Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-09-08
BOTANYBAY HISTORY
THE TRUE STORY OF THE NOTORE-
OU5 SOUTH SEA SITE.

no convict was EEer A%nued ALeTe. M
Settlement Ever Made There. Jsnd 1t
Has Never Had Anything % Do with
EnEIand's Penal sys'eH
The first oonyi1F- feet sailed away
from England May, 1891. called az
Rio Janeiro and arrived at Botany Bay
early IN January, 1888. In the feet
were 20 gun frigate, an armed tender,
three stoTeships and six transports, far
the largest feet that ever sailed to the
South sea, though the largest vessel
measured only 45O tons and the small
est only go tons.
On the six small transports for this
long, tropical voyage were packed con-
victs numbering 564 men and 1872 worl-
en-. There were also carried I6S marines
and 10 officers, a few surgeons and me
chanics, the wives of 40 Of tie marines
and 10 children, the offspring Of con-
victs. approximately LOCO persons
therefore went to found tho colony in
the newest world less than 10 years
old. Captain Philip of the British navy
was placed IN command OF the expedi
tiCn and given a commission as governor
and captain general of New South
Wales.
understand the blanl; disnay that Philip
must have felt when the feet sailed
into Botany Bay and he saw for the
first time the place which had been
recommended TO him as the spot for set
Element 1t had been selected by the adj
vice OF Captain Cook, whose botanists
had Leen 20 delighted with the profu-
sion Of new plants they found there that
4
Philip found on first examination that
q more unsuitable site for new settle
meEt hardly could have been chosen.
The hay was shallow. there was no
good anchorage, there was no good wa
ter. and the adjacent land was not Ter.
tile. except for botanical specimens.
Lowing the feet anchored in the bay,
Philip started mp the coast ~ his tender
to hunt for a letter home. Nine miles
to the uorthward he found himself fac
ing those great gates now known as
Sydney head. which Cook had seen
from j distance, and, satisfied with
Botany Bay, had marked on his chart
as = possible harhnr fc- small boats.
Philip r8c:.ded the south head and wcs
amazed q se5 opening before him the
bays Of Port s1n-SuydCT hGrb0r
now-fImed the weird over as thu finest
haIbar in the seven seas and disputed
for that distinction by few. Three days
OF exploration left no possible doubt
that this was the place 10 be selected,
aud Philip returned at OEce 10 Botany.
The fCet was standing ont Of the hay,
when two French fTi2atCs appeared IL
the ofiin". They bore au exploring party
under Comic Dc IA PercUse, without
hostile intentions, which WIS an i'm
meuse relief to the CoiCnists. Botany
Bay was left to the Ircnchmen. They
refreshed and relt;ed there, staying IN
til March. and Luryiug on shore one Of
their company, the naturalist Of the ez-
petition, who died CT 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 Nauikoro,
one of the Santa Cruz islands. In 1925
4 monument was erected by the French
government TO the memory of the com
maHder 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
system than have related. 1t Is a
circular bay, with an entrance so wide
as to- leave it almost an open roadstead.
TIE shores are fiat, low, sandy and IN
interesting.
When / went there not long ago, the
tide was ont 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 viii elbow the obelisk
erected TO tire memory Of Captain Cook,
30 that IL the future the bay viii be no
more savCry than Its name has been,
unjustly, III the past. The French mon
ument l. at the other side of the en-
trance 10 the bay.
It was the goth of January, 19SS,
when the fleet of Governor Arthur
Philip entered what Is now Sydney har-
Dor. The settlement OF the continent Of
Australia was begun.-Chicago Record.