When Did Non-Indigenous Settlement Begin in Australia? (1788 — The First Fleet)

The clock starts on 26 January 1788. That’s when the First Fleet — 11 British ships carrying ~1,400 people (775 convicts, plus marines, officers, and families) — anchored in Botany Bay, then moved to Port Jackson (Sydney Cove).

Why 1788?

• Penal solution: Britain’s prisons were overflowing; America no longer accepted transportees post-1776.
• Strategic claim: Pre-empt French/Dutch interest in the continent.
• Resource potential: Timber, flax, naval stores.

What “New South Wales” Meant Then

The colony’s original charter covered the entire eastern half of the continent — modern NSW, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, ACT, NT. Western Australia stayed separate until 1829.

Who Arrived?

• Convicts — mostly petty thieves, political prisoners, some as young as 9.
• Marines & officers — to guard and govern.
• Free settlers — trickled in later; first free immigrants arrived 1793.

Indigenous Context

Aboriginal peoples had inhabited Australia for 65,000+ years. The arrival began a catastrophic disruption: disease, dispossession, frontier violence. January 26 is now “Invasion Day” / “Survival Day” for many First Nations Australians.

1788 wasn’t a beginning — it was a collision.