History of New South Wales From the Records
VOLUME 1 - GOVERNOR PHILLIP 1783-1789

G. B. Barton - 1889

PART I

The Expedition to Botany Bay

THE colonies in British America continued to receive convicts for some years after the Declaration of Independence by the United States in 1776, followed by the Treaty of Versailles in 1783, had put an end to the system of transportation to the States. Among the records of the Home Office are two warrants, dated 1783 and 1784, and addressed to the superintendent of the convicts on the river Thames, requiring him to deliver certain convicts then on board the hulks to the contractor for their transportation to America (1). These warrants are sufficient to show that transportation to America did not, as is often supposed, entirely cease after the War of Independence (2).

When the independence of the United States was recognised by England, by the Peace of Versailles, the Government found itself under the necessity of finding some other outlet for the fast-accumulating population of the gaols. The coasts of Africa were at first thought of as the most suitable place for the reception of convicts, and many were sent there; but the unhealthiness of the climate proved so fatal to them that transportation to that country was wholly abandoned in 1785.

The final determination of the Governement was made known in a letter from Lord Sydney to the Lords of the Treasury, dated 18th August, 1786:-

The several gaols and places for the confinement of felons in this kingdom being in so crowded a state that the greatest danger is to be apprehended, not only from their escape but from infectious distempers which may be hourly expected to break out amongst them, his Majesty, desirous of preventing by every possible means the ill consequences which might happen from either of these causes, has been pleased to signify to me his royal commands that measures should immediately be pursued for sending out of his kingdom such of the convicts as are under sentence or order of transportation.

The Nautilus, sloop, which, upon the recommendation of a Committee of the House of Commons, had been sent to explore the southern coast of Africa, in order to find out an eligible situation for the reception of the said convicts, where, from their industry, they might soon be likely to obtain means of subsistence, having lately returned, and it appearing by the report of her officers that the several parts of the coast which they examined between the latitudes 15° 50´ south and the latitude of 33° are sandy and barren, and from other causes unfit for a settlement of that description, his Majesty has thought it advisable to fix upon Botany Bay, situated on the coast of New South Wales, in the latitude of about 33° south, which according to the accounts given by the late Captain Cook, as well as the representations of person (3) who accompanied him during his last voyage, and who have been consulted upon the subject, is looked upon as a place likely to answer the above purposes.

I am therefore commanded to signify to your lordships his Majesty's pleasure that you do forthwith take such measures as may be necessary for providing a proper number of vessels for the conveyance of seven hundred and fifty convicts to Botany Bay, together with such provisions, necessaries, and implements for agriculture as may be necessary for their use after their arrival (4).

It would appear from this letter that the sole motive of the expedition to Botany Bay was to relieve the gaols. But there is abundant evidence to show that other and higher considerations had been at work for some time previously; and that although the relief of the prisons was the immediate object in view, the real motives which led to the expedition were of a much larger and more statesman-like character.

The work of colonisation had so long been associated in the minds of colonising nations with the employment of convict labour that, when a new colony was projected, the despatch of convicts to its shores was usually accepted as an indispensable part of the programme. This fact in the history of colonisation has so far been lost sight of by many writers in the present century, that transportation to Botany Bay has generally been treated as the central idea of the whole movement; and its history has too often been written as if "the new intended settlement" was from the first intended to be nothing more than a strictly penal one - a mere substitute for hulks and penitentiaries.

Undoubtedly there is some colour for this view of the matter. When the Government had determined to form a settlement on the coast of New South Wales, they did not announce that they were about to do so, but contented themselves with an intimation that they proposed to transport a number of felons in order to relieve the gaols. In the speech with which George the Third opened Parliament on the 23rd January, 1787, the only reference to the subject was the following:-

A plan has been formed, by my direction, for transporting a number of convicts in order to remove the inconvenience which arose from the crowded state of the gaols in different parts of the kingdom; and you will, I doubt not, take such further measures as may be necessary for this purpose (5).

Nor was anything said about the matter in the debate on the address in reply, beyond a remark from the mover to the effect that transportation was a measure of absolute necessity, "no penitentiary houses having been built, though an Act had passed for their erection."

Judging from the extremely curt allusion to the matter in the King's speech, it would appear that the Government did not think it expedient to invite discussion with respect to their colonising project. No debate seems to have taken place at any stage of the business, even the bill "to enable his Majesty to establish a Criminal Judicature on the eastern coast of New South Wales and the parts adjacent" having passed without comment (6). The measure seems to have been treated as if it contained nothing beyond a provision for the disposal of felons. Possibly the Government may have been influenced by the objections urged in different quarters to any proposal for the establishment of a new colony. They had to encounter objections from the East India Company to any interference with their commercial monopoly; objections from philosophers who considered colonies a source of weakness to the mother country; objections from critics who looked upon the eastern coast of New Holland as, "perhaps, the most barren, least inhabited, and worst cultivated country in the Southern Hemisphere (7);" and objections from humanitarians who argued that, if the Government "had chosen to embrace the single purpose of forming a settlement at Botany Bay, they would be justly censurable in inviting the industrious and reputable artisan to exchange his own happy soil for the possession of territory, however extensive, in a part of the world as yet so little known (8)."

But notwithstanding the indifference with which the proposed expedition appears to have been received in political circles, a glance at contemporary history is enough to show that there were other objects in view in the minds of English statesmen besides the relief of overcrowded gaols. In the first place, the loss of the American colonies naturally provoked a desire to found other colonies, which in course of time might compensate England for them; and in the second place, there was the clear political necessity of occupying the territory discovered by Captain Cook, in order to prevent its occupation by the French.

The sequence of events during the twenty-five years which preceded the expedition under Governor Phillip is too strikingly suggestive to be overlooked. We have only to review the great historical occurrences of that time in order to see the connection between them.

The Peace of Paris in 1763 put an end to the long struggle between France and England for the possession of Canada and India. The French having lost both, it was inevitable that they should seek to retrieve the disaster by fresh discoveries in other parts of the world.
Accordingly, an expedition of discovery in the South Sea was despatched under the command of Louis de Bougainville, Colonel of Foot and Commodore, in 1766. He sailed round the world - the first achievement of the kind in the history of French navigation - and discovered various islands in the Pacific Ocean.
The English expedition under Captain Cook, "for making discoveries in the southern hemisphere," followed in 1768, and the publication of his voyages in 1773 directed attention to one of the greatest fields for colonisation that had yet been made known.
The French Government despatched another expedition in 1772, under Captain Marion Du Fresne, to make discoveries in the Southern Ocean. He touched at Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand, but added little or nothing to their geography.
A second expedition under Captain Cook was despatched in 1772 for the purpose of making discoveries in the unexplored part of the southern hemisphere. New Caledonia and Norfolk Island were discovered on this voyage.
A third expedition under the same commander was sent out to the Pacific Ocean in 1776, to make discoveries in the northern hemisphere.
By the Peace of Versailles in 1783, England recognised the independence of the American colonies, which were thus finally lost to her.
The French Government sent out a third expedition in 1785, under the command of La Pérouse, for the purpose of making discoveries and also examining portions of New Holland and New Zealand.
In 1786 Botany Bay was fixed upon as the site of the intended settlement on the coast of New South Wales, and in May, 1787, the fleet sailed under the command of Governor Phillip, whose last lines from England showed how thoroughly he appreciated the national importance of the work in which he was engaged.

These events lead to the conclusion that, whether Lord Sydney and his colleagues confined their attention to the state of the gaols or not, there was a motive-power of a very different character at work, irresistibly impelling them to undertake the colonisation of New South Wales (9).

NOTES:

(1) Post, p. 466. - It may be mentioned that when New South Wales became the scene of operations, the warrants for the delivery of convicts from the hulks to the contractors followed the American form.

(2) "The Recorder of London had a long conference with Lord Sidney on the subject of the present state of the prisons of the metropolis, and the number of convicts that are inreasing to an alarming degree, owing to the delay of sending abroad those under sentence of transportation. The season is over for sending them to Quebec and Nova Scotia; but assurances have been given that two ships, properly fitted up, shall be ready by the latter end of March next, to carry convicts to America." - Annual Register, 1788, vol. xxx, Chron., p. 223, under date 8th December, 1788.

(3) Sir Joseph Banks was the confidential adviser of the Government on matters relating to Botany Bay.

(4) The rest of this letter will be found post, p. 435.

(5) Parliamentary History, vol. xxvi, p. 211.

(6) There is no reference to the bill in the Parliamentary History for 1787.

(7) Post, p. 467.

(8) The History of New Holland, 1787, preface, p. v.

(9) Lucas, Introduction to a Historical Geography of the British Colonies, p. 103.

History of New South Wales From the Records VOLUME 1 - GOVERNOR PHILLIP 1783-1789

G. B. Barton - 1889

PART I

The Expedition to Botany Bay

History of New South Wales From the Records
VOLUME 1 - GOVERNOR PHILLIP 1783-1789