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9675804

Title
Fragment of a contemporary fair copy of Governor Arthur Phillip's Sydney journal
Call number
SAFE/MLMSS 12028
Level of description
fonds
Date

October-November 1791 and January-February 1792, transcribed probably 1792
Type of material
Textual Records
Reference code
9675804
Physical Description
0.01 metres of textual material (1 folder) - 245 x 387 mm (unfolded) - manuscript in ink, 20 pages on 5 folded sheets of laid paper
ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

Arthur Phillip (1738-1814) was appointed first Governor of the colony of New South Wales on 12 October 1786, chosen by Lord Sydney, Home Secretary of the Pitt Government and a key executor of the plan to establish a settlement in New South Wales. He led the First Fleet as ‘Captain General & Commander in Chief, in & over the Territory of New South Wales’ sailing out from Spithead on 31 May 1787, in charge of almost 1500 people, roughly half of whom were convicts. His ship Supply, followed soon after by Sirius and the other ships of the fleet, disembarked at Port Jackson, the site of modern-day Sydney, on 26 January 1788.

Phillip reported regularly and confidentially to Joseph Banks about all aspects of the colony's growth and development. His priorities in establishing the colony were clearing, building, and cultivating agriculture and livestock using convict labour. He surveyed and explored inland and coastal areas and established settlements at Parramatta, New South Wales, and on Norfolk Island. He attempted to establish flax manufacture and reported on soil conditions. He continually felt the burden of lack of provisions, and the colony's need for settlers, particularly capable farmers and gardeners.

Despite the extreme deprivation of the colony’s early years and critical shortages of food and supplies, Phillip, almost alone among his men, held on to a vision of Sydney as a place of strategic benefit to Britain and a thriving township. He had been instructed to establish friendly relations with the Aboriginal people and ensure their fair treatment. He was aware of the effect of the colony on the local population and remained a keen observer of their customs, manners and languages.

Phillip suffered from debilitating pain in his side, reportedly caused by kidney stones, and after several requests, from 1791 onward, was finally given approval to depart his post in December 1792. He returned to England, formally resigning his post as Governor on 23 July 1793.

Reference:
Library acquisition file
Collection history
Purchased by Douglas Stewart from Forum Auctions UK, Lot 44, 10 February 2022. The vendor purchased the item from a provincial UK bookseller many years prior.
Scope and Content
The manuscript begins mid-sentence in October 1791 and runs to the end of November, breaking off mid-sentence at the bottom of the tenth page before starting again in January 1792 and running to the end of February in a further ten pages. There are two neat manuscript corrections on the 5th and 11th pages.

Information contained in the first ten pages of the manuscript includes an account of the attempted mutiny on board the Albemarle (p. 1, October 1791); the arrival of more convicts on the Admiral Barrington and the total number of convicts in the colony (p. 2, October 1791); the great numbers of spermaceti whales and the departure of whaleships (pp. 2-3, October 1791); the shortage of flour (p. 3, October 1791); the sending of settlers and convicts to Norfolk Island on the Atlantic (p. 4, October 1791); the return of the whaleship Britannia with reports of bad weather (pp. 5-6, November 1791); mention of barley and wheat crops (p. 6, November 1791); the departure of the Supply for England (p. 7, November 1791); the increase in the number of sick convicts in Parramatta and Sydney (pp. 7-8, November 1791); poor growing conditions and lack of knowledgeable farmers (pp. 8-9, November 1791); and comments on the most recent convicts (pp. 9-10, November 1791).

Information contained in the last ten pages of the manuscript includes the account of the visit of ‘Gome-ber-re’ [now referred to as Gomebeeree or Gomebeere, a man of the Boorooberongal Clan of the Dharug people] from the banks of the Hawkesbury [Dyarubbin], to Sydney (pp. 13-14, January 1792). Referring to an encounter with Gomebeeree ‘in a former part of this journal’ (in April 1791, recorded in Chapter 21, pp. 512-523 of the Hunter Journal), at which time he had ‘promised to take a journey to Sydney’, these pages of the manuscript recount that now, in January 1792, Gomebeeree had in fact made two visits to Sydney. Phillip missed the first Sydney visit as he was in Parramatta, but met him on the second visit. Gomebeeree stayed the night with 'Bannelong' [Bennelong] at Tubugulha [now known as Bennelong Point] where they had a dance. He left early next morning to return to the banks of the Hawkesbury.

The pages also cover the population counts of Parramatta and Norfolk Island (pp. 11-12, January 1792); the issue of convicts whose sentences had expired returning to England, including those who were not authorized to do so (pp. 14-16, January 1792); the theft of crops (pp. 16-17, January 1792); the formation of a night patrol composed of eight marines to protect the crops (p. 18, January 1792); the idleness and weakness of convicts who are unable to work (pp. 18-19, January 1792); number of deaths in January (p. 19, January 1792); the hanging of a man convicted of robbing the baker's house (p. 19, January 1792); the state of the wheat crop and issuing of additional wheat and rice rations (pp. 19-20, January-February 1792); and the arrival of the Pitt in February 1792 with Major Grose, the Commander of the New South Wales Corps (p. 20, February 1792).
Language
English
Access Conditions

Access via appointment
Copying Conditions
Out of copyright:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
Related Material
Series 37.30: 'Extracts from a Journal from Sailing to the King's birthday in 1788', by Arthur Phillip, 13 May 1787-4 June 1788 (1004026)
Published Information
The first 10 pages of the manuscript are very closely related to five pages of text in Chapter 23 of this published work by John Hunter: Hunter, John, Henry Lidgbird Ball, Philip Gidley King, and Arthur Phillip. An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island: With the Discoveries Which Have Been Made in New South Wales and in the Southern Ocean since the Publication of Phillip's Voyage, Compiled from the Official Papers; including the Journals of Governors Phillip and King, and of Lieut. Ball; and the Voyages from the First Sailing of the Sirius in 1787, to the Return to England in 1792. London: Printed for John Stockdale, 1792. [Held in Dixson Library Collection at Q79/35] Some paragraphs are almost verbatim. A point of difference, however, is that the manuscript is written in the first person in the voice of Arthur Phillip whereas the published version has been edited to be in the third person. The published version contains some additions clearly pulled from other sources or reports. The manuscript contains some sentences not included in the published text. The version in the Hunter Journal ends in December 1791 because it was based on a copy of Phillip's journal that was despatched on the Gorgon in December 1791. The last 10 pages of the manuscript recording events of January and February 1792 have never been published. This fair copy must have been part of a duplicate that would have been sent on a later ship in 1792.
General note

Each of the five sheets have clear watermarks for Portals, the Hampshire-based firm founded by Huguenot refugees in 1711 and still in business after three centuries. Four feature the elaborate design of a fleur-de-lis with a central 'P', lettered 'GR' at the base and surmounted by an ornate crown; the fifth has that design’s corresponding countermark, being lettered simply 'Portal'. This particular design is strictly contemporary with the manuscript, ca. 1785-1790, dating from the period when the firm was being run by Joseph Portal (died 1793): certainly, it cannot have been manufactured later than ca. 1796 when the firm became 'Portal & Co.' as is reflected in their watermarks of the later 1790s (Douglas Stewart vendor catalogue).

Arthur Phillip had paper of identifiably the same stock in Sydney, using it for letters and papers sent to Sir Joseph Banks now held in Series 37 of the Sir Joseph Banks Papers held by the State Library of NSW (https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/YzOg3eO9). For example, the same Portal watermarks are found on Series 37.12, 37.16, 37.19, 37.21, 37.23 and 37.27.
Attributions / conjectures

Believed to be in the hand of one of Governor Phillip's private secretaries; possibly sent to Sir Joseph Banks as one of the regular semi-official reports sent to him by the Governor (Douglas Stewart vendor catalogue).

The hand is very similar to one of the secretarial hands found in the letters and papers that Phillip sent to Sir Joseph Banks, now held in Series 37 of the Sir Joseph Banks Papers at the State Library of NSW. See for example the document listing plants and specimens 'Sent on board His Majestys ship Gorgon, under the care of Captn Parker, for Sir Joseph Banks Bart.', ca. 18 December 1791, written on paper with a Portal watermark (SAFE/Banks Papers/Series 37.21 https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/Yr8MKEDn).

The hand is also similar to the secretarial hand of a letter Phillip sent to Banks on 20 May 1792, which is clearly marked ‘duplicate’ at the top of the first page (SAFE/Banks Papers/Series 37.26 https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/YEGq4vjn).
Date note

A dating of 1792 for the fair copy is indicated by the paper watermarks and the clerical hand that appear to match other documents from this period in the Sir Joseph Banks Papers held by the State Library of NSW.
Creator/Author/Artist
Phillip, Arthur, 1738-1814
Subject
Governors--New South Wales.
Grose, Francis, 1758-1814.
Convicts--New South Wales.
Convicts--Norfolk Island.
Supply (Ship)
Albemarle (Ship)
Admiral Barrington (Ship)
Pitt (Ship)
Whaling--New South Wales.
Gomebeeree.
Bennelong, approximately 1764-1813
Aboriginal Australians--New South Wales--Social life and customs.
Place
Sydney Cove (N.S.W.)
Parramatta (N.S.W.)
Norfolk Island
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