had other things to consider than methods of governing—chief among them the site of the settlement—for Botany Bay, he found, would not do. The very appearance of the country must have been disheartening, for Botany Bay is about as unlovely a spot as can be imagined; and indeed the whole coast line of New South Wales, even at that season of the year—the middle of summer—presented a monotonously repellent and forbidding aspect to people whose eyes were used to the soft beauties of the scenery of their native land.
Phillip went expeditiously to work. There was no shifting of responsibilities upon the authorities; no waiting for instructions from the Home Office. He had to decide at once, at the very beginning of the business, where, after his eight months' voyage, he should land his thousand subjects. And no doubt he congratulated himself that he had taken care before he left England to have liberty to change the intended site of the settlement.
His first despatch, dated Sydney Cove, 15th May 1788, tells Lord Sydney his reasons for making the change. Almost as soon as the Supply had anchored, he began to examine Botany Bay, which, though an extensive expanse of water, afforded no shelter from easterly winds—the 'disaster' wind of the eastern Australian seaboard. Then, too, the water was shallow, for the most part, except near the entrance, and his seaman's eye was quick to note that ships
