The convicts in general had suffered much through want of
clothing and bedding. Indeed, during the late harvest, several gangs were seen
labouring in the fields, as free of clothing of any kind as the savages of the
country.
—David Collins, An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, volume 2, 102.
—David Collins, An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, volume 2, 102.
As a rule, everybody needed clothes, and there were set rations,
if you were dependent on the Crown. As early as 1804 (though the rules were
probably older), the clothing to be provided to convicts was laid down in
regulations:
The following Proportion of Cloathing will be issued in
future to those at Public Labour, about the 25th of December and the 4th June
annually, when the Store will allow of that Distribution viz.
December for each Man 1 Frock, 1 Shirt, 1 Pair of Trowsers, 1
Pair of Breeches, and 1 pair of Shoes;
June For each Man 2 Jackets, 2 Shirts, 1 Pair of Trowsers or
Breeches, 1 Hat, and 2 Pair of Shoes. [1]
Just over a year
later, there was an issue of “slop clothing” in Sydney. This was a common term
in the Royal Navy and also in the colony, where slop or slops meant generic
clothing. In 1805, readers of the Gazette saw that there was to be an issue of
“Slop Cloathing”:
To Overseers—One Pair of Shoes, two Shirts, one Pair of
Trowsers, and a Hat.
To Male Prisoners—A Frock, Shirt, Pair of Trowsers, and Hat.
To Female Prisoners at Public Labour—A Jacket, Petticoat,
Shift, Cap, Handkerchief, and Pair of Stockings.
The former Orders, forbidding the Purchase or Disposal of Slop
Cloathing issued to Prisoners at Public Labour, remain and continue in force. [2]
The honest folk, those not entitled to a handout of slops
from the government, went to shops like the one run by Anna Lewin the wife of
painter John Lewin. This carried many products (although the reference to ‘gunpowder’
means a type of tea that resembles gunpowder, not the stuff used in muskets).
No shopkeeper could afford to be a specialist when cargoes
took three to six months to arrive, or even more, and they would buy anything
that would sell. The three advertisements that follow appear in this order on
the same page in a single issue of The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales
Advertiser, in January 1810. [4]
For Sale by Thomas Abbott, Corner of Barrack Row, frilled
shirts 7s. each, Bandanna handkerchiefs 3d. per piece; plain shirts 6s. 6d.
each, good tobacco 2s. 3d. per lb. by the basket, sugar 13d. per lb. by the
bag, and 12d. per lb. by the ton, yellow soap 2s. 3d. per lb. superfine
broadcloths 10s. per yard; printed cambrick by the piece 6s. per yard, check
shirts 7s. each, longcloth, 26 yards to the piece, at £7, coffee and tea, flat
irons and iron pots 7d. per lb. threads by the lb. and tapes by the dozen, and
a variety of other Articles…
John Driver in Chapel Row had even more varied stock:
…Irish linen coarse and fine, black cambrick and capital
bombazeens for mourning dresses, toys in great variety, artificial flowers,
ladies’ coloured silk bands and tassels, ear and finger-rings, gold lace,
knives and scissars, gilt, shirt, and cambrick buttons, gloves, stockings,
spy-glasses, writing, paper, pins, needles, thread, sewing cotton, best Hyson tea,
common ditto, soap, vinegar, decanters, wine glasses, rummers, tumblers,
dishes, plates, mugs, basons, black and coloured silk handkerchiefs, muslin
ditto, veils, cambrick muslins,…India muslin, large elegant shawls of superior
quality, shoes and boots, sugar candy, pepper, ginger, beans, dried fruits, and
many other articles…
Michael Hayes was a leather specialist, but like the other
merchants, he was willing to sell anything else that could be obtained, and soon
after this advertisement appeared, he was also allowed a wine and spirit
licence.
ON Sale, at the warehouse of M. Hayes, an extensive assortment of Leather; consisting of Morocco and Spanish coloured skins, English tanned seal leather and wax calf skins, seal skins, cordovan, brown and white sheep skins, Hessian boot legs boots and shoes, boot top leather, ladies and children’s shoes of all colours, russet calf skins for ladies’ shoes; Also, a variety of other Goods, consisting of cloths, prints, linens, stuffs, calicoes, shawls, teas, sugar, wines, &c. &c. as well as a variety of brass wares.
Over time, some
merchants began to specialise, and by the 1840s, much of George Street in Sydney
was given over to shops. Louisa Meredith said it was about a mile and a half (2
km) long, with good shops offering all sorts of merchandise.
One long street traverses its whole length, about a mile and
a half, full of good shops exhibiting every variety of merchandise; and in the
afternoon, when the ladies of the place drive out, whole strings of carriages
may be seen rolling about or waiting near the more “fashionable emporiums,”
that being the term in which Australian shopkeepers especially delight. [5]
I have heard it asserted (but cannot now find a source for
it) that in the early days, men working in paddocks would wear just a long
shirt in order to keep cool. An article on the governor’s expenses, taxes and
the cost of rum in The Monitor in
1828 refers to agricultural workers’ removing their shirts when labouring.
…the shearers of the harvest of this Colony…when, sweating
under an almost vertical sun, with their backs burnt (as we have often seen
them) as deep in colour as a cake of patent chocolate…the above-mentioned
mahogany-backed shirtless reapers…[6]
[1]
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales
Advertiser, 15 January 1804, 1, http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/625985
[2]
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales
Advertiser, 3 February 1805, 1, http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/626609
[3]
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales
Advertiser, Sunday 12 June 1808, 2, http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/627525
[4]
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales
Advertiser, 21 January 1810, 4, http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/627915
[5]
Louisa Ann Meredith, Notes and Sketches
of New South Wales, 38.
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