A Brief Account of the Colony of Port Jackson in New South Wales; Its Native Inhabitants, Productions, etc. with an interesting account of the Murder of Mr. Clode, late of that settlement, as communicated by the Rev. Richard Johnstone, late Chaplain of the Colony, to Joseph Hardcastle, Esq., Treasurer of the Missionary Society. By G. Bond, late lieutenant of Marines, and late ensign in the New South Wales Corps. Fifth edition. This item is unavailable.A Brief Account of the Colony of Port Jackson in New South Wales; Its Native Inhabitants, Productions, etc. with an interesting account of the Murder of Mr. Clode, late of that settlement, as communicated by the Rev. Richard Johnstone, late Chaplain of the Colony, to Joseph Hardcastle, Esq., Treasurer of the Missionary Society. By G. Bond, late lieutenant of Marines, and late ensign in the New South Wales Corps. Fifth edition

Octavo, 24 pages; title-page somewhat stained but a good copy in quarter blue morocco. A famous rarity and one of the very few books written by a junior officer in early colonial Sydney. The only substantial published description of life in the New South Wales Corps apart from the proceedings of the Rum Rebellion, Bond combines personal narrative with advice for prospective emigrants. Bond reached Port Jackson aboard the Barwell in 1797, but arrived in irons having been implicated in an alleged mutiny. He was saved from court martial only through the intervention of Major Joseph Foveaux, with Governor Hunter accepting his resignation. Hunter later regretted this leniency, for Bond remained in Sydney and associated closely with officers, notably John Macarthur, whose growing opposition foreshadowed the conflicts culminating in the Rum Rebellion. Writing soon after his enforced return to England, Bond provides a personal account of Hunter's New South Wales from the perspective of an officer of the Corps. Although touching on the Aboriginal people and the colony's natural history, its chief importance lies in its observations on the convict system, free settlement, and the corruption and patronage that permeated the administration. It offers an insider's view of the tensions that would later erupt in the conflict between Bligh and Macarthur and ultimately usher in the reforms of Governor Macquarie. This is the fifth edition. Of the first (Southampton, 1803) no copy has emerged for many decades. None is known of the purported second or third editions, if they were indeed issued. The Oxford (1806), London (1809), Dublin (1810) and Cork (1810 or later) editions are all scarce, making the publication history of the work an intriguing puzzle. This was the first edition to describe Bond on the title-page as "Late Lieutenant of Marines". The fourth edition had him still an Ensign in the New South Wales Corps, suggesting that he entered the Marines in the interim, perhaps also explaining the geographically dispersed sequence of later editions from Oxford, London, Dublin and Cork. .…