Compiled from the official reports of Governor Phillip this work was the first authentic and official account of the expedition to New South Wales and of the foundation of the colony. The work includes detailed descriptions of the birds and animals and of tentative explorations, as well as the earliest engraved view of the colony.

The mapmaker
Arthur Phillip (1738-1814), was Captain of the "First Fleet" to sail to Australia with the intention of founding a permanent settlement. He joined the Royal Navy as barely a teenager in 1751, and had already retired twice after an illustrious career, before being commissioned by Lord Sydney to be the first Governor of New South Wales in 1786. He arrived at Botany Bay in January of 1788 with a fleet of 11 ships, and about 750 convicts. Three days later, he founded the first convict settlement at Sydney Cove, in Port Jackson.

Phillip is generally regarded as "an enlightened leader for his time, who tried to reform, as well as discipline, his convict charges. He also sought to establish harmonious relations with the Eora people, the traditional owners of the land in the Sydney area. Local man Bennelong not only acted as an intermediary between Phillip and the Eora, but also seems to have enjoyed a genuine friendship with Phillip... The fledgling colony faced starvation as the lack of skilled farmers, spoilt seed, poor soils and unfamiliar climate saw the failure of the first crops. Phillip's humane insistence that convict and free should share alike the reduction of their meagre rations was not universally popular; nor were his gifts of land to deserving convicts. But both actions ensured the colony's survival and initiated an egalitarian spirit still prized in Australia today" (National Museum of Australia online).