Second Edition of Robert Forrester's Story

The First Edition of 'Robert Forrester, First Fleeter' was published in January 2009. At the time I was very new to the field of researching and writing about Australian history but it was easy to see that Robert's story was compelling. Despite my inexperience as an amateur historian, the judging panel of the Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies (since re-named as Family History Connections) rated the book as 'Highly Commended' in the Alexander Henderson Award, 2009.

That book incorporated my own extensive 'deep delving' into original records (primary sources), trying to track whatever I could find about specific events in Robert's life. In many other places in that book I relied on the published research of others to tell the general story of his times. Virtually every point made in the book was supported by an endnote, so that others could cross-check my work and could use the same often obscure sources for their own research. I've been told that my book significantly raised the standard of non-fiction Australian family histories and set a good example for others to follow.

Sketch by my mother Julia Woodhouse of the three Aborigines in 1799

Ten years have now passed, and I've gained a much greater understanding of the early days of Sydney and the Hawkesbury and the Aboriginal history of those times. Robert and Isabella have each found a place in our country's history of the interactions between our First Peoples and our first settlers.  I can see how I could have described many aspects of that historical period more accurately, or more clearly. Other researchers have been at work too, since my Forrester research was completed in 2008, and I've benefited from their thinking and writing.

'Robert Forrester, First Fleeter' has been popular and already reprinted twice, in 2011 and 2014 but, when supplies once again began running out in 2017, I decided to take this opportunity to update the book. It will contain:

• some exciting news about Robert's family of origin
• a new interpretation of 'the crime' in London
• additional information about Robert's partner-in-crime, Richard McDale/McDeed
• more information about the London landlady, Letitia Coleman
• an improved description of events on 21 & 26 January, 1788 
• an update on Sydney's 'orgy myth'
• a more precise definition of the location of Robert's grant on Norfolk Island
• an update on Isabella Ramsay's family of origin
• a more precise definition of the location of Robert's 1794 grant beside the Hawkesbury
• much more about settler interactions with the Aborigines (the 'Frontier War' and massacres)
• more about Robert's killing of an Aborigine in 1794
• information about Isabella Ramsay's interesting role when two Aborigines were killed at Cornwallis in 1799
• the counterargument to the criticism of Robert Forrester in 'Hawkesbury Settlement Revealed' and several other publications
• less reliance on excerpts from 'An Account of the English Colony In New South Wales' by David Collins
• numerous other minor amendments and additional pictures

This new material added many extra pages to the original book, so Appendices 1-8 in the First Edition have been omitted. The content is preserved, either within the revised book or as individual posts on this blog:

• Robert Forrester's Origins - posted on 10 December 2018
• Richard McDale/McDeed - now incorporated within main text of Second Edition
• Mary Frost of the Neptune - posted on 12 December 2018 as 'Robert Forrester's Wife Mary Frost'
• Duncan Forrester - posted on 13 December 2018 as 'Duncan Forrester of the New South Wales Corps'
• Isabella Ramsay's Origins - posted on 11 December 2018
• Argyle Reach Grants, 1794 - now incorporated within main text of Second Edition
• Isabella Jane Forrester/Bushell - now incorporated within main text of Second Edition
• James Metcalf - now incorporated within main text of Second Edition

The book has been streamlined in other ways too, to make it no longer than the First Edition, despite the inclusion of additional material. Its publication date awaits confirmation of the DNA links to prove, as far as possible, Robert's parentage. Please email me if you'd like to join the waiting list for the Second Edition of the book. To reflect its substantial revisions, it will have the new title 'Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter'.

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