Editing First Fleet (section)

==People==
{{See also|List of convicts on the First Fleet|Journals of the First Fleet}}

The majority of the people travelling with the fleet were convicts, all having been tried and convicted in [[Great Britain]], almost all of them in England.<ref name="Gillen">{{cite book|last=Gillen|first=Mollie|title=The Founders of Australia: a Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet|location=Sydney|publisher=Library of Australian History|page=445|year=1989|isbn=978-0908120697}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=1788|url=http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/objectsthroughtime-history/ott1788/|work=Objects through Time|publisher=NSW Migration Heritage Centre|access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref> Many are known to have come to England from other parts of Great Britain and, especially, from Ireland; at least 14 are known to have come from the British colonies in North America; at least 15 are identified as black (born in Britain, Africa, the West Indies, North America, India or a European country or its colony).<ref name=Pybus>{{cite book|last=Pybus|first=Cassandra|title=Black Founders: the unknown story of Australia's first Black settlers|date=2006|location=Sydney|publisher=UNSW Press|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/20098261|access-date=28 November 2013|isbn=9780868408491}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Jupp|editor-first=James|title=The Australian People: an Encyclopedia of the Nation, its People and their Origins|year=1988|location=North Ryde|publisher=Angus & Robertson|isbn=978-0207154270|pages=367–79}}</ref><ref>Santilla Chingaipe. ''Black Convicts:How slavery shaped Australia''. [https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/Black-Convicts/Santilla-Chingaipe/9781761107238 Simon and Schuster] (2024). {{ISBN|9781761107238}}</ref> The convicts had committed a variety of crimes, including theft, perjury, fraud, assault, robbery, for which they had variously been sentenced to death, which was then commuted to [[penal transportation]] for 7 years, 14 years, or the term of their natural life.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cobley|first=John|title=The Crimes of the First Fleet Convicts|date=1989|location=Sydney|publisher=Angus and Robertson|edition=2|isbn=978020714562-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=First Fleet Online|url=http://firstfleet.uow.edu.au/index.html|publisher=University of Wollongong|access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref>

Four companies of marines volunteered for service in the colony, these marines made up the [[New South Wales Marine Corps]], under the command of Major [[Robert Ross (British Marines officer)|Robert Ross]], a detachment on board every convict transport. The families of marines also made the voyage.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Clark|first=M.|title=The Origins of the Convicts Transported to Eastern Australia, 1787–1852|journal=Historical Studies: Australia and New Zealand|year=1956|volume=7|issue=26|page=121|doi=10.1080/10314615608595051}}</ref>

A number of people on the First Fleet kept diaries and journals of their experiences, including the surgeons, sailors, officers, soldiers, and ordinary seamen. There are at least eleven known manuscript [[journals of the First Fleet]] in existence as well as some letters.<ref>{{cite web|title=Journals from the First Fleet|url=http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/terra-australis-australia/journals-first-fleet|work=Discover Collections|publisher=State Library of New South Wales|access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref>

The exact number of people directly associated with the First Fleet will likely never be established, as accounts of the event vary slightly. A total of 1,420 people have been identified as embarking on the First Fleet in 1787, and 1,373 are believed to have landed at Sydney Cove in January 1788. In her biographical dictionary of the First Fleet, [[Mollie Gillen]] gives the following statistics:<ref name="Gillen" />

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto" style="text-align:center"
! !!Embarked at Portsmouth!!Landed at Sydney Cove
|-
|Officials and passengers|| 15 || 14
|-
|Ships' crews || 323 || 306
|-
|Marines || 247 || 245
|-
|Marines' wives and children || 46 || 45 + 9 born
|-
|Convicts (men) || 582 || 543
|-
|Convicts (women) || 193 || 189
|-
|Convicts' children || 14 || 11 + 11 born
|-
|'''Total''' || '''1,420''' || '''1,373'''
|}

While the names of all crew members of ''Sirius'' and ''Supply'' are known, the six transports and three store ships may have carried as many as 110 more seamen than have been identified – no complete musters have survived for these ships. The total number of persons embarking on the First Fleet would, therefore, be approximately 1,530 with about 1,483 reaching Sydney Cove.

According to the first census of 1788 as reported by Governor Phillip to Lord Sydney, the non-indigenous population of the colony was 1,030 and the colony also consisted of 7 horses, 29 sheep, 74 swine, 6 rabbits, and 7 cattle.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13751197|title=The Mayor's Opening Address.|newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|location=NSW|date=28 November 1889|access-date=22 January 2012|page=7|publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

The following statistics were provided by Governor Phillip:<ref>{{cite journal |title=Convictism and Colonization, 1788 to 1828: Lachlan Macquarie|journal=Journal of the Australian Population Association |volume= 5|issue=Supplement 1 |pages=31–43 |year=1988|jstor=41110531|last1=MacQuarie |first1=Lachlan |doi=10.1007/BF03029428 |s2cid=151300089 }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto" style="text-align:center"
! !!Male!!Female!!Children!!Total
|-
|Convicts & their children|| 548 || 188 || 17 || 753
|-
|Others || 219 || 34 || 24 || 277
|-
|'''Total''' || '''767''' || '''222''' || '''41''' || '''1,030'''
|}

The chief surgeon for the First Fleet, John White, reported a total of 48 deaths and 28 births during the voyage. The deaths during the voyage included one marine, one marine's wife, one marine's child, 36 male convicts, four female convicts, and five children of convicts.<ref>{{cite book|last=White|first=John|title=Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales|location=[Port Jackson]|publisher=privately published|year=2003|orig-year=1790|url=http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301531.txt}} Project Gutenberg.</ref>

===Notable members of First Fleet===
====Officials====
* Captain [[Arthur Phillip]], R.N, [[Governor of New South Wales]]
* Major [[Robert Ross (British Marines officer)|Robert Ross]], [[Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales|Lieutenant Governor]] and commander of the [[New South Wales Marine Corps|marines]]
* Captain [[David Collins (lieutenant governor)|David Collins]], [[Judge Advocate of New South Wales|Judge Advocate]]
* [[Augustus Alt]], [[Surveyor]]
* [[John White (surgeon)|John White]], Principal Surgeon
* [[William Balmain]], assistant Surgeon
* [[Richard Johnson (chaplain)|Richard Johnson]], chaplain

====Soldiers====
* Lieutenant [[George Johnston (British Marines officer)|George Johnston]]
* Captain [[Watkin Tench]]
* Lieutenant [[William Dawes (British Marines officer)|William Dawes]]
* Lieutenant [[Ralph Clark]]

====Sailors====
* Captain [[John Hunter (Royal Navy officer)|John Hunter]], commander of HMS ''Sirius''
* Lieutenant [[Henry Lidgbird Ball]], commander of HMAT ''Supply''
* Lieutenant [[William Bradley (Royal Navy officer)|William Bradley]], 1st lieutenant of HMS ''Sirius''
* Lieutenant [[Philip Gidley King]], commandant of [[Norfolk Island]]
* [[Arthur Bowes Smyth]], ship's surgeon on ''Lady Penrhyn''
* Lieutenant [[John Shortland (Royal Navy officer)|John Shortland]], Agent for Transports
* [[John Shortland]], son of above, 2nd mate of HMS ''Sirius''

====Convicts====
* [[Thomas Barrett (convict)|Thomas Barrett]], first person executed in colony
* [[Mary Bryant]], with her husband, children and 6 other convicts escaped the colony and eventually returned to England
* [[John Caesar]], [[bushranger]]
* [[Matthew Everingham]], farmer, explorer and district constable
* [[Henry Kable]], businessman
* [[James Martin (convict)|James Martin]], was part of the escape with Mary Bryant, wrote autobiography 
* [[James Ruse]], farmer, one of the only ones in the colony at its establishment
* [[Robert Sidaway]], baker, opened the first theatre in [[Sydney]]
* [[James Squire]], brewer
* [[Frances Williams (convict)|Frances Williams]], first Welsh woman to settle in Australia<ref>{{Cite web |last=Collins |first=Hayley |date=2011-11-08 |title=Flintshire Woman Shipped to Australia for Stealing Clothes |url=https://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/15934326.flintshire-woman-shipped-to-australia-for-stealing-clothes/ |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=[[The Leader (Welsh newspaper)|The Leader]] |language=en}}</ref>