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The history of Australia from 1788 to 1850 covers the early British colonial period, starting with the arrival of the First Fleet of British ships at Port Jackson in 1788. This marked the beginning of European-style governance in Australia, which was established by appointed governors like Captain Arthur Phillip, who was given executive and legislative powers. Under Phillip, the colony of New South Wales was established as part of the British Empire, and the flag-raising ceremony and formalities of the government began on 7 February 1788.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date | 26 January 1788 |
| Event | Captain Arthur Phillip guides a fleet of 11 British ships carrying convicts to the colony of New South Wales, effectively founding Australia |
| Place | Sydney Cove, Port Jackson |
| Number of ships | 11 |
| Number of convicts | 778 (192 women and 586 men) |
| Number of free persons | 250+ |
| Proportion of female convicts | 25% |
| Number of Aboriginal people in the Sydney region | 3,000 |
| Governor | Arthur Phillip |
| Colony name | New South Wales |
| Area of the colony | All of Australia eastward of the meridian of 135° East, including more than half of mainland Australia |
| Ownership | British Crown |
| Military forces | Maintained by the colony from December 1788 |
| Church | Church of England |
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What You'll Learn
The arrival of the First Fleet
The First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay on 18 January 1788. Governor Arthur Phillip rejected Botany Bay as the site for the new colony, choosing instead to establish the settlement at Port Jackson, Sydney Cove, which offered a fresh water supply and a safe harbour. They arrived at Port Jackson on 26 January 1788, and the colony was formally proclaimed as the Colony of New South Wales on 7 February 1788. The territory of New South Wales claimed by Britain included all of Australia eastward of the meridian of 135° East, which was over half of mainland Australia.
The First Fleet consisted of more than a thousand settlers, including between 750-780 convicts (192 women and 586 men), and around 550 crew, soldiers, and family members. The arrival of the fleet changed the lives of the Eora people, the traditional Aboriginal owners of the land in the Sydney area, and marked the beginning of waves of convict transportation that lasted until 1868. The relative isolation of the Indigenous population meant that they had little resistance to introduced diseases, and an outbreak of smallpox in April 1789 killed about half of the Aboriginal population of the Sydney region.
The colony was established as a penal colony, and the convicts were used as labour to build the new settlement. The economy of the colony developed based on farming, fishing, whaling, trade, and construction. By 1820, British settlement was largely confined to a 100-kilometre radius around Sydney and to the central plain of Van Diemen's Land. From 1816, penal transportation to Australia increased, and between 1788 and 1868, approximately 150,000-161,700 convicts were transported to the Australian colonies.
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Establishing the penal colony of New South Wales
The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a state of the Commonwealth of Australia. The colony was formally proclaimed by Governor Arthur Phillip on 7 February 1788 at Sydney. Sydney Cove offered a fresh water supply and a safe harbour, which Phillip described as being, "without exception, the finest Harbour in the world". The territory of New South Wales claimed by Britain included all of Australia eastward of the meridian of 135° East, covering more than half of mainland Australia. This claim also included all islands in the Pacific between the latitudes of Cape York and the southern tip of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania).
The First Fleet of British ships arrived at Port Jackson on the lands of the Eora people in January 1788, marking the beginning of the penal colony of New South Wales. The fleet consisted of 11 vessels carrying over a thousand settlers, including 778 convicts (192 women and 586 men), under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip. The first ship of the fleet, HMS Supply, reached Botany Bay on 18 January 1788, but the site was deemed unsuitable. Governor Phillip then led the exploration of Port Jackson, and the fleet moved to the more suitable Sydney Cove on 25 January 1788. On 26 January, the men aboard the ship went ashore, cleared land for a camp, and erected a flagpole. The Union Jack was raised, and the officers made toasts to the Royal Family and the colony's success.
The establishment of the penal colony of New South Wales was driven by the need to relieve overcrowding in British prisons and hulks. It also served broader imperial goals, such as trade, securing new supplies of timber and flax for the navy, and establishing strategic ports in the region. The colony faced initial challenges, including water scarcity and privation, but gradually expanded. By 1820, the British settlement extended to a 100-kilometre radius around Sydney and the central plain of Van Diemen's Land. The economy of the penal colony developed, based on farming, fishing, whaling, trade, and construction using convict labour.
The first governor of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip, was given executive and legislative powers. He was instructed to establish amicable relations with the Indigenous people and was responsible for improving "public morality" in the colony. Richard Johnson, the chief chaplain from 1788 to 1802, played a significant role in health and education. The colony's governance, including policy decision-making, was largely in the hands of the governors, who reported directly to the government in London. From 1788 until the 1850s, agitation for representative government grew, and the first responsible self-government of New South Wales was formed on 6 June 1856.
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European-style autocratic governments
The arrival of the First Fleet of British ships at Port Jackson in January 1788 marked the beginning of the British colonial period in Australia. The fleet was led by Captain Arthur Phillip, who had been appointed by the British government in 1786 to establish an agricultural work camp for convicts. The colony was formally proclaimed by Governor Phillip on 7 February 1788 at Sydney Cove, within Port Jackson. This marked the establishment of the penal colony of New South Wales as part of the British Empire.
The first European-style governments established in Australia after 1788 were autocratic and run by appointed governors. The first governor of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip, was given executive and legislative powers to establish courts, military forces, and fight enemies. From 1788 until the 1850s, the governance of the colonies, including most policy decision-making, was largely in the hands of these governors, who were directly responsible to the government in London. While English law was transplanted into the Australian colonies, bringing with it notions of rights and processes established by the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights of 1689, the traditional Aboriginal society's collective decision-making process was not continued. Instead, the governors held significant power and influence, as demonstrated by the role of Governor Phillip in shaping the colony's early years.
The Church of England was the only recognised church before 1820, and its clergy worked closely with the governors. Richard Johnson, chief chaplain from 1788 to 1802, was tasked with improving "public morality" in the colony and was involved in health and education. The lack of official recognition of other religions, such as Catholicism, led to suspicion and tensions within the colony, particularly towards Irish convicts.
The establishment of the penal colony in Australia was part of broader imperial goals, including trade, securing new supplies, and strategic ports in the region. The colony claimed by Britain included all of Australia eastward of the meridian of 135° East, covering more than half of mainland Australia and adjacent islands in the Pacific. This extensive territorial claim was later withdrawn in 1817, excluding Tahiti, New Zealand, and other South Pacific islands from the British domain.
The early years of the colony were marked by privation and hardship, but it gradually expanded and developed an economy based on farming, fishing, whaling, trade, and construction using convict labour. By 1820, British settlement was largely confined to a 100-kilometre radius around Sydney and the central plain of Van Diemen's Land (modern-day Tasmania). The settler population grew, and with the expansion of pastoralism, severe frontier violence erupted between settlers and the Indigenous population. This led to increasing demands for separation from New South Wales, resulting in the establishment of the colony of Queensland in 1859.
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Military forces
The first governor of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip, was given executive and legislative powers to establish courts, military forces, and fight enemies. From 1788 until 1870, the defence of the Australian colonies was primarily the responsibility of British Army regular forces. Marines guarded the early settlements at Sydney Cove and Norfolk Island, where they were joined by Governor Phillip and a few dozen officers from the Supply. They were relieved in 1790 by a unit specifically recruited for colonial service, known as the New South Wales Corps. In 1810, the 73rd Regiment of Foot became the first line regiment to serve in Australia, and by 1870, 25 British infantry regiments and several smaller artillery and engineer units had been stationed in the colonies. The role of these troops was twofold: to protect Australia from external threats and to maintain civil order, particularly in the face of convict uprisings and resistance from the Aboriginal population.
Despite the strong British military presence, colonial military forces were also maintained. As early as December 1788, the commandant of Norfolk Island, Phillip Gidley King, ordered his six free male settlers to practise musketry on Saturdays. The first military unit raised on the Australian mainland appeared in September 1800 when Governor Hunter requested that 100 free male settlers in Sydney and Parramatta form Loyal Associations to practise military drills in case of an uprising by Irish convicts. Six years later, Governor King recruited six ex-convicts to serve as his military bodyguard, creating the first full-time military unit raised in Australia.
In the early 1890s, several thousand citizen soldiers were mobilised in eastern Australia to assist regulars and police in maintaining order during the maritime and shearing strikes. In 1899, trained citizen soldiers were given the opportunity to test their skills in the Boer War. The administration of colonial military forces passed to the Commonwealth on 1 March 1901, following federation.
Although the British Army played a significant role in the defence of the Australian colonies, it is important to note that the history of Australia's military involvement is not limited to this period. Australia has been involved in numerous conflicts and wars, including the First and Second World Wars, as well as the wars in Korea, Malaya, Borneo, and Vietnam during the Cold War. Australian forces have also participated in international peacekeeping missions through the United Nations and other agencies.
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Frontier violence
In 1788, the colony of New South Wales was established with the arrival of the First Fleet of British ships at Port Jackson, on the lands of the Eora people. The colony was formally proclaimed by Governor Phillip on 7 February 1788 at Sydney. The territory of New South Wales claimed by Britain included all of Australia eastward of the meridian of 135° East, which formed more than half of mainland Australia. The claim also included all islands adjacent in the Pacific between the latitudes of Cape York and the southern tip of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). The colony included over a thousand settlers, 778 of whom were convicts.
The first European-style governments established after 1788 were autocratic and run by appointed governors. The governors were directly responsible to the government in London. The first governor of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip, was given executive and legislative powers to establish courts and military forces. Governor Phillip arrived with instructions to "endeavour by every possible means to open an intercourse with the natives, and to conciliate their affections, enjoining all our subjects to live in amity and kindness with them".
However, the relative isolation of the Indigenous population meant that they had little resistance to introduced diseases. An outbreak of smallpox in April 1789 killed about half of the Aboriginal population of the Sydney region. This was followed by frontier violence between settlers and the Indigenous population as pastoralism expanded north of the Tweed River.
Hundreds of massacres left thousands of Aboriginal people dead. A digital map of Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930, shows that between 1794 and 1928, more than 400 massacres of Indigenous people took place on the Australian frontier, resulting in over 10,000 deaths. The greatest number of Indigenous people killed in a single massacre was 300, recorded at the Slaughterhouse Creek massacre at the Gwydir River in northern New South Wales in 1838, and at the Thargomindah Waterhole massacre in southwest Queensland in 1865.
The wars that raged across the continent claimed more Indigenous lives than the 62,000 Australian soldiers who died in the First World War. By federation in 1901, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population had diminished to about 117,000. Black-white warfare and organised massacres, as well as individual acts of violence, accounted for many tens of thousands of deaths.
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Frequently asked questions
Arthur Phillip was the first governor of Australia, then known as New South Wales.
The first British settlement in Australia was on 26 January 1788.
The First Fleet, consisting of 11 vessels, brought the first British settlers to Australia.
The British settlement in Australia was originally planned as a penal colony.
