A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson — Text and Context

A Journalist's Discipline

Tench's preface reveals a deliberate approach: he not only recorded daily events but also inspected and recorded the progression of improvement. He states that the greatest part of the work is composed of materials which a journal supplies, but wherever reflections could be interwoven he did not omit them. This dual commitment to factual record and personal reflection shapes the entire narrative. Readers should expect a text that moves between precise dates and broader commentary, often within the same paragraph. The author's military background is evident in his attention to order and detail, yet his curiosity about the new country drives him beyond mere administrative reporting.

Hunger and Punishment

In a passage from May 1791, Tench describes how hunger led convicts to plunder gardens and steal Indian corn. The governor responded by ordering offenders to be chained together or to wear a large iron collar with two spikes, which could not be concealed under a shirt. Tench then reports that a convict was caught stealing fishing-tackle from Daringa, wife of the Aboriginal man Colbee. The governor ordered a severe flogging in the presence of as many natives as could be assembled. Tench notes that the women, Daringa and Barangaroo, reacted with tears and anger respectively, and he uses this incident to argue that the Aboriginal people are not of a sanguinary and implacable temper. This episode shows how Tench weaves moral reflection into his chronicle of colonial discipline.

Tracing Rivers into the Interior

Chapter XIV, titled Travelling Diaries in New South Wales, presents selected expedition journals. One expedition in April 1791 aimed to determine whether the Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers were the same. Tench describes the party's plan to fall in a little above Richmond Hill and trace down to it, then cross at the ford and go a short distance westward. The text includes a footnote referencing a map that is not present in this edition, a reminder that the original work had visual aids now lost. These travel diaries offer a different rhythm from the colony-bound entries, focusing on geography, navigation, and the challenges of moving through unfamiliar terrain. Tench's voice becomes more exploratory here, balancing scientific curiosity with the practical difficulties of the journey.

Climate and Comparison

In a striking passage, Tench compares the heat of Port Jackson to that of the West Indies, where he had lived. He states that it is a rare instance for the mercury in the thermometer to mount above 90 degrees in the West Indies, but at Port Jackson he scarcely passes a week in summer without seeing it rise to 100 degrees, sometimes to 105 or beyond. He uses this comparison to challenge the notion that white men are incapable of sustaining the heat of tropical colonies. This argumentative turn reveals Tench's broader purpose: to provide information that might influence colonial policy. His observations on climate are not mere description but part of a reasoned case about the viability of the settlement.

As you read, note how Tench balances his roles as chronicler, explorer, and moral commentator. The journal entries provide a day-by-day record, but the travel diaries and reflective passages offer a wider lens. Pay attention to his descriptions of Aboriginal people, which are often sympathetic yet filtered through his own cultural assumptions. The absence of the original map is a loss, but Tench's prose is precise enough to follow his movements. This is a document of early contact, written by a participant who was both an agent of empire and a thoughtful observer.

Tench's frustration with the colony's slow unraveling reminded me of a long bus ride where I kept rereading Hugh Clapperton's journals, his goodwill curdling into exhaustion with each failed negotiation. Both writers document the same ache—a place that refuses to become what you hoped, and you there, watching it slip away, notebook still open. Journal of a second expedition into the interior of Africa, from the Bight of Benin to Soccatoo — A Closer Reading sits on my shelf like Tench does—a voice I return to when I need to feel less alone in my own quiet disappointments.