Australian Colonial Settlement

The very first European settlers in Australia (not including the Aborigines who were the first inhabitants) were a mix of convicts, officers and marines, and free settlers, all of whom came from Britain.

Captain Arthur Phillip took the Aborigine Bennelong to England. Bennelong was a senior man of the Eora, a Koori, people of the Port Jackson area, when the First Fleet arrived in Australia, in 1788. He was captured on 25 November 1789, for the purpose of being used as a mediary between the white and Aboriginal cultures. Captain Arthur Phillip, wanted to learn about the language and customs of the indigenous people. Bennelong willingly liaised between the cultures, and adopted European dress and other ways. Bennelong travelled with Phillip to England in 1792, and returned to Australia in 1795. However, he was ostracised from his own people, the Aborigines, when he found it too difficult to integrate into the European culture, and tried to return to his own people. He died on 3 January 1813.

Explorer Gregory Blaxland was honoured by these places being named after him: * the town of Blaxland in the Blue Mountains * Mount Blaxland and later: * the Australian Electoral Division of Blaxland * Blaxland, a small Queensland railway siding on the Darling Downs, between Oakey and Dalby

The grave of Captain Arthur Phillip, first Governor of Australia, is in the church of St Nicholas, Barthampton, England. Originally, his tombstone was situated in the porch entranceway of the church: this was considered a fitting honour as everyone would remember him as they entered and departed the church.

John Hudson Died of old age

The convicts of the First Fleet were very quickly set to work clearing trees, tilling the soil and getting the first crops started. The convicts were very hard to motivate, being reluctant to work in the Australian heat and humidity, and with tools that constantly broke, but they were expected to work hard.

They were also set construction projects, as there were no roads, bridges or buildings. Some convicts were assigned as servants or tradespeople to the free settlers who also came.

John "Black" Caesar was an Australian who was known as a "bushranger." He stole animals and food, along with other burglaries.

Captain James Cook did not discover any continent.

In 1770, he found the eastern coast of Australia, but Australia as a continent had been discovered by the Portuguese about two hundred years before Cook.

Formal discoveries of Australia were made by the Dutch in the early 1600s.

Very few.

The only civilian free settlers on the First Fleet were the wives and children of some of the marines. No other settlers sought passage on the convict-dominated Fleet. There are no records listing the wives and children, but it is estimated that there were not more than a couple of dozen.

There were no murderers on the First Fleet. All the convicts on the First Fleet to Australia were petty thieves or convicted of crimes such as larceny, burglary and forgery.

This decision was officially made on 18 August 1786. This was when it was decided to send a colonisation party of convicts, military and civilian personnel to Botany Bay, New South Wales, under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, who was appointed Governor-designate.

The First Fleet of convicts departed Portsmouth, England on 13 May 1787 and arrived in New South Wales on 18 January 1788 (moving to Sydney Cove on 26 January).

The First Fleet departed Portsmouth, England on 13 May 1787 and initially arrived in Australia on 18 January 1788, moving to Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788.

The First Fleet of convicts, under the leadership of Captain Arthur Phillip, departed Portsmouth, England, on 13 May 1787.

Because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Remove the criminal element from Britain and they believed that it would solve the criminal problem.

Far from it, it made no difference.

However, the "criminal's" had the last laugh, They were blessed with a country with perfect weather, glorious beaches and magnificence scenery.

The Borrowdale was one of the ships that did not transport convicts on the First Fleet. It carried tools for building and for planting crops in the new colony, as well as livestock, many of which were lost during a gale.

A colony is a group of identical bacteria (clones) which grow together into a visible cluster. Generally, a colony is grown on an nutrient agar plate (on a petri dish with bacteria food in it) such that it is large enough to see the bacteria. An additional type of colony is a "microcolony" which is a term used for a group of the same bacteria which grown in the dirt.

Gregory Blaxland was one of the first three Europeans to discover a route across the Blue Mountains. This was significant because, after the colony of Sydney/New South Wales had been virtually imprisoned by the mountains for twenty five years, graziers and farmers were now able to expand out into new grasslands and agricultural lands. It marked a new season of prosperity for Australia.

Mostly trees. There was no settlement and the Aborigines initially shunned the Europeans. There was just dense bushland, heat and humidity unlike anything the English colonists had ever experienced.

Sources vary, but the following is a close estimate.

There were either thirteen or fourteen children of convicts on the First Fleet. It is not known how many officers' children were aboard, but nine more we born along the way. In addition, there were seventeen convict children.