Editing First Fleet (section)

=== Arrival in Australia ===
[[File:First Fleet entering Sydney 1788 Bradley.jpg|thumb|upright=1.75|''Entrance of [[Port Jackson]], 27 January 1788'', by [[William Bradley (Royal Navy officer)|William Bradley]], an officer on [[HMS Sirius (1786)|HMS ''Sirius'']]]]
[[File:The First Fleet entering Port Jackson, January 26, 1788, drawn 1888 A9333001h.jpg|thumb|Lithograph of the First Fleet entering [[Port Jackson]], 26 January 1788, by Edmund Le Bihan]]

It was soon realised that Botany Bay did not live up to the glowing account that the explorer Captain [[James Cook]] had provided.<ref>Frost 2012, p. 177</ref> The bay was open and unprotected, the water was too shallow to allow the ships to anchor close to the shore, fresh water was scarce, and the soil was poor.<ref>Parker 2009, p. 113</ref> [[First contact (anthropology)|First contact]] was 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.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} The primitive huts built for the officers and officials quickly collapsed in rainstorms. The marines had a habit of getting drunk and not guarding the convicts properly, whilst their commander, Major [[Robert Ross (British Marines officer)|Robert Ross]], drove Phillip to despair with his arrogant and lazy attitude. Crucially, Phillip worried that his fledgling colony was exposed to attack from those described as [[Aboriginal Australian|"Aborigines"]] or from foreign powers. Although his initial instructions were to establish the colony at Botany Bay, he was authorised to establish the colony elsewhere if necessary.<ref name="Museum of Australian Democracy">{{cite web|title=Governor Phillip's Instructions 25 April 1787 (UK)|url=http://foundingdocs.gov.au/item-sdid-68.html|publisher =Museum of Australian Democracy|access-date=24 November 2013}}</ref>

On 21 January, Phillip and a party which included John Hunter, departed the Bay in three small boats to explore other bays to the north.<ref name="Parker115116">Parker 2009, pp. 115–116</ref> Phillip discovered that [[Port Jackson]], about 12 kilometres to the north, was an excellent site for a colony with sheltered anchorages, fresh water and fertile soil.<ref name="Parker115116" /> Cook had seen and named the harbour, but had not entered it.<ref name="Parker115116" /> Phillip's impressions of the harbour were recorded in a letter he sent to England later: "the finest harbour in the world, in which a thousand sail of the line may ride in the most perfect security ...". The party returned to Botany Bay on 23 January.<ref name="Parker115116" />

On the morning of 24 January, the party was startled when two French ships, the [[French ship Astrolabe (1781)|''Astrolabe'']] and the [[French ship Boussole (1782)|''Boussole'']], were seen just outside Botany Bay. This was a scientific expedition led by [[Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse|Jean-François de La Pérouse]]. The French had expected to find a thriving colony where they could repair ships and restock supplies, not a newly arrived fleet of convicts considerably more poorly provisioned than themselves.<ref>Parker 2009, p. 118</ref> There was some cordial contact between the French and British officers, but Phillip and La Pérouse never met. The French ships remained until 10 March before setting sail on their return voyage. They were not seen again and were later discovered to have been shipwrecked off the coast of [[Vanikoro]] in the present-day [[Solomon Islands]].<ref>John Dunmore, "Introduction", The Journal of Jean-François de Galaup de La Pérouse, Vol. I, Hakluyt Society, 1994, pp. ccxix–ccxxii.</ref>

On 26 January 1788, the Fleet weighed anchor and sailed to [[Port Jackson]].<ref name="Gutenberg FF" /> 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 [[Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney|Lord Sydney]], the British [[Home Secretary]].<ref name="Parker115116" /> This date is celebrated as [[Australia Day]], marking the beginning of British settlement.<ref name="NADC">{{cite web|title= About Our National Day|url=http://www.australiaday.org.au/australia-day/about-our-national-day/|publisher=National Australia Day Council|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230043620/http://www.australiaday.org.au/australia-day/about-our-national-day/|archive-date=30 December 2013|url-status=dead|access-date = 25 November 2013}}</ref> Contrary to popular belief, the [[Union Jack#History|British flag]] was not officially planted until 7 February 1788 when possession was formally proclaimed.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} There was, as always, a British naval ensign erected at the site of the military encampment, and this had been performed on the evening of 25 January 1788<ref>{{Cite web |title=7 Feb 1788 - Colony of NSW formally proclaimed |url=https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/magazine/onthisday/7-february-1788 |access-date=15 July 2022 |website=State Archives & Records |archive-date=1 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601090936/https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/magazine/onthisday/7-february-1788 |url-status=dead }}</ref> in a small ceremony conducted by Phillip and some officers and marines from ''Supply'', with the remainder of ''Supply''{{'}}s crew and the convicts observing from on board ship. The remaining ships of the Fleet did not arrive at Sydney Cove until later that day.<ref>Hill 2008, p. 150</ref> Writer and art critic [[Robert Hughes (critic)|Robert Hughes]] popularized the idea in his 1986 book ''[[The Fatal Shore]]'' that an [[orgy]] occurred upon the unloading of the convicts, though more modern historians regard this as untrue, since the first reference to any such indiscretions is as recent as 1963.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Fatal Shore|author=Robert Hughes|date= 1986|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|pages=88–89|isbn=9780099448549}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Great Australian Urban Legends|date=2015|publisher=Affirm Press|author=Eamon Evans|pages=116–117|isbn=9781925475241}}</ref>