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First Fleet

Photograph of a wooden model depicting a First Fleet ship.
First Fleet Ships

Scarborough

33.9 metres (111 feet, 6 inches); width: 9.1 metres (30 feet, 2 inches); weight: 417.5 tonnes (411 tons)

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On This Day

20 Jan 1788 - First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay

On 20 January 1788 the last of the eleven ships of the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay

Photograph of a wooden model depicting a First Fleet ship.
First Fleet Ships

Borrowdale

Length: 22.7 metres (75 feet); width 6.7 metres (22 feet); weight: 276 tonnes (272 tons)

Photograph of a wooden model depicting a First Fleet ship.
First Fleet Ships

HMS Supply

Length: 21.3 metres (70 feet); width: 7.9 metres (26 feet); weight: 173 tonnes (170 tons)

Photograph of a wooden model depicting a First Fleet Ship
First Fleet Ships

Fishburn

Length: 31.4 metres (103 feet); width: 8.8 metres (29 feet wide); weight: 384 tonnes (378 tons)

Photograph of a wooden model depicting a First Fleet ship.
First Fleet Ships

Lady Penrhyn

Length: 31.3 metres (103 feet); width: 8.2 metres (27 feet); weight: 337 tonnes (333 tons)

Colour illustration of group of boys.
First Fleet Ships

John Hudson

Described as ‘sometimes a chimney sweeper’, John Hudson was the youngest known convict to sail with the First Fleet

First Fleet Ships

John ‘Black Caesar’

Convict John ‘Black’ Caesar became Australia’s first bushranger when he fled the settlement in December 1795 and led a gang of fellow escapees in the bush surrounding Port Jackson

Adult convict, cropped from larger painted artwork.
First Fleet Ships

James Ruse

Ex-convict James Ruse became the first person in NSW to receive a land grant when Governor Phillip gave him 30 acres at Parramatta in April 1791