NORFOLK STORY

Duffy's Gen, Issue V, 24 February 1945, Page 7

NORFOLK STORY

OOFUFJEP FROM THE PREVIOUS SHE.

I .From the appearance of the ship, the people were convinced that relief/: j. was not far distant., and three days later two ships hove in sight. They proved to be, the” Justinian”, and the ’’Surprise” ’ from Port Jackson* with... i provisions and two hundred convicts. The mystery of the non’ arrival of. ! ’Applies from England, was'.now. cleared up, > The ”Guardan”, Captain j ■ kicu,'had sailed from Plymouth‘ for-Sydney with provisions in August, 1788 . i out she had .been wrecked at the cape,■’ and ‘it was not until the arrival at ■■/Port Jackson of the second Fleet, in June, 790 that ' the people felt the ( ! d mger of, starvation to be past. - . ' ' , ' The. relief at last, sent to the Islander s had, .with unaccountable, want ; of consideration been delayed two months/after the arrival of the Fleet ’ i /and ft arrived only just in time. •/The mutton birds had deserted the \ .* ! .'island, . the fish had also failed them entirely, and a delay of another v - i ’in y-eks would have meant death to the greater part of the> inhabitants ? Iby starvation, . I ’./ '- • • ISS iS ■ ’ P' ■ I/fOi® ’ Captain Hunter did not.'get away from .the Island, . which was associated .- i ! with .so much suffering and' anxiety to him,, until 'Febru&py, 1791. ' ’He • considered its capabilities much over-rated for- /while* he admits:the richIness of the soil - -the-crops were //liable./to; destruction by blight,. grub, i caterpillar, and other plagues. v The timber of which so much had been expected was very inferior. 7. Instead .of being able to support two / thous- j and people as Governor .Phillip. had expected,//he. thought, five hundred too j many, and these should be such as -had forfeited all hope of: seeing'their' .y native* country again, and .'-.would/.-know/that their existence depended, on. their j/Industry/:./ He recommended that the island be, reserved as-:a, place, for incorrigible criminals, ' there being the • advantage that escape./ was impossible, Of the island ;he ' says, ”It is a dreadful place, almost inaccessible with any wind.” ' 1 /, /' 'L<.' ■ '• I ://'•’/' Notwithstanding the unfavourable . reports of Contain Hunter and others j i Governor Phillip continued .to send fresh.' batches of convicts and small.. j ! settlors, and when Lieut.-Governor Ross gave' up... his ' command to -King, on .. j | /the/ return of, the latter from England, in September, 1‘791 ~ the, population ; bad' increased to over, .eight hundred. / . r-jy; living had. now the rank, of Lieut.-Governor of Norfolk Island. ; .He had i founded the colony and took the most sanguine view of ! its capabilities, • land of the practicability, of making it prosperous and : self supporting., /,/ ./getting '.a large area of land under. ..cultivation by the labour of. j the. prisoners’, l he encouraged, those . kzhose. time had. expired; to take ; up’ small allotments for growing vegetables, .and grain. ../..■ A number of ’soldiers/and , • bailors were also induced by the offer of grants of land of up to sixty . acres to become agricultural settlers. / 1 . i /’■•The greatest obstacle to the progress of the settlement lay in the/ char- • act ex’ of the 'people.. /King -says' of the prisoners that, .while some were well behaved, the bulk of them were miserable wretches. ‘ Oollins in his account of New, South; Wales gives a : deplorable; picture of .the ..disorder and. crime which were rampant at Port Jackson, arid as the /selection of. Nor-: folk; Island consisted of the worst' and .the doubly convicted,’ the conditions i’on uhe island "were not likely to be any better than those in Sydney. The. bet tiers/ were mostly soldiers and sailors and others who had little or no knowledge of agriculture, and were.’full./of grievances and complaints. Btill the colony increased in population arid production.. At the end: of. > 1793 . there were over one thousand people on the island. / The- settlers had. become- a considerable body,/ and. they /had command of a plentiful supply of-labour in the expiree prisoners who had hired: themselves out to farm - work. Tie Government took into store w all grain grown by settlers at a fixed price 'per bushel.' i’ : This so .stimulated production that in the year../; ending May, 1 794 thirty four thousand'bushels were * grown. The settlers were all prosperous and the Lieut-Governor was able to offer to send if . : required twenty thousand bushels’ to Sydney for commissariat use, / • -The supply was now so large that the Governor had- to refuse to purchase any further -grain which he ,could not make any use of and settlers found themselves without a market,/ Many gave up their farms;.,/. .many left the island 'others turned their attention to. raising hogs', which- had multiplied exceedingly In 1795, King.could offer, the Sydney, commissariat the excess of 'f o.rty t-.ns of cured pork which/had been salted on. the island. ' It will be remembered that the New/ Zealand Flax plant was very plentH.fcl .on Norfolk Island. Lieut,-Gove inc r King was very anxious, to develop the manufacture of the fibre into-cordage and canvas. Many attempts /were made, but with small success, as no proper method of dressing the ’'fibre could be discovered. King’s mat.iod of grappling .with this difficJ tty -. is sufficiently characteristic o;* the times. /.-■ . . P.T.cm

He offered to Captain Bunker of the whaler ’’William and Ann" £IOO to kidnap two natives.of New Zealand and bring them to, Norfolk Island, as instructors in . the art# of flax-dressing. Captain .Bunker: did not'/succeed . in earning the money/<' King seems to have made hl’s views :-known, to the Admiralty, for, when the 1 “Dodalus”' storeship was employed to’carry frovlsions'.'to the. Sandwich.. Island’s for WH&c aver’ s discovery ships, Lieut, Hanson^ *who commanded her-»was ed tn touch ; at New ( Zealand ,on his way back'••to; Sydney, and try to supply- King’s wants,. . / The "Dodalils" 'accord- ; ingly touched'at New Zealand ; , Tab put Doubtless Bay, and .Lieut. H|nson having enticed.'on board his ship, two Maoris,, n led Tuki and' Unis. st -once j made sail and carried them away toGdverior. King. ' True Maoriswho had been . f riantic with* /grief when , they ..fx^nd themselves entrapped, -were • very ■ ;: . sullen/- on /their? aVrivhl .at Norfolk island, and absolutely/refused any I information'respecting, the flax,./ v l/ King- says:- "The. apprehension of be- . I ■'.'lng obliged io -work; was 'afterwards found to be a principal reason for fj their hot-- complying /.as, readily. as 'was - expected. / -^'. By 1 kind.‘treatment •' - ’ i 'however', and/indulgence - in their own inclinations", they soon began to be j mor z sociable, .. /' -■ They wer e t hen given . to.understand -th e situation and , .the .short., distance 1 , -'Norfolk Island from New Zealand''and were- assured . that. as soon as. they taught our wo wen -folk to- work the flax they v/ould b_ sent home again',., . y/-*_ On --/this--’promise, they readily consented to give 'all the., information they, possessed, , ch '/turned cut to bo- y very little® Tais operation was found to|be among-? them..the ■■peculiar province of -the women; and as 'Uru- wafe a warrior and a priest : they gave the Governor’ to. understand that the/.'dressing of ,/flax-was ’n.ev'fer*>ahy part of their studies! /Whatever .may-/be .thought'.- of the. means' employed to .obtain the services ' . of -Uru or- . Tuki,-it must be acknowleAged -that he fulfilled .his promises -t'ow ; them very handsomely; ' ~' -He decided to.-, accompany?'them' to Nev/ Zealand and embarked, with, them'and /a- guard of soldiers on/the ’.’Brittannia” to take them ba cl:,, to their homes. . This was safely Accomplished,, and’ the-. Gov- -/ .. ernor and his Maori friends parted with .great expressions of. mutual regard; The instructions given by Tiki and lira, meagre as it was, was sufficient- to enable. a few. hands, with very! primitive appliances, to manufacture' thirty yards' of'coarse canvas in • the first, week/';and. the Lieut.-Governor, stuck • pluckily to his manufactory, maintaining .that it -was '.an industry, of great, value and. would 'give ,enployment to some five hundred;people On the-. 25th .Octobe-r ,1796 , Lieut.-Governor' King gave up the Government ' which had-held;, with the exception: of ’.a, few months for 'nearly, nine ’ • ' • years ano. proceeded to England, on board the. ’’Brittannia" □ ■ Shortly after- he' received the -appointment /of Governor? of New South Wales, ' ' ;V ''On leaving Norf oik. Island he . wrote--an account of the conditions of the settlement? -. The population z was "8.87 and of . these only. J 98, ./were, convicts;.-. Besides the building of huts and cottages-, a Government House, storehouses and- military, barracks an Area of some 1528 acres had. been cleared and was fully utilised for growing cropso' A water-mill had .been erected at the Cascades and thi£ and two . windmills ground the corn -■•which, previously had to be ground by each, person individually. . There . were two .schools on the island. '-/Of the fertility of the land'he. spoke highly® The. principal products ..were maize, wheat, potatoes and vegetables. . . The yield of. wheat raged 18 bushels to ’the acre. Maize gave two crops "a year ? averaging h-5 bushels per acre/'and often reaching as much as 70 to ,80 .bushels. - Ke calculated that if. the whole of .-the ;arable land war put .under, cultivation it would produce 225,000 bushels of grain,- or even. U 50,000 x bushels if. fully cultivated® ' There.-was little livestock on. the island ; a .few" tie, she ep/a number' of goats and up to 5000 swine® 'The swine might be a great source of. revenue; up; to that time 500,000 lbs of pork had oeen 'consumed or exported. ’ . A * ) From his first landing in nary, 1788., Lieut. King had formed themost sanguine expectations of the future. He was charmed with the beauty of - the island. 7 .,... With such a genial climate and such a fertile soil, it should- grow into" one of the most. flourishing -and valuable of colonies. . To Secure .this-, result he struggled vainly to overcome, the difficulties of nature and the - perversity•of man. 4 ' Nature met him at the threshold with a we? 3. nigh inaccessible -coast, and a. derise and tar'"led ; forest, and fought him ; hurricanes and blighting! winds, with drought and caterpillars, which marred | hi-.s labour. ' . But to. rule, and ' organise the .unpromising .human'material with which he. had .topwork, and to. turn it into account in. the face of laziness . i and - disaffection ‘Was a more trying' task than to conquer nature, z Still ' during those eight or nine years he had fought his way through difficulty and not a few disasters, to the inment of . very fair success, . ' ;:/?/: