Two Classic Tales of Australian Exploration: 1788 by Watkin Tench and Life & Adventures by John Nicol, book by Watkin Tench, John Nicol and Tim Flannery

In this volume Tim Flannery brings together two classic Australian tales of travel and exploration.Watkin Tench, a young marine captain with the First Fleet, landed in Botany Bay in 1788. With his natural curiosity and genius for storytelling he documented his first indelible impressions of this extraordinary land and the Aboriginal people who became his friends.John Nicol, experienced maritime globetrotter and steward on the Lady Juliana, arrived in Port Jackson two years later. On board was Sarah Whitlam, his young convict lover, who had borne their son John during the voyage. Nicol’s record of the savagery and tenderness of a life lived on the high seas in the late eighteenth century is unrivalled.

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Watkin Tench was born in Chester, England, in 1758. His father was a dance teacher and the master of a boarding school.

In 1776, Tench entered the marine corps. He served in the American War of Independence, during which he was taken hostage for three months. He was soon promoted to captain lieutenant. In 1786 Tench volunteered for a three-year...