In what year did the First Fleet arrive in Australia?
Answer
1788
Explanation
The First Fleet arrived in Australia in January 1788. The fleet, comprising eleven ships, departed Portsmouth on 13 May 1787 and reached Botany Bay (the planned settlement location chosen on Joseph Banks' recommendation) between 18 and 20 January 1788 after a voyage of 252 days via the Canary Islands, Rio de Janeiro, and the Cape of Good Hope.
Captain Arthur Phillip, the fleet's commander and the colony's first Governor, found Botany Bay unsuitable: the soil was poor, the anchorage was exposed to easterly winds, and fresh water was limited. After a brief encounter with the French exploring expedition of Comte de Lapérouse on 24 January (the only European visitors to Australia between Captain Cook in 1770 and Phillip in 1788), Phillip led a small party north to Port Jackson, which Cook had named but not explored. He returned on 25 January and ordered the fleet to move there.
The fleet entered Port Jackson on 26 January 1788. Phillip rowed ashore at a sheltered cove with a freshwater stream and raised the British flag, claiming the eastern half of the Australian continent as the colony of New South Wales. The settlement was called Sydney Cove after the British Home Secretary Lord Sydney. The date is now marked as Australia Day, although it is also observed by many Aboriginal Australians as Invasion Day or Survival Day because it marks the beginning of dispossession of their country.
The arrival was the culmination of a long planning process. Captain James Cook had charted the east coast in 1770, naming Botany Bay and claiming the eastern coast for Britain. The American Revolution had cut off the British penal colonies in America, prompting the search for an alternative site. Joseph Banks, who had sailed with Cook, recommended Botany Bay to the British government. The First Fleet voyage was launched after long preparation, with about 1,400 people on board including officers, soldiers, sailors, marines, civil officials, and the approximately 778 convicts transported under sentence.
Why this matters for your test
1788 is the date of European settlement in Australia, and recognising both 26 January as the date of the Sydney Cove landing and the contested meaning of the day as Australia Day / Invasion Day is essential citizenship knowledge.
Source: Australian Citizenship: Our Common Bond (2024)
