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An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Vol. 1 by David Collins

D >> David Collins >> An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Vol. 1



AN ACCOUNT OF THE ENGLISH COLONY IN NEW SOUTH WALES:
WITH REMARKS ON THE DISPOSITIONS, CUSTOMS, MANNERS, etc.
OF THE NATIVE INHABITANTS OF THAT COUNTRY.
TO WHICH ARE ADDED, SOME PARTICULARS OF NEW ZEALAND; COMPILED,
BY PERMISSION, FROM THE MSS. OF LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR KING.

By DAVID COLLINS, Esquire,

LATE JUDGE ADVOCATE AND SECRETARY OF THE COLONY.

ILLUSTRATED BY ENGRAVINGS.

VOLUME I.

Many might be saved who now suffer an ignominious and an early death;
and many might be so much purified in the furnace of punishment and
adversity, as to become the ornaments of that society of which they had
formerly been the bane. The vices of mankind must frequently require the
severity of justice; but a wise State will direct that severity to the
greatest moral and political good.

ANON.


LONDON:


PRINTED FOR T. CADELL JUN. AND W. DAVIES, IN THE STRAND.


1798.


TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THOMAS LORD VISCOUNT SYDNEY

One of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council,
Chief Justice in Eyre South of Trent,
A Governor of the Charter-house,
and a Vice-President of the Asylum

MY LORD,

The honour that your Lordship has done me, in permitting this volume to
go forth into the world under the sanction of your name, demands my
warmest acknowledgments. I can only wish that the Work had been more
worthy of its patron.

The originator of the plan of colonization for New South Wales was too
conspicuous a character to be overlooked by the narrator of its rise and
progress. The benevolent mind of your Lordship led you to conceive this
method of redeeming many lives that might be forfeit to the offended
laws; but which, being preserved, under salutary regulations, might
afterward become useful to society: and to your patriotism the plan
presented a prospect of commercial and political advantage. The following
pages will, it is hoped, serve to evince, with how much wisdom the
measure was suggested and conducted; with what beneficial effects its
progress has been attended; and what future benefits the parent country
may with confidence anticipate.

That your Lordship may long live to enjoy those grateful reflections
which a sense of having advanced the public welfare must be presumed to
excite; and that our most gracious sovereign, the father of his people,
may long, very long reign over these kingdoms, and continue to be served
by statesmen of tried talents and integrity, is the earnest prayer of,

MY LORD,
Your Lordship's much obliged,
and most devoted servant,
DAVID COLLINS

Poland Street,
May 25, 1798

* * * * *

PREFACE

To the public the following work is with respectful deference submitted
by its author, who trusts that it will be found to comprise much
information interesting in its nature, and that has not been anticipated
by any former productions on the same subject. If he should be thought to
have been sometimes too minute in his detail, he hopes it will be
considered, that the transactions here recorded were penned as they
occurred, with the feelings that at the moment they naturally excited in
the mind; and that circumstances which, to an indifferent reader, may
appear trivial, to a spectator and participant seem often of importance.
To the design of this work (which was, to furnish a complete record of
the transactions of the colony from its foundation), accuracy and a
degree of minuteness in detail seemed essential; and on reviewing his
manuscript, the author saw little that, consistently with his plan, he
could persuade himself to suppress.

For his labours he claims no credit beyond what may be due to the
strictest fidelity in his narrative. It was not a romance that he had to
give to the world; nor has he gone out of the track that actual
circumstances prepared for him, to furnish food for sickly minds, by
fictitious relations of adventures that never happened, but which are by
a certain description of readers perused with avidity, and not
unfrequently considered as the only passages deserving of notice.

Though to a work of this nature a style ornamental and luxuriant would
have been evidently inapplicable, yet the author has not been wholly
inattentive to this particular, but has endeavoured to temper the dry and
formal manner of the mere journalist, with something of the historian's
ease. Long sequestered, however, from literary society, and from
convenient access to books, he had no other models than those which
memory could supply; and therefore does not presume to think his volume
proof against the rigid censor: but to liberal criticism he submits, with
the confidence of a man conscious of having neither negligence nor
presumption to impute to himself. He wrote to beguile the tedium of many
a heavy hour; and when he wrote looked not beyond the satisfaction which
at some future period might be afforded to a few friends, as well as to
his own mind, by a review of those hardships which in common with his
colleagues he had endured and overcome; hardships which in some degree he
supposes to be inseparable from the first establishment of any colony;
but to which, from the peculiar circumstances and description of the
settlers in this instance, were attached additional difficulties.

In the progress of his not unpleasing task, the author began to think
that his labours might prove interesting beyond the small circle of his
private friends; that some account of the gradual reformation of such
flagitious characters as had by many (and those not illiberal) persons in
this country been considered as past the probability of amendment, might
be not unacceptable to the benevolent part of mankind, but might even
tend to cherish the seeds of virtue, and to open new streams from the
pure fountain of mercy*.

[* "It often happens," says Dr. Johnson, "that in the loose and
thoughtless and dissipated, there is a secret radical worth, which may
shoot out by proper cultivation; that the spark of heaven, though dimmed
and obstructed, is yet not extinguished, but may, by the breath of
counsel and exhortation, be kindled into flame . . .

"Let none too hastily conclude that all goodness is lost, though it may
for a time be clouded and overwhelmed; for most minds are the slaves of
external circumstances, and conform to any hand that undertakes to mould
them; roll down any torrent of custom in which they happen to be caught;
or bend to any importunity that bears hard against them."

_Rambler_, No. 70.]

Nor was he without hope, that through the humble medium of this history,
the untutored savage, emerging from darkness and barbarism, might find
additional friends among the better-informed members of civilized
society.

With these impressions, therefore, he felt it a sort of duty to offer his
book to the world; and should the objects alluded to be in any degree
promoted by it, he shall consider its publication as the most fortunate
circumstance of his life.

Occurrences such as he has had to relate are not often presented to the
public; they do not, indeed, often happen. It is not, perhaps, once in a
century that colonies are established in the most remote parts of the
habitable globe; and it is seldom that men are found existing perfectly
in a state of nature. When such circumstances do occur, curiosity, and
still more laudable sentiments, must be excited. The gratification even
of curiosity alone might have formed a sufficient apology for the author;
but he has seen too much of virtue even among the vicious to be
indifferent to the sufferings, or backward in promoting the felicities of
human nature.

A few words, he hopes, may be allowed him respecting the colony itself,
for which he acknowledges what, he trusts, will be considered as at least
an excusable partiality. He bore his share of the distresses and
calamities which it suffered; and at his departure, in the ninth year of
its growth, with pleasure saw it wear an aspect of ease and comfort that
seemed to bid defiance to future difficulties. The hardships which it
sustained were certainly attributable to mischance, not to misconduct.
The Crown was fortunate in the selection of its governors, not less with
respect to the gentlemen who were sent out expressly in that capacity,
than in those on whom the temporary administration occasionally devolved.

Under Governor Hunter, who at present presides there, the resources of
the country and the energies of the colonists will assuredly be called
forth. The intelligence, discretion, and perseverance of that officer
will be zealously applied to discover and fix every local advantage. His
well-known humanity will not fall to secure the savage islander from
injury or mortification; reconcile him to the restraints, and induce him
to participate in the enjoyments, of civilized society; and instruct him
to appreciate justly the blessings of rational freedom, whose salutary
restrictions are not less conducive to individual benefit than to the
general weal.

With respect to the resources of the settlement, there can be little
doubt, that at this moment it is able to support itself in the article of
grain; and the wild stock of cattle to the westward of the Nepean will
soon render it independent on this country in the article of animal food.
As to its utility, beside the circumstance of its freeing the mother
country from the depraved branches of her offspring, in some instances
reforming their dispositions, and in all cases rendering their labour and
talents conducive to the public good, it may prove a valuable nursery to
our East India possessions for soldiers and seamen.

If, beside all this, a whale fishery should be established, another great
benefit may accrue to the parent country from the coast of New South
Wales.

The island, moreover, abounds with fine timber in every respect adapted
to the purposes of ship-building: iron too it possesses in abundance.
Coal has been found there, and some veins of copper; and however
inconsiderable the quantity of these articles that has been hitherto
found, yet the proof of their existence will naturally lead to farther
research, and most probably terminate in complete success.

The flax plant grows spontaneously, and may, with the assistance of
proper implements and other necessaries, be turned to very profitable
account.

The climate is for the most part temperate and healthy; cattle are
prolific; and fruits and culinary vegetables thrive with almost a
tropical luxuriance.

To be brief: Such is the English Colony in New South Wales, for which the
author is anxiously solicitous to obtain the candid consideration of his
countrymen; among whom it has been painful to him to remark a disposition
too prevalent for regarding it with odium and disgust.

London, May 25, 1798

* * * * *

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Section I

Transports hired to carry convicts to Botany Bay
The _Sirius_ and the _Supply_ commissioned
Preparations for sailing
Tonnage of the transports
Persons left behind
Two convicts punished on board the _Sirius_
The _Hyaena_ leaves the Fleet
Arrival of the fleet at Teneriffe
Proceedings at that island
Some particulars respecting the town of Santa Cruz
An excursion made to Laguna
A convict escapes from one of the transports, but is retaken
Proceedings
The fleet leaves Teneriffe, and puts to sea

Section II

Proceed on the voyage
Altitude of the peak of Teneriffe
Pass the isles of Sal, Bonavista, May, and St. Iago
Cross the equator
Progress
Arrive at the Brazils
Transactions at Rio de Janeiro
Some particulars of that town
Sail thence
Passage to the Cape of Good Hope
Transactions there
Some particulars respecting the Cape
Depart for New South Wales

Section III

Proceed on the voyage
Captain Phillip sails onward in the _Supply_, taking with him three of
the transports
Pass the island of St. Paul
Weather, January 1788
The South Cape of New Holland made
The _Sirius_ and her convoy anchor in the harbour of Botany Bay.

CHAPTER I

Arrival of the fleet at Botany Bay
The governor proceeds to Port Jackson, where it is determined to fix the
settlement
Two French ships under M. de la Perouse arrive at Botany Bay
The _Sirius_ and convoy arrive at Port Jackson
Transactions
Disembarkation
Commission and letters patent read
Extent of the territory of New South Wales
Behaviour of the convicts
The criminal court twice assembled
Account of the different courts
The _Supply_ sent with some settlers to Norfolk Island
Transactions
Natives
Weather

CHAPTER II

Broken Bay visited
M. de la Perouse sails
Transactions
The _Supply_ returns
Lord Howe Island discovered
The ships for China sail
Some convicts wounded by the natives
Scurvy
New store-house
Necessary orders and appointments
Excursions into the country
New branch of the harbour into Port Jackson
Sheep

CHAPTER III

Transactions
Transports sail for China
The _Supply_ sails for Lord Howe Island
Return of stock in the colony in May
The _Supply_ returns
Transactions
A convict wounded
Rush-cutters killed by the natives
Governor's excursion
His Majesty's birthday
Behaviour of the convicts
Cattle lost
Natives
Proclamation
Earthquake
Transports sail for England
_Supply_ sails for Norfolk Island
Transactions
Natives
Convicts wounded

CHAPTER IV

Heavy rains
Public works
Sheep stolen
Prince of Wale's birthday
Fish
Imposition of a convict
Natives
Apprehensive of a failure of provisions
Natives
Judicial administration
A convict murdered

CHAPTER V

Settlement of Rose Hill
The _Golden Grove_ returns from Norfolk Island
The storeships sail for England
Transactions
James Daley tried and executed for housebreaking
Botany Bay examined by the governor
A convict found dead in the woods
Christmas Day
A native taken and brought up to the settlement
Weather
Climate
Report of deaths from the departure of the fleet from England to the
31st of December 1788

CHAPTER VI

New Year's Day
Convicts, how employed
Their disposition to idleness and vice
Her Majesty's birthday kept
Natives
Captain Shea dies
Regulations respecting the convicts
Instances of their misconduct
Transactions
The _Supply_ sails for Norfolk Island
Public Works
Natives
Convicts killed
Stores robbed
The _Supply_ returns
Insurrection projected at Norfolk Island
Hurricane there
Transactions at Rose Hill

CHAPTER VII

Neutral Bay
Smallpox among the natives
Captain Hunter in the _Sirius_ returns with supplies from the Cape of
Good Hope
Middleton Island discovered
Danger of wandering in the forests of an unknown country
Convicts
The King's birthday kept
Convicts perform a play
A reinforcement under Lieutenant Cresswell sent to Norfolk Island
Governor Phillip makes an excursion of discovery
Transactions
Hawkesbury River discovered
Progress at Rose Hill
Important papers left behind in England

CHAPTER VIII

Barracks
Stock
Intelligence from Norfolk Island
Police established at the principal settlement
A successful haul of fish
A soldier tried for a rape
Provisions begin to fail
Natives
A launch completed
Rats
Ration reduced to two-thirds
_Sirius_ returns to the Cove
One of her mates lost in the woods
_Supply_ sails for Norfolk Island
Utility of the night watch
A female convict executed for house-breaking
Two natives taken
Serious charge against the assistant commissary satisfactorily cleared up
Lieutenant Dawes's excursion
The _Supply_ returns
Transactions

CHAPTER IX

A convict made a free settler
A pleasing delusion
Extraordinary supply of fish
Caesar's narrative
Another convict wounded by the natives
The _Supply_ arrives from Norfolk Island
A large number of settlers sent thither on board the _Sirius_ and
_Supply_
Heavy rains
Scarcity of provisions increasing in an alarming degree
Lieutenant Maxwell's insanity
News brought of the loss of the _Sirius_
Allowance of provisions still further reduced
The _Supply_ sent to Batavia for relief
Robberies frequent and daring
An old man dies of hunger
Rose Hill
Salt and fishing-lines made
The native escapes
Transactions

CHAPTER X

The _Lady Juliana_ transport arrives from England
_The Guardian_
His Majesty's birthday
Thanksgiving for His Majesty's recovery
The _Justinian_ storeship arrives
Full ration ordered
Three transports arrive
Horrid state of the convicts on board
Sick landed
Instance of sagacity in a dog
A convict drowned
Mortality and number of sick on the 13th
Convicts sent to Rose Hill
A town marked out there
Works in hand at Sydney
Instructions respecting grants of land
Mr. Fergusson drowned
Convicts' claims on the master of the _Neptune_
Transactions
Criminal Court
Whale

CHAPTER XI

Governor Phillip wounded by a native
Intercourse opened with the natives
Great haul of fish
Convicts abscond with a boat
Works
Want of rain
Natives
_Supply_ returns from Batavia
Transactions there
Criminal Courts
James Bloodworth emancipated
Oars found in the woods
A convict brought back in the _Supply_
A boat with five people lost
Public works
A convict wounded by a native
Armed parties sent out to avenge him
A Dutch vessel arrives with supplies from Batavia
Decrease by sickness and casualties in 1790

CHAPTER XII

New Year's Day
A convict drowned
A native killed
Signal colours stolen
_Supply_ sails for Norfolk Island
H. E. Dodd, Superintendant at Rose Hill, dies
Public works
Terms offered for the hire of the Dutch snow to England
The _Supply_ returns
State of Norfolk Island
Fishing-boat overset
Excessive heats
Officers and seamen of the _Sirius_ embark in the snow
_Supply_ sails for Norfolk Island, and the _Waaksamheyd_ for England
William Bryant and other convicts escape from New South Wales
Ruse, a settler, declares that he can maintain himself without assistance
from the public stores
Ration reduced
Orders respecting marriage
Port regulations
Settlers
Public works

CHAPTER XIII

A Musket found by a native
Reports of plans to seize boats
_Supply_ arrives from Norfolk Island
The King's birthday
A canoe destroyed
Its evil effects
Corn sown
Battery begun
One hundred and forty acres inclosed for cattle
The _Mary Ann_ arrives
Two criminal courts held
Ration improved
The _Matilda_ arrives
The _Mary Ann_ sails for Norfolk Island
Settlers
The _Atlantic_ and _Salamander_ arrive
Full ration issued
The _William and Ann_ arrives
Natives
Public works

CHAPTER XIV

The _Salamander_ sails for, and the _Mary Ann_ arrives from Norfolk
Island
Bondel, a native, returns
A seaman, for sinking a canoe, punished
The _Gorgon_ arrives
Commission of emancipation, and public seal
The _Active_ and _Queen_ arrive
Complaints against the master of the _Queen_
_Supply_ ordered home
_Albemarle_ arrives
Mutiny on board
_Britannia_ and _Admiral Barrington_ arrive
Future destination of the transports
The _Atlantic_ and _Queen_ hired
_Atlantic_ sails for Bengal
_Salamander_ returns from Norfolk Island
Transactions
Public works
Suicide

CHAPTER XV

A party of Irish convicts abscond
The _Queen_ sails for Norfolk Island
Whale fishery
Ration altered
The _Supply_ sails for England
Live stock (public) in the colony
Ground in cultivation
Sick
Run of water decreasing
Two transports sail
Whale fishery given up
The _Queen_ arrives from Norfolk Island
The Marines embark in the _Gorgon_ for England
Ration further reduced
Transactions
Convicts who were in the _Guardian_ emancipated
Store finished
Deaths in 1791

CHAPTER XVI

The _Queen_ sails for Norfolk Island
Whalers on their fishing voyages
Convicts missing
Various depredations
Dispensary and bake-house robbed
Proclamation
A criminal court held
Convict executed
Transactions
The _Pitt_ with Lieutenant-Governor Grose arrives
Military duty fixed for Parramatta
Goods selling at Sydney from the _Pitt_
The _Pitt_ ordered to be dispatched to Norfolk Island
Commissions read
Sickness
The _Pitt_ sails
Mr. Burton killed
Stormy weather
Public works
Regulations respecting persons who had served their terms of
transportation
Natives

CHAPTER XVII

Mortality in April
Appearance and state of the convicts
Ration again reduced
Quantity of flour in store
Settlers
State of transactions with the natives
Indian corn stolen
Public works
Average prices of grain, etc at Sydney, and at Parramatta
Mortality decreases
King's birthday
The _Atlantic_ returns from Bengal
Account received of Bryant and his companions
Ration farther reduced
_Atlantic_ cleared
Sheep-pens at Parramatta attempted
Quality of provisions received from Calcutta
The _Brittania_ arrives from England
Ration increased
A convict emancipated
Public works

CHAPTER XVIII

The _Britannia_ cleared
Survey of provisions
Total of cargo received from Bengal
_Atlantic_ sails with provisions for Norfolk Island
Transactions
General behaviour of convicts
Criminal Courts
Prisoner pardoned conditionally
Another acquitted
New barracks begun
Thefts
The _Atlantic_ returns from Norfolk Island
Information
Settlers there discontented
Principal works
The _Britannia_ taken up by the officers of the New South Wales Corps to
procure stock
The _Royal Admiral_ East Indiaman arrives from England
Regulations at the store
A Burglary committed
Criminal Court
The _Britannia_ sails
Shops opened
Bad conduct of some settlers
Oil issued
Slops served
Governor Phillip signifies his intention of returning to England

CHAPTER XIX

A vessel from America arrives
Part of her cargo purchased
George Barrington and others emancipated conditionally
The _Royal Admiral_ sails
Arrival of the _Kitty_ Transport
L1001 received by her
Hospital built at Parramatta
Harvest begun at Toongabbie
Ration increased
The _Philadelphia_ sails for Norfolk Island
State of the cultivation previous to the governor's departure
Settlers
Governor Phillip sails for England
Regulations made by the Lieutenant Governor
The _Hope_, an American Ship, arrives
Her cargo purchased for the colony
The _Chesterfield_ whaler arrives
Grant of land to an officer
Extreme heat and conflagration
Deaths in 1792
Prices of Stock, etc

CHAPTER XX

Order respecting. spirits
Seamen punished
Convicts enlisted into the new corps
Regulations respecting Divine Service
The _Hope_ sails
The _Bellona_ arrives
Cargo damaged
Information
Two women and a child drowned
The _Kitty_ sails for Norfolk Island
Ration
An Officer sent up to inspect the cultivation at Parramatta
A theft committed
Works
Kangaroo Ground opened
Settlers
Liberty Plains
Conditions
_Bellona_ sails
Transactions
The _Shah Hormuzear_ from Calcutta arrives
Information received by her
The Dholl expended
Sickness and death occasioned by the American spirits
The _Chesterfield_ sent to Norfolk Island
Convicts sell their clothing
Two Spanish ships arrive
Information
Epitaph
A Criminal Court
The _Kitty_ returns from Norfolk Island
Fraud at the store at Parramatta

CHAPTER XXI

The Spanish ships sail
The _Chesterfield_ returns from Norfolk Island
A contract entered into for bringing cattle from India to this country
Provisions embarked on board the Bengal ship for Norfolk Island
The _Daedalus_ arrives
Cattle lost
Discoveries by Captain Vancouver
Two natives of New Zealand brought in
Bengal ship sails
Phenomenon in the sky
The hours of labour and ration altered
Lead stolen
Detachment at Parramatta relieved
Accident at that settlement
Lands cleared by officers
Mutiny on board the _Kitty_
The _Kitty_ sails for England
His Majesty's birthday
State of the provision store
The _Britannia_ arrives
Loss of cattle
General account of cattle purchased, lost in the passage, and landed in
New South Wales
Natives

CHAPTER XXII

The _Daedalus_ sails for Nootka
A temporary church founded
Criminal court
The colonial vessel launched
A scheme to take a longboat
Two soldiers desert
Counterfeit dollars in circulation
A soldier punished
The _Boddingtons_ arrives from Cork
General Court Martial held
The _Britannia_ hired and chartered for Bengal
The new church opened
Accident
Provisions in store
Corn purchased from settlers
The _Britannia_ sails for Bengal, and the _Francis_ Schooner for New
Zealand
Irish convicts steal a boat
The _Sugar Cane_ arrives
Intended mutiny on board prevented
Excursion to the westward
Public works

CHAPTER XXIII

The _Boddingtons_ and _Sugar Cane_ sail
A mill erected
Thefts committed
Convicts emancipated
Two persons killed by lightning
The _Fairy_ arrives
Farms sold
Public works
The _Francis_ returns from New Zealand
The _Fairy_ sails
Ration altered
Transactions
Harvest begun
Criminal Court held
A convict executed
Provisions
Mill at Parramatta
Christmas Day
Natives
Convicts
Boats
Grants of land
Settlers
Public works
Expenses how to be calculated
Deaths in 1793
Prices of grain, stock, and labour

CHAPTER XXIV

A murder committed near Parramatta
The _Francis_ sails for Norfolk Island
Provisions
Storm of wind at Parramatta
Crops
A Settlement fixed at the Hawkesbury
Natives
A burglary committed
Samuel Burt emancipated
Death of William Crozier Cook
The watches recovered
The _Francis_ returns from Norfolk Island
Information
The New Zealand natives sent to their own country
Disturbance at Norfolk Island
Court of inquiry at Sydney
The _Francis_ returns to Norfolk Island
Natives troublesome
State of provisions

CHAPTER XXV

Alarming State of the provisions
The _William_ arrives with supplies from England, and the _Arthur_ from
Bengal
The amor patriae natural to man in all parts of the earth
Information
Mr. Bampton
Captain Bligh
_Admiral Barrington_ transport lost
Full ration issued
Ingratitude and just punishment of the settlers
Buffin's corn-mill set to work
Gaming
Honesty of a native
The _Daedalus_ arrives from America
Information
Female inconstancy, and its consequences
The _Arthur_ sails
The _Francis_ returns from Norfolk Island
A boat stolen
Natives killed
A new mill
Disorder in the eyes prevalent