would be deducted from the rent. By the end of June all the convicts were immured in this establishment. The pensioners took up their quarters at a saw mill in the vicinity. Immediate steps were taken to fit up Captain Scott's premises. A long woolshed was enclosed, and was estimated to provide sleeping accommodation for 175 men, while other portions of the ground were set apart for offices, and also as a depot for implements, clothing, and stores of all kinds. The walls of this building still stand. It was intended that the labour of the men should first be devoted to the erection of a prison—a site at the rear of their present location, and under the hills, having already been looked upon with favour—after which they would construct important public works in different parts of the colony.
The discipline usually associated with a convict settlement was not yet enforced to any strained extent in Western Australia. There was none of that sullen, sulky appearance among the malefactors which was anticipated by those who had read of the enormities of convictism elsewhere, and it was weakly anticipated by colonists that they would enjoy all the benefits of convict labour without its usual objectionable and pathetic accompaniments. A visit to the felons disclosed no high-handed forcing of them to do their work, no cordon of guards and sentries waiting with rifles to shoot down an escapee. In short, not a guard was to be seen, save a gatekeeper, and, says one newspaper, the men looked contented and went about their work with good humour, and even alacrity. They seemed healthy, and hopeful of the possibilities contained in Western Australia. Some of them were decorated with two stripes on the jacket sleeve, and the letters "V.G." to signify "very good," or the best class of men; the remainder had but one stripe and the letters "G.G." indicating "good."
Officially a convict was known by a number. Whether the officer who assigned to each his number was an irrepressible wit, or with prescient instinct foresaw the effects of convictism in the colony, is not chronicled. Singularly enough, the name of "No. 1" of the Western Australian Convict Establishment was Samuel Scattergood; of "No. 2," John Patience. All the seventy-five men had been in gaol for periods ranging from seven to sixteen months, and twenty-three of them had been previously convicted. One was sentenced to fifteen years transportation for stealing an oak beam; another to fourteen years for stealing a copper funnel; another to a like term for stealing crockery; six to fifteen years for manslaughter, arson, burglary, stealing a sheep, rape, and stealing money with assault respectively; one to twenty years for setting fire to two stacks of straw. Numbers of them, who were of exceptional conduct, were, under a liberalised system, granted tickets of leave after July 1. They were of such varied avocations as farm labourers, warehousemen, painters, plumbers, glaziers, clerks, porters, saddlers, tailors, joiners, shoemakers, teachers, gentlemen's servants and grooms, miners, blacksmiths, stonemasons, bricklayers' labourers, agricultural stewards, and armourers. Their conduct was so good, according to a letter from Captain Henderson to Governor Fitzgerald, that he would not hesitate for a moment to receive any of them into his own service. If settlers desired any of these ticket-of-leave convicts they were required to make application to the Comptroller-General.
The laxity of the guard over the prisoners resulted in an almost ludicrous incident on 20th October. Four convicts quietly stole out of the barracks in civilian's attire, and walked boldly up to a hotel, where they obtained drink. "Then," says the newspaper, "they proceeded to break into a house, but were easily secured by constables." In the evidence given before a magistrate, the reporter declared it was deduced that "they were able to leave the depot at any hour they pleased, and in any dress, and visit the publichouses." Such a proceeding under a convict system might well call up from their dread abodes the spirits of many ancient convict martinets. Cries the Inquirer:—"We do not hesitate to say that the lives and property of the people of Fremantle are jeopardised so long as the present system is adhered to."
The pensioners, who were usually accompanied by their families, were open to engagement on farms and stations, but were liable to be called to render assistance to quell any outbreak among the convicts. The Government arranged to give them every encouragement to be industrious, and to become useful colonists. In July Governor Fitzgerald visited their quarters, and promised each of them ten acres of ground upon a nominal lease for seven years, when it would be made over in fee simple. They were given the privilege of selecting where they thought best, were further offered the assistance of convict labour to clear their ground, and, chief of all, were presented with an advance of £10 each to start with. The pensioners took advantage of this liberality, and numerous allotments are held in their names to this day. A few weeks after their arrival most of them were engaged out to settlers, as were also the emigrants landed from the Scindian.
Towards the end of 1850 a proportion of colonists still decried convictism in any form, and regretted its introduction, but the majority began to look upon it out of their pocket. Indeed, they became quite sordid, and when a few of the good effects of this application of foreign money and labour were being felt, they, like Dickens's hero, began to ask for more. The Scindian landed 400 tons of Government stores, including tools, ironwork—everything likely to be required in erecting gaols and in constructing public works. Contracts were entered into to supply the convict establishment with flour and fresh meat. This absorption of foodstuffs, and the benefits obtained from the work, not only of convicts, but of pensioners, without mentioning the increase in population, caused colonists to applaud the action of the English Government, and sigh and clamour for a numerous introduction of convicts.
For two years the Gazette, now entitled the Independent Journal, opposed convictism, but, writes the editor on 7th June, 1850:—"We must confess that sanguine as were our anticipations that the Home Government would accede to the wishes of colonists by granting a body of forced labour for executing those public works beyond our means, and yet so indispensable for the prosperity of the colony, we were not prepared for the liberal manner in which the design is apparently intended to be carried out. We must repudiate the idea that the present measure of the Home Government entitles Western Australia to be considered a penal settlement, according to the generally received acceptation of the term. It must be either one way or the other—no convicts, no public works, no public progress; or convicts, public works, and public progress. The settlers have before chosen their lot, and now must abide by their bargain."
The careful reader may find grains of inconsistency in extracts from this paper, but nothing to equal the charming complacency and conviction that they are no worse than their neighbours, contained in the sentence following:—"At the same time, shall we be worse off than the neighbouring colonies, who, although they may be free from the reputation of receiving convicts, are actually inundated with them from Van Dieman's Land, where they have received freedom as probationers." Better justified congratulations are found in a memorial emanating from the York, Northam, and Toodyay districts. This document, "extensively and unanimously
