You feel yourself blushing in surprise and joy.
The minutes tick by in the stale office, as the clerk reads the disembarkation list for the last year and eight months, as it was near that long ago now that you saw Da being sentenced, and he could have arrived any time since then.
You are doing what Ma used to call ‘bargain-praying’, which she’d warned you the Lord didn’t always like, but nonetheless you are promising Him your devotion and spotless behaviour for the rest of your days if only you can find Da when the clerk says: ‘Patrick Ryan – Patrick Sean Ryan? He’s here,’ and jabs his finger at the page.
Your heart leaps out of your chest like a dolphin out of the water.
‘Well, he was here in November last year, anyhow,’ continues the clerk. ‘As a convict aboard the ship Midas, which sailed from London, and arrived 23rd November 1825 with your da on board. There’s nothing noted of where he went to from there. Says he has a fourteen-year sentence, so hopefully he’s behaving himself and working for a ticket of leave.’
When you step out of the office, you take Molly’s hand and dance a little jig. She shakes you off, embarrassed but pleased.
‘You’re mad as a lamb in the springtime,’ she says.
You start singing, ‘My da is in Van Diemen’s Land, oh blessed be the day!’ to the tune of ‘Beautiful Eileen’ – and you don’t care who hears it.
‘Thank you, Waylitja,’ you whisper, with a smile as big as a rainbow. You see a green bird flash overhead and feel tears prick your eyes.
YOUR SECOND GREAT shock for the day comes soon after.
You and Molly meet up with the master at the wharf and accompany him to the same gaol you were held in when you first arrived in Hobart Town. Your master is looking over a line of wretched, downcast women, aiming to choose his next servant, when you suddenly see that one of them is Sarah.
You gasp, and almost fall to your knees. Tears spring to your eyes.
‘Sarah!’ you hiss. ‘Sarah, it’s me!’
She looks up, and her eyes grow wide. The state she’s in makes your stomach drop. Her lovely thick hair has been shorn off, leaving raggedy patches behind, and her brown eyes have sunk into her face, which is no longer round but gaunt. Her eyes are surrounded by a bruised darkness, and her prison smock shows her painfully thin wrists and ankles.
It takes every ounce of your self-control not to throw yourself at her. Carefully, now, you think. Play this right, and she’s ours to take home… then we’ll live together like sisters, as I promised her.
‘Pardon me, sir,’ you whisper, tugging at your master’s elbow. ‘If it interests you to know, I can personally vouch for the good character of one of these women here.’
It’s not much, for one convict to vouch for another’s good character, but as the master has nothing else to go on, he looks slightly interested. ‘Which one?’
‘Her, sir. Sarah MacBride.’
Sarah raises her head in acknowledgement and then looks respectfully back at her toes.
‘She’s an honest, loyal worker,’ you go on. ‘A sensible and good girl.’
The gaoler overhears you. ‘MacBride is not a sensible or good girl,’ he sneers, loudly enough for everyone to hear. ‘She had a second chance at life after murdering her own father with a broken bottle … and she ran away from her new master as soon as she had the chance. She’s not fit to wipe your boots on, sir. She’ll corrupt your servant-girl, there’ – he nods at you – ‘and you’ll never see either of them again.’
Sarah’s voice comes out in a sob. ‘I was ill-used by them!’ she chokes. ‘My da and Mr Taversham both. Every day!’
‘Shut up!’ shouts the gaoler, and tears begin running down your face. To see Sarah again, and think you might not be able to save her, or hold her … it’s almost unbearable.
To your amazement, though, the master speaks directly to Sarah. ‘Who did you say he was – your old employer?’ he asks.
‘Mr Taversham,’ she whispers, ‘in Jericho.’
You can hardly believe it. Sarah was in the settlement right next to Bothwell the whole time!
‘I know the man,’ your master says, with a disgusted tone to his voice that you’ve never heard before. ‘He’s a drunkard and a womaniser. He’s the one not fit to wipe my boots on.’ He turns to the gaoler and says: ‘I’ll be informing the Police Magistrate that Taversham’s not fit to be assigned any more female convicts. Sarah MacBride, you can come with us.’
To read a fact file on convicts in Van Diemen’s Land click here, then return to this page.
To continue with the story, go to scene 29.
Why did the master take Sarah home with you that day? Was it to get back at the man he so disapproved of, Mr Taversham? Did he feel sorry for her? Or was it that he trusted your judgement of her character? You and Sarah have time to talk about this, and a million other things, curled up in the attic bedroom you now share. She’s your sister and best friend rolled into one. You never get sick of each other’s jokes, and you seem to know just what she’s going to say before she says it. She makes the work lighter and your life in the household so much happier.
Three months pass swiftly. You turn fifteen, and Sarah bakes you a special cake. Mrs Tilsome and Robert, the master’s wife and six-year-old son, arrive at the end of spring.
Mrs Tilsome is quiet at first – seeming a bit stunned to be in Van Diemen’s Land, perhaps – but slowly she
