The First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay, marking the beginning of sustained British colonisation efforts in New South Wales and immediate colonial contact with local Aboriginal peoples in the Sydney region.
After assessing Botany Bay as unsuitable, Governor Arthur Phillip moved the fleet to Port Jackson. The landing at Sydney Cove (Eora: Warrane) became the founding moment of the settlement that developed into Sydney.
Lieutenant Philip Gidley King led a party from Port Jackson to establish a second British settlement on Norfolk Island, intended to secure resources and strategic advantage for the new colony.
Governor Phillip founded the inland settlement of Rose Hill (later Parramatta) to access more fertile land for farming, accelerating Aboriginal dispossession along the Parramatta River.
A major smallpox outbreak spread through Aboriginal communities around Port Jackson, contributing to severe population loss and social disruption, and profoundly affecting the balance of power during early colonisation.
In an effort to force communication and learn local language and customs, the colonial administration kidnapped Bennelong (and Colebee). The capture became a pivotal, coercive episode in early Eora–British relations.
The wreck of HMS Sirius—the First Fleet flagship—worsened the colony’s supply crisis, deepening hardship and intensifying pressures that drove expansion onto Aboriginal lands around Sydney.
Ships of the Second Fleet arrived with extremely high convict mortality and illness, adding mouths to feed during scarcity. The influx also strengthened the colony’s military capacity amid growing frontier violence.
Pemulwuy’s killing of John McEntire (a convict game hunter associated with the governor) became an early flashpoint in escalating conflict between Aboriginal peoples and the expanding settlement.
Colonial forces fought Darug warriors in the Hawkesbury area, reflecting intensifying competition over land and food resources as settlement expanded beyond Sydney and Parramatta.
Bidjigal-led resistance under Pemulwuy fought colonial soldiers and settlers near Parramatta. Pemulwuy was captured (after being wounded) but later escaped, and conflict continued.
Governor Philip Gidley King issued an order offering a reward for Pemulwuy’s capture, formalising the colony’s attempt to eliminate organised Aboriginal armed resistance around Sydney and Parramatta.
Pemulwuy was killed, ending a major phase of coordinated resistance in the Sydney region. Colonial authorities treated the event as significant; its aftermath shaped subsequent policies and fears around frontier conflict.
Lachlan Macquarie came ashore and soon began major public works and expansionist policies. His administration also shaped colonial approaches to Aboriginal peoples as settlement pushed outward.
The expedition navigated a route across the Blue Mountains, enabling rapid colonial expansion westward—an expansion that intensified dispossession and conflict for First Nations peoples beyond the Sydney basin.
Convict labour under William Cox constructed the first road across the Blue Mountains, turning the 1813 crossing into a usable corridor for stock, settlers, and government presence in Wiradjuri country.
Governor Macquarie proclaimed Bathurst, formalising the first major inland British settlement. The move entrenched colonial occupation west of the mountains on Wiradjuri land.
Soldiers under Captain James Wallis attacked an Aboriginal camp near Appin as part of reprisals ordered by Governor Macquarie, killing men, women, and children. The massacre exemplifies escalating frontier violence during rapid expansion.
First Fleet and establishment of the Colony of New South Wales (1788–1820)
