Читать книгу Australian History For Dummies - Alex McDermott - Страница 114

Most of those who’d arrived free in the colony mingled, cohabited and married with the convicts and ex-convicts without any real worries. But a small minority (there’s always some …) went out of their way to hold themselves aloof and ‘exclusive’ (which became their nickname) whenever possible.

The Exclusives were a small group of free colonists who had kept themselves separate from close social involvement with the convicts and the emancipated. They were a handful of families who, although themselves from generally humble or low-class backgrounds, had made it very rich in the colony. But while they had all had close business involvement with convicts and ex-convicts (it was impossible to get anything done otherwise), they had made sure to marry and socialise with those others who had no taint of past criminal conviction. This made for very small tea parties, and a great deal of social anxiety.

With the arrival of Macquarie, the Exclusives found themselves dealt a governor who not only insisted on appointing ex-convicts along with Exclusives to positions of responsibility — as magistrates, for example, or as fellow board members on public trusts — but also enjoyed their company so much he invited them to receptions at Government House, to pleasant Sunday dinners and christenings.

This was exciting stuff — for everyone bar the Exclusives. For these people it was frightening. The stigma of coming to a convict colony was bad enough. If word started getting back to Britain that felons and free settlers intermingled easily throughout society, just think of the disgrace! They feared social contamination. And, more than that, they thought, strongly, that if you’d committed a crime and been transported, it just wasn’t right that afterwards you’d be treated like everyone else.