D. D. (David Dickinson) Mann - The Present Picture of New South Wales (1811)

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.

Abstract of General Orders.--Arrival of Governor Bligh.--George Barrington. --Blue Mountains.--Journey thither.--New Market at Sydney. --Vessels seized and carried away by the Convicts.--Natives.--Cruelty of the Savages in Bateman's Bay.--Arrival of Masters for the Orphan Schools.--New Storehouse built.--Murders.

Agriculture, &c.
Price of Provisions and Ration
Trade and Manufactures
Population
Natives
Climate
Natural History
Religion
Morals
Amusements
Military Force
Building: with Reference to the particular Houses, &c. of the Individuals

Hints for the Improvement of the Colony

To
JOHN HUNTER, ESQ.
VICE-ADMIRAL OF THE BLUE
AND LATE
CAPTAIN-GENERAL AND GOVERNOR IN CHIEF IN AND OVER HIS MAJESTY'S
COLONY OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND ITS DEPENDENCIES, &c. &c. &c.

SIR,

During the period of your government, the settlements of New South Wales beheld the sunshine of their prosperity. The liberal and enlightened measures adopted by you, consolidated the happiness, and increased the security of the colony; and the tears which were shed at your departure were the most grateful tributes which could be paid to your exalted worth.

These considerations justify my selection of you as the Patron of this sketch; but, if a stronger motive were necessary, I have only to retrace the numerous and weighty instances in which you have displayed the most marked attention to my personal interests, and which will ever induce me to avow myself,

With every sentiment of respectful admiration,

SIR,

Your very obliged, and faithfully devoted servant,

D. D. MANN.

35, Queen-Street, Edgware-Road,

Oct. 13, 1810

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.