Lot Essay
After arriving in Port Jackson in 1788 one of the most pressing problems that Arthur Phillip and his nascent colony encountered was the lack of food and the inability of the settlers to cultivate the soil. As most of the convicts had originally been city dwellers, they were not only untutored in any form of agriculture or husbandry, but the very land itself seem to be impossible to farm. The soil was generally poor, dotted with rocks and tree stumps and in many cases without any springs or water source to irrigate.
In his account of the early years of the colony at Port Jackson, Watkin Tench (1758-1833) of the Royal Marines specifically mentions John Williams: "...I crossed the country to Prospect Hill, at the bottom of which live...thirteen convicts, who have accepted allotments of ground, and are become settlers..." There follows a table with the names of the convicts, their trades, number of acres in each allotment the number of acres in cultivation, where John Williams, a carpenter, and his wife are listed as having an allotment of 50 acres of which 1 acre was in cultivation. After an explanation of the terms of the grant and the provisions provided by the government, Tench continues: "With all these people I conversed and inspected their labours. Some I found tranquil and determined to persevere...Others were in a state of despondency, and predicted they should starve...They have present little in the ground besides maize, and that looks not very promising. Some small patches of wheat which I saw are miserable indeed...All the settlers complain sadly of being frequently robbed by the runaway convicts, who plunder them incessantly." T. Flannery, Ed. 1788 Watkin Tench The Text Publishing Company Melbourne 1996, pp 216-8.
Phillip's achievement was summed up by Percival Serle in the Dictionary of Australian Biography: "His task was to make a settlement with few and imperfect tools, and a host of broken men to use them. He had, however, the determination that enables a man to make the best of the conditions...Phillip had the imagination enough to conceive what the settlement might become, and the common sense to realise what at the moment was possible and expedient. When almost everyone was complaining he never himself complained, when all feared disaster he could still hopefully go on with his work. He was sent out to found a convict settlement, and he laid the foundations of a great dominion."
In his account of the early years of the colony at Port Jackson, Watkin Tench (1758-1833) of the Royal Marines specifically mentions John Williams: "...I crossed the country to Prospect Hill, at the bottom of which live...thirteen convicts, who have accepted allotments of ground, and are become settlers..." There follows a table with the names of the convicts, their trades, number of acres in each allotment the number of acres in cultivation, where John Williams, a carpenter, and his wife are listed as having an allotment of 50 acres of which 1 acre was in cultivation. After an explanation of the terms of the grant and the provisions provided by the government, Tench continues: "With all these people I conversed and inspected their labours. Some I found tranquil and determined to persevere...Others were in a state of despondency, and predicted they should starve...They have present little in the ground besides maize, and that looks not very promising. Some small patches of wheat which I saw are miserable indeed...All the settlers complain sadly of being frequently robbed by the runaway convicts, who plunder them incessantly." T. Flannery, Ed. 1788 Watkin Tench The Text Publishing Company Melbourne 1996, pp 216-8.
Phillip's achievement was summed up by Percival Serle in the Dictionary of Australian Biography: "His task was to make a settlement with few and imperfect tools, and a host of broken men to use them. He had, however, the determination that enables a man to make the best of the conditions...Phillip had the imagination enough to conceive what the settlement might become, and the common sense to realise what at the moment was possible and expedient. When almost everyone was complaining he never himself complained, when all feared disaster he could still hopefully go on with his work. He was sent out to found a convict settlement, and he laid the foundations of a great dominion."