At the other settlement they had begun to reap the wheat which was sown in April last; and for want of a granary at that place it was put into stacks. From not being immediately thrashed out, there was no knowing with certainty what the produce of it was; but it had every appearance of turning out well. The ear was long and full, and the straw remarkably good.
December.] On the 3rd of this month, the governor, as one of his last acts in the settlement, ordered one pound of flour to be added to the weekly ration, which, by means of this addition, stood on his departure at 3 pounds of flour, 5 pounds of rice, 4 pounds of pork or 7 pounds of beef, 3 pounds of dholl, and 6 ounces of oil.
On the 7th the Philadelphia sailed for Norfolk Island, having on board for that settlement Mr. Grimes, the deputy surveyor; Mr. Jamieson who was to superintend the convicts employed there in cultivations; Mr. Peat, the master-carpenter (there being a person* in that situation here of much ability); a convict who came out in the Royal Admiral, to be employed as a master-tailor; two Convicts sawyers, and one convict carpenter, the same who came out with his family in the Kitty; together with some provisions and stores. His excellency had always attended to this little colony with a parental care; often declaring, that from the peculiarity of its situation he would rather that want should be felt in his own government than in that dependency; and as they would be generally eight or ten weeks later than this colony in receiving their supplies, by reason of the time which the ships necessarily required to refit after coming in from sea, he purposed furnishing them with a proportion of provisions for three months longer than the provisions in store at this place would last: and his excellency took leave of that settlement, by completing, as fully as he was able, this design.
[* Mr. Thomas Livingstone, at a salary of £50 per annum.]
He was now about taking leave of his own government. The accommodations for his excellency and the officers who were going home in the Atlantic being completed, the detachment of marines under the command of Lieutenant Poulden embarked on the 5th, and at six o'clock in the evening of Monday the 10th Governor Phillip quitted the charge with which he had been entrusted by his Sovereign, and in the execution of which he had manifested a zeal and perseverance that alone could have enabled him to surmount the natural and artificial obstacles which the country and its inhabitants had thrown in his way.
The colony had now been established within a few weeks of five years; and a review of what had been done in cultivation under his excellency's direction in that time cannot more properly be introduced than at the close of his government.
Previous to the sailing of the Britannia on the 24th of last October, an accurate survey of the whole ground in cultivation, both on account of the crown, and in the possession of individuals, was taken by the surveyor-general, and transmitted to England by that ship; and from the return which he then made, the following particulars were extracted:
GROUND IN CULTIVATION, THE 16TH OCTOBER 1792
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Acres Acres Acres Ground Total
in in in Garden cleared number
wheat barley maize ground of timber of acres
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At Parramatta ¾ 7½ 308 - - 316¼
At and leading to 171½ 14 511 - - 696½
Toongabbie
Total public ground 172¼ 21½ 819 - - 1012¾
_Belonging to Settlers and others_
At Parramatta, (1
The governor's garden - ½ 2 (3 vines - 6½
Garden ground belonging to
different people, including
convicts' gardens - - - 104 - 104
At Parramatta, 1 settler 3 - 18 1 7 29
At Prospect Hill, four miles
to the westward of
Parramatta, 18 settlers 11¼ - 84 - - 95¼
At the Ponds, two miles to
the northeast of
Parramatta, 16 settlers 10¼ 2¼ 63 3½ 16½ 95½
At the Northern boundary
farms, two miles from
Parramatta, 5 settlers 3 - 35 2¾ 11 51¾
At the Field of Mars, on
the north shore, near the
entrance of the creek
leading to Parramatta,
8 settlers, (marines) 4 - 44½ 2 31 81½
At the Eastern farms,
12 settlers - - 40½ - 12½ 53
On the creek leading to
Parramatta, 7 settlers 4¾ - 80½ 4 22 111¼
In cultivation by the civil
and military at Sydney - - - - 6½ 6½
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Total 208½ 24¼ 1186½ 121¼ 162½ 1703
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Of the sixty-seven settlers above enumerated, one, James Ruse, who had a grant of thirty acres at Parramatta, went upon his farm the latter end of November 1789; but none of the others began to cultivate ground upon their own accounts earlier than the middle of July 1791; but many of them at a much later date. The eight marine settlers at the Field of Mars took possession of their allotments at the beginning of February 1792. The conditions held out to settlers were, to be victualled and clothed from the public store for eighteen months from the term of their becoming settlers; to be furnished with tools and implements of husbandry; grain to sow their grounds, and such stock as could be spared from the public. They were likewise to have assigned them the services of such a number of convicts as the governor should think proper, on their making it appear that they could employ, feed, and clothe them. Every man had a hut erected on his farm at the public expense. At the time of the governor's departure, many of them, by their own industry, and the assistance he had afforded them, were enabled to have one or two convicts off the store, and employed by them at their farms; and such as were not married were allowed a convict hutkeeper. In general they were not idle, and the major part were comfortably situated.
At this time the quantity of land which had passed to settlers* in this territory under the seal of the colony amounted to three thousand four hundred and seventy acres; of which quantity four hundred and seventeen acres and a half were in cultivation, and the timber cleared from one hundred more, ready for sowing; which, compared with the total of the public ground in cultivation (one thousand and twelve acres and three quarters) will be found to be by eleven acres more than equal to one half of it. A striking proof of what some settlers had themselves declared, on its being hinted to them that they had not always been so diligent when labouring for the whole, 'We are now working for ourselves.' One material good was, however, to be expected from a tract of land of that extent being cultivated by individuals, if at any time an accident should happen to the crop on the public ground, they might be a resource, though an inconsiderable one. Fortunately, no misfortune of that nature had ever fallen upon the colony; but it had been, at the beginning of this month, very near experiencing a calamity that would have blasted all the prospects of the next season, and in one moment have rendered ineffectual the labour of many hands and of many months. Two days after the wheat had been reaped, and got off the ground at Toongabbie, the whole of the stubble was burnt. The day on which this happened had been unusually hot, and the country was every where on fire. Had it befallen us while the wheat was upon the ground, nothing could have saved the whole from being destroyed. From this circumstance, however, one good resulted; precautions against a similar accident were immediately taken, by clearing the timber for a certain distance round the cultivated land.