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INDEX
WHO DID DISCOVER AUSTRALIA?
COLONIAL EXPLORATION
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Colonial Exploration: 1796 - John Shortland (1769 - 1810)
Lieut. John Shortland, who first came to Australia in command of the convict transport Alexander as part of the First Fleet in 1788, sailed from the new settlement to England via Batavia on 14 July 1788 in the Alexander (right) in the company of Borrowdale, Friendship and Prince of Wales. Passing through Bougainville's Strait, on the north-west coast, Shortland named numerous islands and reefs on the away, among was Middleton Reef, named in honour of Admiral Sir Charles Theodore Middleton. 1797 - Newcastle & Hunter Valley regions The discovery of the area we now know as Newcastle by Lieutenant Shortland in September, 1797, was largely accidental. Shortland had been sent in search of a number of convicts who had seized the Cumberland as she was sailing from Sydney Cove. They put the officers ashore at Broken Bay and sailed on. It fell to the Lieutenant John Shortland to apprehend the criminals, and he set off in Governor Hunter's whaleboat. Lieut. Shortland made for Port Stephens, where he thought the fugitives would take shelter, but after unsuccessfully searching the bays and inlets, he sailed for home. While returning he entered what he later described as "a very fine river" which he named after Governor Hunter. Shortland also commented: "I daresay that in a little time this river will be a great acquisition to the settlement." Shortland was the first white man to explore and name the area, and it is his original landing at Signal Hill and Stockton on September 9, 1797, which Newcastle has chosen to mark as the founding of the city. Cook had earlier marked on a map the rocky islet of Nobby's Head at its mouth as he sailed north on May 10, 1770. History also shows that in 1791, William Bryant and seven other escaped convicts ran their six-oared cutter into "a small creek" which has never been definitely identified, but which must have been very close to the present city. The Hunter River was also visited in 1796 by a party of fishermen, who brought samples of coal back to Sydney. The historian, David Collins, in his Account of the English Colony of New South Wales, tells what followed after Lieut Shortland found the Hunter River instead of the escaped convicts. Mr Collins said: "Mr Shortland's pursuit had not been without advantage, for on his return he entered a river which he named Hunter's River, situated about 10 leagues to the southward of Port Stephens into which he carried three fathoms of water in the shoalest part of the entrance, finding deep water and good anchorage within. "The entrance of this river is but shallow, and covered by a high rocky island lying right off it so as to leave a good passage round the north end of the island, between that and the shore. "A reef connects, the south part of the island with the south shore of the entrance to the river.. In this harbour are found a considerable quantity of very good coal, and lying so near the water side as to be conveniently shipped, which gives it, in this particular, a manifest advantage over that discovered to the southward. Some specimens of this coal were brought up in the boat." Lieut. Shortland returned to Sydney Cove with a sketch of the harbour (original sketch). As well as information, Shortland also returned with reports of the abundant coal in the area. Over the next two years several ships sailed to the Hunter for coal and, and by 1799 sufficient quantities had been brought back to make up a shipment for export. This shipment went to Bengal. |
Naval officer Born: 5 September 1769. Died: 21 January 1810. Shortland arrived in Australia with the First Fleet in 1788 as master's mate in the Sirius. He returned to England in 1792 and came back to Australia with Governor Hunter in 1794, as first lieutenant in the Reliance. He discovered coal at Newcastle in 1797 and is commemorated by the Newcastle suburb of Shortland.