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Australia Day 26th
January
Captain Duncan Sinclair was with the first fleet.
The first Sinclair to tread on Aussie soil.
Governor Arthur Phillip and his fleet set sail in
May 1787, landing at Sydney cove on 26th Jan 1788. A voyage of 251
days.
The ships which brought the first white settlers
(Convicts, civilians and marines) to Australia consisted of eleven store ships
and transports, carrying over a thousand convicts and their
goalers.
One Transporter, the Alexander, was skippered by
Master Duncan Sinclair. The Alexander carried 195 male convicts
and was the largest ship in the fleet. She was built in Hull, England in
1783.
Phillip was directed by Captain James Cook to head
for Botany bay, but upon arriving there, he was not taken by the site as
settlement. So he headed north to Port Jackson where (in his own words) he
discovered one of the finest harbors in the world. Sydney Cove, named in honor
of Lord Sydney.
The British invasion of Australia was under
way!
July 8th 1788
The first sitting of the court of Civil
Jurisdiction (The civil court) took place.
Convict Henry Kable and his wife were awarded 20
pound in damages from Duncan Sinclair, master of the
convict transporter Alexander, who was held responsible for their not receiving
clothing belonging to them.
I have spent the last 12 months reading stories of
the convicts. Feeling the pain, suffering and hardship. The people who I
feel built this country. The ones who suffered at the hands of another and
often because of the theft of a lousy loaf of bread.For this crime they were
shipped down under, away from family, starving family, which is why they stole
in the first place. Removed from their home land so that others could build a
country with little cost to themselves. What a shock I got when I found one of
their masters to be a Sinclair.Maybe someone knows of this Duncan Sinclair. I
would love to know more about him.
Annie
References - A history of New South Wales. by
George Barrington, London 1802
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