Woomera

“ When a man gave way to the hardship, he became the victim of insects, and this was the case with him. Small wonder at any man giving way to the hardship in such a place, for it was nothing but hard work, hunger, and flogging, the floor to sleep on, and one blanket as a covering. ”

“ The times were hard on a man of this kind, especially when he would walk 10 miles for a feed; but hunger was a sharp thorn, and "as a man's bed was made he had to lie on it."
There was another fine-looking man in the gang, but he was a terrible villain, and it was supposed that he murdered a man not far from the Settlement. Afterwards he went to Sydney and there met his doom, which was to be hanged for another murder, and thus ended his career.
Port Macquarie seemed to be a depot for rogues and villains such as these, for there were some noted scoundrels amongst them. ”

“ Slopes were also made leading into the drains, so that any cattle which fell into the water, and were too weak to get out themselves, could be pulled out. One day, while there, the boss came down to see how we were progressing with the work, and after a while one of us said to him: "You ought to allow us a little more tea and sugar, for this is hard work; to say nothing of being up to our knees in water all day."
"Go on with your work," he said, "I think a good flogging would do you more good than tea and sugar. Did you get tea and sugar in the road party?" ”

“ Doctors, in the practice of their profession, not infrequently inform their patients that there is an insufficiency of iron in their blood, but no such assertion was ever known to be made to a man who at any time occupied a position in the Port Macquarie Iron Gang, for if there was no iron in their blood there should have been, if the "barking of shins" went for anything. I was sent into this gang, and amongst the men in it were a number termed "specials." ”

“ Shortly after Port Macquarie was made a Penal Settlement, several men of considerable wealth visited and settled in the district, and were granted large areas of land in and around the Settlement. Amongst these was Major Innes, who became the possessor of a large area of land about six miles from the town, which was and is known as Lake Innes. On this property the "Major" built a beautiful residence, with all the conveniences that money could command. It was not long before he commenced to breed horses for the Indian market, and frequently sent shipments of valuable horses to India. ”

“ We went to the boss and told him that we would cut the firewood as soon as the storm was over. "How often am I out in the rain?" he said, "it won't melt you—you're not sugar." Turning to the overseer, he ordered us to be put on Government rations, and we were then the recipients of 7 lbs. of flour, 31⁄2 lbs. of cornmeal, and 7 lbs. of meat—what the men used to call "staggering bob"—in the week. Saturday came—ration day—and I went up for my allowance as usual; but when it came to the donation of meat, I was shown a large piece of bone with a small piece of meat attached to it. ”

“ Just fancy a man as "blind as a bat" asking me to go stealing melons. "No," I said, "I'm not going to get into any trouble over melons," and he called me all the crawling hounds and scoundrels that he could think of. Shortly afterwards he said to me, "Do you ever kill snakes?" "Not often," I said; "Why, what do you want to know that for?" "Well," he returned, "I want to get a snake's head to put teeth upwards in the overseer's boot—I'll do for him yet." I told him to be careful, or he would pull up on the scaffold. ”

“ I could not put up with hard work, and be knocked about by a hopping dog of a man as well.
These cripples were only allowed a few men to gather shells, cut bridle tracks for them, and so on, in remuneration for their labor as overseers; but a man like H——, the notorious overseer, got 3s 3d per day, his rations, a hut-keeper to cook for him, and another man to get wood and water. These fools would almost stand the flesh being cut off their bones rather than lose their billets. ”

“ Some men seemed to have a harder skin than others; a few would stand "50" like a piece of wood; they would sooner die than allow anyone to hear a groan. There was one poor little fellow named Mick whom the wretched overseer used to take a delight in bringing before the court; he would never pick out a flash-looking rascal, but only poor men who could just crawl about.
I remember one terrible schemer who came [Pg 19] into the gang. He met Mr. —— one morning, and said, "If you do not give me five 'bob' I'll lay a charge against you for buying rations off the Government men." ”

“ One mean-looking fellow in the road party was sent to this country for obtaining money under the garb of a priest, and there was one poor simple Irishman in the gang from whom he used to get flour on the pretence that he would give him his blessing. ”

“ At last he became insolvent, and everything he had was sold under the hammer; then he went to Sydney, much to the satisfaction of all. There he would rent a house, and in a short time make a "moonlight flit" and let the landlord in for the rent. This game did not last long, though, for he met one who knew as much as he did, and he put the bailiff in and sold him off.
Constable, No. 2, was a different man to this, for he would take tips and drink with a man, put him in the lock-up, let him out again, and then tell another constable so that he could arrest the same man and get a few shillings. ”

“ This wretch got 12 months added to his former sentence, but was afterwards sent to Sydney on a charge of murder on his own word, for killing a man at Ballengarra, situated some miles up the river; but as there was no evidence except his own, he was sent [Pg 14] back to Port Macquarie for 12 months—though he said that he would rather be hanged than serve another 12 months in such a place of slavery and trials; for out of about 50 or 60 men, 14 or 15 of them would be brought before the court every week and punished, and they were all poor, harmless men. ”

“ One man always remained to mind the camp while the others were at work, and very often he used to do what was known as "weeding"—that was, taking a little out of each man's allowance of provisions, and then he had a little to sell and get money to buy himself some tea and sugar. ”

“ These hats were always saleable, [Pg 53] and making them was the only means by which a man could earn a few pence to buy tea, sugar, and tobacco.
Tom P—— was one of the first men sent to Port Macquarie when it was made a Settlement, and he was a most peculiar individual. Pigs seemed to be his whole existence, for he appeared to love these animals. He possessed some 'grunters' nine or ten years old, besides cattle and horses. Tom used to sleep with the pigs, and even with this precaution against thieves it was not infrequent that he lost one. ”

“ The worst wretches that a man could be put to work under were those who had been sent to the country themselves. They were far worse than men who came out free, and how men put up with the tyranny of these brutes is far beyond my conception.
In those days there were very few guns procurable, and it was a rare thing to see even an old flint musket. Pat —— was ordered to get "50" every morning for a week for taking to the bush with one of these muskets. He begged of the boss to let him have the whole week's flogging at once, and so he got it. ”

“ The second gale arose when the boats had made the coast, and were off a spot known as Point Plomer, near Port Macquarie. Here they again lay-to, but were driven to the south, the next place that land was sighted being off the Camden Haven river. From this place they steered north towards Tacking Point, as some of those on board, from previous experience of the coast, knew [Pg 88] where they were. On arrival at the Boat Harbour, the boats being too large to enter, the pilot boat brought a few of the shipwrecked persons in at a time till they were all safely landed. ”

“ They looked first-class with a pick and shovel, and at making a damper—they had no more idea of this than a kangaroo. Some of them frequently said that they were well off in England, and yet they were the greatest villains under the sun. If a man were possessed of any little thing out of the common they tried all sorts of plans to get it from him, and if unsuccessful by fair means, they would steal it from him. ”

“ The floor of the gaol was not right on the ground, but built up somewhat, and therefore an aperture existed between it and the ground. A flooring board used to be removed underneath one of the beds, and only one man worked at a time, being relieved by another when he had done his quota. It was one morning about daylight that these six men made their escape, and proceeded along the Old Lake road (which leads from Port Macquarie to Lake Innes) , removing [Pg 90] the leg irons which they wore as soon as the bush was reached. ”

“ If a man had a seven years' sentence, he had to serve four years with a master before he got a "ticket-of-leave;" but if he happened to prove himself a success at any particular vocation, he would never get his "ticket," as the master for whom he was working would arrange with one of the other servants to quarrel with the handy man, and he would be sent to the lock-up to be flogged, and get an addition to his sentence. If a man was sentenced to 14 years, he had to serve 6 years with a master before he got a "ticket." ”

“ As soon as the boss made his exit, he got up, hid the boots he was working at, and put another pair in their place; and on the master's return, he was just coming out of the fit, and soon got alright. This man got on well afterwards in the Settlement.
The notorious "special," H——, brought twelve men to court one day for neglect of work, but Mr. G——, the Police Magistrate, said that he and another gentleman had been looking at the poor men at work, and they could not understand how men ran down the slopes where they were making the road without falling, more especially in irons ”

“ At the first general election in 1843, a large cask of ale was deposited on the main street of the Settlement, and anyone who wished could go and have a few drinks. The pilot's crew got on the spree and attacked the cripples, and it took this constable all his time to look after them. Two boys also started to fight, and he proceeded to lock them up, but the crowd took their part and prevented him. Some got fifty lashes, and others twelve months in irons, while three men were fined for not assisting the police. As usual, the crutch and stick were freely used. ”

“ The constable then cut the tail of his coat close off around the waist and branded him all over, leaving such a smell of paint from the brands that the flies would keep off him for a good many days afterwards.
Proceeding further the overseer pulled another fellow up—"And what was your occupation at home, and how came you to be sent out here?" "I was a schoolmaster, and was sent out for embezzlement," he answered. "A fine fellow to teach scholars how to rob people. Here, constable, take and brand him," and he shared the same [Pg 38] fate. ”

“ The chief perpetrator of this deed was a blackfellow named "Terramidgee," who paid the penalty by being hanged in front of the Port Macquarie Gaol. To act as a warning, all the aborigines around the Settlement were collected together to witness the punishment.
It did not appear to be much of a warning, however, as about the year 1849 another cedar-cutter was murdered on the upper portion of Rollands Plains. This sawyer had adopted a young aboriginal, and when considered old enough to learn, he was sent to school in Sydney. ”

“ When all the men retired to barracks at night, it was so crowded that where to lie down became a puzzle, and it was dirty besides. Men still kept on coming from Sydney, which made matters ten times [Pg 10] worse. One day while in these quarters, I was sent down to one of the wharves to help unload a boat laden with produce. I worked very hard all day, and it was late in the evening before I returned to the barracks. ”

“ Every man had to do his own washing, and these "specials" would rub away at their duck pants with a piece of soap about the size of a halfpenny. The soap was something like the sugar they got for their "hominy"—it was visible, and that was all.
The Police Magistrate came along once and heard one of the party pass a remark which he did not like, so he said, "Jack, if I could find a man to give you 50 lashes, you would get it." Up sprang a short fellow, named Ned ——, and exclaimed, "I will give it to him for you ”

“ There was a road party at work about two [Pg 45] miles out of the town and one day Harry came riding along on his favourite mare "Biddy." On nearing the camp the mare took charge of him and bolted, and in the confusion that ensued, his nose fell off. He went some distance before the animal got controllable; then he came back and asked the road party's assistance to look for the silver "snozzle." After they had been looking a while, an old black crow arose from amongst the ferns with something (presumably a grub) in its beak. ”

“ When not employed, they used to lounge about on the hills overlooking the sea sunning themselves, and it was not infrequent that they had quarrels amongst themselves. Just picture to yourself a man with wooden legs offering to "fight any b—— man on timber" as they used to put it. When these wooden-legged men had a quarrel in a boat they sat on the seats, with a man propped against the back of each, and in this fashion they would fight away in great style. ”