Aborigines of Van Diemen's Land, 1830-1840 - Page 169
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[Page 169]
Robert Jones, Sworn, Saith I am married to Mrs Davis the owner of Land and Stock at Four square Gallows. On my arrival in the Colony in 1817 I engaged in the service of Mr Morris at the Tea Tree Brush. The Natives were mischievous at that time, but less dangerous than they are now.
A Man with a Gun would frighten them away. They killed white people at that time, when a good opportunity occurred. I cannot charge my memory at present, with the name of any person then killed by them. I never fell in with any of the Natives before the 17th March 1819. On that day I, and my fellow servant James McCandless, were tending Morris's and Stockers's sheep near the Stocker's Tier, a mile or two from the Macquarie River. James Forest a servant of Mr Whitehead who had come up to draw off some sheep, was with us. In the evening of the 17th March McCandless ran into the hut, out of breath, and told Forest and me that he had been chased by the Natives whom he had discovered in the act of spearing our Master's sheep in the Plain. McCandless