Letters from the colony

Arthur Phillip, 3 July 1788

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it will be four Years at least, before this Colony will be able to support it self, & perhaps no Country in the World affords less assistance to first Settlers. still, My Lord, I think that perseverance will answer every purpose proposed by Government, & that this Country will hereafter be a most Valuable acquisition to Great Brittain from its situation.

In one of his first letters from Sydney Cove, Arthur Phillip stresses the value of the Colony owing to its geographical location. This supports the view that the foundation of the Colony was as much for strategic reasons as it was for the dumping of convicts. It would be a most useful base for the Royal Navy. William Petty, 1st Marquis of Lansdowne, would have been greatly interested in reading this. He was a member of a group, with which Phillip was associated, which advocated free trade and linked the commercial prosperity of Britain to its naval supremacy.

Phillip’s celebrated phrase about Sydney Harbour, ‘here a Thousand Sail of the Line may ride in most perfect security’, is also used in this letter. It is a nice turn of phrase and, in stressing security for large numbers of ships, it again underlines the strategic importance of the settlement.
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