Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/38

 2S THE FAKINE OE 1789-90. 1780-00 But Phillip's views did not commend themselves to the British Government, and the practice of allowing convict labour to officers for agricultural purposes was continued for many years afterwards. With the advent of the year 1790 the crisis became acute.* The long-expected ships from England were stottonii* watched for with feverish anxiety, and with the view of South HMd discovering their appearance on the coast at the earliest possible moment, a lookout station was established at South Head, where a flagstaff was erected from which the arrival of vessels might be signalled to Sydney Cove.f The officer first placed in charge of the station was Mr. Daniel South- well^ one of the mates of H.M.8. Sirius, who had a small party of the ship's company under his command. J rolled on and no relief came, may be gathered from the remarks of Collins when the ration was reduced in Kovembcr, 1789 : — ** Thus opened the month of Norember in this settlement, where, though we had not the accompanying gloom and vapour of our own climat'e to render it terrific to our minds, yet we had that before us, in the midst of all our sunshine, which gayeit the complexion of the true Noyember so inimical to our countrymen,"-— Collins, vol. i, p. 84. t Vol. i, pp. 182, 510. The native name oif South Head was EuttaL — Fraser, Australian Language, p. 51. X Since vol. i was published, copies of Southwell's Journal and of a number of letters written by him to his mother, who lived in Canon-street, London^ and to hiB uncle, the Bev. W. Butler, of Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, have been received. These papers have been printed as an Appendix to vol. ii of the Historical Records. The transcriptions were made at the British Museum, from the original MSS. and copies in the handwriting of Mr. Butler. This gentleman, who appears to have taken a lively interest in the fortunes of the infant colony, showed the letters to Sir Joseph Banks, with whom He frequently conversed about affairs at Sydney Cove. Sir Joseph returned the correspondence with a note in which he offered ** many thanks for the perusal of it." He added: — *'The letters are written with intelligence, but, as u naturally to be expected, contain little of information not to be met with in the Governor's despatches. It is indeed surprising that he who lives at an outpost and makes few visits to the camp should have gained so much.** Banks's comment is accurate enough in one sense. So far as principal events are concerned, the letters contain no information that the official despatches do not supply ; but Southwell, whose attention was concentrated on a few subjects, gives particulars of incidents which were only briefly reported in Phulip's letters, and he furnishes information concerning the Lookout Station which is not procurable from any other source. The allusion to the " G-over- nor*s despatches*' is worthy of attention. It has been stated elsewhere (YoL i, pp. lii, 78 et seq.) that Sir Joseph Banks, who, as regards the colony, msy almost be said to have stood t» loco parentis^ had access to the officii^ despatches from Sydney. We have in this note to Mr. Butler an additional proof that this was so.
 * Some idea of the Btate of feeling in the commuoitj, as the months