The Heather to the Hawkesbury

by Sheila Hunter

  “No, I’ll not miss the last glimpse, man. I daresay I’ll not see our land again.”

  “It will be there for hours yet. It is a big island and I think we’ll have it for quite some time.”

  They could still see it, or what they thought was Skye when they went for their evening meal. It became quite mixed with other isles and mountains that it was hard to be sure but while they could, they looked, remembered, and wondered what was ahead.

  All through the days that lay ahead the families watched the coastline, new to them as none had left their homeland shores before. The women were mostly concerned with keeping track of the children, who rapidly became used to the new life and so roamed as they were permitted, or not at times. The older children had a great sense of responsibility and so watched over the younger ones, having grown up wandering freely all over the island they were used to this. The parents spent most of the time together, glad of their closeness to each other in this unknown adventure. They were sorry for smaller groups of people and even lone ones, picked up from various ports on the way south. They stayed apart wanting only their own company, frightened of too many new things to come.

  They called in at Glasgow, their first experience of a big bustling city. Horrified they did not disembark as it was all too big, dirty and noisy to attract them. They stayed aboard hoping soon they would arrive in Liverpool. The weather held and the children were able to spend more time on deck while in the harbour.

  Chapter 4 - Embarkation

  Liverpool, a foreign city, a foreign land, a foreign tongue.

  The first they saw of it was the forest of masts of the overseas vessels. They seemed endless, but at last they arrived at the wharf and Murdoch took charge again.

  “Alistair and Alec are staying aboard until I get you settled into the Government depot. Fergus will come with us.”

  The Government depots were large buildings built to house emigrants while they awaited embarkation.

  As the four women and Fergus entered the building they were amazed and horrified at finding one very large room. Just two long shelves along each side divided every four feet by a partition two feet high, with a mattress on each shelf. There must have been three hundred people in the room. The place was clean enough, but what crowding! Mary emitted a groan and hid her face in Johnny’s coat as she clutched him tightly. “Oh, Murdoch, we surely don’t have to stay here, do we?”

  “Aye” said a voice nearby. Mary turned and found herself facing a wee bent man in a faded kilt. “Aye, lass, this is the only accommodation to be had. It’s not so bad today, but until yesterday it was terrible. Thank our Lord, eight hundred people sailed then.”

  “l’ve never seen so many people in one room.”

  “I daresay you haven’t, madam, but they tell me it’s worse on the ship.”

  “Oh, no,” gasped Mary, she paled, even more horrified.

  They were taken to some unoccupied sections and the women tried to settle into it while Murdoch went back to the ship for their luggage and the other men.

  For two days they lived in these quarters with little to do but sit together and mind the children. Murdoch, Alistair and Alec spent most of the time seeing the agent and arranging the shipping of their luggage. Fergus spent as much time as possible lying down, resting.

  Fortunately their ship, the ‘Mistress Azure’, was due to sail on the third day after their arrival. Many of the people in the depot were envious of the Macdonald party as some had been awaiting a ship for some time as they had not pre-booked a passage.

  Mary could not believe any ship could be as bad as this. No privacy, just people, that is , if you could call them people. Children screaming and the stench of unwashed bodies everywhere. She found too, that it was very hard to understand the speech of those around her. She knew they spoke the English tongue, but it often seemed impossible to believe this, as it did not sound like the English they had learned from the Laird. What a blessing they were not alone and they were able to speak their own tongue between themselves.

  It was a job to keep the young ones out of mischief. Fergus and the older boys were trying to amuse the younger ones, leaving only the very small for the mothers to cope with.

  Small Johnnie was such a worry too, as he seemed hot and fretful, surely he wasn’t sickening!

  At least the food was very good at the depot and the women were content to procure large quantities of food for their families, some of it quite strange to them, but the boys enjoyed it all immensely, but then, boys always did.

  Even years later the memory of the next day didn’t fade. To Mary it was a nightmare. They were able to get aboard the ship fairly early in the day. The women, laden with hand luggage and the smallest children, staggered up the gangway. They saw that some people had big wooden boxes to store their gear, but many, as did the Macdonalds, carried a great deal singly, or wrapped in shawls, plaids or other unwieldy bundles. There seemed to be a constant stream of pots, pans, mugs, plates, shovels and tools of all kinds. Cows, pigs, sheep and hens too were all taken aboard, but thankfully they did not share the same accommodation, and as much food as the people could manage was carried and as many different containers. Basic food was supplied to passengers, but most, like the Macdonalds, brought more.

  They had many eggs stored in fat, and bacon, potatoes and other vegetables and, of course, oatmeal for porridge and cakes.

  Mary was quite wrong, the ship was much worse, so much worse, than the depot. There were hundreds of people below decks, but where the depot was light and clean, the room they were taken to was very dark and it smelled evilly already and it had not even left the harbour.

  This time there were two shelves running along each side of the ship, one upon the other. Each section four feet wide with a small board separating each bunk. There was a long table running down the centre, with seats on either side. This was where the passengers ate, cooked and generally spent their hours.

  Mary took all this in and turned turtle and headed for the deck. “I won’t stay, Murdoch, I can’t stay. Where can I put the children? How can I look after them there? How could we spend four months in that? Please Murdoch, say we’ll go home, please.” With this she burst into tears, clutching the whimpering, hot John, and sat hard on a large coil of rope, with the children and a frantic Murdoch around her.

  “Mary,” Murdoch said sharply, “pull yourself together, lass.” He waited for the sobs to stop and after a time she raised a tearful face to him with pleading in her eyes. Murdoch cut in sharply, “It’s no good, lass. We cannot go back and you know it.” As she appeared to want to succumb to tears again, he sat beside her and put his arm about her.

  “Lassie, there’s no turning back. We’ve committed ourselves. I realise it’s terrible down there. I realise that so much depends on you. I realise that it is a big risk to have the children down in that dark hole, but love, look past this, look at the end of the journey. A new start, a new home, a chance for the children that they’d never get at home.” He gave her a quick squeeze and said “Mary, my love, we’ve been through a lot together. We’ve laughed together, loved together, worked together and near starved together. And now look at our children. It’s for them we’ll go through this, to give them a chance where they will grow free and healthy. The colony is young and so are we.

  Let us look at this journey as an end and then we can start a new beginning in New South Wales. We’re not the first to be taking this voyage and the people before us weathered it, so we must too. Dry your eyes and let us settle into this next home of ours. The others will wonder where we are.”

  So once more descending to the sleeping area, they found Alistair looking for them.

  “We’re in great luck,” he greeted them, “I’ve been able to get the area at the end for all of us and so we can put curtains up and have a great deal more privacy than if we were a centre section.”

  And so the voyage began.

  Chapter 5 - At Sea

  The first day at sea
was blue and calm. They settled in amazingly quickly especially the children, and things looked somewhat better, but on the second night out Johnny appeared to be really ill. The surgeon, Mr. Harris, came to see him and several others who were ill and gravely “hm’d” and “haw’d”. “He certainly has a fever, but what, at this time, I do not know. Just give him cool drinks, do you have Barley broth? and we will see what he is like tomorrow.”

  Tomorrow turned out to be just one more day that Mary did not ever want to remember and indeed for several days after it as well. During the night they ran into a severe storm and they all found what a ship can do in rough weather.

  As the ship tossed, people and belongings went everywhere. Most were seasick and it was an impossible task to tend those who needed it. There were not enough water closets for so many sick people and no way to clean up until the storm was over. Indeed at times the ship rolled so much that it was difficult to move out of the bunks anyway.

  Murdoch was very seasick and Mary too, but she had to put it aside as she was constantly tending young John. The others too, were sick except Alec and surprisingly, Fergus. All the children were sick but the older boys and Catherine recovered quickly and were a great help to their parents.

  Surgeon Harris struggled around the ship seeing to as many as the poor man could manage. There was little he could do to help any of them and Johnny worried him constantly. The small boy was very hot and at times quite delirious. Fergus was amazing! Helping where and who he could, he said that surprisingly he felt wonderful.

  The storm raged for three days and then gradually began to subside. Mr. Harris said they ought to have sailed through it, but it seemed to stay with the ship for an interminable time.

  The Scottish people discovered what sort of people their fellow passengers were at this time. Many were filthy, foul-mouthed folk and Murdoch and the other men tried to protect their families from them as much as was possible. Some from near Skye as they were, but many others from other parts of the Highlands and not well behaved or mannered. Most never washed.

  During the severe weather the hatches had been closed and this made the stench of countless unwashed bodies, the vomit and the general smell of the quarters even worse as so many had been seasick. As facilities were minimal at the best of time, many used their cooking bowls for their bodily functions, as it was too rough to cook anyway. What a relief it was on the day the hatches were opened. The ship was still moving a great deal but the rain had stopped and the waves had stopped breaking over the hatches. So at last some good clean air was felt through the dark quarters.

  It was as well that the early emigrants were not as tall as the modern Australian. There was little headroom between decks, for the deck above was only six feet four and from this protruded many heavy beams. So it was cramped to say the least. The noise of many booted feet on the wooden decking above and the constant buzz of conversation, laughter and arguments so close at hand was hard for the Highland people to take. Mary had found the noise on the coastal steamer annoying and intrusive, but it was nothing like these horrible, personal, persistent, intrusive noises.

  At last they could go on deck in the fresh air. The cooks were again able to set their stoves going, cooking bowls emptied and washed out, and tea and hot food was cooked and served on the deck. It was quite cold above but as many as were able dressed themselves and their families in warm clothing. It was difficult to manage eighteen children. The four mothers sat on the deck in a circle with the little ones amongst them and the fathers took the older children in hand, trying to keep them occupied and interested.

  Malcolm and Duncan Macdonald, Hamish MacKenzie, Donald MacLeod and Ian Fraser were the oldest boys in the group. Donald sixteen, Malcolm, Hamish and Ian were fourteen, and Duncan was twelve.

  They were thrilled to stand on the tilted deck with their fathers holding onto the rail, watching the waves tear by. To look up into the rigging and see the stretched sails on the masts. They felt the cold salt air and to breathe cleanly again. Oh, what a thrill! Sickness was forgotten for a time.

  Mary had taken Johnny to a sheltered place for a short while. He was still very sick and only his little face was to be seen in his woollen wraps, a pale little wisp of a fellow. As long as she could she stayed near the stair where the air was fresher. She knew now he would get better, but he was still far from well and unless the weather improved and allowed a more normal life on deck she feared for him.

  Chapter 6 - Life On Board

  As they sailed south the days became warmer and they were soon to experience their first real heat.

  The heat brought a change in their lives. Surgeon Harris suggested that as many men and boys who wished could sleep on deck. This allowed the women and girls to have more sleeping room and although there was more noise from the deck above, on the whole it was quieter in the quarters at night, as there were now no snorers nearby. If it rained there would be a scatter below but they were fortunate that the weather was kind for a lengthy period.

  It was during this time too that the men often bathed on deck and the women were able to strip and wash - both themselves and their clothes.

  Unfortunately, some did not make use of the ablutions, even though the salt water was icy, they remained in their filthiness, some for the, entire journey. These people did not make pleasant travelling companions and indeed, the whole company soon sorted itself into groups. Those who tried to make the best of the bad conditions and those who seemed to delight in making everything difficult. These latter were mostly those who remained dirty, were quarrelsome and obstructive in every way possible.

  The folk from Skye were among those who made the best of it all. All emigrants travelling below decks were divided into “messes”. The “mess” captain were issued the set rations to a “mess” and was responsible to apportion it out at the stated time. The men took it in turn to act as “mess” captain, going on deck at meal times to receive the meat, soup and other victuals set aside for the meal. They at all times, tried to shield their families from any of the unpleasantness experienced in the quarters. It was usual for one of the party to remain on guard of their possessions, for thieving seemed to be second nature to some of their companions.

  Mary noticed that the health of all improved as the voyage progressed, even little Johnny was an active little fellow once more. Fergus seemed to thrive on sea travel. She was proud of her brother, the way he was able now to share the tasks with the other men. Perhaps consumption would not be a reality after all. What a letter she could write to her Mother! She chuckled as she thought of his organising prowess. He had all the rations worked out to a fraction. By now he knew exactly how much each person would eat and how to make the ration last the time. He had worked out a roster for all the jobs and all were included except the children under six, who were dubbed “the bairns”. One of the mothers and often two were allotted the task of bairn-minding. This way allowed task time and free time. At times it was difficult to keep all the children occupied and when tempers flared. Fergus would have everyone, out on deck if possible, doing exercises and drill. Many of their neighbours laughed, but the Skye children were less trouble and a greater help than those who were just allowed to run wild, as many were.

  It was not only the emigrant children who at times ran free but those of the cabin class who would play truant at times.

  Murdoch was involved in an incident with one such lad on a day where the sea was rather bouncy. He was standing on the sloping deck, bracing himself against the movement of the ship, breathing in the fresh sea air. He heard a shrill voice above him on the poop deck calling,

  “Come down Master Hugh, come down quick.” Murdoch couldn’t see the child spoken to at first, then to his horror, saw a small boy heading up the rigging. He was just about to rush after him when the ship lurched and the small truant was plucked from the ropes. Murdoch rushed forward and caught the child neatly, just saving him from going overboard. The nursemaid was just in time to see the rescue and c
alled in a sobbing voice, “You naughty boy Master Hugh, you nearly went over.”

  Murdoch ran up the steps to the poop deck and put the lad down. A little white face looked up to him and said, “I nearly went over, didn’t I?”

  “You did that, young master. I think you knew that it was a silly thing to do.”

  “Yes, I suppose so, but the seamen look so grand running up the ropes and I thought I’d try. It is a bit scary up there.”

  “Master Hugh, you will get me into such trouble with your adventures,” the nursemaid said, pushing the lad’s cap on his head.

  “What will your Papa say? You must thank this man - do please tell me your name. Yes, thank him properly.”

  “My name is Macdonald. There’s no need for thanks. I’ve young ones of my own and I know how active they can be.”

  Hugh took off his cap and solemnly shook hands with Murdoch saying “I really am sorry Mr. Macdonald, that I was naughty and I am sorry to you, too, Annie, for giving you such a fright.” Murdoch left them.

  Later that day Hugh’s father sought Murdoch out. “John Trent, merchant of Sydney Town,” he introduced himself. “I am grateful, Macdonald, for your quick action this morning. I believe my son Hugh would have gone over the side if it hadn’t been for you. I thank you.”

  “It was good that I was there to catch him, sir. I just happened to be in the right place at that time.”

  “Well, Mrs. Trent and I are in your debt. I do hope Hugh thanked you as he should.”

  “He did that, Mr. Trent, and he felt badly that he’d disobeyed his nurse. I do not think he’ll try that caper again. I’m sure he was quite frightened.”

  “Are you off to get your fortune at the diggings Macdonald?”