by John Patience Chard 1928

The First Fleet

Having brought hundreds of convicts to New South Wales, Arthur Phillip then had to conjure order out of their chaos.

1788

King George III 1760-1820

Introduction

The first British settlement in Australia was established at Sydney Cove on January 26th, 1788, and named after the Home Secretary. The policy of penal transportation was barbarity, but out of it Captain Phillips and his successors conjured civilisation — and began by disobeying orders.

by John Patience Chard 1928

abridged

CAPTAIN Arthur Phillip, R.N., was appointed governor of New South Wales on the 12th of October, 1786, and commanded the First Fleet, consisting of the Sirius, the Supply, six transports, and three store ships. He was a naval officer experienced in handling men of all classes, and in the Seven Years War and the later war with France had proved himself to be a man of outstanding ability.*

Food and farming implements necessary for beginning the settlement were to be purchased in England before leaving, but live-stock was to be obtained from the Cape of Good Hope. On the 13th of May, 1787, the fleet sailed from England.* Captain John Hunter was second-in-command; Major Robert Ross, in command of marines; and Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins, judge-advocate.

After calling at Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town (where live-stock and a scanty supply of provisions were obtained), the ships reached Botany Bay on the 20th of January, 1788.

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See The Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). The ‘later war with France’ was the Anglo-French war of 1778-1783, part of the American Revolutionary Wars.

Chard’s account of the number of crew and passengers has been omitted; he gives ‘771 convicts, 695 officers,marines, and sailors, and 16 children — 1482 persons in all’. However, no complete muster of the ships’ crews and passengers was kept, and the figures are still disputed. Modern research confirms that at least 1,420 embarked in London on eleven ships, including crew, convicts and family members, military personnel, and government officials.

Précis

In 1788 Australia, selected as a penal colony for the British Empire, received her first transports, under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip. Following an eight-month voyage, the ‘first fleet’ arrived in Botany Bay near modern-day Sydney on January 20th, and began unloading the convicts, along with animals and other cargo brought from England and the Cape.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

Why is Captain Phillip’s convoy to Australia in 1787-1788 known today as the First Fleet?

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