In May 1787 a fleet of ships carrying convicts left England bound for Botany Bay, New South Wales, where they were to establish a settlement. One of the crew on board the Charlotte was Watkin Tench (c.1758–1833), who wrote about the voyage of what was later known as the First Fleet. He remained in New South Wales, living in Port Jackson (part of present-day Sydney) from 1788 to 1791, and in this work, published in 1793, he gives a vivid, first-hand account of the early years of British settlement. The chapters are chronologically organised and discuss the many challenges settlers in the fledgling colony faced in staying alive, such as illness and lack of food and other provisions. He also recounts the often violent encounters and 'unabated animosity' between the settlers and the aboriginal people, making this work an important source on the colonisation of Australia.
By:
Watkin Tench
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 244mm,
Width: 170mm,
Spine: 13mm
Weight: 390g
ISBN: 9781108039147
ISBN 10: 1108039146
Series: Cambridge Library Collection - History of Oceania
Pages: 238
Publication Date: 29 December 2011
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Dedication; Preface; List of subscribers; 1. A retrospect of the state of the colony of Port Jackson, on the date of my former narrative, in July, 1788; 2. Transactions of the colony from the sailing of the first fleet in July, 1788, to the close of that year; 3. Transactions of the colony, from the commencement of the year 1789, until the end of March; 4. Transactions of the colony in April and May 1789; 5. Transactions of the colony until the close of the year 1789; 6. Transactions of the colony, from the beginning of the year 1790, until the end of May following; 7. Transactions of the colony in June, July, and August, 1790; 8. Transactions of the colony in the beginning of September, 1790; 9. Transactions of the colony in part of September and October, 1790; 10. The arrival of the supply from Batavia. The state of the colony in November, 1790; 11. Farther transactions of the colony in November, 1790; 12. Transactions of the colony in part of December, 1790; 13. The Transactions of the colony continued to the end of May, 1791; 14. Travelling diaries in New South Wales; 15. Transactions of the colony to the end of November, 1791; 16. Transactions of the colony until the 18th of December, 1791, when I quitted it, with an account of its state at that time; 17. Miscellaneous remarks on the country. On its vegetable production. On its climate. On its animal productions. On its natives, etc.; 18. Observations on the convicts; 19. Facts relating to the probability of establishing a whale fishery on the coast of New South Wales, with thoughts on the same.
