The Rum Riders

The early settlers relied on convict labour to supply them with their cycle couriers. There were 15 cycle couriers in 1815 when they were first introduced. This number stayed steady until 1827 when a further 17 convicts were put to work in this fashion. Records show that although numbers stayed the same individual riders were changed frequently, probably as a result of the gruelling nature of the work and the harsh punishments metered out for offences that were often unavoidable. Both men and women were put too work in this fashion with as many as one hundred different convicts working as cycle couriers in any given year. The work was hard with heavy loads carried between many of the settler’s farmsteads as well as mail and smaller fare for Government officials and the like. By 1827, when the number of couriers was doubled, the work that they performed was of such importance to the fledgling colony that the Governor took to doubling the rum ration and the meat allowance of those convicts who achieved certain targets. Those that attained these targets (usually handed out on a job by job basis) became known as the ‘Rum Riders’ as they were frequently seen after their work had been completed riding about the settlement drunk on their additional ration of rum and full of rowdy energy. These ‘rum riders’ formed a core of couriers who had stayed in the job longer than others and had achieved a certain notoriety as a result. A particularly long serving group of Rum Riders actually formed a small cabal in the winter of 1834 and plotted to overthrow the Governor of the day and install a Jacobin style democracy in the fledgling settlement. The rebellion was defeated at a very early stage however when one of the band turned them over to the Governors men for additional rations. All the men were arrested and tried by a military tribunal. Six of the riders hung for their crimes. Three were sent to Rottnest and later died building the wharf. Only two survived and though they lived they were never able to ride again as the injuries they had received were too severe.

The life was hard, the bicycles were primitive by modern standards, usually on a fixed wheel with no brakes, there was rarely even a basket to place the goods in and so most of the couriers would construct bags from old flour sacks. A good bag was a much prized item as a lot of effort went into trying to make the bags waterproof and as hard wearing as possible as packages and mail that arrived damp or in poor condition frequently brought the rider a flogging. Flogging was common for the riders with punishment for tardiness, recklessness, wet goods, goods that had dried in the sun, goods that had not been given adequate packing in the sacks. It was not uncommon for a rider to be flogged three times in a day for offences of this nature. Riders were sent from the centre of the settlement to any and all destinations. It is hard to estimate just how far a rider would ride in any given day but the farmsteads were spread out and many riders would spend an entire day riding through the bush with a sack of mail and goods on his or her back just to drop it off with one farmer and they would then return to the settlement. If they returned late they would be flogged, usually nightfall was the cut off point but for the farmsteads that lay further out the farmer would often put them up overnight and they would return the following day. Attacks by local Aboriginals were not uncommon and a good few riders were killed or injured in this way. As the convict supply dwindled and their need in construction and farming increased the use of Aboriginal labour for cycle courier increased. These mixed groups of cycle couriers are amongst the first in Australia. Although there was often harsh divides between the convicts and the Aboriginals there was also some camaraderie and friendship between them also. In fact four of the Rum Riders involved in the plot to overthrow the Governor were Aboriginal and a later attempt at forming a courier union was lead by a mixed race man called Tobias Jones. The following extract from a letter to England shows the harsh conditions under which the Swan River settlements early bicycle messengers worked:

“Cycling in leg irons is a most difficult and indeed tiresome affair but, once mastered, can bring certain rewards. The Governor will increase the Rum ration of any man, or woman (for here they will even put the women to work in this manner), who can complete three score or more jobs per day or ride for more than forty miles across this harsh country. He has also been known to offer double the meat rations to those riders whom he deems to be of the hardest metal. I have taken to riding in a fashion that is both fast and feckless with little regard for my person nor those around me as this is the only way to ensure that I transfer the goods in manner to which the Governor and all his men insist. I fear the floggings that result from a late delivery and I cannot deny that the additional rum is most welcome. The shouts of anger and annoyance as we rattle past on our way to the court or the Governors house or some homestead or other serve only to sharpen our determination and many of us have developed a wit to match their anger. For we are the lowest of the convicts in many free peoples eyes, too rough for even farm hands, too simple for clerical work and too light fingered for the stores and docks we rank at the bottom of the convict ladder, below even the lowliest farm hand. It is, dear sister, far from the truth of the matter, despite what you may hear, and we riders are not only as fine a band of men and women as you would find anywhere on this Earth but we are also from many walks of life. I myself was once a printers letter maker, a member of the printers guild and were it not for the crime of printing union letters I would still be so. Jack, one of the finest riders here, was a tanner from Oxford way and has fashioned a bag from Roo skin that is the envy of us all. There is even a native rider, who stood accused of murdering a sergeant in the dead of night (although we all know the sergeant was of ill temper and a fiend for the rum with a powerful temper) and earned himself a set of irons and a life in the saddle along with the rest of us. Two of the riders hail from Ireland and their only crime was to try and feed their starving children whilst their landlords took all that they saw for themselves.

After the day is done we gather around a fire and tell stories of the lives we had and the lives we now lead. We are comrade’s dearest sister and stand together, riders one and all. Who would have thought that we could sail to the ends of the Earth and that the same things that stood true in the bowels of darkest London would stand true here, but tis as true now as when I first laid eyes on the works of Thomas Paine; “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.” So my leg irons keep me in bondage to my English masters but I ride with men and women who share my vision of freedom and fraternity for all and whose every waking hour is spent pushing the limits of what their endurance will bear. It is that dearness for my fellow man that keeps my heart and soul free whilst my legs are in chains.”

For 24 the crack whore. Yes I’m reading and romanticizing ‘The Fatal Shore’ brother! If your gonna write fiction it might as well be fiction!!