NEW SOUTH WALES
Chapter I.
Discovery of New South Wales.--Arrival of a Colony there from England.-- Obstructions calculated to retard the Progress of the Settlement.-- Departure of Governor Phillip.--Intervening Governors, until the Arrival of John Hunter, Esq. and his Assumption of the Government.-- Printing Press set up.--Cattle lost, and Discovery of their Progeny in a wild State.--Playhouse opened.--Houses numbered.--Assessments for the building of a Country Gaol.--Town Clock at Sidney.--Natives.-- Convicts.--Improvement of the Colony.--Seditious Dispositions of the Convicts.--Departure of Governor Hunter.--His Character and Government.-- Comparison of Stock, &c.--Governor King assumes the Command of the Settlement--Table of Specie Vessel laden with Spirits sent away.-- Earthquake.--Inundation at the Hawkesbury.--First Criminal for Forgery executed.--Atlas struck by Lightning.--Tempests.--Desertions of the Convicts.--Newspaper established.--Murders.--Singular Execution.--Lieutenant--Governor Collins forms a new Settlement.--Insurrection of the Convicts.--The Introduction and Progress of Vaccination, and its subsequent Loss.--Influx of the Sea at Norfolk Island.--Limits of Counties defined.--Ship overset in a Tempest.
The discovery of the eastern coast of New Holland was the result of that laudable and beneficial spirit of enterprize and investigation, which conferred on the name of Captain Cook so just a claim to posthumous gratitude and immortal renown. Four months of his first voyage round the world, this celebrated circumnavigator dedicated to the exploration of this hitherto unknown tract of the universe, stretching, from the north-east to the south-west, to an extent of nearly two thousand miles, to which he gave the name of New South Wales. After hovering about the coast for some time, he at length came to an anchorage in the only harbour which appeared to him commodious; and which, in consequence of the innumerable varieties of herbage which were found on shore, he called Botany Bay. In this spot he remained some days, employing himself in making those observations which suggested themselves to his capacious mind; and, from his report of the situation of the country--of its apparent extent, climate, and surface, the British Government was induced to relinquish those intentions which had been previously entertained, and to fix upon this spot, as the best adapted for the establishment of a settlement, whither those unhappy delinquents might be conveyed, whose offences against the laws had rendered their further residence in their native land, incompatible with the welfare of society.
According to this determination, Governor Phillip was sent to this new continent, where he arrived on the 20th of January, 1788, with eight hundred convicts, and a portion of marines, and laid the foundation of the new settlement, which continued gradually to improve under his government, until the close of the year 1792. Numberless obstructions existed, during this early period, to check the growth of the colony; amongst the principal of which may be remarked:--1st, the discordant materials of which the settlement was to be constructed; 2dly, the disputes with the natives; and 3dly, the occasional pressure of want, which, for a long time, was unavoidable, on account of its remoteness from the European quarter. The continual disorders amongst the convicts, which no lenity could assuage, no severity effectually check, were injurious to the well-doing of the colony, whose true interests required a combination of reciprocal confidence and mutual exertion; but on men inured to crime, and hardened in guilt--on men almost divested of the common principles and feelings of their species--on those whom a course of depravity had rendered obnoxious to every other pursuit, it was not possible to make impressions of a liberal and enlightened nature. Their intentions uniformly tended to vice, and no good was to be expected from them, except such as was the effect of compulsory measures; so that the task which industry might have achieved with comparative ease, proved, under existing circumstances, a work of difficulty, requiring time and perseverance to bring it to the desired perfection. It was not to the commission of depredations upon each other that the restless and dishonest dispositions of the convicts confined themselves, even the poor and miserable natives of the country were made the dupes of a system of knavery which they could not penetrate; and their spears, their shields, their canoes, and their persons, were equally exposed to the violence of the new settlers. It was easy to foresee the consequences of such conduct: the natives at first discovered symptoms of justifiable reserve, and subsequently adopted steps of an hostile complexion, several unfortunate convicts being found murdered in the woods. In vain did the governor issue order after order, and proclamation after proclamation; insults still continued to be offered to the natives, and such acts of retaliation ensued as circumstances would allow. Governor Phillip, himself, was wounded by a spear which one of the savages threw at him, under the influence of a momentary apprehension. Another evil to which the colony was subjected, arose from the pressure of occasional scarcity, which relaxed the sinews of industry, where it did exist, or strengthened the pretexts of indolence: when men were reduced from a plentiful allowance, to a weekly ration, which scarcely sufficed to preserve existence; when the storehouses were almost empty of provisions, and the boundless ocean presented no object of relief to the aching and strained eyes of the sufferers; and when the busy mind painted to itself the dangers, inseparable from a voyage of such length, which might intervene to delay the arrival of succours, until horror and wretchedness should have been heightened to the utmost; no inclination to laborious exertion existed, and no hand had the power to wield and employ the implements of toil. The progress of the settlement towards maturity was necessarily retarded; and the operations which proceeded, at these periods of general debility, were compelled to move with a slowness which afforded but a faint promise of speedy perfection. Under this combination of disadvantages, it affords proof of no common perseverance to find, that the settlement had been scarcely established four years, before two towns were formed, and the colony seemed rapidly advancing to the appearance of maturity.
Governor Phillip sailed to England on the 11th of December, 1792, when Lieutenant-Governor Grose succeeded to the government; and, during his period, the improvements in the settlement assumed a more decisive and favourable aspect. The settlers were now enabled to sell corn to the public stores, all of which the commissary received directions to purchase at a given price: passage-boats were licensed and established between the towns of Sydney and Parramatta, and the number of settlers began to increase in a rapid portion. On the 15th of December, 1794, Lieutenant-Governor Grose left the colony for England, and Captain Paterson, of the New South Wales corps, assumed the government until the arrival of Governor Hunter, who came out in the Reliance, on the 7th of September, 1795, and entered upon the functions of his important office without delay.
One of the first acts of the new governor was the establishment of a printing-press, the advantages of which soon became obvious, in the more ready communication of all orders for the regulation of the settlement.