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'A Complete Account' title page
y separately published work icon A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, in New South Wales : Including an Accurate Description of the Situation of the Colony; of the Natives; and of its Natural Productions single work   prose   travel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1793... 1793 A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, in New South Wales : Including an Accurate Description of the Situation of the Colony; of the Natives; and of its Natural Productions
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Affiliation Notes

  • 19th-Century Australian Travel Writing

    Captain Watkin Tench (1758-1833) of the Marines was a writer and member of the first fleet of convict ships that travelled to Australia. Except for Chapter XIV, which gave a selection of "amusing" travel diaries of Tench's from throughout his time in the colony, the majority of A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson is a detailed, historical account of the "transactions" of the colony. These travel narratives chronicled the daily conditions of travel through the bush, encounters with Aboriginal peoples, the climate, and the flora and fauna of the colony. The entry on Tench in the Australian Dictionary of Biography notes the influence of Gibbon and Voltaire on his work, and highlights his "interest in the novel, the picturesque and the primitive which foreshadows romanticism". Tench also wrote A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay (1788).

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Alternative title: Geschichte von Port Jackson in Neuholland von 1788 bis 1792
Language: German
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Related Works

[Extract] A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, in New South Wales : Including an Accurate Description of the Situation of the Colony; of the Natives; and of Its Natural Productions Watkin Tench , 1836 extract prose travel (A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, in New South Wales : Including an Accurate Description of the Situation of the Colony; of the Natives; and of its Natural Productions)
— Appears in: The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal , 3 September vol. 4 no. 192 1836; (p. 757)
September 1790 Watkin Tench , 1953 extract non-fiction (A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, in New South Wales : Including an Accurate Description of the Situation of the Colony; of the Natives; and of its Natural Productions)
— Appears in: Australian Round-Up : Stories From 1790 to 1950 1953; (p. 1-4) Expedition to Manly Cove encounters aboriginals feasting on beached whale. 'Baneelon' - Bennelong? -appears among them. Extended encounter ends with Governor Phillip being speared by a 'stranger' aborigine.
y separately published work icon 1788 1788 : the Birth of a Nation, Comprising A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay and An Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson; Watkin Tench's 1788 Watkin Tench , Tim Flannery (editor), Melbourne : Text Publishing , 1996 8267005 1996 single work single work biography (taught in 1 units)

'Watkin Tench stepped ashore at Botany Bay with the First Fleet in January 1788. He was in his late twenties, a captain of the marines, and on the adventure of his life. Insatiably curious, with a natural genius for storytelling, Tench wrote two enthralling accounts of the infant colony - A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay and A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson. Tench brings to life the legendary figures of Bennelong, Arabanoo and Governor Phillip, and records the voices of convicts trying to make new lives in their new country.'(Source: Goodreads website)
From : A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson Watkin Tench , 2009 extract prose travel (A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, in New South Wales : Including an Accurate Description of the Situation of the Colony; of the Natives; and of its Natural Productions)
— Appears in: Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature 2009; (p. 56-60)
The Settlement at Port Jackson Watkin Tench , 2011 extract diary (A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, in New South Wales : Including an Accurate Description of the Situation of the Colony; of the Natives; and of its Natural Productions)
— Appears in: The Penguin Book of Australian War Writing 2011; (p. 3-17)
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Works about this Work

Selling a Penal Colony : The Booksellers and Botany Bay Nathan Garvey , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Script and Print , vol. 31 no. 1 2007; (p. 20-38)
Watkin Tench and the Cold Track of Narrative Gavin Edwards , 2000 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 60 no. 3 2000; (p. 74-93)
Watkin Tench's Sentimental Enclosures : Original Relations from the First Settlement Adrian Mitchell , 1994 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Australian & New Zealand Studies in Canada , June no. 11 1994; (p. 23-33) Mitchell discusses Tench's motives behind his writings on the First Settlement, arguing that he attempted to produce entertaining works, carefully selecting events, language and literary conventions for that purpose. This is seen most clearly in his use of a tableau that dramatically presents the meeting of the "primitive" with the "civilised" as an ailing aborigine and his son are cared for by the European settlers. But despite the sentimentality and light-heartedness of much of his writing, Tench was pessimistic about the future of Australia, and gave a negative view of the colony in his books.
Selling a Penal Colony : The Booksellers and Botany Bay Nathan Garvey , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Script and Print , vol. 31 no. 1 2007; (p. 20-38)
Watkin Tench's Sentimental Enclosures : Original Relations from the First Settlement Adrian Mitchell , 1994 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Australian & New Zealand Studies in Canada , June no. 11 1994; (p. 23-33) Mitchell discusses Tench's motives behind his writings on the First Settlement, arguing that he attempted to produce entertaining works, carefully selecting events, language and literary conventions for that purpose. This is seen most clearly in his use of a tableau that dramatically presents the meeting of the "primitive" with the "civilised" as an ailing aborigine and his son are cared for by the European settlers. But despite the sentimentality and light-heartedness of much of his writing, Tench was pessimistic about the future of Australia, and gave a negative view of the colony in his books.
Watkin Tench and the Cold Track of Narrative Gavin Edwards , 2000 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 60 no. 3 2000; (p. 74-93)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (3)
Last amended 14 Mar 2022 13:48:00
Subjects:
  • Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour, Sydney, New South Wales,
  • 1780-1790
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  • Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour, Sydney, New South Wales,
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