First edition. White was chief surgeon of the First Fleet, and was particularly successful in that he overcame serious medical problems in appalling conditions both on the voyage out and once the settlement had been founded. He was also a keen amateur naturalist and after arriving at Port Jackson found time to accompany Phillip on two journeys of exploration. On joining the First Fleet he had begun to keep a journal in which he made notes about birds in the new colony. It was this manuscript which formed the nucleus of his book. White's Journal also contains an interesting and valuable account of the voyage from London, with long, detailed accounts of the stops at Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and of the colonial voyages to Norfolk Island.

First edition. White was chief surgeon of the First Fleet, and was particularly successful in that he overcame serious medical problems in appalling conditions both on the voyage out and once the settlement had been founded. He was also a keen amateur naturalist and after arriving at Port Jackson found time to accompany Phillip on two journeys of exploration. On joining the First Fleet he had begun to keep a journal in which he made notes about birds in the new colony. It was this manuscript which formed the nucleus of his book. White's Journal also contains an interesting and valuable account of the voyage from London, with long, detailed accounts of the stops at Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and of the colonial voyages to Norfolk Island.

The natural history content of the published account makes White's particularly noteworthy amongst the First Fleet journals. Many of the plates were drawn in England by leading natural history artists of the day, such as Sarah Stone, from original sketches done in the colony. White's interest in natural history continued until he left New South Wales in December 1794. When the convict artist Thomas Watling arrived in the colony in October 1792 he was assigned to White and in the next two years made many drawings of birds for him. It is possible that White himself had some skill as an artist and that he was responsible for the original sketches of some of the engravings here.

The book was an immediate success, with subscribers alone accounting for 700 copies, and remained in print at least until the end of the decade; European interest led to its translation into Swedish, German and French.