Estimated white population approximately 5,000  
 
 

JANUARY 2

 

  Wilson's Promontory and Phillip Island sighted by George Bass  

 

January 14

 

   

An exploratory party consisting of four convicts, their guards and John Wilson and John Price set out in January 1798, under instructions from Governor Hunter, to prove to convicts that there was no colony beyond the fringe of settlement.

 

 
 

FEBRUARY 9

 

Three men returned to Sydney after their exhausting stint in the bush around Cowpastures. They brought with them a Lyrebird described by David Collins as a variety of bird of Paradise.

According to George Barrington in his History of NSW  John Wilson, an emancipated convict who had lived for some time with the natives, was the first person ever in the colony to shoot a 'bird of paradise'.  Wilson also had the distinction of Rescuing Charles Grimes when he was attacked by natives at Port Stephens in 1795. Wilson himself was later speared and killed by natives

 
 
 

MAY 14

 

 

Hail Storm in Sydney stones 6" diameter

 
 
 

MAY 18

 

 

Arrival of Barwell. Master John Cameron. Passengers included  Hunter Valley settlers  McDougall and Bowman families; Richard Dore, deputy Judge-Advocate and 287 male prisoners. Convict lawyer/poet Michael Massey Robinson was also transported on the Barwell

 
 
 

JULY 18

 

 

Arrival of Britannia. Robert Turnbull master. Convict Bryan Spalden on board later to be exiled to Newcastle after the uprising at Castle Hill

 
 

 

OCTOBER 7

 

  Departure of Bass & Flinders in the Nautilus to investigate the possibility of a strait north of Van Diemen's Land.  
 
 

OCTOBER

 

  Arrival of the Norfolk from Bengal with cargo of merchandise and stock  
 
 

OCTOBER

 

  Fire destroyed the first church in Australia  
 

 

NOVEMBER 7

 

  Government Order issued requesting that names of female servants be forwarded to authorities.  
 
 

DECEMBER 1

 

 

  Merchandise in the colony at exorbitant prices

A Letter home to England written in 1798

 
 
 

 

 

Drought in the summer of 1798 - 99.

 
   

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