FF Captain David Collins (1756–1810)

- this story is under review by Membership Team

Captain of Marines/Judge Advocate ‘HMS Sirius’

A man of “no sense of shame” or having “a disposition most humane.”

A talk delivered by Roderick Best PSM to the Australasian Pioneers Club

at its Proclamation Day luncheon, 6 February 2024.

Today we have gathered because we celebrate how in 1788 a new nation was formed. On that day was proclaimed, with all due solemnity, the instructions given to His Excellency, the Governor in Chief for operating the British territory of New South Wales. Associated with the instructions was also the commencement of an Act of Parliament establishing a criminal court and a civil court established by Letters Patent 1 . The proclamation was read by the senior law officer present, the deputy Judge Advocate David Collins. This was followed by an exhortation by the Governor and celebration. A time for celebration and a time of mourning for the losses suffered by the Aboriginal people are just some of the complexities that surround this event.

Much has been written of the Governor, Arthur Phillip, but today I have been asked to consider what we know about the deputy Judge Advocate and in particular what his story tells us about those complexities that emerged as part of the new nation. For, despite the efforts of many to cast this period of history into simplistic terms it is surely the case that this period, like much of history is complex. With David Collins, what we know about these complexities is often in starker contrast than for others who were present. The quotes forming the title of this paper, from Captain Robert Ross of the marines and the Irish rebel, Joseph Holt, highlight the dialectic.

I want to firstly set out what we know of his family and personal background. But before I do, a trivial pursuit fact relevant to your celebrations you might not know is that it was his brother, William Collins, who raised the flag upon landing in Sydney on 26 January – just before the proclamation. It is that earlier flag raising that has entered history through the 1937 painting by Algernon Talmage RA called “The Founding of Australia.” The State Library of NSW says on its web site that: “The painting is a celebration of righteousness and importance of colonisation and a statement of the power of the British Empire.”

Returning to the theme of this paper – how does the life of David Collins demonstrate the dissonance and complexity of the early colony.

What was his family background?

Collins was born in 1756 and so was 32 when he arrived in what is now Australia. He was the
third of 11 children. But of these he was the eldest of the 5 children to survive infancy.

1 This distinction reflects that NSW was regarded as a ‘settled colony.”

His father, Arthur Tooker Collins, was an officer in the British or Royal Marine Corps. The father went on to become the major-general commanding its Plymouth Division. The father fought in Canada, Brittany and Cuba. In between fighting he married a young lady, where the emphasis is on young, as he was twice her age.

Collins grandfather had died at the age of 33 and his great grandfather, Arthur, had been a genealogist and historian of the aristocracy. Collins’ father and great grandfather bore not just genetic similarities but also an affinity to the aristocracy and each had a love of books shown by each maintaining a personal library. The Collins family had once held position and some wealth and, indeed, a Francis Collins, who was claimed as a relative, had been an executor and legatee of William Shakespeare.

David’s mother, Henrietta, was the youngest daughter of a small Protestant landholder family in Ireland.

As David’s grandfather had died before David was born and his great grandfather died when he was 4, his direct personal memories of these ancestors was necessarily limited. It is clear that family stories, especially of his great grandfather were strong. David was schooled by the Rev John Marshall, of Exeter Grammar School, before joining his father’s Marine Corp division as an ensign. Collins was 14 years old. Throughout his life he retained close relations with both parents and some of his siblings. Generally speaking, it was a close family. Amongst other things, and showing the closeness of the family, was that we still know about their well beloved pet dog.

As he matured into adulthood David was described as “a large, broad shouldered man, over six feet tall … an open friendly expression, golden curly hair and the fine forehead of a scholar.” This physical description was confirmed, as well as it could be when his vault was opened in 1925 and his remains examined. Other information shows him to have been very convivial, a warm and caring personality and a person who generally thought through problems to reach a humane conclusion – but often not a decision that accorded with others’ expectations.

The Marine Corps
The Marine Corps which he joined was first founded in 1664 but was not originally a standing corps, being disbanded at the end of each successive war. This changed in 1755 (at the 4 th raising of the Corps) when thereafter the Marines have remained on the Order of Battle to the present day. From 1755 some 50 companies were formed and organised into 3 divisions headquartered at Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth. Of these Collins' father, Major General Collins, was eventually the officer commanding the Plymouth division. As part of the navy, they were under the ultimate command of the Admiralty’s First Lord. However, like the Army they wore ‘red’ rather than the traditional ‘blue’ of naval officers.

David in the Marines
Collins while a second lieutenant gained attention when, while serving on HMS Southampton the vessel was sent to Denmark to take the Dutch Queen, Caroline Matilda, and sister of the British King George III, into exile following her affair with the Royal physician. The 16 year old Collins, while being in charge of the Honour Guard, kissed the Queen’s hand. A romantic gesture by this handsome young officer.

The realities, rather than the romance, of military life soon became obvious, when he was sent to serve in the American War of Independence. He fought at the battle of Bunker Hill at which the Marines were commended in Orders of 20 May 1775 for their bravery. Amongst individual commendations arising from that battle were those made to a Captain Robert Ross of 5 Company (who we will shortly meet again) and our subject of scrutiny, Second Lieutenant David Collins of 3 Company.

In 1781 he joined the Courageux in the Channel Squadron and this posting convinced him that he hated ‘the salt sea ocean.’ This was probably the first, but certainly not the last time, that he recorded antipathy to the normal life of a Marine.

Marriage
In North America, in 1777, and now aged 21 years, he married Maria Stuart (Mary) Proctor the daughter of Captain Charles Proctor. Her family was one of the founding families of the English colony of Halifax, Nova Scotia and there is no surprise that Maria was described by a great niece as “a very accomplished lady, of considerable literary talents.” In later life she is said to have written novels and she edited Collins published work.

Maria and David had a daughter. Their daughter tragically died while still a baby. Maria understood that she could no longer have children and wrote in later life of her ‘debility that, amongst other things, kept her in England. It would not have been unusual for Maria to travel to New South Wales as 32 wives of Marines on the First Fleet, did so. She and Collins were consequently separated for decades and her correspondence to him often appears querulous and demanding of his return. With little, if any, personal wealth Collins did allocate half of his pay to her. While this was, in absolute terms a small amount it does indicate a man who sought to generously support his wife. After Collins death, she had to successfully lobby to receive any pension – although after her death the pension paid by Tasmania appears on the Colony’s financial records for a further 12 years!

Throughout his life, Collins made decisions that separated him from his wife. But in addition to his financial support her they maintained regular correspondence. His friends from the Colony also visited her when they returned to England – again demonstrating his friendship to others and a desire to support his wife.

Chief legal officer
In September 1783 Britain was entering a time of peace and so Collins, a married man re-establishing his wife and himself back in England, was on half pay without other financial support.

Through his father, he heard that the Marines were being sent to establish a new territory for Britain. Major Robert Ross, who we have previously met at Bunker Hill, was also looking to go to Botany Bay and Ross wrote to Under Secretary Nepean, in 1787 that this decision to send the Marines was clearly intended as “drawing the corps forth from that subordinate obscurity in which it has hitherto moved.” Ross was cognisant of what he perceived as the rightful place of the marines in imperial history.

Collins was commissioned, not just as an officer in the Marines, but also as the deputy judge advocate. Consistent with his earlier views, he was successful in obtaining a position that where he was removed from the daily grind of military activities. By way of digression, he is strictly a ‘deputy’ not because he won’t be the senior legal officer in the territory but because there was a single Judge Advocate General of the Marines located in England who was supported by territory based officers, located around the world.

Despite having no legal qualifications, his appointment in a legal role was not, in fact, remarkable given that he had served as an adjutant for 2 years in North America. This would have given him experience of the routine and procedures of military law. It is also clear that Lord Howe, First Lord of the Admiralty, expressed his view (while planning for the expedition) that the convicts should continue to be subject to military law. If this view was widely known, or even held by others, then the absence of a broader legal knowledge of civil law was not a prerequisite of the role.

While Howe’s view was quickly dismissed in London some, like Francis Grose, persisted with a similar view in the Colony. On the other hand Collins was supplied with a small but relevant general legal library. This library included general works like the Blackstone Commentaries and the consolidated English statutes. With hindsight it is also noted that notwithstanding the views of others, none of his superiors in the Colony had anything but praise for his legal work.

Once established in the Colony he presided over the civil court assisted by 2 nominees (replaced in 1792 by military officers by Grose a decision of which he was critical) and the criminal court comprising 6 naval or military officers.

While waiting for the Fleet to depart he does not say that he was familiarising himself with his legal tomes. Instead he read Hawksworth’s edition of the Voyage of Captain Cook. To describe how he operated as a lawyer, especially in criminal proceedings, possible the best illustration is his basis for formulating the reasoning behind imposing the death penalty: made by a bare majority of 4 members of the Criminal Court including the Judge Advocate. Collins imposed the deathpenalty when he was sure that this sentence would serve as a warning, an educational tool, against a recurrence of an act that detrimentally impacted on the Colony as a whole. For example, the first person executed had stolen food from the store in a time of extreme scarcity. Once the example was set by the first death, he recommended to the Governor that the two co-accused be pardoned. Then there is the case of a woman (Ann Davis) who pleaded that she could not be hung as English law prohibited this happening if the woman was pregnant. He recommended the death penalty primarily for her perjury and dealt with her plea by empowering a jury of women convicts to determine whether she was, indeed, pregnant. This jury of 12 convict deliberated and “the  forewoman, a grave personage between 60 and 70 years old, did [give] this short address to the Court: Gentlemen she is as much with child as I am.” Not only was this jury comprised entirely of convicts but all were women. While this may have been permitted in England, in similar circumstances, the jury would not have comprised convicts.

Repeatedly Collins commented that the basis of his decision to recommend execution, was based on creating an example in the Colony. Sometimes his decision rings unsound especially with our contemporary knowledge. The marine, Henry Wright was found to have raped 8 year old Elizabeth Chapman – the daughter of a fellow marine. He recommended that Wright be pardoned because:

“this was an offence that did not seem to require an immediate example; the chastity of the female part of the settlement had never been so rigid, as to drive men to so desperate an act; and, it was believed, that beside the wretch in question there was not in the colony a man of any description who would have attempted it.”

No good would therefore come of making Wright an example.

His role as a Marine in the Colony.
The senior officer of the Marines in the Colony, and Lieutenant Governor, was Major Robert Ross. Major Ross had connections with Collins: Ross and Collins’ father had served together at Louisbourge in North America and then, as already noted, Collins had fought at Bunker Hill with him. To add to the circle of influence around Ross when a younger man, Ross had served on the same vessel as Under Secretary Nepean, who had at that time been the purser.

The personal connections between Ross and Collins may have played a part in Ross offering Collins the post of Captain in the Marines when one of the Captains, John Shea died. I surmise that this personal connection also led to Ross having an expectation that Collins would be personally loyal to his senior serving officer and to the Marines.

Ross was markedly ambitious to promote the standing of both the Marines, as well as himself. Ross, as Lieutenant Governor and as the senior officer in the Marines, became conscious, very early on, that the Governor did not share this perspective. Collins wrote to his father from Rio de Janeiro that Phillip had not advised Ross, to Ross’ surprise, of the Governor’s powers and instructions until the voyage was well under way.

As between Collins and Ross a disjuncture between Collins and Ross’s sense of entitlement, led to a history of failed respective expectations. Collins brother, William, was also in the Marines sailing on the First Fleet. William had on board a dog, and as we know dogs were important in Collins family life. His dog had a litter. William proceeded to present Phillip with one of the litter notwithstanding Ross making it clear that as the senior officer he should make the presentation and not one of the Marines subordinate to him.

Collins also felt that Captain James Campbell, a friend of Ross, bullied William. Collins was very aware that Campbell was not being managed in these actions by Ross.

Some six months after arrival a vacancy arose in the position of Secretary to the Governor. This was an administrative role outside the role of a Marine. Collins took this position in addition to his legal officer role. Ross did not agree that an officer in the Marines should assume another role outside of his command. Later when offered, the opportunity to fill Shea’s vacancy, Collins was aware that the offer was conditional on Collins resigning as Secretary.

Collins moved into Government House when he became Secretary. Collins said to his father in October 1791 that as between the Governor and himself: “I am blended in every concern of his.” This gave Collins a greater and more personal interaction with the Governor, than was available to Ross.

We already know that Collins had told his father that he did not like a life at sea. In a similar vein, in 1791 he wrote to his father: “I have always thought that nature designed me for the tranquil, rather than the bustling walk of life. I know that I was meant by that unerring guide rather to wear the gown than the habiliments of a soldier. Nature intended and fashioned me to ascend the pulpit-there I think that I should have shown ability – there, or in some learned profession.”

If Collins needed any assistance in being disenchanted with the Marines - the Navy withheld part of his pay when he was appointed as Secretary on the basis that he would be paid double if he received the full allowance for the positions of both Secretary and Judge Advocate.

Clearly none of these moves and ambitions for administrative roles, would endear Collins to Ross, or possibly even assist Ross understanding Collins.

The suspicions of Ross were enhanced not just by the growing closeness of Collins and the Governor, but also, by Collins judicial decisions.

One of Collins’ first civil decisions was the case of Cable v Sinclair which may be familiar to many of you. This case was commenced by two convicts (Henry Kable and Susannah, nee Holmes, his wife) against Captain Duncan Sinclair, Master of the Alexander, for withholding a parcel of baby clothes that the convicts had been gifted when the Kables were in Norwich gaol. Possibly because felons were not allowed the privilege of commencing civil actions, the pleadings show that Kable was described as a ‘labourer.’ Collins presided when the court upheld their ability to bring the charge as well as finding in their favour.

Not only was this precedent established, favourable to convicts, but complaints started to circulated that the sentences received by the marines were harsher than those given by Collins to convicts for equivalent offences. In the eyes of Collins, Marines were expected to set a higher standard and so a breach warranted the making of an example.

Then, Collins suggested the establishment of a nightwatch which reported to him – our first police. The nightwatch maintained the peace where previously the marines undertook this role. It was also a role where convicts might arrest marines.

This was a man making decisions cognisant of the realities of life in the Colony and logically justifiable, but not ones in support of his Marine brothers in arms nor generally of those in authority. This is not what Ross would have anticipated or accepted.

The antagonism Ross showed Collins was not restricted to the Colony. When the Corps concluded their term of duty, an appeal was commenced by Captain James Meredith against a decision by Ross. As part of that court case, Maria wrote to Collins that Ross “spoke disrespectfully of your conduct.” The court found the proceedings commenced by Ross to be ‘groundless and malicious’ and Meredith was comprehensively exonerated. These military proceedings were brought in the division to which they had returned (ie in Plymouth) where Collins father was Major General. While it was the case that Collins father died during the course of the proceedings, this was not before, according to Maria, his father being much distressed at the allegations of Ross against his son. Ross died shortly thereafter in 1794.

With all of this it is not surprising that Ross treated Collins with animosity, as a man who Ross described as “with no sense of shame.” Nor is it surprising that Collins wrote “Since Lieutenant Governor Major Ross went from here, tranquillity may be said to have been our guest.… While here he made me the object of his persecution.”

While some have said that Collins, acted differently from other Marines by not extracting personal gain, and so displayed his separateness. This isn’t entirely the case. Collins was granted 100 acres on the Balmain peninsular by Lieutenant Grose and another 100 acres on the Hawkesbury. The former he forfeited and the latter he gave away.

Throughout, Collins sought to pursue an administrative role rather than progress in the Marines. Accordingly when the Marines went home in 1791, despite his wife and father both forcefully recommending that he return with the Corps, he elected to stay. His father called NSW “a country that is nothing better than a Place of Banishment for the Outcasts of Society” and his wife “that Infernal place.” Maria added that remaining would not advance his career: “and as for your part David, you are lost, you are not heard of … I am afraid that you have given up all your hours to serve the governor. I wish he may reward you for it, but I am mistaken if he does….Come home then my dearest love and resume your place in the world and no longer be buried in oblivion.” Later, in 1792, Maria wrote “For God’s sake my dearest love what can have prevailed on you to stay in a place where you have suffered so many hardships.”

By remaining, he also lost his military position as judge advocate and so this decision was not just a loss of career prospects and status but also a loss of income and the right to a military pension.

When he did return to England, Collins in 1800 lobbied Nepean (the friend of Ross) and other public servants to not only separate the War and Colonial Offices but also to appoint him as the new under Secretary of the latter office. This did not happen for instead he was offered a new administrative role as Lieutenant Governor of what became Victoria and Tasmania.

His underpinning beliefs
If Collins was not motivated by a loyalty, like his great grandfather or to a sense of esprit de corps with the Marines like his father, can other motivations be identified?

In the Colony he considered that the ‘Scottish Martyrs’ had “misconceived ideas” about independence, liberty and rights of man but notwithstanding he thoroughly enjoyed socialising with them. One noted how these nights were “cemented by the circling glass, even to a state of inebriation.”

As a boy, with his father absent, he read the Bible and said prayers with his mother each evening. But neither this, nor his comments to his father about seeking to be a parish priest demonstrate a personal faith. The latter appears to be little more than seeing the personal pleasure in having a respected administrative role in English society.

When visiting Rio on the day of Corpus Christi he noted in his journal that “when it is considered that the same great Creator of the universe was worshipped alike by Protestant and Catholic, what difficulty could the mind have in divesting their pageant of its tinsel, its trappings, and its censers, and joining with sincerity in offering the pure incense, that of a grateful heart.” In Cape Town he commented favourably on a Calvinist church having installed an hour glass to ensure that the sermon was not too long.

In the Colony he did not personally intervene to support the Rev Richard Johnston in his
disputes with Grose.

These examples demonstrate little more than a standard Tory response to Protestant Christianity. The fact that his 1803 will, bequeathed his soul to his Creator ‘hoping for a remission of my sins’ is little different to the wills of many others on the First Fleet and does not change this conclusion.

His views of the Aborigines.
Collins, out of all of the published First Fleet authors gives the most comprehensive accounts of Aborigines in the early Colony.

Before leaving England in 1787 he wrote to his brother William, of his fears that the garrison would not be able to manage the native population. He was however reassured by the view of Cook that the natives were only few in number. Like Phillip, he later noted the error in their briefing prior to departure.

On entry to Port Jackson it is Collins who recorded that the Aborigines repeating yelled “Warra, Warra” and he could tell that this could neither be interpreted as an invitation to land nor as an expression of welcome.

Collins formed friendly relations with a number of Aboriginal people. One of the very few times that he is critical of Phillip was when Phillip was speared at Manly.

As early as 1798 he noted that: “While they entertained the idea of us having dispossessed them of their residences, they must always consider us as enemies; and upon this principle they made a point of attacking white people whenever opportunity and safety concurred.” He returned to this question of land ownership when talking about Bennelong owning Goat Island in Port Jackson. He then stated that his understanding was that Aborigines had a version of hereditary property rights concerning land.

As the Sydney Wars, as they are now called, commenced he wrote that “it was improbable that these murders should be committed without provocation.” Later in Tasmania, in 1807 he made similar remarks about his lack of surprise at Aboriginal retaliation when the once abundant kangaroos and emus were killed by the Colonists.

However, the traditional means of retribution left him puzzled: “What rendered this sort of contest as unaccountable as it was extraordinary was that friendship and alliance were known to subsist between several that were opposed to each other.”

Once again, he returns to first principles to determine an appropriate response irrespective of the people being outside of his class, professional colleagues or even race. In this case however, it is not clear that his views swayed anyone else.

His views of the convicts
Professor Brian Fletcher in his introduction to Collins Account said that “In general, [Collins] regarded the convicts as the scouring of society. The whole tone of his book was coloured by the gloomy picture he painted of a colony, most of whose convict inhabitants lived dissolute lives and showed little prospect of improving.” To give one example, Collins opined of the need for trial by jury but then added that this could not happen with jury’s being formed from the poor quality of convicts.

Yet, he did give praise to individual convicts, like First Fleeter Edward Elliott, who worked hard. As we have seen, Collins made court and administrative decisions that dealt equitably with convicts and drew favourable comment from the likes of Joseph Holt and the Scottish Martyrs.

His relationship with women
It is clear from his life that Collins not only sought the company of women, for he was certainly not celibate when away from his wife, but also sought to treat them fairly according to his judgment. This was, it must be admitted, often a prejudiced judgment. For example, in 1789 he generalised that women convicts had a very easy chastity while as we will soon see, he was forming a liaison with a woman convict.

One of the few remarks of personal judgment he makes in his Account was that he had a convivial time in Santa Cruz because ”If frozen Chastity be not always found among the children of ice or snow, can she be looked for among the inhabitants where frost was never felt?”

While he was a friend of Bennelong he also both noted, and to some extent intervened, when

Bar-rang-aroo was the victim of domestic violence. He had good relations with her, as well as her husband and this even though others, like Tench, considered her a “scold and a vixen.”

On a more intimate level, we know that, at least by late 1789 he had formed a relationship with the convict Ann Yeats - their daughter Marianne Letitia Collins, being born in September 1790. Ralph Clark, who was not noted for his kind remarks of convict women, said of Ann that she was “uniformly behaved well during the whole of the voyage.” She also had some literacy as she signed her marriage certificate. This relationship continued, despite him living in Government House because in 1793 they had a second child, their son George Reynolds Collins. He was recorded as the father when they were born and he acknowledged these two children in a letter to his mother in 1793. When he returned to England 1796 he took Ann and their two children with him. It appears that Ann and the two children visited her family in Yorkshire, rather than staying with Maria but this must still have been difficult for Maria and why Collins created this tension for Maria are unknown. The fact that Collins had called his surviving daughter Marianne (combining the name of both his wife and mistress) seems unduly unkind to Maria. We do know that Maria suggested that Collins should not visit certain acquaintances because they were people of “strict principle” and might not understand Collins “unhappy connection.” Ann Yeats and children returned separately on the Albion in July 1799. When Collins was in Tasmania his children came to stay with him – with Ann now being married to the convict James John Grant. Indeed, he had already transferred to Ann and John the 100 acres that had been granted to him on the Hawkesbury. As an aside, Grant had arrived aboard the same vessel as the Scottish Martyrs
– whom Collins had befriended.

In Tasmania in 1803, the convict Hannah Power who was living with her convict husband, Morgan, effectively became Collins consort. The Missionary William Pascoe Crook, who had previously been the tutor for my convict ancestors in Seven Hills and so presumably familiar with a wide range of Colonial life, said of Collins that his “life is immoral.”

Then in 1806, the 16 year old Margaret Headington arrived with the convicts and settlers transferring from Norfolk Island. Margaret was the daughter of First Fleeter Thomas Headington who died on Norfolk Island. Margaret’s father was 7 years younger than Collins. Margaret was almost 40 years younger. Margaret arrived with her one year old son, John. Despite some  accounts to the contrary, John could not have been Collins’ son. Margaret and John almost immediately assumed residence in Government House. Margaret and Collins had a daughter, Eliza, who was born in 1810. Marianne, George and Eliza all appear to have had children and their descendants continue to live in Australia and some of their descendants are members of the Fellowship of First Fleeters.

By way of digression, his son George joined the Royal Navy and served on the Porpoise which brought Bligh to Tasmania.

His final years in Hobart
Collins was commissioned as Lieutenant Governor of the new settlement, originally in Port Phillip but soon thereafter relocated to Hobart. In this role Collins sought to avoid the turmoil that was happening in Sydney by seeking instructions directly from London. His requests were met with silence in London, until London reiterated that he was required to send his reports and requests to Sydney. He felt abandoned by this silence.

He sought to have his wife, Maria join him, but she declined so that she could care for her sick and dying mother. He did appoint his brother-in-law Benjamin Barbauld, as deputy Judge Advocate, but Benjamin did not remain long in the role and nor did he provide the same level of support as Collins had previously provided Phillip. Collins managed to shock a convict colony by his relations with Hannah Power and Margaret Headington. Then, into this mix, he had for many months Governor Bligh and entourage, occupying Government House and intermeddling in his decision-making and being openly critical of his personal life. In return, Collins described Bligh (in shades of his earlier opinion of Robert Ross) as “this detestable brute.”

The missionary, William Pascoe Crook damned Collins as immoral. John Pascoe Fawlkner , a leading pioneer settler noted that Collins often showed leniency and forgiveness in his sentencing, similar to his practice in Sydney, but was also “accustomed to, and rather given to flogging.”

Collins, with a history of distinguishing a colony from a penal establishment, strove to establish a sperm whale fishery and a herd of cattle from the Cape. Neither of these commercial activities, was supported by London or Sydney and, each led to him being castigated rather than praised for his initiative. Spending 13,000 pounds on the cattle was definitely beyond the pale for London.

Collins died 1810 after being diagnosed with a bad cold. If highly regarded for his integrity on Proclamation Day, at the time of his death opinion on his character was at its nadir. Maria said that he died insolvent. A public subscription had to be raised in Hobart to support his very young daughter, Eliza. He was buried in the full military uniform of a Colonel of the Marines. Medals and decorations were pinned to his breast and his ceremonial sword at his side. His coffin scented with a collection of native herbs. In 1925 his hair did not show signs of greying. The native herbs had enveloped this son of England in the best of the preservative qualities of our Bush.

Why was his grave opened in 1925? Because the Tasmanian government felt that there were too many complexities unresolved. They were right, even though by opening his grave and looking upon the corpse of Collins, they did not resolve them.

With thanks to biographers of David Collins especially Professor Brian Fletcher and John Currey.

The Fellowship of First Fleeters installed a FFF Plaque on Capt David Collins’s Grave on 2^nd November 1988.

Refer FFF Web Site:http://www.fellowshipfirstfleeters.org.au/graves.html

Under  see FFF Plaque 70 – Installed 2^nd November 1988for

FF Capt DAVID COLLINS Capt of Marines/Judge Advocate‘HMS Sirius’ (1756-1810)