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Revision as of 06:01, 3 April 2005 by DickMack (talk | contribs) (link 'hulk')(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The First Fleet is the name given to the group of people and ships who sailed from England in May 1787 to establish the first European colony in New South Wales. It was a convict settlement, led by Captain (later Admiral) Arthur Phillip.
Background to the settlement
People of the First Fleet
The number of people directly associated with the First Fleet will probably never be exactly established, and all accounts of the event vary slightly.
Gillen (see Further Reading below, p.445) gives the following statistics:
Embarked at Portsmouth
- Officials and passengers: 15
- Ships' crews: 323
- Marines: 247
- Marines wives and children: 46
- Convicts (males): 582
- Convicts (females): 193
- Convicts' children: 14
- Total embarked: 1420
Landed at Port Jackson
- Officials and passengers: 14
- Ships' crews: 306
- Marines: 245
- Marines wives and children: 54
- Convicts (males): 543
- Convicts (females): 189
- Convicts' children: 22
- Total landed: 1373
During the voyage there were 22 births (13 males, 9 females), while 69 people either died, were discharged, or deserted (61 males and 8 females). As no complete crew musters have survived for the six transports and three storeships, there may have been as many as 110 more seamen.
Some of the notable First Fleet members were:
Officials
- Augustus Alt, surveyor
- Richard Johnson, chaplain
Crew members who remained in the colony
- Arthur Phillip, governor
- King, Philip Gidley, 2nd lieutenant, later lieutenant governor of Norfolk Island, and 3rd governor of the colony
- John Hunter, captain of HMS Sirius, later 2nd governor of the colony
- Henry Lidgbird Ball, captain of HMS Supply
- John White, principal surgeon
- Thomas Arndell, assistant surgeon, later settler
- William Balmain, assistant surgeon, later principal surgeon
- Arthur Bowes Smyth, assistant surgeon, author of journal
- Dennis Considen, assistant surgeon
- Thomas Jamison, surgeon's mate
- Henry Brewer, clerk to Phillip, provost marshall, administrator
- Quartermaster Henry Hacking, settler, explorer
Marines
- Major Robert Ross, commander, later lieutenant governor of Norfolk Island
- 2nd Lieutenant Ralph Clark, author of journal
- Captain David Collins, judge advocate, later commandant of first settlement at Hobart
- Lieutenant William Dawes, engineer, surveyor, humanitarian
- Lieutenant George Johnston, later commander of NSW Corps
- Captain Watkin Tench, author of journal
- Lieutenant William Bradley, author of journal, water colourist
Convicts
- Ann Inett, de facto relationship with Philip Gidley King
- Margaret Dawson, de facto relationship with William Balmain
- Esther Abrahams, partner and wife of George Johnston
- Mary Braund and William Bryant, escapees from colony
- James Ruse, farmer and landowner
- John Baughan, carpenter, mill owner, attacked by NSW Corps
- Jacob Bellett, landowner at Norfolk Island and Van Diemen's Land
- Matthew James Everingham, landowner
- Edward Garth and Susannah Gough/Garth, pioneer family
- Nathaniel Lucas and Olive Gascoigne, pioneer family
- Henry Kable/Cabell, constable, landowner
- John Caesar, Madagascan, absconder
- Joshua Peck, landowner
- Charles Peat and Ann Mullins, pioneer family
- Robert Sidaway, theatre owner, landholder
Many other convicts made significant contributions to the early years of the colony, but few are remembered today, except by their descendants.
Ships of the First Fleet
There were eleven ships in the fleet, namely:
Naval escorts:
Convict transports
Storeships
Preparation for the voyage
The decision to send convicts to Botany Bay was taken by the British Government on 18 August 1786. Preparations to obtain ships, convicts, guards and provisions began soon after. At the time the five hulks in service held about 1300 men, and selected convicts, including women from county gaols were transferred to the Dunkirk hulk at Plymouth and the New Gaol in Southwark. Optimistically, it was hoped to be able to sail in October, but a series of postponements were made. In mid April 1787 the St James's Chronicle commented that “strange as it may appear, we are credibly informed of the Fact that the Transports for Botany Bay have not as yet sailed".
By October 1786, more than 200 marines had volunteered for Botany Bay duty, and Major Robert Ross was chosen to command them. The man chosen to lead the expedition, command HMS Sirius, and take on the governorship of the colony, was Captain Arthur Phillip, of whom the first lord of the admiralty said “the little I know of would have led me to select him".
The convict ships were fitted out with strong hatch bars between decks, bulkheads to divide convicts from crew, and guns and ammunition. Provisions included food such as flour, pease, rice, butter, salted beef and pork, bread, soup, cheese, water and beer. Coal and wood were provided for fuel. Beads, looking glasses and other gifts for native inhabitants were included. Other items included tools, agricultural implements, seeds, spirits, medical supplies, bandages, surgical instruments, handcuffs, leg irons and chains. A prefabricated house for the governor was constructed and packed flat. 5000 bricks for construction were loaded. As the party was venturing into unknown territory, it had to carry all its provisions to survive until it could make use of local materials, assuming suitable supplies existed, and could grow its own food and raise livestock.
Convicts were delivered to the transports from the hulks and gaols with no reference to skills, or fitness to contribute to the creation of the new colony. The first arrivals embarked on the transports at Woolwich and Gravesend in early January, and continued throughout the next three months. Gradually the ships made their way to Portsmouth, where the last convicts were loaded on the day the fleet sailed. Eventually the fleet set sails and moved off down the English Channel on 13 May 1787.
The voyage
Arrival at New South Wales
Further reading
Gillen, Mollie, The Founders of Australia: a biographical dictionary of the First Fleet, Sydney, Library of Australian History, 1989. Bateson, Charles, The Convict Ships, 1787-1868, Sydney, 1974.
Related sites
See also: