Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, in New South Wales

First edition of Captain Watkin Tench’s major work on New South Wales: an author’s presentation copy inscribed on the title page “From the Author, to his Friend James Hodge Esq Plymouth 1793”.

Watkin Tench served as a Marine officer on one of the vessels of the First Fleet and recorded his observations of the voyage in ‘A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay’. Tench also wrote of the subsequent settlement in New South Wales in A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson. These accounts are among the most important documents of early settlement in Australia, giving an insight into the early colonial settlement, as told through the keen eyes of a curious young man.

Object details

Object Number:
SF001503
Accession Date:
21/03/2025
Controlling Institution:
Silentworld Foundation
Department:
Silentworld Foundation Collection
Classification:
Books
Object Type:
Books
Period:
18th century
Place:
Array
Medium Description:
Paper and ink
Images:
Array
Cataloguer:
K Pentecost
Catalogued Date:
21/03/2025
Physical Characteristics:
Quarto, with a folding “Map of the hitherto unexplored country contiguous to Port Jackson: laid down from actual survey”, Orams copy with bookplate.
Language:
English
Mounting Framing:
Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, in New South Wales, including an accurate description of the Situation of the Colony; of the Natives; and of its natural productions.