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PREFACE
The object sought to be attained by the
publication of the “Historical Records” of New Zealand can best be
understood by a perusal of the preface to the “Historical Records” of
New South Wales, printed in this volume. The reason why the method is
adopted of explaining one set of Records by quoting the preface to
another is that this volume comprises almost exclusively those documents
among the “Historical Records” of New South Wales which concern the
Islands of New Zealand. Those belonging to the years prior to 1811 have
been extracted from the printed, those after that date from the
manuscript “Historical Records,” lying in Sydney, which latter, by the
kindness of the New South Wales Government, were put at the disposal of
this country. The New South Wales sources are therefore our sources,
their preface our preface.
So clearly are the objects to be gained by the publication of the
material and the sources from which it has been procured stated in the
preface to the "Historical Records” of New South Wales, that the Editor
sees no necessity to deal at any length with the task of justifying or
explaining the publication of this volume. The documents, it may however
be mentioned, are arranged in chronological order, and it is intended to
continue the issue of fresh volumes from time to time as the material
obtained justifies that course. Already a very large amount of
additional material, sufficient to warrant the belief that another two
years should see a second volume emerge from the printer’s hands, is
ready for the compositor.
The plan of issuing volumes without waiting until the whole of the
material is to hand is explained by the fact that the work was
undertaken by the Editor to enable the incidents in our country’s early
history to be put at the disposal of the people of the Dominion as soon
as possible. To wait until all was collected would be to indefinitely
postpone the publication of what was available, without the certainty of
finality ever being reached. Interim publications will effect the object
the Editor has in view.
ROBERT McNAB.
Wellington, New Zealand,
21st April, 1908.
PREFACE TO THE 'HISTORICAL RECORDS” OF NEW
SOUTH WALES
The “Historical Records” of New South Wales
are published with the object of affording the fullest information
obtainable concerning the foundation, progress, and government of the
mother colony of Australia. It was with a similar purpose that the
publication was commenced, more than two years ago, of the “History of
New South Wales, from the Records.” All the material that the Government
could command was placed at the disposal of the writer, and in the
volume issued from the Government Printing Office in June. 1889, this
reservoir of information was largely drawn upon. But when Vol. II. of
the History was in preparation it was considered desirable to make a
change in the plan. It was determined that while the publication of the
History should go on, the records themselves, with the exception of
those that are trivial or formal, should be printed in full, in separate
volumes, so that the public might have, on the one hand, a historical
work founded on official documents, and on the other, the material upon
which the narrative is based.
The adoption of this course serves a double purpose. In the first place,
it enhances the value of the History, for it enables the reader to turn
at any point from the narrative of the writer to the fuller information
which the reports and despatches supply. The advantage gained by this
treatment of the official papers is obvious. No matter how faithfully a
writer of history may perform his task, he cannot cover all the ground;
no matter how acutely he may criticize the actors who take part in the
scenes he describes, he cannot exhibit them in so clear a light as they
are shown in their own writings. Thus the publication of the Records may
be regarded as desirable from the historical point of view.
In the second place, the printing of the Records gives immediate and
lasting public value to State papers which would otherwise be of service
to the few—only those, in fact, who have leisure to search the bulky
manuscripts which have been collected by the Government. In the absence
of printed records, the inquirer who endeavours to learn in what manner
New South Wales was founded—how the settlement was governed in the early
days—by what steps it grew—how difficulties were encountered and
overcome—what mistakes were made, and how they were corrected— by whom
injustice was perpetrated, and in what way retribution fell upon the
oppressor—can command no better sources of information than tradition,
and the accounts of writers who had to make history from insufficient
material. He is in the position that a jury would occupy if it were
required to give a verdict upon hearsay evidence. The publication of the
Records will change all that. With the printed Records in the public
libraries and on the book-shelves of all who care to purchase them, the
student of history will have the best possible material at his disposal.
He will be able to read for himself, and draw his own conclusions from
direct testimony.
It is not entirely a new departure that has been taken. The importance
of preserving and reproducing national records is recognised in most
civilised countries, and especially so in Great Britain. In earlier
times, when Ministers of the Crown treated official despatches as their
private property, and on quitting office carried to their own houses
manuscripts which belonged to the nation, little care was taken of the
records, and such a thing as giving information to the public concerning
them does not appear to have had any place in the minds of those in
authority. This indifference no longer exists. All public documents are
carefully preserved; inventories of them are taken, and they are
accurately described in printed calendars. With a few exceptions, the
State papers are gathered together in one place, the Public Record
Office, London, and are kept in the custody of the Master of the Rolls,
who by the Public Records Act (1 and 2 Viet., c. 94) is constituted
Keeper of the Archives. These stores of information are not simply
hoarded up—they are treated in such a way as to be of use to the people,
and to bring within easy reach of the historian the documentary evidence
that he requires. Large volumes, entitled “Calendars of State Papers,”
consisting of condensations of the documents in the Public Record Office
and elsewhere from the days of Henry VIII. to the eighteenth century,
are in course of publication, while some of the earlier records are
printed in full.
Under the direction of the Master of the Rolls, and by the authority of
Her Majesty’s Treasury, the publication was commenced thirty-four years
ago of “The Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during
the Middle Ages.” The first volume (published December, 1857) contained
an official statement, which has been repeated in subsequent volumes, to
the effect that on the 26th January of that year the Master of the Rolls
submitted to the Treasury a proposal for the publication of materials
for the history of Great Britain, from the invasion of the Romans to the
reign of Henry VIII. The Lords of the Treasury adopted the suggestion,
and the work, conducted by a staff of editors, has gone on without
interruption to the present time. Up to 1891 over 200 volumes had been
published. The care and elaboration with which the work is done may be
seen from the copies of the books in the Free Public Library. Sydnev.
More than half a century before the publication of the “Chronicles and
Memorials” was commenced, that is to sav in the year 1800, a Select
Committee of the House of Commons had recommended that the public
records should be printed. This recommendation is referred to by the
Honourable Board of Commissioners on the Public Records in its report to
the King-in-Council of the 7th February, 1837. The Commissioners express
their approval of the proposition in the following words: “In this
opinion [the opinion of the Select Committee that the Records should be
printed] we have entirely coincided. We regard the press as at once the
only perfectly secure preservative of the information which the National
Archives contain, and the only means by which that information can be
diffused beyond a very narrow circle of inquiress.” The publication of
the “Chronicles and Memorials” is the outcome of these recommendations.
In Canada the Records are scrupulously kept, and their contents
disclosed for the information of the public. In 1872 the Dominion
Government appointed an Archivist, and founded an Archives Office at
Ottawa, where all the public records, with the exception of those
retained by the provincial authorities, are stored. The papers consist
partly of original documents, and partly of copies of old despatches and
other manuscripts transcribed by a staff of writers from originals
discovered by the Archivist in the London Record Office and Departments
of State, and in the archives of Paris and other European cities. From
time to time reports are issued in which the records are described, and,
when considered necessary, printed in full. In this manner the public is
placed in possession of information of the highest interest and
importance relating to the early history of Canada which had never
before seen the light.
In New South Wales, owing to the shorter period of time, and the smaller
quantity of material to be dealt with, it is possible to do what would
be impracticable under other circumstances, that is to say, to publish
in full the Records of the colony from its foundation. It has also been
decided to publish all available correspondence concerning Captain Cook
and his connection with Australian discovery. The Cook Papers form Part
I. of Vol. I. Part II. of Vol. I. contains the records relating to the
establishment of the colony and its progress under Governor Phillip.
When the settlement at Port Jackson was established the chief authority
was vested in the Governor, who not only governed the colony, but
administered its affairs. The civil business was conducted nominally by
a staff, but much of the work fell upon the Governor, who was troubled
with matters of a kind which would be settled in the present day by an
ordinary clerk. He was also at the head of the naval and military
forces, and was the principal, it may almost be said the only, channel
of communication between the Colonial Government and the English
authorities. The reasons which led the English Government to plant a
convict settlement in New South Wales are only briefly indicated in the
scanty papers discovered in the State Departments; but when the colony
had been established its affairs formed the subject of periodical
letters from the Governors, who wrote fully about the concerns of the
settlement, receiving in reply despatches for their guidance and
instruction. Most of this correspondence has been preserved in the
English Departments of State, either in the original or in official
copies. Its value is inestimable. The despatches arc full of
information. The Governors were required by their instructions to keep
the Home authorities well informed about matters great and small, and in
the despatches sent to London almost every transaction that took place
is minutely described. More than this, copies of all the Proclamations
and Orders issued by the Governor and the military commander were
forwarded for the information of the English authorities. These
documents are recorded with the other State papers.
The early history of New South Wales is founded mainly upon the
despatches sent by the Governors to the authorities in England, and the
despatches received by them in reply. The Records are comprised within
measurable bounds, and, as they are the chief material out of which
history must be made, it has been decided to print them as they stand.
This course has been adopted on the recommendation of a Board,
consisting of the late Hon. Geoffrey Eagar, Under Secretary for Finance
and Trade from 1872 to 1891; Alexander Oliver, M.A., Barrister-at-Law;
Professor G. Arnold Wood, B.A., Challis Professor of History at the
Sydney University; and R. C. Walker, Principal Librarian, Public
Library. The Board having ascertained the nature of the documents at the
disposal of the Government, came to the conclusion that the design with
which the publication of the Official History was commenced could not be
fully carried out unless the State papers and other official documents
upon which the work was based were made as accessible to the public as
the History itself. They decided, therefore, that the printing of the
Records was not only desirable but necessary, and in the month of March,
1891, a recommendation to that effect was made to the then Colonial
Treasurer, the Hon. William McMillan. The proposal received the cordial
approval of the Minister, who gave the necessary authority to carry out
the work on the lines recommended bv the Board. Arrangements were made
accordingly for printing and publishing the despatches, reports,
letters, and other papers which had been collected.
While the best use has been made of the material at command, the Records
of the early days of the colony cannot be presented in an absolutely
complete form. Every paper of conserptence that has been discovered, or
may be discovered hereafter, will be published; but, unfortunately,
manuscripts of great interest and importance, which are known to have
existed, cannot now be found. The most valuable of the early Records are
in despatches sent to England by the Governors, and the despatches
received by the Governors from the authorities in London. At Government
House, Sydney, there are a number of letter-books containing copies of
the despatches sent to England, and the original despatches received
from the Home authorities; but these Records, instead of going back to
1788, the year in which New 8outh Wales was founded, begin with 1800. Of
the despatches received and sent before that date, during the
Governorships of Phillip and Hunter, and the Lieutenant-Governorships of
Grose and Paterson, there is no trace. What has become of them it is
impossible to say. A hundred years ago State papers were not so
carefully guarded as they are now; the English system was loose, and it
would have been surprising if greater care had been taken in Sydney than
in London. Some of the early Australian Governors may have taken their
papers with them when they left office. On that supposition the
disappearance of the despatches from 1788 to 1800 is readily explained;
but even then the whole case is not met, for public Records of which the
Governors were not the custodians are also missing.
There are circumstances, however, which discourage the view that
Governors’ despatches in the early days were treated as the property of
those to whom they were sent. It is certain that they were not so
treated by Governor King, and there seems to be no reason why Phillip
and Hunter, Grose and Paterson, should have followed a different
practice. We have the means of knowing exactly the course pursued by
Hunter’s immediate successor. The Hon. Philip Gidley King, has placed at
the disposal of the Government the books and papers left by his
grandfather, Governor King; but, while these manuscripts include copies
of most, if not all, of the despatches received by King from the English
Ministers and Under-Secretaries of State, no originals are to be found.
The despatches have been copied into letter-books, some by King himself,
some by his secretary; but, while many unofficial letters to King are
among the papers, the originals of the Home despatches are wanting. The
inference is plain. If King had at any time regarded the English
despatches as his own property, he would not have gone to the trouble of
copying them, and the originals would have been found among his papers.
He was exceedingly careful about his correspondence, preserving
communications of all kinds, whether trivial or important, but
duplicating nothing. When an original document is met with there is no
copy. And the manuscripts at Government House show that when King
relinquished the government he left the originals of the English
despatches in the office. If in doing so he acted in accordance with the
recognised practice, the presumption is that his predecessors—Governors
Phillip and Hunter, and Lieutenant-Governors Grose and Paterson—treated
in the same way the despatches received by them.
What, then, has become of these manuscripts? Most probably they have
been destroyed; but by whom or with what object can only be conjectured.
That the missing despatches met with this fate is the more likely from
the fact previously stated, that public records of corresponding dates,
for which the Governors were not responsible, have also disappeared. A
strongroom in the Colonial Secretary’s Office, Sydney, contains all the
original records of New South Wales that can be found. These papers have
been examined and scheduled, and it may be seen at a glance of what they
consist. They begin with a General Order, dated 7th August, 1789, “
Instructions to the Night Watch.” Two other ordets of no particular
importance follow, and these are all out of the many hundreds issued
during Phillip’s Governorship that appear to have been preserved. There
are no official papers whatever belonging to the administration of
Lieut.-Governor Paterson — December, 1794, to September, 1795; and only
one of the time in which Lieut.-Governor Grose ruled — December, 1792,
to December, 1794. Hunter’s Governorship, which covered more than five
years — 11th September, 1795, to 27th September, 1800 — is represented
by one book containing copies of the orders made from September, 1795,
to December, 1797, and five or six papers of minor importance. Papers
belonging to the King period, 1800 to 1806, are more numerous; but the
Records are scanty and intermittent until the term of Governor Macquarie
is reached, January, 1810. There are no despatches to or from the
Governors during any period. The only manuscripts of this class in
Sydney are in the Secretary’s room at Government House.
The Records, so far as Sydney is concerned, are thus defective, in two
respects. In the first place, the despatches from the foundation of the
colony up to the beginning of 1800 are wanting; in the second place, the
Orders, Proclamations, and other official papers showing how authority
was exercised in the early days are found only in fragments—in fact,
they can scarcely be said to exist.
But for the active search made in London by Mr. James Bonwick, F.R.G.S.,
the early Records of New South Wales would have been little better than
a blank. The despatches sent to England by the Governors, as well as the
despatches and letters transmitted to them, have been preserved, if not
as completely as could have been wished, yet to a very large extent, in
the Departments of State. These sources of information have been thrown
open to the Government, and the transcriptions that have been made
repair, so far as it can be repaired, the misfortune the colony has
sustained in the loss of its early Records.
The first step to tap these valuable sources of information was taken in
April, 1887, when the Colonial Secretary, Sir Henry Parkes, G.C.M.G.,
through the Agent-General, authorised Mr. Bonwick to make copies of
certain despatches which he had discovered. In the following year, in
view of the publication of the “History of New South Wales from the
Records,” authority was given for the transcription of documents
relating to the period during which Governor Phillip was at the head of
affairs— i.e., 1788-1792. The information obtained in this way proved so
interesting and valuable that Mr. Bonwick was instructed to continue his
researches, and the work has since gone on without interruption. The
purpose in view is to collect from every available source all the
authentic information it is possible to obtain relating to the
foundation of the colony and its government during the early part of its
existence.
An awkward gap is thus filled up. The information, however, was not
easily obtained. The manuscripts were not readily accessible; they were
gathered from many Departments. The Governors in the early days were not
only responsible to the Home Office, which had the colonies in its
charge, but, as naval officers, they owed allegiance to the Admiralty.
They had to correspond with the Home Secretary and the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty, and with the Under-Secretaries of those
departments. Each department and sub-department kept two lettcr-books,
one for the Minister and the other for the Under-Secretary, so that it
was necessary to examine four different sources of information for the
purpose of discovering what had passed between the Governors and the
English authorities.
In dealing with the Records belonging to a still earlier period —that in
which the establishment of a settlement in New South Wales was
discussed—the ground to be covered was wider still, though not so
productive. In making preparations for the despatch of the first fleet
many departments and sub-departments were engaged—the Home Office, which
had general direction of the business; the Admiralty, which undertook
the equipment and officering of the ships, and the appointment of the
force of marines which guarded the transports and formed the garrison at
Port Jackson; the Treasury, which made the financial arrangements; the
Transport Office, which had to do with the convict-ships; and the
Victualling Department, which provisioned the fleet. When the marines
were replaced by the special corps raised by Major Grose, known
afterwards as the New South Wales Corps, another Department of State,
that of War, was brought into operation; and, accordingly,
correspondence between that department and the Home Office, and between
the officials at the War Office and the officers of the corps, takes its
place amongst the records. Three of the transports which constituted,
with the warship “Sirius” and its tender the “Supply,” the vessels
forming the first fleet, were under charter to the East India Company to
take cargoes of tea from China to London after landing convicts and
stores at Port Jackson; and at a subsequent stage, the company, owing to
the obstacles it threw in the way of Australian trade with the East,
figured largely in the official correspondence relating to New South
Wales. The records of the India Office are therefore another source of
information.
The transcripts which have been despatched to Sydney are thus gathered
from a wide field, embracing as it does the Public Record Office, the
British Museum, the Home Office, the Colonial Office, the War Office,
the Privy Council Office, the Admiralty, the India Office, and Somerset
House. The documents had to be searched for, and the work was not
without difficulty, owing to the imperfect and unsystematic way in which
official records were kept in the early days. Some documents—the earlier
Orders and Proclamations, for example—cannot be found at all; others,
which were believed to be missing, such as the commissions of the early
Governors, have been discovered in the Home Office, after a patient
search, in which valuable assistance was given by the officers of the
Department. A number of the despatches copied by the transcribers in
London escaped notice in the first instance because they had been placed
amongst papers relating to the American colonies.
While the principal storehouse of facts concerning the early days of the
colony is the Public Record Office and the Departments of State in
London, information has been obtained from other sources. Six years ago
the Agent-General, Sir Saul Samuel, acting under instructions from the
Government at Sydney, purchased from Lord Brabourne a valuable
collection of papers relating to the settlement and early history of New
South Wales. They were once known as “The Brabourne Papers”; they are
now known as “The Banks Papers.” The grandfather of the present Lord
Brabourne was related to Sir Joseph Banks, and in that way the papers
came into the possession of the Brabourne family. Sir Joseph Banks, as
pointed out in Vol. I. of the Official History, took an active part in
the consultations and negotiations which led to the settlement of New
South Wales; and there can be no doubt that his representations, founded
upon what he saw of the country during his visit to Botany Bay with
Captain Cook in the Endeavour, did a great deal towards bringing about
the settlement of New South Wales. After the colony had been established
he watched its fortunes with a parental eye, and the deep interest which
he took in its welfare is shown by the correspondence that has come,
through Lord Brabourne, into the possession of the Government of New
South Wales. These manuscripts are apparently only a part of the papers
that Sir Joseph kept with regard to this colony. The “Banks Papers” were
discovered by accident in Sir Joseph Banks’s old house in Soho Square,
but these manuscripts are only a portion of the correspondence which Sir
Joseph had with English Ministers, and with Australian Governors,
settlers, and explorers. Many of his manuscripts relating to Australian
affairs have been lost or destroyed. The papers begin with four letters
from Captain Cook (originals), and go up to 1814, six years before Sir
Joseph’s death. The absence of letters from or to Phillip, with whom Sir
Joseph Banks corresponded, the fact that there are no manuscripts of
later date than 1814, and other considerations, indicate that the
collection, precious as it is, is only the remnant of a large store of
papers relating to the foundation and early history of New South Wales.
The manuscripts of Governor King, which have been lent to the Government
by the Hon. Philip Gidley King, M.L.C., are extensive and important.
They consist of a Journal, in two volumes, kept partly on board the
“Sirius” on the voyage from England to Botany Bay with the first fleet
of transports, and partly at Norfolk Island, where King acted as
Commandant and Superintendent from March, 1788, to March, 1790, under a
Commission issued by Phillip as Governor of New South Wales and its
Dependencies; a letter-book, containing copies of despatches received
and sent both during King’s term as Commandant and during his subsequent
command as Lieutenant-Governor, under commission from the Crown, from
November, 1791, to October, 1796; four letter-books, kept during his
term as Governor of New South Wales, from September, 1800, to August,
1806; and original letters and despatches, extending from 1799 to 1811.
It should be pointed out, with regard to the despatches recorded in the
letter-books, that King during his first term at Norfolk Island
corresponded with Governor Phillip, from whom he derived his authority,
while during his Lieutenant-Governorship at Norfolk Island and his
Governorship at Sydney he was in direct communication with the Home
Office and other Departments of State in England. While acting as
Lieutenant-Governor of Norfolk Island, from November, 1791, to October,
1796, King wrote a second Journal, a copy of which is amongst the
transcripts sent from England to the Government in Sydney.
Discoveries from time to time of manuscripts which were believed to have
been lost, or the existence of which was unknown, may interfere to some
extent with the consecutive printing of the Records; but it has been
considered better to begin publishing at once than wait an indefinite
time to make sure that all possible sources of information have been
exhausted. The plan of the work contemplates the publication of the
Records in chronological order, and the rule will not be departed from
except m cases where despatches of a given date contain enclosures of
earlier dates. Under such circumstances, to place the manuscripts in
strict chronological order would cause confusion, instead of helping the
reader. The plan of arranging matter according to subjects has its
advantages, but it is considered that what might be gained in this way
would be outweighed by the disadvantages of a system under which the
reader would be obliged to look through half a dozen volumes to find one
piece of information relating to a particular day in a particular year.
It is believed that by printing the Records in chronological order, and
giving with each volume a comprehensive index, the Records will be of
greater value for purposes of reference than if they were dealt with
under separate heads.
As the papers given in these volumes form the basis of the Official
History which is published concurrently, they are presented without
comment, and without any attempt to explain the story they tell. The
proper place for description, analysis, and comment is the history
itself. The Records are given here as they were found, and they speak
for themselves. Where it has been considered necessary to explain the
relation of papers to each other, or to give information concerning
persons and places, as an aid to the reader in studying the Records, the
Editor has written the necessary notes, which are printed at the foot of
the page, but no alteration of the text has been made in any case.
Errors of composition and spelling are allowed to go without correction;
in a word, the Records as printed are literal transcripts of the
originals. This is the plan now generally adopted in the reproduction of
manuscripts; indeed, no other course could be pursued without mutilating
the originals, and depriving them of their historic value.
It will be noticed in examining the Records from 1783 to 1789 that
duplicates are given of some of the documents printed in Vol. I. of the
Official History. It was impossible to avoid this repetition. The
Records stand by themselves, and they must be given intact. For this
reason, the documents published in Vol. I. of the History have been
reprinted; in future issues, however, repetitions will not occur. In the
Historical Records will be found the full text of the papers; in the
history they will be digested and explained. The writer of Vol. I. made
such use of the manuscripts as the space at his disposal allowed; the
broader plan now adopted gives the simple facts in one set of volumes
and the historical narrative in another. In this way the full Records
will appear in print, while the history will not be burdened by long
extracts and quotations. It is believed that by the adoption of this
course the convenience of the reader will be consulted and the object
which the Government has in view carried into effect.
ALEXR. BRITTON.
Government Printing Office,
Sydney, February, 1892.
Volume 1
| Volume 2 |
