Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/88

 overboard to lighten the ship at sea, were afterwards forwarded to Sydney.

The brave Riou's services are commemorated in St. Paul's Cathedral. A despatch from himself at Table Bay (20th May, 1790) records his gratitude to twenty of the convicts whom he sent on to Sydney: "Without their assistance and support the Guardian would never have arrived to where she is. . . I publicly declared that not one of them, so far as depended on myself, should ever be convicts."

Such are the gleams of light which occasionally illumine the dark ages of Australian history. Edward Riou will not be less regarded as a hero because he could elicit gallant support from convicts, and was manly enough to acknowledge his obligations.

With her accumulated stores the slow Juliana sailed from Table Bay, and hopes deferred were to be gratified amongst those whose hearts had so long been sick at Port Jackson. On the 3rd June, 1790, the signal for a ship was made at the South Head. The settlement was in an uproar of emotion. It was learned that the ship was the transport Juliana, from London, July, 1789, with 222 female convicts. The tidings she brought were eagerly devoured by the insatiate colonists. The loss of the Guardian; of the private effects of the colonists entrusted to her; the illness of the king; his recovery; tidings that 1000 convicts were to be sent at once to Sydney; that a corps of foot was to be raised for service in the colony; that Major Francis Grose of the 29th Regiment was to be its commandant; the change in the French Constitution; and the various domestic affairs of each officer and colonist, after a blank of three years, were poured into greedy ears. But the Juliana had brought no large supply of food, and the wolf was not yet driven from the door. Of the small quantity of flour brought by the Juliana, twenty casks were totally destroyed through the vessel's unseaworthiness.

On the king's birthday (4th June), Phillip pardoned all offenders under sentence; and on the 9th appointed a day