Collection 12: David Blackburn - letters received by Richard Knight, 12 July 1788, 19 March 1791 - Page 2

Made on the 12th & Anchord in a  Large Bay  on its SW Side & at 4 in the Afternoon  displayd  the English colours on shore & took formal possession of the Island in the name of His Brittanick Majesty. Lieut  Ball then namd the different parts of the Island. It is about 6 miles long & about 2 wide. At its SE end are two very high mountains which he namd Mount Gower & Mount Lidgbird,  the Valley Between them Erskine Valley. There is One Large Bay & two Small ones on its SW Side -  the 2 Small ones he CallD  Callam Bay, the Name of our Surgeon, the other Hunter Bay, after Capn  John Hunter of the Sirius & The large Bay, Prince William Henry bay and A Small Gaun  Island Nearly in the Middle of it -  Blackburn Isle. I was on board whilst this ceremony was performing or it should have been calld Knight Isle. The Island is uninhabited, but we foun dplenty of the finest turtle I ever saw on the beach, some of them weighing upwards of 500 pounds. The bays abound with excellent fiish & the Island with pigeons a kind of quail & some other birds peculiar to the place. But no running stream of fresh water that we saw. We took on board as many turtle as we could conveniently stow & made sail for Port Jackson where we arrivd o the 20th March. The turtle were an acceptable present to the Governor & Colony. We have been since at Howe Island & are now preparing to sail with a fresh supply of stores & provisions for Norfolk Island.

We really know so little of New South Wales, that it is useless to attempt to describe it. The land in general is very rocky & small spaces of clear ground. Our gardens have producd nothing worh notice nor I am afraid will not whilst we remain in the colony, which I hope will not exceed two years. The natives are black, they are quite naked and very dirty & are to all appearance most miserable wretches. They live in caves and hollow places in the rocks & so far as we know have no other food but fish & fern root. They almost always go armd with spears, very long & barbd at the end with a fish bone. We have never yet been able to perswade them to come in to the camp or on board the ships tho they frequenly pass & once [three?] canoes came along side the Supply but would not come in. Nor will they eat or drink with us, nor taste any of our food. They seem to be a harmless inoffensive people, but like all savage nations are cunning & will always sooner or later revenge an injury. They have killd a convict & wounded another who were in the woods collecting herbs, but we have every reason to believe they were the aggressors. Indeed the convicts in general are a set of most abandond wretches, four have been hangd for breaking into and robbing the officers tents. We have never seen above 40 of the Natives