FIRST SETTLEMENT

On 18 January 1788, the 11 ships of the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay in New South Wales and on 26 January 1788 Australia's first settlement was established at Port Jackson, now modern day Sydney.

The First Fleet comprised mainly convicts and guards, with approximately four men to every woman. The settlers, mostly from London and other towns and cities, knew little about cultivating the land. This, combined with ignorance about local climate, animal and plant life, poor soil around Sydney, as well as hostilities with the Aboriginal people, meant the colony faced near starvation in its first years.

Eventually fertile lands were found around the Hawkesbury and Parramatta rivers, and the settlers developed productive farms. In 1790 the Second Fleet arrived. Along with much needed supplies from Europe, it brought sickness and disease. More than any conflict with the Aboriginal people, this influx of foreign diseases caused significant decline in the indigenous population. Despite these tenuous beginnings the first settlement of New South Wales survived to become the vibrant city of Sydney that we know today.