Advice to Emigrants
Selected extracts from "An Account of
the
Colony of Van
Diemen's land, principally written for the use of Emigrants" by Edward
Curr (George Cowie and Co, 1824)
Contents
A FARM-HOUSE IN
VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.
PROFLIGACY OF THE PEOPLE.
SHEEP-STEALING.
SHEPHERDS
PREVENTION OF PLUNDER
CALCULATION OF PROFIT FROM
SHEEP
EXPORTATION OF WOOL.
HORNED CATTLE
NOT ADAPTED FOR THE DAIRY
HORSES, THEIR VALUE.
ENGAGING A PASSAGE.
ARRIVAL IN THE COLONY.
ASSIGNED SERVANTS.
FARMING EXPENSES.
PERVERSENESS OF SERVANTS.
CONCLUSION.
A
FARM-HOUSE IN VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.
He pictures to himself the thrifty housewife busied in the
concerns of her household, her dairy, and her poultry. But here, for
the most part, is little of the kind, and that little is any thing but
picturesque or pleasing.
The cottage is usually built of sods, logs, or mud, and thatched with
straw; a few logs laid together in the style of the American fence,
perhaps compose a pig-sty; and an open detached yard of the same
materials, serves to contain the working cattle.
These are in a majority of cases the only features of a farm-house in
Van Diemen's Land, unless, indeed, we think proper to add the
disgusting appearance of wool, bones, sheep-skins, wasted manure, and
the confused heaps of ploughs, harrows, carts, fire-wood, and
watercasks, with a few quarters of mutton or kangaroo hanging on a
neighbouring tree, and a numerous tribe of dogs and idlers; the former
barking, the latter lounging about. Every thing betokens waste and
disorder, the total absence of industry and economy.
Contents.
PROFLIGACY OF THE
PEOPLE.
Let the settler beware how he places himself amongst these
people, for they are in general as poor and as flagitious as idleness,
encouraged by the almost spontaneous fertility of their lands, can make
them. Woe to the fat wethers and even to the pregnant ewes of their
more wealthy neighbours! None of these depredators will want meat while
there is a flock of sheep within a convenient distance; and few of them
will want rum while those who sell it encourage their depredations. I
am acquainted with a gentleman in this neighbourhood, who, with three
thousand acres in one spot of the finest land and richest pasturage in
the island, dares not feed a single sheep of all his large flocks upon
it.
Contents.
SHEEP-STEALING.
Sheep-stealing in this island, but more particularly in this
part of it, is organized into a most complete system, and various
methods are adopted in the commission of the robbery, and in the
secretion of the flocks when stolen.
In some cases the shepherd is a party concerned; and where his
integrity has been corrupted, the matter becomes simple enough. In
other cases, where the flock is large, consisting perhaps of a thousand
or more, and extending over a considerable surface of ground, it is
scarcely possible that the shepherd can have the whole in view at one
time. It is well known that the strongest and best sheep will always
head the flock; and the robbers, taking advantage of this, break into
the midst of them, and cut off a number of the leaders, frequently from
two to three hundred; but usually not less than from one hundred to
one hundred and fifty. These they drive away, and if they are not
missed for an hour or two, there is a great probability that they will
evade pursuit; for the shepherd, at first only suspecting his loss,
will count his sheep to ascertain it; and before this is done, and he
knows which way to pursue, the robbers have gained a start of several
miles. The sheep, once clear off their own beat, are driven about in
various directions, to disguise and confuse their track; and when
removed to a sufficient distance, from twenty to fifty miles, if wanted
for immediate use, are killed, and perhaps salted, in some secret part
of the bush; or left in the flock of an accomplice, usually a small
proprietor, who has previously agreed for the purchase, and the price,
generally in ardent spirits, is paid to the plunderers. If the sheep
are to be kept alive, they are driven to a considerable distance, and
in some unfrequented place, where secret stock yards are kept up,
unknown to any but these depredators, they proceed to disfigure them.
If pitch-marked, they are in the first place shorn; any remarkably
spotted sheep being generally destroyed. If they are marked by any
notch in the ear, the tip is cut off; or if the notch be cut too near
the head, the ear is taken off altogether. If, as is often the case,
they are branded on the face, the brand is altered by the addition of
some other strokes; thus, I is easily converted into D and several
other letters; L, by prolonging the first stroke downwards, and adding
another on the right hand, is converted into H; and the same with many
others. If the letter be such that it admits of no alteration, it is
covered entirely with an other brand, which
renders it a mere blotch, but probably puts it out of the power of any
person to swear to the property. After they have recovered from their
sores, and their coats are a little grown, they make their appearance
in the
flock of some person known to be possessed of sheep, and in several
cases have actually been sold again to their rightful but unsuspecting
proprietor.
This destructive practice is carried on to an extent which would
scarcely be credited by those who are not acquainted with the colony.
An individual has been known to lose more than one thousand head in the
course of a year; and instances have occurred where five or six hundred
have been driven off at once, and irrecoverably lost. Often when the
poor settler has gone to town with his produce, or perhaps to purchase
the necessary supplies for his farm, he is brought back by the
unwelcome intelligence that half his flock has been driven away. If he
pursue them ever so speedily and successfully, he may perhaps have the
satisfaction to find their mangled carcasses hanging in the bush. I
have heard of an instance in which about one hundred stolen sheep were
slaughtered and thrown to the pigs. In this manner has a blow been
struck at many unfortunate settlers, from the effects of which they
have never recovered. It may be useful however to remark, that these
depredations are most frequently committed on the flocks of those
persons who pay the least attention to them, and who are known not to
see them for months together. Many persons, in calculating the profits
on sheep, allow a deduction of twenty-five per cent for robberies:
this may probably be an exaggeration, but that must be a dreadful state
of society which at all favours such a calculation.
If I were to be asked what particular class are usually the
perpetrators of these robberies, I should refer the inquirer to the
long list of persons of evil habits, who, -their term of transportation
being expired,- punished certainly, but rather hardened than
amended,- have acquired a kind of prescriptive right to a small grant
of
land. I should refer him to an equally numerous list of persons holding
what is termed a "ticket of leave,"
which is a dispensation from
Government labour granted to them for their supposed meritorious
conduct. Such characters, settling themselves near large proprietors,
are seldom known to want meat, though they have no visible means of
honestly obtaining it.
Contents.
SHEPHERDS
If the settler apply himself solely to the breeding, of
sheep, which however is seldom done but by those who reside constantly
in town, he will require only two or three assistants, according to the
extent of his flock, one of whom generally does the work of the
huts, and the other two attend the sheep during the day, either bedding
them on the hills at night, or driving them to the yards. In this
manner, one or two persons usually take charge of five or six hundred
sheep, and often of a thousand and even more. These shepherds are
either freemen, prisoners possessing tickets of leave, or assigned
servants. The wages of the two former classes are from 201. to 501. per
annum, and those of the latter are fixed by Government at 10l.--but the
man who does his duty in the confidential capacity of a shepherd, is
seldom limited to the last-mentioned low wages.
Besides their wages, assigned servants are entitled to a ration of one
pound of meat and one pound of flour daily; but it has not been the
practice to limit them to this ration: those who do put them on
allowance at all, give them a ration and a half with a sufficiency of
tea and sugar. These latter articles are usually bought at about half
the price they would cost in England; but from the great quantity
consumed at stock-yards and farm-houses, they become a considerable
expense to the settler, who usually purchases a quantity that would
surprise a farmer in his own country, frequently not less than a
quarter or half a ton of sugar and a chest of tea at a time. It is
customary for the master to furnish his men with tobacco and slop
clothing; the amount of which he deducts from their wages, charging
them at a most exorbitant rate, viz. double the cost price. This
practice, however, is beginning to be considered as disgraceful,
particularly where the price is higher than at Hobart Town. These
provisions, with the expense of carriage, cost about 351. per man
annually, to which when wages are added, we shall find that every
shepherd and farm servant will cost at least 451. and more frequently
501. per annum.
Contents.
PREVENTION OF PLUNDER
The most important business of the shepherd in Van Diemen's
Land is to prevent the plunder of his flock; the danger of robbery
must not be one moment absent from his thoughts. It is his duty at peep
of day to count them over and to attend them to their beat, taking care
at frequent intervals to go round them with his dog, and prevent them
from spreading too wide. This is particularly necessary in brushy or
hilly ground, where he can seldom have the whole flock in view at once.
At night, also, if they are yarded, he repeats the same precaution of
counting them. The practice of yarding the flocks every night cannot be
too strongly recommended.
Contents.
CALCULATION OF PROFIT FROM SHEEP
Contents.
EXPORTATION OF WOOL.
Previous to the year 1820, no wool was exported from Van
Diemen's Land: it was customary to shear the sheep without washing
them, and to leave the wool to rot in heaps outside of the stock-yards.
At this time some purchases were made by Government, for the use of the
factory at Paramatta in New South Wales, at the fixed price of four
pence per pound for wool of all qualities, and one or two merchants
received it at the same rate in barter for goods. Some small shipments
made to England altogether failed, scarcely paying the freight and
charges. Nor was this a matter of surprise to those who have seen the
dirty state in which it was shipped, not to mention that a considerable
part of it had lain for one or two years in the open air. A different
system has since commenced; the most negligent stock-holders now
carefully house their wool, and many take the trouble to wash their
sheep previously to their being shorn. There are few flocks which are
not in part supplied with rams of an improved breed, and many have
expended considerable sums in the purchase of pure merinos. All classes
of people begin to consider their flocks as the real source of wealth
to the colony, and as the only staple which can possibly support it
under the great diminution of Government expenditure.
Contents.
HORNED CATTLE
The horned cattle in Van Diemen's Land are of a breed more
adapted for slaughter than for the dairy, being principally derived
from stock brought from Bengal at the early foundation of the colony,
and consequently partaking, in a great degree, of the buffalo. These
however have been much improved by crossing with English-bred bulls,
and with the produce of cows brought from England, for the purpose of
giving milk to the passengers of different vessels on their voyage
outwards.
Contents.
NOT ADAPTED FOR
THE DAIRY
The greater part of the cattle in the colony having been
reared solely for the carcase and for draught, little attention has
been paid to those qualities which render them serviceable in the
dairy; and I have already observed, that the possessor of a large herd
often cannot command a cup of milk, while butter and cheese are of
course more rare. Persons of enterprise and industry are now, however,
endeavouring to establish dairies in the colony: but here again it
will require time for the improvement of the breed before their dairies
can be brought to any degree of perfection; for wolves are not more
savage, nor antelopes more swift, than many of the cows which I have
seen the farmers attempt to milk
Contents.
HORSES, THEIR VALUE.
The horses in Van Diemen's Land are of a breed possessing the
most useful qualities. They feed hardly; when in the country, they get
little besides the natural coarse grass in which they are tethered, and
in town, wheat straw and bran are their usual food. Latterly, indeed,
some hay has been made in the neighbourhood of Hobart Town, partly from
rye grass and clover, and partly from wild barley and oats mown green.
The journeys they occasionally form are amazing, seventy and eighty
miles through bad roads being no very uncommon day's work; and a horse
has been known to draw a gig with two persons in it one hundred miles
in the course of a summer's day.
The price of a good horse is from fifty to eighty guineas; and one that
works well in harness, particularly a mare, will often sell for one
hundred guineas. The few persons who have made the breeding of horses a
profession have found it exceedingly profitable, while the expenses,
with the exception of the first cost, are very trifling. An
enterprising person about two years since gave the sum of six hundred
guineas for a stallion and a mare of the Suffolk breed, which were
brought over from England for sale. The horse, however, turned out
useless for the purpose of breeding, and is since dead.
Contents.
ENGAGING A PASSAGE.
In engaging a passage, the emigrant will chiefly consult his
means, as the passage money varies from 701. to 100 guineas in the
cabin, and from 351. to 451. in the steerage. For 701. or 351. no
commander of a vessel can afford to make his passengers comfortable,
unless he has a considerable number of them, and then his best
endeavours will, from other causes, usually fail to make the voyage
even tolerable. I would therefore advise the emigrant to procure a
passage in one of those vessels that carry the fewest passengers.He
must ascertain as near as possible the time of sailing, as it is usual
for the broker, in order to get his vessel as forward as possible, to
state the time to be much earlier than it can in reality take place;
and I have known a large family expend nearly as much money in
Gravesend, waiting for their vessel, as they had paid for their passage
in the cabin. It is not customary for passengers to lay in their own
provision, otherwise a considerable saving might be made in the expense
of passage.The time occupied in a voyage to Van Diemen's Land is from
one hundred and ten to one hundred and forty days.
Contents.
ARRIVAL IN THE
COLONY.
Arrived in Hobart Town, the prudent settler will soon find
that he has nothing to do there, and that it is a very expensive and
not a particularly pleasant place. He will upon his landing be
presented by the naval officer to Lieutenant Governor Sorell, who will
question him as to his views, and point out the most eligible districts
in which land is to be found.
Contents.
ASSIGNED SERVANTS.
The newly arrived settler should be early in his application
for convict servants, as they are distributed, when a vessel arrives,
according to priority of application, the only preference, as far as is
possible, being given to those persons who, being recently arrived in
the colony, are just commencing their farming operations. As only a
small proportion of the prisoners sent out are farming men, they are
distributed with the greatest impartiality, the person who takes an
able-bodied farming man being expected to encumber himself with a less
useful servant, a boy,--or an artificer whose trade is not practised in
the colony. Useful mechanics, such as carpenters, sawyers, bricklayers,
brick-makers, and masons, are also lent from the Government works to
those settlers who are carrying on buildings in the country, for one,
two, or three months, according to their necessities.
By due diligence the settler may in the course of six or eight weeks be
finally settled upon his farm; and if he has taken proper measures, he
will scarcely have occasion to see Hobart Town again until he has
something to take to market; and by this constant residence upon his
farm he may hope to prevent those depredations which are so frequently
attempted with success upon new and inexperienced settlers.
Contents.
FARMING EXPENSES.
One person finds his land clear of timber and obstructions,
while another has to undertake the laborious process of felling and
burning off, before he can put the plough into the earth. It may
however be of use to state the cost of the principal agricultural
implements and working cattle, and the value of' the grain when brought
to market.
Working oxen, with bows, yokes, and chains, may be valued at about 381.
currency per pair, and little can be done in farming with fewer than
six pairs, as it will be necessary to yoke three pairs to the plough in
new ground, and these must be relieved with fresh cattle at noon. A
cart costs from 201. to 251., a plough 6l and a pair of harrows about
the same sum. With six pairs of working oxen, a ploughman, and a
driver, about three quarters of an acre should be broken up per day,
after the ground has been cleared. The second and third ploughings will
of course be easier, and he may expect his returns in wheat to be from
18 to 25 bushels per acre, according to the quality of his land, the
number of ploughings it has received, and also as it is clear, or
thickly studded with stumps. His men,
particularly when he first commences farming, will cost him the yearly
sum of from 451. to 501. each. Reaping, thrashing and cleaning are in a
great measure done by extra hands hired for the purpose, who usually
receive high wages which are paid in grain. The carriage to market in
the most favourable situations, as Pitt Water and New Norfolk, is three
quarters of a bushel in ten. If we add all these expenses together, and
calculate the wheat as yielding about 6s. 6d. per bushel, we shall find
that during the first two or three years the proceeds of the crop will
scarcely cover the expenses: Many farmers estimate, that not less than
10s. per bushel is a remunerating price for wheat; but I must observe,
that these are generally of that class who sell and consume the produce
of their lands and labour before the grain is put into the earth.
Persons who are more prudent and economical, certainly find it
advantageous to cultivate wheat at much lower prices.
Contents.
PERVERSENESS OF
SERVANTS.
And how is the work of the farm carried on? The labourer is a
slave, with no motive to impel him but fear; his maintenance must be
provided let him work or not. He is therefore idle and discontented,
nay worse, he is contumacious and insolent. If the master be easy, the
man is easier still ; if he be generous, his good nature is imposed
upon; if he be strict, there are a thousand ways of retaliation ; his
ploughs are broken, his sheep lost, his working oxen are sure to be
missing or lame when required for the most important services. Should
it unfortunately happen that, from the difficulty of providing meat or
flour in remote situations, or, as is more frequent, from the wasteful
extravagance of the men, they should be a day upon short allowance,
they go down in a body to Hobart Town to make their complaint of being
starved. In a word, the men are fed, and clothed, and provided for,
while the master is a prey to care and perplexity.
These are some of the drawbacks from the comfort of a settler's life,
and there are but few of the inhabitants who will not feelingly bear
witness to the truth of the picture.
Contents.
CONCLUSION.
Many persons have imagined that a half savage life in an
uncultivated country is agreeable. They deceive themselves, and the
efforts of the emigrant to attain the conveniences of civilization,
prove the deception. The state of the emigrant is only happy as it
assimilates with the civilization in which he was reared. The native
colonist has no recollections to raise discontent; what he never knew,
he can never miss.
Contents.
Acknowlegements:
These extracts are selected from material collected I believe
by Jenny Mitchell
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