The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1898-04-29
BOTANY BAY HISTORY
THE TRUE STORY OF THE NOTORI-
OUS SOUTH SEA SITE.

Il
Has Never Had Anything to DO With
EngIands Penal System.
The first convict feet sailed away
from England in May, 1887, called at
Rio Janeiro and arrived at Botany Bay
early in January, 1888. In the feet
were 20 gun frigate, an armed tender,
three storeships and six transports, far
the largest feet that ever sailed to the
South sea, though the largest vessel
measured only $50 tons and the small
est only 27O tons.
On ahe six small transports for this
long, tropical voyage were packed con-
victs numbering 564 men and 1872 wom-
en-. There were also carried 16S marines
and 10 officers, few surgeons and me-
chanics, the wives of 40 of the marines
and 13 children, the offspring of con-
victs. Approximately 1000 persons
therefore went to found the colony in
the newest world less than 10 years
old. Captain Philip Of the British navy
was placed in command of the expedi-
tiOn and given a commission as governor
and captain general of New South
Wales.
1t is easy for the visitor of today to
understand the blank dismay that Philip
must have felt when the fleet sailed
into Botany Bay and he saw for the
first time the place which had been
recommended to him as the spot for set.
tlement. 1t had been selected by the ad-
vice of Captain Cook, whose bOtanists
had been so delighted with the profu-
sion of new plants they found there that
they had given it the expressive name.
Philip found ON first examination that
more unsuitable site for a new settle
ment hardly could have been chosen.
The bay was shallow, there was no
good anchorage, there was no good wa
ter, and the adjacent land was not fer
tile, except for botanical specimens
Leaving the fleet anchored in the bay,
Philip started up the coast in his tender
to hunt for a better home. Nine miles
to the nOrthward he found himself fac
ing those great gates now known as
Sydney head which Cook had seen
from a distance, and, satisfied with
Botany Bay, had marked on his chart
as a possible harbor for small boats.
Philip rounded the south head and was
amazed to see opening before him the
bays of Port JaCksOn-Snyder harbOr
now-famed the world over as the finest
.harbOr in the seven seas and disputed
for that distinction by few. Three days
of exploration left no possible doubt
that this was the place to be selected,
and Philip returned at once to Botany.
The fleet was standing out Of the bay,
when two French frigates appeared in
the Offing. They bore an exploring party
under COmte de la Perouse, without
hostile intentions, which was an i'm
mense relief to the colOnists. Botany
Bay was left to the Frenchmen. They
refreshed and refitted there, staying un-
til March, and burying on shore one of
their company, the naturalist Of the ex-
peditiOn, who died of wounds received
in an encounter with the natives of an
island they had touched. \ few months
later the French expedition was ship
wrecked, and every one of the crew was
murdered by the natives of NanikOrO,
one of the Santa Cruz islands. In 1925
a monument was erected by the French
government to the memory of the COM
mander of the expedition at Botany
Bay.
This is all of the story of Botany Bay,
name long infamous because Of its as
sOciation with convict transportation.
No convict ever was landed there, no
settlement ever was made there, and it
never had anything more to do with the
system" than l have related. 1t is a
circular bay, with an entrance so wide
as to leave it almost an open roadstead.
The shores are fiat, low, sandy and un-
interesting.
When went there not long ago, the
tide was out and the beach was foul
with all sorts of drifts. One peninsula,
which juts between the bay and the
ocean, has been reserved for nOxiOus
trades, and they will elbow the obeIisk
erected to the memory of Captain Cook,
so that in the future the bay will be no
more savOry than its name has been,
unjustly, in the past. IThe French mon
ument is at the other side of the en-
trance to the bay.
1t was the Goth of January, 1888,
when the fleet of Governor Arthur
Philip entered what is now Sydney har-
Dor. The settlement of the continent of
Australia was begun. Record.