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THE ARDUOUS ADVENTURES OF THE CONVICT PRINTER……

a surprising saga of colonial days.

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“George Howe .”

The magistrate’s voice was calm and deliberate. A hush fell upon the courtroom as they awaited the verdict.

In the dock stood a West Indian, just over 30 years of age. Little had he dreamed of such a moment as this when he had emigrated to England ten years previous. Fortune had smiled upon to him. He was married. Happily married. And a son… Robert…. born June 30, 1795…. had brought added joy. Just five years ago, that was. And he had found good employment with various printing establishments. Even the prestigious Times newspaper.

‘Curse the day’ , he must have thought to himself, ‘when I met Thomas Jones and became his companion in crime’.

He gazed across to the public gallery where his wife sat ….sobbing.

“George Howe. … you are accused of shop-lifting at Alcester. We have heard the evidence from the lips of reliable witnesses and my verdict is that you are Guilty. And my sentence is that you shall be hanged by the neck until you are dead.”

Perhaps it was at this time a loud cry came from Mrs. Howe and echoed throughout the Warwick Assizes.

“However,” the magistrate continued in his dispassionate manner, “I am willing to commute this sentence to seven years in the New South Wales penal colony of Australia. You will be transported there this coming March in His Majesty’s ship, the Royal Admiral .”

There followed the rap of the gavel and a curt, “Court is dismissed.”

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CONVICT DAYS

In November of that same year, 1800, George Howe and his son arrived in Sydney. His wife had died during that long and dangerous voyage. But here, in this new world, his printing experience was about to stand him in good stead. His father had taught him the trade back in St. Kitts, in the West Indies. And there had been further opportunities during those ten years in London where his knowledge of this industry had been increased.

There was a convict…. George Hughes by name… who had already dabbled in the Governor’s print shop prior to Howe’s arrival. Some of Governor King’s rules and regulations for the colony were his work …..and a handbill advertising “The Recruiting Officer”. This play in which George Hughes himself appeared with a dozen other convicts was the epitome of entertainment. Members of the audience paid the price of admission with “rum, tobacco, wine and corn.” But they often found the cost of attendance was greatly increased by the numerous London–trained pickpockets who also found ample scope to ply their trade…..

George Hughes disappears mysteriously from the pages of early Australiana. It is doubtful that he was a trained printer.

But in 1802 when George Howe is appointed official Government printer we are on surer ground.

The wooden-framed press had arrived with the First Fleet – a voyage of eight months and one day – arriving in Botany Bay on January 20, 1788. Now it was at the disposal of someone who knew what he was doing. Robert, who later worked with his father in the printing factory …”a ramshackle building near Government House”…later wrote that the press was worth Two Pounds ( $4) and they had only Twenty lbs. of type.

They found it necessary to make their own ink and had continual problems with paper shortages ! But before 1802 was at an end, George Howe had issued the first book printed upon Australian soil, …..“New South Wales General Standing Orders.”

In a letter Governor King wrote to Lord Hobart he tells of the desirability for the colony to have a weekly newspaper “for which I gave permission to an ingenious man who manages the Government printing press”. “An ingenious man” certainly sounds like an apt description of George Howe, this remarkable convict printer.

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THE FIRST NEWSPAPER !

On March 5, 1803 Australia’s first newspaper was printed. It was called “Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertizer.”…..two sheets each divided into three columns. It sold at sixpence a copy and the circulation probably ran around the 300 mark. There was to be no political discussion (except what the Governor had to say…. sometimes taking up the entire front page !) nor any “personal animadversion”…that is, no disparaging remarks concerning ones fellowman. “Information is our only purpose” declared the editorial in the first issue. It should also be noted that there was Govermental censorship of what was printed.

Before long the colonists were reading news from London such as “His MAJESTY has fuffered a fevere indifpofition from a bilious complaint from which we are happy to add, he foon recovered.”( Vol. 1 Issue 7. April 17, 1803) Mind you, the “indifpofition” had occurred seven months previous and His Majesty could have had half a dozen more ‘tummy upsets’ by the time this news reached Australia ! Other issues of the Sydney Gazette (happily available on micro-film in most State Libraries,) record such exciting news as “copper mines have been opened in Bombay, India”, that 30 to 40 yards of white material had been stolen, regular barometer readings for the month, various court proceedings, the first sighting of a koala, and an attempted suicide “but a young girl in an adjoining room with remarkable presence of mind severed the suspending cord…”. Such a close encounter with the noose must have stirred memories in Howe’s own mind !

Yes, there was plenty to write about in those ‘wild colonial days’.

Howe and son Robert kept it going. They purchased the news-sheet, set the type, operated the press and delivered the finished article to the subscribers.

Not forgetting the finding of advertisers to keep the proverbial wolf from the door !

Until 1806 Howe had been a convict “maintained at Government expense. But a pardon in June of that year threw him on his own resources.” Now he needed to supplement his income with the teaching of evening classes in writing and grammar, and becoming a professional debt-collector ! In this latter task he had experienced plenty of expertise pursuing wayward subscribers …and advertisers !

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Following the death of his wife Howe found himself a mistress, a convict lass named Elizabeth Easton. From 1803 until 1810 whilst this liaison continued, she bore him five children. One of them , George Terry Howe, ( b. 18 December 1806) later followed in his father’s footsteps and launched Tasmania’s first newspaper. ( Jan 5, 1825)

TROUBLES GALORE

In 1808 Howe quarrelled with Governor William Bligh. This was the same Bligh of ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ notoriety. He is described as a man of “choleric temper” and “violent language”. And he had been appointed to take over the position in 1805 when Governor King retired. Bligh had clashed with John Macarthur ( who introduced sheep into Australia ) and tried him for sedition! The outcome was that Bligh, himself , was placed under arrest and finally recalled to England in 1810.

Howe’s quarrel had resulted in the with-holding of paper from the Government supply and the cessation of the Sydney Gazette from August 1807 until May 1808.

A further set-back took place in 1810 when the printing factory was “almost destroyed by lightning.”

But the darkest hour was about to give way to a shining day.

With the appointment of Governor Macquarie , Howe was re-appointed as the Government Printer and given a handsome salary of Sixty Pounds ( $120) a year . Two years later he married a well-to-do widow, Sarah Wills, and two children were born of this union. A business partnership with Mrs. Mary Reibey flourished. This enterprising lady had been convicted of stealing a horse, and arrived as a convict in 1792. …at the age of 15. Widowed nearly twenty years later, her business acumen was outstanding. Acres of prime Sydney land came into her hands whilst she carried on various trading practices that seemed to flourish at her touch. Howe’s financial situation increased so promisingly that we soon find him listed as “one of the foundation subscribers of the Bank of New South Wales”. And his printing business continued to prosper. “Birds of New South Wales” printed in 1813 contained eighteen coloured plates. And in 1819 Australia’s first book of poetry rolled from his press.

Under preparation was a monthly periodical when death interrupted his plans. It was May 11, 1821.

His son, Robert, stepped into the role of Government printer ….and thereby hangs another fascinating story of early Australia. ( We will investigate that saga in our next issue of Lithonet !) Meanwhile, let us be thankful for men like George Howe who pioneered the way for the mighty printing industry that exists in our nation today.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY.

· The Australian Encyclopaedia. Grolier Society 1983 Edition.

· Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne Uni. Press. Editor D.Pike.1966.

· The Making of Australians. Dent Pub. M. Page & R. Ingpen. 1987.

· Convicts & Jailers. Longman Cheshire Pub. B. & B. Kennedy. 1987

· A History of Australia. Angus & Robertson Pub. M. Barnard. 1976

· Bedside Book of Colonial Doings. Angus & Robertson. Pub. J. Heaton 1986.

· Australia’s Heritage Vol 2. Lansdowne Press. 1981 edition.

· Special thanks to the Newspaper Room of the State Library of Victoria.

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