Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/162

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [n t?. xn. AUG. 28, 1915.

KNOPWOOD'S DIARY.

EVERY student of the early history of New South Wales is familiar with the name of " Old Bobby " Knopwood, the " really kind-hearted " but easy-going first chaplain " to the settlement or settlements " of that colony. He received his appointment from the Home Government on 14 Jan., 1803, and sailed in " H.M.S. Calcutta, olim Worley Castle," from Spithead on Sunday, 24 April, landing in Port Phillip Harbour, N.S.W., on Sunday, 9 October. During the voyage out he kept " a journal of the proceedings " of his ship or "a log," which, with other records, was published by the Victorian government in 1879, under the title ' His- torical Records of Port Phillip : the First Annals of the Colony of Victoria,' edited by John J. Shillinglaw.

Unfortunately in that publication there is a small " hiatus valde deflendus," to use the words of the author of the ' Ingoldsby Legends,' a portion of one of the leaves having been cut away, in consequence of which the entry on 3 Oct., 1804, stops short in the middle of the menu for that date, and the whole of the entries for 7, 8 and 9 October and the greater part of that for the 6th are missing. While rummaging among the old books of a friend, I have come across what appears to me the original MS. of the Diary, with the help of which I am now able to fill up the gaps. The present owner of the MS. is the namesake and probably a relation, if not a descendant, of another member of the civil establishment sent out to Port Phillip on that occasion to found a penal settlement there, who travelled as a passenger on the Ocean, a transport boat which ac- companied the Calcutta and carried the balance of the same shipment of convicts.

The missing portions of the ' Journal ' are as under :

3. October, 1804 [continued after " "Roast pig "]. Stewed wild duck. Kangarroo Pye. Plumb Pudding. Vegetables.

, Wine Sauce.

Gravy. Rice boiled. Stewed Mushrooms. Sallet.

Bread Sauce.

The entries for 4 and 5 October are printed in full in Shillinglaw' s edition. We have next the following entries :

" 6 October, A.M. at 7 Groves came to me & ve went 16 miles down the river. We caught ome very fine flat Fish and sent Salmon [my man] with the Dogs after Kangarroo. At 5 P.M. e returned. Salmon went to the Island vas confined by order of the Governor ; in the ve I released him. At 6 some words arose between, he Lt. Governor and Lt. Lord [of the Royal /larines] respecting Powers [a convict], and \>wers came forward & the Lt. Governor I ef ended him & pushed Lt. Lord back. Mr. jprd said to the Governor that if it was not for is situation which he held & the 2 epaulettes e would knock him down and kick him for ailing. Lt. Lord likewise mentioned to him that he Gov r . kept Powers a pimp for him. The A. Gov r . said to Mr. Lord : ' Sir, you may one ay see me in a plain coat.' Lt. Lord replied : Sir, I believe you will stay here [in Sullivan's ove] too long.' The Gov r . on their parting aid 'this insult I shall never forget.' Lt. Lord eplied : ' Then I hope you will always keep it in memory.'

" 7 October. A.M. The weather very unsettled Divine Service could not be performed. At 12 I to the Hospital and read prayers to them all. At 2 P.M. I went to see my ground. past we had a very fine shower of rain which continued some time. My little brown Hen came off with

young Chickens which I brought from Port Philip.

October. A.M. The day very fine. This day twelve months we arrived at Port Philip in H.M. Ship Calcutta. [According to the log on
 * he 9th.] At 5 P.M. we had a very severe tempest,
 * he lightning & thunder very awful & very heavy

showers of rain.

" 9 October. A.M. at 10 1 went into my boat & went up the river beyond Risdon. At 5 landed at Millers farm and walked into the camp. My man Salmon returned home with a very large Emu, weight 61 Ibs. and a very fat bird."

As regards the dates of the

it

entries,

should be explained that Knopwood con- tinued his ' Journal ' after landing in Port Phillip, and even after the transfer of the whole settlement to Van Diemen's Land,, right to the end of the year 1804, when the entries abruptly stop although there were plenty more blank pages left in the volume before me, it being only half full.

According to the editor of the government publication his text was printed from a transcript made from the copy of the Diary once in the possession of Mr. V. W. Hookey, solicitor of Hobart Town, a family con- nexion of one of the diarist's executors. The transcript was made, annotated and presented to the government of Victoria by Mr. E. J. Calder, formerly Surveyor-General of Tasmania.

To understand the words which arose between the Lieutenant Governor and Lieutenant Lord it should be explained that Mrs. Powers was often one of the Governor's party on official and unofficial occasions and