What were the living conditions in 1788 in Botany Bay?

Answer 1

botany Bay was not settled by the First Fleet of convicts to Australia. The site proved unsuitable for settlement, so there were not actually any living conditions, except for the Australian Aborigines.

The first European settlement in Australia was established at Sydney Cove, in Port Jackson. The conditions were harsh, but Captain Arthur Phillip was a fair disciplinarian. Punishment for misdemeanours might have involved loss or reduction of rations or tobacco, while harsher punishments involved a lashing with the cat-o'-nine-tails, a cruel leather whip with 9 "tails", each with a sharp piece of metal in the end, which would gouge out the skin. A convict might receive 40 lashes or more.

A convict's nationality had a bit to do with how he or she was treated. The Irish were usually political convicts, and as such were suppressed more harshly than the British. Reverend Samuel Marsden, the "flogging parson" earned his nickname because he was determined to beat the Irish people's rebellion out of them.

The convicts were quickly put to work clearing the land and planting crops, which proved unsuccessful because the soil was tough and the British implements were unsuitable for the Australian countryside. Others had to clear the land for roads, quarrying stone suitable for paving the rough roads. Some convicts were assigned as servants to free settlers, and again, some settlers would treat them well, but others would treat them badly. Some convicts earned enough trust and respect to be given a Ticket-of-Leave, which enabled them to move freely within the colony, but they were not truly free until they gained a Free Pardon. They could work at their own jobs or be trained in a trade. After this, they might be assigned some land of their own to farm, or even have earned enough to purchase their own property.

The climate was hot and humid, and completely unfamiliar to people used to much cooler, wetter conditions. Summer storms ripped through the settlement suddenly, pelting the settlers with hailstones and threatening their tents which were the only shelter in the early months. Thick eucalyptus bushland surrounded the settlement, and the early settlers feared attack from the Aborigines, although this was not an issue until the Europeans started the hostilities through their own actions. Unfamiliar animals could be seen skirting the settlement, and of course the convicts and settlers had no understanding of how deadly Australian snakes were.