His Majesty's birthday, falling this year on a Sunday, was observed on the 5th, with all the honour that could be paid to it. The regiment was drawn out on the parade, and at noon fired three volleys. At one o'clock a royal salute was fired from the battery and the ships in the Cove; and all the officers, civil and military, with those belonging to the ships, spent the day at the government-house.
Shortly after this the governor visited the settlement at Parramatta, for the purpose of examining that part of the country which he designed to cultivate on the public account; and to observe how the convicts who had lately arrived, the major part of whom had been sent thither, were provided for. The cattle which had been landed from the Supply had been also sent thither, and were, with the government stock that was at Toongabbie, thriving exceedingly.
The ground that it was proposed to clear on the public account was not more than two miles and a half from Parramatta, and most advantageously situated in point of fresh water, having a chain of large and excellent ponds in its vicinity. The deputy surveyor having accompanied the governor, the spot was marked out for erecting the necessary buildings; and the whole was named Portland Place, in honour of his Grace the Duke of Portland.
In consequence of the proclamation which was issued in the last month, one of the run-away convicts delivered himself up to a constable, and another was taken and lodged in confinement: they appeared to be half starved; yet their sufferings were not sufficient to prevent similar desertions from work in others, nor a repetition of the offence in themselves; such was the strong aversion which these worthless characters had to any thing that bore the name of work. More labour would have been performed in this country by 100 people from any part of England or Scotland, than had at any time been derived from 300 of these people, with all the attention that could be paid to them. Had 200 families of decent labouring farmers been sent out as settlers a few years since, and had a few convicts to assist them been placed wholly under their direction and authority, the cultivation would have been much farther advanced; and, in point of provisions, those families would have been living in luxury. More grain than could be consumed would have been grown, instead of crops which in some years were barely sufficient to last until the following harvest.
These people were brought to trial for a theft which they were stated to have committed, but of which there was not any positive proof, and they were acquitted. There was not any doubt of their having associated with and instructed the natives how to commit, with the least hazard to themselves, the various depredations which the settlers had sustained from them; yet there was no proof of this, at least no proof whereby they might have been capitally punished, nothing short of which would ever be sufficient to prevent this dangerous intercourse.
After exciting some apprehensions for her safety, his Majesty's ship the Reliance anchored in the Cove on the 26th, from the Cape of Good Hope, having had a very stormy passage, with 26 cows, 3 bulls, and about 60 sheep on board, on government account. She had been extremely leaky all the voyage; and it must be remembered, that the other colonial ship, the Supply, arrived in a very infirm state.*
[* At her departure from the Cape, it was generally conjectured that she would never reach the settlement; but her commander, Lieutenant William Kent, considered and felt the design of his voyage to be of so much importance to the colony, that he determined to run every risk; and fortunately, though with great difficulty, he succeeded.]
A most unexpected and unaccountable desertion took place in the night after the arrival of the Reliance. Two boys belonging to that ship carried away a small two-oared boat, in which they intended to proceed to the southward, and there join the natives. Being pursued, they were brought back, and gave the above account of their scheme; to effect which, they had provided themselves with a boat-cloak to sleep in, a pair of pistols, a small quantity of gun-powder, and 50 cakes of portable soup. That any one who had been accustomed to the habits of civilised life should find charms in that led by the savages of this country, was unaccountable; for, admitting that idleness was the inducement, yet whoever associated with them must accompany them wherever they went, and they were generally on the move either by day or night. They were seldom provided with more food than was sufficient for the day; and in their treacherous visitations at night, for the purposes of revenge, the European might be easily mistaken for, or confounded with, the savage. But thus it was, to the great evil of the community to which these unthinking wretches belonged.
The inhabitants of the town of Sydney having been assessed to supply thatch for the roof of the new gaol, and completed their respective proportions, the building was enclosed during this month with a strong and high fence. A building such as this had certainly been long wanted. It was 80 feet in length; the sides and ends were constructed of strong logs, a double row of which formed each partition. The whole was divided into 22 cells, the divisions of which were logs. The floor and the roof were of the same solid materials, over which was a coat 8 inches deep of stiff clay, and the roof besides was thatched. Every accommodation for prisoners was to be found in separate buildings in the prison yard, in which also was a distinct brick building for debtors, fenced off from the felon side (to use an Old Bailey distinction) by a strong and high paling.
This, enclosing a spot of ground which had been marked out on the west side of the Cove for a ship-yard, landing provisions from the transports, and completing the granary, formed the principal labour in which the public gangs were employed this month at Sydney.