Unfortunately our plan for returning by the steamer fell through, as a high wind and heavy sea rendered the entrance of the boat into the harbour a very problematical business. Accordingly, as the boat had not made her appearance by 4P.M., there was nothing for it but to return by coach to Appin, so as to enable us to reach Sydney in time for our invitation. The cool of evening began now to be felt among the lofty steep hills, over which lies the road to the interior. At first all went well, and the early part of our journey was performed in all comfort and at a rapid pace. But we soon came to some very steep parts of the road, where our tired horses gave out, and could not proceed one step further. By this time we had left the coach, and went on on foot, shooting andcollecting as we proceeded, and admiring the beauty of the landscape around. The coach had stuck fast half-way up a steep ridge, while the horses took no heed of the servants' flagellation. The coarse language in which Mr. Croker, the very type in this respect of an English driver, exhorted Billy and Sam (so were our two steeds named), and the frequent song of the whip, availed nothing; the animals would not budge a step; so we had to lend our assistance in person, and move the vehicle a few paces farther to a less dangerous position.
Further progress, under the circumstances, was out of the question. It was resolved to send man and horse back to Wulongong to engage additional horses, and continue our walk as far as the huts at Bargo, the next station, 18 miles distant.En route, or at Bargo, it was supposed our coachman would overtake us with fresh horses. As we were by no means sure of our road, we took the precaution of carrying our most necessary effects, in the event of our having to pass the night in the bush.
It was 6.30P.M., and the sun was going down, only the extreme summits of the trees catching and reflecting his golden beams. On we went, our excitement stimulated by the prospect of an adventure. Gradually the darkness of night enveloped the wood. Our path became uncertain. Even the full splendour of the moon, as she rose in the east, and darted her silver rays through the gloom of theEucalypti, casting gigantic shadows on the sandy soil, rathertended to confuse us amid this labyrinth than enable us to extricate ourselves. We held on however till 1A.M., and were just on the eve of camping for the night to await the break of day, when all at once we saw before us the stately fence which surrounds Bargo. With quickened steps we made for the lonely little farm, and hammered at its closed door. A tremendous chorus of barking dogs was the not very propitious welcome of guests arriving at such an unseasonable hour. After repeated knocking the door of the hut was opened; an old man appeared in his night-shirt on the threshold, and gruffly inquired who we were and what we wanted? The reply was not difficult. Our having passed that way before, when we had scraped acquaintance with the old gentleman, likewise stood us in good stead. We were most cordially received, and, despite the lateness of the hour, preparations were at once made to prepare something for us to eat. Tea, coffee, eggs, fresh butter, and damper were carried into the sitting-room, and as far as was practicable sleeping quarters were prepared in the little hut.
The only ill result of our nocturnal fatigues was that we rose late, the sun being high in the heavens ere we awoke. We were just about to ask for our driver, when he made his appearance, and told us he was ready to proceed. He had paid hire for fresh horses at Wulongong, and hoped to make the rest of the journey without further interruption. While they were being put to, we re-entered the hut, andnow perceived the small space within which ourselves, three persons, had passed the night on benches, chairs, and tables. The light of day did not belie the hospitality of our reception. The furniture was rude but clean. What most surprised us was the number of massive books which stood on a small shelf, carefully arranged. They were by much the most valuable part of the furniture, and the proprietor seemed to be aware of this. The books had been the property of a schoolmaster, who had exchanged their spiritual contents against spirits of another nature. The host gave "tick" to the schoolmaster, and thus gradually possessed himself of the entire collection, no inconsiderable number, of interesting works, which now passed from hand to hand on holidays or after the day's work was over; the desire for knowledge of the settlers in this primitive Australian forest thus finding ample room to expand itself in many useful and learned particulars of foreign lands and peoples.
Towards 1P.M.we reached Campbelton. At the hotel where we alighted was installed a lodge of Odd Fellows, newly instituted. The first visible result of its organization was almost universal intoxication! In the streets and the public-houses, everywhere crowds of drunken men were staggering about. Every third house in Campbelton is a whisky shop! Throughout the colony the consumption of ardent spirits has reached an alarming height, being estimated at £6 per head of the entire population annually! Besides the spirits manufactured in the colony itself, New South Wales imports annually £1,000,000 of wine, beer, brandy, and other descriptionsof liquor; a greater consumption of spirits than in any other country of the globe![17]
The rest of our return journey being by rail was performed in two hours. The telegraph is in full activity between Campbelton and Sydney, the charge for a message of ten words being two shillings, and two-pence for each succeeding word. Towards 6P.M.we reached Sydney, driving in the present instance to the Australian club, where accommodation had in the kindest manner been provided for us.
While one section of our staff had been making the excursion southwards which we have just described, among the forests and barrens of the Illawara district, another party visited the sources of Hunter River and the Newcastle coal-fields, whence they returned laden with botanical, mineralogical, entomological, and palæontological collections, samples of coal, fossil plants, and specimens of the Silurian formations.
The most interesting episode in their excursion was their stay on Ash Island, a small isle in the Hunter River, the property of A. W. Scott, Esq., M.L.A., who has settled there with his family. Two of his daughters are hardly more conspicuous by their loveliness and grace than by their profound acquaintance with entomology, which they pursue with the utmost zeal. In addition to geological and conchyliological collections, they have also a carefully classed collection of insectsand butterflies, and at the time of our visit were about publishing a large work upon Australian butterflies. They also have the lepidopterousfaunaof New South Wales in great variety and in every stage of metamorphosis, in many cases from the veryovum, all copiously explained, and their distinguishing characteristics placed beneath in a series of above one hundred tables, which the two ladies, who are accomplished artists both in drawing and painting, have themselves lithographed and coloured.
An excursion was also made from Ash Island to the Sugar Loaf, 3288 feet high, the loftiest mountain in the district. As they had to do 40 miles in one day, the party sprang to their horses as soon as day dawned, and, accompanied by two settlers of Ash Island, laid themselves out for the day's work. First they ascended Hunter River for about a couple of miles, which a little further on headed to the northward, while the cavalcade kept to the left towards the hills. The forest was so clear of underwood, that one could almost ride along as though in a park. Despite the numerous traces of extensive fires, it seemed to have been but little altered by these from its primitive wildness. Occasionally huts and cultivated land were passed; the great proprietors usually give these runs to be cultivated as farms, or make them serve for their cattle, under their own drovers. In winter the cattle run at will in the "Bush," as the settlers call this characteristic scenery, wherever they can find the best pasture for themselves. In summer again, when the great heat drieseverything up, they are foddered with hay under shelter. The sunny forest consists ofEucalypti,Melaleuca, and othermyrtaceæ, splendidcasuarinas,Grevilleæ,Banksiæ, the native pear (Hylomelum), the highly prized Warratah (Telopea speciosissima), the all but shadowlessAcacia, the indigenous cherry (Exocarpus), beautifulPapilionaceæ, and very peculiarStylidiæ, &c. All these were old acquaintances however of the Austrian naturalists, who greeted them in this their native soil with redoubled interest and astonishment. Covered with blossoms they grew in wild unchecked profusion all around their path, so that the very horses frequently trod them under foot, scenting the air with an aroma which in Europe can only be obtained by lavish expenditure. Numerous birds, chiefly parrots, circled round the tops of the trees; the crow-likeStrepera graculina, the bald-headedTropidorhynchus corniculatusthe "Jack ass" (Dacela gigantea), so highly regarded and carefully tended by the colonists on account of its admonishing them of the presence of poisonous serpents, quantities of chaffinches (frigellidæ), the fan-tailed flycatcher (Muscipiada), theClimacteris, which runs up and down the trunks of the trees like our own wood-pecker, the monitor lizard, four or five feet in length, which flits rapidly to and fro among the trees, the prickly chameleon, and beautiful specimens of fossil helix, all furnished a rich reward for the zoologist.
After a ride of three hours the party began to approach a steep wall of rock, where the horses were left, as they had now to prosecute their journey on foot, till at length theycame to a confused mass of coarse, breccia-like sandstone, constituting what is known as the Sugar Loaf, whence they had to toil laboriously among the rocks till they reached the summit. A marvellous panorama was spread out before them; the whole county of Northumberland, with its green forest clothing, was stretched out at their feet in all its sunlit splendour. To the left far in the distance was visible the township of Maitland, and the navigable part of the Hunter River, which wound along like a silver band till it was lost in the distance, where it fell into the Pacific, on whose seething billows the stately ships looked like small white specks on a confused, uncertain back-ground. Far in the distance to the right, half concealed by the forest, was Lake Macquarie. The colonial members of the party described the latter as very difficult of access, but as a veritable paradise for the sportsman, since it is frequented by black swans in hundreds, the Australian stork, curlews, the hook-billed creeper, cormorants, and an infinite variety of water-fowl. The Blue Mountains formed the back-ground of this splendid landscape. The whole neighbourhood is pretty well settled and cultivated. Here and there wreaths of blue smoke indicated where the huts of industrious colonists lay concealed in the forest. Their conductors were not a whit behind the strangers in their appreciation of the panoramic effect; they had never scaled the summit before, although the elder had lived 15 years at Ash Island, and had often been as far as the top of the first rocky ascent in search of strayed cattle.
Lost in delighted contemplation of the beauties of nature, no account was made of the passage of time, so that part of the return journey had to be made in the twilight. It was a delightful, clear, moonlight night. The deep stillness in nature was only occasionally broken by the shrill cry of the curlew (Numenius arquata), from the neighbouring swamps, or the rustling of Wallabies disturbed by the tread of the advancing horsemen. Buried in a sort of dreamy charm that could find no utterance, the riders left their horses to choose their own pace over the sward, hardly able to realize that they were indeed under the unclouded brilliancy of an Australian sky, traversing the forests haunted by the timid kangaroo and the swift but shy emu.
Unfortunately it was found impossible, owing to want of time, to visit the Blue Mountains and the gold regions around Bathurst. We had to content our curiosity as to the products of the gold-fields by examining the nuggets exhibited by the fortunate finders in the jewellers' shops of George Street, Sydney, and the particulars furnished in the daily papers of the well-authenticated riches of the gold-fields of the oldest colony. During our stay a lump of gold was discovered in the Western district weighing 150 lbs., and worth £6000. Such instances of good fortune only tend to raise fallacious hopes of being equally fortunate in the breasts of thousands of men. Shortly before our arrival, on the news being promulgated of the new Eldorado in the north near Port Curtis on the Fitzroy, not less than 16,000 men flockedthither from New South Wales and Victoria. This enormous influx of human beings to a district totally unprovided with either shelter or provisions for such a horde resulted in unutterable suffering. People had sold their goods in Sydney for whatever they would fetch, in order to be the first in the gold-field with the requisite implements. Many lost their entire means of support, having even sacrificed the most favourable prospects in the eager thirst for gold and sudden prosperity. The streets of Melbourne and Sydney were filled with gold-seekers, who, laden with blankets, household utensils, axes, and spades, were laying down their last farthing for passage tickets, and rushed breathlessly to the ships which were to convey them to the newly-discovered gold-field. The voyage began under the most rose-coloured anticipations of brilliant success. But scarcely a month later came most depressing intelligence from Port Curtis. Here was a set of lawless desperadoes, deceived in their expectations, without food, clothing, or even the object of their search, in a remote part of the country, with the hot season coming on, and no means of returning! Men were seen selling for a few shillings implements that had cost pounds. The whole road from the supposed gold-fields to the landing-quay was strewed with diggers, who, footsore and fainting under the heat, were toiling towards the coast, where they rushed in wild confusion on board the ships which were to convey the victims back to the colonies they had left at so much sacrifice and with so extravagant expectations!
It was only the energetic measures taken by Government, by whom provisions were forthwith despatched to the wretched make-shifts of settlements improvised on the spur of the moment, and gave numbers free passages to Sydney and Melbourne, that prevented some serious disaster. A few months later the place so suddenly populous had become once more a despised solitude, and Rockhampton had resumed its wonted state of a hamlet consisting of two or three houses. In Sydney, however, the famished crowd seeking after work kept wandering about, thankfully accepting the soup which the charity of their fellow-citizens supplied free of charge.
During these various excursions of the scientific staff, the frigate had, thanks to the kindness of H.E. Sir Wm. Denison, been taken into the Government dry dock at Cockatoo Island in order to facilitate her extensive repairs. TheNovarawas, as the chief engineer himself allowed, the largest man-of-war which had ever been docked, not merely in Port Jackson, but anywhere in the Eastern hemisphere.
The Fitzroy dry dock, which had not long been completed, is 300 feet in length (since lengthened another 100 feet), 60 feet wide, and will accommodate vessels drawing 19 feet water. In preparing this splendid structure, which took eight years to complete, a huge rock 50 feet high was first blasted, the excavation began on the land-side, and on its completion a gate opened towards the sea. All being right thus far, a subaqueous mine was sprung by means of largediving-bells, the excavations being charged with two or three lbs. of powder. A steam-engine of 40-horse power pumps the dock dry,[18]besides being geared to set in motion the various machinery in the shops, such as lathes, iron planes, &c. The dock gates are iron-plated. Although constructed entirely by convict labour, the expense was enormous, since to overcome the extraordinary difficulty presented by the soil, the entire machinery, down to the very smallest tool, had to be imported from England.
The frigate lay about a week in dock. Besides the usual handicraftsmen there were upwards of thirty caulkers employed, each of whom was paid 14s.per diem, net, but the entire cost was 17s.a day, as each man was conveyed to and fro, morning and evening, at Government expense. But as provisions are high, the workman can save by the end of the week little if at all more than the English labourer who does not receive one-third of his wages. At present there are on the island 360 prisoners, all such as have been sentenced to ten years penal servitude at least. This establishment was, however, to be broken up, and the convicts distributed among other prisons, so soon as the dock was quite completed.
The main features of a prison reform, contemplated by Sir Wm. Denison, with the praiseworthy object not merely of prevention of crime, but of ameliorating the moral conditionof the criminal, consisted in the classification of criminals according to the nature of their crime—co-operative labour during the day, solitary confinement at night, and a certain amount of remuneration for work performed, so as to stimulate to habits of industry by a visible reward, and a scale of dietary barely sufficient to maintain life, any additional delicacy being paid for out of the man's own earnings, yet not so as to entirely exhaust his wages, the balance of which thus went on accumulating, so as to give him a small sum of money in hand, when, his sentence expired, he was set at liberty with, it is to be hoped, freshly-acquired habits of industry. To facilitate this benevolent plan, Sir William bethought him of erecting the prisons in the neighbourhood of Sydney, where there is more of a market for convict labour, and recommended the construction of roads. The number of prisoners at present in New South Wales is about 1260, whose support costs on an average £36,000 per annum. In order to adapt to the existing prisons the new system put in operation by the late Governor-general, and extend it to 1600 men,[19]there would be required a further outlay of £69,000, but one-third of the present annual outlay for sustenance would be saved.
On 25th November theNovara, thoroughly overhauled and rejuvenated, returned to her former anchorage near Garden Island, and the following day commenced a series of festivities, which the German residents at Sydney had got upto welcome the Imperial Expedition, commencing with a serenade, given by the German Singing-Club, who hired a large steamer, theWashington, for the occasion, which they had gaily decorated with foliage and coloured lamps. Amidships there was a splendid transparency, with the word "Welcome" inscribed in letters of light, above which was a very neatly executed Austrian eagle. Upwards of 300 guests shared in the fête. At 8P.M.the vessel got under weigh from Circular Quay. With the first plash of the paddles the music struck up, and the ship glided off, as though on the wings of Harmony, towards the grand-lookingNovara.
Unfortunately the weather proved very unfavourable. To an oppressingly hot, close, sultry day of entire calm, the thermometer marking 109° Fahr. in shade, there had suddenly sprung up a "Brickfielder,"[20]that dreaded south wind, which may be considered one of the worst plagues of Sydney, owing to the clouds of dust. It now put German patience and German good-humour to a severe proof. At each tack of the steamer it blew out a whole row of variegated lamps and illuminations, which, however, were as perseveringly relit. It had been firmly resolved, however,to let nothing mar the success of the festival, and the old indomitable German "pluck" came out victorious in its contest with the "Brickfielder." Amid the full clangour of the bands of music were heard shouts of jubilant mirth, mingled with the howling and whistling of the wind, and the rush and roar of rockets, while the occasional firing of Bengal lights shed their magic effect over the parti-coloured crowd on board, the ships in harbour, and the agitated waters below. At last the steamer got near the frigate, which she swept round in a wide graceful curve, and dropped anchor at a little distance away. At that moment a considerable number of port-fires were lit on board theNovara, bathing the entire scene, including the stately ship herself, in an absolute deluge of light, guided by which a number of boats put off with the company, who despite the weather were all enabled in safety to gratify their curiosity as to the effect of nocturnal festivities.
One of the frigate's boats was manned and despatched to the steamer, to bring on board theNovarathe committee who had been entrusted with the presentation of an address.
On board theNovarathe utmost excitement prevailed, almost all the officers and petty and warrant officers being on deck, the band playing nothing but German music. The evening ended as it began, with music and melody, such a thoroughly German welcome making a profound impression upon the English of Sydney.
The following day the German clubs of Sydney invitedthe staff to a ceremonial banquet, the saloon in which dinner was served being elegantly decorated with the flags of the various German states, between which were excellent likenesses of the Emperor and Empress. Upwards of seventy guests sat down to a sumptuous repast, after which free flow was given to the expression of the warmest wishes for fatherland and the German nation.
While these festivities were going on, the English mails brought the intelligence of the birth of an heir to the throne! So signal a cause for thankfulness on the part of Austria was duly observed at the uttermost ends of the earth, and on 27th November the thunder of theNovara'scannon announced the glad tidings to the colonies of the southern coasts of Australia! Salutes of 21 guns were fired at morning, noon, and sunset, while on board our ship, which was decorated with all her colours, a solemnTe Deumwas sung, after which the crew were mustered on parade. The English ships of war also "dressed," and returned our salute by one of a similar number of guns. On the 30th there was a ball on board, to which 400 guests were invited, many of theélitebeing overlooked through sheer want of space or accommodation!
The hospitality extended to the Austrian officers was not however confined to these public receptions, when they were thoroughly "lionized" during their stay, but also included a constant round of invitations among private circles, among which, without making invidious selections, where we canbut feel a lasting recollection of the cordial kindness we everywhere experienced, we may specify those of H.E. Sir Wm. Denison, Sir D. Cooper, Speaker, Stuart A. Donaldson, Esq. Chief Secretary, Dr. G. Bennett, the eminent physician and naturalist, M. W. Sentis, French Consul, and Captain Mann, chief engineer of the docks.
Here also our thanks are due to an estimable Austrian lady, a native of Vienna, who, wafted on the pinions of Hymen to Australia, has not a little contributed to uphold in that distant region the gentle dignity of the Viennese ladies, and the renown of Germany for musical supremacy. This lady, widely known in artistic circles as Mlle Amalie Mauthner, is now Madame R——, having a few years since married a German gentleman settled in Sydney. Quitting her home under the most auspicious anticipations for the future, the newly-married lady arrived in Sydney just in time to see her husband's house of business succumb under the first of the great financial crises. Instead of a life of affluence and ease in the gold-country, the sorely-tried lady was compelled to display her irresistible energy and activity by availing herself of her eminent musical attainments. The charming artist was speedily recognized and cordially supported in Sydney. The wealthiest and most distinguished families considered it an especial favour to be permitted to place their children under Mad. R——'s tuition. Her concerts became the most fashionable of the season, and the dark cloud which had gathered above the young inexperienced wifeon her arrival in Australia, had, thanks to her marvellous energy and activity, gradually been dispelled, leaving a bright sunny horizon of felicity and content.
We had but little opportunity of observing the phases of political life in Sydney, our arrival being coincident with the "dead season" of politics. We were just in time to be present at the spectacle of the prorogation of Parliament. This ceremonial took place in the chamber of the Legislative Council, the Governor-general officiating in person. The second chamber, or Legislative Assembly, was, as in England, represented simply by a deputation. Punctually at noon Black Rod threw open the doors and announced in grave but loud tones, "His Excellency the Governor-general of New South Wales," upon which Sir William Denison entered the apartment with much dignity, and assumed his seat under a sort of canopy. By his side stood the Ministers, his private secretary, and an aide-de-camp. Before him sat the President of the Legislative Council, and other high dignitaries. Sir D. Cooper, Speaker of the Assembly,—whom we scarcely recognized in his strange official costume, a black silk single-breasted coat, richly laced with gold, and an immense full wig,—delivered a short address, to which the Governor-general briefly responded, and the ceremony was over and the Parliament prorogued. Australia now enjoys such a free constitution, modelled after the English form, the administration of the various colonies is so entirely autonomous, their duty to the mother country so insignificant (so far as outward formgoes), that the colonists seem quite content with their present administration, and the mal-contents, who once advocated separation and independence, even to the length of ventilating the subject in Parliament, have now been reduced to utter insignificance.
Each colony has, by the "New Constitution Act" of 1851, been provided with the utmost freedom of self-government, the British Government only reserving the right of veto in those cases where the colonial laws should happen to run counter to the common law of the Empire. One hears, it is true, many prognostications as to the result of dividing the country into so many independent colonies, and having so many parliaments, especially as to the immense preponderance that the inhabitants of the cities must have over the scattered country population. A few even seem to be of opinion that they must contain many elements eminently unsuitable to the vitality of a mutually reliant, cohesive, law-abiding confederation. But although some passing blots and temporary defects may be dragged to the light of day, it must not be overlooked that the Australian continent is almost as large as Europe, and that each of these colonies covers more superficial area than most of the European states. As the laws and administration are the same for all these, it is more probable that the anticipated break up of moral power will rather take the form of developing true political life, so that the masses will more honourably and surely be enabled to appreciate their constitutional rights and duties.
A few days before our departure some of the scientific staff had further opportunity of communicating with the "blacks." It was important to extend our collection of craniological specimens for that branch of study, by comparing the various races of men with each other, so as to enlarge our knowledge of the physiological peculiarities of either sex and every race; and as we had been told that numbers of skulls could be procured among theGunyahs, or sandstone cavities of Cook-river Bay, which had been a favourite burial-place of the aborigines, we made an excursion thither, still accompanied by our staunch friend, Mr. Hill.
Our light vehicle rattled merrily through the suburbs of New Town, a sort of suburb of Sydney, thence over the Cook-river Dam, 1000 feet wide by 200 feet in length, to Coggera Cove, where several of the aborigines had pitched a temporary camp. These were two Mestiza women with their children, and Johnny, the last of the Sydney blacks, who might be about 40, and was a cripple in consequence of an injury sustained in childhood. In 1836 there were 58 still alive; now Johnny is the last remaining survivor!
We set off from Coggera Cove in a small, but safe, and well-built boat, rowed by Johnny and some white colonists, bound for Cool-river Bay, but our search in the sandstone caverns was unfortunately fruitless. Johnny then conducted us to a spot where Tom Weiry, one of the last of the chiefs, who lived at the mouth of Cool River, and died about twelve years previous, had been buried. Tom Weiry, or Tom Ugly,as the English named him, was a very athletic man, whose skeleton was a real prize for the purposes of comparative anatomy. Close to the spot where, according to Johnny, the last remains of the Australian chief reposed, were large quantities of empty oyster-shells, indicating that the place in question had once been a favourite resort of the "blacks," attracted thither by the prolific yield of this place in those shell-fish, one of their most highly appreciated articles of food. At various spots traces of fires were visible. The aborigines of the coast usually bury their dead clothed in the woollen blanket they wore in life, with the heads seaward, and near the coast, with but a few feet of earth over them. Unfortunately we had our pains for our reward, although Johnny repeatedly assured us he had himself, in picking up shell-fish, on that very spot seen projecting from the sand human bones, that frightened the superstitious fellow from prosecuting his search in that direction. Indeed, Johnny was positive some other exploring naturalist had been there and walked off with our contemplated anthropological prize.
We returned, our object unachieved, to our boat, and so back to Coggera Cove, where we found tea and chocolate prepared in the renowned "black pot," that figures so much in bush life, off which we made an excellent repast. With true kindliness Mr. Hill shared what we had brought with us with the aborigines, who, on their part, showed themselves very obliging and attentive.
A second excursion, still in Mr. Hill's company, was madeafter craniological specimens to Long Bay, twelve miles distant, among whose thickets a few natives had been residing for some weeks. The road thither passed through gum tree forests, varied by wide grass plains covered with the many-blossomedMetrosidero, with its long deep red stamens, and brilliantMelaleuca, its twigs also nearly covered with white flowers, among which rose the tapering flower-stem, ten or twelve feet high, of theXanthorrhea, something like reed-mace, surrounded by flights of humming-birds, which were imbibing its delicious nectar with their long bills. Great quantities of little birds were swarming about the brushwood and rushes, occasionally coming quite trustfully so close to us that we could have caught them with a butterfly net. We had been riding perhaps an hour or two when Mr. Hill suddenly began to call in the native manner. Those forthwith summoned by this quite unique sound replied from the thicket, as if recognizing the approach of a friend, and in a minute or two more we found ourselves in the midst of a number of aborigines of both sexes, mostly naked, or with a coarse woollen cloth around them, lying at full length on the ground in listless ease. Close by was a fire, over which was suspended a kettle filled with water. A couple of mangy hounds covered with sores were basking in the sun, heedless of the footfall of our horses, lying as indifferent as their masters till we had dismounted and seen our beasts attended to.
It is extraordinary to see how few necessaries these people seem to have, and how little ambition they have to betterthemselves, so long as they can indulge their vagabondizing propensities. There is assuredly no nation on earth that so aptly illustrates Goldsmith's words,
"Man wants but little here below,"
"Man wants but little here below,"
as the black race of Australia.
Those we were now visiting had come from the districts of Shoal Haven, Port Stephens, and Illawara. There were three men and as many women, one of whom, a Mestiza, named Sarah, with two half-blood little children. One of these, which, although above two years of age, was still at the breast, had a skin quite white, red cheeks, and light-blue eyes, and could scarcely be distinguished from the child of white parents. These presented so characteristic a type of the race, that we could not resist an attempt to make with them some of those admeasurements of the body already alluded to, while the artist attached to the Expedition delineated their appearance.
The skull of the Australian black is tolerably regular, the forehead broad and high, the bridge of the nose pretty high, the eyes dark, brilliant, and sunken; the nose and cheek-bones well marked. The mouth generally is broad, the upper lip overhanging the under, and the upper teeth also project beyond the under. The face, like the entire body, is hairy in an unusual degree; the hair of the head is black, thin, often very fine in texture, and slightly crisped without being woolly. The skin is usually dark or dirty brown, or brownish black. The custom of marking the outer arm fromthe shoulders downwards with three or four marks, from 1 to 11⁄2inch long, and rather thick in the cicatrix, and continuing over the back with similar incisions, is pretty universal, and seems to be considered as a personal decoration. The elder people have the nasal cartilage bored through, and wear in the orifice kangaroo bones, or other bones, or even pieces of wood as amulets. We did not however remark this among the younger generation; this hideous custom seems to have died out, apparently on account of its discomfort.
The stay of theNovarain Australia was, as already remarked, so brief, that it did not admit of the scientific staff making more distant tours to the great cattle "stations," or gold districts. At the same time it appears to us important to make some few observations on these two products, to which Australia is indebted for her present prosperity, and the former of which is fraught with even more of its future destiny than the latter. At the commencement of the present century England used to procure all her wool from Spain, and somewhat later from Germany[21]and Hungary. Since that period the production of wool in the Cape, the East Indies, and Australia, has so enormously increased, that Great Britain is enabled to get from her colonies the entire consumption she requires for her woollen manufactures, averaging from 60 to 70,000,000 lbs., thus utilizing the agriculturalenergies of her emigrating children for the behoof of the mother country and her industrial classes.
New South Wales produces at present (1858) above 17,000,000 lbs. of wool, the whole of Australia about 50,000,000. The number of sheep has increased from 29, imported by the first colonists in 1778,[22]to 8,139,160 in New South Wales alone, the total for all Australia being about 15,000,000. Some proprietors have upwards of 100,000 sheep, which they divide into flocks of from 2000 to 3000, which are in charge each of its respective shepherd, who keeps them in their own special "runs."
The most suitable place for breeding sheep is Moreton Bay, lately raised into a new independent colony by the name of Queen's Land. The sheep there need but little attention, and the maladies to which they are subject in the west and south never occur in that colony. Were it not for theravages of the wild dogs, the rearing of sheep would be attended with hardly any expense. These are pastured on the crown lands, for the use of which each squatter pays £10 per annum for every 4000 sheep, or 800 head of cattle. In the north, "Darling Downs" are considered the best, consisting of an open undulating table-land, broken here and there by occasional clumps of trees, and much resembling the States of Minnesota and Iowa, north and west of the Mississippi. On these Downs from 3000 to 4000 sheep can easily be kept by a single shepherd, whereas in Bathurst 800 would call into play all the watchfulness of a single individual. On Darling Downs the annual increase of a flock of 100 ewes is 96 per cent.; in Bathurst it is only 80. The value of a sheep is about 15s.to 20s., and the shearing usually begins in October and lasts till December, the average weight being 21⁄2lbs. to the fleece. Innumerable teams of oxen carry the wool in bales of 200 or 300 lbs. from hundreds of miles in the interior down to the seaports, where the oxen and carts are usually sold, as, owing to the low price of cattle, it would not be remunerative to take them back without a freight. While we were in Australia an attempt had been made, at much cost of time, trouble, and expense, to import from their native Cordilleras a large number of Llamas or Alpacas, with the view of increasing the value of Australian wool by a cross with the Peruvian. An enterprising English merchant of Valparaiso, named Joshua Waddington, who had been 40 years residentin Chili, was a chief promoter of the undertaking. In 1852 another Englishman had undertaken to convey 500 alpacas to England, but, despite the utmost care during the voyage, only three were landed alive. Waddington attributed this disaster to the want of fresh food, and therefore hit upon the expedient of accustoming those animals which he intended to send to Australia to the use of dry fodder, such as barley, bran, and hay, for some time before their embarkation. As soon as they had become somewhat inured they were shipped at Caldera, near Copiapó, and entrusted to the care of Mexican Indians accustomed to their habits, for transport to Australia. The vessel was of 800 tons burthen, and was chartered at 6000 dollars for the voyage. The fitting up of the vessel for her novel cargo cost about 300 dollars. Each animal, in addition to its ration of dried food, had a quart of water per diem. The voyage from Caldera to Sydney took 70 days. Of 316 llamas shipped or born on the voyage only 36 died, 280 arriving in excellent health at Sydney, and were with all speed turned into a large pasture on the Government domain.[23]For weeks the negotiations remained in an anxious suspense, in consequence of the original projector of the undertaking, an adventurous Yankee, named Ledger, who had purchased the animals in the interior of Peru, and after four years of unwearied assiduity had accompanied his chargehither, standing out for a large sum by way of reward. Long after we had left Sydney we learned that the 280 llamas were sold to a company of sheep-breeders at £25 a head, or for £7000 sterling the entire herd, the value of an animal in Peru being two or three dollars.
The yield of the various gold-fields[24]in the west, north, and south of the colony, though nothing like so great as in the neighbouring colony of Victoria, yet contributes in no inconsiderable degree to the annual revenue of the state, and maintains a considerable commerce with other countries. According to official reports, the amount of gold taken out since its first discovery in March, 1851, to the end of July, 1860, was 2,587,549 oz., worth about £9,600,000. Besides this, however, a considerable quantity of money was brought to the coast by private conveyance, where it was smelted down, since the entire yield of New South Wales in nine years was £12,696,231, besides £3,096,231 in the State Treasury and Mint, according to official returns.
The rumour that gold was to be found in Australia was first set on foot by the Rev. H. F. Clarke, a Protestant missionaryand well-known geologist, who so far back as 1841 found gold in the hills W. of Vale of Clyde, and had even then proved to several influential personages by unmistakeable evidence the existence of gold-quartz, with the remark that in Australia, especially the province of Victoria, all scientific indications were in favour of there being a great amount of gold. But the learned country parson found at that time little attention or interest, as well in consequence of its then being still a penal colony, as of the ignorance at that period universally prevalent as to the value of such indications.
Ten years later a certain Mr. Hargrave adopted the rational course of visiting California, where he made himself master of the various means of obtaining gold, after which he returned, and commenced to wash for gold in Summer Hill Creek, Victoria, and thus became the practical discoverer of the gold-fields, the special contributor to the development of the resources of the country. The committee of the Legislative Council, to whom was entrusted to examine and report upon the claims of individuals as to the honour of having discovered the Australian gold-fields, added to the minute of 10th March, 1841, that Mr. Hargrave, who had so disinterestedly thrown open to all this inexhaustible mine of wealth, ought to receive £5000, and Rev. W. H. Clarke £1000 in recognition of his mineralogical researches, which had conduced to the same result. The first Australian gold, 18 oz. in weight, was landed in London by theHondurason 20th August, 1851. Thenceforward the importation increasedwith each month, the amount by the end of the year having reached 240,044 oz., worth £871,652. The following year the amount extracted was 4,247,657 oz., value £14,866,799.
The crowd of gold-seekers and adventurers, attracted by the discovery, was something tremendous. From the commencement of Sept. 1851, when 29 men were engaged in washing at Anderson's Creek, to the end of December, only four months, the population of the diggings reached 20,300; in 1852 they numbered 53,500, in 1853 75,626.
Shortly after the discovery of the gold-fields, the Colonial Government appointed special officers, the well-known "Gold Commission," to watch over these improvised settlements. They published "Regulations for the management of the gold-fields," and sold licenses, at 20s.or 40s.according to yield, for the privilege of digging within certain limits; the localities most in favour being Ballarat, Mount Alexander, Castlemain, Sandhurst, Beechworth, and Heathcote.
The gold obtained in 1852 was valued at from 58s.to 60s.per ounce. The banks made advances at the rate of from 40s.to 55s.per oz., or exchanged the gold-dust at from 81⁄2to 10 per cent. discount for coined money. The freight was 41⁄2d.per oz. In 1858 the value of the ounce had risen at the "diggings" to from 70s.to 77s., and the discount had fallen to 1 per cent., and the Insurance Company charged for gold transport a premium of from 13⁄4to 21⁄2per cent.
Since that period gold has repeatedly been discovered in fresh localities of the adjoining colony of Victoria, the "yield"and the number of diggers being also steadily increasing. Many thousands at present leave New South Wales annually to try their fortune in other fields than those of agriculture. In 1857 upwards of 26,000 persons left this colony for Victoria. Consequently, the price of labour has risen throughout Australia, and while it has thus increased in expense it has become more uncertain and unreliable. A large number of buildings, especially in the country, have been left unfinished, and the clearing and cultivation of numerous tracts of land have been abandoned. These temporary evils, however, cannot be permitted to outweigh the enormous advantages derivable from the discovery of the gold-fields of Australia. It has attracted the attention of universal mankind to a distant British colony, hitherto almost unnoticed, it has peopled the country with magic celerity, centupled the value of the land, made its results appreciable in the remotest districts of the globe, and raised the colony of Victoria within a few years, in national prosperity, increased trade, and extended cultivation, to a degree of importance usually the slow growth of centuries of industry.
The discovery of the gold-fields had at the same time important scientific consequences, chiefly in the way of geological researches, which resulted in proving that the widespread popular opinion, that the Australian continent belongs to the latest geological era, and had comparatively recently emerged from the sea, is entirely erroneous. Rich palæontological collections confirm the opinion that Australia is not the latest, but rather the earliest, continent. In several partsof the colony the fossil remains of various colossal animals have been discovered, which, as since measured, must have stood from 10 to 16 feet in height, and correspond to our diluvial Pachydermata in Europe. In like manner, with the exception of some quite insignificant tertiary strata of small extent, only crystalline rocks and primary formations (from the Silurian upwards) form the chief bulk of the continent. The entire series of secondary strata seems to be absent. From this fact it necessarily results that Australia has been a continent since the end of the primary epoch, that it never has been covered by the sea, but remained ever since the beginning of the secondary formations, through all those countless ages during which Europe was being convulsed by the most tremendous geological revolutions, a habitable soil, on which plants and beasts, undisturbed by change in the inorganic world, might have continued to flourish down to our own times. Viewed in this light the fauna and flora of Australia would be the most ancient and primitive in the world.
Another Austrian naturalist, the well-known botanist Professor Unger of Vienna, has come to the same conclusions from the fossil remains of some Australian plants, accompanied by the further singular deduction, that Europe must have been at one period in much closer accordance with this remote region. Many forms of plants, especiallyProteaceæ, which at present form such a peculiar feature of its vegetation, seem to have been similarly prevalent in Europe atthat remote age of the globe. But if even it be accepted that during the Eocene or earliest tertiary period there existed in Europe under similar climatic conditions flora ofConiferæ,Proteaceæ,Myrtaceæ, andCasurinæ, such as Australia now possesses, the question still arises as to how the vegetation of a locality so remote should have been transferred to antipodean Europe? Making all due allowance for the astonishing influence exercised by winds, waves, and the migration of animals over the diffusion of vegetable species, yet the means of transport by the ocean or by currents of water is confined within narrow limits, and under the most favourable conditions is limited to the very few plants which can maintain their powers of reproduction uninjured by immersion in water, and those on the other hand which, on being transported to a strange shore, find there the means of existence and increase. As, moreover, the observations which Professor Unger has made upon the diffusion of species of plants at that remote period, and their very accurately circumscribed limits, run directly counter to the opinion of those naturalists who hold to a variety of centres of development, (instancing a case where one species of plants is found in two widely separated regions,) have never been satisfactorily refuted, the learned botanist thereupon proceeds to the conclusion, that during the Eocene period Australia was united to the mainland through the Moluccas. This land route has been followed at one period byAraucarias,Proteaceæ, sandal wood, and a hundred other varieties of treeand shrub, which till that connection was made could not diffuse themselves, so as thus to reach the European continent, where they are even now found, despite the lapse of myriads of years, in the shape of well-preserved fossils. Thus too, for similar reasons, the geologist to our Expedition, like Professor Unger, regarded Australia as not a youthful, lately-born continent, but a country decaying with antiquity, which had played its part in the physical history of the globe, and had spread its scions far and wide. Some alteration of level is not merely indicated by the numerous coral reefs encircling Australia and its island groups, pointing to a similar sinking among them as that already noticed among the smaller Polynesian islands:—The whole characteristics of the soil, the wastes of the interior, the innumerable salt lakes, the rivers which lose themselves in these, &c. &c., tell of a coming geological transformation, which however—we mention this for the consolation of the settlers—may yet be postponed for myriads of years.
The system of transportation, concerning which so loud an outcry has recently been made, has so materially assisted in developing the resources of the country, that it would hardly be right to quit Botany Bay without a few remarks on the penal colony which was in existence there till 1840. For there is no spot on the globe better adapted than New South Wales to serve as a stand-point, whence any one might accurately study the advantages and drawbacks of the English transportation system, as also its influence upon a stronglyrecalcitrant society. In brief, we purpose to subject the system as it subsisted for half a century in Australia to a thorough analysis, inasmuch as it seems to us that, in our present unnatural social conditions, transportation, i. e. the sudden transference of the criminal to totally new conditions of external life, seems to furnish the much-desired turning point whence we may expect a lasting moral improvement of the individual. Our Austrian prisons, especially those in which the cell system has not been introduced, are simply houses of detention, not penitentiaries, still less reformatories. The incarcerated criminal is a burden to himself and to society, to which he is only in the most exceptional cases restored improved by confinement. The charge of maintaining him increases year by year, without any return being made by utilizing the labour of the prisoner. In penal colonies, on the other hand, the convict works as much for his own benefit as for that of society. He throws open new immeasurable tracts of land to civilization, trade, and industry. The evil effects of certain climates upon the health of the convict can be corrected by proper ordinances, till it is reduced to a barely appreciable minimum. The free settler is also exposed in unsettled countries to dangerous illnesses, but as his circumstances improve these disappear before the cleared forest, the cultivated patch, the drained swamp.
We do not believe that were the option left them there is one solitary individual in our Austrian prisons, condemned to periods of imprisonment of ten years and upwards, who wouldnot willingly exchange his sojourn at home for one in even the insalubrious islands of the Indian Ocean, if the prospect were held out to him after a series of years of steady labour and honest activity, that he might make his new-found activity available to secure his liberty. What may be made, however, of a valueless wilderness by means of compulsory labour, we have at this day an example of in the case of the first penal colony of New South Wales. Even the objectionable manner in which the system was administered during more than fifty years in Australia and Van Diemen's land could not entirely destroy its beneficial effects upon the criminal, or blind an unprejudiced observer to the advantages and general utility of transportation as a means of punishment. In 1787 the eastern coast of Australia, chiefly in consequence of the too glowing accounts of the suitability of the harbours, and the fertility of the soil of Botany Bay, was selected by the British Government as the site of a penal colony, and on the 26th January, 1788, the first batch of convicts was landed there. These consisted of 600 males and 250 women, and were accompanied by an escort of 200 men. Forty of the latter were married men, who were accompanied by their wives and children. The whole expedition was under the command of Captain Phillip, the first Governor of the new settlement.[25]
The colonists had scarcely settled down after their arrival on, as was speedily found, the anything but safe or fertile shores of Botany Bay, ere they were removed to another harbour, lying about seven miles further north, beautifully situate, and fulfilling every requirement, which they named Port Jackson.
The first free settlers did not make their appearance till 1794. The officers of the garrison were merchants also, and trafficked in whatever merchandise they could find. Rum especially was a chief article. A Government regulation required every ship which should put into Port Jackson, to deliver a certain proportion of her spirits to the officers according to their rank!! They also received a list of the merchandise brought by each ship, from which they selected whatever seemed most profitable, which they disposed of again at retail to the soldiers, settlers, and convicts at an immense profit. Further, the officers enjoyed the entire monopoly of importing spirits, as also the exclusive privilege of selling them to the retail merchants. By these devices many of them amassed considerable fortunes by trade, and thus the repeated efforts made by a succession of Governors to effect a reform in the colony were rendered fruitless. During the administration of Captain Bligh, so widely known in connection with the tragic fate of the mutineers of theBounty, rum was the most valuable article of exchange, and the colonists found by bitter experience that there were no other sellers of this destructive drink than the privileged few.
The utmost anarchy and violence reigned supreme throughoutNew South Wales at that period; the power of the Government was set entirely at nought, license and violence usurped the place of law and order; the convicts found they were not under any effective control or supervision; whole bands of them infested the country as "bush-rangers," till they grew so bold as to enter the dwellings of peaceful settlers in broad day, where they perpetrated the most cruel excesses.
In 1807 Mr. McArthur and Captain Abbot of the 102nd introduced the first distilling apparatus into the country for cheapening the production of ardent spirits. The Governor forthwith confiscated the apparatus, and forbade distillation in any part of the colony. This prohibition gave rise among those interested to dissensions, which gradually rose to such a height, that about a year thereafter it led to Bligh being placed in confinement by some of his own officers. The English Government however now began to perceive that such a state of carelessness could no longer be endured, and not only reinstated Bligh, but promoted him to the rank of Admiral.
On their arrival in the colony the prisoners were sent to barracks in Sydney, where the Government selected from their number such handicraftsmen as they required for the public works, while the remainder were distributed as land cultivators, labourers, artisans, &c., among such private individuals as had made themselves agreeable to the Government. As free labour was rare and expensive in the colony at that period, the requests for such allocations of forced labour were greatly in excess of the number of workmen so available.
Those consigned to private individuals were taken into the interior in charge of a constable or overseer, where they were required to build a shelter for themselves, which, owing to the mildness of the climate, could be very speedily accomplished. The hours of work were from 6A.M.to 6P.M., and the main feature was that the convict durst not leave his employer, whether kind and good-tempered, or harsh and cruel. When there was no further occasion for their services they were remitted to Government, who found another employer for them.
All land-holders in the colony were entitled, on preferring a request to the Governor to that effect, to have assigned them, according to the current quantity of disposable labour, in the proportion of one workman to every 320 acres of land; but no settler, no matter how extensive his holding, could "take on" more than 75 convicts. Each employer had to engage to keep the convict assigned him one month at least, and provide, at his own cost, food and clothing according to a scale fixed by Government.
The weekly rations consisted of nine lbs. wheaten flour, or at the option of the employer, three lbs. Indian corn, and seven lbs. of wheat flour, seven lbs. of beef or mutton, four lbs. salt pork, two oz. salt, two oz. soap. The clothing consisted of two jackets annually, three shirts of canvas or cotton, two pairs of drawers, three pairs of shoes of stout leather, and a hat or cap. Each labourer was also allowed the use of a counterpane and mattress, which however remained the property of the employer. These legal privilegeshad however been extended through custom or the favour of the employers to various little articles of luxury, such as tobacco, sugar, tea, grog, &c. In particular, with the object of ensuring the utmost zeal on the part of the workman during the harvest season, it was almost imperative at that season to show him those little relaxations and favours which at length became customary, and in no slight degree enhanced the cost of his maintenance.
On the arrival of a convict ship a crowd used to hurry down to await the moment when the convicts were to be allotted to applicants. As no special memoranda were made during the voyage of the offence for which each man had been transported, or his subsequent conduct on the voyage, the administration were not in a position to make such a selection as should classify the prisoners, and assign them according to nature of crime and subsequent behaviour to a determined or a more gentle employer. Hence resulted the most lamentable injustice; the most truculent of these men occasionally were assigned to the gentle masters, while a less hardened criminal came under the yoke of a hard-hearted task-master, and thus had an infinitely more severe lot to bewail than he in fact deserved.
Such a harsh, and in too many cases unjust, method of dealing with them, drove the convicts to the commission of fresh offences, or even crimes, and, in desperation at the wrongs to which they were exposed, they not merely neglected utterly the interests of their temporary masters, butin many cases, impelled by a fierce thirst for vengeance, they burned house and property over his head at the harvest time!
The chronic alarm and anxiety of the colony during a long period was not however traceable to the principle of the system itself, but to the method in which it was worked by self-seeking natives, greedy of gain. No sooner had the most glaring of the evils been rectified, and by means of a powerful government law and order resumed their wonted sway, ere the young colony began to make most unexpected strides in developing its capabilities, and both in the unfolding of its natural resources and in its trade and commerce ere long attracted the attention, not merely of England and her manufacturers, but of all Europe.
In 1840 New South Wales ceased to be a convict settlement, at which period there were 130,856 souls in the colony, 26,967 of whom were convicts. In 1857, when the last census was taken, there were in all 305,487, of whom 171,673 were males, and 133,814 females, who inhabited 41,479 houses, 1725 huts, 50 waggons, and 75 ships, and subsisted chiefly by pasture and agriculture.
The morality of this population diffused over 321,579 square miles has greatly improved, thanks to the unlimited freedom of individual power to develope itself, and the opportunities afforded for leading an independent, comfortable life, and in the interests of Truth we must add, that in no part of Europe would any one be left so unfettered to travelabout alone and unarmed, or require less precautions, as in this once penal colony.
The number of criminal cases of all sorts in the colony during the last ten years, during which the population has increased from 189,600 to 266,189, is as follows:—