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

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. The position of Secretary to the Governor was also created.

Source:The First Fleet in Botany Bay. (1888).Illustrated Sydney News (NSW: 1881 – 1894)

Convict transportation to NSW

A history of convict transportation to New South Wales and related records such as trial records and records of the voyage and arrival

Watercolour of convict hulk with smaller boats carrying convicts in foreground
Convict Sydney

Convict hulks

In the 21st century we are accustomed to thinking of imprisonment as one of the more obvious forms of punishment for convicted criminals. This was not so in the past.

Groups of men standing or sitting in a town square, some of whom are looking back toward large building, Hyde Park Barracks, with front wall featuring dome-roofed cottages on either side of a large timber gate. Clouds drift overhead.

Who were the Hyde Park Barracks convicts?

Pick-pockets and pirates, confidence tricksters and conspirators, rebels and rascals – between 1819 and 1848, Hyde Park Barracks had them all

On This Day

10 Jan 1958 - first Sydney Opera House lottery

On this day 10 January 1958 the first Opera House lottery was drawn

https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/Collection/Convicts/a-female-escape-artist-2-1024.jpg
On This Day

10 Sep 1823 - escapee re-transported to NSW

On the 10th of September 1823 Susan Courtney was tried in England for returning from transportation

Katoomba, The Sisters

11 May 1813 - Blue Mountains expedition

On 11 May 1813 Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Wentworth departed Sydney on an expedition to find a route over the Blue Mountains

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