who came out in the _Bellona_ having fixed on a
situation at the upper part of the harbour above the Flats, and on the
south side, their different allotments were surveyed and marked out; and
early in this month they took possession of their grounds. Being all free
people, one convict excepted, who was allowed to settle with them, they
gave the appellation of '_Liberty Plains_' to the district in which their
farms were situated. The most respectable of these people, and apparently
the best calculated for a _bona fide_ settler, was Thomas Rose, a farmer
from Dorsetshire, who came out with his family, consisting of his wife
and four children. An allotment of one hundred and twenty acres was
marked out for him. With him came also Frederic Meredith, who formerly
belonged to the _Sirius_, Thomas Webb, who also belonged to the _Sirius_,
with his nephew, and Edward Powell, who had formerly been here in the
_Lady Juliana_ transport. Powell having since his arrival married a free
woman, who came out with the farmer's family, and Webb having brought a
wife with him, had allotments of eighty acres marked out for each; the
others had sixty each. The conditions under which they engaged to settle
were, 'To have their passages provided by government*; an assortment of
tools and implements to be furnished them out of the public stores; to be
supplied with two years' provisions; their lands to be granted free of
expense; the service of convicts also to be assigned them free of
expense; and those convicts whose services might be assigned them to be
supplied with two years' rations and one year's clothing.' The convict
who settled with them (Walter Rouse, an industrious quiet man) came out
in the first fleet, and being a bricklayer by trade they thought he might
be of some service to them in constructing their huts. He had an
allotment of thirty acres marked out for him.

[* Government paid for each person above ten years of age the sum of
eight pounds eight shillings; and allowed one shilling _per diem_ for
victualling them; and sixpence _per diem_ for every one under that age.]

Many more officers availed themselves of the assent given by government
to their occupying land, and fixed, some at Parramatta and others in
different parts of the harbour, where they thought the ground most likely
to turn out to their convenience and advantage. They began their
settlements in high spirits; the necessary tools and implements of
husbandry were f