Nicholas Pateshall's diary

By recording the experiences of convicts first transported to Port Phillip, Officer Nicholas Pateshall provided a valuable historical insight.

The first British attempt to establish a settlement at Port Phillip Bay was first and foremost an attempt to establish a convict settlement. A number of the officers recorded their experiences, and Third Lieutenant Nicholas Pateshall was one of them.

The convicts were transported in two ships, the transport Ocean and the 50-gun warship HMS Calcutta. Pateshall commented on the conditions on board when, shortly after sailing, the ship struck a storm:

...at this time the Captn. had his Family on board, whose fear and sickness added to the noise of the unhappy wretches below, who naturally supposed from the confusion on deck, that every moment was their last, presented an awful scene.

– Third Lieutenant Nicholas Pateshall

Pateshall had sympathy for the convicts and noted, '...if the keen affliction of leaving friends brought tears into the eyes of the oldest seaman, what must have been the feelings of the unhappy Convicts, banished for ever from their homes and many from relations most sincerely attached to them...' Once the ship was under way:

To make these wretches happy was the wish and study of us all, as soon as the Ship was in order for so long a Voyage: in the first place we released upwards of one hundred from Irons, and in this indulgence I did not forget some Herefordshire friends on board: many were put to keep watch with the Ship's company and we allowed as many upon deck at one time as was prudent.

– Third Lieutenant Nicholas Pateshall

A number of convicts died on the voyage. One was believed to have poisoned himself, while the wife of one convict was said to have died of a broken heart. Four others died from the effects of sea sickness. Overall, '...the Convicts behaved in a most orderly manner, but we found a strict watch over them was necessary.' Notably for the future colony, John Pascoe Fawkner was on board accompanying his convict father.

Once the Calcutta and Ocean reached Port Phillip and settled at Sullivan Bay, Pateshall recorded his impressions of the settlement and his first encounters with the local Indigenous people. He made only a few references to the convicts though, mainly about their escape and recapture.

The original journal of Third Lieutenant Nicholas Pateshall is now held in the State Library of Victoria.