CHAPTER XV.
A PENAL SETTLEMENT.
1849 TO 1853.
CONVICTISM SIMILAR TO SLAVE-TRADE—A DIMINISHING POPULATION; MISAPPREHENSIONS—FITZGERALD APPLIES FOR PENTONVILLE EXILES; PARKHURST LADS—SOUTH AUSTRALIAN APPLICATION—AGITATION RENEWED—DESPATCH FR0M EARL GREY—MEETING IN PERTH—AN ORDER-IN-COUNCIL; A PENAL SETTLEMENT—VIEWS OF COLONISTS AND NEWSPAPERS—GOVERNOR FITZGERALD IN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL—OTHER DESPATCHES; FREE EMIGRANTS—ARRIVAL OF FIRST CONVICT SHIP—A LETTER FROM THE CONVICTS—PRISON ACCOMMODATION; APPEARANCE OF FELONS; A FEW SENTENCES; AVOCATIONS—EASY DISCIPLINE AND RESULT—PENSIONERS—CHANGED VIEWS; PUBLIC THANKS; MORE CONVICTS WANTED—ARRIVAL OF HASHEMY—TICKETS-OF-LEAVE—PUBLIC WORKS—1851; ITS PROMISE—FINANCE BOARD AND APP0INTMENTS—ESCAPEES; SICKNESS—COMPLAINTS RE FREE LABOUR; INCONSISTENCY—IMPORTED FLOUR—ARRIVAL OF CONVICT SHIPS—DEPOTS YORK, TOODYAY, BUNBURY—REMUNERATION OF 0FFICERS—WAGES OF TICKET-OF-LEAVE MEN—FREMANTLE GAOL AND BARRACKS; PUBLIC WORKS—1852; FREE EMIGRANTS, CONVICTS—WIVES 0F CONVICTS—INVALID DEPOTS—NUMBER OF TICKET-OF-LEAVE MEN—INCIDENT AT YORK—BUILDINGS; ROADS—1853; PUBLIC WORKS—AN UNNECESSARY PUBLIC MEETING—SHIPS AND CONVICTS—POPULATION; GOLDFIELDS DEPARTURES—LOCAL PROSPECTORS—REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE—EXPORT; STOCK; TILLAGE—PRICES; COLONY FLOURISHING—WINE—GUANO; SHARK'S BAY; ROYALTY; DISCOVERIES; PARTIALLY ABANDONED—PEARL OYSTERS; DESPATCHES—HORSE REARING; BONUS FOR CAMELS—LONDON EXHIBITION—GERALDINE LEAD MINE ESTABLISHED; THE EXPEDITION TO CHAMPION BAY AND GERALDINE—SETTLEMENT AT CHAMPION DAY; THE PIONEERS—NATIVES ATTACK MR. BURGES AND MR. DRUMMOND—EXPLORATION; VOYAGES OF CHAMPION—LAND LAWS; DESPATCHES; MEETINGS; REGULATIONS; "NO CONFIDENCE" MEMORIAL; TROUBLE IN COUNCIL; LEASING SYSTEM—MAILS; STEAMERS AT ALBANY—CHAMBER 0F C0MMERCE; MECHANICS' INSTITUTE—"W.A. MAGAZINE"—SWAN RIVER S.N. COMPANY; THE BAR; WRECKS—DEATHS OF GEORGE LEAKE AND S. MOORE—NATIVES—RELIGIOUS MATTERS; IRRITATION—R0MAN CATHOLIC TROUBLES.
WITH typical complacency and virtuous indignation our Englishmen deride the slave trade; yet they do not object to making use of the automata of the convict system, those unfortunates whose bitter cry is peccavi — "I have sinned." Western Australians, defeated in the fight for prosperity, were fain to seek in the slimy labyrinths of the dark alley-way for men who would help them. Partly ashamed of resorting to such agents for assistance, they drew them into their employ through the gate at the rear of their establishments, and then shrank aloof from them as if from a contaminating taint. The convict must be a mere tool or slave; he must have his own distinct quarters; must be fed and clothed; but he certainly must do the work that they were unable to do themselves. A driver must watch him closely, and when the daily work is completed, must lock him in his quarters until another day; if the convict disobeys, he must be whipped, or placed on short allowance of food, or chained limb to limb, like a wild beast.
Such, substantially, was the convict system. It was useful to the colony, it may have been beneficial to the felon, and justifiable, but—it was not unlike the slave trade, which every Western Australian would have disdained with ample contumely.
For weary years colonists had been struggling with a timid soil, had been establishing industries which, for want of labour, they could not follow beyond a limited point. That fortune which fancy depicted at a charmed distance was elusive as the Will o' the Wisp. Just when it seemed within their grasp the darkness of impotence obscured it. In 1848-9 a commercial depression passed over Australia, and even in England several large financial houses collapsed. The Burra Burra copper mines in South Australia, and the reports of rapidly-accumulated wealth in other colonies, drew from Western Australia some of those labourers who could pay their passages and those settlers whose interests were so infinitesimal that they could calmly relinquish them. In after years it was commonly reported that the colony was at this time in danger of abandonment. Such was not the case. Without the introduction of convicts there was certainly little likelihood of progression for more weary years, but the reports common elsewhere were of a parcel with those unjust statements circulated since the first year of settlement. Governor Fitzgerald, a new arrival in Western Australia, and a bluff old sailor, appeared to take a gloomy view of the situation. He was hardly a statesman or a diplomat; he was decidedly straightforward. Letters of his inferentially foreboded the worst, and in October, 1850, he confessed his fears in a despatch to the Secretary for the Colonies:—"So great was the prevailing despondency and depression that the flocks were to a great extent thrown out of increase and prepared for the cauldron; all classes of colonists were daily leaving as opportunities occurred." He believed, for very little, every man would boil down his sheep and leave the colony.
The list of departures in 1848-9 does not show any remarkable emigration. To some extent the people were to blame for these recent mis-reports. When a few labourers and settlers went eastwards, certain colonists metaphorically rent their mantles, sprinkled dust upon their heads, and sat down among the ashes. Some, also, got upon the housetops and bemoaned their loss, so that the world could hear. The burden of numerous resolutions and memorials corroborates this. What Justin McCarthy wrote of England was true of Western Australia—with a difference. In England public opinion, or sentiment, changes like the ebb and flow of the tide. To-day we have reform; but a little while and reaction sets in. One month Western Australians would boast of their splendid estate; the next they prophesied the abandonment of the colony unless such and such happened. By manfully wrestling with the recent terrible depression they had placed themselves in a moderately secure position. New industries were born, and an export trade was established which nearly equalled the imports in value. Because they could not execute all the orders for timber, and because certain people were leaving the colony, their weaker brethren talked of abandonment, of giving up the evanescent ghost of energy.
But Western Australia was not badly off in comparison with a similar period of history in New South Wales. At the end of her first twenty years of history; one recorder says New South Wales contained only 10,500 inhabitants, of whom 7,000 were convicts. From 1788 to 1809 the Imperial Exchequer incurred an expenditure of £2,196,149 in that colony. The population of Western Australia at the beginning of 1850, exclusive of military, was 5,734. The Imperial Parliamentary grants to Western Australia to July, 1849, totalled only £247,579. The comparison is supremely to the advantage of Western Australia.
Captain Fitzgerald, soon after his arrival in the colony, wrote the Resident Magistrate of each district, asking how many labourers could be immediately absorbed. After receiving replies he communicated with Earl Grey, requesting the despatch of 100 ticket-of-leave men from Pentonville. People at first took but small interest in the fate of the application. What they specially desired to obtain was
