The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay
With an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson and Norfolk Island

This 1789 work describes the voyage of the First Fleet, and the birth of one of the world's great cities.

Arthur Phillip (Author)

9781108083829, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 27 April 2015

504 pages, 48 b/w illus. 6 maps
29.7 x 21 x 2.6 cm, 1.2 kg

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.

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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.

Subject Areas: Australasian & Pacific history [HBJM]