First Fleet

The First Fleet was a group of eleven British ships that transported settlers to mainland Australia, marking the start of British colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessels, three storeships and six convict transports under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip. On 13 May 1787 the ships, carrying over 1,400 convicts, marines, sailors, colonial officials and free settlers, left Portsmouth and travelled more than 24,000 kilometres over more than 250 days before reaching Botany Bay, New South Wales, on 18 January 1788. Governor Arthur Phillip rejected Botany Bay and chose Port Jackson to the north instead, where the fleet arrived on 26 January 1788 and established the Colony of New South Wales as a penal colony, the first British settlement in Australia.