First Fleet Initials on Garden Island Earliest White Man And Only Remaining Relic Of Sydney 1788

February 11th 1788 
Captain Arthur Phillip Sends Men To Garden Island To Prepare A Ship's Garden

On This Day Governor Arthur Phillip Sent A Party to Garden Island To Prepare a Ships Garden. Three sets of initials, ‘FM’, ‘IR’, and ‘WB’, were carved on a rock on the northern hill of Garden Island.
Mystery Surrounds The Initials As There's No Written Record Of Their Existance, Yet There's No Reason To Believe They're Not Genuine. It's Believed They Belong To First Fleeters Frederick Meredith, Captain’s steward of transport ship Scarborough; marine private Joseph Redford of HMS Sirius and William Bradley, first lieutenant of HMS Sirius. They Were all attached to HMS Sirius during the winter months of 1788 when the vessel was anchored off Garden Island, which at the time was being used to grow vegetables for the crew.
All that is known is that these Initials In The Rock are the only remaining relic of Sydney 1788.