Chapter 6: New Land New Life

 

I was very shaky when I first went ashore for it had been a long time since I had stood on dry land. I couldn’t believe that I had finally arrived in the new country, but when I looked around everything was so alien to me, even the air smelt different.

I didn’t have much time to think about it, for we were all hastened over to the marshalling area where a lot of what looked like wealthy men were standing. They started to walk among us, one man pointed at me, and I was taken to one side. Soon there were four of us, another boy, about my own age and two older men.

“How do you do” said the Man “my name is George Mossman you will call me Mr Mossman, you will be working for me on one of my property on the Williams River.” He told us.

To get there we would be traveling by boat.

 From Sydney we travelled to a place called Newcastle by sailboat, and then from there we went by steamer up the Hunter and Williams rivers. This only took a couple of days,

 If we had travelled by land it would have taken us weeks.

Mr Mossman had a very large property and I was to be one of his farm hand.

Once I got use to the ever-ending heat, the flies and the mosquitos, I really loved the hard work I was now doing.

 I had various Jobs, clearing land, digging out tree stumps, cutting down trees, looking after animals, planting and tending crops.

Mr Mossman was a good man and if you worked hard and did what he told you to do you were treated justly, so this is what I tried to do at all times.

 Mr Mossman grew a few different crops like wheat, maize, and tobacco so I tried to learn as much about growing these crops as I could for I was sure this would helped me when I became a free man and it sure did.

I received my Certificate of Freedom on the 25 July 1842; I should have received it earlier for it was dated 10 December 1841, cheating me of seven months of freedom.

Now I had to decide what I was going to do for the rest of my life.