Tears of the Moon - Di Morrissey [42]
‘That’s a kind and generous offer,’ said Conrad, but Olivia looked worried. ‘Don’t you think so, Olivia?’
‘I don’t like the idea of going back to sea.’
‘Believe me, Mrs Hennessy, the seas have gone down and it will be a lot easier and quicker.’
‘Well, if Conrad agrees. That would be very kind of you.’
They were under way late the next morning after Ahmed had brought ashore food from the galley—a fish curry and some rice. That night she slept in a narrow berth in the cabin of the Shamrock which was cramped, hot and stuffy. She found herself almost pining for the rough tree and crude canvas shelter by the comforting light of her campfire and insect– repelling smudge fire.
The next day Olivia sat quietly on the deckhouse holding her son, who was yet to be named. Conrad stood beside John Tyndall at the helm while Ahmed, on the bowsprit, guided them through the mangrove–lined stretch of Butcher’s Inlet. They had brought what they could with them, leaving the rest at the campsite and releasing the horse into the scrub.
Out on the water, the heat sapped her energy almost immediately, hitting her like the blast from a fire. Jarman Island, four miles offshore, served the estuary as a breakwater and most ships sheltered here due to the near fifteen–feet tidal drop and passengers and cargo were rowed ashore. However Tyndall and Ahmed sailed carefully but confidently into the creek and anchored at Deep Hole jetty on the opposite side of the creek to the township, where they could remain afloat.
Stepping ashore in Cossack, she felt too tired and dispirited to find anything positive about the bustling shanty town built on a strip of sand, surrounded by mangrove swamps and rocky hills. Several stone public buildings—the customs house and post office—gave some air of permanence but Olivia was disturbed to see a row of buildings with solid chains strung over the roofs and bolted into the ground around the foundations.
She glanced at Tyndall, who shrugged. ‘Willy willies—winds can get pretty high in a cyclone.’
Settling Conrad and Olivia in a sulky, Tyndall gave them a swift tour of Cossack while Ahmed loaded their belongings on a dray to take to Tyndall’s house.
The township crouched between two hills, Nanny–goat on the eastern side and Reader Head, a crag that overlooked the sea. From the south a cause-way ran through the mangroves to Roebourne. There was a wooden church and a couple of stores but by far the most active and colourful section was the Chinese quarter, also known as ‘Jap town’ which spread out towards the western boundary near the cemetery. They drove past the Chinese stores, the Indian tailor, a Japanese store, a Chinese bakery, a Turkish bath–house, opium dens and Japanese pleasure houses. Sly grog shops were plentiful and obvious. Some of the houses were little more than humpies, while the Aborigines, he said, had set up their mia-mias further out on the edge of town.
Olivia thought that the people of differing races all seemed coarse and disreputable and she only saw two women, a tired–looking older European woman and a painted Japanese girl in garish kimono who swiftly disappeared into a dim house.
That evening after Olivia and Conrad were settled in Tyndall’s simple but functional house they talked over their plans for the immediate future.
Conrad wished to go to their land as soon as possible but worried about Olivia’s strength. ‘You should be resting, with someone caring for you and the child. But I am loathe to see us stay too long here. They say the wet season is horrendous and I was hoping we would be settled in our place before then.’
Olivia still felt a little weary from the birth and the voyage but she had no hesitation in agreeing to move forward. The prospect of staying in the seamy town didn’t appeal to her and, as hard as establishing their new home might be, it was preferable. ‘I think we should set out then, Conrad. You know, seeing how the Aboriginal women live has