The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay With an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson and Norfolk Island Cambridge Library Collection - History Series

This work, first published in 1789, is an edited compilation of official papers, journals and illustrations relevant to the voyage of the First Fleet to Australia and the founding of Port Jackson on Sydney Cove, and of the penal colony of Norfolk Island. Arthur Phillip (1738?1814), a sailor of wide experience in both the Royal Navy and the Portuguese fleet, accepted the post of commander of the fleet and governor of the new colony in 1786, and the eleven ships arrived in Botany Bay in January 1788. This account begins with a note on Phillip's career, and discusses earlier British colonisation, before describing the preparations for, and progress of, the voyage. The fascinating documentation continues with materials on the founding of the colony, problems with the convict workmen, encounters with native Australians, and with the local wildlife, all illustrations of the birth of one of the world's great cities.

Advertisement; View of the fleet; List of subscribers; 1. Public utility of voyage; 2. Preparation of fleet; 3. Reasons for touching at the Canary Isles; 4. Attempt to put in at Port Praya; 5. Prosperous passage from Rio to the Cape; 6. First interview with the natives; 7. Removal from Botany Bay; 8. Description of Port Jackson; 9. A criminal court held; 10. Departure of the French ships; 11. Three of the transports cleared; 12. The supply returns from Lord Howe Island; 13. Particular description of Sydney Cove; 14. Fish violently seized by the natives; 15. Some specimens of animals from New South Wales; 16. Papers relative to the settlement at Port Jackson; 17. Nautical directions; 18. Concise account of Lieutenant Shortland; 19. Appearance of the scurvy; 20. Lieutenant Watts's narrative; 21. The Scarborough leaves Port Jackson; 22. Supplemental account of animals from New South Wales; Appendix.