CV (LIVE !■:. LOUD. 49 



musket. O'Brien was so furious at the failure of the plan 

 that he refused to walk back to the station, and had to be 

 cai-ried there by the men who had come to rescue him (•^>. 

 After this O'Brien '35» was transferred to Port Arthur, 

 and eventually he accepted a ticket-of-leave. 



Transportation was soon to cease, however, and Dar- 

 lington was finally vacated as a convict station in 1850. 



There is an amusing account (^^' of how the H.M.S. 

 IlavduiKili, unaware that the settlement had been vacatoj, 

 put in there at Christmas time, 1850. and awaited a wel- 

 come due to such a Queen's ship. However, "the tall flag- 

 '"staff was buntins'less, the windmill sailless, the prettv cot- 

 "tages and gardens seemed tenantless, not a drum wa* 

 ■heard in the military barracks, and the huge convict 

 "buildings seemed minus convicts. At length, through a 

 "telescope, was observed one canary coloured biped, in the 

 ■grey and yellow livery of the doublv and treblv convicted 

 'felon. Presently a whaleboat came slowly off and 



'there appeared on the quarter-deck a hawk-eyed and 

 "nosed personage about six feet and a half high, who seeni- 

 'ed as if he had long lived in indifferent society, for his 

 "eyes had a habit of sweeping round his person as though 

 "he was in momentary danger of assault. This was an 

 '■overseer left in charge of the abandoned station with a 

 "few prisoners to ass-ist him." 



This now brings us to the end of the earlv period of 

 the islands interesting history and the one with which we 

 will conclude. We have seem how the early romantic era 

 of geographical exploration gave place to commerce as re- 

 presented by the scalers and "bav whalers.' And how 

 when these men had exterminated their stock in trade the 

 island became a home for th^ reformers of societv — and 

 their patients. During the centuiy the island was to wit- 

 ness yet another commercial era due to the activities of 

 Signer Bernacchis Maria Island Company, but this is be- 

 yond the scope of our present investigation-. ^laria Island 

 will always be of interest, not onlv from a scientific stand- 

 ])oint owing to its peculiar geological formation, but from 

 the more general fact of it.s charming scenerv and ideal 

 climate. Closely interwoven with the other attractions of 

 the island ai-e the interesting facts relating to its earlv his- 



'34) Deni«on-— Varieties of Vice-Kegal Life, p 143. 



• 35) Some said O'Brien was betrayed. However, the Viciorin 

 Tas L-aptured by a heat from the settlement, and the master Ellis was 

 tried at Hobart, and his share of the vessel forfeited. In spite of this 

 he managed to get away with the vessel Later, some of the Irish 

 prisoners who had reached America met Ellis at San Francisco, and 

 an immediate Lynch law trial took place. The "jury." however, ac- 

 quitted EUis on the chanre of betraying the plan of escape. Fenton, 

 Hi'^tory of Tasmania, p. 216. 



<36) Mundy.— Our Antipodes, p. 474. 

 D 



