With the income from the sale of his father’s assets, James went on a spending spree. He applied for land grants which he fenced and stocked, and tasked his brother William, with overseeing the livestock and the convict farm hands. He spent more time in Hobart Town, and Catherine suspected his visits to the area of Wapping, where the brothels and hotels flourished, were frequent. On return to New Norfolk he barely spoke to her. So unpleasant was the atmosphere when he was in the house, that Sadie stayed with Margaret and William until he left again.
‘He is so nasty to Mama,’ Sadie told Margaret one morning when she was helping with Sarah Susanna. ‘He speaks to her as if she were a slave, even worse than if she were a convict. I know he was like this when we were children, but he got bette
