David Collins (governor)

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David Collins (March 3, 1754 – March 24, 1810) was the inaugural Governor of the Colony of Van Diemens Land, founded in 1804, which in 1901 became the state of Tasmania in the Commonwealth of Australia.

Born in Exeter, he served in the Royal Marines, and was promoted captain in 1779. After some time on half-pay, he sailed on the First Fleet and became (1788) one of the founders of the penal colony of New South Wales at Port Jackson, now Sydney, as judge-advocate. Collins was responsible, under the governor, for the colony's entire legal establishment. He issued all writs, summonses and processes, retained certain fees, and with one other justice of the peace formed the bench of magistrates.

He also established the first settlement in what later became the Colony of Victoria at Sullivan Bay, Victoria on Port Phillip Bay in 1803.

Collins left no published account of his work as Lieutenant-Governor at Port Phillip nor later as the founder of Hobart. He sailed from England in April 1803 aboard H.M.S. Calcutta, arriving at Port Phillip in October. After landing at Sullivan Bay near present-day Sorrento, he sent First Lieutenant James Hingston Tuckey of the 'Calcutta' to explore Port Phillip. Tuckey’s report and his own dissatisfaction with the site chosen prompted him to write to Governor King seeking permission to remove the settlement. When King agreed, Collins decided to move to the Derwent River. He arrived there in February 1804 and established the future town of Hobart.

Collins has given his name to Collins Street, Melbourne and Collins Street, Hobart, Tasmania.

[edit] External links

• Works by David Collins at Project Gutenberg
• Serle, Percival. (1949). "Collins, David". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.

Preceded by —

Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land 1804–1810

Succeeded by Colonel Thomas Davey