# Journal of W.S. Hall

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT AT ROEBOURNE
JOURNAL
OF
WM. SHAKESPEARE HALL
August 1863 - December 1865
(W.S. Hall established Andover Station on behalf of Mr. W. Wellard)
Copied from the original (which is in the possession of his Hall grand-daughters) by H. Margaret Wilson.
March 1979
C one use only. ​1863
| 5th | I joined Mr Wellard's party about to proceed to the "De Grey" N.W. Coast |
| 8 | Tein Tsin sailed from Fremantle with party, stock etc. |
| 17 | Arrived at Tien Tsin Harbour. |
| 18-28 | Landing, stores & exploring country. |
| 29 | Came on shore to remain. |
| 30 | Mr Wellard left. (wrote three letters). |
| 31 | Boating timber from lower landing, carrying it up the hill, coopering casks, & securing provisions. |
| Sept | 1 | Carrying timber, putting up building. |
| | 2 & 3 | Same as above. |
| | 4 | Self taken ill with influenza; hands as above. |
| | 5 | Same as above. |
| | 6 | Dixon & Land taken very ill, only Joe able to work (Sunday). |
| | 7 & 8 | About the same. |
| | 9 | Party sufficiently recovered to finish building. |
| | 10 | Removing provisions up the hill to the house, coopering, stowing etc. |
| | 11 | Went with McCourt in small boat across the bay to the W. of Jarman Island (about 7 miles) & up a creek; to find a way to convey provisions to Station as the marsh appeared too boggy, found creek navigable & good landing, returned at 2 p.m. & went with 2 horses to examine marsh & crossings in water courses between head of creek & sheep station, found marsh much too soft for drays on account of late spring tides, but found a good route to station tho. it made the distance very great. |
| | 12 | McC. & I ascended S creek & found good landing at about 200 yards from hills S.w. by S from house; returned at noon & went with horses & found good way for dray. |
| Sept | 13 | Sunday. |
| | 14 | Packing, loading flat; carrying up stores. |
| | 15 | Sent McCourt with 3 hands in flat, loaded with dray & stores, to be landed at head of creek, having previously ordered bullocks to be herded in the vicinity. I was unable to go myself as I was suffering terribly from Ticdolereax & Influenza & had been from the 4th. |
| | 16 | Carting stores to station (after much trouble in carrying them over 200 yds of bog) fixing tent, making yard etc, for dipping sheep. |
| | 17 | Dipping sheep. McC. bought wool down in flat. |
| | 18 | Went up to party - hands at work with 2 of McC's dipping. |
| | 19 | Finished dippings. Went with McC. & Green & found place to move sheep to, & crossing place for dray on river to 49. |
| | 20 | Sunday. |
| | 21 | Removed sheep & dray load stores 1 mile above "Dig down" camp, sent 3 hands & dray to get wood & help McC. dip sheep. |
| | 22 | Dipping sheep. |
| | 23 | do. do. |
| | 24 | Finished dipping. |
| | 25 | Moved McCourt's party to "Dig down" camp & men to ours. |
| | 26 | Cleaning round camp, Cattle hunting etc. |
| | 27 | Sunday. |
| | 28 | Sent for 3 men to come to house, 1 to take Lang up who was now very ill, & 2 to help me pack goods & load flat. Took s[t]ock. |
| | 29 | Packing goods & loading flat. |
| | 30 | Landed stores at head of creek, hard work to get them thro, the mud & water to the dray, loaded & went to McCourts camp. |
| Oct. | 1 | Dixon came down to creek with dray, we loaded stores left the day before & McC. & I came down with boats to bay. |
| | 2 | Got in bullock & horses to start to 49 but as all McC's sheep had got out in the night & gone astray, & some of our hands were after them, it was too late. |
| | 3 | Started at 9 am with dray, sheep having gone in advance, made 49 at 3.30 p.m, sheep came in after much trouble at 9 pm. |
| | 4 | Sunday. |
| | 5 | Dixon & Bunjil to "Dig-down" for remaining load of stores McCourt & self to house for a few things for De Grey trip. |
| | 6 | McC. & self hunted up all the cattle. Dixon & Joe making temporary sheep yard. |
| Oct. | 7 | McC. & self hunting horses, brought them to station, Minnie with foal about 3 days old, men as above. |
| | 8 | Men as above self preparing for De Grey. |
| | 9 | Men finished a yard, self writing with which I am rather in arrears as I was ill from the 4th.. to the 30th.. & still weak. |
| | 10 | McCourt & self preparing for De Grey trip. Dixon & Joe putting up shade for men & stores which cannot be put in tent. Banjil out after Stallion (in hobbles) not seen for a day or two tho, sought. |
| | 11 | (Sunday) Dixon looking after bullocks, self after horses, found 5. Stallion not amongst them; came in with Bob: when Banjil arrived with news & letters from the "Mystery", she arrived on the 10th.. with stores; started at 3 p.m. with McC. for Bay, goods landed, too late & Cutter too distant to board at night. |
| | 12 | Went on board at 7 a.m, to make inquiries of intended movements etc, waited at house for Mr. Taylor (till 2 p.m.) who could not get a horse the day before; to consult him about run as directed per letter of instructions. |
| Oct | 13 | Shoeing horses started at 3.30 to inspect run, with Mr Taylor & McC.; camped on plain 3ms. S.E. of conical hill now named "Halls Hill". |
| | 14 | About E.S.E. to Kangaroo (fine pool of Gregory) 10ms, then E.N.E. 6ms to George, [River] & thence 7ms, to Sherlock, [River] followed its downward course about 2ms surprised a party of natives at a shallow water hole, & camped on plain at junction of George & Sherlock. |
| | 15 | We crossed the Sherlock at its junction with the "George", but little water & that very salt, then made about N.E. course 5ms. to E. branch of Sherlock travelled up it a few miles but finding it very dry to to where N & S line wd. pass near it, we returned to W. branch & on to main branch of George, followed it up S. about 8ms. came on running water & many Natives not far from Black Hill, from which a W. course brought us after dark to the head water in "Taylors Creek", upper part of "Kangaroo" (a "fine pool") & we camped at 8 p.m. on 1 of 3 fine pools not seen before, which took their rise at the foot of Mt Wellard (Wellard Range) a high & abrupt table topped hill to the N. of King's "Pyramid". |
| | 16 | On to "Kangaroo" (after having spent much of the morning examining grounds for homestead) thence after a rest of 3 hrs home. We found no suitable place for a head station; & no permanent water, except in the S. George & perhaps "Taylor's Creek", the water in S. George wd not be on the run & is rough, thick, with poor feed & the high ground up Taylor's C. above "Kangaroo" Pool does not lay well for feed at flood times & should it not prove permanent all the stock wd have to come to the "Harding" for water. |
| | 17 | Examined map with Mr Taylor & McC. & went over our route, & all concluded that 49 was the best place for a homestead. |
| | 18 | (Sunday) returned home, as far as McC's. |
| | 19 | Cattle hunting with McC.found all but one small red heifer & returned home. |
| Oct | 20 | Dixon & Joe making additional shade for all the stores, from the house; Banjil ill, self taking lines of this end of run's writing. |
| | 21 | Dixon after cart mares. Joe making temporary stock yard, Banjil ill, & sent down to Bay to change places with Billy. |
| | 22 | As above. |
| | 23 | McCourt & I came from Stations at 5 p.m. coopered casks & loaded flat by 11.30 |
| | 24 | Started at 5 a.m. up creek, unloaded, & got stores across marsh, loaded drays & returned in small boat with much labour as the water was so low we had to drag her over any sandbanks for nearly a mile, the flat we were compelled to leave as she was aground, & all our water drank, & only Lewington in charge of the house til 5 p.m. |
| | 25 | Sunday. |
| | 26 | brought flat across & loaded her. |
| | 27 | up with load, much trouble to cross marsh as it was wet & boggy: it took 1 hour for 3 hands to roll 2 tierces 200 yds: we got the flat aground in a small branch where we left her, & returned in small boat to house: as it was spring tide, & our only chance of getting her for perhaps some time returned (started) at 10.30 p.m. to bring her down; it took us just 1 hour to get up. |
| | 28 | We returned with flat at 1.18 a.m |
| | 29 | Packed remaining lot of stores & loaded flat. |
| | 30 | Went up with load of stores, carried them over marsh, as after waiting some time the teams did not arrive, left Banjil in charge, & returned in small boat. |
| Oct cont. | 31 | Went up in small boat, found teams there, & drays loaded. Dixon was a day after time as about 30 Natives paid the camp at 49. a visit. Joe's eyes were so bad that Billy had to drive one team. Brought flat down within 1m. of house, & left her as breeze was too strong. |
| Nov | 1 | Sunday |
| | 2 | Bullocks resting on account of sore feet. |
| | 3 | Taking down building, loading flat. |
| | 4 | Went up river, unloaded, carried timber & returned. Sent Ban[jil] up to Station as most of the stores are now gone. |
| | 5 | Wind prevented us taking Padbury's wool to Jarman Island, remained at home writing. |
| | 6 | McC. & Lewington made an early start with wool, self at home. |
| | 7 | Pulled down remainder of building, loaded flat, with it & the last of the stores & got it up the river. Banjil's & Billy's time up. |
| | 8 | (Sunday) went with McC. in small boat to fetch up empty casks etc. from house. |
| | 9 | Returned to head of marsh where Lewington had remained in charge of stores, heard from him that Dixon was very ill at McC's, with the bullocks knocked up & foot sore, walked up to McC's & rode out to Station. |
| | 10 | Joe & Billy down with horse team to cart house and stores up from marsh to McC's as it will save 1 hand remaining to mind it. |
| | 11 | Laing & self at home. Joe & Lewington with team. Firefly found with a foal on 4th. |
| | 12 | Laing & self at home, making pigsty, adding to shade etc. |
| | 13 | Men as before, self making troughs, putting saws in order & other tools. |
| | 14 | Joe & Lewington returned with horse team, having carted all the timber to McC's & brought up remainder of stores. Nairn & 3 hands arrived at noon, 4½ days from the De Grey. L. shot 2 turkeys. |
| Nov | 15 | (Sunday) Went down to see Mr. Nairn. |
| | 16 | Rode down to Bay & shipped Dixon & two Natives per "Mystery" with provisions (13lbs of flour & 21 pieces of pork supposed to weigh 4 lbs each) sent 4 letters to Mr Wellard with copy of Journal* & 5 other letters. (*up to this date.) |
| | 17 | Went home with Nairn & rode out with him & found station for his sheep; sent Joe down with team to cart Nairn's stores up, having previously sent McCourt & Jack to fetch them up to head of Marsh, with remainder of our own things. Laing refused to cook as he said had taken an oath against it. |
| | 18 | Out with Nairn horse hunting on river (could not find them & cattle hunting - down at Digdown men as above. Laing at work at home. Bullocks better. |
| | 19 | Came home, horse hunting on the way, could not find them (sawed piers for house with Laing) found excellent place to put horses, & cattle where they would be likely to remain. |
| | 20 | Working on foundations of house with Laing Joe making shaft to cart. |
| | 21 | Working at house, & horse hunting. |
| | 22 | (Sunday) Found Jinnette & foal with horses. (with Lewington) & went down to Nairn's two natives seen driving 2 heifers with calves. |
| | 23 | Collected all the cattle with Nairn, divided them, & took 14 head of station cattle to river pass, where there is plenty of green feed for calves returned home at 9 p.m. Nairn had preceeded[sic] me. |
| | 24 | Started with Nairn for the Sherlock River Turned out Negus he had cast a shoe, & caught Dolly by the way; camped at 50; water rather low. |
| | 25 | Came up with Nairn's advance party, at noon, on the Sherlock, took fresh horses & went 5 or 7 miles up our side of the river & down the other Saw an abundance of excellent feed, |
| Nov cont. | 25 | with (I think) plenty of permanent water, but no suitable place for a homestead, as the plains are subject to very heavy inundation, probably 3, or 4, ft deep or more in places. |
| | 26 | Started home, as the mare was so near foaling that I expected an addition to the stock by the way slept on plain near white hill, where the mare left me during the night. |
| | 27 | Tracked mare to water, after having hid my saddle and traps; found the horses, but neither Ney or mare amongst them, came home at 3 p.m. Joe and Lewington away with team. |
| | 28 | Laing & self at work on building; Joe & Lewington home with team; & L, tells that he and McCourt found a heifer without her calf, also that they saw two natives who ran away & many tracks of Natives in the vicinity of the cattle which makes us apprehend they may have disturbed them. |
| | 29 | (Sunday) Went out for the saddle I had left, found Dolly, Ney & went in search of cattle & found some of them, & followed on tracks of more down to McC's. camp. |
| | 30 | Hunting cattle, found our lot in river pass, & another lower down, 25 head in all, with 11 calves, took them to McC's camp |
| Dec | 1 | Mounted Lewington & put him in charge of cattle, started with bullock team, & load of timber, Joe do & came home. |
| | 2 | I went down with bullock team, & Joe with horse team Laing filling in floors of building. Lewington with cattle. |
| | 3 | I came home with load & returned to Dig-down on horse, Joe to McCourt's new camp & back to same, as there were many Natives at old camp, where L. was with all the cattle. |
| | 4 | Collected all the cattle & brought them up with the exception of 1 heifer, which ran away to her calf, & old Lively left in river pass on account of sore feet. |
| | 5 | Found all the hourse; met Joe at McC's with last load of lumber. |
| Dec | 6 | (Sunday) Joe having seen the heifer yesterday at Dixon's ford, I started in search of her, from McC's but after a long day's ride was compelled to return without finding her, as the horses feet were rather sore, being without shoes. |
| | 7 | Self & two men putting up frame of building. Green told me of the loss of a sheep found dead up the river. |
| | 8 | Working on building with Joe. Green ill & Laing with his sheep, for the last two days. Lewington started yesterday afternoon & brought up heifer with calf, & Lively. |
| | 9 | At building. Laing with sheep whilst we were at dinner a whirlwind passed thro. the building & put much of our work out of place, with however, no further damage than the loss of time to put the frame in place again. |
| | 10 | At building. Laing also. Green better, with sheep. |
| | 11 | The same. |
| | 12 | The same. |
| | 13 | (Sunday) |
| | 14 | Working at house. |
| | 15 | Hanging doors etc & putting in clay floors. |
| | 16 | The same, & putting up fixtures. Laing with Ewes & lambs. Lewington after horses. Joe carting earth & water. Abraham shot 3 Emus within the last few days, of which they sent us two. |
| | 17 | Carting stores to house with Joe coopering casks, driving in all the Horses. |
| | 18 | Hunting horses, stowing stores, fitting up house. |
| | 19 | The same. & making furniture. |
| | 20 | (Sunday) unpacking & stowing stores. |
| | 21 | Making mauls. Joe with L. after horses. |
| | 22 | Splitting for fold. |
| | 23 | Boring, trimming. |
| | 24 | Carting & putting up. Killed a sheep. 43lbs. |
| Dec | 25 | Christmas day, excellent dinner. |
| | 26 | Working at fold, quarrying, & Schum brought us a fine emu. |
| | 27 | (Sunday) |
| | 28 | Splitting timber for hurdles a.m. p.m too much rain to work, the first fall we have had since we came into the country, stock, particularly lambs much in want of it. Lewington shot an emu. |
| | 29 | Making hurdles. |
| Decbr | 30 | The same. |
| | 31 | Finished hurdles; & quarrying stone in fold, making gun covers & carpentering. |
1864
| Jany | 1 | Clearing stone out of fold Joe working at fold. |
| | 2 | Lewington & self horse hunting found them. |
| | 3 | (Sunday) |
| | 4 | Went with Green to find station for sheep, shifting flour & preparing casks for water. Joe building stone wall for fold. |
| | 5 | Took Green to inspect Nairn's sheep, as they appear to be quite clean I think it advisable to unite the parties as the advantage to our party will be considerable. Joe with sheep - Lewington shot two Turkeys. |
| | 6 | Marking sheep & Carting water & traps to Greens sheep station. Joe building stone wall. |
| | 7 | Repairing dray. Counting & marking sheep, do Nairn's sheep previous to mixing the two flocks. |
| | 8 | Working at dray; & carting Nairn's stores from "Mount Lazyness". |
| | 9 | Cutting bushes for fold with Schum, & clearing about house, drains etc. Rain p.m. |
| | 10 | (Sunday) heavy rain, at 4.30 p.m. Green obliged to bring sheep in. |
| Jany | 11 | Securing tents on roof of house as it was very leaky; P.m. went with McCourt horse hunting as the plains are getting very boggy (brought in all but Saucy & Fan). |
| | 12 | Slept on the horse run last night as we could not find them last evening anywhere, brought in all but Saucy & Fan & took them about 4ms. down the range, heavy rain night & a little today. Joe & Schum at wall. |
| | 13 | Horse hunting with McCourt, found Minnie who had gone off in hobbles, could not find Saucy or Fan. |
| | 14 | McC. found mares, self, Joe & Schum working at stone wall. Abraham with Green. Laing with Ewes & lambs; Jack cooking. Lewington with cattle & shot a find Emu yesterday, & a Kangaroo the day before. |
| | 15 | Quarrying stone with McC.; hands as above. This day makes a week of rainy weather, sometime heavy rain, with light showers & continuous cloudy, cool delightful weather. |
| | 16 | The same. Lewington after Fan & Saucy could not find them shot a fine turkey. |
| | 17 | (Sunday) Went to the top of Mt. Jasper with McC, who shot a Turkey. |
| | 18 | Working at Stone wall, fetching wood & water. Hands as above. A shooting match came off today. Abram[sic] shot an Emu. |
| | 19 | Hands as before, self ill, Lewington after horses, could not find them. |
| | 20 | Hands the same. McCourt with Ewes & lambs, Lewington sent after horses. Laing & self ill Lewtn.[Lewington] & Abram[sic] shot 2 Emus. |
| | 21 | Mc. went after the horses in the hills, & found the river running strong, he returned with one at 10 a.m. to go in search of those down the river, which Lewington had neglected to do (by persuasion) as I ordered yesterday, he also has his cattle at the far side the plains & cannot bring them home as the plains are too boggy I have ordered him to put them on this side of the plain every night; as the weather has been evidently breaking for some time & the country might be flooded at night. I have had the cattle & horses |
| Jany cont. | 21 | well looked after for many weeks that they should not be cut off from the homestead; but a fool advised by a rogue has upset my plans (& should the rain continue) put all the stock in jeopardy. McC. found the horses & Saucy with a foal but left them as the river was too high. Hands as above, & securing wood & odd things from Flood, self the same but not well enough to do heavy work. P. & D.[sic] |
| | 22 | Started McC. early after horses. Went to work. Compelled give up. We brought in all the stray horses & as the river has been falling rapidly since yesterday brought them home & put them 5ms. down home range. Cattle all mustered at home. After a good shower, fine, cool, cloudy weather, of which we have had much of late. Most of the men attacked with dystentry lately, gave doses of Laudinum & put them right; hands as usual. |
| | 23 | I had a great row with Green, not a man but a thing that has always annoyed me, he threw the sheep on to my hands & said he wd, have nothing more to do with them. I told him I would take them & he had nothing more to do with them or the party, but could board with them (the men) as usual. Schum could not work at wall as his foot was bad. McC. keeping horses from going off home run, self not fit for work, but spent some time in learning how far Green might have spread his venom thro. the camp. Much to my satisfaction found they were not such fools to be led or mis-led by him |
| | 24 | (Sunday) McCourt after horses. |
| | 25 | McC. after horses. Schum making table, Joe at wall. Self no better. |
| | 26 | McC., Joe, self & L[ewington] at wall. Schum & Jack ill. |
| | 27 | Mc. & self in search of horses, & a fresh place to put them, as the last has become too boggy, found both. Hands as previous. |
| | 28 | Schum, & Jack, better & at work & others as before. |
| | 29 | At work at wall, etc. |
| | 30 | McCourt after horses, tracked them off the |
| Jany cont. | 30 | run, and saw tracks of Natives crossing theirs to & fro, as tho. driving them, followed them till late, but could not come on them. Joe & Schum at wall, self painting dingy. |
| | 31 | (Sunday) Started as soon as we could get horses, with Schum & McC. after the mission ones; found them far off at 3 p.m. (Natives had not molested them), brought them near home. McC. shot a turkey. Abram do yesterday. |
| Feby | 1 | Joe laid up with sore eyes. McC. Schum at wall, self at dingy. |
| | 2 | Joe & Schum at wall. McC. after horses, could not find them. Self at boat, & ill. Red heifer with calf broke her leg in bog. |
| | 3 | Making splints & attending to heifer, & odd work. Hands the same. McC. after saddle horses, not found. Weather so hot men cannot work after 10 a.m. |
| | 4 | The Bull Durham missing for some days; McC. & L. after him, found with a broken leg, not like to recover or fit for meat, sent him home & told Joe to get him slung, & do what he could for him. Started after horses as McC. could not find them. Schum & Joe clearing stone out of yard. |
| | 5 | Slept on horse run, searched all day, could not find horses as their tracks led us many miles from home, & then within 3ms. of house. Stallion came home. Hands as before & endeavoured to sling bull but did not succeed. |
| | 6 | McC. brought in horses, men making slings; slinging bull, quarrying stone in fold. |
| | 7 | (Sunday) |
| | 8 | McC. & self cutting posts for stockyards. Joe & Schum clearing stone in fold. |
| | 9 | McC. & self the same; Joe & Schum boring posts, Lewington after horses. Self cutting lambs. |
| | 10 | All at work at posts. Lewington after (Dolly) & Saucy & Fan; brought in an Emu. |
| Feby. | 11 | S. & J. at posts; laying out yards, & fetching wood & water. McC. brought in the two mares. |
| | 12 | Men as above; McC. & self felling rails. |
| | 13 | The same. |
| | 14 | (Sunday) |
| | 15 | Men finishing posts. McC. ill, self carting timber for yard. |
| | 16 | McC. very ill, self after horses, as L. said they had all left upper run. Joe clearing stone off of cart road. Schum making tool handles. |
| | 17 | McC. went up the river & found all the horses (L. having been mistaken in the tracks) & Fan with a fine horse foal about 5 days old. Joe ill. Schum & self working about place, & carting timber for stockyard. Laing & Green had a row & Laing punched his head, which he (Green) very much required. |
| | 18 | Schum & self carting timber. Joe clearing roads. McC. better, but weak. All the horses seen. |
| | 19 | Jinnette left the run. McC. after her. Schum doing odd work (with bad legs). Joe at roads, self timming rails. |
| | 20 | Went with McC. down to Port, found the flat all right. Deposited letter in bottle at "Dig Rock". |
| | 21 | (Sunday) Burned the spinifex near former site of house, & more on plains; found Jinnette & returned. |
| | 22 | Cutting rails & searching all over the country for more but could not find any. Joe & Schum digging post holes (ground very hard) Killed a sheep 47lbs. |
| | 23 | Carting rails & trimming them; men as above. |
| | 24 | Carting rails. Lewington came to me & told me a native (named Mullandee) had made a most murderous attack on him with a stone axe; on the bank of the river while minding his cattle & fishing. I came home with the |
| Feby. cont. | 24 | team, sent McC. for the horses; in the interim prepared traps etc. & started in pursuit going ? by the place of attack to see the track, & recover the gun which L. said he had taken with him, we found the gun in the river, also the axe, mustered the cattle & went on, found first tracks 9ms, down the river & went on to "Jones creek" where we arrived at 9 p.m. & found a track of a single native; (very tired) which we took to be Mullandee's, had tea & were about to turn in, when fire blazed up, but we would not disturb him or them till day broke as we might shoot the wrong man in the dark; at 4 a.m. got close to fire without being observed, & waited for day to break, when sufficiently light, called out his name & told him to stop, having him under the muzzle of our guns at 10 yds but to our great disappoint[ment] a stranger got up & a woman by his side; the man of course was much surprised, & terrified while the woman being in a perfect state of nudity, quickly arranged the very spare toilet with which Dame Nature had provided, & went off. |
| | 25 | Had breakfast & seeing signal fires Eastward started for the Sherlock River with idea of Mullandee or if disappointed in that, finding & catching Burges's black mare Lucy, left by Gregory; crossed the two branches of George when on going to look for water, which we found, struck a fresh horse track followed it for a few miles & saw the mare when near her, she came to the horses & went off at a gallop & we after her, taking the precaution to run her towards home. I soon found old Ney could run 2miles to her one, so we had only to let her go till she was a little tired when I ran Ney up beside her & a head & away she came at a gallop after him, when I thought she had had her run out I pulled up & grabbed her by the forelock & McC. came up & put his bridle on her, & mounted (leaving his horse to follow & the old mare came away from her solitude with as much pleasure as we did with her, she intends to write a sequel to the adventures of Robinson Crusoe. Men as before. At 5 p.m. struck a fresh horse trail which we knew to be Nairn's. |
| Feby. | 26 | Returned Mr. Nairn had arrived a few hours before us with Mr. Heard & Dougal, 4 days from the "De Grey" |
| | 27 | Men at yard. McC. after horses, self writing & settling accounts etc. |
| | 28 | (Sunday) |
| | 29 | Drawing off sheep & lambs. McC. after horses; found Lucy had left run. Green having found out his error & acknowledged it; returned him his flock, he Green agreeing to pay Robt. Laing 3 as compensation for that which Laing was to have had his pay raised to; (order to be drawn on Mr J. Wellard for 3) Engaged John McCourt at 3 per month until Mr W arrives or an opportunity offers his going to the Swan, as since the attack on Lewington I may require the assistance of an experienced bushman; men cutting rails. |
| March | 1 | Nairn made a start but his horses ran away with the packs so he returned & repaired them McC. after horses, self after bull & heifer. Men the same. |
| | 2 | Nairn's party left. McC. & I accompanied them in search of Mare, & Mullandee. Men the same. |
| | 3 | Found the mare Lucy on the George, & returned to Nairn's camp on little arm 3ms, beyond Jones Creek. Men quarrying stone at home. |
| | 4 | Lucy off again in hobbles, tracked her about 10ms & overtook her on western Sherlock, & came home, Men the same. |
| | 5 | Men cutting rails. McC. after horses. Green heard two heavy explosions at 11 a.m. like ships guns, at 6 p.m. started with McC. for Bay & slept at Dig-down near native camp. |
| | 6 | (Sunday) fell in with Mulligunn ? & a few others, who offered to take us to Native camp where Mullandee was, he took us to a camp with over 50 in it, but as the river was wide & boggy we cld. not get to him, went on to hill at head of Marsh where we had a fine view of the Bay but no ship, so we returned. 3 Natives at house, 5 at pool, the former followed Lewington with spears and concealed themselves in the scrub while he was collecting his cattle. I must keep a sharp lookout for the stock as I think these fellows intend mischief. |
| March | 7 | Two men & self at yard. McC. looked up horses & supposed Natives were following him. |
| | 8 | Laing & self trimming rails. McC. & Joe carting them in. |
| | 9 | The same. Lewington found heifer doing well. |
| | 10 | McC. looked up all the horses p.m. he & Joe cut the remainder of the timber wanted for yard. Laing & self working at same. |
| | 11 | All working at same. |
| | 12 | Working at yard, quarrying stone & McC. & I started to Bay at 4 p.m. |
| | 13 | (Sunday) Started from "Dig-down", went to Bay, Mystery not having arrived, de-posited a 2nd letter at "Dig Rock" & returned home looking up horses by the way, did not find them. |
| | 14 | Three hands & self putting up stockyard. A false report of Mr. Wellard's arrival; great sensation. |
| | 15 | Two hands & self at Yard. McC. looked up all the horses, except Ney. |
| | 16 | Three hands & self at stockyard. Heifer nearly recovered; bull much improved. |
| | 17 | The same |
| | 18 | As above; & clearing yard of stone, & watering round posts. |
| | 19 | Two hands finishing yard, Joe at stone wall, McC. looked up horses. Green brought in a Kangaroo. |
| | 20 | (Sunday) Dark red cow calved. |
| | 21 | Got things in order, & started at dark for Dig-down; to repair Flat. |
| | 22 | Went down to Marsh, & took flat down to within about 1 m. of house site, where she grounded. |
| March | 23 | Flat sunk during night, tide Kept her down, so we could do nothing till it fell, got her down during night. |
| | 24.25 | Working at flat, found her too much for two hands. |
| | 26 | Started up with flat loaded with timber which I bought of Nairn, unloaded at landing & walked to Dig-down; found bullocks had left but Lewington brought them during the evening. |
| | 27 | (Sunday) went to marsh with bullocks for dray, & tools etc. & returned to Dig-down. |
| | 28 | Came home quite tired of our trip, as we were almost devoured by flies during the day, & Musquitoes[sic] kept us awake most of the night & I had a very sore foot from a cut with shell. We gave the flat a good coat of pitch, caulked her in places & put two patches in her bottom. Joe & Laing commenced an oven the day I left, & were employed at it & quarrying during my absence. |
| | 29 | Joe & Laing working at wall. McC. brought up all the horses, self cleaning guns & attending to horses. Lucy took horse. |
| | 30 | Two men cutting hay. McC. & self riding Pilot, Jinette as they had been out of hand for months & were getting wild. Lewington shot 2 fine Turkeys. |
| | 31 | Two hands cutting hay, self carting. McC. with horses. |
| April | 1 | As above. |
| | 2 | McC. & Laing fetched last of hay. Joe at wall; self ill. |
| | 3 | (Sunday) |
| | 4 | Laing & self with team to Marsh for Timber. McC. with horses. Joe at work on wall. |
| | 5 | From "Dig-down" to Marsh, moved timber above flood line & returned to "Digdown", hands the same. |
| | 6 | Returned with team the same as above, p.m. Laing at work with Joe, & self clearing way to yard etc. |
| April | 7 | Laing & Joe at work at wall. McC. with horses. |
| | 8 | The same, self after horses. |
| | 9 | Men the same. McC. & self cutting posts for shed, carting them, & wood, & water. |
| | 10 | (Sunday) went up river after Stallion as he had broken away the previous night, brought him in with others, & found bull (with broken leg) doing well. |
| | 11 | Two men at work at wall. McC. & self working at shed. |
| | 12 | Two hands at wall; a large piece of which fell in the night. McC. after horses, self at shed. |
| | 13 | Two as above; McC. & self after horses & bullocks & fetching wood & water. Turned all the horses out & shod the stallion. |
| | 14 | Two men as above, self in search of Ram which Green had been compelled to leave the night before, too ill to walk, found him late & carried him home a long way, & did what I could for him. Mc. with L. brought a load of hay in from horse run. |
| | 15 | Joe & Laing as previous, McC. after Bobby, self quarrying & with McC. in afternoon at same. Withnall arrived at Station at about 7 p.m. heard 1 gun from "Sea Ripple" at 8 p.m. previous night & wd. have gone down had there been a second. |
| | 16 | Went down with two horses & Withnall to render what assistance I could as the poor fellow was much in need of some after his heavy losses. Told McC. & Green to start down with bullock dray & dingy at two p.m. Met flock of sheep south of marsh, emn & sheep scarcely able to move for want of water, left one horse with them & told one of them to ride with their bucket 6 miles to "Dig-down" & fetch water for others, which wd. not take him more than three hours; after some delay got on board "Sea Ripple" about 5ms, out from site of house saw Cringle, bought 6lbs Tobacco dined, borrowed some books, & got on shore after |
| April cont. | 16 | sundown, told W. to remain & see the ship cleared of his goods; as the Capt. talked of starting early in the morning & his wife & family landed. I returned to sheep and found them near "Dig-down", men already there, in better spirits, & only 3 sheep left by the way. McC. & Green arrived with dray at the same time as I did. |
| | 17 | (Sunday) Went down to Inlet with Green to look after 7 sheep left there & w[r]ite & send letter to Mr. Wellard, found 5 dead in a heap, 1 dying & 1 strong. Two boats came on shore, one with Mrs W. & children, without breakfast, or a drop of water, & it blazing hot, & poor little children crying for some, I told Mrs W. the bullock dray was at the head of the marsh with 8 gallons of water waiting for her & the lost sheep, about 2 ms. off, had a row with two of the sailors, one because he asked for water & said the women cld. do as well without as he, wrote a hasty letter, got traps together put Mrs W.'s sister on our horse, with one child, carried the other & gave Mrs W. my horse with bundles on to lead, so off we went, the men following with such little things as the[y] cld. carry. I may here remark that the crew of the Sea Ripple which I saw were the greatest blackguards one can have any idea of & Looked more like the rakings of "hell" than decent sailors, I got the horses up to feed as soon as possible, & the dray came in about 2 hrs after, the whole party in much better spirits at being once more on terra firma, with planty of water. |
| | 18 | Went down to landing on marsh with 4 hands, team & boat, with some difficulty raised flat, & returned with Hancock, with dray load of our timber, leaving McC. with W. & two men to work boats, I then moved the party & traps 1m. above "Digdown" to the nearest fresh water, as it was brackish there. |
| | 19 | Went down with Hancock & team to marsh, moved three loads above high water, brought up the last of the loads with 1 sheep, fowls & ducks, & provisions for party, & traps & utensils for women Started home about sundown which made rather a long day, as I had to ride about 14ms. after the bullocks in the morning. |
| April | 20 | Joe & Laing had been at work at stone wall during my absence & also to-day I sent Lewington down with two horses for McC. & W. to come up when they could, he, L. to remain & work the boats till all the provisions were out of danger. All the horses mustered from the lower run. |
| | 21 | Joe & Laing at work at pigsty, self after Bobby in the morning, hunting cattle & horses in the afternoon; saw most of them McC. returned home. |
| | 22 | Men the same, (self after horse on upper run in forenoon) & with McC. who was after horses on lower run, saw all the cattle & brought 10 cows with calves home. Withnell & Hancock came here with provisions to go in search of his horses. A large piece of stone wall fell down at night during the rain. |
| | 23 | Withnall[sic]. Hancock & McC. started with Stallion, Bobby, & Ney after horses left by "Sea Ripple" at Port "Hedland". Men as previous & self attending to their wants, & went down to "Digdown" with horse to assist Mrs W. & family up to Station, as the weather has the appearance of much rain & they have no tent |
| | 24 | (Sunday) Went down to marsh with Saucy & W's. Stallion for dray, brought up such things as wd. be required by Mrs W. with much difficulty, as the horses were too weak. |
| | 25 | Came home with women & traps just in time to avoid a complete deluge of rain which wd. have drenched them. Much of Joe's stone wall fell during the night. Sow farrowed on 24th. |
| | 26 | Too much rain for working or stock hunting. |
| | 27 | Two hands at stone work, self hunting up stock, but could not cross the river as it had risen about 10ft. Heavy shower. |
| | 28 | Started with Laing & Joe to assist me in extricating any cattle which might be bogged as the plains had become very soft, that one could scarcely walk thro. them the day previous after crossing much water up to ones middle & neck found the river still impassable. Sent the men home & started for "Digdown" with the intention of looking to me own affairs; & the state of Withnell's party, & hunting cattle en route up the other side [of] river. |
| April | 29 | Crossed river early, when I found a good breakfast very acceptible [sic] as had started quite unprepared for being out for the night, finding party, bullocks, boats etc all right, came up & camped on the horse run, found it rather too cold at night in only shirt & trousers. |
| | 30 | After a good tramp round found all the horses; & cattle in two lots, put them together & returned home. It was well I was on foot as the country was too soft for a horse, tho, it dries quickly. |
| May | 1 | (Sunday) |
| | 2 | Out on foot looking up cattle, did not find them, but found the horses. |
| | 3 | Out with Bullock Jack after his horses & ours, found ours, but not his. Jack brought ours in. Men as before repairing those portions of wall which had fallen down. Seven days after the fall of rain the whole of the run was quite green. |
| | 4 | Out after cattle, found them all looking very well since the rain & in very fine grass. Jack could not find his stallion; Lewington came home from Withnells with timber & reported that the flat had got adrift. |
| | 5 | Went with Laing in search of flat, taking team with us to bring up dingy to W's. & 2 bags of flour home. |
| | 6 | Searching creek in all directions down to Inlet without success. Shot a native dog. |
| | 7 | Returned to marsh, searching all the way, did not find her, so returned to Digdown & sent Laing home. |
| | 8 | (Sunday) Went to marsh to fetch up things we had with us & search for boat, found her & returned with traps. |
| | 9 | Compelled to wait at Digdown for team as Sherlock had taken it up with flour without my consent. |
| | 10 | Brought up small boat & left her in river at camp. Bullocks feet very tender. |
| | 11 | Found bullocks late, & returned home. During my absence Joe, & since his return, Laing with him were mostly employed at the wall, |
| May cont. | 11 | making a Garden, & other work. |
| | 12 | Men the same, self found bull & went to look at land & west part of run. Lewington brought in a fine Kangaroo & a Turkey previously. |
| | 13 | Men the same, self carting manure etc. Withnell's party returned after an unsuccessful search for horses. L. brought in a Kangaroo. |
| | 14 | Men the same, self & McC. at odd jobs. |
| | 15 | (Sunday) |
| | 16 | Men as above; McC. working at shed. self making nose boards & with McC., L. brought in a Kangaroo. |
| | 17 | Men the same, self carting. L. saw the horses lower run. |
| | 18 | Joe & Laing finished the garden. McC. & self putting nose-boards in calves & cutting them & looking out site for field. L. brought in a small Kangaroo. |
| | 19 | Two men at work at stone wall, one & self repairing bullock dray & other things, & cutting handles for tools. |
| | 20 | Two men the same, one & self making tubs & tool handles. |
| | 21 | Two men the same & filling up hollow in sheep pen. McC. working bullocks, self writing. |
| | 22 | (Sunday) |
| | 23 | Two men sinking a well. McC. brought in horses from upper run & also from the lower. Mrs Withnell & sister left. |
| | 24 | Two men as above. McC. started to Withnell's for plough, seed wheat & seeds, self making up Nairn's things & getting wood for harrow. |
| | 25 | Good water in well but not enough of it. All as above. |
| | 26 | Men tried for water in another place, not as good worked at old well, self repairing churn etc. |
| May | 27 | 2 men cutting timber for shed; McC. returned with team. L. saw the horses, & shot a fine Turkey. I lost most of the day making butter. |
| | 28 | 2 Men quarrying stone for floor to shear on, 1 out, after horse. I went some miles out with Nairn; feed very good & abundant. L. went down to "Dig-dn". |
| | 29 | (Sunday) L. returned from "Dig-down". |
| | 30 | Men cutting battens for shed. 1 & self working at home clearing out house, looking to provisions & other things, re-salting beef, making butter. |
| | 31 | 2 men as above. McCourt & self ploughing. Lewington brought in all horses. Sheep counted; 354 or 5 which is right with 3 dead and 9 killed. |
| June | 1 | 1 Man digging trenches to fold, 2 ploughing 1 clearing bushes out of the wall. |
| | 2 | As above. |
| | 3 | Men as above. Self making harrow. Ln. shot a Turkey. |
| | 4 | McCourt & Joe carting timber for shed. Laing making drains to fold, self finishing harrow, making noseboards. First ewe lambs. |
| | 5 | (Sunday) |
| | 6 | Two men ploughing, I at drains, self cutting steps & blocks & working about place. |
| | 7 | Men as above, self seeking lost sheep; (not those of the house of Israel) but 2 with lambs. Lewington came home much hurt from a severe fall with his horse. |
| | 8 | 1 Man & self ploughing. McCourt after horses & with cattle. Lewington ill. Laing at drains. Mollingunn with lambs. |
| June | 9 | Two men at plough. McC. & Lewtn. the same self looking after lost sheep, butter, & mare; measuring land. |
| | 10 | Two men harrowing, self sowing, McC., mending saddle. Lewtn. Shot 2 fine turkeys at a shot. |
| | 11 | Two as above, 1 man, & self, working at home, attending to mare, (Lewtn; hurt in fall) butter, logs, stool etc. etc. |
| | 12 | (Sunday) 10hrs. steady rain. Lewtn. left cattle out on return from Withnell's. |
| | 13 | Told Lewington to let McC. go after the cattle as he wd. be more likely to find them & sent him after the bullocks, he said before he did anything more he must have a fresh agreement. 2 per month or leave, told him to go, as he was not worth it. & that I should not trouble myself any more about him & he wd be the last I shld send home. McC. found cattle early, Laing & self carting material for steps. Joe building them. I also finished hewing steps. Horses often seen & in of late. Much rain. |
| | 14 | I went to "Dig-down" on business for stores etc, with team. 2 men at steps & clearing away stone. McC. with cattle, fetching bullocks etc., returned plough. |
| | 15 | Came home with stores, 2 men the same, McC. looked up horses, a little rain. Mystery arrived |
| | 16 | Men as above, & Joe on foundation of house, self making carpenters bench etc. |
| | 17 | Went to Harbour (to receive stores from Mystery) with McCourt, sent Laing with bullocks. |
| | 18 | Discharged cargo. |
| | 19 | (Sunday) |
| | 20.21.22 | Boating & carting stores with 2 teams, to Withnell's, fixing tent, settling with Withnells for stores borrowed, & hunting up bullocks, & horses. Tucker, & I came home, going round & hunting up all the horses, as I required fresh ones. After we had gone some distance I missed my revolver having jerked it out of the case while galloping; or elsewhere, too late to look for it. |
| June | 23 | Took Tucker & a native to assist in finding revolver as it required every precaution & was threatening rain, found it difficult to track as my horse had frequently been on the same ground as the herd, & they returned from home about 7ms on our tracks most of the way, & the native frequently to track horses backwards, after some time he found it where I thought it was, but hid it, fearing Tucker, gave him 12lbs bag Flour, 1lb sugar, ½lb sheep Tobacco, Tucker & he returned while I went on to "Digdown". |
| | 24 | Sent McC. & Laing, with tools provisions in dray. W. finding Lewington to repair flat while I went in search of 2 horses turned out in hobbles the previous night, tracked them for miles & found they had gone home hours before; weighed up & returned stores to W. about a dray load or more. |
| | 25 | Out in search of bullocks till noon, loaded up, & started home with Albert & Connor. |
| | 26 | (Sunday) went out & found 2 horses in hobbles, not hurt by stallion. Joe with cattle since the 16 & Sherlock with ewes & lambs about that time. |
| | 27 | Albert with cattle, self after horses, Joe also Tucker at work at home. Connor with ewes & lambs, others away at flat. |
| | 28 | Men the same, Shepherds making close pens for lambs. Tucker with sheep a.m. self after bullocks a.m. with sheep p.m. Joe with team for stores to Withnell's castrated pigs. |
| | 29 | Joe returned with team & Laing & McC., the latter had not done the flat; Joe with complete carelessness broke a double barrel gun, Tucker at work at house. Natives reported arrival of a ship, so I started, to put letters on board, met team & found it was a mistake, went off to find Bob, but did not. |
| June | 30 | Tucker & self at work in garden a.m.,p.m, loading & heaping manure stowing stores in loft. McC. & Joe working bullocks, Laing excavating for Dairy. Connor with ewes lambs. Yougalgarry the same but ran away. counted sheep; too many |
| July | 1 | Started McC., & Jack, to finish flat after dinner, McC. working bullocks a.m. with Joe & Tucker. p.m. Tucker put new floor in house. Self making & putting in nose-boards, & out horse hunting p.m., did not find them. Laing cooking in place of Jack. Joe at shed floor. |
| | 2 | Tucker at garden. Men as above, self & Albert horse hunting on lower run, brought in all three; p.m. self after Bobby & Ney, found tracks too late to follow. |
| | 3 | Sunday. After horses, not seen. |
| | 4 | Tucker & Joe making addition to garden, Albert went with stray bullock to "Digdown", self brought in horses a.m. working at home & after cattle p.m. |
| | 5 | Men as before; Tucker & self cutting rafters & battens for shed. |
| | 6 | The same, very great difficutly in procuring timber for roof of shed. |
| | 7 | Men as above, self with Tucker, attempted to split rafters, but could not manage it. Albert & others after stray sheep & lamb, did not find her. Their tracks seen on wheat. |
| | 8 | Tucker & Joe at work at garden, self cutting rafters. T. brought in 2 stray ewes with lambs. McC., Jack returned from flat. |
| | 9 | Joe at work at garden fence, Tucker cutting logs. McC. & self carting logs & fire-wood a.m. stowing stores, at work in garden etc. Albert saw all the horses on lower run. Jack laid up with bad hand. |
| | 10 | Sunday. |
| | 11 | Two men raising stone. McC. driving, 1 gardening with self. |
| July | 12 | McC. brought in horses, lent Stallion to for a short trip in the bush, as he wants more work. Joe at shed floor, other hands & self making washing pen for sheep & other work. |
| | 13 | Two men & self at work at washing pen, Joe finishing shed floor, McC. away with team for remainder of stores to W's. |
| | 14 | As above. McC. returned. |
| | 15 | All the party washing sheep. |
| | 16 | Washed the ewe flock (with young lambs) a.m. making temporary shed p.m. |
| | 17 | (Sunday). |
| | 18 | Shearing p.m. Albert brought in all the horses but two. Made pens & temporary shed a.m. |
| | 19 | The same. |
| | 20 | The same. Lewington & Albert 2 days after Bob. to lend W. instead of Saucy not found. |
| | 21 | The same. "Mystery" arrived from "De Grey". W. & H. returned. |
| | 22 | Some hands shearing lambs a.m. self & others making up wool, & stores, for voyage. Nai[r]n came here from Port p.m. |
| | 23 | Started 2 drays to Bay with wool & stores & 5 men, made up stores, & a/c for them. |
| | 24 | Sunday - Men boating & carting stores to cutter. Green gave up his sheep, flock consist of 350 grown sheep, 48 shorn lambs, & 122 docke lambs, total 520, self writing. Green gave up his flock & left with Mr. Nai[r]n for Mount Welcome. |
| | 25 | I went down to cutter on business, with letters etc.etc. |
| | 26 | At 2 a.m. cutter got underweight, when Withnell & I left for his place, & at 3 p.m. came home. |
| | 27 | McC. - came home with team, self after sheep & in garden. |
| July | 28 | McCourt & self at work in garden. Tucker acting cook, Albert with horses & cattle, Connor with sheep. |
| | 29 | The same: Albert saw all the horses, but Dally & Ney. |
| | 30 | McC. & self gardening, carting, making aprons. |
| | 31 | (Sunday) much rain. |
| August | 1 | McC. & self carting rafters & battens for shed. |
| | 2 | Trimming battens. Sheep counted (right). |
| | 3 | McC. & self working at shed putting up tie-beams etc, all the horses on lower run brot[brought] in. |
| | 4 | The same. Albert brought in a large Kangaroo 1401bs. |
| | 5 | The same. I went to Withnells, at night, they having sent for me as they were afraid their baby would die, up most of night. |
| | 6 | The child being much better, came home p.m. |
| | 7 | (Sunday) McC. went down with drugs to W's. Jinette got loose & returned to run. |
| | 8 | McC. found mare amont all the other horses, late p.m. Self at work about the house & in garden. |
| | 9 | McC. & self clearing out stores, house etc. & putting up bedsteads. |
| | 10 | Refitting doors etc. & covering roof with paulins Rain at night. |
| | 11 | The same: & working at shed. The garden has produced beans, lettice & readish. |
| | 12 | Working at shed, Albert saw all the horses on lower run. |
| | 13 | The same. A. brought in the horses. Counted sheep. |
| August | 14 | (Sunday) |
| | 15 | Working at shed. A sheep found dead on the plain. |
| | 16 | The same. Albert after stray cattle most of the day, & part of yesterday, 3 left out. |
| | 17 | Cutting battens, carting & gardening. 3 beasts came in. |
| | 18 | Finished putting battens on shed a.m. p.m. looking after 4 lost sheep with lambs, found one & one came home. |
| | 19 | McC. & self after 2 remaining lost sheep, found one, l still out. Billy the native lost them. |
| | 20 | Cutting grass for thatch & in garden. |
| | 21 | (Sunday) It was today Yougalgarry brought in the sheep. [having written this for 20th W.S.H, then crossed the entry out]. |
| | 22 | Cutting grass for thatch; watering garden. Albert saw the horses on the lower run, counted sheep, made l over. |
| | 23 | Cutting thatch. Many natives about homestead, from their mode of proceeding I have every reason to believe they mean mischief as they were playing with their spears in the flat & inviting the only two in the house to come & look at them & Jacky came and asked for a gun, they were also seen pointing in the direction which all of us had gone. |
| | 24 | I went up the river & brought in Ney, & saw the bull & bullocks & a few natives, who told me to be off. I suppose they thought I was after them. I left McC., Albert & Tucker at home (the two former stowed away) to give the Natives a chance of attacking the house, but they thought better of it. At about sundown I went to Withnell's to let them know there was going to be a great muster of Natives, & put them on their guard, but Moolligunn had informed them previously. McC. was also employed making cartridge pouches which I had cut out. The Natives were also very anxious to know where every person was & watched me from the top of a hill. sent a boy with one spear to the house, which I have nodoubt was meant for Tucker if he gave them a chance to use it. |
| August | 25 | I returned home shortly after which Jacky told Albert that the Natives were sulky on the 23rd & were playing with their spears merely as a ruse to get them down in the flat unarmed when they would have made an attack on them. I believe what he said & had told them what they had intended on the 23rd. McCourt employed the same & self helping him & in garden. |
| | 26 | McC. the same, self & Tucker cutting grass a.m. p.m. both at work at home. |
| | 27 | McC. making cap pouches. Tucker & self cutting qrass. Albert brought in all the horses & cattle & went down to W's.[Withnell's] |
| | 28 | (Sunday) I went up the river to see the bullocks & what the blacks were about; when I returned McC. went to W's to shoe Bobby & Captain next morng. |
| | 29 | Albert returned with the cattle. McC. also self at work about home docking 23 lambs, repairing gate, tool handles etc. Keeping a sharp eye on the blacks as many strangers keep appearing, some of them intend mischief I think, when they have their great gathering as they do not seem very well pleased & are frequently inquiring where all hands are, & reckoning us up among themselves. I think we shall be prepared for them as the arms are at hand & in order, & we have a spy among them. |
| | 30 | Docked 24 lambs & branded 12 calves a.m. in garden p.m. planting cabbages etc. |
| | 31 | McC. & self looking up bull, & bullocks & carting grass for thatch — several showers. |
| Sept | 1 | Albert brought in bullocks with lame bull. McC. & self preparing to kill bull Jinnette sod tool handles made, bull killed, very good meat. |
| | 2 | Salting meat, took much trouble to clear away all appearances (of having killed) very early, as many natives about & it might be the cause of them attacking the herd which is now turned out; in garden etc. Weight of bull 684lbs. |
| | 3 | McC. & self cutting thatching rods. Albert saw all the horses & brought in the cattle. |
| Sept | 4 | (Sunday) McC. went to W's as he wished to come up. |
| | 5 | McC. returned having shod Bobby. Self re-salting meat. Albert cutting thatch & watering garden. |
| | 6 | McC. & Albert carting rods, & thatch, self making things & thatching. |
| | 7 | McC. & self thatching shed; Albert looking up Jinette, she having got away at night in hobbles, he brought her in with an emu which the dogs killed. |
| | 8 | The same. Albert mustered all the cattle, We counted the sheep, made 397 shorn sheep, & 165 docked, or young lambs. |
| | 9 | The same. |
| | 10 | Albert could not find all the horses nor any of the cattle. |
| | 11 | (Sunday) McC. & I found all the horses & tracks of the cattle towards Withnell's went there & remained the night — as all the natives were below there. |
| | 12 | Found all the cattle but one heifer which was about to calve, when last seen, & Smokey with a calf about 2 days old; brought them towards home. |
| | 13 | McC. & self thatching. Albert found heifer (Tulip) with calf, & saw most of the horses. |
| Septbr | 14 | McC. & self the same a.m. p.m. sent McC. to W's with meat, pig, & other things, & attending to heifer & calves. Albert brought cattle, & saw most of the horses. |
| | 15 | Self with A. trimming up shed, cleaning up & burning rubbish etc. etc. Sheep counted. |
| | 16 | Albert brought in all the cattle except one cow, also Ney. McC. & self at odd jobs at home, milking making pickles, watering garden etc. etc. |
| | 17 | McC. & self felling poles; all the horses but Saucy & foal brought in on our way home. Albert raising stone. |
| | 18 | (Sunday) McC. out but did not see Douchess [cow] |
| | 19 | Albert found Douchess without her calf. McC. after bullocks & carting with me & securing |
| Septbr cont. | 19 | her calf p.m. A sheep was found dead at home this morning, dressed it, but could not tell from what cause it died. |
| | 20 | Sent McC. & Albert after Douchess & calg, they brought her in but could not find the calf tho, they spent much time, milked her, & turned her out. Self repairing hurdles. |
| | 21 | McC. & self adding to garden fence where the water has receeded[sic], cutting rods, re-salting meat. Albert brought in all the horses, & Minnie with filly foal 3 days old. McC. brought in Douchess with bull calf, but did not find powder flask. |
| | 22 | McC. after bullocks till near noon Albert & self raising stone; p.m. McC. & self cutting posts etc for another shed. Albert as above. |
| | 23 | McC. & Co, away with team to river pass for timber, the latter saw all the horses, & most of the cattle, self felling poles & mending hurdles, near & at home, as many natives in the vicinity, & many strangers among them. |
| | 24 | Albert & I went after Lucy as she had gone off in hobbles; & brought her in, after which we laid off, prepared timber for shed, & did some other jobs about place; McC. employed with a few little affairs of his own. It was quite as well we were all at home most of the day as the Natives mustered pretty strong. Albert went down to W's in the afternoon. |
| | 25 | (Sunday) |
| | 26 | Docked 8 lambs, & cut 3 calves, working at shed & other things. Albert on his return looked up the cattle — counted sheep (right) |
| | 27 | McC. & self carting timber. Albert with ewes & lambs. Lewington came up from Mystery, & McC. & I went down. |
| | 28 | Went on board Mystery in outer harbour & got goods on shore, found flat too leaky to bring them up so had to return for dingy at W's leaving McC. & Taylor in charge. Mystery left Harry engd[engaged]. |
| Septbr | 29 | Started dingy down, waited until first load arrived, & returned home. |
| | 30 | Repaired dray, & sent Lewington down for stores, & Albert after horses, & cattle. |
| Oct | 1 | Albert after cattle not seen yesterday (found them). Team came up with new hands & stores from Mystery. |
| | 2 | (Sunday). |
| | 3 | McC. & self making new body, pole etc, to dray. Tucker & Lewington cutting battens a.m.; p.m. raising stone, Albert at odd jobs, & Harry (Native) with ewes & lambs. |
| | 4 | McC. & self the same, Albert after horses & cattle & two hands raising stone. |
| | 5 | Finished dray, two hands raising stone. |
| | 6 | Two hands carting, two raising stone, & weigh-up stores for sheep station, self looking out site for camp & down to Withnells (for books) & home. |
| | 7 | Bullocks could not be found till late, when I started with three hands to make hut & yard for sheep, the shepherd & Native having started very early. |
| | 8 | I brought up all the horses as I required two to go on a short trip with W. to examine the country between this & the Forescue, we made a start at about 1 p.m. & slept 15ms south up the river, 3 men at work at sheep station, 2 at home. |
| | 9 | (Sunday) |
| | 10 | Albert looked up cattle, McC. at small shed. & L. the same. |
| | 11 | 2 hands at shed, & 2 at sheep station. |
| | 12 | I came in from Maitland river, about 27 miles, having seen very little good feed, & that only round Table Hill 15ms. S. on the E. bank of the Maitland where there is some extent Albert looking up cattle, Tucker & McC. at shed. |
| Oct | 13 | Tucker, & Mcc. as above. Albert went with stray sheep in dray to station, self writing. |
| | 14 | Two as above. Albert at odd work, self to sheep station, & after cattle, remained to count sheep, yard too small to hold them, told the two there to enlarge it. |
| | 15 | The same. Albert brought in all the cattle, self writing letters for Mystery. Firefly foaled. |
| | 16 | (Sunday) |
| | 17 | McC. & T. working at shed, & carting, self writing A. after horses, did not find them. |
| | 18 | McC. & T, making up end of shed, & ladder, self making bench, & attending to horses which McC. brought in, Albert brought in Violet with calf. |
| | 19 | McC. & self started on bush trip (via Withnell's & sheep station) when Mr. Hird came up from Mystery so I returned home with him leaving McC. to help W. shear as he was behind hand. Tucker & Albert finished shed, & commenced excevating[sic] for kitchen. |
| | 20 | Men the same; self with Mr. Hird looking up cattle. Copy of J. sent to 21 [Copy of Journal to Mr. Wellard] |
| | 21 | Went to sheep station with Mr. Hird, & on to W's. Albert went down with team, & traps & provisions, for McCourt. T, at home & as above. |
| | 22 | Waited late for horses when we started with wool & two teams to cross marsh, as there were many hands to help at a bog, got across safe, bogged on return & broke pole, as it was late turned team out & came to Withnell's. T. raising stone. |
| | 23 | (Sunday) Came home, leaving Albert to help W. get dray up. 1 ewe up here for some days, cannot be caught. |
| | 24 | Out cattle hunting up river, brought them all down & went to station. T. the same. |
| | 25 | Docked 21 lambs, went to W's. & returned to station & slept. Albert brought home dray. |
| | 26 | Horse hunting, found Lucy, took her to herd |
| Oct cont. | 26 | which were far off, brought them to sheep station, came home p.m. found & cut pole for dray. |
| | 27 | Carting pole etc. T. raising stone, p.m. working at pole, found it too bad to put in, went with T. & cut another. |
| | 28 | Brought in pole & made it. Tucker raising stone, fixing vice, & grindstone. |
| | 29 | Working at dray with T., Albert brought all the cattle in & took them down river. |
| | 30 | (Sunday) |
| | 31 | Building stone kitchen with Tucker, A. after horses & saw cattle. |
| Nov. | 1 | The same, carting clay, dressing stone etc. |
| | 2 | Making sledge, sorting staves for water cask, mixing morter. A. with provisions to station, to draw bushes to yard, but returned with 3 Kangaroos, leaving 2 there. L. & Jacky having caught 4. |
| | 3 | Tucker clearing stone off road, self carting & at other small jobs. A. sent to station to draw bushes for yards. |
| | 4 | Tucker & self making door & window frames for kitchen. A. returned from Station. |
| | 5 | The same, & making level etc. A. looked up all the cattle. |
| | 6 | (Sunday) A. went to station & L. to Withnell's A. saw all the horses below. |
| | 7 | Tucker & A. cleaning away rubbish, self trying to sort out water cask etc., & down to station. |
| | 8 | Counted sheep, 587 with all docked lambs, (42 not cut), after mare was found came home, spent remainder of day coopering, & carting, at the former. A. & T. had been mostly employed while I was away. |
| | 9 | T. & self building kitchen. A. returned from Station with half a kangaroo. L. with dogs having killed one, & 2 native dogs. |
| Nov. | 10 | The same. Albert after cattle, brought in 2 calves. |
| | 11 | The same. A. after cattle down river brought up 12 head, saw horses. |
| | 12 | The same. A. after cattle. |
| | 13 | (Sunday) A. went to Withnell's. |
| | 14 | At work at Kitchen with T. Lewington caught 2 Kangaroos & an Emu. A. came up with them. |
| | 15 | As above a.m. p.m. went to station, docked 47 lambs & sent down to W's. on account of ship's gun heard previous night at near 10 p.m. |
| | 16 | Hunting for stray cattle on way home, did not find them, called at station. A. & T. carting wood, clay & sand. |
| | 17 | Working at Kitchen. A. could not find the 3 cows their calves which have been away for some days. |
| | 18 | Working at Kitchen. Albert brought in 2 of the cows with calves. |
| | 19 | The same, & working about place. A. looking after cow & calf which Yougalgarry had seen, did not find them. |
| | 20 | (Sunday) |
| | 21 | Trimming & carting stone & wedging wheels. A. brought in horses & bullocks. |
| | 22 | Working at Kitchen, sent A. with team to W's. for two bags of flour. |
| | 23 | The same a.m. Went to station p.m. counted sheep & docked lambs. A. returned with team & flour. |
| | 24 | The same, carting stone. Albert after cattle, & to Station. |
| | 25 | The same. L. caught two small Kangaroos, A. did not see the cattle as they have gone up the river. |
| | 26 | The same. |
| | 27 | (Sunday) found the three missing cattle, after a long search. |
| Nov. | 28 | Carting for Kitchen. |
| | 29 | At stone work, sent A. to Station to remain while L. hunted. |
| | 30 | A. came up with 11 teal & ducks, went out & brought in Madam & calf, then the bullocks & brought in wood & water, self & T, at building. |
| Dec | 1 | T, & self as before, A. down to station with things wanted. |
| | 2 | The same, horses seen. A. after bullocks, fetching water etc. |
| | 3 | The same, L. looking after Poley, & shot 8 ducks & teal. |
| | 4 | (Sunday) Lewington up the river after Poley, saw her tracks, & brought in a fine Kangaroo. |
| | 5 | At work at building, carting stone, & water. |
| | 6 | The same. Albert found Poley, but not her calf. |
| | 7 | The same, & carting. A. brought in Poley & calf sent L. down to W's. |
| | 8 | The same, L. returned. A,. sent after horses. |
| | 9 | At work at building, A. brought in most of the horses. |
| | 10 | At work at building a.m., went to Station & docked 15 lambs, counted sheep etc. A. working bullocks etc. |
| | 11 | Two ships guns heard, went down to Bay & on board Tien Tsin with W. & A. (Sunday) |
| | 12 | Assisted to clear ship of most of the sheep & returned to W's with Knight & Lukin, who wished much to see a little of the country, stock etc. |
| | 13 | After waiting for saddle, came home with K[night] & L, calling at station to see sheep, with which they were much pleased. |
| | 14 | Went up river to hunt up & show them cattle. |
| Dec | 15 | Went to Bay, & at last on board. Butcher told me all goods etc were landed belonging [to] station, except 1 bag of potatoes. returned to W's. |
| | 16 | Sent dray for box & waited for papers etc, when it could not be found. |
| | 17 | Came home by way of station. Tucker & A. since he came home on the 14th having been at work at building, & odd jobs, & Lewington employed with dray for Mr. Taylor since the 14th. |
| | 18 | (Sunday) Dogs were out hunting by themselves & A. hearing them brought in a very fine Kangaroo. |
| | 19 | Building. A. after cattle. |
| | 20 | The same, A. saw all the cattle, Harry shot 9 ducks & teal. Aurifera arrived. [a ship] |
| | 21 | The same. Lewington came home having carted Mr. T's. goods to W's. A. after horses. note from |
| | 22 | After A. brought in horses, started for Bay, to assist in unloading Aurifera, telling A. & L. to follow as soon as possible with team. |
| | | [No entries for 23rd, 24th, 25th, & 26th] |
| | 27 | Returned to W's as all the stock was landed, found it very hard work as the ship was 3 miles out. |
| | 28 | Came home with Mr. Orkney & A. |
| | 29 | Out to show him run & stock. A. after cattle. |
| | 30 | Went to W's with Mr. Orkney & showed him sheep by the way & horses at home, & returned home. Mr. Orkney was much pleased with all he saw & the sheep quite surprised & pleased as they could not look better. |
| | 30 | At home not well enough to work, as I have had rather too much of late. A. mustered all the stray cattle, & T. & L. working bullocks. The Aurifera was to leave to-day. A. brought in a fine Emu. |
| January | 1 | (Sunday) |
| | 2 | At work at building A. took cattle down river L. cleaning stone. |
| | 3 | The same. A. & L. carting. |
| | 4 | The same. A. & L. out with bullocks for timber. |
| | 5 | The same. A. & L. with team to gorge for poles. |
| | 6 | At building, getting stone etc. |
| | 7 | The same, team came home with timber, moderate rain. |
| | 8 | (Sunday) |
| | 9 | Tucker & self trimming plates, & rafters. A. looking up horses & Lockyer's mare found them & Fan with foal (colt) 2 days old, L. cooking as Taylor's hand is bad. |
| | 10 | Finished rafters & put plates on building. 2 hrs. rain. A. carting wood, water etc. |
| | 11 | Put rafters & braces on. A. at work about place. |
| | 12 | Topping up chimney, Taylor & A. away with team for timber. Messrs Taylor. Mount & parties here for night on way to Fortescue. |
| | 13 | At work at chimney, heavy rain made us leave off, p.m. it continued gently thro. the evening. A. came up after bullocks. |
| | 14 | At building. A. could not find bullocks. Taylor waiting at dray for him. |
| | 15 | (Sunday) went to Station, counted sheep. Taylor came home. |
| | 16 | Working at building. A. & L. found bullocks & brought home timber. |
| | 17 | Putting on battens. A. ill. L. working bullocks. |
| | 18 | Thatching. T. putting on battens & cutting thatch. L. cutting roads & grass. A. with self. |
| Jany. | 19 | A. & self thatching. T. cutting grass. L. with team. |
| | 20 | The same. A. caught a fine emu. Messrs Taylor's & Mount's party returned unsuccessful. |
| | 21 | Finished thatching. T. & A. putting bank round kitchen etc. A. long time after horses, did not find them. |
| | 22 | (Sunday) |
| | 23 | At W's. T. & L. working at building. A. could not find bullocks. Commet[sic] seen. |
| | 24 | The same. A. working bullocks & with team to W's for stores. |
| | 25 | Self at Taylor's & station, counted sheep. A. came home with team T. & L. finished stone work. |
| | 26 | T., A.,& self at odd work at home (stone wall, shoeing horse, salting meat etc.) sent L. to Taylor's to help dip sheep. |
| | 27 | Went to Mr. Mount's camp, & on to Jonse's [sic] creek where we camped for the night, pools very small only about 3 ft. deep |
| | 28 | Ascended Mt. Wellard, & camped on "George" where we found water from late rain, several fine showers during day & at home a perfect deluge for about 1 hour. |
| | 29 | Crossed from George Springs to "Sherlock" made it about 4 miles below "Kanga" & camped on fine pool 3 miles south of "red hill". |
| | 30 | Followed down river to Nairn's crossing, where the water was only about 3 ft deep, we only passed one pool, en route — camped on plain east of Jonse's creek. |
| | 31 | Returned to Mount's camp not having seen anything that would suit them, or many others, as the country is very dry, & not a good site for a home-stead in the whole distance travelled. |
| February | 1 | Came home with Mr M. & saw sheep. Tucker had been working with Albert while I was away, at various small jobs, & L. at Taylor's. |
| | 2 | Tucker finished drain round fold. A. after horses. |
| | 3 | T. trimming rails, self after horses, A. looking cattle & working bullocks. |
| | 4 | Self horse hunting, saw most of them. T. at odd work. L. returned from Taylor's A. after bullocks. |
| | 5 | (Sunday) A. looking after Lucy as Mr Mount wished to borrow a horse. |
| | 6 | With T. felling timber, & to station to count sheep (5 short). L. laid up with sore eyes, A. could not find Luch, so as Mr M's business is pressing, lent him Bobby for a trip to the De Grey. Taylor very ill. |
| | 7 | A. & self looking after lost sheep. T. working about place. |
| | 8 | A. & self as above. T. making drain at stockyard. Mount started for De Grey. Counted sheep, 4 short. |
| | 9 | A. & self the same. T. carting stone. |
| | 10 | Having remained at station previous night to count sheep, started after the 4 lost, but could not find them. Connor came home with flock. A. with team to station for traps. T. making drain. Horses all seen. |
| | 11 | Felling & carting post for stockyard. Harry shot 10 ducks, much wanted. Counted sheep, made 2 short. |
| | 12 | (Sunday) Native dog but a lamb in front of house, had to kill it. 361bs. |
| | 13 | Counted sheep very carefully, made 1 short which has been lost in moving flock home making five in all, present number 658, former 665 deficit 8. including 4 lost, 2 wethers |
| Feby. cont. | 13 | killed & l bitten (lamb). Put A. & H. with sheep to let Connor look for those lost, he could not find a trace of them. T. & self making up tub to dip in & making fold very secure as the sheep from some cause broke out of it at 3 a.m. luckily got them all in safe. L. carting. W. & Mount returned with mare left on "Maitland". |
| | 14 | Counted sheep 658 cutting rails, laying off addition to stockyard, carting timber. |
| | 15 | T. clearing well & at other work. Self boring post etc. A. after horses, brought most in a.m. & went with L. & Jacky for rams p.m. H. sho[o]ting. |
| | 16 | Rams & 1 ewe brought up. T. & self working at yard making tobacco water, etc.etc. |
| | 17 | Dipped rams & worked at yards. A. brought in cattle & bull for W. also bullocks for work. |
| | 18 | Charring post, trimming rails, sinking holes. A. fetched Ney from lower run. L. shot 14 ducks. |
| | 19 | (Sunday) Killed a sheep, which weighed 69lbs. |
| | 20 | Sinking post holes. A. brought in Lucy, & bullocks. L. & Harry found sheep with 2 lambs that was left out of flock bad. |
| | 21 | Two hands with self at yard. A. carting, Harry with bad sheep. |
| | 22 | The same. Mount, Withnell & Lockyer started for "Fortescue". Two ewes i11. |
| | 23 | Finished yard. 4 sheep bad. |
| | 24 | Two hands clearing up loose stone. A. looking for bullocks, self out looking for place to station sheep should the very dry weather continue. |
| | 25 | Two carting. L. shot 2 Turkeys, self writing. |
| | 26 | (Sunday) one of the sick ewes died. |
| | 27 | Tucker cleaning stone. L. brought in horses. A. could only find bullocks, self writing, & riding about plain to quiet Jeanette & find a place to sink a well for shepherd. Firefly's |
| Feby. cont. | 27 | foal much worse than when seen 10 days back. |
| | 28 | A. & self out on stallion, & Jeanette, to quiet them & find bullocks, p.m. cutting yangedes, with T.: A. & Harry after stallion as he had broken loose. L. shooting, & cleaning out well. |
| March | 1 | Making a hut for Connor on plain as the feed is very short & dry about house. A. carting. Killed the first wether teg 50½lbs. Counted sheep 665 with 10 imported as there has been a decrease of 10 of late, viz — 4 lost (two of which are lambs, not docked) 1 ewe died, 3 wethers killed, 1 lamb bitten (which we used) & the wether teg above, flock out p.m. |
| | 2 | Three hands, & self, cleaning out sheep poo1. |
| | 3 | T. & self putting rods on Kitchen, & clearing for addition to fold. A. & L. carting: & clearing round yard, L. shot a turkey. |
| | 4 | Working at fold. L. shot a Kangaroo. A. working bullocks. Mount & Withnell returned from "Fortescue". I went to W's to see if L. Mount had returned from "De Grey" (p.m.) |
| | 5 | (Sunday) returned. |
| | 6 | Two at wall work. A. drawing stone with Harry self at odd work. |
| | 7 | The same. Lewington shot 9 duck. |
| | 8 | Two as above: Harry & self carting, & at other work. A. moving stone. |
| | 9 | The same. Lewington shot 15 duck, & 5 cockatoos. |
| | 10 | Tucker at stone work. A. after cattle. L. cleaning guns. Harry shot 9 teal, & 6 cockatoos, self writing. |
| | 11 | A. looking up horses, two preparing things for trip to flat (Teg weighed 56½lbs). sent two down with dray. |
| March | 12 | (Sunday) I went to W's on way to flat. |
| | 13 | Withnell, self & two others down to flat, it took us 2 days to clean her, & turn her over etc. |
| | 16 | Returned to W's. |
| | 17 | Came home. |
| | 18 | Two at work at stone wall. (A. & Harry had been employed at getting stone, cattle etc, during my absence.) Self down to Taylor's to see about repairs of Saddle, books etc. |
| | 19 | (Sunday) |
| | 20 | Two at wall, A. with bullocks, self up river, looking up cattle, & horse, & also to make further examination for sheep station, as this is too dry for lambs, & 8 sheep are now bad from dry feed & hot weather. Mr. Mount returned from "De Grey" with Mann. |
| | 21 | Carting stone, & at wall, A. after cattle, (as I did not see many) saw most of them. |
| | 22 | Sent sheep up river & took L. & A, to assist in making fold, & hut, Tucker at wall, Mr. Taylor returned from trip S; & found a heifer dead in the bush. |
| | 23 | The same. |
| | 24 | Tucker finished wall. A. working bullocks, found them late; L. at sheep station. |
| | 25 | Went with 6 sick sheep in dray to station, H. same with ewes & lambs. A. after horses. Tucker at odd work. |
| | 26 | (Sunday) |
| | 27 | A. & self after horses, found all of them but Lucy & remains of Firefly's foal. T. the same — 2 rams died. |
| | 28 | T. & self at carpentering. A. after bullocks & cows with young calves. |
| March | 29 | T. & self the same. A. after young calves. |
| | 30 | The same. A. brought in all the cattle up the river. F. & L. Mount & Mann, left this for the "Ashburton R[iver]" also Taylor, & party exploring southward. |
| | 31 | Tucker as above, self same & up to Station. A. after bullocks & to W's for flour. |
| April | 1 | T. & self at carpentering & making up stores for Station & Taylor's. A. returned with team. |
| | 2 | (Sunday) Went down to Tien Tsin, when on board passengers came to me from the Maria Ross, with directions to assist them. |
| | 3–8 | Landing stores, sheep etc from Maria Ross. Tien Tsin sailed at 11 p.m. 7th. |
| | 9 | (Sunday) Kestrel arrived. |
| | 10 | Landing sheep from her. |
| | 11 | When about to return heard that Middleton's sheep could not be brought to water, without my assistance which detained me. |
| | 12 | Mare broke loose & went off with her tether last night, self after her, did not find her, Albert carting many peoples stores of late. Tucker with ewes & lambs as they require much care, & we have lost many of late, owing to heat & drought. Taylor at work at Bay when T. was cook. |
| | 13 | Self after mare. A. finished carting. |
| | 14 | After mare. A. came home with team & stores. |
| | 15 | A. Jacky & self after mare, with 3 horses, foal came to where A. was camped with mares & foals. |
| | 16 | Sunday, same, after mare, found her caught by her rope in rocks in the hills, tracked her up with difficulty, she had been 116 hrs, without water & was in a very reduced state, bathed her & gave her small drinks at 16 intervals of 2 hrs. & some hay. |
| April | 17 | Jeanette being much improved & able to feed, brought her to the "Bullrush" where the feed is green & left her. A. after Lucy. |
| | 18 | Went twice to lamb station & docked 94 lambs. A. found Lucy & took hobbles off. Tucker still with ewes & lambs at home. |
| | 19 | Took 31 ewes, & 23 lambs to Lewington, & with T. clearing out sheep pool. A. after, & working bullocks. |
| | 20 | Tucker & self cleaning out pool & mustering ewes & lambs. |
| | 21 | The same. A. looking for bullocks, self to out station. |
| | 22 | Self with lambs to L's. T. about home work. A. with bullocks. |
| | 23 | (Sunday) |
| | 24 | With lambs to L., cutting calves etc. A. brought in two horses, & some cattle. |
| | 25 | Started with six others (who are looking for runs) for "Table Hill" to find fresh run for sheep. |
| | 26 | With Mr. Darling examined much country. |
| | 27 | The same, & home. |
| | 28 | Started Connor [shepherd] with dry sheep, & lambs & Lewington with young lambs & Ewes. Counted both lots. C's. 588, from which we drew off 5, leaving him 583, & 98 lambs. Lewington's lot was 71 Ewes & 54 lambs. (1 Ewe died of 72) in all 655 Ewes making 3 short as 659 is the proper number of sheep, & 152 (young) lambs. |
| | 29 | Started with team, & hands to make station for sheep & take them to place. |
| | 30 | (Sunday) arrived at camping ground. |
| May | 1 | Making yard. |
| | 2 | Finished yard & cut timber for hut. Lewington came up with ewes & young lambs, altho. I had told him & also sent by A. to tell him he was not to move until I sent for him, sheep |
| May cont. | 2 | came in empty & lambs very tired as he had driven them faster than we had the sheep, he found one ewe dead on the way, lost by Connor. |
| | 3 | Finished hut, lambs pen etc. & came home with Tucker at 9 p.m. Lewington caught a fine Kangaroo & almost broke his leg. Counted 657 sheep & 156 lambs. |
| | 4 | Very ill but went to W's to try to get stores, with Mr. Darling who had remained with Taylor at home while we were all out. |
| | 5 | Returned as far as McCourt's camp. |
| | 6 | Came home early. Tucker employed making up & repairing hurdles while I was away. A. down to W's. with team for stores yesterday & home today. |
| | 7 | (Sunday) |
| | 8 | Tucker, T. & A. with team to Bullrush pool, the 2 former to remain & cut rails, & A. to go on to Middleton with team for the use of which he will give me flour. |
| | 9 | All the men out at station & felling rails. Barque Douglas arrived yesterday, & I went down to W's p.m. |
| | 10 | Went to Port, & helped land stock, left A. in charge. |
| | 11 | The same, & returned to W's. |
| | 12 | Came home. |
| | 13 | Went to the sheep station, timber cutters came home. A. after horses. |
| | 14 | (Sunday) counted sheep 657 (right & lambs should be 162) came home & down to W's to see the goods per Douglas. |
| | 15 | As McLeod had lost 100 hseep, went in search of them, most of the day, 5 found, put blacks on |
| | 16 | Came home with Mr Hooley to uct colts. |
| | 17 | Cut 5 colts & branded them & 5 fillies, hurt my hand. |
| May | 18 | Out with Hooley to see colts, found three doing well. A. after horses. T. raising stone |
| | 19 | Hearing a large ship the Warrior had arrived went to W's. T. at stonework A. on holiday. |
| | 20 | Went on board Warrior at 9 p.m, too dark & too rough to be safe, light rain at midnight. |
| | 21 | Sunday. Too rough to land, rain. |
| | 22 | Assisted Mr Broadhurst with sheep. |
| | 23 | Came home. |
| | 24 | Out to station. |
| | 25 | Docked 70 lambs (44 rams & 26 ewes) counted flock, made 655 (one short & 1 dead 19th) brought in horses & came home. As Connor's time is up gave him a few days leave. |
| | 26 | Wrote to Mr. J.W.[ellard] & took letter to W's to post per Warrior. |
| | 27 | Went with A. & bullocks to bring Mrs Wedge & family up from marsh, got all the bullocks bogged several times. |
| | 28 | (Sunday) Went to marsh to give order to Smith in payment for goods bou[gh]t on 27. |
| | 29 | Went down to marsh for Mrs Broadhurst, & family with A. & team, brought a load up as they had not landed. |
| | 30 | Brought up Mrs Broadhurst & family. |
| | 31 | Loaded for home, but could not find team. |
| June | 1 | Started home with 2 bullocks. Mount & party here for the night on route for Ashburton. |
| | 2 | As Mount's horses had strayed, sent T. & A. & native after them, & horses up the river, sent stores to sheep station etc. etc. Tucker quarrying stone & at other work while I was away. |
| | 3 | T. opening trench in garden. A. in search of hourses. L. brot. [brought] his things from sheep station, having taken up stores the previous day. |
| | 4 | (Sunday) |
| June | 5 | T. as above. A. driving team, Taylor & self cutting logs for fence. Lewington at cooking etc. |
| | 6 | As above. |
| | 7 | The same. |
| | 8 | The same. self to out station with provisions. |
| | 9 | Men, & A. clearing spring, self counted sheep (655) which is one short, docked 5 lambs, moved shepherd's traps to better feed, & came home. |
| | 10 | Two men at spring garden, self at old one, A. after cattle, L. shot 5 duck. |
| | 11 | (Sunday) |
| | 12 | Two & self at garden, A. looking up cattle, could not find them, brought in 2 Kangaroos. |
| | 13 | A. & self, brought in 48 head of cattle & horse. Men making another sty. |
| | 14 | Two men & self at work at garden. looking up cattle. |
| | 15 | The same. A. saw most of the horses. |
| | 16 | At work in garden. |
| | 17 | Two men making sty. Self & A. at garden. |
| | 18 | (Sunday) Mystery arrived. |
| | 19 | Went to Mt. Welcome with L. p.m. for stores. |
| | 20 | Went down to Mystery with Dr. Bompas to learn what time the Mystery would be back. |
| | 21 | Returned, had to wait for Mr. McLeod for stores as he was ill & did not come to appointment. Mystery left. |
| | 22 | Came home; L. with team & stores. |
| | 23 | Two men raising stone, at which they have been for some days. A. after & working bullocks, self at odd work. |
| | 24 | The same as above, self shoeing horse, garden etc. Harry came down from out station & reports three lambs killed by wild dogs. |
| June | 25 | (Sunday) Went up river to show Mr. McLeod the road, & 1ooking after his lost sheep on way home. |
| | 26 | Started with three hands to mark sheep etc. |
| | 27 | Marked all sheep & lambs, & went out with Tucker & found a beautiful, safe, & in every way suitable place to move them to. |
| | 28 | Moved flock & traps out six miles to "Darling Peak" & returned to Taylor's. |
| | 29 | Could not find horses until near noon, when we came home. The flock with all lambs rams etc, now amount to 823, three of which are not docked. I think 2 more jumped out of the yard than I counted. C. said they did. |
| | 30 | Two men raising stone. A. brought in 39 head of cattle, self looking after Saucy. |
| July | 1 | Two men cleaning well, & repairing roof. A. with cattle, & looking after others, self looking after Saucy, other horses & to the Doctor for advice. |
| | 2 | (Sunday) Came home. |
| | 3 | Two men raising stone, self horse hunting. A. looking for cattle, 43 head in. |
| | 4 | Two lads out with & after stray cattle, self & Tucker putting stores in order & other odd work. |
| | 5 | Tucker & self making noseboards, lads as above, self taken very ill p.m. |
| | 6 | T. repairing stock-yard. L. with cattle. A. to doctor for me. |
| | 7 | T. at odd jobs. A. after stray cattle. |
| | 8 | The same. |
| | 9 | (Sunday) |
| | 10 | Sent T. to Doctor as I was near out of medicine, & little better. A. at odd work with bullocks etc. |
| July | 11 | Tucker cutting wood for garden gates. A. to sheep station with provisions & told to remain the 1 day. |
| | 12 | T. making gates. |
| | 13 | The same. A. did not return as he lent Mr. McL. his horse, & went in search of McL's. |
| | 14 | T. the same. A. & Mount's party returned from Ashburton. |
| | 15 | T. mostly at garden, & odd jobs. |
| | 16 | (Sunday) A. for medicine. |
| | 17 | A. returned in search of horses. T. attending to pork for Mr McLeod, as I may have to purchase it, & other little jobs. |
| | 18 | T. at garden & making yoke. A. brought in horses, & took Lockyer's mare up river, on way for bullocks. |
| | 19 | A. came in with bullocks. T. making gate for sty. L. & Jacky after cattle, & Jeanette in hobbles. |
| | 20 | A. brought in Jeanette & afterwards 4 horses for McLeod to rid us of his stallion. T. planting cabbages etc. |
| | 21 | T. & A. working bullocks a.m. p.m. T. laying floor in house. A. out with bullocks & McLeod's horses. |
| | 22 | T. the same, A. brought in Bobby & Ney, as the former's back wants attending. |
| | 23 | (Sunday) |
| | 24 | Tucker laying floor. A. with provisions to sheep station. |
| | 25 | T. [Tucker] Taylor, & L. cutting & branding calves, the first work I have done for 3 weeks since being ill. A. returned from sheep station. |
| | 26 | T. laying floor. A. & self making another set of noseboards, as the last made break too easily. |
| July | 27 | Branding some of the first cattle calved here which either were omitted before or the brands had become indistinct, also putting in noseboards; T. gardening, self shod mare. A. looking after stray calf which came in. |
| | 28 | Self up to sheep station, Tucker at floors A. sinking water holes for garden. |
| | 29 | Returned, T. at odd work, A. the same. |
| | 30 | (Sunday) |
| | 31 | Returned from W's., sent down for stores & slops, & to see doctor. A. up river after bull & bullocks, T. in garden. |
| August | 1 | Branded two cattle, cut one bull, p.m. repairing dray wheel, getting firewood & water & odd work. |
| | 2 | Castrated four pigs, started A. & T. with team to cart rails, p.m. self brought in Bobby from lower run for fear of stallion hurting him. |
| | 3 | Castrated old boar, & at carpenters work. |
| | 4 | Making door etc. |
| | 5 | Tucker & A. came home with load of rails having collected all, & carted some half way, self at odd work a.m. & p.m. down to Mt. W[elcome] for books & clothing for men, as I have none. |
| | 6 | (Sunday) Came home. |
| | 7 | Went with T. to sheep station with provisions. & A. & Jacky carting rails. 1 sheep dead. |
| | 8 | Moved sheep & traps into last camp 6 mls. after searching for a better place all morning. |
| | 9 | Counted sheep & looked for pool to wash in, & examined river all the way home. |
| August | 10 | Tucker & self attending to garden. |
| | 11 | T. trimming rails, self writing & up to sheep station to count sheep & fetch Connor. |
| | 12 | T. the same & preparing for party going. A. after bullocks & down with team, self home writing & to Mt. Welcome. |
| | 13 | Remained at Mt. Welcome as Mystery would not be ready for water. (Sunday) |
| | 14 | Sent team with Tucker, Albert, Connor & provisions & water to marsh. |
| | 15 | Loaded with flour & many articles brought, & came home. |
| | 16 | Shod horse & went to sheep station. Tucker trimming rails & at garden. |
| | 17 | Counted sheep & returned. |
| | 18 | Tucker collecting things & making up provision for sheep washing. |
| | 19 | Working at all sorts of small jobs & making up cattle account. |
| | 20 | (Sunday) |
| | 21 | Went with Tucker & team up to help station to wash flock. |
| | 22 | Making pens. |
| | 23 | The same. |
| | 24 | Fixing washing pens & cutting drains. |
| | 25 | Washing sheep. |
| | 26 | The same. |
| | 27 | (Sunday) Townbery broke his arm. |
| | 28 | Sent T. home with team & traps. Started home with flock with L. & H. as I wished them travel slow & feed well. (met Tucker at Fish Pool & cut a load of poles while sheep laid up. |
| August | 29 | Tucker came to Fish Pool with team & I cut a load of poles etc. & came with sheep to Tucker Pool, where I left them with L. & H. & came on to prepare place for shearing. |
| | 30 | Cleaned out yard, fixed pens etc. |
| | 31 | Cutting & bringing in boughs to put under sheep, preparing bales & place for them & many other jobs. |
| Septbr. | 1 | Commenced shearing with T. & L. only, (about 10½hrs.) find it slow work as the wool is dirty. |
| | 2 | The same. |
| | 3 | (Sunday) |
| | 4 | Withnell & Middleton came to help shear. |
| | 5,6,7 | The same. |
| | 8 | Middleton returned. |
| | 9 | The same. |
| | 10 | (Sunday) self out cattle hunting, saw many of them, & Smoky with calf 2 days old. |
| | 11 | As above. |
| | 12 | Finished early. |
| | 13 | W. went home, we cleared up (Mr. M. McLeod, made up fleeces). |
| | 14 | Treading wool for which we had not packs before, marking same |
| | 15 | Stowing wool in shed. Medningpaulins Cleaning well, shoeing horse. Lewington returned having had a holiday. |
| | 16 | Counted sheep, made 821 & 6 young lambs. Thirgood carting rails. Tucker trimming same, sent Harry & L. up river with sheep went up W. branch after cattle & to Taylor's camp. |
| | 17 | (Sunday) Travelled to Mounts. |
| Septbr. | 18 | Men the same, self up "George" River (In search of green feed for ewes lambing) to Grant's & above King's Pyramid & back to Mount's. |
| | 19 | To Middletons, & many places, men went to help Withnell shear yesterday p.m. |
| | 20 | Came home new cut, found one place would do for lambing ewes, but not dry sheep. |
| | 21 | Went to Mt. Welcome, hearing W. was short of men & to look at lower sheep camp, sheared half a day. |
| | 22 | Returned & sent up river horse & cattle hunting & to see flock, slept at camp. |
| | 23 | Horse & cattle hunting, did not find all as they are much scattered, returned home. |
| | 24 | (Sunday) |
| | 25 | Shoeing horses, & preparing to start to George with ewe flock. |
| | 26 | Drawing off 334 ewes, taking them up river, & after stray sheep on plain, & Harry etc. |
| | 27 | Wedged wheels of dray & started to Geradalla where sheep were at noon, at 3 p.m. started for George & camped at Middleton's Pass. |
| | 28 | Travelled to Indernoolar by noon 7ms, many lambs dropped. |
| | 29 | Went to Middleton's at noon, p.m. counted sheep & drove to "Mount Wellard", 1 sheep short. |
| | 30 | Went to "Duck Pond" 7mls. |
| October | 1 | Drove to camp 4½mls. (Sunday) |
| | 2 | Made yard & went to Pyramid Station. |
| | 3 | With team to Jones' Creek. |
| | 4 | Started at 4 p.m. & came to Mt. Welcome at 6 a.m. 24 mls. |
| | 5 | Rested team. |
| October | 6 | Came home & out after horses. Tucker came home from shearing & Taylor whose time is up remained, having worked for Taylor's party. |
| | 7 | Out after horses. Tucker washing up, making brine & Thurgood to Mt. Welcome for boots. |
| | 8 | (Sunday) |
| | 9 | Putting up things for party going out with sheep, & down to Mt. Welcome for letters. Taylor after bullocks. |
| | 10 | Down to Mystery to see Headland. Tuckeir after bullocks, as Taylor could not find them. |
| | 11 | Came home with Withnell & shod horse. |
| | 12 | Started out with W. cattle hunting & to look for runs for sheep as the country so dry owing to the long drought that they will require often moving, camped at upper river gorge Withnell's mare went lame. |
| | 13 | Cattle hunting at "Table Hill" & many miles mustered 32 head, & camped at "Darling Peak", suppose same cattle to be at lower run. |
| | 14 | Travelled thro, range, came out at Mt. Wellard & camped at sheep station near "King's Pyramid". |
| | 15 | (Sunday) moved traps, & sheep, after having found a splendid place with plenty of water & a great extent of green feed. Sheep doing well, about 100 lambs down, 5 dead, & 113 per cent with twins, spent the night at Pyramid Station. |
| | 16 | Called at Mount's on business (rams etc) & camped at "Sherlock River", "Rocket Pool". |
| | 17 | Followed river up about 5 ms. to "Lake Plenty" & on about 9 ms. country not being good returned to "Rocket Pool". |
| | 18 | Went down river about 20 ms, to springs & "Fish Pond". |
| | 19 | Continued down river on eastern channel struck across well grassed plain to coast. & inland to near "Hunt's Pass" & back to previous camp, found much good dry feed but no water all day, & sun blazing hot. |
| October | 20 | Made a long day's journey back to "Mt. Welcome" by about 8 p.m. |
| | 21 | Returned home. Tucker had seen 14 head of cattle on lower run, while I was out, making 46 head out of 60, or more. I hope the natives have not speared any, but the long drought, & few hands give them a good chance; two men employed carting wool, & rails, & trimming latter. |
| | 22 | (Sunday) Mr. McLeod went "Mt. Welcome" & returned, having heard that the Natives had speared one, or two heifers, if they have they will not spear any more after I know their names. |
| | 23 | Wedging wheels, shoeing horse. Sent Taylor to help bring up wool press, for use of it. |
| | 24 | Out cattle hunting with Jacky. |
| | 25 | The same. |
| | 26 | Came home with 27 head, leaving others out & about, that would make 40 in all. |
| | 27 | Making up rations for out station, & started out with Mr. Mount, slept at Middletons, left Bob & Jacky to collect cattle. |
| | 28 | Went to Mount's, & on to Station to deliver 6 Rams, & see sheep. |
| | 29 | (Sunday) Went to Anderson's to borrow tools to put up yard's hut etc. finding sheep much in want of it. |
| | 30 | With L. put up yard. |
| | 31 | Put up blind pens. |
| Novbr. | 1 | Put up hut. |
| | 2 | Docked 132 lambs out of 219 of which 17 died & 19 were twins; Counted sheep short 4 or 5, last number 818 of which 6 rams & 3 wethers were sold, & 2 wethers were killed, one lost going over from L's, 1fock, 12 in all of the 818, should be 806. |
| | 3 | Came to Middleton's. |
| Novbr. | 4 | Came home, found Bob & Jacky had collected all the cattle, & Taylor just returned from pressing the wool. Tucker keeping house. |
| | 5 | (Sunday) |
| | 6 | Out horse hunting. Taylor working bullocks. |
| | 7 | Made cattle right in number, cut & branded calves (58 weaned stock & 11 young calves) shod horse. |
| | 8 | Went down to Withnell's to see about wool, provisions, & order from Mount. |
| | 9 | Balanced accts, with Withnell, Mount, & stowed wool. |
| | 10 | Home to breakfast, & started Bob & Jacky out with provisions to Station. |
| | 11 | News of arrival of Mystery, making up accts. |
| | 12 | (Sunday) Nairn came yesterday & went to Middleton's today. |
| | 13 | Writing. |
| | 14 | The same, & to W's with letters, when to my surprise the Mystery had left many hours before her time, that is, instead of going out on Tuesday night, or Wednesday morning, she left on Tuesday afternoon. Mr. Nairn had had Jeanette to Middleton's & Ney from there in, Bob brought back the mare, & she foaled that same night & Ney was returned late today quite knocked up, so that I had to turn him out at "Dig Down" & got as far as the marsh on foot when I met the return party from Mystery & came back. Nairn told Muller he did not wish me to go up this time, & for the reason I suppose sent Ney home without a note or message. |
| | 15 | Could not start with Ney. |
| | 16 | Came home slowly as Ney was too bad to travel. |
| | 17 | Preparing to kill a beast, but as customers did not come, obliged to defer it till next day, let young steer go & determine to Kill Ploughboy as he is quite too heavy for the country & slow, an odd bullock, & the steer when broken will be of more value for work. |
| Novbr. | 18 | Killed bullock (weight 850lbs), spent most of the night with T. cutting & salting meat. |
| | 19 | (Sunday) Cleaning up & attending to meat. |
| | 20 | Thought it was Sunday till late so only re-salted meat, & sent for horse to go to Station. |
| | 21 | Horse hunting. Bob. booking up cattle. |
| | 22 | Went to Middleton's, on was to Staion M. very ill, self also. |
| | 23 | Too ill to travel most [of] day, went on to Grant's at Sundown. |
| | 24 | Rode out to look at feed, & see if sheep required moving, found plenty of feed. |
| | 25 | To Grant's for axe, & hearing Middleton was much worse & did not expect to live, went to see him. Note of Kestrel. |
| | 26 | (Sunday) remained with Middleton as he was still very bad & returned to Grant's late. |
| | 27 | To station & repaired yard, & of dry sheep, arranged affairs with men & left at 8 p.m. for Middleton's. |
| | 28 | Home & to Mt. Welcome with team & traps, blacks etc. |
| | 29 | On board Kestrel, for passengers, wool etc. |
| | 30 | Returned to Mt. W. |
| 2 | Out to station. [No entry for Dec 1st] with Dr. Bompas. |
| 3 | Returned to Mt. W. (Sunday) |
| 4.& 5 | Settling accounts. From this time employed taking down wool, bringing up stores, carting a few casks of water for Withnell etc. etc. |
| 9 | Kestrel sailed at 9 a.m. for Fremantle. |
I would not have put up with his insolence for 1 week instead of five months & to conclude I consider him a villian of the deepest dye, a dangerous scoundrel to be about any place: for the well being of life & property; unfit to have his liberty & that he shd. be returned to the Convict establishment at the earliest opportunity & kept there for life.
W.S. Hall.
1864
| May | | 26 | Churned first butter — 61bs. |
| | to | | |
| Aug | | 20 | Churned in that period 117¼lbs. |
* ↑ Tierces = a cask intermediate in size between a barrel & a hogshead, as a tierce of sugar etc.)
* ↑ First attempt to grow corn.
* ↑ = Sheep in its second year.
* ↑ ready made clothing.
* ↑ From tarpaulin — canvas covering.
* ↑ Dr Bompas was dismissed from his medical position with the Camden Harbour venture by Magistrate Sholl. (see his letter 10.10.1865) Dr. Bompas probably left Camden Harbour on the Kestrel Oct. 1865 H.M.W.