Chapter 8: South Australia- a free colony.

We are not stuck in the ruts of destiny. We have the power to break free, clear our vision and see a new life for ourselves. Tony Clark Motivational Quotes

Hardship and Mary were never strangers. When she took off with Joseph, she left her two daughters behind in Sorell, Hobart. What drove that desperate separation. Was it fear, desperation, pragmatism? Was it impossible for her to go get them? Was it an ultimatum was given by Joseph - "It's me or them?" Would it have been an easy decision, her hatred of Cowburn extending to the children? There are so many scenarios and no answers. The facts remain, she abandoned them and went with Joe.

She was leaving a growing colony that had transformed the landscape. Opportunities for former convicts or Ticket of Leave persons was not as lucrative. Free settlers and convicts now competed for work. A proclamation of freedom permitted the bearer to travel between the Australian colonies.

Mary's second choice of husband lived on the edge of legal behaviour. A common practice was to steal a sheep. Kill it, burn the hides, and salt the meat for sale. Joseph, his last court appearance indicated that he may be involved in this illegal trade. A black market activity that must have been lucrative and risky. Perhaps the risks were becoming too great and he was afraid of being caught. Maybe they both wanted to escape the past and create a new backstory. Another reason could be the increase in land prices. Sydney and Van Diemen’s Land prices had skyrocketed. Land outside of Launceston had trebled in price. South Australia was selling land at 40-49 shillings an acre.

Ironically, the South Australian colony was the concept of a convict, Edward Gibbon Wakefield. He was serving three years for kidnapping a fifteen-year-old heiress. Wakefield was no petty schemer. He was well educated and a visionary of sorts. He believed overpopulation was the root cause of Britain’s social problems and emigration to the new world was the solution. He held that previous colonisation efforts were unsuccessful because large swathes were parcelled out and depended on convict labour. The Wakefield Plan considered a more balanced approach where labourers, artisans, tradespeople, and capital worked together for betterment. The latter is supplied by investment in land and development. Those with money would create the environment, and enterprise would flourish. He dreamed big. His plan extended to successfully settle Canada and New Zealand. The further irony to his vision was that the new colony would not be built on convicts' backs but employed many ex-convicts from NSW and Van Diemen’s Land.

When the first new settlers arrived, the Kaurna people, occupied the Adelaide Plains area.

The Adelaide Hills was home to the Peramangk ranging from 'The Tiers', to the Murray Plains.

An article in the same edition of the South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register quoted above published an article "The Natives", stating that the locals were "far superior to ordinary New Hollanders"...[possessing] "a friendly disposition, honesty and inoffensive conduct." New arrivals were entreated to treat the local inhabitants with kindness. Unrecognised in this article is the brutality that the women living with the Kangaroo Island sealers and whalers were already experiencing. How exTasmanian settlers viewed Aboriginal property rights given their attempt to eradicate the population is a question that lingers. The Kauna people, recognised for their integrity were soon directed to Native Locations to make room for the colonists. German missionaries began establishing schools and villages for the displaced population. Perhaps the one gift of the Missionaries was the preservation of the Kaurna and other tribal languages allowing for a revival of the languages in the 20th Century.

15 Feb 1879 - ABORIGINES IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. - Trove (nla.gov.au) for a complete article.

Nathaniel Haile’s chronicled his life in early colonial South Australia from 1836 until 1879. He arrived about the same year as Mary and Joseph. In the beginning, he wrote Adelaide "resembled an extensive gypsy encampment".

Escaping convicts and former convicts, of course, lived in South Australia long before settlement. Some were living as whalers on Kangaroo Island. Many hid in the hills beyond what would become the city of Adelaide. The Mt Barker region was heavily forested and known as the Tiers. Ex-convicts came from New South Wales or Tasmania to settle far away from the government's heavy hand. Known for its violence, cattle thieves, and unsavoury characters, it was a dangerous place. An article appeared in the South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register (June 3, 1837 p.4) warning citizens to “Look out for convicts”. Warning of escaped convicts from NSW and Van Diemen’s Land and advises settlers to employ free settlers instead of convicts. An immigrant came by sea, whereas the convict came overland. The article concludes with a call for the establishment of a robust police force in the colony.

The South Australian Company managed the survey and sale of land. The company offered prepaid fares for skilled labourers and families to live in this utopian free settlement. Here acreage was affordable, and work was there for capable and dynamic people. So a man could make a good life for himself and his family. Wages for a labourer were considered "extravagantly high" at 4-5 shillings per day, not including rations. A skilled carpenter, stonemason could earn 7 shillings per day including rations.

Despite their "unsavoury character", former convicts were the first to labour in the colony. One of the vital building materials was timber. The Tiers men felled and sawed the wood needed to build houses and fencing. These were hardy characters, well adapted to the southern seasons. They knew hard physical labour in the new climate. They knew how to cut timber, build bridges, roads, dig wells and grow vegetables. The Stringy Bark forest of the Mount Barker area provided a steady supply of timber. Stringybark was as tough as old boots and perfect for the fledgling colony. The reprobates, the convicts, settled or rather squatted on unsurveyed land in the Adelaide Hills. This they called Old Tiers and ranged from Crafers to Bridgewater. New Tiers from Summerton to Carey Gully, known generally as the Mt Barker District.

The Tiers Men also produced the odd bushranger. George Hughes, Henry Curran and James Fox operated from Crafers to Gawler. The three held up Michael Pfender and his wife and threatened to kill them. They stole a number of items. The felons were captured and put on trial on 3 May 1840. James Fox was reluctant to be involved and received a custodial sentence. The most violent offenders Hughes and Fox were sentenced to be hanged. Rumours circulated that the tiersmen were planning to break them out of prison. Twice the prisoners were found with files. Fox was transported to NSW, dying before his journey ended. The hangman was murdered reputedly by tiersmen. Robbery with violence was not tolerated and justice was swift. The message to lawbreakers was that criminal activity would result in harsh punishment.

Joseph and Rachel Hatfield lived in the Tiers in 1839. It would be naïve to believe they had “turned over a new leaf” and became model citizens. The Tiers was a safe haven for fellow thieves and criminals. Joseph was arrested in 1837, having a stolen jacket in his possession. He spends three months in prison for his crime. As a former convict, he risked deportation. It might be that Joseph learned his lesson, or he was now more cunning. Nonetheless, he was never caught again. He is now known as Black Joe. During these years he began farming unsurveyed land.

Prison in the new colony was a rather crude affair of being chained to a tree during the night and sleeping in a tent. The tent, had an area roped off and two jailers with rifles patrolled the area. The prisoners were heavily ironed and allowed scant exercise; they slept on the ground and, even in the coldest weather, were not given blankets - a petition for relief from this harsh treatment prompted the governor to state that he was 'daily shocked at seeing the miserable condition in which [they were] placed.'

The tent was replaced with a wooden structure in 1838. Joseph would not have the luxury of dwelling in the new prison.

Escaped convicts from NSW and Tasmania were a continual source of disruption. Catching them was an expensive task, and the colony was, by 1841, close to bankruptcy. Any attempt to round them up was frustrated by the thick scrub of the Tiers. Governor Gawler gave an unofficial undertaking to leave the escaped convicts alone as long as they kept the peace. Amongst themselves, the Tiersmen regulated their behaviour, and some were informers. Black Joe was one and helped to capture the leader of the Black-faced gang, Joe Storey.

The Capture and Trial of Joe Storey.

Black Joe’s part in Storey and the gang's capture was published in the South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail. The author John Wrathall describes his experiences meeting the wiley bushranger. The article is quite lengthy. Black Joe's role in the capture was to inform Police Inspector Tolmer. Part of Black Joe's ire against Storey may have been suspicion that Storey had stolen one of his bullocks.

In the article Black Joe runs a coffee shop in 1839, he also works a team of bullocks. Mary must be managing a family and a coffee shop while Joe was away with his bullocks. Not surprising that Joe was very knowledgeable of the butchering process, he had been involved in similar practices in Tasmania.

Many ex-convicts went to great pains to hide their past. Mary Davis registers the birth of her son Joseph Alexander under the name of Rachael Hatfield. It was little wonder that many hid their convict past, and like Cowburn, developed a new backstory. One that obscured their convict past.

There is no record of Mary being drunk and disorderly. She was now a mother with a growing brood of children. Joseph was becoming successful as a farmer and butcher. They had land and two houses. Compared to the slums of England, they were living well. Joseph had several business interests and employed a young man as his accountant.

Living in the Tiers and acquiring a respectable life did not always run smoothly. However, the Hatfields were now part of the new colony. The next twenty-two years expand the family and a new chapter begins.

July 5 1817 Steals from the person of R. Nash also breaks out of H.M. Goal and absent into the woods. 50 Lashes and 12 months Goal Gang. (D.J.A, Rev RH, AWHH and AJK) Dec 8 1819 P.S./Steals a boat sail acquitted (DJA ???) June 28 1832 SS/Felony having in his possesion a quantity of mutton supposed to have been stolen. Discharged for want of evidence / W. Littleton. June 30 1832 F.J./ Having on the 17th for sometime previous kept a dog without a licence fined £20 it appearing the dog was kept for the purpose of killing sheep/W.L