The Sirius Letters. The complete letters of Newton Fowell Midshipman & Lieutenant aboard the Sirius, flagship of the first fleet on its voyage to New South Wales

Description

176pp., hardbound with full-colour DJ over
maroon cloth, with text and numerous
coloured illustrations, with handwritten
name of the editor on title page,
ISBN: 1-86290-000-0
published by The Fairfax Library, Sydney.
Born in Devonshire, England, Newton Fowell had been recommended to Captain Arthur
Phillip by Evan Nepean and he quickly impressed Phillip. He was befriended by Philip Gidley
King who, during the voyage to New South Wales, confided his appointment as Lieutenant
Governor of Norfolk Island. He was promoted Second Lieutenant in December 1789.
Fowell’s letters to his family describe the voyage to New South Wales and the founding years
of the colony, discipline in the colony and on Norfolk Island, the flora and fauna, local
Aborignal people, food shortages and public buildings. Interestingly, in a long letter dated
12 July 1788, he recorded that Phillip named the settlement Albion rather than Sydney on
4 June 1788, the King’s birthday.