For some time the township of Tarraville was a
favourite place of residence, because the swamps which surrounded
Port Albert were impassable for drays during the winter months; the
roads to Maneroo and Melbourne mentioned in Mr. Reeve's advertisement
were as yet in the clouds. Captain Moore came from Sydney in the
revenue cutter 'Prince George' to look for smugglers, but he did not
find any. He was afterwards appointed collector for Gippsland, and
he came down again from Sydney with a boat's crew of six prisoners, a
free coxswain, and a portable house, in which he sate for the receipt
of Customs.
For a time the commissioner resided at Tarraville, and then he went
to the lakes and surveyed a township at Flooding Creek, now called
Sale. His black troopers were in some cases useful, in others they
were troublesome; they indulged in irregularities; there was no doubt
that they drank rum procured in some inexplicable manner. They could
not be confined in barracks, or remain continually under the eye of
their chief, and it was not always possible to discover in what
manner they spent their leisure hours. But occasionally some
evidence of their exploits came to light, and Mr. Tyers became aware
that his black police considered themselves as living among hostile
tribes, in respect of whom they had a double duty to perform, viz.
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