project of this description, with the view of benefiting his family, and of establishing himself in a new Country, he surely does not intend to live like Robinson Crusoe, for five and twenty years in a wilderness, and gradually subside into a country labourer, without endeavouring to restore to his Wife and family, as large a portion as he can, of the luxuries and comforts they have quitted. This picture may be somewhat overdrawn, but I maintain that until Cart and Carriage roads of communication are constructed, there will be no sort of enjoyment to the Settler, beyond the mere animal pleasure of eating and drinking, and superintending the management of his own farm. I have heard it said, that Government intend sending out some thousands of poor labourers, to perform the work that may be required of them, but let me ask in reply who is to pay these labourers their hire. We all know the Settler will have but limited means to defray the expence, and if he has means at all, he will surely apply the labour to his private property, where he is certain to reap personal and immediate advantage from it. Even to preserve roads in repair, after they are first formed, is not only expensive in itself, but it requires also that the countries through which they pass, shall be well peopled, and capable of affording the necessary labour. If therefore the horror of having Convicts within sight of a man's property, shall operate so forcibly with my friends at the Swan, as to prevent them from being sent to the Colony at all, I really do not see that the Settlers have any prospect of solid enjoyment, beyond their own rural habitations, for a very long time.
If the Indian Governments could be prevailed upon to send a few hundreds of their transported Convicts, to form public roads on the Swan River, the aid they would afford would be most invaluable, and the climate, though cold in winter, would not I am certain be unhealthy. The expence of maintaining them would be inconsiderable to the Government, and as the line of black and white would be a very marked distinction, I do not see, that the Settler, under this arrangement, would have cause to dread the slightest contamination to Society.
The Season of the year at which possession was first taken of the Swan River, may be said to have proved one of it's greatest misfortunes. The Governor and public functionaries arrived in the very depth of Winter, when few or no Tents were provided for their accommodation, and no sort of covering had been prepared on shore. They landed in the first instance at Garden Island, about nine miles by water from Fremantle, and the season even for Winter, being unusually severe, the poor Ladies and Children, were all of them exposed to the most harrassing privations, and obliged frequently to sleep under Umbrellas, as their only covering from the Rain. Merchant ships with all sorts of supplies, flocked at the same period to Gage's Roads. It was in vain I understand that Governor Stirling represented the insecurity of the anchorage, the Masters persisted in braving the dangers of the season, and the consequence was inevitable, that a great many merchant Ships were successively driven on shore. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the unfavourable impression, which the public must have received, from these unlooked for misfortunes. The inclemency of the seasons—the dangers of the place, and the sufferings of the first adventurers, were all of them magnified in a manner that is scarcely credible. One Gentleman well known in the Colony, had freighted a ship with property of every description, to become an extensive proprietor of land; but having unfortunately touched at the Cape of Good Hope, for refreshment, he was there shewn so gloomy a picture of the settlement, and told such unfounded tales of their misery and distress, that he actually sold off the whole of his live stock, and lost by that measure, the enormous sum of £8000.
The loss that was sustained by the underwriters, in the first instance, must have proved an additional source of dispraise to the Colony. Though ships may lie as safe in Cockburn Sound, as in any harbour of the World, and for six months of the year a Westerly gale is never known, yet strange to say, an impression different from the truth, appears to obtain in England, and now I am told, an insurance is not procurable at all.
It is not among the least of it's misfortunes, that so considerable a time has been permitted to elapse, without any communication with the Government at home. We were the first even to bring the intelligence to Captain Stirling, that he was promoted from Lieutenant Governor, to be Governor and Commander in Chief of Western Australia. The gratifying information, though tardy in it's arrival, produced the gladdest sentiments throughout the whole Colony.
I hope I shall be pardoned for saying, that in my humble judgment, there could not possibly have been selected, a man more fit for the arduous, irksome, and responsible situation he fills, than Captain Stirling. His firmness of character, and steadiness of purpose, under all the trying vicissitudes to which he has been exposed, is far beyond any feeble praise I can bestow. His paternal kindness and consideration, for every class of Settler, has deservedly secured him the confidence and esteem both of high and low, and he possesses at the same time so sanguine a spirit of enterprize, and so great a love of bushranging, that it is impossible to come within his ken and not feel excited by his influence. If the home authorities however, have not been as frequent in their communications, as might have been expected, the Admiral on the Indian Station, Sir Edward Owen, has done every thing in his power to cheer up their spirits—in the short space of two months, there were two Men of War, called to ascertain their wants, and there cannot be a doubt but this distinguished Officer, on his return to Europe, will bring the condition of the Colony to the particular notice of the Home authorities.
Several minor settlements have been formed, since the Establishment of Western Australia. I believe there was a party sent to Geographe Bay, immediately South of the Swan, but the anchorage was so completely exposed to Westerly winds, during the Winter season, that the place has been since abandoned. Another spot has been chosen, named Port Augusta, of which I shall have occasion to speak as I proceed. This Port is formed by the projection of Cape Lewin, and the Rocks South of it, which protects the anchorage entirely from Westerly winds, and as the winds from the Eastward are mere summer gales, I think the place will speedily establish it's own reputation.
(The writer proceeds in H. M. S. Sulphur to Hobart Town.)
On our way to Port Augusta, which we first visited, we established the exact position of a most dangerous shoal, about 15 or 16 miles from Cape Naturalist—according to Mr. Periam, the master of the Sulphur—the outer Breaker bears from the Cape about N. b. E. and extends about ¾ of a mile. This would be a fatal shoal for any ship to strike upon. Captain Dance however says, that in bad weather the sea breaks upon it mountains high, which in the day time would give sufficient warning of its vicinity. God help the unfortunate Bark, that might strike upon it in the night.
There is also a dangerous ledge of rocks running seaward, from the land, immediately North of Cape Lewin, on which a fine ship was lost, a short time ago. How the wise acre managed to get his vessel, upon so palpable a danger, is matter of astonishment to any Man, who knows any thing of Navigation.
We arrived at Port Augusta about three days after we sailed from Cockburn Sound, and remained there about 24 hours. We found the party gradually progressing in all the arts of Colonization, and Captain Molloy, the Resident, up to his ears in business.
The natives in this neighbourhood are said to be friendly, and the soil appears most productive. The Town will be built upon the face of a rising ground, looking South upon the Sea, and a few years, will possibly shew a passing stranger, one of the most picturesque little sea ports in the world. Mrs Molloy's garden abounds with choicest flowers; but I am sorry to say I am unable to describe them more particularly, than that they are all of them very fragrant, and very beautiful. The Ship having merely called to land supplies at Port Augusta, we got under weigh the following afternoon, and bent our course towards King George's Sound.
Here we were somewhat unfortunate in our progress, as we passed to Leeward of our Port during the night. A little Government Schooner, the Ellen commanded by a superb little fellow, Lieutenant Preston of the Navy, was off the harbour on our arrival, having beaten us in the passage, most lamentably. We were just able to lay up for Baldhead, the entrance to the Sound, when ye Gods! there came a "Sneezer" from the shore, as Jack would say, which made every sail grin again! I thought it would have torn the masts out of the Ship—we bore up to it however, and were kept at sea seven days longer, merely from being a mile and a half too far to the Eastward. Preston hugged the land (as Sailors say) during the night, and got into the Sound the following morning. At length however we did arrive, and, anchored the the Ship in Prince Royal Harbour, which in point of perfect safety, is equal to any port in the world. We carried in 4½ fathoms the shoalest water, and were embayed in a bason as smooth as a mill pond.
King George's Sound is a settlement that well deserves the praise I had heard bestowed upon it—it possesses every natural advantage, the most sanguine emigrant can desire, and is blessed with a climate it is impossible to eulogize too highly.
The site for the Town is well chosen, between two moderately high mountains, connected with each other, by a ridge of excellent soil, from which, water of the purest quality, is trickling down in natural and abundant rills to the Beach. It is strange to find, that King George's Sound, though so long occupied as a Penal Settlement from Sydney, exhibits at this moment hardly a vestige of Man's works—what the Convicts can have been about, during the many years they have been stationed there, it is difficult to imagine. Mr. Carew, the present Commandant, declares, that the most positive orders existed, not to erect a single dwelling House or public work, of any description, beyond the miserable Huts that were necessary for the cover of the party. What the object of such dog and manger policy could possibly have been, the high authorities in Eastern Australia can best explain. Dr. Collie, the Resident of the place, had from his very slender means, erected a comparatively comfortable little dwelling House, for the Governor and Mrs. Stirling, which they occupied on their arrival. It is close to a Government Garden, about two miles East of the town, on the slope of a long declivity, stretching down to the Sea, and commanding a most superb view of the entrance to the harbour; with Baldhead and it's gigantic cliffs frowning defiance to the South, and break sea Island stretching it's rocky protecting arms far across the anchorage.
The Government garden, under the fostering care of Dr. Collie, gives the most satisfactory proofs of what can be done in this genial and delightful climate. I am told the Penal settlement carried away with them every particle of seed they could possibly scrape together, and of course left the gardens very badly supplied. They have shewn however a very proper spirit on the occasion, by foregoing the use of Potatoes altogether, and devoting the whole of their stock to seed. The coming Crops, will amply repay them for their very prudent policy, and in the mean time, they have abundance of Cauliflowers, Cabbages, Beans, Peas, and almost every other esculent vegetable.
The good land in the immediate neighbourhood of the town, may be said to run in patches of fifty and a hundred acres. The site of the Government Garden, which I have already noticed, is of the richest possible soil. The Scotch Gardener told me, there was nothing on Earth that would not grow upon it. The vein continues down the face of the mountain, towards the sea about one hundred acres possibly, until it arrives at an extensive swamp and back water, where the soil becomes poor and sandy. Fifty acres of this rich soil, the Governor has given me a grant of, and I have called it Torrens, in memory of the steadiest and warmest friend that man was ever blessed with.
To the East of the large inlet which contains the Sound or outer anchorage, there is another harbour called Oyster harbour. The entrance to which is too shoal for vessels of any burthen, but a capital Basin for small craft. Preston took his Schooner there to smoke her, and I believe he laid in five fathoms water, within a few yards of the shore—into this harbour, a considerable river discharges itself, called French river, and the land upon it is said to be of a very fine quality. The Governor paid it a visit before I came away, and he was doubtful at first, whether Oyster harbour would not be the most eligible place for the principal Settlement—he has now decided otherwise however, and I am rejoiced that he has done so, for the advantage of a safe and capacious port to an Infant Colony is incalculable, and particularly in these stormy latitudes. Indeed I think it impossible to look upon Prince Royal Harbour, without acknowledging, that it is capable of containing half the Fleets of the world.
To be continued
Edited, Printed, and Published by CHARLES MACFAULL, at the Gazette Office, Perth
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