Chapter VI: Assigned to Lake Innes

"Double, double toil and trouble,"

--SHAKESPEARE.

Shortly after Port Macquarie was made a Penal Settlement, several men of considerable wealth visited and settled in the district, and were granted large areas of land in and around the Settlement. Amongst these was Major Innes, who became the possessor of a large area of land about six miles from the town, which was and is known as Lake Innes. On this property the "Major" built a beautiful residence, with all the conveniences that money could command. It was not long before he commenced to breed horses for the Indian market, and frequently sent shipments of valuable horses to India. Besides this, he occupied large stores in the Settlement, and used to contract with the Government for supplying soldiers and men with provisions. A man of the "Major's" calibre could, by applying, get numbers of what were termed "assigned servants" to work on his property, and of this labour he availed himself to a great extent.

In the year 1838 I and two others were sent to Lake Innes to dig water holes for cattle, the seasons being so dry at the time that water had become a scarcity. We dug drains through the swamps, and made provision for ample water for the famishing cattle. Slopes were also made leading into the drains, so that any cattle which fell into the water, and were too weak to get out themselves, could be pulled out. One day, while there, the boss came down to see how we were progressing with the work, and after a while one of us said to him: "You ought to allow us a little more tea and sugar, for this is hard work; to say nothing of being up to our knees in water all day."

"Go on with your work," he said, "I think a good flogging would do you more good than tea and sugar. Did you get tea and sugar in the road party?"

"No, sir; but we had not to work in the water; and we left off work at 3 o'clock to cook our food, but here we have to work till 6." At this he turned and walked away.

A few days afterwards I pretended to be sick, and went up to the overseer and said: "I want a pass for the hospital."

"I can't give you one," he replied, "but if you'll bring up a pot I'll give you some castor-oil."

I went down to the hut and brought up the "Royal George"--the big pot that we used to cook in, laid it at the door and sang out.

The overseer came out, and seeing the pot, asked, "What the devil did you bring that for?"

"That's the only pot I can find," I said, "except what we make our tea in, and I could not put oil in that." Then he gave me some oil in a bottle. He came down the next day to see if the oil had done me any good. I told him that it had, but it was a fowl that I had the night before that did me good, for I went about with my eyes open and knew where they roosted--in the castor oil bushes. I did not want oiling like a steam engine.

Rain now came, and we relinquished the drain-digging; I was then sent into the vegetable garden to work. I was there but a very short time when the milkman lost his billet, and I succeeded him in that position. This job did not suit me; all the other men were comfortable in huts, and I was stuck, out in the milk yard in all sorts of weather, knee-deep in muck, as well as being growled at by the other men if I did not let them take the milk. It was a bad job for a fellow if he were caught at anything like this, and at the very least it meant "50." I was in great dread, as I had to please the men by letting them take the milk, and I also had to please the master by preventing them. One morning I hit upon a plan to get out of this billet. It was raining very heavily this morning, and I was wet through. When I had finished milking I dipped my hands into the muck in the yard, and then into the milk, carried it up to the house, and gave it to the butler. He looked at me for a second, then at the milk, and said, "You d----, dirty brute! Whom do you think can drink that milk?" "Well, I can't help it," I said, "look at the yard, up to my knees in filth, and the boss won't give me time to clean it out." "Then you shall not milk any more," said the butler.

I was laughing up my sleeve to think how well I had done the business. They put another milkman on, but he soon went to the hospital with pains in his legs. A third man was put on, and after a few days he was recalled to help make bricks, so the old milkman was then engaged, and that ended the trouble.

One morning the signal bell pealed out, and all the men had to go up and see what they were wanted for. There was a terrific storm raging, and we were told that we had to cut wood for the dining-room and parlour fires, but not one would stand out in such weather to do the work. We went to the boss and told him that we would cut the firewood as soon as the storm was over. "How often am I out in the rain?" he said, "it won't melt you--you're not sugar." Turning to the overseer, he ordered us to be put on Government rations, and we were then the recipients of 7 lbs. of flour, 3-1/2 lbs. of cornmeal, and 7 lbs. of meat--what the men used to call "staggering bob"--in the week. Saturday came--ration day--and I went up for my allowance as usual; but when it came to the donation of meat, I was shown a large piece of bone with a small piece of meat attached to it. "Is that what I am going to get?" I asked. "Yes," replied the overseer, "and if you don't like it, leave it!" I left it, declaring to myself to have some more of the fowls and turkeys out of the castor-oil bushes. Two nights passed; the third was showery, and very convenient for the job; it was also very dark. I armed myself with a bag, and proceeded up to where they used to roost. My bag was soon half-full of poultry, and some of them were cooked and eaten in double-quick time, for the others had onions out of the vegetable garden cooking while I was away. The remainder of the poultry, not eaten that night, was hidden in the swamp and eaten as required. It was very convenient to have the vegetable garden handy, and the gardener had just planted out a hundredweight of onions, but when he went to see how they were growing there were but very few left. This was the only way to cure hunger after a day's toil. One night about a week afterwards I went up to the castor-oil trees for another pair of fowls, and who should I see on the other side of the bushes but ----, the constable, helping himself to a fowl also. I did not have to wait long, for he soon got his, and then the coast was clear, so I got mine and departed. The constable was looked upon as a very honest fellow, but he was caught at last taking two sacks of flour and some other provisions, and 12 months in irons was his lot. At this time it took as much material to make a pair of trousers for him as would make two pairs for an ordinary man, and when his hair was cut and his whiskers shaven, he looked like a "mountain in a fog." But the hard boards and one blanket, with only a sleeper for a pillow, soon told on him, for in less than three months, after good doses of "hominy" and the pick, he became as thin as a whipping post, although he was fortunate enough to escape without a flogging. Some men had wonderful luck in this way; the greatest rogue generally got off the lightest.

About half-a-dozen men were assembled in the shoemaker's shop one day, and the conversation drifted on to persons who were living in a state of adultery. "Now we will count," said the shoemaker to the boys, "all the people about here who are living in a state of adultery." "And we will commence," said another, "with you and your mother. Let me see, how many more has she got besides you, Harry?" This was a hit for a start, and poor Harry walked out of the shop as if he had committed a murder. After this there was no more talk about people living on the cross.

Flour at this time was £10 per 200 lb. sack, and, as it was so scarce, Sir George Gipps, the Governor, recommended that those who had the supplying of provisions for the prisoners should grind rice and mix it with the flour. This course was adopted, but when it was baked the loaf resembled a brick outside and a piece of clay inside. The meat was horrible. This, however, could not be remedied, as there was no feed for the cattle; and as for mutton--when a sheep was skinned and dressed, if a candle were put inside of the carcase it would serve all the purposes of a lantern.

There was a screw loose at Lake Innes one morning; the store containing the provisions had been broken into and robbed. All the men's huts were searched--even the floors taken up--trying to get the slightest clue to the robbery. The police were busy as bees, but they could not get the least hint. The value of the stolen goods was estimated at £50, and they comprised a good assortment of the various household requisites. The Port Macquarie police were sent for, and the boss flung about first in one place and then in another. At last the bell rang, and all hands had to stand out before the "Lord of the Lake." It was a real field day--men strutting about as though in a field of battle. The boss offered sums of money to anyone who would tell who the robbers were, for he said that no rascal could do it single-handed. At last two suspects were picked out and sent to the lock-up, but they returned in a week, as no case could be got against them.

About three weeks afterwards I was at work with the pick and shovel, making a road down to the boat-house, for there were pleasure boats on the Lake. The constable came down to me, and said: "Ah! my boy, I've got you and ----, now; it was you two who robbed the store, and now you will have to pay for it. You were seen at the head of the tree where the bag of sugar was found." I told him that I had no hand in robbing the store, but I was marched up to the house before the boss, who said: "So you are one of the scoundrels who broke into the store and stole all that you could get your hands on, and I'll make it a bad job for you and that other scoundrel. I will teach you a lesson this time, you thieving dogs!"

Who should I see there, however, but the man that should have been at work with me, and another fellow. They had just gone up to the house and informed that I was a culprit. One of these two was to get his freedom a few days later, and he evidently thought that £5 reward would be very nice to have a spree on, no matter what an innocent man might suffer. The other man and I were taken to Port Macquarie in a cart, and brought before the Bench. The informer was as deaf as a post, but the magistrate said that although the man could not hear him, he could tell what he said by the quiver of the magistrate's lips. And so we got six months added to our former sentence.

On Sundays church was held at the Lake, and Mrs. ---- used to preach. I was sent for one morning to go to church, so I blackened myself and went up without a shirt. The boss met me on the way up, and asked, "Where are you going to?" "Well," I said, "I'm going to chapel." "Do you think you are going to chapel without a shirt?" he continued. "My shirt is out on the fence drying," I answered. "Then go on back again, and don't come up in that plight any more." This was all I wanted; the church did not trouble me.

During my term here my eyesight became bad again--it never had been very good from the time that I had sandy blight some years before--and it got that way at last that it was almost impossible for me to see. The life there was not improving it, either, so I informed the boss, and after a little conversation he gave me two letters--one to the Police Magistrate in the town, and the other to the doctor. I started off with the letters, not knowing what was in them, for my sight was too bad to read; but on the way in I met someone who could, and soon got over the difficulty. The letter to the P.M. came first, and ran thus: "Dear ----, Inflict some severe punishment on this man and return him to me at once, for I cannot get him to work." The other one to the doctor was just asking him to have a look at my eyes, and do what he could to them. Now it was not very likely that I was going to take a note to the Magistrate to perhaps get "50" over it, so without hesitation I tore it up, and went down to the doctor, whom I did not fear, and knew to be a good man. He read the letter, looked at my eyes, and then said: "Well, if you want to see you can; and if you don't want to see you can go about with the blind mob." So I decided to give the "blind mob" a trial.

In the spring of 1847, Governor and Lady Fitzroy visited Port Macquarie, and were the guests of Major Innes at the Lake. When the steamer by which they travelled arrived at the wharf, there were two rows of soldiers drawn up on each side of the road leading from it, and waiting a little distance away was the carriage of the "Major," with six horses in it--two bays, two grays, and two chestnuts--and the distinguished visitors were driven straight away to the Lake. There was high life at this place now for about a month--balls, parties, pic-nics, &c.--when they returned to Sydney again. But it was the Governor's misfortune to lose his good lady soon afterwards, for she was killed through a carriage accident in Parramatta Park in December of the same year.