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"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana |
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Events in Australia 1788 -1799 1789 1790Jan 15 Eight Bounty mutineers, led by Fletcher Christian, and a number of natives
Feb 28 Hospital assistant John Irving becomes the first convict emancipated. Mar 6 Sirius (Hunter) and Supply leave Port Jackson for Norfolk Is. with a detachment of marines and over 200 convicts, under Major Robert Ross. 19 Sirius, having landed passengers on Norfolk Is., runs aground on a reef and is completely wrecked; Ross proclaims martial law. 24 P. G. King leaves Norfolk Is. in Supply; Ross takes over as commandant. Apr 1 Rations further reduced at Sydney. 5 Supply returns to Sydney with news of the wreck of the Sirius; Phillip announces a further cut in rations. 15 Phillip writes to Lord Sydney asking permission to return to England. 17 Supply (Ball) sails for Batavia to obtain provisions; King leaves on it to return to England to report on conditions in the colony. May 3 Bennelong escapes. Jun 3 Transport Lady Juliana, carrying 221 female convicts and 11 children, arrives at Port Jackson. 20 Food shortage relieved by the arrival of the Justinian, storeship of the Second Fleet; rations restored next day. 26 Second Fleet transports Surprize and (on 28th) Neptune and Scarborough arrive at Port Jackson with 759 convicts, including 486 sick, and the first detachment (100 men) of the New South Wales Corps, under Capt. Nicholas Nepean; others aboard include Lt John Macarthur, his wife, Elizabeth, and their infant son Edward, surgeon John Harris, and D'Arcy Wentworth (asst surgeon on Neptune).
Jul 6 Supply arrives at Batavia, where Ball hires the Dutch snow Waaksamheyd. Aug 1 D'Arcy Wentworth sails for Norfolk Is. in the Surprize; also aboard are Catherine Crowley and her infant son William (W. C. Wentworth). Sep 7 Phillip is speared by a native at Manly, where he had gone to speak to Bennelong and Colbee. 26 Five convicts steal a boat and set out for Tahiti. (Boat wrecked at Port Stephens, where four survivors live with Aborigines for five years.) Oct 18 Supply returns from Batavia with a small cargo of provisions. Dec 10 Phillip's gamekeeper, John Macintyre, is speared by the Aboriginal Pemulwy; Tench leads a punitive party (14th); none captured or shot. 17 Waaksamheyd arrives from Batavia with supplies of beef, pork, flour, sugar, and rice. 1791Feb 22 James Ruse having declared himself self-supporting, the deed of the first land grant made in Australia-30 acres (12 ha) at Rose Hill (Experiment Farm)—is signed. (Ruse receives title to the land in April.) 27 Supply returns from Norfolk Is. with Capt. John Hunter and the rest of Sirius's company. Mar 16 First land grants made to free men (two sailors from Sirius). 23 HMS Pandora (Capt. Edward Edwards), dispatched from England in Nov. 1790 to search for Bounty mutineers, reaches Tahiti; 14 mutineers arrested. 28 Waaksamheyd sails for England, carrying Hunter and officers and crew of the Sirius. Convict William Bryant and his wife, Mary, their two children, and seven other convicts escape from Port Jackson in the Governor's six-oared cutter. 30 Bryant's party go ashore near present-day Newcastle and find coal. Apr 2 Bryant's party enter and examine Port Stephens. May 24 Capt. Watkin Tench and Lt William Dawes set out from Prospect Hill on an expedition that establishes the Hawkesbury and Nepean as the one river. Jun 4 Rose Hill renamed Parramatta. 5 Bryant's party reach Kupang, Timor, posing as survivors of a shipwreck. Jul 9 Transport Mary Ann arrives at Port Jackson with 141 female convicts. - John McCluer, in the Panther, with the Endeavour (Lt Proctor) begins a two-month survey of the north-west coast of New Guinea during which he discovers McCluer Gulf. Aug 1 Matilda, first of the Third Fleet transports, arrives at Port Jackson with 205 convicts. 3 Captain William Bligh leaves England in HMS Providence with the brig Assistant (Lt Nathaniel Portlock) on a second voyage to obtain breadfruit and to explore Torres Strait. 18 Jervis Bay entered and named by Lt Richard Bowen in the transport Atlantic. 20 Atlantic arrives at Port Jackson with 202 convicts, including Simeon Lord. 21 Salamander arrives at Port Jackson with 155 convicts. 28 William and Ann (Ebor Bunker) arrives at Port Jackson with 181 convicts. HMS Pandora wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef near Torres Strait; 35 drowned, including 4 Bounty mutineers; 99 set out in four open boats to sail to Timor. Sep 17 Capt. Edwards and Pandora shipwreck survivors arrive at Kupang. 21 Storeship HMS Gorgon arrives at Port Jackson with 30 convicts and a large quantity of provisions, livestock, and seed; on board is Philip Gidley King, with the colony's seal. 26 HMS Discovery (Capt. George Vancouver) and the brig Chatham (Lt W.R. Broughton), on way to Nootka Sound, arrive off the south-west coast of WA. Active and Queen arrive at Port Jackson with 302 convicts, including the first Irish prisoners (from Cork). 28 Vancouver discovers and names King George Sound. Oct 5 Capt. Edwards of the Pandora arrests Bryant's party and sails next day with them and fellow survivors and prisoners to Batavia (where William Bryant and one child die). 13 Albermarle arrives at Port Jackson with 256 convicts. 14 Britannia (Thomas Melville) arrives at Port Jackson with 129 convicts; Thomas Reibey one of the officers. 16 Admiral Barrington, last of the Third Fleet transports, arrives at Port Jackson with 264 convicts, including James Underwood and Isaac Nichols; on board is Capt. William Paterson of the NSW Corps. 21 Vancouver leaves the WA coast at Termination Is. to continue his voyage into the Pacific. 25 Britannia and William and Ann leave to make the first whaling expedition. (Return 10 Nov.) 26 King leaves for Norfolk Is. in Atlantic. (Replaces Ross as commandant, 4 Nov.) Nov 1 Party of convicts (20 male and 1 female) escape from Parramatta and attempt to walk to China. (Some die; others captured.) 26 Supply sails from Port Jackson for England. Dec 5 Ross returns to Sydney from Norfolk Is. 18 HMS Gorgon leaves Port Jackson for England carrying returning marines (including Ross, Tench, and Dawes). 31 New arrivals among convicts protest at Parramatta following changes to the issuing of rations. Salamander visits Port Stephens and makes a rough survey of the harbour. The Rum CoreCorruption was rife during the years that the arrogant officers of the NSW Corps furthered their own interests shamefully
Colonel William Paterson. He refused to reinstate Governor Bligh to his lofty position after releasing him from the arrest imposed by the New South Wales Corps
In 1789 King George III ordered a 300-strong army corps raised in England to take over garrison duties at Port Jackson from the original marine detachment. Major Francis Grose, an ineffectual 35- year- old veteran of the American Revolutionary War, was plucked from retirement to take command. His force was known officially as the New South Wales Corps but very soon earned the notorious title of the Rum Corps. 1792Jan 1 Samuel Marsden appointed assistant to the chaplain of NSW. 16 Bellona arrives at Port Jackson with the first immigrant free settlers (five men, one with wife and children) and 17 women convicts. 21 D'Entrecasteaux arrives back at Van Diemen's Land, anchoring in Recherche Bay, having circumnavigated Australia. Feb 7 Land grants made to free settlers at Liberty Plains (Strathfield-Homebush). 12 John Macarthur receives grant of 100 acres at Parramatta, which he names Elizabeth Farm; other grants made to Capt. George Johnston (100 acres, Annandale), Commissary-General John Palmer (100 acres, Woolloomooloo), Quartermaster Thomas Laycock (80 acres, Vaucluse), Surgeon John White (100 acres, Petersham), and Rev. Richard Johnson (100 acres, Canterbury). 16 Macarthur appointed Inspector of Public Works. 18 School opened in an unfinished church building in Sydney; teacher is Johnson's clerk, Stephen Barnes. 25 William Bampton's Shah Hormuzear arrives at Port Jackson with a cargo of goods and livestock, including about a hundred Bengal sheep. 28 D'Entrecasteaux sails from Van Diemen's Land for Tonga after charting bays and islands in the south-east. Mar 13 Spanish expedition led by Alessandro Malaspina visits Sydney in the ships Descubierta and Atrevida (to 20 Apr.). Apr 20 Storeship Daedalus arrives at Port Jackson with two young Maori chiefs 26 Lt John Hayes, with the Duke of Clarence and Duchess of Bengal, arrives at the Derwent River (which he names) and carries out a survey of the area (to 9 June). May 2 Mary Bryant granted an unconditional pardon in England after the intercession of James Boswell. Jun 20 Britannia returns from Cape Town, having picked up en route the sealing party from NZ and 4,500 sealskins.
Jul 1 Shah Hormuzear and the whaler Chesterfield (M.B. Alt), the first merchant vessels to sail through Torres Strait, anchor at Darnley Is., where some crew members are killed by natives; others sail in a ship's boat to Timor. 20 D'Entrecasteaux dies of fever off the coast of New Guinea. 24 Schooner Francis, the first ocean-going vessel to be built in the colony, launched at Sydney.
Aug 7 Bligh arrives back in England with Providence and Assistant. Boddingtons arrives at Port Jackson with 144 Irish convicts. Sep 8 Britannia, chartered by Grose, leaves Port Jackson for India via Norfolk Is. 15 Grose River, NSW, discovered and named by William Paterson during an unsuccessful attempt to cross the Blue Mountains. 17 Sugar Cane arrives at Port Jackson with 159 Irish convicts. 1793Jan 2 James Ruse given a land grant at Green Hills (Windsor), on the Hawkesbury River. (Others settle there during the month.) 18 Members of the NSW Corps on Norfolk Is. riot following a play held for the Queen's Birthday; Commandant P. G. King is forced to take stern measures to keep the peace. Feb 6 Capt. John Hunter appointed Governor of NSW to succeed Phillip. Mar 10 Rev. Samuel Marsden arrives at Port Jackson in the storeship William. Apr 1 Macarthur receives a further grant of 100 acres in the Parramatta district. May 18 Yemmerrawannie dies in England. Jun 1 Britannia (Raven) returns from India and Batavia with supplies; crew member Thomas Reibey settles in Sydney. Jul 1 Hunter is given his commission as Governor and his instructions, including permission to assign convicts as servants to landowners. 4 Marsden moves to Parramatta to become chaplain there. 8 American ships Indispensable and Halcyon leave Port Jackson with an escaping convict on each ship. Aug 20 Henry Hacking leads an expedition to try to find a way over the Blue Mountains. (Returns 27th.) Sep 1 Britannia, chartered by civil and military officers, leaves Port Jackson for the Cape of Good Hope to purchase trade goods. 7 Thomas Reibey marries Mary Haydock. Oct 25 Four of the five "Scottish Martyrs"—Thomas Muir, Thomas Fyshe Palmer, William Skirving, and Maurice Margarot—sentenced to 14 years' transportation for sedition, arrive in Sydney on the Surprize. 29 Marsden receives a grant of 100 acres at Hunters Hill. Nov 9 Storeship Resolution sails from Port Jackson with 14 escaping convicts. Dec 12 William Paterson replaces Francis Grose as commander of the NSW Corps and administrator of the colony. 17 Grose and Surgeon John White sail for England in the Daedalus. * Road cleared between Sydney and Parramatta. 1795Feb 15 HMS Reliance, with the Supply, leaves England carrying John Hunter to take up his appointment as Governor of NSW; also aboard are Henry Waterhouse (second captain), Matthew Flinders (master's mate), George Bass (surgeon), with the boat Tom Thumb, and a repatriating Bennelong. Mar 4 Britannia returns from the Cape with goods and livestock. May - New Albion settlement abandoned and settlers evacuated in Duke of Clarence. Jun 18 Britannia leaves on another voyage to India chartered by Lt-Gov. Paterson to procure provisions for the colony. Jul 25 James Squire granted 30 acres at Eastern Farms (Ryde), on which he later builds a brewery. Aug 26 HMS Providence (W. R. Broughton), bound for survey work in the Pacific, arrives at Port Jackson with four survivors of the party of convicts who escaped in Sept. 1790, picked up at Port Stephens. Sep 7 Reliance arrives at Port Jackson with Hunter, Waterhouse, Flinders, Bass and Bennelong. 11 Hunter takes up his position as Governor of NSW and its dependencies.
Oct 26 Bass and Flinders in the Tom Thumb explore Botany Bay and Georges River (to 4 Nov.). Nov 5 George Gerrald, one of the Scottish Martyrs, arrives in Sydney in the stores hip Sovereign. 28 First export consignment of cedar from NSW sent to India in Experiment.
Dec - Black Caesar absconds again and joins up with other runaways. 1796Jan 23 General order issued prohibiting distilling of spirits. Feb 4 NSW Corps soldiers wreck the house of carpenter John Baughan. 10 Magistrate William Balmain challenges Macarthur over the Baughan incident; in return, all NSW Corps officers offer to fight Balmain. 11 Marquis Cornwallis arrives at Port Jackson with 222 Irish convicts, a mutiny having been put down during the voyage. 15 Black Caesar shot and killed by a settler at Liberty Plains. 18 Thomas Muir, one of the Scottish Martyrs, escapes in the American vessel Otter (eventually reaching Paris). 29 Macarthur resigns as Inspector of Public Works and is replaced by Richard Atkins. Mar 19 William Skirving dies, three days after the death of his fellow Scottish Martyr Joseph Gerrald. 24 Bass and Flinders in the second Tom Thumb explore the coast south of Botany Bay (to 2 Apr.); discover Lake Illawarra (27 Mar.); examine Port Hacking (1 Apr.). Apr 7 D'Arcy Wentworth, back in Sydney from Norfolk Is., is appointed Asst Surgeon. 30 Indispensable arrives at Port Jackson with 131 female convicts.
May 11 Britannia (Raven) returns from Calcutta with provisions. Jun - Fishermen find coal near Port Stephens.
Aug - Balmain's appointment as principal surgeon (to replace White) confirmed. William Paterson returns to England on sick leave. Sep 14 Hunter writes to the Colonial Secretary, the Duke of Portland, complaining of Macarthur's behaviour. 15 Macarthur writes to Portland complaining of Hunter's governorship. 29 Reliance (Waterhouse) and Supply sail for the Cape of Good Hope for supplies. Britannia sails for England via Norfolk Is., carrying David Collins home on leave of absence; his position as Judge-Advocate is taken by Atkins. Oct 22 P. G. King sails from Norfolk Is. for England in Britannia; Capt. John Townson of the NSW Corps replaces him as commandant. Nov 9 Hunter disbands the convict night watch and divides Sydney into four districts whose inhabitants choose three residents to act as watchmen; also orders houses to be numbered. * First beer brewed in Australia by John Boston. John MacArthurJohn Macarthur laid the foundations for Australia's wool industry in 1796 when he imported two Merino rams and four ewes from the Cape of Good Hope. Soon afterwards he bought 1200 ewes of the Cape breed which he grazed on the fine pastures which came his way as the most quarrelsome member of the avaricious New South Wales Corps. Macarthur, son of a Scots gentleman who had fought for Bonnie Prince Charlie at Culloden, arrived in the colony in 1790 with his bride, the formidable Elizabeth. His turbulent career reached a critical point on 14 September 1801, when he seriously wounded his commanding officer, Colonel William Paterson, in a duel (Paterson had refused to join in a social boycott of Governor King organised by Macarthur.)
Macarthur, who was then aged 32, was sent to England to face court-martial but turned potential disgrace into a triumph. The charges against him were dropped and he turned his attention to the business of fine wool. He showed samples of his wool to British manufacturers and they judgedthe pure Merino to be as fine as any Spanish wool, and the crossbreed samples to be of value. Thus encouraged, he returned to New South Wales with five rams and a ewe from the Royal Flock. However many of Macarthur's fellow colonists did not share his enthusiasm for fine wool-growing and as late as 1818 he was complaining that 'my feeble attempt to introduce Merino sheep still creeps on almost unheeded'.
In the meantime great changes had taken place in the world wool market. Napoleon's ravages in Spain had meant that German wool-growers had been able to secure some Merino rams. When the wars ended they flooded the British market with this fine, cheap wool and bankrupted the British wool-growing industry. In 1821 the Germans and Spaniards exported 7 million kilograms of wool to Britain; Australia's share was only 79 500 kilograms. And then came the turning point— in 1822 Macarthur won two gold medals from the British Society of Arts for producing wool as fine as the best Saxon. 1797
CoalThirty-four of the Irish convicts who rose against their masters and were deemed not guilty enough to be flogged or hanged were sent to Coal River to labour because it was considered the next thing to flogging or hanging.
1798
Bass StraitTwo young Lincolnshire men, Matthew Flinders, a clever, engaging midshipman, and George Bass, a surgeon with a thirst for exploration, arrived in Port Jackson in September 1795 with the newly-appointed Governor John Hunter. Hardly had they found their land legs than Hunter sent them off in the little Tom Thumb to extend his knowledge of his new realm. They pottered about in the Georges River and Botany Bay until 1797 when Flinders sailed to the Cape of Good Hope to sit successfully for his lieutenant's examinations.
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