- Henry Waterhouse
Henry Waterhouse (1770 – 27 July 1812) was a British officer of the
Royal Navy who is strongly associated with the early European settlement ofAustralia .Parsons, Vivienne. (1967). 'Waterhouse, Henry (1770 - 1812)'. Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2. Melbourne University Press, pp 573-574. [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020523b.htm] Accessed 1 September 2008]Waterhouse joined the navy as a boy and saw service in various ships before joining the "Sirius" as a
midshipman in 1786. He sailed with theFirst Fleet to Australia and was present in 1788 at the first settlement ofNew South Wales and the settlement ofNorfolk Island , returning to Britain in 1791 as alieutenant . He transferred to the "Bellerophon" in 1793 and served in the battle of theGlorious First of June in 1794.In July 1794 Waterhouse took charge of the "Reliance" as
Commander and returned toSydney in September 1795 carrying the new Governor, John Hunter, as well assurgeon George Bass , who was to become his brother-in-law, and the AboriginalBennelong . In 1796 he sailed to theCape Colony to procurelivestock for New South Wales and brought back the firstMerino sheep to be imported to Australia. Subsequently he made several voyages to Norfolk Island and was the first person to chart theAntipodes Islands in 1800.Waterhouse returned to Britain in 1800 and lived most of the rest of life near
Rochester, Kent . He never married, though he had an illegitimate daughter who was born in Sydney in 1791. He is commemorated in the name of Waterhouse Island in north-easternTasmania .References
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