LIFE IN THE SECOND PENAL SETTLEMENT.

Duffy's Gen, Volume 1, Issue VIII, 1 August 1945, Page 11

LIFE IN THE SECOND PENAL SETTLEMENT.

•Extracts. ..From- The Diary of the "Rev" '.James- North, 1 8U6,

Nay 1 2 th*. • Landed to-day’ at Norfolk Island.« a solitary rock in .the . ; tropical ocean," s a fit' place ■ banishment* ?. .- Lemon, lime and guava trees abound, also oranges, grapes, " figs, bananas, peaches,-pome grana Les» and pine-apples. v ' "be climate just now is hot "muggy" ■" The . approach" to-,- 1 Kingston — as the barracks and. huts- are called"- is properly difficult. . A long, low' re elk "fronts the bay; and ob-' structs the entrance of vessels** " The surf washes almost against the. walls of the military roadway that leads’ to the barracks* ■’ * The social aspect of the : place fills me., with horror. z . . : t ' k yay 1 li-ttu hirst to the prisoner "f-barracks., which "stand on an area of about' three acres? surrounded by a lofty , wall* ' . A road runs between this wall and'the sea" , The'" . barracks; are- three, storeys high, end ■ hold 790 item* .There are 22 wards in this place* Each ward runs the depth of the building, viz, 18ft, and'? in consequence is. simply a.’■ funnel for hot"or cold air to. blow through* , "hen the ward is filled, 'the men f s heads lie . under the windows* The largest wared contains 100 -men, the smallest 15" They sleep *in hammocks, slung close t together as on board ship in two "Lines , with a passage ■ down the centre. \ There is a wardsm-n to -each wardße is selected by tub" prisoners, and ;is ..generally .a- ran of/ the worst,' character" . " / The • barracks, look upon the' Barrack' Square.c.The hospital is a low stone .building,"capable. of containing about r 2O men, and. faces the beach < . There are two gaols, the old " and the neww . The . old gaol stands' nedr. -the-. ;sea </ close 't'othe landing-place ' ' Outside,-it, at the door, ■ is" the Gall-, owsy 1 touched it' as I passed by* c The nevz gaol is barely completed,..is of za pentagonal shape, and has 13 gradla"lng cells approved by some "viseacre in England, whothinks that to prevent a man. from seeing ; his fellow-men . """not the way to drive him mad* ""In,-. the old gaol";"""'" prisoners'" all heavily ironed, awaiting tn: 1 by . the -vis-" iting Garr.j ■ sion' from Hobart ' Town* : ... . Nay 1 sth». ? " There' is a place enclosedgbo tween .high walls adjoining the convict barracks, called the lumber yard* ;

'This is where the prisoners mess. It is roofed oh two sides, and conMins tables and benches' Six hundred shis5 his can ©ess here prisoners mess. 70b she always on two ides, and. con£&ins tables and. benches Six hundred en can iness here perhaps, but as 700 are always driven Into it. it follows that the weakest men "are compelled to •pit 'on the around* .. c ■ .. - l|ay 17th. ‘ Visited; the wards to-day and returned in despair. The condition of things is worse- than-I expected. Jt is. not to be written* .The newly arrived English pris- . toners— and some of their histories are most touching — are insulted- by the.-language and demeanour of the hardened miscreants who are the refuse ’of Arthur ’and Cockatoo . - tslahd.6"- The vilest crimes are perpetrated as jests... ' 'There are men who are known. to have murdered, their companions, and who boast of it* ... kith these the’-'English farm labourer, the riotous and ignorant mechanic, the victim -/ ' d t f- per jury' or mistake, are indiscriminately' herded, Vi th thpEi'-.-aid --Eii2Ss<3l^Chih3WiX?.f??c-i.. ; JiohgKong, - the aborigines' 'from / Bt Holland, Vest-Indian Blacks, Greeks, Caffres and Malays ? soldiers -for desertion, idiots, madmen, pigstealers and ■ pick-pockets. The-dreadful, place seems, set. apart for all

that id hideous and vile in our common nature c ' In its recklessness, its? insubordination, its filth, and in its despair, it realises -to my rind the popular notion bf /hell. August’ 24th* c < The privilege of having a- pannikin of hot . water when the gangs come ,in from field labour in the" evening;, has 'been withdrawn* The shepherds, hut-keepers, and all ' other prisoners,, whether at the stations of Longridge or the Cascades (where the English convicts" are • stationed)’ are forbidden tor keep a parrot or any other * bird. ..The floggings are hideously frequent* x -/ On flogging mornings I have seen the ground where the' men stood at the triangles saturated with blood***There is not •• much chance of mutiny* ** The men go to their work without a murmur, and slink to' their dormitories like whipped . hounds to kennels ■> ' , 1

August 28th* / 'Hankey ms murdered yesterday*' He applied to be? removed 'from the . gaol— geng ? /but was refused* Someone who. overhead reported it to the gang (of convicts) who set on the unfortunate gaoler yesterday* and beat his ’ brains out with their shovels« . .’’There-s. for you; and . if your' master . don’t take care, • hell get served the same one of these days! ” cried the wretch who was foremost. * 9 .Our .new commandant.e, 4 is brutal. vindictive and dom- . ineerin'gyi His knowledge of pris ons and pr,is oners- ' give . him an advantage.: (Extracts from Pacific islands Yearbook* '..’’For / The form Of His Natural Life’*' and pamphlet on Norfolk island issued -oy the Norfolk Tourist J Bureau*)