Australian Colonial Settlement

The term "highway robbery" had been around in England since about 1650, so it had no specific meaning when the First Fleet arrived in New South Wales. The term was used in Australia with the advent of bushranging, when bushrangers started bailing up travellers to rob them.

The marines were required to guard the convicts, and to help keep law and order in the new colony.

Silversmiths could be found in all three, but the most famous is Paul Revere from Boston.

First TV Newscaster, Kolin Hager, broadcasted farm and weather reports three times weekly on W2XB (May 10, 1928, USA)

The name "Australia" was not determined by Captain Cook. It was derived from the name proposed by Matthew Flinders, which was "Terra Australis".

James Cook named the eastern coast "New South Wales" because it reminded him of Wales.

Neither the US or Japanese fleets were ever in sight of each other . The first indication of the American fleet was when aircraft from the carrer Yorktown attacked Japanese ships supporting the Japanese invasion of the island of Tulagi which precipitated the entry of the Japanese armada into the Coral Sea to search for the US Fleet with the intent to defeat Allied naval forces located there .

Transportation of convicts to Australia ended when the last convict ship left Britain in 1867 and arrived in Australia on 10 January 1868. This ship, the "Hougoumont", brought its final cargo of 269 convicts to Western Australia, as New South Wales had abolished transportation of convicts in 1840.

Lachlan Macquarie was Governor of the New South Wales colony from 1810 to 1821. With his military training and vision for organisation and discipline, Macquarie was an ideal candidate to restore order to the colony, following the Rum Rebellion against deposed Governor William Bligh. He was a strong disciplinarian, with a vision for order and consistency in the colony.

Macquarie had high standards for the transition of New South Wales from prison colony to free settlement. He introduced the first building code into the colony, requiring all buildings to be constructed of timber or brick, covered with a shingle roof, and to include a chimney.

Macquarie also ordered the construction of roads, bridges, wharves, churches and public buildings. This even extended to Van Diemen's Land, of which Macquarie was not directly governor, but over which he still held some influence as the island colony was still considered part of New South Wales at that stage. After inspecting the sprawling, ramshackle settlement of Hobart Town in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), Macquarie ordered government surveyor John Meehan to survey a regular street layout: this layout still forms the current centre of the city of Hobart.

Macquarie was also a great sponsor of exploration. In 1813 he sent Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson across the Blue Mountains, where they found the grazing plains of the interior. After their discovery, Macquarie ordered the establishment of Bathurst, Australia's first inland city. He appointed John Oxley as surveyor-general and sent him on expeditions up the coast of New South Wales and inland to find new rivers and new lands for settlement.

Macquarie was, unfortunately, criticised for his spending on public works, for his attempts to create an orderly colony out of the haphazard settlement that Sydney had grown into and for his efforts to expand the colony beyond its restricted area.

The ships of the First Fleet carried the British flag.

the Aboriginals used traditional hunting spears and the Europeans used un known guns.

The Tank Stream supplied the people of the First Fleet with water during the early years of colonisation. This stream still runs underneath the streets of Sydney today. It remained the colony's chief source of fresh water for forty years, until it was supplemented by "Busby's Bore", also known as Lachlan Tunnel.

The First Fleet changed Australia from a land used and respected by the indigenous people to a land exploited by Europeans for its resources. It changed it from a wild country to yet another economic and political outpost for the English.

The people of the First Fleet established the first settlement in Australia. Convicts of the First Fleet were put to work immediately on building projects, particularly roads, and farming. They cleared the land and native plants, and prepared the ground for tilling and planting. This was the first example of early settlement impacting upon the pristine natural land and Australia's native flora and fauna. The First Fleet introduced new species into Australia, and these animals were, for the most part, the forerunners of destructive and invasive species that have caused so much destruction of the native habitat.

The arrival of the First Fleet had lasting effects upon the indigenous people of Australia. When the white settlers came, the Aborigines were dispossessed of their land and, much later, "encouraged" onto reserves, supposedly for their protection. They were forced off their traditional hunting grounds, and certainly herded away from the fertile coastal areas where there was plenty of food. White settlers wrecked the very effective native fishing traps, cleared native habitats and reduced the native food supplies, as well as polluting their water.

Massacres of the indigenous people occurred on a regular basis, although this was not initially a problem associated with the First Fleet, but rather, once settlement had been established for a few years. The Europeans also introduced foods and diseases, all of which were perfectly harmless to the white settlers, but lowered the life expectancy of the aboriginal people. Simple diseases like measles and influenza had devastating effects on Aborigines. Foods containing wheat and sugar resulted in heart disease and obesity among the indigenous Australians. Europeans introduced new flora and fauna which took over native habitat, leading to the extinction of many plants and animals on which the Aborigines relied.

Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth discovered a route across the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, and in so doing, discovered rich grasslands and grazing land on the other side, sufficient to meet e needs of the growing colony for decades to come. They departed South Creek, Sydney Cove, on 11 May 1813 with four servants, five dogs and four horses. The route they traversed is essentially still the one used by travellers driving over the mountains today.

they slept under the ship together

Captain Arthur Phillip is remembered as the First Governor of the colony of New South Wales, and captain of the First Fleet of convicts to arrive on Australia's shores. He is remembered as being the one whose practical ideas helped the colony survive during the early years, even though it was threatened by starvation.

For a map showing the route of the Arthur Phillip's voyage on the First Fleet, see the related link.

There were 180 female convicts on the First Fleet.

No. The 'Mayflower' was one of the pilgrim ships that first arrived in North America. The First Fleet travelled to New South Wales (Australia).

Captain Arthur Phillip and Captain John Hunter were the two captains in the First Fleet. However, each of the ships had its own skipper, who was not known as "Captain".

Captain James Cook enlisted scientists on his voyages to record the vegetation. On the original voyage of discovery, several new species were found. These included New Zealand Flax, Eucalyptus, Grevillia, Callistemon. Mimosa and Dillenea. After running into a reef on their way back home, they were forced to wait several weeks prior to resuming the voyage. At this time, Banksia, Moreton Bay Pine and Hibiscus were discovered.