Scrutiny of the bounty

Site reading: a maritime excavation throws light on our past. Australia's trade links with Asia go back a very long way. The Macassans, from what is now Indonesia, were exploiting the natural resources of Northern Australia and exchanging material with the Aboriginal people for many years before Europeans ventured into Australian waters. Soon after the convict settlement was established at Port Jackson, trade began with Batavia (Indonesia), China, India and other ports in the Asia-Pacific region. As early as 1793, Calcutta-based British merchants began to send vessels to Sydney with cargoes of beef, pork, sugar, rice and other goods. Not only much needed food arrived but also spirits such as rum - which quickly became established as a form of currency in the colony. In November 1796, Campbell, Clark and Company of Calcutta dispatched a speculative cargo on board a vessel which it renamed Sydney Cove to commemorate its first trading venture with the new settlement.