 section 23 of the Book of the Bush this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by May Lowe the Book of the Bush by George Dundadale section 23 the government stroke the government stroke is a term often used in the colonies and indicates a lazy and inefficient manner of performing any kind of labor it originated with the convicts when a man is forced to work through fear of the lash and receives no wages it is quite natural and reasonable that he should exert himself as little as possible if you were to reason with him and urge him to work harder at for instance breaking road metal in order that the public might have good roads to travel on and show him what a great satisfaction it should be to know that his labours would confer a lasting benefit on his fellow creatures that though it might appear a little hard on him individually he should raise his thoughts to a higher level and labor for the good of humanity in general he would very likely say do you take me for a fool but if you gave him three dozen lashes for his laziness he will see or at least feel that your argument has some force in it as a matter of fact men work for some present or future benefit for themselves the saint who sells all he has to give to the poor does so with the hope of obtaining a reward exceedingly great in the life to come and even if there were no life to come his present life is happier far than that of the man who grabs at all the wealth he can get until he drops into the grave the man who works all for love and nothing for reward is a being incomprehensible to us ordinary mortals he is an angel and if ever he was a candidate for a seat in parliament he was not elected even love which rules the court the camp the Grove is given only with the hope of return of love for hopeless love is nothing but hopeless misery I once hired an old convict as gardener at five shillings a day he began to work in the morning with a great show of diligence while I was looking on but on my return home in the evening it was wonderful to find how little work he had contrived to get through during the day so I began to watch him his systematic way of doing nothing would have been very amusing if it cost nothing he pressed his spade into the ground with his boot as slowly as possible lifted the sod very gently and turned it over then he straightened his back looked at the ground to the right then to the left then in front of him and then cast his eyes along the garden fence having satisfied himself that nothing particular was happening anywhere within view he gazed a while at the sod he had turned over and then shaved the top off with his spade having straightened his back once more he began a survey of the superficial area of the next sod and at length proceeded to cut it in the same deliberate manner performing the same succeeding ceremonies if he saw me or heard me approaching he became at once very alert and diligent until I spoke to him then he stopped work at once it was quite impossible for him both to labour and to listen nobody can do two things well at the same time but his greatest relief was in talking he would talk with anybody all day long if possible and do nothing else his wages of course still running on there is very little talk worth paying for I would rather give some of my best friends a fee to be silent than pay for anything they have to tell me my gardener was a most unprofitable servant the only good I got out of him was a clear knowledge of what the government stroke meant and the knowledge was not worth the expense he was in other respects harmless and useless and although he had been transported for stealing I could never find that he stole anything from me the disease of larceny seemed somehow to have been worked out of his system though he used to describe with great pleasure how his misfortunes began by stealing wall fruit when he was a boy and although it was to him like the fruit of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste brought death into the world and all our woe it was so sweet that while telling me about it sixty years afterwards he smiled and smacked his lips renewing as it were the delight of its delicious taste he always avoided as much as possible the danger of dying of hard work so he is living yet and is eighty six years old whenever I see him he gives me his blessing and says he never worked for any man he liked so well a great philosopher says in order to be happy it is necessary to be beloved but in order to be beloved we must know how to please and we can only please by ministering to the happiness of others I ministered to the old convict happiness by letting him work so lazily and so I was beloved and happy he had formally been an assigned servant to Mr. Jelly brand attorney general of Tasmania before that gentleman went with Mr. Hessey on that voyage to Australia Felix from which he never returned some portions of a skeleton were found on the banks of a river which was supposed to belong to the lost explorer and that river and Mount Jelly brand on which he and Hessey parted company were named after him there was a black fellow living for many years afterwards in the Colac district who was said to have killed and eaten the lost white man the first settlers therefore call him jelly brand as they considered he had made out a good claim to the name by devouring the flesh this black fellow's face was made up of hollows and proturbances ugly beyond all aboriginal ugliness I was at present at an interview between him and senior Constable Hooli who nearly rivaled the savage and lack of beauty Hooli had been a soldier in the fifth fusiliers and had been convicted of the crime of manslaughter having killed a colored man near Port Louis in the Mauritius he was sentenced to penal servitude for the offense and had passed two years of his time in Tasmania this incident had produced in his mind an interest in black fellows generally and on seeing jelly brand outside the Colac courthouse he walked up to him and looked him steadily in the face without saying a word or moving a muscle of his countenance I never saw a more lovely pair the black fellow returned the gaze unflinchingly his deep set eyes fixed fiercely on those of the Irishman his nostrils dilated and his frowning forehead wrinkled and hard as if cast in iron the two men looked like two wild beasts preparing for a deadly fight at length Hooli moved his face near to that of the savage until their noses almost met and between his teeth he slowly ejaculated you eat white man you eat me eh then the deep frown on jelly brand's face began slowly to relax his thick lips parted by degrees and displayed ready for business his sharp and shining teeth whiter snow and hardest steel a smile which might be likened that of a humorous tiger spread over his spacious features so that the interview ended without a fight I was very much disappointed as I hoped the two manslayers were going to eat each other for the public good and I was ready to back both of them without fear of favor or affection there is no doubt that the blacks ate human flesh not as an article of regular diet but occasionally when the fortune of war or accident favored them with a supply when Mr. Hugh Murray set out from Geelong to look for country to the westward he took with him several natives belonging to the Barrable tribe when they arrived near Lake Colac they found the banks of the Barongarook Creek covered with scrub and on approaching the spot where the narrow bridge now spans the watercourse they saw a black fellow with his Lubra and a little boy running towards the scrub the Barrable blacks gave chase and the little boy was caught by one of them before he could find shelter and was instantly killed with the club that night the Piccinini was roasted at the campfire and eaten and yet these blacks had human feelings and affections I once are a tribe traveling from one part of the district to another in search of food as was their custom one of the men was dying of consumption and was too weak to follow the rest he looked like a living skeleton but he was not left behind to die he was sitting on the shoulders of his brother his hands grasping for support the hair on the head and his wasted legs dangling in front of the other's ribs these people were sometimes hunted as if they were wolves but two brother wolves would not have been so kind to each other before the white men came the blacks never buried their dead they had no spades and could not dig graves sometimes their dead were dropped into the hollow trunks of trees and sometimes they were burned there was once a knoll on the banks of the Barangaruk creek below the courthouse the soil of which looked black and rich when I was trenching the ground near my house for vines and fruit trees making another garden of paradise in lieu of the one I had lost I obtained cartloads of bones from the slaughter yards and other places and place them in the trenches and in order to fertilize one corner of the garden I spread over it several loaves of the rich looking black loam taken from the knoll near the creek after a few years the vines and trees yielded great quantities of grapes and fruit and I made wine for my vineyard but the land on which I had spread the black loam was almost barren and yet I had seen fragments of bones mixed with it and amongst them a lower jaw with perfect teeth most likely the jaw of a young lubra on mentioning the circumstance to one of the early settlers he said my loam had been taken from the spot on which the blacks used to burn their dead soon after he arrived at Kholak he saw there a solitary black fellow crouching before a fire in which bones were visible so pointing to them he asked what was in the fire and the black fellow replied with one word lubra he was consuming the remains of his dead wife and large tears were coursing down his cheeks day and night he sat there until the bones had been nearly all burned and covered with ashes this accounted for the fragments of bones in my black loam why it was not fertile I know but I don't know how to express the reason well while the trenching of my vineyard was going on Billy Nichols looked over the fence and gave his opinion about it he held his pipe between his thumb and forefinger and stopped smoking in stupid astonishment he said that ground is ruined never will grow nothing no more all the good soil is buried nothing but gravel and stuff on top born full old Billy was a bullock driver my neighbor and enemy and lived with his numerous progeny in a hut in the paddock next to mine in the rainy seasons the water flowed through my ground onto his and he had dug a drain which led the water past his hut instead of allowing it to go by the natural fall across his paddock the floods washed his drain into a deep gully near his hut which was sometimes nearly surrounded by the roaring waters he then tried to dam the water back onto my ground but I made a gap in his dam with a long handled shovel and let the flood go through nature and the shovel were too much for Billy he came out of his hut and stood watching the torrent holding his dirty old pipe a few inches from his mouth and uttered a loud soliloquy here I am on a miserable island fenced in with water going to be washed away by that Lord Donahoe son of a barber's clerk wants to drown me and my kids don't he I'll break his head we are pailing blowed if I don't he then put his pipe in his mouth and gazed in silence on the rushing waters I planted my ground with vines of 14 different varieties but in a few years finding the climate was unsuitable for most of them I reduced the number to about five these yielded an unfailing abundance of grapes every year and as there was no profitable market I made wine I pruned and disbutted the vines myself and also crushed and pressed the grapes the digging and hoeing of the ground cost about ten pounds each year when the wine had been in the casks about twelve months I bottled it in two years more it was fit for consumption and I was very proud of the article but I cannot boast that I ever made much profit out of it that is in cash as I found that the public taste for wine required to be educated and it took so long to do it that I had to drink most of the wine myself the best testimony to its excellence is the fact that I am still alive the colonial taste for good liquor was spoiled from the very beginning first by black strap and rum condensed from the steam of hell then by old tom and british brandy fortified with tobacco this liquor was the nectar with which the ambrosial station hands were land down by the publicans and in these latter days by colonial beer the washiest drink a nation was ever drenched with the origin of bad beer dates from the repeal of the sugar duty in England before that time beer was brewed from malt and hops and that we had a jolly good ale and old and sour pie a great festival was impending at it consisted of a regatta near the lake the first we ever celebrated and a picnic on its banks all the people far and near invited themselves to the feast from the most extensive of squatters to the oldest of old hands the black fellows were there too what was left of them billy lure walked all the way up from camper down and on the day before the regatta came to my house with a couple of black ducks in his hand sissy six years old was present she inspected the black fellow and the ducks and listened lura said he wanted to sell me the ducks but not for money he would take old clothes for them he was wearing nothing but a shirt and trousers both badly out of repair and was anxious to adorn his person with gay attire on the morrow so i traded off a pair of old cords and took the ducks next day we had two guests a miss shepherd from gelong and another lady and as my house was near the lake we did our picnicking inside we put on as much style as possible to suit the occasion including of course my best native wine and the two ducks roasted sissy sat at the table next to miss shepherd and felt it her duty to lead the conversation in the best society style she said you see those two ducks miss shepherd yes dear very fine ones well papa bought them from a black man yesterday the man said they was black ducks but they wasn't black they was brown the feathers are in the yard and they are brown feathers yes i know dear they call them black ducks but they are brown dark brown well you see the black fellow wanted to sell the ducks to papa but papa has no money so he went into the house and bring out a pair of his old lousers and the backfellow give him the ducks for the lousers and them the ducks you see yes dear i see said miss shepherd blushing terribly we all blushed you naughty girl said mama hold your tongue or i'll send you to the kitchen but mama you know it's quite true said sissy didn't i show you the black man just now miss shepherd when he was going to the lake i said there's the black fellow and he's got papa's lousers on didn't i now the time seemed prosperous with us but it was only a deceptive gleam of sunshine before the coming storm of adversity i built an addition to my dwelling and when it was completed i employed a paper hanger from london named taylor to beautify the old rooms he was of a talkative disposition when he had nobody else to listen he talked to himself and when he was tired of that he began singing the weather was hot and the heat together with his talking and singing made him thirsty so one day he complained to me that his work was very dry i saw it once an opportunity of obtaining an independent and reliable judgment on the quality of my wine so i went for a bottle drew the cork and offered him a tumbler full telling him it was wine which i had made from my own grapes as taylor was a native of london the greatest city in the world he must have had a wide experience in many things was certain to know the difference between good and bad liquor and i was anxious to obtain a favorable verdict on my australian product he held up the glass to the light and eyed the contents critically then he tasted a small quantity and paused a while to feel the effect then he took another taste and remarked it's sourish he put the tumbler to his mouth the third time and emptied it quickly then he placed one hand on his stomach and said oh my and ran away to the water tap outside to rinse his mouth and get rid of the unpleasant flavor his verdict was adverse and very unflattering next day while i was inspecting his work he gave me to understand that he felt dry again i asked him what he would like a drink of water or a cup of tea he said well i think i'll just try another glass of that wine of yours he seemed very irrational in the matter of drink but i fetched another bottle this time he emptied the first tumbler without hesitation regardless of consequences he puckered his lips and curled his nose and said it was rather sourish but in hot weather it was not so bad as cold water and was safer for the stomach he then drew the back of his hand across his mouth looked at the paper which he'd been putting on the wall and said i don't like that pattern a bit too many crosses on it indeed i said i never observed the crosses before but i don't see any harm in them why don't you like them oh it looks too like the catholics don't you see too popish i hate them crosses really i replied i'm sorry to hear that i am a catholic myself oh lord are you indeed i always thought you were a scotchman taylor finished that bottle of wine during the afternoon and next day he wanted another he wanted more every day until he rose to be a three-bottle man he became reconciled to the crosses on the wallpaper forgave me for not being a scotchman and i believe the run of my cellar would have made him a sincere convert to popery as long as the wine lasted soon after this memorable incident the minister and the secretary made an official pleasure excursion through the western district they visited the court and inspected it and me and the books and the furniture they found everything correct and were afterwards so sociable that i expected they would on returning to melbourne speedily promote me probably to the bench but they forgot me and promoted themselves instead i have seen them since sitting nearly as high as hamon in those expensive law courts in londstale street while i was a despicable jury man serving the crown for 10 shillings a day that is the way of the world the wicked are well paid and exalted while the virtuous are ill paid and trotted down at a week's notice i was ordered to leave my garden of eden and i let it to a tenant the very child of the evil one he pruned the vines with goats and fed his cattle on the fruit trees then he wrote to inquire why the vines bore no grapes and the fruit trees no fruit and wanted me to lower the rent to repair the vineyard and the house and to move the front gate to the corner of the fence that man deserved nothing but death and he died in the summer of 1853 the last survivor of the barrable tribe came to colac and joined the remnant of the colac blacks but one night he was killed by them at their camp near the site of the present hospital a shallow hole was dug about 40 or 50 yards from the southeast corner of the allotment on which the presbyterian manse was built and the colac tribe buried his body there and stuck branches of trees around his grave about six months afterwards a government officer the head of a department arrived at colac and i rode with him about the township and neighboring country showing him the antiquities and the monuments among others the mausoleum of the last of the barrables the leaves had by this time fallen from the dead branches around the sepulture and the small tweaks on them were decaying the cattle and goats would soon tread them down and scatter them and the very site of the grave would soon be unknown the officer was a man of culture and of scientific tendencies and he asked me to dig up the skull of the murdered black fellow and sent it to his address in melbourne he was desirous of exercising his culture on it and wished to ascertain whether the skull was brachycephalus dolicophilus or polycephalus i think that was the way he expressed it i said there was very likely a hole in it and it would be spoiled but he said the hole would make no difference i would do almost anything for science and money but he did not offer me any and i did not think a six months mummy was old enough to steal it was too fresh if that scientist would borrow a spade and dig up the corpse himself i would go away to a sufficient distance and close my eyes and nose until he deposited the relic in his carpet bag but i was too conscientious to be accessory to the crime of body snatching and he had not courage enough to do the foul deed that land is now fenced in and people dwell there the bones of the last of the variables still rest under somebody's house or fertilize a few feet of a garden plot end of section 23 section 24 at the book of the bush this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the book at the bush by George Dunderdale section 24 on the 90 mile a home by a remota sea the 90 mile washed by the pacific is the seashore of Gippsland it has been formed by the mills of two oceans which for countless ages have been slowly grinding into mill the rocks on the southern coast of Australia and every swelling tide and howling gale has helped build up the beach the hot winds of summer scorch the dry sand and spin it into smooth conical hills amongst these low shrubs with gray green leaves take root and thrive and flourish under the salt sea spray where other trees will die strange plants with pulpy leaves and brilliant flowers send forth long green lines having no visible beginning or end which cling to the sand and weave over it a network of vegetation binding together the billowy dunes the beach is broken in places by narrow channels through which the tide rushes and wonders in many currents among low mud banks studded with shellfish the feeding grounds of ducks and gulls and swans and around a thousand islands whose soil has been woven together by the roots of the spiky mangrove or stunted tea tree upon the muddy flats scarcely above the level of the water the black swans build their great circular nests with long grass and roots compacted with slime salt marshes and swamps dotted with bunches of rough grass stretch away behind the hammocks here towards the end of the summer the blacks used to reap their harvest of fat eels which they drew forth from the soft mud under the roots of the tussocks the country between the sea and the mountains was the happy hunting ground of the natives before the arrival of the ill omened white fellow the inlets teamed with flathead mullet perch snapper oysters and sharks and also with innumerable waterfowl the rivers yielded eels and blackfish the sandy shores of the islands were honeycombed with the holes in which millions of mutton birds deposited their eggs in the last days of november in each year along many tracks in the scrub the black wallaby sand paddy mounds hopped low in the open glades among the great gum trees marched the stately emu and tall kangaroos seven feet high stood erect on their monstrous hind legs their little forepaws hanging in front and their small faces looking as innocent as sheep every hollow gum tree harbored two or more fat opossums which when roasted made a rich and savory meal parrots of the most brilliant plumage liked winged flowers flew in flocks from tree to tree so tame that you could kill them with a stick and so beautiful that it seemed a sin to destroy them black cockatoos screaming harshly the while tall long strips of bark from the mesmate searching for the savory grub bronze winged pigeons gleaming in the sun rose from the scrub and flocks of white cockatoos hurt tie on the bare limbs of the dead trees seemed to have made them burst into miraculous bloom like Aaron's rod the great white pelican stood on one leg on a sand bank gazing along its huge beak at the receding tide hour after hour solemn and solitary meditating on the mysteries of nature but on the mountains both birds and beasts were scarce as many a famishing white man has found to be sorrow in the heat of summer the sea breeze grows faint and dies before it reaches the ranges long ropes of bark curled with the hot sun hung motionless from the black butts and blue gums a few birds may be seen sitting on the limbs of the trees with their wings extended their beaks open panting for breath unable to utter a sound from their parched throats when all food fails then welcome horse is a saying that does not apply to Australia which yields no horse or fruit of any kind that can long sustain life a starving man may try to ally the pangs of hunger with the wild grass breeze or with the cherries which wear their seeds outside but the longer he eats them the more hungry he grows one resource of the lost white man if he has a gun an ammunition is the native bear sometimes called monkey bear its flesh is strong and muscular and its eucalyptus goda is stronger still a dog will eat a possum with pleasure that he must be very hungry before he will eat bear and how long to all delicacy of taste and sense of refinement must the epicure be who will make the attempt the last quadruped on which a meal can be made is the dingo and the last winged creature is the owl whose scanty flesh is vile even than that of the hawk or curry and crow and yet a white man has partaken of all these and survived some men have tried roasted snake but i never heard of anyone who could keep it on his stomach the blacks with their keen scent knew when a snake was near by the odour it admitted but they avoided the reptile whether alive or dead before any white man had made his abode in gipseland a schooner sailed from sydney chartered by a new settler who had taken up a station in the port Phillip district his wife and family were on board and he had shipped a large quantity of stalls suitable for commencing life in a new land it was afterwards remembered that the deck of the vessel was encumbered with cargo of various kinds including a bullock gray and that the deck hamper would unfit her to encounter bad weather as she did not arrive at port Phillip within a reasonable time a cutter was sent along the coast in search of her and her long boat was found ashore near the lake's entrance but nothing else belonging to her was ever seen when the report arose in 1843 that a white woman had been seen with the blacks it was supposed that she was one of the passengers of the missing schooner and parties of horsemen went out to search for her among the natives but the only white woman ever found was a wooden one the figurehead of a ship sometime afterwards when gipseland had been settled by white men a tree was discovered on Woodside station near the beach in the bark of which letters had been cut and it was said they would correspond with the initials of the names of some of the passengers and crew of the lost schooner and by their appearance they must have been carved many years previously this tree was cut down and the part of the trunk containing the letters was thrown off and sent to Melbourne there is little doubt that the letters on the tree had been cut by one of the survivors of that ill-fated schooner who had landed in the long boat near the lakes and had made their way along the 90-mile beach to Woodside they were far from the usual track of coasting vessels and had little chance of attracting attention by signals or fires even if they had plenty of food it was impossible for them to travel in safety through that unknown country to Port Phillip crossing the inlets creeks and swamps in daily danger of losing their lives by the spears of the wild natives they must have wandered along the 90-mile as far as they could go and then weary and worn out for want of food reluctant to die the death of the unhonoured dead one of them had carved the letters on the tree as a last despairing message to their friends before they were killed by the savages or succumbed to starvation for who to dumb forgetfulness a prey this pleasing anxious being a resigned left the warm precincts of the cheerful day nor cast one longing lingering look behind end of section 24 section 25 of the book of the bush this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by algae pug Perth Western Australia the book of the bush by George Dunderdale section 25 Gippsland pioneers at the old port most of them were Highlanders and the news of the discovery of Gippsland must often have been imparted in Gaelic for many of the children of the mist could speak no English when they landed year after year settlers had advanced farther from Sydney along the coastal ranges until stations were occupied to the westward of Twofold Bay in that rugged country where no wheeled vehicle could travel bullocks were trained to carry produce to the bay and to bring back stores imported from Sydney each train was in charge of a white man with several native drivers but rumors of better lands towards the south were rife and Captain McAllister of the border police equipped a party of men under Macmillan to go in search of them armed and provisioned they journeyed over the mountains under the guidance of the faithful native Friday and at length from the top of a new Mount Pisgar beheld a fair land watered throughout as the paradise of the Lord descending into the plains Macmillan selected a site for a station left some of his men to build huts and stockyards and returned to report his discovery to McAllister slabs were split with which walls were erected but before a roof was put on them the blacks suddenly appeared and began to throw their spears at the intruders one spear of seasoned hardwood actually penetrated through a slab the men all but one who shall be nameless seized their guns and fired at the blacks who soon disappeared the white men also disappeared over the mountains the route was mutual but the country was too good to be occupied solely by savages and when Macmillan returned with reinforcements he made some arrangements the exact particulars of which he would never disclose he brought cattle to his run and they quickly grew fat but civilized man does not live by fat cattle alone and a market had to be sought twofold bay was too far away and young melbourne was somewhere beyond impassable mountains Macmillan built a small boat which he launched on the river and pulled down to the lakes in search of an outlet he found it but the current was so strong that it carried him out to sea he had to land on the outer beach and to drag his boat back over the sands to the inner waters he next rode westward with his man friday to look for a port at corner inlet and he blazed a track to the albert river friday was an inland black he gazed at the river which was flowing towards the mountains and said what for stupid yelik you ain't along a bulga footnote yelik river bulga mountain macmillan tried to explain the theory of the tides one big yelik down there pushed him along come back by and by and friday saw the water come back by and by they reached the mouth of the river on february the first 1841 saw a broad expanse of salt water and macmillan concluded that he had found a port for gips land ten months afterwards jack shay arrived at the port he had first come to twofold bay from van demon's land and nothing was known about his former life that's nothing to nobody he said he was a bushman rough and weather beaten with only one peculiarity the quart pot which he slung to his belt would hold half a gallon of tea while the other pots only held a quart and that was the reason why he was known all the way from monoroo to adelaide as jack of the quart pot he had arrived rather late on the previous evening this morning as he sat on the log contemplating the scenery his first conclusion was that the port was not flourishing there was not a ship within sight the mouth of the albert river was visible on his right an inlet was spread out before him shining in the morning sun about a mile away on the western shore was one tree hill towards the south were mud banks and mangrove islands through which the channel zigzagged like a figure of eight and then the view was closed by the scrub on sunday island there was a boat at anchor in the channel about a mile distant in which two men were fishing for their breakfast for there was famine in the settlement and a few pioneers left in it were kept alive on a diet of roast flathead on the beach three boats were drawn up out of reach of the tide and looking behind him jack countered 12 huts and one store of wattle and dab the store had been built to hold the goods of the port albert company it was in charge of john cambell and contained a quantity of axes tomahawks saddles and bridles a grindstone some shot and powder two double barreled guns nails and hammers and a few other articles but there was nothing eatable to be seen in it if there was any flour tea or sugar left it was carefully concealed from any of the famishing settlers who might by chance peep in at the door outside the hut was a nine pounder gun on wheels which had been landed by the company for use in time of war but until this day there had been no hostilities between the natives and the settlers from time to time numbers of black faces had been seen among the scrub but so far no spear had been thrown nor hostile gun fired the members of the company were turnbull mcleod ranken broad rib hornedon and oar soon after they landed they cleared a semi-circular piece of ground behind their huts to prevent the blacks from sneaking up to them unseen near the beach stood two shiok trees marked one with the letters m m one fib 1841 the other two ma 1841 and the initials of the members of the port albert company behind the huts three hobbled horses were feeding two of which had been brought by jack shea a gourd dearhound with a shaggy coat lame and lean was lying in the sun there was also an old cart in front of one of the huts out of which two boys came and began to gather wood and to kindle a fire they were ragged and hungry and looked shawly at jack shea one was bill clancy and the other had been printer's devil to hardy of the gazette and was therefore known as dick the devil they had been picked up in melbourne by captain davie who had brought them to port albert in his whale boat their ambition had been for a life on the ocean wave and a home on a rolling deep as heroic young pirates but at present they lived on shore and their home was george scott's old cart a man emerged from one of the huts carrying a candle box which he laid on the ground before the fire jack observed that the box was full of eggs on the top of which laid two teaspoons a man was captain david usually known as davie he said i was going to ask you to breakfast jack but you have been a long time coming and provisions are scarce in these parts don't you make no trouble whatsoever about me said jack me is the time i've had short rations and i can take botluck with any man you'll find potluck here is but poor replied davie i've got neither grub nor grog no meat no flour no tea no sugar nothing but eggs but thank god i've got plenty of them there are five more boxes full of them in my hut so he may as well set to it once davie drew some hot ashes from the fire and thrust the eggs into them one by one when they were sufficiently cooked he handed one and a teaspoon to jack and took another himself saying we shall have to eat them just as they are there's plenty of salt water but i haven't even a pinch of salt my davie is plenty of salt right before your face didn't you never try ashes mix a spoonful with your egg this way you'll find you don't want no better salt right you are jack it goes down grand said davie after seasoning and eating one egg then to the boys here you kids take some eggs and roast them and salt them with ashes and then take your sticks and try if you can knock down a few parrots or wattle birds for dinner but don't you go far from the camp and keep a sharp lookout for the blacks who you can never trust them and they might poke their spears through you but davie asked jack where is the port and the shipping and where are all the settlers they don't seem to be many people staring about here this morning port and shipping be blessed said davie as for the settlers there's only about half a dozen left with these two boys and my wife and hannah scutt we don't keep no regular watch and mealtimes is a little use unless there's something to eat i landed here from that whale boat on the 30th of last may i've been waiting for you ever since in a few weeks we had about 150 people camped here they came mostly in cutters from melbourne looking for work or looking for runs they said that men will work for half a crown a day without rations on the road between liadettes beach and the town but there was no work for them here and as their provisions soon ran short they had to go away or starve i stopped here and i've been starving most of the time some went back in the cutters and some overland broad ribbon hobson came here over the mountains with four port philip blacks and they decided to look for a better way by the coast i landed them and their four blacks at the head of corner inlet they were attacked by the western port blacks near the river tarwan but they frightened them away by firing their guns the four port philip blacks we were carrying the ammunition and provisions ran away too and the two white men had nothing to eat for two or three days until they made massy and anderson stationed on the bass where they found their runaway blacks william piercene and his party were the next who left the port they took the road over the mountains and lived on monkey bears until they reached massy and anderson's mclua scott montgomery and several other men started next they had very little of their provisions left when i landed them one morning at one tree hill there over the water they were 14 days tramping over the mountains and were so starved that they ate their own dogs they came back in a schooner but i think some of them will never get over that journey i tell you jack it's hard to make a start in a new country with no money no food and no livestock except scott's old horse and that lame deer hound poor ocean was a good dog and used to run down old man kangaroo for us and to one of them gave him a terrible rip with his claw and he has been lame ever since for eight weeks we were living on roast flathead and i grew tired of it and so on the 17th of last month i started down the inlet in my whale boat i went to lady bay to take in some firewood i knew the mutton birds would be coming to the islands on the 23rd or 24th but i landed on one of them on the 19th four or five days too soon and began to look for something to eat there were some pig faces but they were only in flour no fruit on them i could find nothing but penguins eggs and i put some of those in a pot over the fire but i would never get hard if i boiled them all day there was something oily inside of them and how it gets there i never could tell you might as well try to live on rancid butter and nothing else over on november the 23rd the mutton birds began to come in thousands and then i was soon living in clover i had any quantity of hard boiled eggs and roast fowl for i could knock down the birds with a stick but jack what have you been doing since i met you the year before last you had a train of packed bullocks and a mob of cattle looking for a run about mount bunanul did you start a station out there for imlay no i didn't found a place a good country but pettit and the cogels hunted me out of it so imlay sold the cattle and went back to turf old bay and charles linot offered me a job he was taking a mobile cattle to adelaide but he heard there was no price for them there so he took a station up the purineese 17 miles beyond pass and the urvines run at the ampitheater i was there about 12 months my hut was not far from a deep waterhole and the milking yard is about 200 yards from the hut the wild blacks were very troublesome they killed three white men at murdering creep and me and francis clark's manager hunted them off the station two or three times blacks were more afraid of francis than of anybody else as beside his gun he always carried pistols and they could never tell how many he had in his pockets cockadoo bills tribe drove away a lot of pass and urvines sheep and broke a leg of each sheep to keep them from going back the pass and then francis went after them one of us stock man named walker and another a big fella whose name i forget they shot some of the blacks but the sheep were spoiled he was a tame black fella we called alec and two gins living about our station and he had a daughter we called picking in his shallow 10 or 11 years old who was very quick and smart and spoke english very well one morning when i was in the milking yard she came to me and said you look out cockatiel bill got your axe under his rug sitting among a lot of lumbars chop you down when you bring up milk in buckets i had no gun with me so i crept out of the yard and sneaked through the scrub to get into the hut through the back door keeping out a side of bill and the lubbers who were all sitting on the ground in front of the hut we had plenty of arms and they always kept me double barrel gun loaded and hanging over the fireplace i crept inside the hut reached down for the gun and peeped out of the front door looking for bill lubbers began yabbering in an instant bill dropped his rug and the axe lept over the heads of the women and was off like a deer i took a flying shot at him with both barrels his lover went about afterwards among the stations complaining the jack quark pot shot cockatiel bill and parker government protector my inquiries about him i saw him coming towards my hut and i said to picking in his shallow no talk no english no nothing when parker asked her if she knew anything about cockatiel bill she shams jeepard and he couldn't get a word out of it it was a cave with a spyglass that's john cambell the company's storeman he's looking for a schooner every day he would have gone a long ago like the rest he does not like to leave the stores behind yeah mr cambell wouldn't you like to take a roast egg or two for breakfast there's plenty for the whole camp it will dare be and thank you who are the men in the boat than the channel though george scott and patley jim fishing for their breakfast they were hungry i reckon and went away before i brought out the eggs well they might have had a feed while the men were roasting their eggs their eyes wanted over everything within view far and near on land and sea their lives had often depended on their watchfulness the sun was growing warm and it was a quivering haze over the waters while glancing down the channel davie observes some dark objects appearing near mangrove island he pointed them out to cambell and said what kind of birds are they do you think they are swans can't think what else they can be said cambell but they have not got the sheep of belts and they built some smoothie like swans but you're jowl looking along like big goods take a look through the glass debbie and see if we can make the moot davie took a long and steady look and said i'm bloated they ain't black fellas in their canoes they are pulling along towards the channel one two three there's a dozen of them or more i can see their long spear sticking out and they're after some mischief the tide is on the ebb and they're going to drop down with it and spear those two men in the boat and they are both landlubbers and haven't even got a gun with them we must bear a hand and help them get your guns and we'll launch the whale bait john cambell steered and shea and davie pulled as hard as they could towards the canoes which were already drifting down with the current the two fishermen were busy with their lines every now and then pulling out a fish and baiting their hooks with a fresh piece of shark they never looked up the channel nor guessed the danger that was every moment coming nearer for the blacks as yet had not made the least noise at last cambell saw several of them seizing their spears and making ready to throw them so he fired one of his barrels and davie showed up in the boat and gave a kui that might have been heard at sunday island for when anything excited him on the water he could be heard shouting and swearing at an incredible distance he yelled at the fisherman boat ahoy up anchor your lovers and scatter don't you see the blacks after you the natives began paddling away as fast as they could towards the nearest and davie and shea pulled after them but the blacks soon reached the shore and taking their spears ran into the nearest scrub when the whale boat grounded there was not one of them to be seen davie said they're watching us not far off you two keep a sharp look out and if you see a black face far at it i'm going to cut off the fleet he rolled up his trousers took a fishing line waited out to the canoes and tied them together one behind another leaving a little slack between each of them he then fastened one end of the line to the whale boat shoved off and sprang inside the blacks came out of the scrub yelling and brandishing their spears a few of which they threw at the boat but it was soon out of their reach thus a great naval victory had been gained and a whole of the enemy's fleet captured without the loss of a man nothing like it had been achieved since the days of the great gulliver the two fishermen had taken no part in the naval operations and when the whale boat returned with its train of canoes like the tail of a kite davie administered a sharp reprimand why didn't you two lovers keep your eyes skinned i suppose you're asleep eh you ought to have up anchor and pulled away and then the devils could never have got near you look here holding a piece of bark that's all they got the paddle with in deep water and in the shallows they can only pole along with sticks patley jim had been a prize runner in yorkshire and trifles never took away his breath he replied calmly he read devy we're a bit sleepy boy quite weak and near keep your shout on and we'll do a better next time when the canoes which were built entirely with sheets of bark were drawn up on the beach nothing was found in them but a few sticks bark paddles and a gown a lilac cotton gown that goon said campbell has belonged to some white woman the devils have murdered there's no settler near than jemisin and they might have brought the goon all the way through the bus but campbell was mistaken there had been another white woman in gipseland end of section 25 section 26 of the book of the bush this is a libravox recording all libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org recording by jona Cummings the book of the bush by george dunderdale section 26 the isle of blasted hopes there is a large island where the 90 mile beach ends in a wilderness of roaring breakers it is the isle of blasted hopes its enchanting landscape has allured many a landsmen to his ruin and its beacon seen through the haze of a southeast gale has guided many a watchful mariner to shipwreck and death after the discovery of gipseland piercin and black first occupied the island under a grazing license and they put 11,000 sheep on it with some horses, bullocks, and pigs the sheep began to die so they sold them to captain coal at ten shillings ahead giving in the other stock they were of the opinion that they had made an excellent bargain but when the muster was made 9,600 of the sheep were missing the pigs ran wild but multiplied when the last sheep had perished coal sold his license to a man named thomas who put on more sheep and afterwards exchanged as many as he could find with john king for cattle and horses morrison next occupied the island until he was starved out then another man named thomas took the fatal grazing license but he did not live on the land he placed his brother in charge of it to be out of the way of temptation as he was too fond of liquor the brother was not allowed the use of a boat he with his wife and family was virtually a prisoner condemned to sobriety but by this time a lighthouse had been erected and watched the keeper of it had a boat and was more over fond of liquor the two men soon became firm friends and often found it necessary to make voyages to port albert for flour or tea or sugar the last time they sailed together the barometer was low and a gale was brewing when they left the wharf they had taken on board all the stores they required and more they were happy and glorious next day the mast head of their boat was seen sticking out of the water near sunday island the pilot schooner went down and hauled the boat to the surface but nothing was found in her except the sand ballast and a bottle of rum her sheet was made fast and when the squall struck her she had gone down like a stone the isle of blasted hopes was useless even as in an asylum for inebriates the ecliptic was carrying coals from new castle the time was midnight the sky was misty and the gale was from the southeast when the watch reported a light ahead the cabin boy was standing on deck near the captain when he held a consultation with his mate who was also his son father and son agreed they said the light ahead was the one on kent's group and then the vessel grounded amongst the breakers the seamen stripped off their heavy clothing and went overboard the captain and his son plunged in together and swam out of sight there were nine men in the water while the cabin boy stood shivering on deck he too had thrown away his clothes all but the wristbands of his shirt which in his flurry could not unbutton he could not make up his mind to jump overboard he heard the men in the water shouting to one another make for the light that course led them away from the nearest land which they could not see at length a great sea swept the boy among the breakers but his good angel pushed a piece of timber within reach and he held on to it until he could feel the ground with his feet he then let the timber go and scrambled out of reach of the angry surge but when he came to the dry sand he fainted and fell down when he recovered his senses he began to look for shelter there was a signal station not far off but he could not see it he went away from the pitless sea through an opening between low conical hills covered with dark scrub over a pathway composed of drift sand and broken shells he found an old hut without a door there was no one in it he went inside and lay down shivering at daybreak a boy the son of Ratcliffe the signalman started out to look for his goats and as they sometimes passed the night in the old foul house he looked in for them but instead of the goats he saw the naked cabin boy who are you he said and what are you doing here and where did you come from I have been shipwrecked replied to cabin boy and then he sat up and began to cry young Ratcliffe ran off to tell his father what he had found and the boy was brought to the cottage put to bed and supplied with food and drink the signal for a wreck was hoisted at the flag staff but when the signalman went to look for a wreck he could not find one he searched along the shore and found the dead body of the captain and a piece of splintered spar seven or eight feet long on which the cabin boy had come ashore the ecliptic with her cargo and crew had completely disappeared while the signalman near at hand slept peacefully undisturbed by her crashing timbers or the shouts of the drowning seaman Ratcliffe was not a seer and had no mystical lore he was a runaway sailor who had in the forties traveled daily over the Egerton run unconscious of the tons of gold beneath his feet there was a fair wind and a smooth sea when the Klonmel went ashore at three o'clock in the morning of the second day of January 1841 18 hours before she had taken a fresh departure from Ram's head to Wilson's promenatory the anchors were let go she swung to wind and at the fall of the tide she bettered herself securely in the sand her hull machinery and cargo on injured the 75 passengers and crew were safely landed sales lumber and provisions were taken ashore in the whale boats and quarter boats tents were erected the food supplies were stowed away under a capsized boat and a guard set over them by Captain Tolervey next morning seven volunteers launched one of the whale boats boarded the steamer took in provisions made a lug out of a piece of canvas hoisted the union jack to the main mast upside down and pulled safely away from the Klonmel against a headwind they hoisted the lug and ran for one of the seal islands where they found a snug little cove ate a hearty meal and rested for three hours they then pulled for the mainland and reached sealers cove about midnight where they landed cooked supper and passed the rest of the night in the boat for fear of the blacks next morning three men went ashore for water and filled the breaker when they saw three blacks coming down towards them so they hurried on board and the anchor was hauled up as the wind was coming from the east they had to pull for four hours before they weathered the southern point of the cove they then hoisted sail and ran for Wilson's promenatory which they rounded at ten o'clock a.m. at eight o'clock in the evening they brought up in a small bay at the eastern extremity of western port glad to get ashore and stretch their weary limbs after a night's refreshing repose on the sandy beach they started at break of day sailing along very fast with a strong and steady breeze from the east although they were in danger of being swamped as the sea broke over the boat repeatedly at two o'clock p.m. they were abreast of port Phillip heads but they found a strong ebb tide with such a ripple and broken water that they did not consider it prudent to run over it they therefore put the boat's head to windward and waited for four hours when they saw a cutter bearing down on them which proved to be the sisters captain Mulholland who took the boat in tow and landed them at Williamstown at 11 o'clock p.m. 63 hours from the time they had left the Clonmel. Captain Lewis the harbormaster went to rescue the crew and passengers and brought them all to Melbourne together with the males which had been landed on the island since known by the name of the Clonmel for 52 years the black boilers of the Clonmel have lain half buried in the sand spit and they may still be seen among the breakers from the deck of every vessel sailing up the channel to Port Albert the Clonmel with her valuable cargo was sold in Sydney and the purchaser Mr. Gross said about the business of making his fortune out of her he sent a party of wreckers who pitched their camps on Snake Island where they had plenty of grass scrub and timber the work of taking out the cargo was continued under various captains for six years and then Mr. Gross lost a schooner and was himself landed in the court of insolvency while the pioneers at the old port were on the verge of starvation the Clonmel men were living in luxury they had all the blessings both of land and sea corned beef salt pork potatoes plum duff tea sugar coffee wine beer spirits and tobacco from the cargo of the Clonmel and oysters without end from a neighboring lagoon they constructed a large square punt which they filled with cargo daily wind and weather permitting at other times they rested from their labors or roamed about the island shooting birds or hunting kangaroo they saw no other inhabitants and believed no black Lucifer had as yet entered their island garden but though unseen he was watching them and all their works one morning the wreckers had gone to the wreck a man named Kennedy was left in charge of the camp Sambo the black cook was attending to his duties at the fire and Mrs. Kennedy the only lady of the party was at the waterhole washing clothes her husband had left the camp with his gun in the hope of shooting some wattle birds which were then fat with feeding on the sweet blossoms of the honeysuckle he was sitting on a log near the waterhole talking to his wife who had just laid out to dry on the bushes three colored shirts and a lilac dress she stood with her hands and her hips pensively contemplating the garments she had her troubles and was turning them over in her mind while her husband was thinking of something else quite different it is I believe a thing that often happens I am thinking flora he said that this would be a grand island to live on far better than sky because it has no rocks on it I'd like to have it for a station I could put sheep and cattle on it and they could not go away nor be lifted because there is deep water all around it and we could have plenty of beef and mutton and wool and game and fish and oysters we could make a garden and have plenty of kale and potatoes and apples it's all very well donald she replied for you to be talking about sheep and cattle and apples but I'd like to know where ever we would be getting the money to buy the sheep and cattle and who would like to live here forever a thousand miles from decent neighbors and that's my best goon and it's getting very shabby and where ever I'm to get another goon in a country like this I'm thinking I don't know donald thought his wife was troubling herself about mere trifles but before he had time to say so a black fellow snatched his gun from across his knees another one hit him on the head with a wadi and a third did the same to flora and the unfortunate couple lay senseless on the ground their hopes and troubles had come to a sudden end this onslaught had been made by four blacks who now made a bundle of the clothes and carried them in the gun away going towards the camp in search of more plunder the tents occupied by the wreckers had been enclosed in a thick hedge of scrub to protect them from the drifting sand there was only one opening in the hedge through which the blacks could see sambo cooking the wreckers dinner before a fire his head was bare and he was enjoying the genial heat of early summer singing snatches of the melodies of old virgini the hearing of the australian aboriginal is acute and his talent for mimicry astonishing he can imitate the notes of every bird in the call of every animal with perfect accuracy sambo's senseless song enchanted the four blacks it was first heard with tremendous applause in new orleans it was received with enthusiasm by every audience in the great republic and it had been the delight of every theater in the british empire it may be said that jim crowe buried the legitimate drama and danced on its grave it really seemed to justify the severe judgment passed on us by the sage of chelsea that we were sixteen millions mostly fools no air was ever at the same time so silly and so successful as jim crowe but there was life in it and it certainly prolonged that of sambo for the four savages crouched behind the hedge listening to the song turnabout wheelabout and do just so and every time i turn about i jump jim crowe they forgot their murderous erin at last there was an echo of the closing words which seemed to come from a large gum tree beyond the tents against which a ladder had been reared to the forks used for the purpose of a lookout by captain librece sambo paused looked up to the gum tree and said ba gala who's there the echo is repeated and then he wheeled about in real earnest transfixed with horror unable to move a limb the blacks were close to him now but even their color could not restore his courage they were cannibals and preparing to kill and eat him but first they examined their game critically poking their fingers about him pinching him in various parts of the body stroking his broad nose and ample lips with evident admiration and trying to pull out the curls on his woolly head sambo was usually proud of his personal appearance but just now fear prevented him from enjoying the applause of the strangers at length he recovered his presence of mind sufficiently to make an effort to avert his impending doom if the blacks could be induced to eat the dinner he was cooking their attention to himself might be diverted and their appetites appeased so he pointed towards the pot saying plenty beef pork plumb duff the blacks seemed to understand his meaning and they began to inspect the dinner so instead of taking the food like sensible men they upset all the pots with their waddies and scattered the beef pork plumb duff and potatoes so that they were covered with sand and completely spoiled two of the blacks next peered into the nearest tent and seen some knives and forks took possession of them but there was a sound of voices from the water hole and they quickly gathered together their stolen goods and disappeared in a few minutes captain libres and the wreckers arrived at the camp bringing with them kennedy and his wife who had recovered their senses and were able to tell what had happened black devil's been here capping done spoil all the dinner and run away with the knives and forks sambo said captain libres soon resolved on a course of reprisals he went up the ladder to the forks of the gum tree with his telescope and soon obtained a view of the retreating thieves appearing occasionally and disappearing among the long grass and timber and after observing the course they were taking he came down the ladder he selected two of his most trustworthy men and armed them and himself with double barreled guns one barrel being smooth bore and the other rifled weapons suitable for game both large and small during the pursuit the captain every now and then from behind a tree search for the enemy with his telescope until at last he could see that they had halted and had joined a number of their tribe he judged that the blacks if they suspected the white men would follow them would direct their looks principally towards the tent so he made a wide circuit to the left and he and his men creep slowly along the ground until they arrived within short range of the natives three of the blacks were wearing the stolen shirts a fourth had put on the lilac dress and they were strutting around to display their brave apparel just like white folks the savage man retains all finery for his personal adornment and never waste any of it on his despicable wife but still captain libres had some doubt in the matter he whispered to his men I don't like to shoot it again there may be a lubra in it but I'll take the middle fellow in the shirt and you take the other two one to the right the other to the left when I say one two three fire the order was obeyed and when the smoke cleared away the print dress was gone but all the rest of the plunder was recovered on the spot the shirts were stripped off the bodies of the blacks and after they had been rinsed in a waterhole they were found to have not been much damaged each shirt having only a small bullet hole in it it was in this way that the lilac dress escaped and was found in the canoe at the old port the black fellow who wore it had taken it off and put it under his knees in the bottom of his canoe and when the white men's boat came after him he was in so great a hurry to hide himself in the scrub that he left the dress behind next day there was a sudden alarm in the camp at the old port Clancy and Dick the devil came running toward the beach full of fear and excitement screaming the blacks the blacks they're coming hundreds of them and they are all naked and dogged over white and they have long spears the men who had guns Campbell Shea and Davy fetched them out of their huts and stood ready to receive the enemy even McClure although very weak left his bed and came outside to assist in the fight the fringe of the scrub was dotted with a piebald bodies of the blacks dancing about brandishing their spears and shouting defiance at the white men they were not in hundreds as the boys imagined their number apparently not exceeding 40 but it was evident that they were threatening death and destruction to the invaders of their territory none however but the very bravest ventured far into the cleared space and they showed no disposition to make a rush or anything like a concerted attack Campbell after watching the enemy's movements for some time said I think it will be better to give them a taste of the nine pounder keep look out while I loader he went into his store to get the charge ready he tied some powder tightly in a piece of calico and rammed it home on this he put a nine pound shot but reflecting that the aim at the dancing savages would be uncertain he put in a double charge consisting of some broken glass and a handful of nails he then thrust a wooden skewer down the touch hole into the powder bag below primed and directed the piece towards the scrub giving it as he judged sufficient elevation to send the charge among the thickest of the foe as this was the first time the gun had been brought into action and there was no telling for certain which way it would act Campbell thought it best to be cautious so he ordered all of his men to take shelter behind the store he then selected a long piece of bark which he lighted at the fire and standing behind an angle of the building he applied the light to the touch hole every man was watching the scrub to see the effect of the discharge there was a fearful explosion succeeded by shrieks of horror and fear from the blacks as the ball and nails and broken glass went whistling over their heads through the trees then there was a moment of complete silence Campbell like a skillful general ordered his men to pursue it once the flying foe in order to reap to the full the fruits of victory and they ran across the open ground to deliver a volley but on arriving at the scrub no foe was to be seen either dead or alive the elevation of the artillery had been too great and the missiles had passed overhead but the result was all that could be hoped for for two months afterwards not a single native was visible two victories had been gained by the pioneers and it was felt that they deserve some commemoration at night there was a feast around the campfire it was of necessity a frugal one but each member of the small community contributed to it as much as he was able Campbell produced flour enough for a large damper a luxury unseen for the last eight weeks McClure gave tea and sugar Davey brought out a box full of eggs and a dozen mutton birds scut and patley furnished a course of roast flathead Clancy and Dick the devil the poor pirates gave all the game they had that day killed Viz two parrots and a wattlebird the 12 canoes the spoils of victory were of little value they were placed on the campfire one after another and reduced to ashes the warriors sat around on logs and boxes and joined the good things provided and talking cheerfully but they made no set speeches dinner oratory is full of emptiness and they had plenty of that every day they dipped panicans of tea out of the iron pot when Burke and Wills were starving at Cooper's Creek on a diet of Nardu the latter recorded in his diary that what the food wanted was sugar he believed that Nardu and sugar would keep him alive the pioneers at the old port were convinced that their great want was fat with that their supper would have been perfect McClure was dying of consumption as everybody knew but himself he could not believe that he had come so far from home only to die and he joined the revelers at the campfire he said the kindly inquirers that he felt quite well and would soon regain his strength before that terrible journey over the mountains he had been the life and soul of the port he could play on the violin on the bagpipes both scotch and irish and he was always so pleasant and cheerful looking as innocent as a child that no one could be long dispirited in his company and the most impatient growler became ashamed of himself McClure was persuaded to bring out his violin once more it had long been silent and he began playing the liveliest of tunes strath space jigs and reels until some of the men could hardly keep their heels still but it is hard to dance and lose sand and they had to be contented with expressing their feelings and song Davey sang a mariners of England and other songs of the sea and Patley Jim gave the angels whisper followed by an old ballad of the days of Robin Hood called the wedding of Aether O'Bradley the violin accompanying the airs and putting the very soul of music into every song but by degrees the musician grew weary and began to play odds and ends of old tunes sacred and profane he dwelt some time on an ancient Kittery Elyson and at last glided unconsciously as it were into the land of the leal I'm wearing away Jean. Like Schnar Ries in the Jean. I'm wearing away Jean to the land of the leal. There's no sorrow there Jean. There's no call or care of Jean. The days are fair Jean. I the land of the leal. At last McClure rose from a seat and said I put away the fiddle and bid you good Nick. I think I'll be going home to my myth of the moon. He went into his tent. It was high tide and there was a gentle swish of long low waves lapping the sandy beach. The night wind sighed a soothing lullaby through the spines of the she-yoke and his spirit passed peacefully away with the ebb. He was the first man who died at the Old Port and he was buried on the bank of the river where Friday first saw its waters flowing towards the mountain. Thirty years afterwards I saw two old men, Campbell and Montgomery, pulling up the long grass which had covered his neglected grave. Section 27 of the Book of the Bush. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Magdalena Cook. The Book of the Bush by George Dunderdale. Section 27. Glengarry in Gippsland. Jack Shea was not sorry to leave the Old Port. The nocturnal feast made to celebrate the repulse of the Black Fellows could not conceal the state of famine which prevailed and he was pleased to remember that he had brought plenty of flour, tea and sugar as far as the Thompson River. Davey had no saddle but John Campbell lent him one for the journey and also sold him shot and power on credit. So early in the morning the two men took a titaner of roast eggs and commenced their journey on Macmillan's track. Each man carrying his double barrel gun ready loaded in his hand. By this time the sight of a gun was sufficient warning to the Black Fellows to keep at a safe distance. The discharge of the nine pounder had proved to them that the white man possessed mysterious powers of mischief and it was a long time before they could recover courage enough to approach within view of the camp at the Old Port. On the second day of their journey Davey and Shea arrived at the Thompson and found the mob of cattle and the men all safe. They built a hut, erected a stockyard, and roughly fixed the boundaries of the station by blaze trees. The Bank of the River and other natural marks. There were three brothers in Mlay in the twofold bay district. John, Alexander and George, the latter residing at the bay where he received stores from Sydney and ship return cargoes or station produce and fat cattle for Hobarton. Two stations on the mountains were managed by the other two brothers and their brand was three, usually called the Bible brand. When the station at the Thompson was put in working order the Mlay's exchanged it for one owned by P.P. King which was situated between the two stations in the Monaro district. The Gippsland station was named Fulham and was managed by John King. Jack Shea returned to the mountains and Davey to the Old Port. Soon afterwards the steamer Corsair arrived from Melbourne bringing many passengers one of whom was John Reeve who took up a station at Snake Ridge and purchased the block of land known as Reeve's survey. The new settlers also brought a number of horses and Norman McLeod had twenty bullocks on board. The steamer could not reach the port and brought to a breast of the Midge Channel. The cattle and horses were slung and put into the water for at a time and swam to land, but all the bullocks disappeared soon afterwards and fled to the mountains. Next the Brig Bruton arrived from Sydney chartered by the Highland Chief McDonald of Glengarry in the days of King William the Third. A sum of twenty thousand pounds was voted for the purpose of purchasing the allegiance of the Glengarry of that day and of that of several other powerful chiefs. On taking the Oath of Loyalty to the new dynasty they were to receive not more than two thousand pounds each or if they preferred dignity to cash they could have any title of nobility they pleased below that of Earl. Most of them took the Oath and the cash. It is not recorded that any chief preferred a title, but the McDonald of 1842 was Lord Glengarry to all the new settlers in Gippsland. His father Colonel Alexander Ronaldson McDonald was the last genuine specimen of a Highland Chief and he was the Fergus MacIver of Walter Scott's Waverly. He always wore the dress of his ancestors and kept sentinels posted at his door. He perished in the year 1828 while attempting to escape from a steamer which had gone ashore. His estate was heavily encumbered and his son was compelled to sell it to the Marquis of Huntley. In 1840 it was sold to the Earl of Dudley for ninety one thousand pounds and in 1860 to Edward Ellis for a hundred and twenty thousand pounds. The landless young chief resolved to transfer his broken fortunes to Australia. He brought with him a number of men and women chiefly Highlanders who were landed by David in his whaleboat. For this service Glengarry gave a check on a Sydney bank for five pounds which was entrusted to Captain Gawson of the Schooner Coquette to purchase groceries. On arriving in Sydney the Gawnsons went on the pleasure excursion about the harbour. The Coquette was capsized in a squall. One or two of the family perished and David's check went down with the vessel. But when the Schooner was raced and the water pumped out the check was found and the groceries on the next voyage arrived safely at the old port. Glengarry's head man and manager of the Enterprise was a poor gentleman from Tipperary named Dancer and his chief stockman was Sandy Fraser. By the regulations then enforced in New South Wales Glengarry was entitled for a fee of 10 pounds per annum to hold under a deep pasturing licence an area of 20 square miles on which he might place 500 head of cattle or 4,000 sheep. He selected a site for his head station and residence at the banks of the Tarra. The house was built, huts and stockyards were erected, 500 dairy cows were bought at 10 pounds each and the business of dairy farming commenced. But the young chief and his men were unused to the management of a station in the new country. They had everything to learn and at a ruinous cost. A number of young men bailed up the cows each morning and put on the leg ropes. Then they sat on top of the rails of the stockyard fence and waited while the maids drew the milk. Dancer superintended the labours of the men and the milk maids. He sat at his office in a corner of the stockyard entering in his books the number of cattle milked, examining in the state of their brands which were dogged on the hides with paint and brush. Some cheese was made but it was not of much account and all the milk and butter were consumed on the station. At this time the blacks had quite recovered from the fright occasion by the discharge of the nine pounder gun and were again often seen from the huts at the old port. Donald McAllister was sent by his uncle Lachlan McAllister of Nuntin to make arrangements for shipping some cattle and sheep. The day before their arrival Donald saw some blacks at a distance in the scrub and without any provocation fired at them with an old tower musket charged with shot. The next day the drovers and shepherds arrived with the stock and drove them over Glengarry's bridge to a place between the Tara and Albert rivers called the Coal Hole. Afterwards occupied by Parson Bean there was no yard there and the animals would require watching at night so Donald decided to send them back to Glengarry's yards. Then he and the drovers and shepherds would have a pleasant time. There would be songs and whiskey the piper would play and the men and maids would dance. The arrangement suited everybody. The drovers started back with the cattle Donald helped the shepherds to gather the sheep and put them on their way and then he rode after the cattle. The track led him past a grove of Dan's tea tree on the land known as the Brewery Paddock and about a hundred yards ahead a single black fellow came out of the grove and began capering about and waving a waddy. Donald pulled up his horse and looked at the black. He had a pair of pistols in the holster's office saddle but did not draw them there was no danger from a black fellow a hundred yards off but there was another behind him and much nearer who came silently out of the tea tree and trust a spear through Donald's neck. The horse galloped away towards Glengarry's bridge. When the drovers saw the riderless horse they supposed that Macalester had been accidentally thrown and they sent Friday to look for him. He found him dead. The blacks had done their work quickly they had stripped Donald of everything but his trousers and boots had mutilated him in their usual fashion and had disappeared. A messenger was sent to old Macalester and the young man was buried on the bank of the river near Maclew's grave. The new cemetery now contains three graves the second being that of Tinker Ned who had shot himself accidentally when pulling out his gun from beneath a tarpaulin. Lachlan Macalester had had a long experience in dealing with black fellows and bush rangers. He had been a captain in the army and an officer of the border police. The murder of his nephew gave him both a professional and a family interest in chastising the criminals and he soon organised a party to look for them. It was of course impossible to identify any black fellow concerned in the outrage and therefore atonement must be made by the tribe. The blacks were found in camp near a waterhole at Gammon Creek and those who were shot were thrown into it. To the number it was said of about sixty men, women and children, but this was probably an exaggeration. At any rate the black who caped about to attract young Macalester's attention escaped and he often afterwards described and imitated the part he took in what he evidently considered a glorious act of revenge. The gun used by old Macalester was a double barrel purdy, a beautiful and reliable weapon which in its time had done great execution. The dairy business at Greenmount was carried on at a continual loss and Glengarry resolved to return to Scotland. He sold his cows and their increase to Thacker and Mason of Sydney for twenty-seven shillings and sixpence per head. His house was bought by John Campbell. On the eve of his departure for Sydney in the schooner Cookette, Captain Gawneson, a farewell dinner was given by the Highlanders at the Old Port and Long Mason, who had come from Sydney to take delivery of the cows on behalf of Thacker and Mason, was one of the guests. But there was more of gloom than gait he around the festive board. All wished well to the young chief, but the very best of his friends could think of nothing cheerful to say to him. His enterprise had been a complete failure. The family tree of Clan Ranald, the Dauntless, had refused to take root in a strange land the glory had gone from it forever. And there was nothing to celebrate in song or story. Other men from the Highlands failed to win the smiles of fortune in Gippsland. At home, notwithstanding their tribal feuds, they held their own for two thousand years against the Roman and Saxon, the Dane and the Norman. Only one hundred and fifty years ago, it seems now almost incredible. They nearly scared the Hanoverian dynasty from the throne of England, and even yet, though scattered throughout the British Empire, they are neither a fallen nor a falling race. Glingari returned to his tent early, and then the buying and selling of the five hundred cows became the subject of conversation. The whisk is circulated, and Longmason observed that unfriendly looks began to be directed toward himself. He was an Englishman, a Southrin, and it was a foul shame and dishonoured that such a sea should pay a Highland chief only twenty-seven shillings and sixpence for beasts that had cost ten pounds each. That was not the way in the good old days when the hardy men of the North descended from the mountains with broadsword and shield, lifted the cattle off the Saxon, and drove them to their homes in the glens. The fervour temper of the gale grew hotter at the thought of the rank injustice which had been done, and it was decided that Longmason should be drowned in the inlet. He protested against the decision with vigor, and apparently with reason, he said, I did not buy the cattle at all. Glingari sold them to Thacker and my brother in Sydney, and I only came over to take delivery of them. What wrong have I done? But the reasoning of this prosaic Englishman was thrown to the winds. You've done everything wrong. You should again ten pounds sterling a piece for the coups, and not twenty-cent and sixpence. It's a pity your brother and Thacker and Macfarlane are not here the nicked and we're driven them too. Four strong men shouting in Gaelic the war cry of Sheriff Muir, revenge, revenge, revenge today, mourning tomorrow. Seize the long limbs of the unfortunate Mason, and in spite of his struggles bore him towards the beach. The water near the margin was shallow, so they waded in until it was deep enough for the purpose. There was a piercing cry, help, murder, murder. John Campbell heard it, but it was not safe for a Campbell to stand between a Macdonald and his revenge. However Captain Davy and Patley Jim came out of their hearts to see what was the matter, and they waded after the Highlanders. Each ceased a man by the collar and downhauled. There was a sudden whirlpool, a splashing and a spluttering, as all the five men went under and drank the brine. I think, said Patley, that will cool him a bit, and it did. Long Mason was a university man, educated for the church, but before his ordination to the priesthood he had many other adventures and misfortunes. After being nearly drowned by the Highlanders he was placed in charge of Woodside Station by his elder brother. He tried to mitigate the miseries of solitude with drink, but he did so too much, and was turned adrift. He then made his way to New Zealand and fought as a common soldier through the hecky war. Captain Patterson of the Schooner Eagle met him at a New Zealand port. He was wearing a long ragged old coat, such as soldiers' war, was out of employment, and in a state of starvation. The captain took pity on him, brought him back to Port Albert, and he became a shepherd on a station near Bansdale. While he was fighting the Maoris, his brother had gone home and had sent to Sydney money to pay his passage to England, but he could not be found, and the money was returned to London. At length Captain Bentley found out where he was, took him to Sydney, gave him an outfit, and paid his passage to England. Long Mason, honest man that he was, sent back the passage money, was ordained priest, obtained a living near London, and roamed no more. He had a younger brother named Leonard Mason, who lived with Cowdy Buckley at Prospect, near the Ninety Mile, and became a good bushman. In 1844 Leonard took up a station in North Gippsland, adjoining the McLeods run, but the Highlanders tried to drive him away by taking his cattle, a long distance to a pound which had been established as Stratford. The McLeods and their men were too many for Leonard. He went to Melbourne to try if the law or government would give him any redress, but he could obtain no satisfaction. The continued impounding of his cattle meant ruin to him, and when he returned to Gippsland, he found his hut burned down and his cattle gone on the way to the pound. He took a double-barrel gun and went after them. He found them at Providence Ponds, which was the stopping place for drovers. Next morning he rose early, went to the stockyard with his gun, and waited till McDougal, who was manager for the McLeods, came out with his stockmen. When they approached the yard, he said, I shall shoot the first man who touches those rails to take my cattle out. McDougal laughed and ordered one of his men to take down the slip rails, but the man hesitated. He did not like the looks of Mason. Then McDougal dismounted from his horse and went to the slip rails, but as soon as he touched them, Mason shot him. Cody Buckley spared neither trouble nor expense in obtaining the best counsel for Mason's defence at the trial in Melbourne. He was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to nine years imprisonment, but after a time he was released on the condition of leaving Victoria, and when last heard of was a drover beyond the Murray. After the departure of Glen Gary, Dancer could find no profitable employment in Gippsland and lived in a state of indigence. At last he borrowed sufficient money on a promissory note to pay his passage to Ireland. In temporary he became baronet and a sheriff, and lived to a good old age.