The Naval Pioneers of Australia and Walter Jeffery

of the naval governors never stands out from their pages. The German blood in Phillip seems to have made him a peculiarly self-contained man; the respect due to Hunter,

of all Phillip's subordinates in the beginning of things Austral

when he, in 1786, joined the Sirius as second lieutenant. In a statement of his serv

ade a lieutenant into the last ship by Mr. Byron November 26th, 1778. On Channel service, Gibraltar, and Lisbon, in His Majesty's sloop and ship Kite and Ariadne from 1780 to 1783; in the East Indies in His Majesty's ship Europe from 1783 to

Europe. He was probably the best educated of the officers in the first fleet, and from his knowledge o

een in the offing. That official historian, Tench, of the marines, in a little to

upon deck; and I had barely set my foot, when the cry of 'Another sail!' struck on my astonished ear. Confounded by a thousand ideas which arose in my mind in an instant, I sprang upon the baracado, and plainly descried two ships of considerable size standing in for the mouth of the bay. By this time the alarm had become general, and everyone appeared in conjecture. Now they were Dutchmen sent to dispossess us, and the moment after st

o the new harbour. But certain courtesies were exchanged between the representatives of the two nations, and King was the officer employed to transact business with them. La Pérouse gave him despatches to send home by the returning transports. These letters and the wo

f New Zealand might be used for naval purposes, and as Cook's report said that Norfolk Island contained similar products, the colonization of the island as an adjunct to the New South Wales

, in the Supply, taking with him James Cunningham, master's mate; Thomas Jamison, surgeon's mate; Roger Morley, a volunteer adventurer, who had been a master weaver; 2 marines and a seaman from the Sirius; and 9 male and 6 female convicts. This complemen

g themselves, but, as we have seen, Phillip sent to him a large proportion of his half-famished settlers from

are told, he caused the people to be assembled for religious service. A man beat the head of an empty cask for a church bell. His punishments for offences t

son in April, 1790, in the Supply for Batavia. The brig returned to the colony with such food as

se: "the putrid fever of Batavia." Only four well men were left. King took command of them, put up a tent on deck to escape the contagion, ministered to the sick, buried the seven

by the time he reached the Channel, and he might thus be delayed in his mission, he refused the offer, and having

the Amazon. The Guardian, loaded with stores for Port Jackson, had struck an iceberg, and her wreck had been navigated in heroic fashion by Riou to the Cape. To the colony her loss was a gr

a commission as lieutenant-governor of Norfolk Island, ￡250 a year, and the rank of commander. He spent three months in England, married, and

rious trouble. In England, curiously enough, no thought of New Zealand had been taken yet. Some of the masters of transports to New South Wales, who were already beginning to experiment i

he colonists how to use the flax plant, promising the natives that they should be returned to New Zealand. The Maoris were despatched by Vancouver in the Daedalus to Por

did a very imprudent thing. The Britannia, a returning storeship, was detained by contrary winds at the island on her way to the East Indies. The wind served for

g faith with native races, and the desire to see for him

the island in his absence, King left Captain Nepean, of the same regiment, in charge. This officer was at the time about to go to England on sick leave, and King's reason for his selection was that he had no confidence in either Abbott or the subaltern under him. There is plenty of evidence that King was right in his want of confidence in these officers, but the action gave mortal of

y moderated his behaviour. But there was another and a greater cause of irritation to the lieutenant-governor at Port Jackson, who, be it remembered,

me too intimate, and the quarrels between parties grew serious. A time-expired prisoner caught his wife and a soldier together; the aggrieved husband struck the soldier, and the latter complained. The man was fined 20s., bound over to keep the peace fo

the corps entered the theatre and forcibly tried to take a seat that had been allotted to one of the lieutenant-governor's servants. A discharged convict, who was one of the 1794 managers of the theatre, remonstrated with the soldie

heir side-arms, and returned to the scene, threatening what they would do. King heard the noise, and rushing out from his house, s

retired to the barracks, where they held a meeting, and resolved to free their comrade by force, if he was not released in the morning. King, w

one of their officers, to a distant part of the island on the pretence of collecting wild fowl feathers. While they were away, King, with the remainder of the military and civil offi

mutiny to Sydney for trial, pardoning ten others. The vessel was despatched in a hurry, and King sent a very meagre

finding, in which King was ordered to disband his militia, and generally to reverse everything that had been done; and King did exactly as he was ordered to do. At home the

nsiderable influence with the Home Office, procured him a dormant commission as governor of New South Wales, under which he was to act in the event of the death or absence of Hunter. He arrived in the colony early in 18

f more general interest. King displayed great firmness and ability in dealing with the abuses which had grown up owing to the liquor traffic; but the condition of affairs required st

raising the behaviour of the convicts, he wrote that he wished he could write in the same way of the military, "who," says King, "after just attempting to set their co

m both the Duke of Portland and the War Office, expressing the strongest disapproval of the idea and stating that it was highly improper that an officer in the service should have become such a big trader. In 1801 MacArthur quarrelled with one of his brother officers, and this led to almost all the officials in the colony quarrelling with one another a

sent him back to the colony with a recommen

erial Government. King has had very little credit for this, and because he did deal severely with Irish rebels has been put down by many as a cruel man, but the home Government at first sent out prisoners without any history of their crimes, and King was unable to tell the dangerous from the comparatively i

to Lieutenant-

ARTERS,

March

hill. I immediately detached a corporal, 1804 with four privates and about six inhabitants, armed with musquets, to take them in flank whilst I proceeded with the rest up the hill, when I found the rebels had marched on for the Hawkesbury, and after a pursuit of about ten miles I got sight of them. I immediately rode forward, attended by the trooper and Mr. Dixon, the Roman Catholic priest, calling to them to halt, that I wished to speak to them. They desired I would come into the middle of them, as their captains were there, which I refused, observing to them that I was within pistol-shot, and it was in their power to kill me, and that their captains must have very little spirit if they would not come forward to speak to me, upon which two persons advanced towards me as their leaders, to whom I represen

s them to, and I trust their steady perseverance, after a fatiguing march of upwards of 45 miles, to restore order and tranquillity will make their

which at that time had been transported to the colony and the quantity of liquor available. Certainly

eir lives, and been once admitted to a commutation of punishment, to be certain and inflexible, and no one case on record where mere mercy, which is a deceiving sentiment, should be permitted to move you

ies told to them by men who had come out in the first fleet. Therry and Lang were as opposite as the poles: the first was an Irish barrister and a Roman Catholic; the second was a Scotchman

nd respect; the official records rather confirm than contradict the stories. Governing a penal co

olk Island at a critical time, when no one but a man could have controlled its affairs; he is appointed to t

1802, when I arrived, it was lamentable to behold the drunkenness. It was no uncommon occurrence for men to sit round a bucket of spirits and drink it with quart pots until they were unable to stir from the spot." Thus wrote a surgeon. "It was very provoking to see officers draw

mbered, the colony was a penal settlement. The prison chronicles of England at this period are not a whit less disgraceful r

had leavened its population, and in consequence are remembered but as gaolers, t

important town of Newcastle was founded; the whale fisheries made a fair start; and several expeditions were conducted into the interior, always to be stopped by the Blue Mountains barrier. Above all, MacArthur, in spite of every discouragement, made a success of his wool-growing, resigned his commissio

liquor King had given them permission to purchase from a merchantman for the use of their ships' companies; another incident was the manner of hoisting the English ensign on board one of the French ships, which was "dressed" for a holiday. Baudin exp

in this extract from a letter dated Sydney,

st and north coast, were his particular objects. It does not appear by his orders that he was at all instructed to touch here, which I do not think he intended if not obliged by distress. With all this openness on his part, I could only have general ideas on the nature of their visit to Van Diemen's Land. I communicated it to Mons'r Baudin, who informed me that he knew of no idea that the French had of settling on any part or side of this continent. They had not been gone more than a few hours when a

for the colon

y intention to send an establishment there by the Porpoise. This order, you will observe, was a blind, and as such was to be communicated to Mons'r Baudin, as my only object was to make him acquainted with the reports I had heard, and to assure him and his masters that the King's claim would not be so easily given up. The midshipman in the

give him privately a packet for the Admiralty and Lord Hobart, in which, I believe, was one for you. These letters contained the particulars. The mid. was received by Mons'r Baudin with much kindness. In the latter's answer to me he felt himself rather hurt at the

a donation of ￡50; but King's action in sending the Cumberland after him struck the Frenchman in a different light. He wrote to King telling him that if he h

become more so from the manner in which the flag was placed, the head being downwards, and the attitude not very majestic. Having occasion to go on shore that day, I saw for myself what I am telling you. I thought at first it might have been a flag which had served to strain water and then hung out to dry; but seeing an armed man walking about, I was informed of the ceremony which h

mmission should be appointed to inquire into the government of the colony, or that he should be permitted to go to England himself and report upon the state of aff

ORE AL

er to m

laws and

in-Chief I

ank, I

my own

who dares

day kee

hours'

om such kin

lage t

Govern

f good thieve

cts from my bir

foretold b

eserved, which

tually die

e dam

ce he had done, yet the unfortunate differences between himself and the officers would best be ended by relieving him of his 1805 command as soon

ference "between you and the military officers," but to the fact that these disputes "have extended to the commander of H

home, I might, in that case, have avoided much of his insults here and his calumnious invective in England; but after refusing, as my bounden duty required, to comply to his unwarrantable demands, which, if granted, must have very justly drawn on me your lordship's censure and displeasure, with the merited reproach of t

ich enabled him to anticipate a mutiny of the convicts on the passage out. On the return of the Glatton to England, the St. James Chronicle informs its readers that

ch of rascality, had settled down into a respectable settler, and was in King's government, superintendent of convicts, at ￡50 a year wages. Sir Henry Browne Hayes, at one time sheriff of Cork city, was sent out for life in King's time

editious practices. The governor seems to have punished Scotch and Irish pretty impartially

Gerald, and Margarot, transported at Edinburgh for libelling the Government

had several children. The eldest of them, born at Norfolk Island in 1791, he named Phillip Parker, after his old chief. This y

e in September, 1808

London, merely to see Admiral Phillip, whom I found much better than I possibly could expect from the reports I had heard, although he is q

e on a cruise in the Channel. Seven days later the writer had slipped his moorings, an