Convict Guide - published 2006 - Manual / Resource - Page 401
Guide to New South Wales State archives relating to convicts and convict administration
Timeline
Pre1788
Aboriginal people lived in Australia for many tens of thousands of years in a large number of tribal and
language groupings. It has been estimated that there were about 600 Aboriginal tribes in Australia in
1788.
1779
Sir Joseph Banks suggested Botany Bay as a suitable site for a penal settlement
1783
Britain lost the American colonies in the War of Independence and hence convicts could no longer be
transported there
1786
British Government decided on Botany Bay as the site for a penal settlement
12 October — Captain Arthur Phillip commissioned as Governor of NSW
1787
2 April — Charter of Justice provided for the establishment of Courts of Criminal and Civil Jurisdiction in
New South Wales
13 May — The First Fleet sailed from Spithead
3 June — The First Fleet arrived at Tenerife
1788
18-19 January — First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay. Its unsuitability led Phillip to search for another site
22 January — Phillip examined Port Jackson and after 2 days he decided on Sydney Cove as the site for a
settlement
25 January — The Supply sailed into Port Jackson
26 January — The rest of the fleet sailed into Sydney and the colony of New South Wales proclaimed
11 February — Court of Criminal Jurisdiction sat for the first time
6 March — Lieutenant Philip Gidley King landed on Norfolk Island and established a settlement
James Barrett was executed for robbery, the first execution in the colony of New South Wales
July Court of Civil Jurisdiction sat for the first time
1788-1802 - Pemulwuy leads a guerilla war against the British settlement
1789
29 July — Lady Juliana sailed from Plymouth
Nightwatch composed of the best behaved convicts established
1790
19 January — The Second Fleet sailed
15 April — Governor Phillip first requested permission to return to England due to ill health
3 June — Lady Juliana arrived at Port Jackson
June — Nicholas Divine was appointed Superintendent of Convicts
20, 26-28 June — The Second Fleet arrived at Port Jackson bringing much needed supplies and the first
detachment of the NSW Corps
1791
February-March — Third Fleet sailed from England
April — The Queen (regarded as part of the Third Fleet) sailed from Cork, the first transport to depart
from Ireland
July-October, The ships of the Third Fleet arrived at Port Jackson
1792
11 December — Governor Phillip departed for England
Major Francis Grose, Lieutenant-Governor and commander of the NSW Corps, took over the
administration of the settlement
1794
12 December — Captain William Paterson took over the administration of the settlement
1795
11 September — Captain John Hunter became Governor
1800
28 September — Captain Philip Gidley King became Governor
1801
June — Convicts employed in coal mining at Coal River, later Newcastle. This was abandoned in 1802
1803
24 April — The Calcutta arrived in Port Phillip to establish a penal settlement under Lieutenant Colonel
David Collins
September — Lieutenant John Bowen established a settlement on the Derwent
1804
February — Colonel David Collins established a settlement at Hobart Town
March — Newcastle re-established as a place of secondary transportation
March — Battle of Vinegar Hill — insurrection led by Irish rebels
346
State Records Authority of New South Wales
