What was the First Fleet convicts' security?

Answer 1

British soldiers, or marines, guarded the convicts. However, once they arrived in New South Wales, the land itself held them in check. The convicts were terrified of the unknown land, with its strange grey-green trees, unusual animals that made unfamiliar sounds, deafening cicadas, oppressive heat and humidity, and the strange, silent aboriginal people. Most convicts did not dare to venture beyond their camp. A few brave souls attempted escape, believing that China lay beyond the mountains, but some of these returned voluntarily, others were hunted down, and still others died somewhere out in the Australian bush.