Journal of Australian Colonial History: Book Reviews
Vol. 11, 2009
Brian Walsh, Voices from Tocal: Convict Life on a Rural Estate, CB Alexander Foundation, Paterson, 2008, pbk, ISBN 978 0 7313 0610 7, iv + 140 pp, $25.00.
Brian Walsh's Voices from Tocal: Convict Life on a Rural Estate is the kind of microscopic study that provides value beyond its scope for our understanding of Australia's convict era. Not only is it a comprehensive examination of life and work experienced by many a transported convict, but in its close attention to detail, it also answers questions and raises issues of broader significance.
The period covered by Walsh is the height of the convict system in New South Wales and the estate named 'Tocal' is located in the heart of the Hunter Valley, which was opened up to free settlers in the mid-1820s. The 'voices' of the title reflects the emphasis given to the people who worked there and those who owned the estates. 'Tocal' was just the kind of large-scale pastoral enterprise that British politician Sir William Molesworth had in mind when he described convict assignment to private employers as nothing but 'a lottery', a system that debased both convict 'slave' and convict master. The reader might therefore expect that this work would provide a quintessential example of the legendary experience of transported convicts — that is, penal servitude as slave labour driven by slave masters. Any such expectations will be disappointed. Walsh cuts through this traditional distortion, which originated from the opponents of transportation like Molesworth. Furthermore, his work is refreshingly free from constrictive prisms of class or gender or race. Instead, it focuses on primary records and primary artefacts to provide evidence for the reality of life on a working pastoral station from 1822-1841.
Given the current debate about 'penal labour', the greatest value Walsh provides in a generally outstanding work is information about what constituted 'penal labour' outside the secondary punishment settlements. The nature of work; diversity of jobs; the character and attitudes of the workforce and their masters; the punishment and rewards for performance. In effect, every possible angle about life on the station is comprehensively examined. Walsh does fail to mention that from 1828 convict workers were governed also by the Master & Servants Act, which restricted the movement of free servants too and punished them by gaol terms for offences such as absence or refusal to work. Nevertheless, in general the evidence supports his over-riding conclusion that:
"Tocal's convicts in common with most convicts assigned to rural estates, were reasonably housed and fed, and not worked particularly harder than free men. What set their lifestyle apart from free men was the emotional trauma of forced separation from loved ones, their restricted movements while under sentence and the ever-present threat of a flogging if they did not live up to their master's expectations or if they resisted the convict system." (p. 70).Voices from Tocal provides valuable evidence for future research on colonial industrial relations (as opposed to penal labour). For instance, Walsh gives us details of the men's resistance when their master failed to meet what they regarded as their entitlements concerning rations, working hours or conditions. And he recounts the complete disregard for a flogging revealed by two men on a neighbouring property who slaughtered one of their master's sheep for their rations. When arrested, they told him bluntly 'You should have given us more to eat and these things would not happen'.
Throughout the text, Walsh never loses sight of the 150 men who constituted the workforce over nearly twenty years. In fact he follows many to the outcome of their lives when free. His focus on individuals demonstrates how statistics obliterate humanity. As a group the men match Lloyd Robson's quantitative sample with an average age of 25 years but the personal information accumulated by Walsh ensures we understand that while the majority were in their twenties, one of them was only 13, and one was 60. Such a vast age range makes it plain that working at Tocal would have been experienced differently.
Walsh has an eye for the detail that brings a man to life. A baby son was born to Stephen Hover after he was transported, a boy who never knew his father and whose face his father never saw. His parents' grief about their separation is revealed when Walsh tells us that the baby was christened 'Jabez', meaning 'born in pain, sorrow and trouble' (p. 1). Individual stories about the men shed light on bigger questions as well. Twelve Tocal convicts were transported for social protest rather than crime, ten of them Irishmen convicted under the Insurrection Act. Walsh provides useful context to the activities that resulted in their transportation. Significantly, he adds to the evidence that this kind of convict did not continue 'rebellious' in the penal colonies. Only two Irish protestors re-offended. One man absconded twice from Tocal. Another committed a crime (unknown) after he became free. Just as significant is the information that protestor Michael Magner returned to Ireland and brought out twelve relatives to New South Wales as free settlers, a not uncommon convict connection for immigrants to nineteenth-century Australia.
Even the two masters of Tocal during this period are a case study of bigger issues for Australian social history. Walsh declares that they highlight 'the dramatic differences in background, class, wealth and lifestyle between (them) and their convict servants'. It is the only time a somewhat sweeping conclusion overwhelms the evidence. True, the first owner, James Webber, was different in background, class and wealth. Arriving in the colony in 1822 with aristocratic introductions to Governor Brisbane and substantial capital, he quickly established the Tocal estate by land grants and assigned labour. Socially he was part of the colony's highest circles and was appointed the first magistrate at Paterson's Plains. On this point, Walsh again provides valuable context, exposing the discrepancy between policy and reality with which Webber had to contend and by analysing Webber's role in a petition to Governor Bourke that urged greater severity towards the convicts. Despite his power and status, Webber was a pioneer, with everything that implied. Like others of his background who were ambitious to make a pastoral fortune, of necessity he lived in simple quarters that were only marginally better than those of his employees. Less typically, he never developed an affection for the place. Having made his money, he left the colony in 1834 to build himself a villa in Italy.
In contrast to Webber the second owners of Tocal, Caleb Wilson and his son Felix, were of humble origin. In fact, they were people a convict could aspire to emulate. From much the same socioeconomic group as the prisoners, Caleb Wilson came to the colony as a tailor, one of those much sought-after artisans in the early days of settlement. He established himself via a 100 acre grant at Richmond and a hardware shop in George Street which he and his son developed into a lucrative business. City men at heart, they lived grandly at Potts Point and relied on a superintendent to manage Tocal. Thanks to the evidence Walsh provides, we learn it was not until 1841 that Caleb's son, Felix Wilson, began construction of the two-storey homestead at Tocal which survives today. It would be a mistake to assume this magnificent building represents the living conditions of most pastoralists during the convict era.
Voices from Tocal is an outstanding contribution to Australian historiography, a treasure-trove of well-crystallised information that is also acutely analysed. We are fortunate that Tocal itself still stands and that its current owners were prepared to publish an adaptation of Brian Walsh's thesis in a slim, well-produced book with illustrations and highlighted text that make it very 'user friendly' without detracting from the depth of analysis or its scholarship. It would make an excellent text for students and should be brought to the attention of those planning the National History Curriculum.
Babette Smith
Citation: Journal of Australian Colonial History, Vol. 9, 2009, pp. 199-202.