20 Jan 1788 - First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay
On this day 20 January 1788 the last of the eleven ships of the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay.
Captain Arthur Phillip's search for a more suitable site led him to Port Jackson. The rest of the fleet sailed into Sydney Harbour on 26 January. Phillip named Sydney after Lord Sydney, the British Home Secretary.
Source: The First Fleet in Botany Bay. (1888).Illustrated Sydney News (NSW: 1881 – 1894)
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First Fleet Ships
At the time of the First Fleet’s voyage there were some 12,000 British commercial and naval ships plying the world’s oceans
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Convicts
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Leg Iron Guard
A stunning example of an improvised handicraft, this leather ankle guard or ‘gaiter’ was made to protect a convict’s ankle from leg irons
Convict Sydney
Objects
These convict-era objects and archaeological artefacts found at Hyde Park Barracks and The Mint (Rum Hospital) are among the rarest and most personal artefacts to have survived from Australia’s early convict period
Convict Sydney
Convict Shoe
Known as crab shells or hopper dockers in the convict ‘flash’ slang language, two or three pairs of shoes were issued to each convict annually
Convict Sydney
Convict hat sennets & leaf shredder
This shredding tool and ‘sennets’ or fragments of plaited cabbage tree palm leaves (Livistona australis) were found beneath the floors of Hyde Park Barracks, and used by convicts for making hats