An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island with the Discoveries which have been made in New South Wales and in the Southern Ocean since the publication of Phillip's Voyage compiled from the Official Papers;

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Including the Journals of Governors Phillip and King and of Lieut. Ball; and the Voyages From the first Sailing of the Sirius in 1787 to the Return of that Ship's Company to England in 1792. London: Printed for John Stockdale Piccadilly January 1 1793. Royal quarto (12 ¬ x 10 inches) bound in contemporary full speckled calf neatly re-backed with gilt borders to front and rear boards (corners bumped/chipped). Spine gilt with raised bands and morocco title-label. Marbled endpapers. (xviii 584pp.). Complete with portrait of Captain Hunter by R. Dighton after D. Orme title-vignette 2 folding and 3 full-page maps 10 plates and list of subscribers. The date has not been trimmed from the title-page as is the case in some rebound copies (Wantrup 1987 p. 70). The bookplate of Sir William Curtis (1752-1829) Lord Mayor of London and MP appears on the front pastedown; and the bookplate of Tristan Beusst Esqr. (1894-1982) well-known collector of Australiana appears on the verso of the front free endpaper. Occasional foxing. First edition. Desirable. John Hunter's Journal is clearly significant as an early record of the fledgling colony of New South Wales. Hunter (1737-1821) sailed on board the Sirius as second-in-command of the First Fleet under Governor Phillip on the voyage to Botany Bay. He accompanied Phillip on the survey that decided Port Jackson as a preferable site for the first settlement over Botany Bay. At Port Jackson Hunter was employed as a magistrate and surveyor and in 1795 he succeeded Phillip as the second Governor of New South Wales a post he held until he was recalled in 1799. Hunter was in command of the Sirius when she was wrecked off Norfolk Island in 1790. He did however take advantage of his eleven-month sojourn there to conduct a thorough survey of the island (ADB 1966 vol. 1 p. 568). Hunter's Journal includes many notable maps and plates including the earliest representation of Sydney in 'View of the Settlement on Sydney Cove Port Jackson 20th August 1788' drawn by E. Dayes after a sketch by Hunter; as well as an engraving of 'A Family of New South Wales' by English poet and artist William Blake after a sketch by Governor King.