What Col. Light Thought of Port Lincoln

We have considered the treatment meted out to the Aborigines by white visitors and others, and the question of murders by natives and the retaliation by whites will be considered later on. 

The Aborigines were not omitted from the scheme of settlement. The Board of Commissioners in its first report to the British Government outlined its views on the subject. The staff sent out, had been instructed to guard against personal outrage and violences, to protect the natives in their proprietary rights to the soil wherever such right was found to exist, that where land was taken from them, permanent subsistence shall be supplied to them from some other source. 

Reviewing its task, the board stated : "It is a melancholy fact, which admits of no disguise, and which cannot be too deeply deplored, that the native tribes of Australia, have hitherto been exposed to injustice and cruelty, in their intercourse with Europeans. Squatters, runaway convicts, deserters from vessels employed in the fisheries, have long infested the coast of New Holland, and have dealt with the Aborigines as if they regarded them not as members of the human family, but as inferior animals created for their use. Outrages cannot be repressed where no legal authority exists. And it is only in the neighborhood of the British settlement that the protection of the British law can be extended to the native tribe. The colonising of South Australia by industrious and virtuous settlers, as far from being an invasion of the rights of the aborigines, is a necessary preliminary to the displacement of the lawless squatters, the abandoned sailors the runaway convicts, the pirates, the worse than savages that now infest the coast and island along that extensive portion of New Holland, and perpetrate against the defenceless natives crimes at which humanity revolts." 

The Colonial Commissioner was instructed to carry out the desires of the Home Government, and he had to report to the Protector of the Aborigines, who had been appointed by the British Government. The Commissioners were so satisfied with the scheme they had formulated that the said "the colonisation of South Australia will be an advent of mercy to the native tribes."

LIGHT'S EXPERIENCES 

It is fortunate that our early settlers were fond of keeping diaries and journals, and recording everyday events. We are particularly indebted to Colonel William Light for preserving the record of his movements from the time of sighting South Australian shores onward. Light's journal was published in book form in the very early days, and in the year 1911, the Royal Geographical Society of Australia (South Australian branch) re-printed it. The following account is taken from the journal. 

Col. Light in the Rapid, first sighted South Australian land on August 17, 1836, and next day made the land to the east-ward of Encounter Bay as named by Capt. Flinders, whose description of that part of the shore exactly coincided with the scene which Light saw. Light immediately took up his shore duties, as well as captaining the boat for the remainder of the voyage. His paramount duty now was to select the site for the future settlement and the site for the first town or capital. The sandy shore, from somewhere east of the Murray mouth, where it is probable Light made the land, towards Port Elliot of today, was uninviting for a settlement. 

We can picture Light on the bridge with his telescope scanning the shore as his boat tacked back and forth, against a strong northerly wind toward Kangaroo Island. He anchored in Antechamber Bay on August 19. From there he went to Nepean Bay, arriving there on August 20. After Encounter Bay, the next place to come under review was Nepean Bay and district, which to his practical eye, did not present any special features for the settlement. However, a survey of the bay was made, which with a closer examination of the eastern shore of St. Vincent Gulf, occupied, the time until October 11, when he returned from the north to Rapid Bay, having decided to evacuate Kangaroo Island. The survey party with stores was landed at Rapid Bay as a temporary expedient. 

On October 29, Capt. Lipson was instructed to proceed to Port Lincoln in the Cygnet (Capt. Rolls) and there await the arrival of the Governor. On November 2, Light decided to divide his survey forces, one party around Rapid Bay and the other on the Adelaide plains. These two surveys and examinations would occupy the time "during my absence at Port Lincoln or elsewhere" wrote Light. 

VISIT TO PORT LINCOLN 

Up to this time only official and South Australian Company's boats had arrived except the Tam O'Shanter [sic] [the Tam O'Shanter arrived 20 Nov 1836]  (which had been dispatched by O. Gilles), but now the Africaine arrived [4 November 1836] and Gouger as spokesman wanted to know where they should settle ; that is, within less than three months of Light's arrival, some of the newly-arrived immigrants expected the site of the settlement should have been chosen. No definite reply could be given, the nearest solution, at that time, was Holdfast Bay, temporarily. Light returned to Holdfast Bay, in the Africaine. 

On November 12, writing from Holdfast Bay to the Colonisation Commissioners, after narrating his views of the eastern shore of St. Vincent Gulf, he said in the fifth section of that letter : "If I had time to examine the other side of this gulf, Port Lincoln, and Gulf Spencer, perhaps some better place might have been found for the stores." 

Even at this early date, there was discontent as to the site, and exception was taken to Light's action in unloading stores, but he was confident that the district on the eastern side of St. Vincent Gulf was worthy of the best consideration. 

Events were moving quickly, for by November 22, Light was able to write to the Commissioners that "the eastern coast of Gulf Saint Vincent is the most eligible, if a harbor could be found — that harbour is now found — more extensive, safe and beautiful than we could have hoped for" and further on in the same letter he wrote : "I have never seen a harbor so well supplied with little creeks that would answer for ship building as this." 

At that time there was no doubt in Light's mind that examination further afield would be useless and a waste of time. But so much had been heard about Port Lincoln, that he felt it incumbent on him to visit. He again visited Rapid Bay and Nepean Bay, and on December 2, 1836, he left Kangaroo Island at 5 p.m., for Port Lincoln, passing the Althorpe Islands at 11 p.m. and hove to at midnight. At 4 a.m. the following morning the voyage was resumed, passing the Wedge at eight o'clock. At noon he was off Thistle, by 5 p.m. the entrance to Port Lincoln was "apparent." With calms, ebb and flood tides, very light and variable winds all night, after many shifts of winds, sudden gusts and a great deal of trouble, it was not until 10 a.m. on December 4 that the Rapid came to anchor under Grantham Island. 

"BEST PLACE FOR CAPITAL" 

The Cygnet was anchored in the bight of the harbor, and within an hour Capt. Lipson came on board Light records Lipson's views in the journal as "he spoke most highly of this harbour and the land, and thought there could be no doubt of it being the best situation for the capital." Port Lincoln was not viewed favorably by some of the early English. First Flinders made his examination after the tragic loss of a boat's crew at Memory Cove, and now we have Light recording his experience : "It has been blowing hard occasionally since the 26th November, and now a perfect gale with thick raining weather. I am decidedly of opinion that Port Lincoln is no harbour for merchant ships ; looking at it as a port for men of war, well manned, plenty of boats etc., it is very well ; it is capacious, and there is excellent holding ground, but the strong gusts of wind shifting all round the compass renders the entrance not altogether so safe as the plan of it on paper would indicate. When Captain Lipson came here in the Cygnet, they had fine light easterly breezes all the way ; we, however, found that coming into this harbour was more troublesome than anything we have met since our arrival in South Australia." 

I am at a loss to understand the next entry in the journal. We have seen that under date December 4, Light records anchoring at Grantham Island at 10 a.m. The next entry is :

"December 5, at eight a.m., we reached in between Boston Island and Cape Donington." My surmise is that the afternoon of the 4th and all of the 5th was occupied in letter writing and comparing the two gulfs, and that the first part of the entry for the 5th. refers to the 4th, when the Rapid was entering the port. 

ENTRY IN JOURNAL EXPLAINED 

The solution to this puzzle will be found in a book by John Stephen on "An exposure etc. on James' six months in South Australia." In this book, when referring to Light's survey of Port Lincoln, the author said : " ..... his report which we sub-join entire." 

The report for December 4, is much fuller than the journal, and is well worth quoting, as it shows in detail the trouble Light had in entering the port. In the report it is said : " At 30 minutes past 3 a.m., being near the port, hove to till daylight, at 30 minutes past 4 made sail at 5, much lightning in the N.W., and. wind baffling : at 15 minutes past 5, sudden heavy gusts of wind from N.W. : at 31 minutes past 5 light breezes all round the compass : at 6, about two miles from Cape Donington and working up, the ship had broke off nearly two points on each tack ; rocky islands and shoals in every direction." 

Then follows the mysterious entry shown in the journal for the fifth, reading from " At 8 a.m." down to "Rocky Coast": after which the entry continues : " Blowing a strong gale from S.W., with occasional rain" and then Light anchors at 10 a.m. at Grantham Island. 

For December 5, Stephen supplies some additional details of Light's movements : "Got under weigh at 30 minutes past 5 a.m., to run up to the Cygnet, but the wind soon after blew so strong from the westward, obliged to anchor about a mile to the west-ward of the little shoal put down in Flinders' chart. Noon, blowing a gale." This version helps us to realise Light's trouble in entering port, and clearly shows the reason for the adverse report of the harbor which he subsequently made. 

With this digression and explanation, we will, follow next week Light's journal, remembering that part of the entry for December 5 refers, to December 4.