An account of a voyage to establish a colony at Port Philip : in His Majesty's ship Calcutta, in the years 1802-3-4 / James Hingston Tuckey

Chapter1. Motives which induced government to employ King's ships in transporting convicts to New South Wales.-- Chapter 2. From the Cape Verd Islands to Rio de Janeiro.--Chapter 3. Rio de Janeiro.-- Chapter 4. From Rio de Janeiro to the Cape of Good Hope.-- Chapter 5. Transactions at Port Philip from the arrival to the sailing of the Calcutta; Addenda.

James Tuckey (1776-1816) was a naval officer who was appointed first lieutenant on H.M.S. Calcutta. In 1802 the ship was given orders to sail to New South Wales, Australia, to survey the harbour at Port Phillip, and to establish a colony. The Calcutta departed from Portsmouth in April 1803 and arrived in New South Wales in October. After Tuckey returned from the assignment, he published this account in 1805. He begins the work by explaining the motives behind establishing the colony - it was to be used for convicts, some of whom he was transporting on the ship. The first four chapters discuss the journey but the final chapter focuses on the attempts to establish a colony and encounters with the indigenous population, and gives a survey of the coastline. Port Phillip became the city Melbourne, and this work is a valuable source about its early years of settlement.