Port Robe
By Jon Peasey
Copyright 2012 Jon Peasey
Table of Contents
Title Page
Preamble
Chapter 1 - One Fine Day
Chapter 2 - Another Fine Day
Chapter 3 - Disease
Chapter 4 - The Long Journey
Chapter 5 - The Chinese Invasion
Chapter 6- Here We Go Again
Chapter 7 - Prosperous Times
Chapter 8 - Tragedy and Heroism
Chapter 9 - 1860 to 1861
Chapter 10 - 1862 to 1863
Chapter 11 - Rumblings of Discontent
Chapter 12 - Changing Times
Chapter 13 - 1868 to 1869
About the Author
Preamble
The Province of South Australia has been in operation for 21 years; it was proclaimed by Royal decree in 1836. These are the days of tall ships and coastal steamers; of horses and carts and bullock teams. And these are the days of the pioneer white settlers felling timber and carving out pastoral lands, sheep runs and wheat farms.
The export trade for wool and wheat in the southeast is expanding. Harrison Medcroft, Sub-Collector of Customs for the Guichen Bay District, in southeast South Australia, has been in the job at Port Robe for two years. Unfolding events will focus the Province’s attention on Port Robe, an international sea port at Guichen Bay. Harrison (Harry) Medcroft unknowingly is in the ‘box seat’ and will become a crucial player in these events.
Chapter 1 - One Fine Day
Harry Medcroft woke at his usual time at 5:30 am. It was a fine morning, the sun was already up and casting a golden glow over Guichen Bay in the south eastern corner of the Province of South Australia. Harry went over to the window of his bedroom, pulled the curtains aside and looked outside. Not a cloud in the sky anywhere. ‘It looks like it will be another fine, hot summer day.’ He thought to himself. Harry was glad it was Saturday. There were no ships in the harbour at Port Robe at present.
He looked at his wall calendar. ‘Today is Saturday, 17-Jan-1857. So far the new year has been uneventful.’ He took a pencil and crossed out Friday, 16-Jan-1857. Next he filled a basin with water to wash himself. Amanda his wife woke up and smiled at him. “Good morning, Harry.” She said cheerily to him.
Annie their maid was already up and making preparations for breakfast. Baby Amelia woke up and cried for her feed. Amanda lifted her out of the rocking cradle and began breastfeeding her baby. Amelia’s cries woke the two boys Jason and Tristan in the next bedroom. They jumped out of bed ready for the new day.
After breakfast Harry and Amanda made plans to have a picnic at Town Beach for lunch. There were a few good places at the top of the sand dunes in the shade of some coastal scrub; where there was a superb view of Town Beach and Guichen Bay. They decided to have an early lunch, about 11:00 am, so the young ones could have a nap back home in the early afternoon.
About 10:30 am they set off along Mundy Terrace, past the bullock teams waiting to unload their cargoes of wool and wheat at the Royal Circus roundabout. A nice sea breeze was blowing. They walked to a beach access point and moved down on to Town Beach. About fifteen minutes later they toiled up the sand dunes to a nice shady place amongst the coastal scrub. Guichen Bay was spread out before them. To their left the jetties could be seen. As they looked to their right, Long Beach could be seen curving around to Boatswain’s Point in the distance. They drank in the scene; it sure was a pretty sight.
Harry spread out some rugs to sit on. Annie opened up the picnic baskets and spread out the lunch. They sat happily eating lunch and enjoying the scenery. It was peaceful and relaxing. Harry’s practised eyes looked to his left over towards Cape Dombey and the Obelisk. He thought he had caught some movement in the area. Sure enough, the top sails of a ship could be seen on the horizon. ‘Oh no, there goes my peaceful Saturday.’ He continued to stare in that direction. Amanda noticed him staring.
“Harry what’s up? Why are you staring like that?”
“There’s a sailing ship making its way into the Bay.”
“Oh Harry, that will spoil the rest of our day.”
As they looked the outline of a tall ship could be seen. Harry began to pack up. They needed to get home so Harry could change into his Customs’ uniform. They made their way back home.
Harry walked up to his Customs’ office to prepare the necessary documents and then walked down to the jetties. The tall ship was flying a British flag. It moved into deep water off the end of the jetties and let down its anchors. The decks were crowded with passengers!
As the news spread the people of Robe Town hurried to see the sight. These were no ordinary passengers. They all had moon shaped faces, were all dressed alike and had long pigtails. They wore long sleeved blue tunics and long, black, wide bottom pants. It was hard to make out individuals as they all looked alike! Was the ship loaded with women?
A large group of people gathered on the foreshore to watch proceedings. “What is going on? Why are there so many passengers?”
As they watched a boat was lowered from the ship the ‘Land of Cakes’. The Captain was rowed ashore. Harry Medcroft and his two Customs’ officers, Joseph Moore and Owen Morrison waited to greet the captain. Harry watched the boat pull up at the jetty. The captain climbed up the steps. Harry met him at the top.
Harry spoke, “Captain, I am Harrison Medcroft, Sub-Collector of Customs and Harbourmaster for Guichen Bay. Welcome to Port Robe.”
“Captain Miller of the Land of Cakes, at your service Mr Medcroft. May we talk privately for a few minutes?”
“Of course Captain Miller.” Harry moved along the jetty to give them some privacy.
Captain Miller spoke, “Mr Medcroft, I have over 250 Chinese men on board who are on their way to the Victorian gold fields. As you know the Colony of Victoria has imposed a £10 poll tax on every Chinaman entering Victoria by sea. The Province of South Australia doesn’t have any such poll tax. The Chinese have money and other valuables and will pay to be taken ashore. I want them to disembark as soon as possible.”
Harry digested this information. He had a problem. The two lighter vessels the ‘Osprey’ and the ‘Cormorant’, used for transport were full of wool bales waiting to be transhipped. Harry spotted George Ormiston, of Ormiston & Co Merchants, and signalled to him to come over. George Ormiston made his way to the two men. The crowd wondered what was going on! Harry explained his predicament to George Ormiston.
George spoke, “Well Mr Medcroft, the locals with boats will have to help out; on the understanding that each man can make his own charge for ferrying the passengers and their goods.”
Captain Miller readily agreed to the plan. He was anxious to discharge his passengers and move on. He climbed aboard his boat and was rowed back to the Land of Cakes.
Harry and George Ormiston encouraged the locals who owned boats to help out and charge whatever they thought was suitable. So a plan was adopted to go and get the Chinese and make them pay what was asked; anything from 5 shillings to £1 was asked to ferry them and their belongings ashore. As the trip from China cost them £12 each, this fee seemed excessive. However, the Chinese had no alternative but to pay up.
What a spectacle took place as the ferry boats drew alongside the Land of Cakes. The sailors tossed the Chinese passengers’ baggage into the boats. Sometimes they missed and the baggage fell into the sea. Some of the Chinese protested. They were thrown overboard to swim ashore! If they were timid or afraid to get into the smaller boats; they were also thrown overboard. If they didn’t have money to pay the ferrying charges, they were thrown overboard. The Chinese on the boats had to hand over the ferrying charge before the boats were rowed to shore.
What a sight! Boats were coming to
and fro. Baggage of all description was floating in the water. Half drowned Chinese floundered ashore; some clinging to baggage. Lots of excited Chinese were jabbering away in their sing song dialects.
Many hours’ later 264 Chinese men were lined up on the foreshore; with all, or some, of their baggage. What a sorry looking lot they were! Harry and his men now had the task of calculating the 5% import duty on their goods. Sergeant James Woodbine and his Mounted Police troopers, Smith, Adcock and Pickering were on hand to keep order. The Robe Town locals were worried! More Chinese came off the Land of Cakes than there were people in Robe Town!
“What are we going to do with all these Chinese?” they asked each other.
Captain Blakely, the Government Resident, arrived to inspect the Chinese. He spoke to Harry.
“Mr Medcroft, why have so many Chinese disembarked here at Port Robe?”
“To avoid the Victorian poll tax of £10 per head, Sir.”
“What are we supposed to do with them?”
“I understand that they plan to walk overland to Ballaarat or Bendigo. They will need some local guides to take them there. They have silver and artefacts and goods they can trade with to buy equipment and supplies.”
“Where will we put them Mr Medcroft? We can’t possibly lodge this amount of people in town.”
“We will have to set up a camp on the outskirts of the township until they make arrangements to move on.”
Captain Blakely was thoughtful for a few moments. “We will have to find as much canvas sheeting as possible to make tents. They can purchase the canvas. We will use the area to the side of the cemetery. Also, I am a bit concerned that some of them look sick. Dr Maclagan will have to examine them. We don’t want an outbreak of disease starting up.”
He turned to Sergeant Woodbine, “Sergeant, when Mr Medcroft is finished here; you will escort these Chinese to the outskirts of town.”
Captain Blakely motioned to George Ormiston to come over. “Mr Ormiston a favour please, sir! Can you please organise your men and any others willing to help; to gather up all the spare canvas sheeting in town and take it to the camp we are going to set up on the outskirts?”
“Of course, Captain Blakely; only too pleased to help out.”
Captain Blakely sent one of his aides to Dr Maclagan’s house with a message to see him as soon as possible. Dr Maclagan cancelled the rest of his appointments for the day and walked briskly to the foreshore. He could see a large crowd had gathered. Captain Blakely’s aide had already informed him that a ship full of Chinese men had disembarked. He made his way to Captain Blakely.
“It’s good of you to come, Dr Maclagan. Some of these Chinese look sick. Will you please examine them? We don’t want an outbreak of disease in Robe Town.”
The crowd looked on expectantly. The excitement was almost too much to bear! “What if these Chinese had exotic Eastern diseases?”
A sudden fear of illness, or even death, went through the crowd. A feeling of revulsion was felt; yet their curiosity held them transfixed to the spot. The Chinese already outnumbered the population of Robe Town. It was a disturbing situation to be in!
Dr Maclagan finished his initial examination of the sick Chinese. He went to Captain Blakely. “These men will have to be isolated from the others. They need medical treatment urgently. Set up a tent at least 50 yards away from the camp. I will start treatment when the tent is set up.”
“Very good, Dr Maclagan; the camp will be set up at the side of the cemetery. Sergeant Woodbine will escort the Chinese there as soon as Mr Medcroft is finished.”
He turned to Sergeant Woodbine, “Sergeant, keep the sick men away from the rest. You may begin your march to the camp site, when Mr Medcroft is ready.”
Harry and his men worked quickly. They had to liaise with the headman of each group of Chinese. They were the only ones who could speak any form of English. The headmen were responsible for all negotiations and documents for their own groups. However, Chinese money was not legal tender in South Australia. When Harry was satisfied he had collected enough silver to pay for the duty on their goods, he informed Sergeant Woodbine.
The Chinese headmen were informed that they would all be taken to the outskirts of town to set up a camp until they moved on to the goldfields. The sick would be isolated to prevent disease spreading among them. The head men could also negotiate the purchase of any supplies needed.
Sergeant Woodbine gave the order to move out. The Chinese were an orderly lot. The procession of Chinese carrying their belongings headed up the Royal Circus into Cooper Street. At the end of Cooper Street they turned left into O’Halloran Street. The other side of O’Halloran Street was where the area designated for the camp was situated.
Sergeant Woodbine and his troopers arranged for the canvas sheeting to be distributed so each group could stay together. The Chinese realised that they needed to cut poles for their tents; lots of their bamboo carrying poles were lost in the ferrying operations. Two poles were lashed diagonally together at each end of the canvas. A horizontal pole was then lashed across the middle. The canvas was then spread over the horizontal pole and spread on an angle to the ground. Weights were placed on the canvas walls to stop the canvas blowing away.
Meanwhile Harry and his men were busy completing all the necessary documentation. What a day it had turned out to be! Many a local was richer because of the ferrying charges. The town’s storekeepers were happy; they would be selling lots of supplies to the Chinese.
Harry was quite tired by the time they sorted out all the documentation from the events of the day. He walked home to his wife and family. Amanda was eager to hear his news. The whole town was full of excitement about the China ship. No one had seen the likes of it before!
The town’s social life took on a brighter note. A fine German band was in town for a few weeks. The ship’s captain and crew were entertained with dances and functions over the next few days.
Captain Miller decided to take a shipment of wool bales directly to London. He had already made a good profit from the Chinese and now he had a fine cargo of wool to take to London. He was feeling quite pleased with himself.
Three days later on Tuesday 29-January-1857 the ‘Cornwall’; another British ship sailed into Guichen Bay in the late afternoon. On board were 307 Chinese. Captain Dawson told Harry, “At least six more vessels have been chartered directly from Hong Kong bound for Robe.”
The ferrying operation commenced and went into the long twilight hours. Again the locals with boats charged exorbitant prices to ferry the Chinese and their baggage ashore. The same procedures were carried out. The Chinese were lined up on the foreshore. Dr Maclagan examined the sick, after that the troopers marched them all up to the camp grounds. Captain Blakely decided that Dr Maclagan should allocate the areas for the different groups, as the Chinese were not all from the same districts and spoke different dialects. They were suspicious of each other.
The original lot from the Land of Cakes had meanwhile negotiated with locals to guide them to the goldfields in Victoria. Some of the guides were local bullockies who knew the best routes to travel overland to the Victorian goldfields. Some of the groups had already departed.
Chapter 2 - Another Fine Day