Watkin Tench

A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson Watkin Tench

The dread of want in a country destitute of natural resource is ever peculiarly terrible. We had long turned our eyes with impatience towards the sea, cheered by the hope of seeing supplies from England approach. But none arriving, on the 2d of October the 'Sirius' sailed for the Cape of Good Hope, with directions to purchase provisions there, for the use of our garrison. A new settlement, named by the governor Rose Hill, 16 miles inland, was established on the 3d of November, the soil here being judged better than that around Sydney. A small redoubt was thrown up, and a captain's detachment posted in it, to protect the convicts who were employed to cultivate the ground. The two last of the transports left us for England on the 19th of November, intending to make their passage by Cape Horn. There now remained with us only the 'Supply'. Sequestered and cut off as we were from the rest of civilized nature, their absence carried the effect of desolation.