Admiral Phillip: the founding of New South Wales

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ADMIRAL PHILLIP

THE FOUNDING OF NEW SOUTH WALES

BY

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Edited by H. F. WILSON, M.A.

Barrister-at-Law Late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge Legal Assistant at the Colonial Office

BUILDERS OF GREATER BRITAIN

Chapter 1

CHAPTER I

PHILLIP'S DESCENT—APPRENTICESHIP TO A SEAFARING LIFE—ENTRANCE INTO THE NAVY SERVICES TO PORTUGAL—RETURN TO ENGLAND—A PERSONAL DESCRIPTION

Captain Arthur Phillip was the first Governor of the first Australian colony, and this narrative of his life is the story of the pioneers in that great Southern Continent where to-day nearly every English family has a kinsman, and where the race has already built a 'Greater Britain' across the seas.

The man who, one hundred and ten years ago, founded New South Wales is almost forgotten, yet the country now in such vigorous manhood was for the first half-dozen years of its existence a miserable starveling, and but for Phillip's tender nursing, its life would have ended in the year of its birth.

Arthur Phillip was born on 11th October 1738, in Bread Street, Allhallows, within the City of London. His father, Jacob Phillip, was a native of Frankfort, in Germany, who, having settled in England, maintained his family as a teacher of languages, although his former occupation appears to have been that of a steward. His mother was Elizabeth Breach, and Phillip's father was her second husband. Her first husband was a Captain Herbert of the Royal Navy, who was, it is said, a relative of Lord Pembroke, and it is possible that Phillip's career in the navy may have been influenced in some degree by his mother's former marriage.

Destined for the sea, he was sent at the age of thirteen to Greenwich School, in an old list of the boys of which his entrance is recorded as follows:—

'Date of admission, 24th June 1751; occupation of father, steward; name of applicant, Arthur Phillip; age, 12¾ years; date when left, 1st December 1753; period bound for, seven years; to whom bound, William Readhead; ship, Fortune, 210 tons burden, trading to Greenland.'

Evidently, however, young Phillip remained but a short time in the Fortune, for at seventeen, according to his Voyage, a work published in 1789, he was, at the commencement of hostilities in 1755, serving under Captain Michael Everet, and learning 'the rudiments of his profession under that able officer.'

Six years later, at the age of twenty-three, he was serving as lieutenant of the Stirling Castle under Sir George Pococke, one of the best officers of the period. It seems, however, that he found no opportunity of distinguishing himself in the King's service, for about 1763 he 'found leisure to marry' and to settle at Lyndhurst, in the New Forest, where he devoted himself to farming and the usual pursuits of a country gentleman. Here for some years he lived quietly, though doubtless awaiting the opportunity to again engage in an active life afloat. But finding that his own country made no call upon his services, he offered them to the kingdom of Portugal when that nation engaged in its struggle with Spain. His offer was eagerly accepted, and, as the writer of his Voyage says, such was his conduct and such his success that when the interference of France in 1778 made it his duty to relinquish his position as post-captain in the Portuguese navy and fight the enemies of his own country, 'the Portuguese Court regretted his departure, but applauded his motive.'

No precise information as to the nature of his services to Portugal is given by any of his chroniclers, but it is very probable that much of his work consisted in organising the Portuguese fleet to cope successfully with its antagonist. A decree of the King of Portugal, dated from Lisbon on 16th January 1775, and signed 'The King, Dom Joas,' and countersigned by the Marquis of Tancos, commands 'all who shall see this, my letter patent, that in view of the merits and qualifications to be found in the person of Arthur Phillip, and feeling sure that he will faithfully discharge any duties which may be entrusted to him, and also on account of the which I place in him on all the aforesaid grounds: I hereby appoint him according to my good will and pleasure (as by this letter I do appoint him) post-captain of the ships of the line of my navy, in which post he will serve at my good will and pleasure; and he is to receive double the amount of pay corresponding with his rank. He will moreover enjoy all the honours, privileges, liberties, exemptions and immunities that may duly appertain to him: I therefore command Dom Joas, my dearly beloved and esteemed cousin, a member of my Councils of State and War, and Captain-General of my Royal Navy of my galleons navigating the high ocean, that after placing him in possession of his post (provided he shall have first taken the oath to faithfully discharge his duties) he will allow him to serve and discharge his respective duties. The Admiral of my Navy, as well as the chief and superior officers, shall recognise him as post-captain, and my officers, soldiers and others under his orders shall duly obey him and carry out his directions in everything concerning my service as they ought to be and are in duty bound. His aforesaid pay is to be entered and registered in the proper books, in order that it may be paid to him at the proper dates. In testimony of which I have caused this letter, which is signed by me and sealed with the great seal of my arms, to be issued.'

Upon his return to England he was, in September 1779, gazetted master and commander of the Basilisk fireship. Again, as it seems, no chance was afforded him of proving his worth; but his superiors were now evidently beginning to recognise his merits as an able and diligent officer, for on the 13th November 1781, when he was upwards of forty-three years of age, he was made post-captain of the Ariadne frigate, being transferred in December to the Europe a sixty-four. During the exciting events of 1782 he was actively employed, and in the following year he sailed with a reinforcement to the East Indies, 'where superior bravery contended against superior force, till the policy of our negotiators put an end to unequal hostilities by a necessary peace.'

Phillip, during these services abroad, appears not to have troubled himself with private correspondence. His personal friendships, if he had any, were few, and there is no record of his experiences and adventures in a stirring time, beyond the dry-as-dust and scanty official records of his movements. And it is probable, from what we know of the man's character as displayed in later years, that he would shrink from, if not abhor, talking or writing about himself even to his own relatives; in fact, during his long exile in Australia he never alludes to family ties, nor even complains of the fact that for the first two years he did not receive a letter from his wife. His officers suffered from the same anxiety as to the welfare of those they had left behind them, and that was doubtless enough for Phillip. If his subordinates liked to complain to their friends and relatives in England of the apathy of the Government in not sending even a mail to the new settlement, they could do so; he was too proud and self-contained a man to make domestic anxieties a peg on which to hang even a just grievance, and thus set an example which would have been contagious, and might have led to the disintegration and even the decay of the community.

One who met him in 1796 thus describes his personal appearance:—

'Well I remember his little figure, smothered up in his brown camlet cloak lined with green baize, his face shrivelled, and thin aquiline nose, under a large cocked hat, gathered up in a heap, his chin between his knees, sitting under the lee of the mainmast, his sharp and powerful voice exclaiming, "I cannot bear this, I am as sick as a dog!"'

This description of the man is not very impressive; but remember the situation. Phillip was seated in the stern of a small boat which was beating out of Mutton Cove, at Plymouth, in a strong squall and nasty sea, and, to tell the truth, was—as the best of sailors sometimes are—overcome with sea-sickness!

Had Phillip made enemies as did one of his successors in the Governorship of New South Wales—Bligh—this incident would, perhaps, have been made the occasion of saying that the founder of Australia was notoriously unfitted for a naval command. The military traducers of Bligh slandered his reputation by asserting that he tried to hide himself under his bed when the officers of the infamous New South Wales Corps deposed him.

Phillip was forty-eight years of age when he began the work which entitles him to an honoured place among the Builders of Greater Britain. Up to the year 1786, notwithstanding that the Portuguese Court had expressed a high appreciation of the services rendered to their nation by the British officer, his naval career is scarcely worth remembering. His opportunities for winning distinction with his sword were few, and if he had had them, it is likely that he would have only done well where men with less brains and more dash would have done brilliantly. This book contains nothing but the story of half a dozen years of the man's life; yet in those six years he founded Australia.

Chapter 2

CHAPTER II

THE INCEPTION OF THE SCHEME TO COLONISE AUSTRALIA—MATRA AND SIR JOSEPH BANKS—THE DECISION OF THE GOVERNMENT TO FOUND A PENAL SETTLEMENT—PHILLIP's INSTRUCTIONS FROM LORD SYDNEY

The causes which led to the colonisation of New South Wales—Cook's voyages, the overcrowded state of the English gaols (one consequence of the American revolution), the proposals of Matra, Sir George Young, and Sir Joseph Banks for forming colonies—can only be briefly referred to here.

Phillip has no place in the prologue to the story of the establishment of Greater Britain under the Southern Cross, and it is with Phillip only that this book has to do. Yet, for a proper appreciation of Phillip as a Builder, it is necessary to give some account of the share which those who were the architects of the structure actually had in the undertaking.

Ask ninety-nine out of every hundred persons, 'Who discovered Australia?' They will answer, 'Captain Cook.' The answer is, in a sense, correct, but the brilliancy of the great navigator's fame will lose nothing by the truth, and the truth is that he never even saw the site of the first settlement in the Antipodes. What the name of Columbus is to America, that should the name of Cook be to Australia, and although Phillip and his transports can scarcely be compared with the Pilgrim Fathers and the Mayflower, yet, as the pioneers of settlement in Australia, the officers of the First Fleet ought to be remembered as colonisers, with something of the same admiration we have for those sturdy Puritan adventurers.

Leaving out of the story the Portuguese and Dutch explorations on the western coast of Australia, something of the eastern coast was known (although not to Englishmen) a couple of hundred years before Cook's voyage. But Cook surveyed it and made it British territory; and the publication of the narrative of his voyage suggested schemes for its colonisation. One James Maria Matra in 1783, thirteen years after Cook's return from his Botany Bay voyage, submitted a proposal for colonising the new territory with American loyalists. Sir Joseph Banks, the naturalist who accompanied Cook, was, however, the man who not only had most to do with the matter, but until the day of his death in 1820 took the keenest interest in the colony's progress. Banks gave evidence before a Committee of the House of Commons which had been appointed in 1779 to inquire into the question of transportation, and spoke strongly in favour of Botany Bay as a place suitable for the purpose. Admiral Sir George Young was also consulted, and after many plans had been submitted and much time consumed, the Government decided to take action, and then left it to Lord Sydney, at this time Secretary of State for the Home Department, to carry out a modification of the various proposals which had been made.

That minister had to choose an officer to command the fleet of transports and govern the new territory, and little is known of the actual reasons for Phillip's selection. Presumably, however, he was appointed on his merits, as he appears to have had no private influence whatever with his superiors. On the 31st August 1786, Lord Sydney wrote to the Lords of the Admiralty a voluminous letter, dated from Whitehall, notifying them that His Majesty had been pleased to signify his royal commands that 750 convicts then under sentence of transportation and lying in the various gaols 'should be sent to Botany Bay, on the coast of New South Wales, in the latitude of 33° south, at which place it is intended that the said convicts should form a settlement.' Then followed an intimation that the Lords of the Treasury would provide means of conveyance, together with provisions and other supplies to keep these wretched outcasts of society alive, 'as well as tools to enable them to erect , and also implements for agriculture.' A ship of war 'of a proper class'—how Phillip must have writhed when he learnt that it was the wretched Sirius—with a sufficient complement of officers and men, and another vessel of 200 tons as a tender, was to be ready simultaneously with the convict transports to act as convoy, and to prevent the prisoners overpowering the military guards on board the chartered vessels of the fleet. The letter is too long to be given here in detail, though the great results that attended this despatch of the 'First Fleet' lend it an importance that would not be accorded to a mandate of the Government ordering a fleet away on some warlike enterprise. The instructions to the Admiralty were explicit and complete, but Phillip was destined to gain to the full his bitter experience of red-tapeism before he sailed. The prisoners were to be put on board the various transports at sundry points in the Thames, whence Phillip was to convoy them to Plymouth, and at that port he was to pick up another ship with its load of felons. Further instructions were given that the fleet should, at the discretion of the officer commanding the expedition, call in at certain ports to provision and water the ships, the Cape of Good Hope being especially named as a place where fresh supplies could be obtained.

To secure due obedience and subordination from the convicts, and for the defence of the settlement against attacks by the natives, it was considered expedient to provide a small force of disciplined men, and '160 private marines, with a suitable number of officers and non-commissioned officers,' were to be so furnished. Solemn assurance was given that this force would be properly victualled after their landing—a promise which was not fulfilled—and another cheering intimation was given that such tools, implements and utensils as this body of men would have occasion for 'to render their situation comfortable … at the new intended settlement,' would be duly forthcoming. Then came the official chestnut—perhaps unintentional—for the marine cats to pluck, stating that the period of service, 'it is designed, shall not exceed a period of three years.'

With this letter was enclosed the 'Heads of a Plan' upon which the new settlement was to be formed, together with the proposed establishment for its regulation and government. It is unnecessary to reproduce this document in full, but some quotations from it may be given. The ships were to take on board as large a quantity of provisions as could be stowed—sufficient at any rate to last for two years. 'Supposing,' wrote Lord Sydney, 'one year to be issued at whole allowance, and the other year's provisions at half allowance, which will last two years longer.' The Government 'presumed' that by the end of that time the settlement, with the live stock and grain which might be raised by the common industry, would be able to maintain itself as far as food was concerned. The difference of expense, however, it was added, between this mode of disposing of the convicts of the country and that of the usual ineffectual one, was too trivial to be a consideration with His Majesty's Government, 'at least in comparison with the great object to be attained by it, especially now the evil' (the convict element) 'is increased to such an alarming degree, from the inadequacy of all other expedients that have hitherto been tried or suggested.'

The advantages likely to result to the new settlement from the cultivation of the New Zealand hemp or flax plant were then alluded to. The supply of hemp was of great consequence to Great Britain as a naval power—the production of hemp by felons has a certain suggestive humour—and already English manufacturers of rope and canvass believed that the New Zealand material made better canvass than that grown in Europe, and reported that a ten-inch cable of New Zealand hemp was superior in strength to one of eighteen inches made of the European plant. The Government had also no doubt but that 'most of the Asiatic productions'—none were specified—could be cultivated in the new colony, and that, in a few years after its foundation, recourse to European countries by England for such commodities would be unnecessary. The possibility of exploiting the vast kauri forests of New Zealand for masts and other ship-building purposes was next mentioned, such material being designed for the use of the navy in the Indian seas. The anticipations in regard to the cultivation of flax in the new colony, it may be stated, were never realised, but the export of timber from New Zealand soon became a great and profitable industry, and has so remained.

Lord Howe, First Lord of the Admiralty, duly replied to this letter, and in his reply said:—

'I cannot say the little knowledge I have of Captain Philips (sic) would have led me to select him for a service of this complicated nature. But as you are satisfied of his ability, and I conclude he will be taken under your direction, I presume it will not be unreasonable to move the King for having His Majesty's pleasure signified to the Admiralty for these purposes as soon as you see proper, that no time may be lost in making the requisite preparations for the voyage.'

This correspondence throws no light on the reasons for the appointment of Phillip. The position was one which it was scarcely likely many importunate friends of the Government would clamour for, and as the management of the colonisation scheme was practically left by Pitt and his Cabinet in the hands of their colleague, the Home Secretary, in the absence of evidence to the contrary. Lord Sydney should have the credit of having selected Phillip solely on his merits.

Map of the Eastern Half of Australia, shewing extent of Phillip's Government, 1787.

On the 12th October, the Lords of the Admiralty informed the Home Office that 'in obedience to His Majesty's commands, we immediately ordered the Sirius, one of His Majesty's ships of the sixth rate, with a proper vessel for a tender, to be fitted for this service; and … the ship will be ready to receive men by the end of this month.'

On the same date Phillip received a short commission appointing him Governor of New South Wales, but this was afterwards replaced by a longer and more formal document.

This last commission, dated 2d April 1787, appointed Arthur Phillip, Esquire, 'to be our Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over our territory called New South Wales, extending from the Northern Cape or extremity of the coast called Gape York, in the latitude of 10 degrees 37 minutes south, to the southern extremity of the said territory of New South Wales or South Cape, in the latitude of 43 degrees 39 minutes south, and of all the country inland westward as far as the 135th degree of east longitude, reckoning from the meridian of Greenwich, including all the islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean, within the latitudes aforesaid, etc., etc'

A reference to the map of Australia will show that the territory which Phillip was appointed to govern included about half the continent. It was not until ten years later that Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) was proved by Bass to be an island, and the 'South Cape' named in the commission, and still the name of the southernmost point of Tasmania, when Phillip's commission was drawn, was supposed to be part of the continent.

The commission, which gave Phillip all the usual powers, a short Act of Parliament, an Order in Council, the Letters Patent constituting the Courts of Law, and a Letter of Instructions, were all that the Governor had to guide him in conducting the enterprise to a successful issue.

The 'Instructions' order the Governor 'to fit himself with all convenient speed,' and land the 600 male and 180 female convicts, intended to form the new colony, as soon as possible at Botany Bay. Teneriffe, Rio de Janeiro, and the Cape of Good Hope are named as places where the ships were to refresh on their way out, and seed-grain and live stock were to be taken on board. The Governor is enjoined to be expeditious in getting the land into cultivation, to practise economy, to explore the coasts, to reserve ample land for further batches of convicts which were to follow, to protect the natives and endeavour to conciliate them, and to do many other things, which, when they are of interest, will be referred to hereafter. The concluding paragraph says:—

'And whereas it is our royal intention that every sort of intercourse between the intended settlement at Botany Bay, or other place which may be hereafter established on the coast of New South Wales and its dependencies, and the settlements of our East India Company, as well as the coast of China, and the islands situated in that part of the world, to which any intercourse has been established by any European nation, should be prevented by every possible means: It is our royal will and pleasure that you do not on any account allow craft of any sort to be built for the use of private individuals which might enable them to effect such intercourse, and that you do prevent any vessels which may at any time hereafter arrive at the said settlement from any of the ports before mentioned from having communication with any of the inhabitants residing within your Government, without first receiving especial permission from you for that purpose.'

This was penned only one hundred and twelve years ago. Now, besides the Orient, the Peninsular and Oriental, and the many other steamship lines running magnificent vessels to 'the settlement,' there are two German companies, a French and a Japanese company carrying on a regular service, and 10,000 ton steamers are dry-docked and floated again within twenty-four hours at a part of 'the settlement' which, long after Phillip landed in it, remained unpeopled.

Chapter 3

CHAPTER III

PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE—OFFICIAL BLUNDERS—PHILLIP'S FORESIGHT—PITIABLE CONDITION OF THE CONVICTS

Phillip was not long in getting to work, and his capacity for detail early began to show itself. A month after his appointment he is found writing letters to the Admiralty asking for small things essential to success, which only the man held directly responsible for results appears to have remembered.

Here for instance is his first letter, spelling and all (a practice which will generally be followed in future) as he wrote it:—

'[London,] Oct. 31st, 1786.

'Sir,—The Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty having ordered His Majesty's ship Sirius, under my command, to be supply'd with six caronades and four six-pounders, I am to request that you will please to move their Lordships to order ten more of the six-pounders to be put on board, with the ironwork necessary for the cariages. Having the ironwork, the guns can at any time be mounted, and may, I presume, in future be of great use to us, on board or on shore, as the service may require,—I have, etc.,

'A. Phillip.'

This letter is of itself too trivial to be worth reprinting, but this formidable armament formed the colony's first fortress battery, and one of the guns still remains, a forgotten relic, mounted near the South Head Light (which is the best coast light in the world) at Sydney. By way of contrast to this, let us see how the authorities provided for things of importance. Lieutenant Philip Gidley King, second lieutenant of the Sirius, afterwards himself a Governor of New South Wales, kept a journal. This officer's grandson is now a member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, and the hon. member has placed his grandfather's journal at the disposal of the public.

The Sirius was of 20 guns, 612 tons, and 160 men. She was commissioned on 24th October 1786, Phillip being appointed to the chief command as first captain, while John Hunter acted as second captain. The last officer was so appointed that he might command the ship when Phillip took up his shore duties. Says King:—

'The construction of a King's ship not being deemed proper for this service, the Berwick storeship was pitched on by the Admiralty, and her name changed to the Sirius, so called from the bright star in ye southern constellation of the Great Dog. She had been purchased on the stocks by the Government in 1781, and was sent once to America as a storeship during ye war, and once after the peace to ye W't Indies, since which time she had layn in ordinary at Deptford, till named for this service, when she was taken into dock, and, as the yard people said, thoroughly overhaul'd; however, we have frequently had reason to think otherwise in the course of our voyage. The Supply, armed tender of 170 tons, 8 guns, and 50 men, commanded by Lieutenant H. L. Ball, was formerly a navy transport; her size is much too small for so long a voyage, which, added to her not being able to carry any quantity of provisions, and her sailing very ill, renders her a very improper vessel for this service.' But, bad as were the sailing qualities of the Supply, she was a faster ship than the Sirius.

A constant stream of letters from Phillip to the Admiralty went on from October 1786 to the sailing of the fleet from Spithead in the following May. All these letters show that to Phillip alone is due the credit of properly preparing the expedition. The Government left everything to Lord Sydney, and he left the details of equipment entirely to Phillip, who did not pass on the responsibility to his subordinates. The circumlocution branch of the Admiralty must have been maddened by his per . For example, in December he writes a letter containing fourteen questions relating to what, to officialdom, no doubt appeared most trivial matters, but which the questioner's instinct told him it would be wise to have settled before he left England. The contractors, dockyard officials and others charged with the task of preparing the expedition seem to have neglected their duties, and their superiors to have exercised no supervision over them. Yet, owing to his wonderful foresight and his steady 'pegging away' at the officials, Phillip did succeed in getting many things that he wanted. Just before leaving England, he wrote a memorandum on the general conduct of the expedition and the treatment of the convicts. Some paragraphs of this document are worth printing, for they depict him in another character than that of an excellent man of business:—

'During the passage, when light airs or calms permit it, I shall visit the transports to see that they (the convicts) are kept clean and receive the allowance ordered by Government; and at these times I shall endeavour to make them sensible of their situation, and that their happiness or misery is in their own hands,—that those who behave well will be rewarded by being allow'd to work occasionally on the small lotts of land set apart for them, and which they will be put in possession of at the expiration of the time for which they are transported. …

'As I would not wish convicts to lay the founda of an empire, I think they should ever remain separated from the garrison, and other settlers that may come from Europe, and not be allowed to mix with them, even after the 7 or 14 years for which they are transported may be expired.

'The laws of this country will, of course, be introduced in [New] South Wales, and there is one that I would wish to take place from the moment His Majesty's forces take possession of the country: That there can be no slavery in a free land, and consequently no slaves.'

In other letters he asked for specific instructions on important questions which his good sense warned him would demand an answer before long, but which do not seem to have occurred to the Home Government until he thought of them. He made a primary and most fortunate suggestion that the choice of a selection for the site of the new settlement should be left to his own judgment; that the terms by which lands were to be granted should be pointed out by the article which conferred on him the authority for granting such lands; that he should have the right to exile to New Zealand or any of the neighbouring islands any convict who might be condemned to death; that he should have the power of emancipation; and that he should be able to suspend and send home any officer who from his situation could not be tried by court-martial. He further asked that he should be authorised to despatch one of the ships of the fleet to Charlotte Sound in New Zealand to procure flax-plants; and his, and indeed the Government's, lack of knowledge of the climatic conditions of the new territory is evinced by his request that he should also be allowed to send a ship to the Friendly Islands (the Tongan Archipelago) for the purpose of importing thence the bread-fruit plant. And the worthy people who do not consider the exigencies of empire-building and the laws of nature, will be shocked to learn that Phillip, a man of the most stringent morality, mentioned the fact that at the Friendly Islands 'women could be procured.' In the same letter he asked that the Secretary of State should empower him, in case the Sirius should return to England, to take command of any other ships that might remain on the coast, by hoisting a distinguishing pendant on such ships, so that he might retain the command at sea and be able to explore the coast. And to this request he adds that he has no desire to claim the pay of a commanding officer for hoisting such pendant. His forethought and humanity are shown by such demands as that he should 'have power to change the species of provisions served to the marines and convicts, for if salt meat is issued, without any proportion of flour, as has been hitherto done by the contractor to the marines embarked on board the Alexander, the scurvy must prove fatal to the greatest part. Of the marines already embarked two months, one in six are sent to the hospital since that ship's arrival at Spithead.'