Two Ceremonies?

Some historians have claimed that there were two flag-raising ceremonies held on the 26th of January 1788, the day the British first came ashore to establish a permanent settlement in Sydney Cove – one at daylight when they first landed, and a second in the evening. Others maintain there was only a morning ceremony, while others hold the traditional view, that there was only a ceremony in the evening.

The uncertainty arises because of differing accounts in two surviving versions of the journal of Phillip’s aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Philip Gidley King, who is the only individual present at the landing to have left a detailed account. In the so-called ‘Private Journal’, first published in 1893 (but not acquired by the Mitchell Library until 1933), King wrote:

‘The next day at Day light the English colours were displayed on shore & possesion was taken for His Majesty whose health, with the Queen, Prince of Wales & Success to the Colony was drank, a feu de joie was fired by the party of Marines & ye whole gave 3 Cheers, which was returned by the Supply. at Sun Sett the Sirius & all the Convoy anchored here. . .’[1]

But the so-called ‘Fair Copy’ of the journal, originally acquired by a NSW public library in 1897, gives a different account:

‘At daylight the Marines & Convicts were landed from the Supply & the latter began clearing away a piece of ground to erect the tents on, after noon the Union Jack was hoisted on shore & the marines being drawn up under it, the Governor & officers to the right & the Convicts to the left. Their Majesties & the Prince of Wales health, with success to the Colony was drank in four Glasses of Porter, after which a feu-de-joie was fired & the whole gave three Cheers, which ceremony was also observed on board the Supply.’[2]

Fidlon and Ryan, who edited the Private Journal for publication, implied it was the original – although they never made that claim explicitly.[3] This resulted in the conclusion by some writers that it was the most reliable and thus there must have been a ceremony in the morning.

One Ceremony in the Afternoon

We have challenged this interpretation, for several reasons:

1. Neither of these journals describes two ceremonies – the Private Journal refers to one in the morning, the Fair Copy one in the afternoon.

2. No other account of the events on shore that day states that there were two ceremonies, or that a ceremony was held in the morning.

The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay, based in part on the Governor’s dispatches, and David Collins, soon to be the Governor’s official secretary, both said that it was held ‘in the evening’. The surgeon-general of the settlement and the surgeon of the Sirius also said that it was in the evening. Philip Gidey King in his ‘Fair Copy’ said it was ‘after noon’, and John Campbell, a seaman on one of the convict transports, timed it to after 3 o’clock.[4]

3. Textual analysis suggested that the so-called Private Journal was itself a copy, and that words had been omitted in the process of transcription which wrongly gave the Impression of a morning ceremony.

Placing the relevant text from the two versions side-by-side, it was clear that they were virtually identical in structure, suggesting a common origin. But the Fair Copy contained additional words clearly locating the flag-raising ‘after noon’.

The least likely interpretation of these differences is that King added additional material in writing up the Fair Copy, and since it was clearly not the original, the least heroic interpretation (applying Occam’s Razor) was that both accounts were taken from a missing Original, and that words had been omitted in writing up the Private Journal.

A Third Copy of King’s Journal

In 2022, Gary Sturgess discovered a third copy of King’s journal in the Royal Collections at Windsor (RCT) and recognised from the small amount of text that they had published, that it was different again. The RCT generously arranged for the journal to be photographed, and Sturgess was provided with a copy.[i]

As with the other two versions, RCT is in King’s handwriting: it is also a fair copy and not the Original. But unlike the other two, which are overwhelmingly narrative in format, RCT is mostly in the style of a daily ship’s log.

Comparison of these three documents indicated that the Private Journal and the Fair Copy were copied from the Original rather than RCT. The missing o\Original was King’s personal version of the ship’s log added to each day throughout the voyage and later in NSW and on Norfolk Island. But whilst they are all copies of the Original, they do not borrow the same passages: RCT seems to have the fullest transcription, but both the Private Journal and the Fair Copy contain some text that is not in RCT.

Comparing the passages relating to the flag-raising ceremony, there is a strong similarity between RCT and the Fair Copy, with the former including the passage describing the activities of the 26th of January that is missing from the Private Journal. (In the table below, the text in blue is common to RCT and the Fair Copy but is not contained in the Private Journal.) This confirmed our hypothesis that in making the transcription to the Private Journal, King left words out.

But RCT and the Private Journal contain text that is not in the Fair Copy (marked in red), and the Private Journal and the Fair Copy have words in common that are not in RCT (marked in green) – the only possible conclusion is that all three versions were taken from the lost Original.

Significantly, RCT states that the flag was hoisted at two o’clock in the afternoon; the Fair Copy had simply said that it was ‘after noon’. Given that King was physically present, and left the most detailed account, it is likely that this is more accurate. And textual analysis suggests that the two surgeons, who were not present at the ceremony, borrowed their accounts from Collins or from Phillip’s Voyage.

[1] Philip Gidley King, `Remarks & Journal kept on the Expedition to form a Colony in His Majestys Territory of New South Wales ...in Majesty's Ship Sirius ...', 24 October 1786 to 12 January 1789, State Library of NSW (hereafter SLNSW), Safe 1/16, Volume 1, p.85.

[2] Philip Gidley King, `Remarks & Journal kept on the Expedition to form a Colony ...', with additional information, 1786 to December 1790; compiled 1790, SLNSW, Safe C115, p.136.

[3] ‘Editors’ Preface’, Paul G. Fidlon and R.J. Ryan (eds.), The Journal of Philip Gidley King: Lieutenant, R.N. 1787-1790, Sydney: Australian Documents Library, 1980, p.v.

[4] Anonymous, The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay. . ., London: John Stockdale, 1789, p.58; David Collins, An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales [1798], Sydney: A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1975, Vol.1, pp.4-5; George B. Worgan, Journal of a First Fleet Surgeon, Sydney: Library of Australian History, 1978, p.33; Campbell to his parents, 9 August 1789, SLNSW, ML MSS 7525.

[5] Philip Gidley King, ‘A Journal of the proceedings of His Majestys Ship Sirius Arthur Phillip & John Hunter Esqrs commanders: commencing October 25 1787 & ending Novr. 25th 1787. . .’ Royal Collections Trust, RCIN 1047381.