Litchfield enquirer., 1851-02-27
The English in Australia.

served on the eastern coas:a harbor whose shores were covered with a variety of beautiful plants. He called the place Botany Bay. To him it was endeared by associations of delight; tous it's name $ repulsive, as attached to sink of crime. After this voyage, accounts of the un> known Southern land were circulated through Europe. It was at this unhap- ! py period that the oligarchv of England, blinded by selfish passion. abandoned her interests and lost the brightest jewel in her empire. The American colonies, re- volting under oppression, proclaimed their independence, and ,l,esmoiIsi State, having cast from her bosom the quest child she had curtured, went forth again to seek a new home for her offspring in the waste places of the world. AnAus- tralian settlement was projected, for the I.reception of convicted criminals. Au-ex- pedition was at once equipped. It cen sisted of two vessels of war. six trans ports, and three store-ships. On board were 506 male and 92 femnle convicts ; l60 mariners with their officers, and the usual, complement of crews. Provisions tools, implements and materials were provided. Burdened with their load of crime, the squadron spread sail for the Unknown Southern Land" sgas.sHr
 The expedition reached the shores of Australia in January. l7s8. A sailor named Jackson, discovered through a gap in the line of the cliffs the magnifi- cent harbor named in honor of its eiscoy> erer. The situation was preferred to that of Botany Bay the boats were man. ned, and the people stepped out of them literally unde, the shadow of a forest All was wild and silent. The tents were pitched, an encampments was arranged, the axe and spade were set to work, and the English name and nation were for the first time established in. Australia. On that distant shore, then clothed with dreary woods, there now stands the cap ital of 8 great colony, prosperous city, embellished with beautiful structures popuious and rich and stamped with the
 impress of civilization. Scarcely sixty two years, therefore, have elapsed since the birth of a colony now outrivaling, in the rapid growth of its importance, eve ry other in the world. .9. sa#
 But New South Wales did not spring it struggled into prosperity. The early
 years of It's existence were full of trouble The qualities of the sot were not under stood; the crops were scanty; the con
 yicts wercsidt'e and greedy; the military were insabordnate; supplies arrived at distant intervals, and the hopes of the settlers were depressed by the dread of famine. Scarcity and disease made hay oc among them, and before four months had p.ssed .a gallows cast its ill omened shadow over the birthplace of Sydney.
 A youth, onl y seventeen years of age, stained the infant city with crime, and
 was cut off in the land of promise" by
 the hands of the hnngman. Another miserable creature, during time of want, swallowed eight pounds of flour cakes at meal, and died of surfeit. Others, ,shar- ing the ignorance of more educated class es in England, conceived the idea of es- cape by travelling overllnd to China They started on their journey, and were never more heard of. Probably they we,c killed by the natives; but possibly also, some became domesticated among them. and relapsed into the savage state of life. Recently, it is well known. some sailors did so, on the coast above More> ton Bay. The colony struggled for ex- istence during many years.
 A settlement was founded at Norfolk Island. to relieve Sydney of some of its convict population; but in spite of every
 exertion, the century drew to close
 while New South Wales was in the most unpromising condition. Deludcd by dreams of sudden fortune, many spent their time in on improbable search for gold. One of the convicts. noticing the passion of his companions. resolved to profit by it. With aguinea and a buckle ho made specimen of ore, and declared he had found it near the hlls. Ths fraud was detected instead of the re. ward he looked for, the fellow received a aogging. and aftcrward committing q more serious offense, ended lis life on the scaffold. A contrast between the condition of the colony during the first years of it's establishment with it's presen: state, displays a remarkable result. - Four years after the landing at Port Jackson. the public stock consisted of one 1 aged stallion, two colts, sixteen cows. two calves. sone ram, fifty ewes, six lambs, one boar. fourteen sows. and twenty>two pigs. At Parnmatta, near Sydney, there were three hundred acres cultivated with Indiau corn. forty-four with wheat six with barley, one with oats. four wi.t vines, and eighty six laid out in gardens, besides seventeen belonging to the sold- iers. s1H f g I-. .sr.sr. ..s In all, therefore. there were lls ani- mals fed and 45S acres titled. Before 1885. about l7. 900. 900 lbs. of wool had been shipped from New South Wales, | ,uI.1oh oko nm nm