Читать книгу Australian History For Dummies - Alex McDermott - Страница 64

In addition to the difficulties with the criminals and the marines, the ground Phillip was trying to grow crops on proved to be largely barren and infertile. But Phillip showed his mettle, and his genius for combining real fairness with great toughness. A man who’d been living on and commanding ships for much of his life, he was used to the world of rough equality that prevailed on ships. This world was often brutal, but on the ship everyone knew they had no-one else to rely on outside their fellow crew, whatever their rank may be. This same logic applied now and Phillip followed it ruthlessly.

Phillip declared that all rations would be divided equally, no matter if you were free or felon. The officers, again, were outraged, but Phillip, again, ignored them. Then he showed the same impartiality with executions. Stealing provisions was made a capital offence. In the year of their arrival, he’d shown this by hanging convicts who stole supplies. He then followed it up in 1789 by hanging soldiers who were caught running a scam of pilfering the main store. No-one could be under any illusions now as to how things stood.