The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1898-04-28
THE TRUE STORY OF THE NOTORl-
GUS SOUTH SEA SITE.

long, tropical voyage were packed con-
victs numbering 564 men and 1919 wom-
en-. There were also carried 16S marines
and 10 officers, few surgeons and me-
ohanios, the wives of 40 of the marines
and 13 children, the offspring of con-
viots. Approximately 1000 persons
therefore went to found the colony in
the newest world less than ITO years
old. Captain Philip of the British navy
was placed in command of the expedi-
tion and given commission as governor
and captain general Of New South
Wales.
It is easy for the visitor of today to
understand the blank dismay that Philip
'ssqz< - cit when the feet sailed
80 = II Bay and he saw for the
y e place which had been
q to him as the spot for set
a had been selected by the ad-
% captain Cook, whose botanists
sT SO delighted with the profu-
wv plants they found there that
.sh given it the expressive name
! PhfnS found on first examination that
a 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 feet anchored in the bay,
Philip started up the coast in his tender
to hunt for 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 q distance, and, satisfied with
Botany Bay, had marked ON his chart
\ as . possible harbor for small boats
] Philip rounded the south head and was
amazed to see opening before him the
h bays Of Port Jackson-Snyder harbor
8 now-famed the world over as the finest
IL harbor in the seven seas and disputed
n for that distinction by few. Three days
u of exploration left no possible doubt
lBthat this was the place to be selected
sland Philip returned at once to Botany
The feet was standing out Of the bay,
when two French frigates appeared in
the off1ng. 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
1 in an encounter with the natives of an
island they had touched. A few months
7Aater the French expedition was ship
wrecked, and every one of the crew was
murdered by the natives of Vanikoro,
one of the Santa Cruz islands. In 1925
monument was erected by the French
government to the memory of the CON-
mander of the expedition at Botany
Bay.
This is all of the story of Botany Bay,
a name long infamous because of its as
ISOLATION 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
Stem thai tllaaf4 4-haye related. 1t is a
Sdffoular bay, with an entrance so wide
. Jas to leave it almost an open roadstead.
SKhe shores are fiat, low, sandy and un-
y interesting.
When l 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 obelisk
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. The French mon
ument is at the other side of the en-
trance to the bay.
1t was the 26th of January, 1888,
when the feet of Governor Arthur
Philip entered what is now Sydney har
Dor. The settlement of the continent of
. Australia was begun.-Chicago Record.