History
During 1794, European settlement in New South Wales was yet to develop agricultural self-sufficiency, and merchant ships from India at the time supplied the colony. One such ship, the Sydney Cove, travelling from a southerly direction to New South Wales, sailed into Banks Strait due to strong winds and ran aground between two islands, now known as Preservation Island and Rum Island. The supercargo of the ship, William Clark, for whom Clarke Island is named, took a long boat with seventeen others and rowed to nearby Cape Everard before running aground. He recorded details of the trek in his diary. Only three people Clark and two seamen were found by fishermen at Wattamolla Beach, south of Port Hacking. Arriving at Port Jackson, they informed Governor Hunter of the situation pertaining to Sydney Cove and its remaining crew. Once hearing all of this, Governor Hunter despatched the Francis and the Eliza to salvage and take the remaining crew and cargo to Port Jackson. It was on the first salvage trip of the Francis that the crew on board discovered when venturing on to Clarke Island, wombats. One wombat was taken on board to its return trip to Port Jackson. Matthew Flinders on board the Francis on its third and final salvage trip, decided to take a "specimen" from Clarke Island also to Port Jackson, to which Governor Hunter subsequently sent a corpse to the Literary and Philosophical Society courtesy to Joseph Banks to verify it as a new species.
Read more about this topic: Clarke Island (Tasmania)
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