Midsummer's Eve

We were regarded with some curiosity by the people in the foyer of l"e hotel, but I expect they were accustomed to arrivals from England for I learned later how many people, like the Prevosts, were coming out attracted by the cheapness of the land and the labour of convicts which meant that they could start to build a fortune without a big initial outlay.

My father had arranged for the bulk of our baggage to remain at the docks until it could be sent straight to the property.

And so we had arrived in Australia.

Outback

The days which followed were full of new experiences.

Helena and Matthew went through a marriage ceremony in accordance with the custom here; and my parents with Jacco went to the property which was some two hundred miles north of Sydney. I wanted to go with them but Helena was so frightened at being left without me that I said I would stay behind. My father's idea was that he and my mother should "spy out the land" and find out what living conditions at the property would be like. He knew there was a dwelling house and that in the interests of the property it had been added to over the years; but he did want to make sure that conditions would not be too primitive, and before we moved out he wished to investigate.

The manager of the property had come to Sydney to welcome us. He was a man of about thirty with strong features and dark curly hair. His skin was very bronzed and his hearty manner seemed to us a little brash, but I think that was more or less natural to people here for although they had originally come from England, life here had changed them. I had the idea that some of them despised us for our courteous manners and more refined way of speaking. Gregory Donnelly was a man of the country. Strong, uncompromising, independent, contemptuous of those unlike himself, a man who would be ready to face any difficulty and, I imagined, make a good job of extricating himself.

He was what Mrs. Penlock would have called "a real man." I felt a faint revulsion towards him on the first day we met.

"Hi... ya," he said. "So here you are, Sir Jake. I've been expecting you for years.

We've got a lot to show you.”

"This is my wife," said my father.

"Lady Cadorson," replied Gregory Donnelly, bowing his head with a gesture of respect which he managed to convey that he did not feel.

"My son ... my daughter ...”

Did I imagine it or did his eyes linger on me with a hint of speculation? I felt myself growing hot under his scrutiny. I felt he was trying to see too much of me, to sum me up in a somewhat crude manner.

"So what's your plan, Sir Jake?”

"I'm coming out to take a look at things. We all want to come out. We have two more with us ... a relative of my wife and the man she will be married to very soon. We didn't expect they would be with us, and I am wondering what accommodation there is out there. That's what I want to make sure of.”

"Well, there ought to be room. There's a shack adjoining the place which I could move into. Casual labour use it, but there's no one there now.”

"We'll come and take a look," said my mother.

"That's best, Lady Cadorson. I don't promise the ladies there'll be what they're used to.”

"We shall probably be able to get a few things in Sydney," suggested my mother.

"Reckon there'll be no trouble at all. It's a fine town, Sydney. Every time you come in there's something new. Buildings seem to spring up overnight. There's plenty of labour about. Should be another cargo coming in soon.”

My mother looked horrified to hear human beings referred to as cargo-criminals though they might be.

Gregory Donnelly had a meal with us and there was a great deal of discussion about what would be needed. Helena and Matthew had been introduced to him. I saw his quick appraisal and dismissal of Helena which angered me. There was an arrogance about him which I found distinctly irritating. He was a disturbing man; his essential masculinity made one think of relationships between men and women and I would rather not be disturbed by such thoughts.

Matthew was very interested to meet him and I could see that he was preparing to ask him many questions.

There was no lack of conversation. Gregory Donnelly made sure of that.

Jacco asked how long the journey out to the property would take.

"Depends," said Gregory Donnelly. "Good horses might do the journey in a couple of days. You can take a buggy. There are two inns where you can spend a night. I usually camp down somewhere. I know the place. Been coming in and out of Sydney for years.”

"You make it sound simple, Mr. Donnelly," said Jacco.

"I'm Greg," he said. "We don't stand on ceremony out here. I don't know myself as Mr. Donnelly. That all right with you, Jacco?”

"That's all right," said Jacco, and Gregory Donnelly turned his eyes on me.

"That goes for all round," he went on. He looked rather apologetically at my father.

"Better to fall in with the ways of the natives. Makes for the easy way.”

"I'm quickly realizing that," said my father.

And from then on he was Greg.