The information that follows was obtained from
the Wikipedia free encyclopaedia website, the
Fairfax Australian Travel Guide, The City of
Botany Bay website :
Cook named the bay 'Stingray Harbour'. That name
was also recorded on an Admiralty chart. Cook's
log for 6 May 1770 records "The great quantity of
these sort of fish found in this place occasioned
my giving it the name of Stingrays Harbour".
However, in his journal (prepared later from his
log), he changed to "The great quantity of plants
Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander found in this place
occasioned my giving it the Name of Botany
Bay".
In his journals, Cook wrote enthusiastically of
the well watered fertile meadows he had seen. His
descriptions helped to convince the British
government that New South Wales would be the
ideal place to set up a penal colony.
THE FIRST FLEET is the name given to the 11 ships
which sailed from Great Britain on May 13, 1787
to establish the first European colony in New
South Wales. It was a convict settlement, marking
the beginnings of transportation to Australia.
The fleet was led by Captain (later Admiral)
Arthur Phillip.
The decision to send convicts to Botany Bay was
taken by the British Government on 18 August
1786, with the responsibility to organise and
choose officials falling on then Home Secretary,
Lord Sydney and his junior, Evan Nepean.
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 hulk
Dunkirk 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
[him] would [not] have led me to select him".
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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.
In November, Phillip transferred to Supply. With
Alexander, Friendship and Scarborough, the
fastest ships in the Fleet and carrying most of
the male convicts, Supply hastened ahead to
prepare for the arrival of the rest. Phillip
intended to select a suitable location, find good
water, clear the ground, and perhaps even have
some huts and other structures built before the
others arrived. However, this "flying squadron"
reached Botany Bay only hours before the rest of
the Fleet, so no preparatory work was possible.
The Supply reached Botany Bay on 18 January 1788;
the three fastest transports in the advance group
arrived on 19 January; slower ships, including
the Sirius arrived on 20 January.
This was one of the world's greatest sea voyages
— eleven vessels carrying about 1400 people
and stores had travelled for 252 days for more
than 15,000 miles (24,000 km) without losing a
ship. Forty-eight people had died on the journey,
a death rate of just over three per cent. Given
the rigours of the voyage, the navigational
problems, the poor condition and sea-faring
inexperience of the convicts, the primitive
medical knowledge, the lack of precautions
against scurvy, the crammed and foul conditions
of the ships, poor planning and inadequate
equipment, this was a remarkable
achievement.
It was soon realised that Botany Bay did not live
up to the glowing account that Captain James Cook
had given it in 1770. The bay was open and
unprotected, fresh water was scarce, and the soil
was poor. First contacts were made with the local
indigenous people, the Eora, who seemed curious
but suspicious of the newcomers. The area was
studded with enormously strong trees. When the
convicts tried to cut them down, their tools
broke and the tree trunks had to be blasted out
of the ground with gunpowder. The primitive huts
built for the officers and officials quickly
collapsed in rainstorms.
On 21 January, 2 days after he had arrived in
Botany Bay, Phillip and a party which included
John Hunter, departed the Bay in three small
boats to explore other bays to the north. They
soon found what they were looking for and the men
returned on 23 January with news of a harbour to
the north, with sheltered anchorages, fresh water
and fertile soil. Phillip's impressions of the
harbour were recorded in a letter he sent to
England later. He wrote "the finest harbour in
the world, in which a thousand sail of the line
may ride in the most perfect security ...". This
was Port Jackson, which Cook had seen and named,
but not entered. A decision was made to relocate
the party to this new site.
On 26 January 1788, the fleet weighed anchor and
by evening had entered Port Jackson. The site
selected for the anchorage had deep water close
to the shore, was sheltered and had a small
stream flowing into it. Phillip named it Sydney
Cove, after Lord Sydney the British Home
Secretary. This date is still celebrated as
Australia Day, marking the beginnings of the
first British settlement.
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The site of Cook's landing at Kernell (left
and below}
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Monument to Sir Joseph Banks (left)
which is situated close to the Cook landing
memorials.
From the Council of Heads of Australasian
Herbaria website (with acknowledgement) :
"Joseph Banks was born in 1743, the only son of a
wealthy land-owning family. From an early age,
his declared passion was natural history, and in
particular, botany. Shortly after inheriting his
family's fortune in the early 1760's he chose to
pursue this passion to the full. In 1766 he
travelled to Newfoundland and Labrador to collect
plants, animals and rocks and was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society in the same
year.
"When the Royal Society was successful in
initiating Captain Cook's 1768 expedition to
Tahiti for astronomical observations, Banks
obtained permission from the Admiralty to join
the venture. For him, this was like a present-day
scientist being given the chance of a trip to
another planet, a chance to study new plants in
unknown lands.
"They made collections and observations in South
America, Tahiti and New Zealand before reaching
Australia. His major landfalls on the eastern
coast of Australia were at Botany Bay (28 April -
5 May 1770) and at the Endeavour River (17 June -
3 August). By now the 'collection of plants was .
. . grown so immensely large that it was
necessary that some extraordinary care should be
taken of them least they should spoil . . .' The
plant material collected and sorted on the voyage
was extensive, with the herbarium specimens
accounting for about 110 new genera and 1300 new
species.
"After his triumphant return from this voyage,
Banks travelled to Scotland, Wales, Holland and
Iceland, collecting more and more 'curiosities'.
Among a host of other activities, including the
running of his estates, he controlled the Royal
Botanic Gardens, Kew and was a Trustee of the
British Museum. In 1778 he also became President
of the Royal Society, an office which he held
until his death in 1820. He was knighted in
1781.
"Although Linneaus' suggestion of naming the new
country 'Banksia' was not adopted, Bank's name
was bestowed upon a genus of Australian plants
and he made his mark upon Australian history in
other ways. When the British government was
casting about for a suitable place to establish a
penal colony, Banks was an advocate for Botany
Bay. After the settlement was established at
Sydney Cove, he encouraged further investigation
of the natural history of the area and became the
acknowledged authority on matters relating to New
South Wales. His impact on the study of natural
history in both Britain and Australia cannot be
overestimated."
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A contemporary map of the bay (right).
Cape Banks is featured on page four of this site
and Point Solander on page one.
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