Editing History of Australia (section)

==== Establishment of the colony: 1788 to 1792 ====
[[File:The perilous situation of The Guardian Frigate as she appeared striking on the rocks of ice c1790.jpg|thumb|''The perilous situation of The Guardian Frigate as she appeared striking on the rocks of ice'' ({{circa|1790}}) – Robert Dighton; depicting the [[Second Fleet (Australia)|Second Fleet]]]]

The [[colony of New South Wales]] was established with the arrival of the [[First Fleet]] of 11 vessels under the command of Captain [[Arthur Phillip]] in January 1788. It consisted of more than a thousand settlers, including 778 convicts (192 women and 586 men).<ref>Alan Frost, ''The First Fleet: The Real Story'', Melbourne, Black Inc., 2011. Rosalind Miles (2001) ''Who Cooked the Last Supper: The Women's History of the World'' Three Rivers Press. {{ISBN|0-609-80695-5}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=6vPOD6Ol15MC&q=first+fleet google books]</ref> A few days after arrival at [[Botany Bay]] the fleet moved to the more suitable [[Port Jackson]] where a settlement was established at [[Sydney Cove]] on 26 January 1788.<ref>Peter Hill (2008) pp.141–50</ref> This date later became Australia's national day, [[Australia Day]]. The colony was formally proclaimed by Governor Phillip on 7 February 1788 at Sydney. Sydney Cove offered a fresh water supply and a safe harbour, which Phillip described as being,<ref>{{cite web|date=9 October 2009|title=SL/nsw.gov.au|url=http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/terra_australis/letters/phillip/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130203035645/http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/terra_australis/letters/phillip/index.html|archive-date=3 February 2013|access-date=14 July 2011|publisher=SL/nsw.gov.au}}</ref>
{{blockquote |text=with out exception the finest Harbour in the World [...] Here a Thousand Sail of the Line may ride in the most perfect Security [...].}}

The territory of New South Wales claimed by Britain included all of Australia eastward of the meridian of 135° East. This included more than half of mainland Australia.<ref name="King-1998">Robert J. King, "Terra Australis, New Holland and New South Wales: the Treaty of Tordesillas and Australia", ''The Globe'', No. 47, 1998, pp. 35–55.</ref> The claim also included "all the Islands adjacent in the Pacific" between the latitudes of [[Cape York Peninsula|Cape York]] and the southern tip of [[Van Diemen's Land]] (Tasmania).<ref>Robert J. King, "Terra Australis, New Holland and New South Wales: the Treaty of Tordesillas and Australia", ''The Globe'', No. 47, 1998, pp. 35–55, 48–49.</ref> In 1817, the British government withdrew the extensive territorial claim over the South Pacific, passing an act specifying that Tahiti, New Zealand and other islands of the South Pacific were not within His Majesty's dominions.<ref name="King-1998" /> However, it is unclear whether the claim ever extended to the current islands of New Zealand.<ref name="Kingston-2006b">{{Cite book|last=Kingston|first=Beverley|title=A History of New South Wales|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006|location=Cambridge|pages=1–2}}</ref>

[[File:Arthur_Phillip_-_Wheatley_ML124.jpg|thumb|[[Arthur Phillip]], first [[Governor of New South Wales]]]]
[[File:Founding of the settlement of Port Jackson at Botany Bay in New South Wales in 1788 - Thomas Gosse.jpg|left|thumb|''Founding of the settlement of Port Jackson at Botany Bay in New South Wales in 1788'' – Thomas Gosse]]

Governor Phillip was vested with complete authority over the inhabitants of the colony. His intention was to establish harmonious relations with local Aboriginal people and try to reform as well as discipline the convicts of the colony. Early efforts at agriculture were fraught and supplies from overseas were scarce. Between 1788 and 1792 about 3546 male and 766 female convicts were landed at Sydney. Many new arrivals were sick or unfit for work and the condition of healthy convicts also deteriorated due to the hard labour and poor food. The food situation reached crisis point in 1790 and the [[Second Fleet (Australia)|Second Fleet]] which finally arrived in June 1790 had lost a quarter of its passengers through sickness, while the condition of the convicts of the [[Third Fleet (Australia)|Third Fleet]] appalled Phillip. From 1791, however, the more regular arrival of ships and the beginnings of trade lessened the feeling of isolation and improved supplies.<ref name="HttpadbonlineanueduaubiogsAbhtmhiliteArthurPhillip">{{cite book|author=B.H. Fletcher|title=ADBonline.anu.edu.au|publisher=ADBonline.anu.edu.au|chapter=Phillip, Arthur (1738–1814)|access-date=14 July 2011|chapter-url=http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020292b.htm?hilite=Arthur%3BPhillip}}</ref>

In 1788, Phillip established a subsidiary settlement on [[Norfolk Island]] in the South Pacific where he hoped to obtain timber and flax for the navy. The island, however, had no safe harbour, which led the settlement to be abandoned and the settlers evacuated to Tasmania in 1807.<ref>King, Robert J. "Norfolk Island: Phantasy and Reality, 1770–1814." ''The Great Circle'', Vol. 25, No. 2, 2003, pp. 20–41.</ref> The island was subsequently re-established as a site for secondary transportation in 1825.<ref>Macintyre (2020). p. 78</ref>

Phillip sent exploratory missions in search of better soils, fixed on the [[Parramatta]] region as a promising area for expansion, and moved many of the convicts from late 1788 to establish a small township, which became the main centre of the colony's economic life. This left Sydney Cove only as an important port and focus of social life. Poor equipment and unfamiliar soils and climate continued to hamper the expansion of farming from Farm Cove to Parramatta and [[Toongabbie]], but a building program, assisted by convict labour, advanced steadily. Between 1788 and 1792, convicts and their gaolers made up the majority of the population; however, a free population soon began to grow, consisting of emancipated convicts, locally born children, soldiers whose military service had expired and, finally, free settlers from Britain. Governor Phillip departed the colony for England on 11 December 1792, with the new settlement having survived near starvation and immense isolation for four years.<ref name="HttpadbonlineanueduaubiogsAbhtmhiliteArthurPhillip" />