..........

Launch of Henry Kable's whaler  King George - the first of its type in Australia

King George, Master William Moody, 185 tons in ballast to the River Derwent 9 October 1805; returned to Port Jackson 5 April 1806 with 1 ton black whale oil; sailed to the southward 27 April 1806; returned 12 August 1806.

Colonel Francis Grose of the New South Wales Corp appointed Major-General

February......

G.W. Evans, Surveyor General, discharged for fraud

March.......

March 15......

Ensign Cadwallader Draffen appointed Commandant at Newcastle.

Governor King's instructions to Ensign Draffin on his appointment as Commandant

March/ April......

Charles Throsby appointed Magistrate and Superintendent of convicts at Newcastle

Historical Records of Australia

Series 1 Vol. V, July 1804 - August 1806., p. 406.  Governor King to Earl Camden

Sydney New South Wales 8 April 1805

My Lord,

The Command of that Settlement (Newcastle) being given to an Ensign of the New South Wales corps, it soon became necessary to remove him to this place in consequence of a Mental Derangement, in which he still continues.

Having no other person to put in charge of that productive and useful Establishment, I have placed it under the Charge of Mr. Throsby, an Assistant Surgeon, who conducts it with great Activity and Propriety.

March......

Loss of the vessel 'Francis' off Newcastle.......READ MORE

March 22......

An account of the settlement at Newcastle by Charles Throsby to Governor King mentioning salt pans, cedar getting and the difficulties with Ensign Draffin

Charles Throsby's account of the settlement in his report to Governor King

April 11......

Vessel 'Surprise' lost in a gale north of Coal Island.......

WE are concerned to state the loss of the sloop Surprise, belonging to Messrs, Kable and Co. near the entrance of Hunter’s River, for which place she sailed from hence on Thursday the 11^th instant; and after a dangerous and fatiguing passage, the three latter days of which she was quite out of water, made the spot upon which she was lost, to the northward of the Coal Island about two miles, and a heavy gale then suddenly setting in, obliged the people to run her a shore for the preservation of their lives, as no possibility remained of getting the vessel out. She grounded within two miles of the spot at the entrance of the River upon which His Majesty’s colonial vessel Francis was lately lost....Sydney Gazette 28 April 1805

April......

Troops sent to the Hawkesbury after deaths of settlers at the hand of natives

April......

Colonial cutter Nancy wrecked

May 1......

William Bligh Esq., appointed Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over the Settlement of New South Wales (The Morning Chronicle 1st May 1805)

July......

Correspondence to Governor King with news that Captain William Bligh was appointed Governor of New South Wales

Read Viscount Castlereagh's Letter to Governor King here

July......

John Grant who arrived on the Coromandel in 1804 and was an associate of Maurice Margarot and Sir Henry Browne Hayes, wrote a letter to Governor King in 1805. Grant was later convicted of sedition and sent to Norfolk Island. In 1808 he was employed as a chaplain at Newcastle.

Extract of a letter from John Grant, a Convict (an Associate of Margarot, Hayes &c., to Gov'r King, dated 8th May 1805

Historical Records of Australia. Series 1,  p. 537. Governor King to Under Secretary Cooke

September 8.......

The schooner Governor Hunter arrived in Sydney with 20,000lbs of salt on account of the Government, made from the saltpans worked at Newcastle under the direction of Mr. Throsby. (SG)

November......

Abandonment of settlement at Norfolk Island

December......

Four convicts escape from Newcastle and recaptured near Reid's Mistake

Read an article from the Sydney Gazette here

December......

Hurricane at Newcastle