The Present Picture of New South Wales (1811)

This volume offers a richly illustrated snapshot of New South Wales at the turn of the nineteenth century. With detailed plates of Sydney’s harbor, early town layouts, and everyday scenes, the book invites listeners to picture a fledgling settlement rising from the Australian bush. The author’s dedication to Governor John Hunter frames the work as both tribute and record of a colony in its first decades.

The narrative begins with Captain Cook’s 1770 charting of the eastern coast and his naming of Botany Bay, setting the stage for the British decision to send a penal settlement. It follows Governor Arthur Phillip’s arrival in 1788, the construction of makeshift shelters, the clash with Indigenous peoples, and the relentless struggle of convicts and marines to survive. Early attempts at governance, the establishment of a printing press, and the first public buildings are described, revealing how ambition and hardship shaped the community’s early growth.