(No. 108.) 188 9. PARLIAMENT OF TABMANIA. THE ENGLISH AT THE DERWENT, AND THE. RISDOK SETTLElVIENT : BY JAMES BACKHOUSE W ALKBR. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by His Excellency's Command. THE ENGLISH AT THE DERWENT,, AND THE RISDON SETTLE ME NT. BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER. 1. THE ENGLISH AT THE DERWENT. colonist;; of New South Wales could not trade with the IN a paper which I had the honour to read before the home country except by permission of the Company. Royal Society last November, entitled "The French in So late as the year 1806* it successfully resisted the sale Van Diemen's Land," I endeavoured to show how the in Eng~and of the first cargo of whale-oil and sealskins discoveries of the French at the Derwent, and their shipped by a Sydney firm in the Lady Barlom, on the supposed design of occupation, influenced Governor ground that the charter of the colony ga_ve the King's mind, and led him to despatch the first English colonists no right to trade, and that the transact10n was colony to these shores. That paper brought the story a violation of the Company's charter and against its to the 12th September, 1803, when the Albion whaler, welfare. It was urged on behalf of the Court of with Governor Bowen on board, cast anchor in Risdon Directors that such " piratical enterprises" as the Cove, five days after the Lad_y Nelson, which had venture of the owners of the Lady Barlorv must at brought the rest of his small establishment. once be put a stop to, as "the inevita?le con~equence of The choice of such an unsuitable place as Risdon for building ships in New South ~ ales will be ~n mtercourse the site of the first settlement has always been something with all the ports of the Chrna and Indi~ Seas, ~nd a of a puzzle; and, in order to understand the circumstances populati,)n of European descent, i:eared m a climate which led to this ill-advised selection, it will be necessary suited io maintain the energies of the European character, when it becomes numerous, active, ~nd to go back some years,. an~ follow the history of E~glish discovery and explo1:at10n m the South of Tasmama. opulent, may be expected to acquire the _as?endancy in the Indian Seas." The Lords Commissioners of I have already noticed the elaborate and complete Trade decided that the action of the colonists was . surveys of the Canal D'Entrecasteaux, and the Riviere irrecrular in respect to the Company's charter. Sir du Nord, made by the French navigators in 1792, and J os~ph Banks exerted himself strenuously on b~half of again in 1802; but it must be remembered tbat the the colonists, and represented to the Court of Directors results of these expeditions were long kept a profound that the Lords Commissioners in future cases "are secret; not only from the English, but from the world in disposed to admit the cargo to entrr, in case the _Court · general. Contemporaneou~ly w~th the French_, Engl~sh of Directors see no objection to this measure ofmdul­ navigators had been malnng mdependent d1scover1es gence towards an infant and improving colony," and and surveys in Southern Tasmania ; and it was solely further, that their Lordships intend, without delay, "to the knowledge thus acquired that guided Governor prepare instructions for the future government . of the King when he instructed Bowen "to fix on a proper shipping concerns of the colony, on a plan s~1ted to place about Risdon's Cove" for the new settlement. provide tlie inhabitants with the means of becommg less The English discoverer of the Derwent-a navigator and less burdensome to the mother country, and framed who, though less fortunate thanAdmiralD'Entrecasteaux, in such a manner as to interfere as little as possible with yet merits the title of original discoverer equally with the the trade prerogatives and resources of the East India illustrious Frenchman-was Lieutenant John Hayes, Companj·." It was mainly owing to Banks' diplomacy of the Bombay Marine,. to w horn I have already alluded. and energy that an Order of Council was obtained The occasion of. Hayes' expedition is sufficiently curious allowing- 1'uture cargoes from Sydney to be landed and to justify a few words of remark. It was the on~y sold in E:i.gland. exploring expedition ever sent out by the East India It is, perhaps, not s~rprising that the Company ~hould Company into Australian waters. In those days the have contributed so little towards the exploration of great Company was at the height of its power. Its regions -which it held to be an appanage to its Indian royal charter secured it an absolute monopoly of trade, dominions, for at that time, the Southern Seas offered few not only with India and China, but with the entire East, including the whole of the Pacific Ocean. So exclusive • See Pctmphlet containing a summary of tbe contents of the were its privileges, and so jealously maintained, that the Brabourne Papers, Sydney, 1886, p. 11. 4 or no temptations of profit to a~great trading corporation. It was in the early spring of the year 1798 that As to New Holland, and Van Diemen's Land, its Governor· Hunter gave to Flinders-then a· young supposed southern extension, they were merely obstacles Lieutenant of H.M.S. Reliance-the Norfolh,11 a little in the way of the lucl'ative China trade-;iutting out incon­ colonial sloop of 25 tons, to try to solve the vexed veniently into the South Sea, lengthening the voyage question of tlie existence of a strait between· New and incre;ising its dangers. For the· sake of the vessels Holland and Van Diemen's Land. Flinders secured employed in this trade, a knowledge of the Australian Dr. George Bass as his companion in the expedition, and coast and its harbours was desirable."' It was probably on tlie 7th October, 1798, the N01:follt sailed from Port with the object of finding a convenient harbour of refug~ Jackson with a crew of 8 volunteers, taking twelve for ships following the southern route to China in their weeks' provisions. 'l'hey examined the North Coast of passag·e round the stormy South Cape of the Australian Tasmania, entering Port Dalrymple, and sailed for the continent, that, in the year 1793, the Company fitted out first time through the Straits, to which, at Flinders' an expedition destined for Van Diemen's Land. Cook reguest,Governor Hunter gave the name of Bass' Straits. ,r and Bligh had recently brought home reports which Leaving Bass' Stfaits the Norfollt sailed southwards. encouraged the idea that a suitable port might be found along the West Coast-Flinders naming Mount Heems­ there, and it is quite possible that rumom·s of the visit of kirk and Mount Zeehan after Tasman's two vessels-and D"Entrecasteaux the year before had stimulated the on 14th December, arrived at the entrance of Storm Bay. Board of Directors to action. Flinders hail with him a copy of Hayes' sketch cliart of Lieutenant John Hayes was appointed to the com­ the Derwent, but had never even heard of D'Entre­ ·mand of the expedition, which consisted of two ships, the casteaux's discoveries · six years before. Bass, in Dulle of Clai·ence and the Dur:lwsR, and was despatched speaking of Adventure Bay, says,-" This island, the from India to explore the coasts of Van Diemen's Land Derwent, ·and· Sto'rm Bay Passage were the discovery and its harbours, and to make its way back to India by the of Mr. Hayes, of which he made a chart." More than South Sea Islands and the Malay Archipelago. This a fortnight. was employed by Flinders in making a service Lieut. Rayes performed in a very satisfactory. careful survey of Norfolk Bay, and of the Derwent. from manner. He surveyed the coasts of Tasmania, parts of the Iron Pot to a point some 5 miles above Bridgewater. New Caledonia, of New Guinea and other islands, In the Introduction to his Voyage to Terra Australi$, his voyage extending over two or three years. Un­ he gives the result of his observations. Bass devoted happily, the results of these valuable surveys were lost his attention more particularly to an examination of to his employers and. to England, for the ship taking . the neighbouring country, its soil, productions, and home his charts and journals was captured by a French suitableness for agriculture. He took long excursions. man-of-war, all his papers were taken to Paris and have into the country, having seldom other society than his never since seen the light.t A rough · sketch of the two dogs, examining in this ·way the western shore of Derwent made by Hayes found its way to Sydney, and the river from below the Blow Hole at Brown's River is frequently referred to by Flinders in the account of to beyond Prince of Wales Bay, visiting various parts his voyage. This is all we know of bis exploration of of the eastem shore, and ascending Mount VV cllington Tasmania, and of the Honorable East India Company's and Mount Direction. His original journal has never first, last, and only discovery expedition to Australian come to light, but the substance of it was published in waters. 1802, by Collins, in the second. volume of his Account of Lieut. Hayes' ships reached Storm Bay in the year li94. Nerv South TVales.