A woman was stopped in the street at night, and a piece of callico forcibly taken from her. A convict being taken up as the man who had robbed her, she at first was positive to his person, but when brought before a magistrate, on recollecting that his life might be in danger, she was ready to swear that, it being very dark at the time, it was not possible she should know his features. Thus difficult was it too often found to bring these people to justice.
On the 24th his Majesty's ship Supply sailed for Norfolk Island. The patent for holding criminal courts there, which was brought hither by the Cornwallis, was sent by this conveyance, together with R. Sutton (the Newgate Bully) and some other very bad characters, who, it was not unlikely, would soon entitle themselves to the benefit of the patent which accompanied them.
Hogs again became such a public nuisance, by running loose in the town, without rings or yokes, that another order respecting them was given out, directing the owners either to shut them up, or appoint them to be watched when at large.
Reports were again received this month of fresh outrages committed by the natives at the river. The schooner which had been sent round with provisions saw some of these people off a high point of land named Portland Head, who menaced them with their spears, and carried in their appearance every mark of hostility. The governor being at this time on an excursion to that settlement (by water), one of his party landed on the shore opposite Portland Head, and saw at a short distance a large body of natives, who he understood had assembled for the purpose of burning the corpse of a man who had been killed in some contest among themselves.
About this time Bennillong, who occasionally shook off the habits of civilized life, and went for a few days into the woods with his sisters and other friends, sent in word that he had had a contest with his bosom friend Cole-be, in which he had been so much the sufferer, that until his wounds were healed he could not with any pleasure to himself appear at the governor's table. This notification was accompanied with a request, that his clothes, which he had left behind him when he went away, might be sent him, together with some victuals, of which he was much in want.
On his coming among us again, he appeared with a wound on his mouth, which had divided the upper lip and broke two of the teeth of that jaw. His features, never very pleasing, now seemed out of all proportion, and his pronunciation was much altered. Finding himself badly received among the females (although improved by his travels in the little attentions that are supposed to have their weight with the sex) and not being able to endure a life of celibacy, which had been his condition from the day of his departure from this country until nearly the present hour, he made an attack upon his friend's favourite, Boo-ree-a, in which he was not only unsuccessful, but was punished for his breach of friendship, as above related, by Cole-be, who sarcastically asked him, 'if he meant that kind of conduct to be a specimen of English manners?'
The Ceres, having been discharged from government employ, sailed in the beginning of the month for Canton. Being well manned, the master was not in want of any hands from this place; but eight convicts found means to secrete themselves on board a day or two before she sailed. They were however, by the great vigilance of Mr. Hedley, discovered in time to be sent back to their labour. Among them we were not surprised to find two or three of the last importation from Ireland.
We lost four persons by death during this month. On the 6th died of a severe dysentery, Richard Hudson, the sergeant-major of the New South Wales corps. At three in the morning of the 16th Mr. Joseph Gerald breathed his last. A consumption which accompanied him from England, and which all his wishes and efforts to shake off could not overcome, at length brought him to that period when, perhaps, his strong enlightened mind must have perceived how full of vanity and vexation of spirit were the busiest concerns of this world; and into what a narrow limit was now to be thrust that frame which but of late trod firmly in the walk of life, elate and glowing with youthful hope, glorying in being a martyr to the cause which he termed that of Freedom, and considering as an honour that exile which brought him to an untimely grave.* He was followed in three days after by another victim to mistaken opinions, Mr. William Skirving. A dysentery was the apparent cause of his death, but his heart was broken. In the hope of receiving remittances from England, which might enable him to proceed with spirit and success in farming, of which he appeared to have a thorough knowledge, he had purchased from different persons, who had ground to sell, about one hundred acres of land adjacent to the town of Sydney. He soon found that a farm near the sea-coast was of no great value. His attention and his efforts to cultivate the ground were of no avail. Remittances he received none; he contracted some little debts, and found himself neglected by that party for whom he had sacrificed the dearest connexions in life, a wife and family; and finally yielded to the pressure of this accumulated weight. Among us, he was a pious, honest, worthy character. In this settlement his political principles never manifested themselves; but all his solicitude seemed to be to evince himself the friend of human nature. Requiescat in pace!
[* He was buried in the garden of a little spot of ground which he had purchased at Farm Cove. Mr. F. Palmer, we understood, had written his epitaph at large.]