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Collection Summary
| Creator: |
Smyth, Arthur Bowes, 1750-1790. |
| Title: |
Journal of Arthur Bowes Smyth, 1787 Mar. 22-1789 Aug. 8 [manuscript]. |
| Date Range: |
1787 - 1789 |
| Collection number: |
MS 4568 |
| Extent: |
1 v. |
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Introduction Scope and Content
The journal relates to Bowes Smyth's voyage to Australia in 1787, his stay in N.S.W. and the trip back to England in 1789.
Background
Arthur Bowes Smyth (1750-1790), surgeon, was born in Essex. In 1787, he was appointed as surgeon responsible for the women convicts on the Lady Penrhyn in the First Fleet. Importantly, he kept a diary from 12 March 1787 to 12 August 1789 under the name of Arthur Bowes, A Journal of a Voyage from Portsmouth to New South Wales and China in the Lady Penrhyn. In his writings Smyth puts a human face to the convicts as well as revealing his interest in natural history, the collection of specimens and drawing, including the earliest existing depiction by a European of an emu. In April 1788, Smyth returned to England on the Lady Penrhyn via Lord Howe Island, Tahiti, China and St Helena. On Lord Howe Island, he made the earliest drawing of the now extinct white gallinule, and observed the currawong (or bell magpie) and four now rare or extinct birds, namely, the Lord Howe pigeon, the booby, the Lord Howe rail or woodhen and an extinct species of parakeet.
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Preferred Citation
Items from this collection should be cited as [manuscript item title],
Journal of Arthur Bowes Smyth, 1787 Mar. 22-1789 Aug. 8 [manuscript]., National Library of Australia, MS 4568, [manuscript item number].
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