Great Australian Journeys

by Seal, Graham;

  Christopher did not appear in Boyter’s clinical records or in his list of those injured. His voyage was seemingly uneventful, perhaps even enjoyable. But its aftermath would be very different.

  After landing, Christopher was taken to the Hyde Park Barracks along with his fellow prisoners and later transferred to a special program for young offenders at Carters’ Barracks. Like most such institutions at the time the authorities tried to instil a firm religious belief in their charges along with basic education and skills in a trade.

  This regime was not to Christopher’s liking. He tried to run away and received a flogging of 24 lashes. A subsequent attempt to escape with some other boys was again unsuccessful. This time he suffered 36 lashes.

  In April 1833, Christopher was arrested for a second time, this time for theft. Between 1837 and 1839 he was imprisoned at Parramatta Gaol. The gaol records describe him as 5 foot 4 and a half inches tall (about 1.6 metres), with a fair and freckled complexion, hazel eyes and a cut on his left arm. After these gaol records, he disappears from colonial history.

  What happened to him we do not know. Perhaps, like many other transports he found a good lodging as an assigned servant, worked hard and served his time. He may have joined the thousands of other emancipists who contributed to the foundation of modern Australia. Of course, he may not have been so lucky. Many others met sad or violent ends on the colonial frontier, their deaths unrecorded and mostly unmourned.

  ALL HIS JOIFUL CREW

  The surprise intersection of two journeys lies behind the foundation of what is now the state of Victoria. In March 1836, the surveyor-general of New South Wales, Major Thomas Mitchell, was intent on following the course of the Murray River from its junction with the Darling. Once he reached this fork, he struck out along the previously uncharted Murray River, moving his large expedition south into what is now known as the Wimmera. He wrote, ‘Of this Eden I was the first European to explore its mountains and streams—to behold its scenery—to investigate its geological character . . .’

  With five drays, over fifty bullocks, herds of sheep, oxen and horses, and a cart carrying a boat, Mitchell’s convoy left such a scar on the land over which it passed that Mitchell’s Line was still visible in the ground into the twentieth century. It also left its mark on the indigenous people when the expeditioners killed seven Aborigines at Mount Dispersion.

  Towards the end of the year Mitchell and his lumbering troupe reached the coast at Portland Bay, where he believed he was the first European to tread. He was more than surprised when the Aboriginal guide—Tommy Came-last, as he was known—brought him shards of bottle and tobacco pipes. At first he thought they must have been left by passing whalers, but continuing round the bay he saw a brig anchored there and some deserted sealer sheds. Mitchell heard two shots, as he wrote in his journal:

  I then became somewhat apprehensive that the parties might either be, or suppose us to be, bushrangers and, to prevent if possible some such awkward mistake, I ordered a man to fire a gun and the bugle to be sounded; but on reaching the higher ground we discovered not only a beaten path but the track of two carts, and while we were following the latter a man came towards us from the face of the cliffs. He informed me in answer to my questions that the vessel at anchor was the Elizabeth of Launceston; and that just round the point there was a considerable farming establishment belonging to Messrs. Henty, who were then at the house.

  The Henty family and workers were carrying on a brisk trade in whale oil, livestock imports and selling their abundant farm produce to the whaling ships that frequented the bay. How did an English family come to be farming and whaling on the shores of this unmapped land?

  The long journey of the Henty family began in Sussex seven years earlier, in 1829, when Thomas Henty’s eldest son, James, and two brothers, their farm workers and a load of livestock, sailed from England for the Swan River aboard the chartered ship Caroline. They set out with great optimism. Even their servants were hopeful of a better life. One composed a song for the occasion and wrote it down with some inventive spelling and punctuation that reflected the Sussex accent:

  Come all you English lads that have a mind to go

  Into some foring Conterey I would have you for to know

  Come join along with Henty and all his joiful crew

  For a Set of better fellows in this world you never knew

  Coris

  So us here is off to New Holland if God will spear our lifes

  All with littel families, hower sweethearts and hower wifes.

  The rest of the song provides the reason for the migration journey: ‘Now England [had] got very bad’ and food was very expensive. If someone went to their parish for poor relief, as welfare was called in those days, they would be badly treated ‘as if [they] weare a thif’. Australia—or New Holland as it was still then known by some—was a promised land, as the final verse explains:

  Now when we come to New Holland, I hope that soon will be

  All will send home to England and how happy there wee be

  With plenty of provishons, boys, and plenty for to do

  So hear is health to Henty and all his joiful crew.

  The Hentys and their workers had a massive grant of land waiting for them in the Swan River colony, over thirty-four thousand hectares. But two poor seasons convinced James to transfer to Van Diemen’s Land where the rest of the large Henty family, but for one son, had landed in 1832.

  Unfortunately, the British government decided that no further grants were to be made in Van Diemen’s Land. The Hentys had spent much of their capital in the failed Swan River venture and so were unable to buy land. They looked across the Bass Strait to the virgin coast of what was to become Victoria. After extensive investigation of the area, and in defiance of an official ban on settlement, Edward, the fourth-born of Thomas Henty’s sons, sailed with a small party across the strait and simply squatted at Portland Bay in November 1834. Soon after, the Hentys shipped the first Merino sheep from the future colony of Victoria across Bass Strait.

  Mitchell found them two years later. The Hentys provided the explorer and his men with flour and ‘as many vegetables as the men could carry away on their horses’. Mitchell returned to Sydney covered in glory as the discoverer of an extensive fertile region he called Australia Felix, the fortunate Australia, a name that has not survived in official use. He was able to claim this triumph over the Hentys because he explored the unknown interior while they settled on its edge.

  But the travelling Sussex family have the rightful claim to be the first known European settlers in what we now call Victoria. As Edward Henty would recall:

  I stuck a plough into the ground, struck a she-oak root, and broke the point; cleaned my gun, shot a kangaroo, mended the bellows, blew the forge fire, straightened the plough, and turned the first sod in Victoria.

  The Henty family at Portland Bay continued to prosper, despite difficulties with the New South Wales government over their title to the land they occupied. By the mid 1840s the Hentys had claimed around 280 square kilometres (70,000 acres) and were breeding Merino sheep, as they had back in England. The difficulties with the government were more or less resolved in 1846 and the Hentys went on to play many significant roles in farming, government and the financial development of the Australian colonies.

  ABOUT 600,000 ACRES, MORE OR LESS

  The year after the Hentys made their voyage, another pioneer opportunist crossed the Bass Strait from Van Diemen’s Land. John Batman’s journey ended in the purchase of a large swathe of Wurundjeri country. On this land one of Australia’s greatest cities would one day grow.

  Batman sailed with his party in late May. After some difficulty, they navigated through the heads of Port Phillip Bay and landed on 29 May.

  We got well into the port about ten o’clock, where the water is very smooth and one of the finest basins of water I ever saw and most extensive. I would not recommend any one to come in until the tide was running in, when the surf i
s smooth at the mouth. As we were sailing up the port heard a dog on the shore howling; cannot think what brought it there. Just called upon deck to see about 100 geese flying near the vessel; they seemed very large, and flew up the port before us. We anchored in a small bay about 12 miles up the port and went on shore.

  Before we got into the boat we saw a dog on the shore. We pulled off and came up to the dog, which proved to be a native dog of N. H., [New Holland] which had surely left the natives within a day or so, as he came quite close to my natives and did not appear at all afraid, but would not allow them to take hold of him. Our dogs, after some time, took after him, and ran him into the water, where we shot him. He was a large dog, and much the same I have seen in New South Wales.

  We fell in with the tracks of natives which were only a day or two old, also huts on the bay, where they had been eating mussels. It cannot be more than two days back. We then went in the boat about 4 miles, and then passed over some beautiful land and all good sheep country, rather sandy, but the sand black and rich, covered with kangaroo grass about 10 inches high, and as green as a field of wheat. We then went in another direction for about 4 or 5 miles over good sheep land, gentle rises, with wattle and oak with stunted gum. None or very little of this timber would split.

  In his journal, Batman continued to extol the beauty and plenty of the country—its forests, plains and wildlife. ‘I never saw anything equal to the land in my life,’ he noted many times. These features were what Batman hoped to find but he was also searching for the land’s people. He found recently occupied huts and the day afterward he sighted smoke from far-off fires. ‘I intend to go off to them early in the morning, and get, if possible, on a friendly footing with them, in order to purchase land from them.’

  His account continues:

  At daylight this morning we landed to endeavor to meet the natives. We had not proceeded more than 14 miles when we saw the smoke at seven large huts. My natives stripped off and went up to them quite naked. When they got to the huts found that they had left this morning. Then with the natives went round and found their track and the direction they went in. We followed on the track for 10 miles or nearly, when one of my natives saw a black at the distance of a mile. We were at this time spread along. He made a sign to us, and all made in the same direction.

  He came up to the person (an old woman), quite a cripple; she had no toes on one foot. We then saw the remainder of the tribe about a mile further on. We made towards them, and got up to them about ten o’clock p.m. They seemed quite pleased with my natives, who could partially understand them. They sang and danced for them. I found them to be only women and children, 20 of the former and 21 of the latter. The women were all of a small size, and every woman had a child at her back except one who was quite a young woman and very good looking. We understood that the men went up the river. They had four native dogs, and every woman had a load of 60 lb. to 70 lb. on her back, of one thing or another. Each had two or three baskets, net bags, native tomahawks, bones, &c. I found in one of the net bags a part of a strake of a cart wheel, which had two nail holes in. They had ground it down to a sharp edge and put it in a stick to cut with as a tomahawk. They had also several pieces of iron hoop ground sharp to cut with, several wooden buckets to carry water in. They had some water with them which was very bad.

  They came back with us where I had some blankets, looking glasses, beads, handkerchiefs, sugar. I gave them 5 pairs of blankets, 30 handkerchiefs, 1 tomahawk, 18 necklaces of beads, 6 lb. of sugar, 12 looking glasses, a quantity of apples, which they seemed well pleased with; they then went off again. I promised to see them again to-morrow. The young woman who I have spoken of before gave me a very handsome basket of her own make, other women gave me two others . . .

  The children were good looking, and of a healthy appearance. They were greatly affrighted by the discharge of a gun, and all of them dropped down immediately. I think they never heard the report or saw a man before.

  Over the next six days, Batman and his party traversed the new land using their ship as a base. At every turn Batman found something new to praise—the bird life, the soil, the views. He busied himself naming mountains and other natural features after acquaintances, his wife and himself. He also found elaborate stone fish traps in the river as well as the remains of a large unknown creature.

  On 6 June, they had another encounter with the local people.

  We walked about 8 miles, when we fell in with the tracks of the natives, and shortly after came up with a family—one chief, his wife and three children. I gave him a pair of blankets, handkerchiefs, beads and three knives. He then went on with us and crossed a fresh water creek, the land on each side excellent. He took us on saying he would take us to the tribe, and mentioned the names of chiefs.

  We walked about 8 miles, when, to our great surprise, we heard several voices calling after us. On looking back we saw six men all armed with spears, &c. When we stopped they throw aside their weapons, and came very friendly up to us. After shaking hands, and my giving them tomahawks, knives, &c., they took us with them about a mile back, where we found huts, women and children.

  After some time, and full explanation, I found eight chiefs amongst them, who possessed the whole of the country near Port Phillip. Three brothers, all of the same name, are the principal chiefs, and two of them, men of 6 feet high and very good looking; the other not so tall but stouter. The other five chiefs were fine men, and after a full explanation of what my object was, I purchased two large tracts of land from them, about 600,000 acres, more or less, and delivered over to them blankets, knives, looking glasses, tomahawks, scissors, flour, &c., as payment for the land, and also agreed to give them a tribute or rent yearly.

  The parchment the eight chiefs signed this afternoon, delivering to me some of the soil, each of them, as giving me full possession of the tracts of land. This took place alongside of a beautiful stream of water, and from whence my land commences, and where a tree is marked four ways to know the corner boundary.

  The country about here exceeds any thing I ever saw both for grass and richness of soil, the timber light and consists of sheoak and small gum, with a few wattle. My natives gave the chiefs and their tribe a grand coroborrow to night. They seemed quite delighted with it. Each of the principal chiefs has two wives and several children each. In all, the tribe consists of 45 men, women and children.

  The next day, he writes:

  Detained this morning some time drawing up triplicates of the deeds of the land I purchased and delivering over to them more property on the banks of the creek, which I have named Batman’s Creek after my good self.

  Just before leaving the two principal chiefs came and brought their two cloaks or royal mantles and laid [them] at my feet wishing to accept the same. On my consenting to take them they placed them round my neck and over my shoulders, and seemed quite pleased to see me walk about with them on. I asked them to accompany me to the vessel. They very properly pointed to the number of young children then at their feet, meaning that they could not walk, but said they would come down in a few days.

  Not only did Batman steal the land of these trusting people, he also learned their lore.

  I had no trouble to find out their sacred Matke. One of my natives, Bungett, went to a tree out of sight of the women, and made the Sydney natives’ mark. After this was done I took with two or three of my natives the principal chief, and showed the mark on the tree. This he knew immediately, and pointed to the knocking out of the teeth. This mark is always made when the ceremony of knocking out the tooth in the front. However, after this I desired, through my natives, for him to make his mark, which, after looking about for some time and hesitating some few minutes, he took the tomahawk and cut out in the bark of the tree his mark, which is attached to the deed, and is the signature of their country and tribe.

  On 8 June, Batman found a well-watered spot along the river now known as the Yarra and decided that, ‘This will be the place for a village.’ He d
eparted a few days later, having left some of his party behind with three months’ supplies and a ‘written authority to put off any person or persons that might trespass on the land I have purchased from the natives’. Batman’s ship made a good run on 10 June and was through Georgetown heads by early the next morning, then back in Launceston on the tide.

  The land upon which Melbourne now stands had been purchased.

  GYPSY JOURNEYS

  Among the world’s great travellers are the Romani people, more usually known in Britain and Australia as Gypsies. With their own language and culture, the nomadic Romani lifestyle has always marked them out for prejudicial treatment and when some Romani journeyed to Australia in the nineteenth century there was no exception.

  Individual Romani were among those transported to New South Wales, Van Diemen’s Land and Western Australia but the earliest account of a Romani group comes from the 1860s. In mid 1866 a local newspaper reported a number of Romani passing through Orange on their way to Mudgee. According to the paper, they had been in Australia for a couple of years already and they ‘bear about them all the marks of the Gypsy’. The article continued:

  The women stick to the old dress, and are still as anxious as ever to tell fortunes; but they say that this game does not pay in Australia, as the people are not so credulous here as they are at home. Old Brown Joe is a native of Northumberland, and has made a good deal of money even during his short sojourn here. They do not offer themselves generally as fortune-tellers, but, if required and paid, they will at once ‘read your palm’. At present they obtain a livelihood by tinkering and making sealing-wax. Their time during the last week has been principally taken up in hunting out bees’ nests, which are very profitable, as they not only sell the honey, but, after purifying and refining the wax, manufacture it into beautiful toys, so rich in colour and transparency that it would be almost impossible to guess the material.