This volume provides "A daily account of Public Labour performed by Crown Prisoners at Moreton Bay" in accordance with Governor Brisbane's instructions of 1824. (1)
Under the main heading (as above) and the day and date, the volume is divided into sections under the sub-headings: No., Gangs, Employments, and Remarks.
Details recorded under each sub-heading are as follows:
No.: the number of prisoners employed in each Gang, with the Total at the end of the list (lowest Total: 415; highest Total: 789). A separate entry at the end of the daily account, not included in the Total, records the bullock driver's name, the number of bullocks used and the work done.
Gang: the type of occupation including Clerks, Overseers, Mechanics and Labourers, Splitters and Fencers, Agricultural Establishments, Camp Gang, Stock Keepers and Carters, Light Gang, Barrack Establishment, In Hospital.
Employments: where the labour was performed, how many were employed in each activity (for example, Barrack Establishment : 2 bakers, 2 cooks, 2 wardsmen; In Hospital: 6 attendants, 105 patients)
Remarks: each day this included the rations issued; other entries included thermometer readings, musters for inspection by the Superintendent and Divine Service, names of those who absconded, prisoners tried, names of those who died, schooner arrivals, new plantings and increases or decreases in stock.
NOTE: This volume came to be known as "Spicer's Diary". Peter Spicer was Superintendent of Convicts from 23 August 1826 - 8 May 1839. J.B. Steele states that the register was "evidently maintained by Spicer's office clerk". (2) However, the Commandant's Office has been chosen as the Creating Agency for this series because Governor Brisbane's 1824 instructions, and the 1829 regulations, gave the Commandant overall authority and responsibility for record-keeping and returns forwarded to Sydney. (3)
|