Читать книгу Early Tasmania - James Backhouse Walker - Страница 7

The foregoing sketch of the operations of the French navigators in these waters will, I think, have made ii pretty plain that the French Government entertained serious designs of planting a colony at the first convenient opportunity somewhere in Tasmania, presumably in the neighbourhood of the Derwent. How disastrous to the English colonies in Australia the successful accomplishment of such a design would have been we can partly appreciate from our recent experience of the trouble and vexation caused to the Australians by the existence of a French penal settlement even so far removed from our shores as New Caledonia.

The following particulars of the circumstances which were the immediate occasion of the English occupation of Van Diemen's Land are drawn almost wholly from unpublished documents preserved in the English State Record Office, and which I have already referred to as having been lately copied by Mr. Bonwick for the Tasmanian Government. They will show that the colonisation of Tasmania was not an isolated or chance event, but one link of a chain,—a ripple in the great current of influence which has been shaping English and European history.

On the 18th November, 1802, after a six months' stay, the two French ships sailed out of. Port Jackson for Bass' Straits. The Naturaliste was intended to take home the sick, leaving the Géographe to complete her voyage of discovery alone. Governor King had not been without misgivings respecting the movements of the French, and had given expression to them in a despatch to Lord Hobart written a few days before; but his suspicions only proceeded from the circumstance of the long time they were engaged in surveying at Storm Bay Passage. Moreover, the recent discovery of Bass' Straits, by proving Van Diemen's Land to be an island, had given rise to a new cause for apprehension, since it might now be fairly contended that the island could not form part of the territory of New South Wales, and that the English, having no prior right of discovery, could not make good their claim, while the French expeditions, by their explorations and surveys, had established a superior title. But a few hours after the French ships were out of sight, a piece of gossip reached the Governor's ears which fairly startled him out of his equanimity. This was a report that some of the French officers had stated, in conversation with Lieut.-Colonel Paterson and others, possibly in a convivial moment, that a principal object of their voyage was to fix on a place at Van Diemen's Land for a settlement. The alarmed Governor sent off forthwith to Colonel Paterson for more precise information, and the answer he received, on that same Tuesday morning on which the ships had sailed, more than confirmed his worst fears. Not only had the talk among the French officers been so general that the Colonel could not understand how it was that the Governor had not heard of it, but one of the officers had sent Paterson a chart, and had pointed out the very spot selected—the place where they and D'Entrecasteaux also had spent so much time—the Baie du Nord [now known as Frederick Henry Bay], in Storm Bay Passage, or, as the French called it, Le Canal D'Entrecasteaux. King, of course, knew very well that Baudin could, at most, take formal possession, for, with his small and sickly crew, and without stores or provisions, he had not the means to found a colony. There was no immediate danger on that score, but he did not know what recommendations might have been sent to the French Government, or how soon a properly equipped expedition might be on its way from France to plant a settlement, and, being a man of action, accustomed to act promptly and on his own responsibility, without waiting for instructions that might be twelve months in reaching him, he proceeded forthwith to take steps to prevent an invasion of His Majesty's territory of New South Wales, of which territory he was the guardian. His first difficulty was to find a ship. The naval strength at the command of the Governor of New South Wales was not large. His Majesty's ships in these seas were few in number, small, and often unseaworthy, and there was a constant difficulty in finding vessels that could be spared for any special service. Of those under his orders the Buffalo was essential at Port Jackson, the Lady Nelson was off north with Flinders, the Porpoise, the only other king's ship, was away at Tahiti salting pork for the necessities of the colony. But there was in Port Jackson a little armed schooner called the Cumberland, which had been built at Sydney a few years before for the purpose of pursuing runaways. She was only 29 tons burden, it is true, but she would do to checkmate French designs. This little craft was therefore hastily prepared for sea, a crew was selected, Lieut. Chas. Robbins, master's mate of H.M.S. Buffalo, was put in command, and in four days she was ready to sail. Robbins received several sets of instructions, indicating the uncertainty into which the Governor was thrown. His general instructions required him to proceed without loss of time to Storm Bay Passage,—"the dominion of which, and all Van Diemen's Land, being", says King, "within the limits of His Majesty's territory and my government,"—and to fix on the most eligible places in Frederick Henry Bay and the River Derwent, agreeable to the separate instructions on that head. If, however, Robbins met with southerly or westerly winds, he was to go to King's Island and Port Phillip, for the examination and survey of which places he had separate instructions, and afterwards proceed to Storm Bay Passage. He was to hoist the English flag whenever on shore, placing a guard at each place, who were to turn up the ground and sow seeds. As the Porpoise was intended to follow with soldiers and settlers immediately on her return from Tahiti, he was to keep the King's colours flying to indicate the intended settlement. Captain Robbins was also charged with a letter from King to the French commander, if he should happen to overtake him in Bass' Straits; and he received very precise instructions respecting the action he was to take to assert English rights if the French ventured to infringe them. Having his preparations made, and his little vessel ready for sea, King sat down to report to Lord Hobart the position of affairs. He tells the Secretary for War * that, on hearing Colonel Peterson's report, he had lost no time in expediting the Cumberland, armed colonial schooner; that she was on the point of sailing, and that, from the arrangements he had made, His Majesty's claim to the threatened part of this territory could not be disputed; for, whatever might be in contemplation, it could not be performed by Baudin in his present condition; it was only necessary to guard against any action of the French Government which Baudin might have recommended. It was his intention, therefore, when the Porpoise arrived from Tahiti, to despatch her with a small establishment to the most eligible spot at Storm Bay Passage, and also with one for Port Phillip or King's Island.

[* The Secretary for War was also at that time Minister for the Colonies.]

The Cumberland sailed the same day (23rd November). She had on board Mr. Charles Grimes ** (Acting Surveyor-General), M'Callum (the surgeon), Jas. Flemming (the gardener), and three marines; with the crew, 17 persons. In the journal *** kept by Flemming, the gardener, who was sent to report on the soil and productions of the almost unknown regions to which they were going, we have a chronicle of their proceedings.**** They had a quick run of two days to Cape Howe, but, baffled by contrary winds and calms, were nine days more in reaching Kent's Group, and it was not until the 8th December—a fortnight after leaving Port Jackson—that they made Sea Elephant Bay, on the east coast of King's Island. Here they found the French ships lying at anchor, and at 5 o'clock on that summer evening the little Cumberland dropped anchor alongside them. The Naturaliste was on the point of sailing for France. Captain Robbins boarded the Géographe, announced his mission, and delivered to the Commodore the Governor's letter. It was short, and friendly in tone. King begins by remarking that his intention to send a vessel to the southward, to fix on a place for a settlement, was already known to Baudin himself. He then mentions the report that had led to the departure of this vessel being hastened, and goes on to say that, while wholly disbelieving that the French commander had any thought of such a design as had been imputed to him, yet it seemed but proper that he should be informed of the rumour, and of the orders the captain of the Cumberland had received in consequence. The version of the Governor's letter given by Péron in his history of the expedition represents it as couched in more forcible and less conciliatory terms. Péron says that hardly Lad they anchored at King's Island when the little schooner Cumberland arrived from Port Jackson, bringing Surveyor-General Grimes, who had been sent by Governor King to make a declaration, as singular in its form as it was remarkable in its object. "A report having reached me," wrote Mr. King to our Commander, "that you entertain a design of leaving some people either at Diemen's Land or on the south-west coast of New South Wales, to found a French Colony there, I deem it my duty to declare to you, Monsieur le Commandant, that, by virtue of the proclamation of 1788 whereby England formally took possession, all these countries form an integral part of the British Empire, and that you cannot occupy any part of them without breaking the friendly relations which have been so recently re-established between the two nations. I will not even attempt to conceal from you that such is the nature of my positive instructions on this point that it will be my duty to oppose by every means in my power the execution of the design you are supposed to have in view. Accordingly, H.M.S. Cumberland has received orders not to leave you until the officer in command of her is convinced that your proceedings are wholly unconnected with any attempt at invasion of the British territory in these parts." ***** With King's own copy of his letter before us ****** we can hardly accept Péron's version as accurate. Probably, while professing to give the letter textually, he really relied on his memory, and interwove the substance of the English Captain's verbal communications to the Commodore. It is sufficiently clear, however, that Robbins, with the downrightness of a sailor, had left nothing doubtful or ambiguous with respect to the object of his mission. During the week after the arrival of the Cumberland and the delivery of the despatches, the representatives of the two nations fraternised and interchanged hospitalities on the disputed shores of King's Island. The French, meanwhile, set up an observatory on land, and pitched their tents near the beach. Perhaps it was this proceeding that confirmed Robbins' suspicions, or perhaps the French Commander would not give him the assurances he wanted; at all events, before the end of the week the Englishman made up his mind that the time for decisive action had come; so, on the 14th, he made a formal lading in full view of the Frenchmen, marched his little party to the rear of the tents, hoisted His Majesty's colours on a large tree, posted at the foot of the tree his guard of three marines with loaded muskets, fired three volleys, gave three cheers, and took formal possession of the island in the name of King George. This defiant assertion of British claims by a handful of English sailors, in the teeth of ten times their number of traditional enemies, might well have wounded the vanity of people less susceptible than Frenchmen, and we need not, therefore, wonder that we hear of no more mutual hospitalities. Péron remarks that "such proceedings may probably seem childish to people unacquainted with the English policy, but to the statesman such formalities have a more important and serious aspect. By these repeated public declarations England continually aims at strengthening her claim, and establishing her rights in a positive fashion, and uses these pretexts to repel, even by force of arms, all nations who may desire to form settlements in these lands." * Péron must often have recalled to mind the warning of the President of the Parliament of Dijon half a century before, and reflected with some bitterness how amply the prophecy had been fulfilled.

[** Grimes was one of the first, if not the first, to cross Tasmania from north to south.—See Flinders' Chart, 1807.]

[*** Fleming's Journal was disinterred from the Records in the Colonial Secretary's Office, Sydney, by Mr. J. J. Shillinglaw, in 1877, and was printed in that gentleman's "Historical Records of Port Phillip." Melbourne, 1879.]

[**** Ibid., pp. 15-30.]

[***** Péron's Voyage, 2nd ed., vol. 3, p. 11; and see Appendix B.]

[****** See Appendix B.]

[* The high-handed and exclusive policy of the English is a frequent topic of complaint in Péron's work. Thus, he relates that two days after leaving Port Jackson they fell in with a schooner, on board of which was a M. Coxwell from the Isle of France, who had accompanied another Frenchman, Lecorre, on a sealing cruise to Bass' Straits in the Enterprise, of Bordeaux. He goes on to explain that, while other nations had been indifferent to the importance of New Holland, England had, in 1788, despatched a fleet thither and founded a Colony, and had, without remark from European statesmen, taken possession of half the Continent. Emboldened by the silence of other Governments, the British Government had published the instructions to Governor Phillip claiming the country from Cape York to the South Cape (lat. 10° to 43° S.), and as far to the West as the 135th parallel, besides all the islands in the Pacific, and had established a policy of exclusion of other nations from the fisheries. So that, on the arrival of the Enterprise, Governor King, although peace had been declared, warned Lecorre off the coast under a threat of seizing his vessel, and, though he finally allowed the Frenchman to fish at the Two Sisters, it was only on the condition that he should undertake not to enter Bass' Straits, and that no vessels in future would be allowed even so much indulgence. Lecorre's vessel was wrecked at the Two Sisters, and he himself and two-thirds of his crew perished. Péron says it is plain that the intentions of the English Government are so hostile that it will be dangerous for other speculators to venture into these waters. (Péron's Voyage, 2nd ed., vol. 3, p. 3.) Governor King, in a despatch to the Admiralty (9th May, 1803), states his intention of restricting seal fishing by foreigners; and, in another despatch to Lord Hobart, referring to Lecorre's vessel, remarks with some satisfaction that the French schooner had been wrecked at the Cape Barren Islands, "which may stop more adventurers from that quarter."]

The French Commander's answer to Governor King's letter is worthy of notice, as showing that the French had by no means relinquished their claim to a share of Australian territory. His letter is dated from the Géographe, and bears date the 3rd of the month Nivose, in the 11th year of the French Republic (23rd December, 1802). He tells King that the arrival of the Cumberland, and especially the letter which the Governor had done him the honour to write, would have surprised him if Mr. Robbins had not, by his conduct, made clear to him the true motive of the expedition which had been despatched after him in such headlong haste. "But, perhaps", says the Commodore, "after all, it may have come too late, for several days before the gentleman who commands it thought proper to hoist his flag above our tents, we had taken care to place in four prominent parts of this island—which I intend shall continue to bear your name—proofs sufficient to show the priority of our visit." He then declares that the report-of which they suspected Captain Anthony Fenn Kemp to have been the author, was entirely without foundation, and he does not believe that his officers or scientific men had by their conduct given any ground for it. "But," he concludes, "in any case, you ought to have been perfectly certain that if the French Government had given me orders to establish myself in any place, either at the north or at the south of Diemen's Land—discovered by Abel Tasman—I should have done so without keeping it a secret from you." **

[** See Appendix B for Baudin's letter.]

A week after the date of his letter to King (31st December), Baudin sailed from King's Island for the Gulf of Carpentaria, and from thence made his way to Mauritius, where he died. Surveyor-General Grimes and Flemming spent some six weeks in a thorough exploration of King's Island.*** Their report of the island as a place for settlement was unfavourable. They then proceeded in the Cumberland to Port Phillip, where they remained six weeks, Grimes making an accurate survey of the Port both by sea and land, discovering the River Yarra, and bringing away a more favourable impression of the country, but, as King says, with no very promising hopes that either that place or King's Island would ever be found an eligible place for an agricultural settlement. On leaving Port Phillip, Robbins sailed direct for Port Jackson, where he arrived on 7th March, having been absent about three months and a half. It does not appear why he did not fulfil the rest of his instructions, and go on to Storm Bay Passage. Perhaps, having seen the French ships sail away to the westward, and fairly off the English premises, he conceived the danger to be at an end. King, at any rate, was perfectly satisfied, and writes to the Admiralty that Robbins had conducted the service entrusted to him very much to his satisfaction, and remarks that "making the French Commander acquainted with my intention of settling Van Diemen's Land was all I sought by this voyage."

[*** The island was in those days a favourite resort of sealers. Péron says that when they reached Sea Elephant Bay the beach was covered with sea elephants, their brown colour making them strikingly visible on the white strand, where they lay like great black rocks. At the approach of the French some of the animals plunged into the sea, roaring frightfully, while others remained motionless on the sand gazing on their visitors with a placid and indifferent air. In he same year Captain Campbell, of the Snow Harrington, at New Year's Island, on the western side of King's Island, in 10 weeks (19th March to 27th May) killed 600 sea elephants and 4300 seals.]

The fear that the French might yet make a descent on Van Diemen's Land still weighed on King's mind. As we have seen, before the Cumberland sailed he had determined to send the Porpoise, on her arrival from Tahiti, to make a settlement. The return of Robbins with unfavourable reports of King's Island and Port Phillip had satisfied him that neither of those places was adapted for settlement, and he once more fixed his attention on the point which, now that Baudin had left Bass' Straits, appeared to be most threatened. He, therefore, resolved to limit his action to Storm Bay Passage, and immediately took steps to carry out his resolution.

He reported his intention to the Admiralty, and says in his despatch, "My reasons for making this settlement are the necessity there appears of preventing the French gaining a footing on the east side of these islands; to divide the convicts; to secure another place for obtaining timber with any other natural productions that may be discovered and found useful; the advantages that may be expected by raising grain; and to promote the seal fishery."

There is no doubt that Governor King was in perfect accord with the Home Government in his apprehension of French designs, and in his policy of anticipating them by occupying important points "for political reasons".*

[* See Professor Seeley on Napoleon's intentions in the war that ensued on the rupture of the Peace of Amiens, 18th May, 1803. Exp. of England, p. 34.]

Already, in January of this very year, the Authorities in Downing-street had determined to form a settlement at Port Phillip, and had selected Lieut.-Col. David Collins to be its Lieutenant-Governor, and the date corresponds with the communications that King had made to the English Government with respect to Baudin's expedition.

Five months later (24th June, 1803), in consequence of King's despatch of 23rd November, 1802, informing the Admiralty of the report that the French were about to colonise Van Diemen's Land, Lord Hobart instructed the Governor to remove part of the establishment at Norfolk Island to Port Dalrymple, "the advantageous position of which, upon the southern coast of Van Diemen's Land and near the eastern entrance of Bass Straits, renders it, in a political view, peculiarly necessary that a settlement should be formed there." The amusing confusion of localities does not say much for the state of geographical knowledge at Downing-street, but the anxiety of the Government to anticipate French action is very clearly indicated.

The Governor's mind was now firmly made up to establish a colony at the Derwent, but some months were yet to elapse before he could carry out his plans. One of his difficulties had been to find, out of the slender establishment at Port Jackson, a competent officer to whom he could entrust the command of the intended settlement. The arrival of H.M.S. Glatton at Sydney, in March, 1803, relieved him from this embarrassment. There was on board the Glatton a Lieutenant who had made several voyages to the colony, and so far back as 1792 had been engaged in conveying cattle and provisions from Bengal to New South Wales in the Atlantic storeship, at a time of great scarcity.** He was a son of Commissioner Bowen,*** and we have King's testimony that he came of a family various members of which, including his father, had distinguished themselves in the navy during the French wars. Peace had now been declared, and Lieut. John Bowen saw little prospect of speedy promotion. When, therefore, the Governor spoke of the difficulty he was in through not being able to find a man competent to take charge of the Derwent establishment, it occurred to Bowen that here was a chance for him to earn a claim to notice as the founder of a new colony, and so possibly win a promotion he could hardly hope for as a junior lieutenant in time of peace. He obtained Captain Colnett's permission, and offered his services to the Governor. King was glad to accept them, and on 28th March, 1803, he issued a Commission, in which, after premising that it had become necessary to establish His Majesty's right to Van Diemen's Land, within the limits of the territory of New South Wales, he directed Lieut. John Bowen to proceed in H.M. armed tender Lady Nelson to choose a suitable place for an establishment, and appointed him Commandant and Superintendent of the settlement. The more detailed instructions to the new Commandant, bearing the same date as the commission, direct him to proceed in H.M. armed vessel Porpoise, or Lady Nelson tender, with people and stores for a settlement, and fix on a proper spot in the Derwent, about Risdon's Cove; to begin immediately to clear ground and sow wheat and other crops; and to furnish full reports on the soil, timber, capabilities, and productions of the country. He was to have six months' provisions; was to employ the convicts in labour for the public good; to hold religious services every Sunday; and to enforce a due observance of religion and good order. No trade or intercourse was to be allowed with any ships touching at the port. Arrangements were to be made for laying out a town, building fortifications, and appropriating land for cultivation on the public account. The free settlers who accompanied him, in consideration of their being the first to volunteer, were to have a location of 200 acres for each family, and be allowed rations, the labour of two convicts each for 18 months, and such corn, seeds, and other stock as could be spared. Bowen also received sealed orders with respect to any French ships which might arrive; he was to inform them of His Majesty's right to the whole of Van Diemen's Land, and was to repel any attempt to form a settlement,—if possible, without recourse to hostile measures.

[** So Mr. Bonwick, who gives an extract of a letter from Bowen to the Under-Secretary of State, dated from the storeship Atlantic, March, 1792; Collins, however, gives the name of the Admiralty Agent on board the Atlantic as Richard Bowen. Collins, New South Wales, i., 174.]

[*** Jorgensen's Shred of Autobiography in Ross' Almanac, 1835.]

Another three months elapsed after Bowen had received his Commission before King had vessels at his disposal which he could spare for the service. It was not until the 30th June, 1803, that at last the Porpoise and Lady Nelson sailed from Port Jackson with the Commandant and people and stores for the Derwent. Yet even then the attempt was destined to be thwarted for a time. Both ships were much out of repair and sadly leaky, and on leaving Port Jackson they met with such strong head winds that they were compelled to give up all idea of proceeding on their voyage, and put back to the harbour, arriving on the 4th July. The Porpoise was now required to take Flinders to England, and, after undergoing repairs, she sailed on 10th August, only to be lost a week afterwards, in company with the Cato, on Wreck Reef, to the north of Rockhampton (Lat. 22° 11' S.). King forthwith ordered the Colonial vessel Francis to be fitted out to accompany the Lady Nelson on a second attempt, and wrote to Lord Hobart that he hoped these ships would complete the service, which he deemed the more essential from the inclination the French had shown to keep up a correspondence with Port Jackson.

In those days the exigencies of the service compelled Governors to take whatever offered to aid them in accomplishing their plans. Many were the missions of relief or mail despatch that were entrusted to whalers, or even American sealers, and their remuneration was sometimes odd enough. Thus, on one occasion, Governor King desired Governor Collins to pay for the despatches sent to him by a sealing sloop going to King's Island, by giving the skipper 30 empty salt-meat casks—surely as odd a postage as ever was paid. And it must be admitted that at times the Yankees fleeced the Britishers handsomely for the humane help they afforded—for a consideration.

Let us be thankful that it was not a Yankee sealing schooner that carried the first Governor of Tasmania to the seat of his Government, but a British whaler, which turned up at the right moment—the Albion, 326 tons—whose skipper, Captain Ebor Bunker, was afterwards well known at the Derwent Settlement in early times.*

[* In 1809, when in the ship Venus, he put into Adventure Bay, and there found a bottle containing the last letters of the unfortunate La Pérouse. And his name is yet perpetuated on a tombstone at Crayfish Point, near Hobart, which records that under it lies buried James Batchelor, Second Officer of the ship Venus, commanded by E. Bunker, and that he died 28th January, 1810.]

On the 31st August, 1803, the Albion and Lady Nelson set sail from Port Jackson. The Lady Nelson took the bulk of the people and stores. She was a brig of 60 tons burden, and had been originally sent out in 1800 under the command of Lieutenant Grant to explore the newly-discovered Bass' Straits. A little while before she had been employed as a tender to Flinders' vessel, the Investigator, on the survey of the coast within the Great Barrier Reef. She was commanded by Acting Lieutenant C. G. Curtoys, and had for Chief Officer the redoubtable Dane, Jorgen Jorgensen, the conqueror of Iceland. The same plan of colonisation with convicts and a few free settlers that had obtained in the planting of the settlement at Port Jackson 15 years before, and in settling Norfolk Island in 1788 by King himself, was followed in this little off-shoot from the parent colony. Governor Bowen's Civil Establishment consisted of three persons, including himself. His subordinates were Dr. Jacob Mountgarret, Surgeon of the Glatton, as Medical Officer, and Mr. Wilson as Storekeeper. His military force consisted of one lance-corporal and 7 privates of the New South Wales Corps, There were 21 male and 3 female convicts. Three free settlers accompanied the party—Birt, who took his wife; Clark, a stonemason; and another whose name is not given, who was made overseer of convicts. Three other free persons, a man and two women, also obtained leave to try their fortunes in the new settlement. Thus the whole colony consisted of 49 persons, of whom 13 were women and children. They took about six months' provisions and some live stock—viz., 10 head of cattle and about 50 sheep—while the Governor had the only horse, and the settlers a few goats, pigs, and fowls.

The Albion and Lady Nelson put to sea on the 31st August; but Governor Bowen was invariably unlucky at sea, and on the second day of their voyage they encountered a heavy gale, which obliged the Albion to heave-to, and cost them heavy losses among the live-stock. Then it fell calm, for which, however, Captain Bunker found consolation by catching three sperm whales. The Albion had a reputation for fast sailing—having made the passage from Spithead to Port Jackson in the then unprecedented time of 108 days—but, baffled by light unfavourable winds, she did not make Storm Bay until the tenth day out. Even then she was two days beating up the river against head winds, so that it was not until Sunday, the 12th September, 1803, that, passing along the lonely and thickly wooded banks of the Derwent, the Albion, with the first Governor of Tasmania on board, came to an anchor in Risdon Cove. Here they found the Lady Nelson already lying at anchor, having arrived five days before, on the 7th September.

I have searched in vain hitherto in printed accounts for the correct date of Bowen's settlement. The dates given vary from June to August, but I think we may henceforth consider it settled, on the authority of official documents, that the birthday of Tasmania was Tuesday, the 7th day of September, 1803.

Here I must pause. On a future occasion I hope to be able to draw further on the store of material which has been provided by the wise liberality of the Government, and to give some particulars of the history of Bowen's abortive colony at Risdon, and of Collins' settlement at Sullivan's Cove.