Tench, Watkin (1759?-1833), a British officer, wrote several accounts of life in the early period of the colony of New South Wales, Australia. Tench was probably born in Wales. He landed in Australia in January 1788 with the First Fleet, which brought the first group of convicts to Australia. He was in charge of the marine detachment on board the transport Charlotte. He stayed in Australia for nearly four years and kept a diary of events in the colony. He made several journeys of exploration. On one of them, he sighted the Nepean River.
In 1789, Tench published A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay. After his return to London, he wrote A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson (1793). Both these works give vivid, reliable, and detailed descriptions of life in the early settlement. Tench died on May 7, 1833.
