Gordon Smith - An Australian Story

AnAustralian Story

The saga of anAustralian Family over 2 Centuries

by

Gordon Smith

Copyright 2018 GordonSmith

Smashwords Edition

ISBN 978-0-9953674-1-8

Ballarat

What makes afamily? It could be said their genes, their heritage, theirenvironment, their faith or a mixture of all of these.

This booktells how the events that formed Australia impacted on my familythrough the generations.

The first of my Australianancestors arrived in Sydney 13th of July 1808, just 20 years after the first settlers arrived, and mymother passed away 198 years later on the 4 th of July 1998

It is a story that commemorates thesupreme sacrifices during war and hardshipwhile, at the same time giving pride to theachievements of my family and my country.

As an author, I am extremely grateful to be able to use the following forresearch

National Archives of Australia andthe Australian War Memorial Archives including

• Unit war diaries

• Individual military records.

• Official History

• Newspapers

I am proud to invite you, thereader, to share the history of my family and my country withme.

Book 1 TheEarly Years

William Charker, for your part inthe burglary of the dwelling of Thomas Evans at St. Mary Lambethand stealing goods to the value of 33.60 you are hereby sentenced, along with your accomplice, to 7 yearstransportation in the colony of New South Wales.

William Charker

William Charker was born inWinchester, Hampshire, England on 16th of December 1774. Thefourteenth child of a family of fifteen, his father, EdwardCharker, a Tallow Chandler and his mother Elizabeth (nee Barr). TheCharkers were wealthy traders and yeoman farmers, and so William was welleducated and independent. Yet on the 7th of December 1800, he inexplicably became involved (with anaccomplice) in a substantial burglary at the dwelling house ofThomas Evans at St Mary Lambeth stealing goods to the value of33.6.0.

The two were arrested and tried on25th of March 1801 at the Surrey Assizes. Each sentencedto only seven years, even though their crime was a capital offence. At his trial, his name given asWilliam Charker, alias William Chalker, was is the first known useof the alias which became his usual name inAustralia, except on Legal Documents and Government Correspondence,where he always used Charker.

William had known a little aboutNew South Wales. He had said to Thomas my knowledgeamounted to little more than that after being discovered by theexplorer James Cook in 1770, New South Wales had become analternate for the transportation, destination of convicts, as theAmericans were no longer willing to have convicts dumped thereafter their War of Independence in in1776.

Transportation had become a viablealternate both physical and financial to storing the excessprisoners that there was no longer room in theovercrowded prisons. The short-term solutionof holding prisoners was in prison hulks moored in the rivers ofsouthern England.

Hulks were retired naval ormerchant ships that would still float but considered unseaworthy.In most cases, all the upper superstructure (Masts, etc.) had been removed, and most of the below deck space converted into gaol cells. Because of the poorcondition of the hulks, more than the usualnumber of guards were necessary and, because of the continualoutbreaks of disease created an unacceptable risk for the greaterpopulation.

Transportation costs would be aboutthe same cost as keeping prisoners in hulks but, once they arrivedin New South Wales they could be put to work and the colony wouldbecome self-sufficient in a short time. Additionally, as there was no danger of escape back intothe English general population, it became possible to cut a large number of guards.

On the 6th of December1785, Orders in Council were issued in London for the establishmentof a penal colony in New South Wales, on land claimed for Britain by explorer James Cook in his first voyage tothe Pacific in 1770.

The First Fleet is the name givento the 11 ships which left Great Britain on the 13th ofMay 1787 to establish a penal colony that became the first Europeansettlement in Australia. The fleet consisted of two Royal Navyvessels, three store ships and six convict means oftransport , carrying more than one thousand convicts, marinesand seamen, and a vast quantity of stores. From England, the Fleetsailed south-west to Rio de Janeiro, then eastto Cape Town and via the Great Southern Ocean to Botany Bay, arriving in mid-January 1788, taking two hundred and fifty-two days from departure to finalarrival.

William went first to the CountyGaol and then on to the prison hulk HMS Prote. Prote started as asixty-four-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in1772. Captured by the Royal Navy on the 24th of February1780 and converted to serve as a prison ship in 1799, then finallybroken up in 1815.

William surveyed his surroundings, and later he would recall to hischildren.

The conditions on board thefloating gaols were appalling; the standards of hygiene were sopoor that disease spread quickly. The living quarters were so badthat it was like living in a sewer. The hulks were cramped, and we had to sleep in fetters. We had to liveon one deck that was barely high enough to let a man stand. Theofficers lived in cabins in the stern.

When on arriving on board, we wereall at once stripped and washed in two large tubs of water, then,after putting on a suit of coarse slopclothing, we were put in irons and sent below with our own clothesbeing taken from them.

We now werepoorly dressed as well as unhealthy. They were supposed to give us a linen shirt, a brown jacket and a pair ofbreeches but the men who controlled the ships often pocketed themoney the government had given for our clothes.

Six-hundred of us were confined inthis floating dungeon, most of us were double-ironed , and I saw the horrible effects arisingfrom the continual rattling of chains, the filth and verminnaturally produced by such a crowd of miserable inhabitants, theoaths and execrations constantly heard amongst them ... The sick were given little medical attention and werenot separated from the healthy.

I felt elated when finally, inJanuary 1802, I was transferred to the convict transportCoromandel. Us convicts were housed below decks on the prison deckand often further confined behind bars. In many cases, we were restrained in chains and only allowed ondeck for fresh air and exercise. Conditions were cramped, and weslept on hammocks.

We departed from Spithead incompany with the Perseus on 12 February 1802.

As soon as they cleared Englandconditions aboard improved. They were now no longer considered athreat of escape and so the restrictions were somewhat eased.

As they sailed south to and pastthe Canary Islands, the daily routine wasbeginning to set in. At four in the early morning,the prisoner cooks (three in numbers) were admitted on deck and atfive-thirty. The captain of his division (the convict nominated asa senior convict) joined the other captains on the upper deck tofill wash tubs while the remaining prisoners commenced taking uptheir hammocks. By 8.00 AM, William and the first half ofthe prisoners were allowed to wash . Withinhalf an hour the other half could wash. Breakfast was at eight, and during breakfast, the ships crew were washing the upper deck and water closets

While heading southwards across theAtlantic to Rio de Janeiro, they ran into thefirst of many storms.

William managed to keep his fooddown, but the ship became awash with vomit. The seasoned sailorsjoked about the convicts predicament. It must be realised thatmost of the convicts had never been to sea and were stillrecovering from the cramped conditions aboard the prison hulks.