Australia
Manuscript order book, commandant's office, Port Arthur penal settlement, 1839-44
£10,080
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 28 September 2022 from 10:00 BST
Description
1-78, 97-132, 135-195 [7] pp., entries dated from 4th January 1839 to 6th January 1844, index at rear, contemporary blind-panelled sheep binding, externally worn and damp-stained, concomitant damp-staining to initial leaves, no free endpapers, some 20 pages towards front with annotations dated 1870-9 (comprising commercial accounts possibly for a firm of household decorators, and in some instances obscuring text), tear with loss of text to final leaf (index), some soiling and staining
Footnote
Note:
An important primary source for the history of the settlement at Port Arthur, Tasmania, founded in 1830 as a timber station before becoming a designated penal colony in 1833, with former soldier Charles O'Hara Booth (1800-1851) its first captain commandant. Booth remained in post until 1844; under his auspices 'the township of Port Arthur was laid out on an extensive scale, harbour construction carried out and reclamation undertaken, a government farm established at Safety Cove, and the semaphore telegraph system brought to a high degree of efficiency for helping to arrest escapees. His administration of the convict system was extremely efficient, his rule was impartial, never capriciously tyrannical, and, though by present standards justice then seemed merciless, he was as prompt to reward as to punish; he had patient attention for the most trivial cases and used the lash as a last resort with great reluctance. Both his personal qualities and his administration received high praise from his contemporaries: Lieutenant-Governor Arthur, entirely satisfied, described him as "kind and humane, active and most determined", and Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Franklin was favourably impressed by his plans at Point Puer' (Australian Dictionary of Biography).
Provenance:
Private collection, Scotland.