The 'First Fleet' commissioned by Thomas Townsend, Viscount Sydney, set sail for Botany Bay on May 13th 1787, led 

by Captain Arthur Phillip. The fleet pictured below, made up of the frigate HMS Sirius, an armed tender HMS Supply,

the 'Golden Grove', the Borrowdale and six transports, the Scarborough, the Lady Penrhyn, the Friendship, the Charlotte, 

the Prince of Wales, the Fishburn and the Alexander. The fleet first assembled at Mother Bank in the Isle of Wight.

                                  HMS. Sirius                                                                                    HMS. Supply

Later after arriving in Cape Town, they took on board, plants, trees and animals. HMS Supply, along with the ships 

Scarborough, Friendship and Alexander sailed ahead of the fleet, first sighting the NSW coast on the 3rd January 

1788. They arrived in Botany Bay on the 18th of January and after coming to anchor, they soon found that there was 

not a supply of fresh water in the area. The decision was made to go further north to Port Jackson (now known as 

Sydney Harbour). There they found a lush, pristine forest in a cove which was fed by a stream known as the 

'Tank Stream' and decided this was where they would settle. When all the fleet were anchored in Port Jackson, 

a formal flag raising ceremony was conducted by Arthur Phillip on shore, to proclaim the Colony of NSW, in the

 name of the King, on the 26th of January 1788. This day/date is now  always celebrated as "Australia Day", 

our national holiday.

Sydney began its life as a penal colony, arriving with the first fleet were 568 male convicts, 191 female convicts 

with 13 children, 206 nannies with 26 wives and 13 children, plus 20 officials having made the voyage. 

The settlement was named after Lord Sydney (1733-1800) the British home secretary, who was responsible for 

the colony.

Governor Captain Phillip's domain covered about half of Australia from the 135th meridian in the west, to the 

Eastern Oceanic waters, but his human resources were extremely limited. Three major problems faced the early 

Governors, (1) providing enough food to feed his colony, (2) Building an internal economic system, (3) Being able 

to produce exports to pay for the colony's imports from Britain.

It was a very hard life and for the first 30 years or so, the colony struggled to survive. The soldiers of the 

'NSW Corps' often worked alongside the convicts in order to ensure survival. The land around Sydney was very

 sandy and unsuitable for farming, the colony faced continual food shortages through the 1790's, as late as 1820

 a convicts weekly ration consisted of 7lb..of flour, 7lb..of meat, 1lb of sugar, 8oz of tea and 3.5lbs of maize.

 Food sources were mainly fish and kangaroo meats. Phillip established farms on the fertile banks of the 

Hawkesbury River, a few miles northwest of Sydney, what he hadn't reckoned on, was the land was subject to 

flooding and still being used by Aborigines. Both reasons caused him concern. Additional food supplies came 

from Norfolk Island nearly 1600kms (1000miles) away, which Phillip had occupied in February 1788, the island 

later served as a jail.

Those who originally planned and prepared the provisions for the first fleet, were totally unaware of the conditions 

in Australia, had no idea of the logistics of such an endeavour. As a result the efforts of the settlers were thwarted

by the limited supply of tools, the quality of these tools, taking into account the size of the local trees and the 

hardness of their timber. Shelter was a real problem as they had  no building materials. Another item that was not

 supplied, was extra clothing. Convicts and Marines alike were dressed in patches and threadbare clothing by the 

time the second fleet arrived.

By July 1788, all the ships excepting 'Sirius & Supply' had left and the settlement was extremely isolated. 

Due to the dire position at Sydney Cove, the 'Sirius' was sent to Capetown in South Africa on the 2nd Oct 1788, 

to purchase provisions. She returned on May 2nd 1789. During the time the ship was away, the 'Supply' had taken

 a group of convicts and marines to Norfolk Island to set up a penal colony. The land there was more fertile than 

in Sydney and the timber was softer and also better quality, but they could not load it onto the ship because of

 the rocky cliffs and rough seas around the island. They did however, manage to catch large numbers of turtles, 

these were brought back to Sydney to supplement the food for the colony. Exploration to the west of Sydney in 

the now Parramatta region, discovered good quality land and a development called 'Rose Hill' was started. 

Agriculture eventually flourished, but the crops when harvested were not readily available to Sydney Cove, 

due to the lack of transport.

On the 6th August 1789 Australia's first police force was formed in Sydney and comprised of 12 of the best behaved

 convicts of the time. There are many conclusions which could be conjured up from this but I leave that up to you. 

In February 1790 the 'Sirius' was sent to China to purchase more supplies. This was delayed as the ship was sent 

to Norfolk Island with more convicts, to try and ease the food shortage situation. Sadly, on the 19th February the

 'Sirius' was wrecked off Norfolk Island and the new colony was then left with only one ship. On 17th April the 

'Supply' was dispatched to Batavia (Jakarta), to further alleviate the problem. The situation had become so serious, 

that only 3 months of certain foods were left. Luckily, on June 3rd the 'Lady Juliana' was sighted, a transport 

carrying another 225 female convicts, she was the first of the ships that made up the 'Second Fleet'. Shortly 

afterwards, the 'Justinian' arrived loaded with provisions for the colony. Rations were immediately increased 

and with the arrival of further ships carrying more convict labour, the labour hours were extended. New buildings

 were planned and large areas of land near Parramatta were cleared for cultivation. After more than two years 

of isolation and near starvation, the settlement at Sydney Cove began to expand, although a year long drought in 

late 1791 took its toll. Farming began to prosper and visiting ships became more regular.

On the same day as Sydney was founded Australia's first white child was born to Mrs and Sgt Thomas Whittle of 

the Royal Marines. On 6th March 1788, the first execution was carried out, a youth of 17 years John Barrett was

 hanged for stealing food. Life was tough back then.

Phillips successor was Governor Captain John Hunter (1738-1821), who arrived in 1795 and tried in vain to gain 

control of the rum trafficking. As the colony had no coinage or currency, rum had become the local currency and was 

quickly organised and controlled by the soldiers which had an adverse effect on the colony's growth and well being. 

The next Governor Capt. Philip G. King (1758-1808) who served from 1800-1806, was no more successful than Hunter. 

When Captain William Bligh was appointed Governor, he was successful to a point where it really hurt the ringleaders 

which included John Macarthur, that they retaliated and imprisoned Governor William Bligh, in which is known today,

 as the "Rum Rebellion". (Please see the page  on William Bligh).

Meanwhile, one of the ringleaders John Macarthur had found the solution to the colony's lack of valuable exports, 

though his wife was more prominent in this exercise, than was Macarthur. In 1802 he had shown the British 

Manufacturers, samples of Australian wool. After 1810 and the inter-breeding of the long staple wool of the Merino

sheep, that it developed into a major economic industry.

William Bligh's replacement Lachlan Macquarie arrived in 1810 along with the 87th Regiment and the NSW Rum 

Corps were sent packing back to England. This was a very difficult period for all involved, but the hardships 

and  tribulations were all for a good cause, as the Australia as we know it today, is a great place to live......