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    LADY NELSON, the name of a 60-ton brig which for 25 years had an important
part in the early history of Australia. Built at Deptford, England, in 1799,
she had a centre-board keel invented by Captain Schank, and as she made her
way down the Thames, sailors on vessels on the river ironically christened her
"His Majesty's Tinder box".

    Many doubted that she would ever make her port of destination.
With Lieut. James Grant as commander, the Lady Nelson left England for Australia
in March 1800. She was the first vessel to sail parallel to the entire southern
coast of Australia, and was the first to sail eastward through Bass Strait.
She charted the coastline of Victoria, explored its inlets, and penetrated its
rivers.

    She travelled north to Moreton Bay, Port Essington and Melville Island, and also
helped to establish Lieut. Bowen's colony at Risdon Cove, Tasmania.
From September 1801 to March 1803 she was commanded by Acting Lieut. John Murray,
she was used in the discovery of the Port Phillip district and the surveying of much of
Bass Straight. During which time the Danish adventurer Jorgen Jorgensen served in her as
'second mate'.

    She played many parts in the early history of Australia, now acting as Governor King's
messenger and carrying dispatches to Norfolk Island, fetching grain from the
Hawkesbury or coals or timber from Newcastle, and at another time carrying troops
and settlers to the far north. She also conveyed bricks from Sydney kilns to Tasmania
and New Zealand to build the homes of the first white settlers in those lands.

    For a time the Lady Nelson was dismantled, but she returned to service later.
In February 1825 she was dispatched to northern islands for a cargo of buffaloes,
and her crew were warned to avoid Baba Is., northeast of Timor. The warning appears
to have been disregarded; consequently the ship was attacked by island savages,
the crew were murdered and the vessel was run ashore; her hull was seen later on the
island with her name still visible.

    Lady Nelson's Point, Lady Nelson's Reef and Cape Nelson on the south coast of
Australia, and Mount Nelson, Tasmania, commemorate the vessel.