Description
Rare early c.19th engraved view of Toongabbie.
In 1791 Governor Phillip appointed Thomas Daveney to select, plan and superintend a more extensive “second settlement” further up the Toongabbie Creek, about 4 km north-west of the New Grounds. Here 500 convicts, most of whom were newly arrived on the Third Fleet, cleared 300 acres of forest in 30 days in late 1791, burning off the timber and planting the first crop of turnips to prepare the ground for maize. A year later, in October 1792, Phillip could report that: “One thousand acres of ground are in cultivation on the public account at Parramatta and a new settlement formed about three miles to the westward of Parramatta, and to which I have given the name of Toon-gab-be, a name by which the natives distinguish the spot“.
From David Collins, An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales.
References:
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976 263 -350.
Crittenden, V. A Bibliography Of The First Fleet. ACT 1982 69 & 70.
Hill, J. The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages. San Diego 1974 335.
Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 2284639
State Library New South Wales: Q79/60 v. 1
State Library Victoria: RARELTF 919.44 C69A
