difficulty was experienced with them. They were made of use by settlers, in the police force, and on exploring expeditions. In cases of theft offenders were tried before the Courts under the same laws as were the white people. In 1848, at one sitting, twenty-one natives were arraigned. Heavy sentences were inflicted, and the prisoners sent to Rottnest, whence they occasionally escaped to the mainland. The summary conviction of natives was provided for in 1848 by ordinance. The bounty system promised on teaching natives trades or other avocations was practically a dead letter. Numerous claims were recorded, but not granted.
Social intercourse up to this time was substantially unaltered, although colonists were possessed of numerous comforts which did not exist in earlier years. Society was generally united and cordial, but in the large towns a surviving spirit of conservatism was apparent. Classes were formed, which were often times as select and particular in Western Australia as were the patricians in England. But in the country a generous welcome was extended to each traveller by farmers and pastoralists. He put up at their houses as readily and confidently as if he were visiting an inn. He was plied, says one record, with eager questions by the younger people, and perchance the old gentleman would sit near the fire listening closely to what was being said. The same record feelingly describes this hospitality, and mentions that after the questioning was over the evening was spent in music, dancing, and much conversation on literature, politics, and the condition of the colony. Hunting wild cattle was now a favourite sport, and the welkin rang with the sounds of galloping horses, baying hounds, and gun shots arising from among the trees. Numbers of servants were slowly and surely rising to the position of masters. Awards were given by societies to the best servants. Complaints were occasionally circulated of the unfair conduct of farmers and pastoralists in charging their employés immense prices for stores. Colonists were essentially a law-abiding class; crime was circumscribed. For nine months in 1847-48 no Court of Sessions was held. Natives were the chief offenders.
On the Swan River the old time picturesque scenery was rendered more delightful. The houses on its banks were surrounded with ample grounds, and here and there were hedgerows of olives, almonds, and peach trees. A pretty church, with parsonage near by, nestled among the trees on the Middle Swan. The streets of Perth were generally unpaved, and sometimes almost impassable. The footpaths where wood had not been tried were sometimes formed of clay. The Perth-Fremantle road was six inches deep in sand. Most of the houses in the capital still stood alone, often surrounded by luxuriant fruit gardens. The town of Albany probably suffered from the depression more than any other part of the colony. An air of despondency pervaded the community there, which was only relieved by occasional successful exploits in whaling. York, Toodyay, and Northam became more important, and Bunbury also made excellent progress, and what with a church and a school, began to surround herself with the conveniences of civilisation. A bridge over the Collie River, near Bunbury, was finished in December, 1848. In November, 1848, overland traffic between Perth and Albany was established by Mr. Watson. A large spring-cart, the first vehicle used, ran by way of Mandurah, Australind, and Bunbury to the Sound. The single journey cost £5.
Churches were erected in different parts of the colony, and the Government rendered liberal assistance to the Anglican denomination. St. George's Church, Perth, was opened on 22nd January, 1845. The Rev. Wittenoom, assisted by the Revs. G. King and W. Mitchell, conducted the first services. The sum of £3,500 was spent in the erection of the church. A temporary church (with schoolroom) was opened at Bunbury in December, 1844. In March, 1845, a return shows that the "Established" Church had ten places of worship, the Society of Friends one, Roman Catholic one, while there were two dissenting chapels. A meeting was held in Northam in August, 1844, to arrange for the erection of a church, and in April, 1845, a church was opened at Busselton. The Church of England in the colony was erected into a see in 1848. The history of the Congregational Church in Western Australia began in 1845, when a meeting was held in the house of Mr. Trigg, at Perth, to consider the advisability of erecting a place of worship. The proposal was favourably received, a chapel was built in Williams Street, and opened in 1846. In the following year the structure was enlarged, and the Congregational Church had twenty-five members.
The most notable event in religious matters was the establishment of the Roman Catholic Church. The Bishop at Sydney, Dr. Polding, was urgently entreated in 1841 to send a minister to the colony, but owing to his temporary absence in Rome the petition did not come before him until 1843. Three priests were almost immediately sent to Western Australia, and arriving in 1843 they worked quietly for some time. Thenceforth the Roman Catholics were served with religious privileges equal to those of members of other sects.
The three priests had not been in the colony many months before they entertained the laudable desire to bring the natives within the pale of their church. In 1845 the Congregation of the Propaganda despatched Dr. Brady, an Irish Bishop, with an efficient and eager staff, to push the good work among the colonists, and right into the rough camps of the savages. The staff comprised seven priests, a sub-deacon (an English Benedictine), a French novice, an Italian, eight catechists, two laymen, and seven Irish Sisters of Mercy. This party arrived at Fremantle in the ship Isabella in January, 1846. While two landing boats conveyed them from ship to shore, they intoned litanies, and no sooner had they set foot on Western Australian soil than all knelt and solemnly chanted Te Deum laudamus.
The beauties of the River Swan delighted these altruistic workers, and each new scene presented "a fresh occasion for praising God." After Perth was reached, one of the priests died. A few days later Dr. Brady held a council, to consider plans of campaign for dealing with the aborigines. All coincided in believing that it was best to follow them into the bush. Three companies were formed for this purpose to inaugurate distinct missions, named the Missions of the North, of the South, and of the Centre of Western Australia. The Bishop obtained from the Governor a grant of twenty acres each for the south and central missions. The northern party was unendowed because the projected scenes of its labours lay beyond the limits of the local Government.
The southern mission was to be established at Albany, and on the 6th February its members began a long and tedious journey on foot to that district. After a wearisome march, they reached Albany in the following month, and sought for the children of the bush in their hilly homes. Although beset by privations and stern struggles, they flinched not, and penetrated the wooded country. They were unable to make a satisfactory beginning. Protestants, and especially sailors on vessels at
