The history of these people might well be supposed to end here; but their restless dispositions were not calculated to remain long in peace.
It will be seen, on recurring to the transactions of the month of October last, that a boat belonging to a settler had been carried off in the night, by some people who were supposed to have taken her out to sea, where, from the weakness of the boat, they must soon have perished: but they were now heard of again. Owen Cavanagh, a free man, had a boat which he employed in transporting grain from the Hawkesbury to Sydney. On the 10th of this month, he informed the governor, that, a short time before, his boat had been boarded in the night, off Mullett Island, by the very people who had stolen the one from the settler, and carried her off, with another containing fifty bushels of grain which some other person was bringing to Sydney. One man, who had, against his wish, been concerned in the first seizure, now left them, and returned with Cavanagh; and from him the following account of their proceedings was obtained. Having effected the capture, they proceeded to the southward, with the intention of reaching the wreck of the ship Sydney Cove. For their guide, they had a pocket compass, of which scarcely one man of the fourteen who composed the party knew the use. In this boat they were twice thrown on shore, and at last reached an island, where, had they not fortunately found many birds and seals, they must inevitably have perished. From the inconceivable hardships they underwent, they would to a man have gladly returned, could they have hoped that their punishment would have been any thing short of death. Finding it impossible for such a number of discontented beings to continue of one mind, or to be able to furnish food in their miserable situation for so many, they judged it necessary, from a motive of self-preservation, that one half should deceive the other half; and while these were asleep, those who were prepared took away the boat, leaving their seven wretched and unsuspecting companions upon the desolate island, the situation of which this man could not describe so as to enable the governor at any time to find it. Their number now being reduced to seven, and thinking themselves in danger near this port, they had been lurking for some time about Broken Bay, with a view of capturing a better boat loaded with grain from the Hawkesbury; which they effected, first by taking the boat of Owen Cavanagh, the support of whose wife and children it had long been. After securing him, they took possession of a smaller boat, containing upwards of fifty bushels of wheat; and, finding Cavanagh's the largest and best of the two, they ran out about three or four leagues from the land, when they shifted their prisoners into the smaller boat, and stood off to the Northward; where it was very probable they would lose their boat, she being of such a size, that if they should get her on shore by any accident, they would not be able to launch her again, and must finally perish.
Here we find extreme ignorance, accompanied by great cunning, producing cruelty; for nothing less can be said of their abandoning the miserable uninformed companions of their crime. Self-preservation was their plea; but was there not a method left within their reach, which might have preserved the whole? Might they not have returned to Sydney, and thrown themselves upon that mercy which they had so often seen exercised in the settlement. Could it be imagined, that at this day there was existing in a polished civilised kingdom a race of beings (for they do not deserve the appellation of men) so extremely ignorant, and so little humanised as these were, compared with whom the naked savages of the mountains were an enlightened people?
Occasional desertions of one or two people at a time had occurred since the establishment of the settlement; but the first convicts who arrived from Ireland in the Queen in the year 1791 went off in numerous bodies, few of whom ever returned. They too were prepossessed with the possibility of penetrating through the woods to China, and imparted the same idea to all of their countrymen who came after them, engaging them in the same act of folly and madness. It was not then to be wondered at, that Wilson, who lately came in from the woods, should, among other articles of information, mention his finding more than fifty skeletons, which the natives assured him had been white men, who had lost their way and perished. This account was corroborated by different European articles which were scattered about, such as knives, old shoes, and other things which were known not to belong to the natives.
On the 20th the Francis returned with Captain Hamilton from the southward. Previous to his departure for the wreck of his ship, he had informed the governor that she had on board nearly 7000 gallons of spirits, and solicited permission to bring back a part with him in the schooner. The governor, ever averse to the introduction of spirituous liquors, would certainly have resisted the application; but, it being generally known in the colony that a considerable quantity of this article had been saved from the wreck, and that the island abounded with kangaroos and birds, he conceived these circumstances not only to have conduced to those desertions and captures of boats which had been effected, but as likely to prove farther temptations to similar practices. He therefore determined to purchase the rum of Captain Hamilton; and, as there was none in store for the public service, to take it on account of government. An agreement was accordingly entered into by the commissary, and 3500 gallons were brought round in the Francis.
Captain Hamilton stated, that of all the other articles which had been taken on shore from the wreck, a small quantity of coarse cloth alone had been saved, the remainder having been destroyed by gales of wind and bad weather. The wreck of the ship was entirely washed away. Of the six Lascars who had been left with the property, one had died; the other five were in health, and had lived tolerably well, killing upon a neighbouring island as many kangaroos and birds as they could use. These poor fellows had erected a smoke-house, and had salted and smoke-dried as much meat as would serve them during the ensuing winter.
These people, though provided only with one small boat, had made some excursions; and it appeared by their accounts, that this part of the coast of New South Wales was formed entirely by a group of islands, extending as far as they had seen to the westward of them, and interspersed with many shoals. Hence, and indeed from observations which he had made when on that part of the coast himself, the governor thought it highly probable that there were many passages or straits quite through to the ocean westward, making Van Diemen's land, the southernmost part of New Holland, an island.
Captain Hamilton had left a cow with his people, but she had died; a mare that he had been more fortunate with was brought away in the Francis.
Notwithstanding the severe trial which Cole-be had been put to for the death of Ye-ra-ni-be, the friends of that young man had not thought it sufficient to atone for his loss. One of them, Mo-roo-bra, in company with some other natives, meeting with Cole-be, made an attack upon him, with a determination to put an end to the business and his life together. Cole-be, not yet recovered of the wounds that he had received in the last affair, was unable to make much resistance; and, after receiving several blows on the head, was supposed to have been dispatched; but Mo-roo-bra, as they were quitting him, seeing him revive, and attempting to rise, returned to finish this savage business; which so exasperated another native, that he snatched up a spear, and in a rage threw it with all his force at Mo-roo-bra. The spear entered his right side, just over the hip bone, and went inclining downwards quite through the body, penetrating the bladder in its passage. Of this wound he died in about an hour. On the same evening this generous fellow was attacked by the friends of the deceased in the usual way; and, as might be expected, defended himself with great gallantry. He was, however, speared twice through the thigh, once through the leg, and received a bad wound in the right hand. The spear entered at the side of the hand, rather on the back part of it, came out in the palm, entered again under the ball of the thumb, and came out on the back of the hand, near the tendon of the forefinger. The very little inflammation that attended these painful wounds was remarkable.
Both the officiating magistrates at Sydney being at this time much indisposed, so great an inconvenience was felt, that the governor found it necessary, through the want of other magistrates, to take upon himself the execution of some part of their troublesome office. It must be observed, that the governor for the time being is a justice of the peace, by virtue of his Majesty's letters patent.