Report on State of the Colony of New South Wales is a nonfiction and fundamental record of some convicts being transported to New South Wales. Excerpt: "Condition and Treatment of Convicts during the passage to New South Wales. CLOTHING.] FOOD.] PREVENTION OF PLUNDER.] VENTILATION.] Parliamentary Evidence, p. 100.] MEDICINE.] PRISON ROOM.] 21st Article of Instructions; A. No. 1.] II. Debarkation and Muster of the Convicts, Male, and Female. Vide Government and Public Notice, Sydney Gazette, 19 April 1817.]"

FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT IN 1788, TO AUGUST 1801: WITH REMARKS ON THE DISPOSITIONS, CUSTOMS, MANNERS, etc. OF THE NATIVE INHABITANTS 200 OF THAT COUNTRY.

When it is recollected how much has been written to describe the Settlement of New South Wales, it seems necessary if not to offer an apology, yet to assign a reason, for an additional publication. The embarked in the fleet which sailed to found the establishment at Botany Bay. He shortly after published a Narrative of the Proceedings and State of the Colony, brought up to the beginning of July, 1788, which was well received, and passed through three editions. This could not but inspire both confidence and gratitude; but gratitude, would be badly manifested were he on the presumption of former favour to lay claim to present indulgence. He resumes the subject in the humble hope of communicating information, and increasing knowledge, of the country, which he describes. He resided at Port Jackson nearly four years: from the 20th of January, 1788, until the 18th of December, 1791. To an active and contemplative mind, a new country is an inexhaustible source of curiosity and speculation. It was the author's custom not only to note daily occurrences, and to inspect and record the progression of improvement; but also, when not prevented by military duties, to penetrate the surrounding country in different directions, in order to examine its nature, and ascertain its relative geographical situations. The greatest part of the work is inevitably composed of those materials which a journal supplies; but wherever reflections could be introduced without fastidiousness and parade, he has not scrupled to indulge them, in common with every other deviation which the strictness of narrative would allow. When this publication was nearly ready for the press; and when many of the opinions which it records had been declared, fresh accounts from Port Jackson were received. To the state of a country, where so many anxious trying hours of his life have passed, the author cannot feel indifferent. If by any sudden revolution of the laws of nature; or by any fortunate discovery of those on the spot, it has really become that fertile and prosperous land, which some represent it to be, he begs permission to add his voice to the general congratulation. He rejoices at its success: but it is only justice to himself and those with whom he acted to declare, that they feel no cause of reproach that so complete and happy an alteration did not take place at an earlier period.

"Samuel Sidney developed an interest in the Australian colony after the emigration of his brother John to New South Wales. Samuel and John established the magazine Sidney's Emigrant Journal, and worked together on two books concerning Australian emigration. The present work is an excellent description of Australia's contemporary state, where Samuel Sidney is clearly influenced by both Caroline Chisholm and Alexander Harris. He argues that the Australian colonies are ideal for working class emigration. Already in the introduction it becomes clear that Sidney is very anti-Wakefield, which makes it an important document in the debate between competing proposals for emigration. Apparently Sidney was very well-informed, he had access to otherwise inaccessible primary sources, and the verbatim transcripts add considerably to the book's value. Sidney's work is a full guide, giving excessive and detailed information on one of the most interesting world-regions."--Abebooks website.

The Sydney Wars tells the history of military engagements between Europeans and Aboriginal Australians – described as ‘this constant sort of war’ by one early colonist – around the greater Sydney region. Telling the story of the first years of colonial Sydney in a new and original way, this provocative book is the first detailed account of the warfare that occurred across the Sydney region from the arrival of a British expedition in 1788 to the last recorded conflict in the area in 1817. The Sydney Wars sheds new light on how British and Aboriginal forces developed military tactics and how the violence played out. Analysing the paramilitary roles of settlers and convicts and the militia defensive systems that were deployed, it shows that white settlers lived in fear, while Indigenous people fought back as their land and resources were taken away. Stephen Gapps details the violent conflict that formed part of a long period of colonial strategic efforts to secure the Sydney basin and, in time, the rest of the continent. ‘A powerful and cogent contribution to one of the most contentious aspects of Australian history: the war between British settlers and the First Nations. The fine detailed research will mean that we will have to radically reassess our understanding of the history of the first thirty years of settlement.’ —Henry Reynolds

First published in 1971. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.