first fleet on. Nash/Williams pioneer families..

The First Fleet of 11 ships, each one no larger than a Manly ferry, left Portsmouth in 1787 with more than 1480 men, women and children onboard. Although most were British, there were also African, American and French convicts. After a voyage of three months the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay on 24 January 1788. Here the Aboriginal people, who had lived in isolation for 40,000 years, met the British in an uneasy stand off at what is now known as Frenchmans Beach at La Perouse. La Boussole and l’Astrolabe in the Sandwich Islands, c.1786. Courtesy Musée de la Marine, France On 26 January two French frigates of the Lapérouse expedition sailed into Botany Bay as the British were relocating to Sydney Cove in Port Jackson. The isolation of the Aboriginal people in Australia had finished. European Australia was established in a simple ceremony at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788. 1787 DRAUGHT INSTRUCTIONS FOR GOVERNOR PHILLIP Discover the 1787 Draught Instructions for Governor Phillip that empowered Captain Arthur Phillip to establish a British Colony at Botany Bay, grant land and issue regulations to the Colony from 1788. more details » 1787 CONVICT LOVE TOKEN Discover the 1787 convict love token made for Thomas Tilley a convict on the First Fleet. more details » 1788 ATLAS DU VOYAGE DE LAPÉROUSE Discover the Lapérouse Museum's collection of objects from the ill fated expedition of Jean François de Lapérouse in 1785 -88, France's great voyage of discovery of the Pacific. La Pérouse met the British First Fleet and Aboriginal people at Botany Bay NSW on the 26th January 1788. more details »

Text Only About this Site Feedback

The English penal system and transportation to the colonies Two systems An execution at Tyburn. By the mid-18th century there were two prison systems in England. The first involved the counties and shires and was administered by Justices of the Peace (JPs). These institutions ranged from simple lock-ups to Elizabethan houses of correction. They were intended for the discipline of unemployed and wandering labourers. The government also ran a second, smaller system in London. Newgate was the main prison in London and from 1783 it was also a place for public hangings. Before then, prisoners had left Newgate to be hanged at Tyburn. The gallows at Tyburn stood near what is now Marble Arch. Rise of the American penal colonies The Destruction of the American fleet at Penobscot Bay, 14 August 1779. As the prison population grew during the 18th century, the government started to send convicts from Newgate and the county prisons to overseas penal colonies. At first they were shipped to North America for (usually) seven years for non-capital offences or for life for those who had had their death penalties commuted. At that time there were more than 150 capital offences, including minor offences like petty theft. The process of transportation ended with the American Revolutionary War (1775-83), which stopped the British sending their convicts across the Atlantic. This painting shows one of the few British victories over the American fleet. The British were eventually forced to accept defeat. New solution to overcrowding Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845) visiting a female prisoner at Newgate. The loss of America as a dumping ground for British convicts led to overcrowding in British prisons as more transportation sentences were handed down by the courts. William Eden, the Home Secretary, estimated that alternative accommodation would be needed each year for about 1000 convicts. This was far more than could be crammed into the already overcrowded gaols of England. The government delayed building new gaols, preferring to search for other places to send the convicts. Convicts Australia-bound Government House and Fort Macquarie at Sydney Cove. A new plan was announced in January 1787 when the government decided to transport convicts to New South Wales in Australia. On 22 January 1788 the First Fleet arrived in Botany Bay to set up a prison colony. There were more than 1500 people, including 548 male and 188 female convicts. They actually settled in Sydney Cove, not Botany Bay. Over the years about 160,000 men, women and children were sent to Australia. The First Fleet Captain Arthur Phillip, RN. The 11 ships of the First Fleet, under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip RN, had left Portsmouth in May 1787. On board the ships were several convicts from London, one of whom was 21-year-old Mary Springham. In October 1786 Mary had been found guilty at the Old Bailey of stealing two guineas, nine shillings (about £186 at today's prices) and a snuffbox. She was sentenced to seven years transportation. In January 1787 all the female convicts in Newgate under sentence of transportation were sent to the 333-ton Lady Penrhyn (1786) on the Thames. Convict family Sydney Bay, Norfolk Island, c. May 1855. The Lady Penrhyn sailed in afleet for New South Wales carrying a cargo of 101 female convicts, six marines and five children. In January 1790, Mary's son, William (by William Hambly, a carpenter's mate on the fleet flagship Sirius), was christened at Sydney Cove. HMS Sirius (lines and profile). William Hambly married Mary in November 1791 at Norfolk Island. Their daughter, Elizabeth, was born in January 1794. Mary Springham died there in June 1796.

This is the London of 1788 from whence many convicts of the First  Fleet came ....