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THE ENGLISH AT THE DERWENT, AND 

 THE RISDON SETTLEMENT. 



BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER. 

 Read October 14th, 1889. 



], The English at the Derwent. 



In a paper which I had the honour to read before the 

 Royal Society last November, entitled " The French in 

 Van Diemen's Land," I endeavoured to show how the 

 discoveries of the French at the Derwent, and their 

 supposed design of occupation, influenced Governor 

 King's mind, and led him to despatch the first English 

 colony to these shores. That paper brought the story 

 to the 12th September, 1803, when the Albion whaler, 

 with Governor Bowen on board, cast anchor in Risdon 

 Cove, five days after the Lady Nelson, which had 

 brought the rest of his small establishment. 



The choice of such an unsuitable place as Risdon for 

 the site of the first settlement has always been something 

 of a puzzle; and, in order to understand the circumstances 

 which led to this ill-advised selection, it will be necessary 

 to go back some years, and follow the historj'^ of English 

 discovery and exploration in the South of Tasmania. 



I have already noticed the elaborate and complete 

 surveys of the Canal D'Entrecasteaux, and the Riviere 

 du Nord, made by the French navigators in 1792, and 

 again in 1802 ; but it must be remembered that the 

 results of these expeditions were long kept a profound 

 secret, not only from the English, but from the world in 

 general. Contemporaneously with the French, English 

 navigators had been making independent discoveries 

 and surveys in Southern Tasmania ; and it was solely 

 the knowledge thus acquired that guided Governor 

 King when he instructed Bowen " to fix on a proper 

 place about Risdon's Cove " for the new settlement. 



The English discoverer of the Derwent — a navigator 

 who, though less fortunate than Admiral D'Entrecasteaux, 

 yet merits the title of original discoverer equally with the 

 illustrious Frenchman — was Lieutenant John Hayes, 

 of the Bombay Marine, to whom I have already alluded. 

 The occasion of Hayes' expedition is sufiiciently curious 

 to justify a few words of remark. It was the only 

 exploring expedition ever sent out by the East India 

 Company into Australian waters. In those days the 

 great Company was at the height of its power. Its 



