page_title: Journals of the First Fleet
section_title: John White
hierarchical_section_title: Journals of the First Fleet / Journals / John White
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of the Journal of a voyage to New South Wales&#160;: with sixty-five plates of non descript animals, birds, lizards, serpents, curious cones of trees and other natural productions by John White. One page has a drawing of a Tabuan parrot. John White was the chief surgeon on the First Fleet.
context_page_description: There are 20 known contemporary accounts of the First Fleet made by people sailing in the fleet, including journals and letters. The eleven ships of the fleet, carrying over 1,000 convicts, soldiers and seamen, left England on 13 May 1787 and arrived in Botany Bay between 18 and 20 January 1788 before relocating to Port Jackson to establish the first European settlement in Australia, a penal colony which became Sydney. At least 12 people on the fleet kept a journal of their experiences, some of which were later published, while others wrote letters home during the voyage or soon after their arrival in Australia. These personal accounts of the voyage were made by people including surgeons, officers, soldiers, ordinary seamen, and Captain Arthur Phillip, who commanded the expedition. Only one known account, that of James Martin, was by a transported convict. Their journals document the day-to-day experiences of those in the fleet, and record significant events including the first contact between the European settlers and the Aboriginal people of the area.
context_section_description: John White (1756?–1832) served as the chief surgeon on the fleet and to the settlement at Port Jackson. He had served on other ships in the Royal Navy, including as surgeon's mate on HMS Wasp and surgeon on HMS Irresistible before being recommended for the expedition to Botany Bay by Sir Andrew Snape Hamond. His assistant surgeons on the First Fleet were Dennis Considen, Thomas Arndell and William Balmain.
  White's diary records details of how he ordered medical supplies, supervised the embarkation of the convicts and made visits during the voyage to the ships to check on the health of the convicts and crew. White was also a keen amateur naturalist and on arrival in Port Jackson he was particularly interested in the birds of the colony. White sent the journal of his trip to Thomas Wilson, a friend in London, who published it in 1790. The published edition included engravings drawn from the specimens White collected and appeared under the title Journal of a voyage to New South Wales : with sixty-five plates of non-descript animals, birds, lizards, serpents, curious cones of trees and other natural productions .
  White remained in the colony until December 1794, supervising the medical care of the convicts and crew arriving on the Second Fleet in 1790 and the Third Fleet in 1791. The journal of Watkin Tench, another member of the colony, describes White adopting a young Aboriginal boy, named Nanbaree, who was orphaned by the smallpox epidemic at Port Jackson in 1789.
caption: Photograph of John White's published journal, open to a drawing of a Tabuan parrot.
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