Garden Island

By Norman Rivett

Who were they?

The first garden from which Garden Island derives its name commenced here on Monday the 7th of February 1788 when a party from HMS Sirius landed on the island. An entry in the ship’s log for that date states: Sent an officer and party of men to the Garden Island to clear it for a garden for the ship’s company. Only two weeks before, on 26 January, Sirius had first ventured into Port Jackson. So it can be seen the continued supply of fresh produce was high on their list of priorities.

There is no indication who the officer or the men were or how many were involved, but one thing is certain, Frederick Meredith was not one of them for he did not transfer as an Able Seaman to Siriusfrom the transport Scarborough, where he had been a Captain’s Servant, until 2 May 1788. However, Meredith’s association with Garden Island is assured by him carving his initials and the date 1788 into a sandstone rock on the northern hillock, which remains there to this day. Nearby two other sets of initials, I R and W B, again with the date 1788, are also carved into the rock but the identity of the carvers remains a mystery.

The names of three early gardeners are however known, not so much for their gardening prowess as for having come to the attention of the Judge Advocate, Lieutenant David Collins. He was not the only person interested in their activities as, on 19 February, seventeen Aboriginals in four canoes landed on the island and carried off a valuable haul of five iron shovels, a spade and a pickaxe. Francis Hill, a Master’s Mate, ordered a Marine to fire upon the legs of the intruders with small shot. The locals then fled and the spade and pickaxe were retrieved. The Aboriginals may have felt aggrieved at sharing their resources as Collins says that the native name was ‘Booroowang’ meaning fishing place.

On 26 May 1788 Marine John Atwell and Seaman James Coventry were tried for assaulting and dangerously wounding another Seaman, James McNeal. These men from Sirius had been sent to the island to tend the garden and they all lived in a hut that had been built; the first reference to a building on the island. On the evening preceding the assault they had been issued with a week’s allowance of spirits with which they became intoxicated and quarrelled. The pair was found guilty and each sentenced to receive 500 lashes. Surgeon John White reported that Atwell and White did not receive their full sentences as they were weak, both suffering from scurvy.

There is no natural source of fresh water on the island and this presented problems. It has been suggested that a well was dug but there is no evidence of this. The area available for cultivation was relatively small, confined to level ground between two prominent hillocks at the narrowest part of the island. The footprint of the original garden is said to have been approximately 145 feet (44.2 m) x 160 feet (48.8 m).

Another early tiller of the soil was the convict John Caesar, better known as Black Caesar, a 24 year old Jamaican servant who had been sentenced to seven years penal servitude and transportation for stealing the then significant sum of £12. Landing from the transport Alexander he quickly proved troublesome and in June 1789 was put to work, in irons, on Garden Island. Later allowed to work without chains; stealing a canoe and a musket he escaped. He lived with Aborigines but was speared in a dispute and forced to give himself up, and was then sent as a prisoner to Norfolk Island. Upon return to Sydney Cove, Caesar was released and given a small grant of land. But it was not long before the old habits of robbery and theft returned and he became notorious as our first bushranger. With a price of five gallons of rum placed on his capture, on 15 February 1796 he was shot and killed by a settler near present day Strathfield.

Ships Coming and GoingT

The first entry of the name in the log of Sirius is of ‘The Garden Island’ suggesting the island had not been officially named at that time.

And Lieutenant Collins, in his narrative An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales dated 18 February 1788, refers to ‘the island where the people of the Sirius were preparing a garden’. In a similar manner, a Midshipman in Sirius, Daniel Southwell, in a letter to his mother dated 19 February 1789 mentions: ‘having left a man to look after a kind of kitchen garden to the service of HMS Sirius’

Early settlers variously referred to this place as ‘Sirius Island’ or ‘Sirius Garden Island’, but this would have declined after the namesake ship was wrecked off Norfolk Island in 1790. When survivors from Sirius returned to Port Jackson most eventually returned to England aboard the chartered Dutch ship Waaksamheyd but a few remained in the colony and continued to tend their garden.

HMS Supply (I) of the First Fleet had returned to England in late 1791 and the following year was sold out of service. A second HMS Supply (II) arrived in the colony in 1795. Possession of the island passed to HMS Supply(II), but this ship was soon condemned as unseaworthy and her ship’s company transferred to HMS Buffalo which became the senior ship on station after her arrival in May 1799.

HMS Reliance, commissioned to replace HMS Sirius, arrived at Port Jackson in September 1795. Amongst her passengers and crew were the new Governor, John Hunter, Midshipman Matthew Flinders, Surgeon George Bass and the returning Aboriginal celebrity Bennelong.

It was during the tenure of HMS Supply (II) that the first substantial building was erected on the island. This was situated on the gentle slope of the southern hill just beyond the garden and intended as a dwelling house for Lieutenant Braithwaite of HMS Reliance. When Braithwaite returned to his homeland the house was occupied by Dr Brandt, an eccentric scientist, who had recently arrived in the colony with a baboon and a dog. Later the occupant of a now dilapidated cottage was a Mrs Winch who reared poultry on behalf of Governor Hunter’s household.

The stores ship HMS Porpoise, arrived in November 1800 carrying a selection of useful plants under the care of a professional gardener, George Suttor. Suttor and his plants had been chosen with the assistance of Sir Joseph Banks. In favour of his passage and a land grant, Suttor tended the plants during the voyage. Many plants failed during the voyage and replacements were obtained at the Cape.

In 1801, the Admiralty despatched HMS Investigator commanded by the now Lieutenant Matthew Flinders to complete surveys and scientific investigation of Terra Australis. Sir Joseph Banks was consulted on the choice of scientific staff to accompany Flinders. These included the astronomer John Crosley, a botanist Robert Brown, and his assistant Peter Good who was a gardener. During the voyage, Crosley fell ill with rheumatic pain and gout and was discharged when the ship reached the Cape. It was in Investigator that Flinders completed the first circumnavigation of the continent, returning to Port Jackson in June 1803. The ship was then considered unseaworthy and Flinders and most of his crew transferred to HMS Porpoisefor return passage to England. Unfortunately in August 1803 Porpoise was wrecked on the Barrier Reef, however Flinders and most of the ship’s company were rescued.

When HMS Buffalo returned to England in 1807, the need for a separate ship’s garden had greatly diminished as by this time vegetables could be readily obtained from market gardens on the mainland. Accordingly, Navy relinquished tenure of the island. During the administration of Governor Macquarie, on 7 September 1811, a notice appeared in the Government Gazette incorporating Garden Island into the Government Domain. It was not until 1851 that the Navy made a tentative return to the island, but this time as surveyors.

Garden Produce

Limited information has been found as to the crops grown on the island, although there is a report of the first crop of corn and onions harvested in July 1788. It is a reasonable hypothesis that those tilling the soil would have recourse to the same variety of seeds that Lieutenant King took to Norfolk Island in February 1788 when establishing a settlement. In King’s diary, under the date 23 July 1788, he records that upwards of 1,000 cabbages of five varieties had been planted and that turnips, carrots, lettuce, onions, leeks, parsley, celery, corn, artichokes and beet were all in a thriving state.

We also hear from Marine Captain Watkin Tench, a keen observer of life in the first settlement, who says that Reverend Richard Johnson was the best farmer in the colony. Johnson came from a farming family with whom he worked until gaining a scholarship to undertake theological studies at Cambridge. Once he had a cottage in what is now Bridge Street, he assiduously established a kitchen garden and cultivated vegetables including potatoes, Indian corn, cabbages, turnips, beet, cucumbers, water melons, pumpkins and peas. Sometime later, upon receipt of a land grant and convict labour, he successfully experimented with quantities of wheat, Indian corn, tobacco and grape vines. The reverend gentleman is also credited with being the first to establish a variety of citrus fruit with oranges and lemons, and guavas grown from seeds obtained in Brazil during the outward voyage. It is assumed that stock for many vegetables either came from the same source or from the Dutch at the Cape. Johnson was able to feed his family relatively well during the subsequent famine and share his largesse with the sick and other disadvantaged members of his flock.

Tench also comments upon the poor sandy soil found at Sydney Cove and the richer soils at Rose Hill (Parramatta) where more abundant crops were produced. While little mention is made of native plants, the same author notes that by 1790 bananas were introduced from Norfolk Island. It was not until February 1791 that the convict farmer James Ruse, who had been given a land grant at Rose Hill, was able to demonstrate the successful and sustainable cultivation of commercial quantities of wheat and maize.

Returning to the island at the time of HMS Porpoise, an inquest was held on the island by the Provost Marshall on 2 April 1803 into the death of a native who was fatally shot while pilfering produce from the garden. It was found that his canoe was ‘full of maize and melons, etc.’ Unfortunately, there is no further explanation as to the meaning of ‘etcetera’.

The Surveyors

The selection of the island as a garden for Sirius was probably made during surveys of Port Jackson by Captain John Hunter and Lieutenant William Bradley which commenced on 28 January 1788. Use of the island by Sirius was approved by Governor Arthur Phillip on 5 February 1788.

James Inman arrived in Sydney Cove in April 1803 to join HMS Investigator which arrived two months later. He had been appointed by the Board of Longitude to assist Lieutenant Flinders as astronomer as a replacement for John Crosley. Inman had with him several astronomical and navigational instruments including Kendall’s famous timepiece ‘K3’. While waiting for his ship he set up a tent observatory on Garden Island.

When Flinders took passage to England in Porpoise, James Inman remained behind with most of his instruments to await passage in an available merchantman. The pioneering botanist Robert Brown also took a later safe passage together with Inman. Inman was to become professor of mathematics at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth. He is best remembered for Inman’s Nautical Tables known to generations of seafarers.

The professional gardener, Peter Good, had collected a large number of seeds and live species of Australian plants. He sent most of his seed collection to England aboard the returning whaler Speedy which left Sydney in June 1802 and arrived safely, with the precious seeds cultivated at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Investigator returned to Port Jackson on 9 June 1803; sadly Peter Good died of dysentery three days later, a disease he had contracted when at Timor. His collection of live plants placed aboard Porpoisewas lost when the ship was wrecked two months later.

Amongst Investigator’s crew during her circumnavigation was an amusing and colourful character, the Aboriginal Bungaree who was also known as the ‘King of Port Jackson’. Towards the end of his life he lived in a cave (now demolished, near the commercial ferry wharf) at the northern end of Garden Island and he died there on 24 November 1830. He was buried at Rose Bay next to his wife ‘Queen Gooseberry’.

There is an interesting plan of Garden Island dated August 1851, produced by a survey party living in tents adjacent to a boat cove on the western side of the island, and two water tanks are shown on the eastern side. The height of the northern hill is shown at 79 feet (24.1 m) and the southern hill at 21 feet (6.4 m). An observation spot is marked by a stone cairn with its position recorded as latitude 33 degrees 51 minutes and 45 seconds South and longitude 10 hours 10 minutes and 5 seconds East (152 degrees 31 minutes and 15 seconds East) also noting a Deviation of 62 degrees 41 minutes South and Variation of 10 degrees 10 minutes East. The plan has the initials A. F., with a later endorsement in 1852 by Captain B. Drury. A subsequent observation spot taken from an 1857 survey by HMS Herald and now referred to as the Established Observation Spot is near the centre of the original garden area with a flagstaff slightly to the north of it.

The 1851 plan also shows the site of a tomb. The island had been a favourite recreational spot of Judge Advocate Ellis Bent who died in 1815. He was initially interred in the old burial grounds which later became the site of Central Railway Station. In 1823 his remains were removed to Garden Island and covered by an elaborate monument. In 1825 his great friend Major John Ovens was buried in the same tomb. With excavations taking place for an expanded naval base, in 1866 the remains of both men and their monument were relocated to St Thomas’ Rest Park in North Sydney.

In researching shipping records we find that in July 1851 the survey ship HMS Acheron, under command of Captain (later Admiral) John Lort Stokes, RN had undertaken extensive surveys of the New Zealand coastline and was in Sydney awaiting the arrival of her relief HMS Pandora. Owing to budgetary constraints the Naval Hydrographer had decided that Acheron,which was expensive to maintain using NSW coal, was to be laid up and replaced by a smaller and more economical sailing vessel. Most of Acheron’s officers and crew had paid off but she remained on station with a reduced complement, under command of Lieutenant Lambert, ex HMS Calliope, and undertook limited duties.

HMS Pandora commanded by Commander (later Admiral) Byron Drury, RN arrived in Sydney on 26 July 1851 and left for New Zealand in late August. Surveyors from Pandora therefore had ample opportunity to undertaken a small survey of Garden Island. The auxiliary paddle sloop Acheron was later laid up at an anchorage near Garden Island and put to auction on 30 April 1855 where she was knocked down to Messrs G. V. Lloyd & Co for the sum of £2,150.

HMS Herald had a long and eventful career. In 1840 as a 28-gun corvette she carried Commissioner (later Lieutenant-Governor) William Hobson in gaining acceptance of Maori chiefs to the nationally important Treaty of Waitangi. Later, when converted to survey duties, she conducted surveys of the Australian coast and Fiji islands. In December 1857 Herald was the first ship to enter the Fitzroy Dock at Cockatoo Island.

The Australia Station and a Naval Base

With the establishment of an independent Australia Station in 1859 there came plans for a permanent naval base, but it was not until January 1865 that Garden Island was again dedicated for the use of HM Ships. In a similar timescale a much-needed graving dock for naval ships was being constructed at Cockatoo Island; it opened in 1857, with New Zealand’s Calliope Dock opening in 1888.

Over the next century and with the impact of two world wars the naval base and associated dockyard quickly grew to absorb much of the island. With completion of the Captain Cook Graving Dock in 1942, geographically it became a larger isthmus and no longer an island. While space has been at a premium, much of the northern hill has been retained as a recreational and nature reserve. There are grassed areas surrounded by shade trees which were enhanced by plants and flowers. This new form of garden was well maintained by a small permanent workforce but with economies of outsourcing these quite remarkable gardens which form a backdrop to the Naval Heritage Centre, and are open to the public, have deteriorated.

The First Gardeners Remembered

As the nation’s first centre of horticulture it is perhaps time to recognise this important contribution with some prominent memorial to the first gardeners and the site of our first garden. Any improvements that might be made to the restoration of the existing formal garden would also be advantageous. Surely the time has now come to recognise the names of Able Seamen James Coventry and James McNeal, Marine John Atwell and Convict John Caesar.