Collection 19: Letter from Arthur Phillip to the Marquis of Lansdowne, 3 July 17883 July 1788

Arthur Phillip was appointed first Governor of the colony of New South Wales on 12 October 1786. He was commander of the First Fleet which sailed from Spithead on 31 May 1787 and disembarked at Port Jackson, New South Wales, on 26 January 1788. In December 1792, Phillip returned to England, resigning his post as Governor on 23 July 1793. He died in 1814. 
William Petty, 1st Marquis of Lansdowne and 2nd Earl of Shelburne, was a British politician. Both he and Phillip were associated with a group advocating free trade.

The Marquis of Lansdown

My Lord

As I was unwilling to trouble Your Lordship with letters that could only contain assurances of respect, I defer'd writing till I arrived in this Country. the few extracts from my journal, is all the information I am able to give your Lordship, at present, of the Natives; who never come to us & with whom I have never been able to remain but a very short time. the Rains now fall very heavy, & many of the Natives find it difficult to support themselves, as few fish are caught. I shall be able to give a better account of the Country when I have visited Lansdown Hills - they form part of a Range of Mountains that appear to be fifty miles in land & on which I have in