14 



DEPORTATION TO THE DERWENT. 



paradise for small landholders, who would be enriched by the 

 labour of those convicts whom it was desirable to isolate from 

 the main settlement. The settlers would consist of soldiers, 

 sailors, and the better class of expiree prisoners, while forced 

 labour would clear and cultivate their lands and build their 

 houses. New South Wales would benefit by the removal of 

 the worst and the most turbulent, and these would be easily 

 controlled in an isolated dependency by a small military force, 

 and under strict discipline would be transformed into a" means 

 of wealth to the community instead of being a menace to its 

 order. The mistake of the New South Wales settlement had 

 been that it had been formed exclusively of convicts, but in 

 Norfolk Island the true solution of the transportation question 

 would be found. It would be a community of free settlers, to 

 which the convicts would supply labour. It would be not only 

 a self-supporting but a profitable penal colony. 



When Captain King left Norfolk Island for England in the 

 Britannia in 1796, he handed over the command to the 

 principal military officer, Captain Townson, of the New South 

 Wales Corps. Now that the island produced grain and meat 

 enough to feed its inhabitants, its most pressing want was a 

 vessel expressly appropriated to its service, and always ready 

 for communication with Sydney. Vessels were so few at Port 

 Jackson that none could be spared for the exclusive use of 

 Norfolk Island. Captain Townson therefore determined to 

 try what the island could do for itself. The indigenous pine 

 provided timber in plenty, but appliances were few, and the 

 want of a harbour presented almost insuperable obstacles to 

 ship-building. However, after some months' labour, there 

 stood upon the beach before the settlement a little craft of 

 25 tons, built of Norfolk Island pine, completely rigged and 

 equipped for sea. An ingenious man on the island made a 

 quadrant with which to navigate her. She was launched from 

 the shore, and had to go on her voj'age to Sydney without any 

 further preparation. Probably she was strained in launching, 

 for she proved to be very leaky. With the aid of two pumps, 

 however, the little crew managed to keep the water under, and 

 she safely reached Port Jackson (15 June, 1798) with the 

 Commandant's despatches to Governor Hunter. This vessel, 

 the first and the only one built at Norfolk Island, was named 

 the Norfolk, and though little more than a decked longboat, 

 she was destined to do good service and attain a certain 

 celebrity. Captain Townson and the Norfolk Islanders were 

 not allowed to benefit by the vessel which they had built 

 with so much difficulty. When she reached Port Jackson 

 Flinders and Bass were burning with anxiety to solve once for 

 all the vexed problem of Bass Strait and the insularity of 

 Van Diemen's Land. They persuaded Governor Hunter to fit 



