Resources transported with the First Fleet using sources as evidence

PHILLIP GIDLEY KING

King’s journal is particularly useful because it shows that the First Fleet was not simply transporting people to New South Wales. It was carrying the supplies needed to establish and sustain a new settlement. King recorded that agricultural tools and other stores were deliberately divided among the different transport ships, rather than keeping each type of resource aboard a single vessel. This was a precaution: if one ship were lost or damaged, the colony would not lose its entire supply of an essential item. He also noted that the three victualling ships — Fishburn, Golden Grove and Borrowdale — carried provisions intended to support the marines, convicts and others for two years after landing in NSW.

King’s account also shows that the Fleet replenished and expanded its supplies during the voyage. At Tenerife, the ships took on water and the people were supplied with fresh beef; King also recorded locally available foods including figs, mulberries, pumpkins, onions and poultry. At Rio de Janeiro, the Fleet obtained plentiful fresh provisions, including beef, mutton, poultry, oranges and bananas, as well as good fresh water. These stops were therefore important not only for feeding people during the eight-month voyage but also for conserving the preserved provisions being carried for the new colony.

The most significant additions came at the Cape of Good Hope, the Fleet’s final major provisioning stop before Australia. King recorded that the British sought cattle, wine, corn and bread, although obtaining grain was initially difficult because the Cape had experienced shortages. Most importantly, the Fleet acquired livestock intended to help establish agriculture in NSW. King listed four mares, one stallion, one colt, two mare colts, six cows, a bull calf, a two-year-old bull, 120 ewes, goats and “a great quantity” of poultry. His journal therefore provides direct evidence that the resources carried to NSW included not only food and water for immediate survival, but agricultural tools, stores, seed and provisions, together with breeding livestock intended to help the colony eventually produce its own food.

Source:

The Journal of Philip Gidley King: Lieutenant, R.N. 1787–1790 - Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

About

Philip Gidley King was a Royal Navy officer who sailed with the First Fleet as second lieutenant aboard Sirius and Supply. He became the first commandant of Norfolk Island and was later appointed Governor of New South Wales, taking office in 1800, while his detailed journal provides an important eyewitness account of the First Fleet voyage and the early years of British settlement.

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