Uncertainty was high for convicts assigned to North Shore landholders
The first settlements on the North Shore were established on Aboriginal land which had cost nothing by way of payment to the original owners. They were part of ‘the cheapest conquest ever made by England’ said Alexander Berry, who lived in Crows Nest House on Cammeraygal country in the early 1870s.
It might be thought that during the period of convict transportation, from 1788 to 1840, wealth was created on that free land by free labour – the work of convicts assigned to landholders as servants. But from 1797, masters (and mistresses) were required to provide food, clothing and shelter for their servants. Wages were also paid, particularly before 1823.
Masters and mistresses also had to manage servants who likely did not want to work or who may have had a history of violence. Convicts had no say in where they were sent. A master might be benign or harsh, the location difficult or relatively pleasant. Convict assignment was a lottery for all involved.
In 1825, James Milson was accused of assault by his servant, convict James Murphy. The allegation was that Murphy had been ordered to herd cattle in bare feet ‘through the bush over ground infested with snakes.’ When Murphy refused the instruction, Milson struck him across the face. The bush was on land that Milson had been granted by Governor Brisbane at Kirribilli. Murphy took his complaint to colonial magistrates.
Anyone who has read The Fatal Shore, Robert Hughes’ history of Australia’s convict origins, will know that the penal system was brutal. So, it was rare that a convict felt able to say ‘no’ to his master and take up the matter of the alleged assault with the authorities. Remarkably, the magistrates determined that Milson had a case to answer. He responded with a furious letter to the Sydney Gazette newspaper detailing his servant’s incompetence and his own generosity. In the end the court could not decide fault.
In 1831 Milson was himself assaulted while apprehending the convict James McKeon, who had ‘enticed away’ a female servant employed by Milson’s son-in-law and neighbour William Shairp. This also happened at Kirribilli. McKeon held a ‘ticket-of-leave,’ a pass exempting him from service so that he could work for himself. It was a halfway station to freedom. In this case McKeon was sentenced to 14 days on a treadmill while forfeiting his ticket for three months; a light sentence given the charge of assault.
James McKeon was given his certificate of freedom in 1835. James Milson died a wealthy man in 1872. Milsons Point is named after him.
Historical Services, North Sydney Council
