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Captain James Cook claims Australia for Britain
Captain James Cook had sighted and charted much of the eastern coastline of Australia. -
American revolutionary War ends
The American revolutionary war ends with the treaty of Paris. The colonies that had once been apart of Britain became independant and had moved to America to become their own country.
This meant that Britain was no longer able to export their convicts to the colonies.
Prisons and hulks soon began to overflow with criminals and it was decided that transportation to Australia was their only option. -
First fleet of 11 ships departed from Great Britain for Australia
450 crew members, 27 dependants of the marines and 759 convicts were on board the 11 ships. The fleet left at 3 o'clock on the morning of 13 May 1787. -
Discovering NSW
First fleet arrived in Botany Bay NSW. However neither the bay nor the land surrounding it met the crews epectations. -
The New Colony
Botany Bay was shallow and offered little protection from storms; the soil was sandy; and there was no good, easily accessible supply of fresh water.
In 1770 Captain James Cook had sailed by another bay a few kilometres from Botany Bay. He named the new found bay Port Jackson.
Captain Arthur Philip left the fleet at Botany Bay in hope to survey Port Jackson for himself. Deemed worthy, the rest of the fleet arrived soon after.
The new colony was oficially proclaimed on 26 Jan 1788. -
The arrival of the second fleet
With the second fleet came fresh supplies, however more than a quarter of the convicts on board had died during the treacherous journey and most of the survivors were to weak to work. -
Third Fleet
The first ship of the Third Fleet arrived at Sydney Cove -
Governor Phillip to resign and return to England
Poor health forced Governor Phillip to resign and return to england. He took with him kangaroos, dingoes, native plants and two Aboriginal me to show to the king. -
Convict Rebellion
New South Wales faced their first serious challenge to their rule. A group of convicts, mainly from Ireland, began a large scale rebellion against the British authorities in Australia.
On the evening of March 4 1804 the rebellion began. With cries of 'Liberty or death!', the rebel convicts overpowered the small garrison that gaurded them. The rebels began recruiting more convicts from the surrounding farms, eventually gathering a force around 600. -
Australia
Permission was granted to change the name of the continent from 'New Holland' to 'Australia'.
