Wanderings in New South Wales, Batavia, Pedir Coast, Singapore, and China, Vol. 1 (of 2)

In Short

This volume records the observations of George Bennett, a surgeon and naturalist traveling from London to New South Wales and onward through the East Indian archipelago. Structured around immediate daily entries, the text examines native flora and fauna, colonial settlements, and local human societies without technical jargon. Bennett documents Australian wildlife—such as the lyre bird and opossum—alongside colonial economic developments and indigenous customs, before steering into the Dutch and native trade ports of Batavia and the Pedir Coast. It has endured as an irreplaceable baseline record of early nineteenth-century Australian ecology and frontier life.

The Story

The narrative opens aboard a ship bound from England across the Atlantic, making early stops at Madeira and the Cape Verde Islands. Here, Bennett begins his methodical study of the natural world, examining marine invertebrates like the Portuguese man-of-war, inspecting the gigantic baobab trees of St. Jago, and documenting the local agricultural conditions and avian life. Crossing the tropics, he records marine phenomena—including the luminosity of the ocean, flying fish, and albatross flight mechanics—before arriving at the Australian coast.

Upon landing in Sydney, Bennett contrasts the grim, broken appearance of the coastline with the rapid urban development inside the settlement. He evaluates Sydney’s high rent costs, its dusty sandstone streets, its burgeoning retail trades, and the pervasive presence of caged parrots. He advocates for ending the practice of using New South Wales as a penal settlement, arguing that the colony's growing wealth and population of free immigrants and emancipists warrant open immigration and local governance. Leaving the capital, Bennett embarks on extensive overland excursions through the interior, visiting sheep stations, botanical gardens, and agricultural properties across Paramatta, Raby, Goulburn Plains, and Yas Plains. He documents native species in detail, noting the anatomical features and habits of the opossum, the lyre bird, and the river cod, while lamenting the rapid destruction of native fauna by European settlers. He also investigates a devastating outbreak of an eruptive, smallpox-like disease (Thunna, thunna) among the aboriginal population.

In the final movement of the volume, Bennett departs Australia and sails northwest into the East Indies. Reaching Batavia, he evaluates the social dynamics of the Dutch colony, noting the prevalence of intemperance among European residents, the prominent economic role of Chinese merchants and artisans, and the island's wildlife, including rhinoceroses and tigers. Continuing along the Pedir Coast of Sumatra, he observes local trade in betel-nuts, dried bonito fish, and castor-oil plants, while documenting encounters with local rajahs, Moorish traders, and indigenous coastal populations before preparing for the next leg of his voyage toward China.

How It Unfolds

The voyage begins Bennett sets sail from England, taking immediate field notes on oceanic organisms, Atlantic islands, and tropical vegetation. He conducts experiments on the venom of the Portuguese man-of-war at sea and measures massive baobab trunks in Cape Verde.

Arrival in New South Wales Anchoring in Sydney, Bennett documents the rapid expansion of colonial commerce alongside urban inconveniences like high rents and sandstone dust. He observes local parrot-keeping habits and argues against maintaining the territory as a convict colony.

Journeys into the bush Traversing the Australian interior on horseback, Bennett visits remote sheep runs and agricultural stations. He dissects native opossums, collects river perch, and analyzes the unique aerodynamics of the aboriginal boomerang.

Outbreak in the interior Bennett investigates an eruptive febrile malady spreading through the indigenous tribes. He compiles medical observations on its symptoms and mortality rates, comparing the disease's progress to European smallpox.

Passage to the East Indies Leaving Port Jackson, Bennett anchors in Java and Sumatra to study East Indian commerce and natural history. He observes Dutch colonial society in Batavia, records the habits of Chinese artisans, and details native marine life along the Sumatran coast.

The People

• George Bennett: A surgeon and Fellow of the Linnean Society who serves as the narrative’s author and primary observer. Driven by a desire to record immediate physical facts without technical jargon, he spends his travels dissecting specimens, evaluating colonial farms, and warning against the extermination of native wildlife.
• The Aborigines of New South Wales: The indigenous inhabitants encountered throughout Bennett's interior journeys. They demonstrate expert tracking skills, employ weapons like the boomerang and spear, and suffer severely from the introduced eruptive disease Thunna, thunna.
• The Australian Settlers: Landowners and pastoralists—including Mr. Riley, Mr. Kinghorne, and the Macleay and M'Arthur families—who host Bennett. They focus on clearing the jungle, raising fine-wooled sheep, and establishing domestic agriculture despite the destruction of crops by flocks of wild parrots.
• The Dutch and Chinese of Batavia: The dominant populations of Java's principal port. The Dutch colonists maintain a insular social life marked by high mortality rates from lifestyle and climate, while the Chinese immigrants act as the primary artisans, sugar manufacturers, and estate owners.

In Its Own Voice

"The writer in his narrative has limited himself principally, if not entirely, to the notes taken at the instant of observation, his object being to relate facts in the order they occurred..."

Bennett outlines his empirical approach in the preface, committing to immediate field notes over polished literary composition.

"It is much to be regretted that human beings are so eager to destroy, even to extermination, the races of animals useful or dangerous, which may be found in a new country."

Reflecting on the rapid decline of the lyre bird and kangaroo near settled areas, Bennett laments the reckless destruction of Australian wildlife.

"Society in Batavia is a dead letter; bachelors smoking and drinking parties are, in many instances, common; ruining the health, and occasioning the death of many, particularly strangers."

In Java, Bennett sharply critiques the habits of European residents who blame the tropical climate for deaths caused by personal imprudence.

What It's Really About

Beneath its simple structure as a travel itinerary, the book investigates the immediate ecological and human transformations wrought by European colonization. Bennett approaches the landscape not as an imperial conqueror, but as an empirical observer troubled by the rapid displacement of native ecosystems. The text contrasts the pristine natural order of Australia’s interior with the aggressive clearing of land, the slaughter of native fauna, and the introduction of deadly European diseases to indigenous communities.

Simultaneously, Bennett explores the mechanics of colonial growth, evaluating how raw wilderness is converted into productive sheep runs, trade networks, and urban centers. The narrative continually weighs the short-term profits of colonial expansion against the permanent loss of unique species, making a strong argument for environmental preservation, economic self-reliance, and free, non-penal settlement.

Why Read It Today

Modern readers interested in colonial history, environmental science, and travel literature will find Bennett's account remarkably fresh and precise. Unlike many nineteenth-century travelogues weighed down by romantic prose or heavy racial theories, this narrative relies on direct, crisp observation. Bennett's scientific curiosity covers an extraordinary range of subjects—from the stomach contents of an opossum to the aerodynamics of a boomerang and the price of rental housing in 1830s Sydney.

The book does present specific challenges typical of its era: long, unedited catalogs of flora and fauna, detailed medical descriptions of tropical diseases, and archaic spellings of geographical names. Bennett also reflects some of the colonial assumptions of his time, though his tone toward indigenous populations remains largely curious and sympathetic rather than hostile. What stays with the reader is Bennett's acute foresight regarding environmental destruction; his early warnings about the extinction of Australian species read with striking relevance today, offering a firsthand view of a continent at the precise moment its ancient ecology met European settlement.