76 



THE RISDON SETTLEMENT. 



Knopwood's 

 Diary, Gth 

 March, 1804. 



Collins to 



King, 29th 



February, 



1804. 



Harris's 



statement. 



fortification, court-house, settlers' allotments, and govern- 

 ment grounds for the purpose of agriculture and grazing. 

 He remained some four months at Hobart, returning 

 to Sydney in March, 1804, after having completed the 

 first surveys in Tasmania. Flinders' map shows that 

 Meehan explored from the Coal River in a north-east 

 dii-ection, returning by way of Prosser's Plains and the 

 Sorell District, but we have no particulars of the result 

 of his observations. 



Bowen's little colony now numbered something like 

 100 souls. It had been established about two months, 

 and might fairly have been expected to have made at 

 least a start towards definite progress. But it was pre- 

 destined to failure. The few meagre facts that can be 

 gleaned from the Record Office papers show that matters 

 went most persistently wrong. The Commandant may not 

 have been to blame for this ill success— possibly no man 

 could have achieved success with the like material. The 

 first arrivals had been bad, the second batch was certainly 

 no better. We have Collins' testimony, very emphatically 

 given, that many of them were " abandoned, hardened 

 wretches" — " more atrocious than those imported from the 

 gaols of England." The story of the escape of seven of 

 these convicts, under the leadership of one Duce, gives 

 us an idea of their lawlessness, their ignorance, and their 

 utter recklessness. One night, Duce and his six com- 

 panions stole the Commandant's boat as she lay in the 

 cove, gained possession of two guns, and got away down 

 the river. Some of the party wanted, without compass 

 or provisions, to run for New Zealand, Avhich they 

 thought could easily be done. Others, not quite so 

 ignorant, preferred to try to make Timor. Violent 

 quarrels ensued, but they kept on their course along the 

 east coast, living on fish and such vegetable food as'^they 

 could collect on the shore, and constantly on the verge 

 of murderous conflict, until they reached Bass Strait. 

 Here one of the party was left on a desolate rock, Duce 

 threatening to shoot any one who interfered. The rest 

 made Cape Barren Island, where they fell in with a 

 sealing party. Duce and three others designed to seize 

 the vessel, but were betrayed by their companions. The 

 sealers overpowered them, and put the four, with some 

 provisions, on one of the islands, where they left them. 

 Whether they perished, or whether they helped to swell 

 the number of lawless runaways who for so long a time 

 infested the islands in the Straits, no one knows.' 



The soldiers were almost as great a trouble to the 

 Commandant as the convicts. They were always 



