Twenty pages of New South Wales' first governor Arthur Phillip's journal detailing our earliest colonial history has been found and submitted to the state library.
The commander of the First Fleet arrived in Australia in 1788 and begun writing down his experience and encounters.
State Library of NSW senior curator Sally Hone said half of his journal was published and the other half was never seen - until it was found in a rural English bookstore.
The new-found pages reveal his struggles with escaping convicts.
"Stealing the corn, stealing the maize at night, lurking in the woods and coming in and stealing," Hone said.
It also tells of the price convicts had to pay to return home.
"He says they paid eight to 10 guineas, so that's the first time the price paid has been mentioned," Hone said.
The brief document also touches on Phillip's efforts to reach the First Nations by meeting with Hawkesbury man Gombear.
"Everyone was very desirous of making him welcome but what we had to give except the hatchets was received with indifference," Phillip wrote.
State Library of NSW Indigenous Engagement Branch manager Damien Webb said hatchets were typically traded with elders when the colonials arrived.
"We know that's true from working with some of the Dharawal elders and other elders, that hatchets were one of the only things that we wanted to trade for, cause they were useful," he said.
The State Library now owns and displays the fragments of our colonial past.
"I was very excited, I thought this is fantastic," Hone said.
"This is for all Australians, this is the first governor of NSW and of Australia."
