Watling, Thomas

C 355 Farm Cove intitiation by Thomas Watling (2)
Thomas Watling  (1762-?)
was an artist, convicted of forgery and sent to Australia as a convict. He wrote letters home to his ‘Ever Revered Aunt’ in 1793, advising her that she could publish them “after the revisal by an abler hand”. They include descriptions of the Australian geography, fauna and flora; portrayals and commentary concerning the local Eora people; and criticism of various aspects of life in the colony, particularly the treatment of convicts. They were published 1794 in Penrith, England as Letters from an Exile at Botany-Bay, to His Aunt in Dumfries: Giving a Particular Account of the Settlement of New South Wales, with the Customs and Manners of the Inhabitants. (Scotland : Ann Bell , c.1794)