Auction 321 - 332 Australian States & Commonwealth of Australia, St. Helena, Basutoland, Bechuanaland, Swaziland, Brazil 1843 –1870 - Day 1

Northern Territory 1826 (Sept 29): Entire letter from Fort Dundas, Melville Island in the Timor Sea off the Northern Territory, written by Dr. John Gold to his mother in Ashford, Kent and struck with framed step type "PORTSMOUTH / SHIP LETTER" in black (Robertson S13) and charged '1/6d.' due to pay upon arrival (22 June 1827). The contents (full transcript with the lot) "I left Sydney the capital of New South Wales on the 16th August and arrived here after a pleasant voyage on the 16th of September...I am residing in a fort, but you must not fancy it like those in England. It is merely a mound of earth thrown up with a ditch outside and a square enclosure within...this is so unfrequented a part of the world that it is a matter of difficult accomplishment to get away even if I felt desirous to do so...the climate is favourable to the production of disease...the hospital is a small but comfortable building capable of holding from 16 to 20 sick and it is generally full. The men have suffered lately from scurvy malignant fever and other endemic diseases of a dangerous character... Scarcely a week elapses but our men are endangered by visits of the Aborigines who are very wild and hostile in spite of all the kindness we can possibly show them...we cannot go a quarter mile from (the Fort) without a dog or a gun, both of which the natives dread...the population consists of Officers and 40 soldiers of the 57th, 5 women (soldiers wives), 30 marines and about 100 convicts". After the Commandant (Major Campbell of the 57th Regiment) pleaded for the garrison to be relieved from "this vile island", in February 1829 Fort Dundas and Melville Island were abandoned to their original occupants. It was, however, too late for the writer of this letter as Dr. John Gold was killed by Aborigines in late 1827, dying from no less than 31 spear wounds. A magnificent entire with extraordinary content from the first occupation of the island by a non-indigenous people, Fort Dundas lasted a mere four years (1824-1829) prior to being abandoned. An historic and important letter: the sole surviving letter in private hands from the first settlement in the Northern Territory.rnProvenance: Collection Daneswood, Prestige, 24 May 2008; Prestige, 27 July 2009, lot 1037.