Tench, Account of the First Fleet at Port Jackson: a Chronicle / record source. Covers AD 1788 – 1791, with 72 events in chronological order. Text license and provenance included.
| Type | Chronicle / record |
|---|---|
| Viewpoint | Outsider account |
| Years covered | AD 1788 – 1791 |
| Events | 72 events, 53 placed on the map |
| Author | Watkin Tench |
| Original title | A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson |
Regions: Oceania 70 · Southeast Asia 1 · Sub-Saharan Africa 1
| Year | Place | Event | Passage |
|---|---|---|---|
| AD 1788 | Norfolk Island | The Supply leaves for Norfolk Island on 20 July and returns on 26 August; the only news it brings is that Norfolk Island's soil suits grain and seed, and that similar plants probably grow wild there | CHAPTER II (raw line 236) |
| AD 1788 | Sydney | Surveys Port Jackson harbour, counting 67 canoes and 147 people, but adds that these numbers do not allow a usable population estimate | CHAPTER II (raw line 242) |
| AD 1788 | Parramatta | The governor founds a new settlement 16 miles inland at Rose Hill; judging the soil better than Sydney's, he builds a small redoubt, and a captain's detachment guards the convicts farming there | CHAPTER II (raw line 261) |
| AD 1788 | Sydney | The last two transports leave for England via Cape Horn on 19 November; the Supply is the only ship left, so the sense of isolation grows | CHAPTER II (raw line 267) |
| AD 1788 | Manly | On the governor's order, Lieutenant Ball and Lieutenant Johnston go to Manly Cove in two boats and seize two natives; the rest flee, then return crying out | CHAPTER III (raw line 342) |
| AD 1788 – 1789 | Sydney | The captured native arrives in Sydney: about thirty years old, not tall but sturdily built, and extremely agitated (his name later turns out to be Arabanoo) | CHAPTER III (raw line 364) |
| AD 1788 – 1789 | Cape Town | At the Cape, the Sirius crew are well received by the Dutch governor, buy supplies from merchants and stay seven weeks; on the way back they come close to being wrecked near Tasman Head in Van Diemen's Land | CHAPTER IV (raw line 732) |
| AD 1789 | Sydney | The Supply sails again for Norfolk Island; the governor rides with it as far as below the harbour, and Arabanoo boards, reluctantly and with distrust | CHAPTER III (raw line 524) |
| AD 1789 | Botany Bay | Sixteen convicts desert their brick-kiln work and march to Botany Bay to seize the natives' fishing gear and spears, but are counterattacked by the natives; one killed, seven wounded | CHAPTER III (raw line 555) |
| AD 1789 | Sydney | A court-martial made up only of officers sentences six marines to be hanged for stealing flour, meat, liquor and tobacco from the government storehouse | CHAPTER III (raw line 587) |
| AD 1789 | Sydney | Native corpses are found in many places around the harbour; their bodies were thickly covered with pustules resembling smallpox, and the record states they could not explain why a disease unknown to the natives spread | CHAPTER IV (raw line 604) |
| AD 1789 | Sydney | The Sirius (Captain Hunter) returns from the Cape of Good Hope and announces its arrival at sunset on 2 May; the flour and salt it carried delay the day of famine | CHAPTER IV (raw line 720) |
| AD 1789 | Sydney | Arabanoo dies on 18 May after six days' illness from smallpox; every effort of medicine and nursing was in vain | CHAPTER IV (raw line 744) |
| AD 1789 | Broken Bay | With two boats and a large party, the governor again surveys Broken Bay; following a waterway that looked like a short inlet, he suddenly reaches the mouth of a freshwater river (later the Hawkesbury River) | CHAPTER V (raw line 839) |
| AD 1789 | Hawkesbury River | On the governor's second expedition, the boats go some 60–70 miles up the river, measured along its bed, and stop at a waterfall; the water is fresh throughout, but opinions of the land differ from person to person | CHAPTER V (raw line 854) |
| AD 1789 | Parramatta | Tench sets out at dawn from the Rose Hill redoubt with the surgeon and soldiers, heading west; from a hill five miles on he sights the Carmarthen Hills. This route later leads to the discovery of the Nepean River (later sections describe its width and name) | CHAPTER V (raw line 881) |
| AD 1789 | Botany Bay | In September, surveys Botany Bay for nine days; the relative positions of more than 30 miles of coastline are drawn on a chart by Captain Hunter. Tench concludes that this bay is not the one widely spoken of | CHAPTER V (raw line 959) |
| AD 1789 | Sydney | In October the weekly rations are cut: flour from 8 pounds to 5 pounds 5 ounces, pork from 5 pounds to 3 pounds 5 ounces, and peas from 3 pints to 2 pints | CHAPTER V (raw line 1058) |
| AD 1789 | Nepean River | Lieutenant Dawes and others cross the Nepean River's shallows and head west, but in three days they cover only 15 miles and give up trying to reach the Carmarthen mountains; that point is further inland than any white man had gone | CHAPTER V (raw line 1069) |
| AD 1789 | Sydney | Lieutenant Bradley seizes two native youths in a boat without resistance and puts them ashore in Sydney; later in the account they are called Bennelong and Colbee | CHAPTER V (raw line 1093) |
| AD 1790 | Norfolk Island | The Sirius sails for Norfolk Island on 6 March with the Supply, carrying Major Ross, a large detachment of marines and over 200 convicts; a measure to split the population and extend the food | CHAPTER VI (raw line 1231) |
| AD 1790 | Sydney | The governor's party, going down to the harbour, learns from Captain Ball of the Supply's boat that the Sirius was wrecked on Norfolk Island; Captain Hunter and all the crew were rescued | CHAPTER VI (raw line 1264) |
| AD 1790 | Sydney | The Supply (Captain Ball) sets out for Batavia on 17 April to seek food | CHAPTER VI (raw line 1338) |
| AD 1790 | Sydney | On the night of 3 May, Bennelong, feigning illness, goes downstairs and escapes by climbing over the back-yard fence | CHAPTER VI (raw line 1419) |
| AD 1790 | Sydney | The Lady Juliana arrives on 3 June with 225 female convicts: nearly eleven months at sea, including a stop at Plymouth in July 1789; the people on board are overwhelmed by the letters and news | CHAPTER VII (raw line 1478) |
| AD 1790 | Sydney | The Justinian (Captain Maitland) arrives carrying only food; it left Falmouth on 20 January and covered the passage in five months, and full rations are restored at once | CHAPTER VII (raw line 1580) |
| AD 1790 | Sydney | Within that month three transports arrive with two companies of the New South Wales Corps and convicts; of the 1,038 aboard, 273 died during the voyage, and 486 landed sick (as totalled in the table) | CHAPTER VII (raw line 1606) |
| AD 1790 | Parramatta | Tench, Dawes and Worgan explore for seven days the unknown land southwest of Rose Hill; they name a cone-shaped hill Pyramid Hill and the Worgan River, which seems to be an upper branch of the Nepean; no particular gain | CHAPTER VII (raw line 1688) |
| AD 1790 | Broken Bay | A third exploration of Broken Bay: a wide harbour, but the shores are barren wasteland unfit for cultivation; they bring back in bags the soil collected on each expedition to analyse it | CHAPTER VII (raw line 1704) |
| AD 1790 | Manly | Captain Nepean's party meets over 200 natives gathered around a dead whale at Manly Cove; they meet Bennelong again, and the governor arrives later | CHAPTER VIII (raw line 1724) |
| AD 1790 | Manly | A native throws a spear and hits the governor; he withdraws with a spear shaft over 10 feet long still stuck in him, while Bennelong and Colbee vanish and spears fly from all sides | CHAPTER VIII (raw line 1881) |
| AD 1790 | Parramatta | At night at Rose Hill, five convicts steal a small flat-bottomed boat and go to South Head, steal a lookout boat there and escape to sea; news of them then stops | CHAPTER VIII (raw line 1936) |
| AD 1790 | Sydney | Seeing a fire on the north shore of the harbour, the party goes to find Bennelong and others, and they agree to meet again in the afternoon; landing unarmed, they give gifts of hatchets and fish | CHAPTER IX (raw line 1969) |
| AD 1790 | Sydney | On 8 October the natives light a signal fire as promised, and several parties go with goods to meet them; Bennelong, Bungaree and others are gathered there | CHAPTER IX (raw line 2116) |
| AD 1790 | Sydney | Four native men are set down opposite the hospital and taken to the governor's residence; onlookers crowd in, but they walk fearlessly, and Bennelong, pleased that the governor's wound has healed, rejoices | CHAPTER IX (raw line 2178) |
| AD 1790 | Sydney | The Supply returns from Batavia and enters port on 19 October, greeting with cheers the ship they had seen off in tears | CHAPTER X (raw line 2266) |
| AD 1790 | Jakarta | Captain Ball circumnavigates New Holland for the first time in just over six months; he discovers and names islands along the way, and buys rice and salt pork at Batavia, sending them behind on a chartered Dutch snow | CHAPTER X (raw line 2271) |
| AD 1790 | Parramatta | On the evening of 16 November he goes to Rose Hill and next day looks over the farms; of about 200 acres cleared, 55 are under wheat, barley and oats, and 30 under maize | CHAPTER X (raw line 2356) |
| AD 1790 | Parramatta | The convict James Ruse, given seven years at the Bodmin circuit court, completes his sentence in August 1789; promised settlement, he is granted land and is testing farming on his own | CHAPTER X (raw line 2497) |
| AD 1790 | Sydney | On a day of unusual noise with many natives gathered, Bennelong comes to the governor and says he will soon kill a woman brought from Botany Bay | CHAPTER XI (raw line 2622) |
| AD 1790 | Botany Bay 북쪽 갈래 근처 | A marine corporal and three convicts (including the governor's hunter McEntire) cross the north branch of Botany Bay; while sleeping in a hunting hut, a native's spear pierces McEntire's left side | CHAPTER XII (raw line 2763) |
| AD 1790 | Botany Bay 곶 | Tench leads 40 soldiers with officers and the surgeon on a reprisal expedition; the governor's order is to take or shoot six natives. He reaches the Botany Bay headland at 9 a.m., but sees no natives until 4 p.m. | CHAPTER XII (raw line 2941) |
| AD 1790 | Botany Bay 곶 | The second expedition sets out at dusk on the 22nd; they suffer greatly in swamps and reach the village, but no natives are there at all, so it fails again | CHAPTER XII (raw line 3047) |
| AD 1790 | Sydney | The Dutch snow arrives on 17 December after a 12-week passage from Batavia; it has lost 16 crew, and the sick left on the Supply also died at Batavia | CHAPTER XIII (raw line 3231) |
| AD 1790 | Sydney | A Dutch letter from the Batavia shabandar, carried by the snow, informs them of the outbreak of war between England and Spain | CHAPTER XIII (raw line 3241) |
| AD 1791 | Sydney | After unloading the snow's cargo, the Supply is sent to Norfolk Island to bring back Hunter and the Sirius crew | CHAPTER XIII (raw line 3267) |
| AD 1791 | Sydney | On 26 February Hunter and the crew join at Sydney; on 28 March the snow sails for England, carrying them via Timor and Batavia along the northern route | CHAPTER XIII (raw line 3283) |
| AD 1791 | Sydney | Six days before the snow's departure, the Supply sails again for Norfolk Island with Captain Hill and a detachment of the New South Wales Corps; the native orphan boy Bondel volunteers to go along | CHAPTER XIII (raw line 3291) |
| AD 1791 | Sydney | Right after the snow departs, eleven convicts (including one woman and two children) seize the governor's cutter and sail away to sea with nets, guns, quadrant and provisions | CHAPTER XIII (raw line 3309) |
| AD 1791 | Timor | Chased by large canoes near the Gulf of Carpentaria, they escape by rowing and on 5 June reach Timor, claiming to be survivors of a shipwreck; the Dutch receive them kindly but they are suspected | CHAPTER XIII (raw line 3351) |
| AD 1791 | Sydney | On 2 April the weekly rations are cut again to 3 pounds each of rice, flour and pork | CHAPTER XIII (raw line 3377) |
| AD 1791 | On 1 May the governor grants land to convicts who volunteer to settle after finishing their sentences | CHAPTER XIII (raw line 3448) | |
| AD 1791 | Parramatta | A party of 21 sets out from the governor's residence at Rose Hill to check whether the Hawkesbury and the Nepean are the same river; going slightly northeast, then turning sharply to N 34° W, they camp before 4 p.m. | CHAPTER XIV (raw line 3515) |
| AD 1791 | Hawkesbury River | Leaving at 6:30 a.m. on 12 April, they reach the river within two hours; the land they passed was barren, and they trace it downstream | CHAPTER XIV (raw line 3602) |
| AD 1791 | Hawkesbury River | From 14 April they trace the river upstream from this point, meet natives in canoes and converse with them; they record that the coastal and inland languages differ word by word | CHAPTER XIV (raw line 3712) |
| AD 1791 | Hawkesbury River | On 16 April they decide to give up the pursuit and return; when the native companions hear this they are overjoyed | CHAPTER XIV (raw line 3907) |
| AD 1791 | Hawkesbury/Nepean River | Further attempts by Tench and Dawes confirm that the Hawkesbury and the Nepean are one river: in August 1790 they had already passed beside Richmond Hill without knowing it, and in June 1789 had walked to the discovery site | CHAPTER XIV (raw line 3935) |
| AD 1791 | Botany Bay 남쪽 | In July, hearing of a large river south of Rose Hill, they go to see it; it turns out to be only a salt-water creek leading to Botany Bay, and with no drinking water they spend a miserable night | CHAPTER XIV (raw line 4009) |
| AD 1791 | Parramatta | On 2 June, by the governor's order, the settlement at the head of the harbour, Rose Hill, is renamed with the native name Parramatta | CHAPTER XV (raw line 4070) |
| AD 1791 | Sydney | On 9 July the Mary Ann arrives, 4 months and 12 days after leaving the Downs on 25 February; only 3 of the 144 female convicts died | CHAPTER XV (raw line 4109) |
| AD 1791 | Port Jervis | The Atlantic (Lieutenant Bowen) enters a harbour between Van Diemen's Land and Port Jackson and names it Port Jervis after Sir John Jervis; the entrance is about 1.25 miles wide, the inner basin 5 miles wide, and there is no fresh water | CHAPTER XV (raw line 4191) |
| AD 1791 | Parramatta | From the recently arrived fleet, 20 male convicts and a pregnant woman disappear from Rose Hill with a week's food and tools; when settled convicts ask their destination, they answer 'China' | CHAPTER XV (raw line 4273) |
| AD 1791 | Sydney | The Gorgon arrives on 21 September; the day when the marine battalion is due to return home is approaching | CHAPTER XVI (raw line 4320) |
| AD 1791 | Sydney | The Supply leaves for England on 26 November, signalling that their own departure is near | CHAPTER XVI (raw line 4326) |
| AD 1791 | Parramatta | On 2 December they go up to Rose Hill and look at the public buildings, roads and the state of the settlement: the storehouse, barracks and magistrate's quarters are finished, and a main road is being opened | CHAPTER XVI (raw line 4352) |
| AD 1791 | Parramatta | On 8 December they arrive at Ruse's farm and examine the 30-acre grant named 'Experiment Farm' | CHAPTER XVI (raw line 4779) |
| AD 1791 | Sydney | On 13 December the marine battalion boards the Gorgon, and on the 18th it sails for England | CHAPTER XVI (raw line 4901) |
| AD 1791 | Sydney | The Britannia (Captain Melville) arrives on 14 October and reports seeing a large school of sperm whales between Van Diemen's Land and Port Jackson | CHAPTER XIX (raw line 6395) |
| AD 1791 | Sydney | Melville returns on 10 November after a 14-day whaling trip; he saw thousands of sperm whales and caught seven, but the rough seas meant they could not haul them aboard | CHAPTER XIX (raw line 6402) |
| AD 1791 | Sydney | On 11 November the Mary Ann returns after a 16-day whaling trip; it went down to 41° south but saw no whales, and a storm nearly swept away the try-pots | CHAPTER XIX (raw line 6420) |
| AD 1791 | Sydney | The William and Ann sets out on 22 November for more than three weeks and returns after putting in at Broken Bay; it claims that with good weather it would have obtained 50 tons of oil, and it was the ship that caught the whale whose shares Melville divided | CHAPTER XIX (raw line 6426) |
| AD 1791 | Sydney | On 5 December two ships go out again; on the 16th and 17th all the whalers return without success, blaming bad weather, and they intend to try once more before heading for the northern seas | CHAPTER XIX (raw line 6444) |