Explore "Moreton Bay" by F.W. Mole on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Sir Richard Bourke arrived in Sydney in December, 1831, to succeed General Darling as Governor of New South Wales, but the Royal pardon had not yet been served on Nigel Lording and Mary Worthington. Captain Clunie, the commandant at Moreton Bay, reported to him, after a long interval, that the reprieved prisoners had been swallowed up by the trackless, illimitable bush, and it was feared that their fate would never be known.
At the earnest and tearful importunities of Ann Worthington, Major-General Bourke directed that search without ceasing must continue to be made for the fugitives from the settlement on the Brisbane River, and the services of friendly natives were to be requisitioned for that purpose. Captain Clunie, however, made a mistake in sending natives with soldiers to search the bush for the missing convicts.