John Hunter
John Hunter was born in Leith,Scotland,the son of William Hunter,
a captain in the merchant service,and Helen,nee Drummond,the
daughter of J.Drummond a Lord Provost of Edinburgh.As a boy
Hunter was sent to live with an uncle in the town of Lynn in Norfolk,
where,and also in Edinburgh,he recieved the classical education of
the time.Hunter was sent to Edinburgh University,but soon left it to
join the navy as a captain's servant to Thomas Knackton in HMS
Grampus.In 1755 he was enrolled as able seaman on the "Centaur",
became a midshipman and served on the "Union" and then the "Neptune".
Hunter passed examinations and qualified for promotion to Lieutenant
in February 1760.He was not,however,appointed lieutenant until 1780.
When the preparation of the First Fleet was in progress,he was made
second-in-command on HMS Sirius.The captain of that ship,Arthur
Phillip,was in command of the new colony of New South Wales.
Hunter carried a dormant commission as successor to Phillip if he
should have died or was absent.As with many of the First Fleet
officers,he had fought in the American Revolutionary war(1775-1783).
An expedition to explore the Parramatta River was led by Hunter
early in 1788.This expedition explored and made soundings as far John Hunter,Naval Pioneer and Governor
as Iron Cove,Five Dock Bay and Hen and Chicken Bay on the
Parramatta River.The expedition was significant because it marked
the first contact to take place between the British and Indigenous owners of the land,the Wangal clan,on 5th February
1788.William Bradley's log says that this contact took place while Hunter was having breakfast and is remembered in the name of the suburb,Breakfast Point.
After the loss of the HMS Sirius off Norfolk Island,Hunter returned to England in 1792,and there he prepared for publication his interesting An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island,With the Discoveries That Have Been Made in New South Wales and the Southern Ocean Since the Publication of Phillip's Voyage,published at the beginning of 1793.An abridged edition appeared later the same year.In the first edition of this work is found the earliest reference to there being a strait between the mainland and Tasmania.Hunter says "There is reason thence to believe ,that there is in that space either a very deep gulf,or a straight,which may separate Van Dieman's Land from New Holland.Whilst in England,Hunter saw service in the war with France.With Arthur Phillip's resignation from the governorship of New South Wales in July 1793,Hunter applied for the position in October and was appointed governor in January 1794.Various delays occured,and it was not until February 1795 that he was able to sail.Hunter arrived at Sydney on 7th September 1795 on HMS Reliance and took up the office of governor on 11th September 1795.
When the Platypus was first discovered by Europeans in 1798,a pelt and sketch were sent back to the United Kingdom by John Hunter.
John Hunter had an extremly eventfull life and served as a Vice-admiral in the Royal Navy (29 August 1737 -13th March 1821),he was a British naval officer,explorer,naturalist and colonial administrator who succeeded Arthur Phillip as the second governor of New South Wales,Australia from 1795 to 1800.
Governorship
Hunter's difficulties soon began.Phillip immediately left the colony,and the military took complete control,during the lieutenant-governorship of Francis Grose unmercifully exploited the convicts.A great traffic in alcoholic spirits sprang up,on which there was enormous profit for the officers concerned.They had obtained the control of the courts and the management of the lands,public stores,and convict labour.Hunter realised that these powers had to be restored to the civil administration,a difficult task.And in John Macarthur he had an opponent who would hardly stop at anything in defending his supposed rights.Eventually Hunter found himself practically helpless.A stronger man might have sent the officers home under arrest,but it is not unlikely that if Hunter had attempted to do so he would have only precipitated the rum rebellion which took place in William Bligh's time.Anonymous letters were even sent to the home authorities charging Hunter with participation in the very abuses he was striving to prevent.In spite of Hunter's vehement defence of the charges made against him,he was recalled in a dispatch dated 5th November 1799 from the Duke of Portland,one of the three secretaries of state.Hunter aknowledged this dispatch on 20th April 1800,and left for England on 28th September 1800,handing over the government to the Lieutenant-Governor King .When Hunter arrived he endeavoured to vindicate his character with the authorities but was given no opportunity.Hunter was obliged to state his case in a long pamphlet printed in 1802,Governor Hunter's Remarks on the Causes of the Colonial Expense of the Establishment of New South Wales,Hints for the Reduction of Such Expense and for Reforming the Prevailing Abuses,which has become a valuable document in early Australian history.In 1804 Hunter was given command of the "Venerable" of 74 guns,which in the following November was driven ashore during a fog and lost.Hunter was subsequently acquitted of all blame.
Hunter was courageous,and a good officer,but the circumstances in which he was placed made it very difficult for him to be completely successful as a governor.As his successor Philip Gidley king said,his conduct was "guided by the most upright intentions",and he was "most shamefully deceived by those on whom he had every reason to depend for assistance,information,and advice".Of his sojourn in the colony Hunter said that he "could not have had less comfort,although he would certainly have had greater peace of mind,had he spent the time in a penitentiary".Hunter did good work in exploring and opening up the country near Sydney,and also encouraged the explorations of Matthew Flinders and George Bass.Hunter continued his interest in Australia for long after he left it,and the suggested reforms in his pamphlet were of much value.
Hunter was promoted to Rear Admiral on 2nd October 1807,and then to Vice-Admiral on 31st July 1810 but never hoisted his Line Flag at sea.
Vice-Admiral John Hunter RN spent his final years at Judd Street,New Road,Hackney,London,where he died on the 13th March 1821.His tomb can be seen in the churchyard of St.John at Hackney.
The Hunter River and Hunter Valley north of Sydney are both named after him,as is the suburb of Hunters Hill in Sydney,and (partly) the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle.
John Hunter,Naval Pioneer and Governor
