DEPORTATION TO THE DERWENT. 



21. 



Longford. Seven months later two more of the Norfolk 

 Island settlers found their way to the banks of the Tamar. 



With a disabled little warship and a couple of small 

 schooners for his whole available fleet, King had to look for 

 some chance private ship to remove stores and people from 

 Norfolk Island. In September, 1805, the Sydney arrived at 

 Port Jackson from India. As she was bound to the Derwent 

 for oil, King agreed with Captain Forrest to touch at Norfolk 

 Island on the way and take a cargo to Collins' settlement. 

 For this charter he paid the captain .£600. lie had by this 

 time relented of his harshness to Holt, and given him per- 

 mission to leave his place of exile, so that when the Sydney 

 sailed from Norfolk Island on the 1st of November, Holt took 

 a passage in her and paid a visit to the new settlement of 

 which he has left us a lively account in his journal. In the 

 Sydney also there came the first Norfolk Island settler to the 

 Derwent — George Guest — who brought a wife and six children 

 and also 300 ewes, of which only 265 survived the three weeks' 

 passage. Of 200 ewes belonging to Government, shipped at 

 the same time, only 148 were landed. Six head of cattle 

 arrived safely. 



Thus, at the end of 1806, after the exertions of more than 

 two years, only eight settlers with their families had been pre- 

 vailed upon to remove to Van Diemen's Land. The convicts 

 had been nearly all withdrawn, the military guard reduced to 

 25 men, but there were still 700 people on the island, a number 

 nearly equal to the combined population of the two recently 

 founded settlements in Van Diemen's Land, viz., Hobart, 471 ; 

 Port Dalrymple, 301 ; total, 772. Lord Hobart's despatch 

 ordering the deportation of the settlers was dated June, 1803. 

 If it had taken more than three years to move eight settlers, 

 how long would it take to remove 700? The Colonial Office 

 was beginning to grow impatient, especially as news had 

 arrived that there was once more a bad harvest at Norfolk 

 Island. 



Accordingly, in December, 1806, the Secretary of State 

 wrote a peremptory despatch on the subject to Governor Bligh, 

 who had succeeded King as Governor of New South Wales. 

 In this despatch Lord Norfolk recapitulated the reasons which 

 had led Lord Hobart more than three years before to decide 

 on the evacuation of the island. He remarked with dissatis- 

 faction that the measures hitherto taken had had little effect 

 in promoting the object of freeing the Government from 

 the expense of an unproductive settlement ; that it was plain 

 that the crops were less satisfactory each year, while the 

 expenses were ever increasing ; that Port Jackson would soon 

 be self-supporting, while Hobart Town and Port Dalrymple 

 appeared to have everything to recommend them in regard to 



