| | | No 9 – ROCKY HILLS
PROBATION STATIONThis station is situated about forty miles from Campbell Town on the West Coast of the Deep Bay, enclosed between Maria Island, the Schoutens and Peninsulas to the North, and the main shore of Van Diemen’s Land. It was originally opened for the use of a road party.
The prisoners of the ships “Samuel Boddington” and “Palmyra”, two of the last importations from England were sent direct to this station to serve their periods of Probation (all other prisoners having been removed) and have never been mixed up with the older classes of Convicts.
The huts for the accommodation of the First Class Prisoners contain thirty men, each. Those for the “second class” fourteen each, and are built of wood; they are good but rather small for that number. There are many old huts on the low ground but are not made use of. The buildings on the Station might with very little trouble, be made good. There is a good general store formed partly of stones and brick. The provisions are kept in its upper story. The Cook and Bakehouse are in one.
The Chapel and School House are a mere shed.
The Hospital is a large room. Orders had been given to divide it in the centre but the arrangement was not carried out. The prisoners bedding is hung out in the Yards, of which there are two besides one in the separate apartments. This is not considered a good plan. The fire place of the Hospital was knocked to pieces from chopping wood upon it. The tables dirty and the blankets black with filth, and no man’s case written above his head.
Fifty of the separate apartments are occupied by fifty men who compose the third class, and who are under distinct treatment.
These apartments were kept extremely dirty – they are on the radiating principle similar to those at Fingal, Brown’s River, and Jerusalem and are fitted up in two stories.
The Solitary Cells have a gallery with an iron grated door to it – they are of brick, and boarded inside. The Watchhouse is not well built.
There are three hundred acres of good land near this station. One hundred and sixty eight of which are in cultivation. The potatoes were promising well. There is some small pine, and a variety of timber, but not much lightwood. The soil is not very good.
It had been suggested that there should be no further clearance of new land, but that the present extent be properly fenced, drained and prepared for cultivation, in order that it might be afterwards be worked by a reduced number of men.
The number of men attached to this Station, as will be seen in Schedule 1 is four hundred and six.
The effects of bad management, inattention and inefficiency in the Officers of this establishment was evident in every detail. It was such as almost entirely to neutralize the good results that might certainly have been secured, by the complete isolation of the men under the primary probation from other Convicts.
The prisoners were noisy in the extreme, and exhibited a most disorderly appearance, they were badly clothed, their hair long, and about one half of them barefooted. Though the latter circumstances was not attributed to the neglect of the Officers in charge.
Dirt and disorder, and want of method, were met with in every quarter; the Hospital not excepted.
The necessity of making an example of all those participating in this disgraceful state of things was acknowledged, and steps taken to effect a thorough change in the Superintendence and management of the Station.
As to position, the Station has little to recommend it but its inaccessibility. | | |