History of New South Wales
From the Records
VOLUME 1 - GOVERNOR PHILLIP 1783-1789
G. B. Barton - 1889
PART I
Sir Joseph Banks
THERE were one or two sections of society, no doubt, which may be supposed to have taken some active interest in the movement. Cook's First Voyage of Discovery, written by Hawkesworth and published in 1773, had made a deep impression on the scientific mind at the time, and the feeling was revived when it became known that the Government had determined to occupy the territory which the celebrated seaman had explored on the east coast of New Holland. The only living man of note who had any personal knowledge of the country was Sir Joseph Banks, to whom the nation was indebted for all that it cared to hear about New South Wales. It was from his "accurate and circumstantial journal of the voyage (1)," we may believe, that Hawkesworth wrote his pretty descriptions of the meadows and lawns of Botany Bay, the beautiful wild flowers, the birds of exquisite plumage, the delightful climate, the kangaroo and the turtle, the Indians fishing in their canoes, and the various incidents which the explorers met with on their excursions inland. Sir Joseph was President of the Royal Society, the most enthusiastic patron of science known in English history, in great favour with George the Third, and a man of unbounded influence with the Government throughout the active portion of his life. "He it was," wrote Lord Brougham, speaking from his personal knowledge of the man, "who may be truly said to have planted and founded the colony of Botany Bay (2)." If he was not the planter and founder of the colony, he might be fairly described as its patron saint. He was consulted by Lord Sydney before the Cabinet had resolved to send out an expedition, and it was on his recommendation that the bay was fixed upon as "the site of the new intended settlement." For many years afterwards and through many changes of administration, his advice was sought on every matter of importance connected with the colony. The collection of letters and other documents which he left behind him at his death, known as the Brabourne (3) papers, contains abundant evidence of the anxious interest he continued to feel in the progress of the settlement. Every one connected with it seemed to know that Sir Joseph was the proper person to communicate with when anything required to be done at head-quarters. Many striking instances might be quoted from his correspondence; but the following will be sufficient for the purpose.
ABOVE: Sir Joseph Banks
The Rev. Samuel Marsden, who came out to the colony in 1794 and who combined farming and wool-growing with his missionary labours, wishing to obtain "some of the choicest fruits we have not got, and also two good English rams," wrote him from Sydney, on April 27th, 1803, and began by saying:-
Honoured sir, - I flatter myself you will excuse the liberty I have taken in addressing these few lines to you. Tho' I have not the honour of any personal knowledge of you, yet, sir, from your known ardent wish to promote the good of the colony, I have presumed to trouble you with this sheet.
Another of his correspondents, a ship captain named William Wilson, writing from Monument Yard on June 24th, 1806, mentioned that when he commanded a ship six year previously he had sailed to New South Wales, and had visited the island of Otaheite on three occasions:-
By these voyages I have learnt that both the islanders there, and the colonists of New South Wales, justly look up to you as the patron and promoter of their prosperity.
And in a memorial which Wilson enclosed, praying for relief against the arbitrary action of the East India Company in seizing a ship and cargo of seal skins and oil from the colony, he said:-
The colony of New South Wales and its dependencies, daily rising in importance to the mother country, the inhabitants, many of whom have never forfeited one privilege of British subjects, look homeward with anxiety for encouragement to the industry which is excited among them. In their remote situation, solicitude for a conservator of their rights and a promoter of their welfare naturally directs their attention to you, honourable sir, who from the circumstance of your assent to the settlement being made, it is hoped will, by a continuance of support, not only be instrumental in rendering the colonists comfortable in a great degree among themselves, but even be the means of carrying civilisation and all the blessings connected with it to thousands of islanders in their neighbourhood.
In many letters written by Matthew Flinders in 1801 on board H.M.S. Investigator at Sheerness, before his departure on the voyage which made him famous, the writer poured out his thanks to Sir Joseph for all that he had already done on his behalf. Flinders seems to have consulted him on every point connected with his expedition, especially when it was necessary to stir up the Navy and Victualling Boards, or to approach the Lords of the Admiralty for some special concession. And when mentioning that he had at last received his commission, he added that he felt himself entirely indebted to Sir Joseph's influence and kindness for it. In other letters, written from the Isle of France in 1804-5-6-7, when Flinders was kept in close confinement as a State prisoner by the French Governor de Caen, he appealed to "my patron," Sir Joseph, for assistance in his calamity.
Another unfortunate officer in the navy figures prominently among his correspondents. One of the earliest letters in the collection is from William Bligh, the celebrated lieutenant of the Bounty. It is dated August 6th, 1787, and confirms Brougham's statement that it was Sir Joseph "who suggested the means of transplanting the breadfruit tree from the South Sea Islands to the West Indies." Bligh wrote immediately after his arrival in London:-
I arrived yesterday from Jamaica, and should instantly have paid my respects to you had not mr. Campbell told me you were not to return from the country until Thursday. I have heard the flattering news of your great goodness to me, intending to honor me with the command of the vessel which you propose to go to the South Seas.
This letter is followed by a series of other communications from Bligh, written in the same strain. One of the most remarkable is dated from Timor, June 14th, 1789 - two days after he had arrived there - enclosing a narrative of the mutiny among the sailors of the Bounty, and of his voyage in the open boat to Timor. "I have not given so full an account to the Admiralty," he says. The correspondence was continued for many years afterwards, including the period during which he was Governor of new South Wales. In one of his letters, dated 30th June, 1808, he gave his patron a lengthy "account of the Rebellion" headed by Lietenant-Colonel Johnston. On both these occasions Bligh's first thought evidently was to place Sir Joseph Banks in possession of the facts of his case; reporting events to him with as much minuteness as if he had been writing a despatch to the official head of his department. His unfortunate history for twenty years reveals itself with curious distinctness in the discoloured but still legible sheets of paper preserved by his friend.
There was no point of resemblance between Flinders and Bligh as regards personal character; but each of them was a victim of unexpected disaster, and each showed the same attachment to Sir Joseph Banks. It is curious to observe how they both turned instantly and hopefully to him when misfortune overtook them, as if they felt instinctively that either his hand must help them, or none at all.
These are memorable instances of the singular influence exercised by Sir Joseph Banks with respect to men and matters connected with New South Wales. A remarkable illustration of his fatherly interest in it may be found in a draft letter written by him to the Secretary of the Treasury in June, 1798. The necessity for exploring the interior of the colony with a view to the development of its resources had evidently occupied his attention; and in the course of his letter he sketched out a plan for the purpose, in which he seems to have felt great confidence. He began by pointing out how much this matter had been neglected:-
We have now occupied the country of New South Wales more than ten years; and so much has the discovery of the interior been neglected that no one article has hitherto been discovered, by the importation of which the mother country can receive any degree of return for the cost of founding and hitherto maintaining the colony.
A country so extensive must possess a large river system and raw material of some kind:-
It is impossible to conceive that such a body of land, as large as all Europe, does not produce vast rivers capable of being navigated into the heart of the interior; or that, if properly investigated, such a country, situate in a most fruitful climate, should not produce some native raw material of importance to such a manufacturing country as England is.
A celebrated traveller had just arrived in England, fresh from the work of exploration:-
Mr. Mungo Park (4), lately returned from a journey in Africa, where he penetrated farther into the inland than any European before has done, by several hundred miles, and discovered an immense navigable river running westward, which offers the means of penetrating into the centre of that vast continent, . . offers himself as a volunteer to be employed in exploring the interior of New Holland, by its rivers or otherwise, as may in the event be found most expedient.
His character and qualifications were beyond question:-
His moral character is unblemished, his temper mild, and his patience inexhaustible, as he has proved during his African expedition. He is sufficiently versed in astronomy to make and to calculate observations to determine both latitude and longitude; he knows geography enough to construct a map of the countries he may visit; draws a little; has a competent knowledge of botany and zoology; and has been educated in the medical line.
He is very moderate in his terms; he will be contented with 10s. a day and his rations, and happy if his pay is settled at 12s. The amount of his outfit for instruments, arms, presents, &c., will not, I think, exceed £100. He will want a decked vessel of about thirty tons, under the command of a lieutenant, with orders to follow his advice in all matters of exploring. Such a vessel may easily be built in the colony, if the one already there, which is found to have very bad qualities as a sea boat, cannot be made sufficiently trustworthy; and Lieutenant Flinders, a countryman of mine, a man of activity and information, who is already there, will, I am sure, be happy if he is entrusted with the command, and will enter into the spirit of his orders, and agree perfectly with Park.
The crew of such a vessel need not, in my opinion, consist of more than ten men - four for boat-keepers and six to proceed in the country with one or both the commanders, as may happen, when the land journies are to be attempted.
In the event of this project being carried into execution, Sir Joseph expressed his readiness to draw up instructions for the parties and to correspond with them during the execution of their plans, under the superintendence of the Treasury - "such hopes have I of material discoveries being made, and such zeal do I feel for the prospects of a colony in the founding of which I bore a considerable share."
This proposal, however, does not seem to have met with any acceptance at the hands of the Government, who were probably too much occupied with the war in which they were then engaged with France to think of fitting out exploring expeditions to New South Wales. Had the suggestion been adopted, it may well be supposed that, although Mungo Park's idea of exploring the interior by sailing up large navigable rivers might not have been realised, he and Flinders together could hardly have failed to anticipate some of the discoveries made in later years. But the plan was more feasible on paper than it would have been found in practice. In that respect it resembles a proposal made by Flinders to Sir Joseph Banks, in a letter written from Wilhelm's Plains in the Isle of France, March 20th, 1806:-
Should a peace speedily arrive, and their lordships of the Admiralty wish to have the N.W. coast of Australia examined immediately, I will be ready to embark on any ship provided for the service that they may chuse to send out. My misfortunes have not abated my ardour in the service of science. . . . . With five or six asses to carry provisions (and they can be procured here), expeditions might be made into the interior of Australia from the head of the Gulph of Carpentaria in 18°, and from the head of the Great Gulph on the south coast in 32°, until the courses should nearly meet: five hundred miles each way would most probably be sufficient, since the country does not appear to be mountainous; a view of my general chart will exemplify this. In case of being again sent to Australia, I should much wish that this was a part of my instructions.
Perhaps it was a fortunate thing for Flinders that his project for exploring the interior "with five or six asses to carry provisions" was not adopted, or the world might have lost his subsequent contributions to geographical science. But although the idea of exploring Australia in that fashion may provoke a smile, a somewhat similar one was not unsuccessful in later years. When Captain Grey set out from Hanover Bay in 1837 on his exploring tour in the north-west, he took with him twenty-six ponies, for which he had sent to Timor. Although they were "very small and perfectly wild," they proved useful, if they did not exactly answer the purpose (5).
Sir Joseph was never tired of expressing his conviction as to the great future which lay before the colony; nor was his confidence in it ever shaken, even in the darkest hours of its early years. Among the many expressions of his opinion on the subject to be found in his correspondence, the following passages in letters to Governor Hunter, written in 1797 and 1799, deserve attention:-
The climate and soil are, in my own opinion, superior to most which have yet been settled by Europeans. I have always maintained that assertion, grounded on my own experience, but have been uniformly contradicted, except by Governor Phillip, till your last favors have taken away all doubts from the minds of those who have been permitted to peruse them.
Your colony is already a most valuable appendage to Great Britain, and I flatter myself we shall, before long, see her Ministers made sensible of its real value. Rest assured in the meantime that no opportunity will be lost by me of impressing them with just ideas of the probable importance to which it is likely before long to attain, and to urge them to pay it that degree of attention which it clearly deserves at their hands.
He was writing in a time of gloom and disaster in Europe, and naturally turned his eyes to the star rising in the southern sky:-
I see the future prospect of empire and dominion which now cannot be disappointed. Who knows but England may revive in New South Wales when it has sunk in Europe?
NOTES:
(1) Hawkesworth, introduction, vol. ii, p. xiii.
(2) Lives of Philosophers of the Time of King George the Third. Mr. George Suttor, in a short memoir of Sir Joseph Banks written from personal knowledge and published in Parramatta in 1855, said:- "The establishment of our colony at Botany Bay originated entirely with Sir Joseph Banks."
(3) The collection would be more correctly styled the "Sir Joseph Banks Papers." They came into the possession of Lord Brabourne through his connection with Sir Joseph. Lord Brabourne is the great grandson of Sir Edward Knatchbull, whose wife was a sister of Lady Banks, a daughter of William Weston Hugessen. His lordship was raised to peerage in 1880. The collection was purchased from him by Sir Saul Samuel, Agent-General for the colony.
(4) Mungo Park was sent out to Africa in 1795 on his first exploring expedition by the African Association, on the recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks, a prominent member of the committee. He returned to England in December, 1797. His second expedition to that country, on which he set out in December, 1803, was undertaken at the request of the Government, and proved fatal to him.
(5) The gradual development of the art of exploration is an interesting feature in its history. For means of carriage our first explorers, when they left the rivers, had to depend on their own backs; then came the pack-horse, the bullock-team, the dray and cart, with boats for river work, and lastly camels. Oxley, in 1817, travelled with boats and bullock-teams; Sturt, in 1828, relied on bullock-teams and pack-horses; Mitchell started on his expedition in 1835 with two boats carried on a boat carriage, seven carts drawn by bullocks, and seven pack-horses; Eyre set out in 1840 with drays and pack-horses; Leichhardt, in 1844, travelled with eight bullocks carrying pack-saddles; in 1847 he took with him one hundred and eighty sheep, two hundred and seventy goats, forty bullocks, fifteen horses, and thirteen mules; while Burke and Wills, in 1860, travelled in unprecedented pomp with twenty-seven camels, led by sepoys, with waggons and pack-horses bringing up the rear.
