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

G. B. Barton - 1889

PART I

Proposals for Colonising New South Wales

 

AMONG the various documents relating to New South Wales preserved in the Public Record Office in London, there are two remarkable papers in which the writers submitted their views to the Government of the day for the colonisation of the territory discovered by Captain Cook. Looking at them in the light of contemporary history, it will be seen that they form distinct links in the chain connecting the expedition of 1787 to Botany Bay with the great historical events of preceding years. The first of these papers, which bears date August 23rd, 1783, was written by a gentleman named James Maria Matra, who, though now wholly unknown, appears from his correspondence to have been a man of some note in the political world of his time. He is entitled to the credit of having made the first formal proposal for the colonisation of New South Wales; and there is little doubt that, although the project he submitted to the Government - the Coalition Government of Fox and Lord North was then in power - was not adopted in its original form, the ultimate scheme carried out by the Pitt Ministry was elaborated from the materials which he had put together.

From a letter addressed by Matra to Evan Nepean (1), the Under Secretary for the Home Department, in October, 1784, it appears that his proposal had been formally laid before the Government. He said:-

You will therefore do me a particular pleasure if, to the great trouble you have already taken in pushing forward this business for me, you would be so obliging as to tell me if the Ministry have come to a decided resolution to reject the plan; or if there be any chance of its being entered on in the spring season.

It also appears from a note appended to his paper that Matra had been in personal communication on the subject with Lord Sydney (2), who expressed an opinion to the effect that the new territory would be a suitable place for convicts. "When I conversed with Lord Sydney on this subject, it was observed that New South Wales would be a very proper region for the reception of criminals condemned to transportation." This intimation of his lordship's views led Matra to add some suggestions on that point; but he had not made any reference to it in his original sketch.

From another letter written by Matra to Nepean, it appears that Pitt's Attorney-General, Pepper Arden, had also been consulted in the matter, and that he had been supplied with some further information about the sailing route of the China ships - "the only difficulty" - added Matra - "I can think of in the way of the South Sea scheme."

The repeated and emphatic reference to Sir Joseph Banks, which appears in the course of Matra's paper, shows that the distinguished naturalist had signified his approval of it in strong terms. It may be inferred that his personal influence with the Government, which was very great, had been exerted in favour of the project, and it was undoubtedly at his suggestion that Botany Bay was selected as the field of operations when it was resolved to colonise New South Wales. Thirteen years had passed since he had collected his botanical specimens about the shores of the bay, and during that time no movement had been made for the occupation of the country; although he had given strong evidence in favour of it before a select committee of the House of Commons in 1779.

The Coalition Government having remained in office only a few months - from April to December, 1783 - it is not probable that any colonising project, however sound in itself, could have met with much consideration in the midst of the political uncertainties which surrounded the Cabinet. On the formation of Pitt's administration, Matra seems to have renewed his negotiations on the subject, and pressed the matter on the attention of Lord Sydney. It was referred by the Minister to Lord Howe (3), the first Lord of the Admiralty, for his opinion of it, and the Admiral's ideas were communicated immediately afterwards in a remarkable letter to his lordship, dated 26 December, 1784:-

I return, my dear lord, the papers you left with me to-day, which are copies only of the former sent to me on the same subject on Friday evening.

Should it be thought advisable to increase the number of our settlements on the plan Mr. Matra has suggested, I imagine it would be necessary to employ ships of a different construction. Frigates are ill-adapted for such services. I conceive that ships of burthen to contain the various stores, provisions, implements, &c., wanted for the first colonists meant to be established there, and composing the chief part of the company of the ship, should be provided for the purpose; though an armed vessel of suitable dimensions might be previously appointed to inspect and fix on the preferable station for forming the intended establishment.

The length of the navigation, subject to all the retardments of an India voyage, do not, I must confess, encourage me to hope for a return of the many advantages, in commerce or war, which Mr. Matra has in contemplation.

This scheme being thus questioned by the Admiralty, no further action appears to have been taken with respect to it. It seems probable, however, that Matra, not satisfied with Lord Howe's unfavourable opinion of his project, determined to seek another channel for it, and for that purpose placed himself in communication with Sir George Young, who is described in a letter from Pepper Arden, the Attorney-General, to Lord Sydney, as "of the navy (4)." He appears to have thoroughly sympathised with Matra's ideas on the subject; his experience in the navy leading him to appreciate the prospective importance of a colony in the South Sea to the commerce as well as the naval power of the mother country. Guided by this experience, he prepared a condensed edition of Matra's proposals, presenting them in a shape somewhat more consistent with official views on the subject of colonisation. His plan was introduced to Lord Sydney's notice in a letter from Pepper Arden, dated 13th January, 1785, in the course of which he said, - "Lord Mansfield mentioned the subject to me, and desired Sir George Young would call upon me to explain his ideas."

Although there is no express allusion in Sir George's paper to Matra's proposals, no one can compare the two documents without seeing that the one formed the basis of the other - the only essential difference between them being that Sir George Young's sketch presented a condensed, and in some respects a more practical view, of the subject. The identity of the two schemes may be shown by analysing the arguments used by the two writers, and comparing them one with another. Briefly stated, those relied upon by Matra were as follows:-

  1. The proposed colony of New South Wales might 'in time atone for the loss of the American colonies.'
     
  2. The new territory offered almost every conceivable inducement to colonisation. "The climate and soil are so happily adapted to produce every various and valuable production of Europe and of both the Indies that, with good management and a few settlers, in twenty or thirty years they might cause a revolution in the whole system of European commerce, and secure to England a monopoly of some part of it, and a very large share in the whole."                                                                                                        
     
  3. The colony might afford an asylum for the American colonists who had remained loyal and had suffered for their loyalty to the Crown during the war. These settlers might be expected to form the basis of the future population of New South Wales. The proposal for its settlement had met with the approval of many Americans of that class, who had been consulted on the subject with a view to their taking part in it.
     
  4. The expense of founding a settlement as proposed need not exceed £3,000. It would be sufficient, in the first instance, to despatch two ships of the peace establishment with two companies of marines and about twenty artificers, "who are all the emigration required from the parent State." These men could be left at the new settlement to prepare for the reception of the intended settlers. The ships could take in a supply of live stock, seed, and fruit-trees at the Cape of Good Hope.                                                          
     
  5. One of the ships might be despatched from the colony to New Caledonia, Otaheite, and the neighbouring islands, "to procure a few families thence, and as many women as may serve for the men left behind."

    Sir Joseph Banks was of opinion that "any number of useful inhabitants" might be drawn from China, "agreeably to an invariable custom of the Dutch in forming or recruiting their Eastern Settlements (5)."
     
  6. The proposed colony would improve the trade with China, and open up commercial intercourse with Japan, Korea, and the Moluccas. The timber and flax of New Zealand might become articles of commerce, of great importance to the naval interests of England. "There is also a prospect of considerably extending our woollen trade."                                                                                             
     
  7. "Those who are alarmed at the idea of weakening the mother country by opening a channel for emigration" might console themselves by reflecting that "it is more profitable that a part of our countrymen should go to a new abode where they be useful to us, than to the American States."                    
     
  8. The geographical position of New South Wales might give it "a very commanding influence in the policy of Europe." In the event of war with Holland or Spain, it would furnish England with a naval station of the greatest value.                                                                                                                                        
     
  9. The common apprehension of danger resulting to the mother country from voluntary emigration was not a matter for serious consideration, when viewed in connection with the commercial and political advantages to be derived from it.                                                                                                                            
     
  10. Convicts might be transported to the new territory under much more favourable circumstances as regards expense and other practical considerations, than to any other country, and with far greater opportunities for their ultimate reformation.

Such was Matra's line of argument. Sir George Young sketched the prospective advantages of the settlement in the following form:-

  1. The geographical position of the country placed it within easy communication with the Spanish settlements in South America on the one hand, and with China, the Spice Islands, and the Cape of Good Hope on the other. The facilities for extensive trade thus disclosed were not all; for should war break out between England and Spain, English ships would then have the immense advantage of a great naval station in the South Sea.                                                                                                                        
     
  2. The variety of soil and climate comprised within the territory would enable the colonists to produce almost all the products known to the commerce of European nations, - "not to mention the great probability of finding in such an immense country metals of every kind."                                             
     
  3. The settlement of "a territory happily situated" would not only lead to the establishment of "a very extensive commerce," but would "greatly increase our shipping and number of seamen." In addition to many other products, the New Zealand flax plant might be largely cultivated, and by that means the English navy might be rendered independent of Russia for its supply of cordage and canvas.           
     
  4. The settlement of the country would not tend to "depopulate the parent State," as the settlers would be principally collected from the Friendly Islands and China; the only men required from England being a few skilled workmen, who might be drawn from the ships sent out on the service.                     
     
  5. The American colonists who had been loyal to the Crown in the War of Independence would find in New South Wales "a fertile, healthy soil, far preferable to their own," where they might be established "with a greater prospect of success than in any other place hitherto pointed out for them."
     
  6. The expense involved in carrying out this plan could not exceed £3,000, seeing that ships-of-war might be as cheaply fed and paid in the South Sea as in the British Channel.                                         
     
  7. The expense of transporting felons might be considerably reduced by sending them to the new territory, while the danger of their returning from it would be much less than in the case of other countries. The transportation might be cheaply carried out by means of the China ships of the East India Company, which, by altering their route after leaving the Cape of Good Hope, might land the felons on the coast of New South Wales, and then proceed to their destination.

While the identity of these schemes is obvious, it is not less clear that they formed the starting-point of the expedition subsequently sent out. Although it assumed a very different shape when actually executed, we have only to read Lord Sydney's letter to the Treasury of the 18th August, 1786 (6), and the instructions to Governor Phillip on his departure, to see that the whole scheme, modified, as it was, by the exigencies of the transportation question, originated in the plan formulated by Matra and revised by Sir George Young. Very little is said in the official documents with reference to the commercial or political advantages so forcibly urged by those gentlemen; the whole project had apparently dwindled down to a plan for ridding the country of its surplus criminals. Matra's idea was that the colony might be settled by the unfortunate loyalists scattered throughout the American colonies, who ere at that time looking out for new homes. As it turned out, none of the emigrated to New South Wales; the expedition to Botany Bay was composed exclusively of convicts, with the military and civil officials required to govern them. The official instructions to Governor Phillip embodied two or three of Matra's suggestions - the cultivation of the New Zealand flax plant, and the despatch of a ship to the islands for the purpose of procuring women; but curiously enough, these suggestions were the only points of his project which proved impracticable. The flax plant was never cultivated in any part of New South Wales, and never realised the anticipations formed of it, even in Norfolk Island. Nor did Phillip make any attempt to bring women from the islands, knowing that "it would answer no other purpose than that of bringing them to pine away in misery." The proposal was a worse than thoughtless one.

But although the schemes elaborated by Matra and Sir George Young were not officially adopted by the Government, they appear to have been subjected to further revision at the hands of officials, the result being seen in the shape of a paper, without name or date, entitled - "Heads of a Plan for effectually disposing of convicts, by the establishment of a colony in New South Wales (7)." In this plan we find the details of the expedition to Botany Bay foreshadowed with remarkable precision. All mention of free settlers has disappeared, and from first to last the project is confined to a proposal for "effectually disposing of convicts." That these "heads of a plan" were drawn up by some one in the confidence of the Governement is shown by the fact that, in his letter to the Treasury of the 18th August, 1786, and also in his subsequent letter to the Admiralty, in which instructions were given for the equipment of the expedition, Lord Sydney made special reference to the paper:- "I enclose to your lordships herewith the heads of a plan upon which the new settlement is to be formed." A review of the records on this subject seems to show that in the interval of three years which elapsed between the date of Matra's project and the letters referred to, the proposals for colonising New South Wales had been subjected to several processes of revision, resulting in the plan finally adopted.

It is evident that the plans proposed to the Government were drawn up under very different influences from those which finally determined the matter. Both Matra and Sir George Young pointed to the American loyalists as the proper men to send out to New South Wales; they were practical settlers, accustomed to the struggles of colonial life, and they were entitled to the assistance of the Government in their search for new homes. But the Home Secretary was not troubled about the loyalists, while he was very much troubled about the convicts. The hulks and gaols were crowded with criminals condemned to transportation, and where were they to be sent when the American ports were no longer open?

Although Matra's proposal was ultimately shaped so as to suit the Minister's convenience, it is not possible to read his long-forgotten essay without seeing how clearly, even in the dim distance, the "heroic work of colonisation" occupied the background of the picture which represents the departure of the First Fleet for the shores of New South Wales. The mean proportions which the scheme assumed in Sydney's hands should not blind us to the fact that it originated in a desire to establish free settlers in a new colony, under conditions which would enable them to turn to account the great natural resources of the country, not only to their own benefit but to that of the nation.

Here he disappears from the page of history; but Sir George Young again becomes visible for a moment in the act of presenting a little petition to Sydney:-

The Petition of Sir George Young, Knight, and John Call, Esquire, in behalf of themselves and others, sheweth, - that your petitioners have it in contemplation to form a settlement on a small uninhabited island, first discovered by Captain Cook and by him named Norfolk Island, lying in the latitude 29° 2´ south, and longitude 168° 16´ east from Greenwich, in the Pacific Ocean; in order to promote the cultivation of the New Zealand flax-plant, and the growth of pine timber for masts, being persuaded that if they are fortunate enough to succeed in their undertaking, it will be attended with great national utility, by furnishing a future supply of those valuable articles - cordage and masts - for his Majesty's ships-of-war in India, which have hitherto been obtained at an enormous expense owing to the difficulty of conveying them thither, and from their scarcity have often reduced the maritime force employed in the East Indies to great inconvenience and distress.

Your petitioners therefore, considering the great expense and risque they must necessarily incur in prosecuting an enterprise in which, if they succeed, the nation cannot fail of being benefited, humbly solicit from his Majesty a grant to them and their heirs for ever of the said island, to be held of the Crown as the Manor of East Greenwich.

London, May 24th, 1788.

The reticence which the Government had observed in connection with their plans for colonising New South Wales may be seen in the fact that even Sir George Young - who was in a position to obtain information from official sources - was ignorant of their intentions as regards Norfolk Island. At the time that he presented his petition, Lieutenant King had been in occupation of it for over three months; but Sir George had not even a suspicion that instructions had been given to Phillip to hoist the British flag there as soon as possible after his arrival.

 

NOTES:

(1) Nepean's name is frequently met with in the official correspondence connected with the expedition to Botany Bay, and the subsequent colonisation of New South Wales. His name was given by Governor Phillip to the river Nepean on its discovery in 1789. He was Under Secretary when George the Third summarily dismissed Fox and Lord North from office, on the 18th December, 1783, and was sent by the King with a verbal message to Lord North, requiring him to send the seals of office to the Palace by the hands of the Under Secretary. "It was one 0'clock in the morning, and Lord North had retired to rest with Lady North, when Sir Evan Nepean knocked at his bed-chamber door, and desired to see him on most important business. 'Then,' said the discarded Minister, 'you must see Lady North too;' at the same time intimating his determination not to get out of bed. Sir Evan Nepean having accordingly been admitted and declared his errand, Lord North delievered to him the key of the closet in which the seals of office were kept, and then quietly turned round to sleep again." - Jesse, Memoirs of George the Third, vol. ii, p. 448; Massey, Reign of George the Third, vol iii, p. 209, note. He was created a baronet in 1802; sat in the House of Commons, was sworn of the Privy Council, and held the offices of Secretary to the Admiralty and Chief Secretary for Ireland; being subsequently appointed one of the Lords of the Admiralty and also Governor of Bombay. He died in 1822.

(2) Post, pp. 423-8 - Thomas Townshend, Viscount Sydney, filled the office of Secretary of State for the Home Department in Lord Shelburne's short-lived administration of 1782-3, and subsequently filled the same office in Pitt's, which lasted from 1783 to 1801. He was raised to the Peerage in March, 1783, as Baron Sydney of Chislehurst, and in June, 1789, became Viscount Sydney of St. Leonards, county Gloucester. He held office until that year, and died in 1800.

(3) Lord Howe was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty on the formation of Pitt's Cabinet. He was George the Third's "favourite Admiral." - Jesse, Memoirs, vol. iii, p. 204.

(4) Post, p. 429. - Sir George Young was an officer of distinction. He served at the taking of Louisburg in 1758, at Quebec in 1759, at the Havannah in 1762, and at Pondicherry in 1778. He was an admiral of the White squadron, and died in 1810, at the age of 78. Some confusion has existed between his name and that of a contemporary, Sir George Yonge (pronounced Young), who was Secretary of Way in the Shelburne administration of 1782, and subsequently in Pitt's. Among the despatches from the English Government in 1792 may be seen a letter from Sir George Yonge addressed to Governor Phillip, dated from the War Office, 24 July, 1792. Sir George's name appears in the list of Ministers present at a meeting of the Privy Council, at which "the King's Most Excellent Majesty" presided, and which was held at the Court at St. James's, on the 15th December, 1786, "William Pitt, Esq.," being also present. It was then ordered that a second captain should be appointed to the "man-of-war that shall proceed with the transport vessels appointed to convey the convicts to Botany Bay," with power to command in the absence of the principal captain. Captain Hunter was appointed second captain, Phillip being the pricipal.

(5) The employment of Chinese in the settlement of new countries was a familiar idea down to a much later period. Dr. Lang, for instance, proposed a settlement of the kind for the cultivation of the tea-plant "at one of the northern settlements of New South Wales, as, for instance, at Port Macquarie... The Dutch have long been alive to the benefits likely to result to their nation from the settlement of numerous families of Chinese in their colonial territories. Chinese are very numerous in the city of Batavia." - Historical Account of New South Wales, 1st ed., 1834, vol. i, pp. 386-7.

(6) Post, p. 435.

(7) Post, p. 432.

 


25/04/2004

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