The expedition was embarked on board the 50-gun ship Calcutta, Captain Daniel Woodriff, and the chartered transport Ocean, John Mertho, master. Mr. Labilliere gives a full and interesting narrative of the objects and instructions of the British Government, and of the reasons given by Collins for the abandonment of the place. It would, therefore, be superfluous to speak of them here. The prompt and energetic action of the first Australian Governor—Phillip—in searching for a more suitable spot than Botany Bay, to which he had been despatched by the British Government, had saved the eastern sea-board of Australia to Great Britain. But the bright example was lost on Collins. King sent him the report and survey of Grimes, which it will be seen (p. 24) mentions the Yarra. Indeed, Collins knew that the king's ship which had brought him hither lay at her anchors in Hobson's Bay for ten days, and filled up her water-casks with 50 tons of fresh water obtained from the river; and also that one of her lieutenants (MacCullogh) had actually walked from Sandridge to the camp near Arthur's Seat, a distance of 50 miles (Knopwood, p. 96). But, without attributing to him unworthy motives involving pecuniary gain, there can be no doubt of His Honor's having had from the outset a personal preference for Tasmania. The letters from Sir Joseph Banks to Governor King, which Mr. Rusden found in the papers of the latter, clearly show that Governor Collins before he left London intended to go to Van Diemen's Land.[1]
During the stay of Collins at Port Phillip Heads he issued from time to time a number of Orders. These were printed at a small hand-press set up under a gum tree on the beach, and a printed set has been preserved in London. The copy appended was made from the original MSS. now treasured in the Parliament Library of Tasmania. The date of the first of these printed Orders is given as the 16th October 1803, and it is curious to reflect that only eight months previously George Howe had issued in Sydney the first number of the first journal published in Australia, which contained the latest news from England, then eleven months old.
The third document published is the Diary of the Reverend Robert Knopwood, who was chaplain to the settlement. It commences with the departure from England, and day by day carries the narrative of events to the final settlement of Collins at Hobart Town. Hitherto, and until the publication of Mr. Labilliere's work, the only record of the voyage was to be found in the account published by the First
- ↑ Discovery, Survey, and Settlement of Port Phillip: by G. W. Rusden. Melbourne; Robertson. 1871.
