The History of Tasmania, Volume II | Page 9

an object of importance, and Colonel
Arthur, then Governor, offered a reward for his capture. Teague, an
aboriginal boy, brought up by Dr. Luttrel, was dispatched with two
constables. They overtook Musquito at Oyster Bay: he resisted, but was
shot in the groin, and being unarmed was captured, with two women,
and conveyed to Hobart town.
It was resolved to bring him to justice. By the care of Dr. Scott he was
cured, and transferred from the hospital to gaol. Black Tom was
subsequently taken, and both were tried for the murder of William
Holyhoak and Patrick M'Arthur. Of the last of these offences the
Tasmanian was found guilty, but Musquito was convicted of both.
Marmoa, an Otaheitian, was killed with Holyhoak: Musquito had
lingered in their neighbourhood, and watched their movements for days;
he had visited their hut, and received provisions from their hands; but
on the morning of the murder he purloined the guns and removed the
dogs. Mamoa fell instantly; but the Englishman endured the misery of
long pursuit and several wounds, and dropped at last, pierced through
and through with spears.
A murder, ascribed to black Tom, for which he was not put on trial,
displayed extraordinary perfidy. This black went to the residence of Mr.
Osborne, of Jericho, demanding bread. His appearance excited great
alarm: Mrs. Osborne was there alone; he, however, left her uninjured.
Next morning her husband ran into the house, exclaiming, "the hill is
covered with savages." He stood at the door on guard, and endeavoured
to soothe them. "What do you want--are you hungry?" "Yes, white

man," said Tom. Mrs. Osborne requested them to put down their spears.
Tom consented, if the gun were laid aside: this was done. On returning
the second time with food, Osborne missed his musket, and then said,
"I am a dead man." Two blacks came forward, and, as if in friendship,
each took him by the hand. At that moment, a savage behind him thrust
a spear through his back; he uttered a loud shriek, sprang convulsively
forward, and fell dead!
Such were the men who, in February, 1825, suffered death with six
European criminals. They were unassisted by counsel, and perhaps the
evidence was not fully understood by them. It is useless, however, to
extenuate their treachery: and their execution, whether politic or not,
can scarcely be accounted unjust. But, unhappily, these deeds of
barbarity were not left to the vengeance of the law. The colonists, of
higher grades, preserved the distinction between the guilty and the
innocent, which it is the object of public trials to establish; but the
lower orders, and especially the dissolute and the worthless, justified
hatred to the race, and finally, systematic massacre by the individual
acts of such men as Musquito.
It is instructive, if not amusing, to observe how nicely the theory of
some philosophers and the sentiments of the lowest European robbers,
meet together; how, what one predicts, the other executes. The
supposed eternal laws of nature are accomplished by the wild license of
an English savage. It became the serious conviction of stockmen, that
blacks are brutes, only of a more cunning and dangerous order--an
impression which has long ceased in this colony, but which still
flourishes in Australia Felix.
Bent, the proprietor of the only newspaper published at that time,
referring to the outrages of the hostile blacks, seemed to dread these
doctrines. With great consideration he detaches Musquito's guilt from
the tribes in general: a distinction by no means trite or universally
recognised. "Until corrupted by the Sydney natives they were," he
asserts, "the most peaceable race in existence." These suggestions
deserve more praise than the highest literary skill.
The disposition to conciliate the blacks eventually contributed to the

same disastrous consequences. A tribe, of sixty, appeared in Hobart
Town, November, 1824: they came in a peaceable manner, their visit
was unexpected, and its cause unknown. On the first notice of their
approach, the Governor went forth to meet them: he assigned three
places for their fires, supplied them with food and blankets, and
appointed constables to protect them. They departed suddenly, and on
their journey attempted to spear a white man. Whether the abrupt
retreat resulted from caprice or distrust, it did not prevent a similar visit
to Launceston in the following December. There were 200 in this party.
When crossing Patterson's Plains they were wantonly fired on by the
whites, and in their return some of their women were treated with
indescribable brutality.[7] When they reached the Lake River, two
sawyers, who had never before suffered molestation, were wounded by
their spears. The recent cruelty they had experienced fully accounted
for their rage.
It was the anxious desire of the Governor to establish a native
institution, deriving its funds partly from the public