In consequence of these alarms, and as much as possible to do away their effects, by increasing the armed force of the colony, a certain number of the most respectable inhabitants were formed into two volunteer associations of fifty men each, and styled the Sydney and Parramatta Loyal Associated Corps. Each was commanded by a Captain, with two Lieutenants, and a proportionate number of non-commissioned officers. The whole were supplied with arms and ammunition, of which they were instructed in the use by some sergeants of the New South Wales corps, and their alarm-post was fixed at the front of Government House.*
[* As these were formed upon the footing of the volunteer corps in England, it is to be wished that they may as fully entitle themselves to the praise and thanks of the community which they were raised to defend, as those honourable associations have merited and gained from theirs.]
It having been reported, that coal had been found upon the banks of George's river, the governor visited the place, and on examination found many indications of the existence of coal, that useful fossil, of which, shortly after, a vein was discovered on the west-side of Garden Island cove.
On the 21st, the American ship John Jay arrived, after a passage of four months and four days, from Rhode Island, bound to China. She had on board a quantity of salt beef and pork, which was purchased by government, at the rate of seven-pence three farthings per pound, for the purpose of issuing to such people as were off the stores, or who had the labour of convicts assigned to them, at the same price. This was a great accommodation.
The Buffalo being now ready for sea, the governor, who had determined to return in that ship to England, having arranged various matters relative to the settlement, and the lieutenant governor of Norfolk island being on the spot, left the direction of the colony in his hands, and embarked on Sunday the 28th, having previously reviewed the New South Wales corps, of whom his excellency took leave in the following order: