Settlement

The First Fleet arrived in Botany Bay between 18 to 20 January 1788. This area was too unsuitable for settlement so they moved north arriving at Port Jackson on the Australian East coast on 26 January 1788 after deciding that Botany Bay was not suited for a Settlement due to the lack of fresh water.

From the start the settlement was beset with problems. Only a few convicts knew how to farm and the soil around Sydney Cove was dry and poor. Instead of  Captain Cook’s great stories of this place, well watered and fertile ground, suitable for growing all types of foods and providing lush grass for cows all the convicts found was hot, dry, infertile country unsuitable for the small farming needed to make the settlement self-sufficient.

Shelter was also a problem. They had little building material and the government had given only a very limited supply of tools, which were of a bad quality. With the local trees being huge, and the wood hard, these tools were soon broken or became blunt which made building slow. Clothing had been forgotten and, by the time the Second Fleet arrived, convicts and marines were dressed in patched and threadbare clothing.