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Sydney History

 

History page under construction, please check back for updates

Discovery

1770, Captain James Cook entered an uncharted bay in an uncharted land. He named the bay Sting-ray Harbour after the large stingrays seen & caught there.
Captain Cook renamed then bay Botany Bay after his ships botanist, Joseph Banks returned with a treasure trove of exotic botanical specimens.
Captain Cook, took possession of the land under the Terra Nullius (Land belonging to no one) and claimed the land for the King of England.
He stayed in Botany Bay for one week before departing and mapping the coastline of the newly name east coast - New South Wales
Settlement


Friday, 18th January 1788, 2:15 PM. The ships of the First Fleet under the command of Arthur Phillip entered Botany Bay with the following instructions:
  • set up a penal colony
  • cultivate the land with use of the convicts
  • make contact with the natives and gain local knowledge of the land
  • maintain order using civil and military courts
  • see that religion was upheld
  • obtain women from the islands to be wives for the convicts
  • discharge well behaved convicts, granting them land for cultivation

The natives of this land saw the ships entering the bay and remembered 18 years earlier that they had seen ships like this before.
As Phillip and his crew took a long boat to shore they witnessed the aborigines brandishing their spears yelling "wirri, wirri!" or "bad, bad!"
A shot was fired into the air, the natives scattered and the crew made landfall without incident.
18 years earlier Captain Cook reported to the Admiralty in England that Botany Bay was a lush verdant land with running water and good soil for cultivation.
Arthur Phillip was second guessing if they had actually reached the same bay as Cook did 18 years earlier.
Looking around they found no lush vegetation, no running water and poor soil. Phillip was bemused. Where was it that Cook and his crew landed?
They continued to search the bay for the water and good soil but none was to be found.
We now know that the reason was the effects of El Niño and La Niña, it's effects on the climate between Australia and South America.

As a sailor, he was far from satisfied with Botany Bay as the main harbour. Ships had to anchor near the entrance to the bay as most parts were too shallow. As strong easterly winds blew in, there was no high coastal headland to offer shelter to the ships.

Contact
 
Contact was made with the natives or indians as the First Fleet referred them as and the natives were confused by Phillips crews gender.
No man wore a beard in the officer ranks and one man had to drop his pants and expose himself as proof he was actually male.
I suppose this broke the ice and good relations were stuck and trading of trinkets ensued.
Phillip was still troubled, he could not find the fresh water source and found no good soil. How could he set up a colony without these resources?
He check his chart as he'd done a hundred times confirming he was in the right location. He was.
He saw that Cook had marked on his map a few miles north a harbour that he name Port Jackson. Cook never entered the heads of Port Jackson as it was fogged in and Cook continued his mapping of the coastline heading north.
Phillip took a longboat and entered the heads of Port Jackson. Phillip had never seen such a magnificent harbour. He continued to survey the harbour of the next few days, he found a permanent running fresh water source, reasonable soil and the harbour offered good protection for the ships and made the decision to move the settlement to Port Jackson.
Relations soured with the natives when the aborigines realized that Phillip was here to stay.
Arthur Phillip was governor, he answered to no one in this land of New South Wales.
Phillip tried to entice the natives to learn English so a dialogue could be established but they now avoided the settlement.
Phillip had one native captured; a young man named Arabanoo and tried to force him to learn English and himself learn some native tongue.
Sadly Arabanoo died from the ravages of smallpox that the English brought with them along with many other disease that the natives had no immune to and soon the natives started dying.
The colony started expanding westwards. A new village known as Rose Hill was founded but was renamed Parramatta after the aboriginal name for the area; Baramatta or Burramatta.
As the expansion grew, so did the competition for resources, food and water. The aborigines were denied access to their hunting grounds around Parramatta. Attacks grew more frequent, the burning of huts, pillage of crops, spearing of cattle and no access to fishing grounds.
The aborigines started to attack the invaders and Phillip soon retaliated. He ordered the heads of ten indians to be placed in bags for the death of his Gamekeeper John MacEntyre in 1790.
The ten heads were never brought to him. The killer - Pemulwy.
The hunting grounds around the settlement were being disrupted by the expansion of the colony. Food-rich areas such as the Hyde Park swamps and the Tank Stream were all depriving the aborigines of hunting and game moving on or scared away.
The aborigines in the Port Jackson area practiced a ritual of tooth evulsion where the front tooth of a young man was knocked out with a rock when the young man was initiated in a ceremony to manhood. The women had their first two joints of their left little finger removed when they were infants in another ritual found along the coastal tribes.
Arthur Phillip by change had one of his front teeth missing and this help calm many tense situations with the aborigines who looked up to Phillip and even called him "Biana" or "father" as a sign of respect.
Capture
 
25th November, 1789; Another two natives were captured, two young men named Colbee and Bennelong. They were put in chains and made to conform to English rule and to learn English.
Colbee escaped seventeen days after capture but Bennelong was kept under tight security. Bennelong learned much English and began to get a taste for English clothing and English wine.
The chains were no longer needed and Bennelong became a regular sight in the young settlement of the growing colony.
Phillip had named the area "Sydney" after a Lord Sydney, the natives called it Warrane or Warranie.
Bennelong had almost become an outcast among his people, he had learned English well and acted as a facilitator between the Europeans and the natives.
Bennalong eventually escapes the colony on 3rd May, 1790 to be with his own people even though Phillip had built a small brick hut on the site where the Sydney Opera House now stands on Bennelong Point.
One rare occasion a whale had died and drifted into Port Jackson and was beached at a small cove called Manly Cove a few miles from the settlement.
Aborigines from all over the area came to feast on the whale and it was during this time that Governor Phillip thought it would be a good time to try to find Bennelong and Colbee as he heard they had been sighted at the whale.
On 7th September, 1790 he took a longboat with some marines and headed to Manly. Phillip had named the area after the 'manly' looking natives sighted there.
As Phillip landed there were many natives feasting that became wary at the approach of Phillip and his party.
A few of the natives had never seen Europeans before and one became defensive and raised his spear in a threatening gesture.
Phillip raised his hands saying "wirri, wirri" but the native threw his spear and struck Phillip in the shoulder with such a great force that it pierced through the back of the shoulder.
The aborigine fled into the bush and Phillip was taken back to the settlement with the spear still lodged in his shoulder.
He was later told that the aborigine was named Willamaring. Phillip understood that it was a bad time to try to find Bennelong and place no blame on Willamaring and ordered no retaliation.

Gatherings
 
During the whale beaching it was estimated that there were more than two hundred aborigines that had come to feast on the whale.
Aborigines often crossed tribal boundaries for food gathering or to take part in ritual activities.
Many tribes gathered for the feast, tribes from the west and north attended and some from the south who spoke a different dialect from that of the tribes around Port Jackson.
Members from tribes have been known to travel more than 150 kilometers (93 miles) for ceremonies and food gathering.
Settling disputes between tribes often ended up with a fight with spears and clubs. The Gweagals use to frequent a fighting place that was the area between Central Station and Goulburn Street, then part of the Cadigal territory.
Many of the main roads in Sydney were aboriginal tracks.

It had been reported that in February, 1797 a large band of Garigals from the Broken Bay area traveled to Cadigal territory to settle a dispute. They were escorting a member of their clan who had to face the spears of a murdered man's relatives.
Bennelong himself received spear wounds from a dispute in 1790 from the Gweagals.
Tribes traveled to other territories for food gathering when food was scarce. In the warmer months tribes from the inland territories frequented the coastal areas as fish was plentiful but in the colder months the coastal tribes would frequent the inland tribes. It was in these warmer months when ceremonies took place for the coastal tribes as marine resources were plentiful and could support large numbers gathered.

Suspicion existed between coastal and inland tribes and Bennelong claimed that the Gameraigals and Bediagals were his enemy despite often been seen in their company.
Bennelong had asked Governor Phillip to kill the Gameraigals and Bediagals. On one expedition inland, Colbee & Boladeree told Phillip that the Buruberongals were bad and they wanted to destroy their gunyas (huts).
Although the inland dialect was different to the coastal dialect, they had no difficulty communicating. The songs & dances from corrobories differed from tribe to tribe.....
The effects of disease was worsening, the spread of venereal disease spread through the native population from the European men's desire to be with the native women.
The aborigines would call this dreadful disease "goobahrong" after its terrible effects on the body.
Resistance
 
By now tensions were worsening, relations broke and no natives we frequenting the colony.
The spread of agriculture & annexing of land continued, the aborigines were competing for resources on the same land and conflicts were inevitable.
The aborigines were forced into taking crops and spearing cattle. Reprisals by the settlers led to guerilla warfare over a large area of the Cumberland Plain.
Between 1793 and 1799 at least twenty eight European and more than two hundred aboriginal's were killed. The attacks on farms along the Hawkesbury, Georges River, Parramatta, Seven Hills, Toongabbie and Prospect was lead by Pemulwy.
In 1790 he fatally speared Phillip's Gamekeeper - John McIntyre near the Cooks River. In 1797 he was wounded in the streets of Parramatta during a battle that killed two settlers.
At least six aborigines during the battle and Pemulwy now in hospital escaped and continued his campaign until he was shot dead in 1802.
Attacks continued over the following years, Pemulwy's son - Tedburree continued in his fathers footsteps.
Reconciliation was needed so blankets were to be given to the natives. But in revenge they gave the natives blankets laced with smallpox.
Within a short time the dead bodies of the natives were littering the shoreline, the native population was decimated by 95%.
Skeletons were being found around the shores of Port Jackson, Botany Bay & Pittwater. As no cases of smallpox was reported among the colonists, one can only guess the evil instructions given to Phillip should the native population resist the settlements expansion.
The Eora peoples - Cadigal, Kuringal, Cammeraigal (Gameraigals), Garigal, Turramurragal, Ngarragal, Wallamattagal, Wangal, Murubora, Kamey, Toongagal (Tugagal), Burramattagal, Cabrogal, Norongerragal, Bediagal, Bidjigal, Gweagal, Cabrogal, Norongerragal, Walumedegal, Buruberongal and many others are sadly no more.
Their language is almost but lost except for a small percentage thanks to the efforts of some of the First Fleet's peoples and Bennelong.
Governor Phillip estimated the Eora peoples numbered about 1,200 and the inhabitants around the settlement and around 60 at Sydney Cove. This number had been reduced to just 3 by 1791.
95% of this population was gone, the disease spread further into bordering clans and the aboriginal's had to band together to create new clans, new boundaries, new lives.
Disease spread to these clans, alienation soon followed as did dispossession of their land and destruction of their traditions and culture.
Governor Phillip returned to England in 1792 with Bennelong & another young native - Yemmerrawannie.
They were well received there but on 18th May Yemmerrawannie dies there after two years away from home.
Bennelong now depressed and ill wants to return home.
 
 

             CLAN                                  LANGUAGE GROUP                  LOCATION  

Cadigal
Wangal
Burramattagal
Wullumattagal
Muruoradial
Kameygal
Birrabirragal
Borogegal-yuruey
Bediagal
Bidjigal
Toogagal
Cabrogal
Boorooberongal
Cannemegal
Gomerigal
Muringong
Cattai
Kurrajong
Boolbainora
Mulgoa
Terramerragal
Cammeraigal
Carigal
Cannalgal
Gorualgal
Kayimai
Gweagal
Norongerragal
Illawarragal
Threawal
Tagary
Wandeandegal
Oryangora
Goorungurragal

Dharug (Eyora or Eora)  

 "
"

 "

 "

 "

 "

"

Dharug  

 "

 "

 "

 "

 "

 "

 "

 "

 "

 "

 "

Kurringai  

 "

 "

 "

 "

 "

Dharawal  

 "

 "

 "

 "

 "

 "

 "

Sydney  

Concord  

Parramatta  

Ryde  

Maroubra  

Botany Bay  

Sydney Harbour  

Bradleys Head  

Bankstown  

Castle Hill  

Toongabbie  

Cabramatta  

Richmond  

Prospect  

Blacktown  

Camden  

Windsor  

Kurrajong  

Wentworthville  

Penrith  

Turramurra  

Cammeray  

West head  

Narrabeen   

Fig Tree Point  

Manly  

Kurnell  

Jannali  

Wollongong  

Bong Bong   

Waterfall
Scarborough
Bulli

Corrimal
 
 

Sydney Timeline - The First Twelve Years

1788 - 1800
1788 First Fleet enter Botany Bay
26 January 
28 January
February
February
February
February
March
March
Convicts landed at Port Jackson
French ships L'Astrolabe and La Bussole under Commanders De la Perouse and De d' Angle anchored in Botany Bay
Philip Gidley King appointed Superintendent and commandant of Norfolk Island
First Church Service in Australia conducted by Rev. Richard Johnson at Sydney Cove
Colony of NSW formally proclaimed and Governor's commission read
Discovery of Lord Howe Island by Lieut. Ball
First Execution in NSW
Formal establishment of settlement at Norfolk Island
 
1789
Drought begins
March
April
June
June
August
October
November
November
December
Six marines executed in Sydney for stealing food
Mutiny of the Bounty
Discovery of Nepean River by Watkin Tench
First play performed in Australia - George Farquhar's comedy The Recruiting Officer
First Police Force in the colony - Nightwatch
First Launching of vessel in Sydney  Rose Hill Packet
James Ruse  farm of 30 acres - supported from the public store until 25 February 1791
Bennelong taken prisoner
Unsuccessful attempt by William Dawes to cross the Blue Mountains
 
1790 Colony in drought
January
March
March
April
May
June
June
20 - 28 June
September
October
Departure from England of the Second Fleet
Departure from Sydney of H.M. Sirius
Sirius wrecked off Norfolk Island
Reduction of rations
First salt made at Dawe's Battery, Sydney
Arrival of the Lady Juliana  with provisions and 221 female convicts
Arrival of storeship Justinian in Sydney Cove
Arrival of Second Fleet
Governor Phillip speared in the shoulder by aborigine Willemering
Return of Supply with provisions
 
1791 Drought continues
January
March
June
July
August
August - October
1 August 
September
26 September
26 September
13 October
14 October
16 October
December
19 December
Signing of first land grant in Australia (to James Ruse)
Remarkable escape from the colony by convicts William, Mary Bryant and others
Re-naming of Rosehill to Parramatta
Mary Ann arrived at Sydney Cove (First ship of Third Fleet)
12 prisoners settled between Prospect Hill and the Ponds on the Hawkesbury Rd
Arrival in Sydney of  Ships of the Third Fleet
Matilda - Convict Daniel Phillips accompanied John Howe on his expedition of discovery in 1819
Arrival of The Gorgon with His Majesty's Authority for granting Pardons Absolutely or Conditionally
Arrival of Newcastle storekeeper John Tucker on The Active
First Irish convicts arrive on The Queen
Arrival of Albermarle
Arrival of Britannia
Arrival of Admiral Barrington
Public protest after reduction in rations
The Gorgon cleared the Heads on her return voyage to England with the main body of the First Fleet Marines
 
1792 Estimated white population 3,120
February
September
17 October
1 November
10 December
Arrival of The Pitt with Lieutenant Governor Grose and the company of the NSW Corps
Arrival of The Kitty, Master George Ramsay. Naval agent Lieut. Daniel Woodriff. 29 convicts on board
Arrival of convict transport Royal Admiral
Arrival of Brigantine Philadelphia  in Sydney with a speculative cargo
Return of Governor Phillip & remainder of the NSW Marine Corp to England on board the Atlantic

 
1793
1 January
February
February
February
24 July
7 August
25 August
September
17 September 
September
October
Rev. Samuel Marsden appointed Chaplain of New South Wales (not yet arrived)
Five free settlers arrived in the Bellona and settled in the area now known as Homebush and Strathfield
Grant of 100 acres to John Macarthur, the site of Elizabeth Farm House
Opening of first official Church School in Sydney. Stephen Barnes Headmaster
Colonial vessel Francis  launched in Sydney
Arrival of Boddingtons transport with 124 male and 20 female convicts from Ireland
First service held in Church built by Rev. Richard Johnson on corner of Hunter and Castlereagh St. Sydney
First sale of corn by settlers to government store
Arrival of convict transport Sugar Cane. Master Thomas Musgrave. Surgeon David Wake Bell. 159 convicts on board
Grose River discovered by Col. Paterson
Birth of William Charles Wentworth

1794
February
March
March
March
August
25 October
2 November
12 December
17 December
25 December
December
 
Settlers take up 30 acre blocks of land on the banks of the Hawkesbury River
Arrival of ship William. Master William Folger
Flood at the Hawkesbury
Arrival in Sydney of Rev. Samuel Marsden
Attempt by Henry Hacking to cross the Blue Mountains
Arrival of Surpise (2). Master Patrick Campbell
Death of Deputy commissary Thomas Freeman. Replaced by Quartermaster of NSW Corps Thomas Laycock
Grose replaced as administrator of the colony by Captain William Paterson of the NSW Corps
Departure of Lieutenant governor Grose on board store ship Daedalus
Oath of office taken by Captain Paterson who administered government until arrival of Governor Hunter
Sydney to Parramatta road established
 
 
1795
February
5 September
7 September
11 September
September
October
October
October
October
October
October
5 November
Survey of Port Stephens by Charles Grimes, assistant Surveyor General
Death of assistant surgeon emancipist John Irving
Arrival of Governor Hunter in Sydney on board the Reliance with midshipman Mathew Flinders
Administration of Government taken over by Governor Hunter
Flood of the Hawkesbury River. 25ft above usual level. One settler drowned
Convict population - 1362 male & 546 female convicts
Exploration by George Bass and Mathew Flinders  of Botany Bay and George's River in the Tom Thumb
Exploration of Cowpastures (Camden) district
First windmill in the colony erected
Cargo of cedar sent to India
Restrictions placed on cedar getting at the Hawkesbury
Arrival of supply ship Sovereign. Master George Storey
 
1796
2 January
16 January
23 January
January
January
February
11 February
19 March
March
30 April 
April
May
August
September
November
December
Estimated white population 4,016
Opening of the first theatre in Sydney
Arrival of store ship Ceres
Reward offered for Bushranger Black Caesar (Sydney)
Scottish Martyr Thomas Muir escaped from the colony on board American ship Otter
Black Caesar shot and killed by pursuers
Arrival of Marquis Cornwallis. Brought 1 years supply of ready made clothing
Death of Scottish Martyr William Skirving
Exploration by Bass & Flinders in Tom Thumb of Port Hacking and Lake Illawarra
Arrival of ship  Indispensable with 131 female prisoners
Resignation of assistant surgeon Leeds. D'Arcy Wentworth appointed in his place
Merino sheep introduced into Australia
William Balmain Principal Colonial surgeon
Departure  of Captain Paterson for England on board Britannia
Printing press first used by convict George Hughes
Government shipyard established at Sydney

1797
February
May 
27 May
2 June
August
August
September
December
December
December
Wreck of the Sydney Cove  on Preservation Island
Coal discovered at Coalcliff
Arrival of Britannia. Thomas Denott master
Arrival of ship; Ganges. Surgeon James Mileham. Master Thomas Patrickson
Mutiny on board transport Lady Shore
Colonial vessel Cumberland seized by prisoners
Hunter Estuary entered by Lieutenant John Shortland
South coast to Western Port explored by George Bass in the whaleboat Reliance
Shoalhaven River discovered by George Bass
Commercial vineyards planted
 
1798
Januray
14 May
18 May
18 July
7 October
October
October
October
December
Estimated white population 5,000
Hail Storm in Sydney. Stones at 6 inches in diameter
Arrival of Barwell. Master Hunter Valley settlers  McDougall and Bowman families and 287 male prisoners on board  
Arrival of Britannia. Robert Turnbull master.
Departure of Bass & Flinders in the Nautilus to investigate the possibility of a strait north of Van Diemen's Land
Commissariat store opened at the Hawkesbury
Arrival of the Norfolk from Bengal with cargo of merchandise and stock
Fire destroyed the first church in Australia
Drought in the summer of 1798 - 99. Crops affected
   
1799
January
3 March
3 May 
June
27 July 
September
3 November
8 December 
14 December 
December
December
Circumnavigation of Van Diemen's Land completed by Bass and Flinders
Floods at the Hawkesbury river begin. Crops and stock destroyed.Govt. store house swept away
Arrival of ship Buffalo. Surgeon Mr. Mason. Passenger J. W. Lewin
Arrival of the Albion, Captain Bunker, from England with 900 tons of salt pork
Arrival of ship Hillsborough. David Dickinson Mann. George Crossley, George Pell convicts on board
Population - General Return of the colony - 4,746
Arrival of ship Walker. Master John Nichol
Arrival of East India ship Swallow
Arrival  in Port Jackson of ship Martha. William Reed Master -  with seal oil and skins 
Resistance to European settlement by Aborigines in the Hawkesbury and Parramatta districts 
Two Aboriginal boys murdered 
 
1800
January
11 January
16 February
March
15 April
June
July
August
7 September
28 September 
1 October
October
October
20 November
30 November 
December
December
December
December
Captain John Hunter Governor of Australia until September 1800
Arrival of convict ship Minerva from Ireland. Irish rebel Thomas Brady on board later clerk at Newcastle
Arrival of ship Friendship
Flood of the Hawkesbury River
Arrival of botanist George Caley and Lieutenant Governor King and family on the Speedy
Major Joseph Foveaux appointed Lieutenant governor Norfolk Island
Flinders' Exploration party left Sydney for North coast in sloop Norfolk
Arrival of Mathew Flinders in Moreton Bay
Volunteer Corp formed by Governor Hunter
Governor John Hunter embarks on board HMS Buffalo. Captain P.G. King assumed administration of colony
Purchase of Female Orphan House
Flood at the Hawkesbury
Wool sent to England
Arrival of Royal Admiral with two French prisoners of war Antoine Landrien and Francois de Riveau
Death of Judge Advocate Richard Dore
Arrival of James Grant on board the Lady Nelson. Sailed  through Bass Strait, the first ship direct from England to do so
Richard Atkins appointed Judge Advocate
The first customs house built in Sydney
Entrance to Lake Macquarie discovered by William Reid when he mistook it for Newcastle
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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