• Title
  Collection 10: George Bouchier Worgan letter written to his brother Richard Worgan, 12-18 June 1788. Includes journal fragment kept by George on a voyage to New South Wales with the First Fleet on board HMS Sirius, 20 January 1788-11 July 1788
• Creator
  George Bouchier Worgan, 1757-1838
• Call number
  Safe 1/114
  
• Level of description
  sub-fonds
• Date
  
  20 January 1788-11 July 1788
• Type of material
  Textual Records
• Reference code
  412921
• Issue Copy
  Digitised
• Physical Description
  1 volume of textual material - manuscript
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  George Bouchier Worgan was probably born in 1757. He joined the Navy in 1775 and was appointed Surgeon on HMS Sirius in November 1786. Musically inclined, he brought his piano with him to the colony. Along with the crew of the Sirius, he left Australia to return to England in March 1791, arriving in April 1792. He had left his piano with Elizabeth Macarthur.
  His journal is an account of the first five months of settlement in New South Wales, attached to a letter written to his brother Richard Worgan.
  He married Mary Lawry, probably after his return from Australia, and they had two sons and a daughter. Both sons eventually migrated to Australia. Worgan died in March 1838, his death certificate says by apoplexy but there are other accounts which suggest suicide. (see Mollie Gillen, The founders of Australia; Australian Dictionary of Biography)
• Copying Conditions
  Copyright status:: In copyright
  Copyright holder:: assignee of George Bouchier Worgan
  Research & study copies allowed: Author has been deceased for more than 50 years
  Approval for publication required:
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy copyright holder
• Finding Aids
  Transcript available online - acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/_transcript/2015/D33332/a1175.html
• Published Information
  This journal was published, in transcription, by the Library Council of NSW in 1978. `Journal of a First Fleet surgeon / by George B. Worgan'. Sydney : Library Council of New South Wales in association with the Library of Australian History, 1978. Another typescript transcription is available at Mitchell Library call no. B 1463.
• General note
  
  No watermarks are evident. The manuscript was bound by the Library in full maroon kangaroo. On receipt it was sewn in two sections. The leaf now bound as the first was originally the second.
  
  Microfilm copy available at MAV/FM4/67 (21 frames)
  
  Transferred from C 830
  Digital order no:Album ID : 823462
• Creator/Author/Artist
  Worgan, George Bouchier, 1757-1838
  
• Subject
  Natural history--Australia.
  Sirius (Ship).
  
• Exhibited in
  
  Nelson Meers Foundation Heritage Collection - State Library of New South Wales (January 2003 - March 2004)
  UNESCO Six - State Library of New South Wales (October 2018 - May 2019)
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE1026131

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