Discoveries

Discoveries by the English

The English had made their first appearance on the Australian coast in 1688, when the north-westerly shores were visited by William Dampier in the trading vessel "Cygnet". In 1699 he again visited Australia in command of "HMS Roebuck". On his return to England, he published an account in which a description was given of trees, flowers, birds, and reptiles he had observed, and of his encounters with the natives.

 Up until the end of the 17th century, it was not certain if Tasmania and New Zealand were parts of Australia or whether they were separated from it, yet formed part of a great Antarctic Continent. Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook's first voyage, though undertaken primarily for the purpose of observing from Tahiti the transit of Venus, had also the objective of ascertaining whether the unexplored part of the southern hemisphere did in fact contain another continent. In command of "HMS Endeavour", and accompanied by botanist Sir Joseph Banks, naturalist Dr Daniel Solander, astronomer Charles Green, draughtsmen and servants, James Cook, after observing the transit of Venus at Tahiti. Turned towards New Zealand, sighting that land on 7 October 1769 in the vicinity of Poverty Bay.

On 20 April 1770, Cook sighted the Australia mainland at a place he called Point Hicks, naming it after his first-lieutenant, who saw it first. Coasting northwards, on 29 April 1770 he landed at Botany Bay. Cook resumed his voyage and sailed along the coast in a northerly direction for nearly 2,100 kilometers, before striking a coral reef in vicinity of Trinity Bay. Repairs were completed and Cook again set a course to the north through Torres Strait.

The Annexation of Australia

On 22 August 1770, Captain Cook took possession "of the whole eastern coast, from latitude 38's this place, latitude 10.5's in right of His Majesty King George the Third'  - that is, over what now constitutes Victoria, the eastern parts of New South Wales and Queensland.

Annexation of the eastern part of the Australian continent and Tasmania

Formal possession, on behalf of the British Crown, of the whole of the eastern part of the Australia continent and Tasmania was taken on 7 February 1788, when Captain Phillip's commission, first issued to him on 12 October 1786 and amplified on 2 April 1787, was read to the people whom he had brought with him in the 'First Fleet'. The commission appointed Philip:

"Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over territory called New South Wales, extending from the Northern Cape or extremity of the coast called Cape York, in the latitude of ten degrees thirty-seven minutes south, to the southern extremity of the said territory of New South Wales or South Cape, in the latitude of forth-three degrees thirty-nine minutes south and of all the country inland, westward as far as the one hundred and thirty-fifth degree of the east longitude, reckoning from the meridian of Greenwich, including all the islands Adjacent in the Pacific Ocean within the latitude aforesaid of ten degrees thirty-seven minutes south and forty-three degrees thirty-nine minutes south."

By the middle of 1829, the whole territory, now known as Australia, had been constituted a dependency of the United Kingdom.

Important Dates

1788 Arrival of 'First Fleet' at Botany Bay.
Land in vicinity found unsuitable and the expedition moved to Sydney Cove on 26 January.
Formal proclamation of the colony and the establishment of a regular government on 7 February
1790 "Second Fleet" arrives with New South Wales Corps.
1791 "Third Fleet" arrives.
Territorial seal brought by Governor King.
1792 Visit of the first foreign trading vessel, the "Philadelphia".