BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER. 235 



been paid for in rum. More could be got for spirits than 



for cash. A bottle of rum was long recognised currency 



for ^1, or even a higher value. It is probable that very 



little labour in those early days was paid for in cash. The Collins to 



want of specie prevented the payment of the salaries of the Hobart, 3rd 



officers and superintendents, and to meet this difficulty, ^^^' ■^^^*' 



and to supply the officers with the means of purchasing 



necessary articles brought by vessels coming from Sydney, 



the Commissary was directed to issue small promissory 



notes of not less than ;£! sterling in value. These were 



to pass in circulation until specie was sent out. 



The little camp on the hill above Sullivan's Cove 

 must have been a grotesque and rough-looking village, 

 with its collection of wattle-and-dab huts thatched with 

 grass. The officers, for the most part, still occupied 

 tents, the hospital was a marquee, and the only piece of 

 architecture making any pretence to be a civilised dwel- 

 linjjc was the wooden cottacje of the Governor. Hunter's 

 Island was the citadel of the colony. Here all the stores 

 were kept in large tents under a strong guard, which, 

 however, did not always prevent robberies. At low 

 water the island could now be reached by the sandspit. 

 The approach was carefully guarded, and the most 

 minute regulations were laid down for the issue of stores 

 and provisions, only one person at a time being allowed 

 to come up to the store tent. Those who landed at the 

 jetty were not permitted to make any stoppage at the 

 island ; no boat was allowed to land passengers at the 

 jetty or conie into the creek after sunset, nor Avas any 

 person suffered to approach the island after that hour 

 without a special permit from the Governor. These 

 precautions were necessary, not only for the protection of 

 the stores, but to secure the safety of the boats, always 

 in danger of seizure by intending runaways. The 

 boats were moored every night by a locked chain, a 

 sentinel was always on guard over them, and one of the 

 earliest woi'ks, after the completion of Government 

 House, was the building of a boat-house for their security. 



Mr. William Collins was supreme in the direction of 

 the v/orks in and about the island, and the Governor was 

 already planning the erection of substantial store-houses 

 there, in which the precious provisions and stores, on 

 which the very existence of his little community depended, 

 might be safely housed beyond the i-each of marauders. 

 This William Collins was a prominent man in the new 

 colony, a position which his training as a master in the 

 navy, his enterprising character, and his capacity and 



