Colonel David Collins (3 March 1756 – 24 March 1810) was a British military officer and colonial administrator who was appointed as the first Judge-Advocate to the British colony of New South Wales. He sailed with Governor Arthur Phillip on the First Fleet and assisted in the founding of what is now known as the city of Sydney. He became secretary to the Governor and was later tasked with establishing a secondary colony in Port Phillip. Collins deemed the site unsatisfactory and transferred this settlement to Van Diemen's Land (later known as Tasmania), where he was appointed Lieutenant Governor and founded the city of Hobart.

Early life and military career

David Collins was born 3 March 1756 in London, the third and oldest surviving child of Arthur Tooker Collins (1718–1793), an officer of marines (later major-general) and Henrietta Caroline (died 1807) of King's County, Ireland. His grandfather Arthur Collins (1684–1760) was author of Collins's Peerage of England.

The family lived in Saffron Hill, London, until 1765 when they moved to Devon after his father as a lieutenant colonel was made commandant of the Plymouth division of marines. Collins was educated at Exeter Grammar School, before at the age of 14 joining the marines as an ensign in his father's division. He was promoted second lieutenant on 20 February 1771. In 1772 Collins was serving aboard the frigate when it was sent to Denmark to retrieve King George III's sister Queen Caroline Matilda after she was banished from Denmark for an illicit romance.

American Revolutionary War

In March 1775, Collins sailed to Boston, Massachusetts, with two battalions of marines, to help the Governor of Massachusetts Thomas Gage reinforce the town.

In 1789, Collins's court sentenced John Ruglass to 700 lashes for stabbing a woman, and condemned six soldiers to death for theft. Later that year, the court sentenced convict Ann Davis to death for stealing, becoming the first woman executed in the colony. In September 1789, Collins sentenced a soldier to death for the "heinous offence"

Collins took a strong interest in observing and recording the events that occurred during these early years of the British colony of New South Wales. He published an important two volume book called An Account of the English Colony of New South Wales which detailed the happenings from the voyage of the First Fleet in 1787 up to the departure of Governor Hunter in 1800. This text, in particular, remains a significant source of information about the culture and customs of the local Indigenous people, and their interaction and conflict with the colonists. Collins maintained a good relationship amongst the Indigenous Eora people. So much so that a man called Gnunga Gnunga Murremurgan took on his name and was known simply as "Collins".

Sullivan Bay settlement, Port Phillip

Collins was tasked with establishing the first, short-lived settlement at Sullivan Bay on Port Phillip in what is now the state of Victoria. He sailed from England in April aboard with over 400 convicts and marines, arriving at Port Phillip in September 1803 to found a penal colony.

Whilst landing at Sullivan Bay near present-day Sorrento, the colonists encountered a group of Boonwurrung Indigenous Australians whom they pursued, shot at and then burnt down their huts, killing one of them. Collins later attempted to placate the situation with the offering of blankets and biscuits.

Collins also sent First Lieutenant James Hingston Tuckey of the Calcutta to explore Port Phillip. Tuckey subsequently had a skirmish with around 200 Aborigines at Corio Bay. Tuckey's report together with other information obtained, advised Collins that there were better places around Port Phillip to establish a colony but, as Collins reported to London, he realised that these areas were "full of natives" and that he would "require four times the strength" of his current armed forces to displace them.

Collins left no published account of his work as Lieutenant-Governor at Port Phillip, nor later as the founder of Hobart due to his deputy, Lieutenant Edward Lord, methodically burning all government documentation soon after Collins's death.

Legacy

The name of St David's Church, Hobart and St David's Park was chosen to commemorate Colonel David Collins.

Collins Street, Melbourne was named in his honour.

His name has also been given to Collinsvale in Tasmania, Collins Parade in Sorrento (adjacent to the site of the failed settlement) and to Collins Street, Hobart.

Collins was portrayed by David Dawson in the 2015 TV series Banished.

See also

  • First Fleet
  • Journals of the First Fleet

Citations

References

Further reading

  • Richards, D. Manning (2012). Destiny in Sydney: An epic novel of convicts, Aborigines, and Chinese embroiled in the birth of Sydney, Australia. First book in Sydney series. Washington DC: Aries Books.
  • Robson, L. L. (1983). A History of Tasmania. Volume I. Van Diemen's Land From the Earliest Times to 1855. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. .