Free Settler or Felon
Convict and Colonial History




Colonial Events 1792




- Estimated white population 3,120


- Planting of citrus trees along Parramatta began

February 14

Arrival of the convict ship Pitt with Lieutenant Governor Grose and a company of the NSW Corps. The frame of a small vessel the Francis was on board. This was the first sea-going vessel built in the colony.


March 2

Death at the marine-barracks, Stonehouse, Plymouth, of Lieut. James Maxwell, for the last nine years senior first lieutenant of his Majesty's marine forces, who had assisted in forming the settlement established at Botany Bay.


April 23

Arrival of Rear Admiral Bruni D'Entrecasteaux at Storm Bay on La Recherche and L'Esperance. Bruni D'Entrecasteaux, had been sent to search for the missing Laperouse but was also charged with being useful and advantageous in the fields of navigation, geography, arts and sciences'. D'Entrecasteaux had departed France in September 1791. Among the crew aboard two ships, La Recherche and L'Esperance, was botanist Jacques Julien Houtou de Labillardiere, who had worked with the most famous botanist of the era, Sir Joseph Banks.


May

A pilot appointed at South Head


May

The first tank was cut in the rock bed of the Tank Stream


May 12

Reduction in rations


June 20

Arrival of the Atlantic from Calcutta with supplies


July

Departure from Gravesend of the Bellona with free settlers - Edward Powell aged 30 - farmer and fisherman from Lancaster; Thomas Rose aged 40, farmer from Blandford and his family; Joseph Webb, farmer; Thomas Webb, gardener; Frederick Meredith, baker; James Thorpe, millwright, Walter Brodie, blacksmith.


October 7

Arrival of the convict ship Royal Admiral, Captain Essex Henry Bond.


October 16

Preparation of a Return of Land in Cultivation at the Different Settlements


November 1

Arrival of Brigantine Philadelphia in Sydney with a speculative cargo. Cargo included 569 barrels of American cured beef, 27 barrels pitch and tar as well as wine, rum, gin, tobacco. Master of the Philadelphia Thomas Patrickson


November

New Hospital completed. - A brick hospital, consisting of two wards, was finished during the month of November and the sick removed to it. The spot for this building was at some distance from the principal street of the town, and convenient to the water; and, to prevent any improper communication with the other convicts, a space was to be enclosed and paled in round the hospital, in which the sick would have every necessary benefit from air and exercise. - An Account of the English Colony in NSW


November 17

Arrival of the convict ship Kitty, Master George Ramsay. Naval agent Lieut. Daniel Woodriff. 29 convicts on board.


November 30

Catholic settlers and prisoners at Parramatta petitioned Governor Phillip for the appointment of a priest-chaplain


December 10

Return of Governor Phillip and the remainder of the NSW Marine Corp to England on the Atlantic; Major Commandant Francis Grose appointed administrator of the colony.


December

The first lease was granted for land within the town