The men laughed at the dainty figure, both unable to picture the pretty creature coping with snakes and things.
“I hope you will never have to cope with snakes and spiders and live in a farm house, not while you are in my care, my dear. I don’t think you need be concerned about Mrs. Macdonald. I am sure she is a very strong person.”
“Oh, I am sure she is, you know that is not what I meant.”
“Well, if you are fortunate they will settle in a district where you can keep in touch.”
“Yes, if they go out to the Hawkesbury you may be able to give me news of them, William.”
“I might be able to do that, Emma. In the meantime I do think we should dress for dinner.” They went to their cabins.
A few days later there was a cry of “land ahead”. Such excitement there was. People crowded on every available piece of deck and peered ahead. Hardly discernible, the land strip gradually grew, but very slowly. There was a scurry of packing and sorting for most of the passengers were disembarking at Melbourne and then the diggings, and as they saw Cape Otway to the north, they knew their journey was nearing the end.
The ship passed through the Rip into the large Port Phillip Bay and then the land could be clearly seen. For hours the Scottish folk sat watching their new homeland. As they were going on to Sydney they had no packing to do and were glad to be out of the accommodation and let those who were leaving have the space to pack.
Elspeth said, “Well Mary, here it is, this new land. What does
it hold for us, will we be happy or will it hold tears?”
“I imagine there will be many tears mixed with the laughter, Ellie. I can laugh now at myself. You remember what a fuss I made on seeing the ship. Now I don’t want to leave it and take the next step. I would never have believed I could feel so.”
“Surely our new life won’t be as bad as this has been. It’s just the unknown that’s so frightening.”
“What! Oh what! is before us?” said Margaret Fraser. “I pray we’ll be close. I don’t think I could bear it if we were far away.”
“Alistair doesn’t mind if we are,” put in Caroline MacLeod. “He thinks we ought to be separated so we can grow into true Australians. He said we’ll stay too Scottish if we live nearby.”
“Oh, Caroline, we must be together, it would be terrible to lose touch. I didn’t know Alistair thought that way. I’m sure Murdoch wants us all close,” cried Mary.
“You know Alistair, Mary. He says little, but when he makes his mind up you can’t move him.”
“Don’t worry about it now lassies,” said the cheerful Margaret. “Just trust in the Lord, He will see us right. We have at least another week of this.”
In Melbourne port there was so much activity that they were content to sit in the shade on a beautiful late September day and watch it all. The children stayed close, for if they didn’t, they got in someone’s way. All day long boats came alongside and one after another of the passengers left with possessions piled high. So many had no idea where their future would be. Many women were saddened because the plans of coming to farm in the new land were forgotten as their husbands were infected with the gold fever. Many men were willing to risk all, including small capital and their families in order to join the rush. All expected to amass fortunes quickly, but the wives not so sure. Murdoch, Alistair and Fergus were untouched by it all, but Alec soaked any information up that he could and had said many times quietly to Margaret that he’d like to try for his fortune this way. It was just as well he had promised Murdoch to stay with him for he was sorely tempted to head for Ballarat with his family. Murdoch tried to keep a firm hand on his friend, for he knew his thoughts better than Alec gave him credit.
The women said tearful farewells to a few of their fellow voyagers but were intensely relieved to see several go who had been a constant source of trouble.
Fergus had been on duty in the quarters watching that someone didn’t “mistakenly” pack their goods. He came back on deck, laughing as he sat down, saying, “Well, I think the last of the rogues have gone and we can breathe easy. I had quite a tussle to keep your big cooking pot, Meg. Luckily I saw old Smith slip it into his bag. He wanted to fight me for it, and dropped his bag in the scuffle and everything in it spilled out. You should have seen Willie Thomas’ face when his father’s clock fell out, and Edwin Davis found the spoons his wife lost weeks ago. So we tipped his bag right up and you should have seen what we found. There was not one thing that belonged to Smith. So Willie took him by the collar and the seat of his pants and shoved him over the side into the boat with his family. He’s now cursing us all the way to Melbourne.”
“If that’s what you found in one bag, I wonder what has been packed in others. It is good to see the last of them, and the Browns too,” put in Murdoch.
“It should be quiet now, with most of the folk gone. We should be able to spread out now” said Fergus. “It looks so different, let’s go and see.”
They gazed at their quarters and saw such an unfamiliar sight. The few who were left were spreading their possessions around in greater comfort than they had experienced all the voyage.
“The children can share differently now,” said Mary. “Johnnie, would you like to sleep with Jamie in a bed of your own?”
“Oh yes, Mother, but I want to be near you.”
“You will be, my son, you can sleep right next to me with just the curtain between us and Jamie will be right next to Aunt Margaret.”
“That will be fun, Mother. Can I talk to you through the curtain?”
“Yes, Sonnie, you can pull it aside and have little talks to me when you wake in the morning.”
They were all light-hearted as they re-arranged their things.
“Mamma” said Catherine, “l know the ship has stopped, but every now and then I feel that it is moving. What a funny feeling.”
“Yes. I was speaking to Mrs. Trent about it and she said that we may feel it a lot when we go ashore in Sydney, but it will pass quickly. I suppose we have our sea legs now, as we’re used to walking around a a deck that moves, and we will have to get our land legs again.”
The ship sailed the next day and as they were heading once more through Port Phillip, John Trent came below and said, “Macdonald, I wonder if you and the other men would care to come to our cabin. We wish to speak to you.”
“Right, sir, I will find them and come straight away.”
Trent went up the stairs and as he disappeared, Mary tuned to Murdoch. “What do you think this means, Murd?”
“I wonder too, lass. Well, I’ll soon find out I daresay. I’d better find the others. Come on. Mary.”
Murdoch found the men pointing out some aborigines to the children. They could see them quite clearly and they were a fascinating sight to people who had never seen dark skins before. Murdoch broke in and gave the message from Mr. Trent and leaving their families, the men went up to the first class cabins. They had never been in this part of the ship before. All the varnished wood and fittings made the men feel as though they were in another world. It was all so unlike their quarters.
William Forrest was waiting for them and showed them to a large unoccupied cabin. Charles Parry and John Trent soon joined them.
“Sit down, men,” John Trent said. “We have all had mail in Melbourne and we find that the labour situation is worse than we had last heard and we are now in a position to offer you work.”
The Scotsmen murmured delightedly.
“I have been moved for some weeks to offer a position to Fergus, but did not think I would have an opening, so thought I would wait until we berthed in Sydney before mentioning anything. However, I find that I have lost my head clerk and feel now that I can tell you what is in my mind. I want to expand, opening branches in provincial towns, and I would like to take you on Fergus, as a clerk at first, because you are inexperienced and then train you in buying and selling. How does that appeal, man?”
“It appeals greatly, Mr. Trent,
and I am truly grateful for the opportunity. I will try not to let you down, sir. It is more than I ever dreamed.”
“I am sure we will deal well together, Fergus. I have not chosen you for your ability, for you’ve none of that yet, but I feel that we will work well together. I am a hard master, but you will learn well under me.”
“I can vouch for that” broke in William Forrest. “You could snot have better.”
“Thank you, Mr. Trent,” said Fergus. “I can only say that I am overwhelmed.”
“Now it is my turn, John,” said Forrest. “We too have had mail and both Charles and I have lost men from our farms. Charles will be happy to offer you, MacLeod, a job with him.”
“Yes, now I can offer you a job and hope you will accept it. There will be a house of course, and so will be able to house your family.”
“And I would like to offer positions to you and Fraser, Macdonald. How does that sound?”
“It sounds grand, sir,” said Murdoch and Alec in unison.
“Aye”, said Alistair, “it does that. Thank you, sir.”
They then got down to discussing their futures with their new bosses. After some time, John Trent broke in. “I think we ought to leave it at that for the time being. You must be keen to share the news with your wives and I suggest you do this. We will have time to discuss this further during the next week of our journey before we reach Sydney. There will be much you will want to know and also the ladies will wish to speak to my wife about their new lives.
The northerners stood up and Murdoch, as spokesman, said, “Gentlemen, I speak for the others when I praise God for our meeting with you. It has been beyond our expectations to get work before we even land in New South Wales. We thank you for your confidence in us. I can say here, sirs, that I can truly vouch for my friends ability to work. We do thank you, and ‘good day’ to you all.”
“Thank you Aye, we do,” and “Thank you sirs” put in the others and they left the cabin.
On reaching the deck Alec grabbed Murdoch and whooped with joy, then tried to dance with Fergus. Murdoch laughed and the dour Alistair just stood there with a large grin on his face. They hurried below and each clasped their wives and hugged them with glee. Their families gathered around them and they shared their news. The whole party was simply delighted.
“It takes such a lot of the mystery out of our arrival,” put in Margaret.
“We’ll be close.” said Caroline.
“We’ll not be living far away,” Murdoch pointed out, “but Fergus and Elspeth will be furthest away. We will be happy to know that you are well settled and are not too distant.”
“What do we do when we arrive in Sydney?” asked Mary. “Did you find that out, Murdoch?”
“No, love, not yet. Mr Trent knew we wanted to share the news with you and suggested that we talk later during the rest of the voyage.”
This is what they did, too. Fergus and Elspeth were delighted to find that there was a house for them in Sydney, near the warehouse that would be Fergus’ new work place. Mr. Trent suggested that tents would be put up in the yard of the house until the other families could move to their houses on the farms. Mr. Forrest suggested that the women and children stay in Sydney until Murdoch, Alistair and Alec got their belongings moved. The women were most anxious to know what their new homes were like and on hearing their descriptions, were quite dubious about them. Timber cottages seemed very frail things to shield their loved ones from the weather. They were used to stone cottages that withstood the almost arctic gales in the Western Isles. Emma Trent assured them that the material was usual in most areas. She had been interested to hear about the construction, the warmth and security of the stone thatched crofts that the newcomers had come from. She assured the women that they would soon accustom themselves to their new dwellings and would see the benefits of the lightness and design of the cottages.
Much of this last week of travel was spent learning about and speaking of, their futures and so the time went very quickly. The coast was visible all the way, although it looked a hazy blue grey, soon they came to Port Jackson. The ship turned west into what looked like a large bay, and continued to sail between two headlands up the beautiful harbour that was the gateway to their new land.
Now it was their turn to hustle and bustle to pack their belongings. Everyone in clean clothes, but children rebelling in their tight best clothes and bonnets and hats. The party was anxious to bid farewell to the ship, the place they had hated on sight, but seemed now to be an old friend, a place of security. Each had a rather empty feeling inside, of both fear and wonder of what was ahead of them. Not long now.
A farewell to their friends and the men disembarking first in Sydney. They watched them climbed into the boats that were ready to take them ashore. At last, land, after four months of motion.
Chapter 9 - First Sights
There was Sydney before them.
A gathering of houses, large and small, clustered along the shores and the hills above.
The day was one of those blue-gold days that Sydney does often produce, especially in the October warmth. The newcomers seemed to feel that it was the only kind of weather that Australia had, as the sunshine had followed them all the way since Melbourne. But they were not thinking about the weather, they were too busy with their thoughts. Each one was silently taking in the scene before them. Disappointment rose in their hearts as the unprepossessing wharves and their scruffy-looking work parties came into view. A jumble of thoughts rose to the surface in each.
“What is before us?”
“How will we fit into such a strange-looking place?”
“Will the children be well in all this heat and dust?”
They were certainly fortunate that John Trent had taken them under his wing. He suggested that they remain on board until he could get their accommodation settled. So, by the time they came ashore, later that day, wagons were waiting to transport them to Fergus’ new home.
The children gathered in the centre of the wagons while their parents sat on the edge silently taking in all the activity around them.
Some of the houses were quite small and squalid, but they could see large residences beyond these and as they drove through the town they saw the business centre and many lovely carriages carrying smart ladies and gentlemen. As they drew near the Haymarket they were upset to see so many dirty beggar children. Mary shuddered on seeing them and drew John and Mary Ann close to her. A mother’s natural instinct was to keep her children away from dirt and disease and she hoped that hers would not have to mix with such as these.
They drew up to a terrace of stone houses, whereupon Fergus took a key from his pocket and opened the door of Number 32. He turned to Elspeth and said, “Welcome to our new home, love. I do hope you and the bairns will be happy here.”
Elspeth led the women and children into the house. The driver of the wagon said, “I will take the wagon up the lane at the back Mr. MacKenzie and unload through the gate there. Then we will help you put the tents up. The gate opens this side, so would you open it?”
The men followed the women through, curious to see their first English-style house. There was a long passage the length of the house running from the front door to the back and several rooms opened from this to the right. Halfway along the passage it opened out into quite a large living room. There were three bedrooms and a kitchen which was near the back door and a tiny verandah outside.
Hamish opened the back door and called out, “look Mama, you can see right through the house. Isn’t it strange?”
As he looked, the men arrived at the high back gate. He ran down to draw the bolt and let them in. They unloaded huge bundles of canvas and soon the new settlers were learning to put up a tent. None had ever seen a tent before and so were quite surprised to find what a great shelter they were.
The women were wandering about the house settling where each could sleep and how they could feed such a large hungry group of people. Soon they were settled in and bed
s made on mattresses that Mr. Trent had sent from his store.
Two days after their arrival, Murdoch, Alec and Alistair boarded a boat at Darling Harbour[6] and with all their furniture and goods, they steamed to Parramatta. There wagons were waiting for them, Alistair to ride with the driver on Mr. Parry’s wagon and Murdoch and Alec on Mr. Forrests’. They went along together for most of the way until they came to a crossroads in the bush where Mr. Parry’s wagon turned south and Alec and Murdoch waved to a silent and dour Alistair as he disappeared through the trees.
The two plied the driver with incessant questions, their eyes trying to take everything in. They could now see the source of the pungent smell they had experienced at sea. Such strange grey-green foliage. It all looked so dry and dusty. Alec reached up and plucked some leaves from the overhanging trees. “Rub them in your hands and smell them,” said Michael Flynn, the Irish driver.
“We’re having a dry spring and the trees are dusty, but the rain soon washes them clean. Not that they are ever really green, not like the green in Ireland. After the rains they have new shoot and some grow red and some yellow. Makes the bush really pretty.”
“Nor in Scotland, it’s all green and mist.” put in Alec.
“What’s that?” asked Murdoch, pointing to some pretty animals back from the road.
“These are wallabies, and there are bigger ones called kangaroos, some stand as tall as a man.” replied Mick. “Watch them go, and don’t go near the big ones, a kick can kill you.”
Murdoch and Alec watched, stunned, as the animals bounce away.
“Do they always hop like that or is there something wrong with them?”
“Yes, they hop like that all the time. There are plenty of them about and you will get used to them. They are good to eat too.”
The Heather to the Hawkesbury Page 5
