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October 1798 - More convicts are needed
1 October 1798, Rag and Bone Inn, Sydney, Colony of New South Wales
John Macarthur watched as St Philip's Church burned, the small spire lurching drunkenly as the flames ate further into the structure. Built by convicts, it had been destroyed by their negligence as well. It was to be expected in a penal settlement, after all. The opening of lands beyond the Blue Mountains had created opportunities for the colony not previously expected and the availability of land beyond said mountains had consequently seen more land become available in the Sydney Cove area as a number of landholders had elected to move beyond the mountains onto new, larger, land grants.
Governor John Hunter was concerned that the French may return to the Southern regions, but that seemed most unlikely to him. Bass and Flinders were due to repeat their exploration ambitions with an expedition to Van Diemen's Land, however, Macarthur personally thought such efforts were the height of folly. Macarthur had established a small flock of Merino sheep over two years ago and they were doing well, very well indeed in the protected lands round Sydney Cove, where depredations by native dog and blacks were kept to a minimum. No, there were two things the colony required. More livestock and more convicts. Transportation numbers had fallen to less than 400 per annum during the French Revolutionary Wars, as convict labour was needed in the dockyards and in the services. Previous to such time, numbers transported had been three times this. Previously, only a third of those sentenced or given respite from a death sentence to transportation were actually put on a transport ship; the rest got no further than the hulks; old, unseaworthy ships acting as prisons. Terms of transportation were usually seven years or life. The hulks were still in use as prisons, tying up Royal Navy resources when the ships could well be used for harbour defense, training and military accommodation.
If influence could only be brought to bear in Whitehall, numbers of convicts transported could be greatly upped, both to the benefit of the Colony as a whole and also to the mother country in the return of raw materials such as wool. Areas such as Ireland could be focused upon, where the absence of pestiferous political rebels would be welcomed. If more numbers could not be obtained, then other alternatives would have to be looked at, possibly including obtaining natives from Britania in the Loyalty Islands, a chain some distance North of the penal settlement at Norfolk Island.
No, Governor Hunter was largely an ineffective man and generally easily influenced by the last person to talk to him. It would not be a difficult task to convince him of the requirement of such a plan. Without growth, the Colony would stall and now they had all the land that any man would possibly want to expand into. In fact, with the generosity of recent land grants, it would perhaps be worth investigating many of the London lock up houses that existed. In England 10,000 people were imprisoned for debt each year and those of superior class were well kept but in many cases unable to extricate themselves from their predicament. Whilst there was no way to do so in England, a different story awaited in New South Wales, where a man's fortunes could quickly be made.
John Macarthur
View attachment 470524
John Macarthur watched as St Philip's Church burned, the small spire lurching drunkenly as the flames ate further into the structure. Built by convicts, it had been destroyed by their negligence as well. It was to be expected in a penal settlement, after all. The opening of lands beyond the Blue Mountains had created opportunities for the colony not previously expected and the availability of land beyond said mountains had consequently seen more land become available in the Sydney Cove area as a number of landholders had elected to move beyond the mountains onto new, larger, land grants.
Governor John Hunter was concerned that the French may return to the Southern regions, but that seemed most unlikely to him. Bass and Flinders were due to repeat their exploration ambitions with an expedition to Van Diemen's Land, however, Macarthur personally thought such efforts were the height of folly. Macarthur had established a small flock of Merino sheep over two years ago and they were doing well, very well indeed in the protected lands round Sydney Cove, where depredations by native dog and blacks were kept to a minimum. No, there were two things the colony required. More livestock and more convicts. Transportation numbers had fallen to less than 400 per annum during the French Revolutionary Wars, as convict labour was needed in the dockyards and in the services. Previous to such time, numbers transported had been three times this. Previously, only a third of those sentenced or given respite from a death sentence to transportation were actually put on a transport ship; the rest got no further than the hulks; old, unseaworthy ships acting as prisons. Terms of transportation were usually seven years or life. The hulks were still in use as prisons, tying up Royal Navy resources when the ships could well be used for harbour defense, training and military accommodation.
If influence could only be brought to bear in Whitehall, numbers of convicts transported could be greatly upped, both to the benefit of the Colony as a whole and also to the mother country in the return of raw materials such as wool. Areas such as Ireland could be focused upon, where the absence of pestiferous political rebels would be welcomed. If more numbers could not be obtained, then other alternatives would have to be looked at, possibly including obtaining natives from Britania in the Loyalty Islands, a chain some distance North of the penal settlement at Norfolk Island.
No, Governor Hunter was largely an ineffective man and generally easily influenced by the last person to talk to him. It would not be a difficult task to convince him of the requirement of such a plan. Without growth, the Colony would stall and now they had all the land that any man would possibly want to expand into. In fact, with the generosity of recent land grants, it would perhaps be worth investigating many of the London lock up houses that existed. In England 10,000 people were imprisoned for debt each year and those of superior class were well kept but in many cases unable to extricate themselves from their predicament. Whilst there was no way to do so in England, a different story awaited in New South Wales, where a man's fortunes could quickly be made.
John Macarthur
View attachment 470524
- johnboy
- Word Count: 560