chored in Botany Bay, and subsequently ran along the eastern coast, passing the northern extremity of the continent, thus establishing the separation of Australia from New Guinea, but little appears to have been explored by any navigators.
In 1788 Australia was first colonised under the direction of Captain Philip. Like every other colony established by England, it was founded on erroneous principles, or rather on no principles, and suffered great privations. The first errors were followed up by another, fraught with evils of the deepest dye, and so impolitic, when maturely weighed, as to deserve unsparing reprobation. The crime, both moral and political, was converting that noble country into a penal settlement—an injury never to be remedied, and of which the taint will remain to the end of centuries.
Among the most daring and talented of the navigators who explored the coasts of that vast continent, were Flinders and Bass; the former a midshipman, the latter a surgeon, who came out with Governor Hunter. Left to their own resources, these daring youths fitted up a boat eight feet long, which they aptly named the Tom Thumb, and accompanied by a little boy set sail, and examined every inlet and cove, and extended their survey twenty miles beyond the limits reached by the officers of government. In 1796 these persevering men again went to sea; but on account of their miserable equipment, they returned, having only examined a great extent of coast. Subse-
