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Western Australia in 1699 on the Roebuck, and sailed up the northwest coast from Shark's Bay
to Roebuck Bay. Of the
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aborigines he wrote: 'They have the most unpleasant looks and the worst features of any people
that I saw'; and he dismissed what he saw of the land as 'the barrenest spot upon the Globe'.
Both Captain Cook's later voyages of discovery set out, with West Country crews, from
Plymouth - in 1768 and 1772. In the first, his ship, the Endeavour, reached Stingray Bay (later
renamed Botany Bay) in April 1770, and sailed all the way up the eastern coast to the tip of
Cape York. In the second voyage, his second-in-command, Tobias Furneaux, a Plymouth man,
became the first Englishman to land with his crew on Tasmania, which he concluded was part of
the Australian mainland.
It would be interesting to establish whether Elizabeth Furneaux, William Honeycombe's wife,
was in fact related to Tobias. Was she a grand-daughter or a second cousin? Perhaps, through
this family connection, Australia had for many years been in William's mind.
Several of the officers, crew and 759 convicts on board the eleven ships of the First Fleet that
left Portsmouth at 4.00 am on Sunday, 13 May 1787, were also from Devon and Cornwall.
One of the convicts, James Ruse, from Launceston, was allowed in 1791 to set up a 30 acre
farm of his own at Paramatta - the first official land grant to be made. Two others from
Cornwall, William and Mary Bryant, made a daring escape from Sydney Cove in 1790. With
their two children and seven other convicts they sailed in a small boat for over 3,000 miles to
the island of Timor. Recaptured, they were sent back to England. William and the children died
on the way. But Mary, imprisoned for a while in Newgate Jail, was back in Cornwall in 17S3;
she was 28. Of those who remained in the Colony, several fared well on acquiring their freedom
- like James Underwood, transported for stealing a ewe at New Sarum. Within 20 years he and
his brother were merchants in Sydney and owned a shipyard and a distillery.
Of the First Fleet officers from Devon and Cornwall, Philip Gidley King of Launceston did the
best. From being the Lt-Govemor of Norfolk Island, he became the Governor of New South
Wales in 1800. Port Phillip Bay was initially named after him in 1802, and a year later it was he
who ordered Lt Bowen (from llfracombe in Devon), with a party of convicts and soldiers, to
establish the first settlement in Van Diemen's Land. Its Governor, from 1824 to 1836, was also
a Plymouth man, Col Arthur. King was replaced as Governor in 1806 by William Bligh,
formerly Captain of the mutinous Bounty, another West Country man.
Many also were the Wesi Country men and women who were transported to Australia - more
than 500 were sent from llchester Jail between 1808 and 1822. Not a few prospered on gaining
their freedom, some returning home with first-hand tales of the land and what wealth could be
made. Among those who returned in due course were the six Tolpuddle Martyrs, four of whom
landed at Plymouth in March 1838. But the ex-convict who received the greatest acclaim,
commemorated even today on the Australian 10 dollar note, was Francis Greenway, a Bristol
architect, born into a family of stonemasons and buiiders, who designed and built the Clifton
Hotel in Bristol and the Clifton Assembly Rooms.
Charged with forgery at Bristol Assizes in 1812, his death sentence was committed to
transportation for 14 years; he was 34, in Sydney, he was appointed before long as Civil
Architect by Governor Macquarie and was responsible for the design and construction of many
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