PREFACE The attainment by the colony of the Centennial period of its existence, appeared to the Government of New South Wales an appropriate occasion for the preparation, at the public cost, of a comprehensive history, embodying information obtainable from all known sources, and of such an authentic character as to form a reliable basis for the labours of the future historian. The duty of preparing this important work having been entrusted to me, it seemed necessary, in order to do justice to the valuable collec- tion of records placed in my hands by the Government, to make them the groundwork of a narrative written on an essentially different plan from that of any previous one on the subject.* In no account of the country yet published have the records relating to its early years been made use of, at any length. There is but one in which they are quoted or referred tot l^iit the plan on which it was written did not permit of extensive references to them, and consequently an occasional paragraph from the despatches furnishes the only indication of the mine beneath. At the same time, the exigency of space apparently required the author to condense the history of the colony to an extent which rendered any adequate treatment of the subject impossible. The narrative of events from 1787 to 1792 — the term of Phillip's command — is compressed into some eighty pages. In three other well known works, not even a reference
- The collection comprises authentic copies of the records relating to New South
Wales, preserved in the Public Record Office in London, and also in various de- partments of the State ; the copies having been made under instructions from the Colonial Secretary (Sir Henry Parkes, G.C.M.G.) by Mr. James Bonwick, an experienced archivist, whose contributions to Australian history are well known in the colonies. It also includes original records in the office of the Colonial Secre- tary at Sydney ; others lent by the Hon. Philip Gidley King, M.L.C., grandson of Governor King ; and lastly, the valuable letters and other documents left by Sir Joseph Banks, which came into the possession of the present Lord Braboume and were purchased from him by the Agent-General (Sir Saul Samuel, K.C.M.G.) on behalf of the Government. t Rusden, History of Australia, 1883. I H OS I Digitized by Google
