when did the british first arrive in australia
History of Australia A First Fleet of British ships arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788[1] to establish a penal colony. In the century that followed, the British established other colonies on the continent, and European explorers ventured into its interior. Indigenous Australians were greatly weakened and their numbers diminished by introduced diseases and conflict with the colonists during this period.
History of Australia (1788–1850) It is commonly reported that the colonisation of Australia was driven by the need to address overcrowding in the British prison system, and the fact of the British losing the United States from the American Revolution; however, it was simply not economically viable to transport convicts halfway around the world for this reason alone.[1] Many convicts were either skilled tradesmen or farmers who had been convicted for trivial crimes and were sentenced to seven years transportation, the time required to set up the infrastructure for the new colony. Convicts were often given pardons prior to or on completion of their sentences and were allocated parcels of land to farm.