by Watkin Tench
Speculators who may feel inclined to try their fortunes here will do well to weigh what I have said. If golden dreams of commerce and wealth flatter their imaginations, disappointment will follow. The remoteness of situation, productions of the country and want of connection with other parts of the world justify me in the assertion. But to men of small property, unambitious of trade, and wishing for retirement, I think the continent of New South Wales not without inducements. One of this description, with letters of recommendation and a sufficient capital (after having provided for his passage hither) to furnish him with an assortment of tools for clearing land, agricultural and domestic purposes, possessed also of a few household utensils, a cow, a few sheep and breeding sows, would, I am of opinion, with proper protection and encouragement, succeed in obtaining a comfortable livelihood, were he well assured before he quitted his native country that a provision for him until he might be settled should be secured, and that a grant of land on his arrival should be allotted him.
That this adventurer, if of a persevering character and competent knowledge, might in the course of ten years bring matters into such a train as to render himself comfortable and independent, I think highly probable. The superfluities of his farm would enable him to purchase European commodities from the masters of ships, which will arrive on government account, sufficient to supply his wants. But beyond this he ought not to reckon, for admitting that he might meet with success in raising tobacco, rice, indigo, or vineyards (for which last I think the soil and climate admirably adapted), the distance of a mart to vend them at would make the expense of transportation so excessive as to cut off all hopes of a reasonable profit. Nor can there be consumers enough here to take them off his hands, for so great a length of time to come as I shall not be at the trouble of computing.
Should then anyone, induced by this account, emigrate hither, let him, before he quits England, provide all his wearing apparel for himself, family and servants, his furniture, tools of every kind and implements of husbandry (among which a plough need not be included, as we make use of the hoe), for he will touch at no place where they can be purchased to advantage. If his sheep and hogs are English also, it will be better. For wines, spirits, tobacco, sugar, coffee, tea, rice, poultry and many other articles, he may venture to rely on at Tenerife or Madeira, the Brazils and Cape of Good Hope. It will not be his interest to draw bills on his voyage out, as the exchange of money will be found invariably against him and a large discount also deducted. Drafts on the place he is to touch at, or cash (dollars if possible) will best answer his end.
To men of desperate fortune and the lowest classes of the people, unless they can procure a passage as indented servants, similar to the custom practised of emigrating to America, this part of the world offers no temptation: for it can hardly be supposed that government will be fond of maintaining them here until they can be settled, and without such support they must starve.
Of the governor’s instructions and intentions relative to the disposal of the convicts, when the term of their transportation shall be expired, I am ignorant. They will then be free men and at liberty, I apprehend, either to settle in the country or to return to Europe. The former will be attended with some public expense, and the latter, except in particular cases, will be difficult to accomplish from the numberless causes which prevent a frequent communication between England and this continent.
POSTSCRIPT
Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, New South Wales.
October 1st, 1788. Little material has occurred in this colony since the departure of the ships for England on the 14th of July last. On the 20th of that month His Majesty’s ship Supply, Captain Ball, sailed for Norfolk Island, and returned on 26th August. Our accounts from thence are more favourable than were expected. The soil proves admirably adapted to produce all kinds of grain and European vegetables. But the discovery that constitutes its value is the New Zealand flax, plants of which are found growing in every part of the island in the utmost luxuriancy and abundance. This will, beyond doubt, appear strange to the reader after what has been related in the former part of my work: and in future, let the credit of the testimony be as high as it may, I shall never without diffidence and hesitation presume to contradict the narrations of Mr Cook. The truth is that those sent to settle and explore the island knew not the form in which the plant grows, and were unfurnished with every particular which could lead to a knowledge of it. Unaccountable as this may sound, it is, nevertheless, incontestably true. Captain Ball brought away with him several specimens for inspection, and, on trial, by some flax-dressers among us, the threads produced from them, though coarse, are pronounced to be stronger, more likely to be durable, and fitter for every purpose of manufacturing cordage than any ever before dressed.
Every research has been made by those on the island to find a landing place whence it might be practicable to ship off the timber growing there, but hitherto none has been discovered. A plan, however, for making one has been laid before the governor, and it is at present under consideration, though (in the opinion of many here) it is not such an one as will be found to answer the end proposed.
Lieut. King and his little garrison were well when the Supply left them but I am sorry to add that, from casualties, their number is already five less than it originally was. A ship from hence is ready to sail with an increase in force, besides many convicts for the purpose of sawing up timber, and turning the flax-plant to advantage.
So much for Norfolk. In Port Jackson all is quiet and stupid as could be wished. We generally hear the lie of day as soon as the beating of the reveille announces the return of it; find it contradicted by breakfast time; and pursue a second through all its varieties, until night, welcome as to a lover, gives us to sleep and dream ourselves transported to happier climes.
Let me not, however, neglect telling you the little news which presents itself. All descriptions of men enjoy the highest state of health and the convicts continue to behave extremely well. A gang of one hundred of them, guarded by a captain, two subalterns and twenty marines, is about to be sent up to the head of the harbour, at the distance of three leagues in a westerly direction from Sydney Cove, for the purpose of establishing a settlement there. The convicts are to be employed in putting the land around into cultivation, as it appears to be of a more promising nature than that near the encampment. Indeed this last hitherto succeeds but very indifferently, though I do not yet despair that when good seeds can be procured, our toil will be better rewarded. But as this is an event at a distance, and in itself very precarious, Governor Phillip has determined on procuring a supply of flour and other necessaries from the Cape of Good Hope, as our stock on hand is found to be, on examination, not quite so ample as has been reckoned upon. To execute this purpose His Excellency has ordered the Sirius to prepare for the voyage, by which conveyance the opportunity of writing to you is afforded me. It was at first intended to dispatch the Sirius to some of the neighbouring islands (the Friendly or Society) in the Pacific Ocean to procure stock there, but the uselessness of the scheme, joined to the situation of matters here, has, happily for us, prevented its being put into execution.
Book Two:
A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson
WHEN it is recollected how much has been written to describe the settlement of New South Wales, it seems necessary, if not to offer an apology, yet to assign a reason for an additional publication.
The author embarked in the fleet which sailed to found the establishment at Botany Bay. He shortly after published a narrative of the proceedings and state of the colony, brought up to the beginning of July 1788, which was well received and passed through three editions. This could not but inspire both confidence and gratitude; but gratitude would be badly manifested were he, on the presumption of former favour, to lay claim to present indulgence. He resumes the subject in the humble hope of communicating information and increasing knowledge of the country which he describes.
He resided at P
ort Jackson nearly four years, from the 20th of January 1788 until the 18th of December 1791. To an active and contemplative mind a new country is an inexhaustible source of curiosity and speculation. It was the author’s custom not only to note daily occurrences and to inspect and record the progression of improvement; but also, when not prevented by military duties, to penetrate the surrounding country in different directions in order to examine its nature and ascertain its relative geographical situations.
The greatest part of the work is inevitably composed of those materials which a journal supplies; but wherever reflections could be introduced without fastidiousness and parade he has not scrupled to indulge them, in common with every other deviation which the strictness of narrative would allow.
When this publication was nearly ready for the press, and when many of the opinions which it records had been declared, fresh accounts from Port Jackson were received. To the state of a country where so many anxious trying hours of his life have passed the author cannot feel indifferent. If by any sudden revolution of the laws of nature, or by any fortunate discovery of those on the spot, it has really become that fertile and prosperous land which some represent it to be, he begs permission to add his voice to the general congratulation. He rejoices at its success; but it is only justice to himself and those with whom he acted to declare that they feel no cause of reproach that so complete and happy an alteration did not take place at an earlier period.
1
A retrospect of the state of the colony of Port Jackson on the date of my former narrative in July 1788
PREVIOUS to commencing any farther account of the subject which I am about to treat, such a retrospection of the circumstances and situation of the settlement at the conclusion of my former narrative, as shall lay its state before the reader, seems necessary in order to connect the present with the past.
The departure of the first fleet of ships for Europe on the 14th of July 1788 had been long impatiently expected, and had filled us with anxiety to communicate to our friends an account of our situation, describing the progress of improvement and the probability of success or failure in our enterprise. That men should judge very oppositely on so doubtful and precarious an event will hardly surprise.
Such relations could contain little besides the sanguineness of hope and the enumeration of hardships and difficulties which former accounts had not led us to expect. Since our disembarkation in the preceding January, the efforts of everyone had been unremittingly exerted to deposit the public stores in a state of shelter and security and to erect habitations for ourselves. We were eager to escape from tents where a fold of canvas, only, interposed to check the vertic beams of the sun in summer and the chilling blasts of the south in winter. A marquee pitched in our finest season on an English lawn, or a transient view of those gay camps near the metropolis which so many remember, naturally draws forth careless and unmeaning exclamations of rapture which attach ideas of pleasure only to this part of a soldier’s life. But an encampment amidst the rocks and wilds of a new country, aggravated by the miseries of bad diet and incessant toil, will find few admirers.
Nor were our exertions less unsuccessful than they were laborious. Under wretched covers of thatch lay our provisions and stores, exposed to destruction from every flash of lightning and every spark of fire. A few of the convicts had got into huts, but almost all the officers and the whole of the soldiery were still in tents.
In such a situation, where knowledge of the mechanic arts afforded the surest recommendation to notice, it may be easily conceived that attention to the parade duty of the troops gradually diminished. Now were to be seen officers and soldiers not ‘trailing the puissant pike’,† but felling the ponderous gum-tree or breaking the stubborn clod. And though ‘the broad falchion did not in a ploughshare end’,†2 the possession of a spade, a wheelbarrow or a dunghill was more coveted than the most refulgent arms in which heroism ever dazzled. Those hours, which in other countries are devoted to martial acquirements, were here consumed in the labours of the sawpit, the forge and the quarry.*
Of the two ships of war, the Sirius and Supply, the latter was incessantly employed in transporting troops, convicts and stores to Norfolk Island, and the Sirius in preparing for a voyage to some port where provisions for our use might be purchased, the expected supply from England not having arrived. It is but justice to the officers and men of both these ships to add that, on all occasions, they fully shared every hardship and fatigue with those on shore.
On the convicts the burden fell yet heavier. Necessity compelled us to allot to them the most slavish and laborious employments. Those operations, which in other countries are performed by the brute creation, were here effected by the exertions of men; but this ought not be considered a grievance because they had always been taught to expect it as the inevitable consequence of their offences against society. Severity was rarely exercised on them and justice was administered without partiality or discrimination. Their ration of provisions, except in being debarred from an allowance of spirits, was equal to that which the marines received. Under these circumstances I record with pleasure that they behaved better than had been predicted of them—to have expected sudden and complete reformation of conduct were romantic and chimerical.
Our cultivation of the land was yet in its infancy. We had hitherto tried only the country contiguous to Sydney. Here the governor had established a government farm, at the head of which a competent person of his own household was placed, with convicts to work under him. Almost the whole of the officers likewise accepted of small tracts of ground for the purpose of raising grain and vegetables, but experience proved to us that the soil would produce neither without manure and, as this was not to be procured, our vigour soon slackened and most of the farms (among which was the one belonging to government) were successively abandoned.
With the natives we were very little more acquainted than on our arrival in the country. Our intercourse with them was neither frequent or cordial. They seemed studiously to avoid us, either from fear, jealousy or hatred. When they met with unarmed stragglers they sometimes killed and sometimes wounded them. I confess that, in common with many others, I was inclined to attribute this conduct to a spirit of malignant levity. But a farther acquaintance with them, founded on several instances of their humanity and generosity (which shall be noticed in their proper places), has entirely reversed my opinion and led me to conclude that the unprovoked outrages committed upon them by unprincipled individuals among us caused the evils we had experienced. To prevent them from being plundered of their fishing-tackle and weapons of war, a proclamation was issued forbidding their sale among us, but it was not attended with the good effect which was hoped for from it.
During this period, notwithstanding the want of fresh provisions and vegetables and almost constant exposure to the vicissitudes of a variable climate, disease rarely attacked us and the number of deaths was too inconsiderable to deserve mention.
Norfolk Island had been taken possession of by a party detached for that purpose early after our arrival. Few accounts of it had yet reached us and here I beg leave to observe that as I can speak of this island only from the relations of others (never having myself been there), I shall in every part of this work mention it as sparingly as possible. And this more especially as it seems probable that some of those gentlemen, who from accurate knowledge and long residence on it are qualified to write its history, will oblige the world with such a publication.
2
Transactions of the colony from the sailing of the first fleet in July 1788 to the close of that year
IT was impossible to behold without emotion the departure of the ships. On their speedy arrival in England perhaps hinged our fate, by hastening our supplies to us.
On the 20th of July, the Supply sailed for Norfolk Island and returned to us on the 26th of August, bringing no material news except that the soil was found to suit grain and other seeds, which had been sown in it, and that a species of flax p
lant was discovered to grow spontaneously on the island.
A survey of the harbour of Port Jackson was now undertaken in order to compute the number of canoes and inhabitants which it might contain. Sixty-seven canoes and 147 people were counted. No estimate, however, of even tolerable accuracy can be drawn from so imperfect a datum, though it was perhaps the best in our power to acquire.
In July and August we experienced more inclement, tempestuous weather than had been observed at any former period of equal duration. And yet it deserves to be remarked, in honour of the climate, that although our number of people exceeded 900, not a single death happened in the latter month.
The dread of want in a country destitute of natural resource is ever peculiarly terrible. We had long turned our eyes with impatience towards the sea, cheered by the hope of seeing supplies from England approach. But, none arriving, on the 2nd of October the Sirius sailed for the Cape of Good Hope, with directions to purchase provisions there for the use of our garrison.
A new settlement, named by the governor Rose Hill, sixteen miles inland, was established on the 3rd of November, the soil here being judged better than that around Sydney. A small redoubt was thrown up and a captain’s detachment posted in it to protect the convicts who were employed to cultivate the ground.
The two last of the transports left us for England on the 19th of November, intending to make their passage by Cape Horn. There now remained with us only the Supply. Sequestered and cut off as we were from the rest of civilised nature, their absence carried the effect of desolation.
