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Page 3
Governor Phillip sailed to England on the 11th of December,
1792, when Lieutenant-Governor Grose succeeded to the government;
and, during his period, the improvements in the settlement
assumed a more decisive and favourable aspect. The settlers were
now enabled to sell corn to the public stores, all of which the
commissary received directions to purchase at a given price:
passage-boats were licensed and established between the towns of
Sydney and Parramatta, and the number of settlers began to
increase in a rapid portion. On the 15th of December, 1794,
Lieutenant-Governor Grose left the colony for England, and
Captain Paterson, of the New South Wales corps, assumed the
government until the arrival of Governor Hunter, who came out in
the Reliance, on the 7th of September, 1795, and entered upon the
functions of his important office without delay.
One of the first acts of the new governor was the
establishment of a printing-press, the advantages of which soon
became obvious, in the more ready communication of all orders for
the regulation of the settlement.
The bulls and cows which had been originally brought over to
the new continent had, by the carelessness of their keeper, been
suffered to stray into the woods, and every subsequent search
after them had proved ineffectual until this period, when a fine
and numerous herd of wild cattle was discovered in the interior
of the country, which was evidently the progeny of the animals
which had been so long lost to the colony. The protection of this
wild herd and its increase became a matter of public interest,
since it would, hereafter, serve as a valuable resource, in case
of necessity; and measures were accordingly adopted to prevent
any encroachment on that liberty which it had preserved above
seven years.
In the commencement of the year 1796, a play-house was opened
at Sydney, under the sanction of the governor, who, while he
laboured to promote the public weal, was not less anxious to
extend to individuals the enjoyments and privileges which were
compatible with the good of the colony. Towards the close of the
same year, the houses in Sydney and Parramatta were numbered, and
divided into portions, each of which was placed under the
superintendance of a principal inhabitant. The county of
Cumberland was assessed, a few months afterwards, for the
erection of a country gaol; and the peaceable inhabitants of the
colony had the speedy satisfaction to perceive a building of such
utility put into hand; for such had been the recent increase of
crimes, and so greatly had the settlement been annoyed by the
desperate and atrocious conduct of the disorderly part of the
community, that it became an object of necessity to adopt some
stronger measures than those which had hitherto been put in
force, to secure the prosperity and tranquillity of a community
which was now so rapidly growing in extent and importance. A
town-clock was also erected in Sydney, a luxury which had been
hitherto unknown, and affords evidence of the gradual maturation
of the settlement; and, indeed, the whole of this enumeration is
calculated to impress the reader with an idea of the rapid
strides which the few last years had enabled the colonists to
make in the path of respectability. The natives had been, of late
years, perfectly reconciled to their new countrymen; and,
although their attachment to their accustomed habits and
situations induced them to abstain from taking up new residences,
and from mixing indiscriminately with the Europeans, they had
become comparatively social, and commenced an intercourse which
was calculated to rivet the prosperity of the colony. Those
insulting attacks and sanguinary recriminations which had
disgraced the earlier years of the establishment, no longer
existed, to disturb the tranquillity and excite the alarms of the
settlers; many of the convicts had reformed their lives, and,
instead of being examples of depravity, had turned to habits of
industry, and endeavoured to benefit that society on which they
had formerly preyed; while the apprehensions of famine had
entirely vanished before the improvements in the agriculture of
the country: the stock had increased wonderfully; the granaries
and storehouses were amply supplied; and the ground brought forth
more produce, as its nature became better understood, and the
most advantageous methods of tillage were discovered.
The peace of the colony was threatened, however, in the year
1800, by the seditious conduct of a number of Irish convicts who
had recently arrived in this country, and who had laboured, with
ceaseless exertions, to disseminate their pernicious and absurd
doctrines amongst the prisoners. They had assembled frequently
for the purpose of accelerating their diabolical views, and a
Roman Catholic priest, named Harold, who was discovered to be one
of the instigators and originators of the scheme of insurrection,
was taken into custody. Voluntary associations were embodied, and
every measure of prudent precaution was promptly adopted, to
prevent the expansion of principles which are totally subversive
of all order, and of the best interests of civilized society. It
may easily be supposed, that amongst such characters as composed
the colony, there must be numbers to whom these sentiments of
insubordination must be congenial, and who would eagerly grasp at
any projects, however absurd and impracticable, the proposed
object of which was their emancipation from the punishment which
their crimes had drawn upon them. Men who have obtained a
proficiency in crime, and are callous to the voice of conscience,
science, are seldom very choice as to the degree of the
criminality which they are inclined to commit; and it is highly
creditable to Governor Hunter's prudence and skilful management,
that the settlement was at this moment preserved from the horrors
and consequences of internal commotion.
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