The British garrison in Australia 1788-1841: military supervision of convict work gangs. Part 2: the great roads.

The Great North Road

Although a settlement had been established at Newcastle by sea in 1810 and development had grown along the Hunter River to Wallis Plains (now Maitland) by 1818, the land barrier between the Hawkesbury and Hunter Rivers was not broken until 1820, when a party led by John Howe, Chief Constable at Windsor, reached the Hunter in the vicinity of Patricks Plains (now Singleton). Howe's route to the Hunter remained an undeveloped bush track for many years and although stock was moved to the north by this route, it was unsuitable for wheeled transport until increasing development of the Upper Hunter towards Muswellbrook and Scone brought a demand for better land communication between the region and Sydney. The task of finding a new road was allocated to Assistant Surveyor Finch and in September 1825 he completed the survey of a line of road from Baulkham Hills to the Hawkesbury River at Lower Portland Head, then across the river through rough sandstone country to Wollombi.

The line of road began at Pye's Corner, the junction of the Windsor Road and the road to Castle Hill, in 1826, passed 'through the silent and thickly wooded forest of Dural' (1) to Maroota and then on to Lower Portland Head where Isaac Solomon had obtained a licence to establish an inn and in the next year a lease to run a ferry service across the river, and the location soon became known by its content name--Wiseman's Ferry. It is possible that soldiers of the Royal Staff Corps and the Veteran Coy were initially employed as supervisors of the road gangs but the Muster Roll entries of 'Det to Road Party' do not provide confirmation of this. Dumaresq wrote in his letter to The Australian that '... returning to the old system of prisoner overseers instead of privates of the Staff corps (sic) or Veterans has been attended with great success.... An active and intelligent officer of the veterans' acted as a Justice of the Peace for the district and controlled the discipline of the road gangs.'

At the time of Dumaresq's journey the Veteran officer controlling work on the North Road was Lt Jonathan Warner who had been appointed Assistant Surveyor by Governor Darling in 1826, with an allowance for forage for two horses and an annual salary of 91-5-0 [pounds sterling], additional to his military pay, 'in immediate charge of Parties on the Northern Road leading to the Hunter's River'. Warner was also appointed a magistrate with the power to inflict a punishment of up to 50 lashes on miscreants who appeared before him. On 27 January 1827 he reported his arrival at Lower Portland Head, on the schooner Australia, to Colonial Secretary McLeay. Warner was accompanied by two soldiers, probably from the Veterans, who had been sworn in as constables, to assist him discharge his duties as magistrate. He asked McCleay for any specific instructions, for constables' staffs for his two constables and whether he needed a scourger. The infliction of lashes was carried out by a convict or ex-convict scourger, it was not the role of soldiers. Warner remained on the North Road until August 1828, when, on disbandment of the Veterans, he was replaced by Lt Percy Simpson.

Between 28 April and 5 May Lt Warner carried out a reconnaissance for a line of road from Wisemans to Wallis Plains (Maitland), leaving the previously surveyed line at Twelve Mile Hollow and striking out north-east. It is a matter for conjecture whether this was the route travelled in the opposite direction by Morisset of the 48th in 1823 in his ride from Newcastle to Windsor. Warner's report was forwarded by William Dumaresq to the Colonial Secretary. Dumaresq pointed out that a road to Wallis Plains would not service the settlers on the Upper Hunter--the main object of the North Road and no further action was taken. (2)

During the period of Warner's supervision the gangs had been accommodated in encampments of bark huts or the hide-covered tents introduced by Major Lockyer but in 1829 the first stockade complex for the use of road gangs was erected at Mt Victoria on the Great West Road. (3) At this time, too, supervision of the road gangs had become the responsibility of the Surveyor General with his Assistant Surveyors and convict overseers in detailed control. (See Part I, p. 37) A camp was established at Wisemans on the escarpment above the descent to the river and the remains of stonework located there have been the subject of archaeological research. (4)

Ian Webb, in Blood Sweat and Irons, states that stockades were constructed on the river flat adjacent to the ferry and on Devine's Hill, on the northern ascent from the river, in September and November 1830. This coincides with the decision advised by the Colonial Secretary to the Surveyor General on 27 September 1830 that it had 'been determined to work the Iron Gangs at Lower Portland Roads under Military Guard' because of the high number of escapes from the convict gangs employed there.

The letter was accompanied with 'Military Arrangements':

The guard detachment was consist of one Officer, one Sergeant and 25 Rank and File, and an Assistant Surgeon,

A guard of a Corporal and six men was to be mounted each day,

One NCO and four steady soldiers were to be sworn in as Special Constables,

Authorised allowances were three shillings a day for the officer, five shillings for the Assistant Surgeon, who had 'medical charge of the Road parties'. (5)

The 'Arrangements' laid down detailed duties for the detachment in the management of the stockade and the convict gangs, including instructions for the lay-out of the stockade. It is believed that this was the layout adopted for all stockades including No 2 Stockade at Cox's River established in 1832, the plan of which will appear in a later Part.

The Monthly Returns (WO 17), unfortunately, do not give details of detachment strengths and locations before March 1831 when Ensign Finch, 17th Regiment, is shown at Wisemans with 26 Rank and File, one private of the Veterans and an Assistant Surgeon of the 576 Regiment. Finch was relieved by Ensign Henry Reynolds, 17th Regt, in May. He reported to the Brigade Major on 5 May, the escape of five prisoners, the sentry having secured 'Wm Jones who had got over the enclosure', and on 16 May the escape of a further three prisoners, not in irons and who had just been issued with their new clothing. Reynolds pointed out that he had only two sentries to guard 140 prisoners working over one mile of road. (6) The Assistant Surgeon of the 57th does not appear in the roll of the Wisemans detachment from May, his regiment had embarked for India and he was not replaced.

In July the detachment of the 17th was relieved by a detachment of the 39th Regiment commanded by Lt Clarence Scarman, followed by Ensigns Steel and later Owen until February 1832 when Scarman returned to the command of the detachment. Scarman remained at Wisemans until May 1832 after which there are no further entries in the Monthly Returns for Lower Portland Head, Wisemans having reverted in the Monthly Returns for 1832, to its old title. (7)

May 1832 had seen the completion of the Great North Road as far as Wollombi. The road and ironed gangs were redeployed to Emu (Emu Plains) and to Mount Victoria. (8) It was a long march, especially for convicts in irons. They would have been accompanied on their march by guard detachments of the garrison regiments but no documentation confirming this has survived. It is another case of where the records of the Brigade Major's office would be of value.

The North Road did not become the artery for travel to the Hunter River settlements. The route from Wisemans to Wollombi was through sandstone scrub land, for most of its length devoid of stock food and water; it had no inns until Richard Wiseman's at Wollombi, and the introduction of a daily steamship service between Sydney to Morpeth, the limit of navigation on the Hunter, foreshadowed the run-down of the Great North Road. Surveyor General, Sir T L Mitchell summed up the situation:

   The arrival of the first steamship 'Sophia Jane' about the time of
   its completion, and the length of the road over barren mountainous
   country for upwards of thirty miles, were discouragements which no
   engineering work could avoid. (9)

Little maintenance was carried out on the road and it was soon superseded by more suitable mutes. The Great North Road from Wisemans Ferry to Wollombi is now only a bush walking track for most of its length.

(1) William Dumaresq, writing as XYZ in The Australian, 29 August 1827.

(2) Wm Dumaresq to Colonial Secretary McLeay, 13 May 1828, CSIL SR4/2011(2)

(3) William Romaine Govett, Sketches of New South Wales, Melbourne, Gaston Renard, 1977, p.47.

(4) Grace Karskens, Four Essays about the Great North Road, Kulnura, Wirrimbirra Workshop, 1996.

(5) Ian Webb, Blood Sweat And Irons, Dharug & Lower Hawkesbury Historical Society, Wisemans Ferry, 1999, p. 15; Col Sec to SG,27 Sep 1830, SRNSW microfilm 3015, f77.

(6) Ensign Henry Reynolds to Lt. Col Snodgrass CB, Maj of Bde, 5 & 16 May 1831, SRNSW CSIL 4/2108.

(7) Monthly Returns, WO17/2315.

(8) SG to Col Sec, May1832, SRNSW 4/2210.2

(9) Sir T L Mitchell, 'Report upon the progress made in Roads and in the construction of Public Works in New South Wales from the year 1827 to June 1855' Wm Hansen, Sydney, 1856.