The life of David Collins, judge, historian, and governor, reflects the story of the European settlement of Australia. In 1787 he was appointed deputy judge advocate of the impending expedition to Botany Bay. He was one of the founders of Sydney and began the first settlement in Victoria.

The life of David Collins - judge, historian and governor - reflects the story of the European settlement of Australia. In a remarkable trio of events, Collins was one of the founders of Sydney in 1788, began the first European settlement in Victoria in 1803, and founded Hobart Town the following year. The journal he began on the First Fleet grew into the first substantial history of New South Wales, and his private letters give a rare insight into the early colonial world. Collins was a father-figure to his admirers, a tyrant to his detractors. His interest in the Aboriginal people was strongly humanitarian. This substantial and comprehensive biography is the first and only full-length account of David Collins's life. 'New' material on the early colonial period of Australia is rare, and the previously unpublished documents in David Collins - including letters written from the First Fleet - will create great interest.