PROLOGUE

 
 
 
There is probably not another nation on earth that would be able to generate 
a book such as this - documenting as it does the lives of an entire generation 
of the nation and the first generation at that. This of course relates 
to the peculiar circumstances of Australia's beginnings. The all intrusive 
bureaucracy that no doubt made life very tedious for our first settlers has 
been a god-send for their modern day descendants wishing to investigate their 
lives. One of the few advantages of starting life as a penal colony.
 
The existence of documents and records is one thing, finding and gaining access 
to them is another. This book is the result of nearly four decades of research 
and whilst  a lot of the information found in this book has been the by-product 
of other projects, most notably the Pioneer Register, much effort has been 
expended in identifying and fleshing out the lives of our first generation 
of colonial born.
 
The book consists of thirty lists and fifty tables, covering various aspects 
of the lives of the first generation of our colonial born. Aspects such as; 
birth, baptism, marriage, death, appearances in various colonial musters & 
the 1828 census. The book is as a result "information intensive" if you will, 
or to put it another way, a 'bean counters' approach to history. Lists and 
numbers might sound boring to some people but the figures themselves can be 
more than interesting and can tell one so much when subjected to appropriate 
analysis, figures such as; the rate of baptism, backgrounds of parents, range 
of ages at marriage and backgrounds of spouses, fertility rates, ages of death, 
life expectancy, occupations, land ownership rates & extent to mention a few.
 
My reasons for writing this book are: First of all; to pay homage to the first 
generation of Australians, who both inherited those English rights, 
institutions and way of life that are the envy of all and then propagated them 
under the Southern Cross to the enormous benefit of all whom now live in 
this land they first settled. Second of all; to bring to a wider audience 
the great suffering and huge personal devastation that settling the colony 
by the English entailed. Third of all; to acknowledge the debt this country 
owes to England for our nation's birth, development and maturation into one 
of the finest societies in the world.
 
As the analysis in the pages that follow will demonstrate, this first 
generation were a surprising group of individuals, surprising in both 
their physical and mental accomplishments. More than one contemporary 
observer remarked upon their fine physical deportment, so much so that they 
were nicknamed "the cornstalks", growing tall and strong and fair under 
a bright southern sun. Equally noteworthy was their generally law abiding and 
industrious mental dispositions.
 
Both these attributes are all the more unexpected; in the former case because 
in the early years of the colony's existence the population was virtually 
starving and in the latter case because the vast majority arose from convict 
stock. Whatever else might be said about the decision of the English government 
to found a penal colony on the other side of the world, as a sociological 
experiment in the reformation and transformation of England's criminal 
classes it was a brilliant success. The mother country certainly reaped the 
benefit a couple of generations later when its antipodean sons returned as 
the glorious First Australian Infantry Forces to play their part in the defence 
of the Empire against the dark forces of tyranny and oppression. The crowds 
in London were dazzled and likened the 1st AIF to bronzed gods as they proudly 
marched by and their physical splendour was more than matched by their deeds 
of bravery and heroism on the field of battle.
 
But it was not all "beer and skittles" for the first generation by any means. 
For a start it is definitely known that nearly thirty percent did not survive 
childhood and it is highly likely that another twenty percent, who disappeared 
from all colonial records, also died young - that is a staggering fifty percent 
- half of all births never reached adulthood! It is figures like these which 
give the lie to the views propagated by the current leftist elites about the 
early English settlement of the nation. One would think as soon as the English 
arrived they were driving along New South Head Road in a sports car sipping 
champagne with the wind blowing through their hair! Nothing could be further 
from the truth. The death rates endured by our settlers in pioneering 
this nation matched those of the Anzacs mounting frontal infantry attacks 
against machine-gun encrusted, barbed-wire encased German trenches on the 
Western Front in the First World War. In the desire of the leftist elites 
to load Anglo-Australians with as much guilt as possible these facts have been 
ruthlessly and systematically forgotten, if they were ever known in the first 
place.
 
Of recent times much is made of the notorious "middle passage" of negro slaves 
from Africa to America which lasted perhaps four or five weeks, but our convicts 
had to endure a sea voyage of seven or eight months through far more dangerous 
and treacherous seas. What do people today know of their suffering? But then 
again they were white and British and just do not rate on current 
politically correct scales of sympathy.
 
I was born in Australia and can claim to be a fifth generation Australian, 
my family can trace its origins back to the Third Fleet of 1791. When William 
Shaw, my first Australian ancestor, came ashore in Sydney Cove that year he 
would have been "greeted" by Governor Phillip himself.
 
Both my parents were born in Australia as were my four grandparents, 
five of my eight great grand parents were also Australian born. My great 
great great grandmother Catherine Shaw was born at The Rocks Sydney Cove 
in 1799. When she died at Wyoming near Gosford in 1894 she was reputed to 
be the longest living native born person at the time although I must admit 
that anyone who achieved a great age in those times was given the accolade, 
she was in fact the fifth oldest living Australian at the time of her death. 
I mention all this family history to explain my exasperation, frustration 
and indignation with those politically motivated leftist elites who have the 
audacity to say we are all "immigrants" in this country. I am not an immigrant. 
How long does one's family have to reside in a country before one ceases to 
be "an  immigrant"? It's like saying that the descendants of the Norman 
Conquest are immigrants in England.
 
The liberties and bounties that we present day Australians enjoy are due in 
huge measure to our English origins. It must be remembered too that these 
benefits were freely bestowed upon the nation by England as a legitimate 
heir might receive his patrimony from a munificent parent. There was 
no rebellion required, no war of independence needed but rather the logical 
progression from penal colony to self governing colony to federated nation 
to proud dominion within the British Empire.
 
In conclusion I should like to say that there is much talk at present in 
political circles about a Preamble to  our Constitution. Whatever else 
our political masters may choose to include in it, if the great debt that this 
nation owes to England for our rights, prosperity and liberties, is not 
acknowledged, it will be an huge historical travesty.
 
 
 
C J Smee
Red Hill ACT
15th July 2009

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