January 26, 1788.
January 26, 1788, is the day Captain Arthur Phillip landed on Australian soil with the First Fleet of British ships. He raised the British flag at Sydney Cove to claim New South Wales as a British Colony. This day marks the beginning of a long and brutal colonisation of people and land.
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What actually happened on January 26?
Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip following days of exploration of Port Jackson in New South Wales.
| Australia Day | |
|---|---|
| Type | National |
| Significance | Date of landing of the First Fleet in Port Jackson in 1788 |
What date did the First Fleet arrive in Australia?
On May 13, 1787, the “First Fleet” of military leaders, sailors, and convicts set sail from Portsmouth, England, to found the first European colony in Australia, Botany Bay.
When did Australia get taken over?
Britain’s first contact with Australia came with Captain Cook’s voyage in the ship Endeavour. He landed in Australia in 1770 and claimed it as a British territory. The process of colonisation began in 1788.
When did colonists invade Australia?
1788
In 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip and 1,500 convicts, crew, marines and civilians arrived at Sydney Cove. In the 10 years that followed, it’s estimated that the Indigenous population of Australia was reduced by 90%. Three main reasons for this dramatic population decline were: The introduction of new diseases.
Why is Australia Day offensive to indigenous people?
The meaning of Australia Day for Aboriginal people
Loss of their sovereign rights to their land, loss of family, loss of the right to practice their culture. “Australia Day is 26 January, a date whose only significance is to mark the coming to Australia of the white people in 1788.
Who found Australia first?
explorer Willem Janszoon
While Indigenous Australians have inhabited the continent for tens of thousands of years, and traded with nearby islanders, the first documented landing on Australia by a European was in 1606. The Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon landed on the western side of Cape York Peninsula and charted about 300 km of coastline.
What was Australia called in 1788?
After the Dutch era
Cook first named the land New Wales, but revised it to New South Wales. With the establishment of a settlement at Sydney in 1788, the British solidified its claim to the eastern part of Australia, now officially called New South Wales.
When did the last shipment of convicts reach Australia?
January 9, 1868
The Hougoumont, the last ship to take convicts from the UK to Australia, docked in Fremantle, Western Australia, on January 9, 1868 – 150 years ago. It brought an end to a process which deposited about 168,000 convicted prisoners in Australia after it began in 1788.
When did Captain Phillip arrived in Australia?
The location of Governor Arthur Phillip’s first landing and the flag-raising ceremony in Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788 has been an issue of dispute and uncertainty among historians since the 19th century.
When did white man come to Australia?
On January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip guides a fleet of 11 British ships carrying convicts to the colony of New South Wales, effectively founding Australia.
When did Australia Day start?
January 1, 1901
When did white settlers come to Australia?
The first settlement, at Sydney, consisted of about 850 convicts and their Marine guards and officers, led by Governor Arthur Phillip. They arrived at Botany Bay in the “First Fleet” of 9 transport ships accompanied by 2 small warships, in January, 1788.
How did aboriginals get to Australia?
Aboriginal origins
Humans are thought to have migrated to Northern Australia from Asia using primitive boats. A current theory holds that those early migrants themselves came out of Africa about 70,000 years ago, which would make Aboriginal Australians the oldest population of humans living outside Africa.
How many Aboriginal were killed in Australia?
After European settlers arrived in 1788, thousand of aborigines died from diseases; colonists systematically killed many others. At first contact, there were over 250,000 aborigines in Australia. The massacres ended in the 1920 leaving no more than 60,000.
How long did it take to get from England to Australia in the 1850s?
Prior to the 1850s it was common for sailing ships to stop en route but, by the early 1850s, most ships made the trip without stopping. The voyage became faster, with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the increasing speed of ocean-going steamships, but still took six or seven weeks to reach Australia.
What is an interesting fact about Australia Day?
Australia Day was called “Foundation Day” in the early part of the nineteenth century, and was typically marked by sporting events including horse racing and boat races. The first colony to declare Australia Day as a public holiday was New South Wales in 1838, on the 50th anniversary of the Sydney Cove landing.
Why we should keep Australia Day?
Australia Day, 26 January, is the day to reflect on what it means to be Australian, to celebrate contemporary Australia and to acknowledge our history. On Australia Day we celebrate all the things we love about Australia: land, sense of fair go, lifestyle, democracy, the freedoms we enjoy but particularly our people.
Why should we change Australia Day?
“Australia Day is our national day.For white Australians, changing the date will simply mean coming together on a different day and the public holiday would still take place. For Indigenous Australians, changing the date would acknowledge the pain associated with January 26.
Did China discover Australia first?
There is no tangible evidence that Chinese explorers (or traders or any other Chinese for that matter) did land in Australia before the European exploration of the continent began.
Who lived in Australia before the aboriginal?
The islands were settled by different seafaring Melanesian cultures such as the Torres Strait Islanders over 2500 years ago, and cultural interactions continued via this route with the Aboriginal people of northeast Australia.
