author
David Collins
1756–1810
A Royal Marines officer turned colonial administrator, he helped shape the early legal system of New South Wales and later led the expedition that founded Hobart. He is also remembered for writing one of the key early accounts of Britain’s first Australian colony.
2 Audiobooks
An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Volume 1 With Remarks on the Dispositions, Customs, Manners, Etc. of The Native Inhabitants of That Country. to Which Are Added, Some Particulars of New Zealand; Compiled, By Permission, From The Mss. of Lieutenant-Governor King.
by David Collins, Philip Gidley King
About the author
Born in London on March 3, 1756, David Collins served in the Royal Marines and took part in the First Fleet voyage to Australia in 1788. In the new colony of New South Wales, he was appointed judge-advocate, a role that placed him at the center of its early legal and administrative life.
Collins later became lieutenant-governor and is closely associated with the founding of Hobart in Van Diemen’s Land, now Tasmania, after arriving there in 1804. Alongside his official duties, he wrote An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, an important firsthand record of the colony’s early years.
He died in Hobart on March 24, 1810. Today, he is remembered both as a significant figure in early Australian colonial history and as a writer whose work remains valuable to historians.