David Collins | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 1st Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land | |
| In office 16 February 1804 – 24 March 1810 | |
| Governor | Philip Gidley King William Bligh Lachlan Macquarie |
| Preceded by | Position Established |
| Succeeded by | ColonelThomas Davey |
| 1st Judge Advocate of New South Wales | |
| In office 24 October 1786 – August 1796 | |
| Governor | Arthur Phillip John Hunter |
| Preceded by | Position Established |
| Succeeded by | Richard Bowyer Atkins |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1756-03-03)3 March 1756 London, England |
| Died | 24 March 1810(1810-03-24) (aged 54) |
| Spouse | Maria Stuart Collinsnée Proctor |
ColonelDavid Collins (3 March 1756 – 24 March 1810) was a British military officer and colonial administrator who was appointed as the first Judge-Advocate to the British colony ofNew South Wales. He sailed with GovernorArthur Phillip on theFirst Fleet and assisted in the founding of what is now known as the city ofSydney. He became secretary to the Governor and was later tasked with establishing a secondary colony inPort Phillip. Collins deemed the site unsatisfactory and transferred this settlement toVan Diemen's Land (later known asTasmania), where he was appointedLieutenant Governor and founded the city ofHobart.
David Collins was born 3 March 1756 in London, the third and oldest surviving child of Arthur Tooker Collins (1718–1793), an officer ofmarines (later major-general) and Henrietta Carolinenée Fraser (died 1807) ofKing's County, Ireland.[1] His grandfatherArthur Collins (1684–1760) was author ofCollins's Peerage of England.[2][3]
The family lived inSaffron Hill, London, until 1765 when they moved toDevon after his father as a lieutenant colonel was made commandant of the Plymouth division of marines.[4] Collins was educated atExeter Grammar School,[5] before at the age of 14 joining the marines as anensign in his fathers division.[6] He was promotedsecond lieutenant on 20 February 1771.[6] In 1772 Collins was serving aboard thefrigateHMS Southampton when it was sent to Denmark to retrieve KingGeorge III's sisterQueen Caroline Matilda after she was banished from Denmark for an illicit romance.[6]
In March 1775, Collins sailed toBoston,Massachusetts, with two battalions of marines, to help theGovernor of MassachusettsThomas Gage reinforce the town.[2][7] Collins was named second lieutenant to Captain Thomas Lindsay in the third company of the First Battalion of Marines.[8] On 17 June, Collins took part in GeneralWilliam Howe's bayonet charge and capture of Breed's Hill in theBattle of Bunker Hill to hold the heights ofCharlestown.[9] He was promoted tofirst lieutenant the following week.[2][10]
On 17 March 1776, the British evacuated from Boston toHalifax,Nova Scotia.[11] Here he metMaria Stuart Procter, the daughter of CaptainCharles Procter, whom he married on 13 June 1777.[2] Collins's battalion was recalled to England in 1777, where Collins became adjutant of the battalion at Chatham. He was promotedcaptain-lieutenant in August 1779, andcaptain in July 1780. In February 1781, Collins was posted as captain for a detachment of marines aboard the 74-gunHMS Courageux in the Channel Squadron commanded by AdmiralRichard Howe, where he took part in therelief ofGibraltar. In September 1783 Collins was put onto half-pay.[2][12]
In October 1786, after three years on half-pay stationed atChatham, Collins volunteered for service in the proposedpenal colony ofNew South Wales. On 29 November, and despite a lack of legal training, he was namedJudge Advocate for the new colony and chief judge for a military court administering theNew South Wales Marine Corps.[13] In May 1787 he sailed aboard theFirst Fleet, reaching Sydney Cove in January 1788.[14]
Collins presided over the first criminal court in New South Wales on 11 February. Three convicts were found guilty with one being sentenced to 150 lashes. Later that month the military court headed by Collins condemned another convict,Thomas Barrett, to death byhanging. Barrett was the first person legally executed in colonial New South Wales.[15]
In 1789, Collins' court sentenced John Ruglass to 700 lashes for stabbing a woman, and condemned six soldiers to death for theft. Later that year, the court sentenced convictAnn Davis to death for stealing, becoming the first woman executed in the colony. In September 1789, Collins recommended a pardon for a soldier who raped an 8 year old girl. The pardon was subsequently granted byGovernor Phillip.[15]
In 1793, two soldiers were sentenced to 500 and 800 lashes respectively for beingabsent without leave. In 1795, a spate ofgang rapes resulted in several settlers and convicts being sentenced to punishment of up to 1,000 lashes.[15]
Collins was also appointed as Secretary to the Colony of New South Wales. Collins filled the three roles of Secretary, Judge Advocate and Lieutenant Governor until he left the colony for England in 1796.[16][17]
Collins took a strong interest in observing and recording the events that occurred during these early years of the British colony of New South Wales. He published an important two volume book calledAn Account of the English Colony of New South Wales which detailed the happenings from the voyage of theFirst Fleet in 1787 up to the departure ofGovernor Hunter in 1800. This text, in particular, remains a significant source of information about the culture and customs of the local Indigenous people, and their interaction and conflict with the colonists. Collins maintained a good relationship amongst the IndigenousEora people. So much so that a man calledGnunga Gnunga Murremurgan took on his name and was known simply as "Collins".[15][18]
Collins was tasked with establishing the first, short-lived settlement atSullivan Bay onPort Phillip in what is now the state ofVictoria. He sailed from England in April aboardHMS Calcutta with over 400 convicts and marines, arriving at Port Phillip in September 1803 to found apenal colony.[19]
Whilst landing at Sullivan Bay near present-daySorrento, the colonists encountered a group ofBoonwurrungIndigenous Australians whom they pursued, shot at and then burnt down their huts, killing one of them. Collins later attempted to placate the situation with the offering of blankets and biscuits.[20]
Collins also sent First LieutenantJames Hingston Tuckey of theCalcutta to explorePort Phillip. Tuckey subsequently had a skirmish with around 200 Aborigines atCorio Bay. Tuckey's report together with other information obtained, advised Collins that there were better places around Port Phillip to establish a colony but, as Collins reported to London, he realised that these areas were "full of natives" and that he would "require four times the strength" of his current armed forces to displace them.[20]
With his own dissatisfaction at the lack of fresh water and arable land at Sullivan Bay, together with his inability to force Aboriginal people out of more ideal sites, Collins was prompted to write toGovernor King, seeking permission to remove the settlement. When King agreed, Collins decided in early 1804 to move the colony to theDerwent River, on the island ofVan Diemen's Land (Tasmania).[20]
During their few months at Sullivan Bay, around 18 colonists died and seven convicts absconded. One of these run-aways,William Buckley, survived and lived a mostly traditional Aboriginal lifestyle until the British returned in 1835.[20]
Collins arrived at the Derwent River with most of the evacuees from Port Phillip in February 1804 on board the vesselOcean. He knew that LieutenantJohn Bowen had already established a military outpost on the Derwent five months previously atRisdon Cove and was aware there was ample food and water in the region to support a settlement.[20]
Instead of combining with Bowen's outpost at Risdon Cove, Collins chose to establish a new settlement on the opposite side of the Derwent at a site with a good supply of fresh water, which he calledSullivans Cove after a colonial administrator named John Sullivan. This settlement soon became the town ofHobart, which Collins named in honour of theBritish Secretary of State for war and the coloniesLord Hobart.[20]
In May 1804, the soldiers of theNew South Wales Corps stationed at Risdon Cove conducted amassacre of Aboriginal people. In response, Collins ordered the closure of the Risdon Cove settlement and returned the detachment of soldiers to Sydney. Governor King also gave Collins jurisdictional authority over the whole of the island with the title ofLieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land.[20]
The nascent settlement at Hobart remained largely ignored by the colonial administrators in London, and Collins was forced into a situation of self-sufficiency. As a result, the convicts became important workers and food gatherers for the population at Hobart, with Collins displaying leniency toward them. Convict kangaroo hunters who journeyed into the interior regions played a significant role in providing food. Collins turned a blind eye when these hunters either came into conflict with Aboriginal people or when corrupt officials like his second-in-charge, Edward Lord, profited immensely from controlling the trade in kangaroo meat.[20]
Some of the convicts who ventured into the rural grasslands maintained by Aboriginalfirestick farming during Collins' administration were able to live beyond the reach of colonial authority and became influentialbushrangers who had significant power in the supply of food to the settlements.[20]
Collins died suddenly in 1810 after a short illness while still in office as the Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land. He was buried in what is nowSt David's Park in Hobart.[21]
Collins left no published account of his work as Lieutenant-Governor atPort Phillip, nor later as the founder ofHobart due to his deputy, Lieutenant Edward Lord, methodically burning all government documentation soon after Collins' death.[22][23]
The name ofSt David's Church, Hobart andSt David's Park was chosen to commemorate Colonel David Collins.[24]
Collins Street, Melbourne was named in his honour.[25]
His name has also been given toCollinsvale in Tasmania, Collins Parade in Sorrento (adjacent to the site of the failed settlement) and toCollins Street, Hobart.
Collins was portrayed byDavid Dawson in the 2015 TV seriesBanished.[26]
in mid-June 1788 ... Phillip then appointed David Collins, the Deputy Judge Advocate in his place. ... Collins left Sydney in September 1796
| Preceded by new position | Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land 1804–1810 | Succeeded by |
| Lieutenant-Governors ofVan Diemen's Land |  | |
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| AfterFederation | ||
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